Althea smiled at him fondly, and saw her expression mirrored by all the women in the family. Yasna, especially, was looking at him with an approving gaze.

Not surprising. It stands to reason that a healer would be drawn to someone who loves health and nature.

"Well," Rachel said lightly, "it seems that when I was interviewing potential interns last winter, I made a better choice than I knew." She looked around the table, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

“You all have permission to thank me."

“That's what we always appreciate about you, Mom," Sarah said dryly.

“The way you're always so modest.”

A warm wave of loving laughter circled around the table. Rachel tossed her head. "False modesty is overrated. When you're as fantastic as we are, it is ridiculous to try to hide our Lights under a bushel."

Althea looked at her, frowning slightly. "Try not to get a swelled head, my handmaiden. You are all special, to be sure. Special to me.

And special in a way I cannot even properly articulate. It is as if the

Almighty himself gathered us together for a special purpose.

“But special is not better. That is what led the Forsaken down the path that led to the Pit. Thinking that because they had powers endowed upon them by God that humans did not share, that they were somehow superior.

I am still fighting the results of that mistake to this very day."

She fell quiet, eating her meal, and Yasna suddenly felt a sudden moment of kinship with her.

“It was the same way in my parents’ country," she said softly.

“Men who should have been spiritual guides and leaders, who were responsible for Leading men and women towards the light, became tyrants, satisfied with nothing but increasing their power. ALL that it Led to was anger, hatred, and repression."

"Exactly," Althea said, her glorious green eyes bright. "So my father taught me. To always be wary of that tiny voice inside you which insists that your desires, your pleasures, should take precedence over all others."

“But what about..." Sarah trailed off, biting her lip.

“But what about sex, you ask? Well, that is the most important thing of all. Since the power of the succubi flows from sexual pleasure, it is crucial for us to make sure that consent is always received before we take a human to bed."

“Or the chair. Or the floor. Or the couch,“ said Josh.

“Yes," she replied, smiling.

“Those places, too. Or the back seats of automobiles, once they were invented. That was a happy discovery," she said, sighing in pleasant reminiscence.

“So much more freedom, when you can just get in a car and go.

“But to go back to my original point, while the succubi get their power from sex, that power is never compelled or taken against the will of the...of the donor, let us say, of that power. It is always given freely. Not," she continued with a forgivable smirk, "that I have ever had to work very hard to get it. Most men and women were usually eager to couple with me. But, still, it is a lesson I never forgot. And one which you would do well to learn, Rachel. You might be special, yes.

You have been chosen by me, certainly. But you must forever be on your guard against vanity and overweening pride. The day you begin to think you are better than your fellow humans is the day our relationship will end. I will Leave you before I let you become something I hate."

Yasna held her breath, stunned by the raw emotion in Althea's voice.