Someone coughed in the jam-packed living room.

Exasperated, Netta looked over the room once more and got the impression that, like her, many of them had never seen this sort of thing done.

It did nothing to alleviate her worry, which had only been building, steadily.

It was made only worse by the fact that seemingly the only sound in the room was the gentle ticking of a wall of clocks.

Netta wanted to turn to look at Ash, to see what expression he wore on his face. Neither of them seemed able to look at each other since she had woken.

Whether he had noticed it or not, Netta had been able to feel Ash's emotions. She could read them, the vague shadows in his mind.

While they were seemingly more apart now than they ever had been before, it was undeniable that their consciousnesses seemed to have begun some forbidden intermingling.

When Netta realized that another one of the Witches had spoke, she could only catch the tail-end of what she had said.

"...We'll be able to speak to Ophelia's sister, then?"

Calliope cast a quick glance at Netta, giving the younger Witch one of her patently sycophantic smiles.

"As long as one of us made the appropriate... sacrifice," there was a silence in the room that seemed to be Netta's own size and shape. "-then we should be able to progress with the... ceremony. Netta, dear, I may sound like a broken record now, but are you certain that you have not found yourself wanting to do anything dangerous to yourself or to any of your own kind? It may not seem like much of anything, but the dangers of becoming possessed are real -"

Netta's embarrassment and - a hint of lust, perhaps in rememberance of the night before? - for a moment, stalled her.

Ash snapped, saying, "To my knowledge, I have not progressed in my plan of dominating one Witch through a concentrated effort of will involving nearing a century of failing miserably to gain control over, I feel like I haven't said this enough already - one Witch."

Miss Kienna spoke up, sounding uncertain. "I also would like to state that I don't remember ever asking that anyone risk their souls for our benefit. Dear," she turned, hesitated, and then spoke to Netta. "if you feel an undue amount of his influence on you, then you have a duty, not only to your own livelihood, but to others, that you tell someone before he-" she glanced over at where Netta had been glancing at Ash, before she looked away from him quickly, as though she was afraid of looking at a dangerous predator. "-it gets out of hand."

Netta thought it to herself before she could censor it. So that all of you Witches can kill me when I become possessed, before I attempt to kill any of you.

And then, unexpectedly, Netta felt a thought cross her mind - one that did not originate from her.

I'd like to see them try to hurt you.

When Netta glanced over to Ash, in spite of the ferocity of what he had said, he looked almost bored. He rose a hand to stop a yawn.

Her heart beat heavy in her chest. She tried to keep the emotion off of her face.

Netta asked him what she had been needing to ask, but had been unable to.

"Do you think that we can help them now?"

Ash turned to her, looking down at her from beneath half-lidded eyes. "I guess we'll see."

Netta sighed and tried to look as nonplussed as she felt the very opposite of. "If I am under the influence of an Incubi, then I think that I can deal with it after we deal with this first."

The Witches, for all of their supposed worry for Netta, agreed quietly with the plan.

Witches, my Lovely, make the greatest hypocrites, that too-familiar voice whispered to Netta in her head.

The ceremony mirrored the failure of one that they had tried the day before, holding hands. Ash placed a hand on Netta's shoulder, making her jump at the unexpected sensation.

When she turned back around to face the other Witches, Netta was surprised to realize that she could see them then. Around the Witches gathered were the familiars of many of the Witches in the room.

The only adult Witch who did not have a familiar to join with was Calliope, who went through with working their magics like a conductor would a band.

Netta wanted, desperately, to look at all of them, to see the Monsters assembled here. Instead, she focused, closing her eyes dutifully when Calliope instructed her to.

This time, when they asked for his and Netta's power, she felt as it blew out of her like a burst of electricity.

Calliope shouted, nearly dropping the hands of the two Witches that she held.

Netta nearly let go herself, to rush to her mentor's side, but Ash continued a grip on her shoulder, and Netta could not think, in that moment, to tear his grip lose from her.

She remained, motionless like a marionette.

After her reverie ended, she shouted to Calliope. The fear came quickly, that, somehow, Ash had set about harming Calliope, using her as a conduit.

She brushed that thought off.

Calliope was partially bent over, grasping her abdomen. After some time, catching her breath, she turned to look at Netta and Ash with wide eyes.

"My word, are you certain that he's an Incubi? His energy patterns are - absolutely insane, Neith."

Ash answered her, saying, "What can I say? We have great chemistry together."

As he caressed the nape of her bare neck absentmindedly, Netta could not help the twin emotions of odd pride - and a desire that seemed to rise from memories of the night before.

Netta quickly said, "It's done, right? I did my part, and now we can get to speaking to the dead girl - to Anais?"

Calliope finally looked up at Ash directly for a moment, as though attempting to read him. Finally, she sighed. "Yes, mi'dear, I'm ready and willing to go."

"Then," Ophelia said from her seat, where she had been watching. "if no one else minds, I would like very much to know what happened to my sister."

Waking up at this time of the night, with a half an hour of sleep underneath her belt as had been meticulously planned out, was an odd experience for the still not-quite an adult woman.

Having never had the chance to experience the seemingly seminal youthful experience of a human girl - of not having a meticulously planned out life - Anais found the side effect of her relationship with the Selkie to be gratifying a need of hers that she did not know needed soothing. Her lust for adventure and mischief.

Sneaking out in these past few months had been an increasingly worrisome venture, however. She was frightened of the seemingly inevitable turn when someone found her out, put a stop to the budding relationship.

Nevertheless, Anais had made a bug-out bag that she kept in her closet, and kept the magic for an invisibility charm attached to it that rendered her and the bag impossible to see when she slid it on.

It had been a hard last few months, but Anais had decided that she needed to steel herself for having to leave her family behind.

There was no way that her tradition-minded Coven would possibly abide her falling in love with a female Monster.

The hard part had been managing to go through the front door without one of her Sisters discovering her escapes and entrances. Invisible though she was, it was hard, even for a human, to miss the sight of a door swinging open and closed.

It was just by luck's sake alone that the front rooms downstairs were empty of her Sisters.

She quickly reached the beginning of the worn forest path. The snow there crunched underneath her shoes as she hurried down it.

It was as she crossed into the lingering shade of the forest in earnest that she got a terrible sensation that she was being watched.

She was laying, gasping and on the ground, when she managed to roll over to see the faces of the shades that surrounded her.

There were a fair number of them, she had thought at first. When she rolled over onto her back to look up at them, it was impossible to miss their energy signatures as they descended on her.

Dressed in dark clothes, the beings had struck her, repeatedly, with murderous energy that had crippled her and made it feel impossible to breathe.

The people who approached her were, she realized with no small amount of horror, her own kind.

The three Witches approached with the giant bear flanking to the right, its eyes glowing a murderous yellow, its mouth opened to reveal massive teeth dripping with saliva.

"Just lay still, girl, I don't want to have to sic Etrias on you again for your disobedience," the Witch who had a hand resting on the bear's side said it in an almost apologetic voice.

The pain in Anais' chest felt too much to handle. In spite of her resolution to get to her feet and to run as far away as her weakened body could handle, she felt a sudden realization shake her to her core.

It was the knowledge of her upcoming death striking her like a hammer.

She had begun to weep without realizing it, the tears falling off of her cheeks as she looked up at the vague, moon-outlined shapes of her murderers. As she looked up at them, she saw something behind them - something that made her somehow feel worse than she had already been feeling.

The gentle-hearted water spirit she loved was advancing upon the shapes of the Witches.

Undoubtedly, the reason that they had not sensed Elluvia was that her energy signature did not read anything like a dangerous Monster's would.

To Witches with Familiars as foreboding as that bear looked, Elluvia was hardly worth swatting away.

The last words that Anais said were to her beloved.

"It's too late. Run away, go now."

If the Witches had heard what she had said - and to whom - they did not let it on.

The sound of a milkshake machine roaring to life in the back of the restaurant made Netta jump in her seat.

"You alright?" Calliope asked in a tired voice. When Netta assured her that she was, the woman continued with their much-maligned line of conversation.

"If I had known that at least one of our own was involved, I would not have had those Witches see it. We're lucky that Arabella hid her energy signatures that would trace back to us when she did that."

Ash spoke up then, from where he sat in the seat next to Netta with his arms crossed. "Not that her bent for beastiality is hard to miss, I must say."

Calliope said, "This is all bad. Very bad stuff." she closed her eyes and took her thick-lensed glasses off and began to massage her eyes. "I don't rightly know what any of this might mean - why one of our own would want to kill that poor girl -"

It was then that the waiter who had been hesitant to bring their food approached, finally coming with their food.

"Alright, we got - a cheeseburger," he put that plate in front of Calliope. "-a BLT -" he placed that plate in front of Netta and then turned away, in a hurry to get back to his earlier conversation.

Netta turned to watch the waiter as he walked away, recalling a time when she wore a similar uniform.

Calliope returned Netta's attention back to their conversation, saying, "Based on what already happened with the deceased Xi, I think that we can correctly infer that this all involves our Sisters to some great degree." She propped her elbow on the table, holding her chin up.

"Gee, what gave you that guess?" Ash asked.

Netta said. "I just want to know why this is happenng. Are you sure that you don't know where the rest are?"

Calliope gave her a sad smile before she took a bite of her hamburger. "I'm afraid not, sweetie."

Ash turned to Netta, his elbow resting on the table so that he was turned towards her directly.

"Lovely, if she was involved, do you think that she would tell you what she knew?"

As though guessing at Ash's line of accusation, Calliope snapped, "I'm most certainly not involved with whatever this nasty business is. My days of running amok with magic have long passed," she turned to Netta, still finishing chewing her first bite of food. "Which is why it's fallen on you to find out what's happening, exactly how many of us are involved in whatever this madness is."

Netta didn't say anything and didn't look at either of them. Finally, Ash shook her, the feel of his hand on her shoulder bringing back suddenly the inappropriate memory of the night before.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Netta said, "There's only one place that I know they would be gathering."

Calliope nodded sagely. "The only question is - how do you want to proceed?"

"How do you think we should?"

Calliope paused and gave her a warm smile. "My dear, I was never the type for planning or leadership. If ever there was a time that I was, it's long gone passed. You're to be the one putting your life on the line, I think that you need to ask yourself those questions."

Netta looked down at her lap, the memory of Ximenia's death was being joined by the memory of what it felt like to be Anais as she was mauled by her sister's beastly familiar.

Netta shut her eyes.

"I don't know, Calliope. Please, just tell me what I'm supposed to do."

It was Ash who spoke up instead then, leaning over to whisper in her ear, "I think that she's trying to tell you that you're going to have to tell her what to do next."

Netta looked up and at Calliope and felt a very deep sense of how their relationship had changed in this past week or so.

Calliope looked at her with a look of stark need to be told what to do.

Netta had thought that if anyone had ever needed her to become someone proactive, that she would surely choke.

Instead, she more felt herself saying the words than she was cognizent of saying them. "Meet me back home. I'll be there there shortly."

Calliope paused and glanced over at Ash before she looked back at Netta. "Are you sure that you feel... safe alone?"

For some reason, Netta recalled in that moment the pain that the poor Selkie had gone through - the sense of shame that lay buried beneath the skin of Anais' budding love and desire. She had to fight to not look at the - yes - feared, but somehow, also dear face of her own Familiar.

"I feel completely safe with Ashwood. He's mine - we're partners in this now." Netta surprised herself when she realized that she felt what she said to some extent.

Calliope apologized quickly. They continued to eat in silence for some time before Netta felt the urge to look over at Ash, who seemed preoccupied in his own thoughts as he looked out to the cold snowscape outside of the diner's window.

They had been on the road in what had to be the middle of nowhere when Ash spoke up for the first time in hours at that point. The sound of his voice nearly made Netta leap up and out of her seat in surprise.

"You didn't mean what you said back there, did you?"

Netta coughed and reached over to take a drink of her smoothie. She cleared her throat. "Um, what?"

After taking a drink and Ash had still not said anything, Netta turned to look at him. She was struck by the solemn line of his mouth as he glanced at her before he turned to look out of the windshield.

When he spoke, he sounded weary, almost emotionless. "I don't need to be the one to tell you about what this whole relationship is supposed to be like. Traditionally, I mean." He took a deep breath and leaned against the seat. "We haven't talked about what's happened between us yet." And he seemed unable to look at her.

Oh Goddess, is there a ditch that I could careen into?

Netta laughed nervously and adjusted herself in her seat. "Y'know, typically with humans, this sort of a conversation happens the other way around."

His voice sounded thick, heavy with some unnamed emotion.

"Netta -"

"And while we're on the topic, it occurs to me that unlike humans, we live longer and typically we end up only ever having sex with one person our whole lives - for, like, what, typically only the one time, right? Whoo - a bad way to portion one of our lifetimes out, right?" She laughed, but her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Look at me."

Netta wasn't certain why, but she pulled over to the side of the road.

Ash looked solely at her with a look of sober intensity to match his earlier words.

He said, "We need to talk about the control that we have over each other, even if we're not going to acknowledge our intimacy."

Netta said nothing, staring at him as though she were a deer caught in headlights.

He continued, saying, "None of what we did - is without consequence, or - reward." He closed his eyes, his face contorting as he seemed to be struggling with what to say. "Look, Netta -"

Netta interrupted him then, hearing the panic in her own voice as she spoke and unsure of how to curb it. "If - if you mean to take control over me and make me your - I don't know, battery, vessel - could you do me the kindness of waiting until I can figure out what the hell's going on with my Sisters?"

She waited, and when Ash didn't answer her, Netta continued. "I know - I took your help and you can very easily take control of me at any time you want. We were friends, though, once, I - I loved you and - and I know that you don't lie to me, not straight to my face. It's not in you to lie directly to me."

She could feel her voice wavering and her willpower breaking as it always did. She forced her eyes to his, staring, wishing that she could sense damnation or kindness in them. She realized that with him, she could hardly tell the difference.

"So, tell me, now, whatever it is that you mean to do, could you wait until I sort every last one of my Sisters out?"

Netta waited, studying his artificial, elegant features closely.

For a moment, she felt her mind, drifting towards him, collide with what she recognized, with surprise, to be his.

As her mind smacked gently against his, she could feel, for a moment that was overwhelming, the sensation of indecision, of wanting to argue. Deeply buried in that were twin emotions, almost equal in strength as they quarrelled. Despair and egotistical rage.

Netta had expected that that rage was there, in the throne of Ash's very inner self, but she was surprised by the despair.

So softly that she could hardly hear herself, Netta softly asked, "Please?"

Ash did not acknowledge this accidental tresspass. It seemed to be sobering evidence of how closely their minds had become.

He sighed. "I won't do anything - until after."

Netta got back to driving, but felt herself wanting to ask him what his intentions were. She found herself, however, without the courage to do so.