Erin sat still as Andrew painted his illusionary image.

“I never knew that you could paint,” they were still in Spring Valley and Andrew had wanted to do something good for Erin.

“I can, but barely. Fortunately, there is a spell that amplifies talent tenfold. In my case, a couple of tenfold. Basically, if you can do something even a little, the spell will help you excel at it. Now, stay still,” Andrew quickly continued to apply the brush strokes.

He had already sketched Erin and, now, he just needed to color the painting.

“I want to see,” said Erin, standing up.

“Erin!” Protested Andrew, but Erin was already behind him and staring at the painting.

“This is…” Erin had no words. The shadows, the colors. Magic was wonderful.

“My wedding present to you. I would paint you in your true form, but, then the painting might get discovered. And, remember, we are dead,” said Andrew as he took a look at Erin’s clothes. He began moving the brush again as Erin went back to the chair he had been sitting on.

“I have an idea,” Erin murmured, and Andrew looked at him.

“Yes?” Erin looked uncomfortably at Andrew, but tried to smile.

“What if you paint something and enter it in a contest. You will win, surely, and then it will sell nicely,” Andrew sighed.

“If we ever need money, we could just go to a casino and rob it blind,” which was the truth, Erin supposed. But there was a big part of him that wanted to have an honest living. And that part was screaming at him now.

“Surely, you want to settle somewhere for twenty years or so? And, when we are there, what better alibi than being a painter?” Andrew saw the flaw in that logic pretty quickly.

“I have no school records. No family that I can make vouch for the fact that I exist. You do know that people will begin to ask questions?” Erin nodded.

“There is this vampire power of compulsion. You can make a mother leave you her child and she won’t ask questions if you used it. It is powerful. If someone asks questions, I can make them stop doing so,” that sounded risky. All for the opportunity to settle down somewhere.

“The Office of Supernatural Affairs…” began Andrew, but Erin huffed.

“I know what you have been doing when you stare off into space. I watch the news too, you know. And, fine, I'm aware that you have to dismantle each base and set free all the captives. But, Andy, you are already taking risks. What is one small one,” Andrew considered Erin then. About what the situation was like for him.

Erin didn’t like to move from a place once he liked it. Yet, they had moved from their home. So, Erin now needed a new one. Erin was Andrew’s home. Even if they were on the run for all eternity, Andrew would be happy. But, things weren’t like that for Erin, it seems.

“We have to go somewhere that is not very populated. Maybe Alaska?” Suggested Andrew as Erin smiled.

“Can’t it be some island where the summer never leaves?” Asked Erin. “We can leave the country. Heck, we can leave the continent.”

“Erin…” Andrew didn’t want to run. It would be an admission of defeat. And he was so close to winning.

“You can appear in ghost form and burst the bubble of the agency. I can be presumed dead. But, if we go to an island, then we can be happy. Besides, I don’t like the cold,” Andrew worried his bottom lip.

An island meant they could be cornered, once they were discovered. The teleportation spell had more uses as an assassination technique than actual means of transportation.

Maybe a deserted island would work, thought Andrew. Somewhere that had no one living. He could summon all they needed, and he could feed Erin. But, no, Erin was a social creature. He would soon see their new home as a prison.

“If we leave, then that means that the agency won,” said Andrew in a small voice. Erin furrowed his eyebrows.

“News flash, no one is going to disband the bastards! You can blow their bases sky-high, even, but they are just going to create new ones. People think you are some kind of terrorist. You want to know why? Because the agency began telling the reporters all the crimes of the people you set free,” Andrew’s eyes widened.

He had not expected that to happen. He knew that everyone in the bases had killed. Furthermore, he had, too. Because he couldn’t say that just because his kill count consisted of creatures didn’t mean it existed.

Now, his kill count included humans, too. And that was sad, considering he had believed in the need for an Office of Supernatural Affairs, once.

“What about the Bill of Rights that people are pushing for?” Surely, that was still on the table?

“Some will be given new rights, but, if they kill, they will still be experimented on. At least, that is what I gathered from the news reports while you were too busy making the situation worse,” Andrew leaned away from the canvas. He was like slapped.

Had he really made the situation worse for all the non-humans? He had tried to help! Except no, that wasn’t it. He had done his best to avenge himself. And now the world knew that Andrew Jackson was a vengeful spirit. The product of the agency’s atrocities.

“If we don’t leave, if you don’t stop, we are going to get caught. You did enough. All the bases we have known of are broken in. People are speaking in hushed tones about non-humans. The fight is over, Andy,” Erin looked at him pleadingly, and Andrew’s eyes teared up despite himself.

“I can’t accept that,” Andrew let out a sob. “For all that happened. For them to get away with what they did…”

“They didn’t get away with it. You punished them. So, stop punishing yourself too,” Erin stood and went to Andrew. He hugged him and let Andrew sob in his shirt.