CHAPTER 163

"What? Is something wrong?" Mike touched Lily's wrist, and the succubus released Kisa.

"Wrong? No, not technically." She grinned, then moved toward the flap of the door. "But I have a new suspicion about your friend there. She isn't a regular cat."

Kisa shook her head and slid the dress over her head. "No shit. I used to be human."

"I'm not talking about that part of you, short stack." Lily gave Kisa a poke in the chest, then looked at Mike. "You see it, don't you? Your own magic in her eyes?"

"Uh, yeah." Mike looked at Kisa, then back at Lily. "There were floating lights, too. Where did they come from?"

"Oh, they're yours. You weren't summoning them, she was." Lily sat on her tail, a smug look on her face. "I could smell it, you know? She ran past me, right after the moon rose. Her arousal. Poor little kitty went into heat, and—"

"Call me a kitty one more time, I dare you." Kisa revealed her claws. "This is embarrassing enough without hearing from your sorry ass."

"Lily." Mike scowled at the succubus. "I know you love toying with people, but out with it."

Lily sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine. When I stand in here with you, I can sense your presence, but now I sense it in two spots. You used your magic on a cat, Romeo. A black cat."

Mike puzzled at this thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "I don't follow."

Lily laughed, then winked. "Whatever it was that transformed her, it wasn't just trying to make her into a cat. The cat is just the form, not the function. You used your magic on her, and she not only allowed you to, but she also participated. What you have now is your very own familiar."

"A familiar? Like a witch?" He looked over at Kisa. "Do you feel any different?"

"I'm not sure," she confessed, then looked back at Lily. "He's not my master now or something, is he?"

"Only if you want him to be, but you can work it out in therapy. But that isn't what I would worry about." Lily opened the flap to the door and stepped out into the night air, her hand holding the flap open. "If your friend here was in heat because of the full moon, it also means that she's fertile and ready to have your kittens. Might wanna go get some Plan B from the resident witch horsey, just to be safe. You can all consider that my good deed for the month."

She winked at them and then let the flap close, leaving them behind.

Mike looked at Kisa in horror, his thoughts on what Zel had told him earlier. There was an equal look of horror in her eyes as well, and Tink stumbled to her feet, her cheeks now bright red.

"No fair!" She shrieked. "Husband make babies with Tink first, not with stupid horny kitty cat!"

"Ain't nobody making babies," Kisa cried, her hands now on her belly. "Absolutely not, no way!"

Mike felt a chill go up and down his spine. Pregnancy was something he hadn't worried about with the others, but they also hadn't started life as a human. "I couldn't agree more. You wait here in case the moon makes you...um...I'll go find Zel. If she can't help, I know Naia can, just wait here. And Tink, stop crying, nobody is having babies, I promise." He didn't bother waiting for her response as he flung himself through the flap and into the night.

Mike sat with Naia on the edge of the fountain, their arms wrapped around each other. He took in her scent, which was reminiscent of rain and the forest floor. When she finally released him, she had a scowl fixed on her face.

"You had better come back alive," she told him. "Or I will be very cross with you."

"Don't worry. I'm going to be very careful. If things start to go south before I get there, I'll come back and try again next year." Truthfully, he hoped that wasn't the case. How many years had Cecilia been stuck in the faerie realm already? Every morning leading up to today had filled him with the anxiety of knowing that an hour to him could be months to her. Was she still okay? Would she be happy to see him?

He had started having dreams about her when Lily wasn't inside his head. Cecilia would try to warn him away, and he would chase her until his dream filled with mist and he became lost. No amount of Dreamscape trickery allowed him to part the veil and find her, which made him wonder if it was a variation on the anxiety dreams.

When he stood, he looked up at the roof. Though he didn't see her, he could feel Kisa's presence up there, almost like an itch that couldn't be scratched. Ever since the incident at the centaur camp, he could feel her no matter where she was, and she claimed a similar experience. Luckily, the centaurs had provided her with some herbal tea which acted as birth control. He had been very happy to see her drink it down without any hesitation.

Lily had suggested that Kisa get spayed, which prompted Kisa to try and take a chunk out of the succubus.

Ratu had examined both Mike and Kisa and said that their magic was now linked in a similar manner to the way a witch would bond with a familiar, but nobody knew what that now meant for the two of them. She also announced that it was likely that Kisa would go into heat on every full moon from now on, unless she sequestered herself away from the sight of it. Kisa's protest at this announcement was mellow by her standards, and he wondered if perhaps she didn't mind. She had definitely softened in her approach to him, and he had spotted her lurking around more often.