Chapter 204: 158. Strategizing Safety

"I think that's the cavern up ahead," I half-whispered. "Can you see it?"

My girlfriend's ears and tails were all hanging down low as she nodded. She whispered back, "I can see it. It's like a pale green glow."

"The cavern wasn't glowing last time though. Was it?" Nina asked in a quiet nervous voice. "It was just Mr. Kovaks that was glowing, and none of us could see that but you."

I frowned, "Right. So either there's someone else in there now that's glowing, or there's something else going on."

After a few seconds to think it over I added, "Maybe you two should hang back here just incase? The message was addressed to me, so maybe the invitation's only meant for me. I don't want either of you getting hurt."

My girlfriend's tails twitched around even as they remained down between her legs. She shook her head and whispered, "I don't like it Cass. Dangerous or not, I don't like you going in there alone."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you Kaylee," I responded quietly. "Or you either sis. I appreciate you coming this far with me, but..."

Nina sighed, "Ok Cass. We'll hang back just inside the tunnel while you go into the cavern. That way we'll be near enough that if anything goes wrong we can still help. Alright Kaylee?"

My girlfriend reluctantly nodded, "Ok."

"Thanks you two," I whispered as I gave them both a grateful smile.

Then I braced myself and started moving forward again through the small cramped tunnel, towards the cavern and its eerie green glow.

When the three of us got closer Kaylee and Nina slowed then stopped about a meter back from where the tunnel opened out into the cavern. I kept going, and once I emerged I was able to stand up straight again as I looked towards the source of that pale green light.

It was a figure, but they weren't laying prone on the ground like when we found Rick Kovaks. This time the person was standing upright, but their back was to me. It kind of felt like I'd reached the supervillain's lair, only they'd been expecting me and were about to turn around and do the grand reveal so I'd finally see their face.

Except before that happened there was a sharp crack and a rumbling sound behind me, and I spun around in time to see the tunnel I just left vanish as the roof caved in. Thousands of tonnes of rock and mud came down in an instant, completely engulfing my girlfriend and my sister.

"No!" I screamed as I suddenly sat bolt-upright in bed. My heart was pounding and a sheen of sweat covered my body.

At the same time Kaylee practically hit the ceiling. She ended up on her feet in the middle of the bed, her eyes wide and her ears folded back while her three tails twitched around behind her in alarm.

"What is it?!" my girlfriend gasped as she looked around our bedroom. "What happened?"

I groaned and slumped back onto the bed, "Sorry Kaylee. It was just a nightmare. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Aww," she frowned as she sat down cross-legged on the bed next to me. "Do you want to talk about it?"

After a second or two I sighed, "It was about that cave. Maybe it was a message? Or a threat. Like maybe whoever sent the invitation is starting to get impatient."

Kaylee furrowed her brow a little more while her tails continued twitching around, "I really don't like the sound of that. You're a demonic goddess, literally nothing should be able to influence your dreams. Right?"

"I guess you're right," I nodded slowly. "Maybe it wasn't a message or whatever. It could have just been a random bad dream. Like maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me I need to stop avoiding that whole situation and just go deal with it."

"Maybe," she replied. She still seemed worried though.

I finally turned to check our bed-side clock then sighed again, "It's half past ten. Do you want to try and go back to sleep, or should we just get up?"

My girlfriend made a cute face as her tails swished around, then she shrugged. "We may as well get up, I think we're both wide awake now anyways."

Neither of us got properly dressed, but I pulled on some track pants and a t-shirt while she slipped on one of her cute little nightshirts. Then as the two of us emerged from our room and headed for the washroom together she asked, "Have you or Cassandra put any more thought into the ensuite bathroom idea?"

"Not yet," I grimaced.

It turned out everyone else was already up, and my sister had even come over again. Assuming she actually went home last night, Nina was still hanging out with the others when Kaylee and I went into our room to watch that follow-up stream and we never bothered coming back out afterwards.

Ten minutes later me and Kaylee were cuddling on one of the big comfy chairs in the living-room. My sister and cousin were sitting on one of the sofas along with Willow, and the wolfgirls were both in the kitchen. They were waiting for the coffee machine to produce their morning lattes, while some us already had drinks. Nina Sasha and I were drinking juice, and Willow had a can of cola.

"I never thought I'd say this but I have to admit I sometimes miss coffee," my girlfriend commented quietly. "I can smell it brewing and it's nice."

Willow asked, "Have you tried decaf? That might work for you."

Kaylee looked thoughtful as she shook her head, "I hadn't thought to try it, but maybe I'll give it a shot? I heard it doesn't really taste the same, but it might be better than nothing."

"You might need to be careful," Nina cautioned. "Sometimes there's still caffein in decaf, you need to check the labels and stuff."

Just then the two wolfgirls joined the rest of us in the living-room. They both ended up cuddling on the other sofa as Melanie greeted us all with a sleepy "Mornin' y'all."

She and Cerys were both already dressed, in jeans and t-shirts and sneakers. Actually same with Willow and Sasha, and Nina too of course. It was just my girlfriend and I who hadn't bothered yet.

After a sip of her morning drink Cerys asked, "Hey Cass, Kaylee, did you two watch the podcast guys' stream again last night? Anything new and exciting happen that we need to worry about?"

"We watched it," Kaylee nodded. "I recorded it again just in case, but they didn't do or say anything that involved Club Luna. Mostly they were just giving their audience an update about their own situation."

Willow asked, "How'd that go? Is Serenity trans like we figured?"

The small kitsune grinned and her tails swished around as she nodded, "Yeah it went exactly like we all guessed. Serenity came out as trans, she admitted she actually hatched a few months ago."

"What about the other host?" Nina asked. "Did they say anything about their name or pronouns or anything like that?"

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Kaylee nodded again, "Her news was pretty much what Cassandra predicted? She officially announced she's using she-her pronouns and her new name is Callie. She said she's not trans and didn't want to become a catgirl, but she said she doesn't hate it and she's actually getting used to it. And she admitted that she screwed up by triggering the plushies without really thinking about the long-term consequences? But she's happy she got to demonstrate real magic on the stream."

"They even got Callie's girlfriend Bailey to come on the stream for a bit," my girlfriend added with another grin. "They wouldn't go into any personal details but she and Callie said they're figuring things out together, so it sounds like they're still a couple. Bailey made the point that Callie's the same person she was before, just in a different package. She also made some jokes about Callie enjoying headpats and earscritches."

Melanie commented, "Huh. Sounds like that all worked out ok then. I wonder if that's going to cause any trouble for y'all though? Cass or Cassandra? Do you figure getting that kind of online exposure will be ok?"

I shrugged and mumbled, "It's not the first time plushie users have streamed or posted videos of them changing. These two had a bigger audience, but it was still only a few hundred people."

Cassandra made a comment which I passed on to the others, "Apparently there were a few more people requesting plushies last week, but nothing overwhelming."

"It sounds like that matter has all but resolved itself then?" Sasha suggested. "In which case, perhaps we should talk about the threat Alison brought to our attention yesterday afternoon."

This time my other self asked if she could take over so she could talk to the rest of the club. I agreed, and a moment later I felt the familiar sense of calm as she took charge while I moved into the back seat.

"I know it's obviously a cause for concern," Cassandra stated, "But I don't think there's much they can actually do to us. Nina can protect those of you attending high school, and I'll be looking out for Sasha while we're at college."

She continued, "The only person who's going to be spending much time on her own is Kaylee, and while that does worry me the fact is as a full demon our girlfriend is not going to be easily harmed. These people seem to think she's a mortal human who's been possessed or 'corrupted', if they confront her on that basis they'll be in for a surprise."

Our cousin didn't seem quite so confident. She responded, "According to Alison this Carlos Nahuel is an expert demonologist, and the council believes or suspects that Nina is a demon. I don't think we should take this threat lightly. As you and Cass know, being trapped inside a demonic containment circle will block and negate any demonic magic. Both Nina and Kaylee would be rendered almost helpless, should they find themselves caught inside such a circle."

Hearing that left me anxious, because I knew she was right. Neither my sister or my girlfriend would be able to teleport out of a circle like that, and they wouldn't be able to use their magic on anyone outside the circle either.

Fortunately Cassandra had an answer to that, "There is something they can do very easily which would pass through such a circle. They could pray to me. Kaylee and I tested that last month, and we verified that I am able to hear the prayers of demons."

"Really?" Sasha seemed surprised by that news, and a thoughtful frown quickly settled on her expression. Then a moment later she commented, "Normally that's impossible, but I suspect it's due to your dual nature as a demonic goddess."

My other self agreed, "That's what I assumed as well."

"This isn't just an option for Kaylee and Nina by the way," Cassandra added as she looked around the room. "Any of you may pray to me if you find yourself in trouble or in need of assistance. Just address me as either Cassandra or Kid Chaos and I'll hear you."

Willow grimaced, "On the one hand it's nice knowing we have a direct line to a living goddess who's ready to come to our rescue. But on the other hand it does feel kind of weird praying to a friend we hang out with all the time."

"Another issue with prayer," our cousin spoke up again, "Is one can only do it if they're conscious. And while I don't want to sound alarmist, I do think we should have a back-up plan."

Cerys frowned as she commented, "Last time the council were after us Sasha, you were the one who suggested we all just sit back and let them keep trying. You pointed out how unstoppable Club Luna is, with gods and demons and werewolves and witches and sorceresses on our team."

"You're right Cerys," my cousin agreed. "The difference is back in July they had no idea what they were up against, and they were using high-school students as proxies to try and provoke us into taking action."

She continued, "This time not only do they know what they're dealing with, they're sending one of their experts who's obviously prepared for a confrontation with demons. And we've also been warned that they specifically mean to harm some of us. I rather doubt they'll be enlisting the aid of school-yard bullies this time around."

Nina asked quietly, "What do you think we should do to protect ourselves?"

Sasha sighed, "Ideally I'd like to take the offensive, rather than waiting for these people to make a move against us. Unfortunately that's not practical, given we have no idea how to find them or what they look like. Or even how many of them to expect."

"Maybe we should let Julie and Tanya know about all this?" Kaylee suggested. "They might have some suggestions."

My sister nodded, "I'll tell them as soon as I head back home today."

Then Melanie spoke up, "It might be a long-shot, but do y'all think the council folks might be using Alison's place as a base? Seeing as she and Ms. Hughes should be in New Zealand by now, or at least on their way, that means their place is available."

"It shouldn't be hard to find out," Cerys responded. "They live across the street from Gord Potts's sheep farm."

Willow frowned, "Should I be worried for Gord's safety? And for that matter, if these people are that dangerous is it going to be safe for us to be checking the place out?"

Cassandra offered, "I'm not sure they'd be so obvious as to use Ms. Hughes' home, but Cass and I can keep an eye on the property through scrying. Alison didn't say exactly when they'd be arriving, but we can check the place a few times a day over the rest of the weekend just to be sure."

"I feel like there's a bunch more details and information we could have got from Alison," Kaylee stated in a grumpy voice. "That's probably why she only gave us a few hours warning, before flying off halfway around the world. So we couldn't question her more after we'd had a chance to think about the situation."

Our club leader nodded, "Good point. I have a feeling we'll be talking with her again when she gets back in a few weeks."

She looked like she had something else to say, but just then we all heard a phone buzz with a text message. And it sounded like it came from one of the two wolfgirls.

Melanie pulled out her phone and checked it. Then she let the rest of us know, "That's Jade, she'll be here in a minute or two. Me and Cerys are going to try and set her straight about the whole 'wanting to be a werewolf' thing."

"Good luck with that," Willow responded with a grimace. "I get the impression she's not going to give up so easily."

Cerys pointed out, "It's not like she has much choice. She can't force us to turn her."

"Cass, Cassandra?" Melanie asked as she looked at us. "Would y'all be ok with giving her a wolf plushie if she asks for one? If she won't take no for an answer then that's the next best thing we can offer her."

My other self nodded, "That's fine. I have a fresh supply of them, I can have one ready for her if necessary."

"Thanks," the wolfgirl replied. Then she gulped down the last of her latte before getting to her feet.

The blonde werewolf stood up as well and commented, "I guess we can talk more about this council stuff later? Or you can all keep at it if you want. Me and Mel will take Jade down the basement so we can do the wolf talk in private."

The rest of us all nodded just as our neighbour arrived. She knocked at the door while Nina told the wolfgirls, "Good luck."