Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. It's all Toby's.

I really liked this chapter, I hope you do as well. But let me know what you think of the new developments.

I have to recommend you go and read 'Chasing dreams' by Cat-hattin. I will not be including Carl in my story just because she has done an amazing work with him and I would probably just channel it.

I also love her original character Katie and the very refreshing twist of having a real addict sponsor the vampires.

George fought. He punched and ducked. He shoved and hit. He took the pain and the taunts without cowering.

Without forming thoughts and analysing.

But they outnumbered him and the moon was far.

Annie had left herself be lulled to sleep. At first it had been like dying again, slowly melting into nothingness. She lost track and left herself drift for a while, and after all, after such a long time of being awake, resting from her obsessive mind was refreshing.

Soon the images of doors and men with sticks and rope had come, fuzzy and non-connected. It wasn't pleasant sleep, but not yet a nightmare.

Until the voice came.

Quiet at first, like the echo of the sea inside a shell.

Slowly the crescendo grew until it was clear. The voice repeated only her name.

The ground beneath her in her dream gave way and she felt herself fall into a bottomless pit.

That's when panic set, and panic raised her off her dream.

She came afloat to the living world with a deep intake of breath and a painful wail.

"Annie! Annie! It's okay love it was just a dream. You're alright." Mitchell said squeezing her shoulders and making her look at him.

He had prepared himself when she had fallen asleep. He knew the nightmares would come.

But she only said the one word that was squeezing her non-beating heart:

"George."

"No, it's me Mitchell." He clarified.

"No! No! It's George. I can hear George! Don't you realise it?" She said getting up and distancing from him to show him the gravity of the situation.

"Realise what?" He asked confused looking at the tears rolling down her face.

"If I hear him, it means… it means…"

She couldn't finish.

"Calm down Annie. It was just a dream, you're awake now." He said dismissing a thought he couldn't get himself to fully form in his brain.

"But I can still hear him. Oh God!... George!" She said hugging herself.

Mitchell looked at her despair, getting closer he gave her a hug.

"I'm going to be sick!" She said pushing him away and covering her mouth.

Annie felt a violent surge within her and she ran to the bathroom. Her body was convulsing as if she needed to get sick, to let go of all the bile that was consuming her and threatened to spread all around.

She reached the toilet and crouched by it, barely having enough time to hold on to the sides and lean her head over it. Mitchell found her there, dry heaving, her dark curls hiding her face. He kneeled behind her and pulled back her hair. Her body was going through the motions, nothing was coming out of her but she was helpless at the need to convulse. There was panic in her eyes at the inability to pull enough air in. She didn't need to breath, but the body was set in the memory of what this should feel like. He held the hair with one hand and wrapped the other around her midsection, by doing this her body was now leaning slightly against his strong frame.

"Annie, love, calm down. There's nothing in your belly. It's all in your head, you have to calm down."

He said in a mellow tone trying to infuse her body with his calm.

Annie's retching finally got under control and she let herself fall to the ground.

Mitchell's mobile was ringing back in the room. They didn't know the time, but the sound was ominous. Nothing good could come from phones ringing late at night. They both seemed to agree without words. Annie gave Mitchell a knowing look and nodded slowly.

He let go and got up to walk back to the room. He wanted to hear that everything was fine; though he dreaded the call he was about to take. He picked up the phone from the side table and noticed Nina's number on it.

It was bad.

"Mitchell? Mitchell?" She yelled.

He couldn't say anything.

"Answer me you bastard!"

"I'm… I'm here Nina."

He didn't have to look to notice Annie had reappeared in his room, he could feel her presence and after he'd uttered Nina's name she had held his hand tightly leaning her body against his.

"It's George. He's in intensive care. He was attacked Mitchell! The sodding likes of you nearly killed him!"

"Nina! Nina! What happened?" He asked feeling Annie sob next to him while burying her face on his shoulder.

Cold tears grazed his skin.

"He was found in an alleyway, they nearly killed him. The only thing he said was 'tell Mitchell'. It was vampires, wasn't it? You told me you'd keep him safe you lying bastard!"

Nina's anger and despair was so thick he could taste it.

"Nina, listen to me, calm down, we're coming over."

"No, don't come here. It's your fault. You had to poison him like you poison everybody." She replied bitterly.

"Annie and I are coming over. And I'm going to kill whoever did this… And that is not a promise to you." He said hanging up.

"How is he?" Annie asked.

"He's alive, but he's in intensive care."

"He's unconscious." She explained.

"How do you know?"

"Because I can still hear him calling my name." She said before breaking down.

Annie could have closed her eyes and appear right next to George in the hospital. But nor her nor Mitchell could let go of each other's hands. The third part of their little family had been attacked and they needed to lean on each other desperately.

She felt herself get lighter, she thought that if anything happened to George she would start drifting from this world like a forgotten kite. The thought frightened her and squeezed Mitchell's hand tighter trying to anchor herself to him.

Mitchell drove the car with his hand enveloping Annie's, resting on her thigh. She was sitting almost in the middle of the front seat. He could sense her fear of letting go. His own heart was breaking in two, scared for both George and Annie. He didn't want to think about it, but if he lost George he didn't think he'd be enough to keep Annie on this side of her door.

Once they reached the room where George rested, Annie moaned in pain. They wouldn't had recognized him if Nina hadn't been sitting next to him holding his hand. His face was a bloody pulp and he was connected to a number of machines and IV drips. Nina turned to see them at the door, her face streaked with many tears: new and old.

At first there was recognition between Annie and Nina, you could see a wave of relief, to find each other: sisters in arms in the horrible sorrow they both felt. Then she noticed Mitchell and her defence mechanism went to the only other safe place she could be at: rage.

She charged towards him.

"What are you doing here? I don't want you here. You are the reason this happened!" She said banging her hands on his chest.

"No, Nina, you can't really say that." Annie said trying to pull her back.

"I did what I could to protect him…" Mitchell said with sadness, not even trying to stop Nina. "It… It wasn't enough… But I really tried."

Nina let herself break down and leaned into Mitchell crying.

"They hurt him so much… He's the sweetest thing in this god forsaken world and they did this to him."

"Oh Nina!" Annie said holding her friend and letting her own tears fall.

Mitchell walked towards George and held his hand.

"Oh George. I'm so sorry… This is all my fault."

Nina let go of Annie and looked towards her boyfriend.

"The doctors… They said… He got a brutal beating… They were surprised he's still alive… They say it's very touch and go… They sedated him because they say the pain is excruciating… Oh sweet Lord!"

Annie held her once more.

"He's going to be okay Nina. He will, you know George."

"I really hope you're right… But… I don't want you here Mitchell."

"He's my best friend Nina." Mitchell said now crying as well begging without words to be allowed to stay.

"You can't keep him apart Nina. It wasn't his fault." Annie intervened.

"No, Annie. It really was my fault. He's here because he saved me from Herrick. And I couldn't stop this from happening." Mitchell added letting himself sink in his familiar self-hatred.

"But he's going to get better, right? He has to get better." Annie repeated like a mantra.

"I know you didn't do it Mitchell. But I can't look at you knowing that your kind did this to him. I can't bear what you are right now." She said letting all her pain show.

"I'm going to go Nina. I'm going to find the bastards that did this and they will pay." Mitchell said.

"And when does it end Mitchell? When does this senseless violence end? You'll kill them and then who's going to come and take vengeance. Who's next? Me? Annie?" She asked.

"I wish I could make it all go away but I can't. I'll be back later." He gave Nina a brief hug that she accepted reluctantly and then walked towards Annie.

He held her tight and let her sob quietly against him. He then kissed her softly on her forehead.

"Will you be alright?" He asked her.

"Yes. Be safe… please." She said caressing his cheek.

As he left Nina took her spot next to George once more, holding his hand with both of hers and brining it to her lips.

Annie's heart was breaking once more, feeling like an intruder with the two lovers.

She walked closer to the bed, placing her hand on George's leg over the sheet.

"It's not all Mitchell's fault."

She finally said.

"Why can't you see him for what he really is?" Nina said without turning to look at her.

"Why can't you?" Annie asked without missing a step.

"Annie… You can't…You're too attached." Nina said looking at her.

"I am. But I wouldn't exist without them both. And you don't know what Mitchell did for George and me. George was just surviving before; he wouldn't be alive today. Mitchell told me everything about being a ghost… George didn't even like me that much back then… He took care of us, when no one else could. He's family… We're all family. And now George has you and you're part of us as well." She explained.

"He got me alright." Nina said in a thinly veiled code.

"Yes. And it is unfortunate." Annie replied knowingly. "But the both of you have a chance. You can have a life, a real life. Mitchell and I don't have anything remotely close."

"So you and Mitchell?" Nina asked bluntly.

"Mitchell and me is just Mitchell and me…" Annie replied looking down. "That is it. We're both dead, we're just a frozen photograph. George will never understand that, and neither will you. And believe me Nina; I'm very happy you won't. I need you and George to live. I want you to get married and have kids and grow old together."

Nina just gave her that humble nod she was capable of, when her tough exterior shattered and despite all her wit and sarcasm she couldn't say anything beyond her tears.

Mitchell went into B. Edwards in a manic rage. He needed answers soon.

"Daisy! You have about two minutes to tell me what happened to George before I make Ivan a widower." He said finding the redhead vampire idly filing her nails sitting over the desk that once had been Herrick's.

"Relax Johnny, I haven't done anything to him…yet." She said nonchalantly.

"You're kidding right? Because I swear I'll rip that pretty head of yours in two seconds if you don't act seriously."

"What? Okay, I'll admit that I did follow him a couple of times. But I didn't talk to him. You see I was hoping he'd notice me first. You didn't say anything about him wanting to come out and play with me on his own accord." She explained.

"He's in a hospital half-dead Daisy."

"What? Oh, what a waste! But you can't really believe I'd do that right? I mean, I could have left him unconscious but it wouldn't have been from pain." She said winking.

"Where's Ivan? I need you both to help me find out who did this." Mitchell said pacing.

"Oh Mitchell! Your puppy is going to fine, don't all werewolves heal faster?" She asked intrigued.

"He's in a very bad shape Daisy." Mitchell replied shaking his head.

Annie had finally convinced Nina to take a break. Before George's attack she had a double shift. After it she went home and waited for her boyfriend. But he hadn't come. She hated herself because as she was cursing him for being a couple of hours late he was lying on a pool of his own blood just mere blocks away from her flat.

When he was finally found he had called her name and a good Samaritan had found her number in his mobile.

She had arrived at the hospital almost at the same time as him. All her training as a nurse had gone out of the window. She was every bit the stereotyped family member that usually annoyed her during her work day: frantic, hysterical, getting in the way of the people trying to save the love of her life.

Before they had successfully pulled her away from him he had looked into her eyes. Under the bruises, and the gashes, his blue eyes had seemed so relieved to see her.

'Nina… Nina…' He had called for her. And then just 'Tell… Mitchell…'

That was all he could say besides his screams of pain. Nina had heard him cry out during transformations before, but now it seemed so much worse. She had been relieved when they had sedated him, it had scared her to have him lose consciousness, but her heart needed him to rest from the unbearable pain.

Since then she had been next to him, afraid to leave him if even just for a few minutes to go to the loo. Annie could see how tired she was and she offered to relieve her for a few hours but Nina couldn't do it. She accepted finally to let her take a break to go to the bathroom and have some much needed caffeine.

Annie took her spot next to George.

"George. It's me sweetie, Annie. I can hear you, don't worry… I can hear you so stop yelling for me now okay? I'm not deaf." She said in a pathetic attempt at a joke, smiling through her tears. "I'm right next to you, and it's me who is holding your hand. Nina just stepped out to get something to drink. She's really scared so you better heal soon."

She kissed his hand and kept talking.

"You're not allowed to leave us, you hear me? And anyways… The ghost bit is already taken… You have to get better… Nina needs you and we need you… Mitchell would be lost without you, and who would tone me down? You know I'll talk Mitchell into every single one of my crazy schemes… He's a sucker for googly eyes. But you already know that… And I can always kick him in the shin if he tells me no… So you absolutely have to get better and come back to the house before I start redecorating…"

"And who am I going to fight with about the hoovering and the washing? And who is going to hug me and make me feel better when I'm feeling sorry for myself? Who's going to teach me things?

"You know what? All the times we've squabbled about trivial stuff… You have made me forget that I'm dead.

"You are my family George.

"You're not allowed to leave us, you hear me. You are my family and I love you."

Annie kissed George's cheek and whispered something in his ear.

Later she wouldn't recall exactly what she had said. But she knew it had come from her heart.

"Ivan!" Mitchell yelled looking from his friend at the undertakers.

"Mitchell?" Ivan answered coming out of a room with a drink in his hand.

"Did you hear what happened to George?"

"I heard some people talk about it."

"Do you know who was behind the attack?" He asked desperately.

"They mentioned Arthur and that tart he turned. Apparently he came here last night afterwards. He was bragging about it… The idiot thought it made him the new king, but as soon as he claimed that Alexander punched him. He felt it was embarrassing to have a much younger vampire imply he was his new king… And such pathetic excuse of a vampire nonetheless."

"Do you know where he is?" Mitchell asked.

"You won't find them here. They fled soon after. Alexander threatened to bring him to you."

"Are you sure it was just the two of them? You know Arthur, he's all bark and he always prefers to cower behind others in fights. And the girl wasn't that impressive... I know George would have taken Arthur, even as he was with the full moon being two weeks away. He must have been outnumbered." Mitchell added.

"I believe you may be right. But that's all I've heard. Unfortunately I wasn't here when all this transpired. The missus wanted to go out last night."

"I need to find who did this to George. And they will pay." Mitchell stated.

"The way I see it you need to do more than just scare off people." Ivan said drinking the last bit from his glass.

"Maybe I just need to come here from time to time, get affairs in order." Mitchell replied already regretting what he knew needed to be done.

Nina hadn't come back yet from the canteen and Annie remained with George. He was stable but still unconscious. His voice in Annie's mind had gotten calmer, she now only heard him from time to time, calm but confused. Annie could only hold his hand tighter and run her fingers though his short hair reassuring him she was there and telling him he was going to be okay.

Annie heard the alarm of a life support machine sound a few rooms away from her. She heard the rushing of doctors and nurses. She gave a silent prayer for the new dead soul and asked for forgiveness, because she was not going to leave George alone.

The doctors and nurses were yelling codes, Annie wanted for the noise to be over soon. But instead of the sounds quieting down another alarm started going in the opposite direction.

'When it rains, it pours.' Annie thought

The yelling increased. And soon people were running in every direction.

"Help!" A voice yelled in her brain. "Where's the light? I can't see a bright light. They always show a bright light on films…"

Disconnected voices were invading her mind.

A third alarm started going in yet another room, followed by a fourth, and then a fifth.

Annie knew that something was wrong. It was statistically impossible.

"Is that the way I look?" A voice asked.

"Peter was the love of my life." Said another.

"Mummy? I want my mummy." The frightened voice of a teenage girl called.

'Stop, please stop.' Annie thought.

"There you are" This time the voice had not come from her mind, but from the door. It was a man in his fifties, gaunt and bald. Before Annie could react he had grabbed her wrist and started pulling her out of the room. Annie held on to the doorframe, but despite his weakened look, the man was too strong. Soon Annie found herself in the corridor and five different ghosts were coming for her. She could see their doors around and she felt cold. She looked back to George on his bed and felt rage.

She couldn't leave like this.

Not dragged in plain sight where doctors and nurses were frantically rushing by, unaware of her peril. She felt exposed. Even though they couldn't see, she realised that it was probably how victims felt when attacked in public when others were too afraid to help: enraged and ashamed.

A provoking thought came to the surface:

She was tired of being a victim.

She was tired of drifting and letting the violent sea smash her against the shore.

"No!" She yelled, and the man dragging her fell to the ground.

As the scene happened, the doors of the lift at the end of the corridor opened and revealed Mitchell behind. It took him a couple of seconds to take in the scene:

Annie in the middle, a middle-aged male ghost flat on his back in front of her and other deceased patients going for Annie, just as a number of nurses and doctors almost trampled with the ghosts unable to see them.

In panic he searched for Annie's eyes. They were of that electric blue he had only seen in a handful of occasions.

"Annie!" He yelled.

Only the living turned to see him with critical eyes.

A woman in a patient's gown jumped to Annie and tried to grab her. She had caught her off guard but it only took his friend a couple of seconds to push her off.

Something exploded inside of her, maybe it was that she had seen Mitchell's fear, a fear she had not seen in his eyes before, or the way his body was preparing to charge to try to save her.

She was done with people trying to rob her once more of the little life she had left.

"Go away!" She yelled and like an expansion bomb the ghosts around her were propelled back to their corresponding doors, which slammed closed after them.

Only then, Annie let herself fall to the ground.

Mitchell crouched next to her and cradled her in his arms.

The nurses that had been ignoring the whole scene suddenly became aware of the dark man on the floor.

"Is she okay? I didn't see her there before." A nurse said to Mitchell looking in the direction of what he thought would be his empty arms.

"Jasmine! Can you help me? She seems to have fainted." She yelled for yet another nurse.

Mitchell looked up puzzled by her words. He looked around and a porter he had seen before came with a wheelchair.

"Let's get her to the bed on room three, it looks like a young female in her early twenties. She seems to have collapsed. What's her name?" The new nurse asked him.

"An…Annie." Mitchell said.

"Is there any conditions we should know about?" She asked him.

'She's dead.' He thought, but only shook his head.

They had taken her to the same room where George was, and they laid her on the empty bed on the far left.

"We should take her vitals." A nurse said.

This made Mitchell react. He pushed his way until he was next to Annie and he held her hand and rubbed her cheek with the other.

"Annie, love, wake up." He begged her.

"I'm sorry sir, but you need to give us space to help your friend."

"She… hasn't been sleeping well, that is our best friend and housemate over there," he said pointing towards George. "She's been under a lot stress, I'm sure that is all. Just let her rest."

"Mit…Mitchell?" Annie said coming back.

"See?" He said to the nurse and turning back to Annie. "Darlin' it's me, how are you feeling?"

"A little woozy. Why am I on a bed, and why are these women looking at me?" She asked unaware of her new condition.

"We're trying to help you, you collapsed dear." The first nurse explained.

"You can see me?" She asked surprised.

"I beg your pardon?" The nurse asked.

"Ah, she means… That she's not a patient. She's only a visitor." Mitchell explained, trying to sound normal. "You collapsed Annie, and they are only trying to make sure you're fine. But it's only the stress of George right? And the lack of sleep." He said nodding and trying to get her to catch his drift.

"Riiiight… I haven't slept in ages. I… should probably just go home and rest." She said looking at both nurses.

"Annie?" Nina's voice came from the door." Confused at what had happened in her absence.

"Nina! Thank god!" Mitchell said. "Annie here collapsed, and these nice nurses are helping her. Because they can SEE that she's not well."

"Okay. Laura, she's my friend." Nina explained to the nurse, she knew them all by name. "I've been trying to get her to eat more and sleep properly but George is almost a brother to her. They… grew up together; their families were very close. I can keep an eye for her. I can see you have your hands full, with all the codes."

"She shouldn't take things lightly." Nurse Laura told Annie. "Nina keep an eye on her."

"I will. You go tend to the other patients; we'll walk down to her to the ambulatory clinic and get her vitals taken. Thank you for caring for my friend as well as my boyfriend." She thanked them walking them out of the room.

"Alright Nina. Call us if you need help."

"Will do. Thank you Laura… Jasmine."

Once the nurses had left the three supernaturals finally spoke.

"They can see me. I can't believe they can see me."

"Care to explain what happened Mitchell?" Nina's contempt with Mitchell was still evident.

"They tried to take her again." He said not letting go of Annie's hand.

"Are you alright Annie?" Nina asked honestly concerned.

"I am… A little lightheaded, but I'm all right. You shouldn't be worrying about me. With George…"

"Well, thank God Mitchell was around to help you." Nina said to her placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I wasn't. I only came by as they were ganging up on her. It was all Annie." He explained.

"I got so enraged. It felt unfair, that they took advantage of me being here for George." Annie explained.

"You closed the doors Annie. I'm so proud of you." Mitchell said smiling.

"Oh God, with all the commotion I forgot about George." Annie said worried and trying to get up, but Nina and Mitchell stopped her.

"He seems okay. Vitals are still stable." Nina said looking at the machines around.

"I think I should take Annie home." Mitchell stated.

"But George…" Annie complained.

"I'm here now Annie. He's not alone. I won't go away from him." Nina said.

"I don't think it is a good idea for you to stay here while there are so many opportunities for doors to appear." Mitchell said to her.

"Okay. I think I'll go home for now. But I will come back. You can't keep me away from him." Annie said to Mitchell.

"Okay, but you should be with someone else all the time you're in the hospital… Too many chances… I'll take you home."

They walked out the hospital together holding hands. Annie could see people looking at her. A girl was checking Mitchell out as he walked by her unaware. Annie could see the girl look at her and frown disapprovingly.

She thought that the girl must have assumed they were a couple. Even as she was expressing her dislike for whom she thought was the tall handsome man's girlfriend, she had managed to make Annie smile.

Because in her eyes, she was just a simple girl, alive, walking hand in hand with the man she loved.

In that girl's mind Annie's life was happy and complete.