Aunt Lin drove me home, not to the hotel, but rather the house I grew up in, as I gave her directions. When we arrived, my car was in the driveway, looking like it had just been washed and gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. My aunt pulled into the driveway behind it and put her car in park with a sad sigh as she looked at the black Corvette. “She kept it,” she said, her voice choked with emotion, “I thought she would have sold it when we had our falling out. Well, she always was too sentimental for her own good.”

“Wait, you…” I started to say before stopping to think about it. “Of course, this was probably her car when she was still living at the hotel with you.”

“I bought it for her,” my aunt said quietly, a sad and distant look in her eyes. “I wanted her to start racing with me, but she wasn’t really interested in risking her life that way. She always needed to be doing good, helping people. Then she and Nick decided that they wanted to work with the PDA, and the rest is history. They went to help people, and I kept racing cars… I haven’t been in anything more than a bar brawl in all that time. I should have been with her, maybe if I was…”

“Then there would have been nobody left to teach me about our people, and how to fight,” I told her firmly.

Aunt Lin gave me a faint smile, but it looked forced. “Maybe you’re right, I should have been with her, though. I’ve just never trusted organizations like the PDA; there is too much opportunity to abuse those they’re supposed to protect, and your mother was the idealist, not me. World War Two… changed things for me. Siv and I lost our sisters in arms, and we were the only two of our kind left.”

“I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for the two of you,” I offered as I leaned over to wrap her in a hug as best I could in the confines of the car.

She awkwardly wrapped an arm around me to return the embrace as she reminisced. “We used to talk about meeting the right guy, having kids, and training them to be true Valkyries to keep our legacy alive. Siv met Nick, and it looked like she was happy, if a little restless. David is a good friend and a capable lover, but we just weren’t compatible, either as anything more than that or biologically. Some Paranormals just aren’t genetically compatible with one another, and David was the only one who caught my interest as anything more than a one-night stand.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, the car was silent, except for my breathing. Then, when she spoke again, her voice was strained. “I gave up battle after the war… I didn’t want to end up like the others and leave nothing behind. I still train, but that’s all it’s been for a long time. When Siv and I parted, things just weren’t the same; it was… like half of me was missing all these years. So, I lost myself in racing, playing the stock market, and tried to convince myself that this was a life worth living. Maybe… while I’m training you to forge your warrior’s spirit… I can find mine again.”

I released my aunt from our awkward embrace and gave her a weak smile. “I’m glad I found you, Aunt Lin. Did you want to come in? You could meet everyone, and I know they all want to meet you, especially Lydia. She raised me since Mom and Dad died, she’s a Demon… well, an Imp really, but she’s done her best to raise me and keep me safe from the Demons who are after me.”

My aunt thought it over for a moment before shaking her head. “Maybe you could bring them by the hotel tomorrow for dinner, and you can make the introductions then, Raven. You said that you have a date to get ready for, and I still have some arrangements to make for our trip.”

“Okay, that sounds good, Aunt Lin,” I agreed. It was probably for the best anyway. I figured that my aunt would probably feel more secure meeting them all on her own turf. I still needed to see how Lydia was going to react to my new look, and Alice and Erin had been asking about the hotel and wanted to see the penthouse suite anyway. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow to set up a time and stuff.”

Then, after one last, quick hug, I grabbed my duffel bag of holding from the trunk and headed inside. Grinning from ear to ear, I swept my hair behind my ears so all my new piercings would be visible and called out, “I’m home!”

“Hey, Raven, how did things…” Erin started to ask as she peeked into the foyer from the living room, only to stop in sheer disbelief. “Whoa.”

Alice peered over her shoulder as she stood there stunned and instantly smiled upon seeing me. -Oooh, somebody got a makeover! That’s a good look on you. Lydia is in the kitchen baking; she and Erin will probably order something in for dinner since we’ll be going out.-

“Yep, Aunt Lin took me to the big Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, and we went to see an image consultant for Paranormals. She suggested a Goth/punk look since I can’t completely get rid of my claws and due to my coloring,” I cheerfully agreed.

-Imogen, right? She was responsible for my style change, too. She’s also the one who enchants all my pants and panties to pop into another dimension in case I have to suddenly change from legs to tail. It can get expensive, but it’s worth it, and she really knows her stuff.-

Okay, that totally made sense since Alice had told us she didn’t adopt the punk look until after she Manifested. “Yeah, I met her daughter, Ashley, too,” I told her with a grin. “She helped me with the makeup and did the piercings. She gave me an awesome tattoo as well.”

Alice’s eyebrows rose at that. -I haven’t met her, but Imogen mentioned she had a daughter around our age; she must have started working there after I got my style change. I was thinking of getting a tat for my image, but I didn’t know they offer those now. I can’t really go to a normie for it since I’m worried that I might lose concentration on keeping my legs if it hurts too much.-

“This one didn’t hurt at all,” I told her candidly as I dropped my duffel bag and took off my new leather jacket to hang it on the coat rack. Since I was currently wearing a sleeveless halter top faux corset underneath, doing so unveiled my new ink in all its glory. “It didn’t take her long, wasn’t all that expensive, and it can be easily removed since it’s magic.”

Erin’s eyes went wide upon seeing my tattoo-covered arm. “Holy shit, that’s kinda badass. If Jamie and the others could see you now, they would probably not recognize you. You seemed so strait-laced while we were in school.”

“I was sheltered, not strait-laced,” I corrected with a shrug. “I was actually thinking of getting some piercings and a tat back then, but I never found the time with studying and stuff, and then I wasn’t sleeping, and all the Paranormal shit blew up in our faces.”

-I’ll have to go and see if she can ink me up a bit too. Not as much as that, a full sleeve might be a bit much for me, but a couple of smaller ones might be nice. Maybe I’ll do it while you’re gone with your aunt and bring Erin along with me,- Alice’s mind voice murmured thoughtfully.

“Maybe I’ll take you up on that,” Erin replied, though she didn’t take her eyes off my arm. “I wonder if she’d be willing to do some traditional Haida tattoos for me if I could provide reference images.”

I shrugged as I looked over my Native friend. “Probably, she told me she just needed to have the picture in her mind to create it and bond it to the skin.”

“Cool,” she replied before once again glancing at the artwork on my arm. “You realize that Lydia is probably going to explode when she sees you like that, right?”

“Yep, I’ve been looking forward to it, especially since I no longer have to worry about giving my elderly nanny a heart attack,” I replied with a grin.

-You’re terrible, Raven, but I really do like that new look on you. You look like a badass, and you’re so hot right now,- Alice said as she subtly licked her lips and looked me over once again.

“Big surprise you’re fawning over her, Alice,” Erin teased sarcastically before adding, “Hell, I’m straight, and even I think she looks hot like that.”

I blushed a bit at the compliments, even as a mix of pride, wonder, and satisfaction filled my chest. “Alice thinks I’m hot,” I thought giddily as I tried to play it cool and not swoon. Then I summoned up my confidence and strode through the house, following my nose to the kitchen where Lydia was currently baking what smelled like shortbread cookies. Once I was sure she wasn’t half inside the oven or handling a hot cookie sheet fresh from the oven, I called out conversationally, “Those smell so good, Lydia.”

I reached out to sneak one of the delicious smelling treats as she turned from where she was setting more dollops of cookie dough on cool pans to await their turn to bake. As Lydia turned, she got a close-up view of my reaching arm (the newly inked one), and for a moment, she just stared at it before her gaze traveled up it toward my face. By then, I was nomming happily on a still-warm cookie and grinning at her as I was doing so.

“Wh-what?” she stammered, looking very much like she was trying to believe what she was seeing but coming up short.

My mouth still partially full of delicious fresh-baked goodness, I mumbled through the crumbs, “I have a new look, do you like it?”

She very much did not like it, if the expression on her face was any indication. Now she couldn’t seem to decide where to direct her stare, the piercings in my ears, my eyebrow, or the skull stud in my nose. Oh, the Goth makeup was getting a good look too, but in her eyes, that was probably something temporary; it could be washed off.

“What have you done to yourself?” she muttered, her voice barely a whisper. I thought it was pretty obvious, but before I could say anything, her expression darkened. “This is your aunt’s doing, isn’t it? You used to be such a good, well-behaved girl, but ever since you started looking for her… Going to rowdy bars and street races, flying where anyone could see you, and now this! She is supposed to be teaching you to defend yourself, not to make questionable decisions!”

“It’s just a change to my look, and I have good reason…”

“She has you looking like some sort of fucking juvenile delinquent!” my former nanny snapped, cutting my protest off.

“Umm… Hello, Pot, this is Kettle calling. I’d like to remind you, you’re black,” Erin teased the Imp as she looked right at the prominent middle finger displayed on the front of her romper.

“That’s different! This is…”

Now it was my turn to cut her off. This wasn’t fun anymore, and I was just a little insulted. “Lydia! Would you just listen to me for once?!” I’m not sure what stopped her protests, if it was the anger and hurt in my voice, or the fact that I was actually yelling at her. She winced, recoiling as if I had slapped her.

-Maybe you should hear her out, Lydia,- Alice gently suggested.

“I’m not a kid anymore, Lydia,” I told her, putting all the steel I could summon into my words. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions, and this was my choice. This is who I am, not that girl who you couldn’t stand up to you because I was afraid to hurt you. If you must know, this is really no different than the look Alice uses to draw attention away from her unusual hair and eye colors. I even spoke with the same image consultant. When I look like this, people won’t notice that my nails are black or that the shape is more like a claw; they’ll think it’s all part of my style.”

“You shouldn’t have to pretend to be someone else just to fit in among the normies,” she argued weakly.

When I responded, I tried my best to keep my tone even and in control. “That’s not the world we live in, and as a shapeshifter, you should know that better than anyone. Didn’t you do that all my life to keep from drawing too much attention to us? Honestly, though, I’m not pretending to be somebody else. This is me, just without the wings. This look was an option, and it was my choice whether or not to take it. I embraced it because it appealed to me even before I found out what I really am, and it felt right. For fuck’s sake, Lydia, you know the music I listen to, you introduced me to it in the first place! So, is this honestly that surprising to you?”

A quiet settled over the four of us. I knew that Lydia would freak out after seeing my new look, but I wasn’t expecting her to get so hostile toward my aunt. This was about more than just the change in style. In the silence, the oven timer beeped, causing Lydia to turn away to pull the fresh tray of cookies from the oven. She quietly put the next in its place, and when she was finished, she looked at me again with a miserable expression.

“I’m… sorry, Raven, I was overreacting,” she offered hesitantly before letting out a heavy sigh. “You’re right, this probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise, and it was your decision to make. This isn’t about you, or your new style, it’s about me. Like you said, you’re not a kid anymore. I don’t need to keep you safe anymore, you don’t need me anymore, and I shouldn’t try to run your life. I just need to get used to the idea.”

“I’ll always need you, Lydia,” I told her as I picked up her small form and nearly crushed her in a hug. Okay, maybe not, I was being very conscious of how much strength I was using. “I may not need you to raise me or keep me safe and hidden from Demons anymore, but I will always need you in my life because you’re the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever known.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Erin’s voice teased as she tried to lighten the heavy mood. “One would think by looking at you right now that Raven is the mother and Lydia the child.” This probably got the reaction that she was looking for, as I sputtered at the mere thought of it, and an adorable pout formed on Lydia’s childlike face as she struggled in my embrace.

“Gee, thanks, Erin. Like either of us wanted that thought in our heads,” I muttered as I returned Lydia to the floor and relinquished my hug. Lydia might occasionally joke about taking advantage of looking like a child to make things awkward for me, but she was much older than me and she had raised me from a baby. Even if she had done that while pretending to be my elderly nanny, I knew she was the same person inside that child form, and that just made it weird.

-Well, since Raven is going out on a hot date with me tonight, does that make you Lydia’s babysitter?- Alice shot back at my best friend with a grin.

“I charge twenty bucks an hour, and I can’t guarantee that all those cookies won’t be gone by the time you get back,” Erin retorted without missing a beat. Then she gave me a very perplexed look as she added, “Is it just me, or is Raven’s tattoo a little… weird?”

I glanced at my right arm as I tried to figure out what she was on about. Was it just an attempt to change the subject? She usually wasn’t so brazen with such attempts, though, and at least tried to be subtle about it. “I don’t see anything wrong with it, it’s exactly what I asked Ashley for,” I finally said with a shrug.

“No… I mean, it looks awesome… when I look at it directly. It’s just… when I’m not focused on it and see it out of the corner of my eye, I could swear it’s moving,” my bestie explained as her brows furrowed in a frown.

This caused both Lydia and Alice to look at my ink with new interest, intently at first, and then sort of turning their heads away to focus on something else in the room. Lydia was the first to speak as she muttered, “What the fuck is that?”

-Yeah, Erin is right, maybe it was her crazy cat lady senses,- Alice confirmed a moment later. -When I look at it directly, it looks normal enough, but when I’m not focused on it and it’s in my field of vision, it’s like the musical notes are moving and the little Raven playing the guitar is totally rocking out, headbanging and everything. You said that Imogen’s daughter did it for you, right? And that she used Divine magic?-

I quickly nodded to verify that. “Yup, you don’t think she cursed me or something, do you?”

-Nah,- the mermaid replied with a cheerful grin. -She’s a Kitsune, and a young one at that, and you kind of have to expect some sort of playful mischief when they’re involved with anything, especially anything magical. Normies probably won’t see the effect at all, and Paranormals might give you the occasional strange look as they try to figure out what’s going on with it, but it’s most likely completely harmless. It’s probably both a very subtle prank and a sort of signature for her work. Now I want one of my own even more.-

“That is pretty cool,” Erin admitted with another sidewise glance at my right arm. “If we ever start our own Hunter team together, we should pay her to make matching tats for us.”

-Oh! I like that idea!- The Mermaid eagerly agreed. -Anyway, Raven and I have a date to get ready for, so we should hurry and go do that so we can make it in time for our dinner reservation.-

Alice and I left Erin and Lydia in the kitchen and went upstairs to do just that. Not that I had to do all that much to prepare. My makeup was still good from when I was practicing it with Ashley earlier, though my black lipstick was fading and could use a bit of refreshing. I didn’t even need to change clothes if I didn’t want to, since I liked this outfit, it was brand new, and Alice said that the restaurant that we were going to wasn’t anything super fancy, so we could dress casually.

The only reason we needed to make a reservation at all was because it was a place for Paranormals, but it only had limited space, and the food was apparently some of the best in town, so getting a table without a reservation could be difficult. It was Monday night, so I wasn’t too worried about it, but if the food was as good as Alice said, then it was probably better to be safe rather than sorry. Considering how hungry I was after my two relatively light meals at the mall; I didn’t want to have to try to find somewhere else to eat at the last minute.

It was after I dropped my duffel bag of holding onto my bed to unpack later that I decided that I could probably keep my outfit as it was, instead of searching through all my new clothes for something else. So, my preparations consisted mainly of brushing my hair, refreshing my lipstick, and double-checking that I had my new debit card and all the other important stuff in my purse. After that, I just needed to put on my new stompy combat boots and my leather jacket and wait for my date by the door. “Maybe I should have bought her some flowers or something while we were at the mall.”

Thinking of that only reminded me that I did buy her something at the mall, and I raced back upstairs to empty the contents of the duffel bag of holding onto my bed and look through my purchases for the bag from New Frontiers. Inside was the diver’s smart watch that I had bought for her, already gift-wrapped with silver wrapping and blue ribbon at a kiosk in the mall. I hoped she liked it, because I loved my new watch and was currently wearing it while my new phone and earbuds were safely stowed inside one of my jacket pockets.

I probably could have slipped the wrapped gift somewhere inside my jacket as well, but I kind of wanted to give it to her before our date in case she wanted to wear it. It felt right somehow. So, I walked down the hallway to Alice’s room and tapped on the door. Almost immediately, her voice was in my mind, happily telling me, -I’m almost ready, come on in.-

Not needing to be told twice, I opened the door and stepped into Alice’s room, where I saw her sitting in front of her vanity, fastening a black leather choker around her throat. She was dressed casually, but that and only seeing her fifteen minutes earlier wasn’t enough to keep her from taking my breath away as she turned to face me. Her bright green hair was in its usual wild, punk style, and her lips and amber eyes were intensified by black lipstick, eyeliner, and a healthy helping of mascara just as mine were.

She wore distressed jeans that hugged her lower half like a second skin and an Offspring band tee that was tied in the front to display her midriff and amazing abs. Over that, she wore a leather jacket not too different than mine and a pair of black and white high-top sneakers with bright green laces that almost matched the color of her hair. Even casually dressed, she was gorgeous, and my heart hammered frantically in my chest at the sight of her.

“I… wow.” For a moment, that was all that I could think of saying. Then my brain decided to catch up, and I quickly thrust the box out toward her. “I… umm… got you a gift today, to thank you for all the help you’ve given me and Erin since Halloween. Not because we’re going on a date tonight or anything, I would have gotten it for you anyway because I wouldn’t even be able to leave this house without your help, and that means more to me than I can ever say.”

Alice’s cheeks flushed as she looked at the box I was offering. -You didn’t have to do that, Raven. I helped you both because I wanted to, and we’ve all become pretty close since then.-

“I still wanted to thank you somehow,” I insisted. “I saw this when I was getting some stuff for myself, and I thought that maybe you could use something like it.”

Alice reluctantly unwrapped the gift, revealing the plain white box inside, and when she opened it and saw the watch and its documentation inside, her eyes went wide. -This is a top-of-the-line dive watch, and I can feel the powerful enchantments on it. I can’t possibly accept this, Raven. It must have cost a small fortune.-

“Alice, I can never do enough to thank you for what you’ve done for me, but I wanted to do something,” I countered. “Yeah, they enchanted it to be protected at even the depths you Merfolk can go to, but honestly, it didn’t cost any more than the aviator watch I got for myself, and that doesn’t even include the new phone I got to go with it. Believe me, I can afford it now, and you’re worth every penny.”

She was quiet for a moment and looked like she might start to tear up as she asked, -You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?-

“Not on this,” I replied evenly. “As far as I’m concerned, you earned it, and I really did just want to do something to thank you.”

She sighed and then stood up to kiss me. Just like last time, the touch of her lips on mine was electric, and little jolts of pleasure shot through me until our lips parted. Then she had a serious look as she gazed into my eyes. -Thank you, Raven. I’ll accept it on one condition.-

“Name it,” I answered without hesitation.

-I pay for our date tonight, Miss Moneybags.-

Okay, now I hesitated. “Umm… you’ve seen how much I eat since I started flying, right?”

-I have,- she agreed with a smile that told me she wasn’t going to take no for an answer either. Turnabout is fair play, I guess. -So long as you don’t order the lobster, I should be able to afford it just fine. I was saving up for a proper dive watch, and now I don’t need one. Funny how that works, huh? Now, we should get going if we’re going to make our reservation.-