A/N Sorry it took so long. Again. Were working on it, honest!

To answer a question about that though, part of the reason it always takes so long is due to Time Zones. Tall T and I are about 6 hours apart, so it can get difficult to get ahold of each other at a good time.

Without the worlds forgiveness

"His home?"

"So he says."

"How can anyone live here?"

"Well we are, aren't we?"

Skull Boy sighed. Trying to have a conversation with Frank and Len inevitably meant that you had to explain many simple things.

"I mean, is he living here permanently?"

"Why don't you ask me yourself?" a young man's voice harked. Skull Boy and Misery looked up at the same time.

Standing in the doorway was a young man, maybe twenty at most. He was rather little, about a foot shorter then Misery, and skinny. His hair was red (though it was a much duller red then Ruby's), long, dirty and tangled, his eyes gold colored.

"You don't have to talk about me as if I can't hear you," he added sharply, "Because I can hear you very well, thank you."

Misery nodded and got up. "Fair enough. What's your name, sir?"

"I've been called many things, but never "sir". I'm Gabriel, or Gabe, for short."

"And what would you like us to call you?", Skull Boy asked in a friendly tone of voice.

"I don't care."

"Well, then, Garbiel…" Misery continued, "If I may be so forward: I doubt if you have any papers identifying you as the owner of this house, but you were here first, s it's only fair to ask: We have a friend who just had a…let's call it a seizure, and she needs some rest and healing. We won't be long, but would you please allow us to stay long enough to nurse our friend back to health? There's room enough for everyone here…"

"Room or not, I always chase away the hobos who keeps trying to crash this place. But you guys are…different. "

Poe, Iris, and Scardey all looked at the boy in puzzlement upon getting this last piece of information. Gabriel didn't look like a guy who would be able to chase away most hobos.

"I guess you can stay a little while."

"Thanks, we really appreciate it." Skull Boy hurriedly added.

"Another thing, could you please not go to see our friend until we say it's okay?" Misery asked. "She's upstairs."

"Yeah, whatever.", Gabriel muttered. "It's not like I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation to see her anyway." He opened a door, and opened up the door to a room with an unkempt mattress on the floor.

Without another word, Misery and Skull Boy went outside.

"You know what he is, don't you?", Skull Boy sighed

Misery nodded. "Do you?"

"I'm pretty certain, at least."

"So do you happen to know when's the next full moon?"

"I believe it's…" Skull Boy interrupted himself, and scowled at Misery.

"Waaait a minute…that was a test, wasn't it?"

Misery allowed herself a faint smile.

"You passed."

"Still, there's little chance of him turning in daylight, is there?"

"Yes. But we probably shouldn't let him get close to Ruby right away."

~O~

Less than an hour after they had gotten home from their shopping round, Iris was getting restless, and started walking around the house. She noticed that Misery was standing by the kitchen sink, preparing something.

"Hi Misery, watcha doing?"

"Preparing Ruby's blood substitute", she replied. "But first I thought I'd make some lunch."

"Oh yeah, I can see that." Iris had noticed a plate of toast with something black on them. "Oh, you bought dark chocolate spread!" she added enthusiastically. "I love dark chocolate spread, but they only have milk chocolate spread at the Gloomsville grocery store."

Eagerly, and before Misery had time to react, Iris picked up a toast with spread on it, and put it in her mouth. She chewed on it for just a few seconds before her face suddenly stiffened. Grimacing, she spit it out in disgust.

She gagged. "What is this stuff?" she yelled "It's salt!"

"Yes, and it's not dark chocolate spread, which I could've told you if you had given me a few more seconds to explain." Misery said calmly. "It's marmite."

Iris looked at her nonplussed.

"It's a yeast-based spread." She explained "Its rich, salty flavour and heavy iron content makes it an acceptable substitute for blood."

"So you expect Ruby to eat this swill?" Iris asked.

"No, I expect her to drink it. Marmite-for-Blood needs to be watered down and boiled first."

"Then why did you put it on these slices?"

"Those are for me. It's my lunch.", Misery explained, picked up a slice and took a bite. "You're not the only one who's been missing your favourite spread. Sorry, Iris, I didn't know you wanted dark chocolate spread. We'll buy it next time. Anyway -"

Misery handed Iris their portable stove and a black jar with a yellow sticker on it that read MARMITE. "The proportions are two parts water to three parts marmite. You make it while I finish eating this."

Iris took a whiff at the jar. It smelled as stale as it tasted. "Why do I have to make it?"

Misery looked at her seriously. "Well, I really don't think I should. There's no electricity here, so all we have to cook on is this portable gas stove, and it's a pretty old thing, too. Are you really willing to trust me with it?"

Iris had difficulty arguing with that. Misery handling an old gas stove sounded like a bad idea, no matter what the circumstances. They needed the roof over their heads to stay over their heads a little bit longer. She swallowed and went to pick up a bottle of water from the grocery bags.

~0~

"You get used to it." Misery told Ruby as the redhead swallowed the blood substitute. She noticed that her friend didn't seem to enjoy it any more than Iris had. But dutifully, she emptied the whole cup.

Misery and Skull Boy looked at her, and at each other, for a few minutes with slight anxiety. Finally, Skull Boy dared to ask:

"How do you feel?"

Ruby looked up, and both her friends thought they noticed more colour in her cheeks, and the somewhat glassy look in her eyes was gone.

"Better", she nodded, "Honestly…I'm much less tense now than I've been all day."

"It works then." Misery stated.

"Can I go see the rest of the gang now?", Ruby asked

Gabriel got up, and left the room so eerily quiet that Skull Boy nearly jumped. As he closed the door behind him, Misery turned and looked. For a few moments, nobody said a word. Then Misery nodded.

"Are you sure?" Skull Boys whispered.

She just nodded again.

They both turned to look at Ruby.

Skull Boy threw Misery a quizzical glance. She gave him a nearly imperceptible nod that he chose to take as a sign of approval.

"Of course Ruby, just come with us." She smiled warmly as he put her arm around her shoulder and escorted her out of the room.

Needless to say, the rest of the gang were ecstatic to see her. All except for Scardey. who spontaneously jumped up and hid in a corner. Group hugging their friend, Poe delivered gentlemanlike pleasantries, Iris asked her about marmite, and Frank and Len asked her a bunch of innocent, but under the circumstances somewhat inappropriate questions about vampires.

~0~

Gabe growled a bit under his breath as he laid down. Visitors. Yay. Whatever. They had till tomorrow for their friend to recover. If they weren't gone by then, maybe he could force the change and...

And what? These guys were wanderers, that's all. Nothing to worry about... probably.

So why so jumpy? The only one who could conceivably pose a threat was the banshee, but she didn't exactly seem... confrontational. But there was something in the air... a taste, a smell, a feel. He glanced at the ceiling. None of the ones he'd met seemed like much a threat. But what about the one he hadn't seen?

Misery opened the door cautiously, already knowing who was on the other side.

"We asked you not to come up yet." she frowned.

"And I decided I need to know who's in my house - Including your friend." Gabe glared at Misery, as if daring her to disagree.

Misery glared back for a moment then sighed. They weren't in any position to counter his claim. The last thing they needed was for him to force his way in. Moving aside, she let him in, keeping her eyes on him. Gabe moved clumsily, and slouched a lot.

Slowly moving her way out of the crowd, Ruby went over to the new kid and studied him up and down. She looked calm and curious, but hesitated before she smiled and greeted him in a friendly manner, thanking him for letting them stay here a little while. Gabe seemed nonplussed by this. Misery and Skull Boy were somewhat surprised by Ruby's reaction too, but that's because they weren't used to seeing her hesitate before she was being friendly.

From Ruby, whose instinctive reaction was usually to greet even strangers with sincere friendliness, this was unusual. Misery and Skull Boy studied the scene with anxious interest, and after a few moments, so did Iris and Poe. Frank, Len and Scardey seemed mostly confused. Boo Boo tried to say "But he's a –", only to be hushed down by Misery and Skull Boy. From his position at the table, Mr. Buns also seemed to study it all with great interest.

Misery and Skull Boy whispered something to each other. Then they split, and apprehended two different people.

Misery took Gabe aside, but before she could say anything he sneered:

"You've brought one of those into my home! This was not part of the agreement."

"True, but we didn't have much of an agreement", Misery pointed out laconically. "And believe me when I tell you…Ruby isn't like that. She's never even tasted a drop of blood in her life! Not in a pure form, anyway."

Gabe groaned, and sighed. "I... do admit that I've never had one of those reacting to me in such a manner."

"What manner?", Misery asked rhetorically.

"Kinda…friendly. That's unusual."

Misery decided she wasn't even going to ask if he knew exactly what kind of "one of those" Ruby was. He wouldn't have expressed himself in such a way unless he knew. Nor was she going to tell him that she (and Skull Boy) knew what he was. He was already aware of that, surely. Misery didn't waste words.

"So you will let us stay?", Misery said diplomatically, not wanting to challenge him.

"Yes, but you've gotta let me stay close to this…Ruby. She makes me curious."

"I can see why."

~0~

Taking his best friend aside, Skull Boy looked Ruby in the eyes and said:

"Ruby…listen…"

"Yes?"

"I had a talk with Misery, and well, It's important that you're being completely honest with me.."

"I always am, Skull Boy", she assured him, giving him the look that – he admitted only to himself - would've made him melt if he had any organs to melt.

"What did you feel when you met Gabriel?"

Ruby hesitated. Part of here was secretly hoping that Skull Boy was jealous. But another, more realistic part of her realized – no, sensed was a better word for it – that there was something else behind that question.

"Weird", she said. "Not like last night, when I lost control, but still… I felt agitated, for no reason, and something else. Something I can't really explain."

She looked Skull Boy in the eyes, and realized that this probably wasn't the most reassuring answer she could give. But she didn't want to lie to him.

"It'll be okay, Skull Boy." It was the most reassuring answer she could give him right now. And she still believed in it.

~0~

The feeling of unease was gradually lifted as the afternoon progressed into evening. To everyone's relief, Ruby was her same cheerful, confident self again and she chatted with everyone - Except for Gabe, whom she never talked to directly. Many times, however, she looked as if she wanted to say something to him, only to stop herself. Frank, Len and Iris, however, kept asking Gabe questions, much to his annoyance.. When Iris asked him where he comes from, he just said "from here". And that was still more of an answer than anyone else got out of him. Whenever Frank or Len asked him question about anything from his parents to his favourite bands, all they got was a grunt or a sniff.

It wasn't until nearly midnight that the conversation prompted Gabe to participate more actively. Ruby, who was interested in everything concerning her friends, wanted to hear every detail from the gang's little shopping trip, and Poe and Iris enthusiastically told her. But after a while, Ruby couldn't help but notice that the whole recollection seemed to make Misery look uncomfortable.

"It was awkward." Misery muttered when her concerned friend asked her. "It made me remember why I tried to avoid human society for so many years. What we need is some way we could get supplies without drawing attention."

"Actually", Gabe volunteered slowly. "I know a place that can help with that..."