Club Luna

Announcement content warning: brief mention of past trauma & abuse

=::= Melanie's PoV =::=

"If you girls have had enough to eat, I think we should tidy up a bit and put the leftovers in the fridge?" Cass's mom suggested.

I glanced at the Chinese food containers spread out on the coffee table. I was actually tempted to dive in for another helping, the orange ginger beef and the shrimp fried rice were both kind of calling to me. But I didn't want to seem greedy, so I held back. Except Cass's folks were way too observant, they obviously caught me looking.

Her mum smiled, "If you're still hungry then go for it Melanie."

"Thanks Mrs. Underwood," I replied with an embarrassed smile. I leaned forward and scooped a few more heaping spoonfuls of the fried rice onto my plate, followed by most of the remaining orange beef.

My girlfriend was right behind me, she dumped the last of the beef onto her plate, and grabbed another spring roll. She took the last three chicken balls as well.

That spurred Cassandra to action, she took the last spring roll and the last of the fried shrimp. She also grabbed a couple spoonfuls of the veggie chow mein. I wasn't sure if she was actually hungry, or just didn't want me and my girlfriend to feel awkward being the only ones still eating.

After that even Kaylee got into it for another helping. She took the last of the chow mein and the last of the breaded BBQ pork too. That was just about everything cleaned up, the only thing left was some of the almond chicken, veggie fried rice, and some szechwan noodles with tofu.

Meanwhile Cass's mum commented, "I think you girls are old enough you can just call me Tanya. 'Mrs. Underwood' can get a little confusing, considering there's two of us."

"And you can call me Julie if you like," the other mom added. She gave me and Cerys a slightly envious look and added, "And definitely enjoy the food. Honestly girls, if I still had a youthful metabolism I'd go for another helping myself. Some of that was quite tasty."

Cass frowned, "Can't you two look like pretty much whatever you want? And in that case, what's your metabolism got to do with anything?"

Tanya rolled her eyes, "We've lived among humans a very long time hon. We're not used to being so open about not being human ourselves."

Cerys gave me a little smile then looked at Tanya and Julie and said, "My and Melanie's metabolism has nothing to do with our age. It's because we're both werewolfs. Shifting takes a lot of energy, so we end up needing to eat more."

From the look on the older women's faces I realized neither of them knew my girlfriend was a wolf. They didn't make a big deal about it though, they didn't even comment or ask any awkward questions. They just accepted that news like it was nothing unusual, which made me feel good.

I'd had a lot of that over the past two hours, since me and Cerys arrived. I was a little worried at first that Cass only invited us out of pity, but it quickly became apparent she actually wanted us here because she liked us and enjoyed spending time with us. It almost made me feel kind of guilty, considering the way I acted towards her the first five months or so. Even if that was all because of Miss Hawthorne.

Nina really seemed to like me and Cerys too, although the small demon was a little closer to my girlfriend than myself. Even Kaylee was a lot more fun to be around lately too, like the last couple months she'd lightened up a lot when it came to supernaturals. And while I didn't know Cass's parents that well, I'd already figured out they were both really nice and seemed friendly and caring.

Even just having them hanging out with the rest of us, talking and having dinner and stuff, was kind of an eye-opener for me. I couldn't remember the last time my dad wanted me to have a meal with him. Or the last time he'd hung out with me. Definitely before I got turned anyways.

I finally spoke up, "Honestly that's one of the reasons I really like hanging out with other supernaturals? We can all just be ourselves, we don't have to worry about freaking out any humans."

"It's times like this when I suddenly remember I'm actually the only human here tonight," Kaylee commented with a grimace. Then she grinned to let us know she was just kidding around.

Cass was pretty quick with a come-back as she immediately responded, "I know how to fix that if you like? Thanks to recent magical advances, there's now several convenient cures for people suffering from humanity."

Everyone but the grown-ups laughed, while Julie did an exaggerated eye-roll.

Tanya gave Cass a bit of a look then suggested, "Since it seems like everyone's finished eating for real now, how about you and your sister tidy up and put away the leftovers?"

The demonic goddess and her demon sister both got up and did what their mother asked. The last of the food was put away in the fridge, the dishes went into the kitchen sink, and the trash was disposed of. They also got us all more drinks, and even though the last thing anybody needed was more food they let us know there was chips and dip. They even had pork rinds for me and Cerys, since they knew I liked them.

It was little details like that that kind of hit me. Like I never even had to say anything or mention it, Cass just noticed I preferred pork rinds over chips and stuff, so she made sure to have some available for me.

Then Nina turned on the TV and the game console, while Cass sat back down on the sofa close enough to her girlfriend that they could cuddle. I shifted a little closer to mine so we were cuddling too, while the small demon sat crosslegged on the floor next to her sister's legs.

"Hey, who wants to play with me?" Nina asked as she held up the second controller.

I leaned over and took it as I responded, "I'll play."

She grinned and started up the game while the others settled in to watch. I was a little surprised Tanya and Julie stayed to watch as well, my folks had never been the least bit interested in my games.

The next couple hours turned out to be a lot more fun than I was expecting. We all talked and stuff, but mostly it was about the video game. Everyone was cheering each other on and at one point Tanya tried to do live commentary as if it was a sports event, which was hilarious because she clearly didn't have any clue what was going on.

We all got a turn at the game too, like after I lost to Nina there was a head-to-head match between Kaylee and Cerys. My girlfriend won, but I could tell she went easy on the redhead so the victory wasn't too lopsided. Everyone else noticed that too, even Kaylee, but nobody minded. It was all for fun after all.

Then Cass and her little sister played each other, and the small demon won again but I was impressed at how much better Cassandra had got over the last couple months. Next up was a round between Cerys and I, and even though it was pretty close I managed to win that one.

The most surprising point for me was when Julie and Tanya took up the controllers. Like whether you saw them as a couple middle-aged moms or a couple centuries-old angels, I just didn't think they'd be interested in trying it out. And even more surprising was how much fun it was to watch them. Like they were both completely clueless, but they were both trying so hard to figure out the moves and the buttons and stuff. And despite being married for centuries they were both doing their best to beat the other too.

And while the two middle-aged angel moms were trying their hardest to clobber each other on the TV screen, the rest of us were all cheering and shouting suggestions and telling them what buttons to push and stuff. It was possibly the funniest thing I'd seen, and also the most fun I'd had watching someone else play.

It was also another sort of eye-opener for me, and probably for Cerys too. Like the realization that parents could actually be fun, was something that hadn't occurred to me before.

The gaming kept us all going till about eleven, and by that time we'd all kind of exhausted ourselves with laughter and shouting and stuff. Some of us even worked up enough of an appetite again that a bowl of chips and a bowl of pork rinds found their way out onto the coffee table. And we were all going through the cola and juice and water and stuff all evening.

As we all kind of relaxed to count down the final hour of the year the mood became a bit quieter. Then Kaylee struck up a new conversation.

"So, end of another year," the redhead commented. "And it's been a pretty wild one for Club Luna. A lot's happened, to just about all of us I think."

Cass laughed, "That's an understatement! I thought last year was a big deal because I turned into a girl, figured out I was trans, found out magic was real, and got invited to join the club and learn spells and stuff. Then this year happened, and wow..."

Tanya smiled, "Twenty-twenty-one was certainly a big year for our family. From the start of June through until a couple weeks ago it's been rather tumultuous, although it certainly wasn't all bad."

After a brief pause she added, "I think if I had to pick a high point and a low point, the low would be when Cassandra was hospitalized and we found out just how dire her situation was. The high point... That's actually a tie, between Cass saving herself earlier this month, and Nina joining our family in the summer."

"I agree," Julie stated. "Those would be my picks for the two highs and the low as well."

I couldn't miss the happy smiles on Cass and Nina's faces when they heard that.

The small demon had a gulp of juice then chimed in, "For me the high point was when my new family all invited me to officially join them. Getting parents and a sister was awesome! And the low point was when we figured out my sister was being influenced and we had to repair those runes in her chest to lock Socha out again."

Kaylee went next, and the guilt and regret were both very clear in her voice as she said, "For me the low point was when I messed things up with Cass and the two of us broke up right before her birthday. And the high point was when we got back together again at the start of this month."

"My turn," Cassandra jumped in. "Except it's honestly hard to pick? I'm going to discount stuff that happened when I was under Socha's influence, because I don't know how genuine those feelings were. But there were two really low points. The first was in June, when I found out how May lied and manipulated me and Melanie, and how she'd been using all of us? The second was in September, after those runes were repaired and Socha was locked out again."

There were a few confused looks as to why she counted that second thing as a low, so she explained. "It's because once my head was clear I realized what sort of person I'd been over the summer, how I acted and everything. As for the high-point, there's two. First was when Nina became my sister, and second was when me and Kaylee got back together."

I couldn't help finding it very typically 'Cass' that becoming a literal goddess didn't actually register. Like it didn't make the cut for a highlight of her year. Neither did freeing herself from the danger she'd been under for half a year. It was all about her sister and her girlfriend, which was very much a Cass thing I figured.

Then my girlfriend gave me a little nudge, like she wanted me to go next. I shook my head though, I wanted to be last.

She sighed and pouted at me, but I refused to back down. Then she sort of mumbled, "So um, it's actually hard for me to pick a low, since there were so many of them this year. And I'm not sure you all want to hear that stuff anyways..."

"C'mon Cerys," Cassandra responded softly. "We've all done ours, so go for it. Nobody's going to judge or anything."

"Fine," she sighed again. "So um, I guess the biggest low is a tie between when my dad put me and my mom in the hospital back in August, and when my mom paid his bail then refused to testify against him at the trial last month. And the trial was my other big low, but it was also kind of a high too? Having to go to court and testify sucked, but seeing my dad get sentenced and hauled off to jail was kind of rewarding. But I think the two biggest highs of the year for me were in January when me and Melanie became girlfriends, and in September when she agreed to make me a werewolf."

Everyone was quiet for the next several seconds, and when I took a quick glance around the room I noticed Tanya and Julie looked shocked and disturbed. For a moment I wondered if they were freaked out about me turning Cerys, then one of them spoke up and I realized that's not what upset them.

"Tanya and I aren't going to pry hon," Julie told my girlfriend, "But if there's anything we can do to help you just ask ok? We had no idea you had so much trouble at home."

"Thanks ma'am," Cerys replied quietly. "I'm not actually living there anymore. After I got out of the hospital my aunt and uncle took custody of me? But I pretty much live at Melanie's place now."

Before anyone could respond she gave me another nudge and added, "Speaking of, it's your turn girlfriend."

I grimaced but didn't protest. Instead I took a deep breath then told them all, "For me the low point of the year was on January first. Because I woke up that morning knowing it would be another awful year of loneliness and isolation, living with my terrible curse. I had no friends, didn't go to school, I worked a part-time job to help my dad with the bills while he barely spoke to me out of shame and guilt about what I'd become and how it ruined his marriage. I thought that was going to be my life, I figured that's how it'd be for me forever."

"Then on January second I met Cass and Cerys and the rest of the club," I smiled, "And a day later I had friends, I was looking to get registered at school, and I'd been invited to join their club. The rest of the year has had some ups and downs, and maybe the worst moment for me was finding my girlfriend in hospital with a severe concussion. But there's literally been too many high points to pick. Just off the top of my head I'd say meeting Cass and Cerys, Cerys becoming my girlfriend, Cerys helping me make peace with my inner wolf, finally getting out from under May Hawthorne's meddling, and clearing the air with Cass so we could become friends."

Once again there was another awkward silence, as all that stuff sort of sank in for folks. Although most of them knew some of that stuff, the two adults sure didn't.

And like before it was Julie who spoke up first. Her voice was soft and compassionate as she said, "Melanie, Cerys, neither Tanya or I realized how difficult things were for you girls. I hope you don't take this the wrong way, and feel free to ignore this or turn us down? But if you ever need anything, or even just want an older female figure to talk to, we're here for you both."

Cass added quietly, "I think she means if you ever need some mom-energy, they've got lots to go around. So basically, if you need a temporary mom you can borrow mine."

"Not quite how I'd have put it hon," Tanya responded, "But I suppose it's accurate."

Me and Cerys were still cuddled up together, as we both slowly looked from Cass to her moms. And I could tell my girlfriend felt sort of similar to me about what they just offered us. Like they weren't talking about replacing either of our actual mothers, but Tanya and Julie were both offering to sort of step in and help out now and then, if we needed it.

And it was something I'd never really had before. I had a mom back when she believed she had a son. And there was a couple months after I came out when I was her trans daughter, but that was really awkward and we were all still sort of figuring out how it was supposed to work. Then I became a werewolf and got a magic transition, but pretty much lost my mom completely. And in a way I lost my dad too. He stayed with me and looked after me, but he wasn't really part of my life much after that.

Things were different for Cerys, but ever since her dad's injury a few years back her mom hadn't really been there for her either. Not emotionally anyways. And her dad wasn't there for her at all. Then when the situation with her dad went critical, Mrs. Ainsley completely abandoned and turned her back on my girlfriend.

I finally gave the two women a weak smile as I replied softly, "Thank you both. I don't really know what else to say? I appreciate it though."

"Same," Cerys nodded. "Thanks Julie, thanks Tanya. And Cass and Nina too."

Everyone was quiet again for a bit after that. We all ended up just quietly watching some new years program on the TV while we sipped our drinks or munched on some snacks. Then when it was nearly midnight Tanya excused herself and went into the kitchen, before returning a few moments later with a bottle of champagne and a bunch of skinny wine glasses.

She carefully popped the cork, then poured five half-glasses of the bubbly wine for us teens, and two full ones for the adults. When the moment came we all did the countdown together, then the drinks were handed out.

We all raised our glasses in a little toast, and Julie smiled to everyone as she said "The last year has had some rough spots for all of us, but nonetheless we're all here and we're together, we all survived it. And as always, we hope the year to come will be even better."

Tanya agreed, "We welcome twenty-twenty-two, may it be a happy new year for all of us."

~ End of Book Two ~

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