AN:/ Hello wonderfully patient people! First off, as always, apologies that I'm the slowest of slow people at updating stuff—it is a legitimate problem, but again, I get busy. I'm sorry to keep you all in suspense, but on the bright side, this is the next installment from the Fright Side! And y'know almost October! (Yay Halloween! It's even on a Friday this year!) Anyway, thank-you again for all the lovely reviews/your patience with my inability to function :) I'm actually really humbled and surprised; there are almost 100 people following this story! For such a limited fan base that's really something... :) Thanks again for the support guys. Now enough of me blathering, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Scary Godmother or any of the associated characters, locations, etc.

Hannah couldn't remember much for a moment, but suddenly it all came rushing back to her. Scary Godmother, Lisa, Greg, a fist flying at her face—the whole thing. Terror seized Hannah's tiny frame as she tried her best to remain calm.

As was often the case when she first began to become aware after being hit unconscious by Greg, Hannah kept her eyes closed and did her best to keep her breathing even while trying to use her other senses to figure out where she was. Even if he did hate her, Greg did often drag her upstairs and chuck her onto the floor of her room so he wouldn't trip on her when he became more inebriated.

Using her sense of touch Hannah became rapidly aware that she was not on the floor… that could only mean one thing. Scary Godmother had taken her…Hannah fought to stay calm hating that she knew that Scary Godmother would only hate her now, knowing what she was. Just a little freak.

What made Hannah more worried was the soft sound of someone else's breathing. If she 'woke up' now then there would inevitably be someone else in the room. What was strange though was that Hannah could not sense any of the usual pain she felt when waking…she could feel her body, so she knew Greg hadn't somehow paralyzed her, which while reassuring was also disconcerting. If he hadn't paralyzed her…where was the pain?

Finally, Hannah had no choice but to open her eyes and face the other occupants of the room. She wasn't sure she was ready for it, but she knew that if she didn't open her eyes she might never see where she was and know what had happened after she had passed out. Much that she was not particularly keen on finding out just how much her beloved godmother hated her now, she was less keen still on lying there trying to discern what she could not know.

Allowing her eyelids to flutter, Hannah opened her eyes and looked blearily into the surrounding room. The first thing she saw were two extremely familiar bright green emerald eyes staring back at her. Hannah almost let out a shriek, but quickly quelled herself, realizing that shrieking would do her no good…not unless that was what Scary Godmother wanted.

Lisa had always enjoyed hearing Hannah scream. When she got in a mood for it, the adoptive "mother" would stop at nothing until the tiny brunette girl let out peel upon peel of pained cries. It had initially taken very little to make Hannah-Marie scream, being unaccustomed to being in pain when she was first adopted at the tender age of 3, then for a while Hannah had tried to be resilient; to not scream. That had been a mistake.

Not screaming meant the pain would go on longer, so Hannah simply let the screams come as loud as they could when Lisa was in that mood; silently praying for someone to hear her, to come save her as she screamed into the night. No one ever came. Not until Scary Godmother.

It hurt like hell for Hannah to know that this was it, that this was the last time she would be looking into those emerald eyes before they turned to hatred; hating Hannah for being weak. For being a liar. A freak. A waste of space. A useless, stupid thing that no one could love.

Much that she wished it wasn't, Hannah knew that everything Greg and Lisa had told her was true. She just desperately wanted to be right, to be the kind of girl that Scary Godmother could love. It was too late for that though.

Hannah was pulled from her musings by a sudden movement causing her entire frame to seize up, awaiting the pain she knew to be coming. The tiny brunette was stunned when instead of being in pain she felt two strong arms wrap tightly, but comfortably, around her. Scary Godmother was…hugging her?

Blinking once, twice, Hannah's addled mind tried to process what was happening. Scary Godmother should hate her now. Why was she hugging her? Surely this had to be some kind of dream? No one could love her. Hannah knew that. It was all she had never known.

The young girl could feel the steady thumping of Scary's heart through her breast, and felt the warmth of the witch's body heat seep into her cool one. Hannah shivered slightly, but became aware then of another more puzzling occurrence. Scary Godmother was trembling as she held Hannah.

The brunette was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Scary brokenly whisper in a sort of half sob, "I'm sorry." And then again, and again; the words were repeated over and over as Scary held onto Hannah as though her life depended on it.

Hannah was stunned. Scary Godmother was…apologizing to her? But why? Surely there must be some mistake! There was no reason for the witch to ever apologize to Hannah! It was baffling to the brunette who had never been apologized to in her entire life. No one owed Hannah an apology; it was she who should apologize for troubling others, not the other way around.

Unbeknownst to Hannah, Scary had already spent countless hours hating herself for not noticing the pain caused to her beloved goddaughter. What kind of godmother was she? Not noticing that her goddaughter was being abused! Not even knowing that her dear Hannah was an adopted child… Circe! How could she have missed the signs? Scary had seen abuse before, why did she not see it in Hannah?

It was killing the usually chipper witch to know she had failed her goddaughter. She had failed Hannah. And there was nothing she could ever do to make up for it. Elise had died from Scary's inability to help; an innocent murdered in cold blood by a malicious, jealous old warlock who couldn't move on from his own failings.

Ruby had taken it upon herself to quietly, repeatedly remind Scary that Hannah wasn't dead though. Hannah was still here, and very much alive. Ruby had also been working to remind Scary that she had only been a child herself when Elise was murdered, but that didn't help Scary at all; that just made her feel all the guiltier. She wasn't a child anymore; it was her duty to protect Hannah-Marie, and she had failed her.

The very essence that had drawn her directly to Hannah-Marie that faithful Halloween night was Scary's calling. The moment she ceased to be just Scary and to Hannah had become Scary Godmother. She had sworn to protect this child, this beautiful little girl from the things that go bump in the night, but also to allow her little girl to flourish, to grow and become the beautiful, strong, independent girl Scary knew she could be.

And she had failed her.

Hannah, completely unaware of Scary Godmother's thoughts, was still stunned and had yet to move in the witch's arms. 'How…why—what on Earth is happening?' Hannah tried to figure out what was going on but knew it was futile. Sometimes things were just odd beyond words and there was no way around it.

Finally, trying to use her voice Hannah spoke groggily, "D-Don't cry S-Scary Godmother… I-I promise I-I'll leave you alone now! I-I won't bother you e-ever again! I promise!" Hannah's speech became more feverish as she tried to put into words all the doubts and worries she was having.

Hearing her goddaughter's words, Scary's heart broke. Pulling back, Scary's red-rimmed green eyes locked with Hannah's wide brown ones, and the witch replied.

"Hannah, I don't want you to leave me alone. Circe Hannah…I-I could have lost you!" Scary's voice broke as she spoke, emotion thick in her voice.

"I'm so sorry, Hannah. Sorrier than I can ever say that you went through that… but I promise you those bastards will never hurt you again. You're safe now Hannah." Scary spoke, passion strong in her voice as she tried to will Hannah-Marie to understand that she was safe and that Scary would die before she would let anything or anyone else hurt her.

Tears welled in Hannah's eyes as she tried to understand Scary's words. They didn't make sense—none of this made sense. Scary Godmother was supposed to hate her, was supposed to tell her that Greg and Lisa had been right all along. Except she wasn't; Scary was hugging her, and crying and-and comforting her. It didn't make sense.

It was exhausting for Hannah to try and comprehend, when she was still so very tired. But she needed to know; Hannah desperately needed to convey to her godmother that it was fine, that she didn't have to be sorry. All of this was simply what she deserved.

Shaking her head rapidly Hannah croaked, "D-don't be sorry Scary Godmother. You have nothing t-to be sorry for."

Scary couldn't contain the tears in her eyes at Hannah's words. She wished she could believe those words, but she also knew from long ago with Elise that she should be sorry. Elise had always said she was 'fine' that Masheck hadn't hurt her so badly. The day Elise had died, the last thing she had said to Scary before the redhead had left for school was, "I promise I'll be fine, now go!"

Elise wasn't fine. And Scary would never forget it.

Never letting Hannah go, Scary spoke again, "Hannah, sweetheart, I know you don't believe that I need to be sorry, but I am. I was around you for so long…I never…Circe, Hannah I never even considered that you could be being abused… I'm sorry sweetheart. I am so sorry that I didn't pay more attention, that I let you keep going back home to those bastards."

Hannah's eyes widened at the word 'abuse'. Wildly Hannah thought, 'Abuse? What abuse? I was never abused! Greg and Lisa just punished me for being bad! It wasn't their fault that I'm a freak!'

Before she could voice her opinions however, the door flew open and Orson soared into the room. Hannah's eyes widened to saucer-size as she recognized concern, and sadness etched into Orson's usually happy features. Why was Orson sad? Hannah hated the thought of Orson being sad.

"Hannah!" Orson yelped, rushing forward and hugging Hannah tightly despite her still being firmly in Scary's arms. Orson didn't care, his vampiric instincts were still in overdrive and had been ever since he had gone to the Human Realm and seen the mistreatment Hannah had endured. He needed to be close to his best friend; he needed to be able to feel her pulse and smell her scent in order to calm himself. He needed to hear her beautiful voice to know she was alive.

Startled by the sudden onslaught of physical contact from her friends, Hannah gasped out, "Orson?!" despite the surprise in her voice, it was enough for the Prince of the Night. He had heard her, and he could smell her, even faintly feel her pulse despite his limited contact due to his heightened senses.

Still trying to understand what was happening Hannah found it dizzying to suddenly be surrounded by her friends, especially since they were acting so strange. Surely Orson must know now that she was nothing more than a dirty, disgusting whore? Why was he still willing to be friends with her, to hug her knowing that?

What was stranger still was that Hannah could swear she heard her best friend making strange noises, somewhere between a purr, a hum and a growl. She wondered why he was making the sound, and what it was. But before she could get much farther more people began to fill the room.

Scary and Orson did not release their hold on her, but Hannah could make out Ruby entering the room, followed closely by Skully, Bug-a-Boo, Harry and Max. It didn't make sense. There were voices rising as more people entered the room and the confused brunette was fast finding herself overwhelmed. Why were they all here?

Unable to comprehend, Hannah felt the cold tendrils of fear wriggling their way into her chest, wrapping their icy fingers around her heart and lungs; constricting. Hannah felt as though she had quite abruptly been submerged in icy cold water, the sudden shock making it hard to breathe. Hannah's breathing started to come in shallow, gasping breaths as she struggled to allow oxygen into her lungs.

Noticing the change, Scary and Orson both began to try and find out what was wrong but Hannah couldn't hear them right; it sounded to her as though they were a million miles away, and so she slowly allowed herself to descend into darkness as her vision swam and black spots filled her eyes.

When Hannah went limp in her arms, Scary immediately began to panic, but soon felt Hannah's breath begin to even out as the girl lay once more unconscious in her arms. Ruby, who had noticed the sudden change, rapidly shooed the other monsters out of the room. Orson, as always, protested, but Max, sensing the need, ushered his son out.

Turning her blue eyes back on Scary, who was now laying Hannah back on the bed and checking the girl's forehead for a fever, Ruby glided over and spoke gently, "Scary, darling, I do not think that this was anything wrong. I think we all simply overwhelmed Hannah."

Scary fretted and worried with the corner of the pillow Hannah's head now rested on. She wanted so badly to just go back to holding Hannah; feeling the girl's heart beating steadily through her own chest, the thrum of life functioning as a lifeline for the distraught witch. "I-I can't help it Ruby…she-I…it's like Elise all over again Ruby and you know it." Scary murmured brokenly.

And Ruby did know; the vampiress knew that while Scary obviously was most concerned about Hannah herself, the lingering memories of Elise's murder haunted Scary now more so than ever. Carefully, Ruby placed a delicate but firm hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"It will be alright, darling. Like I said, Hannah is here. She is alive. She will never have to see those abominations again. After all, Skully and Harry are going to see those vile things tonight; they will get what they deserve. We will all make sure of that." Ruby said firmly, she knew that once Hannah was steadily awake she and her Max would make a trip to see the bastards that dared harm their filia.1

Scary trembled slightly as she spoke, "What if…Circe, Ruby what if Hannah doesn't talk to us? What if she tries to pretend it didn't happen? Merlin and Morgana! What if she tries to go back?!" there was terror in Scary's voice that sank into Ruby's undead bones at that. It was a possibility that Hannah would want to return to the Human Realm. And if that was the case there was little they could do to stop her. No matter how furious they were at the humans in the small brunette's life.

Ruby took a calming breath; she refused to let herself think about that. If Hannah decided she wanted to return to the Human Realm, fine. That was after all Hannah's right, but Ruby would not allow her filia to return to the miscreation she had been living with. Vampires were fiercely protective to the point of being possessive, and the Queen of the Night did not take kindly to those who dared harm those she loved.

However, for Scary the fear was far realer and far more disturbing. If Hannah left to go back to the Human Realm…without due cause it was entirely possible they would lose touch with her. That Scary would lose her. It was well known in the Fright Side that in order for monsters to travel to the Human Realm there had to be an acceptably dire situation at hand, or at least some sort of legitimate reasoning. Once they were over a certain age that was; teen monsters tended to have higher magical energy surrounding them, and thus could manage to break the barrier.

Scary herself was not magically powerful enough to negate the barrier that separated the Fright Side and the Human Realm on a regular basis. It was why she had been able to sense Hannah-Marie so strongly that first Halloween, but could not regularly sense her godchild with the same strength. Her magic was simply not at the same magnitude the rest of the year until the situation grew grim and thus the Powers-That-Be allowed the crossing.

It was something the redhead was more acutely aware of than most monsters simply because, as Godmother she was more attuned to the Human Realm, in particular the children of the Human Realm, but also as a witch she was well versed in the mystical properties of the Fright Side. She had not studied for years, reading cover to cover of many a magical text and obtained her sorcery degree without learning a thing or two about their world.

Turning her red-rimmed emerald eyes to meet Ruby's concern-filled blue ones, Scary spoke hoarsely, "What if she tries to push us away, Ruby? I can't…I can't watch her hurt herself to try and spare us knowing…" A sob shook Scary's frame, Ruby took the opportunity to draw her distraught friend into an embrace before speaking gently, soothingly.

"Hannah would not push you away, amica2. She adores you; she will be hesitant to let you see her hurt, as Elise was, but she won't push you away. Not truly." Ruby spoke reassuringly, with a confidence she only possessed from years of helping Scary cope with Elise's death.

Scary shivered, the cool temperature of Ruby's undead body not warming her, but the sentiment of Ruby's words functioning just the same. Scary looked at the unconscious form of her goddaughter again and winced. They had obviously overwhelmed the poor girl…next time they'd have to be more careful. Slowly have people enter, without so many of them all entering the room at once.

Frowning slightly to herself, Scary wondered why they hadn't thought of that beforehand. After all, Elise had always shied away from large crowds, even of those she knew, but then with Elise, Scary had been a source of comfort, someone who knew what was happening. Feeling a foreboding sense of worry, Scary realized that she was not that for Hannah-Marie. For Hannah, she was one more person who didn't know. Who wasn't supposed to know. It was a stomach churning thought for Scary.

Standing in Ruby's embrace Scary's worries seemed to dissipate, if only slightly, her heart acknowledging what her mind hadn't. She wasn't alone this time. She did not have to help Hannah in secret all by herself, powerless to defend the abused child. Not like with Elise. Masheck was not the brute anymore, and Scary was no longer a child.

Resolve began to settle in the pit of Scary's stomach once more. She would not allow Hannah's life to go the way Elise's had. Her goddaughter would not become one more haunted memory.

Ruby almost smiled a little to herself, feeling strength coming back into Scary's body. She didn't know what was going on in her friend's mind, but she knew that it would be enough. That the Scary she knew was coming back in full force; there would be roadblocks, but Scary would get Hannah through this. Of that Ruby had no doubt. Somehow, someway they would figure it out.

Before either woman could process much more they heard a soft groan from the couch as Hannah began to rejoin the conscious world. Jumping apart, Scary knelt beside Hannah, holding herself back from embracing the girl fiercely again. Ruby took a step back and sat in the nearby chair, knowing that Scary needed to be able to speak to her goddaughter uninterrupted.

Hannah's eyes fluttered slightly as hickory coloured irises were revealed. She slowly started to move, before noticing Scary, who had had the foresight to kneel by Hannah's feet rather than beside the girl's head. Upon noticing her godmother Hannah's eyes widened before she began to subconsciously curl into herself.

Noticing this, Scary spoke gently, allowing all the love and warmth she felt for her goddaughter to shine in her emerald eyes and to seep into her soft tone. "Hannah, sweetie I need you to take a deep breath for me, alright?"

Clearly more than a little panicked, Hannah shakily nodded, trying to slow her racing heart. Trying to suck in air, Hannah found that it was still entirely more difficult than she remembered it once being.

Noticing the struggle Hannah was having Scary asked softly, "Is it okay if I hold you Hannah?" Hickory-brown eyes widening, Hannah deftly nodded, clearly surprised by the question.

Slowly moving forward, Scary gently lifted Hannah's torso slightly and slid in behind the girl, before gradually, gently tugging her back so that Hannah's back rested against her breast. Speaking again Scary said tenderly, "Just feel my breathing Hannah, okay? Listen to my breathing and try to let yours match it, okay?" Hannah nodded, eyes still wide as she tried to obey her godmother.

Though it was a struggle, Hannah did her best to focus on the gentle, steady rise and fall of Scary Godmother's chest; the regular thumping of Scary's heartbeat working like a metronome for Hannah to follow. Hannah was careful to focus solely on her Godmother's breathing, to try not to wonder why she wasn't being hurt yet.

As she tried to get Hannah to breath with her, Scary spoke encouragingly, "That's it sweetie, just breath with me. In…and out." Scary was taking slower, deeper breaths than normal to make it easier for Hannah to follow.

Breathing in slowly, eventually falling into synch with Scary's deep, rhythmic breathing, Hannah began to unknowingly relax. Her body finally allowing itself to begin healing from the strain it had been under for years; being held so comfortingly by her godmother was cuing Hannah's unconscious mind to relax.

Once she was reasonably sure that Hannah was relaxed, or at least distinctly more so than she had been when she first awoke, Scary asked gently, "Is that better, sweetheart?" Hannah started slightly at Scary's voice, but calmed quickly as she felt Scary's continued deep breathing behind her.

Deftly, Hannah nodded. Not knowing what to say Scary was silent for a moment. What could she say? She knew that Hannah needed to talk about what she'd been going through, and there would certainly be conversations about it, but there would be time for that later. First they needed to focus on getting Hannah physically healthy again, and keeping the amount of panic the girl felt to a minimum.

There was one thing though, that Scary desperately needed Hannah to know. Cautiously turning the girl around in her arms so that they faced each other, Scary spoke gently but firmly. "Hannah, sweetheart, I know today has been a lot for you already, but I need you to listen to what I'm about to tell you very carefully alright?"

Eyes widening slightly in vague fear, Hannah stiffly nodded, rapidly at attention. Scary was disheartened by how Hannah stiffened in her arms, but it served only to harden her resolve as she enunciated clearly.

"I will never hurt you Hannah." Scary looked deeply, searchingly into hickory brown eyes as she spoke. She needed to see that Hannah understood. As Scary spoke she saw confusion blossom in those eyes, a deep set misunderstanding staring back into her own emerald orbs.

Knowing she had to keep going, needed Hannah to understand, to know this one fact, Scary continued. "I promise you sweetie, I don't care if I'm angry, or sad, or Heaven forbid drunk Hannah, I will never, ever hurt you. I won't raise a hand to you, or take my anger out on you, Hannah. I would never do that to you. Alright?"

Wide-eyed Hannah tried to understand what Scary Godmother was saying. How could she not want to hurt her? Why would she… Tears pricked the corners of Hannah's eyes as she tried to desperately understand the things her godmother was saying. Things so different from all Hannah had ever known.

Scary, not knowing the internal turmoil her goddaughter was supressing, pressed on, "What those brutes did to you was not okay, Hannah. You did not deserve that. No one deserves that, sweetheart. Least of all you." Kindness and love shone through Scary's bright green eyes as she pleaded with Hannah to accept what she was saying, even though Scary knew from taking care of Elise that it was never so simple.

It was too much for Hannah though. It was everything she had ever hoped for. It was too much; she didn't deserve this, to be loved. She was nothing. A nobody. The conflicting ideas and opinions of her step parents and her godmother finally caused the dams to break and tears began to roll gently down Hannah's cheeks.

Seeing the tears beginning to gently cascade down her beloved goddaughter's cheeks was too much for Scary; unable to help herself she pulled Hannah close, hugging her tightly and gently rubbing her back as she cried. Scary cried to, silent tears rolling down her cheeks and smattering softly on top of Hannah's brown locks.

Ruby sat vigilant, but silent in the chair, still unnoticed by the young girl, and at this point forgotten by her best friend. A soft smile worked its way onto the vampiress' face at the sight before her. Things would be okay. It would be work, and most likely a struggle to help Hannah heal totally, but looking at the young girl crying in her godmother's arms, Ruby knew with absolute certainty that as long as Scary was around Hannah would be just fine.

(Time Skip)

Greg and Lisa sat alone, huddled together in their living room. They were terrified. The witch that had come the night before hadn't been kidding. They had thought it was a dream, some delusion they had dreamt up in their inebriated states, only when they went to leave in the morning, the couple found they could not open the doors. Or the windows. The phones were dead too. Even their cell phones didn't work.

Terror had rapidly leapt into their hearts, fear catching their voices in their throats. The witch had been real. The unholy terror she had threatened them with was not empty voices of a delusional lunatic, but the heartfelt cries of a real witch.

The couple had held onto hope for very little time, as before an hour had passed both Lisa and Greg cried out in pain as the first of the many injuries they had bestowed upon Hannah bludgeoned their own bodies. They had started beating the girl within weeks of taking her home, a decision they had made solely with the hope of furthering Greg's political career. After all, having a child made him seem the family man. The good sort of fellow, who adopted a child in need, took in someone who needed and provided for them.

It hid the sickening individual that Greg truly was. It hid the cruelty that actually shone in his eyes behind a perceived kindness. It was like how they allowed Lisa's stepsister's son to call himself Hannah's cousin. The pair weren't actually related, and Lisa and Greg couldn't care less about little Johnny…Or had it been Jeremy? Jerome? Jack? Jim? Jimmy maybe… they couldn't be bothered to remember.

They regretted the decision to adopt the girl with more fervor now than they ever had before as bruises and welts began to form painfully on their body with a force they had not thought possible. Groans, moans and shrieks of pain came from the two as the hours passed. By sundown the first day both already had a few broken bones and more bruises than they cared to think about.

Dread sunk in along with fear as they watched the hours tick slowly by and the sun began to sink below the trees. It was foreboding to realize that they would continue to suffer for the next 7 days. Both cursed Hannah-Marie's very name as yet another bruise formed painfully on their ribs. They were immobilized by their pain now.

Each night they would be visited by one of her 'friends' the witch had said. As night rapidly approached they couldn't help the sinking feeling that rose in the pits of their stomachs. It was as though fate was tempting them, teasing them with the notion that something else was coming. So new unholy terror come to haunt them all because of that stupid little freak they'd adopted.

Night came too quickly for either of their liking, and all at once they were plunged into darkness; they'd discovered in the morning that they no longer had electricity, much to their chagrin. Sitting in fuming, terrified silence the couple began to slowly let their guards down as the minutes ticked by with no further appearances.

Greg, on instinct, reached behind him to pull the chord for the lamp. When he tugged on it, or at least what he thought it was, a voice spoke eerily, "Click. Click. Click." Yelping allowed, Greg scrambled off the chair, arms flailing as he cried out, the movement having agitated his injuries.

Suddenly there was light cast about the room, Greg and Lisa, who had jumped and stumbled on top of Greg at his sudden cry, both turned to look in the direction of the light only to nearly jump out of their skin in fright.

Holding a flaming torch, a blue flaming torch was a giant beast that they'd never seen the likes of before. Alabaster fangs barred, a vicious snarl tore up the beast's throat, ripping through the silence of the house and reverberating through the faint hearts of the humans in the room. Cloud grey fur was sticking up, hackles raised, and snout twitching as more growls leapt unbound from the monster towering over them. Scarlet irises revealed slit onyx pupils.

Lisa nearly passed out at the sight, and Greg's bowels took the opportunity to relieve themselves; before the monster, for Greg and Lisa could think of no better word, could do anything else, the thing that Greg had initially grabbed appeared beside it.

Six foot something tall, and looking distinctly pissed off, Lisa found herself looking into the inky black eye cavities of an animated skeleton. She, like Greg, promptly lost control of her bladder as terror consumed her.

"W-What the f-fu-fuck?!" Greg spluttered looking at the two beings before him. He had tried closing his eyes tightly already. They weren't disappearing. This had to be a nightmare. There was no way there could really be a living skeleton and some other sort of beast in his living room—with a flaming torch no less!

Suddenly the skeleton's facial expression morphed from pissed to almost cynically gleeful, as it whispered, "Boo." Lisa shrieked, but suddenly the beast snapped, "Shut up you scoundrel!" Both humans went white as a sheet, eyes wide in terror.

The beast before them talked. There was a talking monster and skeleton in their living room. A pissed talking skeleton and beast. They both realized with mounting dread that they were well and thoroughly screwed.

The skeleton hissed then, "So, you both think it just hits the humorous to beat the bones of a little girl." There was no question in his voice, rather a cold hatred that sent a chill through the pair.

Greg didn't get it and, in a sudden fit of rage spit, "Why the fuck do you even care?! It's just one stupid, little freak!" he shouted, unable to understand who these creatures were and why they seemed to care so much about the little bitch. Lisa looked at Greg in horror. He was nuts, yelling at these being here to torment them for hurting the little twerp and he was going to yell at them?

The pair looked at Greg and the beast suddenly gave a feral grin. "She's my cub, you fiend!" it shouted. Lumbering over to Greg the beast lifted Greg by his shirt collar into the air, his toes dangling nearly a foot off the ground. Greg coughed as the beast's fist cut into his throat.

Scarlet eyes bore into his and the beast ground out, "You've already signed your death warrant you brute! We're simply here to get our own vengeance out!" Suddenly Greg was slammed against the wall, his head cracking against it and lolling forward from the force.

He was now at eye level with the beast, and as it leaned in Greg shivered. He felt as though he was staring down death as the wolf growled out, "Are you ready to pay, freak?" the word was spit back at him, a bitter mockery of Greg's own earlier words.

Watching Greg be bashed against the wall caused Lisa to jump, but not so much as when she felt a boney hand wrap itself around her arm causing her to shriek and flail even knowing it was futile. With distinct satisfaction in its voice, the skeleton hissed, "I'll throw you a bone, you vile wretch. You can watch first."

Lisa felt dread consume her as the beast continued to roughly handle her husband, bashing him repeatedly against the wall, before finally raising the flaming blue torch they had brought with them.

Eyes widening, Lisa listened to the beast's words. "This is a special kind of fire!" the beast exclaimed, waving the cobalt blue flame in front of Greg. "It only hurts those who are evil in spirit." The beast sneered, seeming almost sickeningly satisfied as he continued.

"Let's see if you're evil, you heathen!" the wolf growled.

To Lisa and Greg's horror, the wolf lowered the flame to the crotch of Greg's pants and they immediately caught fire. Greg fast began to scream, horrid, painful, tortured screams as the blue flame lapped up his clothing and scorched him. Only it didn't. Greg was clearly in the flame, but he was also still very much alive. The strange blue fire burning him as though it were regular flame, but not destroying his body like regular flame would.

Watching this is silent horror, too terrified to utter a sound; Lisa turned a sickly mint green colour before retching. The skeleton all but threw her on the ground when she began to retch. It walked over to where the beast was and took the torch from it and approached Lisa, who began to scramble backwards in terror, ignoring the screaming protest from her already existing injuries.

When her back touched the wall, Lisa felt icy cold terror in her heart, as the skeleton approached and said flatly, "Do you think you're evil?" Lisa whimpered, and the skeleton leaned down and repeated the question.

"Do. You. Think. You. Are. Evil?" it all but hissed at her. Lisa rapidly shook her head.

Screeching wildly she said, "No! I never hurt the girl! I swear I never did anything wrong! Why are you doing this to me?!"

The skeleton sneered, "If you did nothing, than you have nothing to fear." And with that he brought the torch to the hem of her pants.

Lisa screamed.

AN:/ FINALLY Lisa and Greg got some of what's coming to them. Hopefully that satisfied at least some of you. I'm trying to keep a fine line going here, because let's face it, monsters are going to react violently to someone they care about being abused (even non-monsters do) but I also don't think they would do anything insane like say cut them open or anything. Hence, fine line. What did you all think of the fire? Good idea? Bad idea? What the fuck is the author on idea? Anyways, as always reviews, favs, follows, etc are all much appreciated :)

Next Time: Hannah's got a lot of healing to do, but will she allow herself to be helped? What about Orson? Will Ruby and Max be making the next trip to Greg and Lisa's or will Bug-a-Boo be up at bat? Hannah's been gone a full day now, at what point will the school system, or Katie, decide to investigate? And who will investigate first? All this and more in the hopefully not-too-distant-future

If I don't update again before then (entirely possible) everyone have a safe, happy Halloween!

~GGUC