Two hours. Two bloody hours since Elijah had left to see his agent and Dominic was feeling worried and tense against his will. It was not in his nature to feel restless when Elijah was out alone at night, a thing that happened quite frequently anyway, after all he was a grown up man now who was very well able to take care of himself. Still Dom couldn�t shake those unpleasant feelings off and he walked towards the window in the kitchen for about the tenth time, peering outside in the hope to catch a glimpse of two headlights. The world outside however was dark and empty.
�Right, this has no use.� he mumbled to himself while returning to the living room and grabbing his coat and car keys from the table and stepping outside. He started the engine of his own car and drove off to the office of Elijah�s management-team. Dom blessed himself lucky for paying attention to the sight-seeing tour Lij had planned for him during his first visit to LA, or else he would have never been able to find his way towards the building. When he arrived near the complex however all lights were off and the place looked deserted.
�Well fuck.� Dom swore while scanning the area, his eyes suddenly landing on Elijah�s car parked near the entrance of the office. Dominic got out of his own car and jogged over to the other vehicle, to his major surprise finding it with opened doors. Lij�s mobile phone was laying in a puddle of mud beside the car and the knowledge that something was terribly wrong was slowly settling into Dom�s mind. Desperately he looked over the parking lot again, silently hoping to see Elijah sitting somewhere, smiling widely at the evilness of his own joke. He would just laugh at Dom�s worry and say �Got you, mate. Thought someone killed me, right?�
Yes, that sounded logical and very much like Elijah, but to Dominic�s disappointment nothing happened and he swore again.
That�s when he saw the piece of parchment, though. The brown paper was attached to the wooden door at the side of the building with a black dagger and Dom all of a sudden felt like throwing up. No, this couldn�t be happening, now could it? Slowly he walked over to where the paper was and looked at the elegant handwriting. The message was short but hard to understand.
A small map of Arizona was put beneath the text and Dom could clearly see a marking near a forest and the stretching desert, not too far from the border to California. On the edge of the map were scribbled a few words again.
�Fuck them all!� Dominic yelled into the nightly darkness, feeling absolutely lost with the disturbing note. He didn�t understand the words but one thing was for sure: some lunatic had kidnapped Elijah. Without losing any more time Dom pulled the dagger out of the door and released the parchment. His first thought was to leave the weapon on the ground but then he decided it might come in handy in the future and he took it with him to his car. There he re-read the message a few times before it finally all seemed to fall into place. Lij was the Chosen One, that much was obvious, and the bastard that had kidnapped him clearly wanted Dom to find him. But why? It didn�t sound like it was about money. What other reason then asking huge amounts of money for Lij did this person have then? It was too confusing for Dom and he wished he could call for the police. They�d know what to do, but then he would risk Elijah�s life and that was certainly not the plan.
Well, the only thing that sounded logical at that moment was to drive to the marked spot on the map of Arizona and there look for some more clues. Dominic started the engine of his BMW and drove off�
In the State of Arizona�
When Elijah opened his eyes there were two things on his mind. The first thing was a question.
�Why the hell is my head hurting so much?�
The second thing was a curse.
�Damnit Dominic, why did you turn the lights off?�
As soon as the idea popped inside his head however the truth rushed back at him and he sighed deeply. Vague memories of a humpy drive laying in the back of a car mixed with the smell of chloroform became clearer and Elijah gave a throaty groan. This guy had kidnapped him and brought him to God-knows-where to do God-knows-what to him.
At that second the room filled with sharp lights and Lij closed his eyes to shut the painful brightness out. The curiosity inside got the better of him soon though and he slowly looked up again, only to come face-to-face with the man that had his life in his hands.
�Are you awake at last? Did you sleep well?� he asked in the same raspy voice tingled with a British accent, and Elijah decided to ignore it.
�You can ignore me for now but you will start talking to me soon, you know.� he continued �First of all, let me explain to you why you�re here. You have a mission to complete, a mission that will open up the doors to Hell and let Lord Chaos among us. You are the one with that Gift to open up the doors and therefore you are the Chosen One. Understand so far?�
Despite himself Lij gave a little nod and the guy smiled, showing rotting teeth.
�I am your leader, the one who will improve your Gift so you know how to use it. The only thing you need to know about me are those words and my name: Darius.�
�Want my opinion on this thing?� Elijah suddenly spoke �I think you�re absolutely fucking sick and pathetic! You really think nobody will start looking for me? That they will just let me disappear and never��
But before he was able to end his tirade a sharp hit with a strong hand to his left cheek made him suck in his breath and his head swayed.
�Do not insult me boy, or you will suffer for your mistakes! My knowledge is far more extensive than yours and I refuse to listen to stupid rambling!�
Lij shut up at that.
�They won�t find you, not before it�s too late anyway. You are in another State and there are no clues left of my arrival in LA. For the World I do not exist and soon they will have forgotten about you too.�
Elijah slowly let those words sink in and he sighed deeply, knowing his chances of getting away from this creep in front of him were extremely little now.
�What�s left to live for anyway now you know they won�t come and save you? There�s nobody out there who cares about you, nobody who loves you.� Darius replied in the same lifeless voice, but Elijah shook his head violently, not caring about the sudden nausea welling up in his stomach at the movement.
�There are plenty of people who love me. My family, my friends. You can�t judge that.�
�Oh, but I can. Your father left you at a young age, not caring. Your mother is busy with her own life, so is your brother. Your sister might seem to care for you now but one day she will leave you for a boyfriend. You will be in second place with everyone, if you make it to that. And then, of course, there�s that housemate of yours��
�What about him!?�
Darius smiled in satisfaction to himself to hear the coldness in Elijah�s voice being replaced by a mixture of fear and anger and he stated �He hates you.�
�He does not!�
�Didn�t you have an argument the night I took you?�
Lij turned towards the tall man towering over him, eyes growing bigger than usual. How did that bastard know?
�Wonder how I know, dear boy? I have my ways of knowing. I read minds. Dominic�s mind was an easy one to read. The hate towards you welled out of his aura like a huge red waterfall coloured with malice and disgust. When was the last time you two had a great time? When was the last time he told you a secret? When was the last time he actually took time to listen to you?�
Elijah wanted to deny everything, to tell Darius he was wrong, but all that left his mouth was a soft �We both have been busy.�
�Don�t try to find excuses!� the leather-clad man yelled at that and kneeled down next to the actor�s head �Don�t say I�m wrong because I�m not!�
�He�he had other things on his mind!�
�Other things than talking to his so-called best friend? No boy. All that you are to him is a connection towards the big Hollywood producers and script-writers. An excuse to live in a nice house while you are gone. That�s what you are, nothing more.�
�But all the times he�s been nice to me? You can�t deny those!�
Elijah didn�t want to believe this man in front of him that knew so little about him, but it was true. Lately he and Dom had started talking less every day and the tension was growing. Maybe it hadn�t been the stress after all�
�That� Darius hissed �that is called acting, my friend. To make people believe what they want to believe. Now, if you need a real friend, look at me and I�ll be there for you. All you have to do is ask and I will give you anything. Anything.�
The ginger haired guy gave a sly smile before turning around, turning the lights off and walking out of the door.
�Remember my words. Remember my knowledge.� were the last words flowing into the darkness of the room before it was locked again�