Come On Down

“Oh, it’s been well, thank you,” Lilli says while she puts some mulled wine on the stove to heat up, “We have finished all of our shopping and preparation work for Christmas dinner at the shelter. We should be ready to open our doors to the public on Christmas Eve.” She typically makes a habit to cook and serve dinner in the local homeless shelter unless family or work pulls her away.

“And you? Has the cold weather been treating you well?”

“Oh, Peter, you didn’t have to do anything!” Just seeing him is more than enough for Lilli. She takes the box from him–carefully, in case it should contain something fragile–and stands on her tiptoes to kiss him sweetly. “Thank you. Truly. It means a lot that you thought of me even when I know you have no cause to celebrate the season.”

“Oh, Peter!” Lilli beams at the sight of him and instantly crosses her kitchen to pull him in for a kiss. “You can come see me whenever you want to, silly. You know that.” Another little kiss before she lets him go. “But your consideration is lovely. Thank you.”

“Häh? Abigail, you didn’t have to get me anything!” Lilli never entertained the possibility that any of the Hellfolk would get her presents. After all, this holiday is meant to celebrate the very antithesis of their being. The fact that Abby thought to get her anything at all astounds her.

“But, ähm, thank you,” Lilli says, gingerly taking the bag from her, “Won’t you, äh, won’t you sit? I’ll warm up some mulled wine for us both.”

Ivan looks between the three of them. “I don’t really care who she is to you.” As tempting as it is to perform such an act solely to spite the natural balance of things… “I will still require some form of payment for such a large task. What you ask of me isn’t simple.”

He glances at Lilli’s body. “I will accept an IOU. Since she is so recently deceased, we can still bring her soul back without much issue. The longer we wait, the harder it will become. I will bring her back.” He steps aside. “You may enter. There is a table in the basement we can use.”

Ivan leads Abigail and Alvin to the basement, and Alvin places Lilli’s body on the table. Alvin tries to maintain his composure and steps back so that the warlock can do his work.

Ivan murmurs a spell under his breath and waves a hand over Lilli’s body. The wound on her neck starts to heal. “The real trick is reanimating her body.” He turns to Abigail. “I’ll need some of your lifeforce, and it must be yours. Your vampiric friend here will not do, and we do not have much time to find someone else. Is this acceptable?”

“I didn’t really ask you to care, just that the severity of it is acknowledged.” As it was expected, she nods her head. “Deal, but it has to be when I’m off of work and most free. Thank you, Ivan.”

Abigail quickly follows and ushers Alvin along behind her. Occasionally taking a second to admire his home. She watches patiently at the side while he works, only looking up to him when spoken to once more. “Of course, he’s undead so it wouldn’t be anything to offer anyway.” Looking back to Lilli’s lifeless body on the table, she takes her hand gently.

Lilli would probably hit her for this.

Alvin follows her as she explains. Time is of the essence. He nods and gets into the backseat with Lilli’s body still in his arms. “And he’ll help us, right? Help Lilli?” He gets out of the car and carries Lilli to the door behind Abigail.

The house is quaint-looking and grey on the outside. It’s just on the outskirts of the city, just the way its occupant likes it. When Abigail pounds on the door and shouts Ivan’s name, there’s a brief pause before a tall blond in a black turtleneck and slacks with piercing violet eyes opens the door. “Hm. Good evening, Abigail.” Ivan looks past her to Lilli’s body. “And what exactly do you want me to do with that?”

“Please help her,” Alvin says. “She doesn’t deserve to die.”

Ivan says, “What’s in it for me?”

“it’s quite likely that he will. I know just enough about him.”

Abigail straightens herself the moment Ivan opens the door, posing a confident attitude about her. “Ivan. That, is my girlfriend, and a family friend to this man. She was just very recently killed in an attack and unfortunately what happens next is just beyond me.” Abby looks up at him to meet his eyes.

“Americans would not be so fond of it if it were not delicious. Or sweet.” Lilli knows that much to be sure. It must be delicious if their fast food chains continuously attempt to replicate a cheaper version. The kiss to Lilli’s head mollifies her thoughts for the moment and her scowl eases into a smile. “Thank you, Schatz. You are too sweet.”

“We could check…” How forgetful of her. Lilli chastises herself while she walks over to the spice cabinet and stands on her tiptoes to check the little bottles. “One really puts clove in a pie such as this?” She is not much familiar with sweet pies, although she has dabbled in them occasionally. They do not feature so much in Liechtenstein cuisine. “On top of all the others?”

Panic sets in as Abigail explains that she can’t do much. Isn’t she a necromancer? “But— I thought—” Alvin tries to calm down when she says she might know someone. He nods and takes Lilli’s body back from Abigail. “Okay.”

It feels like eternity when Abigail’s in her house getting what she needs. He continues to tremble, and he wishes he’d noticed something was off sooner. What was even the point of heightened senses if they didn’t help anything? He apologizes to Lilli’s body for being such a shitty vampire and friend.

“Yes I know why you brought her to me, yes I understand that I can raise her back. But Lilli would never be the same again.” She offers some small explanation to him as she exits and locks the door behind her. Carrying a blanket that she doesn’t mind dirtying Abby brings it to her car and lays it across her backseat. “Here, sit back here with her and don’t even worry about a seatbelt.”

Unlocking the car she rushes him to the door before hopping into the driver’s seat. “The man I know is a warlock, also practices magic and has more knowledge than me. He also knows magic at a more dangerous and risky level than I do. Oh and hold on.” Quickly she zips the car out and, carefully, speeds off to Ivan’s location.

“I don’t know,” he says. Alvin is still trembling with crimson tears rolling down his cheeks when Abigail gets to them, and he allows her to take Lilli from his arms. “I was at work when I thought I smelled something off, so I ran outside, and she was like this when I got there. I didn’t know where else to go, so I ran straight here.”

He could list off all of the reasons he didn’t realize something was up sooner—the heavy smell of mixed blood in the bar, the loud noises coming from its patrons, and the fact that it doesn’t have any windows—but it isn’t a priority right now to do so. His main priority is to do something, and explanations do nothing but take up time. “Is there anything we can do?”

A part of her wants to be mad at Alvin, but logic exceeds the emotion bursting through her mind. “Fuck, fuck.” Abby reaches to check her pulse for herself, noting how her body looks including color of skin and freshness of her wounds. “This literally just happened, but I- there’s really not much that I can do myself.” Panic rushes through herself as time starts to tick away. Running a hand not covered in blood through her hair.

@shadowsofourminds || abby (spn)

Alvin doesn’t know how fast he ran, but he has to skid to a stop when he approaches where he believes Abigail is. It’s just outside of her flat, and he calls out for her. “Abigail!!”

Please be here, please be here. Please.

“Abigail, are you here!? Please! We need help!”

Luckily for Alvin, she is home. And apparently lucky for another. Though further inside her home it takes a moment before she finally takes notice of the yelling. Abigail furrows her brows in confusion as she goes to exit her office. ‘We’? The voice outside isn’t the most familiar but not one she hasn’t heard before. What was his name...

“No, I do not. A few little decorative gourds to be sure, however no pumpkins. I find they rot far too easily and I have too little time as it is to care for them.” If Lilli were going to use pumpkins, she would much prefer to cook with them rather than use them for display. “We do not…do things as the Americans do for Autumn. None of the tricking and the treating and such.”

“You know there are a few tricks these days that can help your pumpkin last longer. But I can understand that, I used to wait a week prior before putting one out. After some reading though I made a little preservation mixture so now I do it about.. the second week or so of October?” Abigail can’t help the small laugh that escapes her lips. “No trick or treating? I suppose that would be a mostly American thing to do.”