Chapter Two
"It's quick. It's clean. It's pure."
There was blood everywhere. Blood stained her hands and poisoned her mouth. She felt it trickling down her cheeks. Her shaking fingers touched the corner of her eye and drew back to reveal a fresh drop of crimson life seeping into the lines of her skin. Olivia was weeping blood.
"Hey, Livvy." Someone was shaking her shoulder. She let out a strangled gasp as her eyes opened. Dreaming. The blood had been a dream. Olivia met the dark eyes of the man who'd woken her. "Your moans were disturbing the corpses," he said dismissively. Olivia smirked.
"I'm glad someone's looking out for my customers," she replied lightly, sitting up on the cold slab that usually didn't have something living on its surface. Her rescuer shook his head, wavy blonde hair with streaks of blue and purple brushing against the furry maroon collar of his long jacket. He was just as pale as she was, their roles with the dead calling for more time in shadow than in sunlight. Of course, there hadn't been a lot of available sunlight for a long time.
"You have a bed upstairs and yet you sleep here most of the time." Olivia shrugged.
"It's convenient. I do most of my thinking here." She hopped off the slab, bare feet meeting the cold floor of the autopsy room. "I shudder to think where you sleep at night when you aren't camping out here, Graverobber." He tapped the right side of his face casually while the expression in his eyes was far from casual. She checked her face and realized her hair wasn't covering the right side. As she hurried to correct this mistake, the Graverobber wandered over to the wall made up of cold steel doors.
"Business been good this week?"
"The whole middle row," she replied, gesturing absently at the wall. He nodded, his expression satisfied.
"How much do you need?"
"Two vials ought to do it for now." Olivia probably would have engaged the Graverobber in conversation while he worked. They had a routine and it was rare for them to deviate. However, the bracelet on her wrist interrupted her normal life.
"Incoming message from Shilo Wallace." The Graverobber looked over his shoulder.
"You met someone new?"
"Just this kid… I mean, it was a week ago. She never called me back so I guess I thought… Hang on, will you?" Olivia left the room, feeling suddenly protective of this secret she shared with Shilo. Sure, it wasn't much of a secret. Two women had discussed cramps. No scandal there, certainly. But now Shilo was reaching out again and Olivia felt as if something real was beginning in her life. Something good. She accessed the message, watching the flickering holograph of Shilo appear. She was so very young and obviously innocent. Her face was sweet, untouched by life's cruelty. Those wide dark eyes were probably very expressive. Hopefully Olivia would get the chance to find out for herself.
"Livvy, it's Shilo. I know I haven't called but dad's been really clingy this week. He said he'll be working all night so if you want to come over… Except I can't get out of my room to let you in so you'll be stuck outside… But maybe you could call me and we could talk? Just let me know, I guess. Bye." Olivia smiled. So Nathan Wallace would be absent for an evening. Perfect. That gave her a chance to try out a stupid and probably dangerous idea.
"Shilo, I got your message," she said once she'd dialed the kid's number. "I've got an idea. How are your knots?"
"From my window. I can see the world from there."
Shilo didn't know if her knots would be good enough for this kind of plan. She'd tied her sheets together as tight as she could but she had horrible flashes of Livvy falling to her death. As she tied one end of the sheet tight around the rail surrounding her window, she prayed Livvy's idea would work.
Her dad had said good night to her an hour ago. Her orders were to go to sleep. In the morning, he'd be home. He'd said more than that but once she realized that she had a night free, Shilo tuned out. She could see Livvy again, this time without the annoying cramps. They could talk about all the things Shilo didn't have the nerve to ask her father.
Livvy finally appeared, waving briefly up at Shilo before scaling the fence. Shilo's eyes widened. She hadn't realized how fit Livvy was. What did she do for a living that made her able to scale tall fences in a matter of seconds? She stared down at the mystery woman she was about to let into her house before tossing down the other end of the sheet rope. Her bed was a mess but at least the rope was long enough for Livvy to reach. The woman tugged on the rope a few times. Then she started climbing, taking far more time with this than she did with the fence. Shilo noticed that Livvy was clinging to the side of the house far more than the rope, which was probably the smart thing to do.
"Nothing like climbing a three-story house," Livvy grunted once she had finally reached Shilo's window. She hauled herself over the rails and landed on the window seat. Shilo now had the opportunity to know what a real woman looked like in person. Livvy was at least five inches taller than Shilo and not half as skinny. Black pants outlined her full hips while tall black boots hugged her calves. They were great legs. Shilo thought briefly of her own chicken legs and sighed. She wasn't able to compare their busts since Livvy was wearing a lumpy brown sweater and the black coat from before that wasn't leather after all.
"So that's what real people wear?" Livvy blinked. Well, at least one of her eyes blinked. Shilo still couldn't see the right side of her face. The pin in her hair looked different. It was gold and twisted into a loopy knot. The hair itself was approximately the color of mahogany, relatively uninteresting. The one eye Shilo could see was what struck her. It was a fierce blue, so different from her dad's pale eyes. Aside from that eye, Livvy was pretty average.
"I don't know about real people but it's generally what I wear." Livvy shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't teach you all that much about fashion. Just practicality." She hopped off the window seat and began to tug off her coat. Shilo went back to staring at her boots.
"Those are really cool." Livvy glanced down at her boots with a fond smile.
"Yeah, they're old friends. Every woman needs a reliable pair of boots," she informed Shilo as she laid the coat down. Shilo bit her lip.
"Really?" Livvy opened her mouth to say yes but then she saw the worried look on Shilo's face and apparently changed her mind.
"Well, I suppose no one really needs boots unless they have a job that calls for it. I just happen to like them." Shilo felt a little less concerned. She didn't have boots. Maybe if she worked really hard at begging her dad he'd consider buying her a pair. "So what do you feel like doing tonight?"
"Well, um, do you like chess? My dad and I play it all the time." Shilo immediately felt like smacking herself. Didn't she want to do something different than what she did all the time?
"Chess?" Livvy considered it a moment. "Okay but you'd better be nice to me. It's been at least sixteen years since I've played." Shilo grinned at the prospect of playing someone who was actually worse than she was. Her dad whipped her every time and it got old fast.
"Awesome. I'll get the board."
"Something real to cling to, leave you."
"That's not fair!" Shilo began giggling at the deeply wounded expression on Olivia's face. They'd set the board up on Shilo's bed after pulling the pristine white blanket over the stripped mattress. Olivia had taken off her boots to keep from staining the blanket and had swiftly realized just how badly Shilo was going to beat her. Three games later, she was knew exactly how right she was.
"Sure it's fair," Shilo said through the giggles. "You left your queen vulnerable."
"That's hardly the point," Olivia sputtered, wondering where on earth her dignity had gone. "The queen's my favorite. I was having a hard enough time without my favorite piece. Now I haven't got any morale left."
"You've still got your knight," Shilo pointed out helpfully. Olivia glared at the horse-shaped character.
"Useless little bastard." The teen's eyes widened a little and Olivia realized she was going to have to curb her tongue. Shilo clearly wasn't used to casual swearing. "So… your dad's kind of spooky, isn't he?" Olivia considered her next move while Shilo got over her surprise.
"No, he isn't. He's fussy and overbearing but not spooky." She flicked a glance up at Shilo's sincere face.
"I guess you know him better than I do. And as long as he's good to you…" She deliberately let that sentence without an ending. Olivia didn't have any scruples about taking a kid away from an abusive father, although she wasn't really sure if that was the situation. Of course, if she stole Shilo, where would she take her?
"He's great when he's not being overprotective," Shilo muttered, clearly not getting the hint. However, her response put Olivia's mind at ease. Nathan Wallace clearly wasn't hurting his daughter. He just hadn't given her everything she needed, such as a woman to talk to.
"Anyway, onto girly topics, which super cute boy on television do you like? And if you say Pavi Largo, I won't bother with the rope. I will jump out the window." Shilo started giggling again, which was exactly what Olivia wanted.
"His face is creepy, isn't it? Now that's spooky." After laughing over that, Shilo warmed to the subject. She gushed over one of the more recent boy bands like any normal teenager. Then her bracelet beeped a medicine reminder and she went through the motions of swallowing pills like it was something she did on a regular basis. Which it was. Olivia felt her heart get a little heavy at that.
"I just remembered that I brought you something," Olivia said, swinging her legs off the bed. Shilo smirked.
"You just don't want to finish the game."
"Naturally," Olivia joked as she reached into her coat and pulled out a small, battered book. She ran her thumb gently over the white cover that had been so aged by time. "This belonged to my mother. It was published long before I was even born. Most of my books are like that." Olivia was a little started to find Shilo standing just behind her, a timid look on her face.
"What is it?"
"The Silver Kiss." She set the book gently in the teen's hands. "It's not a great classic. I noticed it on my shelf shortly after I got your call and I thought… Well, it reminded me of you, I suppose."
"What's it about?" she asked softly, her eyes fixed on the book as though she thought it might suddenly vanish if she looked away.
"A teenaged girl, what else?" Olivia teased gently. "Her mother is dying and it seems like her life is crumbling. Then she meets a boy. An immortal boy."
"Immortal?" Shilo finally dared to look away from the book to meet Olivia's eyes. She nodded.
"And unlike anything she's ever known. He teaches her some important lessons about life."
"Like what?" Olivia shook her head, smiling gently.
"You have to read to find out." Shilo hugged the book against her chest. There was a hope in her eyes that Olivia couldn't begin to fathom. It was almost as if instead of a book, Olivia had offered her the keys to the world. Maybe she had, in a way.
"You never said if you were married or had kids… or something," Shilo said quietly. The question seemed to make her tense. Olivia sighed.
"No husband, no children and definitely no boyfriend. Just me and Graverobber."
"Who?" she asked, confused.
"A weird friend of mine," Olivia said dismissively. She didn't exactly feel fair, calling Graverobber weird. She was just as strange, after all. "Anyway, I don't have any family. My parents died when I was thirteen. I stayed with my aunt and uncle but they weren't really into kids. I'm on my own."
"So are we," Shilo said. "My dad and I, I mean." She nodded silently. The mood had officially plummeted into depressing. Time for a change of topic.
"I'll clean up the board. You've destroyed me quite enough for one evening." Somehow that hadn't come out quite right. She ignored the aching in her heart as she cleared off the bed, setting the board and pieces on a nearby desk. Even if the place was a prison, Olivia thought Shilo's room was pretty nice. She had a large canopy bed, several dressers, a desk and even a piano. Bookshelves were set into the walls but the titles all looked like they related to education. The ones that weren't seemed a little juvenile. Overall it was a nice room with a white and faded pink theme. It was better than what she'd had after her parents died, anyway.
"Olivia?" Shilo's voice sounded particularly fragile and Olivia dreaded what she might see on the kid's face. She turned hesitantly to look. Shilo stared up at her with what the older woman knew had to be hope.
"Yes, Shilo?"
"Do you… I mean, would you…?" She fell silent. Olivia wished she knew how to make Shilo feel better, stronger, more complete. She wished she knew how to be a mother because that was exactly what the teen needed more than anything else. She needed a mom and a dad and a garden to play in and a stupid puppy that tripped on its ears. Come to think of it, everyone needed that life.
Suddenly Shilo's silence went from hesitant to panic. There was a soft creak in the hallway. "My dad!" she whispered. She shoved the sheet rope beneath the bed along with Olivia's boots. Olivia took the hint and hastily dived beneath the bed, hiding as deep in the shadows as she could. Shilo jumped in bed and pulled the blanket over her body. Olivia prayed Wallace wasn't the observant sort. If he looked too hard, he might notice the absence of sheets.
There was a jangle of keys and then the door creaked open slowly. "Shi?" Olivia's eyes widened. His voice was so different! The ice was missing, replaced by a gentle, comforting warmth. "Are you awake?" Shilo wisely made no response. She wondered just how often Shilo had faked sleep in order to be left alone. There was a moment when he seemed to take a step back but something must have caught his eye. He entered the room. Olivia watched his feet move across the floor, heading for the window. She couldn't remember if they'd left it open. Was that what had bothered him?
The bottom of her coat brushed the floor as Nathan Wallace held it out. Olivia froze. She'd forgotten her coat. Her lips formed one silent word.
Fuck.