“Daddy would make you happy in bed. He's a wonderful lover. But so are Alex and Jeremy." She shivered in happy memory, remembering the events of the previous night, when her brother had pleased her over and over again.

She opened her eyes to find Yasna looking at her curiously. "Your life is very strange," she said softly.

“I'm not judging you, by the way. I just can't imagine the changes you have gone through. To have three lovers at the same time, two of whom are your own blood? I can't even fathom how that could be possible."

Sarah snorted indelicately. "Tell me about it. When I actually take time to think about it, it seems insane."

“Would you mind explaining how it happened? From your point of view?

I've gotten bits and pieces here and there, but not the full tale.”

Sarah smiled and stretched out on the bed, putting her book aside.

“Well, I guess it all started on a Thursday night, about three weeks ago. Mom was working Late at the office, as usual, on a big case. One of the reasons she and Daddy split up in the first place was because she kept working more and more and had less and less time for us.

“Anyway, when she was on her way home, she nearly ran down a guy about

Alex's age in the middle of the street. He was some whacko who had tried to summon a succubus. Apparently he had some crazy notion it would help him score with this woman he had the hots for. Instead, he got Althea." She shook her head in sympathy.

“Can you imagine being the poor schmuck who made that sort of mistake? Having a personality like

Althea's suddenly show up inside your head, pissed as all hell over what you had done?" She shuddered in mock-horror, and Yasna grinned in wry agreement.

“Well, he went more or less insane and got himself hit by a bus, right in front of Mom. When she got out of the car to investigate, Althea had just enough power to transfer her mind into Mom's body. And being who and what she is, it didn't take Althea long to start influencing her.

First, she..."

When the story had wound its way down to the present, Yasna shook her head.

“If I hadn't seen the things I have over the last few days, I wouldn't believe any of it. But it all makes sense, if you keep an open mind." She leaned back in the chair. "The first hint I had that something out of the ordinary was going on was when I was doing routine tests on Althea. The Lab called me up regarding some of the bloodwork I had sent down and accused me of playing a practical joke." She frowned.

“as if I would ever do something Like that! I finally ended up running the tests myself, just to get them off my back.

“It was incredible." Her face softened as the memory of that moment swept through her, and Sarah smiled. She thought any man or woman (or succubus) who found themselves on the receiving end of that Look would be putty in Yasna‘s hands.

“I can understand why the lab thought I was messing them around. Everything was off. Red blood cell count, iron levels, glucose, platelets. None of it made any sense.”

“In what way?" Sarah asked, intrigued in spite of her almost complete ignorance about what Yasna was describing.

“Well, the red blood cell count was off the charts." The doctor frowned, furrowed lines marring the smooth skin of her brows.

“Ordinarily, red blood cells levels increase with altitude. The higher above sea level that you live, the more blood cells you produce in order to get more oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body. Our respiratory system is really quite inefficient," she said, her tone making it seem she was almost offended by the poor job natural selection had done.

“Humans don't use all the oxygen we take in with each breath.

“With Althea, though, it was as if she was specifically designed to get the best use out of oxygen. The platelet level was bizarre as well. Way too high. Platelets help with clotting when we get injured. But her platelet Level was so high her blood should have been more like a thick goo than a liquid. But it wasn't, since I had no problems drawing blood samples.

“It took me a while, but I found out she was producing a natural anticoagulant. But that didn't make any sense either, because her blood clotted normally when I took a sample. And the anticoagulant was so strong it should have turned her into a hemophiliac." She blew out a frustrated breath, and Sarah grinned sympathetically. Yasna raised her hands helplessly. "What's a doctor supposed to do when so many conflicting impossibilities keep turning up? If I didn't know better, I would say Althea was some sort of bizarre genetic super-soldier like you see in bad Late-night action movies." She ticked the points off on her fingers.