Hilary aimlessly wandered around the dark, damp streets, thinking about everything that had happened in the past few weeks. She recognised these streets from somewhere although she'd never walked them. She had no idea how far away from home she was and she was cold and lonely but she wasn't really alone.

She came upon an abandoned, creepy warehouse. Lightening illuminated the sky and thunder shook the land. It started to rain as she tilted her head towards the sky and looked up. The flaking paint and rusty walls of the warehouse looked more inviting then staying outside in the coldness of the night. Cautiously, she stepped through the fire exit and into the warehouse.

It was extremely dark inside. She felt around the walls, searching for a familiar switch. She found one and flicked it up. After a 5 second delay, lights came on all around the warehouse so she could see the contents of it.

There were lots of boxes piled up around the warehouse walls, in the process of falling down on to the cold, damp floor. The walls looked as though they were falling apart. One of the boxes fell off as she walked past it, landing with a loud 'Clunk!' that echoed around the whole of the warehouse.

She glanced around nervously hoping no one had heard, forgetting that no one was around when she first walked in.

There was a noise like a bucket tipping over from behind her. She spun around to see it was only a rat. She let out the breath she was holding and suddenly felt a hand on her throat.

"Hey baby, I missed you." She recognised that voice.

'How?' she asked herself. 'Please don't let it be…' The person let go of her so she was able to turn around. 'No…'

"You seem surprised to see me," he commented, peering into her face. He noted the hatred in her eyes.

"But you…" she began.

"Ah, yes." He said looking at her thoughtfully, remembering what had happened a few weeks ago. "The next day I woke up in hospital. After a few days they let me go. I never intended to die; I wanted you to have the guilty feeling of being responsible and give me the pleasure of seeing you suffer."

At that moment he pulled out a knife from the back pocket of his jeans and grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him. His insane smile slipped into place on his face making him look like a maniac. She screamed, hoping someone, anyone outside would hear her and help.

He jumped when she screamed and his knife cut into her lower arm, and just happened to reopen the scar she had received from him a few weeks ago.

/\\/ several blocks away \/\

Kai walked around the deserted, cold streets looking for Hilary. She'd been gone for a while and he was getting worried. He heard a scream and looked up to see where the source of the noise was. Seeing the old warehouse down the road he picked up his pace, and gradually broke into a run.

/\\/ at the warehouse \/\

He put his hand at the back of her neck and pulled her closer to him, a few centimetres from him as though he were going to kiss her.

Her breathing was fast. The two looked up as a loud cracking noise disturbed the silence of the night outside. After a few seconds, as soon as Steve realized nothing was going to happen he continued.

"You think I meant all that crap about me killing myself if you cheated on me or left me?" he asked. "Hah! I liked you Hil. I thought you were different and I won't deny that. I just said that so you'd stay with me, I didn't mean that I would but the lie worked, for a short time. As you'd…"

He didn't continue. He just let go of her and fell to the floor. She looked down at him, confident he wasn't going to get up anytime soon. That's when she looked up to see none other than Kai standing in front of her, a few meters behind where Steve had been standing. She ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered. There was suddenly another loud crack followed by a creaking noise. They both looked up and Kai realized that they weren't safe in there.

He began to run outside dragging Hilary with him when she pulled on his sleeve.

"We can't just leave him there!" she yelled over the creaking noises.

"Ok, I'll grab him and you get yourself out and call 911!" He yelled back throwing her his cell phone. He watched her until she was safely out of the building then went back and grabbed Steve around the waist. Dragging Steve behind him, he ran as fast as he could out of the warehouse to where Hilary was.

Once they were a safe distance away from the warehouse, Kai dumped Steve in a heap on the floor.

Hilary slipped her arms around his waist and leant her head on his chest. He embraced her and whispered, "Why did you avoid us? Me?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt," she replied. "I think I need to go home."

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, hinting towards her injured arm. "Do you want to stay at Tyson's again?"

She pondered on this idea then said, "Okay. What about Steve?"

"Just leave him there. The ambulance will pick him up." He replied.

She took her arms from around his waist and slipped her hand into his, her head resting on his shoulder. He smiled slightly as he led her back down the street in the direction of Tyson's house. Noticing that she was shivering, he took his jacket off and put it over her shoulders.

Looking up, they watched as lightening struck again and the rain started to come down even harder then before.

After about half an hour, they reached their destination, dripping wet. They both went to their own rooms to get changed into dry clothes. She changed into black shorts and a white, sleeveless shirt.

When Hilary was done she noticed the necklace she had left on top of the dresser. It was a ruby in the shape of a heart on a gold chain. She picked it up, fingering it, turning it over in her hands.

She hesitantly put it back down and walked into bathroom to clean up her injury. After, she walked out of the room completely and sat down on the sofa.

There was suddenly a loud noise. She jumped, only to realize it was Tyson snoring from his room.

'At least I know he's okay,' she thought as she smiled.

"Hey," she heard Kai say, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hey," she echoed as he sat down next to her and put his arm around her. She leaned into him, smelling in his aftershave. "I'm getting tired. I think I'm going to go to bed." She said after they'd stayed like that for a few minutes.

"Ok," was all Kai said as Hilary lifted her head up, he almost sounded disappointed.

'You don't think he…ooh…' she thought to herself.

"Kai?" she asked. "Would you mind sleeping with me again tonight?"

He just nodded. "I've got something to do first." He then just walked off. Hilary just shrugged and went to her room.

She sat on the bed, staring at different areas of the room, thinking about Steve. Then Kai. After a few minutes, Kai still wasn't there.

She stood in front of the dresser and stared at her reflection. She felt sad again for some reason or sadder at least. She noticed the necklace on the dresser again. She picked it up again, sat back down in front of the dresser and stared at it, tracing the grooves in it with her finger.

She'd seen it in a shop window and thought it was pretty but too expensive. Steve had bought it for her as a birthday present a few months after.

'All that stuff he said,' she thought to herself. 'It all meant nothing. They were only words. Words that have no meaning.'

She looked up at her reflection again and noticed Kai's reflection behind her. He smirked at her. He had his hands behind his back, hiding something. She tried to lean to the side to see what it was but he turned away.

"Close your eyes," he whispered, leaning his head on her shoulder. She through him a questioning look before she closed her eyes. She felt something cold against her neck.

"Open them." She did so and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She noticed immediately that she had a necklace around her neck. A burning red phoenix attached to it. Her eyes opened wide and Kai smirked again, noticing her reaction.

She fingered it before standing up, placing her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips. He had his hands on her waist. She pulled back to look at him then he kissed her again, this time more deeply, running his tongue across hers.

She randomly remembered the last time someone had kissed her like this. It had been Steve but when he did it, it hadn't felt right. It felt right with Kai, and she knew that was where she belonged.