Chapter 62: 50. The New Champion

"Hey, welcome!" Melanie greeted me and Kaylee and Nina as we arrived. "Come on through, we're hanging out in the backyard. There's drinks and snacks so help yourselves!"

Marissa was already there, so it was just Paige and Brooke who hadn't arrived yet. They were supposed to be on their way though, we figured they'd be along any time.

There were a bunch of mismatched outdoor chairs and plastic tables out there, and Melanie already had the BBQ heating up. There was some music too, the wolfgirl had her phone plugged into a speaker. It wasn't exactly loud but it was nice to have in the background.

Sure enough the last two girls showed up a few minutes later, and Melanie invited them through as well. Marissa helped bring out the food and stuff, then as Melanie got things going on the grill she commented, "So my dad's at work until half past ten tonight? That means we can be a little rowdy and have some fun."

"Uh, but not too rowdy," she added with a grimace. "Like we don't want anyone calling the cops on us."

Brooke smiled, "Don't worry Melanie. I don't think any of us ever get that noisy."

The wolfgirl nodded, "I know. I've probably been listening to my dad too much, that I thought I had to mention it."

"Anyways," she changed the subject, "What do y'all feel like? We've got burgers, and we've got hotdogs. And cheese too, I can cheese up the burgs and dogs."

Even though it was pretty simple basic food it was still tasty. Like frozen processed burger patties, processed cheese slices, and store-brand hotdogs. Melanie was pretty good with the BBQ though so it all came out tasting good. And she had the usual condiments available to go with it.

The food was sort of secondary anyways, like the main thing was hanging out with our friends. And we were all enjoying the nice summer weather as we ate and talked and generally took it easy.

At one point Nina was quietly munching on her hotdog when Melanie asked her, "So one thing I've been curious about? What makes you a demon, instead of a really powerful long-lived human? I mean apart from the horns you look human. And you act human, you even eat the same food as humans."

My little sis started blushing and looked more shy and awkward, plus she had a mouthful of food so she couldn't respond right away.

"Sorry if that was a rude question," Melanie added. "I'm just curious, I don't mean to offend or upset you."

Nina swallowed her food then had a gulp of juice to wash it down. When she finally responded her voice was quiet as usual and she seemed kind of embarrassed and anxious again.

"This isn't my real form," she sort of mumbled. "It's my human form, and I like this shape better so I mostly don't use my original demon shape. And I eat human food because I like it, and to fit in and be social. But it doesn't feed me. I um, I need to eat other things to survive."

By the time she was finished talking her voice was even quieter, but everyone else got just as quiet too. There were a couple awkward or uncomfortable looks on some of my friends' faces. And I wasn't surprised that Kaylee was the one to take that as her cue to dig a little deeper.

My girlfriend stared at the small shy demon and asked, "So what is it you eat, exactly? What do demons eat?"

Nina sighed and stared down at the ground, she looked nervous and guilty. She was probably afraid she was about to lose all her new friends. She might have even been scared she'd get kicked out of our house or something, though I wouldn't let that happen.

"Nightmares," she finally replied in a half-whisper. "I eat people's nightmares."

Before Kaylee could react the small demon added quickly, "I don't cause them! I take them away. I um, I help people sleep better by consuming their nightmares."

Hearing all that left me feeling surprised, and I couldn't help wondering if she fed on just nightmares or regular dreams too. Because something I hadn't mentioned to anyone yet was I hadn't been able to remember any of my dreams for over a month. I was pretty sure I still had them though. There were mornings I woke up suddenly, coated in sweat and with my heart pounding like I'd just had the worst nightmare ever. Except I could never remember anything.

It seemed to start around the same time I ended up in the hospital, and I'd kind of assumed it had something to do with the second circle of runes in my chest being broken. Only now I couldn't help wondering if it was my little sister's doing instead.

I glanced around at the others and saw some worried or uncertain looks on their faces, which told me they were probably wondering the same thing, like was Nina feeding on me and my parents? Or maybe she was doing it to all our friends?

My little sis obviously noticed the way everyone was looking at her. She gulped and said quietly, "I couldn't feed from Cass or her parents even if I wanted to. I can only feed on human nightmares. But I haven't fed from any of you either. I wouldn't do that, I don't want to take advantage of my friends."

That set my mind at ease, and I realized I should have known Nina wouldn't do anything to harm any of us. The others all started to relax a bit as well, except maybe my girlfriend.

Kaylee kept her eyes on the small demon as she asked, "So can we see your real form? What do you really look like, when you aren't disguised as a human?"

Nina blushed and looked down at the ground again, "I really don't want to do that. I don't like that shape, I like this one better."

"That's ok Nina," Melanie said as she moved to the small demon's side. The wolfgirl put an arm around my little sis and stated, "I can relate to that, and I bet Cass can too. I don't like my original shape either. Fortunately I don't have to use it anymore, and neither do you."

I agreed, "Definitely. Be the you that you're most comfortable with. If this is who you want to be, then this is who you are."

Melanie added, "Sorry I put you on the spot Nina."

"Thank you Melanie," she replied quietly. "And thanks Cass."

After that the tension faded, and almost everyone relaxed and got back to the friendly conversation and food. Except I was positive Kaylee was still looking for an opportunity to demonize the small demon. Which kind of irritated me but I didn't want to call her out on it in front of everyone.

I noticed though, after that when folks were mingling or moving around, Nina seemed to make a point of staying close to either me or the wolfgirl. I thought it was cute, but also made me feel kind of sad for her. Like she was fifteen hundred years old, and she was a demon. According to May Hawthorne that meant Nina was one of the most powerful supernaturals on Earth. But she was nervous and timid around some of my friends, especially my girlfriend.

It wasn't much longer before everyone had all the burgs and dogs they wanted. So Melanie shut down the BBQ and put away the leftovers and condiments and everything. There was still lots of stuff to snack on though, she had some bowls of chips set out and a bowl of spicy pork rinds. And there was lots of soda and juice to drink.

Then when it started getting dark out we all went inside, Melanie invited us down to the basement which she'd sort of claimed as her own private space. And as soon as we were down there she shifted to her wolfgirl form, with her ears and tail out. Actually I got the feeling she'd like to stay in that form all the time, except folks would ask too many questions if she was out in public like that.

As for the basement, it almost felt like it was her den. Like because it was underground, and she had it set up kind of like an apartment. She had her bed and dresser and clothes in one corner. Then she had a couple old sofas set up in another corner with a view of her TV. She also had a coffee table there, and a big comfy-looking beanbag chair.

The chips and pork rinds came downstairs with us, along with a cooler full of drinks. Then Melanie turned on the TV and her game console. She had a couple controllers so two people could play against each other while the rest of us watched or talked.

Paige Brooke and Marissa took one sofa while the wolfgirl sort of flopped onto the beanbag chair, so I sat with Kaylee and Nina on the other sofa. And at first we watched Melanie and her girlfriend playing a racing game against each other. After the young blonde lost she handed her controller over to Paige, who took over in an attempt to defeat the champion while Brooke cheered her on.

And while the three of them were doing that, Marissa got up and wandered over to join the three of us. She sat on the arm of the sofa to the left, on the other side of Nina. And I couldn't help noticing it looked like she had something on her mind, like she was curious or wanted to say something.

After a couple seconds the normally brash witch quietly asked Nina, "So um, when you feed on nightmares, what happens to them? Do they go away forever, or can they come back? And does that hurt the person you're feeding from?"

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Her voice was soft enough I doubted anyone else heard over the sounds from the TV, apart from my little sister and myself.

Nina hesitated for a moment before replying just as quietly, "There's no pain, people don't even wake up when I feed. And it doesn't harm them in any way either. The nightmares go away. Sometimes forever, sometimes only for a while."

She sighed as she continued, "It depends on what causes them. Nightmares after watching a scary movie usually don't come back. Long-term recurring ones can reform. Or if whatever caused them is still happening, then the nightmares can be recreated."

There was another pause, but I stayed quiet and pretended I wasn't listening. Like I was curious, but didn't want to make a big deal out of it since Marissa obviously meant it to be a private conversation.

After a second or two the young witch stated softly, "You're welcome to take my nightmares. As often as you want."

Rather than say something, Nina just leaned closer and gave Marissa a brief but tight hug. Then the small demon let go, and Marissa got up and went to go check how Melanie and Paige were doing with their game.

One by one we all got dragged into the video game competition, and one by one Melanie beat everybody. Brooke did really good while I was fairly awful. Then it turned out Kaylee was even worse at it than me. The big surprise came when we all finally convinced Nina to try it.

The small quiet demon needed a few minutes to get the hang of the controllers and Melanie had to explain the buttons and things, but when they finally went at it Nina held her own against the self-proclaimed champion.

My little sis fell behind at first but it turned out that was just her getting the hang of it. Then next thing we knew she'd turned the tables and Melanie was starting to fall behind. It was actually kind of exciting to watch, and when the game was over there was a new champion. I might have even let out a cheer when my little sister won the game.

Instead of a crown or trophy Nina got to sit in the beanbag chair. Though I had a feeling that rule might have been made up in the thirty seconds before the wolfgirl mentioned it.

Either way, as Nina took her place on the soft comfy throne Marissa asked, "How'd you get so good at gaming?"

The small demon was blushing but she also had a happy smile on her face. The blush got brighter and her smile faltered slightly as she admitted, "I spent a few decades in video arcades. Kind of from the nineteen seventies through to the late nineties?"

"Though there've been amusement arcades around for over a hundred years," she added. "They were mostly mechanical things originally. I got really good at pinball, but it got a lot more fun when they invented video games."

When she realized we were all sort of staring at her at that point, Nina cringed and blushed brighter. She mumbled an apology to Melanie about cheating because she had all that experience, but the wolfgirl just smiled.

"Being good at games isn't a cheat Nina," our host told her. "If it was, then I'm cheating too. I've been playing these games forever. Well, maybe not as long as you, but since I was seven or eight anyways. And I've had lots of practice."

Then Marissa grinned, "Ok let's start round two of the championship!"

Melanie laughed and handed over her controller, "I need a break, so the rest of you can all take on the new gaming queen. I'm going to grab a drink and..."

Her voice trailed off, then she sighed and looked towards the staircase. After a couple seconds the rest of us heard what her sensitive wolf-ears already picked up.

Footsteps came down the stairs, and a moment later we were joined by a middle-aged man. He was about average height for a guy, maybe a tiny bit taller than Paige. His dark hair was trimmed short, a five o'clock shadow was obvious against his slightly pale complexion. It was hard to guess his eye-colour, there wasn't actually much light down the basement apart from the TV and one small lamp by the bed.

One thing that was obvious was he looked tired. Like that kind of weariness that's more than just physical tiredness. And he let out a slow deep sigh as he looked at Melanie.

"Hey dad," the wolfgirl greeted him quietly. "How was work?"

He shrugged, "Same as usual. Are you having a party or something?"

Melanie shook her head, "No. I just invited my friends over for a bit. We had BBQ for dinner, now we're playing games."

Before he could respond she did all the introductions. "That's Brooke and Paige, that's Cass and Kaylee. And Cass's sister Nina. And you already know Marissa. And gang, this is my dad, Tony Caetano."

"I cooked up a couple burgs for you dad," she added. "They're in the fridge but you can warm them up if you're hungry."

He thanked her for that, then sighed "Do you have to do the thing with the ears and tail Mel? In front of all these people?"

"They're my friends dad," she stated a little defensively. "They know who and what I am, and they all accept me as me. And we're not out in public, the neighbours won't see."

Mr. Caetano sighed again then just turned and went back upstairs.

"Sorry everyone," Melanie apologized quietly after her dad was gone. "He's just really tired after work. We can keep going with the game and everything, just try and keep the noise down a bit."

There were a few more rounds with the game, and more talking and stuff, but it sort of felt like Melanie's dad sucked the life out of the party. Nobody would say it though, it just felt like the casual relaxed atmosphere had dried up.

It wasn't much longer before Brooke and Paige decided they had to go, since there was work tomorrow and stuff like that. Then Kaylee suggested me and her and Nina ought to head out as well. Apparently Marissa was going to stay the night, which I figured was a good thing. Like at least Melanie didn't have all her guests suddenly fleeing at once.

"I'd almost think you're living here Marissa, with how much time you spend here," Paige commented.

The younger blonde grimaced, "I wish. Anyways see you all later, have a good night."

Then before we all headed out I reminded the others, "I know it's not for a couple weeks, but you're all invited to a get-together over at my place at the end of the month? Saturday August twenty-eighth, probably around the same time? Like five-ish? It's my eighteenth birthday and I'm hoping you'll all be able to make it."

"For sure," Melanie nodded. "I wouldn't miss it."

Marissa agreed, "Same."

Brooke and Paige confirmed they'd be there too, and I already knew both Kaylee and Nina would as well. That was about it, we all bid each other a good night and everything. Then before leaving I leaned closer to Marissa and whispered, "Happy birthday. I'm glad we were able to celebrate it with you, even if it was in secret."

"Thanks Cass," she blushed. "And thanks for not telling anyone."

~ End of Episode Six ~