I know Chapter One was short,, but I just wanted to get the scene set for the rest of the story. It's kind of like the prologue mixed into the beginning chapter. I promise, it will start getting better, though! Or... will it? Ahh you've got to stay tuned to find out! Here's Chapter Two!

Chapter 2

(Criss' POV)

"C'mon, Criss! You're going to be late to your acceptance speech if you don't put that pool stick down and get ready!"

"It's all the same, J.D. I won Magician of the Year, I go to some awards banquet, get a trophy, give some speech and then leave. Quite honestly, I have better things to do with my time rather than get some award that's just going to sit around collecting dust and give some cheesy speech to a bunch of people who really don't care," he told his brother J.D. Sarantakos as he hit the cue ball and watching the 9 ball go into a pocket. "I'd rather take a raincheck or play sick and have someone accept it for me 'on my behalf'"

"What's gotten into you, man? Never mind, I'm not going to get into it. You're going to the awards banquet whether you like it or not so let's get moving!"

Criss felt J.D. grab him by the shoulder and drag him out the door of his Luxury Suite at the Luxor Hotel and towards the elevator. After leaving the building they started to walk to the building where the awards banquet was being held. Although it was night time in Las Vegas, Criss still needed to slip on his shades and wear one of his favorite Fedora's as he walked because he really didn't feel like dealing with fans tonight. He didn't even feel like leaving the comfort of his hotel room to go to some stupid awards banquet to give a speech for some trophy. He didn't feel like doing any of it, but his brother made him and there was no arguing with him.

As Criss started to walk across the street, the sounds of screams from people on the streets and the squeal of tires rang throughout the streets. Criss looked to his left to see a yellow taxi coming right towards him and slam on his brakes stopping about 2 feet away from him. One of the back doors of the taxi opened and a girl who was maybe around 23 with long dark brown chestnut colored hair, her eyes the color of milk chocolate, legs so beautiful, so tan that it probably made a lot of girls jealous, her face one that you would find on the cover of magazines step out of the taxi and walked towards Criss.

"Are you alright? Didn't you look and see the taxi coming?" she asked with a hint of "this-is-pissing-me-off" in her voice as she spoke.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry about that," he said trying to muster enough voice to sound somewhat apologetic. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Well, maybe next time you should pay attention to where you're going," she grumbled as she got back in the backseat of the cab and drove away. Watching her cab leave, Criss was thankful she didn't recognize him (if she knew who he was, that is). Criss was so deeply absorbed into his own thoughts that it took him a few minutes to hear his brother's voice calling out to him loudly from the other side of the street.

"Criss come on! Stop standing there like an idiot and move it! We're already late enough as it is!" J.D. yelled to Criss from the other side of the street. Making sure to double check traffic was clear this time, he strode across the road and caught up with J.D. As they headed to the Holiday Inn, Criss couldn't help but think that girl he encountered back at the taxi wasn't just another pretty face walking the streets. He just knew she had a secret hidden deep down inside her that he probably couldn't even read her mind to find out what it was. All he knew was that now he was bound and determined to find out what it was exactly she is hiding. That was the only thing he could think about as he and his brother walked into the Holiday Inn banquet hall and took their seats in the back of the room where he wanted to sit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming out tonight to the Holiday Inn banquet hall as we honor a magician who comes along every 100 years or so. Magic is something a lot of people wish they could do but only a few can truly master and be able to truly fool their audience, to leave them wondering and guessing. But there's one magician in particular, illusionist really, who loves to take the Laws of Gravity and break them. 'The Laws Of Gravity I look at more as a suggestion,' is what he says. This guy can take even the most basic things you can find in a lot of homes and blow your mind away. Not only does he leave people guessing how he did it after his trick, he's got them going out trying to do that trick themselves. Besides his ability to astound the world with his grand illusions, he's also down-to-earth and connects with his fans on a level far more greater than how most celebrities 'connect' with their fans. Tonight, we're proud to name Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos, better known as Criss Angel, with his 5th Magician of the Year Award."

Applause sounded throughout the banquet hall as Criss rose out of his seat and strode across the floor and up the couple steps to the stage, shaking some guy's hand who just gave the speech that he knew from past award ceremonies. Trying his best to fake a sincere smile, he stood in front of the mic with his award in his hand, ready to give his acceptance speech he rattled off the top of his head.

"I'll be honest with you, after getting five of these in a row, this is starting to get a little redundant," Criss began as people in the audience laughed lightly at what they thought was a joke. "I just want to say thank you so much to the love and support I am constantly getting from my family and all my Loyals around the world. You all mean the world to me and without you, I wouldn't be where I am today. My brother and manager J.D. ... you're a pain in the ass at times but you're always there for me and even though you don't want me doing just about every stunt I do, no matter how hard you try to convince me not to do it; you always support my decision in the end. And, Mother," he said, motioning towards his mother with a smile. "My rock. My world. My supporter. My strength. This woman has given me so much love and I just hope I'm making you proud, mom. Thanks so much for this award, it really means the world to me. Thank you." As he walked off-stage to sit back down, the audience was already on their feet applauding and cheering him.

Blah blah blah how many of them ACTUALLY mean it. Zero. he thought to himself as he waved once and sat back down. Moments later, the applause died down and everyone sat back in their chairs. After a few more speeches from highly "important" people congratulating Criss on his 5th straight award, a lot of blah blah blah de blah, everyone was led into the dance hall for some food, drinking, music and dancing.

"Yeahhhhh screw this, J.D. I'm going back to the hotel. I did what I was dragged here to do and I'm not going to stick around for some stupid dancing party just for me. It's my party and I'm going to leave!" he told J.D. as he left the Banquet Hall and down the lobby to the front doors.

"Your loss, man! I'm staying behind! There's hot girls here! And beer! Your loss, man!" I heard him say to me as he strode across the lobby rolling his eyes.

Typical J.D. he thought as he walked across the street, down the nearly bare sidewalks that was devoid of people and back inside the Luxor. After getting into the elevator and getting off at his floor, he was walking down the hallway, not paying attention to where he was going when all of a sudden he felt a great deal of weight collide into him and send him backwards knocking him down onto his backside. the girl he collided into also fell onto her backside on the opposite side of jim.

"I'm sorry. This is the second time to day I've either collided with something or nearly got ran over. I apologize about not paying attention to where... I... was..." He didn't finish his sentence because when he directed his eyes to the girl he knocked into, he couldn't believe who it was, and apparently, neither could the girl.

"It's you! The guy who my taxi cab nearly ran over earlier today! Man you are bad luck, ain't ya, Criss Angel?"

Crap. I forgot to put my shades back on.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he said with a slight laugh as he looked the girl up and down a couple times trying to get an image for his head of what she looked liked. "Like I said, I'm really sorry about that."

"It's fine, whatever. Don't worry about it," she said with a slight tone to her voice.

Something is definitely wrong with her... I wonder what it could be.

"What's your name?" Criss asked her.

"Excuse me?" she asked back, kind of surprised at what he was asking.

"What's your name?" he asked again.

"Hollie. My name is Hollie Carrell."

"Hollie Carrell," he said slowly, letting the name roll off his tongue, realizing how good it sounded to him as he extended a hand towards her. "I'm Criss Angel, but you already figured that one out," he said with a smirk.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Criss. Well, uhm, I'm going to head to bed now. It's late and I'm tired. Congratulations on whatever you seemed to have won tonight," she said, gesturing towards his trophy he was holding in his hand that he just realized didn't break from the fall.

"Oh. Thanks. It's nothing big. This is my 5th one I have in a row. No big deal."

"OK then. Well... see ya later." She opened the door to her room and went inside, giving Criss a final look as she slowly shut her door.

As he walked down the hallway to his room, he couldn't seem to get Hollie out of his mind no matter how hard he tried to have his mind focus on something or someone else. She was all he could think about. Hollie Carrell... Hollie Carrell... such a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. I wonder what her story is that she's hiding. So many questions: What happened to her? Does she even trust anyone anymore? Can I get her to trust me in some way, shape, or form? His head was filled with question after question while he routinely kissed his cat Hammie and crawled into his hotel bed, slowly drifting off to sleep with Hollie on his mind.

The next morning, Criss woke up at 11:00 a.m.

I've never been able to sleep in until 11 for such a long time. This is rare, very rare.

While he was in the bathroom taking a shower, his mind started rushing back to Hollie and what happened last night in the hallway.

This is ridiculous. I don't like her do I? I don't actually have these feelings for her, do I? I hardly know her and yet I already can't get her out of my mind? This is crazy, Criss. You're crazy. She more than likely doesn't even have feelings back. She probably wouldn't want to deal with a crazy, hardcore magician like you. Heck, she probably doesn't even believe in magic, so why's it even matter? Wrapping a towel around his waist as he stepped out of the shower, he heard a small knocking at his door.

Is it her? Is she coming to say hello?

"Hey, Criss!" J.D. said when Criss opened his door and J.D. strode right in.

"Uhm, hello to you too. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing today? Want to hang around with me and the gang down at LAX Nightclub? Maybe score some hotties?" J.D. winked.

"Nah, I'm not up for clubbing today, brother. I have a day off for the first time in like, 2 years so I'm just going to spend it by myself today."

"From a manager point of view, have a wonderful day off. But from a brother point of view, are you really going to keep your ass in your hotel room all day on your day off? Why not come out and enjoy it? Rejoin something called civilization instead of being by yourself!" "Thanks but no thanks. I'm just going to stay by myself today."

"Alright. Your call. Have fun by yourself, brother." J.D. left Criss' room, who was quick to close the door behind him.

"These wounds won't seem to heal. This pain is just too real. There's just too much that time cannot erase. When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears. When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears. And I held your hand through all of these years but you still have all of me."

Who is that singing near my doorway? Whoever it is, she sounds beautiful.

"You used to captivate me by your resonating light. Now I'm bound by the life you left behind. Your face it haunts my all once pleasant dreams, your voice it chased away all of the sanity in me."

She sings with such pain in her heart, like she really means it. Who is it? He strode to his door and opened it, looked down the hallway and was surprised to find that the beautiful singing voice belonged to none other than Hollie Carrell, who was standing in front of the soda machine which wasn't far from his door, maybe about 10 feet. Hollie didn't even notice that Criss was watching her from the doorway she was so wrapped up in her song. When she finished, he just stood there staring at her as she bent down and grabbed her soda, turning around to head back to her room and nearly jumped when she saw he was standing there watching her.

"How long have you been standing there for?" she shrieked, clutching her soda to her chest as if it was going to be used as protection.

"I.. I just heard somebody singing outside my door and I was wondering who it was so I opened the door and I saw it was you singing and your singing was so beautiful that I just couldn't tear away so I stood here and listened to you sing. You're a really beautiful singer. Have you ever tried getting a record deal?"

"A record deal? No way. I'm not that good of a singer. Besides, there'd be no record label Who would want me on their team?"

"That's not true. I can ask the people down at the record label I'm signed up with and see if they'd listen to you sometime and sign you on with them."

"No that's OK. Thanks, though."

"Well, if you ever change your mind, the offer's still on the table. You know where to find me." he said, forgetting he was only in a towel.

"Ok. Well, see ya." she said as she hurried down the hall with her soda and went into her room quickly. Criss slowly shut his door as he went to his room and started changing into his clothes for the day, Hollie's beautiful singing voice running through his head the whole time. In fact, her singing remained in his head throughout the rest of the day as he hung out inside his hotel room, coming out only once to check out some of the shops downstairs but not buying anything. I made damn sure to steer clear of his MINDFREAK store so he wouldn't have to deal with many fans today.

Hollie Carrell, you have a secret deep inside you that you know you want to share but you can't bring it to yourself to open up to anyone. Someway, somehow, I'm going to make you open up to me and tell me what's bothering you. He got back to his room and settled into his bed, his brain starting to formulate the perfect plan inside his head of how he was going to get Hollie to open her heart up to him. One way or another, it was going to happen.