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Nov. 1st, 2020 at 11:34 AM
CASSIDY MARSH + WARREN BISHOP
secrets come to light
secrets come to light
Mid-October - night | the diner | PG-13
Cassidy sat in the diner booth with a cup of coffee as he waited for Warren to arrive. The two had some catching up to do, that much was clear - but the fact that they both didn’t really have to admit to the other that the information was more intended for in-person conversation rather than text was interesting.
His conversation with Kitty had ended up well - the hype had been mostly in his head for how she might have reacted. Cass could only hope that Warren took things the same way. It wasn’t like he kept the secret the whole time because he didn’t care - quite the opposite.
When he noticed the familiar, fellow dark haired man walk through the door he raised his hand a little and waved. There was already a cup of coffee waiting for Warren, and surprisingly he hadn’t ordered any food yet but had all intentions of late night binging.
“Hey, welcome back to the insanity,” he joked weakly with a smirk.
Warren snorted as he slid into the booth opposite Cassidy, shrugging out of his leather jacket and shoving it off to the side. “Hell of a welcome home,” he remarked with a shake of his head. “And here I thought New York was wild.”
He’d spotted the cup of coffee and said his thanks before he reached for it, taking his first sip.
“How’d you fair?”
Cassidy couldn’t put his finger on it, but something seemed different about Warren. It was subtle, almost like the other man had the flu and drained some of the color from his face. Or maybe just the sickly glow from the neon signs on the outside of the diner playing tricks with his mind. Still, he laughed quietly as Warren’s comment about the wild reputation Seven Devils was no doubt racking up.
“Not bad at all,” he admitted, “though I spent a good majority of it in the library of St. Thomas with my nose in a shitton of books trying to figure anything out.” It was frustrating to say the least, not having answers, which was why it was so easy to make a go for Gen.
“Couldn’t stay away from the siren song of Seven Devils, huh?” he asked teasingly though he was grateful to see the familiar face return.
“You find anything?” He asked, doing his best to ignore all the small insignificant sounds that as a human had never bothered him but now? Now, he heard it all and Jesus, did people really need to eat so loudly?
He inhaled, exhaled, and just flexed his fingers around his coffee cup that should have been scalding but was now a welcome distraction from all the sensory input that was bombarding him.
A soft chuckle escaped him and he lifted his eyebrows. “Mm hmm, something like that.” He cleared his throat and reached up to tug on his ear, a nervous habit from when he was a kid that he’d never been able to quite squash.
“The number of ancient beasts capable of putting places in total darkness is a surprisingly long list,” he replied with somewhat of a grin. Which, made him remember the other more pressing reason as to why they were meeting.
Eventually Cassidy had to come clean about his Men of Letters membership. But..
He noticed the vague tick. Cassidy gave a nod at Warren; “You coming down with something?” he asked, more out of concern than suspicion.
“Hm?” Warren looked up, confused apparently. It was then he realised what he was doing with his ear and dropped his hand away like he’d just been burned. “Uh, maybe. I don’t know.”
He knew he needed to come clean, tell Cassidy about what happened, but fuck, it was easier said than done. It really was.
Upside, Cassidy had been cool about Kitty’s magic so hopefully maybe he’d be cool about this as well? It wasn’t like Warren was planning on slaughtering the innocent and drinking their blood.
“I mean, you’ve certainly looked better,” Cassidy added, his brow furrowing as he looked at Warren closely. It was starting to bug him, and he’d figure it out eventually, but for the moment he tried to press on.
“So uh.. I know about our dear Katherine,” the Men of Letters trainee admitted after a thoughtful pause. “And I mean, I really know. She showed me the secret bookshelf,” he added, unable to help but smirk faintly because it sounded silly to say it out loud. “And.. well she knows about my whole training with the Men of Letters thing,” he said quickly and quietly before taking a drink of his coffee, eyeing the other man over the rim of his mug to gauge his reaction.
Warren was not surprised, was that weird? He and Kitty had their suspicions back when Cassidy had let some things slip when he was drunk. Warren was certain that as difficult as it was for Kitty to tell Cassidy her secret it was a lot easier than confessing to being a bloodsucker of the night. Witches weren’t automatically painted as “evil” whereas he had found that vampires tended to be regardless of who they were.
“Well,” he began as he cleared his throat and thumbed at the side of his mug. “I’m not that surprised. You said a lot of weird shit when you were drunk that one time and honestly I’m just happy that you didn’t come out and tell me that you were a hunter.”
At the mention of their night out, Cassidy suddenly found his coffee cup far more interesting than Warren’s expression or anything above table-level. “Yeahhh… that was reckless of me, not proud of it,” he admitted. “Great time though,” Cass chuckled. The memories, what vague ones he remembered, were fond ones.
Still, Warren’s casual reaction was a huge relief and something he should have anticipated from the other man. “I don’t think I could cut it as a hunter,” Cassidy confessed with a shake of his head, his shoulders carrying a little less tension and he realized that it wasn’t going to be an issue, him working for the Men of Letters. “I’m perfectly fine with wanting to study things rather than stabbing them,” he added.
“Though mowing over shadow demons with a stolen car is something completely different,” Cassidy quipped with a faint grin.
“You could’ve been seriously hurt, you know that, right?” Warren challenged, arch of his eyebrow accompanying the worried yet stern tone of his voice. “You might not be so lucky next time if you decide to keep playing hero for the damsel in distress.”
He slung his arm across the booth. “Hopefully she was worth it.”
So, Cassidy worked for the Men of Letters, okay, cool, Warren could definitely roll with that. Of course there were still secrets between them, on Warren’s side at least, but he was still working out how to tell the other man.
“I uh actually have something I need to tell you.”
Cassidy understood where Warren’s stern concern was coming from. Kitty had worried all the same, as well. “She’s my co-worker, I couldn’t leave her stranded,” he explained. Despite the Men of Letters being mostly passive in supernatural affairs, there was a very strong leave none behind mentality among the younger members.
Warren’s statement sounded just as hesitant as Cassidy’s had earlier. He gave an encouraging nod. “Alright yeah, your turn,” he insisted, putting his coffee mug down so he could give full attention to his friend across the table. Though he assumed it all had to deal with Warren’s impromptu trip back to New York a few weeks ago.
“By co-worker I’m guessing you mean another Men of Letters person?” He asked, but at this point the question was rhetoric as what else could it mean? He knew Cassidy worked over at 8-Bit, but he’d never recalled a Genesis working there. Then again he had been gone a while so lots will have changed in town.
Oh, shit, so this was it, this was the moment.
Warren wondered how it was fair that technically he was dead, but he could still feel nauseous, like what was that?
“So, what Kitty told you about herself? Also applied to me for a long time. Up until my twenty-first birthday in fact.”
He nodded in confirmation, though Warren wasn’t a dumb individual and had already basically jumped to the right conclusion.
Upon Warren’s sort of, half-admittance, Cassidy’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head for a moment before his gaze narrowed somewhat jokingly. Though if that was the case he got the crap end of the stick because his magic studies portion of training had been horrible. Like Seamus Finnigan horrible. “Jesus, is everyone in this town… spiritually gifted?” he blurted out, though his tone got a lot more hushed at the end to keep the sparse number of patron oblivious to their conversation.
“What happened on your twenty-first birthday? Did you get so drunk you yeeted your own magic?” Cass added with a faint grin.
“Well, neither of my parents knew about my magic until it manifested. Surprise from my biological parents to you my new adoptive parents, I guess?” He glanced over in the direction of the kitchen as he heard something shatter, but he knew from the distance that it wasn’t actually in the kitchen but out back, near the bins.
Ugh, stupid supernatural hearing.
He snorted. “I wish.” He looked visibly uncomfortable and his hand unconsciously lifted to rub at his neck as if by repeating the story again he’d somehow start bleeding to death all over again. “I was out celebrating my birthday and it had gotten real late, later than I even thought. I was trying to hail a cab which in hindsight was a really fucking stupid idea considering how busy they are that time of night, so I figured fuck it, it’s only a few blocks, I’ll walk it, no big deal.”
“Only what I didn’t account for was… one really out of control and super feral vampire that had picked up my scent and was stalking me from the moment I left the bar.” He bit out a soft brittle laugh. “Really shitty luck, wrong place, wrong time, but next thing I knew I was being dragged into a really dark alleyway and this thing was latched onto my neck and was just-” He cursed faintly as the obvious trauma of the event caused him to exert a little too much strength and he broke his coffee mug. “Fuck,” he cursed and hurriedly grabbed napkins to mop up the liquid. “I’ll um pay for the mug,” he said quickly to the person behind the counter so they didn’t come over and fuss. That was the last thing he needed or wanted right now.
Once he was certain there were enough napkins to capture the liquid he glanced up at Cassidy. “That night I died and when it brought me back all connection to my magic died with me.” It was clear he was nervous, traumatised in all kinds of ways, and ready for whatever happened next.
He let out a quiet chuckle. “Yeah I’m sure they loved you during puberty,” he joked weakly. Warren’s body language changed, though, as he began to tell Cass what he needed to hear.
The story that his friend recounted made it difficult for the Men of Letters trainee to remain neutral-faced throughout. Really at “stalking me” he started to subtly react with concern. Of course, the sudden shattering of the coffee mug made him actually jump in his seat. He quickly did his best to toss some napkins on the mess, but noted that Warren was always rather fit but not that much.
Cassidy quickly put two and two together and— “Holy fuck.” His eyes widened in shock as it settled in. Warren had been turned.
As he leaned away, his back flushed against the booth cushion - taking his friend in. The pale complexion, the secrecy and lack of communication while he was gone… It all made sense. Still, he was familiar enough, and accepting enough, of the supernatural that he knew just because Warren was technically classified as the undead, didn’t change who he was. Cassidy’s brow furrowed. “Are you okay?” I-I know that’s stupid to ask but.. Listen, I can help you,” he insisted, leaning forward again and tapping the table top with his finger. “The Men of—” He stopped himself before saying too much, again, in an overwhelming moment. “We have access to resources, if you need them.”
Warren watched Cassidy closely and despite his best efforts not to eavesdrop he couldn't exactly stop himself given that his hearing just seemed to naturally pick up on the subtle changes in heartbeat, breathing and other signifiers that he now knew was all part and parcel of being a predatory creature. He busied his hands with continuing to mop up the mess he'd made, careful not to cut himself even if it didn't really matter, some habits died hard. Also the less injured he got the less chance he had of losing control or needing blood. Cassidy was shocked, taken aback, but that was understandable, it was a huge bit of news.
"Pass," he replied dryly as he added a few more dry napkins to the pool of coffee. "It's been a couple of years but it feels like it happened yesterday."
Thankfully Cassidy wasn't running in the opposite direction as fast as his legs could carry him and wasn't looking at him like he was some sort of monster. "Resources?" He asked, finally looking at Cassidy after having avoided eye contact for a long time.
Cassidy was impressed with how well Warren had disguised his vampirism. Though he supposed if there was ever a demographic that could make being a vampire work - it was younger adults. The up all night, sleep all day kind of crowd.
“I could imagine time, other than being pointless for you now, passes differently,” he sympathized, watching as the former witch finally seemed to calm. At least he was finally looking at him again.
He gave a glance around to make sure none of the wait staff was in ear shot. “Blood,” he replied plainly. “If you need it. I guess sometimes the members either.. end up in similar predicaments or aren’t exactly human when they join so, they have a few resources for feeding. I can see if I have access to them?” he offered.
“Really different,” Warren said with a nod as he picked up the shattered remains of the mug and continued his clean up work as he’d always been taught that if you make the mess then you were responsible for cleaning it up.
He did glance up however at the mention of blood and whilst he wanted to jump at the chance of not having to worry about getting blood he was nervous as he figured that somebody might start asking questions or looking at Cassidy weird if he started poking at that.
“You’re not going to get into trouble for asking about them, right?”
Warren brought up a good point. “Actually..” he started, reaching up and running his hand through his dark hair idly. “They might start asking about how you were turned, and require an interview or something with you. I could see them having issue with your turning, Hell, even I have issue with it,” Cassidy admitted.
“But it might turn into them wanting to track down this sire of yours. Not that there are any laws for the supernatural, not yet at least, but they don’t take kindly to those kinds of attacks.”
“Yeah, let’s not,” Warren said with a shake of his head. “I have enough going on without having to worry about what might happen if my Sire ends up dead.” He’d read books, knew what that could mean and he definitely wasn’t ready for an aching loss to replace the uncomfortable constant feeling of knowing that there was somebody else out there that he was connected to in a way he had never been connected to anything or anyone before, save for his magic, probably.
Somebody had brought over a trashcan and cleaning supplies which Warren was grateful for as he could finally clean the table up properly.
“I’ll figure something out.”
Cass frowned somewhat, but understood Warren’s decision. He imagined that if their roles were reversed, he would take similar precautions. He definitely wouldn’t be handling things with the calmness the former witch had. Save for the whole mug-breaking, that is.
Still, he wanted to help and show his support.
“What if I…tried to get something arranged with St. Augustine? Kitty’s a nurse, she might know if someone in the lab is willing to let a few expired blood bags disappear every so often?” he suggested.
Warren had during the time Cassidy had been talking cleaned up the mess he’d made and shot the lady who came over to collect it an apologetic look, but felt better after it was no longer something he needed to worry about.
“That’s a better idea.” Definitely better than the idea of being the subject of an intense questioning round with the Men of Letters. And he didn’t have to break the news to Kitty because she knew and had known the longest as a result of being in New York when it happened.
Well that and she’d refused to leave him alone.
The former warlock’s agreement caused the lightbulb to go off above Cass’ head.
“Wait did Kitty know this whole time?” he asked, unable to help the surprise in his tone of voice. Though really, he wasn’t too surprised. He knew they’d spent time in New York together and well.. If Cassidy ever found himself suddenly without a pulse he’d be reaching out to the nurse as well.
The Men of Letters trainee smirked faintly and shook his head. “How’d we end up with so many secrets between us?” he questioned with a small laugh. Honestly though he chalked it up to them getting older, and parting somewhat to different career paths.
“Despite my valiant attempts at avoiding her and keeping her away from me she was very persistent and would not take no for an answer,” Warren remarked, dryly. “Have you ever tried to say no to Kitty? It’s near impossible. If she doesn’t kill you with stubbornness she’ll get you with those big doe eyes of hers.”
He chuckled softly and leaned back into the booth, hand vanishing into dark strands of his hair.
“Hell if I know, but new rule, we try to be more honest with one another. Deal?
Cass couldn’t help but smirk faintly at Warren’s answer. “Yeah that’s true,” he admitted of their blonde witchy friend. “It looks like she’s about to cry, all the time,” he added, shaking his head as he could hardly believe how one could accomplish such a look.
The Men of Letters trainee paused only a moment to give a nod, holding his hand out across the table to his friend. “Deal,” Cassidy agreed. “And… that if any of us need help with anything, we have no excuses to ask,” he added.
He was, of course, talking mostly about Warren and by association Kitty, but Cassidy knew (just didn’t want to admit) that it was expected of him in return. He wasn’t the greatest at asking for help. But at least now, Warren and Kitty were in on his secret life he’d hidden for so long.
“And it doesn’t help that they’re so big and bright,” Warren said with a shake of his head.
He nodded. “A-fucking-men.” Like literally no excuse to ask except of course if any of them felt like being total idiots. It was possible. Nobody was perfect after all. “So, the next time you feel like driving through a dark monster infested town to rescue your co-worker you hit me up.”
“That’s some serious dedication by the way,” Warren pointed out. “I don’t think I’d go to those sorts of lengths for some of the people I’ve worked with.”
Cassidy smiled at the sudden distraction of the topic of Kitty before shaking his head, and doing his best to carry on in conversation.
“Hey my driving is not that bad,” he defended. “I hit more monsters than public property, any way.” Which was entirely true. Plus the driving would have been a lot easier if there were any lights, and the headlights on the car hadn’t been malfunctioning because of the creatures. “But yeah, next time I decide to break multiple laws I will gladly call you,” Cass said with a smirk in Warren’s direction.
“Everyone else is old and decrepit basically,” he joked in return - knowing full-well that they weren’t. But the organization did have a lot of senior members. Intelligent beyond comprehension almost, but senior nonetheless. “I’m all about competition but I wouldn’t ever wish anything bad on someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
“Okay good because that’ll make Kitty feel a lot better. She was really worried about you.” Kitty tended to worry about the people closest to her especially after what had happened with her father but her worry for Cassidy was on a very different level. More evident, more palpable.
He snorted gently. “Yeah, next time definitely call me.” Especially now that he was a vampire and more durable than he had been before.
Not that it would have stopped him.
Cassidy paused thoughtfully, for a moment, letting Warren’s words about Kitty sink in before cracking a joke and lightening the heaviness of it all. “She’s going to bedazzle my jacket with charms,” he informed the other man.
“If we’re ever caught I’ll be sure to throw you under the bus almost instantly,” Cassidy insisted with a smirk and a wink - letting the former witch know he was only joking. Cass had much more appreciation and loyalty to his friends than that. Besides, with his squeaky clean record in this town, he could afford a couple warnings before any serious charges were tacked on.
“Wouldn’t put it past her,” Warren replied with a snort.
He flipped his friend off playfully and then chuckled. “And if you ever feel like I dunno going toe to toe with any big monsters then be sure that you call me. I’m less squishy than you or Kitty.” Still able to be killed but it took a lot more effort now than it had done before.
Still sucked that he couldn’t enjoy the sun any longer.
Cassidy gasped in mock offense, his hand laying over his chest dramatically with the flashed obscene gesture in his direction. “How dare you call me squishy,” he claimed. Though he was well aware of his mortality. Maybe not as much as he should have been, but he knew he wasn’t invulnerable. And sometimes rock climbing reminded him of that quite abruptly, and from a decent height.
“But Bigfoot is mine and no one else will have him,” he countered jokingly. “I get it though, and thank you.”
Tags: cassidy marsh, warren bishop
