Chương 190: Interlude 42 – Another Non-Incident

=::= Cerys's PoV =::=

"It was cool finally getting to meet Belinda after all this time," I commented as the two of us left the grocery store after work.

My girlfriend glanced at me as we set out on the walk home, "I hope you're not upset that it took so long to introduce you to her?"

"Nah," I shook my head. "I'm sure they're as big on secrecy as Miss Hawthorne. How else could you keep a whole wolf pack secret nowadays, right?"

Melanie nodded as we cut through the trees and empty land north-east of the store, "That's pretty much it. They keep to themselves, and don't show off their ears and tails anywhere, except their home turf."

"That's what I figured," I replied.

We were past the trees and stuff by that point, and crossing an empty field. I glanced at her and commented, "There's one thing I'm curious about though?"

My girlfriend gave me a suspicious look, she obviously recognized the tone in my voice. She sounded wary as she asked, "What's that?"

I tried not to smile as I asked, "If they're called the Tate Wolfpack because Belinda Tate is their matriarch, does that make us the Caetano Wolfpack? Or can we pick some other name?"

"Nope. No way, not a chance," she stated as she shook her head. "You are not coming up with a name for our pack. Nobody who thinks 'Lunamobile' is a good name for the mini-van is allowed to even suggest names for wolf packs."

My attempt at keeping a straight face fell apart and I broke down giggling as the two of us left the field and entered an older subdivision.

"You know I'm great at naming stuff!" I protested once I finally got over my laughter.

Melanie wasn't buying though, and she seemed serious enough about not letting me give our pack a cool name that I let the topic go. For now. Instead I just quietly walked next to her as we followed our usual route back home from work.

We were walking today since Kaylee took the Lunamobile to university. Apparently she had some last-minute stuff to deal with before classes started next week, and it also meant she could find a safe place to use for teleporting. So hopefully this was the first and last time she'd have to drive there.

Me and Mel continued walking in silence for another minute or so, before we both suddenly stopped in our tracks.

"Do you smell that?" I asked softly. "That's a demon scent, right?"

My girlfriend nodded, "Yep. Not just any demon either, I know that scent."

"What?" I frowned at her. "How many demons do you know that I don't?"

She shook her head, "I don't know her, but you and I both saw her once before. You were still human at the time, that's why you don't know the scent."

It only took a moment for me to figure out what she was talking about. "The demon wedding? They're back?"

"Right," Melanie nodded. "It's not the twin we talked to, this is one of the others that was with her."

"She said they were succubi," I stated as my heart started to race. I couldn't help smiling as I added, "Let's go see what they're up to."

I was already moving, it was easy to track the scent even in human form. Melanie sighed as she followed along behind me, but she pulled out her phone so she could send a text to the rest of the club.

"There!" I said a minute later as I gestured towards a small split-level home on the other side of the road about five or six houses down from us. The front door was open and the place had a dumpster in the driveway, and there was a small four-door car parked out front.

As we watched, an attractive young woman with short blonde hair emerged from the house carrying a couple boxes of stuff, which she unceremoniously tossed into the dumpster. She didn't look like any of the demons I remembered seeing back at the wedding, or the day before when we first encountered them in the cafe next to the grocery store.

Then a second young woman emerged from the place, and I definitely recognized this one. She was stunningly attractive, and where the first was just dressed in jeans and a t-shirt this one was in dark slacks and a designer blouse. I'd almost swear she just stepped off a fashion shoot. Her outfit, her make-up, her hair, was all too perfect.

"I've posted it to group chat," Melanie half-whispered. "It probably won't be long before we get Cassandra over here, maybe Nina too."

I smiled, "Perfect. They'll be our back-up. I'm going to go see what they're up to."

Mel tried to stop me but I was already moving again, as I walked towards the demon house at a calm casual pace. After muttering some choice curse words my girlfriend hurried to catch up. I could guess what she was worried about, we'd been told over and over that strange demons were dangerous and all that stuff.

I didn't think that was going to be an issue though. We'd already met these people once and it turned out ok. And I doubted they'd try anything in the middle of a residential street. By the time I reached the place the first young woman had emerged with some more stuff destined for the dumpster.

I stood on the sidewalk at the end of the driveway and greeted her in a friendly tone, "Hi there! Are you moving out? Or doing some renovations?"

"Hello," she replied with a smile, as she tossed some more things into the bin. Then she shook her head, "Moving in actually, but I need to clear the place out first."

"Oh? The previous owners left their stuff behind?" I asked.

This young woman's scent was definitely human, so it was just the other one who was a demon. I was starting to think the situation was probably completely fine, like maybe they were a human demon couple or something.

"Not exactly," the woman grimaced. "She passed away unexpectedly."

And just like that I was on alert again, as I started thinking maybe the demon killed the previous owner and now these two were taking the property for themselves. I did my best not to look or sound too wary or suspicious though, but I was positive me and Melanie had just stumbled onto another incident. And I was determined to get as much incriminating information as I could.

I frowned in concern as I said, "Oh that's too bad. I guess that's why we never saw a for sale sign up?"

The demonic woman came out of the house at that point, she was carrying an armload of clothes which went into the dumpster before she moved to stand next to the human. Side by side the differences between the two were as dramatic as the similarities.

The human looked a couple years older, maybe around twenty-four or twenty-five, she had short wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. She was attractive, but not stunning or anything. The demon on the other hand looked like she could be a supermodel. She had impeccable make-up, perfectly-styled hair, and her outfit could have been some high-end designer stuff. One thing that I didn't quite understand was despite all the differences, the two looked similar enough that they could have been sisters.

The demonic girl glanced at us but she obviously didn't recognize either me or my girlfriend. Then she looked to the human and asked, "What's going on?"

"Just chatting with these girls, they were curious about the dumpster," the human one replied. Then she looked back at me and Melanie and asked, "Do you live around here, are we going to be neighbours?"

This time my girlfriend spoke up, "Not quite. We live just a bit north of Main, but we work at the grocery store in the big box plaza over there? So this is kind of on our regular route to and from work."

I was still looking for information on our possible demonic murder and house theft situation so I asked, "When did you say you bought the place? I don't remember seeing a for sale sign. I actually didn't know the previous resident had passed away, that must have been really sudden?"

The human shook her head, "We didn't buy it, we inherited it. It belonged to our aunt. Although I'm going to buy out Grace's half, since she's not interested in living here. She's just helping me with the work and everything, before she sets off on her life of high fashion and glamour."

It was clear she was teasing, especially by the way the demon rolled her eyes and smiled. Which made me think neither of them were too torn up about their 'aunt' dying. Not if they were joking around while they tossed all her worldly belongings into the trash.

Meanwhile I was still fishing for information. I looked at the demon and asked, "Grace? That's a pretty name."

The demon didn't respond but the human nodded, "Grace is my sister, and I'm Felicity."

I gave her a polite smile, "Nice to meet you both. I'm Cerys, and this is my girlfriend Melanie."

"Hello," my girlfriend greeted them both again. Then she added, "We're really sorry for the loss of your aunt."

The demon nodded, "Thanks. We didn't actually know Aunt Grace that well, but it's sad that we'll never get the chance now."

"You and your aunt are both named Grace?" I asked the demon.

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The human, Felicity, rolled her eyes. She looked like she was about to say something when Melanie suddenly spoke up again.

"Hold up," she frowned, "Your aunt Grace, she wasn't Grace Sutton was she?"

Both the human and demon looked surprised, and Felicity nodded "She was. And so's my sister, which was always confusing whenever auntie Grace's name came up."

"How do you know our aunt?" the demon asked, as she gave my girlfriend and I a suspicious look.

"She's our high school librarian," I responded.

The human sister sighed, "Oh of course. A lot of young folks around here probably knew her."

"We didn't know she'd died though," Melanie said. Which was technically correct, as far as we knew Cassandra let her go after the attack on Nina's party. "Do you know what happened to her? We uh, figured we'd be seeing her next week when school starts up again."

Felicity gave us a sad look, "Apparently she had a stroke early last month. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, I hope you're not going to be too upset."

"It's a shock," I replied in a sad and serious tone. "Thank you for telling us though. I'm sure she'll be missed around the school."

I was hoping for a chance to get some more information, but the human seemed to decide she'd wasted enough time.

She sighed again, "Anyways sorry to cut this short but we should really get back to work. It was nice meeting you girls."

"Yeah nice to meet you as well," Melanie replied.

Then the demon told her sister, "You go on ahead, I'll be with you in a sec. I just want to ask them about our aunt's work."

"Ok sis," Felicity gave the demon a friendly smile before turning to head back into the house.

Then the instant we were alone with the demon she frowned at both me and Melanie, and in a quiet but firm voice she demanded "All right, what the hell is this all about? Why are you bothering me and my sister? What do you want with us?"

I could tell my girlfriend was wary, like suddenly we were alone with a potentially angry demon. Except we were still standing in a residential street, in full view of anyone who happened to be around. And I figured that meant the demon wouldn't really try anything. She might bluff or threaten, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't actually attack us.

"We want to know what you're up to," I stated just as quietly, and just as firmly. "We know you're a demon. What's your business with the human? Does she know what you are? Or did you replace her real sister somehow? And what's your real business with Ms. Sutton? Did you kill her so you could take her house? Or did the council send you here to replace her? Are you another one of their spies?"

A bunch of different emotions and expressions flickered across her face as I hit her with all my questions. In the end her expression settled on suspicion.

After a quick glance over her shoulder she stepped closer and almost growled, "My sister doesn't know anything about the supernatural and we're going to keep it that way, got it? As for the rest of that nonsense, I have no idea what your council is and I'm definitely not here to spy on anyone. I'm just helping my sister move in, then I'm heading back to the city."

"And I didn't have any business with my aunt," she added with a scowl. "Apart from sharing the same name, I barely knew the woman. Last time either Felicity or I saw her was at least fifteen years ago."

I didn't flinch or back down when she moved closer, and I kept my expression level while she was talking. Then I responded, "How exactly does a demon end up with a human sister? Especially without revealing the supernatural?"

The beautiful blonde demon glared at me as she opened her mouth to respond. Except instead of saying anything she glanced over my shoulder, and at the same moment I noticed a familiar scent had joined us.

"Hello there," our resident goddess said in a calm relaxed tone as she came to stand next to me. "You must be Grace? My name's Cassandra. I'm sorry for the loss of your aunt, and sorry you never got to know her that well. I actually spent a lot of time with her, doing volunteer work in her library. Maybe I could tell you about her some time, if you're going to be around town much."

The demon stared at Cass for a couple seconds, then she in the same sort of low warning tone she used with me earlier she demanded, "I've already figured out these other two are werewolves. So what are you supposed to be?"

Cassandra responded quietly but calmly, "Your succubus powers won't work on me, but mine definitely work on you. So let's just say I'm a little higher up the food chain than you are and leave it at that."

"Cerys, Melanie," our goddess friend added as she looked to my girlfriend and I, "I don't believe Miss Sutton or her sister are here to cause any trouble, so let's not stir any up ourselves. Why don't we all head back home?"

Mel nodded, "Sounds good to me."

I hesitated, I really didn't want to just give up and walk away. I definitely wasn't comfortable leaving a strange demon or succubus to carry on whatever plan she had in store for the human girl or other unsuspecting residents here in town. But I figured Cassandra had a reason for leaving the demon alone.

"Fine," I finally replied.

As the three of us turned to continue our walk back to the clubhouse the goddess gave Grace a polite smile and wave and said, "Have a nice day."

"Ok what's the plan?" I asked the moment we were far enough that the stranger wouldn't hear us. "Are we going to circle around and keep an eye on her? Or are you scrying to keep watch?"

Cassandra shook her head, "Neither. I read her mind, and her sister's too. The human sister is moving into Ms. Sutton's old house, the succubus is just here to help. Then she's going back to the city as soon as they've finished."

I frowned, "So they're not up to no good? They're really just getting rid of their dead aunt's stuff so Felicity can move in?"

"Yes," Cassandra nodded. "Grace Sutton the succubus and Felicity Sutton the human didn't even know Grace Sutton their librarian aunt lived here, until they received the news of her death and their inheritance. Neither of them know anything about the council, and Felicity doesn't know about the supernatural."

Before I had a chance to protest our goddess friend added in a quiet but serious voice, "Cerys, as much as both Cass and I are happy to see some of your old enthusiasm and energy return, you really need to excercise some caution and restraint."

"Not all demons are as friendly as Nina or Cass," she continued, "That succubus probably wouldn't have killed you, but she could have if she wanted to. If she felt threatened she was prepared to seriously hurt both you and Melanie. Her powers would work on you, werewolf or not. And she could easily have left you both in need of medical attention, and weeks of recovery."

Cassandra looked me in the eyes as she stated, "So please be more careful, ok? It's really not safe to go around antagonizing unknown supernaturals. You're putting yourself and anyone with you at risk."

My pace slowed as she talked, and by the time she got to the end I'd come to a halt as it all sort of hit me.

It's not like I didn't know about the dangers, I didn't think I was invincible or invulnerable or anything. It was more that in the past I didn't care so much what happened to me. And I kind of enjoyed the adrenaline and excitement, there was a lot of fun in uncovering a mystery and figuring out the truth.

The part that hadn't really sank in until Cassandra spelled it out was how I was endangering Melanie, and my other friends. I always kind of assumed if I got into trouble the only one who'd pay for it was me.

"I'm sorry," I finally sighed. I looked at my girlfriend, "Melanie I never meant to put you in any danger. I got excited and carried away, you know? Like the old days, when I was trying to live out my Touhou fantasy life."

Mel pulled me into a hug as she replied, "I know Cerys. Cassandra's right though, you need to stop taking chances like that."

I hugged her back, then looked over at our goddess friend and added "Thanks Cassandra. For bailing me out again today, and for the lecture. I'm sorry you had to rush over here and save us because of me."

"It's fine," she shrugged. "Cass and I are just glad nobody got hurt."

As we all started moving again another thought occured to me. I glanced at Cassandra and asked quietly, "So did you actually kill Ms. Sutton? I thought you said you were going to let her go?"

The goddess shook her head, "She's fine. She actually still lives here in town. I helped her to start over with a new identity though, to keep her safe from the council."

About the only response I could think of to that was, "Huh."

Then Melanie commented, "I know Cerys already said it, but thanks again for looking out for us."

Cassandra smiled, "Not at all. Honestly I'm happy for the opportunity. I actually learned something rather interesting while I was poking around in the succubus's mind."

"I'll have to think about it for a bit," the young goddess added, "Then perhaps I'll need to have a conversation with Nina."