We spent another half an hour going over everything before Susan announced that she was taking Crystal for a walk in the park. Crystal didn't want to go until Susan promised to buy her a doggie collar for the wolf plushie.

As soon as they were out through the door and we heard the elevator ding, Nat stood up and glared at her mother.

“What the hell were you trying to do?” Nat spat. “You just came back into my life after all this time and YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE AGAIN?!?”

I didn't bother telling her not to yell, because this fight had been brewing for a very long time.

Samantha didn't try to deny it. “I had a life before I was kidnapped, Nat-Nat. I wanted to see what was left of it...”

“It's! Right! Here!” Nat shouted and pointed to herself. “That's it! Nothing else!”

“The apartment...” Samantha started.

“I own it and the rent's paid for the next 50 years!” Nat spat at her. “It's also mostly an art studio, because I had no other family to share the space with!”

Samantha opened her mouth to respond to that, then sighed instead of speaking. She couldn't deny that her disappearance had changed everything for her daughter. I wasn't sure why I was picking up on that, though. I wasn't using any of my rings or the mental spells to read her thoughts.

“I'll always regret that I couldn't come back on my own.” Samantha whispered and looked sad. The problem was, she couldn't produce tears, so it looked kind of fake.

Nat made her hands into fists and she looked like she was going to tackle her mother to beat some sense into her, so it was time for me to intervene.

“Samantha, drop the glamour for a few seconds if you can.” I ordered.

Samantha gave me a pointed glare for a moment, then she sighed and her healthy tanned look disappeared and Nat gasped at the green color tint of her mother's skin. Even to an untrained or inexperienced eye, you could clearly see that she looked dead.

“M-m-mom?” Nat asked, her voice shaky.

“Yes, baby. I'm not alive. I'm undead.” Samantha said, sadly.

“She's an anti-cleric, to be precise.” I said. “It's too much to explain quickly.”

“Try.” Nat said and she glared at me.

“The god running that world has been setting up the deaths of people and saved them at the last second. He summons them then and converts all of them into the Cleric class in the hopes that they would gain the main spell the world needs to convert the undead overrunning the place into returning them to true death.”

Nat looked stunned and stared at me with wide eyes.

“I was one of the latest recruits, only to do his dirty work for a while, as you know. I eventually found your mom, whom I didn't know was your mom at the time.” I said and paused to gather my thoughts.

Nat waved for me to continue.

“I used forbidden spells to heal her and fixed the damage that had killed her and stored her in my inventory. I've had her with me since the Cleric's World and it was only during this last world that I managed to free her from suspended animation in a magic rich environment and then brought her back here, against the established rules that the gods and goddesses have set in place.”

Nat looked from me to her mother, whom hadn't reapplied the glamour, and she sat back down. By the look on her face and her stray thoughts, she was having a hard time coming to grips that her mother had actually died.

I held my arms out to her and she slid into me like Crystal had and she cried. Samantha sat beside me and her tanned arms joined mine as we held onto the woman that had broken down emotionally. I was glad that she had reapplied the glamour, because it would have been awkward otherwise.

“I... saw you... breathing.” Nat said from where her face was tucked into my neck.

“I still need air to speak.” Samantha said. “It's not magic speech or anything. If I lose my voice box, that's it. I'm mute.”

Nat didn't move from cuddling me. “Why are you warm?”

“That's kind of my fault.” I said and that made Nat move and lift her head to look at me. “Before I stored her, we consumed most of a god's regenerating flesh to weaken him and temporarily absorbed his powers. I used what I stole to regenerate her and heal her, empowering her body to be almost life-like.”

“I wouldn't let him play with it, either.” Samantha said.

Nat huffed and laughed a bit. “Before or after he healed you?”

“Before. He stored me right after healing me.” Samantha said. “I still said no, though. Even making me whole isn't enough to make me lower my standards.”

Nat laughed and sat up as she let me go. “Susan would smack you for saying that.”

“That's why I said it while she's not here.” Samantha said. “A good piece of life advice is to never piss off someone's girlfriend. The only thing more vindictive is a woman scorned.”

Nat nodded and took a really big deep breath and let it out. “Mom, I... I...”

“It's my fault, Nat-Nat. I've been alone for a very long time and did whatever I wanted. I didn't even consider what my words or potential actions could do to you.” Samantha said. “I'm sorry and I'll try to do better.”

“Now that you'll be staying here, I'll clear out one of the closets for you to stand in at night.” I joked and both women gave me identical glares. “It was a joke! I was going to install a hide-a-bed in the work room.”

Both women lost the glares and smiled.

“I also need to work a few things out and Samantha can help me with that. If things work like I think they will, not only will she be able to use some of my more advanced spell rings, she might be able to use the spells themselves or even boost them to work normally.”

“That does sound promising.” Samantha said. “Magic here is quite difficult to cast.”

I held up my hands that were covered in gold bands. “Meet the crutches that I have to use that have only the base forms of the spells I can normally cast.”

Samantha examined them and she laughed. “You must feel like you're working with both hands tied behind your back!”

“I really do.” I said and it was my turn to take a deep breath and let it out. “I have a lot of paperwork and people to make up time with since I've been gone.”

“Like you wouldn't believe.” Nat said with an evil grin. “Stephanie and Bethany visited two months ago and spent two weeks with us because they missed you so much.”

I gave her a surprised look before I realized what that meant. “They took Susan to Paris without me.”

Nat laughed and patted my head. “Yes they did, you poor shmuck.”

I groaned and rested my head on the back of the couch. “You need to help me come up with a replacement make-up gift for her.”

“I don't need to do anything.” Nat said and stood. “Mom? Do you want to see my new work studio?”

Samantha stood as well. “I suppose I could fit it into my packed schedule.”

Nat smiled, because she knew her mother had nothing to do. She took the woman's hand and the pair left my apartment chatting about different things. It was a little strained, since they still had a few things to work out with each other. The sense of loss and abandonment didn't just disappear after a single argument and apology, no matter how sincere it was.

I took out my cell phone and saw all of the missed messages from work, from personal calls, and a few from Susan's mother. I checked the time and nodded as I dialed. She picked up on the second ring.

“Damon, it's so nice to finally hear from you.” Eileen's sexy voice said.

“I hope I'm not interrupting anything.” I said with as much of a teasing tone as I could.

Eileen laughed in understanding. “Now you know why I answered the phone personally.”

It was my turn to laugh, because she had just told me that her husband's mouth was otherwise occupied. “I wanted to ask when you have a free appointment. I neeeeed to see you as soon as possible.”

“Ohhhhh!” Eileen moaned and then repeated what I said. “OH!” She gasped and then started panting.

“I'm going to guess tomorrow at 10.” I said.

“Mmm hmm.” Eileen hummed between moans. “I will... eagerly await... you coming! OHHHH!”

I held the phone away from my face and covered it as I laughed. A few moments later, I put the phone back to my ear. “I'll see you then, Eileen. Have fun.”

“Goodbye... Damon.” Eileen said and the line went dead.

He's probably railing her pretty hard for talking to another man while getting off. I thought and kept checking my phone for any other messages not work related. I didn't see anything stand out, so I did a quick sort by important contacts. To my surprise, the third entry was from someone I hadn't heard from in a long time. It was from my sister and I clicked on it to read it.

Jenny: 'We need to talk.'

I checked the timestamp and it was two weeks ago at 2 in the morning, which probably meant she was either drinking or sleepless. I thought about letting it go and decided that I already had let it go for too long already, even if I wasn't actually here to receive it the first time.

Damon: 'I just got back from an extended trip. You know what kind. Involuntary.'

I typed and thought about my future schedule before I decided how to phrase it.

Damon: 'Have psychiatrist app tomorrow morning. Can meet afternoon or evening.'

I was surprised again when the response appeared almost immediately.

Jenny: 'Tomorrow night at the condo. 7pm. Be there or never be there again.'

I thought that was a little harsh and chose to take the high road and not roast her for it.

Damon: 'I've always tried to be there for you. See you then.'

There was no response and I didn't really expect one.

*

Susan and I paused when we entered Eileen's office, because of a particular smell, and saw that she had a slightly blush on her face.

“Where?” I asked as Susan closed the door behind us.

“On the desk.” Eileen said without embarrassment.

“He was marking his territory.” I said and that made Susan's mother blush fully.

“He wanted to make sure that you knew that you couldn't have me.” Eileen said and waved at the couch as she sat on the chair beside it.

I couldn't help teasing her after not seeing her for so long. “I might not be able to have sex with you; but, that doesn't mean I can't eat you out while I fuck your daughter.”

Both Susan and Eileen gasped at that, then Eileen moaned and rubbed her thighs together, and there was a thump sound from the front office. I suspected that her husband had just fallen off his chair.

“Damon.” Susan said, her face blank.

“It's all right, Susan.” Eileen said, her face a mixture of pleasure and professionalism. “He has tasted me before and he knows that even if I do orgasm, it's not for him.”

Susan let out a sigh and nodded. “I just hoped he wasn't looking for a repeat performance.”

Both Eileen and I let out soft laughs.

“What?” Susan asked.

“We have an unspoken mutual teasing agreement with a side effect of arousal.” I said and Eileen nodded. “Neither of us will ever do more than that, because we both have people we love and we would never hurt them by actually meaning what we say or do to each other.”

Susan looked at her mother and saw her reassuring smile.

“I know it's a little weird.” Eileen said.

“Yes. Weird.” Susan said and looked back at me. “I thought I was pretty open with my mother growing up and I think you've somehow surpassed that.”

“He doesn't tell me everything, Susan. Our discussions are only about his problem and how it affects him and those around him.” Eileen said.

“Including you.” Susan said.

“I have become a rare woman involved in his life.” Eileen said and Susan's eyebrows rose. “I've been exposed to his problem more times than any other of my patients, he's dating my daughter, and we are both excessively sexually active. That it's not with each other puts us both into a very relaxed and comfortable state, even when we are aroused.”

Susan reached over and her hand rested on my erection. I let out a little moan for her and she bit her lip.

“If I did that, he wouldn't have made that sound. Only someone that he loves can get those kinds of reactions from him.” Eileen said and I nodded. “I suspect that even if I tried to handle him with my hands or even my mouth, he won't orgasm unless he chooses to.”

“It's true.” I said and Susan listened as I described the last time I had been approached by an FBI agent to coerce me sexually and I hadn't even gotten hard for her when she tried to use her mouth on me.

Susan stared into my eyes as her hand lightly petted me over my pants.

“I'm not going to last long if you keep doing that.” I warned her.

Susan's eyes went to her mother and Eileen took the hint and stood.

“I have something to discuss with my personal assistant.” Eileen said. “Excuse me for half an hour.”

Both Susan and I nodded and she left the room. My pants were opened and Susan dove her mouth onto me and moaned. I barely lasted a minute and finished for her, which really made her moan. She pulled off her panties and climbed on top of me and kissed me passionately as she rode me fairly hard.

I hugged her close and let her have her way with me. I was sure that she wanted to reassure herself that it was her that was getting me off and no one else and I had no problem at all giving her that reassurance. I loved her and she was so understanding and accepting of my condition and what I had to do to maintain my sanity.

We barely finished in time for my therapy session to resume. It was almost funny how we talked normally afterwards, considering I had sex with her daughter and she had sex with her husband in the other room. The similar moans from both Eileen and Susan were just icing on the cake and made the experience that much better.

We left the office when the official 2 hour session ended and I stopped in the reception area as I thanked Eileen for getting right to the heart of the matter and for not pretending that there was a reason to waste time with everything else.

Eileen laughed and glanced at her husband before she gave me a tight embrace that looked a lot more suggestive than it should have. “It's my job to make sure that you're dealing with your problem, Damon. The last thing I will ever do is ignore how much you need to talk about it.”

I gave her cheek a kiss and she let me go. “Thank you for being so diligent and caring.”

“That's my motherly instincts coming out.” Eileen said and hugged Susan. “Don't forget your own session next week. We have a lot to go over, now that your object of obsession has finally returned.”

Susan looked at me. “It's not a shared session, so you're off the hook until your next appointment.”

I chuckled. “I would be here if you want me to be here.”

“Which is why she's going to be here alone.” Eileen said. “It's one of her hangups about you.”

“Mom!” Susan exclaimed and Eileen laughed.

“He knows you are, dear. We covered that already.” Eileen said and motioned to the door. “You don't have a lot of time to spend with the others before Damon needs to visit his sister.”

Susan sighed and nodded. “I know I can't be there. I just wish I could be.”

Eileen gave her another hug and held it. “Your turn won't come for a while. You were the initial wedge, albeit unknowingly and unintentionally.”

“I know. I forgave myself for that a while ago.” Susan said and let her mother go and took my hand.

I took the hint and led her outside to the car. We really didn't have a lot of time to spend with Nat, Samantha, and Crystal before supper and then I had to go to the condo. I was kind of looking forward to seeing Jenny again after so long. I had been through so much since our family had split up and I was not the same person I had been back then.

I just hoped that Jenny wasn't the same person, either.