Netta waited until they were out of earshot of the doorman before she turned to Ash and said, "I haven't planned what to say to her, once I see my older sister."

You see, it goes like this - according to mom's old book, only you, me and Calliope are still alive. As unbelievable as that is.

It was more than a little too late to think about it. After all, they were in her older sister's apartment building, heading up. Moments from a reunion that would likely be any thing but tearful, in spite of the fact that, judging by the fact that the doorman said that he had seen Saorise going up to her apartment two hours ago.

Ash turned to look at her, scoffing.  "I've got two options for you to choose from. Let's duck into some shadows for a moment, and then once I am your Familiar, I can explain everything-"

"No. Absolutely not."  

The elevator Netta walked into was a very pretty, ornately adorned thing.   When it came down, however, the last thing she expected was to see a well-dressed older gentleman manning the controls of the almost jewel box contraption.

As they exited the elevator after a quiet ride, Ash turned to Netta. Its voice harsh, the Monster demanded, "Well, what do you want to tell her?"

Netta didn't answer, brushing Ash aside to knock on the only door on the whole floor.  

"You're making this a lot more impossible than this needs to be," It offered.

After a minute of waiting with no answer, Netta knocked again.  After a moment's breath, the door opened to reveal a half-naked man behind the door.

The reveal of the decidedly aristocratic-looking man who wore nothing but a well-trimmed mustache that was on the slightly whimsical side and a tight, tight pair of black briefs managed to drop Netta's thoughts to a baseline.

"Uh... Uhhh...."

Ash leaned forward then, with an arm wrapping itself around Netta's midsection to pull her in. "Evening, chap," the Monster said. "We were just looking for a cup of sugar."

The man's gaze revealed nothing as he looked at Netta. Whether or not he was struck by her sudden jerking as Ash wrapped her up to It, he did not seem to be struck in the least by.

The man took a step back and gestured for her to come inside, saying nothing. Netta followed in, pushing Ash's wandering hand away.

He lead them to a sitting area that looked exactly as Netta had figured it would.

The interior of the place looked airy and expensive, with a tall ceiling. Nothing seemed to be more telling of what wealth that her estranged sister commanded, however, than the perfectly tanned and utterly unselfconscious man that walked away into another room.

The dead silence left in the wake of his departure was almost complete, save for the sound of the man's naked feet as they padded along the floor.

Ash turned to Netta and said, "You willing to play along for the sake of us getting out of here?"

Netta scoffed. In spite of the fact that she desperately did not want to ask her sister to help her be rid of Ash, she found that she could not discover a way - anything else - but this.

When the woman that Netta had come to see finally entered the room, Netta realized, with a sickening thump in the pit of her stomach, why it was that she had always felt surely unrelated to her.

Sia wore something that Netta only ever thought that she would see models wearing. It was something that screamed of affluence and the ability to not have to worry about functionality. Before she even looked in her sister's heart-stopping blue eyes, she felt as though she had lost the ability to speak.

This is the woman who could keep a creature like Ash with no danger of harm to herself.

Her sister took the silence in stride as she walked halfway across the room, smiling broadly and putting her hands on her hips.

"Nettles, dearest, it's been too long!" The words were not out of her mouth before her eyes began their excruciating trawl along Netta's body.

"Saorise." Netta tried and only partially managed a smile at her sister. She had to stop herself from wanting to smooth her frizzing hair out.  Why oh why hadn't she thought to buy something - anything else, even a paper bag - to wear before she had come here? "You look... well."

Sia laughed, the crimson-red wound of her mouth broadly taking over her face as she tossed her head back.  "And you were expecting me to be unwell? Nettles, I am all for family get-togethers, but I must confess to being... awfully busy. Is there any particular reason why you're here?"

Netta touched the book that she carried as though it were a talisman of her right to be there. Fighting to make eye contact with the beautiful, young-looking woman (younger, certainly, than Netta looked) she said, "There's something that's happened. And I had to use the Chronicle to find you..." 

She felt herself trailing off, the power of Sia's gaze settling on her like an immovable stone.  Her sister's gaze seemed to bore into Netta as she regarded her younger sister with her sharp, too-bright eyes.

The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, until, finally it was Netta who broke eye contact, looking down.  When she looked back up, she saw the pleased smile on the beautiful Witch's face.

"You look a frightful mess, little sister. Have you considered some decent clothing, perhaps? To better accent that... little body of yours?"

Sia was approaching Netta then, and something made Netta step backward, her hands held out. She was stuttering something - an apology, a beg to not come closer.  Sia ignored Netta, walking up to her until she had reached her younger sister. She touched her younger sister's shoulders, pulling at her coat.

Netta's heartbeat sped in her chest as she felt herself being engulfed by the overbearing smell of designer perfume - cloyingly sweet.  She shut her eyes, then felt as her hands automatically went to her sister's grasping hands.

Sia pushed her hands away easily and found new purchase, pulling open Netta's coat, shoving the fabric away.

"Ah," she said, her voice too soft, crooning. "as I feared. You look like you could use a trip with me back to my bed room - oh, sorry," she chuckled, leaning in so that her breath heaved over her sister's face, stinking of mint. "I meant my closet."  Her hands traveled then, reaching up to grasp as the collar of Netta's shirt.

Somewhere, Netta thought that she could hear her own breathing, heaving erratically in her chest.  In front of her, her sister's face seemed to made up of a wide, blade-like smile. Sia was whispering something to her, and it felt like she was submerged, falling into a deep, yawning ocean.

There came the sensation of Sia's hands disengaging from her own, then Netta felt as her sister's presence was abruptly ripped away.   For a moment, she saw only her older sister - and then she saw that arm as it swept between them.

Ash.

Sia stuttered backward, and for a moment, her beautiful face seemed to crack.  It showed an emotion that darkened her eternally youthful features.

Ash was standing between them, Its back turned to Netta.

Sia paused, her thunderous expression disappearing, almost as quickly as it had appeared. She laughed.  "Oh, isn't this a treat - you have a pet now." She broke off, laughing.

Ash never moved from Its position.

Sia stopped, her hand pulling away from her smiling mouth as she gave Netta an almost conspiratorial look.   "Doesn't like to share, does this one? I wish I could see what yours looks like." Her smile deepened, and it was like staring into the glinting light from a blade. "It must be Prince Charming, come among us lessers. The creature must be beautiful for such a cold fish like you to take a liking to It. Maybe," She tilted her head to the side then, and seemed to be examining Ash, although she could not see It. "you would not be adverse to letting me see what I can do to such a strong-willed creature, once it grows weak and needs to be retired from the race track." She laughed.

Netta felt her back tense up, horror spreading through her as she imagined Ash as one of Sia's broken Monster lovers, raped of their power and left to dry out once she had finished with them.

Sia stopped, standing up to her full height.   She sighed. "I was only joking, little sister. You see, your manservant isn't the only one capable of humor, I can assure you. I would never presume to touch another Witch's property - that is, unless you're okay with it?" When Netta stared back at her without a word, Sia sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's not that unheard of, you know. I've swapped thralls and Familiars with other Witches in the past, it's always great for a laugh, at least, to see what traits other Witches most desire. Ah, but never the matter, Nettles. I wouldn't have time for such trivialities at the moment, anyway, I happen to be involved in something that requires that I leave rather shortly..."

Netta broke, pushing past Ash, only to find that she couldn't.   Its arm had wrapped around her as she moved to walk past the Monster.

She shoved Ash's arms off of her, busying herself by trying to brush off one of the many wrinkles in her clothing.  "I actually came here - to make sure that you're okay."

Sia cocked her head to the side, her eyes trailing off for a moment before returning to meet Netta's gaze directly.

"Safe? Well..." she turned, her arms raised, making the trailing of lace on her dress flutter like leaves in a breeze.

The man that they had seen from before, who stood quietly in the corner of the room, spoke up. "Vous êtes parfaite, Lady Sia."

Sia answered him without turning to acknowledge him, her hands on her hips. "Thank you, Kristoffer. As you can see, I am better than ever."

Netta felt, even through her seemingly eternal tiredness, a shame. It reminded her of just about every interaction that she had ever had with her older sister.  The feeling of the blush that crept up her face was impossible to miss. Suppressing a stutter as best she could, Netta said, "I - I was sent here by Callie, who says that she hasn't heard from any of you in a good while. I, uh, I went back to the Homestead and I got this..."

She lamely held the Chronicle up and was relieved only when Sia clicked her tongue in recognition at the sight of the book.

"Mmm! Mother's old trick to find all of us. Here, hand it over - perhaps you're simply not using it right, because you're no good at using magic..."   Sia winked, then walked over, crossing the distance between them. She pulled the chronicle out of Netta' hands.

Netta hoped dearly that her sister did not see her flinch.

For a moment, Sia flipped through the Chronicle, her head tilting back and forth quickly until she found the tracking pages near the back of the book. She read it for a few seconds, her smooth face wrinkling slightly.  "This is.... odd. I must admit that, Nettles." Sia left the book opened in her hands and looked up at Netta.

Her blue eyes were clouded with some unnamed emotion and it took Netta one moment to recognize the look as one that she had never before seen on her sister's face. Unease, perhaps fear.  "Has Calliope seen this?"

Netta nodded. "She's sent me here to find you. Aside from me and Calliope, you're the only one that we found in the index."

Sia glanced at Netta, as though looking for something in her face before she said, "What's happened to the others - does Callie have any idea of what has happened to them? I mean, it's impossible that something has - killed them. You simply cannot kill a Witch - that should be impossible.  I would have felt it." Her voice was uncharacteristically sober, in spite of the certainty that she seemed to speak with.

Netta shrugged. "We - we don't know. It's impossible to tell anything of what's going on. In fact, we were hoping that you could shed some light on what's happened to the others."

Sia sighed and began to walk away, for a moment giving Netta a panic.   She turned around before she entered the other room, giving Netta a smile that seemed out of place, given the situation. "Oh. Well, I'm sure that it's not something that you will not have any trouble discovering for yourself. That is - you have become a true Witch since we last met, yes?" When Netta didn't answer her, a smile grew on Sia's face. "I see. Well, you will need to remedy that if you want any hope of going deeper in our world, little sister. With Mother passed onto the other side, there isn't any excuse for you to not want to exploit your power, is there? Well, what little there is of it, surely."

Netta could not explain why her sister's words rested in her mind, oily and discomforting. It stopped her, made Netta feel as though her spine wanted to crawl out of her body.

Her sister crooned softly as she walked away. "I'll be seeing you - soon, I hope."

As she turned around, Netta yelled out, "Wait - you need to keep in contact with Calliope! Give me your number or I can give you her old phone number -"

Sia laughed. "Your idea of keeping in contact is with phone calls? Who does that anymore, even Witches, Nettles? Besides, if I needed to get contact with that part of my world, I have my own means of contacting anyone that I need to. And before you ask me to help you, I have too much on my plate right now and there's nothing I can do to help. Go on," she waved Netta away with a loose shake of her hand. "Run on home to auntie Callie and tell her that the oldest is still living in style and is very much alive."

Netta tried to yell for her, but was rewarded with a laugh that cut like a tainted blade.

The aristocratic man came and would have taken her arm to lead her to the door if not for Ash, who shoved the man away. He did not react to the sudden, unexplained blow, righting himself immediately.

As he held the door opened for them to leave, Netta glanced at his face.  In his eyes she saw the dulled look behind the vivid navy blues for the first time, the way his mouth seemed permanently slackened.

It made her feel sick to see, to realize that Sia was still very much not above, it seemed, of creating Thralls. Humans who were slaves to the wills of Witches.

Netta stared at the man, overcome, for a moment, with pity. Without meaning to, Netta glanced over at Ash.   In spite of the agitated look the Monster gave her, she could not stop the thought that burned her mind, defiant.

Never like this. I would never force you into your own form of thralldom. Anything but - this.

A second thought burned in her, as quickly as she had thought about Ash like this man.

I will never submit to becoming one like him. Not for my family - She gazed back at Ash, walking down the hallway after her, Its false Man's hands shoved into imagined clothes - and not even for you.