Title: Chameleon’s Dilemma
Summary: Lily Hades is an opportunist, maybe she flew a little bit too close to the sun on this one.
Rating: M – just to be safe.
Word Count: 1547 words
Notes: This takes place somewhere in 2017/2018 on the Hades timeline. The Hades family is the brainchild of MrRJWick and others developed for a FiveM server; I was allowed to have a sister and play within the mythology and now Lily’s the longest character I’ve played with.
This is also written for the Friday Five hosted by Long and Short reviews. The prompts for today were brown, lung, law, knit and length -> I know I could have gone to some batshit crazy places with these words, but I behaved myself.
To read other stories, click here (actually, they haven’t put up a Friday Five post up for a bit now so maybe there will not be one…)
It might have surprised people, but beneath Lily’s unconventional exterior, she concealed a far more complex persona. She was the chameleon, doing whatever was necessary to get protection from people while she was hiding. Hiding in the shadows and losing a bit of herself every single time while doing so.
She liked to find her quiet times; sneaking off to an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, reading a book or sneaking into local theatres during musicals and plays. It was nice to disappear into the world of someone else, to be pulled inside of it, losing herself and forgetting about her own shitty life.
The Hades name was a blessing and a curse. A curse, because she found herself in the middle of her family’s reputation; one side upholding the law and the other side fucking shit up for the law. All that Lily wanted was a close-knit family and keep herself, her brother Raven and her twin brother Callum together. But even that she wasn’t capable of doing.
Years of taking care of them seemed in vain when they vanished one day without a word. Lily’s purpose in life seemed to evaporate overnight, and she couldn’t return home. Her other relatives were not an option, and she was hunted by her two sisters, who seemed intent on harming the younger Hades siblings for reasons Lily never figured out.
With them gone, she wasn’t sure if they were. They needed a level-headed person around them to stop them from doing even more stupid shit. For all she knew, they were dead.
The name was a blessing, because of the reputation the name had in the not-so-legal community. It was also a curse, because of the name in that same community.
Lily had taken it upon herself to take care of herself the only way she knew how; dumbing herself down, making herself look like an easy target, a… ‘pick me’ girl and damsel in distress, just so that she was covered by her temporary family because she was fucking someone in the group. Just in case.
I need your help
The text message came in on her phone, and she recognized the number as that of Quentin, he was one of the newer guys of the gang she was hanging with, and she had taken him under her wing, somewhat. He’d been with them for about three months. Quentin was a rich kid. He had money; his dad owned the local mine that was still bleeding ore left and right, and, like Lily, had siblings that weren’t a failure in his parent’s eyes. The youngest of the group.
With what?
I need you to be serious about this shit, I need your help. Meet me at the tower.
Lily grumbled as she scooted out of her hiding spot in the theatre where the local theatre group were running through the entire production of “Rent” for their opening night. Perhaps it was a good thing she left right before they tackle “Seasons of Love”, for some reason, Lily usually burst out in girly tears whenever she heard that song.
She took her motorcycle and took the knife from underneath the saddle before driving through the city towards to the tower on the outskirts of town. It was an old grain silo. Lily liked to tell people she was afraid of heights so that she’d be more human and relatable, so whenever someone wanted to meet her at the tower, they’d meet on solid ground. Making sure the knife was secure in her shirt, she walked over to Quentin. “This better be good, I was busy,” she said as she looked around to make sure they were alone.
Quentin, dressed in a white shirt, a brown leather jacket, and jeans that seemed oddly new, looked different from his usual geeky or melancholic self. He stood differently, almost confidently, and for the first time, Lily found herself slightly unnerved.
She stopped a few feet away from him. Because she was short, she was also fast. In case of emergency, Lily could lunge forward and drive a knife through his lung. “Nah, what are you playing at?”
“I had to meet the parents, relax,” Quentin quickly responded as he messed up his hair. “Had to get money off of them somehow.”
Nobody had ever seen Quentin talk to his parents. He, like Lily, just disappeared without a trace for a length of time, the group’s tech qiz kept tabs on everyone. Quentin’s phone would be dead for hours and he was good at losing tails. Hell, he even lost Lily many times and she was an excellent tracker. Something was up.
“I’m leaving,” she declared, gripping her knife, her gaze never leaving Quentin. Her motorcycle was positioned directly behind her, a quick escape route.
“Lily, I swear, I’m telling you the truth. I need help.”
Quentin didn’t know – shouldn’t know – that her brother was a police officer. He didn’t know that Lily had observed her brother from a distance, even reading up on public parts of the police operating procedures. She had read up on the law. Lily couldn’t believe that she hadn’t picked it up sooner. “You’re good, I have to tell you that. Even fooled me.”
“Fool you? Lily, what?”
“Stop playing, Quentin,” she shot at him, taking the step back to her original spot. “Whatever you need help with, I’m not going to help you.”
“I can pay you.”
She barked out a laugh. “Money won’t keep me safe,” she retorted, shaking her head. “You’d better disappear before I inform Alex about you.”
Quentin’s eyes grew big in surprise as Lily’s words hit him. “How!”
“How, what?” Okay, so he was stupid. He was a dumb cop. Not smart. He was too dumb and took the bait.
“You know what, I don’t care,” he threw up his hands in defense and kept them up. “I’m unarmed, I’m not wearing a wire. If you feel safer, you can cuff me, cuffs are in the back left pocket.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I love tying people up, Quentin, but you know who I am, so I’m not gonna. I know the law.”
“Yes, you do,” he said, still keeping his hands up. “And I’m only here as a favor to your brother Nester,” Quentin said, and shaking his head. “Don’t worry, he’s not here, but he is part of this investigation and saw your name in the report before anyone else did. He asked me to erase any trace of your involvement.”
She blinked. That didn’t make any sense. Why would Nester break the law to help her? “What investigation?”
“That’s need to know, but I respect Nester. He’s a good cop. Fair. He cares about people and he cares about you, still. He told me you were smart to figure things out, and I know that you haven’t done anything – yet – to be included in this, only your affiliation.”
“I’m not affiliated with anyone. Just fucking someone who is.”
“Eh, it’s the guilty-by-association thing,” Quentin shrugged. “But I won’t be able to leave your name out of this for long, and before things get worse, Nester wanted me to give you a heads-up.”
Closing the distance between them, Lily pushed Quentin to the ground and pressed her knife against his neck as he lay beneath her. “Or I could kill you, inform Alex, and gain some bonus points.”
“Or you could leave,” he responded calmly. “This investigation will take a few more months, gathering information, identify all the players and such.”
“If I leave and they figure out I knew, they will come after me.”
“By then you’ll have found yourself a new fuck buddy to keep you safe,” Quentin said with a hint of assurance.
Lily growled and pressed the knife even harder against his neck. “That was a low blow.”
“It’s not like you’ve provided me with any information, Lily. You’ll walk away clean,” he nodded towards a black backpack on the ground. “There’s $10,000 in there in cash. For you, from Nester. Take it and walk away..”
Oh, this was dangerous. Lily liked money. It was enough for her to disappear for a while, maybe go on a trip to some magical island. Her grip on the knife was steady but her thoughts were racing. If she stayed and didn’t do something about Quentin, there was a possibility she could go down for everything the gang has done in the past, just for being there. She knew how it worked.
Lily was usually smart enough to up and leave and maybe she had overstayed her welcome with this group of people; six months was a very long time to stick around somewhere.
However, even walking away clean wasn’t going to be entirely clean if this investigation wouldn’t take more months and would be wrapped up in a week. She already had to manipulate another gang to take on a chapter of the Las Vegas Greys for her because she had procrastinated and been lied to by other people.
“You’re saying Nester wants to buy my silence.”
“No,” Quentin shook his head, his expression earnest. “Nester knows you’re not involved, I know you’re not involved with this and we both decided we want to keep it this way. As far as we are aware, you haven’t done anything.”
Lily scoffed. If only they knew…
“This money is a way to ensure your safety, at least for a while. Nester doesn’t want you to get caught in the crossfire,” Quentin added. “No strings attached.”
Reluctantly, she eased the pressure on the knife, allowing Quentin to breathe a sigh of relief. Lily then climbed off him but kept the knife in her hand. “I appreciate the warning,” she walked backward towards the backpack. It was going to take every ounce of her cunning and her determination to leave quickly with honesty. “I’ll need the night.”
Quentin scrambled to his feet and nodded. “You’re a smart woman, Lily. Stay safe.”