"Enjoy your dinner," I said as I gave Kaylee a hug and kiss. "And tell your folks I said hi, ok?"
She grinned as she hugged and kissed me back, while her tails all swished around happily. "I will, don't worry! See you in a couple hours."
"Bye for now," I said as I finally let go and stepped back.
Kaylee waved, then vanished in a swirl of light as she teleported herself over to her parents' house. It was Friday evening and the three of them were going out somewhere for dinner. I could have gone with her, when she talked to her parents they invited me as well, but my girlfriend wanted to have some alone time with her folks this evening.
She was hoping for the chance to talk with her dad about his work, to try and find out if there was anyone new working with him or if he'd noticed anything unusual or suspicious. And she wanted to do that without being too obvious about it, since she didn't want her parents to know there was anything potentially dangerous going on.
With my girlfriend gone to visit her parents I went back out to the living-room to join the others. I grabbed a bottle of water on the way, then settled into one of the big comfy chairs.
Willow and Sasha were sitting together on one sofa, while Melanie and Cerys were cuddling on the other. As usual there was some kind of video game competition going, with the ravenette wolfgirl playing against the sorceress. It was just the five of us for the evening, since Nina decided to stay home with mom and mum tonight and Violet was busy with Sage and Jade.
"So what do y'all feel like doing for dinner tonight?" Melanie asked once she'd beaten Willow on the TV screen.
The cute sorceress suggested, "I think we still have some burgers and sausages in the freezer. We could thaw them out and do BBQ?"
Cerys frowned, "It takes too long to thaw them out. We could pull them out tonight and have them tomorrow though."
"Why can't we just thaw them out in the microwave?" I asked.
Melanie shook her head, "No way. That's the last of the good stuff from the Tate Wolfpack, we're not putting high quality meat into a microwave."
I suggested instead, "Let's just order in then? How's pizza sound?"
That led to a brief discussion as we figured out what everyone wanted, then I put in the order. And while we were waiting for dinner to arrive my cousin brought up the same thing we'd talked about almost every night so far this week.
"I take it none of us has any more news regarding the council's activity?" Sasha asked. "Or even any confirmation of their presence?"
Cerys shook her head, "Nothing new. I'm still positive Mr. Mason's involved, but so far he hasn't done anything obviously incriminating."
Willow added, "He's the only new face we've seen at school all week. And with Ms. Hughes away we knew there'd be a substitute history teacher, so who knows? Maybe he's got nothing to do with the council."
"I don't suppose you or Cass has tried to read his mind?" the blonde wolfgirl asked me.
I shook my head, "Sorry Cerys. Cassandra said she doesn't like to do that without a good reason. It's a huge invasion of privacy and stuff?"
"I know you think the guy's suspicious," I added, "But the fact that he's got a rental car doesn't mean anything. Same with the accent. Maybe he lives in the city and normally doesn't need a car?"
Melanie asked, "I guess y'all haven't had anything new come up at college? And I suppose Kaylee would have said something if she'd had any news from university."
Sasha shook her head, "Things at college were normal again today, just like they've been all week. We haven't seen any new professors, although we don't know them all. Likewise I'm sure neither Cassandra or I know every single student, but we haven't seen anything obviously suspicious."
"Kaylee said it was the same at university," I told the others. "And according to her, Mallory Tate hasn't noticed anything either."
Cerys looked frustrated, not that any of us could blame her. It was frustrating for all of us, especially since for all we knew the council wasn't even here after all. We were just going off what Alison said, but until we actually found some proof we had no idea if all this was just a waste of time.
"What about the plan to lure them out to the cave?" Willow asked. "At lunch yesterday Cerys Melanie Nina and I talked about the four of you going over there tomorrow afternoon. We kept quiet so it wasn't obvious, but then we also have no idea if anyone overheard. Or if anyone was even listening."
Sasha nodded, "Cassandra and I discussed it with Violet Sage and Jade at lunch on Tuesday, and the two of us made our 'final plans' in the cafeteria today."
I added, "Kaylee said she mentioned it to Mallory today at lunch too, kind of in passing? That she and I had some exciting plans to go cave diving tomorrow afternoon."
"So what's the actual plan for tomorrow?" Cerys asked.
"Kaylee Nina Sasha and I are going over there tomorrow at about one in the afternoon," I explained. "We'll take the Lunamobile, then hike in towards the cave. We'll all be using magic to monitor the area, assuming that the council will already be there waiting for us. If they are, Cassandra will deal with them."
After a moment I added, "If they're not there, or after we deal with them, then I guess me and Cassandra will go into the cave? Kaylee might come inside with us, but we'll ask Nina to stay with Sasha and keep her safe. Or maybe they can just head back home while me and Kaylee deal with the cave stuff."
Melanie frowned, "Just be careful ok? I know Cassandra's powerful, same with Nina, but y'all are going up against some experienced folks who know what to expect."
"We'll be careful," I promised. "Cassandra's been thinking about it and strategizing all week."
At that point Cerys started up another game, this time it was her playing against her girlfriend. The rest of us let the council subject drop for now, which I was happy about. We all watched the two werewolfs fighting it out on screen until the pizzas arrived. Then after getting plates and napkins and stuff we all started on dinner.
The conversation picked up again, but instead of the council we all started talking about another Club Luna halloween party. The thirty-first was only ten days away, and even though Melody wasn't in the club anymore it seemed like her idea was going to carry on without her. The two wolfgirls both said they had fun last halloween, which got Willow and Sasha curious to hear some details.
So Cerys and Melanie took turns telling the two of them about last year's party and what sorts of costumes everyone had. Especially how Melody shape-shifted herself into a purple two-tailed kitsune. Sasha pointed out that Kaylee had that beat this year with three tails, which got a laugh out of a few of us.
Then I started thinking about what I'd do for a costume, since I was absolutely determined not to be the only one who didn't bother this time around. I was positive between me and Cassandra we could come up with something good, and with our magic we ought to be able to make it pretty effective too.
My thoughts on that were interrupted a minute or two later, when I was surprised to have Cassandra suddenly take over our body. She'd been asking permission for the past several weeks, so it was kind of jarring to find myself suddenly shoved into the back seat without any warning.
Then my other self stood up, and our plate and pizza slice both ended up on the floor. That's when I realized I couldn't feel her usual sense of calm, which actually left me feeling kind of scared. The confidence was still there, but my other self was anything but calm.
"I have to leave right now," she stated bluntly as the others all stared at us. "Kaylee's in trouble."
Those last three words sent a shock of panic through me, but before I could react Cassandra teleported us both directly to our girlfriend. And as soon as we appeared at the scene my heart skipped a beat while my stomach lurched and my blood ran cold.
We were in the big intersection at the south-east end of town, where Main Street crossed the highway. Friday evenings it was probably the busiest crossroads in town, with a steady stream of city people on the highway heading north to their cottages and vacation homes and stuff.
Except instead of being busy with traffic the intersection was eerily still. I was vaguely aware of muffled sounds in the background, like engines idling, cars honking, and people talking or shouting. All that was faded though, as we focused exclusively on what we saw before us.
One of those big eighteen-wheeler trucks sat motionless in the middle of the intersection. Its headlights were broken and the front grill was banged up. Resting a few meters away in front of the truck was the car it had hit, and that was in much worse condition.
The vehicle was so badly mangled it was almost unrecognizable, yet both Cassandra and I knew it was Mr. Holt's car. The driver's side was caved in, the car sort of crumpled and folded in half, and it was laying on the passenger side. There was a strong smell of leaking gasoline in the air, and the sounds of someone frantically struggling inside.
It seemed obvious what had happened, Mr. Holt had been heading east across the highway when the southbound truck came through the intersection and slammed broadside into the car. A few other people were standing around nearby, some of them were on their phones calling for emergency services while others just stared in shock.
I was terrified at what we'd find inside it, but Cassandra didn't hesitate.
Moving quickly but calmly we strode right up to the top side of the vehicle. All the windows had been shattered in the crash, and my other self placed our left hand on the body of the car while taking hold of the roof with our right. Then we calmly peeled the car open like it was made out of tinfoil.
As we pulled the roof clear our girlfriend tumbled out and landed on her feet. She'd been pinned in the back seat, but appeared to be completely unharmed despite the rips and tears in her clothing. On the other hand she was absolutely frantic with panic and fear. And when she got a look at her parents she let out a scream as tears began to stream down her face.
Neither her mom or dad seemed to be moving, and there was an awful lot of blood. Both front seats and what was left of the dashboard and steering wheel were coated, and more of it was pooling inside the passenger door and running down onto the asphalt where it mingled with the gasoline that was leaking from the tank.
Once again I felt my heart skip a beat, along with a wave of nausea. I was terrified that they were already dead, but Cassandra wordlessly assured me there was still a spark of life left in both of them. She reached out and gently placed our hands on Mr. and Mrs. Holt, and they were immediately bathed in her divine magic. The gold light seemed to engulf them completely as it glowed brightly.
Then the glow faded and our girlfriend's parents were standing next to us, looking surprised and confused but completely unharmed. Neither of them had so much as a hair out of place, even their clothes were restored.
Kaylee practically tackled her folks a moment later as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around both of them. She was still crying, but now it was tears of joy and relief.
"Cassandra everyone's looking at us," I finally said as I realized all the onlookers were staring.
Some of them had their phones out, recording us. Plus I knew there'd be dash cams in at least a few of the cars that were stopped all around the intersection. Then I noticed the sound of sirens approaching, and they seemed really close.
"I know," my other self replied. "Right now I don't care."
Then she started moving again, away from our girlfriend and her parents who were all still hugging each other. We headed over towards the the truck, which was still sitting there with the engine idling.
Cassandra tried to open the door but it was locked, so she calmly tore it open with our bare hands. Then we got our first look at the driver, and once again my stomach lurched.
He seemed completely unharmed, but he was just sitting there staring straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. He had his seatbelt on and his hands were both on the wheel, and I could imagine police or ambulance people would assume he was in shock or something. Or maybe they'd think he was having one of those seizures where you just kind of freeze up.
Except Cassandra and I knew that wasn't what happened. We could see the faint purple glow of magic around his head, we knew he'd been enspelled. Cassandra dispelled it as we turned and stalked away from the truck.
"They did this," my other self stated quietly, under her breath. "They tried to kill our girlfriend and her parents, and they set up an innocent man to do it."
I could feel our jaw clenching, along with our fists, while she took a deep breath as if to try and calm herself. It didn't work though, and we remained tense as we started walking back to where Kaylee and her parents were still holding each other.
By that point the police had arrived, two squad cars with lights flashing stopped on either side of the intersection, while a couple ambulances and a fire truck pulled up as well. The police emerged from their vehicles and started trying to secure the scene and everything, while the EMTs headed for the Holts' car to see if the victims were still inside.
Cassandra ignored them all as we returned to Kaylee's side. When we got to her our girlfriend leaped up into our arms. She still had tears streaming down her face as she held us tight, while her ears and tails were all drooping.
She sobbed, "Thank you! Thank you so much! I was panicking and I couldn't remember what to do, I didn't know what magic to try! I was so scared, I thought I was going to lose my mom and dad! I thought they were going to die because I couldn't remember how to help them! Then you were there and you saved them and I can't thank you enough!"
"It's ok Kaylee," Cassandra told her as we held her just as tightly. "We're here, you and your parents are all safe."
Kaylee shook her head, "It happened so fast. The light was green and dad pulled out, then suddenly the truck was right there! There was no warning, no time to even say anything. He ran through the red light, maybe he didn't see it? Or..."
"Shhh," my other self said as she gave our girlfriend a gentle squeeze. "It wasn't his fault. The truck driver was enspelled. The council did this."
"What?!" our girlfriend gasped as she tensed up.
Cassandra nodded slowly, while I could feel our jaw clenching again. Then in a low dangerous voice she stated, "There was a line, and they just crossed it."
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"Enjoy your dinner," I said as I gave Kaylee a hug and kiss. "And tell your folks I said hi, ok?"
She grinned as she hugged and kissed me back, while her tails all swished around happily. "I will, don't worry! See you in a couple hours."
"Bye for now," I said as I finally let go and stepped back.
Kaylee waved, then vanished in a swirl of light as she teleported herself over to her parents' house. It was Friday evening and the three of them were going out somewhere for dinner. I could have gone with her, when she talked to her parents they invited me as well, but my girlfriend wanted to have some alone time with her folks this evening.
She was hoping for the chance to talk with her dad about his work, to try and find out if there was anyone new working with him or if he'd noticed anything unusual or suspicious. And she wanted to do that without being too obvious about it, since she didn't want her parents to know there was anything potentially dangerous going on.
With my girlfriend gone to visit her parents I went back out to the living-room to join the others. I grabbed a bottle of water on the way, then settled into one of the big comfy chairs.
Willow and Sasha were sitting together on one sofa, while Melanie and Cerys were cuddling on the other. As usual there was some kind of video game competition going, with the ravenette wolfgirl playing against the sorceress. It was just the five of us for the evening, since Nina decided to stay home with mom and mum tonight and Violet was busy with Sage and Jade.
"So what do y'all feel like doing for dinner tonight?" Melanie asked once she'd beaten Willow on the TV screen.
The cute sorceress suggested, "I think we still have some burgers and sausages in the freezer. We could thaw them out and do BBQ?"
Cerys frowned, "It takes too long to thaw them out. We could pull them out tonight and have them tomorrow though."
"Why can't we just thaw them out in the microwave?" I asked.
Melanie shook her head, "No way. That's the last of the good stuff from the Tate Wolfpack, we're not putting high quality meat into a microwave."
I suggested instead, "Let's just order in then? How's pizza sound?"
That led to a brief discussion as we figured out what everyone wanted, then I put in the order. And while we were waiting for dinner to arrive my cousin brought up the same thing we'd talked about almost every night so far this week.
"I take it none of us has any more news regarding the council's activity?" Sasha asked. "Or even any confirmation of their presence?"
Cerys shook her head, "Nothing new. I'm still positive Mr. Mason's involved, but so far he hasn't done anything obviously incriminating."
Willow added, "He's the only new face we've seen at school all week. And with Ms. Hughes away we knew there'd be a substitute history teacher, so who knows? Maybe he's got nothing to do with the council."
"I don't suppose you or Cass has tried to read his mind?" the blonde wolfgirl asked me.
I shook my head, "Sorry Cerys. Cassandra said she doesn't like to do that without a good reason. It's a huge invasion of privacy and stuff?"
"I know you think the guy's suspicious," I added, "But the fact that he's got a rental car doesn't mean anything. Same with the accent. Maybe he lives in the city and normally doesn't need a car?"
Melanie asked, "I guess y'all haven't had anything new come up at college? And I suppose Kaylee would have said something if she'd had any news from university."
Sasha shook her head, "Things at college were normal again today, just like they've been all week. We haven't seen any new professors, although we don't know them all. Likewise I'm sure neither Cassandra or I know every single student, but we haven't seen anything obviously suspicious."
"Kaylee said it was the same at university," I told the others. "And according to her, Mallory Tate hasn't noticed anything either."
Cerys looked frustrated, not that any of us could blame her. It was frustrating for all of us, especially since for all we knew the council wasn't even here after all. We were just going off what Alison said, but until we actually found some proof we had no idea if all this was just a waste of time.
"What about the plan to lure them out to the cave?" Willow asked. "At lunch yesterday Cerys Melanie Nina and I talked about the four of you going over there tomorrow afternoon. We kept quiet so it wasn't obvious, but then we also have no idea if anyone overheard. Or if anyone was even listening."
Sasha nodded, "Cassandra and I discussed it with Violet Sage and Jade at lunch on Tuesday, and the two of us made our 'final plans' in the cafeteria today."
I added, "Kaylee said she mentioned it to Mallory today at lunch too, kind of in passing? That she and I had some exciting plans to go cave diving tomorrow afternoon."
"So what's the actual plan for tomorrow?" Cerys asked.
"Kaylee Nina Sasha and I are going over there tomorrow at about one in the afternoon," I explained. "We'll take the Lunamobile, then hike in towards the cave. We'll all be using magic to monitor the area, assuming that the council will already be there waiting for us. If they are, Cassandra will deal with them."
After a moment I added, "If they're not there, or after we deal with them, then I guess me and Cassandra will go into the cave? Kaylee might come inside with us, but we'll ask Nina to stay with Sasha and keep her safe. Or maybe they can just head back home while me and Kaylee deal with the cave stuff."
Melanie frowned, "Just be careful ok? I know Cassandra's powerful, same with Nina, but y'all are going up against some experienced folks who know what to expect."
"We'll be careful," I promised. "Cassandra's been thinking about it and strategizing all week."
At that point Cerys started up another game, this time it was her playing against her girlfriend. The rest of us let the council subject drop for now, which I was happy about. We all watched the two werewolfs fighting it out on screen until the pizzas arrived. Then after getting plates and napkins and stuff we all started on dinner.
The conversation picked up again, but instead of the council we all started talking about another Club Luna halloween party. The thirty-first was only ten days away, and even though Melody wasn't in the club anymore it seemed like her idea was going to carry on without her. The two wolfgirls both said they had fun last halloween, which got Willow and Sasha curious to hear some details.
So Cerys and Melanie took turns telling the two of them about last year's party and what sorts of costumes everyone had. Especially how Melody shape-shifted herself into a purple two-tailed kitsune. Sasha pointed out that Kaylee had that beat this year with three tails, which got a laugh out of a few of us.
Then I started thinking about what I'd do for a costume, since I was absolutely determined not to be the only one who didn't bother this time around. I was positive between me and Cassandra we could come up with something good, and with our magic we ought to be able to make it pretty effective too.
My thoughts on that were interrupted a minute or two later, when I was surprised to have Cassandra suddenly take over our body. She'd been asking permission for the past several weeks, so it was kind of jarring to find myself suddenly shoved into the back seat without any warning.
Then my other self stood up, and our plate and pizza slice both ended up on the floor. That's when I realized I couldn't feel her usual sense of calm, which actually left me feeling kind of scared. The confidence was still there, but my other self was anything but calm.
"I have to leave right now," she stated bluntly as the others all stared at us. "Kaylee's in trouble."
Those last three words sent a shock of panic through me, but before I could react Cassandra teleported us both directly to our girlfriend. And as soon as we appeared at the scene my heart skipped a beat while my stomach lurched and my blood ran cold.
We were in the big intersection at the south-east end of town, where Main Street crossed the highway. Friday evenings it was probably the busiest crossroads in town, with a steady stream of city people on the highway heading north to their cottages and vacation homes and stuff.
Except instead of being busy with traffic the intersection was eerily still. I was vaguely aware of muffled sounds in the background, like engines idling, cars honking, and people talking or shouting. All that was faded though, as we focused exclusively on what we saw before us.
One of those big eighteen-wheeler trucks sat motionless in the middle of the intersection. Its headlights were broken and the front grill was banged up. Resting a few meters away in front of the truck was the car it had hit, and that was in much worse condition.
The vehicle was so badly mangled it was almost unrecognizable, yet both Cassandra and I knew it was Mr. Holt's car. The driver's side was caved in, the car sort of crumpled and folded in half, and it was laying on the passenger side. There was a strong smell of leaking gasoline in the air, and the sounds of someone frantically struggling inside.
It seemed obvious what had happened, Mr. Holt had been heading east across the highway when the southbound truck came through the intersection and slammed broadside into the car. A few other people were standing around nearby, some of them were on their phones calling for emergency services while others just stared in shock.
I was terrified at what we'd find inside it, but Cassandra didn't hesitate.
Moving quickly but calmly we strode right up to the top side of the vehicle. All the windows had been shattered in the crash, and my other self placed our left hand on the body of the car while taking hold of the roof with our right. Then we calmly peeled the car open like it was made out of tinfoil.
As we pulled the roof clear our girlfriend tumbled out and landed on her feet. She'd been pinned in the back seat, but appeared to be completely unharmed despite the rips and tears in her clothing. On the other hand she was absolutely frantic with panic and fear. And when she got a look at her parents she let out a scream as tears began to stream down her face.
Neither her mom or dad seemed to be moving, and there was an awful lot of blood. Both front seats and what was left of the dashboard and steering wheel were coated, and more of it was pooling inside the passenger door and running down onto the asphalt where it mingled with the gasoline that was leaking from the tank.
Once again I felt my heart skip a beat, along with a wave of nausea. I was terrified that they were already dead, but Cassandra wordlessly assured me there was still a spark of life left in both of them. She reached out and gently placed our hands on Mr. and Mrs. Holt, and they were immediately bathed in her divine magic. The gold light seemed to engulf them completely as it glowed brightly.
Then the glow faded and our girlfriend's parents were standing next to us, looking surprised and confused but completely unharmed. Neither of them had so much as a hair out of place, even their clothes were restored.
Kaylee practically tackled her folks a moment later as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around both of them. She was still crying, but now it was tears of joy and relief.
"Cassandra everyone's looking at us," I finally said as I realized all the onlookers were staring.
Some of them had their phones out, recording us. Plus I knew there'd be dash cams in at least a few of the cars that were stopped all around the intersection. Then I noticed the sound of sirens approaching, and they seemed really close.
"I know," my other self replied. "Right now I don't care."
Then she started moving again, away from our girlfriend and her parents who were all still hugging each other. We headed over towards the the truck, which was still sitting there with the engine idling.
Cassandra tried to open the door but it was locked, so she calmly tore it open with our bare hands. Then we got our first look at the driver, and once again my stomach lurched.
He seemed completely unharmed, but he was just sitting there staring straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. He had his seatbelt on and his hands were both on the wheel, and I could imagine police or ambulance people would assume he was in shock or something. Or maybe they'd think he was having one of those seizures where you just kind of freeze up.
Except Cassandra and I knew that wasn't what happened. We could see the faint purple glow of magic around his head, we knew he'd been enspelled. Cassandra dispelled it as we turned and stalked away from the truck.
"They did this," my other self stated quietly, under her breath. "They tried to kill our girlfriend and her parents, and they set up an innocent man to do it."
I could feel our jaw clenching, along with our fists, while she took a deep breath as if to try and calm herself. It didn't work though, and we remained tense as we started walking back to where Kaylee and her parents were still holding each other.
By that point the police had arrived, two squad cars with lights flashing stopped on either side of the intersection, while a couple ambulances and a fire truck pulled up as well. The police emerged from their vehicles and started trying to secure the scene and everything, while the EMTs headed for the Holts' car to see if the victims were still inside.
Cassandra ignored them all as we returned to Kaylee's side. When we got to her our girlfriend leaped up into our arms. She still had tears streaming down her face as she held us tight, while her ears and tails were all drooping.
She sobbed, "Thank you! Thank you so much! I was panicking and I couldn't remember what to do, I didn't know what magic to try! I was so scared, I thought I was going to lose my mom and dad! I thought they were going to die because I couldn't remember how to help them! Then you were there and you saved them and I can't thank you enough!"
"It's ok Kaylee," Cassandra told her as we held her just as tightly. "We're here, you and your parents are all safe."
Kaylee shook her head, "It happened so fast. The light was green and dad pulled out, then suddenly the truck was right there! There was no warning, no time to even say anything. He ran through the red light, maybe he didn't see it? Or..."
"Shhh," my other self said as she gave our girlfriend a gentle squeeze. "It wasn't his fault. The truck driver was enspelled. The council did this."
"What?!" our girlfriend gasped as she tensed up.
Cassandra nodded slowly, while I could feel our jaw clenching again. Then in a low dangerous voice she stated, "There was a line, and they just crossed it."
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