"Say hello to your cute butler for us Em!" Annie teased.

I turned back to her. "Annie, shut up!" The girls laughed as I stomped up the porch. I waved as they drove away. Once inside, I tiptoed around to start unpacking. It was the middle of the day and I was sure he was sleeping. I didn't want to be rude and wake him up.

"I can take your things Miss Emmaline."

I whirled around and trippe over one of the chairs. It was just Larten, dressed in his usual red with a black coat. He came over to me and helped me back to my fee. "You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were sleeping."

"I am sorry, are you alright? I did not mean to startle you," he worried.

"Just an adrenaline rush. Don't tell me you waited up for me," I said, starting to unpack.

"Cute butlers can't sleep on the job Miss Emmaline," he smirked. I blushed.

"Well then, go put this blanket in my room." I threw my favorite blanket at him, hoping it would land on his head. No such luck, he caught it. He flitted to my room and back before I could turn away.

"So how was your trip?" he asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Part of it was wonderful and the other part sucked. Look, I got sunburnt." I pulled back my sleeve to show him my very red and irritated skin.

"Ouch. You might want to put something on that."

"Later. I'm so jetlagged. How was your night?"

"Fine."

"Just fine?" His tone was off. I looked at him.

"Yes."

I frowned. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing," he said moving to the table. "It was a boring night." He looked me in the eyes and tried to do that hypnotizing thing. I didn't let him.

"You're lying to me. It made you uncomfortable, which is why you moved to the table. What happened?"

"That was blunt. I just visited Darren. I left him with my friend Gavner."

"You're still lying to me. You could've had him stay here."

"It would be good for both of them to spend some time with each other."

"You're still avoiding me."

"I think I'll just hit the pine."

"Did he come back?" I guessed. The question made him stop in his tracks.

"Yes. Yes, he did." Larten turned back to face me with a weird expression. I couldn't tell what it was.

"Are you okay?" I started rushing over to him when he burst out laughing.

"You hear that a murderous monster was in your home last night with the intent to kill you and you worry about me."

"Yes! I wasn't here last night, you were. I'm okay, but are you? It isn't going to really sink in until he's charging at me," I said offhandedly.

"Unbelievable. Yes, Em, I am fine."

"Good. Now you can go to bed."

"I think you are more tired that I am. Maybe we should both go to bed."

"Alright." We walked quietly up the stairs. We passed on of the guest bedrooms and I saw a boy passed out on the bed. He was snoring away.

"This is Darren. He had a late night."

"He looks young."

"He's older than you," Larten replied. We walked away and passed the bedroom Larten had chosen. I knew that because there was a large coffin in the center of the room.

"How do you know how old I am?"

"You are twenty-two. He's twenty-three."

"I see. You still didn't answer me." We stopped at his door. "Will you be here when I wake up?"

"Maybe. I have errands to run. Do you want me to stay?"

"Yeah kinda." I scratched the back of my head. This was getting awkward fast. "You never told me why you looked sad when I left."

"You never forget anything do you?"

"Don't answer my question with another question."

"Answer mine and I'll answer yours."

"I asked first!" That made him laugh.

"Alright… I do not know how to answer."

"Just tell me."

"You make it sound so easy." He looked around, as if the answer would be written in the air. "I would answer you if I could but I cannot." There was that sad face again. I would let this question go, for now.

"Okay. You know where I am if you need me." I started to walk away when I heard him start to splutter. I turned back around. He was watching me with another weird expression. For a second, I thought something was wrong.

"What?" I asked.

"…Are you extremely tired?"

I smiled. "No, but you will be tonight."

He shrugged. "I will live."


We stayed in my room, we didn't want to wake up Darren. We talked about everything, little things about my trip, little things about his coffin and funny stories about Darren and Gavner. He didn't mind that I kept asking and asking questions, he was just as willing to spill as I was to ask. It was nice to just talk and not worry about my friends barging in and interrupting us.

It was late afternoon when both started feeling really tired. We were both kind of dozing off on my bed, but I don't think either one of us wanted to go to sleep. I had to walk him back to his coffin, just to make sure he got some sleep. We said good night, afternoon, whatever, and I finished unpacking before finally collapsing on my bed.

I started drifting off to sleep when I had a bad feeling. You know the feeling before a bad dream sneaks up on you? That was the one. Unfortunately, I was already asleep and I didn't have enough willpower to wake up. It started out dark and I couldn't open my eyes. I could hear clanking and rattling of what I assumed were chains and I was hot. I heard moaning and screaming, which sounded vaguely familiar. I kept trying so hard to open my eyes but they wouldn't open. I got nervous the more I tried and I started thrashing and scratching at my eyes to see. I could feel pain and blood but I needed to see what was going on, I needed to see what they were doing, if they were coming after me.

"Em!" I could hear someone shouting my name, far off in the distance. Unseen hands grabbed me and started shaking me. I screamed and clawed at them but they held me down and just kept shaking.

"Emmaline!" The voice sounded closer now and their grip loosened a little.

"Em!" My eyes flew open and I was staring straight at Larten. I was breathing hard and I was covered in sweat. I was still shaking and I couldn't hold myself up. He was holding me by the shoulders and staring at me with such concern. I looked down at my hands and saw they had blood on them. Did I really scratch myself that hard?

"Are you ok?" he slowly let go of me and sat down beside me. He had scratch marks on his arms. I tentatively reached up to feel light scratches around my eyes. I wanted to tell him I was ok, shake it off and be strong, to fix him up. But I couldn't. I was still freaked out from my dream and I shook my head and hugged my knees.

He licked the scratches on his arm and they healed. I would have to ask him about that later. He held me close to him, but not tight. I wanted to apologize, but all I could do was shake. Darren was standing in the doorway, staring at me with a shocked expression. I couldn't shut my eyes, I was scared they wouldn't open again.

Larten held me while I calmed down. He didn't say anything, he just held me. After a while, Darren left us alone. When I could finally hold myself up, I sat up. He still kept one arm around me.

"I'm sorry." I wanted to say more, but my voice cracked.

"You had a bad dream. Are you ok?"

"I'll be ok. I didn't mean to scratch you. Or wake you guys up." I looked down at my hands still covered in blood.

"It does not matter. Are you sure you are okay? You were thrashing hard, are you sure you are not hurt?"

"No I'm fine, I just can't sleep for a few years." I tried to laugh but it came out weak. "Thanks for waking me up. Sorry."

"Let's get you cleaned up." He helped me to the bathroom and washed his blood off my hands. We wandered down to the kitchen where he made me hot chocolate.

"What was your dream about?" he asked, sitting beside me, his hand on my back.

"I couldn't see but something bad was happening," I answered quietly.

He hugged me closer. "You are fine. I will not let anything happen to you." We sat there, him holding me and me hugging my hot chocolate. In that moment, I was really glad I had come home to Larten Crepsley bleeding on the floor that afternoon, all those months ago.