Pissed and Planning Who: Aiden and Dorian Where: Bar When: Night
Aiden had gotten Dorian's voicemail, and had finished up his work as quickly as he could. He had heard about the missing teenagers that morning on the news before he'd left for the garage, but he hadn't caught any of the names. He was shocked and disheartened to hear Rhys was among the missing. Aiden was just finishing up when he got Dorian's text about where he was, and he drove across town as quickly as he could, leaving a message for Jules that was going to be late getting home.
He pulled into the small parking lot and walked into the bar a few minutes later, his gaze scanning the room for Dorian. When he found him, he walked over quickly to take a seat beside his friend. "What the fuck happened, man?"
When Dorian got off work, he found himself unable to go home. What good was he there? Watching the news would do nothing to bring Rhys back any sooner, so he'd headed out to a bar, texting Aiden along the way. maybe, just maybe, he'd overhear something of value. If not, then he could drink himself into oblivion instead. Both seemed like reasonable options considering the situation.
"They took Rhys," Dorian said, looking up at Aiden as he joined him at the little table. "Fuckers took Rhys and I have confirmation that they shot him. In the leg. And ten different eye-witnesses that can't do anything to identify them."
"Yeah... I heard about it on the news, but I didn't catch any names." Aiden paused when the waitress approached and he ordered a beer quickly, before waving her off impatiently. "Shit, they shot him? Jesus Christ." Aiden rubbed a hand over his mouth as he tried to decipher that. "No one saw anythin'? How the fuck does that even happen?"
"Everyone saw something, but no one saw any faces. Like they couldn't see them. Black magic would be my guess. Something like that," Dorian said, pausing to take a swig of his beer. "All the kids were shot with tranqs, but not all of 'em were taken. But Rhys was apparently shot-shot, so he could be bleeding out for all I know."
Running a hand through his hair, Aiden tried to think of some reassuring words, but he knew Dorian well enough to know he knew how bad this was. "So it was obviously planned, if they used magic to hide their identities. If they wanted them for somethin'... if they were just gonna let Rhys bleed out, they wouldn't have taken him... why not leave him behind and take a healthier kid, yeah? If they took him anyway, they wanted him, and I don't think they'd let him die." He was hoping, anyway. For Dorian's sake.
"But think of why anyone would want a handful of teenagers," Dorian said, only one thing on his mind. "I don't know if Rhys told anyone else, but if it got out what he could do..." Dorian shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. This was eating at him, the not being able to do anything. He couldn't just sit here and wait it out. He should be acting on it! Doing something! "Have you heard anything? I know this isn't your thing, but do you have any contacts that know the seedier side of the business?"
"I have a few... I can call them," Aiden offered. "I don't know if they'd know anythin' though. If some of those teenagers had abilities like Rhys... can you imagine how useful a telepath would be? I'm not tryin' to make things worse, Dor, or put those kinda thoughts in your head, but Rhys is more useful alive... I'm sure they patched him up to keep him around. We just... gotta figure out what the fuck happened so we can get him back."
"No, I know. You don't kidnap kids with no ransom and then just kill 'em," Dorian said, trying to keep himself from getting too worked up over the situation. "I'm sure he's out there. I just wanna try everything I can to find him. Even if your sources don't know anything, it's worth asking. I wish I knew someone with a tracking spell or something. My magic feels so damn useless now."
Aiden nodded quickly. "Yeah man, anythin'... " He tried to think if he knew anyone who could do magic besides Dorian. "Maybe we could find someone... white witch? Black magic witch? Maybe there's somethin' in those books you've got in your store? There's gotta be some way to figure out which way they were taken."
"Some kind of a tracking spell maybe?" Dorian said thoughtfully. He wasn't well versed in the other types of magics, but it was better than sitting around and doing nothing. "I'll start going through my books. I may need some odd supplies, should we try one of the spells there, but I'd rather give it a shot than wait till the cops find." Dorian sighed, frustrated, though at least now he had a plan. "How're things with you, by the way? Jules go to the doctor?"
"Yeah. I mean, the authorities might not think of it, you know? We can do somethin'. I'll call around the second I get home and see if I can get some information on what's goin' down. I'll bribe or blackmail people if I have to." He scrubbed his hand over his face again with a sigh. "Yeah, she did. She's about two and a half months pregnant so... we're keeping it."
"Thanks," Dorian said. He never thought he'd be in this kind of position, but he never thought his little brother would be kidnapped either. It definitely changed his view of what he could or couldn't do as a law abiding citizen. "Do you want it?" Dorian asked. It still bothered him that Aiden was willing to bring a kid into the picture when he wasn't completely ready for it. If he didn't want it, adoption should be an option... but it didn't seem like Aiden had a say in that.
"Yeah..." Aiden took the beer the waitress handed him and took a long pull before looking at Dorian. "We can always talk about this some other time... feels kind of shitty to be talkin' about the soon to be kid when your brother is missing." He nodded toward Dorian's drink. "Are you here purposely to get pissed, or was there some other reason you came to a bar?"
"Kay," Dorian said, unable to argue with that. He was in a poor mood and would probably pick on Aiden, which really wasn't what he wanted to be doing. He just wanted someone to gripe at due to his uselessness. "Just to get pissed," he snorted. "Though if I'm gonna go all out on the magic stuff, I probably don't wanna head into it with a hangover."
Aiden took another drink from his beer, eying Dorian closely. "You know how 't hold your liquor. If you need to get pissed, get pissed. I'd already be droolin' on the fuckin' floor, passed out by now if I were in your situation. We're gonna find Rhys," Aiden said confidently. "And then we're gonna take out the fucker, or fuckers, who took him in the first place."
Would getting pissed drunk help? Not if he should be looking through spellbooks. But he needed to think about what he should be looking for, and he could do that while drinking. "We'll find him," Dorian said, somehow assured by Aiden. And unsaid was his agreement. They would rip the fuckers who took him apart, leaving nothing behind for the police to clean up.