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Victor shrugged his black trench coat on.
Upon hearing a noise, a shift in the silence, Mitch paused. He stopped washing the dishes and instead he twisted his head around to peer over at Victor, who was fixing the collar of his trench with one hand and fetching something in his pockets with the other.
"Treat Syd tonight," Victor ordered, placing a couple dollar bills onto the counter. "Get whatever she wants."
Syd, who was perched over the kitchen counter, craned her head to look up at Victor. He stared back with no expression in his eyes, just pale blue. Sydney knew it was code for "Don't ask about it", which usually meant he wouldn't be around by the time she and Mitch had dinner and were off to bed.
Victor's gaze drifted over to what her hands were occupied with. Observing what seemed to be a half-filled, half-forgotten crossword and a cup of hot chocolate.
Dol rose from his position beside Syd's feet and moved towards Victor's legs. Nuzzling the trims of Victor's coat. Victor looked down, not knowing whether to let his hand muzzle the fur on the dog's head or to shoo it away with his leg.
"Where are you going?" Syd spoke, asking the question Victor dreaded hearing the most. Her eyes strayed downward to Dol, watching as the fuzzball hummed against the fabric of Victor's dark clothes. The dog whined, as if it knew Victor would leave again and come back at an ungodly hour. She pat her knee, causing Dol to swivel his head around to search for the source of sound. He retreated from Victor and decided to settle against Syd's leg once again. Victor straightened his cloak. Pat down his slacks.
"Out," Victor responded, already twisting the handle of the front door. It was the usual response he gave her when she asked such things, which seemed to be quite often as of late. He could see Mitch drying his hands from the corner of his eye, but didn't bother to give his former cell mate a glance.
"Don't stay out too late," she said quickly, just before Victor was inches away from stepping outside of the hotel room. He turned to look at her once again, offering her a ghost of a smile.
"I'll try not to," he said, before shutting the door behind him.
Sydney saw through the lie.
He always smiled before he lied.
In reality, Victor wasn't planning to go that far. Theoretically, he would be back before midnight. But in actuality, he wasn't planning to slip back into the apartment that early. He had some business to take care of.
Privately.
He wouldn't call it progress, but rather just a hunch.
A hunch that was itching Victor the moment the thought came to him.
Eli.
Eli who was plaguing his mind day by day and torturing his sanity. Eli who just kept on getting away. Slipping through his fingers like cascading water.
Victor kissed his teeth. The thought of Eli still running around Merit aggravated him to the core.
With his hands buried deep in each of his cloak's pockets he began walking towards the elevator. He usually preferred taking the stairs, no matter how many there were to descend. Perhaps it was a habit. But today he was feeling a little... let's say, spontaneous.
Mitch would tease Victor, claiming it was because he had an internal fear of elevators - to which Victor responded by grabbing a hold of Mitch's nerves, turning the dial up just a little in warning.
Mitch never teased Victor about anything else after that.
Victor entered the empty elevator, his slender fingers pressing the button which claimed to bring him down to the ground floor. The doors shut and he let himself ponder over the real reason why he avoided elevators. He first thought about how it didn't allow the operator to have much control over their transportation. It was heavily reliant on the carriage itself after ordering it to descend or ascend accordingly. Complete control was something Victor enjoyed having and he realised elevators stripped that from him.
He then thought about how it was so easy for an elevator to malfunction. Although it's machinery wasn't as complex as most of the things found in Merit, there were always articles upon articles on cases which weren't so convenient for someone like Victor to experience. He had already gone several years contained in the same four walls when he was placed in solitary confinement. He couldn't bare to withstand that again.
He also thought about the change in gravity, the change in motion. The change that felt odd at first, unnerving for some, and fear-inducing to many. It was random, but he wondered what Eli would think about elevators and their escalating nature. He'd probably think un-highly of them. Claiming that it goes against God's will. No human should have as much control on their final destination. He'd probably execute the man who brought the idea of elevating carriages to life if they were still around today.
Victor wanted to laugh at that, though he put that thought to a halt once the elevator chimed unexpectedly, opening it's doors at floor four. Victor looked down at the buttons beside him to see whether he asked for the wrong floor or not. To his amusement, it was still heading down to the ground floor.
Three women entered the carriage and he suddenly remembered another reason why he despised elevators so much.
People.
Upon seeing Victor in the carriage they paused their rather loud conversation, shuffled in, and stared at each corner of the carriage to withstand the awkward silence engulfing them. Victor used his ability to create a subconscious aversion around him, the very small and very subtle amounts of pain caused the other passengers to avoid standing too close to him. They avoided making eye contact with him too.
Good. That's just what he wanted.
He didn't bother asking either of the women if they were heading upwards of downwards. Just clicked the elevator doors shut and proceeded his way to the ground floor.
But of course, another interruption just had to surface its way up.
The doors chimed open again. Victor looked up to see that it was only floor three. He cursed himself for booking a hotel room on floor five, if he was lower down it wouldn't be such a hassle.
If he had just taken the stairs, it wouldn't of been such a hassle.
Two men made their way in. Only this time, the two just couldn't stop talking.
Great, Victor thought.
He was too out of it to bother using his power. It would be quite unnatural for him to use it in such a refined space. And so he allowed for the women to stand beside him, allowed their small frames to make physical contact with his lean one, as much as it irked him. Should've wore more layers, he thought.
He tried his best to step into the far left corner of the elevator, that way he felt as though he had more control on what he could see.
"It's all over the news, man, how have you not heard about him?" Asked the man wearing a dark navy three-piece. Victor had easily guessed the man was speaking about Eli. He restrained himself from sighing out loud. The man's olive-skinned fingers made it's way to the buttons of the elevator, just beside Victor. He clicked on the last button which led to the ground floor. The man offered Victor a lopsided smile, to which Victor didn't return. His blond hair was too shiny and teeth too white. It almost ached to look at such a flashy man.
"I don't know, I just don't care about all that EO crap, you know?" Said the other, who was shorter than the blond man but dressed more refined - according to Victor's taste. He loosened the knot of his black tie slightly, fingers unbuttoning the first two buttons on his dress shirt, revealing a glimpse of chest hair.
Victor noticed two of the three women stare at the man who was casually stripping his upper garments. Their hawk eyes were shamelessly zoned in on the exposed flesh of man he had so naturally put on show. He noticed, finally, and then flashed the two women a cheeky smile - a smile that reminded Victor of Eli. It was flirty. Misleading. Destructive.
The women averted their gaze, and Victor observed how their cheeks reddened and watched as one rubbed her hands down her skirt, straightening it out and removing the sweat beading from her clammy hands. He inwardly sighed. He never really understood the art of attraction. The human desire for sexual intimacy and whatnot.
The elevator glided down once again, surprisingly making it's way past the second floor. But that didn't last too long as the carriage came to a stop, yet again. Victor looked up, containing his annoyance. His gaze fell on the sign which read: ONLY CARRIES FOUR PEOPLE.
He didn't have to do a headcount to know that this carriage unfortunately exceeded that limit.
The doors opened again, the words 'floor one' glowing just above. But what the doors revealed this time was certainly not something Victor was expecting.
Not here.
Not now.
Eli blinked. He hesitated a little before quickly regaining his composure. A smile slipped onto his face and Victor felt as though his heart was in his mouth. He stood huddled in that far left corner of the elevator like he was frozen in time. Like somehow Dominic Rushers' abilities were in effect right here and right now in this very elevator.
Eli didn't let his smile fade. He knew the effect he had on Victor and he liked it.
He liked it very much.
The women attempted to get out of the elevator, but they too seemed to be entranced by Eli's presence.
"Excuse me, ladies," he spoke, and Victor felt his voice pierce him. He was still frozen, but that ice on him didn't seem to thaw.
It was burning him.
The women weren't even inches near him anymore, they were at the front of the carriage, yet Victor still felt suffocated. Still felt as though there was a noose clutched around his throat.
Eli shimmied his way in, his hand curving along the shoulder of one of the women in a gentlemanly gesture as he maneuvered past her and into the carriage.
The women dispersed, Victor saw one of them glance backwards at Eli as they ventured onwards. But Eli's eyes were fixed on Victor.
The doors shut and Eli just stood there. His lips still playing that smile Victor hated so much. Eli opened his mouth. Tried to summon the right words but failed. He closed his mouth and instead shook his head. Closed his eyes and laughed to himself.
Victor should've taken him there. Should've taken advantage of his vulnerability. Should've gotten a hold of his nerves and squeezed. Watched the life slip out of his eyes.
But he didn't.
Couldn't.
He was still frozen.
Goddamn, Eli.
Eli opened his eyes and exhaled. Like he was relived. Like seeing Victor right here and in front of him in a fucking elevator was fabulous. Just perfect.
Eli would probably say fate brought them here to this moment.
Victor would've told him that was bullshit.
Eli looked at the two other men in the carriage - or what Victor would like to preferably rename as a torture chamber - and took into account that the two were absolved into a conversation so deep that they didn't realise the Eli Ever was within arms reach.
Eli cut his gaze towards Victor and broke the silence between them, "Well, isn't this amusing,"
"Very," Victor responded, dryly.
Eli smiled, "I have to admit, I wasn't expec-"
"What's your opinion on elevators?"
"I'm sorry," Eli said, face looking overly puzzled. "What?"
"Elevators. What do you think?" Victor said, impatiently.
"I think," he began, looking around the confined space for a good few seconds before narrowing his eyes on Victor. "They can be quite misleading, for example, I requested for the ground floor and instead got you."
"I'm hurt," Victor said, sarcastically.
"Good thing you know how to numb the pain," Eli mused.
Victor spoke through gritted teeth, "I wonder who's fault is that?"
"I'm sorry?" Eli said for a second time, only now it sounded more like an interrogative question. Victor watched as Eli shook his head in disbelief. He really wondered why he kept saying 'sorry', like it wasn't the most useless word in the world, like Eli ever knew what it was like to be in true sorrow. "Are you seriously trying to blame me for your impulsive and reckless choices? Need I remind you, you killed my girlfri-"
"And that wouldn't of ever happened if you didn't decide to go investigate something so far out of your-"
"There he goes," Eli spoke, his smile twisting into something evil. "Blaming my thesis of all things, for his own stupidity. You are a joke, Victor. "
Now, Victor really wished he took the fucking stairs.
"Now that I think about it," Eli said, his voice splitting the silence after realising that Victor wasn't going to respond. "An elevator's convivence of vertical transportation can be compared to that of the path to either heaven or hell. You click one button, you desire and aim for one thing, but end up receiving the other. And why is that? Clearly, it's due to the actions that were made to lead you onto this moment. There was a circumstance doomed to interrupt your path, in other words - a conclusion to your one true fate, no matter how hard you try to strive for your own destination, there is always a destination already written for you."
Of course he'd say something like that.
Victor scoffed in distaste. "I wanted you to say something like that."
"Oh?" Eli spoke with an eyebrow raised. "Did the local church finally manage to make you see the light?"
Victor gave him a blank stare.
"Guess not," Eli muttered to himself.
The elevator chimed and Victor realised he missed the ground floor. Eli glanced sideways to see that the two men on the carriage had already left.
The elevator was already on the highest floor, making it's way down to the bottom floor once again.
They both stood there quietly for a moment after letting their mistake sink in.
"You know, for someone who doesn't believe in God, you sure don't act like it," Eli spoke, causing Victor to narrow his eyes at him. Urging him to elaborate.
"I know you've been on my trail like a man on pilgrimage, you are following me to no end like I'm your last prayer. Your last hope."
Victor scoffed, his lips tilt into a small smile, "You're not the saint you think you are, Eli."
The elevator opened its doors. Victor let his fingers curl, he could feel Eli's nerves in his grasp. It felt as if he were holding his beating heart. He held onto it delicately, like he knew it would bleed darkness and sin if he clutched his pale fingers around it more angrily, more urgently like he had always dreamed of.
Victor gave Eli a final warning before he let the dark haired man step out of the elevator.
"Run."
"Chase me."