"Sign here please," the mail guy handed me a plastic stylus and held out his scanner tracker thingy.

After I signed it and gave back his stylus he asked for my name, then tapped that out on the little screen. Finally he gave me the envelope and said "Have a good evening."

With that he headed away and I closed the door then headed back to the living-room. The letter was some registered mail for Susan. I dropped it on the coffee table then sat down on the sectional so I could go back to watching the two guys who were working on the big bay window.

They worked fast, they just started that window when I answered the door now they were almost finished it. It only took them about ten minutes to measure, drill, install the metal thingies to the wall, then attach the blinds. As soon as they finished one they moved on to the next.

It was Wednesday evening and it was just getting dark outside. Melissa and Susan were over at the mall doing our regular weekly grocery-shopping but someone had to stay here with these guys. Melissa dropped me off at home after classes, then she went to pick up Sue from uni so the two of them could go shopping together.

Not that I minded, but it was kind of boring. The guys worked faster without me distracting them with conversation, so I just sat on the sofa and watched quietly.

In under ninety minutes we had fancy new blinds installed on all the windows along the front of the house, from the kitchen to the living-room, plus the bedroom windows also got new blinds.

The whole thing was part of our big move last week. On Friday morning before we went out to finish moving stuff, Susan and Melissa took measurements of all the windows. Then on our way to the storage unit we stopped at a blinds place and spent a half hour looking at colours and options and stuff, then put in the order. Sue even paid extra to make it a rush job and paid for installation too, since none of us felt confident about doing it right.

After all the hard work on Friday the three of us had a bit of a celebration that night, or at least we ordered in Chinese food, but we still had so much unpacking and stuff waiting that it wasn't really that much of a party. We still had everything in boxes and we still had a ton of stuff we needed to sort out.

Like all the kitchen stuff, dishes and pots and pans and everything, we had too much of a lot of that, so we picked what we liked to go into the kitchen and what we didn't like or didn't need got hauled out and donated. And clothes-wise, our bedroom closet was big enough for most of our clothes but winter stuff we left in boxes and that went down into the crawlspace for now.

That took us most of the day Saturday and Sunday. And we couldn't really have a proper celebration Saturday night since Melissa was out working and I wasn't hungry, so I figured Lily must have fed the night before. Then Sunday night we were too tired, neither me or Melissa were eating, and we were all starting to think about getting back into the school mindset because Monday morning it was back to our regular routine.

In a way it was a bit of a drag since it felt like we were all working so hard we missed the break. Not that any of us were complaining, Sue's house was great after all the work Mr. Goranov did and the new furniture and everything was perfect. It just left me looking forward to the next long weekend and maybe summer break so we could actually get some time off.

I was hoping maybe at the end of this week we could have a little celebration, now that everything was unpacked and we'd had time to relax and unwind from the big move.

So that's the sort of thing I was thinking about while the two guys finished putting up the last of the new blinds. After they were done, one of them led me around to show me all the new blinds were up and in the right places and everything. He also made sure I knew how they worked, which I didn't but it was pretty easy to figure out. Then him and the other guy packed up their stuff and left.

The moment they were gone I let my horns and tail appear, then I went around fiddling with all the blinds, closing them since it was dark out and stuff.

I ended up getting undressed and just put on a night-shirt for now, and finally wondered "How long does it take to get groceries?"

It felt like my girlfriends had been gone for a lot longer than usual and I was getting hungry. I was just starting to think about texting them to see where they were, when I heard Melissa's car pull up into the carport.

A minute later the side door opened and the two of them came into the kitchen in mid-conversation.

"...should have brought the girlfriend with the demonic strength." Susan said in a teasing voice.

Melissa grinned, "Someone needed to stay here with the blinds guys. You had to go since you knew what to buy, and I wanted to go since I like doing the grocery shopping."

Each of them was carrying a couple bags of groceries, and they both greeted me as I came to help them put away all the food.

"What did you need demonic strength for?" I asked as the three of us were loading stuff into the fridge and freezer. "None of this looks that heavy."

Susan replied with a grin, "You'll see when you help us finish unloading the car."

I had to hide my horns and tail again to go out to the car, but I didn't bother with shoes or even clothes, my night-shirt was good enough. The driveway was a little cold on my feet but I'd only be out there for a few moments.

Melissa's trunk was loaded down with four big bags of firewood. Three of them were split logs, the fourth was a bunch of smaller branches and random little pieces. And in the back seat were a couple big cardboard boxes that were fairly heavy. It was all fireplace stuff, which put a smile on my face.

My girlfriends carried in the last of the groceries, they had a case of cola and a case of spring water, while I brought in the boxes first. Then I got the bags of wood out of the trunk but I left them in the carport for now.

It felt a little like xmas morning as me and Susan sat on the floor and started opening up the big boxes, while Melissa got some chicken nuggets in the oven for the two of us. And all three of us all had coolers to drink.

Sue ended up sitting on the end of the sectional and told me what to do, and I handled the heavy stuff. There was a sturdy metal grate that went into the bottom of the fireplace, the wood would sit ontop of that. Then there was a rack with fireplace-tools, that went on the hearth to one side. There was a poker, a funky little shovel, and a little broom thingy. There was even a fancy box of extra-long wood matches, for starting the fires.

Sue said the broom and shovel were for clearing out the ashes after it was all cold, while the poker was for poking at the fire. Apparently there was a specific reason for that, but it just sounded fun.

Then there was a sort of chain-mail curtain thing that Sue said would keep sparks from escaping and damaging the new floor or setting the furniture on fire. And finally there was a big shallow metal bucket-like thing that went into the corner nearby, which we could fill up with wood so we didn't have to keep running outside to get another log.

A lot of the stuff needed some assembly so me and Susan got out the tools. It was pretty easy though, like a screwdriver and pliers was all we really needed. We had all the stuff put together and ready to go by the time the nugs were ready. All the cardboard and stuff got bundled up for recycling, then I brought in a bag of logs and the bag of kindling and loaded up the big metal bucket thingy.

I joined Melissa on the sofa and the two of us started eating dinner while we watched Susan start messing around with wood in the fireplace. Apparently she knew how to make a fire, though she admitted she was many years out of practice.

"Where'd you get the bags of wood?" I asked as I watched her select logs and kindling and stuff.

She was sort of meticulously arranging the wood on that metal grate, the way she was being so careful and deliberate made me think of one of those games with the wood blocks. Like she was playing Jenga in reverse or something.

As she continued focusing on her abstract wood sculpture she replied, "You can get it in bags like that at a few grocery stores. We got it at a place that just sells fireplace stuff, same as the accessories. It's a little pricey when you buy it that way. Much cheaper to buy it loose, sometimes you can even get it free if you drive around and keep your eyes open. Out on country roads, you sometimes see a pile of wood with a 'free firewood' sign on it."

When she was satisfied, Susan crumpled up some paper and stuffed that into a few different spots, then she used one of the big matches and got it started.

Me and Melissa both watched quietly as we ate our nugs.

In a way it felt kind of magical, watching the little flicker of flame as it burned the paper, then that started burning some of the smaller bits of wood. In turn they got the slightly larger bits going.

Susan moved closer again and added more of the kindling, she kept her eyes on it and used the poker now and then to move pieces into new positions as they burned.

"It's almost like a living thing," I commented quietly. "Like the way it's moving and the way you're feeding it? It's like a living thing that you've brought to life and now you're trying to keep it alive and make it stronger."

"It feels like that," she replied with a smile. She didn't take her eyes off the fire as she talked, and she kept reaching in with her hand or the poker, either to feed it more or to reposition something already in there. "There's a real satisfaction when it hits the point that it doesn't need constant attention? Like once the big logs are really burning, then I can just relax, give it a new log now and then. Until it gets to that point though, it feels like it needs nurturing and support."

Melissa had been more or less quiet but she finally spoke up, "I always felt like there was something primal about fires. Like having fire, being able to make fire, it's a skill that goes way back. And in the modern world it's something I bet a lot of people can't even do. Like we've tamed fire to the point where it lives in the furnace and we never even see it, it just comes on and goes out when the thermostat says so. Same with the stove, like unless you have a gas stove you probably don't even have fire to cook with. And if you do, it goes on and off with a dial or a button."

I grinned, "So can we cook on this? Or like, roast marshmallows at least? Or if we got some sticks we could cook hot-dogs or something over the fire?"

"No," Susan stated. "We have the BBQ in the backyard for cooking food over fire. If we do that in here we'll get grease on the hearth and it'll stink up the place. And I don't want burning melted marshmallows on the new floor or the furniture. This is just for warmth and ambience."

I pouted, "Aww."

Melissa smirked, "Can we at least use it for destroying evidence?"

"Evidence yes, bodies no." Susan replied with a grin. Then in a more-serious tone she added, "No garbage either. Cardboard and paper still goes in the recycling. Burning loads of paper and stuff like that can gunk up the chimney."

I continued to pout about the ban on marshmallows for another minute or two, but I quickly got over it.

We had a working fireplace and even though it was already technically spring, we'd still have cold weather for another month or so. Which meant we'd have an excuse to use the fireplace, which I'd been looking forward to since the beginning of December.

"You did it," I commented with a grin. "It's alive, and it's eating the big logs."

Susan smiled back, "Yeah. We have fire."

She finally got up off the floor and sat next to me and Melissa. She had a sip of her drink then commented, "The blinds all look good. I take it there wasn't any trouble with that?"

"No trouble," I shook my head. "You got a fancy letter though. I had to sign for it."

I gestured to the envelope on the coffee table, and Susan frowned as she picked it up. She looked at the return address and her frown deepened. "Some lawyer in Windsor?"

She tore it open and pulled out the contents and unfolded the legal-size paperwork. Me and Melissa watched quietly as Susan read through it. Her expression went through a few different emotions, before finally settling on a sort of blank poker-face.

"Everything ok?" Melissa asked her. "I'm guessing it's not good news. I mean, lawyers and registered mail..."

Sue stared at the paperwork for another minute or two, then just quietly folded it back up again. She glanced at the fireplace like she was thinking about burning the papers, but instead she stuffed them back in the envelope and dropped it on the coffee table.

"What was it?" I asked nervously.

Susan replied quietly, "My aunt Rita's dead. She was my last living relative."

"Shit," Melissa said quietly. "Are you going to be ok?"

Sue looked at the two of us, then back at the envelope again. Finally she nodded, "Yeah. I'll be ok. It's a weird feeling I guess, knowing I'm the last one out of my whole entire family? Blood family anyways."

After a moment she added, "But I've got a new family here, with you two and Lily and Amber. I'll be fine."

Me and Melissa both pulled Susan into a group hug.

I couldn't help wondering if Lily found and visited Sue's aunt, but I'd never ask my demon mom. And I'd never mention that stuff to Susan, or anyone else.

PurpleCatGirl

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