He was dangerous. That was one fact she'd had clear from the start. And she had known how hard he fought to stay on the side of light, not to slip over the edge and plummet into the darkness. She knows that there had always be the finest of lines between him and the edge. It wouldn't take much to push him over. And she knew when he fell she would too. But she knew she could trust him, with her life, well her death.

Then the darkness came. It crept in from the sides slowly. George and Mitchell were always gone now. They were out at work all day and other places at night. The house was empty and as the house emptied Annie felt like it was empting her as well. She was losing her safe place, losing the two people she trusted above all. And she was fading. She lost the determination that made her want to keep going and see all the world had to offer. Now she was giving up fighting, there was no-one left for her to fight for.

She'd nearly lost him once and that was impossible for her to forget. She could still see him lying on the floor chocking on blood as she stood there helpless. She'd turned down her door, run from it to stay with Mitchell. She wasn't going to lose him.

The day she walked into the kitchen she knew it really was all over. The way Mitchell looked at her with his eyes black as pitch, he'd spoken to her like he had never done before. And it was in that moment something had happened. Something terrible had happened. And she knew he was lost. Then he flickered back long enough to tell George to take her and run far away. As she looked up at him from the car she could see the despair in him. The way he recognised what he had done. She wasn't sure she was going to come back from the facility if she choose to she would cross over.

She didn't want to leave him like this. But there was no other choice, she might not get another chance. She felt awful, but her Mitchell was gone, the one she cared about, the one she laughed with, the one she trusted. What was left wasn't him. It could be. Mitchell would never scare her. He just wouldn't so who ever had been in her house, in her kitchen wasn't her friend. She thought she had seen every side of him, the protective one that held her after Tully scared her, the scared one when he'd been staked, she'd seen him act as brother and best friend to George. And then something changed him. Changed her Mitchell so that he wasn't the same, so he was wrong.

And as she stood in the quiet facility away from them all, the only person she wanted by her side was Mitchell. The proper one. The one who would hold her and make all the fears go away. Hennessey was nice enough to talk to. She'd only been able to talk to three people for so long that it was great to have him around. But she wanted Mitchell to be here. It felt wrong leaving without saying goodbye. But would she get a second chance?

Her last thought as she was pulled through the door was of him. She wasn't going to see him again. She tried to hold on to the ground, but it was like holding on to nothing. She lost her grip and went tumbling into the darkness. All the time thinking of that the last thing she had said to her best friend was that she was leaving. And that there was now no way she could ever take it back. She had been right she wasn't returning to that little pink house. She wasn't returning to him.

His fangs were extended, all of this was about to be over one quick movement and her sweet blood would trickle down his throat and it would be over. And then something happened. It felt like what he had always imagined a stake to the heart would feel like. He felt like the centre of his world had just shattered. No, not shattered, it had just vanished sucked out of him without any warning. He jerked across the room hand clutching his chest trying to hold his heart together as it crumbed. Lucy was speaking to him trying to move closer to him, but the vampire couldn't hear her. He could only hear one thing, a scream. And he knew who it was screaming. Knew who was making the noise only the most desperate of people could make. Annie.

He ran through the building instinctively knowing she was gone but being unable to believe it. It couldn't have happened she was a constant. Unchangeable she was always there. She couldn't have disappeared. So he ran hoping to find some trace of her. Because she couldn't have left. Not with the farewell they'd had. Christ he'd scared her. Done what he was meant to protect her from. When she had driven away with George, he had known that he'd scared her. But he had thought that there would be time once all of this is was over, when Lucy and Kemp were dead, and they were at home watching the Real Hustle or drinking tea. He could apologise. She wasn't supposed to leave. She couldn't leave him like this knowing that the last thing he had done to her had hurt her. Annie had so much spirit how could she be gone? She wasn't some flickering candle that could just be blown out by the wind, she was practically a Forest fire when it came to determination. Something had happened someone had made this happen.

What he found instead of Annie was Kemp. Kemp who had killed his Annie. So he did what any vampire would do and pinned him against the wall, his blackening with rage and fangs extending ready to get revenge for her. When George stops him appealing to the one thing Mitchell still holds sacred. Annie. He can't do this in her name. Her life and death were pure, untainted. She never hurt anyone, she never killed anyone. Mitchell couldn't' blacken her name with this. As George helped him get out of that wretched place, Mitchell didn't look back. When George loaded what essentials they'd need into the car, Mitchell didn't look back at the house. Because Mitchell knew that he would break even further if he looked at the once haunted house and couldn't see her smiling face.

The fact she was gone didn't stop her from haunting him. He'd sit there in their new dreary cottage and stare at the cup tea in his hands wondering why it had suddenly lost its appeal the moment he raised it to his lips.

And then she saved them all. Appearing out of nowhere grabbing Kemp and throwing him though the door, she had looked like an avenging angel. Then when he saw her on the television he felt like he couldn't breathe seeing her there so scared and lost begging him not to forget her. How could that ever happen? How could he ever forget the ghost who had made him almost human. Why did she sound like she'd given up? Asking them to remember her instead of save her. She faded into nothing before his eyes and he thought of how their friendship had seemed unbreakable but really it had broken like a feather under an axe.

He was John Mitchell. He'd see more people die than she'd ever met but there was no way he was letting her die on him. He would save her. She wasn't leaving him like this.