Only a few minutes into their race away from the pub, Cassidy got a call from Seamus. Lily listened as Cassidy hardly said anything other than a few "mm-hm"s and "yea"s. He'd told Lily that they'd gathered who they could who was able to drive and get them back to the secure compound - but not before driving for what felt like the entire evening. They had to be sure no one was on their trail, each of the vehicles had separated on their way back to the compound.
Lily stared at Cassidy as he drove the car aimlessly, waiting for the call that it was safe to make it back to the compound building. "You don't have any blood on you?" Lily asked, staring at the blistering along his arm, neck, and gaping open face. With a deep sigh, Cassidy shook his head, "No." He said shortly, his eyes glued to the rear view mirror as he stayed alert for anyone who may be on their tail. His unburnt arm rested on the steering wheel as the dried blood from her head he'd wiped off on his hand caught his eye. Quickly, he rubbed it along his pants, staring at the side mirror out his window instead.
Lily studied him for a moment before she finally turned to look back out her window as she rested against it, wincing as the throbbing of her head got more intense. Cassidy suddenly felt bad, knowing she was just concerned for his well being, but inside he was a wreck. It had been such an insane attack on all of them, and Lily being there wasn't good for many reasons. And it surely wasn't the night he'd had planned for them. He sighed and rested his burnt hand on her leg, giving it a squeeze of reassurance, "I'm fine. Jus try and rest." He tucked his shattered sunglasses into the collar of his shirt, half burnt off his body as the left side of it stuck to his open flesh.
It'd been a silent ride, it was pretty clear that Cassidy wasn't interested in speaking - which was very uncommon and more than unnerving. So Lily just kept her mouth shut.
After they were given the okay to get back to the compound, Lily followed Cassidy into the building, through the secure doors, down the elevator several floors. Her legs felt like there were cement bricks taped to them, dragging herself as the exhaustion hit her more each second. When they walked down a hallway, she saw two open doors to a large room. She glanced as they walked by, seeing the severely damaged members on the ground as others distributed blood bags.
They'd hardly made it into the room Cassidy had obviously been instructed to go to when Seamus stepped in at the same time. It seemed he was able to heal quickly. His skin looked very rough and scarred, though Lily knew that would go away in time, "Miss Custer." Seamus beckoned with a huff, "Come with me." He ordered.
When Lily moved, Cassidy moved. Immediately, Seamus glanced back to Cassidy, pointing out a finger, "Stay 'ere Proinsias." He ordered. "Wot?" Cassidy asked, taking a moment before he shook his head softly, the open flap on the side of his face swinging around, "Seamus, y'cant be serious." Lily looked to Cassidy curiously, not understanding the concerned tone until someone had grabbed her arm, ushering her behind Seamus. Cassidy lunged forward, practically baring his teeth, "I know y'don't 'ave yer hands on 'er right now-" He hissed.
Holding a hand out, Seamus shook his head, "It's fine." He assured. His stern eyes staring at the stranger holding onto Lily, "She's gonna behave." Seamus' eyes moved to Lily, simply nodded at Seamus before glancing at the man beside her as he let go. With her eyes finding Cassidy at her other side, Lily nodded, "It's all good." She was glad that her words came out sounding a lot more confident than what she felt as Cassidy reluctantly let go of her.
Lily followed Seamus, the stranger who'd attempted to grab at her close on her trail as they walked for a while down many hallways. With a sharp breath, Lily began to notice her one ankle was uncomfortable. She wondered if she twisted it during the whole fiasco, she couldn't remember. Seamus opened the door to what Lily assumed to be his office. The stranger behind them waited outside as Seamus closed the door behind them while Lily looked around the room. There was a large wooden desk, a few chairs, and some art along the walls. The carpet was a dark green and the walls were a black oak. It was very dim, other than the lamp in the one corner of the room that Seamus turned on for Lily's convenience.
With a heavy sigh, Seamus walked towards the large desk, waving a hand out to the chaise lounge at the side of it, " 'Ere." He said, "Sit." Lily did as she was instructed. She sat on the chaise couch cautiously, her back straight as she stayed sitting close to the edge and was in no way getting comfortable. Her hands found the velvety fabric at her sides as she clenched onto the cushioning subconsciously. Seamus threw some papers down on his large desk with yet another huff, "Haven't had an attack in ages." He stated, walking from one side of the desk to the other with his back to her, "Eighteen to be precise. N'even that was nothin' like this fokin' disaster..." He threw some papers down on the desk, "Only the few of us knew where we were earlier. Most didn't even know the location til right before the social started. N'the moment you show yer face-" He took a deep breath, shaking his head down at his desk as he kept his back to her, "There's an ambush."
It was silent, as Lily wasn't sure what to say. He rubbed his face before he finally turned to look at her, leaning against his desk as he stood in front of her a good distance away, "You understand 'ow suspicious that is, ya?" Seamus asked.
With a quick breath, Lily kept her eyes on Seamus' regardless of how intimidating it was, "Yes." She stated simply, not sure it was the time to be trying to spew her efforts to prove innocence to the attack. Seamus stared at her, not sensing any sort of reason to be distrustful in Lily, but he was very curious. He shifted his weight that was leaning against the desk, "Somehow y'know wot's goin on before any of us even have an inkling. Which says more than enough, considering we're all supposed to 'ave senses about a million times more powerful than yers." Seamus took a deep breath, "A human's." He specified with his piercing blue eyes drilling into her. "We'd've known if Proinsias changed ye. So it's obviously not that. But, wot is it, then?.. Wot are you?" A thoughtful bushy brow of his arched in confusion.
Lily was glad that her words coming out of her mouth didn't come with any hesitation, "I have always had this.." She paused, as she still wasn't sure what to call it, "affinity, I guess. A sense of coming danger kind of. Sometimes it's visions, dreams… sometimes it's just a feeling." She tried to explain, "But it's always a bad sense. Never a good sense. Like I could feel a car crash coming, but I've never been so lucky to see something like winning lottery numbers." Though it was faint and short-lived, Lily caught a small smirk come and go from Seamus' mouth. Lily wasn't sure completely confessing about her abilities she didn't even understand was exactly the safest choice, but it seemed like she didn't have a choice. She just began spewing out the truth to Seamus. With her words stuttering a bit, Lily continued, "This time it.. it was a vision. I saw a lot happen before it did. And I tried to avoid any-" Lily stopped, remembering the vision she'd had - seeing Seamus get his head exploded. Her eyes fluttered a few times as she tried to find an appropriate description, "Carnage." She decided.
Though Seamus wasn't suspicious of Lily, she didn't know that. She figured this was the beginning of a shake down for possible information, and she began trying to justify her innocence, "You're helping me. Without anything other than Cassidy's reference, which by what little I've seen, doesn't say much around here. He's flaky, sporadic and unpredictable. Not exactly key qualities of a member of a secret organization." She stated, taking a sharp breath before Seamus could interject, "I had no idea where he was bringing me, I thought we were coming here to drop off paperwork for Christ sake." She threw her hands up, "When we showed up there I was embarrassed. I looked like shit." With silence between them, Seamus stared at Lily, unmoving and struggling to stifle a chuckle as he watched her brows raise with her eyes moving downward, "Oh," Lily said, leaning over to the side as she reached into her waist and pulled out the handgun she'd grabbed at the scene. She placed it on the chaise at her side, "I grabbed this."
Seamus raised his chin towards it, "Keep it on you." He ordered. Confused, but not argumentative, Lily did as instructed and tucked the handgun back in her side.
"Anything else?" Seamus asked.
Lily felt her brows raise slightly, shocked that there weren't a whole series of more questions to follow, "No.."
With his lips pressed together, Seamus nodded his head down, pushing himself off of the desk he was leaning on and making his way back to the door of the room, opening it as he stood waiting for Lily to leave.
When Lily stepped out, Seamus closed the door behind her, leaving her alone with the man in the hallway that had initially tried to usher her. She raised a brow cheekily at the man as she walked past him, not surprised to feel him hot on her heels. She began to notice her ankle bothering her more, struggling not to show a limp as she continued putting pressure onto it as she made her way back to the room where Cassidy had last been.
When Cassidy had seen Lily step back out with the vamp following her, it was clear he was relieved. He placed the tetra pack in his hand down as Lily noticed right away that his blisters had nearly healed over already, so it was safe to assume the tetra pack wasn't apple juice. They'd hardly gotten close to each other before the man tilted his head to Cassidy, "C'mon Proinsias." The man sighed. Cassidy quickly grabbed at Lily's hand, squeezing it as his murky eyes looked into hers and she gave a convincing smile to him, watching as he walked towards Seamus' office Lily had just been in.
Lily didn't even notice someone else approach her, "Lily." Quinn whispered, mild burns scattering her body. "Quinn, my god." Lily sighed, her eyes scanning the vamp in front of her, "Are you alright?" Lily asked. "Yeah, yeah... lost one of my favorite pairs of pants." She chuckled half-heartedly, keeping her voice low, "But not as bad as most." Lily watched as Quinn's beautiful golden eyes glanced behind Lily towards the room where the most crucially injured vamps were laid out. Lily's eyes followed Quinn's, catching the gruesome sight of the charred bodies spread across the ground in the other room. Like a jumpscare, she felt a pair of eyes burning into her. Slightly startled, she recognized Garth's eyes from what seemed a mile away. Eagerly, Lily turned her body to make her way to him, but Quinn had grabbed her arm, "Lily," She whispered, "Let's jus stay out 'ere. Or the lounge. Let's get to the lounge."
Lily looked at Quinn concerningly as she let out a sigh, her golden eyes suddenly a bit worrisome, "People are talking. Lots of conspiracy flying around." With her brow narrowing, Lily listened to Quinn, her beautiful eyes piercing into Lily, "Seamus has got his people keeping everyone relaxed but tensions are high, ya? Best keep our distance." With a deep breath, Lily closed her eyes and shook her head, "Quinn, I know it looks bad. Soon as I show up-" Quinn was already shaking her head, her other hand now on Lily's other arm as she held her out in front of her, "No, I don't think y'had anythin' to do wit it, Lily." With her brow narrowing, Lily felt surprised, "You don't?" With a soft chuckle, Quinn shook her head again, a soft smile across her lips, "No. No... I mean, you'd be dead n'gone already if Seamus even had the slight suspicion that you 'ad anythin' to do wit the attack, but-"
Before Quinn could finish her thought, there was another vamp that approached them, "Lily, right?" He asked. Lily stared up at the tall vamp, his silver eyes gleaming down at her. "Yeah." Lily said. "Val-en-ti-no!" Quinn sang, "Wot are ye doin' 'ere?" He smiled handsomely at Quinn, "Hello Quinn. I arrived late, and I was told I could hopefully be of some use to our visitor here." Valentino's eyes moved from Quinn to Lily as he kept his smile on his face before he leaned his head in a different direction. Lily simply raised her brow at Quinn, who she was relieved to see give Lily a smile that encouraged her things were going to be just fine.
"Some first visit for you, eh?" Valentino stated, swaggering in front of her as he adjusted his suit, "Good thing I'm always fashionably late, I guess." He chuckled, turning back to her with a grin as her brow scrunched, her eyes scanning his fancy suit and dress shoes as her eyes very briefly glanced down to her torn, soggy and disgusting clothing. As if she really even gave a shit, she ran her hand through her hair, feeling it tangle between her fingers as Valentino kept going on while walking in front of her, "Missed the whole ordeal, myself. Got to get things ready here at least." Valentino sighed, wiping at his well-maintained facial hair as he kept walking in front of Lily. Lily simply followed, assuming he'd gotten the run down about herself from someone, seeing as he knew it was her first time in Ireland.
Soon, he reached a double door, opening it as he gave a warm smile, holding an arm out for her to go on in. It looked like a large conference room, a giant table in the middle surrounded by chairs. "Sorry about the lighting." Valentino sighed, turning on the dim lights, "Not really necessary to have those awful, bright LED lights when everyone - well, usually everyone - here can see in the pitch black." It seemed common knowledge to Lily by now that this secure premise was not catered to humans. It was underground, there were no windows to be seen, for obvious reasons, and every room was hardly lit. And all above it was a fully functioning office tower, full of humans who went on with their lives and had no clue what went on beneath the foundation.
"It's fine." Lily said honestly, her head hurting more every minute. She would imagine bright office lighting wouldn't be entirely comfortable for her at this moment, anyway. It seemed her body was in auto pilot, as she hardly noticed she'd sat down at one of the many chairs around the large conference table while Valentino sat at her side, turning the chair so he was facing her. With his briefcase at his side on the table, he crossed his legs and leaned back in the office chair. "So," He sighed, clasping his hands on his lap as he rested comfortably, "You saw better than anyone, seeing as the entire room was blinded the whole time." His voice was low and raspy, "Just go over everything as you saw it." Lily took a moment to notice his neat, jet black hair slicked back so eloquently. In different times she'd probably be embarrassed of her appearance, but she was far past that.
"Well," Lily cleared her tired voice, "I saw a man grab a weapon from his side. He was not far from Garth - I mean, Seamus. So I made a good assumption that he was going for him. I jumped him. Landed on the ground. Then there was a single shot from the other side of the building. It blinded everyone, like a flash bang on crack or something-" She shook her head at her stupid and immature choice of words given how serious the situation was, "Like a very bright flashbang." She corrected, "I could sort of make out what was happening, so I was able to disarm the attacker... I took his one gun and tucked it in my side." She adjusted her weight in her seat as she pulled out the gun Seamus had told to keep on her, placing it on the table, "No, wait, Cassidy hit the ground with me... Anyways, after all that I made my way to the fire alarm, pulled it, saw a laser sight on me, took cover again, a few more flashbangs went off, flames were everywhere - the wall in front of me blew open. Then I took fire extinguishers and began putting whoever I could out. Cassidy came out and threw the extinguishers at me. Then he said the coast was clear." Lily squinted, "No, Garth came out with the extinguisher- someone, anyways, I remember hearing it was fine, and I started doing what I could."
"That's it?" Valentino asked, raising his brows. Lily nodded once, "Yeah."
As he took a quick breath, he leaned forward, "Alright." He turned over to his briefcase at the table, grabbing a few things as he placed them between the two of them as he scooted closer to her. Valentino grabbed Lily's right hand, placing her fingertip on an ink pad before pressing it against a form out of the stack of papers he had, "Texas, hey?" He stated, flashing his silver eyes at her, "Go cowboys." He smiled.
With her brow raising slightly, Lily wasn't sure what was going on. She was wondering why there'd been no questions or supposed interrogation for her, from either Valentino, and hardly any from Seamus. With a deep breath, Lily sighed, "I'm not really a sports enthusiast." Lily said a bit miserably, "But yeah, go cowboys." He let out a soft chuckle as he made his way through each finger on her right hand. "Valentino." Lily said, struggling with small talk. She was drained, but she didn't want it to be confused with being rude, "Italian." She assumed safely, given his accent and image oozed it, not to mention his traditional name. "Born and raised." He stated, pressing down another one of her fingers onto the inkpad, "T. or Tino." He corrected, "Or Val if you're feeling flirtatious." He teased, flipping a page in the paperwork. "Born and raised, huh?" Lily asked, "You still live there? Sunny Italy?"
"Can't stand dark and dreary places like it is here in Ireland." Tino explained, "Nearly two hundred years in Italy and I can't imagine anywhere else, regardless of the sun." Suddenly, Lily felt nauseous. When she pulled away from Tino, he let her go, watching her lean towards a nearby trash bin as she heaved her guts out.
"The nerves make sense." Tino said from his seat. Taking her arm and wiping her mouth, Lily stayed leaning over as her eyes glared back to him, "I'm not nervous." She groaned, spitting into the bin again as she kept her matted hair out of her face. Standing upright she sighed, her head pounding even harder now that she just puked her guts out. "Water?" Lily asked. Tino stood up, making his way to a fridge in the room as the light beamed out of it. "Beer, wine... juice..." He listed aloud for her to choose. With a discouraging chuckle, Lily rubbed her eyes. Of course there was no water. Why would vampires need bottles of water? "No alcohol." Lily requested, rubbing her forehead as she began walking back to her chair.
Tino noticed her slight limp as he placed a bottle of orange juice at her side. While he was still standing up, he helped himself to the view of the top of Lily's head as he stood over her, taking a deep breath in as he realized where the mouth watering smell was coming from. Lily flinched when Tino touched her head, not realizing he was right there again. "Sorry." He said, humming as he saw the ugly gash and giant goose egg that was growing in front of his eyes. He walked across the room, opening the door as he left. Lily glanced behind her shoulder and didn't think much of it. Grabbing the bottle of orange juice, she cracked it open and chugged at it, thankful to have the bitter taste of vomit leave her mouth as she swished it around. "Ugh," She groaned, hearing Tino come back into the room, "The pulp is a bit much." Lily complained.
Tino had a smirk across his face, a small bottle of superglue in his hand that he'd left the room to retrieve, walking back to his bag at Lily's side as he took out some alcohol wipes and began cleaning up the wound on her head. Wincing from the burn of the alcohol, Lily tried to stay quiet and not seem like such a wimp, but it hurt. Tino opened the tiny bottle of super glue on the table in front of them. "Woah, you're not putting that in my scalp." Lily argued, her voice sounding hoarse all of a sudden. She pulled back as she stared furious eyes up his way.
He shrugged his shoulders down at her, "Afraid stitches aren't something required here, Lily." Tino lifted the bottle in the air, "This is the best we've got if it means stopping that gash from bleeding, which, trust me, is in your best interest. I'm not even hurt and my mouth's watering at the smell of it." With an instant huff of defeat and her stomach turning even more, Lily moved her head back down, placed it in her hand as she leaned against the table and let Tino glue her wound shut. Maybe she was nervous.
Tino cleaned up the dried blood the best he could as he offered her another wipe for her forehead and side of her face, sitting back down at her side as he remembered seeing her limp just moments before. He leaned down, grabbing at her one foot, her boots still on as he rotated them each way and waited for her to wince. He softly squeezed the areas and felt her one swollen ankle. Lily stared down at him as he examined her ankles, "So are you a doctor or something?" "Something like that." He said, rotating her foot one more time time as he sat back up into his chair, "Used to be. Long time ago. Good thing human biology hasn't evolved since I stopped practicing." He smiled politely as he kept going at her fingerprinting that they hadn't finished. "He noticed her pale complexion and wondered if she was going to vomit again, "Only natural to be scared. Being the only human in a building full of desperate vamps." He said, pressing another finger down against the paper before flipping it and pressing the same finger down again on a different section.
That thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Shaking her head, she watched her fingerprints transfer on to the paper, "I was scared of everyone burning to a crisp not.." Her words stopped as Tino's eyes moved up to her, finishing her sentence with his own thoughts, "A bunch of vampires, starving and fighting for their lives and then you being the only blood pumping thing in the room?" He placed her next finger against the ink pad again.
"Guess I should've thought of that." Lily admitted, feeling a bit stupid. He laughed, "Yeah. You should've."
Seamus' furious order to have them leave immediately made sense to Lily. It was likely he didn't think it was a good idea for Lily to stick around, and it has been clear that Cassidy had agreed with him given the speed he'd gotten them out of there.
"Too brave for your own good." Tino stated, his eyes back on the papers in front of them as he worked his way through the many pages that had to be stamped.
With her minimal energy left, Lily pressed her lips into a straight line, "No need to mock me." Her tired voice croaked out, "I know, I feel stupid." Tino's eyes moved back up to hers, a smile across his handsome face as his silver eyes twinkled at her, "I'm not. It's unusual for a human to be so ridiculously ballsy and calm given the situation." He looked back at the papers in front of him as he moved onto her last finger on her right hand, "Well," He groaned, "Unusual is a bit of an understatement."
"I've been through a whole lot of fucked up recently, Val." Lily stated, clearing her groggy throat, "This is just another day." With his eyes flickering up at hers playfully he kept his smirk hidden.
When he reached his hand out for her to give him her left hand, he began inking her thumb. There were several seconds of silence, which was the most since Valentino first summoned Lily to follow him, and it felt wrong. "Has anyone not been able to make a recovery?" Lily asked, her fragile voice squeaking a bit as her tone lowered quieter. Valentino kept going at her fingerprints as he let out a sigh, "Not sure yet."
Lily's mind wandered, remembering how much carnage there'd been. So many of them had looked similar if not worse to what Cassidy had looked like the one time he'd been lit up - back when he'd shown Jesse he was a vampire. Valentino's voice pulled her out of her stroll down memory lane, "Damn it." He stated, staring at the engagement ring on her finger that caught his eye, "Guess my chances just got a bit thinner."
With her brow lowering as she slumped in her chair with her hand still in his, she dragged her tired eyes up to his, "You got a thing for battered up humans, too?"
Valentino finished off the last finger on her left hand, "Something about the vulnerability I guess." He teased mockingly. Lily sat up a little more, waving her free hand out towards his stuff strewn across the table top at their side, "Do you have any forms in that handy briefcase of yours for me to submit a sexual harassment complaint?" She scoffed smartly. "No," He huffed, pulling out a large plastic tube, "But I have this, and I need your saliva in it."
"You're really going all out." Lily stated, spitting into the tube until it reached the line on it. Tino grabbed it from her, sealing it and placing it with everything else he'd done, tapping at the laptop at his side.
"Are you guys gonna clone me?" She asked, her minimal energy left making her smartass sarcastic tone harder to pick up. "Part of this is just to finish the whole process Seamus has started for you. We have to gather every bit of you that could be traced around the world and make sure we get rid of its existence." He explained, referring to Lily's new identity, "The other parts are just making sure you're alright after the whole fiasco at the social."
Nodding, Lily leaned her head into her hand against the table again. "You gonna be okay if I take some blood?" Tino asked, "Or are you gonna spew your guts out again?" Lily shook her head, "No, I'm fine." She held an arm out as Tino quickly did what he had to to gather a small tube of her blood. Lily took a deep breath, smelling the earthy scent of what she assumed was Tino's cologne. Her eyes wandered to his head that was in front of her, his black hair slicked back perfectly with a streak of white in it she failed to notice right away. His facial hair was perfectly groomed and his complexion was bronze. It was unusual to see a vampire fit the description of tall, dark and handsome. He sealed the small tube as he placed a bandage over her poke from the needle.
"Take your top off." Tino said.
With her head raising up a bit, the sudden statement grabbed her out of her own train of thought as she looked at him with a scrunched face. He shrugged his shoulders at her deer in headlights stare, "I need to do an EKG on you." He reached for a bundle of cords, "Make sure your ticker is ticking properly." With her face relaxing, Lily felt her heart racing up to her throat. He let out a deep exhale, "You could've started with that." Lily glanced down at her torn and dirty attire, reaching her arms up as she took off her top, hoping her heart would slow its pace before the EKG picked up how flustered she'd just gotten at his request. Valentino let out a cackle as he untangled the cords, "Where's your mind at, Lily?" He scolded playfully.
"Shit." She swore out loud by accident, realizing he didn't need an EKG device to notice her heart racing. "What?" He asked. "Nothing." She stated, "Nothing." Feeling her cheeks get hot at how stupid she was being, she cursed her exhausted state.
Feeling and hearing her heart pick up the pace, he knew she was flustered. Valentino kept his mouth shut against all desires to give her a hard time, but he refrained. She was in enough discomfort already. He left her alone to squirm on the inside, sticking the EKG pads all over her as he dragged the cords connected to the small machine, and then his laptop as he looked at it. He studied the reading from the EKG for a minute before he nodded, hitting a few keys before turning to her with a smile, "Alright. Looks good." He said, holding his hand out to get her to take off the pads stuck to her.
Lily had just begun putting her top back on when Cassidy walked in. "T!" Cassidy exclaimed loudly, holding his arms out as a grin spread across his face, "Wot in the Hell is a pervert like you doin' alone wit my girl?" He hollered, striding towards them, "Topless, no less." It was clear Cassidy's energy was revived. Though his skin was still bumpy on his burnt side, he looked a Hell of a lot better than Lily did.
"Proinsias." Valentino shouted back, standing up and meeting him halfway, "Good to see you." They hugged, smacking at each others backs as Tino shook him once playfully, "So bold of you to dub me the pervert when you're the one who's a hundred years older than your girlfriend- Oh," Tino said, pulling away from their hug as he looked at Proinsias, "Fiancé, I mean." He corrected, "Congratulations." Cassidy slapped Tino's shoulder, "Thanks." His eyes eagerly made their way to Lily as he smiled at her. Cassidy stepped quickly to Lily's side, grabbing her shoulder as he kissed her head softly, "So?" Cassidy asked. Tino nodded, finding his place back towards his chair he'd been sitting in and standing beside the table, "She's got a nasty concussion." Tino explained, "Confusion, groggy, vomiting, very mouthy."
"That's shite." Cassidy groaned sympathetically, "But the mouthy part is good." He raised his brows, looking at Lily with enthusiasm, and thankful to hear she still had her spark, no matter how exhausted she looked. Lily's eyes were glued to Tino as she shook her head, "Confusion?" Lily asked somewhat defensively, "At what point did you diagnose me with confusion?"
"I know everything that happened at the social from what Seamus gathered already. The only reason I had you explain it all to me again when we first sat down was just to see if your cognitive ability to recall things correctly stayed accurate. It didn't." Before Lily could open her mouth to interject, Valentino continued, his tone like a teacher scolding a student, "You also misunderstood a few statements during the exams, don't you recall?" He said innocently enough, but Lily knew he was making a mischievous threat. Lily felt her words get lost, staring at Valentino as she remembered just moments before when she'd acted like a flustered school girl.
Thankfully, Tino continued talking before Lily made an idiot of herself, "You're concussed. You took a wall to the head." He explained, "Consider yourself in the best case scenario for that." Lily's eyes were stuck to Valentino's, giving a simple nod as Cassidy spoke up, "So wot?" He asked, "She can't sleep, then?" Tino shook his head, "The concussion isn't that severe. She can sleep. I would say that's probably the best thing for her." Sleep sounded good, but Lily could think of something a million times better, and her mouth watered at the thought. She couldn't wait for a dose of Cassidy's blood.
Tino glanced at his laptop at his side, reading from it, "Other than that, she's got some bumps and bruises. A nasty gash on her head, a sprained ankle, a killer rack-" Tino listed. Lily felt her blood run cold as Tino made a crude statement about her in front of Cassidy. Tino groaned, "Oops, didn't mean to put that in there." He pretended to remove it from his documentation as Cassidy raised his hand from behind him. Lily felt like time stopped for a moment, staring at Cassidy's hand in the air as she remembered the thunderous blows of what two vampires in a scrap looked like.
As if she was bracing for impact herself, Lily tensed up in her seat, surprised to see the impact of Cassidy's smack land playfully at Tino's shoulder while they burst out into a deafening cackle.
"No, leave that in." Cassidy urged, pointing a finger at the computer screen, "It's a good rack, yer right." Lily's face scrunched in confusion and a bit of disgust at the two of them bantering back and forth. She was thankful the pads for the EKG were not still on her. Not that it mattered. Both Cassidy and Valentino could tell her heart was racing, well, they would've been able to tell if they weren't consumed by one another's playful crudity.
"Excuse me." Lily said, "I feel like my head's going to explode. So if we're done here-" Cassidy and Valentino seemed to snap out of their inappropriate banter once they glanced back at the state Lily was in again. "Ya." Cassidy said, back at her side as he helped her up to her feet. Tino sighed, standing in front of them, "We don't have anything for pain here, Proinsias. But I'll be sure to get some things brought in. Next run someone makes."
Lily hadn't even thought about that. Of course they wouldn't have simple pain relievers here. If a vampire had any kind of injury they'd drink blood to heal. With her mouth watering and her head pounding harder, Lily was thankful that Cassidy's blood did wonders for her. She could hardly wait for the relief. With a huff, Cassidy nodded his head, tapping Valentinos back, "Thanks, T." He said, warm smiles exchanged between the two of them. Valentino's metalic eyes glistened at Lily, showing his entertainment from the interaction. He tilted his head towards the gun Lily had placed on the table, urging her to take it. She slapped her hand on the pistol and tucked it away before she followed Cassidy, giving Valentino a polite smile as her eyes moved away from his quickly.
Lily let out a deep breath when they closed the doors from the conference room, "I cannot wait to hit that bed at the hotel, I'm gonn-" Before Lily could finish her thought, she was startled by Seamus' voice directly behind them.
"Everythin' smooth?" He asked as they stood in the hallway. Cassidy hadn't seemed at all surprised by Seamus' appearance, having heard him before they'd even left the conference room. "Yea, mostly." Cassidy stated, sticking a hand in his pocket and the other around Lily, "Are we done 'ere?"
Seamus shook his head, "Y'can't leave. Not jus yet."
Lily let her eyes move to Cassidy, who's lip pressed into a straight line as he nodded. He was afraid of that, but he certainly was not arguing with Seamus' request. Seamus nodded back, his eyes moving to Lily briefly before he looked to Cassidy again, "Find a room. I'll call if I need."
At this point, Liyl didn't care where she passed out. Somehow it was even nicer they didn't have to leave to get back to the hotel. Cassidy held the elevator door open for Lily as he watched her slight limp and grabbed her hand. He waited for the elevator to go down several levels, to be sure no one could hear him before he spoke, and even then, his tone was quieter than usual. He leaned into Lily, "Wot'd you tell 'im?"
Lily's words were hoarse and slow, "I just told him everything that happened, and did all the fingerprint stuff, spit stuff, EKG stuff.." Cassidy shook his head as the elevator continued down, "No, not Val. Seamus." With her eyes so heavy it was hard keeping them open, "Oh." Lily sighed, rubbing at her face as she pulled her hair out of the way, "I told him I had nothing to do with the attack, and that I had a vision." Her droopy eyes looked up at him at her side as his cloudy eyes searched her face briefly, "Did you show 'im?" Cassidy asked, "Did y'show 'im wot ye can do?"
Lily shook her head softly as the elevator door opened. She followed Cassidy as he took her hand.
"Why not?!" Cassidy exclaimed, "Wot better way t'prove yerself-" Lily rolled her eyes lazily, "Oh, yea, and then what?" Her voice cracked, "Something else comes up in his head that I didn't intend to see and I risk him getting pissed when something goes wrong?" Lily shook her head, "Not a chance." They turned at the end of the hallway, "I don't even know how I do the things I've been doing.." Lily continued, stopping behind Cassidy as he opened a door into a room, "Last thing I want is to press my luck with the president of vampires-" Her words stopped as she looked into the room they went into. It was nice enough. It had its own bathroom which was nice, but it was missing a very crucial thing. The thing Lily was looking forward to most, "Where's the bed?" Lily asked flatly, peeking her head in as if it was hiding somewhere. With a huff, Cassidy closed the door behind him, "No need fer beds." He stated with a sympathetic smile.
Nodding, Lily had to remind herself that vampires didn't have to sleep, even if Cassidy seemed to enjoy sleeping himself, "Alright." Her eyes caught the sight of two armchairs as she made her way to them. Before she could even do it herself, Cassidy had already seemed to read her mind as he pushed them together. She sat against the armrest of the chairs that were pushed together and hunched over as she turned to him at her side, "We're supposed to meet back with Jesse and Tulip in a couple days... or tomorrow?" She groaned, she arched her back as she looked for her phone, "What day even is it?" Glancing at her phone for the date and time, she was surprised to see any cellular service this deep into the ground.
Cassidy had been rifling through the room for things to make it more comfortable for Lily, "We're prolly not gonna be able to leave fer a couple days." Cassidy explained, his head inside of the closet in the room, "Let's jus get some rest. We're safe 'ere, n'we can figure out what we're doing-" When he turned around, he heard the dial tone from Lily's phone across the room. Lily was already calling Jesse, "Are y'gonna tell 'im where we are?" Cassidy asked curiously, stepping quickly towards her. He didn't want to tell Lily to lie to her brother and Tulip, but it was best if they didn't know any details.
"Are you kidding me?" Lily scrunched her face, taking off her disgusting boots and jeans, "No." There was no sense panicking Jesse, and Lily wasn't much in the mood for a million more questions. Cassidy released a sigh of relief.
"Hey, Jess, how's it going?" Lily asked, sitting on the armrest of her make-shift armchair bed. Her brother's groggy voice answered on the other side, "Good, Lil, but it's about 3:00AM and you caught me kind of in the middle of... sleeping.. well, trying to. My damn head's killing me."
Lily felt her words get stuck, not wanting Jesse to know that his head was pounding, likely due to her getting a heavy brick hurtled directly at her head. She glanced at her open hand, relieving the ugly black scar that their grandmother had made on them when they first got to Angelville.
"Been tossing and turning all night." Jesse continued as he groaned, finally catching on as he sat up a little more in the bed he laid in, "Wait," He cleared his groggy throat, "What's going on?" He instinctually squeezed his hand with the scar they shared that seemed to connect them in ways they could not understand. "Nothing." Lily said quickly, "Nothing, everything's fine. Too fine." She lied, "Cass and I are just having such a good time.." With her hand rubbing her head she shook it at herself, "I know we were supposed to get together within the next day or so but, can we get an extension on this... uh, vacation time? Or whatever this is."
Jesse sighed sleepily, "Lil-" With another groan, she could hear her brother shifting his body in the bed he laid in, "You're a grown woman. You don't need to ask me permission to spend more time doing what you wanna do." He laid his head back down, rubbing his face as he cursed the insane amount of alcohol and cigarettes he'd smoked the night before, putting the blame for his pain on the vices himself and Tulip had over indulged in.
Cassidy watched Lily and listened to the conversation intently. With her brow narrowing, Lily was a bit confused at Jesse's relaxed demeanor, but she didn't dare bring up the what about God question.
"3am huh?" Lily sighed, "I thought Vegas doesn't sleep."
"Vegas didn't sleep. For the first few days at least." Jesse coughed on the other side of the phone, "That's probably why I finally am starting to feel like I got hit by a truck." Lily hummed softly, a small smile across her lips, "Sorry to wake you. Bye Jess." "Bye Lil." When the call ended, Lily practically collapsed onto her armchair bed, her legs propped completely up as only her top part of her body fit on the actual cushioning of the chairs.
Cassidy stared down at Lily, stripped down to her undergarments as she let out a sigh of relief as if she wasn't laying in the world's most uncomfortable position. "Ye look like total shite." He whispered. With no more energy left to banter with him, she lazily groaned, turning her head slightly as she kept her eyes shut. With his hand finding the top of her head and trailing down her forehead, "I can't." He stated, "I can't give-" With her brow narrowing, Lily pried her stinging eyes open and stared at Cassidy with confusion. One thing Lily knew for sure was that Cassidy jumped at the first chance he got to give her his blood. The fact he wouldn't was more concerning than it was confusing.
Before Cassidy could explain, his phone rang, when he answered it, Lily was surprised to see him hand it to her. "Seamus." Cassidy said.
Lily didn't move from her spot, "Hello?" She said with Cassidy's phone pressed against her ear.
"You have a history with weaponry." Seamus stated more than asked, something Lily assumed he'd learned from digging into her past that had to be cleared. "Yeah, I do." Lily said, looking up at Cassidy with her droopy, tired eyes. She listened to Seamus take a deep breath on the other side of the phone, "Come up 'ere as soon as ye can."