I forgot to mention this in the previous chapters, but I do not own REPO or any of its charaters. That privilege belongs to Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith

Chapter 6

Graverobber stood under the cold stream of water. He braced one hand on the wall and rubbed the back of his neck. He was tense. He still had a major hard on and he kept wishing that the girl would open the door and join him. It was a strange thought for him to have. There were always times when he was frustrated. When that happened there was always a girl like Amber, some sexy little thing looking for a hit but low on cash. And even if there wasn't, he could always go to the cathouse, though more often than not he preferred to calm his own nerves than take one of the working girls. Even he had standards. Still, none of them had ever really had any effect on him. They were too fake and he could tell. He only ever did what he needed to relieve the tension and the stress that came with it and was on his way.

Shilo was different. There was something about her that drew him to her. She intrigued him. Her natural beauty, her innocence and naivety, her strong will and determination, her fear and her curiosity, she was pure and perfect. She was real, and he wanted her. For the first time in ages he didn't just want something quick to take the edge off. He wanted her with him and he wanted to take the time to explore every beautiful imperfection, every freckle, every scar. He wanted to explore her in every way possible... and he wanted to truly enjoy it. He wanted to be the one to teach her about the side of herself that he doubted she'd ever explored except by herself. He absentmindedly stroked himself as he imagined taking her.
He finished quickly and washed up. Though he had his release the tension was still there. He was still annoyingly unsatisfied. He wouldn't be, he knew, until he'd had her. That thought begged to question, once he'd had her would he be free, or would he be even more helplessly drawn to her? He wished he could just walk away now before things got even more complicated but he couldn't. He was as addicted to her as his customers were to the Zydrate he sold. Once he had a taste of her there'd be no going back. He turned off the water and dried his hair as best he could before wrapping the towel around his waist.

Shilo sat in the window, much as she'd seen Graverobber doing. But instead of paying attention to the world below as he had, she had her knees pulled to her chest with her arms wrapped around them and was reflecting on the variety of things she was feeling. She was confused by the onslaught of emotions she'd been feeling. The opera had affected her. You had to be a monster for it not to. She'd begun life that night a sheltered naïve girl. By the end of the night she'd become a slightly more hardened woman. She still possessed a certain innocence of the real world, but she was by no means blind to its cruelty any longer. She was still angry for having been lied to for so many years, for having been held prisoner by lies. Still, the loss of her father had saddened her and left her feeling utterly alone and vulnerable in this new world that she knew so little about.
Then there was Graverobber.

Whenever he was around her, Shilo was assaulted with an onslaught of emotion. He scared her, he made her laugh, he aroused her, he disgusted her, he made her uncomfortable, and he made her feel safe. She wanted for him to hold her close and not let her go, and she wanted him to stay away. She was confused by all she felt for Graverobber and rightly so. She understood that she had feelings for him, but she didn't understand why. He was a pervert. What had happened earlier was proof of that. First he'd taken her to a whorehouse, then he'd practically stripped her naked. A wave of embarrassment washed over her at the thought, not because of what he'd done, but because she had allowed him to do it... wanted it even.
She liked to pretend that she wouldn't give in to him one of these days but she knew in her heart that it was a lie. She could pretend she was full of purity and innocence all she wanted, but she was still human and there had been plenty of times since she'd reached puberty that she'd sat in the prison cell that was her bedroom and wondered what it would be like to kiss a boy, to be touched, to have sex. Now here she was all alone in the world, free for the first time in seventeen years, and the one thing she wanted most was to experience those things that she had only been able to imagine for so long... and the one person that she wanted to experience them with was a man she knew nothing about. Well, that isn't entirely true, she thought. She knew that he'd protected her, in his own way. Where her father had closed her off from the world for protection, Graverobber had taken her out and opened her eyes to the reality of the world she now lived in. Still, he was at least ten years older than her and she didn't know anything about his past or how he seemed to know the things he did. She didn't even know his real name. She shouldn't want him like she did, but try as she might, she couldn't force herself not to.

Graverobber sighed before regaining his composure and walking back into the room. Shilo was sitting in the window, much the way he had, staring off into space. She didn't seem to notice him enter. Instead, she seemed to be lost in thought. He smiled to himself as he imagined that she was thinking of him. Seeing her there stirred his arousal again, but he was able to ignore it. He stood behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder rousing her back to reality. She started at his touch but quickly relaxed again. Graverobber looked out the window, caught a glimpse of a cat stalking among the trashcans. "Something wrong kid?"

Shilo shook her head absentmindedly and continued to stare off out the window. "Just thinking. So much has happened and I don't know what I want anymore."

Graverobber squeezed her shoulder. "This coming from somewhere?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I mean, no, I mean.... I don't know what I mean. Everything is so confusing. Before... before the opera all I wanted was to be free. I don't know if that's really what I want anymore. Was freedom really worth my dad's death?" She sank back against him. "I should have listened to him. I should never have left my room."

He stroked her arm reassuringly. She allowed it. "Would you rather have been trapped in your room and poisoned by your father? Would you rather live with the lies and never know the truth about you mother?"

"It was better that way. I had my dad. He kept me safe."

"He poisoned you, worse than that, imprisoned you. He didn't keep you safe, he kept you from from the world."

"So!" Her voice was beginning to waiver. "The world is cruel." Tears once again began to build, though she would not let them fall.

"Well the truth hurts kid. But locking you up isn't protecting you. You deserve to see the world the way it is, to know the truth no matter how hard it is to hear it. What you do with that knowledge is up to you."

She was silent for a moment. "It doesn't really matter now, I guess. He's dead and I'm alone and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now."

Graverobber let his hand drop back to his side. "Well it's nice to know that I count for something," he said sarcastically.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way, I just..."

"No hard feelings. I know what you meant. Truth is, you can't hang around forever. But you'll figure things out."
Shilo set her mouth in a grim line and nodded solemnly. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but she'd always known that he wouldn't let her stay. She pushed the thought, and the jumble of emotions she'd been struggling to understand, aside and went back to looking outside. There wasn't much to the view. The nest building over was only ten feet away. Even in the dim light she could make out every grime covered brick in the wall. The night sky was nearly blocked out. She leaned her head back and let her mind go blank.

Graverobber left her to her thoughts and grabbed her bag up from the floor. He sat on the edge of the bed and unzipped an inside pocket. The sound of the zipper vaguely registered in Shilo's mind. But by the time it sank in and she was able to react, Graverobber was already pulling a folded sheet of cardstock from the pocket. He wrinkled his brow and unfolded the square of paper. The poster was colored in sepia tones, but the long hair pulled back from the forehead, dark slash lips, smug look all belonged to an all too familiar face. The figure on the poster held a bright blue vial in one hand and the word WANTED was scrawled down one side. The look in Graverobber's eyes darkened.
He looked at Shilo, still lost in her own world. "What's this?" There was no humorous edge to his voice now. His tone was guarded and suspicious. Shilo looked at him and stopped dead. He was holding the poster that she'd snatched from the fire pit and put away for safekeeping. She'd held her breath when he dumped her belongings out so unceremoniously before they'd left but was relieved that he hadn't bothered to search the inner pocket. Now he sat there, creased poster in hand, looking at her like she'd committed a crime.

"Nothing, I found it."

Graverobber looked at her. Her eyes were wide and worried looking. He wanted to believe that she couldn't possibly be waiting to turn him in to the authorities, god knows Amber would have a field day with him then for every time he'd made her beg for a fix, but he'd grown not to trust anyone. "You found it? And where, might I ask, did you find it?"

Shilo looked down at the floor sheepishly. "Well, actually, I got it, I mean I saw it back at your place... near the fire drum. There were a bunch on the floor and I just thought...."

"You just thought what? This I gotta hear." Shilo's nerves were getting the best of her now. Her face was flushed and she was flustered. That, Graverobber knew, was not the look of a guilty party, but of an embarrassed girl being forced to tell the guy she has a crush on that she likes him. Graverobber grinned his wolfs grin.

"I-I don't know. I didn't think it would matter if I took it. I'm sorry. It was stupid. I shouldn't have been poking around."
Graverobber shoved the bag aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He was still holding the poster. Shilo glanced at the floor. The towel around Graverobber;s hips was riding up, no to mention that it had loosened around his hips. It was dangerously close to revealing everything. Try as she might, Shilo couldn't keep her eyes trained on the floor. Rather, she found her gaze wandering back to Graverobber and the towel that threatened to come off at any moment. Graverobber looked at the poster in his hand once more and then back towards Shilo. "You're right, you shouldn't go poking around through other peoples stuff. You're beginning to act like me. So, did you find anything interesting?"

"Uh no. Not really. Just a bunch of posters and magazines and newspapers and stuff. Not that I was really looking!"

Graverobber rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, and your wearing that outfit," he said gesturing to her, "because I thought it was a lot more concealing when I picked it out." Shilo's self consciousness struck her again and she absentmindedly pulled at the hem of her skirt. "So, why'd you take this?" He asked holding up the paper in his hand.

Shilo inhaled deeply. "I wanted it," she whispered.

Graverobber heard her, but the sadist in him wanted to see her squirm. "Why'd you take it?"

"I said I wanted it." She refused to look at him now. She couldn't meet his gaze. Her cheeks were flushed.

Graverobber wasn't about to let her go that easily though. "What'd you want it for? Gonna try turning me in to the Genecops?" He knew from her body language that wasn't the case, but he got a thrill from watching her writhe on the end of the hook.

She looked up at that, a hurt expression lining her face. "No! I would never... I couldn't turn you in." She swallowed hard. "You're the only friend I have in the world. You're all I have. I just, I just wanted something to remember you by when you left."

Her eyes broke contact with him and her voice trailed off as she said this. Her admission touched a part inside of him that had been buried for quite some time. He ignored it. "Calm down kid, I'm not mad, just messing with you." Graverobber folded the poster back up and returned it to the pocket.

Shilo was furious that he was playing games with her. She had nothing, her family was dead, she couldn't bring herself to enter her own house anymore, and she was clinging to the one person that she felt remotely close to.... and he had the audacity to toy with her. She got up from the window seat and snatched the bag from his hand. She hugged the beg to her chest and sat sulkily back down and pouted. She'd been so stupid. How could she have been dumb enough to fall for him? And how could she possibly have thought that there was even a chance that he liked her back?

A heavy silence hung in the air between them. Graverobber mentally scolded himself for toying with her after realizing that she posed no threat. Honestly, was he completely incapable of at least acting considerate? It was a mechanism though, he knew. One that he'd developed a long time ago to keep people from getting to close. A psychiatrist would say that it was a safety mechanism, turn everything into a joke so the world can't hurt you, it was a good thing then that he didn't bother with psychiatrists. He needed that psycho mumbo jumbo like he needed a hole in his head. He knew why he'd developed his habit of pushing peoples buttons, and in most cases it amused him, but with her things were different. He still liked to play with her like a cat does a mouse. But when he went to far, when she'd stormed off across the tiny room just now, he felt a pang of guilt. He wished he didn't. He really didn't want to have feelings for anyone never mind a seventeen-year-old girl. Where would that ever get him? Maybe she needed a new friend, but he was better off alone. A guy like him had plenty of enemies and right now number one was the head of a multi billion dollar corporation known for taking out anyone that screwed them over. Deep down he knew that his biggest fear was that Shilo would get caught in the crossfire if Amber ever decided to play cat and mouse with him.

Still, he knew, there was nothing he could do about it. He'd let her hang around too long. He was too intrigued by her, too captivated by her to let her go now. He couldn't deny his feelings for her, at least not to himself. And he was too far gone to tell her to get lost no matter how often he reminded her that it would eventually come to that. Only he knew that it was all a show. And he, ever the showman, was only putting on another act. But her pain wasn't part of the show he wanted performed by her on his behalf. Fixing his mistake meant only one thing.... he'd have to say he was sorry. That was the one thing he never expected to have to do. He took one more look at her huddled in the corner, tears discreetly dripping down her cheeks, and he swallowed his pride and his better judgment. She was gonna be his undoing all right. "Look, kid, I'm sorry. I.." He what? He just wanted to hear her admit that she'd taken the poster because she liked him? "I shouldn't have pushed you so far. Truth is... I like you." There, he'd admitted it. Much as he hated to. "I wasn't thinking ok? You've been through a lot and I shouldn't've been trying to get a rise outta you." She didn't speak. Slightly annoyed, and still feeling a bit guilty, Graverobber gritted his teeth and sighed. He instinctively rubbed the back of his neck. It was a nervous habit.

Shilo didn't look up, at least not right away. He likes me? She tried to wrap her mind around it. Part of her was relieved. If he liked her then it was ok for her to like him. Part of her was confused. Why would he like her? Was it just another game to him? She thought on that possibility for a moment. He'd seemed sincere. She even thought she detected a hint of sadness, or maybe guilt, in his voice. She might be a horrible judge of character, the utter faith she'd had in her father was testimony to that, but she believed what he'd said. Her inner voice, one that had become cynical in the past week and a half, told her that she heard what she wanted to hear but that didn't make it true. Be that as it may, Shilo decided that she had to believe that it was true. She needed something to cling to. She couldn't make it alone. She had to believe that he honestly cared.

She sniffled quietly and took a few deep breaths to stop the flow of tears. She was angry at herself for that. She hated the fact that she cried so easily now. It was one thing to cry for the loss of her father, even for the realization that she was alone now, but to cry simply because the man she had feelings for had embarrassed her? She was reminded of the overly sensitive characters that she'd watched on tv. They'd always bothered her and now she was turning into one of them. She willed her tears to stop and silently vowed not to cry anymore. She balled up her fist and wiped the tears away. She looked at Graverobber. He was still sitting hunched over on the edge of the bed. One hand dangled limply between his knees and he was rubbing at the back of his neck. She regained her composure. "Do you mean it?" Her voice was quiet, barely heard over the muffled music that bleed through the floor and the sounds that came through the walls.

Graverobber looked at her. Her eyes were red, but she had stopped crying. He could tell she was trying her hardest to look cool calm and collected. The look in her eyes begged for him to tell her yes, he had, that this was not a sick joke on a depressed young girl. In his most sincere tone he spoke the four words she needed. "Yeah kid, I mean it." It was all he could manage.

That seemed to be enough for her and a tiny smile sprouted on her lips. "Thank you." Her eyes sparkled and she hugged her backpack close again and bit her lip. Now what? Where would they go from here? Would anything change, or would it stay the same, with him trying his best to keep her at a distance? Shilo looked at Graverobber. He shifted uneasily and ran his hand through his hair. There was an awkward silence between them.

A sharp knock on the door broke the silence. Shilo got up to answer, but Graverobber beat her to it. She was a few steps behind him. He opened the door and stepped back to allow the woman into the room. She held a pile of freshly laundered clothes which she held out to him. Graverobber took them and dropped everything but his pants on the bed as he made his way to the bathroom. He stepped inside without bothering to close the door. He came out a few seconds later, pants pulled hastily on but left unbuttoned. Shilo couldn't help but stare. She'd seen him shirtless before, obviously, but now she allowed herself a good look. He eyes moved from his face down to his chest, and followed the hair there down to his naval where it trailed a thin line that disappeared into the top of his pants. Graverobber went to his coat and dug around for a few seconds and returned, not holding a vial like Shilo had expected, but a small stack of credits. He handed them to the woman. She pocketed them with a smile and turned to leave. She got as far as the door before she shot a glance over her shoulder with a flirtatious smile.

Graverobber shut the door behind her and attended to his pants. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shilo sitting on the edge of the bed, the slightest hint of a pout on her lips. Graverobber turned around and grabbed his shirt. "You ok kid?" He asked as he pulled the worn but clean linen shirt over his head.

Shilo looked at him and smiled. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."

Graverobber smirked. "I've been around a while kid, I'm pretty good at reading people. What's eating you?"

Shilo rolled her eyes, annoyed that he was able to see through her so well. "Do all the women in this city look at you like that? I'm not as innocent as you'd think, but still, it's not like you're that great."

Graverobber's eyes widened in astonishment and he let out a low chuckle. "Really kid, I'm hurt. And to think, we were just starting to get along." He sat on the bed and began pulling on his boots. "By the way, just thought you should know, she was looking at you not me." Graverobber kept his eyes on Shilo just long enough to register the shock on her face before finishing getting dressed. When he was done he grabbed his jacket and slung it on. He strapped on the holsters, tool kit, Z-gun and painted his face. "Ok kid, I gotta go collect. I'll walk you back to the flat before I go."

"No."

Graverobber was puzzled. "No what?"

"I don't want to sit around and wait for you to come back again. I hate waiting, I hate being cooped up in a room. I want to go with you."

Graverobber shook his head. "No way kid. It's too dangerous. You're not going with me."

Shilo was fed up. She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not a kid. And newsflash... It's not that dangerous. I've been up against the Largos and the Repo Man I think I can handle a few Gene Cops. Besides, I can be your lookout."

Graverobber gave her a stern look. "Rotti wasn't gonna hurt you and his worthless kids sure as hell wouldn't have gone after you while he was still alive. And your father would never have laid a hand on you. This is different. There's no one to save our asses if the Gene Cops corner us this time. You can either stay here, go to the flat, or go home."

Shilo just stuck out her chin in defiance. She was getting good at this rebellion thing. "Amber and the others won't come after me now. They got what they wanted and they know that I want nothing to do with GeneCo, that's good enough for them. And the Gene Cops won't corner us as long as you keep quiet and I'm on lookout. I'm. Going. With. You."