“Lily, we have to talk whether you want to or not,” he said and Lily hissed at him.
“Look at me old man. I’m not your little girl anymore. I’m a monster and you can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do!” She said, making sure he got a good look at her fangs. He gave her an unimpressed look just like he did when she was little and would be acting out. It just made her all the angrier.
“What are you going to do when you have A. J? Run back to the Aequivalere or what you think is the Aequivalere? That may not be an option anymore. I’m sure if you asked Dorin he’d tell you he hasn’t been able to get in contact with anyone there,” He explained and she was a little taken back.
“I hate to say it but I think we should hear what he has to say,” James said, giving Lily a sympathetic look. She scowled at him then sighed.
“Fine! Whatever! Say what you have to say,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.
“We need to wait a few hours until nightfall so I can speak with Dorin but in the mean time I would like to explain myself and I did come bearing gifts,” her biological father said.
“I don’t give a damn about what you’ve got to say or any gifts you may have brought,” Lily told him bluntly.
“Oh I think you do,” He said then shouted, “Right Buddy.” Lily turned her head to the bathroom then back to Bill. “In there is the vampire who had your son.” Lily’s lip curled in a snarl as she marched to the door. Well, damn if he wasn’t right. That did interest her. She ripped open the door and paused. Charlie, tied up and gagged, laid in the bath tub. Charlie? It couldn’t be. She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
“What were you doing with my son,” She demanded, pulling out the gag.
“Lily, don’t believe that man. He’s crazy old man. I would never hurt your son,” he said, his voice cracking as he spoke. Lily sighed and helped him stand. “Y-you, believe me, don’t you?” He asked and she cut the leather strap wrapped around his feet and helped him out of the tub, all the while giving him a small smile.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, she guided him away from the tub. “You know I trust you, Charlie. I’ve told you things I’ve never told anyone before,” she explained and he relaxed. In a quick burst, Lily grabbed the back of his shirt. He looked at her surprised as she dragged toward the bathroom door. “Last chance,” she said, but kept spilling the same lies. He could see it in his eyes.
His gaze darted away from her as he denied being with her son and she could smell A. J. on him. Lily shrugged and pushed him into the living room. He tried to shield himself from the sunlight of the afternoon as he burned. It wasn’t direct light, but it was enough. “Don’t mind us,” she said with a smile to James and her biological father. Grabbing Charlie, Lily pulled him back into the bathroom. Shutting the door, she kneeled before him and took out the gag. “Now Charlie how about we start again. What were you going to do to A. J.? I can tell when you’re lying so let’s not do that again, alright?”
Charlie’s begging expression changed and a frown replaced it. “Why do you think hybrid,” he snapped. Lily flinched just a hair at the unrecognizable tone his voice had taken and the implied insult. He’d never called her hybrid before. “We had to use the boy to control you. Apparently my time spent on you hadn’t suppressed your monsters as much as we had hoped.” Bitter betrayal swam through her veins.
“So all those sessions when you were supposed to be helping me sort through my shit you were just trying to get me to lock them up?” She asked and his twisted smile was enough to answer for her so she decided to focus on her other questions. “Who’s we?” She demanded and Charlie sent her a snide smirk.
“You really think I’m stupid enough to tell you that?” He replied. Lily sighed dramatically and pinned him with a glare.
“Charlie do you remember what I told you about Xavier? About how I made sure he died slowly? How slice by slice with a silver knife I cut him to pieces? Oh, I don’t know if you know but I killed Bianca. I dismembered her and tortured her so badly that she welcomed the sun. I don’t mind feeling guilty for another horribly slow death at my hands,” She warned him.
He swallowed and if it was possible, he grew paler. “I can’t… if I tell you anything then I will definitely end up dead, dead. All I’ll say is that you didn’t achieve anything from Silvano’s death. If anything you’ve done us a favor,” he explained and Lily scowled at him. She tried to question him further, even threatening to take him back into the living room, but he wouldn’t say any more than Jessie was working with him too.
“Anything?” James asked, and Lily shook her head with a sigh. She rubbed her forehead as she walked up to him, the sting of betrayal growing in her chest. Two of the people she trusted most had just turned stabbed her in the back. She hadn’t felt pain like this in a long time. Not now, she told herself and pushed it all away for another day to deal with.
“Not much, I want to talk to Dorin before I do anything else. Where’s A. J.?” She asked, ready to get her son and go home. If she even had a home anymore. Lily wasn’t sure now what exactly she did have.
“He’s in the bedroom. He’s fine but if you want I’ll go check on him while you talk to your dad,” James offered and once more Lily scowled.
“He’s not my dad. Andrew is my dad and I have nothing to talk with him,” she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. James crossed his arms as well over his chest and gave her a look. “What? It’s true. I don’t care what he’s got to say!”
“Lily, we have to talk,” Bill started and she hissed at him. James uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“Don’t be a brat and hear what he has to say,” James told her then had the audacity to kiss her on the cheek. Lily narrowed her eyes at him and glared as he walked off to his bedroom. She turned her glare to Bill, her eyes narrowing even more.
“Fine, speak old man. Let’s hear your pathetic excuse,” She said with a huff and walked into the kitchen to get a beer, forcing him to follow her.
“I don’t remember you being such a smart ass,” Bill said, taking the beer out of her hands and taking a drink. She gave him a fanged hiss and got another one. “You remember how things were just before your mom left,” he asked and Lily made a quick dry laugh.