The minute my roommate barged in with a friend in tow, I projected myself into the bathroom. I couldn't believe it—caught in the buff. I heard Zyr escaping while I tossed on the silk kimono. I hastily finger-combed my hair in the mirror and erased signs of the eventful night. Then I cracked open the bathroom door and peeped out.

"Yokai, there you are. Get over here and meet Kittie Cad. Kittie, this is Aurie Edison," Mys announced. I crossed to the couch where they were sitting. Extending a hand to Kittie, I was lowkey excited to meet someone new. I had spent weeks just interacting with my roommate and the detective.

"I've heard so much about you!" gushed the tall, hawt, and obviously— "Is she here?"—non-Supernatural woman.

"Argh! She can't see me," I groaned.

"Nope," Mys replied with an apologetic smile.

Grabbing a throw pillow, I said, "I guess it's a good thing. I was worried you guys saw my actual vagina." A wave of the cushion got a startled laugh from my roommate's guest while Mys relayed my comment.

"We didn't see anything, darling. But if we had, it's au super naturale," chortled Kittie.

"Ha! Cute!" I loved her instantly. With Mys as a conduit, we made small talk. Kittie was snarky and lighthearted. I hated to see her leave when she checked the time and saw it was almost dawn.

"Terrance will be expecting his car," she explained.

"Oh, right! Tell him thanks for letting us use it," said Mys.

"Will do. Now, walk me out, Mx. Mys. I don't know how to work your magic door."

"There's nothing to it, Ms. Cad. You just..." Their voices trailed off as they exited the studio. I plopped on the couch, wondering what had happened to that pleasant post-orgasmic drowsiness. It was gone. No rest for the wicked, I thought jokingly.

My gaze fell on the purse on the coffee table. I narrowed my eyes. Was that—? My scalp prickled as I sat forward to examine it closer. A distinguished-looking black business card with raised white ink peeked from the leather folds. I saw the words voodoo loa. "No fucking way," I whispered. I lifted the card and tucked it into my pocket before the door re-opened for Mys.

"I want details!" my roommate sang, squeezing next to me on the couch.

"What were you and Kittie up to tonight?"

"We can talk about that later. We took a prescription to her grandmother. Didn't you and Zyr...?" The grinning Empath rubbed one finger over the other.

"Well, we didn't go all the way," I hedged. Mys' jaw dropped, and I had to laugh. "We went far enough! Wasn't that the point?"

"Tell me everything." They crossed legs and sat back with a cocksure smile.

My face was hotter than the tea I was confessing. "He took a page from your book and, shall we say, satisfied me. Oh, my gosh! Are you in my head?!" I asked when Mys flushed.

"Pfft!" They smirked, not an outright denial. I spun up another memory of Zyr's exquisite mouth, and Mys shoved away from the couch with a lust-fueled chuckle that confirmed it.

"Enough with the telepathic eavesdropping!" I laughed.

"I'm not in your head, I swear. Your emotions leap out at me. The important thing is that it worked." Blushing, they pivoted to face me.

"No, it didn't," I said. "Right smack in the middle of things, the lights started flickering, stuff started flying around the studio. That music you hear playing came on by itself." I pointed at the surround sound system.

"Meta." Mys' eyes sparkled.

"Yeah, apparently, a one-night stand isn't my unfinished business. Who knew?"

"What the hell could it be, then?"

"I have no idea." Meanwhile, the voodoo loa's business card burned through the kimono folds. I rose from the couch and ambled to the lovely being frowning in the middle of the room. "Regardless, thanks for brokering hot, sexy alone-time with a werewolf for me. I honestly couldn't have done it without you." My lips curled in sarcasm. "So, how'd you manage to pull it off?" I asked as I draped my arms over their shoulders.

"Got on my knees and begged for it?" Mys raised a brow.

Mouth agape, I choked on a laugh. "I absolutely believe you!"

Mys laughed, too. The shared amusement became a private smile that slowly morphed into a look of worry on their face. Staring into each other's eyes, we swayed to the music. "I'm out of ideas, Yokai," Mys whispered.

"Well, here's mine. I plan to stay sane for as long as I can, and after that..." I shrugged.

"I wish I could figure out what you need." They wrapped me in a fierce hug. Heartbeats and quiet breathing filled the silence as I thought about it. I needed my sister to be released from that hospital, and I needed Darcy Cyprian locked away.

Those things were out of my control. Desire was easier to satisfy, but it was the need that was least useful. Still, the scent of Mys' cologne made bursts of sexual reverie spark. There were undercurrents swirling between us. Wherever our bodies touched, arousal swept in like a riptide, and I wondered how obvious mine was.

Could the Empath sense it? Did Mys realize this attraction was underscored by a fear I was in over my head? Did they know that my attention was split between them and Zyr? I wasn't sure if I could trust either of them. Not only had the detective kept important secrets, but it seemed my roommate was hiding things, too.

Yet, that didn't stop me from craving them both. Now that the idea was planted, nothing could keep it from taking root. I had no frame of reference for a threesome other than porn; but I pictured the three of us in bed together. Was that what I really wanted? The more I thought of it, the more it—

"Shhh," Mys exhaled.

"I didn't say anything," I murmured against the warm, fragrant skin of their neck. My face rested on their shoulder, our bodies flush. Mys' fingertips skimmed up and down my sides. Lips grazed a faint scar at my temple, migrating in a slow trek to my earlobe.

"Your feelings are so loud that they're almost echoing," Mys whispered as butterflies took flight within me. "You don't want what you think you want. Anatomically, we're not the same. I'm not like either of you. Besides, if tonight didn't fix things, a ménage a trois isn't the answer."

"Why doesn't it occur to you I might want more than sex?" I whispered back.

My roommate stepped from my arms and perched on the corner of the couch. I sat next to them. They weren't getting away from this conversation that easily. "Because you'll be off to the Light soon, and Zyr will be on to his next criminal obsession." Mys frowned.

"You want to know what I think?" I asked as I lifted my chin. "I think you're afraid of the possibilities."

"More like I'm afraid of the physical im-possibilities."

"Not from what I saw in that alley," I replied.

"Whoa! Fake news," they retorted, blushing adorably and retreating again.

I followed the aimless wanderer around the studio. "Zyr knows your anatomy. We both accept you as you are. Anyway, who cares that we eventually have to move on? Doesn't everybody? And isn't it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?" I stopped when Mys stopped in front of the bookshelf.

"No one said anything about love, and only people who haven't lost anything say that about loss." They smiled ruefully as I lolled my head.

"I'm saying it, and I've lost everything!" I exclaimed, not meaning to raise my voice, but it was so easy to be smug with a heartbeat. I squeezed my smarting eyes shut and covered my face.

Mys removed my hands. "Aurie, don't, babe."

"I'm okay. I just need—" I hesitated.

I needed them to remember that my life had passed me by while I was being ultra-responsible and practical the first time. I knew this wasn't love, but the distinction between forever and a day meant very little to me now that I was dead. I wanted to seize my Afterlife.

Without finishing the statement, I dragged Mys to my lips. My stunned roommate drew to full height like the ocean before a tidal wave and—cresting with a sweet, deep moan—they rushed me to the wall. The force of our bodies colliding made books fall from the nearby shelf. My kimono fluttered open. None of that mattered.

For a woman who had climaxed once for the night, my libido was surprisingly renewable. I wrapped my legs around Mys with eager wantonness, and the Empath surged to meet me. Again, harder. "Hmm!" they whimpered. I sucked the thrilling sound of my name from their mouth.

As I writhed against their body, my hand slipped beneath their shirt and found a soft, supple breast. "Yes," I whispered. Mys breathed faster. My thumb flicked a beaded nipple, but that wasn't enough. I wanted more. Wrapping my arms around them, I clutched the taut mounds of their ass, and I grinded our sexes together.

"Huhn! Stop, stop!" The tortured cry came as my companion clasped my erratic hips and pinned me stationary. It took several seconds for my desire-addled brain to register what was happening. I almost asked if they were serious, but that wasn't the proper response to 'Stop.' My roommate anxiously put space between us, saying, "I'm sorry, but we can't. We're friends."

I shot my gaze at the floor, quirking my lips, but it wasn't in my head. I knew the feeling between us was mutual. "Right." I blew out a breath. "No, I'm sorry I asked for more," I replied.

I didn't bother retying the kimono. Mys pretended not to stare at my nakedness. I took the L, but I needed space to grapple with how I felt for them. Who could ignore the fact I was getting attached? And lust unrequited wasn't a good look.

I marched to the closet and yanked a pair of joggers from the rack, a t-shirt from the shelf. I got dressed and walked through the wall. I never stopped moving.

"Yokai!" Mys called after me, throwing open the enchanted door.

But I kept going. "I'll be back," I said over my shoulder.

"Aurie, this isn't funny! Get back here! There's a tropical storm warning, and I can't see you."

"I know." It was a new trick, one thing I liked about being dead. I could disappear from this world completely when I wanted.