The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 56: Worry
Silence in the room. Xavier seemed to be smiling sweetly, while Elana was stunned filled with overwhelming shock.
The offer was unexpected, of course very tempting. Ever since exiting the island, Elana has struggled, trying to break away from Akram but failing. His entire effort had been broken by Akram, even before he could try.
Now, an offer of freedom is being waved in front of his nose, a very attractive offer to make.
Elana glanced towards Xavier who was still sitting waiting in a sweet smile. Suddenly he came to his senses, Xavier was not that simple. The man always had the intention behind his actions. If not careful, Elana could fall into her trap.
"Why are you offering that?" without covering up her suspicions, Elana immediately asked.
Xavier raised next to his eyebrows. "Why are you asking?" the man answered the question with a question.
Elana looked doubtful, but finally replied as well.
"Akram says you won't help anyone else unless it's beneficial to you" wide-eyed Elana looked at Xavier with a curious look. "You offered me freedom, without asking for a penny in return. Well, what's in it for you?"
Xavier thins his lips at the question. Her eyes shone sharply towards Elana, as if wanting Elana to understand the meaning of her sentence well.
"You left Akram, it's already an advantage for me" he replied slowly.
"Ba... How can it be?" Elana couldn't digest Xavier's words. He's really confused.
Xavier's eyes flashed. "Are you not aware that Akram is bound to you more than he should? My sister always looked hard on the outside, but she had a soft heart hidden inside that sometimes fell in love easily when she was off guard. The longer you stay with Akram, the deeper the bond between you two," Xavier looked at Elana with a piercing look. "If you are only half-hearted to Akram, it would be better for him if he lost you as soon as possible. I'll probably enjoy seeing her heart break again because you left her."
"Se... how confident are you with Akram, so you... You always snatch what he likes and enjoy seeing him heartbroken?" Elana asked with a trembling voice. For some reason, the photos of Anastasia's forensics flashed back to her mind. This time did not cause too much fear to Xavier, instead inflicting an unbearable sense of empathy on Akram.
"hate?" Xavier grinned. "Do you know, Elana? The line between hate and love is as thin as thread? Sometimes you can misinterpret love as hate, and vice versa" Xavier seemed earnest with his words. "I myself can say out loud that I love my sister very much."
"A person who loves always gives! Not trying to snatch and then hurt!" elana exclaimed suddenly, she really couldn't bear to not protest Xavier's overturned logic.
"I gave Akram Night protection from everything that betrayed him, didn't you realize?" sahut Xavier was quick, leaving Elana stunned.
"Protection? What kind of protection? Didn't you try to assassinate Akram several times? How could you have tried to kill Akram but you said you were protecting him?" refute Elana doesn't believe.
Xavier straightened his back, his voice restrained as if he had initially hesitated to explain. But, he finally said as well.
"In the eyes of the world, I position myself as an enemy of Akram Night. You know the advantage of that? All of Akram's enemies who wanted to kill my brother, all of them contacted me to ask me to cooperate with me. Because, only I am the equivalent of Akram Night in both wealth and power. They were all so dark-eyed and greedy to kill, so grudged and spiteful that I could not wait to set up a plan to take Akram's life, letting them feast in momentary pleasure as they felt their dream of destroying Akram Night would soon be realized.... Then, I thwarted their plan at the last second,"
"Meng... foiled their plan....?" Elana stammered, her eyes wide open.
"You know why every plot against Akram Night always fails? No, Lana, it's not because the goddess of luck always shaded Akram and protected her. It's all because I always make sure that the whole plan is thwarted." Xavier gritted his teeth. "I'm even willing to bear the title of a loser while Akram is called a winner" Xavier's eyes flashed with danger. "Do you think, a genius like me can fail if I really want to finish someone off? The planning I made must have been very mature, flawless and loopholes. I'd make it if I really wanted to."
Elana blinked, filled with disbelief. "Ta.. but that truck...."
"So you were really with Akram that time? Forgive me for giving you such a bad trauma," Xavier smiled gently, his expression also changing, full of apologies. "But the accident was also arranged so as not to succeed. The truck that hit Akram's car did not cause any significant damage. It's not just because of Akram's advanced car safety features, but because of my interference. My technique installed a remote control feature on the truck, so that no matter how deeply the truck driver tried to step on the gas to crash, my technique could stop it remotely with the right estimate. So, even if the collision still occurs, the damage is not so severe. Do you think the conditions could be that lucky with a very large truck, but just hit the back half of the car and make the passengers on the front safe?"
Xavier's expression turned dark as the man continued his sentence, as if the tendrils of cruelty that were being hidden tightly in the presence of Elana, managed to slip into the look on his face, tucking in a terrible cruel twinkle.
"Being Akram's enemy made it easier for me to detect Akram's other enemies. Because, everyone always thinks that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Of course after the failed assassination attempt, I finished them off to their roots so that the parasite had no chance of living again" Xavier stared at Elana, and when he noticed the ray of fear in the woman's eyes, his lips snared a smile. "I am a crazy, cruel killer. I love spilling blood with my hands and enjoying it. But, I never kill for no reason," Xavier's voice turned into a low hiss full of threats.
"Then...What about the Akram pets you killed? How about. with...." Elana wanted to mention that name, but her voice was stuck in her throat as if strangled with an invisible rope.
"What about Anastasia?" Xavier casually continued Elana's sentence. Xavier's eyes flashed back, full of cruelty and a dark hatred terrifying. "I've told you that every murder I've made, there's a reason" Xavier tilted his head, then looked at Elana with a teasing look as if he was joking. "If you want me to kill, you have to give me a good reason, before I swing my knife and take your life with pleasure" he continued.
Elana was stunned to hear Xavier's last sentence. Whether this man is crazy, whether his sense of humor is indeed very low. To be sure, Xavier's joke was the most terrible joke Elana had ever heard in her entire life.
Xavier's explanations were still swirling around in his head, waiting to be digested by his brain. Of course he wouldn't be that easy to trust Xavier. These men are manipulative and able to lie without even blinking.
Who knew that everything Xavier said was just a big lie scenario, set to make Elana waver?
"So is that what you want?" Elana looked at Xavier with a probing look. "Waiting for a good reason to kill me? That's why you're trying to push me to leave Akram? So you have a reason to kill me?"
Xavier smiles. "That's what I wanted, then" the man seemed to have no intention of covering up his evil intentions. "But, having known you, I undo my intentions. You're just an innocent little animal caught in the middle of our fight. Freeing you will be a relief to my sinful heart, and will free you both from the deeper pain."
Xavier suddenly stepped up from his seat, looking at Elana with a serious look without a smile.
"But relax, Lana. I am patient and I am willing to wait. My offer to release you will still be in effect until our last meeting. That's when you have to give me an answer" Xavier let out a long sigh. "Just be careful to take care of your heart, Lana. A physical relationship without feeling, still has its own way to the heart. Physical closeness, hugs, touches, kisses, hand grips, all of that will foster a sense of need that will be the perfect fertilizer to the key that will open the way to your heart. I'm really worried that if you don't accept my offer right now, the longer you'll sink the deeper it becomes to the harder it is to knock yourself out of Akram. There is no second chance, jump to escape while you are still dry, or drop yourself all at once until fully drowned. It's your only choice and I hope you think about it carefully,"
After saying the closing sentence, Xavier made a hand gesture as if saying goodbye, then stepped away without a word, step into a door that is drawn against the wall like a secret door and disappear behind a tightly closed door.
***
***
"Elana!" Nathan moved quickly towards the bed where Elana was lying. "You're conscious. You okay?" nathan quickly grasps Elana's pulse, measures her temperature, checks Elana's life-sign monitor and also infuses the antidote's serum. After making sure everything was fine, Nathan let out a long sigh, then slammed his limp body, filled with great relief, to the side of Elana's bed at the end of his foot.
Elios himself seemed no less busy, the man surrounded the open glass door, swearing when they realize that they have actually been tricked by a sophisticated digital screen that closes all the sights in the room without them noticing.
Elios approached Elana, then stopped right beside the bed. Anxiety still smeared his eyes, especially when he saw an empty single chair that seemed to have been dragged from its original place to the position right in front of Elana's bed
"Did Xavier come to see you?" elios asked directly, his eyes scanning Elana closely. "Are you okay?" Elios forgot his usual formal attitude when talking to Elana, as his heart was currently racing uncontrollably.
Stupid them! With the digital screen closing in, Elana could have been killed and died inside here before they knew it. They had been careless and careless to the point of making Akram wrath extraordinary.
Elios was reporting as usual to Akram, who required him to report once an hour. When Akram asks Elios to check on Elana, Elios explains innocently that they are outside the room, which is bounded by walls and large glass doors so that they can watch over Elana without disturbing her rest. After all, since then Elana slept soundly because of the influence of drugs, so the explanation given Elios to Akram.
In that instant, with his sharp instincts, Akram immediately learned that something was wrong. His master rebuked Elios and Nathan for their negligence, then had Elios and Nathan examine the door immediately and ascertain the condition of Elana behind the door.
Akram's guess is right, the door turned out to be a camouflage of a giant digital screen that is very sophisticated. Lucky behind the door, Elana is alive and alive. Otherwise, Akram Night would have taken their lives right then and there.
"Elana's fine" Nathan replied, glancing at Elios' flickering phone. "It is better to report in advance this latest situation against Akram. Tell him Elana's okay. I've made sure of that."
"Oh, well," Elios' face looked pale as he picked up a phone call that was definitely from Akram. The angry grunts of Akram were even heard piercing the speaker of the phone, making Elios' face even paler as he continued to explain in successive sentences while stepping out of the room where Elana was being cared for in order to speak more freely.
Left alone, Nathan looked back at Elana with an indecipherable look.
"So, Xavier came to see you?" the knot was quick, glancing back towards the empty seat that Xavier had left there.
Elana nodded, pointing at the side of the wall where the secret door was located. "It looks like he went out and in from that secret door," replied Elana weakly.
Nathan took a long breath. "But apparently, he didn't touch or hurt you, and just talked to you?" ask again with a tone of making sure.
Elana nodded back. This time his eyes were unable to return Doctor Nathan's gaze. Somehow he felt unable if Nathan's doctor interrogated him and forced him to say in detail what Xavier had told him. Especially about that offer of freedom.
But Nathan didn't do it. The man only frowned slightly, but showed absolutely no intensity to force Elana to open her mouth.
"I'm not going to ask you to explain what Xavier said to you because it might be a personal matter. But, I don't want you to forget, Elana. Xavier is a psychopath, and not only that, he is a genius. These two things, put together, would create a deadly combination with a very terrible impact." Nathan looked at Elana intently. "Either how many times has Xavier dealt with the authorities who tried to test his alibi and wanted to charge him with various kinds of heinous murders that only he might be capable of. But the police always failed to establish the evidence they were pursuing. You know why?"
When the question was suddenly asked to him, all Elana could do was shake her head.
"Because every Xavier plan is always perfect. He always thought a hundred steps ahead of the others. In fact they say Xavier is able to manipulate a digital hoax detection machine operated by a very sophisticated Artificial Intelligence," Nathan answered his own question while staring at Elana sharply. "Whatever Xavier tells you, you must be very careful Elana. He is even capable of manipulating highly sophisticated computer artificial intelligence systems. It's possible that he's trying to manipulate you into stepping willingly into the pattern he's set for you."
***
***
The night was so late and Akram was waiting for Elana in the elevator's front parking lane when the car carrying Elana got there. Elana has indeed been brought home no longer by ambulance but by ordinary car.
After the infusion process of the first stage is completed, the doctor said that the hypothermia will not attack Elana again, at least until the third day after this when the process of giving the second stage of infusion is given. If until the second stage of infusion is given too late, then severe hypothermia will attack Elana just as when the first day Elana was pierced by the poison.
It was Nathan who guided Elana out of the car and took her step towards Akram. Without saying anything, Akram immediately grabbed Elana, bent down to embrace her back and behind her knees, then carried Elana into her carrier.
Akram calmly gave instructions to Elios and Nathan to give a detailed report the next morning, before then he turned to the elevator and took the two of them up to the apartment.
When Akram carried her through the apartment door, Elana couldn't stand Akram's grim residence and began to ask.
"Accord....?" elana's voice came to a halt as Akram lowered his head and looked at her sharply. The man even gnashed his teeth as if holding in anger, making Elana's voice stifled between fear mixed in confusion.
Akram's steps quickly led them up the stairs and directly into his room.
"Acram?" Elana tried to ask but Akram's voice stopped her immediately.
"Shm...Talk later," whispered Akram in a demanding and undeniable tone.
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