Another Day, Another Life

Chapter 14: Bloody Maria

by YaoiKitten

"Are you sure it's all right now?" Riff asked.

"It's already been two days. It's about time." Cain told him.

Riff agreed and allowed himself to be led into the bathroom and plopped down onto the lid of the toilet seat. Cain opened the cabinet and pulled out a pair of scissors while Riff stripped off his shirt, throwing it into the corner. Cain carefully helped him out of the back brace.

"That thing is so uncomfortable," Riff complained.

Cain smiled and began to pick at the bandages on Riff's torso. "Yeah, I know. You need to wear it though until your spine heals completely or you'll have problems."

Riff sighed and watched Cain remove the band-aids covering the stitches on his torso and arms. "Are you sure it's okay to get these wet?"

"They won't stand up to the pressure of a shower, and you shouldn't soak them either in a bath." Cain inspected the wounds carefully, glad to see that the edges had sealed together. "It looks like you'll be getting a sponge bath."

Riff smiled crookedly. "Oh goodie. I don't mind, coming from a pretty boy like you. At least it's not one of those ugly nurses at the hospital. "

Cain smacked Riff's arm lightly, careful not to hit any lacerations or bruises. "Shut up or you'll bathe yourself."

"That wouldn't be any fun."

"I agree. That is why I'm offering to do it," Cain told him. "Stay still. I'm going to remove the bandages from your head."

Riff relaxed as Cain picked up the scissors and began to cut the gauze carefully. Riff had been surprised to see how quickly the bruises were healing. Most of them had gone from a dark bluish-purple to a brownish-tan color instead. He tried not to look in the mirror too much, but he had been relieved to see that his face was no longer blue when he caught a glimpse on his way in. He was also glad that he was no longer nearly as sore as he was.

"How does it look?" Riff asked as Cain unraveled the bandages.

Cain frowned. "They didn't shave it, but…"

Riff frowned too. "But what?"

Cain waited until he had removed all the gauze from Riff's head before answering. "They cut it really short where they operated at. I mean, they might as well have shaved it."

"So it looks bad?"

"Well, it is too short in some places, it looks like you have some bald spots or something." Cain tugged at a few pieces. "We should probably just cut the rest of the back so it would be less noticeable."

"Whatever it takes to look decent," Riff said.

"Why Riff," Cain said as he took the older man's arm and made him stand, "I didn't know you were so vain." Cain reached out and undid Riff's pants, pulling them down in one swift motion.

"With all due respect, sir, you would be even worse in my predicament. You rely on your prettiness and sex appeal way more than I do." Riff stepped out of his pants and leaned against the sink. The air was cold and he shivered slightly.

Cain turned on the ceiling-heater and filled the sink with hot water. He took out a sponge from the small closet and a bar of soap from the shower. He had put on a black tank top and a pair of dark denim jeans in case he got wet. He pushed the sponge into the water and rang it out.

Riff stood still as Cain patted the sponge lightly against his skin. "Does that hurt?"

"No," Riff said, "you can do it a bit harder."

Cain complied and started to wash Riff thoroughly, making circles on his chest and stomach with the sponge, spreading soap all over Riff's body. "Jaime is so going to get it when I get my hands on him," Cain grit out through clenched teeth.

Riff nodded. "Yeah. Now all we have to do is track down his corpse, walking or not."

"You and I both saw it walking. The simple conclusion is that he is not dead." Cain pointed out, moving to wash Riff's arms. "There was no autopsy performed."

"Did you look at the pictures closely?"

"Yeah. The head is turned to the side so you can't really see the face. It very well may not be Jaime." Cain stopped in what he was doing, furrowing his brow. "Did Jaime have a tattoo?"

Riff blinked. "I don't know, why?"

"You see, I think I remember Jaime having a tattoo. I think I saw it in gym once. It was on his lower back…"

"Well, was it in the picture?" Riff asked logically enough.

Cain shook his head before going back to washing Riff's arms. "The corpse was on it's back, so it is hard to tell. You can't see it in the pictures, but I just assumed that it was too small to see."

"No, it just supports the fact that the picture is not of Jaime. Which means someone is trying to not only fake his death, but cover everything up as well." Riff watched Cain move down his body, getting on his knees to wash Riff's hips and thighs. He blushed as he felt himself growing hard.

"Who would help Jaime Rose fake his own death?" Cain asked, concentrating on washing Riff's legs and not looking directly in front of him. "And why?"

"I hate to bring this up now, but what about the bouquet that was sent to the hospital. That was your father's handwriting, wasn't it?" Riff asked gently.

Cain nodded. "Yeah, it looked like it." Cain motioned for Riff to turn around and the older man complied.

"Well. Maybe Jaime isn't the only one who faked his own death, then. Even though your father hasn't made an appearance, that card was pretty convincing." Riff waited for Cain to reply, but he said nothing.

Silence stretched between them as Cain continued to wash the back of Riff's legs. Riff felt him moving upwards slowly and braced himself against the sink. In light of the current situation, he decided to let the conversation go. He could always bring it up again later. Riff sighed as Cain began to soap his back, kneading the sponge into his muscles in a massaging motion. "That feels good."

"I'm glad," Cain told him, leaning up on his tip-toes to nip at Riff's ear. Riff grumbled something about 'not being able to do much' and Cain began to lightly touch the sponge to Riff's scalp, ignoring the comment. "Is that all right?"

"Yeah," Riff lied. It stung quite a bit.

Cain carefully soaped up Riff's hair, taking his fingers and spreading the soap throughout. He was careful around Riff's injuries and tried not to get soap onto them.

Riff sighed, liking the feeling of Cain's fingers in his hair. He was disappointed when he moved away, ringing out the soapy sponge and letting out the dirty water from the sink. "Is it over already?"

"No. I have to rinse you off first." Cain looked over at Riff's naked body, all covered in soap he couldn't see the bruises much. He raked his eyes up and down him, enjoying the sight. "That could take a while."

"Ah." Riff said, raising an eyebrow.

Cain laid a few towels onto the floor and made Riff stand on them while he filled the sink with fresh, hot water. He got the sponge wet and squeezed the water out onto Riff's body, watching the soap and water trail down the muscles and flesh. "We're going to have to do this again after you recover."

Riff smiled a bit. "Absolutely."

Cain continued the motions until all the soap had been rinsed off. He squeezed the sponge over Riff's head a couple times to rinse out his hair before giving his body a final squeeze of water. "There you go. All done."

"Good." Riff said, and promptly pulled Cain into a long, involved kiss.

Cain giggled and dropped the sponge into the sink, splashing them both with water. "You're getting me all wet…" Cain moaned as Riff began to nibble at his ear.

"I know."

Cain wrapped his arms around Riff's shoulders, letting the other man control the kiss. Riff pulled away a few minutes later, both of them out of breath.

"It must be hard for you to be laid up for so long…" Cain told him, trailing his finger down Riff's chest slowly. "But you know, there are some things we can still do…" Cain's finger trailed lower, on past his stomach.

Riff closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll pay you back…"

"I know you will." Cain dropped to his knees. "I'll look forward to it."

Riff nodded, looking down at the boy. "So will I."

Cain smiled and ran his hand up the back of Riff's thighs, cupping his backside and pulling the other man towards him. He nuzzled Riff gently before spreading kisses across him. Riff moaned slightly and moved his pelvis forward, urging him to continue.

Cain closed his eyes and obliged, taking Riff into his mouth and moving slowly. Riff laced his wet hands through Cain's hair, watching the boy take him in and out of his mouth.

"You're beautiful… Cain…"

Cain ran his hand up Riff's inner thigh, coming to tickle and fondle him. Riff gasped at the sensations, watching Cain's movements through half-lowered lids.

Riff had no idea how Cain knew just what to do to drive him crazy, but he found himself moaning at Cain's motions. He gasped as he felt himself get ready, and his hand tightened in Cain's hair as he came.

Cain slowed down, moving slowly until Riff had finished. He released him and sat back on his heels, smiling up at Riff. "Feel better?"

Riff leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips. "Much. But what about you?"

"I'll be fine," Cain told him, getting up from the floor. "I'll get mine later. I'll give you a few days, okay?"

"All right," Riff agreed, trying not to sound disappointed.

"Now sit." Cain instructed, pointing at the toilet seat. "Now we have to do something with that hair."

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Cain retired to his bedroom after Riff's bath after making sure the other man got into bed. He yawned and stretched. He wasn't used to taking care of other people, but he would never admit to the fun he was having taking care of Riff. Cain began to undress. In truth, he was really horny, but he did not feel right asking Riff for such favors when he knew it still hurt the man to so much as walk. He would be patient and take care of Riff and himself.

However, sucking Riff off certainly hadn't helped with him being horny. He knew that Riff had noticed his discomfort, and it didn't help that the only pair of jeans he owned was tight. He quickly removed them first before stripping off the rest of his clothes. He couldn't help but think about Riff and everything that the man would do to him once he was better….

Cain laid down on the bed, running one hand up his own thigh and the other across his chest. He blushed, thinking of the various ways Riff would 'pay him back'. He bit his lip to keep from moaning, imagining the ways Riff's hands would touch him.

It was a long time before he finally managed to sleep, passing out from exhaustion.

Riff watched Cain shed his fine garments and put on the plain, lower-class clothing that he had bought earlier that day. He didn't help him, instead he stood there and made sure that the boy's clothes looked appropriately rumpled.

Cain shrugged into the black suit coat. "How is it? Do I look like a pitiful, middle class, volunteer, student model?"

Riff couldn't help but smile as he laid the cloak over the boy's shoulders. " ...your choice of words just now was bad, however…Just as I would expect, you do not have the outward appearance of someone from the lower classes."

Cain picked at the blonde wig on his head, listening to Riff with a cute expression on his face. He looked back at Riff and smiled brightly at him. "Then, I shall try my best to behave crudely!"

Riff became suddenly serious. "Please do not do anything foolish...Master Cain"

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Cassian twirled the knife in his hand. He had his prey more or less pinned against a tree, daring the man to move. "So the time has suddenly come for you to show me, hasn't it? The thing that supports you, saying that you fear nothing, your emotional bond... what type of thing is it I wonder?" Cassian held the knife high, ready to strike. "If you truly do not value your life then try and move. The next one will pierce your throat!

Riff stood still, deciding on the best course of action. Cassian raised the knife between his fingertips.

'The knife, one side of it ...no it's that he did not even bother with keeping it concealed.' Riff thought. 'Indeed if I could just avoid that one side…'

Cassian heard the crash from inside the house, the sounds of a struggle coming through the open window. "Now we're starting to see.…"

'Now!' Riff thought.

Riff rushed forward, charging toward the young boy in front of him."Why you..!" Cassian swore, aiming and letting the knife fly from his fingertips.

Riff punched Cassian directly in the face while still holding onto his coat to obscure the boy's vision. The knife imbedded itself in Riff's arm.

"Wha…" Cassian reached under his shirt for another knife.

Riff pulled his only weapon, the knife in his forearm, out and slashed at Cassian, slicing his shoulder and making a shallow wound. Blood spurt from the wound and into Cassian's face.

"My eyes...Shit!" Cassian swore, trying to wipe the blood away so he could see.

Riff wasted no time running in to house.

Riff woke suddenly with the urge to find Cain. He laid there for a few minutes, breathing heavy and trying to separate the dream from reality. He knew that Cain was all right, but he got out of bed anyways and crept up the stairs into his room.

Riff went to the side of the bed and looked down at the boy. Cain had fallen asleep naked and sprawled out onto his back. Riff didn't have to be a genius to figure out what had happened, judging from the position of the boy's body and the crumpled up pillow next to him. Riff felt almost guilty for being injured, but he knew there was nothing he could do.

Riff sighed and pulled the blanket up over his master, not wanting him to catch cold. Cain smiled in his sleep as Riff kissed his forehead lightly. He retreated from the room, careful not to disturb him.

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Cain jerked to one side, barely being missed by the painters knife in Mrs. Stanford's hand. She looked at him, a crazed expression across her face.

"So I told you didn't I, Cain?" Jezebel asked as he walked into the room. He did not seem to be surprised to see Cain in his nightshirt, without his blonde wig, and Mrs. Stanford trying to kill him. "That Maria's unconditional love was a mere illusion."

Cain looked up, startled. "Doctor!"

Jezebel smiled cruelly. "If you are wondering about Riff, he's not coming. At this moment he is probably going up against my subordinate."

Cain froze, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Now then...don't move." Mrs. Stanford instructed, backing Cain up against the wall with the knife poised at his throat. "You too will be made to join the rest as their fellow companion."

"You even did that to those children while taking their hand and embracing them kindly." Cain spoke up, steeling his nerves. "This fact...it's that you didn't see the reality of Theodore. Was it because they were unneeded children that you did just as you pleased?" Cain slowly reached down his thigh and put his hand around the gun that he kept strapped there. "Is that why you distanced them from you? Such a thing…" Mrs. Stanford looked crazed but he continued. "Couldn't you just have loved your own son, the son that you wanted to love! Isn't it just that that child could not love your world that you alone protected, the one of the Madonna!"

"Stop it!"

Cain pulled the gun from the holster, ready to take aim as the painters knife came at him. Suddenly, Riff appeared on his left, knocking the knife from the woman's grasp. Cain barely managed to not fire his gun. Mrs. Stanford was knocked into the easel, scattering paint and canvas everywhere.

Cain let out a breath and leaned against the wall. He smiled a bit at the older man. "Were you bullied by that kid like he said, Riff?"

Jezebel could not hide the shock on his face. "Riff...however did you…"

Cain came to stand next to Riff, crossing his arms as Riff held onto the wound on his forearm. "Your subordinate's aim with a knife was hardly accurate so I took a gamble. The way he was posing with the knife that time, it was not like the usage of an assassin. It was the manner in which a knife would be thrown and used at something like a common circus attraction. This method of his of holding the edge of the blade and making one rotation to hit the target effectively failed as a means to inflict damage. So then if I could just avoid the key instant, even if I was stuck it would not result in death." Riff fingered the wound. "...or so I thought but it's just like an assassin of 'Delilah' to be otherwise, isn't it. It's deeper than I expected!"

Jezebel stepped forward. "Why… What is the sense of you going so far as risking your life to save this tyrant? This uncanny servant-make-believe-game makes me vomit. Even if this is a sort of triumph, it's inconceivable that such a connection should exist when not called upon!"

Cain reached up and laid his hands supportingly on Riff's arm. "You are a sad person aren't you…" Riff began. "Not having anything in this world that is more important than your own life…" Cain and Riff both leveled a stare at Jezebel.

Jezebel stood still, momentarily taken aback.

Suddenly, an odd laughter filled the room. Everyone turned to stare at Mrs. Stanford, still sitting on the ground.
"I can't return all of them with my hand. Even this picture that Theodore painted and hid from me.…" She grabbed a tube of yellow paint. "And on top of that ...to paint it out in such a way... never again …" Mrs. Stanford opened the tube and poured the paint into her mouth.

Riff started forward. "The artist's paint, she.!?"

Cain knelt down next to the coughing woman. "Damnit! Yellow artist's paint contains an especially strong arsenic chemical compound that is a deadly poison!"

Mrs. Stanford rolled over, reaching up and placing her hand on Cain's cheek. "I'll be coming there... Theodore!"

"Madame!? Has something happened?" a maid called out from the hallway, rushing to get to the commotion. Cain looked up, unsure of what to do.

A window in the room shattered. Cassian appeared on the sill. "Doctor! I'm most sorry!"

Jezebel walked to the window before turning around and glaring at Cain. "Cain! Your father will soon bring a second 'Great London Fire' and the curtain will rise on an era of darkness for the world. If you really think that you can stop this, please, by all means show me. It ought to be forthcoming, the proof of whether or not even in the midst of Hell this spirit of devotion will appear as unshakeable as you say...!"

Cain leveled his gun at Jezebel. "It won't change! Nothing will change for us. You're the one who will come to repent."

Jezebel disappeared out the window, and into the night.

Cain was loathe to get out of the bed the next morning. He turned over, pulling the covers up around him tightly. He then realized that he had covers and wondered where they had come from. He sat up and looked around the room, but it was empty. Breakfast was sitting on the table and the curtains were drawn to block the light.

"Riff?" Cain called out, but the other man was not in the room.

Cain got up and walked into the bathroom, turning the shower on and stepping under the spray. He stood there, letting the hot water wash away his weariness.

"Good morning, Master Cain."

Cain pushed back the shower door to see Riff leaning against the door frame. He looked better than he had in days. He was wearing his casual clothes, an oxford shirt and slacks, and his bruises were fading quickly.

"Good morning." Cain greeted him, smiling. "What are you doing up?"

"I have work to do. I need to make arrangements today for Miss Merryweather to attend school here and I need to get her files transferred." Riff said.

Cain went back to showering, shampooing his hair but leaving the shower door open so he could talk to Riff still. "If you feel up to working, you can."

"I'll go crazy if I stay in bed any longer."

Cain rinsed out his hair. "Your hair looks good, by the way."

Riff instinctively reached up and ran his hand over the new haircut. "It is more your style than mine…"

Cain had decided to cut the back short so it was all one length, but he left the front and the sides long still so Riff's bangs still came past his eyes, and he still had length around his cheekbones. It looked good on him, only it was a bit more extreme a style than he was used to.

Cain shrugged. "In another two months it will be grown out some more. We'll keep cutting a little from the front every month or two until it gets back to the way it was."

"There's always the fedora." Riff agreed.

Cain stepped out of the shower and accepted the towel that Riff handed him. "I do want to see you in that someday soon."

"You will," Riff assured him.

"Good. Riff, do you have plans after dinner?" Cain asked, changing the subject suddenly.

"No." Riff told him.

"Good. Come to my room afterwards."

Riff raised an eyebrow. "Do you have something in particular in mind?"

"Yes, but I am sure it is not what you are thinking…" Cain smiled playfully.

"You're such a tease."

"I know." Cain said, dropping the towel on the floor and walking into his bedroom. "But you love me that way."

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"Riff! I'm so bored!" Merry called out, looking around for the older man.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it, Miss Merry?" Riff called out, he was in the study doing paperwork.

Merry entered the room and plopped down in the chair. "Take me to the mall or something. I'm tired of being around the house all the time."

Riff blinked at her. "Give me ten more minutes, all right?"

"All right." She agreed easily enough. And then continued to just sit there while Riff finished up his paperwork.

"Miss Merry?"

"Hm?" she asked sweetly.

"Are you going to sit there and watch me work?"

"I don't have anything else better to do," She said.

"Don't you have any friends around here?" he asked politely.

"No. All my friends were at boarding school. I was never here long enough to make friends," Merry told him.

Riff nodded, understanding. "You'll make friends when you go to school."

"I know," Merry smiled brightly at him. "I can't wait."

Riff smiled back. "Well, shall we go? We'll have to be back in time for dinner, though."

Merry looked at the time, "We'll have to make it a quick shopping trip, then."

Riff looked at the clock and moaned when he noticed that it was only one o'clock.

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"Miss, may I help you?" the salesman asked.

Merry smiled and looked up at the man. "No, I'm fine."

The man smiled back down at her. Merry felt so tiny in his presence, he was such a big man. As tall as Riff but much heartier throughout. Riff had a thin physique while this man was muscular. He winked at her. "Well, let me know if you need help with anything, little lady."

Merry smiled and thanked him, continuing to look around the department store. It wasn't long before she had several outfits in her arms.

"May I get those for you?" the man came back and asked.

"Sure," Merry told him, handing him the pile of clothes. "But I'll only get more soon. I hate to keep running you to the dressing room."

The man smiled. He smiled a lot, apparently. He let out a hearty laugh. "Then I guess I'll just follow you around and be your pack horse, miss."

Merry laughed. "Do you always treat customers this way?"

"No, you're just too cute to leave alone."

Merry blushed, unsure of what to say. The man was much older than her, but she didn't want to blurt out 'Hey, I'm only thirteen.' "I bet you say that to all your cute female customers…"

"No, I don't. There's just something about you, little Miss." The man laughed and pushed his hand through his reddish-brown hair. "I don't know what it is."

Riff walked up to Merry, eyeing the employee suspiciously. "I've taken your things out to the car, Miss Merry. Who is this?"

"He's just helping me with my things," Merry explained and continued looking through the racks.

Riff eyed the man. "I'll take those."

The man handed the clothes over without fuss. "Is this your boyfriend then?"

Merry turned to him and smiled. "No, he's my brother's boyfriend."

Riff blushed.

The man looked momentarily taken aback before recovering and elbowing Riff in the ribs good naturedly, "I bet her brother is a cutie too, huh?"

Riff didn't dignify that with an answer.

"Well, thank you for all your help…" Merry looked at his name tag, "…Oscar."

"No problem!" Oscar smiled brightly, "Maybe I'll see you again…"

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After dinner, Riff made his way to Cain's room. His curiosity was killing him about what the boy had in mind for the evening. He knocked on the door lightly before letting himself inside.

Cain was standing in the middle of his room, waiting, with a black trench coat on and a shovel in his hand.

Riff raised an eyebrow. "And what do you have planned for the evening, sir?"

"We are going to go dig up my father's grave." Cain told him solemnly.

Riff stood there, his mouth agape. "Explain."

"It is the only way for us to know for sure. I've been thinking about it, and I decided that we need to find out what is going on once and for all." Cain cocked his head to the side, looking at Riff quizzically. "So, we're going to dig up my father's grave and see if his body is there. Then we are going to go talk to Jaime's friends and see if they've seen him lately. And, I am going to go and talk to Jezebel."

"Why are you going to talk to Jez?" Riff asked.

"Because, I have a feeling that he had something to do with this. It's just a hunch, but I want to talk to him."

Riff paused. "That hunch has to be based on something."

"It is." Cain confirmed. "Someone had to know where we'd be that night you got hurt. No one knew we'd be at the club except Jez. He was the one to suggest it."

"Someone could have been following us," Riff pointed out. "Jez could have had nothing to do with it."

"That is why I'm calling it a hunch and not a fact," Cain said.

"All right." Riff agreed, taking the shovel from Cain's hands. "Let's go."

Riff grabbed his coat, a black leather pea coat, and the two of them headed out into the night. Riff drove them to the graveyard where Alexis was buried, and they trudged up the hill carefully.

"How are your injuries?" Cain asked. "Is this too much for you?"

"No, I'm fine." Riff assured him, though in truth he was gritting his teeth.

They reached the gravesite, the dirt was still fresh from the burial a couple months ago. "This is going to take all night."

"I'll do it," Cain said, taking the shovel and starting to dig up the ground. "You're injured, after all."

Riff hesitated. "We should have waited until I'd recovered, I'm much stronger than you. They don't bury people like they used to, the graves are much deeper now. You may have to dig a good twenty feet."

Cain nodded. "That is why we are starting so early in the night. When I get tired, you can do a little bit while I rest, all right?"

Riff nodded and sat down on the ground. "You know," he began, trying to make conversation to take Cain's mind off the monotonous work, "I took your sister to the mall today."

"I know. She told me about it over dinner."

"Did she also tell you that there was a man twice her age trying to pick her up?"

Cain looked up. "She neglected to mention that."

"He worked at the department store. It was pretty obvious they were flirting, it was cute." Riff told him.

"The pervert! Does he know she's only thirteen?"

Riff laughed. "I doubt it. Little girls aren't little girls anymore. She can definitely look older than thirteen…"

"The man is still a pervert," Cain insisted. "If I ever meet him I'll have to kick his ass."

Riff couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Cain demanded. He wiped sweat off his brow, then looked at himself in disgust when he realized he was actually sweating. "Ugh."

"Nothing. It is just that this guy was bigger than me! I doubt you could take him."

"Never underestimate the power of an older brother. I can take macho-man down if I put my mind to it." Cain set his jaw stubbornly and continued shoveling.

"I never had a little sister, so I don't quite understand. When Clyde and Lucinda finally hooked up, I was elated." Riff explained. "I didn't care that he was dating an older woman."

Cain laughed. "That is because you just wanted her to leave you alone."

"True." Riff stood up, "Let me do it for a while, Master Cain."

Cain relinquished the shovel to Riff and sat down. "All right. Only for a little while, though."

Riff nodded and started shoveling. He ignored the soreness in his muscles and kept shoveling, it wasn't long before he noticed that Cain had nodded off to sleep, leaning against another gravestone. Riff smiled a bit and kept shoveling.

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"The Stanford House has been sold?"

Riff tried to ignore Cain's feet propped up onto the table. "Yes, after the lady of the house died, a suspicious fire broke out and at that time the skeletal remains of the boys were discovered in the building, or something to that effect."

Cain looked thoughtful. "Another fire?"

"Yes the name of the real estate company that bought and took the land is the one that bought and collected the land belonging to that coroner and that mortician, 'Barabas Company'." Riff took a map from his front pocket and handed it to the boy. "This here is the land that was purchased by 'Barabas Co.' but, can you make out anything in this diagram?"

Cain studied the map, looking poleaxed. "I wonder why this land which has no monetary value was the objective during this incident this time around as well... " Riff came around to stand behind Cain's chair and leaned onto the back. He glanced at the door to make sure that it was locked, it would not do if one of the servants entered to see him standing so informally in front of his lord. "If it has to do with a diagram for black magic then it would probably be best to ask that Clehadol fellow," Cain continued.

"Yes sir."

Cain reached up and pulled Riff's bandaged arm down around him. He looked up at the older man with a softly inquisitive expression on his face. "Are you really prepared? If we fight my father, we truly will come to see Hell."

Riff lowered his eyes to look at his master. "I think that Hell for me would be if I lost my lord."

Cain brought Riff's forearm to his lips, kissing the bandaged wound with a resolute expression. "It is already too late to go back."

"Master Cain!" Riff called out.

Cain was shook awake by Riff. It was still the dead of night and it seemed that he had fallen asleep in the graveyard. "I fell asleep?"

"You must have been exhausted," Riff told him. "Look, I've reached the coffin."

Cain stood up quickly. "What? How long was I asleep?"

"A couple hours."

Cain looked at him in shock. "You idiot! You're injured."

"My muscles are telling me that right now." Riff smiled a bit lopsided. "I'll just have to stay in bed all day tomorrow, that's all."

"If you get up for anything more than the bathroom, I'll hurt you." Cain walked over to the hole that Riff had dug. "Huh. It is not as deep as I thought it would be."

"No, it is actually pretty shallow, only about eight feet or so." Riff said.

"Well, let's open it." Cain said.

They both jumped down into the hole, Riff used his shovel to pry open the lid. "Aren't these things supposed to be vacuum sealed?

"Yeah," Cain agreed. They both worked open the lid, dirt pouring into the open coffin.

Cain pulled out a flashlight and shone it into the coffin and was not surprised to find it empty.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Cain waited until the next morning to call Jez. He dialed the number and waited impatiently while the phone rang. Riff stood not too far away, listening to his end of the conversation.

"Hello?" a female voice said.

"Hi. Is Jez there?" Cain asked.

"No, he's not. The little brat took off with his boyfriend to go to New York for the rest of the summer." Jez's mother informed him bitterly.

Cain paused. "Is there a number where I can reach him? Do you have Cassian's number?"

"He wouldn't give it to me either. If you talk to him, tell him he may not have a home to come home to after this little stunt. Honestly… sneaking out in the middle of the night like that… all he did was leave me a note!"

Cain sighed. "Well, thank you anyways."

"What is it?" Riff asked as Cain hung up the phone.

"Apparently, Jez and Cassian have skipped town. Jez went to New York with Cassian for the rest of the summer." Cain growled. "Why didn't he bother to tell me?"

Riff sighed and pulled Cain into a tight embrace. "Well, we'll just ask him when he comes back for school, now won't we?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Jez, you know you're just running away, right?"

"I know. I just can't deal with them right now, love. I did something horrible, how am I supposed to tell him… I don't know how to face him right now…"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Author's Notes: I just wanted to think bitter green-tea for pointing out all those typos for me. I really hate them, and I am pretty good about catching them when I am going slow and taking my time to write. However to keep with my two-week update promise I cannot be as careful and do school, my other writing projects, and translate God Child for sakura-crisis. Translating has overtaken my life… I'll probably fail math this quarter. Oh, and for some reason you can't post links on apparently, so anyone interested can get the link for Erin's rant on my lj under chapters 12 and 13 of ADAL. Speaking of Erin, she has donated her super-spiffy translations to sakura-crisis, so between my translating and everything she has already done, God Child should come out much quicker. Maybe we'll have it all out by the end of the year…"