It was nice to wake up feeling satisfied, or at least mostly so. After a very thorough love-making session with Melody after Selina’s party the night before I had been very sated and only had a bit more desire built up over the night. That would be easily dealt with in the shower when we awoke. Selina had apparently slept without nightmares since I had awoken with only Melody in my bed about a half-hour before the alarm was set to go off.

I tried to get out of bed without waking her but Melody seemed to sleep very lightly and the slightest movement or sound near her tended to wake her. I figured that it was some sort of instinctual habit from her time living on the streets and then as a paranormal hitwoman. Regardless, she turned to look cautiously around and then smiled up at me as she said, “Good morning, Beautiful.”

I smiled in return as my breathing hitched slightly. Damn, she was beautiful, in that just woken up kind of way. Crimson horns poked out from her long mussed-up black hair and golden eyes gazed up at me dreamily. I reached out to caress her soft rose gold cheek and kissed her hungrily on those full soft lips. I wanted to do such things to her and have them done to me as well but we needed to get showered soon. Reluctantly, I broke our kiss and murmured, “Mmmmm, if we didn’t have to start getting ready for our day soon…” I trailed off, letting her use her imagination.

“Y’know, we could save time by showering together, we’d be conserving water too,” the half-Demon suggested playfully, breathing heavily in my ear before suckling on my earlobe.

The warmth of Melody’s breath on my ear, her hands cupping the back of my head and tenderly massaging, and the sound of her husky breathing oh so close made me melt. “I… uh…. Yeah… it’s practically our duty as… responsible young people.” I pulled away, a needy groan escaping my lips as I pulled her toward my bathroom. Surely we’d save time by doing this in the shower rather than the bed, right?

We didn’t need to get undressed at least, since we were already naked. I just turned on the water as hot as it would go and we just jumped right in, see we were saving time already. We didn’t even need to adjust the temperature since our Salamanders would allow us to feel the heat of the water but protect us from getting scalded. Soon we were enjoying the hot spray and the room was getting steamy, in more ways than one.

Pro-tip: Showering with someone with who you are both in love and lust does not save time or conserve water. It takes much longer than usual because you spend as much time getting dirty as you do getting clean. Still, it’s very nice on a morning when you have a bit of extra time and seemed to be a good first step toward getting through the day without an aching need to jump the bones of every attractive person I saw. In case you’re new to the program, I’m a freaking Nymph so that’s just about everyone.

Oh sure, it all started out efficiently enough, we washed and conditioned our hair and even washed each other’s backs. It was as we were ‘helping’ one another wash our respective bodies that things went off track. To be fair, it was bound to happen, Melody had gotten me so turned on when she had suggested showering together and she was just as turned on as me if her hard nipples poking into my back while she helped clean my breasts were any indication. Oh, Goddess, I was just fully satisfied the night before and her touch had me already desperate for release once again.

Hot water pounded down on us, our hair and skin good and wet and soapy when Melody turned me around to face her, pressed me against the tiled wall, and began kissing me deeply. Her lips crashed against mine passionately and when her tongue probed, seeking entrance, I parted my lips to allow it. My tongue met hers and darted around it, flicking and licking in a spine-tingling game of keep away until I finally let them entwine and eagerly returned her oral affections.

When our lips finally parted we were both gasping for air, our hands frantically roaming one another’s bodies as I stared into her eyes. I could feel her shiver under my touch as I ran my fingers down her sides and leaned in to kiss and nibble the back of her neck, followed by her shoulder, neck, and collarbone. Finally, my lips reached her breast and as my fingertips moved to tease her inner thighs with ghostly touches I teased her breast as well, slowly circling her hardened nipple with kisses before finally latching on to suckle on it lovingly. Then, as my fingertips parted her folds and brushed at the nub of her clit, I clamped her nipple in my teeth and pulled.

My lover let out a low growl of desire and it was just so damn sexy to me. As a result, Melody’s body wasn’t the only one responding. My nipples ached with primal need, the embers of my desire were being fanned into an inferno as the heat built up in me, and I felt a now all-too-familiar warm wetness flowing between my thighs. It wasn’t the hot water.

As much as I could feel my need and desire becoming harder and harder to ignore by the minute, I wanted to give Melody her pleasure first, before I became too lost in my own need. I feared that that would not be long though since I was already breathing raggedly, my body was aflame with desire, and it was becoming difficult to focus on much besides the burning chasm between my legs that was yearning for stimulation, or better yet to be filled.

Still, I soldiered on, my need to bring her pleasure as important to me, or perhaps more so than immediate relief. I reached up to caress Melody’s face with my left hand, lovingly exploring each feature and contour. My hand traced its way along her warm flesh; her delicate chin, soft cheek, full lips, graceful jawline, nearly pointed ears, and even the cool hardness of her crimson horns.

I gazed up at my half-Demon lover adoringly as my left hand explored, my lips not relenting except to give her left nipple one last affectionate nibble and tug before kissing my way toward the right. Melody gasped as I teased nipple number two beneath my flicking and rolling tongue, delighting in the hardness of it, that ever so slight tremble, and the heaving of her chest as she labored for breath. Finally, I took it between my lips, pulling and suckling as I rolled my tongue adroitly as her breath quickened further. I could feel the needy groan rumble through her as my left hand moved from caressing one of her horns and traced a deliberate path down her spine with a single fingernail.

I nommed eagerly on her nipple and looked up at her, pride and satisfaction filling me as I saw through the steam the state that I had her in. She was clutching the tiled wall and looking down at me in ardent fervor, her desire for release etched upon her face as I suckled her nipple and my hands teased along her spine and between the folds of her sex. I wanted so badly to grant that desire, not just so that I could get my own release, but to please this woman that I was in love with.

A smile graced my lips briefly before I suckled more arduously and slid a pair of fingers, slippery with her wetness more than the water of the shower, between her soft folds and probed the heat within. I gave her a moment to feel their presence and then I began to pump them in and out. I started slowly, feeling her heat and her muscles tightening around my fingers as my thumb brushed her clit in lazy circles. Her breathing became more and more haggard as her hips moved forward, attempting to get more stimulation.

She was ready. I increased the pace suckling harder, fingers pumping faster and deeper, and my thumb more insistent. With each rasping breath that she gasped out, I could feel my efforts coming closer to fruition. Then, once I felt like she was about to reach her summit, I pulled her nipple hard with my teeth and gave one final press to her button as my fingers reached sought that spot that I had discovered within her during our last love-making session.

Melody screamed out her pleasure, clutching the shower wall for support as her back arched and she nearly collapsed. Worried that she might slip and hurt herself I ceased my stimulation and supported her in my arms. For a time, I just held her and kissed her fondly as she recovered her strength and senses. “I love you,” I whispered softly in her ear as the hot water from the shower pelted our flesh.

A warmth that didn’t emanate from the water or between my legs filled me as she leaned into my shoulder and said breathily, “I love you too.” I didn’t think that those words would ever get old, especially coming from Melody. Demons have a lot of stamina and they recover quickly from physical exertion and this was true even for half breeds like Melody. She proved this by kissing me hard and passionately as I thought she was still recovering and pressing me against the tiled wall as she half-growled, “My turn.”

I almost came right then as she took charge, Melody is definitely the dominant one in our relationship. For me it had been about pleasing her and making her happy and just doing that pleased me, it was something that I couldn’t see myself ever feeling with someone else. It was like when she called me a ‘good girl’, it mentally hit me in all the right places like having an orgasm in my mind or soul.

I was beginning to realize that I got that same feeling whenever Melody dominated me and I couldn’t help but think that she felt the same. She wasn’t one of those people who always needed to be in control of things, but she seemed to get off on dominating me as much as I did. So, when she turned things around like that I let out a whimper of yearning and anticipation.

Her lips crashed into mine once more as she held me fast, arms above my head and wrists held firmly in one of her strong hands. It wasn’t enough to be painful, Melody was always careful with her strength so she wouldn’t hurt me and this was just enough to let me know that she was in control. Despite the hot water, I couldn’t hold back a shiver of excitement as she claimed my lips for her own and held me fast.

Once our lips parted once more she looked at me hungrily and growled, “Don’t move.” Then she released my hands from her grip and put both her hands and her mouth to the task of bringing me to climax. I didn’t move, obediently keeping my hands above me and using the wall for support as she had her way with me.

In truth, I needed the support that the wall provided since the kisses and phantasmal touches that Melody was teasing me with had my legs feeling like jelly. She licked my sensitive ear, kissed down along my jawline and down my neck, my collarbone, and even my shoulders as she worked her way downward, fingers and lips teasing my every erogenous zone. Have you ever had someone kiss that little hollow between your neck and collarbone? Their hot breath stimulating you as they pull their lips away and then flick out their tongue to get one last playful contact in before moving on? It was like my body was alive with centers of pleasure that I didn’t know about and yet somehow she managed to find each and every one.

She caressed and suckled each of my breasts and my nipples ached with diamond hardness as she worked her way down to my navel, her hands roaming my spine, the curve of my waist, and my hips. Mere feathered touches had me in an agony of arousal. I was trembling, flushed, and the only sounds that I seemed capable of making were primal moans, gasps, and whimpers or combinations of the three as I tried to hold on to the wall and my sense of self.

By the time that she was kneeling between my legs with her fingertips tracing teasing patterns along my inner thigh and her warm breath blowing across the sensitive folds between my legs, I was lost to the world. I knew only the throbbing ache of desire and shivers of pleasure that she was instilling in me and I wanted more. I wanted completion.

I felt like I was on the countdown slowly leading to blast-off, only I wasn’t sure what number it had started at, let alone where it was now. All that I knew was that I was going to explode any time now. And then she parted my nether lips with her fingers and started to use her tongue. Each stroke of it across my clit threatened to send me into madness and when she lightly bit it as she thrust her fingers inside of me I was sent over the edge and I screamed for what seemed an eternity, my back bent like a bow and my eyes rolled back in my head.

When my consciousness returned from its trip into the nucleus of the sun, reality returned one piece at a time. The first thing that I became aware of was the warmth that infused me, that deep sense of satisfaction. Then my senses returned. I was breathing heavily, deep husky gasps of air, and my flesh felt like it was vibrating. Melody was holding me in her arms or I would have fallen and she whispered softly in my ear, “That’s my good girl.”

I could feel the warmth that those words instilled in me even amidst the hot steam in the bathroom and my post-orgasmic bliss and I sighed and snuggled into her arms until I felt that I had the strength to stand again. She didn’t rush me even though we were probably running late now. When I finally did find that strength, we quickly washed our bodies once again and rinsed ourselves off so that we could rush through the rest of our morning routines and get dressed. The whole time I had that blissful smile on my face, you know, the one where you’ve just been satisfied by your lover to your very bones.

By the time that Melody and I had finished starting Christmas Eve right and then getting ourselves properly groomed and dressed, we were running a bit late and Selina and Jessica were waiting in the hall. “Geeze, did you two sleep through the alarm? How late were you up anyway?” my sister grumbled as Melody and I emerged from my room. A hungry bunny is not a happy bunny.

“Sorry, we actually woke up before the alarm. We just… took our time getting clean,” I replied, trying to hide my smile as I cast a wary look toward Selina. My new daughter did not need to know what we had been up to. She could probably figure it out but I didn’t want to just throw it in her face, the poor girl had enough issues already and she wasn’t a Nymph so thinking about her “Momma” having sex might be weird for her.

The look of sudden realization, followed by the rolling of her eyes as she tried to hide her smirk, let me know that my sister had figured out exactly what we had been up to. I felt bad that I hadn’t been able to spend much one-on-one time with her over the past couple of days between my growing relationship with Melody and needing to take care of things concerning Selina. As we all walked toward the elevator to head downstairs for breakfast I resolved to make some sister time for just the two of us.

Since it was Christmas Eve, and Christmas and Boxing Day would fall on the weekend, it was decided that Jess, Melody, and I would have a few days off from our various lessons. We would be working even harder come Monday but Mom, Merry, and Annika thought that a few days off to relax and spend some time with our new family wouldn’t do any harm. We would be spending all or most of that time at home anyway and if there was something that we really needed or wanted to know then we could always ask.

After breakfast, we all got to work. The club was still open that night, even if it would be closed for the holiday weekend, so the housekeeping staff still had their jobs to do. While they were doing that Mom and most of the club staff would be getting things from storage and decorating the club and the third-floor common room for the holidays. Well, except for Cindy and the guys.

While Lou went off for some male-bonding time with the guys and to get a Christmas tree for the common room, we girls would be helping Cindy in the kitchen and getting in some quality time together. Us girls of course included me, Jessica, Melody, Selina, Carmen, and Sorcha while our quality time would be spent in the kitchen helping Cindy to make Christmas treats.

It was a bit messy at times but it was fun too since the only ones of us who had ever helped Cindy before, or who had any more baking experience than pre-made cookie batter was Carmen and Sorcha. At first, Selina was a bit tense about the whole thing, nervous about messing something up, but with Cindy’s help, we managed to get her to relax and have some fun. We made shortbread, a few types of cookies, fudge, fruitcake, a Christmas log, and balls of chocolate rolled in coconut that Cindy called snowballs.

The last were by far the easiest and the messiest to make but by lunchtime, we had a nice variety of holiday sweets ready. Of course, we had to quality test some of them too. Let me tell you, Cindy’s fudge is amazing, it was like tasting sex. Not that I planned on giving up the real thing or anything.

Before then, I had never really had any interest in cooking, baking, or the kitchen in general. Jessica was much the same, and so while we were living with Dad, unless he was there to do the cooking we mostly subsisted on Jess’s rabbit food and quick microwaveable meals or leftovers for me. Before this, the height of my culinary skills was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Color me surprised, but baking was actually kind of fun. Maybe it was because I was doing it with people who I felt close to, and was getting closer to, or maybe Cindy just knew how to make it fun. It didn’t really matter because we all had fun and I wasn’t quite as leery about doing things in the kitchen now, at least while someone was there with me to make sure that I didn’t burn the place down or something.

I wasn’t itching to be a chef or anything. No, I had career plans that worked much better with my new Nymph nature and that I was actually starting to look forward to. I had definitely gained some appreciation for the work that Brock and Cindy put in every day though, especially since we ended up helping her make lunch as well, under her supervision. We didn’t even burn any of it, well not too badly at least.

After lunch, we headed upstairs and everyone worked together at decorating the tree that Lou and the other guys of the club had brought home. Once the tree was decorated and the lights were turned on, we all brought out the Christmas gifts to put them under the tree. With as many of us as there were in the family though, almost that entire corner of the common room was filled with gifts to be opened the next morning. It was a good thing that the tree lights could be turned off and on by one of the light switches.

With the tree and gifts dealt with, we all just hung out together as a family. We had hot cocoa and eggnog and used some sheets of gingerbread that Cindy had baked earlier, along with some candies and a lot of icing to make gingerbread houses as groups. Us kids made up one group, Mom and the other dancers another and the last group was composed of those who worked the various other roles for the club. It was fun but our house was a bit of a mess since Lou and Carmen were the only ones above the age of four who had ever made one.

Selina was uncertain at times, uncertain about how to react to being included in family activities and being talked to like she mattered or at least not verbally abused. It was something that a lot of us could understand, even Jess and I only really had each other and our Dad before coming to live at the club, so we could get the loneliness. Most of the others were the same, or even worse off like Rhissa and Melody, before joining this family. So we tried not to overwhelm her but to let her be involved at her own pace. She did well, only needing my encouragement a few times to put aside her fears and have a little fun.

Eventually, Mom and the others had to go back downstairs to open the club and get to work. When that happened Carmen, Lou, and Melody decided to play some video games on the big screen television while Selina kept Sorcha occupied by playing with their dolls and getting involved with various games that the four-year-old came up with. Jess and I could have played video games with the others but they offered to watch over Selina and Sorcha while Jess and I got in a bit of sister time before dinner. So for the next two hours, we hung out in Jessica’s room while she gave me some more girl lessons, we practiced some subtle cues that we could use to make people think that we were doing the twin-speak thing, and talked about everything going on in our lives and our love interests.

It was nice to have some time alone, just me and Jess, with everything that had been going on in our lives lately. Don’t get me wrong, most of it was pretty good stuff, even if it was a bit outside our wheelhouse before I Manifested, but for the past six years it had only been us and our Dad and everything that had happened since he had died just over a week ago had been fairly overwhelming. Everything else in our lives had changed and it was reassuring to know that we were still there for one another. We were more than just siblings, she was the north star that I used to find my way back to something familiar when it seemed like I was lost, and I was the same to her.

Neither of us wanted anything to change who and what we were to one another, though Jess was happy that things were going so well between Melody and me and that I was stepping up and trying to be the mother that Selina so desperately needed. Things seemed to be going well between her and Rose as well, and I was happy to see her losing some of her uncertainty about dating a girl, especially an impulsive and enthusiastic one like Rose. Jess needed to let herself have fun once in a while without me there holding her hand and I thought that Rose might help her with that.

We ended up calling Rose and talking to her for a bit before returning to the others to order our dinners from downstairs. We made plans for another double date and let her in on why I had a daughter now and the fact that Melody and I were now very official. She teased the hell out of me but it was all in good fun and she never crossed any lines.

The rest of Christmas Eve was spent watching holiday cartoons like Mickey’s Christmas Carol on television while we snuggled up on the couches. Lou was too cool for cuddling though so he was sitting in one of the armchairs so we didn’t infect him with girly-ness or something. Okay, I have to admit, with me that was probably a very real possibility given my life lately, especially since I’d only had a couple of magic lessons so far.

“This is nice,” I admitted as I sat there watching TV, mentally nuzzling Cinder’s drowsy presence in the back of my mind, and enjoying the company. “It almost feels like things are normal. I… I wish Dad could be here but I think that he’d be glad to know that we’re happy and safe and part of this big family that Pandora and Mom brought together.”

“Yeah,” my sister agreed. “I miss Dad too, but with all of the craziness we’ve been through since he died, I’m glad that we still have each other. And now we have everyone else here too. Dad would want us to be safe and happy and I think that we will be.”

“We should be, Jess. Merriwynd made sure that we covered our tracks pretty well so I don’t think those Demons who killed your dad will be able to find us. And Crystal Manifesting should prevent them from finding us magically. They never knew about you or my real identity and paranoia pays off, I was very careful not to leave anything behind that I could be tracked with,” Melody offered.

“If anything else takes a shot at you or any of us, they’ll regret messing with our family, if Carmilla lets them live that long,” Lou added with a determined look on his face. “We’ve got your backs.”

“Yup, and I know you’ll have our backs too. I was kinda worried about going to St. Michelle’s alone when school starts so it’ll be nice to have people I can trust there with me, at least until the end of the school year,” Carmen admitted.

“Well, after that you can watch over Selina until you graduate since she’ll be starting there next year. And, until then, I can drive us all to school in style,” I said with a nod as I looked at my new daughter who was falling asleep with her head on my shoulder. “Selina, you’re falling asleep. We should get you to bed.”

“But Momma, I want to stay with you and the others,” the Astrae argued sleepily even though it was obvious that she was having trouble keeping her eyes open and her wings were folded against her back, a sure sign that she was falling asleep. “I had such a nice day, I don’t want it to end.”

“Well, tomorrow is going to be even better since it’s our first Christmas here as a family. Come on, let’s go get you tucked into bed,” I insisted, trying to be the responsible mother.

Aislinn nodded from where she was sitting cross-legged with her daughter curled up in her lap fast asleep. “Aye, time for the wee ones to be in bed, I think. Lou, would you mind helping me with Sorcha please?”

“No problem, Aislinn, I’ve got the munchkin,” the young werewolf said with a laugh. “I was planning on heading to my room to do a few things online before going to sleep anyway.” He got up from his chair and bent over to pick up Sorcha, careful not to disturb her too much or wake her up. Aislinn got quickly to her feet and they headed toward their mutual hallway to put the little one to bed.

Selina mumbled a protest as I tried to get up and Melody moved from my other side to kneel in front of her. “Selina. Are you going to be okay if I pick you up and carry you to bed, Kiddo?” She waited for my daughter’s sleepy mumble of assent before picking her up like she weighed nothing. But then she did have Demon strength and Selina had hollow bones so to her she probably did weigh little more than nothing.

We made our way to Selina’s room and I pulled her bedsheet and blanket away so Melody could lay her down. She and Sorcha had both changed into nightgowns earlier so all that we needed to do was put her in the bed, cover her up, and then tuck her in. Once that was done I kissed her good night and whispered, “Good night, Selina, and Merry Christmas.”

As we closed the door behind us and headed back to the living room to spend some quality time with my sister and Carmen, Melody shook her head with a disbelieving smile. “Who would have thought when I first fake-killed you last week that we’d end up someplace like this with you as a Nymph, us in a relationship, and that you would have a teenage daughter in the span of like a week.”

“Not me, that’s for sure,” I replied with a laugh. “My life is fucking crazy, but it does have its high points.” I smiled and glanced briefly back at Selina’s door before leaning on my girlfriend’s shoulder as she put her arm around me and we walked back down the hall to the common room.