Meetings 02 - Letting loose after Work

  The pair in the bck jaguar found plenty of whiskey from Irend when they stocked up.

  Fionnua insisted on medium quality, and Dorea wanted to buy the most expensive ones.

  "No, we are going to get drunk, not enjoy." Fionnua made the shadowcat return another bottle, "and this one is better, despite being much cheaper.

  "But I want to try a top-css whisky," Dorea whined.

  The redhead was not amused and checked the avaible overpriced bottles. "That one, single malt, 32 years, and 42,5%. Price is on the higher side, but the quality speaks for itself."

  The eager cat quickly collected the pointed-out bottle.

  Maybe there was something amusing about cats after all, or it was just Dorea … probably it was just Dorea.

  ------

  In the Penthouse, Eireann was feeling paranoid.

  "You seem to be worried?" Céline remarked. The small vampire was currently checking the pantry and finding it pretty empty.

  "Usually when I am in a penthouse, it is because of a corpse, drugs, or a break-in," Eireann expined. "That means the pce being a crime scene or interviewing people in it."

  The vampire contempted that for a moment, "That has to be one of the weirdest types of PTSD I have heard of."

  "Work reted issues," Eireann seemed resigned, it didn't stop her from checking the expensive looking couch for suspicious things before sitting down.

  "What about mansions overstocked with books?"

  "Like a library?"

  "Like a vampire collecting books for 300 years."

  "Sounds like a safe museum, then … unless your books bite or are about to fall and bury me. Should I get a hard hat for the times I visit you?"

  "What? Non!" The vampire pouted. "I mean my home in France. My home here is nowhere near as overloaded."

  "So it is overloaded."

  "At least I don't need a moo maid to do my cleaning."

  "I would have to inspect your home to find something to counter with."

  "That makes it my win," the vampire plopped herself in Eireann's p.

  "The battle may be yours, but the war will be mine."

  "Old age and experience will beat youngsters with overconfidence."

  "Calling yourself old is so weird coming from those like you and Zaria."

  "Did you know that she can change looks at will? If I look weird, wait until you see her as a little girl."

  Eireann tried to imagine it, and only partially succeeded. "Now I am feeling weirded out," she petted the girl in her p.

  Cécile simply rexed and let herself be pampered.

  ------

  "We are back!" Dorea pulled Fionnua through a shadow, both were loaded with bags that held bottles from the store.

  "The scientist in me is currently compining about how unscientific walking into a shadow and coming out in another is. Let me guess, 'It's magic'."

  "What else should it be?" Dorea wondered.

  Eireann simply shrugged, she had no way to expin it.

  "I could expin it," the smallest yet oldest one present zily offered from where she was lying across her lover's p, "but I'd have to start on the nature of magic, and types of magic first."

  "Short version?" Fionnua asked.

  """It's magic,""" the other three replied.

  The mother sighed, pulled out a bottle from one of the bags, found herself a gss with an ice cube, then poured herself a generous portion she drank in one go. "Good stuff, I really needed this."

  "No fair, charging ahead while I am pampering my girlfriend," Eireann compined.

  "You could always remove her and drink with me," Fionnua shot back.

  "No, thank you, I am very comfortable," the detective declined, earning an agreeing noise from the rexed blonde vampire.

  "I need to go to work now," Dorea was not happy. "Feel free to order something, swim, watch a movie, or explore."

  "Dorea, house key," Cécile demanded. "We will go shopping while you work and prepare for the evening."

  "Where did I put it?" Dorea wondered, drawing sighs from everyone else.

  "I'll call Yvonna," Eireann decided, it seemed the safer bet. "Take care at work."

  "Thank you, see you ter." Dorea shadow walked to the cathouse to change for work. She wondered just how unreliable everyone believed her to be.

  ------

  A few moments ter, a key manifested in thin air and dropped on the table.

  "That was not a shadow," Cécile commented.

  "Considering Yvonna is at Zaria's pce or on the way there, I suspect it is her fault," Eireann went the easy way, when in doubt, bme Zaria.

  Fionnua snatched the key, "I am driving."

  "I didn't work today," Eireann argued.

  "I'd say that I don't need a lot of sleep generally, but I doubt I will reach the pedals," the vampire did not compete for the driver position.

  The sisters faced off.

  Then, the detective smirked and pointed at the gss with a melting ice cube, "You just drank, so I will drive."

  "Fine, you win," the mother was sensible about it, she pulled the SUV key from a hook by the door and threw it to her sister.

  The trio went down the normal way, the elevator deposited them in the garage, where they quickly realized that they had arrived on the wrong floor.

  It was finally at the garage level three that they found the rge car.

  A quick drive ter, they arrived at the shopping centre and made their way to a supermarket.

  "Actually, I am not sure, does Dorea prefer meat or fish?" Eireann admitted.

  "No fish!" Fionnua had no stomach for fish today. "I had a rge, rapidly decomposing tuna in my b today."

  ""Ewww!"" The two lovers made the mistake of imagining it.

  "How about skewers?" Eireann proposed.

  "I know how to make pasta, I spent some time in Italy," Cécile threw her choice in.

  "Why not both?" The mother was familiar with the issue of picking out dishes. "Skewers with pork, chicken, bacon, bell peppers, onion, and zucchini."

  "Want to add some mushrooms?" Cécile added. "I could make a simple carbonara or napolitana."

  Fionnua improved her rating for the little vampire upwards a bit. She could cook, and was clearly not eternally in heat, unlike the older shadowcat. It was actually depressing that the older shadowcat was pretty much a needy bundle of hormones. "I don't think I have eaten Napolitana in ages."

  "Leave it to me."

  Eireann found herself relegated to shopping cart duty while the other two were picking vegetables and arguing about which one was fresher. She watched with a happy smile as her sister abused the vampire's nose when she heard that she could smell the condition of the meat even through the packaging.

  Then they decided to do the 'weekend shopping' while at it.

  Eireann found herself utterly baffled at the soon-overflowing shopping cart.

  The two homely women, meanwhile, were arguing over the toilet paper, even if one of them did not look like a woman.

  The clueless woman leaned on the shopping cart and watched her family argue with a warm smile on her face.

  ------

  At the police station, the captain did his best not to smirk.

  A bunch of suits had stormed into his station and marched into the empty toxicology.

  Half of them had gotten sick and one had slipped in the tuna juice.

  It was really satisfying to see the arrogant suits get theirs.

  The surviving suits had then invaded his office and were now demanding answers. In detail, they wanted to know where the b technician Mc Glytch was.

  "She is off. Her shift ended a bit ago," he knew the rumours, it was his job to know them. He pointed out of the window. "She is probably in that bck jaguar that left as you arrived. If rumours are true, it belongs to her sister's girlfriend, who is a code purple."

  "Call her back."

  "Are you going to pay her overtime?" The chief fired back.

  "This is important, they both know Code White on a personal level."

  The chief shrugged, "What they do in their free time is not my problem unless they do something illegal. It seems they both have her phone number."

  "We know, sporadically, their phones call an unidentified phone number," A suit opened a suitcase and pulled a folder out.

  The chief gave it a gnce and found it to be a report on an untraceable and unrecognisable phone number. "You want Code White's phone number?" He asked as he put clues together, "why not just ask them?"

  "That is above your security clearance."

  "Then, I can't help you, and I wonder what that one will do when she finds out that you try to order her friend's mother around without a legal basis or spy on her."

  Some of the suits paled.

  "Why don't you help out with that new cannabis strain we found? That might interest you too, and I'll see about getting some more information on methods of contact for Code White. Before I forget, do you pn to take over the investigation of that weapon-grade plutonium?"

  "Very well, we have a deal, who is the investigating detective on the cannabis case?" The lead suit asked, "the plutonium case will probably get a special task force."

  "Detective Michels, tall, brown hair, his desk is down the hall, the second door, the right corner."

  "Thank you for your cooperation."

  ------

  Eireann smiled as she watched her sister and her lover cooking, she was relegated to cutting duty, while the two worked pretty well side by side. It was odd looking with their height differences, and Cécile standing on a stool. The pair only had minor disagreements over some finer recipe details that escaped her understanding.

  It was starting to smell really great. It reminded her that she was getting hungry.

  The skewers and pasta were soon ready. Several skewers were set aside for the cat for after work. It was a delicious and homely meal with the three adults chatting and enjoying a rexing meal. After eating a bit too much, they rexed on the couches with the small vampiress falling asleep cuddling.

  "Probably nocturnal," Fionnua guessed.

  "Maybe, but she seems to do well during the daytime too," Eireann responded.

  "Must py havoc with her sleep schedule." The older sister was sipping a nice Jameson on the rocks. "Hers is probably worse than yours."

  "Can you even call it a schedule if it is worse than mine?" The detective wondered.

  "Probably not?"

  "At least I get out more than you do."

  "Having fun getting shot at?"

  "Says the b rat."

  "Glorified police hound."

  "Lab destroyer."

  "Gun nut."

  "Beaker girl."

  The two sisters enjoyed their banter and name-calling.

  "So you and a harem?"

  "I have no idea how that happened."

  "Is it normal in that world for the smallest one to be the oldest and most sensible one?" The mother asked her sister, who's more experienced with the Otherside.

  "Zaria is older, and I am not sure if sensible applies to her."

  "Maybe the more power, the weirder they get?" Fionnua tried to make sense of the Otherside, just to satisfy her intellectual curiosity.

  "Honestly, after slipping on a teleporting banana peel and watching it defeat a bunch of thieves, I stopped trying to understand," Eireann admitted. "As for my harem, it seems that Dorea decided to go for it since I led the wild hunt, Yvonna joined to tease her sister, and for Cécile, it was just something about me. Not sure how much of that is Zaria's fault."

  "You really were about to die?" The older sister asked hesitantly.

  "I think it was death or vegetable forever. Not sure how I feel about knowing my soul being pieced back together. Honestly, knowing that souls are actually a thing is already something that escapes comprehension for me."

  "The soul." Fionnua stared at her gss. "Souls, magic, things our sciences can't expin. Did you know that someone tried to take my enchanted gsses? He then stumbled into a new, extremely potent strain of weed. It was actually a CIA spy in the FBI. Zaria certainly destroyed his career as an FBI agent."

  "I am missing something here," the detective sipped on her drink.

  "She cursed the gsses, they returned to me, and anyone taking them gets cursed with bad luck."

  Eireann winced, "That is actually evil. You should really visit that exhibit at the museum, some of the things there are awful. Oh, and don't grope the succubus statue."

  "What?"

  "The succubus statue, it is part of a ritual where you get possessed by a succubus. One of them is currently possessing one of the thieves and eager to go to prison, where all those lonely men are," The detective informed her b tech sister.

  "That sounds like a bad porn plot."

  "You watch porn?"

  "Unlike you, I am single."

  "True."

  "And I don't have a needy catgirl," Fionnua smirked teasingly. "So, is her tongue rough?"

  Eireann turned towards her smirking sister. She saw the teasing mood. "Yes, it is," she confirmed. "She also knows a spell or something to lengthen it. I have to admit those were the best orgasms of my entire life. I was a wreck the morning after," somehow she managed to say it without blushing.

  "Really?" Fionnua was now the embarrassed one. "That sounds kinky."

  "Can we stop talking about my sex life now?"

  "I wanted to tease you about bedding a schoolgirl next."

  "Unlike Dorea, Yvonna is not driven by her hormones, she is more stoic in her affection. She likes cuddling and skinship."

  "Are they doing that cat-marking thing?"

  "If you mean rubbing their heads against me and such, yes, but I think they did something magical as well, remember how I am supposed to be marked by darkness or something?"

  "It was mentioned at the dinner."

  "Yes, that still confuses me, I feel mostly normal."

  "Mostly?"

  "Finding out the Otherside exists, almost dying, getting my soul pieced back together by Zaria. The first few days after that felt weird."

  "Are you really alright?" The older sister asked, worried.

  "Yes, I feel like myself. My memories are all back, and aside from far too worried mates, everything is alright."

  "Protective bunch?"

  "Yes. The weirdest thing is, according to Zaria, if I need help, I can call for it."

  "That sounds useful, in case you get into another gunfight."

  "Then try expining that the pieces of meat were a gang member that ran afoul of something you called," Eireann petted her vampire who had moved but rexed again.

  "That sounds messy."

  "A high death count sounds like a pain."

  "Trying to expin it all as accidental deaths, or why they insist something disarmed them and drove them insane. Sounds like free insanity pleas."

  "Sounds like a bad idea."

  "What about you? Lab work changing for you?"

  "Not yet, but those gsses are great, I mean I had weapon-grade plutonium today and a new very effective weed strain."

  "I think you mentioned something earlier?"

  "The gsses are already really useful."

  "To the Otherside?"

  "To the Otherside."

  The sisters clinked their gsses.

  "What about your vampire?" Fionnua asked.

  "I am not sure," Eireann admitted. "It feels affectionate, and a perfect counterbance to my cat in eternal heat."

  The older sister giggled at the frank description.

  "She feels older and more sensible. That she is so small is weird, but honestly, Zaria being far older and more powerful is even crazier." Eireann squeezed the napping vampire gently. "I sort of see her as a woman trapped in a child's body. That she doesn't seem to have a libido is rexing.

  "Sweet ptonic romance?"

  "Yes, not sure how it will work long term, but for now, it is pleasant and cosy."

  "And if you ever feel the itch, you have two rough tongues to pick from," Fionnua took a refill. "So, lesbian?"

  "I have no idea," Eireann replied. "I mean, I can tell which man looks hot, or which woman. But wanting to have sex or dating someone simply never came across my mind. I always felt too busy."

  "I read about that, I think pansexual. You like who you like, no matter what gender," the older sister remembered. "Your cat gave you a push, and you were attracted enough to agree."

  "It just happened, I am still not sure how," Eireann finished her drink. "I bme Zaria, it seems to be a default thing when in doubt about something weird. Bme magic or Zaria. And since she pieced me back together, I'll bme her for everything weird."

  The older sister snorted, amused. "So she pieced you back together and turned you from asexual into a pansexual who attracts girls."

  "Dorea is not a girl."

  "Mentally, she seems childish."

  "When are you going to date again?"

  "We are talking about you now."

  "If you want someone who is not human, I am sure we can find someone for you."

  "I don't think so, I am busy enough with work, Isabelle and the puppy."

  "Maybe a mother with her own children so you can share the pain?"

  "Don't you dare!" Fionnua gred at her little sister. "Do that, and I will give away your number to all those singles I know with schoolgirl daughters."

  The sisters had a staring match. That went interrupted when Cécile stirred and inched up on the younger redhead and buried her face in the neck, obstructing the line of sight.

  "Nngh?" Eireann made a weird noise.

  "What?"

  "She is sucking on my neck, I am sure that will be a hickey," Eireann compined.

  "She is marking you, pretty visibly this time. I guess your cat will want to do the same."

  "You are having too much fun at my expense."

  "Do you think your schoolgirl will do the same? Maybe some loving bites and scratches too?"

  "I will find you someone, just so you will shut up."

  "Not interested."

  "I wasn't either."

  The sisters continued chatting and poking fun at each other.

  ------

  "This feels like a cinema, only far more comfortable," Eireann observed as the trio explored the penthouse after Cécile woke up.

  They were in a home cinema. Comfortable carpets, pillows, couches, and loveseats littered the room that had a higher ceiling and a whole wall dedicated to the screen with a beamer.

  "I think it would feel weird to sit so far away from the screen while at home," Fionnua observed.

  "This feels less like a 'I live here' pce and more like a 'I host parties and funt my wealth' kind of pce." The small vampiress looked around, "reminds me of that chateau I have in France."

  The two sisters felt rather disconnected from the wealth they were seeing.

  "Let's go swim, wait", the detective wondered, "can vampires swim?"

  "I will have you know, I am a living vampire. We start out far weaker and are less likely to propagate, but we have far fewer weaknesses."

  "So, slow start but better long term?" The scientist asked.

  "Yes," the vampire elder confirmed. "In the beginning, you might not even realize you are a vampire, until you feel the hunger. The infection rate is really low. And even then, a lot of the time it feels like a craving for something in the beginning."

  "I thought vampirism is a curse?" Fionnua inquired.

  "Demonic vampirism and undead vampirism are more like that. This is more like a magical infection. We simply need a sip now and then, it is a lot like we need vitamins. I think I already tried to expin? Or was that Zaria?" Cécile tried to remember.

  "She said you need the boost?"

  "It is not wrong, but not right for my kind," Cécile tried to crify. "I have a lot of life force, chi, ki, qi, energy, or whatever you want to call it. More than my body can handle. So I need to dilute it. Blood and a little energy from someone compatible are needed for that. How well that works, tastes, and feels depends on who we drink from." The small vampire lectured. "Beings of power can simply overpower the need and empower the drinker, so they are a good alternative, but that is more of a master and underling retionship."

  "I guess Eri is a good match, then?"

  "Yes!" Cècile replied happily and smiled at the taller woman.

  "Want to go swimming now?"

  "Undead and soulless vampires can't swim, demonic vampires can, but water has purifying effects and damages them. I don't have that problem."

  "What are your weaknesses, then?" Eireann asked, curious.

  "Cutting the head off?" Cécile offered. "If I am weakened, I can't regrow it."

  "You can regrow your head?" Fionnua felt more of her rationality suffer.

  "Yes."

  "Let's go swim and rex. I need another drink, too," Fionnua decided she was too sober for all the Otherside nonsense.

  "You shouldn't drink before swimming," the Elder chided.

  "You should not confuse scientists with unscientific facts," the mother fired back.

  --- Penthouse Pool ---

  After Eireann got a lecture from the small vampiress because of her scars, the trio was in the pool. Fionnua was floating on an inftable mattress. Eireann was swimming. Cécile was swimming as well, only far faster than a humanoid should be capable.

  It was an interesting surprise that the vampiress did not need sunblock. The scientist chalked it up to the regeneration being faster than the damage accumuted.

  It was rexing and calmer than crowded pools.

  "This is what being rich is about," the mother mumbled. "I could get used to it."

  "Find yourself a rich girlfriend," Eireann told her sister as she swam past.

  "I have a mansion I don't use if you want it," Cécile offered as she stepped onto the water and took Fionnua's empty gss away.

  "Walking on water?"

  "It is useful, especially when it is raining, keeps you dry, and you have no worries about stepping into deeper puddles."

  "Unfortunately, I am only human," the older sister compined.

  "I lost more than one pair of shoes to things I'd rather not step in," the younger sister added.

  "I think you can learn it. Or get a magical item that can do that," the Elder dove back into the water after pcing the gss on a table. She swam over to the rexed mother. "Interested in a mansion?"

  "No, thank you for the offer, though. Sounds like a lot of work."

  "I am sure the herd would help," the detective teased.

  "Says the one who needs cat, vampire, Zaria, and herd help," the older sister fired back.

  The vampiress pouted at being denied, one day she would find proper owners for all those spare mansions her kin kept gifting her.

  --- Penthouse - Midnight ---

  Dorea finally arrived and found two empty bottles.

  The trio was watching some horror on her rge TV. Fionnua was lying across the couch. Eireann was on the loveseat with Cécile on her p.

  "That is not how bullets work," the detective compined.

  The b rat pointed at the scene where the monster fell into a conveniently pced acid vat. "Does magical acid work like that? Because real acid does not."

  "I have no idea," Cécile admitted. "I was never into chemistry or alchemy after finding out my regeneration prevents me from using growth potions or modern growth hormones to grow taller."

  "What is it with those topics?" Dorea wondered. "Why are you sober?"

  ""Work-reted issues!"" The sisters chorused, before Eireann admitted, "We are not sober, we aren't drunk, but we are tipsy!"

  The mother rose. "Let me warm up some food for you."

  "Thank you, Fi, now move over, Cécile, I need to cuddle."

  "I will help Fi, have fun, and don't let the cat eat you."

  "Yes, mission accepted, make sure the cat gets some proper food first."

  Dorea repced the vampire and fttened herself against her redhead. The hug and being held felt just so nice. The smell of whiskey was strong, but she did not care.

  "Hard day?"

  "Mrrr"

  "There there," Eireann petted the needy catwoman. She pulled an opened bottle closer and topped her gss up. "Here, until you get your own gss, we can share."

  Dorea accepted, took a sip, and stuck out her tongue, "that is pure!"

  "It is on the rocks, but yes, pure."

  "How can you drink that?"

  "Easily? If you want, we can mix it with something for you."

  "No, I will drink it like you do," Dorea was a proud cat.

  Cécile overheard that and repeated it to Fionnua. The mother sighed, "She will learn her lesson. Are there magical hangover cures?"

  "I think so? I mean, it is almost impossible for me to get drunk, so I never needed to check."

  "Doesn't 'living' mean that you are still alive and affected by alcohol?" Fionnua was a boratory scientist to the heart, and someone alive not getting drunk was fascinating and made her pity the vampiress.

  "Don't worry, I am used to it, and my metabolism is fast and highly magical, so I would have to drink a lot for a long time probably to get overwhelmed," the small girl smirked. "Unlike a certain cat that might be magical but channels magic actively, my magic is always on and active in my physical body."

  Fionnua hummed, amused, as she warmed up various dishes for the te arrival, "I guess we will have a whining cat tomorrow." The meat from the skewers was warmed up after a few minutes, the water for the spaghetti had now boiled yet. "Can you deliver this?"

  "Yes."

  In the living room, Dorea was leaning on Eireann with closed eyes and enjoying the closeness. "Food, make sure you eat something, you perverted cat."

  "Ohh, who cooked? This smells delightful."

  "Fi and me," Cécile replied.

  "Not Eri?"

  "I can't really cook," The detective admitted. "Most of the time I buy something on the way home, or make something really simple. The restaurants around the station are familiar to me as well." She rubbed the shadow cat's head, "I met you in one, after all."

  "I am trying to decide if this is a good or bad thing," Dorea admitted. "Yvonna is a better cook than I am, but she is a slow, methodical cook."

  "Somehow that suits her image."

  The catgirl accepted the pte and started eating right there on Eireann's p. Cécile took a picture, naturally.

  As she finished the meat, Fionnua brought over the pasta. It found Dorea's vocal approval.

  Afterwards, everyone settled down, only to have another character in the horror movie die, ironically by getting dumped into a barrel of acid.

  "The scriptwriter really likes acid."

  "Again, that is not acid, acid does not melt you within a minute."

  "High-tech acid, maybe?"

  "There are chemical reaction limits. It is dependant on the surface too, skin has different resistances depending on the yer too."

  "Says the b rat."

  "Clueless field agent."

  "Are they quarrelling or bantering?"

  "I have no idea."

  ""Is there magical acid that melts things like in the movie?"" The sisters decided to ask their supernatural friends, or more in one case.

  "I know there is a spell that does things like that," Cécile replied. "That means that some alchemical mixture, potion, elixir, acid, or whatever they decide to call it like that probably exists."

  Dorea felt weird being the more sensible one. "We can ask this alchemist I know. Or her, but I am afraid if you ask her, she will show you directly, and I know I wouldn't feel safe near something like that."

  "No, thanks." "I want to see." The sisters disagreed with each other.

  "I am not sober enough for this, I mean I suspected girl talk, cuddling, maybe a movie. But why are we watching horror?" The shadow cat looked towards the screen, only to see a monster get several shotgun shots to the face.

  "It is rexing, how often I wish I could just shoot someone," Eireann once again used the work excuse.

  "I don't care, I am a vampire and as the Elder, I had to clean up far worse over time."

  "This is harmless compared to rotting and melting tuna. That was bad enough that I could taste and feel the smell."

  "Am I the only one normal here?" Dorea took a deeper swig, which Eireann immediately refilled.

  "You can't scream like that when your lungs are filled with liquid," Eireann observed the action on the screen. "That is why drowning is an easy way to muffle someone and avoid screams."

  "Considering how quickly it is melting the skin and muscle, the lungs would quickly melt away," Fionnua gave the finishing blow.

  Dorea downed another gss, she was getting seriously creeped out, and she was trying to eat. Her appetite was killed off to nothing far faster than she was satisfying it physically. At least she was feeling the warmth from the whiskey. The hand rubbing her head felt rexing. She pced the empty pte on the small table and draped herself over her crazy and reckless mate. Tying her to the bed forever sounded better and better. Or have her get something to protect her life. They wanted to go shopping, she would have to buy some proper protection, maybe some shackles and handcuffs too. Silk ropes sounded fun too, lingerie was always a good choice, but skin-to-skin felt better. It was so hard to decide.

  Eireann gave the other two a wry smile as she petted her purring and drunk cat. She gave the camera that the vampire pulled out a hopeless smile. Bikini shots, food shots, pool shots, couch shots, cooking shots, drinking shots, and lots of videos. She just hoped she hadn't done anything too embarrassing.

  The drinking party continued. The most amusing thing was Dorea deciding that she was feeling stuffy in her clothing, then deciding that she wanted skin on skin contact. Eireann was too busy failing to defend her clothes to realize that Cécile was filming everything.

  Fionnua handed Eireann her gss back once the younger sister was bare and covered with the cat. "She is asleep?"

  "Luckily, I am not about to give you a live show," the detective grumbled at her older sister.

  "It is 3 in the morning, maybe we should all sleep. Good luck," Fionnua waved, and stumbled off to a guest room.

  "Wait, help?" Eireann turned and looked towards the vampire, who was filming and stripping. "Cécile?"

  "One moment." She pced the camera on the table so that it was pointed at the loveseat, "I am going to join you." She lifted the pair on the loveseat a little to squirm into the free space under Eireann, "I won't be as bothered by sleeping in a weird position as you."

  "I can already feel the back pains tomorrow. At least it is better than sleeping in a small, cramped car."

  "Is that a dig at my car?"

  "No, but imagine me sleeping in there."

  "I am gd I am small."

  "Bon nuit? Did I say that correctly?"

  "Dors bien et fais de beaux rêves, mon c?ur," Cécile replied and gave the redhead a chaste kiss on the lips.

  "I understood the 'bien' but nothing else," Eireann compined.

  Cécile just smiled.

  Dorea squirmed into a more comfortable position.

  "I won't get an answer … Next time."

  Aside from the vampiress everyone now had their eyes closed and was asleep, passed out, or trying to sleep.

  --- The Morning After ---

  "How?" Dorea asked the others.

  "High metabolism." ""We are Irish."" The three responded.

  "Next time, I am drinking less." The shadowcat rolled over.

  "Do you have work today?" The detective asked her mate.

  "Yes, in the afternoon."

  "I'll stay with you until then," her mate rubbed her head.

  "I should probably go home and prepare to grill the girls about their party," the mother mented.

  "Feel free to borrow the penthouse whenever I don't use it."

  "I am pretty sure most people I know will feel weird here," Fionnua declined.

  The detective nodded, "I know I feel weird here, or rather paranoid."

  "From time to time?" Dorea asked hopefully.

  "If this makes you paranoid, wait until you visit my estate. Oh, we can have a party there next time. It will stop my maids from compining," the little vampiress sounded eager as she said something rather incomprehensible.

  "You have maids?"

  "Technically they are my kin, and my lessers. Most just use the pce to live in while they wait for a new identity and for everyone to forget them" She waved her hand. "It is one of the things that an Elder has to take care of."

  "Actually, my car is still at the station," Fionnua remembered. She gave the cat a look, "you are in no shape to drive."

  "My car is in the garage, Dorea gave me a spot." Cécile told the mother, "I can drive you to the station. It is a Smart, but I drive safely. I haven't ripped off the steering wheel in decades."

  "What?"

  "My strength is far above a human's," the Elder reminded everyone.

  "It is still something surprising to hear."

  The vampiress simply lifted a loveseat.

  "This looks odd," Fionnua walked closer, "how are you not falling over? The centre of gravity is completely wrong."

  "I just do it."

  "Otherside stuff," Eireann guessed.

  "I hope the rest of the day will be normal," the mother mented.

  Cécile put the loveseat back down, "Your daughter and her future mate are returning from a party at Zaria's pce."

  "Doomed~" Dorea snickered.

  "Let's go," the mother sighed. She wondered how her daughter's party had gone.