Guys, I'm gonna be real honest with you right now. I have so much planned AHEAD for this fic that is so exciting, but I am having a really hard time pushing through this part of this fic. I'm trying my best to stay true to what Angelville deserves but it is incredibly hard not to just rush through it. Please let me know if these chapters drag too much and I will try and cut what I can in future chapters, or if the pacing seems okay then I will continue to be as patient and descriptive as I can. I can't believe how many people are still following this story, it makes me excited to continue. Thank you.
Before they really had much of a chance to dip their toes into the newly discovered ocean of questions they had for everything that had just happened with Lily, Madame L'Angelle was quick to summon them to do their daily errands for her.
This day, Jesse went alone with Jody out in the truck doing all sorts of different tasks Madame L'Angelle had in store for them. Back at Angelville, Lily, Cassidy and Tulip were at TC's beckon and call. Lily was relieved to spend minimal time around their grandmother, as they spent most of the day out in a large shed moving things around for TC.
Inside the worn out building, it was hot and stuffy, and the stench was enough to nearly knock them all on their feet for the first while. Luckily, no one had passed out and they did the most they could in the hours of the excruciating long day. "This place has been a damn disaster for years!" TC yelled, "And I gotta say, it sure is nice havin' some helpin' hands to get this place back to the way it used to be." He grinned. Lily grabbed a large back Tulip passed her, raising her brows at TC, "Hmph," Lily grunted, her voice strained from moving all the heavy and dusty items, "Well, we didn't really have much of a choice, TC so don't be too thankful."
Tulip's eyes flashed to Cassidy, who grinned, each of them thankful to see a bit of the fire back in Lily. Unlike Jody, TC's demeanor was seemingly harmless. Sure, he was creepy as all hell, but at least it didn't look like he could break you in half in any given second.
TC threw a hand out at a box behind Cassidy, "Hey, wanna pass me that there thing. Be careful with it." He stated. Cassidy nodded, turning and grabbing the large wooden box, acting as if it was difficult for him to pick up.
Lily and Tulip couldn't refrain from chuckling at Cassidy's act. TC turned to them, "What?" He asked. Lily shook her head, a smirk on her face, "Nothing." TC shook his head back, "No, what are you laughin' about?" It almost seemed like he was self-conscious it had been about him. Shaking her head again Lily waved her hand, "Nothing. Just laughing at Cassidy."
"Is there somethin' I'm missing?" TC asked, a smile across his face. It didn't seem like he was suspicious - it seemed like he was eager to get in on a joke. Lily wondered if TC ever experienced something like a joke in this Hell hole. Lily tried to think of something to go off of other than the truth, but it seemed like Tulip was on the same wavelength as Lily was, as she spoke up first, "It's just funny you asked him to do that since Cassidy's the weakest of us all." Tulip stated.
Cassidy's brow scrunched defensively, "What!?" He whined, placing the box down, "Fine. Be my guest, then." He said. When Lily and Tulip cackled, TC joined them in a burst of laughter that startled all of them. It was unnatural sounding and a bit unnerving.
The three of them exchanged looks as TC keeled over laughing, finally standing upright and pointing a finger at Lily and Tulip with a wide grin, his eyes tearing up a bit, "That's funny, ah-ha ha ha... woo." He exhaled, "Lady Lil-" His eyes widened and he looked at Lily, stepping closer to her, "Can I call you that? Lady Lil?"
With a nervous smile across her face, Lily nodded, "Sure, TC." The three of them were stiff with awkwardness of the situation, second guessing their judgment on TC. Was he harmless? Or was he unpredictable? He was hard to read, but his smile was stuck on his face nonetheless.
TC continued as he stared at Lily, his smile fading just a tad, "I just think since I've known Jess since he was little, it feels wrong to call him anythin' but the little Jesse I knew him as.. but you-" He shook his head, his lips twitching a bit, "I mean, I never knew you before you weren't a grown lady. So it doesn't feel right to call you anythin' but the lady that you are."
Suddenly the creepiness set in a little heavier. TC looked like he never heard of oral hygiene and regardless of his warm smile at Lily, they all got the shivers from the sight of it. Nodding again, Lily pressed her lips into a crooked smile, "TC you can call me anything you want if it means I get a glass of water soon cause I feel like I'm about to pass out." Tulip was relieved to hear Lily come up with that request.
TC nodded back, "Of course!" He stuck a thumb up to point behind him, "I got some great consomme I made myself. Full of all sorts of vitamins and, and, things to make you feel better and all that!" He stuttered, eagerly trying to sell the idea of his concoction.
Shaking her head, Lily huffed, leaning against a large wooden ledge in front of her, "Just some water, TC."
None of them had talked about anything that had happened, fearful to anyone outside of the four of them to know. TC had gone inside and the three of them were in a shed, hot as hell as sweat dripped off all of them. With TC gone, Cassidy was able to stop pretending to have a hard time moving things around and throw it all around effortlessly.
"Calm down." Lily whispered to Cassidy. "Wot?" Cassidy asked, shrugging his shoulders as he heaved a few more large items, "He's gone." He stated shortly. Rolling her eyes, Tulip stuck a hip out, "What's the big deal, Lil?" Lily shot her glare to Tulip, widening her eyes and bobbing her head back and forth mockingly, "Oh yea, TC comes back after what, five fucking minutes, and the whole place is re-arranged? Like that's any less suspicious than doing it in front of his face."
Shaking her head, Tulip kicked at a box, "That creepy fuck is stupider than a sack of..." She threw her arms out, "Whatever's in this box."
With a frustrated huff, Lily stared back and forth between the two of them, "We can't be reckless." She stated. There was silence, and Cassidy stopped in his tracks and looked to Lily, his face flat and unimpressed.
Like a switch, Cassidy's face nearly went red as he started throwing everything back to the way it was at an alarming pace, "Fer fok sakes." Cassidy swore, notably irritated. Lily leaned back a bit, her brows low as she stared at him sternly, speaking in a whisper-yell, "We need to be careful, Cassidy!" She reiterated. Cassidy felt his head heated the way it was and quickly tried to level himself out, the two girls a bit taken aback by his sudden outburst of anger. He'd been doing so well at not impairing his judgement and state of mind with any alcohol or drugs in the last few days at Angelville, but he was an addict. It was getting to him, he couldn't deny that. The bottle of whiskey he'd indulged in the night before hardly did a dent in him considering the amount of blood he'd drank making sure he was in top shape. It just teased his addiction if anything - and he was paying for it today. His eyes moved to Lily and Tulip, standing in relative confusion as Lily stared at him sternly. Cassidy took a big, deep breath, lowering his tone entirely, "Jus' no sense in yew two girls working yer fuckin arse off, sweatin' any fat y'ave on ye away fer these gobshites." He groaned, trying to justify his sudden outburst.
"Hmph." Tulip chuckled in agreement with Cassidy, "Definitely didn't expect my first day on my feet since comin' back from the dead to be so boring. Heaving shit around in some old shack that smells worse than that time our fridge broke and we came home from a long weekend to the smell of all the rotten meat in the freezer." Tulip stated towards Lily.
"Oof." Lily stifled a gag, "I told Jesse not to open that fucking freezer." She stated. "Yeah.." Tulip sighed, "Yea, you did."
"I'm breathing through my mouth." Cassidy stated, still moving things back to their original place, "Can't tell if I'd rather smell it through my nose or taste it through my mouth in 'ere." Feeling a bit nauseated, Lily sighed, "I think I need some fresh air." She stated, opening the creaky door and moving outside.
It proved not to be much better. The sun was beaming down particularly hard today and their was a dampness in the air that made it impossible to get a fresh breath in at all. Lily's shoulders dropped in defeat as she quickly made her way back into the shed. Everything was back to the way it was before TC left, just in time for TC to come in shortly after.
When there were no glasses of water in his hands, the disappointment in the air was obvious. The glow TC had on his face before he left was gone, and instead his face was long and he even had a little bit of shame showing on him, "Uh, I-" He stuttered, "Miss Marie said you can get water from the hose outside." He stated.
Cassidy and Tulip couldn't say they were surprised, being that they knew how much of a hag the Custer's grandmother was, but Lily felt her insides heat up. Cassidy and Tulip could see the anger in her eyes and soon on her whole face, and fairly soon after TC noticed it, too. Every part of Lily wanted to storm into the house on the other side of the property and bust down her grandmothers door, hold her up by the throat and give her a piece of her mind for treating them so poorly.
There was a tensity in the air that was painful, and none of them weren't sure if Lily was about to make an unpredictable move. He shifted on spot carefully, "You... you wanna see where the hose is Lady Lil?" TC asked sweetly.
Snapping out of her furious state suddenly, Lily felt herself settle. She was able to press her lips into a straight smile for TC, "Sure." Lily followed TC out of the shed, taking a few deep breaths as she did. She was able to calm herself, but she took note how for the first time since she'd been in Angelville, instead of feeling fearful of approaching her grandmother, she had fantasized about confronting her.
Tulip and Lily were entirely depleted by the end of the day. Jesse hadn't arrived back with Jody yet, but the sun was nearly down and Lily found it in herself to shoot him a text to see where they were at. She placed her phone on the bathroom counter and hopped into a much needed shower.
Downstairs, Cassidy was trying his best to find anything salvageable enough to eat for the girls upstairs. From what seemed a mile away, Cassidy heard someone approaching. It didn't take him long to recognize TC's pattern of steps.
"You hungry?" TC asked. Cassidy stared helplessly into the fridge, closing the door with whatever he could find in his arms, "Yea." Cassidy lied, not paying TC much attention. Cassidy stared out the kitchen window as he peered into the never-ending darkness, his mind wandering for a moment. "You like backgammon?" TC asked from behind Cassidy. "No." Cassidy groaned shortly. "Hmm." TC huffed, sitting down at the table as he fiddled at something in his hands, "What about gummy bears? Ya like gummy bears?" He asked hopefully. With a short sigh, Cassidy kept his back to TC as he washed away at some old fruit in the sink, "No." He stated shortly again. TC hummed, a bit deflated, "Yea, I don't like 'em much either. Only eat the red ones." He chuckled softly to himself, "Sometimes the green ones, too." He added.
Unamused, Cassidy nodded to himself as he finished washing what bit of fruit he could find. "What about drugs?" TC asked. It was impossible not to notice Cassidy's clear interest. Smiling, TC could see the jolt of excitement go through Cassidy, though his back remained to TC. Slowly, Cassidy turned. His heart skipped a beat. It had been so long since he'd indulged. He'd been doing his best at staying as tip top shape as he could the last few days, but he'd be lying to himself if he wasn't itching for a fix.
"Wot'ya got?" Cassidy asked.
When Lily got out of the shower, Cassidy was waiting in the bedroom for her. She had a towel around her head and put some clothes on, finding herself quickly collapsing on the bed. She sighed, "I don't think I ever needed a shower so bad. I still smell the stench of that fucking shed on me." Lily's eye caught the plate of food Cassidy had brought up sitting on the bedside table and she was quick to reach over and snag a few grapes with a piece of bread off of it. The grapes were soggy and the bread nearly broke her tooth it was so stale, as she continued eating she realized she must be starving to keep going at it.
"Hmph." Cassidy chuckled at her side, dipping his head down to take a wiff of himself, "Quite likely that stench yer talkin' about is me. Need a bloody shower myself. N'also, that's not true. About ever needin' a shower so bad.." He said, "Pretty sure that time we jumped into that river back in New Orleans n'ended up in that swamp was better means fer a shower." He leaned to her, "D'ye remember that?" He asked as if it was a million years ago.
"Yea." She said struggling to swallow the dry bread in her mouth, "You're right." She remembered the layer of algae all over her and forest debris knotted in her hair. Letting out a soft hum, she laid at his side completely drained from energy and her voice showed it, "The shower drain got clogged from all the shit that washed off me." Lily let out a short huff, "That feels like years ago."
Cassidy nodded, "Yea," He agreed, "It does."
It was quiet for a moment other than Lily's chewing, "This bread is dry as Hell." Lily stated, when suddenly, she felt Cassidy's weight shifting against the bed. " 'ere. Somethin' to wash it down." He said. She turned her head towards him, opening her eyes to see a glass of blood laced water. "Oh." She groaned, "Right."
Sitting up reluctantly, she noticed how incredibly sore she was and she was wondering how much of it was from the labor of the day and how much it was from the reliance to his blood that she developed. She grabbed the glass and thought about all the things going on with her right now.
"I'm really fucked up." She stated in the midst of all of her thoughts, "Just when I thought my life is as fucked up as it can be - the list of fuckery that's attached to me grows some more." She brought the glass up to her mouth and began downing it quickly.
"Hmph." Cassidy laughed softly, "Kind of nice not being the center o'attention of un-human-like qualities." Removing the glass from her mouth, Lily smiled, wiping the corners of her mouth as it watered viscously. "Yeah." She stated simply, her body tingling with the euphoric feeling the effect Cassidy's blood had on her. Her senses were heightened immediately and that meant she could smell his natural scent tied to his blood that much more. Eagerly, she leaned towards him and kissed him, a soft moan escaping her unwillingly as she breathed in the beautiful scent that made her brain all foggy. It was so powerful - but it also meant the stench that clung to him from the shed they spent in all day was amplified as well.
"Ugh." She groaned, pulling away from their embrace, "You do reek." He jumped up from the bed, "Yea, I'll go take care o'that." He stated.
When Cassidy got out of the shower, Lily was still laying on the bed, a towel on her head as her eyes were closed. He could tell by her breathing pattern she wasn't asleep yet so he wasn't too cautious about noise as he crawled into the bed and got comfortable. Lily's phone vibrated at the bedside table nearest to Cassidy.
With her eyes still closed, Lily asked him, "Is that Jess? I texted him earlier."
Grabbing her phone, Cassidy opened it up and saw Jesse had responded, "He's almost back." Cassidy stated. "Hm." Lily hummed, "Good." Cassidy scrunched his brow, "I 'eard that unit o'va man Jody get back 'ere a while ago."
"What?" Lily asked, "Really?" Cassidy nodded, "Yea." He said, placing the phone back down. That meant Jesse had been out on his own? Lily wondered what that meant. Where was he and how was he able to get away from Jody?
Before Lily could think too much on it Cassidy spoke and tore her mind away from the questions going on inside of her.
"Last night. Jess n'I talked." He stated.
"Oh," Lily sighed, her face scrunching as she opened her eyes and looked at him with a sorry face, "I know, I drank myself into oblivion trying not to think about how that was going and got so drunk I wasn't even able to talk to you about that."
Turning more toward him she sighed, feeling bad about neglecting to even ask Cassidy about it, "Judging by the fact you two are still in one piece I figured it went alright." Lily reached an arm around to place it over him. Cassidy's hair was drenched and it looked like he hadn't bothered to dry off. His upper body that was exposed was still wet as Lily laid her arm over it.
Cassidy shook his head to her, trying to convey that wasn't what he wanted to go on about, "That's not it. He 'ad a bottle of whiskey wit 'im. N'he had a few good glugs but nothin' to get him, like. He's no lightweight but he was plastered in no time." Cassidy stated, "Then Jesse said somethin' about it bein' likely you were the one that was drunk n'he was jus' feelin' the effects of it."
Lily looked up at him, her brow lowered in confusion. Cassidy's eyes fluttered a bit as he struggled to explain, "I think it's somethin' to do with this." He grabbed the hand of the arm that was over him and showed her the nearly black scar across her palm.
"I mean of all the cuts n'bruises n'all sorts of shite that's 'appened to ye since we met, whenever you drink my blood they all go away miraculously. But this-" He squeezed her wrist as he held onto her hand, "Why hasn't this healed at all?" He asked.
Lily stared at the scar on her palm, shaking her head, "I don't know." She said, not knowing what else to say.
He immediately noticed the overwhelming look in her face, and backtracked a bit, "I know everythin' wit you seein' yer mother n'all that happened right away this mornin' so he didn't 'ave time to talk to ye yet about it, but, jus thought I would mention it."
She nodded, thinking about her statement just minutes before about how she had a list of things about her building up more and more, and now this. "But other than that-" Cassidy continued, eager to change the topic for her metal being, "Everythin' with Jess is fine." Resting herself down a bit, Lily nodded, her eyes moving as she thought for a moment, "That's good, Cass." She said. Soon, they were both as comfortable as they could be in the unwelcoming, cold house. Cassidy could hear Lily slowly slipping into a slumber, but each time she almost fell asleep, she would toss another way.
Cassidy was wide awake - mostly to keep alert as he'd done the last few nights, and also a good amount of his energy coming from the buzz of whatever substance it was that TC had hooked him up with earlier. It had been some homemade concoction of TC's and Cassidy was never one to turn down a mystery drug. Maybe it was his high, but he was feeling a bit more curious, "Did y'say anythin' t'yer ma?"
Sleepily, Lily turned toward him, "What?" Her groggy voice asked. Cassidy's eyes fluttered as his mind race, "I'm jus' layin' 'ere thinking about wot I'd do if I was in yer position. I suppose I'd 'ave a whole lot to say to me own mom." He stated thoughtfully.
Shocked at the sensitive subject matter, Lily slowly turned towards him completely, still laying down as he sat half up still, "No." She said shortly. When Cassidy didn't respond, Lily continued, "It's stupid right? I have about a million things to say and twice as many questions than that..." Lily yawned, her mentality drained and her body tired, but her mind was racing, "But I can't seem to get a word out of my mouth these last few times." With a huff she closed her eyes, "Stupid." She repeated.
Cassidy shook his head, the inside of it spinning a bit as he noticed the high changing at an alarming pace, "S'not stupid." He stated, "Can't say I'd be willing to do that, myself." He thought of the opportunity to talk to his own mother, "Don't blame you fer bein' weary of it." She sighed, her eyes feeling heavier by the second, "I need to do it. I need to ask her for help. I don't think I have a choice, if it means we stand a chance of making it out of here."
