A pair of brown eyes watched the seventh sun rise signalling the dawn of another day; another day that would be full of wasted hope, another day that would bring him yet more pain adding to the agony he already felt, another day that would end with tears falling from those eyes that wished they could behold the face of their love once more and rolling down cheeks that held the pallor of natural uncoloured chalk. How he longed for his eyes to fall on those of his lover, how his lips ached to meet with hers once again in a sweet embrace that he would never wish to end. How he longed for one sunset that would lead him to her and banish the fears that lay heavily on his heart. Fate had dealt him a cruel hand which he yearned for the power to change so that his eyes and lips might once again fall upon those of his lover in never ending union.

Whether she was alive or dead he didn't know. Where she was he couldn't tell. Still no clues as to her whereabouts had been uncovered lending him nothing but the frail hope that she might still be found. As each sun set that hope faded a little more and his mind tortured him with the possibilities of what might have happened to her. Of all of those that had kept him from his bed was the fear that she was lying dead by her own hand in a place where no one would find her, an action brought on by what she had learned of her father. On those occasions when the visions had permeated his tenuous sleep his dreams had led him to her; he would reach out and touch her cheek only for it to crumble to dust underneath his fingers. He would wake up weeping with the feel of her ashen cheek still fresh on his sweating skin and the image of her eternally sleeping body burnt into his memory.

It was one of these dreams that had stirred him from his repose and led him to the window to watch the seventh sun rise. As the sun mounted its golden passage in the sky it lent warmth to his unshaved cheeks that had been wetted with unconscious tears. Today was a new day and today he would continue his ceaseless searching, he would continue every day until he found her or until the grief that scarred his heart led it to beat its last. Either way he would never tire of searching, he wouldn't let himself give in ever when it became impossible for him to find her. If he couldn't find her in the world they had shared together he would find her in the next, this he now swore to the rising sun and all those that it shone upon.

Closing her eyes she pictured him; she pictured his short, spiky brown hair and his goateed chin. She pictured his infectious smile and heard his equally infectious laugh ringing in her ears. A smile touched her lips as his sharp brown eyes sent a shiver of desire down her spine, a look that never failed to have that affect on her. It was a look that was always a prelude to his brushing his lips against hers in a tender but all too short embrace. That embrace she missed more than any other, though she couldn't deny that it was her desperate desire to escape everything she knew and all those that knew her that had separated her from him.

Hearing a sound upstairs Robyn tried to lighten the darkness of her morose mood for her freshly awakened host. His activity told her that the sun wouldn't be long setting as it fell below the blanket of darkness. Time was that she would join it in its slumber but sleep had evaded her as persistently as peace of mind. Cain's attack had been ferocious both on her and the woman he had killed; the bandage wrapped securely about her wrist was the testament to what she had suffered at his hands. Beneath the shelter of her clothes bruises had shadowed her ivory skin in blotches of black and purple. Upon her cheek was a wound inflicted by the razor sharp blade used to end the life of another. It was uncertain whether the blade would leave a permanent mark or one that would fade with the fullness of time.

"Morning Robyn," A voice said from behind her stirring her from her thoughts.

Robyn turned round to see Nick, "Evening. Good sleep?"

"It was just as it as it normally is, did you sleep?"

"No," Robyn replied shaking her head, "I haven't tried either."

Nick frowned and sat beside Robyn on the couch, "How come?"

"Because I know what Cain's capable of. Asleep or awake I can sense him but I can't act when I'm asleep."

"You're safe here, he can't get to you. That's why I'm letting you stay here rather then putting you in a hotel under guard."

"You might think so but there's nowhere Cain can't infiltrate, even here. If there's a way he'll find it. You also can't protect me twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Even you being what you are doesn't make me entirely safe."

Nick nodded his expression grim, "I see what you mean. There is another place you can stay which would offer more protection than here but I can't guarantee your safety when it comes to the people that stay there. I'll also need to call in an old favour, I doubt you'll be welcome but the owner of the place owes me and he never leaves debts unpaid."

"Take me there."

Kit sat down on the ground his feet aching from their seemingly endless exertion. For hours he had searched but still to no avail. His heart sunk at yet another failed search, there wasn't a direction he hadn't covered or a mile he hadn't walked in some hope of finding her. Like him the police had found nothing which dealt a double blow to his ever failing grasp on the hope that he might one day see Robyn again. Looking over his shoulder he could see the lake glimmering in the falling sun behind him. Plans had been made for the lake to be dredged, plans that lay heavy on his heart. He didn't know what he would do if the police found her beneath the shimmering waves.

Resigning himself to another failure Kit got up, instead of heading for home he walked over to the lake. Sitting on its banks he stared blankly at the still water and the sunset beyond it. Tears pricked his eyes when he remembered the times that he would sit with her by the lake and they would watch the sunset together. Other times they'd swim until the stars shone brightly in the sky. With the moon high in the night sky they'd lay on their backs, their heads touching as their eyes traced the sky looking for shapes in the stars.

Sighing deeply he laid himself down on the grass that spread across the banks of the lake. Closing his eyes he could almost feel her head resting against his. Inhaling deeply through his nose as the cool night air brushed against his weary face he could almost smell the sweet perfume of her hair and the intoxicating scent of her body. With these sensations washing over him he fell into sweet sleep as the day's exertions caught up with him.

Walking through the darkness a figure headed towards the prone sleeper their footfalls silent on the soft ground. Standing beside the sleeper they bent down resting their weight on one knee as they reached a hand into the jacket they were wearing. Slowly they pulled an envelope from a pocket in the inside of their jacket and with almost unmatchable ease slipped the envelope into the pocket of the person sleeping on the ground in front of them.

With a smile and a slight chuckle the person was gone.