Chapter Two

"Kate we need more beans," Amanda said as she passed behind Kate and handed a large white mug with steaming coffee to the woman standing on the other side of the counter.

"Okay, give me a second, I need to head back there anyway I think we are completly out of Ollies pastries."

Kate finished wiping down the counter, parts of her plum colored hair brushing against her cheek. Her small pink lips formed into a smile and her purple eyes shined brightly at her best friend. Amanda had been with her since college, helping her to build Crossroads from the ground up. She had even found there baker, Ollie.

She tucked her towel into her apron and headed into the back for the beans and to check for more baked goods.

Her smile remained planted on her lips as she remebered the day she had told Amanda she wasn't planning on finishing college, instead she wanted to open the first cafe where people could come and borrow and donate books as they wished. She never kept track of what was on the shelves, she wanted her patrons to feel like they were sitting in their own little libraries and everything they wanted to read was theirs for the taking.

"You're seriously not going to finish college?" Amanda had asked her freckled face scrunching up in confusion, "For a cafe?" She had tugged her red brown hair over her shoulder and began to fiddle with it nervously.

"It just feels right, much more so than finishing this law degree, why waste my time doing something I know won't make me happy?" That was all it took and Amanda was on board. She was always like that, so spontaneous, it came in handy but it could drive Kate a little crazy at times.

Kate reached the back shelves and grabbed a bag of coffee beans, as she turned a feeling of dizziness rushed through her and she groaned.

"Not now please, I still have a lot to do today."

"You knew today would be a full moon it's not our fault you didn't plan accordingly," a smooth musical voice echoed softly in her head.

"I know but I have to at least finish this shift, Amanda doesn't deserve to be abandoned on a Friday night," she tried to push against the building pressure of the take over. Her pendant began to warm as Hekate tried to push her way in.

"You know you can't fight this child," another, more maternal voice said soothingly, the Mother always tried to make the transition easier for all. Kate didn't always fight agaisnt them but sometimes she hated having to share her body with a goddess. And she hated that once a month she had no choice, she also hated not having any control over what they did when they had control, all she could do was watch as the powerful woman took on Ares demon minions sending them back to his realm of war, disease, blood, and brutality.

Kate had been sharing her body since she was sixteen and her grandmother had died. Her mother was supposed to have been next but she was unable to connect with Hekate. But the second Kate had placed the pendant around her neck she felt Hekates essence fill her. At first she was scared, after all she was a teenager who all of a sudden heard women in her head, and would lose memories from time to time. That was until the day she had been attacked outside her dorm room. She had been coming back from one of her late classes flipping through missed texts and calls on her phone when a man slammed her against a wall wrapping his fingers around her throat. At first she panicked, kicking and trying to pry his fingers off of her. His eyes flashed with flames, that was all it took.

Hekate took over but instead of Kate "falling asleep" she watched as her arm slammed down onto the mans arm causing him to release her throat, with a kick to his chest he was sent a good ten feet back. Hekate pulled energy from a tree growing in the common area and sent it shooting up from the bottoms of his feet out of the tops of his head. The man was gone in less than a minute, and Hekate and Kate finally fully became one. Hekate was finally able to talk to her without always having to take over, and she was able to show Kate a few things in the way of protecting herself. But once a month neither had any control over it, and Hekate would fully take over. She had known it was coming but she still hadn't planned for it.

"I know I can't fight this, I just need a few more hours." A cackle echoed in her head, the Crone was always a little sarcastic and her idea of comedy wasn't really the same as the rest of them.

"A few hours and Ares demons could cause more havoc," her voice a little shaky with age.

"Fine, but I still need to take these beans back out there and call Ollie about tomorrow's delivery-" the beans fell from her hands as the last bits of sunlight faded from the sky and Hekate's esscence filled her.

An hour later the Maiden was making her way down a dim alleyway, her boots clomping on the ground, she was starting to get frustrated, she could feel the demon but she couldn't see it.

"Where are you, you piece of-" before she could finish the thought she was slammed into from the side the wind wooshing out of her. He pinned her to the wall and hit his head against hers she fealt and heard a loud crucnch as her head slammed against the brick.

"Ow! Asshole that hurt," she grunted lifted a leg and kneed him in the crotch, he may have been possessed by a demon but he was still a mortal man and that was her favorite place to cause damage. He dropped and her hand whipped out wrapping tightly around his throat.

"That was a dick move," she said her eyes locking with his firey ones.

"He will have you one day goddess!" the man grolwled spittle surrounded his lips.

"Yeah," she moved closer to his face, "He's been trying for millenia and I'm still free."

"Will you please quit playing with the demon and just finish this," the Mother's voice came from inside her.

"I'm not playing with him, I'm just reminding him who we are," the Maiden said, "I would appreicate it if you would let me do this my way, after all I don't tell you or Crone how to kill demons when it's your time."

She smiled softly at the demon and he began to struggle, she tsked at him slammed him onto his back, his screams filled her ears as she stabbed a dagger through each of his hands and feet. His screams might have worried her but in this particular part of the mortals city a scream or a few wasn't uncommon, but still she couldn't risk a mortal seeing what she was about to do to him, she took another smaller dagger and let fire fill her hand letting it warm up until it glowed red, she took the dagger and finding his vocal chords sliced it just deep enough to stick her fingers in and yank them out. He tried to scream but when all that came out was a small gurgle his eyes bulged and she showed him the organ before engulfing it in flames, she let the ashes fall from her fingers and got to work.

The other two may have only wanted to send the demons back home but she wanted them to pay and she wanted them to go back telling their master what she did to them. She knew it wouldn't stop him from trying to come after her but she wanted him to know without a shadow of a doubt how she felt about him. She stood up taking a cloth from her pocket and wiped the blood from her blade. After pocketing it she stood calmly and allowed the earth's power to fill her, she opened a hole in the ground letting the mortals body fall deep into it. She sighed, the sun would be up soon and Kate hated it when she was exhausted because of their night's work.

"Your absolutely right, now can we please go home, that was the fifth one tonight and since you couldn't wait to do all this I still have a million things to do before I open the cafe tomorrow."

Kate looked in the mirror of her bathroom, she was covered in black gunk, thankfully demon blood looked alot like car oils. She had gotten funny looks on the way home, but at least no one ran away screaming. The eyes staring back at her let her know the Maiden hadn't fully let go of control yet, usually Kate's eyes were a deep chocolate brown but each of the three faces the goddess held had their own eyes letting anyone who knew her secret know who they were talking to. The Crone's eyes were a grayish purple a little cloudy but beautiful, the Mother's eyes were a deep royal purple, strong and deep like her. The eyes staring back at her were a purple blue but instead of compassion or power they tended to hold a lot of anger. Kate understood why the Maiden was so angry, she would be too if she had been running from the same man for eons. As it was she had only had to deal with it for the past two years, and it was a large pain in her ass. Thankfully the amulet Kate wore held a spell that made it impossible for him to get near her. She never took it off, she had no desire to repeat the mistakes of her ancestors, seeing as him finding them was how they wound up dead.

She knealt and turned the heat on, stripped down and stepped in letting the hot water envelope her. She could still feel the Maiden in the back of her mind enjoying the feel of the shower with her. She would have told her to leave but she wasn't going to deny the young goddess this moment of peace. Finishing she stepped out toweled off and threw on a pair of comfy sweats and a tshirt. She was braiding her hair when her stomach growled. When was the last time she had eaten that day, thinking about it she realized she hadn't had a chance for lunch today, the cafe had been so busy both her and Amanda had to work through lunch. She headed for the kitchen but stopped, something was wrong. She was no where near as powerful as Hekate but becoming one with something so powerful and divine some things leaked through. One of those things was a gut feeling when someone was near by. Usually she ignored it, she was almost always with someone but this time it felt different.

"Do you feel that?" she asked under her breath. There was silence and then a small surge of power washed through her.

"We do," their voices echoed,"Whom ever it is they are strong Kate, you need to let one of us take the lead."

She shook her head, "Not a chance, I already have a headache, you had your time tonight. I can handle this just let me access some fire power." She could feel the goddess roll her eyes but then she felt it, the smell of river water filled her sinuses and she could sense every drop of water in the air. She smiled and stepped into the kitchen holding a small sphere of water in her palm. Standing in her kitchen was a small girl with midnight black hair and pale skin.

"Hello little sister," she said. The water hit the ground with a loud splash.