Chapter 35: Onyx's Concerns...

A little girl shouted, "Molly! Molly Molly Molly!"

She hadn't even turned off the rattling engine of her car yet. There was definitely something wrong in the engine or something. It was probably a bent piece of whatever from when she'd hit a bump a little too fast, but the last thing she had money for were uncomfortable noises. Yet the uncomfortable noise coming from just outside her car was somehow even more annoying.

At least settling it wouldn't cost her any money.

She stepped out of the car onto the grass next to the curb and forced herself to smile wearily at the neighbor-child shouting her name. "Hi, Chrissy," she sighed. "What's up?"

Had this been an adult with some sense of tact, Molly never would have asked. Chrissy, however, was going to tell her if she asked or not. "Tigger's up in a tree and won't come down and I can't get him. And now I'm going to be late for dinner and I'm going to get in trouble with Mom for letting him out!"

"Oh no. Not that," Molly said dryly.

"You've gotta help me!"

Molly tugged her backpack out of the car and locked it, as if anyone was going to steal it, even in this neighborhood. "Chrissy, Tigger got himself up there, right? And he always comes back to your apartment, right?"

"Yeah, but he's up in a tree and can't come down!"

"Did you know that in the history of the world no cat has ever starved to death in a tree?"

Chrissy's little eyes went wide. "You mean Tigger's gonna be the first!? Oh no!"

Molly's shoulders slumped. "Where is he?" she asked.

Chrissy grabbed Molly's hand and tugged her along through the row of apartments stacked on top of one another to the small open plaza behind their own building. As she walked, Molly thought once again how much of a terrible, terrible mistake it had been to tell the kids in the complex last 4th of July that she was fluent in cat. And dog. And snake. Especially snake, but at least nobody in the complex actually had one, so she wouldn't likely be called upon to prove it.

It was also very clear to her that she should never, ever be drunk in front of children again. She had let her guard down, and now none of the kids in the low-rent neighborhood had any fear of her intimidating manner, spiked jewelry or unnatural make-up colors.

They found Tigger in the branches of a maple tree, just high up enough to make climbing up to get him very difficult. The tortoiseshell cat sat upright, complaining loudly about his predicament to any who were within earshot.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Molly asked the cat. He meowed back plaintively, to which she said, "You've got no business going after squirrels. You're a housecat. That's not going to work out as well for you as you want to believe."

"You've gotta speak cat, Molly!"

"Chrissy, that's not how it works. I'm not going to meow at him. He understands me." She looked up at the cat. "Don't you, Tigger?"

His tail flicked irritably as he stared down at her.

"Okay. I've got to go inside. I'm tired and hungry and we're not going to play around with this. Climb down here."

He meowed back, and then looked away as if he weren't listening anymore.

"Tigger, I know you're listening to me. I can see which way your ears are turned. Climb down."

He didn't reply. Molly sighed again. She dropped her backpack and held up her arms. "Okay, jump down here. I'll catch you. But you sprout claws on me and it's your ass."

"He's not gonna just jump down," Chrissy said.

He did, in fact. The cat's aim was naturally perfect, and as he thumped into Molly's large chest and shoulder she grabbed onto him gently but quickly enough to keep him from falling. Then she pulled him off herself and handed him to Chrissy.

"Oh my gosh, how did you do that?!" Chrissy exclaimed. "You've got to teach me how! I have this problem with him all the time!"

Molly frowned. "I don't think your mom would like that. Go home, Chrissy. I'll see you later." She shouldered her backpack again, thanking the universe for allowing her solid insurance against ever accidentally having children as she walked to her apartment.

It wasn't terribly big, or even terribly nice on the outside. Just a two-bedroom space underneath another two-bedroom space, with nearly-identical two-bedroom spaces on either side. They had no real patio or porch, just a doorway underneath the staircase leading to the upstairs neighbor's apartment.

What they had, however, was a cheap place that they could call their own with neighbors who didn't ask a lot of questions and a landlord who wasn't big on coming by personally to check up on things.

Incense wafted through the doorway as she entered, so strong as to grab her attention immediately. Everything was turned off. She thought for a moment that there could have been a power outage, but then it all clicked. Molly put down her backpack, secured all three locks on the door and went to the spare bedroom.

Onyx was there in the center of the wax pentagram that they had painstakingly created on the bare concrete floor after rolling up the carpet. Molly's lover and partner was herself stripped bare and soaking wet, chanting quietly on her knees. It would've been a serious turn-on for Molly to see her beautiful girlfriend like this if the atmosphere didn't seem so grave. The shelves were ablaze with candles and the window was open for ventilation though the heavy curtain was drawn. The three buckets of rainwater they had gathered were all around her, two of them now having been obviously emptied over Onyx's head. Most of the floor was wet. Bowls of ritual components sat outside the circle, while ingredients from each were scattered within.

Molly said nothing. She was concerned, of course, but knew better than to interrupt. She took a look at what Onyx had included in the ritual, what she was doing, and what was pointedly missing from the shelves of supplies in the far corner of the room. The candles hadn't been burning long at all, but they were already kicking out a good deal of heat. Molly knelt outside the circle directly facing Onyx to wait this out.

Minutes later -- Molly would've waited much longer if it had come to it -- Onyx's eyes fluttered open. Clearly, she had known Molly was there all along, but she kept her concentration despite the new presence.

"Hey," Molly smiled softly. "How are you, love?"

Onyx sniffed. "How do I look?"

"Like you're afraid and mixed up," Molly said, "but not cursed or sick. You look cleansed, except you've been on an emotional rollercoaster and no cleansing ritual fixes all that by itself." Onyx nodded, looking at Molly with a quivering lip and moistening eyes. Molly shifted to her feet to step into the circle and gather Onyx up into her arms, ignoring the fact that she was still largely soaking wet. Onyx clung to her.

"What's going on?" Molly asked, kissing her forehead while she held her close.

"It's Alex."

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No. No, it was... wonderful," Onyx said with a decidedly mournful tone. "We hit it off. Really hit it off. He seemed awesome. I... I had sex with him, Molly. It was really..." she shrugged, having a hard time coming up with the right word. "Incredible."

"I told you I was okay with it," Molly nodded. "You're not worried about that, are you?"

"A little."

"Ssshh. Whatever it is, we'll work it out, okay? I love you. I'm not mad. I told you this was fine, and I meant it."

"I love you, Molly. So much. So very much."

"I know. I know. Tell me what's wrong."

"Alex has... I think he's got a demon over him." Molly's eyes flew open in shock, and while she still held Onyx, the other clearly felt her body react. "I saw it. Her. I was looking at his aura just before I left and I saw her. I wouldn't have seen her if I wasn't using the sight."

"Holy fuck," Molly blinked.

"Yeah. I don't think she knows I spotted her. I bullshitted my way out and pretended not to really notice when she tried to whisper in my ear and I just hauled ass out of there. I told him I had places to be."

"What'd she look like?"

Onyx huffed. "Like one of those chicks in a 'hot secretary' porno shoot, except a million times better-looking. She had a tail, though. I saw it."

"They're supposed to have wings and horns."

"I know. I didn't see wings. And I think she lost her horns or something. It looked like there were scars on her forehead, like the horns were ripped out or something. Not very big, though."

"Fuck," Molly murmured again. She looked around, spotted the towel on the supply rack and reached for it to throw over Onyx's shoulders.

"I'm not too cold. I'm fine. It's warm in here," Onyx murmured.

Molly shrugged, still holding her tight. "I didn't see anything like that in his aura."

"I didn't, either. It's not there. I mean, you saw his aura; he's like a textbook good guy. And it all fits with the way he acts. God, he was so nice to me. Bought me lunch, didn't pressure me about anything. Obviously he likes me, but I don't know if he really thought we were going to wind up in bed."

"You think he knows she's there?"

Onyx nodded. "I do, a little. I mean I'm not a hundred percent, 'cause I didn't stay to watch, but when he passed by her he kind of paused as if he knew she was there but didn't want to let on. I think he sees her. He said he had just started seeing someone, but it wasn't monogamous. Explicitly. Didn't say much more than that. I think he was talking about her."

"Do you think maybe he's a Practitioner? Maybe he summoned her or created her? Some ritual or tradition we don't know?"

"Hell no," Onyx huffed. "He screams mundane except for that woman." She paused. "The only unusual thing was just that he seems like a really old soul. It's kind of in the things he says, and his aura. I read his palms, too. I think he's been here a bunch of times, and I don't think it's ever gone well," Onyx mused sadly. "But everything about him says, 'stable, moral, kind.' Everything except for that woman being there. If it wasn't for her, I'd say he's someone a stranger could trust with his life, y'know?"

"And she talked to you?"

"On my way out the door, yeah. She reached out and touched my hand and whispered in my ear. She said, 'He wants you. He wanted you from the moment he first saw you, and will want you again. He will please you again. You can trust him. You're safe with Alex.' Really sexy and soothing, or would've been if I wasn't so freaked out."

"Did that seem like a spell or something?"

Onyx shrugged. "I think it was. Her touch felt like something unnatural. Good, but weird. But... we had been in bed for awhile, and then Alex got up to get me some water and I watched him go down the stairs and that's when I saw her. That freaked me the fuck out, so I went into the bathroom and cast extra wards over myself and got dressed. She only talked to me on my way out. I think if I wasn't protected, she might have done something to me."

A long, thoughtful moment of silence passed between them. Molly knew her well enough to know that her worries were layered, but one matter had to be addressed before the other. "So you've warded and cleansed yourself?"

Onyx nodded. "As much as I can here. I warded him, too. Just a quick one as I left. Subtle, y'know? He couldn't have even noticed. It'll last until sunrise for whatever good it does. But as for me, I don't feel any different. Just mixed up inside. Molly, I'm so sorry."

"Hey. I'm not mad or anything at all. You look like you did everything right to me," she said, gesturing to the ritual circle and their rainwater. "But if we want to be safe, we should try a natural setting, too." Onyx nodded, and Molly added, "I don't think anything got done to you."

"Not anything I can see or feel, but Molly, this seems all wrong to begin with. And we know how limited our knowledge is! What if this is all just beyond us? What if—"

"Then we'll deal, okay?" Molly broke in reassuringly. "We'll deal. We're in this together. I love you. Look, let's go down to Golden Shores tonight and run the ritual again there, alright? Nobody's going to be down there, anyway. It'll be cold for you, and that's gonna suck, but we'll have to just tough that out. At least it's been a little warmer than usual this time of year." They had dealt with worse. If there was one thing the Practice had taught them both, it was self-discipline.

Onyx silently agreed. She was quiet for a good, long moment, still very worried but also not wanting this moment to end. Molly was there with her. She loved her. It meant everything. But she had to come clean.