It had taken a bit longer that Lilith would have liked to get Carlisle into the basement. Most of her rescue party was under the influence, and Lilith had spent most of her time wondering how it was that she was still standing. Between Grandpa John, Carlisle, and Miles - the young woman had drunk two full bottles of alcohol over the course of roughly seven hours. Adrenaline in her veins or not - she was still very much drunk.

With the group coming back upstairs, Lilith had broken away from the party to stand by the snacks table once more. Now feeling the munchies coming on, she had been eating on some of the various chips before her empath abilities seemed to pick up on what could only be described as outsiders. Part of Lilith’s ability was being able to sense familiar emotions, and the ones that she felt right now - full of anger and aggression - belonged to none of the Coven.

The realisation made every hair stand on her arms as she looked up just in time to make eye contact with a stranger walking through the door.

In her drunken state, Lilith couldn’t deny the fact that the man was attractive. Tan skin, dark eyes, and what kind of magic was he working on his hair? Lilith really needed to learn that glamour spell. Or maybe she just needed better hair products. Either way, seeing the werewolves behind him made Lilith’s body and mind shift into high alert once more this evening. The more the stranger spoke, the more anger Lilith felt rising to the surface.

Seeing the werewolves behind him, Lilith allowed the man to continue on his power trip long enough for her to raise her personal shield. A faint blue glow now surrounded the young woman's body, her hands held behind her back as shadows began to swirl in her palms. As the man introduced himself as Lucien Crowe, Lilith felt a chill run through her body once more as her eyes flicked back to meet his. Glaring daggers at the man, Lilith now wrapped her hands around her shadow weapon of choice - a baseball bat.

Lilith had only heard Victor briefly mention his brother on a few occasions - but the information that she did have on the other man was enough to let her know that Lucien should not be here. More importantly, he shouldn’t be anywhere near Victor. Hero complex and personal loyalty now in full swing, it took every fiber of Lil’s being not to claw at Luciens flesh after he had winked. If there was one thing Lilith always hated to be seen as, it was some weak, feeble minded girl - and Lucien was making her feel anything but.

At Lucien’s mention of harming the Coven, Victor seemed to take over for a brief moment. Lilith watched as her friend froze one of the werewolves in their tracks, the spectacle making her raise her brows both out of impression and shock. Lilith had always known that Victor was powerful - but it was a rare thing for her to see his powers in full swing. Nonetheless, she was appreciative and impressed with what Victor had done. Hearing her friend's words, Lilith took that as a go ahead to go absolutely feral on the piece of shit before her.

The truth was - Lilith didn’t hate men. Sure, she made jokes and she avoided them like the plague, but not all of them were bad. Her grandfather was proof enough of that. Standing there listening to Lucien speak, watching him try and start a dick swinging contest, a small smirk formed on her face. Victor was right to mention that Lucien was arrogant.

Raising the bat in both hands, Lilith raised it above her right shoulder before swinging with all of her might and connecting with the right side of Lucien's face.

How fucking dare you, she thought.

Lucien tried to lean back to avoid the shot. But it was no use as it connected and knocked his whole body to the side. He stumbled a few steps before stopping a metre or so away from Lilith, a nasty smirk on his lips. "Wow, someone is angry? Guessing you didn't think I would be able to get to you all that easily?" With that Lucien focused his energy and projected his mind forward to try and probe into Lilith's mind, seeing if he could somehow find an opening.

His comment had only made Lilith that much more enraged as she raised the bat and swung once more. She could feel her shield flickering around her, but the emotions running through her body were too strong for her to focus on anything else. Lilith had needed an outlet for her emotions for a while now, and it seemed as if Lucien had showed up at just the right time. Lilith had taken the barrier falling personally. That was her great grandmother's barrier, after all, and now the barrier had become Liliths baby over the years. Lilith truly felt that Lucien had endangered every aspect of her family in every form that he could find. He had petrified Carlisle, and John was dying - though that wasn’t Lucien's fault. Even still, she found herself shifting the blame momentarily. Regardless of anything she had going on in her personal life, however, Lilith wasn’t going to just stand there and let Victor be taken away.

As the bat collided with Lucien for a second time, Lilith felt the barrier around her collapse. She didn’t have time to inspect herself for damages - all she knew is that she didn’t feel any. Not yet.

”Fuck you,” she growled through gritted teeth.

"You aren't as strong as I…" Before he could even finish he got hit by a double whammy. The unsuccessful mind probe bounced back and hit himself, only to get smashed by the shadowbat a second time, this time drawing a hefty amount of blood from his mouth and causing his vision to blur. He coughed slightly as he struggled to compose himself.

Seeing Lucien stunned, Lilith let the bat dissipate from her hands as she held her palms down by her sides, facing them towards the floor.

Maybe she wasn’t as strong as another witch in their prime, but she was Lilith. More importantly, she was a Montgomery. Reminding herself of the facts, the brunette focused her concentration on the pit of energy growing in her stomach. The lights in the main room began to flicker, the chandelier shaking. Shadows seemed to float into the house, being pulled from outside as they formed shapes. Soon, there were five skeletal warriors standing behind Lilith, various forms of ancient weaponry in their hands. As they clicked and chattered in their own language, Lilith found herself blending in with the small army as they surrounded her, pushing her to the back of the crowd.

Lilith might have been a power hungry, angry, drunken bitch in that moment - but she wasn’t stupid. On a sober day, she would have happily continued to beat Lucien until there was nothing left of him or herself left to be found. For now, however, the Coven still needed her.

Lucien had recovered, only to see Lilith summon henchmen and begin to retreat into the crowd. He raised his left arm, firing off a small fireball towards one of the chattering skeletons. He took a step forward to attempt to give chase to Lilith. "Don't you want to know how I did it?" He said, clearly trying to fill his own ego.

”The only thing I want to know is why my grandfather hasn’t already killed you himself,” she called back, still hiding behind her army.

Lilith knew how her emotions worked. If she stayed in Lucien's vicinity for long enough - she would kill him. Would she be walking away herself? Only the gods knew that. But what Lilith did know was that if she was going to Hell - Lucien was coming with her.

Now doing the best that she could to cast her projectile shield in front of herself and her comrades, Lilith slowly continued to creep backwards.

"Telling you would ruin the fun. But I will say one thing" Lucien waited until Lilith's eyes were looking directly into his. "Be careful who you trust. One of your own isn't a loyal as you think" With that Lucien would take several steps back, clearly not interested in trying to tangle with Lilith anymore. He knew when he was outmatched, plus his head still felt like it had been cracked open.

”Well if anyone would know how to spot a snake in the grass, it would be you, wouldn’t it,” she half mumbled, mostly to herself. Lilith was far too drunk to keep on trying to work her way around Lucien. For now, she would have to let the rest of the Coven go to work.

It seemed Delaney and Miles’ D&M went longer than Miles had thought, that or the coven were weirdly adept at fighting while drunk. When he and Delaney had reentered the temporary battlefield that had become of the main hall Lucien seemed to be far gone from the scene as were the werewolves who’s carcasses didn’t decorate the floor. His dark eyes scanned the scene before him, everyone seemed to be relatively ok but he didn’t really care about anyone else. Miles’ only had 2 things on his list; find booze to numb all that stupid introspection he was once again drawn into then find Lilith. Booze first, babe second he thought to himself, making a mental note of his list before wandering to the drink table. As he came closer to the table he’d come to make out Lilith standing by it. What luck! Both the items on his agenda in one go.

Despite their dwindling numbers there was still a good amount of bottles on the table, ripe for the taking. Miles poured himself half a solo cup of rum before downing almost half of it in one go. With the liquid courage quickly coursing through his veins Miles walks the small distance to Lilith. ”Y’know, baseball bats suit you,” he slurs, giving her right shoulder a squeeze.

After her encounter with Lucien, Lilith had stood in a daze as she watched him recall his small army and disappear into the night. Eyes still glued onto the scene in the backyard through the doorway, there she stood frozen. The rush of adrenaline was dissipating, leaving her alone with the mind and body numbing effects of anxiety and alcohol.

Mind still locked in defense mode, Lilith did what Lilith did best when someone randomly touched her - she attacked.

Quickly grabbing onto the bat once more with both hands, the brunette swung and connected with her target. It only took her a few seconds to realize she had fucked up.

”Oh my gods, Miles,” she shouted in shock. ”Dude, I’m so sorry! What the fuck - you can’t just - are you okay?”

In hindsight, touching a post-battle Lilith was probably far from wise but only hindsight was 20/20 and nothing said hindsight like a baseball bat to the gut. As she made contact Miles couldn’t help but let a guttural grunt escape him as he doubled over, dropping his solo cup in the process. The cup fell to the floor, the remaining of the light brown liquid sloshing at his feet. ”Mm-hm,” he groans, giving her a meek thumbs up from an arm wrapped around his now very raw stomach.

”When… I said… it looked good… on you… I didn’t mean… I wanted to be… a victim,” he replies, attempting to jest with the woman but the attack had winded him and the words struggled to come out. For what must have been the hundredth time that evening, he was glad the alcohol itself made him pink as he thought he might nearly die of shame and embarrassment in that moment.

As she watched Miles gasp for air, Lilith let the weapon disappear from her hands. The last thing she had wanted to do right now was hurt Miles - yet she had managed to do so. She could almost feel the cosmos laughing from above.

”In my defense, you can’t just walk around grabbing onto random drunk people,” she responded, doing her best to joke about the situation. ”You didn’t take any other blows tonight, did ya?”

”Most random drunks can’t-” Miles takes a sharp breath followed by a pained sigh leaving his lips. ”-can’t form a baseball bat out of thin air,” he defends. He straightens himself back up, eliciting a groan as his stomach is reminded of the blow. ”I, uh, that was really my first proper blow for the night. Guess I was due for a hit, hey? How are you holding up?”

Nodding as she looked him up and down from head to toe, she was glad to find that Miles didn’t appear any more injured than he already was. Turning her attention to the drink table, she began to make him another drink to replace the one he had fumbled. Reaching for the bottle of rum, she sighed. ”I’m fine. Pretty sure there’s some weird target on my back, but we’re Gucci over here.”

Taking a drink out of the solo cup herself before handing it to him, she rolled her eyes while being hit with another realization. ”And I guess someone has to go and see if dumbass is alive,” she grumbled.

”A target on your back in like a ‘the universe is mocking you’ kinda way or ‘there’s someone out to get you’ kinda way?” Miles questions, taking the new cup from her. He raises the cup in her direction before taking a drink from it himself. When Lilith mentioned Carlisle Miles choked on the tail end of his sip. For a while there he’d forgotten about Carlisle, or at least about his state frozen in place. Miles couldn’t help but hope he wasn’t privy to outside events or he would have a massive cheek bruise to answer for. Regardless, he did want to see his friend at some point. ”Want me to come with?” he offers

”Mostly the latter, still trying to figure out the former.” she responded, her brow furrowing as she spoke. ”I don’t think Lucien is finished with whatever that was, and his arrogance definitely isn’t finished with me,” she sighed.

Pondering over his question for a moment, a thousand small scenarios ran through the young woman's mind. Were here and Carlisle even still friends at this point? Had Lilith indirectly ruined his and Miles’s relationship as well? Would Carlisle even look at her as long as she remained - at the very least - cordial with Miles? Hell - was he even alive?

With a defeated expression, Lilith reached into her skirt pocket and fumbled around for the key to the basement. Shrugging her shoulders, the brunette nodded towards their exit.

”You’ll be a great buffer if he starts his shit up again.”

”Great, so I’m the human meat shield, I see how it is,” Miles replies with a chuckle, downing the rest of his drink. He gives a sigh before turning to the door. ”Alright, let’s hope he’s still sane,” Miles muses before leaving to accompany Lil to Carlisle's temporary cage.

You’re a lot more than that, Lilith thought.

Laughing at his comment and leading the way, Lilith bobbed and weaved through the crowd to get to their destination. Thankful that it wasn’t a long walk, she struggled with the door knob before finally unlocking it. Twisting the handle and going to push the door open, Lilith looked concerned as it barely moved and hit something behind it. Trying once more, she pushed up against it with her shoulder this time - putting more weight behind it. Huffing in drunken frustration, she turned to Miles.

”Can you try? I think the doors stuck.”

”Yeah, sure” Miles replies. He puts a bit of pressure on the door, finding it was indeed stuck. Odd, he didn’t remember anyone leaving anything on the top of the stairwell as they left after dropping off Carlisle. With a shrug he rams the door with his shoulder causing it to fly open and obviously sending whatever was behind it down a few steps, evident from the ]thump thump thump that echoed down the steps.

Carlisle had just reached the door to leave this cursed basement. It has taken him at least ten minutes to just climb the stairs. Every step felt like he had ran an entire marathon. Only to then have the door smash into him with enough force that he fell backwards and tumbled all the way down the stairs. With a heavy groan he lay on the floor. He was far too tired to even check for damage.

”Owwwwww”

It wasn’t until the yelp of pain echoed up the stairs did Miles realise what- or more accurately who- was in front of that door. He sucked in his bottom lip for a moment as the fact he had once again damaged Carlisle hit him. ”Oooooooo, sorry bud!” he calls down the stairs. At least Carlisle wasn’t dead.

Looking back and forth from Miles to the staircase, Lilith shrugged her shoulders once more. ”At least he’s alive, I guess,” she mumbled, beginning her descent.

Carlisle looked up and he saw Lilith walking down the stairs. ”I did it! I broke the curse. May have gone a little too hard though” He said with a soft cough, trying to sit up a bit. ”The astral plane is a weird place. I met so many strange people!”

Miles begins his careful descent down the stairs, being sure to remain a few steps behind Lilith lest he trips and slips down a couple. When Carlisle mentions breaking the curse Miles calls out a simple cheer, pumping the air with his fist. ”Good on you, Car!”

”Glad you managed to figure something out,” Lilith replied. Once she had gotten to the bottom of the stairs, she waited for Miles to finish walking down before taking a seat on the bottom step. Lilith was honestly in shock that she hadn’t fallen down the stairs herself, seeing as how her legs felt like drunken noodles.

’I’m just gonna come right out the gate and say it,” she began, throwing her hands up in the air before letting them fall into her lap. ”The barrier is fucked, and Victors cousin attacked the Coven.” Tilting her head to the side in thought, she narrowed her eyes. ”And I think the coven has a spy.”

Carlisle rubbed his head as Lilith spoke. Lots of words. His brain took a moment to process them. ”Alright… Thanks for covering. I will deal with everything from here” He tried to get back up, only to fall onto his knees. ”You know, I met some interesting people. I met this guy, called Charon. He is like the traveler who carries people from life and death.”

Lilith scoffed, blowing off the comment about how he said he would handle things. Miles took his place on the stairs right above her - something that oddly gave Lilith a sense of protection.

”That makes sense,” she responded to the half end of what he had said. ”You were almost dead, and he’s the Ferryman for the Greeks so….” Sighing once more, she continued. ”Look - if I’m being honest I really don’t want to hear about your travels. I just needed to see if you were alive for everyone else's sake.”

Hearing her words, even in his exhausted state, Carlisle could hear the lack of enthusiasm. He had almost forgotten how they had parted ways earlier. With a small sigh he looked at Lil. ”I know before I got frozen we were on… thin ice, putting it mildly. I was acting like a child. And in all honesty, it was such a dick move. Can’t exactly be a friend if you aren’t there for them” He wasn’t expecting it to gloss over what had happened, but it was at least a start.

”Charon showed me something as well. He showed me, you and MIles on the sofa in the sitting room, and how close you were getting. Not that it matters. You look good together. But you mentioned your grandpa. Is it true?”

Listening as he spoke, Lilith knew that Carlisle was trying to apologize in his own way - but she didn’t want to hear it. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Miles, she would have just unlocked the door to the basement and walked away. Instead, she was now sitting on the stairs, listening to him ramble on about nearly pointless shit.
She had zoned out for a moment, focusing on the various items hidden in the shadows until Carlisle mentioned her and Miles. Her eyes flicked back to see him sitting on the floor - vulnerable and injured. He was an easy target at the moment - and Lilith would have had no problems striking. At his mention of her grandfather, Lilith glared at him. She knew how the Astral Plane worked, and that you often stumbled upon things that you didn’t mean to. Even still, she felt as though Carlisle had been digging in and snooping around in her life again.

”What does it even matter to you,” she snipped.

Sensing an even more hostile tone, Carlisle raised his hands in a surrendering motion to show that he didn’t mean any harm. ”Charon was trying to show me how happy you and Miles were together. And then you mentioned it. I am so sorry. I should have been an adult and been there for you. I know I have failed in the past. But if I can do anything to help in anyway, You just need to ask” He knew that in her current mood, there was no way that Lil was going to accept this. But He needed to say this.

”I also got to meet your great grandmother Cordelia. I can see where you get your…. Charm from” He said with a slight chuckle. ”She helped teach me more about my powers, and also gave me a few pointers about my personality and how insufferable I am. She also told me about how the universe had put you and Miles together. Found that really sweet.” He knew he was information overloading, but he really wanted to make sure that he was being as honest as he could be.

”The universe put us together, ey?" Miles echoes, looking between Lil and Carlisle. He'd silently been just listening to the conversation. This was more of Lil's conversation to have than his own and the alcohol was making him kinda spacey. In saying that, he couldn't help but be surprised at how well Carlisle was taking Lil and Miles reuniting but saying something about it now would only come across as gloating, and that was the last thing Miles wanted to do ”Look, that was a lot of information in one go, my head's kinda spinning and I'm not really a fan of this place so, uh, can we go back now? Do you need help up the stairs, Car?"

"No no it's fine. I'm fine. I can get backup the stairs myself. I did it once already. Need to go and give myself an energy boost and get the barrier back up and running." Carlisle mumbled as he began to try and get up again.

Lilith simply nodded her head in agreement with Miles. She had never had the chance to meet her great-grandmother while she was alive, but Lilith did know that Cordelia’s reputation preceded her in death. Normally she would have asked Carlisle how the whole interaction had gone - but she was far from in the mood.

”I agree. It smells like mildew down here,” she added, careful not to really respond to either of them. Ready for this conversation to be over, Lilith stood up herself and took a couple of steps so that she stood above Miles before turning around and offering a helping hand.

Carlisle would get upto his feet, using Lilith's assistance. He felt bad for actually having to take the offer of help in the end. He was starting to get the feeling he was nothing but deadweight. As he began to climb the stairs he tried to keep the mood light. "Well, I can give you a magic pro tip: Never try to break a curse on yourself while standing in another dimension. Turns out it is really exhausting and puts your physical body through hell" He tried to chuckle but winced as the motion hurt his ribs.

As Carlisle reached for her hand, Lilith recoiled. The helping hand had been for Miles - not him.

”I’ll do you a magic tip better than that one, Carlisle,” she quipped. ”Never ignore a diviner.”

With the hand being withdrawn, Carlisle leaned far too forward, nearly bowling forward. He managed to stop himself from doing that by holding onto the wall. He carried on walking slowly without the support. He could almost feel the venom coming from Lil and her words. It was clear she was having none of this from Carlisle. Was this what it felt like to be in the doghouse? "Yea… Yeah. You are right. Definitely" His earlier chuckle being replaced with a nervous stammer.

Before Miles could even take hold of Lilith's hand Carlisle grabbed at it. Even now he seemed determined to have Lil. Miles, who had remained in that step below, pulled himself up instead. He did feel bad for Carlisle but the man had turned down help, and Miles was sure the last thing Lil wanted now was him giving his friend that help. He flashed his friend an apologetic smile with a shrug before reaching his hand out toward Lil.

Taking Miles’s hand, Lilith held on to him for the rest of their climb up the stairs. Once they had reached the exit, Lilith turned to Carlisle for a brief moment. Her expression was one that clearly stated that she still didn’t want to be fucked with - but there was something else there too, something that even she couldn’t put her finger on.

”As the last Montgomery, I have duties to this Coven - and you aren’t going to keep me from them because of some spat. As much as I don’t want to, I’m going to go home and find Cordelia’s grimoire over the next few days. If you find out who the spy is - let me know. Do not hesitate to bother me with Coven matters.”

Reaching the top of the stairs, Carlisle’s stammer got worse. Every possible chance she got, Lilith was proving that she really didn’t want to know Carlisle. And it was hurting. Sure he deserved it, but that didn’t lessen the pain he was feeling. In a single day his whole life had been turned upside down. ”Um …. Sure…. Yeah I will let you know if I…um… find anything” He tried his best to smile, but his face was not hiding the pain he was feeling.

Giving him a curt nod, Lilith did her best to force a fake smile herself. ”Excellent. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Miles didn't dare say a word until the pair had left the basement and was somewhat safe from earshot, it felt less like a courtesy to Carlisle but so there was privacy in their moment despite the room before them being full of drunken young adults. ”So apparently even the universe ships us," he slurs with a chuckle, giving Lilith’s hand a squeeze.

”Not that I blame it, as you said yourself, you do adore me," he continues. Miles wasn't sure what to make of all this, he had far too much alcohol pumping into his veins for that, but even in this state he had enough conscious thought going for him to feel almost disappointed when Lil ignored his probing for what she had said about him back outside the house but she definitely had other things on her mind.

”That’s putting it mildly,” Lilith responded to both of his comments simultaneously. They were both far too drunk for Lilith to explain to Miles that she always knew they would end up crossing paths again. Lilith being Lilith, she wasn’t going to drop her guard - even now as she scrunched her face in playful disgust. ”You’re more tolerable than most - I’ll give you that much.”

Observing their surroundings, Lilith was met with the sight of the drinks table for the umpteenth time that night.

”Say - why don’t we take a few of those bottles that are left and find somewhere where people aren’t staring at us or trying to kill me?”

”Gee, what a downgrade,” Miles scoffs playfully, fidgeting with Lilith’s fingers in his hand. He watches as her gaze shifts to the drinks table once more. At her suggestion he gives a small nod ”Well, I know the barrier’s down but that sky’s looking real nice right now. If you can survive another bottle got for it, I’m way too drunk to know what to do if you pass out on me.”

”I might wake up tomorrow - I might not,” she joked, shrugging her shoulders as she closed the short distance between them and the table. Grabbing the last bottle of tequila, she turned back to him with a smile on her face as she laughed. ”And here I was hoping to seduce you. Dammit.”

Lilith let go of his hand just long enough to wrap her arm around his, locking on so that they both had support from each other to walk.

”Ya know,” she said thoughtfully, looking up at him. ”I never thought I’d say it - and it could just be the alcohol poisoning talking - but I’m kind of upset with myself for avoiding you all this time.”

”Only so much seducing you can do from six feet under. And only so much you can do with tequila. Maybe we’ll leave the seducing to me,” he jokes, winking as he holds her arm close to him. A small smile spread across his face. Home. He’d been trying to place the main feeling behind their past few interactions, it felt like he’d come home.

He starts leading Lilith to the door, taking in her words. He hesitated slightly at how to answer. It was less of a question of how to answer and more of a which answer to give. Instead he gives a shrug, ”Gotta say, I’ve never had someone try so hard to avoid me for so long before. Guess I truly am just irresistible,” he jokes with a chuckle. ”Really, though, I missed you,”

Still laughing herself, Lilith elbowed Miles gently in the side. ”Keep on, and I’ll never compliment you again.” Replaying the last of his words over and over in her head, she was glad that they were finally outside in the darkness as the heat rose to her face. Again - it could have just been the alcohol - but Lilith was going to chase this feeling for as long as she could.

”So where is it you’re taking me, exactly? Besides outside, obviously.”

As Lil jokes about never complimenting him again, Miles laughs. ”Ah, there's the LiLi I know and love," he responds. At her next question he shrugs. He hadn't thought that far ahead. ”Beats me, you know as well as I that I'm not that forward thinking. Just… away from the crowd," The pair walk a little longer before Miles nods at a patch of grass seemingly unaffected by the heat of the Summer just gone. ”There?"

Love. There was that word again - and it was the second time he had said it tonight. Walking silently, Lilith decided to blame everything on the alcohol again. There was a large chance that neither she or Miles were going to remember any of this when they woke up the next morning. Even still, she couldn’t help but to keep repeating it in her mind.

Love; What did that even mean?

As her gaze followed his, Lilith shrugged her shoulders and continued on their way. Once reaching their destination, she let go of Miles’s arm and promptly sat down on the grass below. Crossing one leg over the other, she cracked open the bottle of tequila and took a small drink before offering it to Miles. Looking up at the night sky, she quietly sighed.

”You were right. The moon is super pretty tonight.”

When Lilith passes Miles the bottle he takes a swig out of it before passing it back to Lil. His face scrunched up as the liquid swirled around his mouth and down his throat, he was never too fond of tequila but alcohol was alcohol. With that he falls back to lay on his back, eying the stars. He outstretches an arm, inviting Lil to lay on it. How he longed to feel the weight of her head on his chest once again.

Miles remained silent for a moment. In a way he seemed to be thinking to himself but Miles would claim he didn't really have any thoughts in that moment, until one popped in his head. One that made him chuckle, although that may haven't been the right response. ”So, Sunday night, how dead do you reckon I'll be now?" he asks.

With her eyes still glued on the sky, Lilith hadn’t noticed Miles lying in the grass until he had spoken. Seeing him stretched out, a small smirk formed on her face as she thought about his question and settled herself into place. She hadn’t been this close to Miles in a long time, and she didn’t want to do or say anything to scare him away. Placing an arm across his torso, Lilith sighed for the first time tonight in relief.

The truth was that Lilith was terrified of how other people would react when they found out about whatever there was between her and Miles again. She knew that her grandfather wouldn’t be happy about it, and the Coven was an issue all in itself. Not to mention that the way Carlisle had already acted was already bad enough. Laying there listening to his heart beating, Lilith’s brow furrowed. Why did it matter what other people thought?

”Well… hopefully not dead, but I don’t think gramps is going to let you off without a speech at the very least.” Taking a moment to think, it was now Lilith’s turn to laugh. ”You know, I’m pretty sure the only thing that’s saved you all this time is your mom.”

As soon as Lil had made herself comfortable on his chest he instinctively wrapped his arm around her, a contented sigh leaving his lips. His other hand remained tucked under his head and his eyes remained fixed on the sky but even with a couple of inches of distance he could smell Lilith’s hair. Was it Miles’ imagination or did it still smell exactly the same as it did almost 10 years ago?

At Lilith’s closing comment Miles chuckles softly himself. ”There’s probably been a lot of times she’s the only reason I’m alive, honestly. I mean, she said yes to Sunday dinner so there’s little your gramps can do now I guess. My only saving grace the past decade is that they get along.” he says gently before looking down at Lil who was holding him close. He readjusted his head to free his other hand and played with her hair. ”Probably the only reason I was somewhat safe from your wrath too,”

”Hey now,” she jested. ”I only ever got mad at you when you did stupid things like trying to get yourself killed.”

Feeling his fingers in her hair, Lilith closed her eyes momentarily - just soaking in the moment. Miles’s scent of leather, bourbon and musk. The way that the heat radiated off of his body. The thudding of his heartbeat, and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. How could she have been so stupid to think she didn’t still have feelings for him? Here she was, always on her high horse, acting as if she knew everything - when she didn’t know jack shit.

”You don’t think that this… whatever it is… between us… you don’t think I’ll ruin it again, do you?” Alcohol and anxiety now speaking for her, she rolled her eyes in frustration.

Way to kill the mood, dummy.

”Well you'll be proud to know I've gotten better-" he says defensively before mumbling ”At doing the same stupid things,"

Miles enjoyed the silence a moment, a small content smile sat on his face as he kept his eyes on the sky once more. If he was being honest he wasn't sure what this was, what they were. As much as he wanted to believe his proclamation of still loving Lil was enough and as much as he knew their 'drunken words, sober thoughts' mantra had substance he was unsure if it would be enough. He wanted to freeze this moment; Lil lying in his arms under a beautiful night sky with booze to share. At least he'd know Lil was really his, he wasn't sure if either of them would remember enough to be back to lovers in the morning.

That was when Lil spoke up. ”You?" Miles questions, furrowing his brow. The hand that was once massaging her head was removed as he surrounded her with its arm, pulling her slightly into an embrace. He gave an elongated sigh, he wanted to think that talking about his past of cheating was going to be easier now that he opened the jar with Delaney but admitting you messed up to the victim of your ways was a whole new hurt entirely. He didn't want to bring back more bad memories for her. He didn't want to risk losing her again.

”I don't think you were ever the one to ruin us," Miles muses, his voice starting to become shaky despite the stoic mask he was attempting to keep up.

Lilith focused on her breathing and doing the absolute best that she could to keep herself from crying again. It was true that Miles had put them both into some really shitty situations. Even still, Lilith was sure that she had made those situations worse in the end. She was an angry sort - and she knew that too. It was one of the things she hated most about herself.

”Yeah - but I pushed your buttons. Sometimes it was an accident, other times I did it on purpose. You chose to do what you did, but I also chose to stay. I could have reacted better - or not at all. More importantly, I put expectations on you that I knew you could never live up to. And I’m not saying that to be rude it’s just -” Lilith paused for a quick second to catch her breath, not realizing how quickly she had been speaking. ”I can’t keep expecting people to give the same love that I do. It just ends up hurting me and them.”

Propping herself up on her free hand, Lilith reached across Miles to pluck the bottle of tequila from his other hand.
”Hell, Miles. I dunno. Maybe we’re both to blame.”

As Lilith readjusts herself Miles moves his free arm. He remains silent for a moment, pursing his lips. The temptation to just kiss her and take away all her words was overwhelming. Or to fill her with compliments that although were true were to push her away from her talking of uncomfortable things. Old habits die hard. Instead, he waited for Lilith to be done before propping himself up and taking a swig of tequila from the bottle himself.

”Maybe, and this isn’t to discount what I did to you, but maybe we were just dumb teens who didn’t know what they were doing,” Miles responds, taking another sip of tequila, his face scrunching up at the taste once more as it burnt down his throat. He needed all the filterless truth serum he could get to get through his thoughts. ”Look, I don’t know what this is or what it should be or whatever. I just… look, all I know is today made me realise I missed you so much more than I ever thought I would. I know that everytime I tried to have anything with anyone it was just never the same, it just didn’t feel right because it wasn’t you,” he hands the bottle back to Lilith before flopping back on the ground. ”But I also know you deserve someone who’s going to give you the same love you are, you shouldn’t settle. I want to say I will but I’ve betrayed your trust many times before and I’m really way too drunk to be making judgment calls,”

”I’m not asking you to be something that you’re not - just like I’m not asking it of anyone else. I don’t want you to make any decisions, or try and fix my bleeding heart or any of that other dumb shit just…” Taking another drink from the bottle, she looked at him lying there on the ground once more. ”If by chance either of us remember any of this tomorrow - just don’t make me look stupid for trusting you again. Please.”

Miles gave a sigh, rubbing Lilith’s shoulder. How much did he even trust himself to not go and mess this up again anyway? Less than he was willing to admit, that’s for sure, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do all he could. It may have been the alcohol thinking but in that moment he decided he didn’t want to be the same person he was in their relationship all those years ago. He rolls onto his side, his face only inches away from Lilith’s. ”That is the last thing I want to do,” he replies gently, pressing his forehead against hers.

As his words settled into the night air, a small chill ran up her spine. For the first time in a long time - she actually believed him. Looking into those brown eyes of his, Lilith could have sworn her heart was beating louder than the bass coming from the speakers indoors. She was too wrapped up in physical emotions to form any cohesive thoughts, so she chose to act on instinct instead. Closing the extremely short distance that was left between them, Lilith chose to kiss Miles for the second time that evening.

There was once again silence between them for a moment they looked into each other’s eyes, sharing a single alcohol fuelled breath. Soon Lilith’s lips were on his once more, the tequila tasted so much more sweeter on her tongue, even bearable. His free arm wrapped around her, pulling her in closer as he lost himself in the moment once more, closing his eyes. Yes, this is exactly what his heart had been waiting for; her soft lips pressed against his, the warmth of shared breaths, the feeling of her hair between his fingers. He never wanted to let go- and he didn’t intend on loosening a single grip until one of them finally pulled away.

When eventually that time came he readjusted his arms to pull Lilith in tighter, planting a kiss on the back of her neck in the process. ”Y’know, mum’s on the night shift if you wanted somewhere to be tonight,” he says, kissing the top of her head before setting his chin on her scalp.

While Lilith had known that Miles would kiss her back, she wasn’t expecting it to be like this. Every touch made her body feel more and more like a live wire. She could have stayed in that moment forever - wrapped up in Miles’s arms and their own little world. Lilith had never been one to drink bourbon or rum, but the combination of the two on Miles’s tongue tasted like what she imagined heaven felt like.

She wasn’t sure which of them pulled away first - reminded of the need for air and the fact that they had human needs such as breathing. As Miles pulled her closer, Lilith wrapped her arms around him in her own embrace, letting the moment linger. His words pulled her from her thoughts, snapping her mind back into reality.

”Miles Price,” Lilith laughed. ”What kind of girl do you think I am?” she teased him. And then after a split second of silence: ”Can we make pancakes?”

”One who adores me. Or the girl who tried to seduce me only half an hour or so ago” he teases, moving his head down to kiss her neck once more before curling some loose strands of her hair around one of his fingers. At Lilith’s question Miles laughs, returning to his original position and pulling her back in. ”We can or I think there’s some of mum’s cookies left in the kitchen if you’d rather,” he offers

Once Miles had repositioned, Lilith had gently buried her face in his chest. ”Either way,” she muses. ”But I don’t really know how we’re gonna get there.”

”I’m gonna hazard a guess that you won’t get in the car with me if I’m driving right now, would you?” he muses, resting his cheek on Lilith’s head, taking in her scent. He’d never liked tequila more. ”I could always get us an uber?”

At his words, Lilith pulled away long enough to scrunch her face up at his first question.

”If I saw you anywhere near a car right now - I’d probably fight you,” she half-joked before settling back into her comfort zone. Lilith had all but forgotten how safe Miles had always made her feel - especially moments like this where they were intertwined. It was nice being this close to him again. ”If you can remember how to work the app right now, because I think anything on a phone screen would look like Latin to me right now.”

”Please, I’m practically an expert at the drunken uber booking. I just… uh… I need my arm back,” he says. In all honesty he could have easily slipped one of his arms in their embrace but he didn’t want to move. Part of him wanted to just live in this moment forever, just him and Lil, alone, together in each other’s arms. Eventually though he was able to reach for his phone and, after spending way too long trying to get his fingers to tap the right letters, managed to book them a car. ”Let’s get out of here,”

As Miles rightfully reclaimed his limb, Lilith huffed and pouted drunkenly, still keeping her face buried against his chest so as to not be blinded by the phone light. Once she had heard those magic words, Lilith climbed to her feet. ”With pleasure,” she sang, offering a helping hand to Miles.

Miles takes Lilith’s hand with a smirk and pulls himself up. He scoops up the bottle of tequila from the ground and hands it to Lil before throwing an arm over her shoulders and leading her to the driveway.

Zach had too much to drink. Matter of factly, he couldn't actually remember what he had done at the party. He drank, he knew that. But he couldn’t quite recall doing anything else. He had a bit of a walk around, discovered what the commotion was out in the garden. Carlisle had ended up getting frozen, and the barrier had fallen. Fantastic. While the other males had offered to help or had been conscripted by Lilith to help move Carlisle, Zach had decided to very much not do so. Carlisle was a liability and to be perfectly honest had it all coming. He had been a drain in college and yet again here at the coven, he was a drain once more.

Naturally everyone seemed to be going back into the household, leaving him alone in the garden. Taking one more swig from the whiskey bottle he let out an audible sigh as he realized that it was empty. He casually tossed the bottle into the bush as he made his way inside to join the rest of the gaggle. It seemed everyone had congregated into the dining room. In getting Carlisle to the basement, everyone now had seen what had happened. It didn’t long however for things to really kick off, and those werewolves turned up. Zach was in no state to fight. The full bottle of whiskey was now starting to kick in properly. He attempted to stagger forward, trying to create a physical barrier between the werewolves and some of the females of the group.It was his odd way of trying to be helpful. Thankfully none of the werewolves even got close as several coven members went forward and broke free.

Eventually the Werewolves retreated and Zach lowered his guard with a rough pant. He needed more drink, or perhaps, maybe, a pillow to lie with. He knew it was going to be hard. Nearly every girl here was aware of his antics. That was the one thing he missed about college: The female pool was bigger, and it was easier to swim in and pick up new fish. Here however, he was going to have to really let off his charm. He scanned the room for people to work over, and his eyes rested on Erin. Now that would be a catch. He would saunter on over to her, pressing his body up against the nearby wall before looking over to her. ”Well, that was something. Once again, Carlisle somehow manages to ruin a party.”

Today had been an absolute whirlwind for Erin. From arriving to New York, to kidney punching a werewolf - the mere thought of any of today's events gave her a headache. As the crowd dispersed, Erin soon found herself alone as Delaney disappeared to find Rowan, and Serena was probably off flirting with some girl.

The blonde had made her way over to the drink table, doing her best to find something to drink. How she had ended up being one of the only sober people here this evening astonished her. As her eyes settled on a half bottle of Rum, Erin scrunched up her face in disgust while grabbing on to her consolation prize. She had acquired a taste for the alcohol after being friends with Delaney for years - but that didn’t mean that Erin enjoyed rum. Pouring some into a solo cup, Erin retreated to one of the corners of the large room before propping herself up against a wall and beginning to observe the scene around her.

She had been one of the lucky ones when it came to the fight. Most of her friends had jumped into battle, leaving Erin to fall back and protect some of the younger Coven members. She had gotten a few bumps and bruises, but it was nothing compared to some of the injuries others around her had seemed to acquire.

A familiar voice broke her away from her thoughts, her eyes falling on someone she definitely did not want to see.

”Seriously?” Erin scoffed. ”You really couldn’t come up with a better opening than that?”

Zach for a second didn't know what to say. It was like his brain stopped working. A moment later, he finally piped up. "Sorry." He half mumbled half slurred. "I forget most people didn't have to experience college with Carlisle. It was interesting. Always hanging off Miles side like a lost puppy" Zach let off a chuckle before taking the final sip of Whiskey from his solo cup. He then sighed softly "You did good tonight. With the Werewolves, and that other girl, whatever her name is"

The more that Zach spoke, the more Erin drank. She allowed the liquid to burn in her throat, rising with the anger swelling inside her chest. Zach was an absolute dog. While Delaney may have wanted to act like she had forgiven and forgotten - Erin wasn’t so big on taking the high road.

”Hayden,” she replied simply. ”Her name is Hayden, and you’d do well to get to know her and the rest of your Coven members names, honestly. ‘Would help if you showed up for a meeting from time to time, hm?” she questioned him, looking him up and down as if she was sizing up her next target.

Well this wasn't going how he planned it. He knew he was out of practice with the trip back and everything, but drunk girls normally swooned over his bad boy vibes. He popped open the new bottle of whiskey and took a deep swig. He watched Erin drink the rum before raising his own bottle.

"I was moving back in, only just managed to get everything in place. Parents didn't want me cramming up their place so I had to come back from college and find my own place right away… So that's her name…" He would hold out the nearly full bottle of whiskey infront of Erin " Have some whiskey hmmm? Better than that rum crap you are drinking. Still, I forgot how badass you can be when protecting people. Everyone things that Serena is the bad girl and Erin is the Softie innocent one. But when it comes down to it, Erin got those vicious powers" He said with a slight joking chuckle.

Completely bewildered as to why Zach had even dared to approach Erin of all people, she quickly snatched the bottle from him - realizing that she wasn’t drunk enough for any sort of conversation with him. As she pressed the bottle to her lips, the blonde took a large sip and nodded her head in recognition towards his compliment. Surely he wasn’t expecting their conversation to be all sunshine and rainbows.

”What is it that you want from me, exactly,” she questioned him, a storm brewing behind her blue eyes. ”You don’t really expect me of all people to welcome you back with open arms, right?” she continued on, taking another drink from the bottle and adding one more thought as the liquid sloshed. ”Especially after what you did to Cupcake.”

"Well, I know what I want"He said with a suggestive smirk "Always liked taller women" Hearing the rest of her cements though, Zach let out a small sigh. He really wished he kept the drink now. He could have used a stiff shot right now. "Look, it's not my fault that she got hooked on the good stuff. I made it clear from the start, I don't attach to people, I do what I please. That's her problem. You want a one night stand, I am your guy. Anything deeper, go find someone else"

Zach smirk made Erins skin crawl, her knuckles turning white around the bottle of whiskey as he continued to choose his words poorly. ”You’re expecting that from me?” she questioned him in shocked disgust. ”Please get out of here before I fuck you up worse than Kolbys whore.”

"Woah, calm down a bit girl. I think all the fighting has gotten you wound a bit. Take another drink and relax. You have been through a lot tonight. You just need to unwind" Zach would change his tone to a disarming one. He was trying to be careful here. He didn't want to totally blow his chance. "I am just trying to say that I think you are a beautiful girl and you deserve some relaxation. And I am here to help with that. Why should Serena be the one to have all the fun?"

Fighting back the urge to gag, Erin quickly raised the bottle and swung it at the side of Zach’s head. She had had enough bullshit for one night, and was tired of him piling it on. It was a little out of character for her to be so volatile, but honestly she had thought the world would have been better off without Zach for a while now.

Zach let out a yell as he felt the bottle smash into the side of his head, sending shards of glass everywhere and dousing him in the remaining alcohol. He leant against the wall, holding his head. "God damn it woman. What the fuck is wrong with you!?" He let out a low growl, having to resist the urge to try and swing at her. He wasn't that kind of person, even if he had just been embarrassed. "... You have no idea what you are missing out on"

As a pleased expression appeared upon her face, Erin let the remaining glass fall from her hand and onto the floor with the rest of the broken bottle. Zach should have known by now that Erin didn’t make empty threats. Why he had kept pushing her for sex of all things she’d never understand. He had to have lost the remaining brain cells he used to have at college. She knew that Zach would never swing - but deep down, she really wished that he would.

Shrugging her shoulders, Erin wiped her hand clean on her dress before taking a drink from the previously acquired solo cup in the other. ”Oh please,” she mocked him, her voice sour. ”I wear heels bigger than your dick. The only thing I’m missing out on is syphilis.”

Zach had his fair share of rejections. It was par for the course. But for some reason this one hit harder. He had always considered Erin an easy target to pick up. Compared to the rest of her extended family, Erin had always come across more as the loner type. This shouldn't be happening. This was embarrassing. Raising his hand to the side of his head, he ran his fingers along the impact site, using them to shift glass shards out of hair, as well as seeing if she had managed to draw blood. After pulling his fingers away he could see the tips of them now covered in crimson. It wasn't thick, but it was enough to signal that he had been hurt. "Please, you haven't had dick this good in your life. If I was so shit why do you think Delaney kept begging for more"

”This conversation is over,” Erin retorted, turning away from him and attempting to weave through the crowd. If Zach kept going down his current path, he’d have a lot more to worry about than a concussion.

Seeing Erin try to walk away, Zach would reach out and attempt to grab Erin by the wrist to hold her in place for a moment. "You are making a big mistake, girl. You don't want to walk away from any of this" He would then let pull on her wrist to try and bring her back.

Feeling the grip around her wrist, Erin yanked her arm from Zach's grasp. Quickly turning back around to face him, she balled up a fist and hit him on the same side of his head as the bottle - aiming specifically for the temple this time.

Sharply inhaling through her teeth, the blonde tried to shake the pain out of her hand, watching him slump to the floor with another smirk on her face.

Delaney would be proud.