28. Unsettled
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Sunday morning we all slept in, then I made brunch for the five of us. I was surprised Grace actually stayed the night, but it made sense considering she had quite a bit of wine. She was a bit blushy but otherwise relaxed when she went to bed in the guest room, but by morning she seemed anxious and awkward again.

She finally went home around noon, and before she left she admitted she wasn't actually looking forward to going. Apparently she was going to be in trouble for skipping church to hang out and have brunch with us.

The rest of the day had been fairly quiet, but now it was nearly midnight and Melissa just parked her car on the residential side-street near the park. The new moon would be just past noon tomorrow, and for the fourth time in a row Lily planned to pull energy from that brooch.

Like our last two visits, the four of us emerged from the car then walked quietly along the sidewalk, then we turned onto the foot-path and headed into the park. And when we got to the right area, we headed off the path and into the trees.

We found the same spot at the bend in the river, and the four of us stopped there.

"I'll see the three of you afterwards," I told them. "I'm going inside now, Lily will take things from here."

The others nodded quietly as they stood around in a semi-circle and watched.

I pulled myself inside, where my demon mom was waiting. We exchanged a hug and I asked her, "You're going to clear those next four runes right?"

"Yes Mara," Lily replied. "I won't touch the grounding rune, but I'm going to remove the last of my prison walls."

She hesitated slightly, "It may look and feel a little different this time, but don't worry ok? We'll still be connected like this afterwards. I promise you that."

"Thanks Lily," I was still hugging her, but after another couple seconds I finally let go and stepped back. "Good luck!"

She gave me a warm smile, then turned and vanished as she stepped out into our body.

I settled on her big leather sofa to watch the ritual.

Just like the two previous visits, Lily kneeled on the ground. I had all the stuff in our purse, and same as before we used the business end of the fireplace poker to mark the demonic runes in a circle in the ground.

Then Lily filled the markings with salt, and finally she placed the open case containing the brooch into the circle.

My demon mom looked up at my three girlfriends, and spoke to them one at a time.

"Melissa, if you wish for more of this energy, we can do it now?"

The tall blonde shook her head, "No thank you Lily. I think I'm good where I am."

"Susan?" Lily asked her next. "Do you want any more?"

The curvaceous redhead declined as well, "Not tonight Lily. I don't think I want to give up the last of my humanity."

We turned towards the last one and asked, "Amber? Would you like more?"

The cute brunette looked surprised. Actually all of us were surprised by that question. She asked, "I've already gone all the way. I didn't think there was any point getting more of the energy?"

"You're already a full succubus so you won't change any further," Lily replied. "But additional energy will make you stronger."

"Oh..." Amber hesitated, but only for a second. "Ok then, yes please I'll take some more."

I felt us smile, Lily seemed to approve of the small succubus's decision.

"Then let's begin," my demon mom stated.

Amber quickly sat down on the ground across from us, so the small circle and brooch were directly between the two of us. At the same time, Melissa and Susan both took a couple steps back to be sure they were well out of the way.

Lily focused on the brooch and started with the magic stuff.

And just like the last few times, the salt glowed a dull red while the crystal in the brooch started glowing a dull purple. There were little flickers of light in the air around the brooch, and over the next few minutes the dull glow got brighter.

It wasn't till things seemed to reach a peak that something different happened. And even though Lily warned me ahead of time, I was still worried.

The purple glow in the gem got even brighter, and I almost thought I could make out a faint outline above the brooch. I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or whatever, but I could swear it sort of looked like Verothilas, like she was trying to escape the brooch or something.

My heart was racing at the sight and I was torn between asking Lily if this was ok and not wanting to distract or bother my demon mom incase she needed all her concentration on the magic.

So I ended up just sitting on the edge of the sofa as I anxiously watched what happened.

The ghostly image of the imprisoned demon seemed to be yelling or shouting, her face was twisted with rage or pain or both.

Then she was gone, and that purple laser effect happened. It hit Amber in the chest, and I counted off another five seconds of energy going into the cute brunette succubus before it ended.

A few seconds later the energy beam hit us, and I felt the warmth in our chest and our right ankle. And like before, once it was over I found myself back in the body and my demon mom was asleep.

The glow was already fading from the gem and the salt, as I took a deep breath then gasped "Holy crap did you all see that?!"

"See what?" Susan asked.

Melissa added, "It looked the same as the last couple times. There was a glow, but we still didn't see any purple lasers or anything else."

Amber got to her feet as she said quietly, "I saw it. I saw her. It was kind of unsettling."

"What did you see?" Sue asked her. "Are you ok?"

The small succubus replied softly, "The imprisoned demon. It almost looked like she was trying to escape..."

Melissa's eyes widened, "Holy shit that's not good!"

I reached out and picked up the velvet box and closed it, then tucked it in my purse before I got up too. I didn't know what it meant, but seeing Verothilas like that left me feeling a little jumpy as well.

"Lily said things might be different this time," I told the others. "I don't think Verothilas got out, from what I saw she just sort of... It's like she partially came out? Stuck her head out? Then I'm sure she was sucked back in when Lily took the energy out. Anyways, we should get home."

The others agreed and we all headed back the way we came. And we all stayed a little closer together, and were moving a little quicker than usual.

We got to the car without any trouble. Like usual Melissa and Susan were up front, me and Amber rode in the back.

As we started for home Melissa asked, "How are you feeling Amber? Did that extra energy do anything?"

"I'm sure it didn't changed me," she replied calmly. "Like Lily said though, I feel stronger? I also feel kind of full, but not in a bad way. More like I've had a really satisfying meal?"

She shrugged and added, "I feel good."

Sue asked, "You're not giddy or horny or anything?"

"No," Amber shook her head. "It's not like the cottage, and it's not like last month either."

"How about you Mara?" Melissa asked. "Everything ok with you? And can you tell if Lily's ok?"

I shook my head, "I'm fine. And it feels like Lily's asleep, like usual. Before she did the thing, she told me it might look a little different? She didn't say how different though, but I'm hoping everything went how she planned it."

As we pulled into the driveway I added, "As soon as she wakes up I'll be in there with her to find out for sure."

The four of us went into the house together, then as we started getting undressed Amber asked "How's the tattoo look now?"

We all kind of stopped to stare at my right ankle, and I smiled.

"Just one rune left," Susan commented.

I nodded, "Lily said that one's a grounding rune. It keeps me and her connected? All the other ones were part of her prison, and now they're all gone. She's basically free now."

"Wow," Melissa said quietly. "That's pretty wild."

"Yeah," I agreed.

There was a pause where we were all quiet, then Sue looked to Amber and asked "Do you want some company tonight?"

The cute brunette smiled, "Actually I was thinking I'd just join the three of you this time?"

That put smiles on everyone's faces, and for the first time ever all four of us climbed into our big king-size bed together. Amber didn't actually join in with anything more than cuddling, but it was still nice to have her there with the rest of us.

Come morning all four of us slept in, then there was another hour or so of fooling around before we finally decided to get out of bed.

As usual I grabbed some juice and Amber had root beer, while Melissa and Susan made themselves coffee. And I made french toast and bacon for brunch, except Amber wasn't hungry this morning so she skipped the food.

It was just about noon when I finally felt Lily wake up.

As soon as that happened I told my girlfriends, "Lily's up. I'm going to check on her."

They all nodded as I settled back on the sofa and slipped inside.

As soon as I was there I gave my demon mom a big hug then asked, "Is everything ok? Last night was kind of..."

"I'm fine Mara," she replied as she hugged me back. But she didn't sound fine, she sounded stressed or something.

After holding her tightly for another half minute I finally let go and asked, "Are you sure? You sound upset."

She gave me a sad smile and motioned at the sofa next to her, "Have a seat."

That got my heart racing a little as I started to worry something was wrong.

"Did Verothilas escape? Me and Amber both saw her face, like she was trying to get out of the brooch!"

Lily shook her head, "No Mara. Sorry, I warned you it might look different but I didn't realize you'd be able to see her."

"Huh?" I frowned at her, "You knew she'd come out?"

My demon mom nodded, "I pulled her part-way out of the brooch... Do you remember after we imprisoned her, I mentioned that I read her at the time? I found out about her properties, her wealth? That's how we were able to afford the repairs and upgrades to Susan's home."

"Sure," I replied. "But what does that have to do with what happened last night?"

"At the solstice that's about all I read from her," Lily explained. "I didn't look all that deeply, I was mostly focused on imprisoning her and finding out where all her riches were hidden away. After all the revelations of your dreams. I realized I needed to have a closer look into Verothilas' mind."

My eyes widened and I nodded slowly, "Ok... So what did you see?"

Lily sighed. She looked sad, upset, and uncomfortable. Her eyes dipped down and she stared at the floor for a few seconds. She finally took a deep breath then in a quiet voice she told me what she learned.

"What you saw in your dream was correct. Verothilas asked Armaros to kill my progeny. He did so, and he reported to her afterwards that Mara died just north of Herculaneum as you saw. In addition, I learned that Verothilas herself killed another close ally of mine. And I confirmed her involvement in my betrayal and imprisonment..."

I leaned closer and gave her another hug, because she looked like she really needed one.

"I'm sorry Lily," I said as I held her. "How come she didn't say anything about me being reincarnated when she was stalking us last year? If she knew your daughter, she'd have recognized me right? And my name?"

My demon mom shook her head, "She and I shared the same opinions on the subject. Verothilas doesn't believe in reincarnation. She assumed what Melissa suggested a few months ago, that I made you look like my lost child and named you after her because of my grief. Had she believed you might truly be my progeny, she likely would have killed you immediately rather than play games with us."

"Oh," I shuddered slightly. "So what do we do next? Can I tell the others about all this stuff?"

After a few quiet moments Lily shook her head, "I would rather we kept this between the two of us for a few days Mara? I need some time to think about everything I learned last night."

She added, "When I'm ready, I will meet with you and your girlfriends. And I will tell them everything. Ok?"

"Ok Lily," I gave her a squeeze and a compassionate smile. Then I added, "I'm sure you already know but you did it. The tattoo is almost all cleared. The last rune is that one that keeps us together."

She smiled back, "I know. My prison has been destroyed, I'm all but free now. When we formed our pact I expected it to take at least a century, yet thanks to you and your girlfriends we've achieved it in less than fourteen months."

My demon mom leaned forward and to my surprise she gently kissed me on the forehead, "You really are quite remarkable Mara."

For a few seconds I didn't know what to do or say, like Lily almost never did anything that affectionate. She almost never even hugged me unless I hugged her first.

While I was still speechless she added, "Why don't you return to your girlfriends? Let them know I'm ok. And I will let you know when I'm ready to talk to all of you."

"Ok Lily," I nodded. "I'm glad you're ok. And if you need to talk about that other stuff, I'm always here for you."

"I know Mara," she replied with a little smile. "Thank you."

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