Endless love to the 6 of you who left me ntoes last chapter. Thank you very very much. This goes out to you! I have a new found love of Jizabel. Thought you'd want to know

He had left a note.

One sheet of paper barely half covered and that was all. Mary glared at it as if the paper was what had caused her brothers distress. If only things had been that easy.

Cain hadn't returned home until late the night before. He had briefly checked in on Mary and she had pretended to be asleep, so as not to worry him. He had left before she had woken up, saying he was off to try all of the medium sized hospitals he could find. Mary threw the paper to the floor and folded her arms. She hated this. She was used to Cain acting strangely but this was starting to scare her.

She pulled out the scrap of paper with the address that Riff had given her and regarded it thoughtfully. She could go there now and…but no. If Riff was an unstable as Cain, it would only make the situation worse. She had to respect his wishes to be left alone. Unless she had no other option, the address must remain a secret.

Mary uncrossed her arms and sat down on the stairs sadly, not knowing what to do. She tried to work out why Riff had left in the first place but couldn't think of a thing. There were only two things Mary could think of that were strong enough to make Riff leave; love or hate. She was certain he didn't have a paramour somewhere; it just wasn't like Riff to keep a secret like that. She was also sure he didn't hate Cain, r vice versa. So why had all of this happened?

"Oh, Riff." She murmured. "What was it that you did?"

Why did you do this to us?

The one sentence echoed angrily in Cain's mind as he stormed around London. He just couldn't understand it. Well, he could but he didn't want to. He didn't want to believe that Riff was so scared of his own feelings that he would forcibly give them up.

It was barely midday and Cain had nowhere left to check. He had asked every place he could think of with no success. He didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to lose hope. A tear pricked at the corner of his eyes.

I always know where to find you. Riff's voice echoed in his head.

"You might know where to find me," Cain whispered to himself. "But I have no idea how to find you."

"I know what you're looking for."

Cain turned sharply to see a short, unkempt man watching him. His arms were crossed and he was sneering with the kind of arrogance that only comes from extreme power or extreme stupidity. Cain frowned and took a step towards the man.

"How do you know I'm looking for anything?" he shot back. The man laughed.

"You've been flapping around London all day, boy. You gotta be looking or something. And there's only one thing you could be looking for, and I have it. You want to come with me?"

A thousand possibilities suddenly whirled through Cain's mind. The man could just be really stupid and would take him to a brothel or something similar. Or…and the thought made Cain wince…he could be an agent from Delilah. They liked to play with appearances. What if Riff had been taken? What would they do to him if they had him?

Once the possibility was in Cain's mind, he could think of no other and lost all sense of reason.

"Yes." He said slowly. "Show me."

"You're right." Riff said, closing the door behind him. "They do think you're crazy."

Caroline laughed. "You only just noticed? They don't like you because you like me. Grainham doesn't like me."

"But why not?" Riff asked, standing at the end of the bed and making a few notes on the clipboard. His job wasn't taxing at all; he could almost do it in his sleep. "You're a pleasant young woman. I can't see why…"

"Have you seen the hair?" She asked and then grinned. "That's one of the reasons they hate me. They disapprove of a young lady of society having short hair and wearing men's clothes. I tell you, Riffriff, there'll be a day when everyone wears trousers, mark my words."

Riff laughed. "I suppose."

"Now, help me into the chair, if you'd be so kind." Caroline swung her useless legs around and down to the floor. Riff picked her up easily, as she was very light and deposited her in the chair. She lay back against it happily and smiled.

"First time sitting up in weeks." She said gently.

"If you don't mind me asking," Riff said into the silence that followed. "Why exactly are you paralysed? It doesn't say in the records…"

"Pah!" Caroline opened her eyes angrily. "It wouldn't say because no one wants to say it. I was pushed off a balcony by my servants. Damn lucky I didn't break my neck, too."

Riff gasped in shock. "But why on earth would anyone want to kill you?"

"The same reason that they hate me. Not the hair, I mean the other one."

"Which other one?"

Before Riff could move, Caroline had reached out and touched his hand gently. He felt a slight tingle pass along his arm and opened his mouth to speak but could find no words.

"They hate me because I know about things." Caroline whispered.

"About what?" Riff asked, confused and a little scared.

Caroline's eyes snapped open and they were filled with sorrow for the first time since Riff had met her.

"Oh, my poor Riffriff." She murmured. "I know about Cain."

Cain felt like a prize fool.

He hadn't been led into a brothel but had in fact been led into an opium den. The man that had originally accosted him grinned happily and took station on a moth-eaten sofa, leaving Cain standing in the middle of the basement. The air was thick and sweet with the fumes and Cain could hardly breathe.

Men were lounging around everywhere, eyes shut or laughing like children. It became clear that Cain was the only one in the room not to be intoxicated. So as to avoid thinking about his ridiculous mistake, Cain thought about the drug addicts. Why would they do this? What drove someone to give up hours of their lives to some fantasy?

Why would you need a drug if you had someone to love you?

Suddenly, Cain became angry. Before he knew what he was doing, he had overturned a table and kicked over another. He then stood in the middle of the room and turned to the addicts, who had huddled in one corner together, either scared or amused by his behaviour, depending on how the opium took them.

"Why are you doing this to yourselves?" He yelled. It never occurred to him that he should have been frightened.

New chapter up soon! This is half what I had planned so it really will be soon. If you want to read something else right now, check out my new Riff fic called Shadow and Starshine. Its cuter than this one XD