They had barely made it inside the house when George was already coming down the stairs in his robe.

"Oh my god! Where were you? I was worried sick!"

"Were you really, George?" Mitchell replied, suddenly exasperated. "I came home, and Annie was already going out. You didn't even notice us leaving, but I guess you were having too much of a good time with Nina."

"Ahem..." Nina cleared her throat as she was coming down the stairs, fully clothed as opposed to her boyfriend.

Nina had never been a fan of Mitchell, and he was confident his comment was bound to lose him even more points with George's girlfriend. George didn't take offence on the statement, and if he did, he was clearly too hung up on Mitchell's recrimination.

"I'm sorry, I thought we were supposed to be in the house, not that we had to have her in a 24-hour watch!"

"I'm here, you know? You don't have to refer to me as 'her' when I am present. I am a ghost, but I do not appreciate being ignored!" Annie yelled, getting her friends' attention.

"Well, that was serious!" Mitchell justified himself.

"And everything was fine!" Annie reminded him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Everything? Really? You call that fine?"

"Stop right there, Mitchell. 'That' was about you, not about me," Annie added, poking his chest with her finger. "No ghosts, no doors. That was just your garden variety vampire problem."

"That? Vampires? Can we drop the comedy act for a minute and tell George, your housemate, what the hell happened?"

"Sweetie, please do not refer to yourself in the third person. It's not attractive," Nina asked.

"Nina!" he replied, looking offended in the direction of his girlfriend before turning back to his friends.

"What is Annie talking about Mitchell?" he asked, placing his hand on Mitchell's shoulder.

"I would have preferred to keep this from George, Annie," Mitchell said, turning his face slightly and opening his eyes wider signalling something to Annie.

"Keep what for me?" George asked, pulling at Mitchell's shoulder, forcing him to turn his way.

"Oh, you can't be serious," said Annie. "This directly affects him. It affects us all. It even affects Nina."

"Mitchell?" George pressed.

"Alright…We ran into a vampire I knew from some decades ago. Herrick banished him because he was a loose cannon, that's all in a nutshell."

Mitchell's voice attempted to lessen the importance of what had just taken place.

"Oh, that is nice to know. If Herrick, of all people, banished him for being a 'loose cannon'" George spoke fast, gesturing the quotation marks with his fingers. "I can't imagine what it means in normal people terms. Did he have some sort of problem with you?"

"Ah, yes… no… not much more than with anyone else under Herrick," Mitchell replied with a shrug.

"Tell him, Mitchell," Annie added and Mitchell stared at her visibly displeased.

"He heard about Herrick, and he came back. I guess everyone else Herrick crossed also figured out that Bristol isn't under any sort of administration. Vampire administration, that is. Power is up for grabs."

"And what would anyone have to do to take said power?" George asked, needing to hear out loud what he was already guessing.

"George…" Mitchell looked down.

"Mitchell, I think I can take it."

"Well, in vampire terms, it would mean to defeat whoever else is a contender… And…"

"And?" Nina prodded now.

"...And take out whoever killed the last one in charge."

It was all out in the open now.

"So… They're coming for me," George said, the words coming out of his mouth with the weight of shackles.

"It doesn't have to be that way!" Mitchell replied, desperation clear in his voice. "You are not a vampire, and you're not asking for Herrick's territory."

"But it would make a nice demonstration. Wouldn't it?" George was smiling that sad grin he had every time he remembered his curse. His hands were on his head, and Nina hugged him burying her head in his chest.

"I guess it would."

"Oh, George." Nina sighed.

"I won't let them," Mitchell said with determination.

"Could we not have five minutes of happiness around here? So just this month we've had retaliating ghosts and now vampires," George added.

"Just to make sure. There is not a werewolf mafia going to come and knock on the door, right?" Nina asked.

"We can only hope," Annie replied.

"What happened with the vampire?" George asked, turning back.

"Vampires," Annie added nonchalantly.

"I beg your pardon?" George inquired.

"It was two of them."

"Two? Mitchell?"

"I only knew Arthur. The other one, the girl, she must be young. She came with him." His friend explained.

"And what happened?" Nina asked, still close to George.

"I took care of Arthur."

"Is he…?"

"No. I only threatened him. He won't be coming after you, or Nina, or Annie." Mitchell reassured his friends.

"You mean he won't be coming after your property," Annie added, remembering her prior dislike of Mitchell's choice of words.

"Yes, Annie, he won't be coming after my property," Mitchell said exasperated. "I'm sorry it offended you, but those are terms vampires can understand. It doesn't make quite the same impression to ask 'Oh, by the way, would you terribly mind not killing my BFFs?'" His voice was now higher, and he was throwing his arms in the air.

"Oh, you… stupid vampire."

It was all that Annie could say. Meanwhile, she pursed her lips and decided to get her point across silently.

A vase burst, making everyone else wince but Annie, who stood there, with her arms crossed on her chest.

"Jesus Christ!" Mitchell yelled ducking to avoid the shards.

"Annie! And then you wonder why we can't have nice things around here. You have to learn to control yourself," George admonished her.

"Oh, do not get me started wolf boy. That wasn't me losing control. I fully intended for that to happen. Notice it was the one closest to Mitchell," she said, lifting her hand in his direction.

"That reminds me. What was that back there?" Mitchell added, picking up ceramic shards from his hair.

"What do you mean?" George inquired with his interest piqued.

"Annie took out Arthur's friend with a rubbish bin," Mitchell explained.

"Annie?"

"Oh, that trashy girl came charging at me, and I was already mad. That friend of yours had quite the potty mouth. I may be a lady, but I'm no pushover," Annie explained.

"So, Mitchell. What do you suggest we can do?" Nina asked.

"We're not going to do anything, Nina," George said.

"Well, of course, we have to do something! They want to get you," Nina disagreed.

"I'm going to take care of it. Nina, I promise you George will be safe," Mitchell promised.

Annie lifted one eyebrow and asked, "And how do you plan to do that?"

"I need to go to the undertakers," he replied, avoiding his friends' gaze and anticipating already their dislike of the idea.

"Oh, hell no," Annie screamed.

George scratched the back of his head as his lips pursed, and then he asked, "Do you think that is a good idea, mate?"

'Not at all,' he wanted to reply, but instead, he said, "It's the only way."

"Going directly into the lions' den? Excuse me, but that is mental," Annie countered.

"There is much more at stake right now. You three are my priority, but without Herrick, there are many more liabilities. Without any structure, humans are at greater risk."

"Well, I don't think you should be going there. And I'm putting my foot down," Annie said, crossing her arms once more.

"Unfortunately, love, it's not your decision to make," Mitchell said, looking directly into her eyes.

"Oh, do not 'love' me, John Mitchell. I do not appreciate your condescending tone. And just like that? You will not consider our opinion?"

"Do you agree with her?" Mitchell asked George.

"I rather you didn't go, yes."

"Well, I'm old enough to make my own decisions," Mitchell replied, avoiding their stares.

"And I'm not?" Annie asked baffled.

"What do you mean?"

"So before it was, who let Annie out of her castle tower? Don't you know she's 12 and useless?"

"You're overdramatizing," Mitchell said, shaking his head. "This is not a prison, and I'm not your jail keeper."

"But I do get told what I can and cannot do, isn't that right?"

"Annie… We didn't mean that. It was for your own good," George said, trying to appease her.

"And I appreciated you being with me while I was scared, but I'm not anymore, and you still tell me what to do."

"You were going out on your own when not long ago you were attacked and almost dragged through a door," George added. "You have to understand, Annie. It's not that we doubt you, it's just that we worry that something bad can happen to you."

"You two are infuriating!" She yelled, and a mug exploded, as she popped out.

"Really mature," George said calmly.

"I can still hear you! And yes, I meant for that as well," Annie yelled from upstairs.

Nina slapped George on the head.

"Nina!" George wailed with his voice an octave higher.

"And that goes for you too Mitchell."

"Really, Nina, this is none of your business. You don't understand what's going on here."

"Oh, I understand fully well what you're doing to that girl. I have two eyes, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Mitchell asked.

"You both treat her like she's some kind of bizarre Burtonesque undead Snow White! And don't give me that look. She's in the kitchen early in the morning, making you breakfast before you two go to work while she tidies the house. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't see you off at the door with a kiss on the forehead and your lunch in a paper bag. What do you think she does all day? That she sings and the birds and squirrels help her wash your pants? And what do you do in return? You leave her warning her: 'Don't open the door to strangers, dear, unless it is a creepy old lady giving away dodgy apples!' and then what? You march down your merry way."

"We do not do that… much," George said.

"It is time you both realize that she's not your daughter, she's not your mother, she's not your little sister, and she's definitely not your wife."

It was not lost on Mitchell that the last admonition was said in his direction.

"Anyway, I should get going now," Nina sighed at the end of her rant.

"Nina, I rather you stayed here. With everything Mitchell said… I don't want anything happening to you… That is if you agree of course," George added fearfully.

"I'm not in the mood to fight with you, George. I'll stay just because it's quite late and I'm knackered."

The three of them went up the stairs to the bedrooms, and as Mitchell walked past Annie's room, he hesitated while reaching for the knob.

"Give her time, Mitchell," George advised.

Mitchell's hand stayed where it was, just hovering over the knob, and after tightening his fist as much as he could until it hurt, he brought his arm down and continued on to his own room.

Annie heard them going to bed.

She could hear Nina and George's muffled voices, and while she couldn't make out their words, the tone alone let her know that those were the words of a couple in love, worried about their future and comforting each other with kisses and caresses.

It was not possible to feel anything but lonely and dead.

She had also sensed Mitchell's hand on the doorknob before George told him to give her time, and it had been both relieving and disappointing.

Annie could no longer fool herself into thinking she and Mitchell were just friends. She thought of his taste, his voice when it got low, the texture of his stubble against her sensitive skin, his presence inside her.

And then, there were the other daydreams, the what if's, with their promise of a non-existent future.

But she had no future, and neither did he.

The future had been the place where she lived during most of the conscious hours of her very short life. The future had been the refuge while her reality with Owen didn't match the script in her mind. The future was outside, bright and warm with the rays of the sun, not the damp and dark cold of her pink house.

Living in the future meant that she didn't have time to live in the harsh present of Owen's true self. And now, she couldn't afford to live in the future because it didn't exist anymore. Sure, it looked like she was going to be around for a while.

A very long while probably.

But eternity had that nagging habit of forcing you to live one day at a time.

Mitchell didn't think of the future, she was sure of it. He didn't live on his past either.

She realized that her obsession with the future in her mind, of how things ought to be was one of her worse traits.

Annie knew that she had a nagging habit of creating prisons in her mind where she caged those she loved.

The thought caught in her throat as Owen's voice hissed in her ear.

She was poison.

She made people do horrible things. And it was because in her mind she had to put together a reality so perfect, so unreal, that life, real life, had to become hell. Oh, she had started falling back into her old habits. Looking at Mitchell and grinning, needing his touch all the time. Pretending that her opinion would be law to him.

It didn't even matter.

She couldn't do that, not anymore.

Mitchell cared for her. Loved her even, in his own way, she was sure.

But she was a burden, a responsibility.

A nice pet.

Someone to look after, to save, to earn redemption.

They had such a great friendship, and she had tarnished it.

They had too much at stake right then, and she couldn't let that get in the way.

'That' being her non-beating heart.

"Morning," Annie said to George as she walked into the kitchen and he was already having his breakfast while reading the paper.

"Morning, Annie. Are you feeling okay? You are normally up and about a lot earlier than anybody else."

"I'm only up and about early because I don't go to sleep, George."

She had meant to be rude, to let her words come out as a slap, but instead, they sounded sad in her head, and the way George stared at her told her that they did for him as well.

"You know what I mean, Annie," George sighed. "Were you in your room?"

"Yes, I'm sorry," she said apologetically, unable to keep the meanness inside of her. "I just didn't feel my normal sunny self."

"Listen, I'm sorry. Nina was kind enough to open our eyes last night. We get so out of line when it comes to you. You are a wonderful, strong, independent woman who is more than capable of taking care of herself. That being said, we love you to pieces.

George let the paper fall on the table, and he held on to Annie's hand.

"I love you to pieces," he reiterated, with his eyes opening wide, "and we are petrified that you leave us, or worse, that someone may take you away. We'd be going mental without you."

"Because you wouldn't know where the ironing board is? You should really consider it, George. You'd never run out of tea nor have to wash so many mugs," Annie added, trying to joke and getting up and letting George's hand fall on the table. She busied herself, pouring hot water from the kettle into a mug but forgoing the tea sachet. Annie didn't even feel like going through that pantomime. She just wanted the warm on her hands that morning.

"I'm not joking," George said, standing up and placing his hand on her arm reassuringly.

"I know," She said quietly after a while.

She pretended to look out of the window, but George was able to see that a tear escaped her eye.

"Where is everybody else? Are they gone?" She asked after wiping the tear away surreptitiously. "I didn't hear anyone mocking our corniness."

"Nina left early, with tonight and everything, she needed to check on her place before work."

"Time of the month?" Annie asked.

"Yes, tonight. We get to deal with our own supernatural burden. Mitchell left as well. I guess you know where to. Listen, Annie, I have work today, and then tonight I'll be... indisposed… But I can make sure I come by before, to check on you… Only if you want to, of course."

"I'm fine, George. I really appreciate it, but you don't have to, you already have too much on your plate as it is."

Annie left her mug on the counter and placed the other hand on top of George's.

"Mitchell should be back before it gets dark," He added.

"I can take care of myself. Like you said, I'm a big girl, after all. And just to be safe, I won't go out. And anyway, I'm getting the hang on the whole poltergeist thingy. I think I'll practice more since it looks like we'll have more vampire confrontations in our future."

"Along with another trip to Ikea to buy more mugs and vases?" George asked, nudging her to make her smile.

"It comes with the territory, doesn't it? Better to have enough cheap backup china. And besides, we make such a kicking ass fighting team."

The way her lips were curling wide made George feel warm inside.

"The world gayest ninjas strike back?" He said, mimicking her grin.

"Oh, lord!"

Both of them were soon in stitches remembering.

"Thank god for Mitchell, then," George added, making the hollow in her chest return.

"I guess…" She said, looking out the window.

For having spent close to two years of her non-life devoid of most human physical feelings, it seemed to Annie that lately, her mind had been quite busy filling in the gaps of stimuli and giving her ghost sensations. She wondered if it was like what they say about amputees feeling pain from their missing limbs. There were many feelings and symptoms of humanity she had been experiencing quite a lot recently: stomach butterflies, blinding headaches from worrying too much, that horrible feeling you get when air gets sucked out of your lungs, the dizziness you experience when you come to a terrible realization, the sleeplessness of unrequited love… Or maybe that last one wasn't necessarily something new.

'How can any ghost figure out if they're losing sleep because they spend their time figuring out what are all those conflicting emotions they have for a certain someone when you don't really need to sleep?' she wondered.

That's what she had done to make time pass: an inventory of all the new things she had started doing since her death, and of all the new feelings and experiences.

She decided that while death was clinical with the rigidity of all the things she couldn't do, humanity was complicated enough as well.

After George left, she spent her day thinking, and by the time she looked at her wristwatch, and then when she peeked out of the window, it was already night time, and the full moon was hanging proudly in the sky. She said a silent prayer for George and Nina, who at the very same time were going through their horrible monthly death. The other side of her heart, meanwhile, had been worried sick about Mitchell who hadn't come nor called.

The door finally slammed shut downstairs around midnight. Annie chose to walk instead of using her powers because of her fear of the state he would be in. By the time she came out of her room, he was at the top of the stairs.

His eyes were still black, and he had a smudge of dried up blood on his jaw.

Mitchell looked at her and extended his hand, and despite the darkness of his eyes, Annie sensed his desperation.