Chapter Two:

As soon as the two climbed into Ghastly's old Volkswagen, Tanith asked "So, how far is Denholm Street from here?"

"About a fifteen minute drive ," Ghastly replied, starting the car up and pulling out of the Sanctuary loading bay. "It's on the south-side. By the Liffey docks..."

"Never heard of it," Tanith said bluntly, and that put an end to the conversation. They sat there for a few minutes in dense, awkward silence, Ghastly driving quietly, Tanith staring out the window. They drove through the streets, over O'Connell Bridge, then they were on the south-side of the Liffey. Almost as soon as they crossed the bridge, however, they got stuck in traffic.

Dammit, Ghastly thought to himself, stopping the Volkswagen behind a large lorry. Now for an extra ten minutes of agonising silence...

He shook these thoughts out of his head. He shouldn't think that way, and he didn't usually. He had always been tolerant, he knew that. Stubborn as a mule, yes, but he didn't hold grudges. It wasn't Tanith's fault that this car journey was going awkwardly. She probably felt uncomfortable around him. The other day with the Cleavers he hadn't been very understanding. He had treated her like she was a monster for sending the Cleavers out to distract the Hollowmen. He knew she wasn't though. He took a sneaky look at her as they sat in traffic, crawling along at snail's pace. She wasn't really staring out the window. She couldn't be; they were too heavily tinted. No, she was staring at the window, thinking about something. The Cleavers, Ghastly thought with a twinge of guilt. She must be. One was dead, the other missing, because of her orders. Poor girl.

As they came to a halt again, he took another look at her. She was a pretty girl, that was for sure, with curly dark blonde hair, looking to be in her early twenties, though of course she could be much older. She was still younger than him though, from what he had heard. Also, her eyes were dark. A dark shade of hazel green, lined with black eye make-up. They were sad, thoughtful eyes at the moment, and she was pouting slightly as she stared at the grey window with smooth, full lips. She was actually quite adorable, and Ghastly would have chuckled at the sad expression on her face, had the mood not been so serious. He realise he had to say something, to reassure her that he wasn't angry with her.

"Yesterday," he began carefully, making his voice just loud enough for her to gain his attention. "With the Cleavers...and rescuing Skulduggery...it wasn't your fault. You did what you had to do."

Tanith looked away from the window, and stared at her knees. "I know I did," she said quietly.

"But you still feel guilty," Ghastly confirmed, staring at her curiously. Her dark eyes turned hard as they stared downward.

"Why wouldn't I, Mr Bespoke?" she asked coldly. "They're dead now...because of me."

"No, they're not."

"Yes they are, I killed them!"

"No!" Ghastly cursed himself for raising his voice, and looked forward as the car crawled along again. He took a breath. "The Hollowmen killed them. You only did what you had to do."

"And what were they, collateral damage?" Tanith asked angrily. She grimaced then, and continued. "What...what I did was give them a glance, andthey knew immediately that I meant for them to get killed. What does that say about me, eh? You know, I could have volunteered to go myself. To go and distract the Hollowmen to let the four of you rescue Skulduggery. But no, I 'm obviously worth more than the Cleavers so I had to survive." She finished with a short, sarcastic laugh.

Ghastly hesitated before replying, "Well, it's probably a good thing you, well, didn't. You know, volunteer. We needed your help."

Tanith laughed hollowly. "Needed my expertise. Huh, as if. I mean..." Her voice rose with a sudden burst of emotion. "What I do, Mr Bespoke, is I slay, okay? I am a slayer. The great Tanith Low, a cold blooded killer. I have made a name for myself, basically, by killing creatures that are only doing what nature intended for them. I mean, trolls are meant to eat people, right? If they didn't, that would just be...unnatural. And vampires are meant to drink human blood, not orange juice!"

"But...but they're monsters, Tanith." Ghastly said quietly, looking at her from the corner of his eye. He wasn't interested in the road now. He wanted to hear what this woman had to say.

"No they're not," Tanith said indignantly with a shake of her head. " They are living creatures, just like you or me. Ha, and that's not all!" She let out a single, slightly hysterical sounding laugh. "I've killed people, not just monsters. Mages; evil, nasty ones, sure, but did they deserve to die? I tell myself constantly that it's for the greater good, but what makes me better than the scumbags I kill? And then the morning after..." Her voice dropped a semi-tone. "...I wake up, hoping that it was all a bad dream, and then I find someone else's blood on my clothes. Oh sure, I can wash it off, I always have to, but the stains are still there. Inside me, on my skin..."

Tanith shivered once, and Ghastly felt like comforting her so badly. She took as breath, then continued, with her eyes closed.

"I've heard about glory and honour and sacrifice being worth it, but what do I know about them? Sacrifice...true sacrifice, like giving up your life to let everyone else get away, is something I've never had to do. It's beyond me. I...wouldn't be able to do that. I'm not that honourable."

She let out another single, hollow laugh. "And now I'm babbling, huh. Like the soliloquy-spewing twit that I am. What kind of nut-job could understand all that, right?"

Ghastly blinked at her as she rested her head against his cold window. He was astounded by the depth of this woman, her passion, but she still somehow seemed like such a little girl. He wanted to comfort her. So with a breath, muttered two words that he knew were truthful.

"I'd try."

Tanith snapped her head towards him, and her blonde curls shook around her face. Her dark eyes were wide and gleaming.

"What was that?" she asked, sounding confused. Ghastly gulped and stared her right in the eye.

"I...would try," he said, then decided to add a bit of humour. He smiled a smile that was slightly crooked, because of the long red scars cutting through his mouth. "You know, to be that nut-job."

Tanith gazed at him for a moment, as if she were really looking at him for the first time. Then with her glistening, water eyes never leaving his, she gave him the tiniest, strangest smile.

"Thank you," she whispered."

A/N: Woohoo, Chapter 2! I know, it's kind of dense and lacking humour, but I'm just trying to get inside these characters. The humour, the love story, it comes, don't worry. And seeing as it's the new year, I'm making a resolution to upload make fanfictions (or fanfiction, I should say) more often. Hope this isn't too complicated (Steph, you know who you are, lol) or boring. It WILL get easier. I think.

Um, heh heh, anyway. GTG! Love K x