Creation Mage 6

Janet were going to spend Yuletide with Cecilia’s family. The girls looked super excited, and had been for the past week or so, because the Chillgraves were famous for throwing one of Avalonia’s premier Yuletide balls.
It was one of those luscious, glittering, regal affairs, from what I had gathered from Cecilia’s description. The sort of fancy hoedown that was simply stuffed to the rafters with pretentious guys who thought the sun rose just to hear them crow, and the sort of girls who walked around with their noses stuck so high in the air that they wouldn’t go out in the rain for fear of drowning.
Although the three girls were about as down to earth and badass as any trio of females I had ever met, there were times when even they needed to lock themselves in a bathroom for four hours to do their hair and makeup, wrap themselves in jewels and silks, and have a night of unadulterated glamorous hobnobbing.
“Well, you know I always appreciate a visit from you ladies,” I said,  “but I have to warn you, I’m supposed to be getting picked up… Well, an hour ago actually.”
Enwyn stepped forward. I noticed that she had a leather backpack slung over one shoulder.
“I’m glad to find you’re still here,” she said, “because I think you and I are catching the same ride together.”
“You’re coming to the Chaosbane ranch too?” I asked.
Enwyn nodded.
“Nice!” I said, with genuine delight. “Have you been there before?”
“No, never to the family ranch,” Enwyn said. “I believe that even the Chaosbanes only all get together there at this time of year. The only member of the family who lives there full time is the patriarch, Great Granddaddy Gorlbadock Chaosbane. From what Reginald has mentioned of his grandfather, the man sounds quite… cantankerous.”
“Hm,” I said. “A crusty old grave dodger, huh? The sort of crotchety bastard who’s kind of like a slinky—not really good for much, but they’d bring a smile to your face if you were allowed to push them down the stairs.”
Enwyn cocked her head to the side. “What in the world is a slinky?” she asked me.
“I just mean, he wouldn’t be the first crabby old fart that I’ve been introduced to,” I explained.
“There’s one thing that I think you should take into account though,” Enwyn said to me.
“What’s that?”
“The fact that this crabby old fart is a Chaosbane,” Enwyn said.
I puffed out my cheeks. “Yeah,” I said, thinking of the four members of the clan whom I had met thus far. “Good point.”
“Is there any more of that coffee, Justin, darling?” Cecilia asked me.
“I think so,” I said. “Should be sitting on the stovetop in a big-ass pot, unless Rick inhaled it on his way out.”
Cecilia squeezed my shoulder, leaned down, and gave me a lingering kiss. “I think the girls and I are going to sit inside and stay out of the cold.”
I raised an eyebrow at the Frost Mage. I knew for a fact that she felt the cold about as much as Damien did. Where Damien’s Fire Magic combated the frigidity, Cecilia’s Frost Magic absorbed it and embraced it.
The beautiful blonde elven aristocrat rolled her eyes and gave me a small smile.
“You know what I mean, darling,” she said. “Unless you want Alura, Janet, and I to bring our coffees out here and start discussing what awful skanks are going to be wearing what divine gowns at my parents’ party, of course?”
I considered this. For all of two nanoseconds.
“No, thank you,” I said.
“We’ll be cozying up inside, then,” Cecilia said. “Have a lovely vacation, darling. Try not to get yourself embroiled too deeply in the fecal matter while you’re away.”
“I can but try,” I said.
“There’s a good boy,” Cecilia said softly in my ear, as she stooped to give me another peck on the cheek. “See you when you get back.”
She strode inside, as if she owned the place. Gods, but I loved that girl’s style.
Janet and Alura both swooped down upon me too, whispering parting words in my ear as they kissed me goodbye.
Then, it was Enwyn and I left, alone on the porch. When the heavy front door had snapped closed behind Alura, Enwyn peered at me through those sexy heavy-rimmed spectacles of hers and smiled knowingly.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just, I look at you now, at the mage you have risen to be… It is a far cry from the young prospect whom I inspected in his uncle’s occult bookstore.”
I snorted softly, my breath pluming in the cold air. “Oh, I don’t know,” I said, “I’ve exploded at least half a dozen people since that first day.”
Enwyn nodded. “Yes,” she said, “but crucially, they have all happily been enemies.”
I made a face. “Yeah.”
A crooning purr emanated from out of a bush to our left. With a gentle sigh of  sliding snow, a rustle of branches, and a flash of opalescent eyes, Felicity, the saber-toothed tiger-cum-catwoman emerged from out of the snowy undergrowth in her beastial form.
On seeing the Great Dane-sized creature, I realized that I hadn’t told anyone about the fact that the cat was also a person, or a shapeshifter. Now that I thought of it, I should maybe have mentioned something about it to the fraternity boys, at least. Might save one of them an uncomfortable meeting one night, if one of them was to wander downstairs for a glass of water and find some random naked woman with purple hair and a  feline tail drinking milk out of the fridge.
Spurred on by this realization, I said to Enwyn, “She’s a shapeshifter you know. Well, a changeling, I think she said.”
“Who?” Enwyn asked.
I pointed at the saber-toothed cat that stood regarding us, its tail twitching. Snow settled on her thick