=::= Amber's PoV =::=

"Nervous?" Susan asked. She had a sympathetic smile on her face as she added, "I'm sure it'll go a lot better than the last time we all got together for dinner. For one thing, we'll keep Mara and Lily away from the caffein."

I smiled back at her but I didn't answer right away. Instead I took a moment to evaluate how I felt. It didn't take long to realize that I wasn't worried.

Last time my girlfriends and my family got together was just a month after my transformation. I had some borrowed succubus powers, but I was still human. I had all kinds of anxieties, and I was still living with my parents and putting up with my mother's passive-aggressive attitude and my sister's teasing.

Now I lived with my girlfriends, I was the first true succubus to walk the Earth in three thousand years, and I no longer had a problem with anxiety. My mother might still act judgmental towards me or disappointed in me, but there was literally nothing thing she could do to me.

And as for Tracey, I didn't have anything to fear from her either. Since she signed that contract with me she was incapable of spilling Lily's secrets. And while there was nothing stopping her from trying to tease and bully me, she knew full well if she did that I had ways of making her regret it later.

"Not nervous," I finally replied. "Not particularly looking forward to this either, but I'm sure it'll be ok."

Before Susan could respond, a knock at the front door signalled the arrival of my family.

I opened the door and motioned them in as I greeted them, "Hi mom, dad, Tracey. Come on in."

The front door was basically in the middle of the main floor, between the kitchen and living-room area. My parents both looked around at the open-concept design and the new furniture as they stepped past me into the house. Meanwhile Tracey looked at me and grinned like she was planning to stir up some trouble. Or like she'd already done it and now she was planning on watching it play out.

I was glad to see none of them were dressed up. Mom was still the best-dressed but at least she was in slacks and a blouse rather than an actual dress. And dad just wore one of his typical weekend get-ups, an older pair of blue jeans and a short-sleeve shirt. Tracey was in shorts and a tight t-shirt.

Me and my girlfriends were all dressed fairly casual too. Sue was in stretch-jeans and a tee, Melissa was dressed like my sister in shorts and a tight top, and both me and Mara wore leggings and loose tops. It was much too hot for my hoodie though, and between me and Melissa and Sue that was three succubi with the supernatural beauty thing. My folks would probably be dealing with a lot of awkward thoughts, and me and my girlfriends and my little sister would all be able to see whatever inappropriate stuff crossed my parents' minds.

"Hello Susan," my mom said as the tall redhead moved to join us.

"Hi Mrs. Dubois, Mr. Dubois, Tracey," Sue responded. "How are you today?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Sue suggested "Mara and Melissa are already out in the backyard. We've got patio furniture set up there. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Thank you Susan," mom responded. "I was hoping for a little tour of your house before we get settled? I'd love to see all the upgrades you had done over the winter."

I told Sue, "I'll show them around. Why don't you go join the others? We'll meet you outside in a minute or two."

"Ok," she replied. "Come on out whenever you're ready."

Tracey had already seen it all when she was here for Canada Day, but she hung around for the tour anyways.

We started out right where we were, and my folks seemed impressed with the big open main floor area. In fact I was pretty sure my mom was a little jealous of our large modern kitchen and all the new appliances Mara picked out. Mom was also impressed with the living-room set-up, while dad was maybe a bit envious of the big home entertainment system.

I took them downstairs and showed them the den and the office area. Mom made sure to comment on how we had four desks 'squeezed' into the available space and she wondered how we'd all be able to focus on our schoolwork without disturbing each other. She didn't come out and say it looked too small or crowded or anything, but it was one of those offhand totally-not-critical remarks of hers.

Rather than respond I just took them all upstairs to show them the last of the renovations.

Both my folks looked impressed with the bathroom, even Tracey looked interested in the jaccuzi tub. And finally I pointed out the guest room, my bedroom, and the master bedroom.

Mom couldn't find anything to criticize about my room, it looked really nice with all the new furniture and recently-painted walls. And my girlfriends and I made sure all the bedrooms were clean and all the beds were made. In fact we spent some time this morning tidying the whole house so it'd look good for my parents' visit.

"This is a bit cramped isn't it?" mom asked as she looked at the master bedroom. The huge king-size bed didn't leave a lot of extra room, but there was more than enough space to move around and to get dressed and undressed. There was also a pair of bedside tables on either side of the big bed and a good-sized wardrobe, not to mention a decent closet.

I shrugged, "We don't use the bedrooms for anything that doesn't involve a bed. We don't need a bunch of wasted space in our rooms."

Before I could lead my parents back down and out to the backyard my mom sort of did a double-take.

"So that's a guest room at the far end," she said with a frown, "Then your bedroom in the middle, and I'm assuming the master bedroom is Susan's? What about Mara and Melissa, where are their rooms?"

I actually had to suppress a smile. Either she was being deliberately obtuse, or she really hadn't figured out yet that we were a lot more than just roommates.

"Mara and Melissa usually sleep with Sue in the master bedroom," I replied with a slight shrug. "Except sometimes we switch things up and either Mara or Susan will sleep with my in my room instead. I haven't had a night with Melissa yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time."

My little sister was trying very hard not to smirk and dad's expression told me that was too much information, while mom looked somewhere between disappointed and scandalized. And now both my parents had images in their heads of me and my girlfriends in a hot steamy four-way in the master bedroom. Tracey did too, but for her it wasn't a new development.

Mom did her best to ignore the distracting thoughts. Instead she gave me a disapproving look and sighed, "Amber I'm really not sure about you living here. I should have paid more attention, I should have realized what was happening before I let you move out. I'm really worried about you, and Susan too. Things really haven't been the same since you met those other two girls. Especially that Mara, I think she might be a bad influence."

Tracey stifled a giggle, she knew as well as I did how much mom would freak if she ever found out just how 'bad' of an influence Mara - or rather Lily - was.

I suppressed a sigh as I told her, "They're my girlfriends mom. And there's nothing to be worried about. I'm happy, I live in a great house with people I love. And they love me."

"Amber," mom shook her head and sighed. "First you decided to become a girl. Then you started working at a sex store! Now you're sleeping with questionable people, taking multiple partners? This is why I'm worried. I raised you better than this, you used to be such a good well-behaved boy."

There was so much wrong with that it took a moment for me to unpack it all.

My expression and voice both hardened as I stated, "I was never a boy, and I didn't 'decide' to become a girl. We've already had that discussion and I'm not explaining it again mom. You're confusing 'well behaved' for too anxious and confused to stand up for myself and speak my mind. And obviously you didn't raise me 'better than this' because this is who and what I am. And finally, how did you find out where I worked?"

I knew she'd get bent out of shape about the work thing and I didn't want to have that conversation with her, now I was wondering if maybe work sent something to the wrong address. I was positive I gave Christine my new address a full month before the move, but I figured maybe something came from head office or maybe the address update didn't go through or something like that.

"Your sister told me," mom announced triumphantly, as if she'd just won an argument.

The grin vanished from Tracey's face in an instant, and I didn't need Mara's demonic intuition to figure out my sister probably told mom under the promise mom wouldn't reveal how she found out. It was a fairly typical Tracey thing. And a typical mom thing too for that matter, to out her informant without a second thought.

I stared at mom for a second before saying, "My girlfriends are going to start to wonder what happened to us. Let's just head out to the backyard and try to have a nice evening, ok?"

"That sounds like a good idea hon," dad agreed.

On the way out to the yard I stopped in the kitchen to get drinks for them. Dad asked for a beer and mom got a glass of wine. I offered my sister a cola but she wanted a vodka cooler, so I gave her one and grabbed another for myself.

Mom gave me another unhappy look when I handed my sister the bottle, but I pretended not to notice.

Mara and Melissa both said hello when the four of us finally came out into the backyard.

My dad greeted the two of them, he was doing his best to put all the awkwardness behind us and act like nothing happened. Mom was still quiet though. And both my parents still had some distracting images in their heads as they looked from me to Melissa to Susan.

Melissa was getting the BBQ going and my dad gravitated over there to watch or help. He was trying to focus on the grill or the fire, to get his mind off me and my girlfriends.

And mom sat down next to Susan, but she didn't try and start up a conversation just yet. She was struggling with the mental image of the 'poor innocent orphaned girl' she knew six years ago, versus the sort of person who'd have two or three partners in bed at a time.

As for my sister, she just stood next to me for now. She had a sip of her cooler then whispered, "I'm sorry mom found out about your work Amber. She was snooping in my room, claiming she was tidying up, and she found some of the toys and stuff you gave me? She forced me to tell her where I got them."

"Mmhmm," was all I had to say about that. It was a plausible story, and it might have even been true. "What did she do with them after she found them?"

Tracey sighed, "She threw them out."

I nodded slightly. After a sip of my drink I said quietly, "I'll get you some new ones, with some new enchantments for you to try out. For now, let's go and be social."

Without waiting for her reply I moved to sit beside Mara, and my little sister sat next to Susan and mom. Tracey was a little flustered at first, after my comment about getting her some new enchantments to test. She calmed down fairly quickly though.

After we got all the initial unpleasantness out of the way, dinner actually wasn't too bad.

Melissa had a bunch of ribs cooking on the grill, with a homemade BBQ sauce Mara came up with. The half-demon also made coleslaw and sweet-potato mash. I rarely needed food anymore but it all looked and smelled good so I had a rib and tried a spoonful of the mash. And we all had plenty to drink.

Dessert wasn't anything special, we still had a bunch of frozen treats left over from Canada Day. I didn't bother, but the others all had ice cream cones. Except my sister, who enjoyed her creamsicle a little too much. It wasn't so bad this time that she had to excuse herself, but there were definitely some happy sounds and a little squirming as she ate it.

I had a feeling that'd lead to some awkward conversations sooner or later. My parents would probably ask Tracey what got into her, and my girlfriends hadn't forgotten how my sister reacted when I gave her that creamsicle at Canada Day.

Once dessert was out of the way Melissa and my parents all had some coffee, while the rest of us opted for more vodka coolers.

All in all, the evening went about as well as I expected. Like Susan said, it was a lot better than the last time my folks met Mara.

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