CHAPTER 152

"It's okay, Cerberus," he said, then looked at Lily. "Thanks for the reminder. Cerberus, take us to the other house."

The scowl on Cerberus' faces disappeared, and they all nodded eagerly before becoming the beast once more. Mike climbed onto their back and pulled Lily up behind him once she changed her clothes into a red tank top and jeans. Once settled, he grabbed a handful of fur and held on tight while Cerberus broke into a loping trot.

The ride was different every time. The other day, it had only been five minutes long, but it usually averaged half an hour. Lily was leaning back with her hands behind her, and her tail was curled lovingly around his thigh.

"So what have you been up to during the day?" he asked. "I heard Quetzalli mention you at breakfast."

She laughed, a sound that echoed back to him from the trees. "The zombie and the dragon have become quite the odd couple, if I say so myself. Caught them experimenting in Dana's bedroom last night. It was quite a sight."

"Experimenting?" He knew he had heard her right, but suspected she was hiding something. "Experimenting how?"

"The dragon was completely naked, for starters."

His cock twitched in response, but Lily's tone was teasing. "She was naked? What were they doing?" When Lily didn't answer, he looked over his shoulder and saw her biting her lip, clearly trying to buy some time to think of a clever (yet truthful) response.

"Oh, fine. You're no fun. Dana was trying to teach Quetzalli how to control her electrical charges. She can summon a charge, but can't control it once it's there on account of her busted horn, and Dana is tired of having her toys get blown up by the field." Lily rolled her eyes dramatically. "She also was trying to teach Quetzalli how to make a shifting electromagnetic field via alternating currents. Something about being able to test the shielding inside the drones in the backyard without losing them in the greenhouse. It was nerd stuff. You would love it."

"Maybe. I struggled with learning about electricity in school, and I'm not much better now, even though...well, you know."

"Do I ever." She grinned and stroked his thigh with her tail. "Been a while since I've ridden the lightning myself."

He grunted and turned back around to face forward, refusing to take the bait. He had spent countless hours recently with Lily in the Dreamscape, and she absolutely loved tormenting him sexually while they were in there, peeking into his mind to read his thoughts. Out here, she didn't have that luxury, so he figured turnabout was fair play.

"So...why was she naked?" he asked.

"Something about the static build-up," she answered. "You would have loved it. The dragon has quite the rocking body."

Inwardly, he nodded. Quetzalli had a very curvy figure, but their relationship right now was primarily storm facts and keeping her fingers out of the outlets.

Out in the mist, dark shapes shifted about, but Cerberus ignored them. Mike saw the hint of faces appear in the darkness, and frowned. "Are these lost spirits?" he asked.

"Some. It's possible to become stuck here and wander forever, but you could also be seeing hints of another plane. Think of them all like giant, four-dimensional spheres rotating through this world, and realize that you can see glimpses of them. They could also be spirits like the ones trapped at the other house, and if we knew how to pass into their world, we could go talk to them."

"Like the ones that live by the shadow's castle?"

"Exactly. That fucker has pulled them all inside his castle walls, so I can't even chat them up anymore. Not that it ever did me much good. I'm fairly certain he's up to something, but no idea what."

Mike smirked. "Burning down my world, most likely. Last I spoke with him, he said he had found somebody else to take his bargain. As far as I know, nobody in the house has spoken with him, so it must be someone on the outside. Do you think it could be Amir?"

"No. That shit head doesn't have a soul, so no bargain. Still, could be one of his cronies from the society, maybe someone who survived."

"Like Elizabeth? We know she survived." The witch had confronted him after the society had been gobbled up by a dimensional rupture. Other than her, he had no idea who could have survived, though Lily insisted that Amir must still be around.

"Maybe. To be honest, I don't see someone like her parting with a piece of her soul. She knows what a bad idea that is, and it would take a serious bargain to convince her. I don't know that there's anything she would want so badly as to risk ending up as Emily did."

"Speaking of," he muttered, the house coming into view. Cerberus stopped at the gates and dropped them off, then gave Mike three quick licks before bounding into the misty woods once more. He gave a little wave and watched until their shadow disappeared.

"So I wasn't going to say anything, but when they're human, they look kind of like you." Lily was leaning against the base of the fence. "What's that about?"

"Yuki noticed, too. She thinks the magic tried to make her into a shape I would find appealing, but then got caught up on making too many changes and defaulted to the nearest human form. We're lucky it didn't turn me into a dog, or worse, leave them how they were. I wouldn't have been able to establish dominance and bind her to me."

Lily chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure you could have made something work."

"Not without a ladder and the ability to hold my breath." He walked past her and toward the house. "It worked out the way it did, and that's good enough for me."

They entered the home and stopped when they heard Emily wailing upstairs. Mike ignored it and kept going until he was in the backyard. Once outside again, he looked back to see Lily staring up the stairs.