"I believe it is high time that something is done."

Muse rustled her feet against the carpet in the library. She hadn't been in this room before, as she never had cause to. Books weren't ever really her deal. She wasn't illiterate but didn't get the overwhelming urge to plow through a stack of books. She had no idea why she was here. She didn't work for Isaac. Okay, he bossed her around, but it's not like she was an employee. Turning her attention up from the patterned rug, she looked around the table. Isaac had called this 'meeting,' and sitting around the table was the entire household, sans Aaron. That didn't shock her. Aaron ‘didn’t play well with others,’ said Eric, and always refused to be in the same room with any of them except Muse. Victor sat to her right, Eric across from her next to Mal. Ezekiel was hunkered down in a corner, muttering to his jar.

"It is time that the Crusaders were dealt with."

That caught the room's attention. Victor looked down from examining the ceiling. "Whoa, wait - what?"

"We are going to remove them, as it seems they are set on removing us." Isaac was standing behind the chair at the head of the table, hands resting idly upon the backrest, watching them with the same detached expression. If he had any real passionate feelings on the subject, they certainly didn't show.

"But, Boss, we can't..." Mal grunted and shifted in the chair, which creaked and squealed in protest of the man's weight. "Raphael. The little twerp just keeps bringing 'em back. No matter what we do to them, she just zaps them right back to life."

"So we remove Raphael."

"But she can't die..."

"I was not planning on killing her. We are going to remove her."

Muse watched as a strange smile crossed Isaac's face. The way he had said 'remove her' made her stomach drop.

"How?" Eric asked, looking up from his tablet. Muse half suspected he was playing Tetris.

"We will remove her,” was all Isaac apparently had to say on the subject. "But I am in need of something to do so. I need an old possession of mine that I, unfortunately... misplaced, I suppose you would say. A while back I entrusted it to an acquaintance, as I was unsure as to how much longer I would grace this world."

Muse tried not to laugh at the idea of him 'gracing' anything.

"I have attempted to retrieve the item that I need but... negotiations have dissolved. I am aware that it is held in a burying ground just outside of Boston. Unfortunately, I do not know precisely which grave."

"No way. We're digging up the whole graveyard?!" Victor spoke up before she had a chance. "Man, I hate digging! I get... all... up with the dirt in the fingernails..."

"Oh boohoo, pretty boy," Mal snorted.

"Regardless-" Isaac interrupted before the room cascaded into further argument. "We will be leaving on Friday."

"I have a date on Friday..." Victor moped.

"Then you have a few days to reschedule it, don't you?" the sorcerer replied dryly. He turned and headed for the door. Apparently, the conversation was over. "Friday, sundown." The door clicked shut behind him.

"Remove? Remove how?" Muse asked the room quietly. It sounded so damn... foreboding.

"Your guess is as good as ours, Blue. Maybe he's, I dunno... gonna turn her inta' a frog 'r somethin'," Mal replied.

"I like frogs!" Ezekiel offered from his spot by the wall, giggling loudly. "I call dibsies on the frog!"

"Oh Christ," Eric groaned.

"Fan-freakin'-tastic." Victor stood up with a sigh. "Ten bucks says Zeek eats the frog."

"Crunchy frog! People won't expect there to be a frog in there. They're bound to think it's some form of mock frog. Mock frog? We use-"

The occupants of the room groaned.

Aaron's existence seemed to always include the ever-flickering glow of the TV set. He knew it wasn't healthy, but he had nothing else. TV and books. Here he sat in his brother's basement, hiding away from demons that may or may not be real - monsters outside and inside his head had haunted him since he was little. It seemed he was doomed to suffer no matter where he went, but at least this time Isaac seemed content to just leave him alone in his dark musty little hole and let him do... functionally nothing.

Perpetually asking 'why' never seemed to work in the past, he was pretty sure it would do no good to ask now. He wondered if his life even still had meaning at this point. So he sat. He sat, he watched TV - and he dreamt. There were worlds and places inside of his head that he could retreat into. Fantasy lives, fantasy worlds. Worlds where he was a hero or a villain. He had sometimes toyed with the idea of writing them down, but he laughed that off as quickly as he came up with it. The thought of someone reading his stories made him vaguely nauseous, and he was positive nobody would want to, anyway.

So.

Here he was.

Watching ‘Chopped.’

The damn show was always on.

The trampling sound of footsteps down the basement stairs snapped him out of his reverie - he looked up to see Muse walking towards him, a smile on her face. He let out a small breath. There was one other thing in his world, one other dream he dared to hold on to. He let himself foolishly harbor some small flickering hope. That hope had turned into what his brother would call 'attachment.' Aaron was not sure what it was.

"Hey big man, whatcha' doing?" she piped cheerfully, blowing her blue bangs out of her eyes. He thought that was adorable.

"Nothing." It was true.

"Cool, hey - I'm bored out of my mind. Let's go see a movie or something."

"What?" Movies?! She had to be kidding.

"Yeah, y'know... moving pictures. Big shiny things on a screen with people. They talk now, y’know, a great advancement in technology. And I’ve heard they have them in color. Can you imagine? Devil’s work!”

"Ahah, very funny." Aaron ran a hand through his curly hair, scratching the back of his head and letting the hair fall back over his face, hiding the side marred with sharp, knife-edged scars and his one useless eye. "I don't know. I don't go out."

The shine left her eyes as it clearly dawned on her what he was saying. He cursed himself internally. He was always dragging everyone down around him. Taking the joy from her was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

"C'mon, Aar." She had given him a nickname. He hadn't had a nickname in ages. "No one will care. Besides, if they do? They can go sit and spin on it. You have every right to go out as much as anyone else."

She didn't know, and he wasn't about to educate her. After the incident in the hospital with his near outbreak, he was shocked Muse would even go near him. Of course, the spunky little blue-haired goth girl seemed to fear very little. The way she spoke to Isaac made him proud of her. The way she carried herself made him want her. He shoved those thoughts down deep into the back of his mind, buried them underneath a pile of other thoughts that would lead nowhere.

He had apparently gotten lost and was simply staring at her silently, judging by the look on her face. The smile returned to her face as she resumed trying to convince him. "C'mon. Movie. Popcorn. It'll be awesome."

Aaron took a deep breath. If he never took a chance, he would never get anywhere. Anyway, some stupid show about cupcakes was on now, and it made him want to end humanity. He flicked off the tube and stood up, brushing off of his pants. "Um, let me change..." he said quietly. He could at least put on a sweater to hide the scars that ran down his arm. Short of wearing a ski mask and glasses, there was little he could do to change his face, but he could at least minimize the social damage.

"Sweet! I'll wait for you upstairs," she suddenly hugged his arm.

He froze.

Aaron looked down at her. She was a little spark of electricity in this house. He, for the millionth time, wanted to know why she was here, what purpose Isaac had in having her here. But if he couldn't tell her the truth about him, he wasn't about to demand it from her. He watched as she turned and ran up the stairs, saying something else that he was too distracted to catch. God, she was gorgeous.

He shook his head and growled, pushing the persistent thought away. Walking to a basket of clothing, he started to rifle through it. At least the theatre would be dark. They could sit somewhere in the dark, and no one could see him. No one could see either of them. Maybe he -

He pushed the thought down the third time. Pulling the sweater over his head, he combed his hands hurriedly through his hair and made his way up the stairs. Standing in the foyer was Muse, ever in the same outfit. He took a second to ponder her lack of wardrobe but shrugged it off. She was chattering away with Victor, who was standing close to her. Too close, in his opinion.

"So what're you going to see?" Victor asked.

"There's a new horror movie out. I don't know, some weird adaption of some silly Japanese flick."

"Oh! I know the one!" piped the blond.

Aaron saw trouble the moment before it landed.

"Can I come?"

Aaron began to silently swear in his head.

"Sure."

The curses became decidedly colorful. He clenched his fists at his sides and heard the quiet rattling of a picture frame to his left. Taking a deep breath, he forced his hands to relax and forced himself to breathe. Destroying the house would do him no good, and if he wasn't careful, it'd get out of hand. He had so little control over it, to begin with.

"Badass. We'll take my car. Lead on, girlie."

Muse headed out the door, leaving the two men in the foyer. The blond turned to him and flashed a grin - it wasn’t a friendly one in Aaron’s opinion, it almost seemed like a challenge.

"Game on, man. Race to the finish!" The vampire made some strange click noise with his tongue and pointed at him with both hands. He stood there for a long moment as Victor headed out the door, his mind trying to grasp what just happened.

When he settled on the meaning of the sentence, he very nearly stepped out the door and crushed the little vampire.

The night at the movies had gone well. Muse rubbed the back of her neck, exhausted. She forgot how tired it made her to spend an entire evening walking around in physical form. Keeping Aaron believing that she was alive was a challenge. She thought she did well, though - she even pretended to go use the ladies room. In reality, it was just to get rid of the popcorn that she had 'eaten.' The kernels had become lodged somewhere in her and it had become really uncomfortable.

Victor had gone off for the night, as apparently his evening only began around 11:30 pm, leaving Aaron and Muse standing in the foyer. Aaron was fixedly staring down at his shoes. "Did you have fun?" she asked.

"Yeah."

She didn't believe him. She nudged him in the shoulder and smiled brightly at him. "Next time, you pick the movie."

"It wasn't that."

"Aah, Aaron, there you are." They both turned to look towards the living room as Isaac stepped into the foyer. "I was hoping to find you," he finished.

If a look could have dropped him dead, Aaron probably would have ended Isaac a long time ago. Muse chewed on her lower lip, wondering exactly what it was between the two that had inspired Aaron to hate him so. She had a feeling she was happier not knowing.

"What?" Aaron clipped.

"Tomorrow we are leaving to fetch a relic out in Boston. I was hoping you would accompany us. We will most certainly be ambushed, and I would appreciate the extra help."

"No."

The two stood, locked in a silent war. She found herself being very happy that she was not in between the men. She probably would have imploded.

"I hope you reconsider."

"I won't."

Another long pause. Isaac simply took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, replacing his glasses slowly as a thought seemed to occur to him. He turned his attention up to Muse. She suddenly had the distinct and unwelcome sensation that she was about to find herself involved in this. She began shaking her head no, hoping Isaac would relent. No dice.

"Perhaps you could come at least to keep an eye on Muse. She is still adjusting to live combat and will need someone to watch her back. At the very least, come along to keep her out of harm's way."

Aaron shuddered in rage. The veins in his neck popped out as he clenched his fists. Muse took a step back, remembering what happened last time he had lost it. She didn't want to end up like the hospital bed, crunched into an accordion. She wasn't sure how Aaron did what he did, but a 'first hand' experience was not on her to-do list. Alright, she wouldn't feel it - but it still had to suck.

"I do very much hope you'll reconsider." Isaac was unmoved by his brother's rage. He turned and walked up the stairs, slipping past her. Isaac had a habit of being done with the conversation before everyone else.

Aaron only turned and stormed away, disappearing down the hallway. She flinched as she heard the basement door slam shut. She let out a long breath, the room had become considerably less tense.

"What the hell just happened?" she said to no one. Somehow, she almost expected an answer.

This had to be a sick joke. How many graveyards would she have to visit in her ‘life?’

'Disgruntled' would have been a way to describe her mood. Being surrounded by obelisks and stones was getting to be very, very annoying. This place was at least unique. The graveyard was gigantic and spanned a few centuries, filled with all sorts of styles of stones and art that was new to her. She even thought she might have seen a kid’s statue in a glass tube. Freaking weird. There was even a large tower that she could see just barely through the trees. And a pond. What kind of graveyard had a pond? Silly Victorians...

She looked up at the statue to her left. A large stone angel stood atop a matching pedestal. The tips of the angel's outreached fingers were snapped off, looking like some grotesque torture had been unleashed on her. The wings, once rich with detail, had been smoothed by time. She had always found statues unnerving. They always seemed to look at you with the desperate need to say something. Yet whatever information they wanted to convey could never be told. The face of this angel was weathered, grown green with moss. The eyes were smooth, no pupils carved into their surface. The odd greenish-white of the stone was all at once looking at everything and nothing, and yet it felt distinctly like it was looking at her.

She really hated statues.

Shoving her hands into her pockets, Muse stared down at the ground. She was standing here... alone. Okay, alone with Isaac. Which might be worse. It was like being sent to the principal's office. She felt like she was in trouble without knowing what the hell she did.

The others had scattered - even Aaron, who had decided to come along. That was a surprise she wasn't happy about. It had shocked her to find him in the hearse. It made the evening difficult already, having to pretend she was alive. Eric had almost slipped up and given her away, but had caught himself at the last second. The whole situation was going to give herself an ulcer. Well, it would have if she had a stomach.

Isaac had insisted that Muse stay glued to his side. He had sent everyone away. Aaron had seemed more than a little upset by having to leave her, as he insisted 'that was the whole point of him coming, anyway,' but Isaac had left no room for argument.

"I have a question for you, Muse."

"Hm?"

"You can pass through objects. Can you push yourself through dirt?"

Muse stopped to think about it. "I guess so? I've never really tried."

"Would you be ever so kind? It would save us so very much time and digging."

"Uhm." She wasn't sure what to say. He seemed to actually be asking her. Not ordering, but asking. Enjoy the gesture. “What’m I looking for?”

“You’ll know.”

She hated when he did that. But she sighed. “Sure, I’ll try.”

"Thank you."

Aaron trudged through the grass next to Mal. He had partnered up with the bigger man, mostly because he didn't find the constant urge to smash his face in as he did the vampire and Eric. Truth be told, he liked the mountain of muscle. An unsettling thought was pressing him, finally inspiring him to speak. He needed to know, even if he hated the answer.

"Mal?"

"Yah?"

"Why does Isaac keep her with him? If it's a setup, she could get hurt… she should have stayed with us, or in the car," Aaron said quietly, growling low in his throat as he finished his thought. "He won't protect her."

Mal snorted in response. "She doesn't need protectin'. She'll be fine."

"Are you so sure? What is it that she can do? Why is it he takes her with him almost constantly?" Aaron narrowed his eyes as his blood began to boil. "Are they...?"

Mal guffawed out one loud laugh. "Those two? Pah! Hardly!"

"You're all hiding something. No one will tell me. I'm not stupid."

"Nobody here's accusing you of being stupid, Aaron. We all know better than that. But you gotta understand. It's not easy to explain, an' it's not for us to explain. Not our right to tell ya. I know it sucks, man, but believe me when I tell you it's a little complicated."

Aaron was nearly knocked onto his face as Mal gave him what he guessed was supposed to be a comforting pat on the back.