Smoking Hot: The Diary of a Fire Demon

by Amy Mah

  Day: 47

  Now I frigging upset Ember!!! I said I don’t want to swap rooms, and I am sure if she could cry she would have. Just what is it with this place? It is getting more frigging like high school every day!

  Day: 48

  Ember still upset, so much for Collage School for Demons now it is Feeling more like Junior High everyday.

  Day: 50

  Waited until Pink was asleep then tried to find out more about this Demon body I am now in. The thing is it feels normal; hands are like normal, but feet are more flexible in this shape. I have great movement with my toes. I am sure I could use my toes to write if I could find a pen and paper. Apart from the head I am hairless all over, including a lack of eyebrows, which I have only just noticed as the darkened line of color over my eyes looks like I have penciled some in with a makeup pencil.

  Boobs are a disappointment, as Pink could be correct that they are just for balancing the tail. I have no feeling in them, and they are just tipped with darkened skin but no nipples. There is also no tummy button, and I could say everything else is kind of normal-ish and female-ish in a plastic doll-like way. I don’t need to look closely down below as Pink insists on sleeping face down naked with her legs wide apart and tail stuck up in the air.

  This sort of behavior on her part also helps me confirm two things.

  1. I have no interest in becoming a lesbian, or whatever the equivalent is in the Demon world, and

  2. I have absolutely no idea how one can even get pregnant with this body, let alone lay eggs. Apart from the tail hole, which has a single obvious purpose, there is nothing. No matter how tight a pair of pants I may buy, I need never worry about camel toe problems ever again. Okay, add number

  3. I have apparently lost all interest in guys; true, there are none around, but I no longer even think about them.

  Day: 51

  The refectory is so like the one at my old college it is frightening, apart from only serving raw meat, which sounds ick until you take a look around, your tummy rumbles, and you discover the idea of eating everything so raw it could be still walking about is so appetizing. I also suspect were I to even eat a vegetable with this body, I would throw up.

  As to the taste of eating lizards that are raw and sometimes still trying to run away, the best I can compare it to in my human mind is chicken. Perhaps that is the standard universal taste of most things.

  Day: 52

  Good news!! Ember is talking to me again!! And not just talking; I’m just not sure why she likes touching my tail so much. What is all the fuss over something that can get trodden on so easily?

  Day: 53

  I woke up today and again discovered I had removed my shorts and thrown the blanket off during sleep time. I seem to be doing this every time I sleep.

  Day: 62

  All the same: is every day going to be the same? Like, mega boring: it’s high school all over again just without the benefit of guys taking shirts off on hot days. And I fear now I would not even bother to look, let alone drool.

  When the day starts, I wake up and discover I am nude again; I could go to bed in a straight jacket and still wake up naked!

  I am repetitively attacked by Dyson, my personal washing kit that likes to spend most of its time trying to get up my tail hole, and I am sure I will soon start dreaming of being ravaged by a tornado. If I owned any female bits in that department, I hate to think where I might lose him.

  I walk for hours to find the correct room for lecture or fighting or something, so that is no change from high school to college, where no one ever knows what room they should be in or even when they last saw the lecturer sober. I suspected the only way one of my past college lecturers got to class on time was that he slept in the room it was in or he was starting a great collection of empty booze bottles to go with an invasive case of body odors.

  Half the day is spent hitting someone or being hit, which for an Earth comparison I think of preschool or kindergarten except without the teddy bears.

  Day: 72

  Most people have built-in clocks. I have Pink and just follow her everywhere she goes. One day I am sure she will ask why I always follow her into washrooms. Well, I live in so much fear of losing her and getting lost that I have even timed my bowel movements to match hers.

  What I would call a day ends with a meal then sleep. The refectory is the place to eat, as if there was a choice, and it is so normal it is frightening, as are the way groups are formed regarding were you can sit. The Colds take over a large part of it and are buffeted from everyone else by the Earths, a Demon version of jocks that even Colds don’t upset partly due to the Earths’ being immune to Cold and partly the way they like to hit anyone or anything that gets in their way. Furniture also suffers if an Earth decides it is looking at them with dumb insolence.

  We hang about with the Lights and Airs. I say that loosely as they ignore us, and we ignore them.

  After eating everyone is sleepy, so we head back to our rooms, where we sort out stuff to be ready for the next wake time and then go to bed. I go to sleep wearing pajamas or shorts but know that in the morning the most I can hope for is to wake up wearing a smile. I am a sleep stripper! How can I complain that Pink walks about naked all the time when I have this urge to strip in my sleep: a nighttime exhibitionist!

  Day: 89

  Our second class today went all odd, and we ended up talking on naming and what people’s names mean only to have some Air tell me that my name is stupid, and this is from a girl calling herself “Airlite.” Airs are odd at the best of times. She said that “Alyce” means furry ear covers! At least the Moa came to the rescue and told everyone it was a type of volcanic hot air vent, like that helps! So I am no longer named after a furry hat but a hot earth fart instead.

  Day: 90

  At last I have got the kink out of my tail! I had tried not to think about it, but it has always been at the back of my mind, and I was sure it did not look good from behind. But I checked it today, and it’s perfect! Ember was correct with the exercises she gave me to do.

  I feel happy today, like having a good-looking tail is important. I don’t know how I could have lived without one before, as it is so useful, if only for being the best back scratcher ever designed.

  It’s odd, odd, odd! What is it with these stupid feelings of getting so hung up on having a fantastic-looking tail?

  Okay, what is also strange in my mind is that it must look great from behind. I just wish I had a camera.

  Day: 95

  Training went well today. I’m still feeling happy about my lovely tail and getting far more control over it.

  I’m also still doing odd things while I sleep. I only wear shorts now, but I still remove them in my sleep. Pink says it is me being a crazy Heat.

  I asked Ember about my sleeping habit of taking my clothes off, and she said my body should never get cold as it regulates to the correct heat without having to think on it. She said that wearing too much must confuse it and so I overheat when I sleep.

  Now I have to worry about where I sleep, and I will never go to sleep in a public place unless I want to give everyone a free strip show.

  Day 100

  Watching Colds create ice and snow that dissipates and does not melt as it does not leave any puddles makes me wonder if my Fire is the same as fire on Earth, but I guess it is, as apart from me and Pink, it can set burnable stuff on fire.

  Day: 110

  Calibration today: I’m colored!!!! All my fears of still being human are over. I’m colored! Okay, just a splash of red has appeared on my uniform near my left boob. At last my uniform has noticed what I am. I was so sure it was broken, as even Pink has been walking about with a large silver stripe running around her skirt.

  Day: 121

  Okay, so the tail is sensitive, but what is it with the crazy perverted girl-to-girl thing on touching tails? I see it in class sometimes between girls: tail touching when they are of the same race, clan, element, or whatever it is
that makes us fall into different groups. Ember will accidentally on purpose touch my tail with hers when we talk, and from the look I get from Pink, I know it is not by accident.

  Day: 122

  I think I may be banned from practicing tail slashing in company. I now know why the tail tip is so sharp, but I still have poor tail control. No one in class will now hold a target up for me. I just don’t know how anyone can hit a center point that small anyway, and no one thinks that my way of spinning on the spot is a good way of using a tail cutting point.

  I have discovered if I straighten my tail, the tip skin rolls back to show the cutting point, and when I relax it, the skin rolls forward to cover it again.

  Day: 132

  It was a good day for showing off my tail today as we had climbing skills. Like the others, I can’t stand that body stocking thingy we have for sports, so we got together to request not having to wear it for climbing. Climbing in the nude! It’s not something I would have wanted to try when I was human! OMG have I gone native!! The Moa showed us moving air images of what we looked like climbing, and I am pleased to say my tail and butt look great from behind!!!

  I am beginning to worry that I am getting a little obsessed with my tail, but it looks so cute when seen from behind. I have a body to die for and no one to show it off to, so no wonder I do a private striptease act when I sleep.

  Day: 133

  Nothing new

  Day: 134

  Same

  Day: 134

  Ditto

  Day: 139

  I tested out an idea today, and heck, I don’t know what I have done, but I sure got a reaction when walking in a corridor. I used my tail to wrap around Pink’s tail, and her eyes lit up. She wrapped hers around mine in return and did a tail hug.

  Day: 160

  Major problem! I had to make a note here; should I color my horns? Pink says virgin ivory is a cool look but plain ivory can look so drab at times. I must ask if anyone has a high-gloss polish I could borrow.

  I have a feeling I may be going even more native, if that is possible, but heck! They are sticking out of my head! It’s not like they can be hidden like one’s boobs. They should look good, so I now plan to polish them daily.

  Day: 163

  Crap! I lost a life point today! Like, how was I to know that the sand in the sandbath would heat up if I was in a hot mood? It was just bad timing that a Moa used it after me, and I still think sharing the same sand in a sandbath is not that hygienic.

  Day: 180

  I saw another Snowflake showing off wearing a pure white uniform today. I also noticed the look she gave when summing up. She was trying to decide if she could take me out on her own or if she would still need to call on her friends for full Cloud backing.

  Well, if she ever gives me another look like that, she better have the rest of her Cloud near, or I will leave her as a puddle on the floor.

  They can sense me the same as I can sense them. I was told that in the old days there was constant war between our two elements, and they do not even belong to this part of the world as they are Cold Worlders and should have stayed in the dark, whatever that means.

  Day: 191

  Stupid magic! Think calm and peaceful thoughts? I’m Fire! Every time I do that it’s like blowing out a match then trying to light a fire with the fast cooling hot smoky end! Stupid!!!

  Day: 198

  What is up with this place? They have invisible force barriers that you only discover when you hit your nose on one, yet they still have yet to invent the wheel!

  The world is full of magic, but do we do anything useful with it? No! I have to practice concentrating on lighting a candle with my mind. Just give me a magic mirror, and I will go home for a box of matches.

  Day: 200

  End of Term first cull quarter. We received our points today, and I have 147!!!!! Yippie!!!!!! 147! 147! 147! 147! So I’m safe, as is Pink.

  Day: 201

  A little bit of an anti climax today; everyone we know made it over the 100 life-point marker. But there looked to be a lot less at the meal, and no one is saying anything. It hardly seems appropriate to shout out, “look, I’m alive!” when anyone with less would not be around anyway.

  New term: we spent all day going between course tables and now have to pick higher point-giving courses. My 147 does not look that good now that we need to get 1000 before the end of the next term.

  Smoking Hot: (13)

  At the first meal of new term, Alyce could now see the real difference in numbers and wondered just how it worked; did you get summoned to the principal’s office? She had tried to bring it up with Pink, but her roommate did not want to discuss it.

  “They were too weak to survive, so it’s just nature, I guess. Anyway, look at what I was able to find on today’s menu specials.”

  Pink was holding up two small lizards by their tails, which Alyce knew as “Tri-acks” due to the three barbs on their tails.

  Alyce wondered if perhaps she could become the first vegetarian Demon, as the eating of them not only raw but still very much alive and clawing was something her human mind shuddered at, and her mental revulsion was only spoiled by the way her tummy rumbled and her mouth was starting to drool.

  “Pink? Do you ever think it may be cruel to eat them alive?”

  Pink laughed.

  “I so love your humor! No, why the loving Sun would anyone ever think that? The only reason they exist is to be eaten, so do you want one or not?”

  No, Alyce thought, why would she? After all, nothing is being said about the killing off of fellow students that could have been 1 point short of the 100 target. Trying very hard not to think about what was happening, she bit the tail off, spat it out, and then placed the little creature at the back of her mouth and swallowed. She could feel it wriggle as it went down, and she wondered why she found it such a pleasant feeling.

  Now the problem was whether she should leave the bitten-off lizard tail on the table or look for a bin to put it in? It was a waste, but it had a barbed tail and they were hard to digest and normally got stuck half way down.

  Smoking Hot: (14)

  Day: 202

  Culling is not the only way to leave here early. There are lots of rumors going around about assassinations! Like, why? The Academy kills enough as it is without people killing off each other. Like Pink, I believe the Snowflakes are to blame.

  Ember turned away from the view from the balcony of her room and gave a sigh. She would like to be happy, but that was not how she had been created. Irritable was about the best of her moods, which was, she expected, one reason why she had one nice double sleeping chamber all to herself. That and Fire Demons did not make good roomies, and Fire Demons were in short supply at the Academy this year for her to find a cousin sister to share with her. The only other Heat of her year was a cousin sister called Alyce, and she was for some reason slumming it with a noisy Electric. The girl was on the hot side of energy, which could be why they had teamed up, but she was still disappointed that Alyce wanted to stay with her and not stick with her own race, which would have been more normal.

  She decided that her cousin sister would come to her senses in time and ask to move in with her, so all she had to do was wait.

  Ember tossed her uniform onto the spare bed and placed both hands flat on the stone floor of her sleeping area, sending waves of heat into the stone. When she had mastered the ability better, she would leave it on automatic; at the moment she was forced to wake up halfway into the sleep time and reheat the stone floor where she slept.

  Being away from the heat of her sisters was one of the things she most disliked about Academy life.

  She should not have had to worry about the temperature, as the body should always keep her warm automatically, but she was still young. Her body could go from hot to cold as she slept, and being cold was so not a good idea at her developing age.

  At home she never worried about the cold, as she used to be able to curl up with her sister
s and lots of blankets, but now even blankets were a past luxury, as she would only set them alight while she slept during a hot phase.

  True, she, like any heat her age, was forced to sleep nude, well, not fully naked, as she had the bloodstone on a chain around her neck. It had been a going-away present from her sisters. She loved it, but some nights a fireproof blanket would have been nicer.

  But she always slept holding onto it, as it meant so much. In daylight, it was a fine and very rare black gem that radiated a darkness, or rather, light got sucked in and was not reflected. In bright light, it looked like she was wearing a hole. It was admired by all who saw it, but it had a secret that she kept to herself. If worn by a Heat, then in the dark it changed, and through faults in the gem a red glow could be seen, making it look like a glowing ember. She loved her sisters for thinking of such a thoughtful gift; all girls got gifts when leaving home for the Academy, but none she had seen were as nice a gift as this.

  When her bed had reached a point where it would soon start to glow, she climbed onto it, feeling the lovely warmth caress her skin. She gave the bloodstone a kiss and was able to flick her tail twice before she was deep in sleep.

  Ember slowly tried to wake. Her mind was still full of cotton wool, but she had to wake. Her bed was no longer warm, and she was sluggish. Something was very wrong; she was not alone. There were others in the room, and then she saw who there were. As one leaned over her, she tried to awaken her flame, but a white and icy rod was jammed into her chest. It burned with Cold, causing both her heart and flame to die at the same time.

  Her dead fingers were pried apart, and the black gem and chain were taken.

  Smoking Hot: (15)

  Day: 203

  A sad day. I tried to find Ember, the only other of my kind here that I know of, and she has vanished! But I know she had 164 points, so would have survived the culling.

  Day: 205

  I told Pink today that if she was thinking of painting her tail cutting point pink to match her horns, I’m going to pretend not to know her! Besides, the color would get chipped as soon as it was flicked.