When we got back to town I went and saw Monday. Demie said that she had some things to take care of, and gave me an address where I could find her after I was done.

What I found was astonishing. Monday had not only cleaned his apartment, he had painted it! There wasn't even one soda can on the floor. And it didn't stink!

He saw the look on my face. "Oh, yeah, I kinda decided to stop being so useless, in case Zee comes back with my kid. I wanna show her I'm ready to be a dad, y'know?"

I sat on Monday's new, non-stinky couch, which made me miss mine. I was going to have to go find a new place to live before getting my stuff out of storage, plus get a new job, and I didn't look forward to any of that.

We shot the shit for a while, and eventually talked more about Zee: "Not much more to tell, Tommy," Monday said, his eyes looking into the distance. "Heard a cracking sound and some weird high-pitched noise, and then Zee screeched...she sounded happy. By the time I got to the bedroom door she was already at the window, holding something. She looked back at me, and for a moment I thought she'd stay, but then she jumped. Just about lost my shit, but she fucking flew away! She started looking more bird-like before I lost sight of her. I don't care what she really looks like, honestly...I just want her back, man."

I never knew what Monday saw in the stinky bird lady, especially after she just about killed him the first time they had sex, but I needed to be supportive for my friend. I made a mental note to ask Demie about harpy families. She had said she was going to do some research. Hopefully she didn't forget or get distracted.

Monday still sold kush so I bought a bag. I didn't know when I might have money for more, as I had to get a new job too. Fuck!

---

I pulled the Chevelle up in front of the address Demie had given me. This couldn't be right! The apartment building was high end. I yelled to Kate through her portal entrance in the car's trunk that I'd be back in a bit, and then went up to the intercom and punched in the code Demie had given me.

Demie answered. "Yeah?"

"Um...it's me..."

The door buzzed and I went in. The lobby screamed money, all black and gold, with lots of foliage. I took the elevator up to the 13th floor.

Demie stood in the open doorway of apartment 1304. I vaguely remembered some Asian cultures considered 4 to be an unlucky number, just like 13 in North America. What a great apartment number, Demie, I thought.

As I walked into the apartment, I was taken aback. It was huge, with high vaulted ceilings and a low retro couch, loveseat, and oval glass coffee table in the living room area. The TV was definitely not retro, though; curved 52" OLED! The main area was open, unbroken except for the large fireplace right in the center. I saw a kitchen with a good-sized island past the fireplace, and a couple of hallways branching off, presumably for bedrooms.

"Whose place is this?" I asked.

"Mine," she replied. "Ours, now."

"What--? How...?" I looked about.

She sat on the couch. "My old master had me gather treasures for him. Gold, jewels, even cash. All illegal, of course. He had me bury it until the cops backed off. While I told him where I buried it, I didn't tell him that I had some friends dig it up and re-bury it. Stupid man sent me back to Hell thinking it would save his soul and he'd be rich, and he got nothing out of it." Demie had a smug, faraway look on her face.

I sat next to her. "And where's your old master now?"

She grinned, and her natural sharp teeth showed. "Hell."

"Before or after I summoned you?"

She got up, shrugging her shoulders. "Shortly after...he just disappeared, y'know?" She licked her lips, and her tongue extended like a tentacle. "It's his Chevelle we've been driving around in."

"Fuck! Demie, if it's in his name..."

"It's not." She climbed into my lap. "Let's break this place in, Tom. Whattayasay?"

Even if I didn't want to, I couldn't say no. This time she was very forceful, actually ripping my t-shirt off in her eagerness. She almost looked like she was going to try to kiss me again, but instead dismounted and presented her ass to me. I slid into her hot, wet pussy with ease.

"Grab my tail," she urged as it thrashed about. I did, and used it as leverage to pound into her.

Finally she came, provoking my own release. I pulled out and flopped onto the couch.

"Hey, don't muck up the cushions," she complained as she saw my wet dick deflating in my lap.

"Oh, sure, now you care about the couch," I ribbed her as I stood and pulled my pants back up.

Naked only from the waist up now, I headed back out to the Chevelle and into the trunk where I got another shirt from my suitcase. When I told Kate about the new apartment she asked for assistance getting outside.

I was helping the extremely pregnant witch clamber out of the car when I realized that there were a few pedestrians standing by, staring.

"What?" I asked as I helped Kate to her feet. "Never seen a pregnant woman in a trunk before?" I was glad that Kate had put on clothes, even if they were probably illusion. The passersby looked flustered and walked on.

As we got off the elevator and walked past apartment 1302, I saw its door open slightly out of the corner of my eye. As I glanced, I saw something entirely unexpected before it quickly closed again.

I stopped, staring. It couldn't have been...

I shook my head as we continued on to 1304. I could have sworn that it was my ex-girlfriend Laura looking out at me, but it had been just a fleeting glimpse, and wouldn't she have called out to me if it had been her? No, it must have just been someone who looked like her.

Once in the new apartment, Kate quickly re-homed the portal to her lab to connect to one of the closets, though unlike the closet in my previous apartment, she didn't cover this one with what she called a glamor of unknowing, which I guess is why I hadn't noticed I had a closet in my old apartment until she accidentally left the door open one day.

I helped her back into her bed. "Have you had time to consider what happened the other day?" she asked as she settled into the mattress.

I thought about it for a moment. I had promised to tell her what happened when we confronted Eros, and this seemed as good a time as any. Kate seemed to have a grasp of the weird things in my life, her being one of them, so if anyone would understand it would be her.

I explained about Demie's brother taking control of us, making us kiss so that Demie took my soul. Kate gasped at this, looking horrified, but also...hopeful?

I continued, "Then I was floating somewhere...I can't really explain it, but I could feel Demie there, and later she said she could feel me, and then suddenly she had enough power to break Eros' control and smash him."

Kate nodded. "Um...that was me, actually."

My brow knotted. "But you were 9 months in the past by that point...or after the time jump I guess you were here in your lab and didn't know where we were."

"Remember when you almost kissed Demie the previous night...9 months ago?" I nodded. "I didn't want you to die if that sort of accident happened again, so I put a protective spell on you; well, both of you. If Demie accidentally kisses you and doesn't actually want to take your soul, my spell would make it so that she could return it to your body instead of sending it to Hell."

I sat down on the bed. This was huge!

She continued. "It wouldn't stop her if she really wanted you dead; nothing can, really...she is a demon, after all. I didn't tell you about the spell because I wasn't even sure if it would work. What you described after she took your soul, though...I've never heard of anything like that."

She thought for a moment. "Succubuses consume your life energy as they take your soul and send it to Hell. Piercing the dimensional barrier takes a lot of energy, so most of that stolen life energy is used up when sending the soul there, which is why someone has to die to summon the demon in the first place, but what if that soul doesn't get sent 'down below'? Where does all that energy go then?"

I looked at her, considering.

Kate nodded. "Demie had the entirety of your soul inside her, filling her with power. Eros probably didn't stand a chance."

"Holy shit," I responded.

"How did you feel after she put you back in your body?"

"Like absolute garbage. I think I almost died, and then I was unconscious for hours afterward."

She leveled her gaze at me. "Tom, don't kiss her again. Even with my spell, your body could give out before she puts your soul back."

I nodded. I was never doing that again!

I lay down next to her and hugged her, making sure not to squish her midsection. "Thanks for protecting me, witchy woman."

She thought for a moment. "Eagles, right?"

I was impressed. "My parents' favorite band back in the day."

Her hand moved to my head and then started to push it down toward her crotch. "You know, you could show your appreciation for my talents by utilizing your own. I haven't had any attention down there for 9 whole months."

Her pussy lips were very engorged, either through horniness or her well-progressed pregnancy. I was easily able to find her clitoris, and I stimulated that and her pussy lips until she arched in orgasm.

As she calmed down she said, "Rats. I was hoping that might start things off. I'm getting really tired of being so big."

I sat back, wiped her pussy juice from my face, and considered. "So will you be getting a C-section to keep your powers?"

She gave me a shocked look. "How can you even suggest that? If this baby isn't born naturally, she won't inherit my powers."

"Oh...I didn't know."

She gave me a wry smile. "Sorry, my hormones are all over the place. She'll break my hymen as she comes out and I'll lose my powers, but I'll make sure she learns how to use them when she's old enough."

I had a momentary vision of a little girl flying out of a closet on a broom. I think that was from a dream?

"Tom?"

I looked back at Kate. She was beautiful. Then I had another thought. "If you lose your powers, what happens to this place?" I gestured around her lab.

"It's a real place; an underground cave in South Dakota. We'll still be here."

"And the portal?"

Her smile faded. "Oh. Shit, we'd better get out of here before I pop. Did Demie say there was a second bedroom in the new apartment?"

There was indeed a second bedroom, and Kate transferred the portal to that room's closet so I could move all of her important stuff out of the lab and into it. The new room was quickly full of magic accoutrements.

Kate looked around at the mess. "I'll figure it out." Then she lay back on her bed, looking very tired. I gave her a kiss and let her nap.

To be continued...

Part 26

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