Why me? Seriously, why me? I've only been here one night, and already there's screaming coming from the attic.

Gabby, idiot, I told you I wanted a place to start over. Instead, you put me in place holding some poor person hostage. Seriously, what part of "I want a cute place where the toughest thing to tackle is the plumbing" didn't you understand?

Now I'm climbing up to the attic in the middle of the night because I can hear someone screaming. It's not torture screams but more like no-one-can-even-hear-me wails. There's a muffle overlap as if someone is screaming from underneath some water. Such a style suggests I'm probably going to find something wrong.

Up here, everything is dusty and sprayed with cobwebs. The art gives me an idea of how to find what I'm looking for in this dark place. Instead of running about here looking for the damn noise, I can just ask one of the local artists for some help. Next to me is an occupied web with a black belly arachnid happily eating dinner.

"Sorry to interrupt, I'm the new owner of this home. My name is Ashely MediaLuna. It's a pleasure meeting you," the cute thing wiggles its butt as a greeting, "and thank you beforehand for keeping the flies in check and all."

It whispers words only a witch like me can hear, "It's a pleasure."

"I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the dreadful screams?" The spider hooks one leg up a bit and strums his web on the right side.

The ripple runs all the way across the room, stopping at a covered mirror. From my vantage point, there's nothing odd about it at first, but then another set of screams blares out, and portraying outwards from the mirror is a fuzzy silhouette of a man. My heart breaks at the screaming sight of the soul.

My footsteps are loud and quick as I make it to the mirror. It's my concern that moves me so urgently and purposely. Pulling the cover off of the mirror makes a lot of dust rain down everywhere. Once the dust settles, I find the mirror is indeed holding something horribly wrong.

I'm a cute, short, curvy Mexican who loves to dye her hair pink while styling it into luxurious liberty curls. The reflection is not me at all. Instead, it's a guy. Handsome with auburn hair and outdated bell-bottoms from the early 2000s. He reminds me of the lead singer from Nickleback, to be honest.

"So, buttercup, what are you in for?" This kind of discovery always gets me craving a sweet. Thankfully I always got one in my pocket.

The man doesn't get I'm speaking to him. He looks at me and then to the ground. Oh, his tears are hurting me. At the same time, I don't have all night, so smacking the glass is probably the best way to have him take me seriously.

DAT-DAT.

His eyes jump in zero to sixty back to me, "Hey, sweetheart. I can see you."

The rest of him reacts and starts pounding at the glass from his end. I take it he's been here for a long time. Hopefully not since the year 2000, but that's just my optimism trying to comfort me. My deduction is the truth, and it couldn't care about my pansy-ass optimism.

"Calm down, kid. I'm not going anywhere," my stress moves my hand to dig another hard candy out of my dress pocket.

The kid sniffles and slightly pounds the glass a little less, "Please, get me out of here!"

"Honey, it's not easy. It would be if you were dead, but your not. You're a mortal soul trapped in this vassal." Even in his state, he can still bugle out his eyes in bewilderment.

He gulps and trembly starts, "You somehow sound used to this kind of thing. Norm-Normally, most can't hear me, some do and scream when they see me, and only one other has stood where you stand now."

The man's face scowls suddenly, "That woman looked at me and shrugged, then she covered the mirror."

Well, Gabby's spirit animal is an Angelfish. Unless she's looking for a meal, she often opts to hunker down low and alone. Helping out anyone is too much to ask of her. It doesn't mean she has no heart. I'm guessing that's why she talked me into buying this house from her.

"I'm a blood witch," a wisp of pink smoke drops from my hand, and out of the cloud comes out a throne.

"A what?" His question sounds childish.

"Brew-ha (Bruja)," there's a mischievous smile on my face from the fact his face is riddled in thought, "pfft, it's Spanish for a witch."

Another scowl suddenly makes an appearance, and his tone turns accusatory, "Like the person who did this to me! He must have been a witch too!"

"Hey, no!" I'm appalled.

Placing my arm on the armrest to my right allows me to lean in closer towards the man, "No witch did this to you. This is the work of a succubus. It's their memo to rip a soul out and place it in a vassal. The soul needs to stay intact and alive, or the body they wear dies too quickly."

The man slumps down to the floor on his end, "Look, I don't care who or what did this to me. Please just get me out!"

"You need to understand your situation first." Ugh, this is going to hurt him.

"The villain who did this to you is wearing your body as a suit. Odds are his far away from this place as possible. Without your body, I can't save you. I take you out without another vassal means you would die in a day." Fucking Gabby owes me a whole box of BlowPops for this.

The poor guy is now a deadpan stare, "I'm good as dead then."

"I want to help you, eh-" my hands prompt him for his name.

He recomposes himself and stares back at me as a clear-eyed man, "I'm Seely, Seely Wallace."

"Seely, I want to help you. But, I've got to warn you, it's going to be a difficult endeavor," I can't keep the yeesh-it's-going-to-suck-for-you expression away.

He's intelligent because he doesn't jump at the opportunity I just presented to him right away. I actually see the gears of his mind working out every word I just said. Will he accept my help or opt to stay cozy in the mirror?

"Does your help get me back into my body safely?" His puffy red eyes are getting to me.

"I can't promise you success, but I'd like to see that outcome just as much as you do. Hopefully, that's some useful comfort to you," my heart stings, giving him such blatant truth.

Seely mulls over everything again before making up his mind, "Okay, I accept your help!"

Well, I don't need my throne anymore and dissolve it, "I'll be back." It's time to go outside for a second.

I'm going to have to call for a cat. Pretty sure the guy is going to freak out the most about this part. Still, at least he'll be able to move about, right?

This is my first time seeing my new backyard, and it's fucking fantastic. It melds into the woods. Ahh, perfect for getaways.

I'm the Queen of the finger whistles, and it's just one sharp whistle ringing out into the night that summons a little raggedly werewolf-like feline. The surprise is not kept off my face. I mean, it looks like an actual wolf and cat in one.

"You are so cute!" I'm jumping up and down like an idiot.

He lets me pick him up, and the possessive part of me wants to throw him in the closet and summon another one for Seely. I want this one for me. At the same time, the quicker this is done tonight, the quicker I get to sleep. Besides, if I do this little hunt quick enough, then the cat will be just fine.

Throughout the whole time up the stairs, the guy doesn't even scratch me. What a gentle creature!

The guy is kneeling on the floor, I let go his name with a sigh, "Okay, Seely,"

The man in the mirror looks out to me weakly, "What's with the cat?"

"The cat is the first part of the plan," keep smiling Ashley, smile, "please understand that you'll have to put up with a lot of crap before we even get close to retrieving your body."

My hand smothers and static sparks as the incantation of nullification runs in my mind. Runes from the NetherRealms illuminate around the mirror. The good thing is the succubus is of low grade, and besides the pinch, I dive my hand into the mirror easily despite the defenses of its curse.

With a quick motion, I grab the man and stuff him into the cat, then seal him with my own runes. Viola! The guy isn't trapped in the mirror anymore.

"You got me out! You got me-" the lips of the cat are moving unnaturally, "You got taller. How did you do that? Ugh, why does my head hurt?"

"Observe Seely." I hint at the mirror.

I try not to laugh as the unsteady cat form stumbles closer to the mirror. He stops dead, and the owl-like eyes widen quickly and in panic. I knew he would flip out.

"I'm in the cat! You put me in the cat! Get me out! Get me out!" The guy is hissing without knowing he is and jumping like a fraidy-cat.

"Pfft, here, kitty, kitty!" It's too funny to hold back.

His back arches as he shrieks, "Get me out now! You witch!"

"Alright, but remember, without a vassal, you'll die in a day," my palm lights up with a static bolt since the little thing has irritated me a bit.

Seely backs away, "Wait. Wait."

My painstaking perfect-shaped eyebrow is arched in impatience, "Seriously, do you want my help or not?"

He sits his new cat butt down, "How long do I have to be a cat for?"

"Either as long as its nine lives are intact, or we find your body, whichever comes first. Forwarned human, if the cat dies, you die. A mirror bound you for free because it is inanimate. A living vassal such as that has a leasing agreement attached to it. You live as long as you take care of it." I can see the poor man is succumbing to his new reality now.

"Come on. It's nearly midnight. You can sleep on my breast if you want," I don't know if he's going to follow me, but I'm done for tonight, "the last cat I owned loved to do that."

POV- Seely

That first night was hard. I didn't know if I could trust her or not. Something out of nightmares took me out of my body and shoved me into a mirror. It had been years! And on that night, she came and shoved me into a dog-like cat.

I didn't know what was going to happen. And there was no way I expected the future to be even harder than that first night.

I had taken her offer about sleeping on top of her. Ash has a tendency to snore, and that night she snored like an old busted car. I didn't know I was sleeping on my soon-to-be wife. I didn't know that I was going to go from hating her to fearing her to madly loving her over the course of just a year, but I did.

She still scares the crap out of me, but I'm not so gullible or powerless now. Now I can go toe to toe with her. At least when it comes to the argument of who's going to do the dishes.