Chapter 63: 51. Welcome ♥ Hell

After putting the finishing touches on my makeup I took a step back and looked myself over in the mirror. And I couldn't help but grin. I was kind of excited to find out what Marissa and Melanie would have to say about my outfit. I wasn't going all-in with Hecatia cosplay the way the young blonde did with her Kirisame outfit, but I was part-way there.

My mini-skirt was plaid, but mostly red rather than the correct three-colour look. And I had sandals rather than going bare-foot. My top was accurate though, it was black with white lettering that read 'Welcome ♥ Hell'. It was the right style too, with the wide neck that was always slipping down off one shoulder or the other. And I had a little purse hanging from a thin strap, from my right shoulder to my left hip.

It wasn't a bad look, and I really liked the skirt. I wasn't sure about the tee yet, but I figured since me and Kaylee were going to hang out with our Touhou fan friends today it was a good time to try it out. Plus it was Friday the thirteenth, and that felt like a good excuse to dress up a bit differently.

With one last smile at my reflection, I grabbed my purse then turned and headed for the stairs. From the sound of it mum was still in the kitchen, probably having an extra cup of coffee, and I figured I'd join her and have some juice or something while I waited for Kaylee to arrive.

As I started down the stairs I suddenly felt a faint chill down my spine and some of the little hairs on my arms stood up. As soon as I felt it I stopped in my tracks and held my breath. It was magic, but it seemed weak. I hadn't felt anything like it since May Hawthorne's divine magic put me in the hospital.

Seeing how I wasn't dead I figured the magic was too weak to break any more of those runes, but before I could continue on down the stairs I was surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice from the kitchen where mum was.

"Tats!", a young woman exclaimed. "I found Her! She's back, I finally found Her!"

That was followed immediately by mum gasping, then she let out an exasperated sigh. "Damnation Rav, you made me spill my coffee!"

I slowly and quietly continued down the stairs as I listened. Whoever she was, mum seemed to be friends with her. Though I wasn't sure why she addressed my mum as 'Tats', since as far as I knew mum didn't have any tattoos. On the other hand it's possible she had some in places I'd never seen.

The stranger responded, "Ugh, I can't believe you drink that stuff. Anyways aren't you listening? She's finally back! I first sensed Her during the full moon last month! Someone summoned Her, I'm sure of it. It was too weak and too brief for me to track Her down, but then two weeks ago I felt Her grow stronger. And now I've found Her! I've arranged to meet with Her tonight, isn't that wonderful?"

By that point I was standing in the kitchen doorway, but neither mum or her guest had noticed me yet. Mum was still in her housecoat and slippers, despite it being almost noon. She was taking the whole 'day off' thing pretty seriously, by the look of it. She was just finishing cleaning the coffee she spilled on the table as I watched quietly.

Then I turned my attention to her friend, who looked like some kind of excited goth college student. She had shoulder length jet black hair, hazel eyes, and her skin was so light it was almost pale. She was in her early twenties, and wore an outfit of black ankle boots, black leggings, and a knee-length black dress. Her nail polish and lipstick were also black, but her earrings were silver.

"It's very good news Rav," mum agreed as she fixed herself another coffee. "But you know both Julie and I have asked you not to pop in unexpectedly like this? You remember we have some strict rules about not using magic in our home, right?"

The goth rolled her eyes, "We're angels Tatiana, regardless what we look like we aren't human and we don't need to act like them behind closed doors. You know I refuse to set foot on a bus, and I won't hire a cab either."

"And anyways," she added in a smug tone, "I checked before I came over. I know there's no humans in the house, there's nobody around but you to be surprised by my sudden appearance."

Hearing that would have shocked me a month or two ago, but at this point it just confirmed what I already knew. I might have been born human, but there was nothing left of that now.

Meanwhile mum just sighed and asked her friend, "Can I get you anything while I'm up? I know you won't have coffee, but I can offer you some soda, juice, or spring water. I'd offer you whiskey but it's a little early for that."

"Hah hah," the goth pouted. "You know full well She forbid me from drinking alcohol."

"Oh I know Rav. And I haven't forgotten why either," mum replied with a smirk as she sat down again.

After a sip of her coffee she asked her friend, "Anyways so you've found her, you're meeting her tonight? Where are you getting together? And did she call for you, or did you contact her?"

As I continued to watch and listen I got the feeling I knew this Rav person from somewhere. Something about her seemed familiar to me, and I started trying to figure out how I knew her or where I'd seen her before.

Rav finally sat down at the table across from mum, or rather she slumped down into the chair with a sigh.

"She didn't call for me, and I haven't contacted Her," the goth admitted. "And we're not meeting face to face as such? I found out She plays a video game online with a few friends, so I got my hands on a copy of the game and I've been grinding up levels. I've arranged to meet Her and Her friends online, to try and join Her party?"

Mum almost face-palmed, "You're cyber-stalking her?"

"Not as such," mum's friend protested. "More like, surreptitiously letting Her know I'm available and ready to do Her bidding whenever She needs me. And in the meantime I'll get to know Her new friends and keep tabs on what She's up to."

She added with a smile, "I've already figured out She's living with another mortal woman. Not far from here in fact, only about thirty kilometres south of your place."

I suddenly realized where I knew our guest from. I hadn't seen her in about four years, but she hadn't changed at all in that time. And before mum responded to her friend I blurted out, "You're Aunt Merel!"

Mum and her guest both turned suddenly to stare at me. And this time mum did face-palm, while her guest's eyes tracked up and down over me.

"Iulia, is that you?" she asked. "That's a cute look. I wouldn't have guessed you'd go for such a young shape though."

I frowned, "My name is Cass. And I take it you're not really Aunt Merel?"

Mum sighed, "Cassandra, this is my friend Ravenna, also known as Raven, but I call her Rav. And Rav, this is my and Julie's daughter Cassandra, but she likes to be called Cass."

"Daughter?" Ravenna asked as she looked from me back to mum. "I didn't know you had a daughter. I thought you two adopted a human boy, what happened to him?"

That made me cringe slightly, since I wasn't sure if it was safe to come out as trans to this angel.

Mum cut through any awkwardness as she told her friend in a firm no-nonsense voice, "Our child came out to Julie and I last autumn, Ravenna. She's our daughter, and her name is Cassandra."

Raven turned to me and smiled. "In that case, hello again Cassandra. You've grown up to be a beautiful young woman. Sorry for the deception when we first met, I was under the impression you were human and your parents wanted me to keep my true nature hidden from you."

Before I could respond to that she turned her attention back to mum and asked, "So where's Iulia hiding?"

"She had to go down to the city today," mum replied. "She's meeting with Fiachra."

I noticed mum didn't say anything about Nina, or why she and mom were in the city. Mom hadn't told me who the two of them were going to see, but I assumed it must be this Fiachra person.

Meanwhile Rav made a face, "Wait isn't he that strange old fae guy with the little antique store? Why in seven heavens would she want to meet with him?"

You are reading story Club Luna at novel35.com

Mum gave me a very brief warning look not to say anything. Then she responded, "It's a long and boring story, but the short version is we need some help deciphering a complicated enchantment. And that's the sort of thing Fiachra's good at."

After a few seconds Raven grinned, "Oh, I get it. Someone dropped off something enchanted or valuable at your junk store, so you've sent the wife to take it to the so-called expert for appraisal."

"Yes Rav, that's more or less correct," mum answered. She looked like she wanted to roll her eyes or something, like she was letting her friend believe that story rather than have to explain the truth about me.

A moment later she frowned at her friend, "Wait a moment, you said you checked that I was alone before you arrived. How exactly did you check?"

I interjected in a calm casual tone, "She scanned the house with her magic. I felt it when I was coming down the stairs, but luckily it was too weak to affect me."

Mum's eyes went wide as her focus snapped from me to her friend and she demanded, "You did WHAT?!"

"Anyways I'm going to see Kaylee now, be back later! Bye mum, bye Rav!" I added on my way out of the kitchen towards our front door.

I got to hear the first few seconds of mum losing her cool as I left, and I had to stifle a giggle as I calmly walked towards my girlfriend's place. Not that I had anything against Ravenna, but I figured it'd be a long time before she tried using magic around our house again after my mum got through with her.

A couple minutes later I rounded the last corner and spotted Kaylee just setting out from her house. We both smiled and waved, then as soon as we met the two of us exchanged a hug.

"I was just on my way to your house," she said. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah it's fine," I replied as we started walking together. "Mum has an angel friend visiting, so I figured I'd come meet you at your place this time."

Kaylee sort of did a double-take, "Another angel? One of her former coworkers? Is your mom going to be ok?"

"I didn't ask who she worked for," I replied with a shrug as we headed down into the ravine. The quickest way to Melanie's place took us past the school, so it was easier to take our regular short-cut. "I think it's some goddess though, instead of a churchy god? She definitely didn't look like a churchy kind of angel, she was more like a goth college senior. And mum didn't seem worried."

"Actually when I left them I think mum was about to go all biblical on her," I added with a smirk.

Kaylee made a "huh" sound, then as we were walking through the schoolyard she asked "Is Ninaya busy or something? This feels like the first time I've seen you without her tagging along in a couple weeks. Not that I'm complaining though. It's nice to have you to myself for a change."

"She's with my mom today," I replied. "The two of them went down into the city to talk with some old fae expert about Socha's runes and stuff."

"And you only get me to yourself till we get to Melanie's place," I teased. "Then we'll be hanging out with her and Marissa."

She ignored that and focused on the other thing, "Some old fae? I don't like the sound of that. Fae are supposed to be untrustworthy tricksters at best, and outright evil at worst."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "And all demons are evil and dangerous, all witches eat children and consort with the devil, and all werewolves are vicious killers. Or maybe everyone's just people and we shouldn't judge them based on what they are."

Kaylee gave me a dark look but I just shrugged and pointed out, "If my parents trust him enough to get his opinion on this stuff then he's probably trustworthy? And if not, I'm sure mom will be careful and cautious dealing with the guy. Apparently he owns an antiques store in downtown Toronto or something? He can't be that bad if he runs a store in the city."

"I don't suppose there's been any more progress on that stuff?" she asked, ignoring everything else I said. "It's been over two months now since Ninaya told us what she did to you. Two months since you were last able to use magic. And it feels like there hasn't been any progress at all."

"Nope," I replied with another shrug. "Maybe mom and Nina will have some news for us when they get back?"

My girlfriend sighed, "I hope so. It'd sure be nice to put that behind us before summer's over."

I didn't bother to respond, we'd already had that conversation too many times as far as I was concerned. We were both quiet for the rest of the walk, which fortunately wasn't that long. When we got to Melanie's place Kaylee knocked at the door while I waited next to her.

After a half minute or so it was opened by the wolfgirl's dad, and from the look on his face I figured he didn't recognize us. Though we'd only met him once, at Marissa's not-birthday not-party.

"Hi Mr. Caetano," I greeted him. "We're here to see Melanie?"

He nodded and motioned us both inside, "She's down in the cellar again, I'm sure you two remember the way."

Kaylee and I thanked him, then headed for the basement stairs by the kitchen while our friend's dad closed the door behind us. There was a TV on in the living-room and I spotted a half-empty beer bottle balanced on the arm of a chair in front of it, so it wasn't hard to guess what Mr. Caetano was up to.

Then as we headed down the stairs I could hear the sounds of a video game from the basement, so it was easy to guess what our friends were doing too.

"Hey you two," the wolfgirl called from where she was slumped on her beanbag chair. She hadn't taken her eyes off her game, which seemed to have her and her girlfriend battling each other. One of her tall fuzzy ears was pointed our way, and the tip of her tail was swishing around. "Pull up a sofa, grab a drink if you want. There's stuff in the cooler."

Marissa was sitting on the sofa nearest her girlfriend, and the blonde witch was almost as focused on the game. She glanced over to greet us though, "Hi Cass, Kaylee. I've almost got her... Woah nice Hecatia outfit!"

"Gotcha!" Melanie announced with a grin, and a moment later the action on the screen came to an end. "That's five for me, three for you. I'm still the champion!"

The young blonde groaned as she slumped back on the sofa in defeat, while Kaylee frowned at the two of them. My girlfriend sounded like a mom as she asked, "It's a beautiful summer day out there and you two are hiding in a basement playing video games?"

To my surprise that put a grin on the blonde witch's face. She looked a little excited as she announced, "Well good news! Club Luna's probably going hiking at Monora Forest again in the near future. I think Cass was right. When we closed the portal some fairies got trapped on our side."

The wolfgirl added, "Paige and Brooke are coming over later, around dinner time. Can you maybe text Nina and ask her to come by too?"

"Sure," I smiled. "Are we going to make it another party?"

Melanie rolled her eyes, "No parties. We'll probably order something in for dinner though."