"I've tested everybody four times. You all came back clean, so we're ruling out a possible mutation of the superpower bug."

"So we can get the hell out of these things now, right?" Anna asked impatiently.

"Y-Yeah, I guess you can-"

With similarly little patience, Anna and Joanne ripped apart the plastic spheres they were held captive in.

Throughout the medical bay, the rest of the wives and Serana exited confinement just as quickly.

However, Camille and Shiro didn't get out of their hamster balls. Instead, they were charging up speed and running full force into Ezekiel while they were still inside.

Bianca was the first one to look over to Malachi's enclosed space. He also had yet to leave his quarantine, as he currently lay on his side asleep.

She could tell with a look that he wasn't fully comfortable. His constant shifting was a dead giveaway.

"So... What's wrong with Mal?"

Zeke scratched the back of his head. "Well... physically, he-"

"O-Oh my god!" Evaline covered her eyes and turned around.

Zeke covered the eyes of the children and gave the women a worried look. "That's just scary... how are any of you walking? Should I call somebody??"

The wives followed their gazes to a noticeably large protrusion under the covers with Malachi.

Anna was the most troubled out of everyone. "What the fuck..."

She walked over to Malachi's bubble and hardened her wings until they resembled blades.

A single slice allowed her to cut through the barrier with ease, and she grabbed the covers and pulled them away.

Loki, Zeke, and Evaline gasped.

A tail had sprouted from Mal's lower back and somehow gotten between his legs.

Anna let out a sigh of relief at the sight. "Thank god..."

"Why are you so calm about this!?" Zeke questioned.

Anna shrugged. "It's not my first tail. Besides, this one is pretty normal. I used to be able to feed the other ones. Miss those little guys..." she sighed.

A thought suddenly occurred to her and she looked over her shoulder to make sure her daughters' eyes were still covered.

Sneakily, she peeled back the band of her husband's sweatpants and peeked inside.

"Anna!" Sei appeared at her side and swatted her hand.

"I'm just checking to make sure that nothing else has changed!"

"Okay, but why are you checking there!?"

"L-Look, I'm not like the vampire barbies over there, okay? He can barely fit in me as it is, so I'm just making sure that his changes don't end in me getting ripped in two!"

Sei's cheeks turned bright red. "...And?"

"We good." Anna held up two thumbs.

Sei couldn't help but find that reassuring as well.

With all of the noise happening above him, Malachi understandably woke up.

When he saw Anna's thumb in his waistband, he blinked a couple of times while rubbing the grit out of his eyes.

"I think I'm going to have to take a rain check for the time being, babe..."

Anna could count on one hand the number of times that Malachi had rejected her advances. Even if she wasn't actually trying to insinuate anything, her wounded pride couldn't stand for this.

She appeared in front of Zeke like a blur and grabbed him by the collar while shaking him.

"Fix my man! Fix my man! Fix my-"

"Anna...?"

Everyone in the room froze when they heard a distinct voice.

""Mommy!!""

Camille and Shiro left their bubbles for the first time and ran towards a bubble with Celeste inside.

They tore through the plastic and threw themselves into the woman's arms as if she hadn't just woken up from a scarily long nap.

Celeste showed the girls that same loving smile that she always did and wrapped both of them in her arms.

"Hello, my beauties..." she yawned. "What's all the excitement about?"

"We thought you were going to sleep forever!"

"Moms and Dad said you were getting superpowers!"

"I what?!" Celeste almost dropped both of her children.

Malachi appeared at Celeste's side and placed a hand to her head.

"You feeling alright?? Any pain??"

Celeste took one look at her husband's condition and shifted the item of his concern.

"S-Should you really be asking me that when you look like you're about to fall over and die? Why are you sweating so much and what happened to your wings??"

"That..."

"Daddy's turning into a demon. Like me!" Shiro held up two fingers.

"Excuse me?" Celeste's eyes almost rocketed out of her skull.

"No, your father won't be like you, babyface." Nadine informed. "Biblical demons are way different from yokai."

"Oh." Shiro looked slightly disappointed before realizing something else. "Which one am I?"

Nadine was starting to realize that maybe they should be teaching their kids more about their heritage.

"I'm sorry..." Celeste brought a hand to her head in exasperation. "Can someone please tell me what the hell is happening?"

No one was really quite sure where to begin.

"Well, before we answer that, do you feel any different..?" Serana tilted her head. "A little superpower-y?"

Celeste looked down at her hands.

She squeezed it once, then twice to guage the amount of strength she had in her body.

"I feel energized, but other than that... I don't feel any different at all."

No one in the room could decide if that was good or bad.

-

Celeste and Malachi were sitting in the tub together.

She rested against his chest as he wrapped them in his large wings and together, they enjoyed a tender and peaceful atmosphere.

Celeste felt extremely energized even though she had just been asleep for the better part of a day.

Over the course of her bath, she scoured her body for any sort of dramatic changes, and while she didn't find any, she did display some talents that she hadn't possessed before.

"I-I wanna try it again…"

"Are you sure? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Only for like a second, but it's fine. I'm not a child who can't handle a little pain."

Malachi acquiesced and gave Celeste his hand again. "If you're sure…"

She took his pointed finger and brought his claw to the center of her palm.

A drop of blood ran from her hand.

By the time it spilled into the water, the wound had already closed.

"Incredible…" Celeste had seen her entire family heal dozens of times before, but there was something different about doing it herself.

"It itches a little bit, but there's really no discomfort like I thought there would be… I'm amazed."

Malachi found Celeste's fascination with her powers to be quite cute. Especially for someone who had never shown any signs of wanting powers before.

"I wonder what type of Evolved I am..." She muttered as she started to climb out of the bath.

Malachi couldn't help but pay close attention to Celeste as she got out of the water.

The features that made her such an attractive woman had only been accentuated. She was mesmerizing.

"I hope it's not something difficult to manage. The last thing I want is to sneeze at work and turn the entire place into some kind of nuclear hotbed."

Celeste finished drying off and Malachi watched every single detail.

She picked out a bathrobe from the rack and covered her body before she wrapped her hair.

"I feel a little hungry, but I'm also sort of scared to eat. What if I find out that I'm like Jo and need an exorbitant amount of calories a day. We don't have enough money coming in for that. I'm going to be inconvenient!"

Malachi finally forced his mouth to start moving.

"None of the tests showed you having a heightened metabolism… and it would take a lot more than just an appetite to make you inconvenient."

Celeste finished doing her hair and turned around with a small, embarrassed smile.

"Do you think I'm rambling too much?"

"After not hearing you say anything for so long, I'm honestly enjoying it. I forgot how much i loved your voice."

"The love is mutual."

Their moment of shared flirtation was a welcome return to normalcy for them both. With their drastic changes at the forefront of their minds, a little marital connection went a long way to preserve their sanity.

They unconsciously spent the next several moments staring at each other; with a lingering heat being passed between them.

Celeste was the one to break the silence when she realized what she had been doing.

"So… are you staying in..?"

With his fingers beginning to prune, Malachi was already planning to get out sooner or later.

He lifted himself out of the bath and then it became Celeste's turn to stare.

She was surprised by just how little the demonic wings and tail bothered her.

They made him look like something unreal pulled from the recesses of a dark dream that she wouldn't tell anyone about.

She brought her gaze lower and lower, and was surprised by the rigid member already pointing at her.

"I thought you were exhausted…?"

Malachi followed her gaze downward and realized what she meant.

"It just kind of happened… I guess the rest of me hasn't gotten the memo yet." He laughed wryly.

Celeste fumbled with the edge of her robe awkwardly. Her cheeks became bright red under the candlelight.

"Well… we're already in the bathroom and we've got some time, so…"

Malachi was planning to ignore his urges and stuff them down, but the second Celeste showed signs of being open, it became all that he could think about.

A heat broiled in the pit of his stomach. Energy returned to his body in a powerful roar.

Celeste's eyes were firmly glued to the throbbing member aimed in her direction, but if she had've looked up for even a moment, she would have noticed his eyes turn a soft maroon color.

Malachi abandoned the towel he was using to dry off and started moving towards Celeste. She disrobed in return.

*Bang, bang, bang!*

"Hey, are you guys banging in there??" Serana called from outside.

Malachi felt his blood boil irrationally. He became so upset that his head started to spin.

"Serana, what are you-"

"Your mom's back and she told us we're not supposed to let you do certain stuff. Something about demons and their vices?"