Me and My Girl

It had been three days since the girl had been staying with him. He didn't have a home persay, and she had refused to return to her own. He could understand why. She had spent every moment of her short life trapped in that place with her father. Too many bad memories haunted that place for her to return. So she had been wandering with him, staying at random motels. He had called in a favor with an old friend to get her a place to take a shower safely, and a change of clothes. She looked better without all the blood, but she still carried an air of death around her. It unsettled some of his customers, but he didn't mind. She couldn't be left alone, she'd wither away, and for some reason he couldn't let that happen. He barely listened to the potential customer chattering away at him. He startled and looked behind him when he heard a soft whimper. One of the men he'd been trying to sell to had Shilo by the arm. He had jerked her closer to him, while she struggled weakly.

"So Grave Robber, this one's new isn't she. I think I'd rather buy her for a few hours, how much you want for her." The man's question enraged Grave robber.

"Let her go, she's not a street walker, she's my companion." He glared at the man, but in his drunken haze the man ignored him, tugging at the girls shirt. When she tried to scratch him, he slapped her hard, knocking her to the ground. In a flash Grave Robber grabbed the man, ramming him hard against the alley wall, his eyes burning.

"I said she's mine, now get out of here before I see if I can extract Zydrate from the living." He growled the words menacingly, and the man he held nodded.

"S sorry man, didn't know she belonged to someone." Grave robber growled and threw the man away from him, turning and kneeling next to Shilo.

"You ok Kid?" He inspected the bruise forming on her face, and the blood on her split lip. The anger inside him welled up, and he snarled under his breath. She saw the expression on his face and shivered slightly. He noticed her reaction, and forced a smile.

"Don't worry Miss Wallace, my bark is worse than my bite." He stood, helping her to her feet. He began walking, hearing her jog to catch up, walking beside him. He could feel her eyes on him and he raised an eyebrow, glancing at her. "What?"

"You said I'm yours." She said quietly, her eyes looking up at him, wary and cold. But he saw something else in there too. Hope maybe? He wasn't sure. He cleared his throat, looking ahead of him.

"Yea don't worry about it, sometimes you gotta tell a lie to keep the creeps away." He shrugged, looking back at her. Her expression alarmed him, though he didn't show it. She looked so sad. God those tortured eyes could turn any man into a blubbering moron.

"I see…" She mumbled, staring ahead. She started when a cold hand reached out and grabbed her arm, forcefully and yet gently. She looked up into the grave robbers eyes, who was looking at her curiously.

"ki-Shilo." He started. a look from her silenced him.

"Forget about it, I'm just tired..' She mumbled, beginning to walk down the alley. He followed after her silently, and they both disappeared into the shadows.

some time later...

Grave robber watched the girl as she slept. She tossed and turned, whimpering. He knew she was having nightmare. he was familiar with those kinds of dreams. He used to have them a lot. He shook the girl gently, waking her from her fitful sleep. She sat up, looking at him tiredly.

"I gotta go to work kid. You stay here, and stay outta trouble ok. its not safe for you to be on the streets a lot right now." She nodded yawning.

"Ok...will you be back soon?" She asked. He nodded.

"Should be back tonight, 5 hours tops." He said, glancing out the window. She nodded and he stood, walking over to the door. He closed it behind him, giving her one last glance.

Once he had left she felt that all to familiar dread and lonliness creeping into her. she looked around for a distraction. Her salvation came in the form of an old western novel. The pages were wrinkled and stained. She figured he must have found it in the trash somewhere, but didn't care that much. She picked it up and started to read.

At GeneCo...

Luigi stared down at the bleeding Gentern coldly. His temper had gotten worse and worse since their father had died at the opera. And since he had revealed that he intended Shilo Wallace to be his heir. The shout made his scowl deepen. Pavi stood next to him, rambling in the god awful falsetto accent. All he had been able to talk about since the opera had been the Wallace girl. He wanted them to go after her. Luigi wasnt sure if Pavi wanted to kill her and take her face, or turn her into one of his play things. Either way, he didn't care. He wanted her to feel the pain he felt, and more. Luigi felt the anger building inside of him before he turned and shouted at his brother.

"Pavi, shut the fuck up!" His brother went quiet. Pavi recognised that look in his brothers eyes. It was the look that said someone was going to be dead soon, or wished that they were.

"Pavi, lets go find that Shilo girl. I'm in a bad mood, and I think I'd enjoy seeing her scream right now." He stalked off out of the GeneCo building, and Pavi followed excitedly.

"That's u-what I like to hear Brother!"

Authors note: ok, for the sake of the story line, the grave robbers going to change his personality a bit, starting as it did in this chapter with that protective possessiveness. Don't worry, you'll see bits and pieces of the old grave robber popping up to keep him in character. Anyway, the next chapter gets really dark, so be warned! If you disapprove of violence and sexual content and a combination of the two, do not read on. you have been warned.