I stare in horror, my tail-bde embedded in Soleil's chest. She coughs, blood and spit dripping down her chin as her eyes, which had been so full of life, darken to a dull, gssy shine. She staggers, tipping forwards, and I catch her by the shoulders.

  Her wings droop, and I whimper in dismay as I catch sight of the st few inches of my tail-bde protruding from her back. Gently, I sink to my knees, cradling the dying girl as she gasp for breath, the pulse of her heartbeat slowing, each breath weaker and farther apart. Her eyes drift closed, and her head lolls.

  With a st, rattling gasp, Soleil falls still, twitching once as the final spasms of her muscles trying to stave off the inevitable end run their course.

  I start to cry, fat, frozen tears dripping down my scaly cheeks, the little crystals of ice clicking as they hit the ground. Carefully, I pull my tail-bde free, shuddering at the awful sound of bone against bone. Dark red runs in rivulets down the white bde, and I move it out of sight, not wanting to see the proof of what I'd done.

  A hand comes to rest on my shoulder as my sisters and the Grand Incantor reappear in the arena. I sob, "I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I wasn't trying to hurt her! She didn't move fast enough! And why didn't someone call a halt?!"

  While my sisters comfort me, Lyse strides over to Soleil's body. Leaning over, she scowls. "Alright, that's quite enough of that, you scker! Come on, off the floor and on your feet, you overgrown turkey!" She kicks the body lightly in the ribs. Smoke drifts from it, and I wipe my eyes, still bawling.

  Fmes erupt from where Soleil's corpse lies, surrounding her body and causing me to yelp in shock. Then, they disappear as quickly as they burst into life.

  A gasping sound fills the air, and Soleil's eyes fly open. Sitting up, she grins at me.

  "Alright, I admit it, you kicked my ass!"

  I shriek, falling over as my sisters blink, staring at her as Soleil vaults to her feet, her body returning to human form. She frowns. "Wait, are you CRYING?? WHY??"

  I splutter, "because I KILLED you??"

  Soleil snorts. "Pfft! Naaaah, it'd take a hell of a lot more than that to kill me!"

  She grins proudly. "You might be a dragon, but I'M a phoenix!"

  I sniffle and wipe my eyes. "You didn't think to mention that?? I thought I'd just killed you!"

  Soleil looks a little sheepish. "Uh, well, I thought you'd figure it out. Is this your first time running into another shifter?"

  I nod. "Yeah, the only other people I even know who have powers are my sisters. I didn't know there were others like me."

  Soleil's eyes widen. "Oh, shit. Yeah, that's on me. My bad."

  Lyse swats her around the back of the head. "Foolish girl. Anyway, I think we can safely say she has what it takes. Young dy, I hereby certify you to join the Association as a member of your sisters' little band. Congratutions!"

  Philippa and Tricia hug me as I slowly stand, my dragonshift reverting to leave me human, finally starting to feel calmer. Soleil sticks a hand out, grinning at me.

  "No hard feelings? But seriously, you've got such a cool moveset! That tail-spike one totally caught me off-guard! How did you come up with that one??"

  I giggle. "A friend of mine has a tail like that, and that's one of her combat skills. It took most of the st six months, but I finally learned how to replicate it with my own powers! She's way better than I am, since she's been fighting for most of her life."

  "Really? Damn, I wanna fight HER, then!" Soleil's eyes are sparkling, and I can only imagine the chaos she'd get up to if she ever met Skadi. If there's one thing that gets the dark dragonnel excited, it's sparring.

  Taking the card I'd been given by the receptionist, the Grand Incantor studies it for a moment. "Well, that's rather a dull-looking one. Let me fix this!"

  She smiles, and the small card lifts from her palm, floating into the air and hanging in the centre of a small magic rune, the surface glowing brightly as Lyse murmurs in some ancient nguage that sends a shiver down my spine.

  Once she's satisfied, she ends the spell, and I gasp, having seen actual MAGIC for the first time. Not powers like mine or my sisters, but actual sorcery!

  She hands the small pstic rectangle back to me. Only, it's not pstic anymore. It's metal, with an image of me on it. When I flip it over, it has my name, a brief description of my powers, and a serial number, as well as the magnetic swipe-strip that cards like this often have.

  "And with that, you're a member of the Association. Do you have a phone?"

  I nod, and Philippa digs in her bag. "I've got it. Here!"

  She hands it to the archmage, and I watch as she quickly installs an app on it for me. "There. You can set up your own profile at your leisure. Any questions?"

  I swallow. "W-well, I'm still training, and I received a three-day grace period, but it ends tomorrow and I'll have to go back. Will I be able to start hunting as soon as I get back to Earth? Once Adalinda says I'm ready?"

  Lysandra's smile widens. "Of course! You can hunt any time you like. As long as there's an incursion, you'll get alerted. Then, if you take the hunt and win, you'll get paid based on what the threat was and how quickly it was dispatched."

  I sigh in relief. "That's awesome. I can't wait till I'm ready to fight properly!"

  Lyse smirks, before tossing me a small drawstring bag that clinks when I catch it.

  "You'll need those. Memoria stones! You know how they work, yes?"

  Opening the bag, I pull out one of the orange crystals that I've seen my sisters use before.

  "Oh, these things! Yeah, you bury them in the ground and they erase the memories of anyone who was there recently, so they don't know about the monsters!"

  Lyse looks pleased. "Exactly! You've got a dozen there. Come to me when you start running out and I'll give you another batch."

  Taking our leave, Philippa pauses to lead us to another side-chamber. This one is an Addin's Cave of wires, screens, cables, keyboards, and who-knows-what-else, with the sound of someone muttering to themself deeper in this mechanical ir.

  Philippa calls, "Hey, Flicker! Come and say hi to my sister!"

  The muttering cuts off, and a cheerful voice responds. "Ohhh, the mysterious Rika, yeah? Coming!"

  From amidst the artificial jungle of tangled wires and hanging monitors, a slim figure emerges, their pale skin lit by the glowing screens. There are deep bags under their eyes, and they're dressed in bck jeans and a sleeveless bck t-shirt. Their hair is a colourless shade of blonde, and they look partially zombified from ck of sleep.

  When they get closer, I notice two things. Well, five, technically.

  First, they're floating, a couple of inches off the ground.

  Second and third, they have fangs, one on each side of their mouth, poking over their bottom lip when they smile.

  Fourth and fifth, they're... a girl, judging by their small breasts.

  "Heeey, good to meet you, Rika! Were the documents exactly as requested, Philippa?" The strange floating girl asks, kissing my second-oldest sister on the lips!!!

  A couple of minutes ter, Philippa breaks the kiss, smiling warmly. "Hey, Flick! Judging by the squeal she let out, I think it's safe to say that Rika loves them. Anyway, when was the st time you ate? You're looking way paler than usual!"

  Flicker frowns, blinking deep blue eyes. "Uhhh.... sometime st week? Or maybe two, now that I think about it?"

  Philippa sighs. "Dammit, Flick! Alright, come on. Here!"

  She tugs the neckline of her top away from her shoulder, tilting her head. Flicker's gaze locks onto my sister's exposed throat, and she licks her lips hungrily. "Are... are you sure? Okay, thank you!"

  Flicker reaches out and pces her hand on Philippa's shoulder, her other hand coming to rest on my sister's hip. Opening her mouth, the pale girl leans up on tiptoes, close to Philippa's exposed skin and, sniffing, she locates whatever she's after. Then, she bites my sister, her sharp fangs sinking into Philippa's neck.

  Both of them let out a moan simultaneously, though Flicker's is somewhat muffled. I stare in shock as Philippa pulls the shorter girl against her, holding her around the waist as she giggles breathlessly.

  "Damn, Flick! You're sucking like a baby! You must be starving!"

  Tricia shrugs as I look from her to Philippa and back again. "Hey, while you were away, Phili got pretty close to Flicker. They've been dating for about.... two months, now, I think?"

  I blush as Philippa's hands move from Flicker's waist to her butt, grabbing the smaller girl's rear. Averting my eyes, I look up at the ceiling, which does nothing to drown out the sounds of Flicker sucking on my sister's neck, or the soft gasps and moans.

  Finally, Tricia nudges me, and I look down. Flicker's mouth is slightly reddened, but she looks... healthier. There's colour in her cheeks, and her hair seems to be a richer shade of blonde. She smiles, licking her lips, erasing the traces of her 'meal'. She snuggles against Philippa, kissing her neck briefly, and, when she pulls back, the puncture marks on Philippa's neck are already closing, leaving barely-noticeable pinpricks.

  My sister bites her lip as Flicker stretches, almost purring like a satisfied cat.

  "Um, yeah. Flicker's a vampire. She's also a total genius when it comes to hacking, cracking, and data-jacking!"

  Flicker grins, and I notice that she seems a good bit... chestier now. "Sorry about that, I didn't really mean to feed on your sister in front of you, but I maaay have forgotten to 'eat' recently. I've been super busy with Philippa's request, as well as getting caught up on this fascinating bit of programming I've been working on. Anyway, hi! I'm Flicker Jones, the Association's resident code-monkey!"

  I smile. Even despite getting an unintentional front-row seat to my sister getting some action, I can't bring myself to dislike the friendly vampire girl. I hold out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Flicker! I'm Rika. And it WAS a bit of a shock, but more in the "wait, my sister's bi?" way, than anything. You aren't the first mythical being I've met today alone!"

  Flicker raises an eyebrow. "Huh? Who?"

  Philippa expins. "We brought her in for assessing, and she fought Soleil in the training room. Rika won, naturally!"

  Flicker's eyes widen. "Really?! I HAVE to see that ter! I'll pull the security footage and make some popcorn! It's about time someone took her down a peg or three!"

  I blink, as Flicker pulls me into a hug. She whispers in my ear, "I AM really sorry for drinking Philippa's blood right in front of you. And I saw the telemetry from your fight against the Battleshell, so I already had my eye on you, but if you can whup Soleil's keister, I'd love to call you a friend!"

  I smile and hug her back. "I'd like that! Just don't... talk about how delicious my sister is, or anything, please? I don't need to know that sort of thing!"

  Flicker giggles, and Philippa raises an eyebrow, smirking at me as she calls, "Rika, are you done embarassing me in front of my girlfriend??"

  I stick my tongue out at her. "Well, I wish you'd told me you HAD a girlfriend! It looks like it's down to Tricia to give dad grandkids, since I doubt Niko's got any interest in ANYONE!"

  Giggling, Tricia sighs, "yeah, that's not happening anytime soon! I highly doubt I'm in any shape to be a mom yet, even if I wasn't still recovering! Now, let's get some pizzas in, before Niko eats our new couch or something!"

  Flicker smiles, leaning up to kiss Philippa on the cheek. "I'll catch you ter, love?"

  I tilt my head. "Wait, you're not coming with us?"

  The vampire blinks. "You... WANT me to come along??" She looks beseechingly at Philippa, and my older sister beams.

  With Phili clearly happy to include her girlfriend, Flicker has no excuse, and quickly darts back into her technology-nest to grab her phone, emerging almost as quickly.

  "One sec, just gotta remember to stop floating. Normies don't usually take kindly to people doing weird shit!"

  Landing on the floorboards, Flicker grins. "Alright, lead the way!"