There'd been a softening at the edges of the Repo Man's face for a second, but it hardened again. Nathan had once again disappeared. The good doctor was able to sneak past the homicidal maniac once more after death to make sure his daughter, the only thing that he thought kept him alive and functioning for years was going to be safe. But, he was dead now. Hopefully, if there was a kind being somewhere, settling in with his beloved wife and wouldn't be bothering the world again.

But that didn't rid them of the fearsome specter that now sat at the end of the kid's white, fluffy bed; The dark cloud of malice and anger that was hovering much too close to where they were. The creature that wore the face of Nathan Wallace reached up and lowered the faceplate of its helmet. The blue lights even more terrifying with the ghostly lights then they ever had glowing out of the darkness of an alley.

Graverobber felt a shiver up his spine, even through the Z. It stood, clutching its phantom scalpel in one hand, looking too closely at the bed. Shilo shivered in her sleep and let out another terrified little whimper; it was obvious that she was caught in some sort of nightmare. Even through the helmet, the Repo Man looked, confused?

Coward, Graverobber thought to himself as he shook Shilo gently,

"Kid, kid it's okay. Kid wake up." While he shook the terrified girl, Graverobber's gaze never left Repo. Meaning he saw Mag walk forward, her tiny geisha steps in those ridiculous heels still managing to look hard, more determined then he'd seen her in years, if ever. She stood right in front of the Repo and looked up into the glowing gaze of its death mask.

"I think it's time you leave." Graverobber felt his eyes widen, he'd only heard that tone come from Maggie's mouth once before that was seconds before she'd died. Her final "fuck you" had sounded just like that.

"You don't give me orders." Repo snarled, brandishing his scalpel. If he wasn't so sure of what he could do with that blade, Graverobber would have said the spook looked like a B-movie horror villain, but even without being able to see his face, Graves felt that tingle of ice up his spine again.

Be careful, Maggie…

"You don't make decisions here anymore. The ties that held you here have been severed. Nathan is dead, and you aren't welcome." Repo made another malicious move, only this time towards the bed and Shilo; he seemed to know that there wasn't much he could do to Mag and it wouldn't help alleviate its rage.

Think, Graves, think! What reasons do people have to come back? Unfinished business, no wish to cross ov-

Revenge.

That's it! Graves struggled to sit up again, the kid still shaking and whimpering beside him. Waves of pain crawled under the numbing haze, making his vision black over.

"The people responsible for your destruction aren't here. They're back at that hellhole that employed your psycho ass; if you want revenge, go find them there. As for right now, get the FUCK out of my house!"

My house? Graves had managed to sit straight up, the kid still curled into his hip. He stared straight into the glowing visor, not blinking, not letting the pain show on his face or in his eyes. He could feel the glare though the mask, yet Repo chose this second to vanish. Simultaneously, Shilo's dark eyes snapped open wide and she cried out,

"No! Please not again…I-" Her eyes whipped around the room wildly, trying to remember where she was; she relaxed and threw her arms around Graverobber and buried her small face in his neck. Graverobber held her, still worried that he was going to break her if he breathed wrong. That had all been too close. It was almost as if she had felt the presence of the monster in her bedroom, yet her mind didn't want to make her awaken and realize the other part of her father that he'd kept buried so deep into his mind that it poisoned him.

"Wha's up, kid?" she shook her head against his skin,

Ya know how easy it'd be fer her ta sink those pretty little teeth into yer neck?

Shut up, she's scared.

"'nother bad dream… I…always get them since…" she pulled back slightly and shook her head again she seemed to be waking up a little more, "'m sorry…" Graverobber caught her and pulled her closer,

"Hey, nutin ta be sorry for, kid. Nutin at all." She was shaking and it was obvious that she was falling apart and had been for quite a while and all Nathan had done was stand by and watch. Even through his light blue haze, Graverobber felt a wave of rage build inside his chest.

What the FUCK kind of father was he? He didn't consider himself a pacifist by a long shot, but the The wet feel of her tears on his neck snapped Graverobber out of his livid state, but even this was a little too deserbing.

"I…-Please don't leave me… I…everyone always leaves…" Graverobber felt a tiny stab in his heart at that,

Sounds familiar…

"Don't worry, kid, I ain't goin 'nywhere." Shilo nodded and pulled away, scrubbing at her cheeks and red-rimmed eyes with her hands, the black polish on her nails standing out sharply against her Snow White-like skin.

"I shouldn't bother you with this… it's stupid…" She squared her small shoulders and looked down at her hands where they'd dropped in her lap. With a noise that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a growl, Graverobber reached over and wiped the tears from under her eyes; her skin was almost icy under his thumb.

"Don't worry bout it, kid, Nightmares get ta everybody 'nd you've seen more inna year and a half then most people see in their whole lives." Shilo leaned her face into his thumb and shut her eyes, a few more tears leaked out from under her sooty lashes,

"I miss them so much, Graves. I didn't get enough time with Mag, or get to know Mom at all, but I miss them so much. Them and-" her voice cracked, "Dad.. I just.. everyone that comes near me ends up being taken away…" Graves looked over at where Mag still stood, holding herself upwards with a confident grace that had seemed to avoid her while she lived; Graves couldn't quite put his finger on it…

Freedom suits her, that's all. After all, I think it's why she came back. To Help. Graves gave her a look that clearly said, "what do I do?" over Shilo's head, but Mag just smiled a relatively teasing smile and spread her arms wide.

"Make your own decisions, Zydrate King. I'll be around." That being said, she faded subtly, not vanished the way Repo had.

Graves looked down at the trembling ball in his arms; she was feeling lost, alone, disconnected from the world…he knew of only one way to fix that. Without another thought, he reached down and tipped the kid's head back by her chin. She looked up at him with red rimmed eyes, the dark orbs seemed so lost even though she sat right here next to him.

"I ain't gonna leave ya alone, kid, don't worry."

Not till I have to. With that he pressed a kiss to her lips, slightly swollen from biting them while she tried to quiet her sobs. She whimpered breathlessly in the back of her throat, but kissed him back firmly. It seemed that she thought he was the only thing keeping her together and that the press of her lips was the only thing keeping him from floating away into the ether. Without thinking, Graves pulled her closer, even as she grabbed at his shoulders in an attempt to stop his not leaving.

"You won't leave?" she whispered against his lips before nipping at one with those tiny white teeth.

"Won't leave." He agreed, "Not even if ya tell me to." He once again started kissing down her neck, only to discover the lace that bound the nightgown to her body came half way up that creamy neck. He growled and pulled away, somehow resisting the urge to rip the delicate garment off her. But when he took the time to look down at her neck for a moment he thought he'd bitten her too hard and she'd started to bleed. Then he realized his lips were throbbing from more then kisses, the places where they'd split had opened again. It looked as though the kid was wearing bright red lipstick that had smudged and the gruesome effect trailed down her neck.

Silently cursing himself, Graves pulled away. Shilo let out a slightly annoyed, yet desperate whimper. She opened slightly unfocused eyes to look at him as he reached over and pulled the washcloth she'd previously been using on him from the bowl and used it to wipe the fresh blood from her skin.

The water had chilled as it sat there, nowhere near freezing, but cool. However the second he swiped it across her lips, Shilo shivered and he didn't think it was because she liked the feeling.

"'s cold." She whispered and tried to pull away.

"I know kid, relax, I got blood all over you." This seemed to break through her head as her eyes flew open wider and she started actually inspecting him. Her chilly fingers poked and trailed over his face.

"No more of that! You'll never heal…I don't want you to keep being in pain." As he wiped at a spot on her neck, Graves leaned in and growled in her ear,

"I'm in more pain when I don't get to touch you." The way he shifted to speak right into her ear made him all the more aware of how true a statement that was. A shiver shook through her, it was obvious now, the kid responded to tone, and quite deeply.

This is gonna be fun.

It took quite a while and more then a few deep interested thoughts of tying the girl down and making her writhe without even touching her first, but finally the two settled down into bed. Shilo had drifted off first and immediately took to wrapping herself around him tighter then a bow on a Christmas gift. After several long, agonizing minutes of minuet twitches for him to get comfortable and in a position where he didn't feel like he was taking more liberties then he'd earned yet.

You have never considered that a liberty before. Not once. Okay.. maybe once or twice, but not in a long time.

Since Maggie?

Yeah.. okay you got me there.

I don't come across real ladies very often here anymore. Few actually deserve to have liberties earned.

You're officially stoned. Go to bed. Ignoring is own good advice, Graves glanced down at the kid, to make sure she was actually asleep.

"Kid." He hissed. She didn't move, "Kid?" Nothing. "Shilo?" she nuzzled closer, but didn't show any signs of waking. That experiment completed, Graves moved on to the next one.

"Maggie-bird? You some place close?" There was no answer.

What? Is she sleeping too?

If you make one joke about sleeping like the dead, I'm going to knock you out myself.