Sunday morning, I got to sleep in a bit, at least compared to usual since breakfast on weekends was at nine instead of seven-thirty and I had nothing else pressing to do early this morning. The Dicken sisters did want to try and get as much stage practice as we could for me today, but we wouldn’t be starting until after breakfast. That would give us at least a couple of hours before our friends started showing up for my and Jessica’s birthday party.

I woke up without the aid of my alarm before eight o’clock, despite intending to sleep in until then, and then slipped out of Melody’s embrace and hurried through my morning self-care regimen, taking the extra time to work off the slight horniness that had built up overnight and to make sure I looked my absolute best. I didn’t need to worry about picking out an outfit since Jess wanted us to match today and had carefully chosen the outfits we would wear for the party last night. Since I didn’t want my clothes all sweaty from dancing and such when the party started though, I wouldn’t be changing into them until before the party guests were due to arrive.

So, after changing into some simple exercise clothes, I went to check on Selina, help her with her hair, and spend some time with her before heading down to the club to join everyone for breakfast. The meal was abuzz with the relaxed conversations that usually dominated Sunday morning as people discussed how their week had gone, anything interesting that had happened, and what they would be doing for their day off. Today though, the latter mostly consisted of talking about the birthday party this afternoon since everyone planned on attending to be there for me and Jess.

As soon as we were done eating, the Dicken sisters put me to work. Stella and Adora worked my ass off, making sure that I could get through the pair of stage routines that I had been practicing whenever we had time since just before Christmas. Stella, who had come up with the choreographies for me, was watching carefully and making any corrections when needed while Adora was making sure that my movements and little flourishes were as flirty as possible and had maximum sex appeal.

I bowed to their experience, but neither had to correct me nearly as often as I feared. In fact, I had improved a lot in the last couple of weeks, even though I didn’t have as much time to practice this week because of school. Stella seemed pretty pleased as I put my clothes back on for what felt like the twentieth time that morning and handed me over to Anita for my pole dancing lesson.

I was doing better with that too, at least I thought so since I was able to pull off some of the trickier maneuvers that Anita was teaching me and didn’t fall on my head or anything. To be fair though, I hadn’t had any major fails like that since my second day learning from her. I was starting to get used to using muscles that I barely realized I had or thought about while pulling off tricky maneuvers or hanging from the pole in difficult positions without using my hands.

Anita was beaming as we finished just after eleven o’clock and enthused, “You’re getting so much better on the pole, Crystal! If we get more practice in tonight and an hour of practice over the next few nights, you could probably be ready for the stage by Friday. There’s a pole for practicing in the exercise room on the second floor we can use so we have some privacy, and if we do it early in the evening the club won’t be too busy, so I won’t be missing out on anyone wanting the extra services.”

“That’s a great idea, Sis!” Adora agreed. “I don’t mind taking a couple of hours while it’s quiet to help Crystal refine her technique and get ready for the stage. It’s not live you need to do more job shadowing, Crystal. I think you’ve figured out how everything works by now.”

“Yep, you have the routines I’ve been coaching you on pretty much down, Crystal. I think Anita is right, if we can get you some practice in costume after the party tonight, and an hour of practice each night after, you could be ready for the stage by Friday,” Stella concurred after a moment of thought. “Lana already has a few costumes ready for you, whenever you’re ready to start.”

I wasn’t quite as confident as the three Succubae. “Do you really think I’ll be ready that soon?”

“Yep,” Adora cheerfully informed me with a shit-eating grin. “The morning practices over the holidays really helped, you’ve almost got all the moves down, and you look damn sexy while doing them.”

Stella nodded as she added, “If you’re not ready for Friday, we can always give you more time. The club isn’t exactly advertising you as one of our entertainers yet, so it’s not like it’ll be a big deal. I think you’ll be ready though.”

“Are you nervous, Crystal?” Anita asked with a look of concern.

“Maybe a little,” I admitted reluctantly, “but I’m kind of eager to get started too. I just don’t want to make a fool of myself on stage.”

Adora frowned at me and shook her head as she said without a hint of doubt in her tone and expression, “You won’t, Crystal. You’ll be ready. The first time is always the hardest, but I know you’ll do fine if you just let your training take over, relax, and have fun.”

With that vote of confidence, the three sisters shooed me back upstairs so I could get ready for the party that was due to start in less than an hour. As soon as the elevator door opened on the third floor, I hurried to my room, stripped out of my sweaty exercise clothes, and jumped into the shower to clean off the sheen and scent of two hours of exercise. I only stopped to put on a shower cap so I wouldn’t have to wash and dry my hair again.

Once I was clean and smelling a lot nicer than when I went in, I quickly patted myself dry and put on my sexiest bra and panties. I didn’t plan on anyone seeing me in them, except maybe for Melody, but at least wearing something sexy didn’t aggravate my compulsion to get naked as bad as the usual stuff. The need still gnawed away at the back of my mind, of course, but it wasn’t quite as bad.

Then I put on the outfit that Jess had decided on last night. It was a simple, powder blue, silk halter top and black pleated miniskirt with a pair of three-inch stiletto heels. The top hugged my chest like a second skin and showed off my bare midriff and belly button bling while the skirt and shoes would make my legs look amazing. My hair was brushed out carefully, but Jess and I had decided to keep it loose today instead of braiding or something.

I got back downstairs to the club just in time to see Mom magically reapplying the Salamander tattoo to my sister for the upcoming week. She had already finished doing so with Selina as well and putting just enough Divine magic over Carmen’s real Salamander mark to make it seem like an illusion. Mom’s hair was already the usual aquamarine hue that she changed it to when pretending to be a River Nymph and dealing with patrons at the club or anyone who wasn’t in the know about her being a Muse.

I guess that everyone had done some decorating while I was in the shower too. There were already pink and ice blue balloons set up on some of the booths near the kitchen and on the bar too, though the bar also played host to a large and colorful ‘Happy Birthday’ banner. It looked like a party without being too juvenile, which I was kinda relieved about.

The first guests to arrive were Rose, Alison, and Bella, and they all looked around the club in keen interest once Annika let them in, though Bella had trouble taking her eyes off the intimidating Amazon that had let them inside. When she did take a look around though, the redheaded Metal Mage said, “Wow, this place is kinda cool, I’ve never been in a strip club before.”

“I should hope not, at your age,” my mother said with a laugh. Bella was only fifteen, after all, the youngest of our new friends other than Nova. “The ambiance isn’t the same as when the club is open since there aren’t any customers and nobody will be getting naked. This isn’t that kind of party.”

“Mom, you already know Rose, and this is Bella and Alison. Alison is Heather’s daughter. Girls, this is my mom, Tiffani,” I offered by way of introduction.

My mother nodded as she looked over the Glaistig. “Heather’s girl, huh? I can see the resemblance, and I remember her mentioning that her eldest daughter was more interested in cars than taking over the family business someday.”

Alison rubbed the back of her head awkwardly as she replied, “She’s got my little sister for that. Phoebe hasn’t Manifested yet, but she should soon, and she’s already as interested in learning nail care, hairstyling, and other beauty-related stuff from Mom. Not that Mom needs anyone to take over the salon since we don’t age like the normies. Phoebe is eager to work there when she’s older though.”

Jess and I had just finished introducing the three guests to everyone who lived above the club when the doorbell rang again, and Annika went to answer it. Weird since we just got a message from Clarice on the Discord server that she and the others were on their way and should be showing up in ten to fifteen minutes. “Do you think maybe Clarice was just messing with us?” my sister asked.

However, the grim look on the Amazon’s face and the lack of girls following her inside made it clear that whoever was at the door, it wasn’t them. Annika came right over to where everyone was sitting in booths and chatting away. “Jimmy is here with some other people to talk with you and Crystal,” she told my mom with a frown. “One of the guys stinks of PDA bureaucracy and the other is Steven Devereaux with some girl who was ranting about pressing charges over damage to some car.”

I squeezed my phone in fury as I fumed, “It’s that bitch, Delilah.” There was no doubt in my mind about it. Somehow, she had one of her friends listening in while we were talking to the girls about the birthday party, and she was here to try to ruin our day. The bitch was trying to get me arrested during my birthday party.

Mom and Pandora immediately stood up, both of them looking almost as angry as I was as they stood up and led the way to the door. Aunt Merry, Annika, and Carmilla were right on our heels and looked ready to murder someone. Since they were probably the deadliest and scariest people I knew, I was both relieved and worried to have them there for what was about to go down. Waiting for us outside was Jimmy, along with three people who didn’t look very happy about being ordered to wait outside.

Jimmy cast an apologetic look my way. I had a feeling that I knew why he was here, and I was suddenly very glad that he was one of the only psychics working for the local PDA office who was versatile and powerful enough to read an unwilling person’s mind or act as a human lie detector. His being familiar with me was a good thing, and I knew that he was honest and a good enough person to not let things go too far.

Beside Jimmy was a human-looking man, a little portly and dressed in a dark brown suit and tie. The color matched that of his beady little eyes and rapidly retreating hairline. He looked like he had never smiled a day in his life, and I could feel the faint sensation of Earth magic on him. Annika was right, he practically screamed PDA administration, and I didn’t like the look he gave me when we appeared at the doorway. He looked at me like I was guilty, and this was just a formality. I wondered how much he was being bribed to be doing this at lunchtime on a Sunday.

Delilah was there, of course, hiding behind the third man with a satisfied smirk plastered all over her face. The man, who I had to assume was her father, had greying blond hair that was starting to thin and intense blue eyes set in a somewhat handsome face twisted in anger. He wore a black, tailored three-piece suit with a red tie and polished black leather Italian shoes. “That’s her, Daddy!” Delilah said from behind the man once she noticed me behind my mother and Pandora and pointed an accusatory finger at me.

Pandora, whose arms suddenly wrapped protectively around both me and Mom, immediately took charge, seeming to recognize one of the men. “What is the meaning of this, Steven? You know very well that the club isn’t open on Sundays and you’re interrupting our daughters’ birthday celebration.”

Awww, she said ‘our daughters’ which I guess meant that Mom’s fiancée was stepping up and making things official, maybe to try and protect me? I know that Mom hadn’t registered with the PDA until recently, but Pandora and the Club had both been registered for about a decade now since the club opened. Pandora and Carmilla, the latter of whom was right behind me with a hand reassuringly gripping my shoulder, both had a lot of pull with the local PDA office.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the balding administrator who winced at her comment, but Delilah’s father. I quickly put two and two together and came up with… Wait, no fucking way! Delilah’s dad was a regular at the club?! The man’s anger was somewhat lessened as he swallowed and tugged at his tight collar. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable, probably afraid of being blacklisted at the club after this.

“Pandora, Tiffani… I didn’t know that Crystal was your daughter…” he started. “This is James Townsend and Administrator Robert Ross from the Paranormal Defense Agency. We’re here to question your… daughter about the destruction of my daughter’s car at their school and press charges.”

“Do you have evidence?” I spat, making my presence known. “Because Headmistress Collins already interrogated me, and she had none. Nor did I admit to doing anything when asked directly, and Fey can’t lie.”

That was when the worm of an administrator puffed up his chest. “Miss Devereux believes that you were involved. That’s why Mr. Townsend is here. He’s a psychic and can determine your guilt, or innocence.”

His words only caused Jimmy to give him a dirty look as the large man practically growled, “Are you telling me that there’s no evidence? It is against PDA policy for psychics to question people without evidence linking them to a crime and I know this girl, she’s a Snow Nymph, there is no way she could be involved with the fire damage that was made to the vehicle in question.”

“Jimmy, I’m telling you that it’s okay this time,” the weasel in the cheap suit insisted.

“The hell it is!” Jimmy snapped. “I won’t invade anyone’s thoughts without consent or substantial evidence that they were involved in a crime!” I knew there was a very good reason that Jimmy refused to do that. He had told me once when we were getting Selina’s paperwork and adoption stuff done that, even when it’s consensual, digging through a person’s thoughts and memories can be extremely painful, almost akin to torture if the person resists, which is usually the case. That’s why it’s only used rarely to learn specific and important details from people who already have enough evidence against them to prove them guilty.

“You want evidence?” I asked. “I have some right here, half the school witnessed it too.” With that, I loaded up the video of Delilah attempting to free her car from the ice and eventually melting said ice and setting her own car on fire.

Everything was quiet for a good ten minutes as the three men watched the video on my phone. By the time the video was over, all three men were looking at Delilah with varying degrees of anger and embarrassment. Delilah, still trying to hide behind her father, and not being at all successful, was suddenly looking very uncomfortable and weakly protested, “B-but, she was the one who froze my car in the first place!”

“I didn’t touch your car or do anything that would damage it, you spoiled bitch!” I snapped at my spoiled classmate. “I certainly wasn’t the one to set it on fire, you did that yourself. I would consent to having Jimmy read my mind to prove that I didn’t do anything criminal though, if you’re willing to do the same.”

“W-what do you mean?” she stammered nervously; her eyes wide as she gaped at me.

I took my phone back and flipped to the photos of my vandalized car before handing it back to Jimmy. “This is my car, and a lot of the slurs written on there are the same ones that she has publicly called me in school. She has been constantly harassing me since I started school at St. Michelle’s. There’s no evidence tying her to this since the cameras were damaged just before it happened, but I would love to be able to press charges against whoever did this.”

Delilah’s father’s eyes went wide as Jimmy flipped through the images. “Is that a…” I should have figured that he was a car nut if he bought his daughter a freaking concept car.

“A 1970 Dodge Charger R/T in pristine condition? Yes, it is. At least it was until that happened. It’s probably worth six figures to collectors, but to me, it’s worth a lot more than that because it was my dad’s, and I inherited it when he died. Working on cars and stuff was our thing and that car is very important to me. Ms. Norstrom managed to get the paint off before it set, but now I don’t feel safe parking it at school until I can be sure this never happens again.”

Mr. Devereaux glared down at his daughter. He was already angry when they arrived, but the video of Delilah destroying her own very expensive car, and now this, only seemed to focus that anger on her. It was probably also embarrassing as fuck to be brought here under false pretenses and then being made a fool of. Yeah, that was not a happy-looking man. I could sense the Fire magic in him bubbling dangerously from his anger even if there was no spark to set it alight right now.

“Delilah, we will be having a very long talk when we get home,” he said sternly before turning to me, Mom, and Pandora and pulling something from his suit pocket along with a pen. “I apologize for the interruption, ladies. My daughter has obviously misrepresented this situation to me. Hopefully, this will in some small way make up for the damage to your vehicle.”

He handed me a check for twenty-five thousand dollars and my eyes widened a moment before narrowing again. “If you’re hoping to keep me quiet with this hush money, don’t think it’s going to work. If your daughter keeps harassing me, I will pay her back in kind.”

The man who had briefly turned a glare back on his daughter shook his head and his expression softened. “No, it is simply to repay you for any trouble and damage that my daughter may have caused. Should she continue to bully you, I expect that you’ll stand up for yourself. I will be having a very long talk with Delilah about respecting personal property, and I will personally guarantee the safety of your vehicle at school from now on. Should anything happen to it, Pandora has my number, but I can assure you that nobody will touch it again.” The last was said with a pointed look at Delilah that had the blonde squirming and looking for a place to hide.

“Thank you for being reasonable, Steven,” my mother said as she placed a hand on my shoulder from behind Pandora, who was still between us and holding us both protectively.

“It was my daughter who was at fault, and she wasn’t being entirely truthful with me. Perhaps Victoria and I need to be more involved with her life. Come, Delilah, we’re going home.” Then, without another word he turned back to the parking lot, Delilah morosely following as he led the way to a red Lamborghini. Yep, definitely a car guy.

Jimmy sighed and said, “Sorry for interrupting your party, Crystal. I was told this was important, I can’t believe I had to drive into town for this.” He was openly glaring at the administrator.

“I was told she was guilty,” the man huffed.

“Yeah, and of course, you believed the spoiled little rich girl over the Fey who can’t lie. Gee, I wonder why,” I snapped, giving him both barrels with my own glare.

“Money, dear. Steven tends to think with his wallet, but he fails to realize that money isn’t influence,” Pandora said casually. Then she turned to look at the weasel of a man that Jimmy was still glaring at. “I will be calling the Chief Administrator and informing him of this little visit and the breach in protocols. I’m sure that Donald will be very interested in how you tried to force a psychic interrogation on an innocent girl without evidence and that he will be looking into this matter very closely. I assume we can count on your testimony, Jimmy.”

“Of course, Pan. I was enjoying my day off when I was called in for this bullshit, and I had to drive all the way into the city. He was very insistent that we had to be here at this time because he knew you would be here,” Jimmy grumbled at the back of the man who was now slinking off toward his car without a word of apology. “Happy birthday to you and Jessica, Crystal, I hope the rest of the party goes better.” Then Jimmy said goodbye and headed toward his own car. I was kinda hoping he’d stay, but it would probably feel awkward for both of us after what just happened.

With the two of them leaving, the girls who had been watching and waiting in Clarice’s car approached the doors of the club. They had arrived about halfway through the incident, but Clarice had figured something was going on and hadn’t wanted to interfere. “What the hell was that all about? Who were those people, and do I want to know why Delilah was here?” Trixie asked as she approached with Clarice, Nova, and Nikki.

Mom, Pandora, and the others who had been watching the exchange and holding themselves back from attacking the weasel of an administrator slipped back inside the club, leaving me to greet my friends. “The guy she was with was her dad and the other two were with the PDA. She came to ruin the party and tried to get me arrested. That video you sent helped a lot, Nova. Thanks.”

“Any time,” the Nereid replied, though her brow furrowed in anger. “I can’t believe that bitch would show up and try to get you arrested at your birthday party.”

“Yeah, especially without evidence. Even if the psychic they brought had read my mind it would have only proved I didn’t do anything to her car,” I said with a sigh as I led them all inside the club.

~Wait. They brought in a psychic, without evidence? Isn’t that…~ Nikki started to protest.

“Against policy? Potentially torture? Yes. Don’t you just love bribery? Don’t worry though, she’s going to pay for this, and not just because her daddy is pissed with her now for lying and embarrassing him,” I assured them. I would definitely be getting her back for this, in small ways. Death (or rather vengeance) by a thousand cuts.

Still, I was kinda thankful to Delilah’s father. He had given me a pretty awesome birthday present after all. It wasn’t the money, which I definitely wasn’t going to turn down while I had a kid to raise. It wasn’t even the promise of security for my car at school, though that was pretty cool too and I knew there was no way Delilah would let anything bad happen to my car now, not when she would be the prime suspect.

The best thing was watching that whole thing backfire in Delilah’s face and knowing that she was going to get hell from her father when they got home. I didn’t think that he would physically hurt her, which I wouldn’t have wanted even for Delilah, but she was in for a lot of yelling when she got home, and I got the feeling that her daddy would be paying a lot closer attention to her activities from now on. I managed a grin for Jess and everyone else as we got to the bar where Cindy and Brock were laying out a big, buffet-style lunch and asked, “Well, now that the drama is over, who’s ready to party?”