CHAPTER 103

"What's wrong?" Beth asked, but the slime continued to point.

"Let me check." Lily moved down the hall and had ascended a few of the stairs when her clicking heels came to a stop. "Mother fucker!" she swore.

Beth raced down the hall, nearly slipping in her doppelganger. Lily moved her tail over to let Beth through, but she never finished climbing the stairs.

Hovering horizontally in the hallway was Cecilia. The banshees hair floated around her as if she was sinking in a pool of invisible water, her hands crossed over her chest. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were pulled into a grimace.

"Cecilia?" Beth moved to the banshee's side and tried to touch her, but her hands passed through. "Cecilia!"

"She's...sleeping." Lily was by her side, her palm hovering over the banshee. "Dreaming, even. But how? Banshees don't sleep!"

"I just saw her not that long ago, right before we came to check on you and Tink." Her heart was pounding so loud that she could hear it. That meant that Cecilia had been attacked while she was in the room with everyone else. The only people not present were her doppelganger and Death. Did this mean that the slime was the culprit?

But then why had Slime-Beth gone to the trouble to let them know? Was this a trick? She looked down the hallway at the other doors. They were all closed. If it wasn't the slime girl, then was the culprit still up here with them?

Lily was already moving down the hall. She opened up the bedroom doors and took a peek inside, then moved to the Observatory. Beth held her breath, fearing that the succubus would simply disappear. After a few minutes, Lily came back out, shaking her head.

"No sign of anyone." Her shoulders slumped. "This is almost as bad as the Clue incident."

Beth sighed. Things were bad all right, and the last thing she wanted was to be reminded of the Clue incident. "Let's figure out how to bring her with us. Maybe Jenny can do it? I want everyone gathered up somewhere downstairs where we can keep an eye on each other. Nobody goes anywhere alone starting now. Agreed?"

For just a moment, Lily looked like she was going to say something snarky. However, she glanced over at Cecilia and just nodded her head.

"Agreed."

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Abella stood on the roof of the barn, her wings spread wide as the morning sun provided her with much-needed energy. The previous night's fight had been exhausting on its own, and her use of the heartfire had drained her reserves.

The large shadow she cast stretched behind her and touched the edge of the cabin. From where she stood, she could hear the quiet voices within. The night had been touch and go as Yuki fought to keep Mike alive using the potions that Zel had sent with him.

Throughout the night, Abella had felt an odd tingling in her chest. It came and went, but now that the sun was up, it seemed to be gone for good. Though it had bothered her, the spiral fractures in her left wing concerned her even more.

She could heal from a wound over time, but if her wing shattered, there was no way to fix it. Though it was rarely spoken about, it wasn't uncommon for her kind to throw themselves from buildings if they broke a wing. Losing the sky was considered a fate far worse than death.

As she looked over at the cabin, she could think of something far worse. The realization that she could have lost Mike had cemented a new reality for her. She would likely live for centuries, or even thousands of years. Her kind didn't age past maturity. The stone of her body would weather like any stone, and her time at the house protected her from the elements.

One day, she would be forced to live without him. It was a scary idea, a thought so powerful that it made the world tilt beneath her feet.

Mike moaned, and Yuki whispered words of comfort. The kitsune hadn't left his side, and Abella could hear the exhaustion in her voice. They were all battered and bruised, and if Leeds somehow returned in the near future, they wouldn't have the strength to hold him off.

Velvet bustled around the house, bringing food to Bigfoot and Yuki. The Arachne kept humming little melodies to herself as she moved through the cabin, the hairs on her legs brushing against each other on occasion. It wasn't lost on Abella that Velvet had tried to rescue her from the Wendigo. Had the Arachne done it for her sake, or Mike's?

It also wasn't lost on her that Mike had gotten hurt trying to save Yuki. She wanted to be angry at him for it, but how could she? It was no different from what she would have done for him. It gave her plenty to think about as she passed the hours up on the roof.

Her reverie was interrupted by the creaking of wood, and she turned around to see a large hand appear on the edge of the roof. Bigfoot pulled himself up without a sound and crouched down in her shadow.

"I didn't hear you coming." She narrowed her eyes at him. If not for the roof, he could have gotten right behind her.

"It's my specialty." He grimaced and turned his body so that he could lie down. "I couldn't stand to be inside any longer. The others think I'm out on patrol again, but it isn't necessary."

She noticed now that he was lying on the portion of the roof facing away from the cabin. "Why the deception?"

Bigfoot frowned, then sat forward. "Leeds may be a coward, but he's smart. We hurt him badly last night and he'll need time to recover. The Wendigo may come back someday, but it'll be a while. You killed its host, and it can't just possess the first poor bastard it comes upon. There are rules." He lifted up a twelve-pack of beer. "You want one?"

"No, thank you."

"Good. More for me." These beers were in cans, and he didn't bother with the tab. He jammed his thumb into the lip and poked a hole for him to drink from.