One of our assignments was to 'capture winter' with our cameras, so over the weekend me and Melissa went out to a couple different locations to take pictures.

Our first stop was at a nearby park and I quickly discovered a flaw in my 'invisible bits' solution. It got really damn cold out in the winter and my poor sensitive horns and tail weren't happy about that.

It wasn't so bad when we were just going from place to place, like from our heated apartment to the heated car to a heated mall or whatever. But trudging around a park in sub-zero temperatures and up to my knees in snow while there was a stiff wind blowing was incredibly uncomfortable.

To avoid getting frostbite on my bits I kind of rushed through the assignment and just took a bunch of mediocre pictures of cold white stuff, then I spent the next fifteen minutes in the car trying to warm my bits up while Melissa stayed out and finished the assignment.

Then we drove to another park with a river, and the situation repeated itself. Our third stop was a picturesque old church and cemetery. And each time I wound up hiding in the car after a little while because it felt like my bits were going to freeze off.

I was positive Melissa aced the assignment, but my two best pictures of the whole day were both taken from inside the car. I got one nice shot of my girlfriend looking cold and confused as she was standing in the snow fiddling with her camera settings. The other was a selfie I took with my phone, of me looking cold and grumpy while I waited for the car to warm up again.

Meanwhile we all realized something was up with both Sue and Melissa. After Sue's hook-up Friday night she barely ate anything all day Saturday or Sunday. And Melissa was the same after her date on Saturday, she had almost no appetite on Sunday and she skipped breakfast Monday morning.

By that point it was obvious even to me that being 'more succubus' meant they were getting some sustenance from their partners. Like the energy they gathered wasn't all going to Lily, instead both Sue and Melissa were keeping some of it for their own use.

Lily said it wasn't a problem, but she said it meant they were taking slightly more from people than before. And she suggested rather than needing two weeks to recover, their partners might require two and a half or three weeks.

Both my girlfriends took note of that, and decided to extend their 'no second date' policy out to three weeks just to be safe.

Now it was just before noon on Monday and the three of us were back at Susan's place.

After more than a week without power or heat the house was uncomfortably cold inside, but apart from that we didn't see any additional damage. Nothing more than what we noted last Sunday after Verothilas was defeated.

I still hadn't come up with a solution to my cold problem, but at least the house didn't have any wind going on. We all wound up cuddling on the sectional in the living-room, sharing a blanket and body heat while we waited.

Sue had two appointments set up, the first one arrived a few minutes past noon. I was surprised to learn she was a real estate agent.

After the introductions, Sue explained "Obviously the place needs a lot of work. I was hoping to get your opinion on some different options I had in mind? I could just sell the place as-is, like as a fixer-upper or a project house? Or repair it, then sell it? Or tear it down and sell it as an empty lot?"

Me and Melissa stayed quiet for now, but she looked as surprised as I felt. I had no idea Sue was thinking about selling the place, I figured if she was talking to contractors that meant she wanted to repair it.

The agent's name was Cathy, she did a walk-through with the three of us. Down in the cellar she kind of stared for a few moments at the containment circle that was still marked out on the floor with the candles and everything. And the ceiling above that was still all torn up and everything, which made the whole thing look even more strange.

She didn't say anything though, she just stared for a bit then sort of made a point of walking around the circle rather than through it.

Finally the four of us ended up back in the kitchen, where she gave us the bad news. "Without working power or heat, the house would basically be condemned. That's going to make selling it difficult and you'll take a big hit on the value of the property. That doesn't mean you won't be able to sell it, just that you won't get much for it. If you're eager to get out though, it's an option."

Cathy continued, "If you had the windows replaced, patched up the cracks, and had functioning utilities, and er, cleaned up the basement, that would make it a lot easier to sell and you'll probably get close to double what you'd get as it is now."

"Knocking it down and selling as an empty lot can work too, but you'd have the cost of the demolition, and delays for permits and so on. And in a neighbourhood like this, it's probably not going to give you much of an advantage in terms of value."

We all talked a bit more and Sue had a few more questions, then Cathy finally left. We had another ten or fifteen minutes before the contractor was due, so the three of us got back to cuddling on the sofa again.

"Are you seriously thinking of selling the place?" I asked.

Sue shrugged, "I don't know. I want to explore all my options though. I know you two weren't that happy with the way the bedrooms were set up here. And the neighbourhood might not be that suitable for a family of demon girls?"

Melissa asked, "This is your home though right? You grew up here? Would you be ok with leaving it and going somewhere else?"

"Yeah," Susan replied with another shrug. "It's got some good memories, but there's also a lot of bad ones. The main reason I never tried to sell it before was I couldn't afford to get it cleaned up and fixed up? And I guess there was some inertia, like I didn't really need to sell or move, and it wasn't too far away from university. So it was easier to just stay put and not worry about it."

The contractor's name was John and he was a half hour late, which didn't impress any of us. Then when he finally arrived, as soon as I saw him I knew I didn't like him. Something about the guy just seemed extra-creepy to me. Like I just got the strong feeling that this was a guy who's soul would be really appetizing to a certain demon.

For the first five or ten minutes he was a lot more interested in looking at me and my girlfriends than the house. And I wasn't sure he was even paying attention half the time as Sue explained the problems and what options she was interested in.

Then we went down into the basement so he could check the electrical box and stuff. Where the realtor carefully went around the circle, this guy just walked right into the middle of it then stopped and looked up at the damage to the ceiling.

He reached up with a pencil and poked at some of the joists Verothilas had clawed up and asked, "What the hell happened here?"

Melissa replied before either Sue or I could speak up. She was doing her ditzy-bimbo act as she answered, "So like we had a little problem with demons a while back? Like they were totally getting into the floorboards and stuff? We got rid of them though, it's totally ok now."

The guy made a bit of a face as he stared for a few more seconds, then he shrugged. "If they come back give me a call, I know a guy. Gets rid of squirrels, racoons, mice, you name it. I'm sure he can do demons too."

With that he continued on into the laundry/utility room so he could inspect the electrical box. From there he pulled out a flashlight and crouched down as he went into a low dark crawlspace that ran the length of the house, under the living-room, dining room and kitchen.

He poked around in there for a bit before finally coming back out again. We finished the tour with a look at the bedrooms, then ended up in the kitchen.

"Ok so good news is, all the damage I can see is superficial. The foundation's good, the place seems sturdy enough. The electrical panel's completely screwed, that's your main problem. The furnace and water heater are both on the old side, you could get newer high-efficiency replacements and save yourselves some money in the long run. And if you're replacing all the windows, you might want to look at getting higher-rated ones for the insulation? Double-pane sealed and all that. I can get you some brochures if you're interested."

He gave us a ballpark figure on what it would cost to just repair the damage enough to get the place livable and everything, and what it would cost to do the extras he mentioned.

I kept quiet but I couldn't shake the feeling that his estimates were all inflated. Like he was tacking on an extra fifty-percent because he thought we were dumb girls who didn't know any better, and he wanted to take advantage of us.

Then Sue asked, "What about tearing it down and rebuilding from scratch?"

The guy looked surprised, but he thought it over then replied "Honestly I don't think it's worth it? I mean unless you're totally sold on the neighbourhood and committed to a different design and you've got money to burn? You'd be looking at demolition permits, then all the time and cost of tearing it down. Then you'd need an architect if you're going completely custom, or you could buy some off the shelf blueprints. Then you've got more permits with the city, and finally the time and expense of building a custom one-off house."

He continued, "If you want a compromise, depending on what your goals are, you could gut the place and do a complete refurb inside. It'd still be the same basic layout, same footprint, split-level with the same square-footage? But you could shuffle some of the rooms around and change the floor-plan a little if that's what you were interested in."

I still didn't like him, and didn't really trust him, but he did sound like he knew what he was talking about at least. He gave Sue some more suggestions, and a few more ball-park estimates. And like before I was positive he was inflating the prices and trying to rip us off.

Finally Sue thanked him for coming, and he gave his business card to all three of us, then he got in his big pick-up truck and left.

As soon as he was gone I said "I think we need a second opinion. Or at least, a contractor who isn't so creepy."

Melissa nodded, "I agree. That guy was the only one who'd come out over the winter break though."

Sue locked the place up then we got into Melissa's car. We went over to the mall to pick up some snacks and booze and stuff for tomorrow night, and as we did the shopping we continued talking about the various options.

"Before we ask someone else to come and give us an estimate, we should think about some specifics of what we might like," Susan suggested. "Right now I'm leaning towards either bare-minimum repairs then sell it, or gut it and do a complete refurb then move back in."

I smiled, "If you pick the refurb option, then I'd love to see the kitchen get an upgrade. And make sure the fireplace is fixed up so we can use it."

Melissa chimed in, "Turn the carport into a garage, and re-think how the bedrooms are laid-out."

Susan seemed to like all the suggestions, and by the time the three of us got back to the apartment we were all talking about how we could turn the place into a fun dream-home.

Instead of a little kitchen, little dining-room, and little living-room, we were talking about making one large open-concept space, that just sort of flowed from kitchen to living-room. That would make the kitchen bigger and we'd have room for nicer appliances and everything. We'd still fit a proper table in as well, then have a cosy stylish living-room with a big sectional and a recliner or maybe a love-seat. We'd have the fireplace and an entertainment unit there too.

The upstairs would still have three bedrooms, but we'd move things around slightly. The master bedroom would stay where it was, then we'd have a large bathroom next to it, then two smaller bedrooms together. They'd both be the same size so nobody had to fight over them.

And the downstairs would be divided into a comfy den and some office space, then the other washroom and finally the laundry/utility room.

It all sounded really good and exciting, the only questions were how much it would cost and how long it would take.

And we'd probably have to wait another week before we could get a second contractor in to discuss our ideas.

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