Love Lost and Found

Chapter 34/37 (?)

She could not believe it. She had been so sure. And now? Now she had nothing. Not even the slightest clue. The house was empty. Frustratedly she smashed her fist into the nearest wall, dazedly staring at the debris that fell to the floor. She had been so sure that he would hide Jamie here. But she had found nothing. There had been some hints that the house had recently been lived in – some discarded paper, a half-eaten pizza, an open book lying on a table – but nowhere was even the smallest trace of Jamie.
Unsure what to do she left the house, having already searched it twice. On the front steps she froze dead in her tracks. A few metres to her left a forgotten item lay on the floor. She stepped onto the sidewalk and picked the small teddy bear up. She would have recognized it anywhere. It was Jamie’s. She straightened her back, standing tall and glaring into the direction that lay ahead. She did not know where the road led to but she would find that out soon enough. It was the only trace she had. She tucked the loaded – but secured – gun into the waistband of her navy jeans and marched straight ahead.

They were sitting on the benches in the front rows of the church as Frase ended his tale. “That wasn’t much.” Viggo stated coldly. “And I don’t see how that could help us.” “Could you describe the man Orlando walked away with?” Goodie interjected, desperate to find out more, to know for sure.
“Well. Yes I think I might.” the vicar nodded. “He wasn’t exactly tall, of average height, I think, with straight blond hair and green eyes.” Goodie nodded dejectedly. “That’s him. That’s Kyle.” “Kyle?” Frase asked, “Kyle MacLachlan?”
“You know him?” Viggo asked in surprise, suspicion once again shining from his eyes. “No… no…” the young victor said decisively. “But I know of him.” Viggo frowned, unsure what to make of that statement when Torsten stepped in. “Time enough for that later.” the bodyguard decided. “It’s more important to find Orlando now.” “They can’t be far.” Frase said, already getting up and walking towards one of the side doors. “What do you mean?” Viggo asked suspiciously, eyeing the vicar from head to toe. “How can you know where they are?”
“I don’t know where they are.” Frase sighed exasperatedly. “But they were here a short time ago and I know where they might be now.” “Where?!?” Viggo demanded, roughly grabbing the vicar’s wrists. “How can you know that?”
Angrily Frase shook off Viggo’s hands. “There are some old tunnels beneath this church. This was a convent once. MacLachlan knows of these tunnels. Some of them caved in over the last few years but I think that it’s the most likely place where he could have taken your friend to.” Viggo, Goodie and the bodyguards exchanged some quick glances, unsure if they could trust the young vicar or not. “Okay.” Goodie said after an uneasy quiet. “Lead the way then.”

He refused to open his eyes as MacLachlan returned. Maybe all of this was just another one of his nightmares. MacLachlan had not returned alone. Someone else had come with him. But the other’s footsteps were unwilling. They were the sound of someone being dragged to a place where he did not want to be. Chains rattled again, close to his left side and Orlando heard the sound of something soft and heavy hitting the floor. Probably a human. //Alive?// he thought, //or dead?//. The footsteps turned towards him now. “I’ll be back.” MacLachlan’s voice assaulted his ears. “I know you two know each other, so try to have some fun while I’m gone.” MacLachlan stepped back to the stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room, casually leaning against it. “Mortensen and the bodyguards are on their way down here. And Daniel is with them, too. They’re already in the church. That’s a problem. A problem I intend to solve.” “No!” Orlando’s eyes flew open and he stared pleadingly at MacLachlan. “Please not! Don’t hurt him!” he begged, “You promised! You said you wouldn’t hurt anyone if I came Willingly! And I came!” Orlando crawled forwards, blindly trying to gain hold of MacLachlan somehow. “Please don’t hurt Viggo! Or any of the others… please…”
MacLachlan sneered in disgust. “I never promised you anything. Now back off!” whimpering Orlando cowered against the wall as MacLachlan’s shoe collided with his stomach. “As for your Viggo…” Kyle continued, a dangerous undertone in his voice. “I once planned to clean him from your evil but he is beyond saving now. He has been tainted too much by your touch and our unholy desires. Oh yes!” MacLachlan laughed, a harsh guffaw that echoed hollowly through the stony tomb. “I know! Did you really think that I wouldn’t notice it? That I wouldn’t see? The way you look at him, the way you held each other. Oh yes, I know all about you! And because of that I know that only death can free Mortensen from the evil you have infected him with!”
“No…” Long after MacLachlan had left, Orlando still sat crying in the corner, his head buried in his hands. Only when the other prisoner of MacLachlan’s started to sob loudly too, did he lift his head. His heart almost missed a beat as he stared into a watery pair of eyes he knew. Jamie. For some obscure reason Jamie was the madman’s missing ingredient. “No…”

She stopped as she came to a dimly lit crossroad. She had absolutely no idea where to go next. Suddenly some movement in the garden of a nearby property caught her eye. Cautiously she went to have a closer look. The house seemed to have been pulled down years ago and since no one had bothered to build a new one, the whole place looked like a huge secret garden, an unexpected oasis of green and life in this bleary brown and grey neighbourhood. Instinctively she fought her way deeper into the thicket, ignoring the pricks of the thorns and brambles that tried to keep her from venturing further. Suddenly she stood in front of a gaping black hole. The hole was actually a doorway, the entrance to some sort of tunnel she noticed on closer inspection. Suddenly she remembered something she had read once.
There was a deserted convent somewhere nearby. A convent that was rumoured to have built tunnels under certain parts of the city. It was time to find out if the rumours were true. She switched on the stag-light, taking it in her left hand and lifting it above her head to light her way. The gun in her right hand pointed forwards, ready to fire, as she entered the old cobweb-filled catacombs.

“Hush,” he whispered, stroking the boy’s hair. “It will be alright again, you’ll see. My friends are on their way.” He continued muttering assurances, gently rocking the boy as far as their chains allowed while he tried to soothe both of them. However, the boy’s now silent sobbing and shaking continued. “He’s gone Jamie. He can’t hurt us now.”
“But what if he comes back? He said he’d kill me!” the boy stammered as he looked up at Orlando, the plea for help and reassurance written clearly all over his tear-stained face.
“Remember the story I told you?” Orlando asked, seemingly out of the blue. “At the hospital? The first time we met?” “Yes…” the boy whispered, his head nodding slightly “the one about the beauty and the beast… why? It was just fairy tale…”
“No.” Orlando said firmly with a strength he did not possess. “Fairy tales have a morale, there’s something true to them… a meaning… and the meaning of that one is that no matter what happens, no mater how strong evil seems to be. Love and friendship will always win in the end. And that,” he added, pressing a kiss onto the top of Jamie’s hair “is exactly why MacLachlan will lose!”
“Will you tell it to me again?” Jamie asked, snuggling closer to the actor. Orlando simply nodded.

Tbc...