I appeared in a cement lot somewhere in a large city. It was raining and I inhaled the pleasant smell of wet concrete, thankful for once to have lungs again. Hestia also appeared at my side, in a lanky blue form like a cross between a big cat and a gazelle, her glowing horns curled backwards like a ram.

Samson stood in front of me and I could tell that something was up by the look on his face, which held a dark expression. He also seemed surprised to see Hesty, but then again who wouldn't be.

"Hey Sam," I said to him, "I'm here to help."

"What's with the blue thing standing next to you?" He replied. He crouched down as if to pet her like a dog.

"I am Hestia the wendigo," she said aloud. It was a little strange coming from a four-legged form.

"Oh? From the arena?" When she nodded Sam just shrugged and stood up. "Congratulations I guess. Tristan, I need your help hunting a skinstealer, a powerful type of Fae that's already killed two exorcists."

"What do I need to know?" I asked.

"It is a regenerating shapeshifter that can easily hide as it is immune to most tracking magic. This one is especially violent and feral, it needs to be tracked down and killed as soon as possible."

"Weaknesses?"

"Cold iron, but even that only slows its healing factor. Crossing over a line of iron can also cause its form to stutter." He held his chin in thought for a moment, "perhaps cold iron buckshot, and a Rapunzel rope?"

"A what?"

"Most, if not all of our fairy tales were either adopted or inspired by Fae stories. Rapunzel is real, or at least she was. Her hair makes a nearly unbreakable rope that can grow and shrink at will."

I nodded and conjured a sawed-off loaded with cold iron, along with a net of Rapunzel rope. Once again I thanked my vessel for one of the only parts of being a genie that I enjoyed: I didn't need to understand My magic at all for it to work. Just because I have never seen a Rapunzel rope, didn't mean I couldn't make one.

"I will track him." Hestia said with her strange muzzle.

"You can do that? I thought he was immune."

"You're the only person I've met immune to Fate, Tristan." She answered.

"That sounds like there's a story there." Samson said, "we'd best get to hunting this thing down."

---

We followed Hestia as she led us deeper into the city. Rain pelted our heads and her fur. I filled Sam in on everything that had happened to me while we walked. He wasn't actually that surprised about the Jessica situation, though he did think that wasn't the end of it. He was also completely unsurprised that I became a djinn, but was surprised by the fact that they are basically desire demons.

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"When you say you feed on desire, does that mean you take it from other people?" He asked me.

"Well no, not that I can tell. I just sort of get high off it I guess? It's an intense surge of power, and I end up feeling like I want what the person wants. I actually found that I can even feed on myself."

"What do I desire?" He asked with an odd expression.

I took a deep breath and inhaled the motes of desire from Sam. Spiky silver shards danced through my veins. I wanted revenge, I wanted to apologize to my friend. Mostly though, I just wanted a break.

"I'm guessing you want this over with so you can take me on that vacation." I answered, "and stop feeling sorry for me, I own the plane of Debauch now."

Samson's eyes bugged out of his head at that. Before he could ask his questions however, Hestia cleared her throat and flickered into the form of a dark-skinned woman with blue dreadlocks and a navy blue pantsuit, her antlers got as small as I'd ever seen and settled around the crown of her head like an accessory.

"The beast is waiting to board one of those underground trains." She said, "Tristan, you cloud my foresight, so I will go with Samson a few moments ahead of you. Stay nearby enough to hear any fighting, but far away enough to not appear in my visions."

"Understood."

"Bossy girlfriend you got there man," Sam joked.

"She is the smart one," I replied.

Sam and Hestia went ahead and descended into the subway system. After about thirty seconds, I followed them down. Even at this late hour, the station was packed with mortals. I wondered exactly when I started to think of mortal people as "other" to me. My life has been one thing after the next, with no breathing room. The closest thing I had to a break was slaughtering an army of familiars. I hopped the turnstile and got a couple feet away before a lone security guard stopped me.

"Excuse me sir, I'm going to need you to pay for a ticket," he said.

Instead of answering, I conjured a wad of hundreds and tucked it into his shirt pocket as he stood gawking.

"Go home." I said, patting him on the back.

I left him standing there, counting money that would have solved so many issues for me on many hard weeks, back in the day.

Ahead of me, Hestia and Sam entered a subway car. I decided to enter a few cars behind them. The car only had a few other passengers: a young couple, a sleeping old man, and a middle aged woman who was reading an unlabeled book.

I sat uneasily on a bench, straining my hearing for when Hestia found the skinstealer. The couple were very enamored with each other, making out in their seats. The older woman smirked while reading her book.

"I love your outfit," she said without looking up.

I was wearing a black button up with a pink and black vest over top. My pants were also black but my belt and shoes were a pearly white.

"Thank you," I replied, "I made it myself."

She closed her book and looked up at me, before lighting a cigarette and offering me one. I waved her hands away with a smile.

"I don't smoke, tobacco at least." I joked, "how's your night going?"

"I'm not looking forward to heading home. I'm also bloated from a large dinner."

"Oh that sucks, I hope you feel better soon." I replied, settling into my seat.

The woman smiled deeply at me and her expression suddenly looked hungry.

"I'm afraid I won't; at least until I clear up some annoyances," she said. The lights in the subway flickered and plunged the train into darkness. I stood up and drew my weapon but when the lights came on, it seemed like everything was the same: the hobo hadn't moved and the couple was still wrapped in each other's arms.

They just didn't have any skin.