THUD

Cassidy's body hit the ground of the hotel room with a heavy blow. Lily jolted on the spot, shocked by what had just happened. Her eyebrows raised as she swore under her breath, "Shit!" She cursed as she quickly made her way to him.

"Cass-" She said, grabbing his shoulder as she flipped him onto his back and softly smacked the side of his face. His sunglasses were sitting crooked as she quickly fixed them, dragging her hand across his cheek as her gentle slap became a bit more harsh, "Cassidy." After a few seconds, she was thankful to see his eyebrows twitch, his eyes opening slowly before he took a sharp breath in, sitting up in panic. Lily moved her hands off of him as she stayed leaned down at his side. "How'd y'do that?!" Cassidy basically screamed, "I wasn't touching ye... I, I wasn't even near you."

"I don't know." Lily said honestly, her face straight in shock of herself before her mouth moved into a smile and she let out a laugh, "Fuck, I don't know." His eyes searched her face for a moment, and she wasn't sure what he was thinking. Soon, he reached his hands out and grabbed each of her shoulders, "Do it again." He said, his words were nearly breathless.

With her eyes shifting slightly, and her brow narrowing a little, Lily took a breath, "Okay.." For some reason it felt right to close her eyes, so she did. Cassidy watched her face intently, completely fascinated by this mysterious power. He noticed her brow furrow, looking annoyed as she kept her eyes closed. She shifted her shoulders, pushing his hands off of her as it was almost too easy for her to get back into his mind.

Her voice surprised him, "No don't do that."

"Wot?"

She peaked an eye open briefly, throwing her hands out in the air, "Don't just let me in like that."

"Like wot?" Cassidy asked, in genuine confusion.

"You're just letting it happen. Like in Angelville. It was like a big open..." Lily stopped talking, stuttering a moment as she struggled to find the word to describe what it was like, "...thing." She shook her head again, closing her eyes tight, "Just act like you were before, just a few minutes ago when you were scared of me."

Cassidy's brow lowered, "I wasn't scared of you-"

With a soft huff Lily shifted her weight, "Whatever, just try to resist it. In fact, move further away again." Lily stayed on her knees on the ground as Cassidy listened to her instructions, walking into the bathroom of the hotel room.

It hardly took any time, but somehow Lily managed to get into Cassidy's head again even with the physical distance and wall between them. Suddenly they were in a distant memory, one that Lily remembered clearly...

The sun was beaming down on her and her brother was throwing an axe down at her infamous indestructible suitcase, the one that's key had been missing at the time. Behind them was the Annville church, and under the overhang was Cassidy, watching intently. Taking a deep breath in, Lily remembered the smell of the air in Angelville all too perfectly. The dusty winds combined with the heat made it suffocating to try and breathe most days.

As she took a moment, Lily recalled that in this moment, it was just after she'd first slept with Cassidy, just after she'd had her first taste of his blood, tensions were high between everyone, and she remembered trying to ignore Cassidy's existence. He was a major inconvenience while she was trying to deal with Jesse.

"What the Hell is this made out of, Lily?" Her brother cursed at her. Lily felt the tense air between them, and it made her stomach drop. She ignored her brother and walked up to Cassidy instead, "I did it." She stated, adjusting the sunglasses that were on her face before taking them off to look at them, "Where'd these end up? I liked these shades." Lily pouted, wondering where along the way she'd lost the pair of sunglasses she wore in this memory. With his brow low, he puffed at his cigarette, "Ye did wot?" He asked sourly.

Studying him for a moment, she realized he wasn't aware she was in his mind or memory. She shook her head, "Nevermind." She glanced back at her brother going at her suitcase hopelessly. "Suddenly I'm good enough to talk to?" Cassidy asked bitterly, "Yer not gonna jus look through me?"

When Lily looked back to him he saw the acidity in his eyes hiding behind his shades. She felt the painful tension in the air, and she remembered how things were back in this moment. Her eyes softened, but his were still harsh, "Wot did you do? Huh?" Cassidy asked again, his demeanour as self righteous as she remembered, "Ye told yer brother? About us?" Cassidy asked sarcastically. Lily felt her insides get hot, because that's what she had felt back in that moment but a contradicting smile spread across her face, "No, but we probably should've right then and there." She said, referring to this memory as she stared back at her brother smacking uselessly at her suitcase.

With Cassidy's face looking more confused, he watched Lily turn back towards her brother, "Hey Jess." Lily hollered, "I fucked Cassidy, and I'm going to be fucking him for a while." Jesse stood upright, staring towards Lily and Cassidy, who was beyond shocked. "That's great, Lillian." Jesse said in a strange tone, "I'm happy for you two."

Lily knew when her brother was being a smartass, but this time, he wasn't. It was genuine, but it sure as hell didn't fit the scenario. She turned back to Cassidy and raised her brows with a shrug, "Guess we could've saved a lot of trouble if I wasn't such a stuck up bitch." She stepped up to him in the side doorway of the church, reaching to his collar of his shirt and pulling him into a kiss. When Cassidy felt her lips against his, it was very unfamiliar, and by that, it felt entirely too familiar, like they'd kissed a hundred thousand times before that - it shocked him and he unwillingly leaned back, "Wot's going on?" He asked, his head hazy all of a sudden as her hands found their way to either side of his face while she stared directly into him, "Cassidy." He felt his stomach turn. The way she had said his name.. it was so foreign. Everything about her was foreign. Her touch, her voice, her demeanour..

He dropped the cigarette in his hand and reached up to where hers were placed on his face, "This isn't how this is 'suppose to go….. this isn't right. Yer not right."

"I'm not?" She asked playfully, kissing him again, "What's so wrong about me right now?"

Suddenly all the unfamiliar things about her felt the exact opposite, he realized just how familiar things were, and his head began to get clearer very quickly, "I think I'm starting to realize wot the foks goin' on." Lily moved her hands off his face and grabbed his cigarette on the ground, puffing at it as she stared at it between her fingers and scrunched her face, "Doesn't fucking taste like anything." She flicked it out into the dirt in front of them.

"Holy shite." Cassidy exhaled as he realized they were in a memory, "This moment feels like a lifetime ago." "Hm." Lily hummed, "That was weird, at first you had no clue we were in here." She pointed a thumb behind her, "I told Jess we fucked." She smirked maliciously. Nodding slowly, Cassidy stared curiously at the scene around them, "Yea, yea, I remember that just happening." His brain began racing as he took in the memory now that he was aware of what was happening.

As Lily looked to him at her side, her eyes caught the doorway of the side entrance of the church, "This isn't what this door frame looked like.." "Wot'ya mean?" He asked, grabbing at it, "Looks fine t'me." Lily remembered differently, which made her wonder what other details of memories were constructed depending on the perspective of who's memory it was.

"Okay, let's wake up." Lily said, turning back to Cassidy and grabbing his arm. Before they knew it, they were back in the hotel room to what was reality.

In awe, Cassidy took a deep breath, somehow still standing on his two feet as the both of them were brought back out to the world. He stood alone in the bathroom as he stumbled out to the living area of the room again, "Wot the ever living fuck." He began to laugh as a grin spread across his face, "That is more of a trip than any drug or substance I've been on and that's a fokin' statement, Lily, I've done some really crazy shite!" He said, waving a finger at her. He paced to the liquor cabinet, "Did you pick that moment, or me?" He asked curiously, "How's that work?" He took a big swig of a bottle of whiskey before slamming it back down with a heavy exhale of satisfaction.

"I did, I think." Lily explained, standing up from the ground, "I tried not to go too deep. Thought of something kind of boring and trivial." She was surprised to see that he was suddenly in front of her as he embraced her. He grasped into her head, smelling her scent as he sighed dreamily, "You were such an uptight bitch." He repeated the words she used for herself but with admiration, "I can't believe that same girl's 'ere in me arms right now."

"Lucky you." Lily groaned into his chest sarcastically.

He kept her tight, remembering the moment they'd just experienced again, "I'm glad you n'Jess are happy again. It sucked when the both of yas were miserable as shite." That was very true. It had also been very exhausting. As Lily nodded in agreement, she pulled out from his embrace, her face curious, "Jesses reaction wasn't right." She stated, looking up at him. Cassidy's brow furrowed over the frames of his sunglasses, "Wot'ya mean?" Lily raised her hands, "I mean he never would've acted that way. I'm not saying he would lose his shit but in that moment specifically, the way things were he'd never have reacted that way." Cassidy thought about it, she was right, but he was also completely in a haze of weird denial back then.

"Maybe that's just the way I imagined he'd react, then." He suggested, "I mean, that's always how I wanted 'im to. Since day one." That made a lot of sense, Lily nodded, her head feeling light. Cassidy took a sharp breath in, his brows raising as his excitement kept flowing, "Do it again. Take us back to that night we snuck outta the New Orleans apartment, or, or, no, 'ow bout the time we went out, that night under the stars in the back of the truck." He was talking a thousand miles a minute it sounded like, "Y'remember?" He asked. With a nod, Lily looked up at him, "Ya I remember." She took a deep breath, "You'd just burnt to a crisp the morning before." Before she could process it, he was already away from her again. With another deep breath, Lily stayed where she was standing and closed her eyes.

The sky was bright with the stars, just as Lily had remembered. The Anville truck that Jesse had used was all adjusted so the box of it was made into a make-shift bed that Cassidy had made up. Lily remembered being absolutely terrified in this moment at the time, but she wasn't as she relived the moment. She turned to him, the truck creaking below her as she adjusted herself. He was smoking a cigarette as he exhaled, "Ah, simpler times, right?" He sighed. Lily raised her brows with a soft hum, it seemed like he recognized that they were in a memory right away this time.

Lily raised a hand to pull her hair back away from her face, her hair catching on the bandages she'd had around her hands, "Oh yea." She groaned, "Forgot you nearly burned my hands off." With his brow crinkled, he flicked his smoke, "Right." He moaned sarcastically, "Like that was my fault."

With a playful smirk, Lily adjusted herself more comfortably on the bed as Cassidy leaned back slightly, "I remember the sound of yer heart nearly beating out of yer chest this whole bloody night." He sighed, "Didn't make things easier, hmph." He chuckled softly, puffing at his cigarette as he flicked it again, "Was jus tryin' to make a romantic moment fer us after seein' me the way I was." Lily remembered Cassidy being burnt to a crisp, and how truly awful the sight of him had been. It had been the only time she'd given him her blood, and it was because the blood bank at the hospital was dry and Cassidy needed to get better. She'd been entirely petrified by him once he'd tasted her blood. He'd known, and it was truly the most terrifying experience Lily had gone through.

With a scoff, Lily glared up to him, "Yea, cause taking me out to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and threatening me is such a typical romantic thing to do, my misunderstanding." She groaned sarcastically. "Threaten?" Cassidy asked, "I did the exact opposite. That was the point."

"What?" Lily asked, "You basically-" "I took you out 'ere to see the stars-" He waved his hands out to the sky, "To get away from that shitehole of a town, to jus' relax, not worry about wotever shite came through those doors of that church, or motel or wherever the bloody hell we were-" "Fine-" Lily cut him off, "Let's not waste this experience bickering about senseless shit."

It was silent for a moment, before Lily sighed, "Okay, well, there's not much to this moment is there?" With a hum around his smoke, Cassidy threw the butt over the edge of the truck, "I remember a few things-" He practically sang, leaning over her as they kissed. He pulled his lips away when he felt her push his chest, "Wot?" He asked, "What if we fuck with what happened?" She asked. He stared down at her curiously, not following, "Like, wot if I leaned ye over the edge of the truck n'fucked ye from behind instead, or?" She smacked his chest playfully, "No, Cass. Like really messed with it. Made a different thing happen." He paused, wondering where she was going. Her eyes looked eager, "What if you tasted my blood again instead?" Cassidy felt his heart skip a beat, his mouth watering as he leaned away from her more. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he resisted a few things, including getting upset, "Well, I'd get a taste n'I'd kill you, n'prolly bury yer body right…. " His eyes scanned the wide open area around them, "There." He pointed.

"Hm." Lily hummed, staring up at him as she waited for a moment. His brow narrowed slightly, "Lily, don't start." He warned. She shrugged her shoulders, sitting up so she was face to him again, "Well, you've always talked about how fucking hard it is - why don't we see if it's something you can just relieve in here, maybe it'll help in reality for your urges." He distanced himself a bit more, and he noticed the annoyance on her face as he did. Cassidy huffed, "Why all of a sudden is this a thing on yer mind?"

"It's always on my mind." Lily said, her eyes rolling slightly, "Why are you so obsessed with me ingesting your blood? How's it any different?"

"I'm not obsessed, it's-" He groaned, "This is how this whole stupid argument began, Lily." He grabbed her arms, looking at her sternly, "You can't kill me. I can kill you. One stupid instant is all it would take. I taste yer blood, I lose my head, n'suddenly yer just a pile on the ground." She studied him for a moment, "When we were just fighting, and you were pretending to rip me apart in the hotel room, I was scared. At the end. When you put your face into my neck." Cassidy felt his throat tighten up as Lily continued talking, "I was trying to tell you to stop, that it was too much, but instead something took over and that's when I got into your head." She watched as he took in everything she'd just said. "I don't think you'd be able to kill me, Cassidy." Lily stated, "I think there's a lot more to all of this than you make it out to be. I'm not just some helpless, weak human. Stop treating me as if I can't stand a chance."

As Cassidy stared at her, she thought she'd noticed his eyes softening slightly, but his words proved different, "We were pissin' around. If I was really burying my teeth into you, Lily, no. You wouldn't stand a chance." Lily felt her body stiffen, and a chill run down her spine. She felt like she had in the original moment in this truck, truly scared.

Suddenly, they were out of the memory and back into reality. Cassidy could feel his blood boiling, ready to reem Lily out for being so stupid for crossing a line he'd placed so long ago - reality or not. It seemed he'd have to draw a line for her in memory lane as well...

But he'd noticed soon that across the room, Lily had lost her balance when she came back to, falling into the bedframe. Cassidy had been at her immediately, helping her up as he sat her on the bed, "You alright?" He asked. She nodded, "I think I just used a lot of energy or something." Her eyes were heavy and they were nearly impossible to keep open. Her head was spinning as Cassidy rubbed her back.

"Maybe yew can finally get some sleep, then." He whispered, any annoyance he'd just felt had completely vanished. She nodded, "I think so." She stood up, and he was like her shadow as he made sure she didn't fall again. While she walked past a full length mirror, she stared at the giant ripped hole on the back of her shirt, her mouth moving to a crooked straight line before she stuck a leg out to see the gaping hole torn in her jeans at her thigh. She gave a lazy glare at him beside her as she began taking off her ruined clothing. He kissed her and moved his lips as he trailed around her cheek and down to her chin before softly kissing her neck. "Could've killed ye again jus there." He said playfully. With her hair suddenly standing up along her neck, she huffed, trying to seem unaffected by the entire situation, "Ya, ya, I get it." Lily said, pushing him away as she walked towards the bed, "You were right."

"Ugh," He practically moaned, following her as he shed his clothing, "Why's it you admitting yer wrong to me is some sort of a turn on?"

"I'll keep that in mind." Lily dragged sarcastically, unclasping her bra as she threw one of his shirts over her. They nestled in bed, he sat up with his back against the headboard and she laid against his bare chest. "Are you going to sleep, too?" Lily asked. "Prolly not." Cassidy said, "We'll see. Why?" He asked, "Do you want me to?" With a deep breath, Lily moved her head against his chest, "Sort of." She said. "Alright, then I will." Cassidy said, sinking himself into a laying down position in the bed with her.

"Night Cass."

"It's 6 in the mornin'."

"Good morning, then." She hummed smartly as she quickly fell into a deep sleep.