Opal weighed her options, brushing her dark red hair from her face as she considered them carefully. As much as she longed to be Obyzouth the seductive succubus again, she decided she would have to settle for being some kind of werebeast for now. Existing as a mere human woman was a blasphemy. As Obyzouth, she had known a life of magic and wonder. Now that had all been snatched from her. At least werebeasts were magicals.
She had already ruled out the werewolves, of course, but the werehyenas sounded appealing. Being a herm might be a fun change of pace. On the other hand, Opal wasn't sure the werehyena alpha would have her. From the fragments of demonic gossip Opal had heard, Selena Lyall was unfailingly moral and a huge stickler for consent. Shi might balk at Opal's sketchy history. Moreover, shi was trying to keep a low profile on account of being the daughter of Artemis Lyall, the infamous consort (and informal co-alpha) of the werewolves. Opal was anything but subtle. As such, it was doubtful that Selena would be comfortable with such a freewheeling loose canon as Opal. And if Opal was being totally honest, she wasn't sure she was good with potentially pissing off Artemis Lyall herself. If she didn't know for a fact that Artemis had three daughters, Opal would have thought the literal bitch seriously needed to get laid.
Then there were the wereotters. Not being quite inside the Stokerville territory, those guys weren't quite on the Club Inferno grapevine. All Opal really knew about them was that they were supposed to be really cheerful and playful. That part was good. Of course, they also had a reputation for being really sweet and goody-goody. As much as that might help Opal on her half-hearted redemption quest, she worried she'd feel too much like an outsider with the wereotters.
Now, werefoxes were the really juicy choice, but Opal had two skulks to choose from. Her first instinct was to join up with the traditional, garden-variety skulk that wandered into town in their mobile home a few weeks ago. Those guys were total kindred spirits: total hedonists who cared only about getting what they want, damn the consequences. Of course, there was a clear catch to that. Delilah du Charme had tasked Opal with learning empathy and discretion if she ever wanted her demonhood restored. This devil-may-care skulk was clearly the opposite of those virtues. If Opal joined up with them, she might never appease her former boss. Moreover, those nomads would likely soon wander away from Stokerville and Opal's beloved Inferno.
Of course, there was an alternative. Sitri had told her that Jezebel's girlfriend Renata Hamilton was trying to found a werefox skulk that could settle down in one place and learn to temper its mischievous ways with compassion and (some) common sense. At first glance, this sounded terrible to Opal. Tone down her revelry? Never! But... wasn't that exactly what Delilah hand commanded of her to become a succubus again? This might be the the ideal support group: a bunch of wild souls trying to all overcome their unhealthiest mischief instincts together. Surely THEY would understand the place Opal was in mentally! Plus, no werefox skulk would ever totally abandon their zest for life and need for chaos. Yes, this could work.
But was that worth facing Jezebel, who was usually hanging out with Renata and her future packmates? After all, Jezebel du Charme was Delilah's daughter. That would be awkward, but not as awkward as the dreadful prospect of facing Will and Roxy Weiss at Karnstein Manor. That Will girl was a monster hunter, and Opal (Obyzouth at the time) had put her beloved sister Roxy in danger. Opal was pretty sure Will would try to run her through with a crucifix and garrote her with a rosary if they ever met again even if Opal WAS human now (and therefore no longer fair game for monster hunters unless she started practicing black witchcraft). Jezebel and her mother, on the other hand, had not been wronged personally. For them, it was a matter of principle and maintaining what little good name succubi had. Delilah could have been much harder on Opal, after all. She could have rained hellfire on the offender until she was ash. But she didn't. She merely took away her powers and told her to become a better person. Perhaps Jezebel would be willing to help out with that...
Speak of the devil! Opal spotted Jezebel strolling through the park now, magenta heart-patterned umbrella in hand. Maybe this was the chance to join up! "Hey there, Jezzie!" Opal waved, forcing an embarrassed smile.
Jezebel wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "Only my mom gets to call me that, Obyzouth. I'm Jez to my friends, Jezebel to acquaintances, and Miss du Charme to disgraced demons like YOU!"
Opal sighed. "And I'm not Obyzouth anymore... Miss du Charme. Your mom took me demonic name from me. Now I'm just plain, human Opal Redgate. It sucks!"
"You earned, it!" Jezebel snapped. "Who taught you table manners?! Sweeney Todd? Hannibal Lecter? You were acting exactly how that monster hunter assumed we demons would act!"
"That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about." Opal laughed nervously. "Your mom wants me to learn empathy for others, and, well... I hear your girl Renata's trying to start a new kind of werefox skulk, one where werefoxes actually try to behave a little. You know treat there neighbors with respect while still having zany fun and steamy sex? Sounds like exactly what I need if I'm ever gonna make nice with your mom. Think you could introduce me to Renata and get me transformed? Being human is torture." Opal flashed what she hoped was a winning smile. She fretfully played with a strand of her red hair, just a shade darker than Jezebel's own crimson locks.
Jezebel frowned in thought. "I should just refuse outright. You hardly deserve a second chance after near manslaughter! But mom DID give you the option for a second chance. I guess I can leave it up to Renata... provided she ever gets her belt working again."
"Huh?" Opal raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"Renata used a magic foxskin belt to transform herself into a werevixen," Jezebel explained. "She was going to use it to transform all of her recruits tonight, but it isn't working now. We think her cousin Tori Vordenburg had something to do with it. Tori's a monster hunter, and she dropped by today and tried to talk Renata out of becoming a werevixen. Our theory is that Tori had her witch girlfriend Erzulie work some Voodoo on the belt to keep it from changing anybody into werefoxes."
"So nobody's a werefox?" Opal groaned.
"Only Renata and her other girlfriend Ruby who emigrated from the other skulk," Jezebel answered. "She tried to transform the teens she recruited about an hour ago, but it was a big dud. They're all still back at Flora Roberts' house moping and smoking Flora's weed. I came out here to clear my head with the smell of fresh rain on the grass."
"What'll Renata do?" Opal asked.
"She's gonna talk to Tori and Erzulie sometime tomorrow," Jezebel shrugged, taking a whiff of the rainy scent. "No idea if that subborn 'monster' hunter will listen, though. She finds werefoxes annoying as fuck. Renata doesn't wanna tell Morgana, the witch she bought the belt from. Renata doesn't want to get her cousin in trouble, and the thought of having Morgana and Erzulie feuding is terrifying. Witch feuds can get pretty destructive... and draw the attention of more monster hunters."
"Good call," Opal nodded. "That one named Will has more fire in her than most demons do. Well, I don't care that the skulk hasn't quite come together yet. I still want to talk to Renata about joining once it's possible."
"Be my guest, I guess, psycho," Jezebel smirked. "Come on, I'll take you to her. She's still getting stoned with the other recruits at the Roberts house."
Opal nodded and followed. The future was uncertain, but at least she had something vaguely resembling a plan now.