Chapter 24: 24. Perplexed

=::= Melissa's PoV =::=

"I think we need to go out there and talk to her," Susan said quietly. "We need to find out what happened, and make sure they're both ok."

I had a sip of my coffee, then let out a long deep sigh. I knew Sue was right, but I was scared of what she might tell us. By staying in the cottage and waiting, I was trying to delay the inevitable.

We spent the night in the safety cottage, so we didn't really know how things turned out. All we had to go on was what we'd seen, and even that wasn't clear. It looked worrying though.

We saw Lily summon Armaros, and where Verothilas' true form had been frightening, Armaros was downright terrifying. He talked with Lily, and at one point I could swear he did something to turn the tables on our demon patron.

It looked for all the world like Armaros was gloating while Lily kneeled quietly in front of him. What scared me the most was it looked like Lily took off that gold necklace and threw it away. That was supposed to keep Mara safe, and I kept trying to come up with plausible explanations for what I saw.

After that and to our immense relief Lily took charge again, and Armaros was the one sitting quietly on the ground.

We all watched as Lily kneeled at the north end of the circle and did the ritual, and at the end there was that massive blinding flare of light. The cottage windows and doors rattled and we felt a shudder through the structure, but it seemed like the protective runes held.

When it was over, the candles and the bonfire were all out and we couldn't see anything out there after that.

We all debated whether or not to go out and check on her, but in the end we stayed in the cottage. Lily had been clear on that, we were to stay in here until she told us it was safe.

Now it was past noon, we were still waiting in the cottage, but we could see Lily sitting by the fire-pit. And we knew it was Lily, because she was in her true demonic form. She was the eight and a half foot tall blue demoness, with the huge black bat-like wings and the cat-like legs and feet we first saw back at new-years. Her long tail was coiled on the ground around her right foot, her wings were folded on her back as she sat motionless, facing the cold quiet fire-pit.

After another minute or two Amber volunteered, "I'll go and see if she's ok. If there's some kind of demonic magic still out there, it won't affect me like it would you two."

I sighed again. I knew she was right, and she was the best choice. But I felt like it should be my duty or responsibility. I'd known Mara the longest, and Lily too. I also felt like I had seniority within the DLP, since I'd been part-succubus longer than the others.

Except I was the least changed, the most human. If there was still dangerous demonic energy out there, I had the most to lose if I was exposed to it.

"Ok," I finally nodded. "You're right Amber, it's safest if you go."

Susan and I stayed by the window as she moved to the door, but before she could open it Sue said "Wait, she's moving!"

Sure enough Lily finally seemed to wake up. She got to her feet and stretched, her arms reached up high and her wings unfolded and stretched out to their full span, which had to be at least twenty feet across. Then her body contracted and shrank, and a moment later she was Mara again. Still naked and with her own horns and tail, but otherwise human.

She frowned and looked behind her, then pouted and slumped her shoulders. Even without hearing her I knew she just said 'awww' when she saw Lily's wings were gone. She turned and headed for the cabin, and a few seconds later she came in through the door.

"Hey everyone," she commented in a casual tone as she headed to the fridge. She pulled out a vodka cooler and asked, "What's up?"

She was acting completely nonchalant, as if she hadn't spent the past twelve hours sitting naked and motionless in the cold looking like Lily while the rest of us were stuck in the cottage watching and waiting and wondering if she was ok.

"Mara!" I gasped as I hurried to her side.

Susan and Amber were with me and we surrounded her and trapped her in an impromptu group hug as we inundated her with questions.

"What happened?"

"Are you ok? Is Lily ok?"

"Is Armaros imprisoned?"

Our half-demon girlfriend cringed and smiled and even giggled a little as we all held her tight in between the three of us, "Ok ok enough! I need to breathe!"

Amber and Susan backed off, but I kept an arm firmly around my best friend's shoulders.

"What happened, why did you spend all night sitting there alone in the dark?" I asked. "Or was that Lily?"

She pulled back enough to have a swig of her cooler then suggested, "Why don't we sit down and get comfortable, then I'll try and explain what happened?"

I grudgingly agreed to that. Me and Susan topped up our coffees and Amber grabbed another can of root beer, then the four of us moved back to the sofa and chairs. Amber took a seat in the big chair to the left, but Mara sat down on the sofa in between me and Susan.

"So what happened?" I asked as soon as we were all seated and comfortable. "You've kept us waiting long enough Mara!"

Amber added, "Your ankle tattoo is completely gone. Does that mean Lily's free? Or are you still joined with her somehow?"

Mara had another gulp of her cooler then stated, "Ok, here's the short version. Armaros is imprisoned and we're all safe from him. With him and Verothilas both imprisoned, there's nobody else left to threaten Lily or any of us. And there's enough energy tied up in the two amulets that Lily can drain them all she wants for decades, or centuries or whatever."

"As for Lily," Mara continued, "Yeah she's completely free now. She's got her fully-demonic body back. The ritual thing didn't go perfectly though. Like you all probably saw, there were some glitches and stuff? But the important thing is, we won. Except I might have got killed again, I'm not sure yet?"

I'd been feeling cautiously optimistic about how everything turned out right up until that point. Then it was like a record-scratch moment as I blinked at her. "What do you mean you got killed?!"

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Susan added, "You're still here Mara. You can't be dead."

Our cute dusky girlfriend grimaced, "Yeah I'm probably not dead anymore? But we're pretty sure I was dead for a little bit anyways."

"You're taking it pretty well," Amber commented. "I mean, you seem very calm for someone who's talking about maybe being dead."

Mara smirked, "Well I've been dead before you know? The first time I wasn't so cool about it, but now it's like, yeah whatever. Old news."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "Mara please don't joke about this ok? You're not dead, you didn't die."

"I'm not so sure," she replied with a shrug. She gestured towards her ankle, "The tattoo's gone and this body isn't mine, it's Lily's. That's why we looked like her before? I'm actually not sure why it changed to look like me when I borrowed it. Anyways, so instead of Lily being like the voice in my head, now I'm probably like the voice in her head? It's kind of confusing though because I'm not alone in there. The other Mara's in there too. She and Lily are still doing the reunion thing."

"Other Mara?" Sue asked. "You mean Lily's daughter? The demon Mara?"

"Yeah," Mara nodded. "After I died I ended up in her villa back on Thera. She was trapped in there, me and her talked a bit. Then I got us out of the villa and we ended up in Lily's apartment. We spent the last hour or whatever with her, like the three of us were talking and ironing out a bunch of important details."

The stress I felt probably came across loud and clear as I asked, "Like whether or not you're still dead? Or how demon Mara is there too?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "Mostly we were arguing over who'd get to keep the name Mara. She thinks she has dibs on it because she had it first, but my argument is I'm the one who's using it now which means I have a stronger claim? We haven't actually sorted that out yet, but Lily says it's too confusing having both of us answering her every time she says my name. Or our name, or whatever."

Before any of us could respond Mara added, "We can't even really call her 'demon Mara' anymore, because it looks like if I'm not dead then I might actually be a demon now myself? Meanwhile she looks fully human. Like she looks exactly like me, except she doesn't even have horns and a tail. I'm not even sure if she's actually still a demon, or if she's somehow come back as human. So yeah, arguing about which of us gets to stay Mara has been the biggest priority because Lily thinks it's confusing."

I almost face-palmed, "Mara? can you go back to the beginning and actually give us all the details? Because you're not making a ton of sense and this is all kind of confusing and possibly upsetting?"

She grinned, "Sorry Melissa. Ok, you all may as well get yourselves more drinks or something because it's a long story."

For the next hour or so all of us were sitting together listening carefully as our unpredictable half-demon girlfriend explained as best she could what the hell actually happened last night. And by the time she was finished I felt like I'd been on the longest roller-coaster ride of my life, the way my emotions had been up and down all over the place.

We were all silent for another minute or two, until Susan spoke up.

"So I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I don't think you're dead Mara. If you were, you wouldn't be here talking to us and drinking vodka coolers. You might have been dead briefly, but obviously you're here now."

"Yeah ok," the not-dead girl in question agreed. "You're probably right. I don't know exactly what happened, maybe I died briefly? But I ended up deep inside our head with the other Mara. And we know she was definitely dead, but I don't think she's dead anymore. If she was, she wouldn't be in our head, right?"

Amber asked, "Did she show up just now? Like last night with that whole ritual thing?"

"Oh," Susan looked at the small brunette succubus, "You're thinking maybe her soul was somehow held by Armaros? He killed her, so maybe his imprisonment somehow released her?"

"Right," Amber nodded. "Otherwise it's a pretty huge coincidence that she appeared the same night Armaros was defeated."

Mara shook her head, "She's actually been in our head for at least the last few months. I think she said four months? She's the one who told me how to do the ritual, like when I took control from Lily."

Sue frowned, "Actually whether she was there months ago or she arrived last night, it still doesn't make sense. If you were her in a past life, if she reincarnated into being you, then she can't be here at all. Right? I mean, if you were her then you're still her. There can't be another her here as herself."

Mara shrugged, "Maybe it's some weird magic thing? I don't know, but she's back, she's in our head, and she's talking with Lily."

I hadn't said anything yet, I was mostly still thinking about everything Mara told us. Out of all of it, one thing stuck out the most for me. Despite Lily's promise, my best friend had become a demon. She'd lost all of her humanity, and I was scared for her. I knew she probably hadn't even thought about it yet, but I couldn't help worrying for what would happen when she got hungry and needed to feed.

"Mara?" I finally spoke up. "What are you going to tell your mom? Emma won't... She's not going to be happy when she finds out you've become a full demon."

She grimaced, "Yeah. I don't know yet. Maybe I won't tell her right away? Or maybe Lily can figure something out. Like this is all still super-new right? Like maybe we need a week or two to sort out all the little details and stuff."

I suppressed a sigh as I nodded, "Of course. Maybe Lily could come out and give us all a briefing or something when she's ready?"

"Sure," Mara nodded. After a second she added, "Lily says she'll talk to everyone in a little while."

She drained the last of her cooler then paused like she was listening to the demon in her head. Finally she nodded, "Yeah ok sorry! I forgot."

"What's wrong?" Sue asked, as our perplexing half-demon girlfriend got to her feet.

Mara grimaced, "I left that amulet out there, the one we've got Armaros in? It'd be kind of bad if some racoon took off with it or whatever."

As she headed for the door she added, "Oh and Lily says it's safe to go outside! She's sorry you all were stuck cooped up in the cabin half the day."

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