A decade ago, I wasn't really a person at all.

Not that I knew that, yet. I thought I was happy. I'd gotten through freshman year at Belson without gaining fifteen pounds, pledged Omega Delta Lambda, and gotten honor roll.

And Rory and I were going stronger than ever. He was so dashing.

There was solidity to my life. I knew who I was and why I did what I did. I fought for justice. I fought for the Magisorcerers' Guild. I believed in things that were good and righteous. Everything was in its right place.

Nothing could shake me. I didn't want that.

And then, I felt tightness.

So, so tight around me. Like I was being suffocated by the way the muscular, slick walls around me pulsed, drawing me deeper. Nonetheless, I could still breathe. The effect was jarring, as was the warmth enveloping me.

When I finally regained my senses, I screamed; I did so even though I knew the sound wouldn't be more than a muffled "mmmph!" I did so even knowing that no matter what, my rebellious mind lit up at the sensation.

My name was Magisorcerer Tiana Mackey, and I was about to be consumed by a monster.

It'd started like most of our fights did. We'd gotten word that there was some sort of creature lurking around a building, and the three of us went to investigate. Most often it's a warehouse, or an office building at night. One time, it was a creepy, abandoned elementary school.

Hated that.

In this case, it was an oil refinery. We'd scarcely gotten inside when I caught a flash of movement from the catwalks above us. I dodged, doing a backflip and landing on my low heels. I only saw the tail jutting into the concrete floor exactly where I used to be after I landed.

That meant thrall.

Thralls had a habit of missing an attack and then posing. Maybe it was something Desdemona demanded of them. She was always theatrical like that. Normally, we'd all roll our eyes. To Lindsey and Amal's credit, they did roll their eyes when Kamilliajora, the Consuming Sin-Viper said her line.

But I was focused on her tail. The tip of it had been razor sharp a moment ago, but she'd opened it into a funnel. A maw. And in the inside of it was so, so pink. My heartrate climbed as I stared, transfixed by the sight.

And by the knowledge that if she'd opened her tail before, I would've lost.

It would've been over before Lindsey or Amal could have even hoped to have reacted. She'd have dropped from the catwalks and I'd have been helpless.

So, so helpless.

I couldn't shake the visual. My eyes followed as the tail tightened, and I watched it flick back and forth behind her.

"Call it, Magisorcerer Tiana!" came Lindsey's voice.

Right. I'm the one who calls the shots. I commanded Lindsey to break out wide, see if she couldn't distract the Consuming Sin-Viper with her pistols while Amal set up a buster strike with her sword. Then I'd mop up.

It was our go-to plan.

Most thralls didn't reason. They were just dead-eyed monsters, and it meant that talking through what we wanted to do never posed a risk.

Except she wasn't like the others we faced. She was more. So, so much more. I was on the backfoot, then, when Kamilliajora smirked. She rushed straight at me.

Amal attempted to stop her, and for a moment my hopes soared. Then I got a demonstration of just how dexterous that tail could be as it wrapped around Amal's leg.

I couldn't help but wonder what the scales felt like as they wrapped around her calf and yanked. I almost dropped the Maxi Blast.

I had to, anyway, with Amal out of the fight for the moment. Kamilliajora was faster than I thought she would have. I refocus the energy I'd channeled toward defensive measures, blinking sideways; my kick connected with her face and sent her skidding backward.

Breathing room.

She was far from done, however. If anything, my attack had only emboldened her. She spit out some blood, and a feral grin spread across her face.

I mistook the way my stomach flipped for dread until I felt the wetness slicking my thighs and the way my breath hitched.

What was wrong with me?

Then she charged at me again. My blink-strike took time to recharge. It's time I didn't have, and she seemed to know that. Had she been watching us? Why did that feel so, so intimate?

I heard Lindsey call my name; and then in the next moment, Kamilliajora's funnel-like tail had swallowed me.

I couldn't fight it. I knew that. The worst part of this was knowing that Kamilliajora was a nobody; any of us Magisorcerers could have fought her off. The nerve that someone like her — a low-level goon working for Desdemona — would do this to me was... it was wrong.

So, so wrong.

My legs kicked impotently as I felt my body lifted off the ground. And then it was tight, and I was being consumed. At first, I struggled. And then I... stopped. I stopped fighting it. And I felt warm. It started feeling almost good. Almost like when Rory and I would kiss, except better.

Deeper.

The realization should've been a splash of cold water.

Down.

I should've fought harder. I should've needed to get out.

Into.

I couldn't be like that.

Her.

I couldn't like that. No. Not anywhere out there.

Almost.

I was a Magisorcerer.

There.

I was straight.

So.

I was—

Close.

Free.

Amal's blade cut a gash in Kamilliajora's tail and I spilled out onto the pavement. The Consuming Sin-Viper reeled back in pain, and I drunk in her outfit: dark pants, a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a studded leather belt.

Our eyes locked.

Smug satisfaction overrode the pain she was in. I saw the fangs in her mouth — wicked and sharp — and my mind went blank at them. I remembered every curve of her body. Thought about her warm, tan skin. Her gold and brown scales.

That night, I found my release.

And it killed the girl I was.