Raven Nevermourn Ep. 016: DEBTS DOOR

The congregation of fireflies now zipped around Raven and Heather as if a tornado of light that grew brighter and brighter until they were blinded. As if cast out the ladies found themselves stuck halfway through another mirror. One very tight mirror.

"We're at my place now." Heather peered around, "This is my bathroom." The mirror being narrow made it difficult for both women to fit through at one time, so their bodies were pressed tightly together in an uncomfortable full-frontal compression. "Don't get any ideas Succubus."

"I think it's funny. At least, it's not a compact mirror to do your makeup."

"You would. Wiggle as one and let's get out of this fucking mirror." On three they wormed their way out until they toppled from the counter basin to the bathroom floor in what looked like a lovers pose, Heather rolling to take the brunt of the fall. "Couldn't have chosen my closet mirror, could they? It is door sized."

"What was that all about Heather?"

"I think the light was just sizing you up." Peering back up at her bathroom mirror she shook her head, "I suspect they find us both minuscule that's why they pushed us through a small mirror."

"That or it's because they're small. That mirror might seem like the Grand Canyon to them."

"There is that! Anyway, I'm just glad to be home." Standing up she curled their fingers together and pulled Raven to her feet. From there Heather went to get dressed, choosing jeans and a button-down blue flannel style shirt that was made of lighter material. "Let's hope these clothes last longer than my other ones." She steps from her bedroom to find Raven exploring her photos on the wall.

"Your mom?"

"Yep! That was from my graduation at the police academy. She was very proud of me that day."

"I'm proud of you too. Thank you for coping with me."

"As if I have a choice." A shoulder bump nudges the redhead playfully. "I'm not sure what the future holds for any of us, but I am happy to know you."

"Same here! You're kind of like my Auntie now!"

"I'm no Aunt Iris." She chuckled. "Meaning no angel."

"You are to me."

"Keep it to yourself. My luck I'll be a flying leopard next time."

"Ready to go back into the mirror and see if we can reach the morgue?"

"I dread it, but someone has to show up there and run interference. Closet mirror this time. I'm not crushing boobies with you again."

"You liked it!" Raven razzed her then looked at her hand for the first time since coming back. The eyeball had closed into a scar, but it was still evident. "My cut didn't heal completely. It's still straight across, unless I squeeze my hand then it smiles at me. I wonder if that means Aunt Iris is still behind door number one?"

"You masturbate with that hand, right?" Heather chuckled. "Give her an eye full next time that opens up."

"You're so bad. I might give her pink eye."

"Like I said... no angel!"

Into the bedroom mirror they stepped, Raven leading the way.

********

Sabastian Manor! Jezzie's place now! Taxes? What taxes?

Having showered with Sabastian and letting him lick her dry, Jezzabel Nameless perused Sandra's wardrobe for something new to wear. Tired of her leather pants she opted to search for a dress as a change. Sabastian stepping next to her offered choices in sheer panties that he found appealing. Smiling at him she pinched both garments and they burst into flame. Dropping them onto the carpet he rapidly stomped them out.

"Underwear is taboo Tabby Boo! Please don't burn my new residence to the ground."

"You started the fire."

"So, I did, within you." He couldn't disagree, his heart was all about his Mistress. "Now wet down that carpet just in case." She turns back to look for a dress that spoke to her. Behind her the naked Sabastian shrugged and urinated on the smoldering underwear. The scent made Jezzie rethink his mentality. A brief hesitation she shrugged it off. He was too handsome to be angry with. "You can shampoo the carpet later sweet Pet."

"I can do that. We have one on every floor." Of course, they did! Once he figured out how to use a carpet shampooer. Sandra normally took care of such things. "You'd look good in that black backless with the slit up the side."

"I look good in anything Sabastian. Duly noted! I'm feeling more in the mood for something silk, less lace." She plucks up a camisole style dress, white with butterflies on it. Not too long, not too short. It almost resembled a nightie but was an actual dress. "This one, I think. Butterflies are the soul of humanity after all." She would know being a Succubus as well as a witch. With her magnificent breasts the dress certainly popped in all of the right places. Sabastian's eyes and his worthy cock for two. "I adore this. Your significant smother... had good taste."

"She did!"

"Miss her yet?"

"Not at all. I am yours!"

"Good answer! She has a good home if she doesn't mind the scent of putrid newt and Ben Gay."

"What of her family should they call?"

"Worry of that when it happens, Sweet Sabastian. I..." She notices her palm's reflection in the mirror while modeling. On it was a scar. "What is this?" She examines her hand more closely to discover a laceration without blood just as Raven had incurred while visiting Purgatory. Having touched her daughter with this same hand the connection was felt without her even being there. Studying the cut, she used her other hand to roll a finger over the seam. From one side to the other just before the skin parted to show her the very same eye that Raven had worn. "What is this?" The eye looked shocked to see her.

"What has my daughter done to me?" She pondered. The eye narrowing lowered its gaze to her chest and the skin above the eye wrinkled as if in scrutiny. "What? You disapprove of my attire?" A single wink yes as it had learned from Raven. Same eye, mirror image. "A gift from Raven it appears." She told Sabastian then sharing her spy. The eye then lowered to view his erection and bulged yet again.

"I believe it likes what it sees." He chuckled, "Sorry Mistress." Indeed! The brow laceration wiggled as if flirtatious.

Recalling the palm to face herself Jezzie scowled, "Look the other way now. Bye Bye!" As if obedient the eye closed and her scar sealed tightly as if mending. "One door opens, another closes it seems. I believe my daughter and I must meet."

"Eye to eye?" Sabastian chuckled. "Forgive me I must sound corny... uhh?" Cornea!

"Something to that effect. Stop while you're ahead."

"Yes Mistress."

Jezzie did not appreciate her daughter's secret agent. If she even knew of it.

********

An old antique store directly across from the City Morgue!

From an age-old Victorian style flip mirror ducks the head of Raven Mourn, checking about for prying eyes, not the one on her palm, that one was tightly sealed and nearly normal. "There's nobody around. Let's go." She then stepped down onto the carpet, followed by Heather Choi. Once both women were standing, they found a feminine voice behind them. So much for nobody around!

"May I help you?" Heather swore she had not only heard that voice before but that it was accompanied by, "Again?" Maybe not! Her brain was all over the place sorting out what to say when questioned by her partner and Police Chief Americ, it was inevitable. Explaining herself was the easy part, covering for Keith another.

"Just looking! There's still a lot of firetrucks over there." Raven mentioned taking her hand back from Heather, so it didn't appear as if they were together intimately.

"Rather unexpected fire I hear. Grapevine says the sprinklers even malfunctioned." The woman said, being a redhead also, but older in her early to mid 50's. Heather took more notice of her than Raven did mainly because of the voice. A wink from the woman let Heather's suspicions run. "A lovely mirror, isn't it? It's been in my family for more generations than I can count on all of my fingers and toes combined."

"It doesn't look that old." Heather glances at the mirror to discover it had changed in appearance to that of an actual skeleton holding the mirror with hands and feet while on a pedestal. Eyes bulging, she shot another glare at the woman. "Are you...?"

"Am I?" She smiled as Raven was lured to the front of the store leaving the elders to chat.

"It was you that told me how to save Keith. Wasn't it?"

"Shhh! Before Raven overhears you. Yes, it was me. You are welcome by the way."

"I don't know what to say. Who are you?" She asked as the woman played with the curls of her lengthy red mane, a pinky pointing slyly toward Raven. Following the point toward Raven's back Heather huffed her cheeks. "Another family member?"

"I am! Let's not create a scene. Raven needs to embrace her situation on her own. Thank you for being there for my granddaughter."

"Grand? You're not Granny."

"Oh, no! Granny is my Great Grandmother. I believe you know my daughter Jezzabel."

"You're Jezzie's mom?"

"Every eighteen years we spawn a daughter to take our place with the mark. It is Raven's turn."

"Gotta name granny number two?"

"A first only! Our family lost the privilege to possess a last name. I'm Saffron. Heather, correct?"

"Yep! Formalities! Thanks for showing me how to save Keith. I suppose as much as I'm irritated with Jezzie for turning me into a leopard..."

"Jaguar actually!"

"Seen one spot you've seen them all. Anyway, without her doing that, I couldn't have done what you had me do. I guess I really am in your debt. Jezzie's too, even if I will punch her in the jaw next time, I see her."

"Unwise! My daughter is, pardon the pun... catty! She was always a difficult adult once we reconnected."

"Reconnected?"

"Yes! As you must guess with Raven being raised outside the family, we all were. Only when our marks shifted to our next in line could we know our family. Jezzie did not know me until she was 18. As you must imagine it is quite difficult accepting who and what we are, by what rules we must follow."

"Right! Raven took care of Argus. So, he's not going to knock her up. Might be the end of your line."

"Hardly! You can't actually kill Sugar or his siblings. The Darkevil is somehow attached to them. Strange I know."

"I think Raven ended the Darkevil too."

"Hades no!" Saffron reacts with a playful frown, "Only the Goddess might stand a chance of that."

"Funny you say that. I stepped out of a mirror smack dab in the middle of your Coven."

"Not my Coven. Granny's sect! Each generation supports their own."

"Regardless, her Coven thinks I'm the Goddess, because I stepped out of the portal that only the Goddess could travel. At least that's what Granny says. I don't have any idea how that happened. I'm no Goddess!"

"Aren't you?" Saffron winked. "Have you not noticed that Raven is... BI?"

"Bi? Yeah, she and Jody..."

"Not that kind of Bi, Dear. Bi as in her rather unorthodox mark being of Hell and Heaven both. This is all new to each of us. We are edgy to say the least, mainly because we have no idea what the future holds."

"We just came from Purgatory. Mean anything to you?"

"A halfway house! Raven is torn between good and evil. The good is saying hello. The bad will lure her back."

"Not good to know." Heather rolls her eyes. "So, how is it you witches are acting good if you're evil?"

"Evil is such a horrible term."

"You serve the Devil."

"The Darkevil Dear, not the Devil."

"Come on? There's only an Ark... man, that boat sailed, didn't it? Ark in mARK even."

"Before there was light, there was darkness, Detective Choi. First come, first serve. But, to answer your question, family, although denied for a generation is still family. For a millennium we Witches have endured the Succubus mark to feed our Deity. We may not always agree with our habits, it is unfortunately who we are. The light is merely a vessel."

"An Ark is a vessel. Just ask Noah."

"May I?" Saffron cautiously touches Heather to get her to face her reflection in the mirror. "It is said that Noah was told to shepherd two of every beast of the field. Tell me what you see."

"Myself!" Heather winced just as her reflection shifted to that of her feline form. The shock made her look down at herself to see if she had transformed. Looking back up she sees both of her personas. "What's the lesson here?"

"Light!" She squeezes Heather's shoulders, "Dark!" She points to the mirror. Two of every Bast of the field."

"Beast!" She corrected Saffron.

"Bast Dear! Look her up. Then, you might understand my grandmother's Coven. Raven returns to us, her curiosity for fire has been extinguished."

"Are we going over there?" Raven asked Heather then smiled at Saffron. "You buying the bones or what?"

"Bones?" Heather winced. "You see...?"

"Well, yeah! Cool mirror. Hi Casselonius." She waved at the skull.

"It is ancestral." Saffron sighed caressing the skeletal framework of the mirror, rather stunned that her granddaughter recognized the original owner, his bones holding their own for dear death. To Raven, Saffron cast a spell over herself to be seen as a frumpy old dark-haired woman with big glasses. While in most cases Raven might have seen past it, Saffron was talented. Enough to deceive her granddaughter for now. Yet, in truth if she could possibly know dear Casselonius, could she hide?

"We have to go." Heather twisted Raven away from them. "Thank you for enlightening me."

"No! Thank you!" Saffron bowed in a low curtsey. "Be well! Drop by and say hello anytime."

"Raincheck!" Heather grimaced, she just needed to get out of there. Briskly leaving the store with a jingle, the Detective looked back once more before crossing the street. Noticing the sign above the building she realized what the establishment was called.

"Debts Door! Wow! Right across from a morgue. How ballsy is that?"

Time to put herself in the hot seat.

Her tail was pretty hot.

When it didn't get caught in the door.