Once the door of the pub is shut and locked the barmaids have drifted wearily home. Dad and Bell prop up the bar discussing the vicar. I can see the vicar's comment has struck a nerve with Bell and planted the seed of suspicion deeply in her mind, the ramblings of a drunk is water off a duck's back to Bell but his comment about mum has riled her and unleashed the need for answers.

"Did mum know him ?" I pipe up trying to find some kind of link to his comment.

"Well she would have known of him, we moved back here after she finished school, this is a small town and everyone knows everyone but that would have been all".

I shuffle the beer mat between my fingers "we need to talk to him again". I then take myself off to bed, leaving Bell venting to Dad while he pours himself another drink seeking some kind of answers at the bottom of the beer glass. As I lay on top of my covers, too exhausted to even pull them over myself yet my brain too wired to shut down to let sleep creep in. I lay there like this for what feels like hours until I hear hushed bickering in the garden. I tiptoe over to the window and gently slide the curtain up at the side, so I'm not noticed snooping, Bell is sat on the bench in the courtyard with the feral boys scattered around her whilst Alto is stood head down.

I hear Bell hissing "that it's not right" to a choir of huffs and snarls, then something smashes across the courtyard, which is out of my view, I slowly step back tiptoeing to the bed. Then there is nothing but silence, not a sound as if they had all just faded into the background, my skin tingles and the hairs on my arms raise with the goosebumps waiting with nervous anticipation, waiting for something to break the silence. Curiosity gets the better of me, I creep again to the window and slip the curtain up at the side. Bell has gone, the feral boys with her, but there is Alto - still there. He's just staring up at my window. He slides his hood down to show himself, a gesture to acknowledge he sees me, I gently pull the curtain back and slide the net over my head. I raise my hand to wave at him, he awkwardly just lifts his hand up and there in the darkness silhouetted by the moonlight I get the first twinge of something I'd never felt before, a foreign feeling that made my palms sweat and my heart race. I felt as if I was seeing him truly, as if a veil of darkness had been lifted from my vision and behind it was Alto. With this intense feeling of being drawn to him like an invisible pull that was dragging me closer regardless of common sense.

I swiftly lower the curtain to creep out of my bedroom down to the courtyard, I gently open my bedroom door and walk through the darkness of the lounge until I'm suddenly startled by the side lamp being turned on and Bell there sat on the couch waiting in the darkness. "Where are you going ?" she whispers, so as not to wake up Dad. My eyes, watering now trying to adapt to the flash of light that's illuminated the room resulting in coloured spots dancing around the room as I try to focus on her and come up with a good enough justification for being up. Lying to her is pointless as she will smell it a mile off but the truth feels too embarrassing to utter out loud.

She taps the seat beside her for me to sit down, I nervously perch awkwardly fiddling with the button on my pj's. "He's not for you Jane" I feel my face flush crimson with Bell breaking the ice in which is her typical bull in a china shop style. "He may look like a boy but he's not, he's one of deaths' many associates, his existence is the darkness, while yours as a human is life, you are the light he is the dark, the two cannot co-exist without destroying the other, do you understand what I'm saying ?" I nod to show I'm listening hoping this will be over. "I cannot lose you Jane" the desperation in those words make me realise this isn't solely about me, this is a person who has lost so much too many times, her hardened heart cannot withstand any more.

"Bell you are reading too much into this, don't upset yourself" I plead hoping this can be done. "He is simply watching over me as you asked".

"Jane, he did something he's never done in the hundreds of years I've known him, he disobeyed me twice for you. This may seem of little interest to you but for him, this is on a far deeper level. The boys came to me because I was absorbed in the scent of death they were drawn in and never left but it's not like that with him for you. I have spoken to him and told him the same as I'm saying to you".

"How is it then for me, why is he drawn to me?" I nervously ask half hoping for the answer I want to hear half-scared if I hear it I can't then un-know it.

"I asked the boys to watch over you but he's has gone above and beyond for you, he watches over you every night from the courtyard, who do you think told me when you were in the church or when you went back to see the vicar, he is all consumed by you and his fascination with you has grown. At first, I assumed he was just intrigued but his intentions, his feelings have become clearer and they are clouding his judgement. But death has no place with love. He does not have the ability to love like you and I do not forget what he is, what he's done or what he is capable of doing".

Aching feeling sweeps over me, with every horrific moment that has occurred since I've arrived he has always been there or in the shadows watching. His presence constantly pissed me off, a constant invasion into my life but really he was there trying to protect me in the only way he knew. The harsh reality that he is a creature of darkness is not lost on me but the nagging in my mind keeps saying for every moment I felt desperately alone he was there silently in the shadows watching over me and this brings me a little comfort.

"Jane, I can't ask him or the boys to leave they are now tied to me but I can ask you to please keep your distance from him".

I shuffle in my seat uncomfortable to what I'm agreeing to but knowing I'm not going to be left with many other options. So begrudgingly I nod:; "I will not contact him first, I will not go out of my way to encourage him, but Bell I can't ignore him if he speaks to me first I will speak back, the people who have given a shit about me I can count on one hand, I won't punish him away for caring".

With that said and done I go to bed drained and very aware that Bell will be keeping an even closer eye on me than usual. As I close the door I walk over to the window but don't dare open the curtains because I know he will be standing out there, I can feel him waiting and watching. The monster outside my window.