=::= Susan's PoV =::=

"Hey, whats wrong?" Mira asked as she slipped an arm around my waist. "Are you ok?"

Grace wrapped her arm around my shoulders and added, "I hope those are happy tears?"

I smiled back and forth from one side to the other, "I'm fine. Better than fine. And yes, they're very happy tears!"

"Good!" Mira stated, and both she and Grace held me closer.

I was basically sandwiched between them, all three of us were sitting together on the sectional. Amber was with us too, on the other side of Mira. Mara and Melissa were across from us on the love-seat, and everyone's worried looks shifted back to smiles once they knew I was alright.

The reason I'd suddenly broken down crying probably wasn't a mystery to any of them. It was Wednesday December second, my twenty-third birthday, and I was surrounded by friends and lovers.

This time last year I was in this same spot in my dusty old living-room, alone on my worn out threadbare old sofa. I was sitting by myself in the dark, working my way through a couple bottles of wine.

As usual I'd sabotaged my life once again. I'd screwed everything up between me and Mara a couple weeks earlier, and basically guaranteed I'd spend another birthday alone and unloved. I was positive that's how I was going to spend my whole life. Lonely, depressed, anxious, and hopeless.

I could hardly believe how wrong I was, and how happy I'd become.

This past Saturday we had a little celebration with Emma and Carol, and on Monday me and Amber had dinner with her mom and dad. Not only did I have best friends and girlfriends, I also had two sets of surrogate parents who wanted to spend time with me and celebrate my birthday. Three if you counted Lily. Even though she wasn't there celebrating in body she was with us in spirit, through Mara and Mira.

This was my seventh birthday since my dad died, and in all that time it was the first one where I wasn't alone. In fact I had a bigger family now than I ever could have imagined. Even my home was a hundred times better. Not just thanks to the renovations and new furniture, but it had transformed from a dark, quiet, lonely, neglected place to something bright and happy. I didn't just exist here, I thrived. Me and all my girlfriends.

More happy tears threatened to spill out but I caught them before anyone could start worrying about me again.

We had music playing, there was a nice warm fire blazing away, we'd all enjoyed a big meal of sushi and other Asian dishes. And we had plenty of wine and coolers to go around.

Before anyone could ask Mara got to her feet and headed to the kitchen, then returned with another round of drinks for everyone. Then she started tidying up the left-overs and the dishes and stuff. Melissa got up and helped out, while Grace and Mira and Amber all conspired to keep me trapped on the sofa with hugs and cuddles.

And when they had everything tidied up from dinner, Mara and Melissa disappeared into the kitchen for a few more minutes, before they emerged with my cake. It was a thick decadent chocolate fudge mousse cake, and Mara carried it out and placed it on the coffee table in front of me while Melissa brought some plates and forks.

There were a couple candles on it, and our unpredictable demon girlfriend showed off as she lit them with some demonic magic.

Then I was subjected to the sound of five people I loved all singing 'happy birthday' in at least six different keys. They all cheered when I blew out the candles, then there was some laughter and teasing as the cake was sliced up and served.

Soon we were all enjoying some delicious cake, with the exception of Mara and Mira.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I glanced back and forth between the identical twin demons. "You two don't like chocolate?"

Mara shrugged, "We used to? But we can't really eat it anymore. There's enough caffein in chocolate to cause us demon girls problems."

"Oh," I frowned. "Then why'd we get a chocolate cake? We could have got something else so you two could have some too."

Mira smiled as she leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then she explained, "I remembered at Melissa's birthday last month, you mentioned you always wanted chocolate cake for your birthday when you were younger. But your dad kept forgetting and getting vanilla or lemon or whatever? So I made sure this time you'd get the cake you actually wanted."

It was another direct hit right in the emotions, and this time I couldn't hold back another round of happy tears.

Grace grinned and handed me a tissue, and I mumbled another happy thank-you to all of my girlfriends.

After the tears stopped I continued to enjoy my cake, and it tasted even better than ever by that point. I was still sandwiched in between Grace and Mira, and I found myself looking at the dusky-skinned girl cuddled against my left side.

It hadn't even been four weeks since we found out who she really was and how she was connected to Mara. Melissa and Amber and I all agreed to give her a chance, to get to know her and see if we'd all be compatible together. I'd been worried at first too, that it might be difficult to bring a new person into the DLP like that.

I was even more worried what might happen if it didn't work out. Mara hadn't outright said it, but when we had that conversation after we got home from Emma's place last month the feeling I got from our demonic girlfriend was either Mira was in, or Mara was out.

Fortunately it turned out we had nothing to worry about after all. While Mira wasn't an exact copy of Mara, she was familiar enough that it felt like we'd known her all along. Apart from the missing horns and tail the two of them looked, sounded, and dressed the same. They shared the same body language, the same sense of humour. And Mira was every bit as kind, caring, and compassionate as her other half.

The only real difference was Mira had an extra sixteen-hundred years of experience, though that didn't actually translate to a lot of maturity. In that respect it felt like she was only a year or so older than Mara.

Mira was the very slightly more responsible version of Mara, and we all quickly realized that she wasn't a stranger at all. It only took four days before she and I shared a bed. Even that felt familiar, like once again she was a slightly more mature version of Mara. She was just as likely as her twin to make jokes or burst into giggles during sex, though the two of them only did that when it wasn't going to ruin the mood or spoil the evening.

The other surprise was Grace. Six months ago I didn't even know her, now we were close friends. She hadn't joined the DLP and I was pretty sure she never would. Not that she wasn't welcome, but she seemed happier being on her own. She visited us quite a bit though, and she and I had gotten even closer lately, but as friends rather than girlfriends. Or rather, friends with benefits. We were both part succubus after all.

By the time we'd all finished our cake I'd fought off yet another round of happy tears, and I'd also suddenly come to a conclusion. Being surrounded by girlfriends, friends, lovers, chosen family, whatever words I used to describe them it all came down to the same thing.

"Mara?" I asked as I looked across at the other dusky-skinned demon girl. "I have a request for Lily, if that's ok? I don't know if she needs to actually come out for this but there's something I'd like to ask her."

She looked back at me and nodded, "Sure? She says to ask, and if she needs to come out to answer she will. Otherwise she'll pass it through me if you like."

A moment later Mara added, "Or if you do want to see her, she's happy to come out. She just didn't want to like, interrupt the party or whatever."

I smiled for a second, before it faded. I felt butterflies in my stomach and I took a couple deep breaths to steady myself. Finally I asked, "Could I please have my contract?"

Just like that everyone else went sort of quiet as they all looked at me. Nobody was shocked or upset or anything. But they all knew what I was asking for, and what that meant. And what it meant to me.

A few seconds later the large manilla envelope appeared on the coffee table, next to the platter with the rest of my birthday cake on it.

The others all stayed quiet as I picked up the envelope. I opened it and pulled out the neat little stack of paper, and I slowly thumbed through the pages. There on the very last page was my signature, in blood. Next to that Lily's glyph was burned into the paper.

I stared for a few seconds at that signature. Maybe it was even a whole minute or so, I wasn't sure. It almost felt like time stopped while I studied my name on that final page. The blood was human, signing that page was the last thing I did as a normal human being.

When I signed it, I thought I'd be bound for life to Lily, Mara, and Melissa. Now just shy of one year later, I was ready to accept that I didn't need to be bound to anyone. These people were my family, and that had nothing to do with a few drops of blood and a piece of paper.

Everyone was still completely silent, nobody so much as said a word as they all just watched me.

I took one more deep breath, then I gently pulled myself out of Mira's and Grace's arms. I stepped over to the fireplace, and I placed my contract ontop of the burning logs. Finally I moved back and sat down again, and both Mira and Grace held me tight as all seven of us watched it burn.

Once again it felt like time had slowed down. It may have been thirty seconds, it might have been a couple minutes, but gradually the flames consumed the last of the contract. Some of the ash was drawn up into the chimney, the rest settled down into the coals beneath the logs.

It was gone, I was free, and I didn't feel any different. I was still surrounded by people who loved me. My family was still here with me. I was free, but I was still loved and cherished.

Both Mira and Grace leaned in and kissed me as they held me a little tighter, but it was Melissa who broke the silence.

"Lily?" she asked quietly. She didn't even have to say anything else.

Three more manilla envelopes appeared on the coffee table, and one by one Melissa, Amber, then finally Grace picked up their paperwork.

We all remained quiet, it almost felt like some kind of religious ceremony or ritual.

Melissa went next, she opened her envelope and looked through her contract before finally placing it on the fire. Then she rejoined Mara on the love-seat as all seven of us watched it burn. When it was gone, Amber repeated the process. She looked through the pages, then her contract was added to the pyre and we watched the flames take it.

Finally all eyes turned to Grace. She slowly pulled her contract out of the envelope, and like the rest of us she looked it over. It took her longer to make the decision, but in the end she made the same choice I did, the same choice we all did. And all of us watched as her contract was the last to burn.

When it was done, I looked around again and I realized Mara was staring at me.

She had a compassionate smile on her face as she said, "Happy birthday Susan."

Melissa raised her cooler to me and repeated it, "Happy birthday Susan."

Amber did the same, while both Grace and Mira whispered the words in my ears then both of them kissed me again.

And once again I found myself crying happy tears.

It really was the best birthday ever. We were all free, we were all still together, and we were all loved.

PurpleCatGirl

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