Chapter 2

Shilo had fallen into a deep sleep hours ago. Her rest was plagued with nightmares of her father's death and haunting images of her mother and Mag. She never heard the crypt door as it scraped open. About and hour later she tiredly sat up and rubbed her eyes. The first thing that met her sight was Graverobber sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, One long lean leg stretched out in front of him the other pulled in close so that his knee was practically touching his chest. An arm was draped over his knee wile the other sat limply in his lap. He was looking at her. Shilo wondered how long he'd been there, how long he'd been watching her. His bag of Zydrate equipment lay on the floor on the other side of him, empty vials lined his holsters. He looked over at her. "You should be more careful, anyone could just waltz right in here you know."

She glared at him. "Anyone? You mean like you?"

He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "There are worse things out there than me kid. Things that wouldn't think twice about hurting a pretty little thing like you."

She shifted and crossed her legs beneath her. "Don't think I don't know that? I'd say I know more about the monsters in the world than most people. Why are you here anyway?" She asked. "Did you change your mind?" She added hopefully.

He cocked his head and smiled his crooked smile. "I came back to see if you were still here. I thought that maybe if you were desperate enough I could have a little fun with you." He leaned toward her. "So what do you say? Want to play a game?" There was a wicked gleam in his eye.

Shilo slapped him across the face. "You're disgusting. Did you really think that would work with me? I'm not your fucking Amber."

Graverobber rubbed the side of his face with one gloved hand and smirked. "Can't blame me for trying. And She is NOT my Amber." The tone in his voice said it all. Annoyance mixed will disgust mixed with a hint of anger.

"Really? You two looked pretty close to me. Didn't she used to do you favors when she needed the glow?"

"That was before. She owns GeneCo now. All the Zydrate she could want and no one to answer to for it. Besides, she was poison. Got under your skin in a bad way. She's worse than the Z."

"If she's so horrible then why'd you bother with her?"

"Simple kid, I needed her at the time. She was my best customer and an easy fuck, not to mention she was probably part of the reason the genecops never really bothered with me." Graverobber grimaced. Amber did have that going for her. As long as her father was alive he'd called the genecops off whenever they'd cornered him so he wouldn't have to listen to Amber whine. Now that Amber was in charge and didn't need him anymore he had to be more careful.

"Not very picky then, are you? So do you have it, the Zydrate?"

He leaned his head back against the wall. "I'm out."

"We're in a graveyard, we could get some."

"And if I did that, what's in it for me?"

"I can get some money. Please, just help me. I need it to help me forget." She stood up and moved closer to him.

"I can't kid. It doesn't work like that. It's not the cure you seem to think it is." Shilo made a grab for his bag. She was fast, but he was faster. He grabbed her wrist in his vice-like grip and yanked her forward to her knees. They hit the stone hard and she winced at the impact. There would be bruises, she was sure. He grabbed her other wrist and pulled her close. " I. Said. No. Bad things happen to girls like you. You want a cure, fine, but we'll do things my way." He was hurting her. Her wrists were sore from him squeezing too hard. She tried to pull away, but didn't have the strength in her malnourished limbs to escape his grasp.

She didn't seem to have a choice. She stopped struggling and collapsed into his arms. "Fine, we'll do things your way." Graverobber let her lie there and regain her strength. He raked his gaze over her prostrate form. She was even more pale then she had been that first night they met and she had lost at least a few pounds. Her once sleek black wig was now tangled and rather than sitting perfectly on her head it was slightly askew. He let his eyes wander around the crypt. It looked the same as any other crypt he'd been in. It was dark save for what little light leaked through its windows. There were several torches on the walls that hadn't been lit in days. The floor was cold and covered in layers of dust and dirt and an occasional candy bar wrapper. The smell of decay was everywhere, not that it particularly bothered him, but he knew that he had to get her out of this place. She couldn't go on living with the dead. Even he never went that far. He might wander among them on a nightly basis, but he'd never gone so far as to sequester himself with them. It wasn't healthy and she was living proof of that. She was rotting away like a corpse, granted a beautiful one at that. He could still see her the way she was that first night. Even then there had been a voice deep inside of him that said he wanted to taste her. He shuddered and shoved the though from his mind. Still, he wanted her like that. He didn't want only memories of what she'd been. She stirred and weakly pushed herself away from him.

He stood up and looked at her. She shivered. The night was on the cool side and she was still wearing only the little black dress she had on when she'd left the opera. He sighed and shrugged off his coat and covered her with it. "When was the last time you ate?" She looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't go out very much. I had some candy bars." He looked at the empty wrappers on the floor. "So I've noticed. Well you're going to have to eat something."

"I'm fine. I'm not hungry," she lied.

"You haven't eaten in days, I can see it, and you can barely stand. Besides, you want the Glow don't you?" He teased. "Can't have it on an empty stomach. My rules, remember." She wasn't the only one that lied. With that he grabbed up his bag and left her alone again and set out to scrounge up something to eat.

Shilo pulled his coat tighter around herself. She didn't like being left alone. She'd been as alone as was humanly possible for a week now and that was enough for her. As much as he infuriated her, as disgusting and obscene he could be, she liked Graverobber's company. He was blunt and straightforward. He had no reason to lie to her. Sometimes she even thought he was amusing. And just now, when he'd let her lie in his arms, she'd felt safe and comfortable. She didn't like the thought, but she liked having him around... maybe even liked him. She buried her face into the faux fur collar of the coat and inhaled deeply. It smelled of graveyard dirt and death... and him. She curled up beneath its warmth, hugged it tight, and drifted off into the sweetest dreams she had had in the last week.

Graverobber jumped out of the back of the garbage truck as it neared the alley where he set up shop. Within minutes he'd sold the Zydrate that he'd collected on his way out of the cemetery and he was slinking through the shadows and sneaking into shoppes grabbing a few things off the shelves here and there, perhaps dipping into a garbage bin or dumpster that usually had some good throw aways in it before once again hopping a truck headed towards Cemetery no.31. He stepped off at the gate and, careful not to see spotted by the searchlights and the genecops on patrol, made his way back to where he had left the girl. She was asleep again. He knelt beside her and gently shook her shoulder. She grimaced and cracked open an eye. She sat up, the coat slipping slightly. She shrugged it back into place and pulled her knees to her chest. Graverobber rummaged through his bag and pulled out a couple of sandwiches and a can of coke. He held one out to Shilo. She took it from him tentatively and began to nibble on it. Graverobber sat down next to her and began to tear into his own sandwich. Shilo hadn't eaten anything substantial in so long that she savored every bite. Graverobber had already finished his sandwich and was pulling another out of his bag when she was still only halfway through. He picked up the can of coke, popped the tab, and handed it to her. She took it and gulped half the can in one sip. She didn't realize that she'd been so hungry, or thirsty for that matter. Graverobber finished his second sandwich and watched with amusement as she finished her own and drained the last of the coke. There was a spot of mustard clinging to the corner of her mouth. He cupped the side of her face in his hand and wiped it away with his thumb. He let his hand linger for just a moment while he looked into her eyes before breaking the contact and digging around in his bag once more.

The gesture made Shilo shiver. His hand was warm and rough, his touch was gentle. She relished in the feeling that the simple gesture gave her. It stirred something deep inside of her, a feeling that she had thought was lost forever. He made her feel..... loved. No, that couldn't be it. It was obscene to even think that he, that a man of his character, could love. Even if he could she rationalized, it wouldn't be her. There were far better people for someone like him to love. He had taken pity on her. That was all. He would play the hero for a while and lead her around until the fun of the game wore off for him. She watched as he pulled a second can from the bag and took a deep swig. He didn't even notice that she was staring at him. She should stop that, she realized. The way she was thinking right now, it was as if she had some school girl crush on the guy. It was pathetic, she thought, that she should care about a man that was definitely older than her, a man that didn't really care if she was there or not, a man she knew nothing about. Once he'd had his fun with her he'd give her the drug and be on his way again and she'd only see him when she needed a hookup, of that she was sure.

Graverobber could see the girl staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He ignored it. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking. He set the can down and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at her. "Still hungry?"

Shilo shook her head. In truth, she'd grown so used to not eating that the little bit he'd given her had filled her. She was sure that if she ate any more she would throw up. "I'm good. Thank you."

The gleam came back to his eye. "I bet you are." He couldn't help but tease her. In a way, it made being near her easier. Besides, he couldn't help himself. It was a flaw in his character he supposed.

Shilo eyed him suspiciously. He'd found her, denied her Zydrate, left her alone, come back, made passes at her, and brought her food. She wasn't sure of the game he was playing anymore. She still figures he was amusing himself with her, but she wasn't sure where the game was headed anymore. Regardless of his bad boy exterior, he didn't seem like the kind of man that intended to hurt her. He'd made some passes, sure, but as far as Shilo could tell he'd been joking. Besides, if that was all he'd wanted from her he could've taken it and been gone already. She was in no condition to put up a fight right now. And even if he did just want a warm body there were more than enough girls in the back alley's willing to give it to him. He had her dangling on the end of a string and she didn't like it. She wished she could read into what he was thinking, but the pale made up face of the Graverobber betrayed nothing to his thoughts.

Suddenly Graverobber was on his feet. "Come on, it's time to go."

Shilo was confused. Go where? She looked up at him questioningly. "Are you giving me my cure now?"

"Not yet, now get up."

"Shilo looked at him defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere. You're playing games with me."

Graverobber rolled his eyes impatiently. "It's almost morning and it's time for me to call it a night. Besides, you shouldn't be sleeping with the dead, people will talk," even now he felt the need to add in his perverted humor. The look she gave him could kill. "Come on. The genecops don't search tombs often but if they do and they find you in here they'll shoot first and ask questions later. You can't keep hiding in here. Eventually either the genecops will mistake you for a graverobber or a graverobber will end up mistaking you for a corpse and either way you end up becoming a permanent resident." Shilo had a hard time arguing with that. She knew that it was probably true. He reached out and pulled her to her feet. She lost her balance and fell into him before regaining her composure and steadying herself. The coat had slipped from her shoulders and fell to the floor. Graverobber picked it up and shook the dust off before slipping into it once more.

He began to walk toward the back of the crypt to the passage that led to Shilo's house when She grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

"The house still belongs to you. Its a better place for you to stay than here. It would be safer too."

She let go and stood her ground. "I- I can't. I can't go back there, not yet. I'm not ready. There has to be somewhere else."

"If you have a better idea then by all means lets hear it. If not, then I suggest we go back there." He took a step toward her. "You'll have to go back sometime, and you will never be ready. Best to get it over with." He turned away and began to push at the door that opened to the tunnel.

She took a step back. "No, I can't. I can go with you, wherever you're going."

"No you aren't. You go home or you stay here, those are your options."

"If there's nowhere else to go then I'm staying here."

Graverobber stopped what he was doing and sighed. "Suit yourself," he told her. He walked to the crypt door and bowed to her. "Best of luck. Be careful. You're beautiful, wouldn't want anything to happen to you." Before she could respond he had yanked the door open and disappeared from sight.