Kat did, wanting to meet up.

Hey, tell me when you get done with class. Got a few things I want to talk about. Better if we're in person

I just got out. Should I be worried?

Maybe :P Be there in a sec

Eliza put her phone away with slight apprehension. She wondered what Kat would need to talk to her about. Knowing what’s usually on Kat’s mind, she could take a guess. It had warmed up in the past couple hours, so at least the wait wasn’t going to be miserable. She found a shady spot under a tree and sat down.

Thanks to her home’s proximity, Eliza only waited for around 5 minutes before the familiar human form of Kat came from around the corner, and boy did she know how to make an entrance. Her clothes were as revealing as one would expect for a succubus. She was wearing a dark spaghetti strapped tube top, a pair of short shorts, and a small denim vest. The rest of her was covered in what Eliza could best describe as a fishnet body suit. The wide checkered pattern ran from wrists to ankles, covering everything in between with skintight precision. With her purple hair, dark eyeshadow, and black lipstick, Kat pulled off the rebellious emo teen quite well. To the point where she was drawing the eyes of almost everyone she passed, man and woman alike. They couldn’t help but gawk at her exquisitely sculpted body. Eliza even saw one guy get slugged by his girlfriend, his eyes apparently lingering too long as they passed. She couldn't blame him considering she found it just as attractive. Who knew she was into the punk/goth look, she sure didn't until just now.

Their eyes meet, Kat giving an enthusiastic wave. Eliza returned the gesture, though started to feel uncomfortable when she realized that people were now looking at her. A group of girls behind Kat glared daggers at them, apparently threatened by her presence. Eliza did her best to ignore them and the others as Kat plopped down next to her.

“Don’t you ever get tired of being the center of attention?”

“I relish it darling. You should try it sometimes. Having so many eyes looking at you is just, invigorating.”

“I think I’ll pass. So what did you wanna talk about?”

“Man, straight to the point, loosen up.” Kat jested. When Eliza didn’t change her expression, she sighed in acceptance. “Like I said before, I had been shirking my duties on teaching you, so if you weren’t busy I figured we could start right away.” Eliza raised an eyebrow.

“Really? Since when are you so studious?” Kat looked away, a slight ping of guilt in her expression.

“Well, when I saw you so worked up last night, I felt bad. That could have easily been avoided if I just spent even a little time-”

“Save it.” Eliza interrupted, giving her a gentle smile. “It’s my fault for overthinking everything. And besides, I’m progressing really fast, at least according to you anyway.”

“Yeah, surprisingly fast to be honest.” Kat said, her expression lightening up a bit. “Speaking of which, I know you've felt others before, but how aware of your own essence have you’ve become?”

"My own?" Eliza thought about it a moment. "Not too much I guess. I've only ever 'felt' those few times."

"Right, that's normal. I..." Kat paused, looking down in thought. "I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, so bare with me. I want you to try and focus on your own essence. It's hard to tell you exactly how, you just kinda...feel it. The best I can say is to look inside of yourself and try your best to empty your mind."

"Sounds kinda like meditation." Eliza remarked. Kat perked up, her head jerking towards her.

"That's the word, it's exactly like that. Meditation is one of the ways that people first get attuned with their life essence, even normal people can learn to feel it, though to a much lesser degree."

"Really?" She was surprised to hear that, she thought that feeling one's aura was something that was only in fairytales.

"Yeah. Humans are more attuned to their essence than they know. It's often called other things though; having a gut feeling, intuition, ESP. These are actually just different ways normal people interpret their own essences."

"So wait, medians and psychics aren't just bullshitting everything?"

"Not exactly. People who train or are just more naturally sensitive to it can read surface level essences, though don't understand what they are reading. They make...educated guesses on what they are feeling. It's actually pretty impressive to be honest, considering how unattuned they are. Now, stop changing the subject. I want you to meditate on your essence."

"One more question?" Eliza said, fascinated by this newly learned information. Kat sighed, nodding her head. "So...um...are vampires real?" Kat looked at Eliza, deadpanned.

"Really?"

"No, I mean, not just vampires. But like, other cryptids and the like. Are they actually real?" Kat sighed, looking at Eliza similar to a naïve child.

"To answer your question, no, not really. Not in the sense you're thinking anyway. Vampires were thought to just be succubi with blood fetishes, or at least that's the prevailing theory anyway. Now, can we get back on track?" Eliza nodded, though slightly disappointed by the answer. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember how she was showed to meditate. One of her friends was into that whole meditation and yoga stuff, always preaching about it and trying to get Eliza to join her. The few times Eliza had tried to meditate, she only things she felt was boredom.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to block out everything around her. All voices, all sounds, all senses. She did her best to focus on her own aura, remembering the sensation of when she had felt them before. For a few moments nothing happened, but after a minute she actually started to feel something. She could feel something engulfing her body, flying outward from every angle. It felt wild and sporadic, almost like her skin was a raging bonfire and her aura was the flame. It was a weird sensation, as she could tell it was a part of her but...wasn't. Her aura expanded outward in every direction, unbound and unchecked. It was no wonder she was affecting others like she was, she might as well been blasting them with a fire hose. Eliza remembered back to what Kat had said when first explaining aura to her, about how she didn't have any control over it yet. So she does her best to do just that, to control the flow of aura. Instead of letting it out like a broken faucet, she first tried to turn it off. When that didn't work she did her best to at least keep it from expanding outward, doing her best to keep her essence contained in a small bubble around her.

"That's it, I think you got it. Good job." Kat said, impressed. Eliza couldn't help but smirk at the praise. "And you're restraining it, that was step two. Now, for step 3, focus on your essence and move it. I want you to try and pool it around your eyes. When you think you've got it, open them." Eliza did as instructed, doing her best to control the outburst of energy that was escaping her. It took a little time, but she finally managed to control it enough to feel a difference. She could almost feel two clouds around her eyes, a weird pseudo pressure that was there but also wasn't at the same time. Once satisfied with it's presence, she opened her eyes. She was shocked to see a purplish, transparent substance all around her skin. So shocked that she had lost concentration, her skin returning to normal. She focused again and within a few moments the purple aura had returned. Comparing it to a flame was pretty accurate, as her skin looked like it was on fire with the violet gas. She held up her hand, waving it side to side and watching her essence rise up and dissipate. This lasted for a few moments before she just couldn't keep going, feeling almost tired as the flame disappeared.

"Don't worry, that's normal. You'll get better at it with time and practice, and soon it'll be second nature. As easy and mindless as breathing. I have an idea on how to...aw fuck." Kat looked at the ground, an expression of distain and annoyance. Eliza followed her gaze and froze at what she saw. The ground underneath the two women had darkened, the color dulling as if the saturation was turned down. A black aura spiraled out from the center like a hypno disc, slowly speeding up as it spun. Eliza looked back up to Kat for answers, but didn't get the chance as she felt the sensation of falling. She watched in shock as the two of them fell into the ground, and then everything went black.