Accursed

Chapter 5 - Recruitment

The next morning, we headed into the town, looking for a particular cottage. When we finally got to the right house, I knocked loudly on the door multiple times until I heard yelling from the other side. The door swung open to reveal the disheveled alcoholic of the town, still obviously suffering from a hangover.

Lorelei's crooked smile was wicked when she saw who was at her front door. "Well, well, well, Katrien, to what do I owe the pleasure?" she mimicked a haughty tone while squinting at the sunlight that poured in.

Rolling my eyes, I sidestepped to reveal Klaus, who was sort of hiding behind me. Sheepishly, Klaus offered a little wave as a greeting. He was a rather interesting and complex man, I was beginning to see, the more I saw his mannerisms and his interactions with others.

A low whistle floated from Lorelei's lips. "Wow, who's the stud?" she asked unabashedly, jabbing her thumb in Klaus's direction. The smile on her face became lazy and lax when she saw him, slowly leaning up against the doorframe. She was certainly lesbian, as she'd like to tell me a lot, but she wasn't blind.

"It's a lot to explain. Can we come inside?" I asked, glancing around to see if anyone in the town was watching. I really didn't need anyone to tell my parents about me sneaking around town with others before I got to tell them myself what I was planning on doing.

Seeing I was more serious than usual, Lorelei dropped the smile and nodded, stepping out of the way of the threshold. As soon as we passed over it, I turned around and caught Lorelei unabashedly staring at my ass and Klaus giving me a look, as he'd seen what she was doing.

Lorelei's pad was even more messy than the last time I saw it. She had built her own house after she was kicked out from her parents' place for sleazing around too much and legitimately not doing anything else to contribute to her household, which was a big no-no in Cyfuniad. Family and community were very huge values, and anyone who didn't contribute to them was severely looked down upon and more than likely shunned by the rest of the town.

Every single room in her house was littered with garbage, dirty laundry, and half-full or empty bottles of alcohol. Her bedroom was the absolute worst, but none of us were planning on going in there anytime soon. The kitchen and living room were probably the second and third worst, and half the time she only used the kitchen to throw things on the countertop. Pizza boxes from the one and only pizzeria in Cyfuniad were one of the most prolific pieces of garbage besides the bottles of booze. At least four of them were visible in both the kitchen and the living room, which was an open floor plan that was there as one walked in the front door.

It smelled like week-old trash with both Klaus and I wrinkling our noses in disgust. "Jesus, Lore, you couldn't have at least bought some air fresheners?" I couldn't help but chastise her; it was almost impossible not to with the "carefree" way she lived—where I'd use the word slobby to describe it instead.

Klaus's mouth remained sewn shut. He was probably taught that it was impolite to say anything to the host of the home and attempt to look for compliments. Seeing as though he couldn't find any, silence was better than lying.

Lorelei mockingly repeated my own words to me before blowing a raspberry. "Look, I don't come into your house and judge the way you live."

"That's because my home isn't a pig stye." I retorted quickly, refusing to let her just get away with being crass and rude. "We didn't come here to talk house décor, either."

Lorelei rolled her eyes and sat down on her littered couch, spreading out her legs, moving the trash on the couch as she did. She offered seats to the both of us, but any other space that would have been there was just cluttered.

We both declined wordlessly and stood next to each other in front of her, awkwardly shifting on the balls of our feet.

"Suit yourselves. What do you want?" she asked, sticking her pinkie nail in between her teeth and focusing her gaze on attempting to floss her teeth without floss.