Chapter Four: Children Should Not Play in Graveyards

Lily watched the long-haired man lounge in the armchair as she played with her new kitty. The cat purred and flopped about playfully in her arms.

"How do you know Shilo?" she asked.

His head didn't move, but his eyes roamed ever-so-slowly to fix on her. "Sorry?"

"How did you meet?"

His painted lips twisted into a grim smile. "We met in the cemetery. She was chasing bugs and I was…working."

"Robbing graves, you mean."

He bowed his head debonairly, unashamed. "It's my job–to steal and rob."

"What did you think of her?" Lily pressed. "Did you think she was pretty?"

"Why?"

"Because you look at her like you think she is."

Before he could respond, an enormous German Shepherd, one of the dogs he'd seen around the house, came bounding down the stairs and flew into his lap. He cursed as the dog began happily licking at his face.

Lily giggled. "Down, Ginger!" she commanded.

Ginger ignored her mistress and continued slobbering all over the new guest.

"How do I get this thing off me, kid?" Graverobber yelped.

"Just pet her. She'll calm down."

Almost cautiously, Graverobber reached out and began stroking the dog behind her ears. Ginger panted ecstatically, leaning her head into the touch.

"She likes it when you do that," Lily explained.

The moment Graverobber stopped, Ginger began whining pitifully.

"How do I get her to stop?" he moaned.

"Keep petting."

…

The walk home from the store had been uneventful for Shilo, but she continued to glance over her shoulder until she was through the front door, her pulse still racing.

The sight that met her eyes when she entered the house was so strange she wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Graverobber sat in her father's armchair, Ginger's enormous, furry body sprawled over his lap. Lily, clutching her new cat, sat with Ollie and Hannah beside his feet, while Pumpkin and Peaches, the two beagles, hopped about his boots excitedly.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for an animal lover," she said, the hilarity of the sight erasing any nervousness she walked in with.

Graverobber leered up at her. "I'm a man of mysteries," he replied.

"Where are the rest of the kids?" Shilo asked Hannah.

"They're upstairs. They were playing hide-and-seek or something," Hannah answered.

Shilo set the grocery bags down and hurried upstairs to make sure the children, left to their own devices, had not managed to break anything or kill one another.

In the bedroom area, Molly and Damian jumped up and down on the four-poster, squealing hysterically, while Azura lay on one of the mattresses with one of Nathan's old medical books, occasionally looking up to shush them. Theo, absolutely tired out, lay on his back beside Azura, with Fattycakes, the obese Abyssinian, resting on his chest.

Shilo sighed in relief. The kids were safe, the animals were okay, Graverobber hadn't gotten tired of them and drugged them unconscious.

Oh, and that bitch Amber hadn't ordered a massive attack on the house. That was good too.

…

That night, Shilo tucked the kids into bed and found, to her surprise, that they were too tired to require a bedtime story. She bid them all a loving goodnight and went to her own room.

Graverobber lay on his side of the bed, wearing the black pajama pants Shilo had supplied him with. His face was hidden behind a copy of The Evening Slice.

Shilo glanced at the cover, and her eyes froze there. Beneath Amber's pouting face (not surprising, considering she was the face behind surgery now), printed in thick red block letters, were words that made Shilo's blood run cold.

Manhunt: Amber Sweet searches for the most famous graverobber on the island, as well as whomever he may be involved with.

Shilo didn't know what scared her more–the mention of a 'manhunt', or the 'whomever he may be involved with'.

She was whomever he may be involved with. And Amber surely knew that.

With a shaking hand, she reached for the magazine lying open across her new guest's face. The moment her fingertips made contact with the glossy cover, Graverobber awoke, his hands clamping around her wrists. He pinned her onto her back so fast she couldn't track his movement. The magazine bounced off the bed and slid quietly across the floor.

"I…"

"Ssh," he murmured throatily. His head ducked down, his movements much slower now, and he pressed his face to her throat, not kissing her, just feeling her skin against his. Shilo closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the foreign, pleasant sensation.

Graverobber smirked against her skin, parting his lips to press the tip of his tongue against her skin. He tasted her salty sweat and the sweetness of her perfume, and a rush of blood went to his lower abdomen. Shilo's body shuddered beneath his as he opened his mouth wider and ran his tongue down her neck, her pulse quick and strong against his mouth.

Here, he paused and slid his hands beneath the hem of her little white nightdress, pushing the fabric up higher. His fingers hooked beneath the waistband of her gray panties and he pulled them down, easing them over her slightly trembling legs. The whole while she looked down at him apprehensively, watching his movements with curiosity.

Graverobber bit his lip to keep from grinning, his mouth hovering, inches from the treasure trove between her thighs. Shilo arched her back upwards ever-so-slightly, urging him to continue his lusty ministrations.

Almost cautiously, his tongue flicked against her clit. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, a small moan on her lips. He gave a low chuckle and leaned forward to lap at her again.

…

Every nerve in Shilo's body felt tensed and ready to spring, and she was loving it.

She had her eyes clamped shut so she would not have to look around at the bedroom that used to be her father's, a place where he'd sometimes let her sleep if she had nightmares, or read her bedtime stories.

Well, I guess Daddy's Little Girl really is a fucking monster.

Graverobber's mouth felt like nothing she'd ever felt before, fire and ice and euphoria and fear. She trembled as he found all the right places, everywhere that made her tick.

"Oh, God…" she hissed, gyrating her hips to the movement of his lips and tongue.

Graverobber groaned softly, his tongue probing deeper inside her. She winced briefly in pain as it brushed against her barrier, and he was careful to avoid it as he explored her inner walls.

Still innocent…just a little.

…

Graverobber's pants felt uncomfortably tight, a feeling he missed. Scalpel sluts were good for a dirty quickie on top of a dumpster or in an alley, but nothing they did excited him. They were strung out and unwashed and desperate, three things that made it supremely hard to get him in the mood.

It had been forever since he'd gotten it up without much effort on his part. She was clean, untainted. She didn't look malnourished and leached of all color like she had before, a doll left forever on a shelf. She was something more solid now, a beauty that did not seem somehow unhealthy. Her skin was a more earthly pale now, smooth and soft. Her body had a strength to it she hadn't possessed two years ago. Her real hair fanned out on the blankets, curling very gently at the ends.

Shilo's hips were jerking now, her breathing speeding up. He grabbed her hips and pulled them down lower, towards his mouth. She was close. She was so close.

…

Shilo literally had to cover her mouth with her hands to keep from crying out too loudly. Her body was hit by a flash-flood of white hot pleasure, every inch of her sizzling and bright. Her body stiffened and then collapsed, buckling in on itself. She turned to the side and curled up in a fetal position, cradling herself as she basked in the heat slowly draining from her body.

A moment later, she realized that she was crying. Not loud sobs, just silent tears skidding down her cheeks.

She put a hand to her face, staring, puzzled, at her tear-dampened fingers.

Am I sad?

Graverobber pulled himself up so he was lying beside her. He watched her from the corner of his eye as he licked his lips, capturing the remains of her taste. He did not make a move to console her.

For some reason, Shilo was glad. Graverobber was not a "here, let me hold you" kind of guy.

And I'm not sad.

The realization struck her.

I'm happy. I'm so happy.

…

A/N: Okay, so it gets a little racy at the end, which struck me as odd as I read, because it started out so innocently. Maybe I'm bipolar. Is that even the right word for it? Anyways, sorry for the late-ish update. I hope you all enjoyed. There will be more romance (probably not too fluffy, though), more adventure, more mystery, and more sex.

Oh, who'm I kidding? Of course there will be sex!

R&R, please. Reviews are like my fuel. I am a car that runs on reviews.