Outside, Tulip and Anna found Cassidy cowering in the shadows. He had been burnt beyond recognition. Tulip threw the blanket over him and went to help him stand.
"I'll bring the car around," Anna said and only a moment later came skidding to a stop inches from the pair.
Tulip opened the door and while remaining in the shadows was able to get Cassidy into the back seat.
"Proinsias, are you alright?" Anna asked.
Her answer came in the form of a growl that turned to a whimper.
"Oh, my love," she said to herself. Her eyes were beginning to well up with tears. She had never been a caregiver and thought she would never have to be. She thought that because he was a vampire she would never have to be without him, but in the space of a minute she had come close to losing him- this time forever. "Tulip where do we go?"
"Just drive. I'll give you directions," Tulip answered.
Cassidy still felt like he was on fire. And when in the few moments of clarity through the pain, he could only focus on the animalistic need to survive- which in his case meant blood. But among the screaming in his head, he also heard Anna speaking. He heard Anna ask him if he would be alright, but he didn't have the capability to answer. Then she called him "my love" and he sank further into himself. He never wanted her to experience him like this. He half wished Jesse hadn't put him out.
The tires squealed as Anna stopped out front of a house with overgrown grass and bottles in the yard.
"Uncle Walter," Tulip said.
Before they even exited the car, Anna noticed neighbors avoiding looking at the car or at the house. At least it would be easy to get Proinsias inside. It took the two girls to carry him inside and guide him into the back room. Cassidy let them help him only because he could not physically help himself, but once they let him go, he chased Anna and Tulip from the room and slammed the door shut behind them. He sunk down to the floor with his back against the door. He was starving.
Anna knocked on the door. "Proinsias?" When he didn't respond she tried again. "Let me in. I can help you."
"No!" he growled and crawled away from the door.
"You can't kill me," she pointed out, guessing at his concerns.
"Go away!" he shouted through the closed door. He hated doing that to bastards that deserved it. He could never do it to Anna. It's not like he had fangs and could be neat like in the films. No, he actually tore them apart to get at the blood.
"Come on." Tulip led Anna from the door. "We'll get him a cow or sometin'."
"Might be a bit difficult to get through the door," Anna pointed out.
"Hmm. Alright. We'll go to the pound first thing tomorrow," Tulip modified her plan. "You wanna sleep here?"
"Yeah," Anna readily agreed, but wondered where. They had put Proinsias in the only bedroom and a man, Anna guessed it was Walter, was asleep on the sofa.
†††††
As planned, Anna and Tulip drove to the pound as soon as they opened. Anna didn't speak the whole way. She didn't like the idea of feeding a dog or a cat to Proinsias. It seemed so inhumane. What did the dog ever do? Couldn't they just hunt down a rapist and throw him in the room?
Anna hooked her fingers into the chain-link fence, staring at the Corgi puppy on the other side. The write up said his name was Thor and he was one year old. "Aw, Tulip, I want him."
"For a pet?" Tulip raised her eyebrows. "Might as well get a cat."
Anna looked over to where Tulip was petting an old basset hound. The massive drool-monster probably only had a year left in him, but the thought of feeding the dog to a vampire still made her sick. "Yes, as a pet," Anna sneered, but didn't complain about Tulip's motives until she had filled out her own paperwork to adopt Thor.
The basset hound laid across the entire backseat while Anna took shotgun, Thor on her lap.
"I don't think I can do this to a dog," Anna muttered. "The poor baby."
"He's old," Tulip quipped. "He's gonna die soon anyway. That was a kill shelter. Don't you want your boyfriend to heal?"
"Of course! But I thought we could feed him one of the asswipes that seem so abundant in this town," Anna said.
"No. We ain't killin' a person."
"You're no fun," Anna declared.
"Murder ain't supposed to be fun!" Tulip huffed.
Anna shrugged. It seemed the older one got, the harder it becomes for a moral compass to find true north.
When they returned to the house, Anna put Thor down and let him run rampant. He could destroy the living room any more than Walter already had. Tulip remained holding on to the basset hound's collar. He stood patiently while he panted expectantly. Thor on the other hand continued to yap and run back and forth and under the larger dog's legs.
"Well?" Tulip asked.
"Fuck if I know," Anna shrugged. "Toss him in there and close the door?"
"You're really not," Anna admitted. "I love animals. I hate heights. Everything else is gray area."
Tulip sighed and went to feed Cassidy on her own. She opened the door a bit and found Cassidy cowering in a corner. He looked like a monster. Some skin was missing and the rest was puckered and burnt. He had no hair and his lips were peeled back. The dog whimpered, sensing the danger. Tulip shoved the animal forward and quickly stepped back out, shutting the door. She heard Cassidy growl and the dog whimper again before going silent.
Anna was in the kitchen on the phone. She had dialed up Jesse and drummed her fingers impatiently on the countertop waiting for him to pick up.
"Hello?" he drawled.
"Jesse? It's Anna."
"What can I do for you Anna?" he asked, but she could tell he was distracted.
"Am I your friend?" she replied.
"Suppose so, yeah? Why?"
"Then why would you leave my boyfriend to die?" she shouted. "A guy who, by the way, thinks you're his best friend. That you're the best goddamn thing since Guinness."
Jesse didn't know what to say. He wanted to defend himself, but he was busy defending himself from Quincannon. "I put him out!" he yelled. "I put him out!"
"Not fast enough!" Anna yelled back and hung up, infuriated.
"You good?" Tulip asked with a smirk.
"Your boyfriend's a dick," Anna retorted and collapsed into one of the armchairs in the living room.
Several moments of silence and nervous tapping passed until Anna finally declared that she was going to check on Cassidy. She opened the door to the backroom. The dog had been drained dry. Cassidy remained on all floors, licking his lips like a feral beast. He snarled at Anna and she quickly closed the door, making use of the lock on the outside.
"I don't think it was enough," Anna said.
"Well it's gon have to be. You can stay here until he's healed," Tulip sighed. "We'll go find more blood tomorrow."
When Anna woke up, Tulip wasn't in the house. There was a note on the phone saying that she went to buy rodents from pet stores. Anna cracked her neck. Her whole body was stiff from falling asleep in a chair. She opened the door to the back room to check on Proinsias. He was laying on the bed and staring at the sleep. His skin had regrown, but he was still covered in burns and open wounds.
"Get out," he said quietly.
"What can I do?" Anna asked, ignoring him.
"Get out," he repeated.
With a sigh, she closed the door. As she slide the lock into place, she heard Tulip entering through the front door.
Tulip squeezed through the front door holding several cages filled with hamsters, rabbits, and guinea pigs. "How is he?" she asked as Anna helped, taking a couple cages and placing them around the room.
"Not good," she answered.
They fed him the hamsters and a rabbit and then Anna broke into Walter's stash of alcohol. Tulip, feeling fed up and pissed off at the whole situation didn't join her. Instead, she called Emily.
