Netta slowly put the phone back in her coat pocket and felt, for the first time since she had re-united with Ash, real fear. Knowing that there was no way that the Monster could do anything to her, she nevertheless saw what seemed to be an attempt on Its part to tamp down some seething rage.

She remembered, then, moments when the creature's insistence that she take him had grown more primal - in an ungentle, aggressive way.  Before It had become content with chipping away at her belief that she could be happy alone and Human.

"Okay," Netta said, forcing herself to stay calm.   "alright."  She put the phone down and had grabbed the clothes that she had picked out to wear and made for the door.

Why was her pulse beating such a heavy rhythm in her throat? She did not seriously think that Ash was capable of hurting her -

She forced herself to think of something other than what she had just witnessed.   Netta figured that she had more than enough time for a shower, based on her travel plans that she had made on her phone during the ride home. 

Grabbing a towel and taking some clothes, she tried to walk past Ash, but was stopped when the creature reached out to stop her.  "Hey - taking a shower already?" It smiled dazzlingly at her, quirking an eyebrow - apparently, her earlier reveal of having a "Human pet" was forgotten. "You can wait to do that -" It leaned in, Its face only a few inches away from her face as It whispered. "after we're finished."

Its hands, touch, burned, radiated with pure, unadulterated magic.

Netta took Its hands off of her shoulders and continued for the door. "You stay here - I'll be back in ten minutes. Or, wait, make that twenty. And I mean it - stay here."   She could really use a soak - and a period to think about how she would have to deal with Ash for the next - well, surely less than nineteen hours at this point?

Netta didn't give Ash a chance to argue with her, walking into the bathroom and starting the shower.

It was after she had begun the shower when she heard the terse banging on the bathroom door. Bristling at the thought of Ash demanding to be let in, she stuck her head out of the shower and yelled, "I don't have time for this, asshole, let me relax!" She had returned to the shower, yanking the shower curtain back in place.

The banging on the door intensified.

Annoyed, Netta turned off the tap and wrapped herself up as best as she could in a towel.  She walked to the bathroom door. Throwing the door open, she was ready to tell Ash exactly what she thought of him.

Standing in front of the doorway was not the creature, but rather her roommate, Curtis. He was obviously surprised to see her in the shape that she was in.

"I - ah, I was wanting to apologize for you having to, erm, see that..." Curtis looked up and rubbed at the back of his brown hair for a moment before he continued. "I know we promised no sex in the communal, but Sierra's real kinky -"

It took Netta some time to even consider what it was that he could possibly be referring to. Then she recalled the day before, when she had found the pothead and his new girlfriend in the communal.

She had been wearing nothing, save for Netta's silk robe. The same robe that she had gotten as a birthday present, back when Japanese goods, once upon a time, had been next to impossible to procure. Importation laws and the like.

"Don't bother," Netta said, prepared to shut the door in his face. "it won't matter soon, anyway." She regretted saying that as soon as she did.

Curtis reached forward and caught the door before she could shut it.  He scoffed. "You're not trying to say that you're going to leave because you saw me having sex, are you? You can't be that mad about the - her borrowing your robe -"

Netta was prepared to answer that when the sound of her bedroom door opening drew both of their attention.

Curtis looked at the door, and it took her a stupidly long moment to come to the full realization that he could not see the taller, blond man in her doorway.

Curtis turned to look back at her. In spite of his chuckle, she could see the fear behind his eyes. "You hear that?"

Ash grinned. "This the guy you were talking about from before? This your boyfriend?"  Its mouth curved into a scythe-like smile, Its eyes aglow with horrible life.

Netta looked at Ash, then back at Curtis. She became all too aware, at once, that she was wet and wearing nothing but a towel.  She pulled that towel closer to herself, clenched her eyes shut, and said, "I have to go visit my family out of state. I don't know when I'm going to come back, but..." 

She saw the confused look on Curtis' face. She was overcome with the sudden urge to explain what she had planned. Like going cross-country, to the barren land of cactus flowers because she got a business card in the mail.   A sign that seemed to suggest that it was time to, if for a brief moment, stop pretending to be normal.

Instead of saying any of that, Netta clenched her mouth tight, then grabbed onto the door.   Before she slammed it shut, she said, "If I'm coming back, in two weeks at most."

As she slammed the door, she heard Curtis crying out, "But - what about the rent?"

Netta didn't know why she failed to expect the tableau on her bed when she got back in her room.  She stood corrected, if she had ever made the mistake of thinking that Ash was made of a single shred of decency.

Upon entering the room, she found the creature reclined on her too-small bed. It wore only what looked like - satin black briefs?  Is this really what It thinks, even for a moment, what I wanted to see - deal with?

"Agh," Netta groaned, completing her head's transformation with her wet hair encased in a towel. "think of the children. Put your modesty back on."

When she raised her head, Netta was treated to the sight of Ash smiling broadly at her, still reclined on the bed.

It spoke lazily, in a smoked, lush voice. "You know, it occurred to me that you haven't seen me in the nude for a good, long while, since you went to the trouble of banishing me." It paused. "Again."

She really shouldn't be capable of blushing any longer at what Ash did, but nevertheless, she did.   "I - that doesn't stop you from filling my dreams with you." Why did she mention them?   For one thing, it wasn't as though she ever remembered them - whatever it was exactly that happened in them once she awoke. Save, perhaps, for roused emotions that were shockingly potent. 

Still, if she could go without talking about them, she thought it possible that she could save face for however long she would have to deal with It.

Ash stared her down.   After a pause, the hand that was not holding Its neck traveled down to push Its briefs away from skin, smacking against Its skin with a rubber band's snap.  "We could acquaint ourselves with each other in a way that I know you would just adore. I mean, based on the way that you feel when you wake up from our nice dreams together..."

The smile that tugged, knowingly, at Its mouth burned Netta in anger.

Ash continued. "Plus - I don't think that I need to remind you that all you need to do is give in. Just - give in - and then we can finally see what kind of magic you're made of, finally." It licked Its lips and, in one swift movement, the creature wrenched himself up, then down on the bed in a writhing movement.

The bed leaped, then slammed down.

Netta rushed the few feet that separated her and the bed.   "Stop that!" 

She did not really think that Curtis was intelligent enough to figure out that she was not of the fully human persuasion. Nevertheless, she feared answering questions.

She discovered her mistake too late as she was pulled across the creature's chest.  Splayed out, Netta tried to wrench herself loose, only to feel Its grip, gentle.

Netta felt the breath fail to stir in her lungs. A hand crept up behind her head, pushed her so that her face was resting in the curve of Its neck, her chin pressed to Its collar bone.   The creature's chest expanded and she heard as It took in a deep intake of breath.

Ash breathed in her ear, Its voice containing that rough quality to it that it always had when the creature spoke softly.  "Oh, all of the times that I could have held you, pushed you past your breaking point. I could have forced you into an insane asylum a hundred times before now - have you acting erratically in front of Them, the humans. Pushing away phantom hands, have you acting in that indignant way to nobody after I tell you what I would like nothing more than to do to you -"

When It finished abruptly, sweeping a burningly hot tongue against the conch-like ridge of her outer ear, Netta jumped.

"You won't be able to hold onto me like this forever," Netta said, trying to make herself feel triumphant in that knowledge.

What she was actually feeling was an unforgotten burst of recognition that rang like a bell, deep inside of the confines of her subconscious.  It said nothing at first, then said, "No, I cannot."

As soon as the creature's power waned, Netta pushed back, rushing to her feet.

Huffing and trying to straighten her clothing, Netta looked away from the false man splayed out on the bed. She did not look away before she saw the changed state of how Its underwear pulled away from the crotch in a strained tent.

Netta closed her eyes, then managed to say, "Enough of that. I don't even know what to do if Curtis somehow manages to - if he finds out that I'm -"

Ash rolled Its eyes, then cut her off. "You're adapting to the Humans. We've talked about this before, Lovely, if anyone needs to adapt, then it's the vulgarly unmagical."

Netta sighed, feeling an aneurysm coming on. "When was this conversation? Twenty, thirty years ago?"

Ash smiled smugly, relaxed further on Its back. The creature's feet had to dangle off of the edge of the bed, making the bed look like a kids' cot. "Eleven years, seven months and two days ago. The meet-up for coffee that ended in me going in for a kiss and you looking like a crazy woman when you fled the shop."

"You memorize all of that, don't you?" Netta felt a sudden pang of something unexpected - empathy?

Ash frowned. "Why wouldn't I? The only part of my life happens to be you."

Why couldn't this Monster be this fixated on someone - anyone - else?

Relieved It could not read her mind, Netta set about acting as though the half-naked, aroused Monster in the bed was not there.

The whole situation gave her an understandable feeling of deja vu.  Netta tried to bluster beneath a flurry of pulling her outer winter clothes on. Not able to locate her scarf, she tried to take a last moment to look for it. 

She tried to make quick work of bending to peer underneath the bed, and when she bent up, she realized that the Monster that had been reclining on her bed was no longer there.  She discovered where It was a moment later, when a lean arm reached around her stomach, lifting her up to raise her onto the bed. 

As It placed her on the bed, bent ever so slightly, Ash pressed Its face to the back of her head.   In a breath, the towel that wrapped her hair up dropped to the ground like a dried flower petal. Ash did not need to touch it, as it unwrapped itself smoothly and quickly from her hair of Its on volition.

She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes, feeling as the Monster buried Its face against the mass of her hair at the nape of her neck. When that moment ended, she brought her right elbow back, hard, feeling it connect with Its chest. 

Although not particularly physically imposing in this form, when she felt her elbow connect, it was plenty enough to make her relieved that she could fend It off.

The presence behind her left, reappearing facing her on the bed. Back on the bed with Its legs folded and hands balancing so that It leaned forward, Ash's head was head bent down so that It was looking into her eyes.

She could smell Its breath - forcing her mouth shut so that she did not take in an overwhelming dose of those glamor pheromones that It breathed - would prove disastrous if she overdosed on.  "Harsh, don't you think?" The creature blinked at her, an enraging look of innocence on Its face.

At that moment, hearing that voice that she had long tied to an older-looking male with a harsh face, she found that Its voice sounded in this new form, ill-fitting.

Its voice turned coaxing, purring.   "You know, learning what you like - when to press forward, when to play it coy - is the true mark of my abilities as a man. And you don't make it easy." The creature licked Its full lips, smirking.

Netta ignored the Monster, pulling away from the bed, hoping that her every emotion wasn't on her face, in spite of her attempt at hiding them.

"What are you doing right now, Lovely?" It asked in a lazy voice.

"Getting packed."  Netta pulled on an unmatching set of socks and shoved her feet into the set of sneakers that she had worn to death. She was beginning to look for her scarf one last time when she was stopped suddenly by Ash, grabbing a hold of one of her hands.

"Now might be a good time to have whatever conversation you were planning on with me. Whatever ultimatum that you think you have over me.  Because I know why you've been here, among all of the Humans."  Ash sighed, the sound tired - almost sorrowful.  "Even in full control of my strength, I can't find you when you're not blanketed in such an overwhelming amount of Humans.  Once we're gone from this wretched place, it'll start only being a matter of time for me to find you."

Netta had tricked herself into saving that bit - the worst bit - for last. Sighing, she looked up into Ash's vivid eyes.   "We've been... sorta friends for closing in on a hundred years now, but I think that I can't be the only one who thinks that it's been a long time coming. We've been involved in - whatever this relationship is - and nothing's happened for decades upon decades. I need you to agree to leave me alone - find some legitimately pretty young thing to fuck their life up, because I need to go back to the Homestead."   She added, then, horrified for a moment for having forgotten about him, "And - I'm dating someone now. I know I promised you - a long time ago - but I - I don't think I can keep this up."

She had to look away from Ash's face - even with those different eyes looking back at her, she was, overwhelmingly, aware of the fact that she was talking to her old, old friend, no matter what It had turned out to be.

And now...

There was hardly a moment of hesitation before the Monster answered, "You'll have to kill me before I agree to leave your side. If it was my choice, I mean." Gone from the Monster's voice was the playfulness, the banter.

Now there was only something cold, but in it, passion, truth that was unbending, unyielding, even to sense.

Netta's back knotted up, tensed like a cornered animal's.   "You act sometimes like you don't know your own weakness. Or that you're not a man. Your kind hasn't been able to act of their own volition in the physical realm, outside of small acts of mischief, since the Humans began encroaching on your origin sites.  I feel like I shouldn't have to remind you - you can't do anything I don't want you to.  Humans will never see you, let alone know of your existence"  Saying it, aloud, made Netta feel just a little braver.   She let the breath that she had trapped in her lungs out, said, "You do know that I can kill you easily, don't you?" 

She had to dig her hand into the fabric of the socks that she was holding to stop her shaking from being visible to this predatory false-man.

Finally, Ash laughed - a sound, not of cold cruelty or with any tinge of hollowness to it.   "Lovely, we both know that you never got that far in your dealings with magic to hold that much power to kill me all on your lonesome. Besides, knowing you, if you tried that sort of antic, it would just blow up in your face. No - the best you can do is banish, and then wait for me to find you. And I always will, always - have."  He shrugged.  "And I don't think that killing me is what you want.  Would ever want."   The way he said it, that damning burr in his voice, sounded as though he knew something that she didn't, made Netta's skin crawl.

With Its speech finished, the creature leaned forward, surprising Netta with the sensation of Its long fingers on her face. It was an unwanted caress, lied as it spoke of tender intimacy.

A frisson of anger shot through her as she met Ash's eyes.   Netta reached up, took that hand - almost overwhelmingly warm, long-fingered - and threw it off.

She took a breath before she spoke. "I don't want to destroy you, but I can assure you that I don't have to ask even all that nicely for one of my Sisters to take care of you for me. For now I am content with banishing you again."

Even dragons have a right to exist in this world. Even if they, on occasion, kill.  Or destroy any chance of happiness I may have had, with another Monster, a Familiar to fill my life with magic...

A sarcastic smile came onto Ash's generous mouth.   "You mean to tell me that you would want one of those harpies to take care of your problems for you?" The creature rubbed along the well-formed shape of Its chin, feigning deep thought. "Mmm. I seem to recall a young Witch telling her mother that she would rather beg for help from a clergy-member to get rid of her powers than to come crawling back..."

Netta tore away from It.

She was about to walk out of the room when Ash appeared in her way just as her hand was reaching out to the door.  Her hand brushed against Its chest, and the unintentional touch sent her fingers lightly stinging with how she had grazed against Its magic.

"Now, Lovely, don't do anything drastic -"

"Out of my way. Now."  Netta drew her hand back, as though burned.

"Me? I'm doing nothing of the sort." Ash crossed Its arms over Its chest.

Netta had to stop herself from stamping her feet on the ground in sheer frustration.  "Yes you are. Please, step aside so that I can get moving -"

Ash laughed. "In what? A blizzard?"

"What are you talking abou-"

Netta, feeling at first that the creature had to be deceiving her, nevertheless turned. When she did, she was astounded by the sight of the moving wall of dark white that poured past the window outside.  She dropped what she was holding to turn, staring fully at her uncovered window. 

She walked towards it and looked out of it in disbelief.

As she pressed her hand to the cold glass of the window. Outside, it looked as though the building, and the street below it, had been encased in a thick but loose layer of writhing cotton.

As she paid attention to it, she could hear the dull rumbling of the wind tossing snow against the wall. The cold pouring off of the glass seemed to seep into her bones.  Staring out at the window in disbelief, Netta said, "You did this, didn't you?"

"What?" That bark of patronizing laughter was an extra layer of ice on Netta's skin. "You think that I'm capable of - that? Remember that whole speech you just gave me about having my balls in your hands.   Now, that would be more in one of your Sisters' wheelhouse and you know it."

Turning around to look at her companion, Netta saw that Ash leaned back against the door, Its arms crossed over Its chest. A patronizing smirk was on Its face.   "Now, how do I know that this isn't some cheeky scheme to get out of having to come up with some reasonable means of getting me to spend the night, pleasuring you?"  His voice dropped to a low octave so that Its voice was a whisper that rubbed, rough, against the hush of the snow storm outside.  "So that my strength can become your own?"

When the Monster reached down to trail Its index finger down Its smooth chest, she got a sudden reminder that Ash was close to naked.

Netta paused, closing her eyes.  "Okay. So - the weather's taken a turn." She clacked her jaw, took a moment to think of what to do. "I won't - the bus I bought a ticket for - I need - I need to get going, maybe, because it might get worse shortly, and the weather might be better out of the city-"

Gone was the seductive burr beneath Ash's voice, replaced by a cold sobriety.   "Don't joke with me about going back out into that, Netta," It said, arms re-crossing. "You go out there and you're going to end up with me having to rescue you, if I feel up to saving you."

At the sound of Ash's ridiculous bravado, Netta moaned. "I don't have time for this -"

"Why are you in such a rush to leave? Just what do you need to go back for that it's worth risking a blizzard for?"

She looked up at the Monster. Without meaning to, she licked her lips slowly, nervously.  Her heart felt like it was beating a thumping rhythm that she might as well name after its cause - Ashwood - and reached down to pick up her phone. She flicked to the clock app, stared at the timer that she had set.

It read, nineteen hours, twenty-nine minutes.

Damn herself later for it, but when Netta saw that she had gotten a message from Wallace, she ignored it with barely a thought. What kind of a girlfriend thought of her relationship as over so readily?

One that perhaps lacks the compassion that one gets from a Human's lifespan.

"What are you looking at?" Ash asked it lazily, a slow smile on Its lifting face. The creature's eyes seemed to glitter at her.

Even though it was a foul idea, Netta could not stop herself from saying, "I have a timer. Once it goes off, I'm going to banish you. Again." She bent down, picked her luggage back up. "And I'll do it on the road."

Ash crossed Its arms and shook Its head, that smile only spreading further on Its face.   "But - you're going to have to spend a night with me first, aren't you?" Its voice softened as It spoke in a teasing, metronome's rhythm. "No matter where you are..."

Netta stared at Ash, clutching the phone to her chest as though it were her last chance - a saving grace that she had to protect. "Not if I don't fall asleep. Then you can't influence me, can you?"

Ash stared at her, unblinking. Finally, Its lips parted slightly.   "I can influence you plenty awake, unless you forget."