"It's nice to be able to relax after all that," Susan commented. "I don't think I've ever had such a busy weekend."

Amber grimaced, "Me either. Two thanksgivings in one weekend is excessive. And the one at my parents house wasn't even fun."

Sue agreed, she glanced at me and Melissa and said "You two didn't miss anything."

"I'm still sorry you weren't invited," the small succubus added. "I shouldn't have gone along with that. Next time mom tries it I'm going to tell her no. The DLP are a team, we all go or none of us go."

Melissa grinned, "Like the musketeers? All for one and one for all."

I giggled, but told Amber "It's ok. I didn't mind not having to go to another big awkward turkey dinner. I mean, I only barely survived the first one."

"You did fine," Susan stated. "Whatever you said to your mom and Carol obviously worked. They both seemed ok after that."

After a gulp of my cooler I shrugged, "I don't know, maybe?"

It was Wednesday night and the four of us were back at the cottage again. We were out at the fire pit sitting around a big bonfire Susan built. And I was sure my girlfriends were all just as tired as I was. Like Sue said, the past several days had been hectic.

Despite my slip-up, thanksgiving at my mom's place turned out ok. We had a big meal, dessert, then me and my girlfriends cleaned up the kitchen and stuff. Sunday morning I made brunch for everyone, then the four of us headed home in the afternoon. My three moms didn't meet up after all, they decided to save that for another visit when they could all be more prepared for it.

Me and my girlfriends had a bit of a quiet evening at home on Sunday, then Monday both Amber and Sue had to go spend the afternoon and evening with the Dubois family while Melissa went out to work. And I spent that time alone hauling our cottage gear out of the crawlspace and getting ready for our second trip up north.

Then yesterday all four of us had a day of school, last night Susan went out to work while the rest of us figured out our final plans for today. And today was like, four hours of driving plus six hours of everything else. Like grocery shopping, packing up the car, getting firewood, and doing a bunch of last-minute stuff, like making sure we had all the stuff Lily needed for doing her big magic ritual thing tomorrow night.

And out of the four of us I was the only one who needed to eat today, so I just ate lunch in the car on the way here. And when we left the highway we hit a drive-thru and I got a burger and fries for dinner.

Now we were finally here, we basically just dumped stuff on the beds and put the food in the fridge then all four of us collapsed around the fire pit with drinks. We didn't even bother roasting marshmallows.

"Actually you know what might be nice for next time?" Amber asked. "And maybe even for xmas, since that's the next big thing coming up? What if we did a big dinner at our place? Maybe we could make a party out of it? We could invite Sam and Troy, Grace, anyone else we know who's not keen on doing the holiday thing with family."

"Except the four of us are probably going to go back to see Emma and Carol again for that," Sue pointed out. "But it's not a bad idea. Maybe we could do both? Like the DLP does a family thing with Emma and Carol, then we head back home and do a friend thing with whoever wants to join us?"

Melissa looked at me, "What do you think Mara? You're probably the one who'd be doing all the cooking, that means you'd have to do two big meals a few days apart."

I grinned, "You say that like it's a bad thing. I like cooking! And between the big kitchen at mom's house and our awesome kitchen at home, it's a lot of fun!"

"All right then," the tall busty blonde smiled. "We should touch base with Sam and Troy when we get home, and see if they have plans. Same with Grace."

"What did Grace say when you invited her to come up here?" Sue asked.

I shook my head, "She didn't want to miss a week of classes. And she didn't say it, but I got the feeling she was maybe a bit scared too? Like Lily's all soft and cute and cuddly, but the idea of confronting another demon maybe was too much for her?"

"Fair enough," Melissa said. "After seeing how easily Lily handled Verothilas, I'm not worried."

Sue agreed, "Same."

"Me too," Amber added. "And I'm really curious to see how it works, and to see an actual demon."

That led to the four of us talking about what it was like with Verothilas last December, then Sue and Melissa told the story again of what Lily looked like when she appeared at new years. I kind of forgot that Amber had never actually seen Lily, and for that matter my other girlfriends had only seen her briefly that one time.

Eventually the conversation tapered off as we all sort of ran out of steam again, and for the next while we just sat quietly as we sipped our drinks and watched the fire.

I finally broke the silence after a few minutes as I asked, "Do we have anything planned for tomorrow? I mean, apart from the ritual thing tomorrow night?"

Susan responded, "I'm going to sleep in as long as possible."

We all agreed with that idea, but Melissa added "I'm going to take pictures. We're probably a month late for the best autumn colours in the trees, but they still looked pretty on the way up here. And it would be a nice contrast to our photos from the spring."

After a moment she added, "Actually I wouldn't mind coming back here in the winter and summer too, just to catch all four seasons. I wonder if we could try and plan ahead and book that stuff when we get home."

"Sure," I grinned. "That's a good idea. We don't need to wait for big demonic rituals to book some cottage time."

Amber and Susan both nodded quietly, then the small succubus commented "I wonder if we could just buy some place like this? Lily has a bunch of property in the UK right? And she's got whatever wealth she inherited from the other demon. After tonight she should have even more. She's probably got enough to pick up a place like this. If it's something she wanted, something we all wanted."

There were some thoughtful looks around the bonfire. Melissa shrugged, "It's something to think about. The distance is the big killer, like four or five hours is a long time to get here and get home. I wouldn't want to do that every weekend. And owning a cottage that you only visit three or four times a year seems... I don't know. Wasteful?"

"True," Amber agreed. "Just a thought."

If Lily had any thoughts or opinions on the subject, she kept them to herself. Actually she'd been quiet most of the day, and I figured she was probably resting to save energy for the thing tomorrow night. Either that or she was anxious about the thing and was staying quiet so I wouldn't notice she was nervous. Or maybe a bit of both.

The four of us had another round of drinks as the fire died down, then we finally packed up and headed into the cottage. Like our first night on our first visit, me and Melissa shared one bed while Sue and Amber took the other. And unlike that visit, me and Melissa were both too tired to do anything more than cuddle.

Without internet and phones and stuff none of us had any real idea how long we slept. We felt rested though which was the important thing. Me and Melissa stayed in bed for a bit of lazy fun before eventually getting up, then she put on the coffee machine while I grabbed some juice and thought about breakfast.

Susan and Amber joined us before long, and all four of us squeezed onto the sofa together for some group cuddles as we enjoyed our morning drinks.

"Is anyone else hungry?" I asked after a gulp of juice. "Or am I the only one eating again today?"

Melissa smiled, "I could go for some breakfast."

"What are you going to make?" Amber asked.

I thought for a moment then decided, "French toast. And bacon."

Our small succubus girlfriend grinned, "I would like one piece of french toast please. Or maybe half a slice, and a piece of bacon?"

"Ok," I grinned as I got up. "Sue? Do you want anything?"

"No thanks," the curvy redhead replied. "I'm probably good for another day yet."

It didn't take long for me to get breakfast ready, and the three of us ate quietly. In the meantime Susan got herself another cup of coffee then stood by the counter looking out the window at the lake.

"At some point we should go on holiday someplace warm," she commented. "Like the tropics. Summer sun, a beach, warm ocean, that kind of thing? Hotels with room service, and somewhere we can go sightseeing?"

Melissa grinned, "I've always wanted to see Hawaii. Sounds like the kind of place you're talking about?"

Susan smiled as well, "Exactly! I'm sure there's lots of interesting sights we could see, between lazing on the beach and checking out the night life."

"Have you ever done that before?" Amber asked. "I mean, gone somewhere tropical like that?"

The redhead sighed, "Just once. My dad took me on one of his business trips when I was a kid? I was maybe six or seven, and I mostly remember a long boring plane ride, and a lot of boring days with nothing to do while dad was in meetings."

"Where'd you go?" Melissa asked.

"I think it was Thailand," Sue replied. "Or maybe it was somewhere in Indonesia? I didn't exactly know or care about geography back then, and hotel rooms all look the same. Wherever it was, there was a beach and dad took me to it once or twice."

She added, "Anyways, Hawaii would be pretty cool."

"Mara?" Amber said as she looked at me. "You look a bit uneasy. Something wrong?"

I gulped, then blushed. "I uh, I don't know. Hawaii seems like a long way away. Like, I guess we'd have to take a plane or something to get there?"

Melissa giggled, "We're sure not going to be able to drive there. Maybe you could get there by boat but that'd be a trek in itself."

My best friend gave me a funny look then added, "Wait a minute. Are you scared of flying?"

I cringed slightly but didn't answer.

"Mara you've been going on about wings and flying all year long!" she laughed. "How can you be afraid of flying when you're so desperate to get wings?!"

"I don't know," I pouted as my cheeks turned colours. "It's different ok? Flying with Lily, with wings and stuff, that was exciting! Like way better than the best roller coaster ride? But airplanes...It's like a metal tube full of strangers and if anything goes wrong you're dead!"

Lily suddenly spoke up, as she pointed out "Mara that's almost exactly the same thing I said about the amusement park rides. And you thought that was funny."

I sighed, blushed, and grimaced. "Sorry Lily. Um, when you've got all your power back and stuff, maybe you could just teleport us though? Like instead of getting on a plane?"

My demon mom was quiet for a few moments, before she surprised me by replying "Maybe. We'll see."

"Yay!" I grinned. I told my girlfriends, "She says maybe! Then we could go wherever, and not have to worry about planes at all!"

By that point we were all done eating. Melissa and Amber did the dishes since I cooked and stuff, then we all cuddled some more on the sofa.

It turned out to be a fairly lazy day, except for an hour or so in the afternoon when we actually went outside and took some pictures and stuff. Even that was lazy though, like we just did the bare minimum so we could try and claim we got some schoolwork done or whatever, like our little vacation was very slightly school-related.

I figured maybe we'd be more energetic tomorrow, after doing the ritual tonight.

Mostly though we just took it easy, till eventually it got dark out. Then I made dinner, we all got dressed, and went outside to hang out around the fire pit instead. Then we all just waited for midnight so Lily could start the ritual.

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