Thank you for reviewing. I love to hear from you all.

Here is the last few lines of the last chapter, just In case any of you guys forgot what happened:

Erik's black hood slipped back, revealing his mask to the stranger. He quickly pulled his hood back into place, but it was too late, the stranger had already seen his face.

"My Allah, you are Madeline's son!" the man exclaimed in amazement.

And now back to the story…

Chapter 29

"DON'T YOU EVER UTTER THAT DAMN NAME IN FRONT OF ME AGAIN!" Erik roared with a voice that shook the night.

The Concord reared up on her hind legs in fright. Erik pulled her reigns down and calmed her down by gently stroking her neck.

A few stray dogs from afar started to bark from the commotion, waking up many of the villagers from their peaceful sleep.

Erik saw from the corner of his eye the candles in a few of the windows of the villagers' houses being lit.

Erik grabbed the man by the collar of his robes and dragged him into a dark, abandoned alleyway.

"Who the hell are you?" Erik hissed into the man's ear.

"My name is Nadir Khan," the foreign man said stiffly.

Erik's golden eyes narrowed into two small slits. "I know that name…" Erik's voice trailed away as he went into a deep pensive state. Erik's jaw muscles tightened and his grip tightened on Nadir's robes. "I remember you now. You are the man who reported to Madeline that I was sneaking into the church in the middle of the night, playing the organ," he growled.

"Funny how I caught you sneaking into a store not too long ago," Nadir mumbled quietly, hoping Erik wouldn't hear him.

Nadir was not so lucky for Erik's keen sense of hearing easily picked up what he had said.

"Do you have a death wish, Monsieur Khan?" Erik asked threateningly. Nadir shook his head. "Good," Erik purred, letting go of his robes.

Erik turned on his heal and strode to Concord. In one fluid movement, he lifted himself onto the horse's back and took off into the night.

XXX

Erik dismounted his horse and left her with a full bucket of oats and a gallon of water in her other bucket. He gave her a soft rub on her nose and left her to her food.

He walked through his front door and headed toward the kitchen. He placed the bag of food on the table and rummaged through it, only to pull out a slice of bread and the bottle of red wine. He took one of the glasses out of the cabinet and poured the wine into his glass till it reached the rim.

Erik glided with the bread, glass of wine, and the bottle into the living room without spilling a drop of the wine on the Persian rugs. Glass and bread in hand, he sat down in his thrown-like chair haphazardly. His left leg dangled off the left arm of the chair and his right elbow rested on the right arm of the chair.

He polished off the bread in a matter of minutes and then started with the wine. He took a few sips until he heard the loud bells ringing from the trap alarms.

Erik quickly placed the glass on the table next to him and sprung to his feat. He sprinted toward the tunnel that led to the stables, cape whipping behind him. "Damn it!" Erik cursed. "I don't want the murder on my hands again!"

He rushed down the tunnel at a faster pace, hoping that he wasn't too late.

He heard the grinding noise of his trap in motion before he saw it. Looking down quickly he saw as the large wooden spicks, surrounding the walls, closed in upon the man inside the room below. The man in the room below, yelled frantically for help.

Erik quickly flipped the switch. A loud screeching noise was heard down below as the brakes skidded to a halt, so that the wooden spikes were only a foot away from the man's body. The man sighed loudly, in relief.

Erik flipped the switch into revise and the walls slowly grinded back into their original places.

Erik unhooked his Punjab lasso from his belt and lowered to down to the man. Once the man saw the noose in front of him, he took a step back, startled, and then looked up to see nothing but darkness. The darkness had cloaked his rescuer's face, so the man was puzzled of who saved him. Whoever he was the man was determined to thank him.

"Well don't just stare at the rope, grab onto it," Erik commanded impatiently.

Without a second thought, the man grabbed onto the offered rope. With all of his strength, Erik started pulled the full grown man out of the pit. Erik grunted in frustration. He felt sweat dripping down his face and his white dress shirt cling to his hard muscles. In a matter of minutes the man reached the edge of the pit. The man pulled himself to his feat and faced his rescuer.

Erik's brow furrowed as he looked at the man. His teeth started grinding together his anger. 'How dare this man follow me back to my home,' he thought infuriately. The man he had rescued from one of his traps was none other then Nadir Khan.

Nadir looked in Erik's direction, but couldn't see his face from the darkness that engulfed them both. Only Erik's inhumanly strong eyesight could see in this darkness.

"Thank you, good sir, for saving my life," Nadir spoke gratefully to Erik. "Do you work in the stables?

There was a long pause until Nadir spoke again, "Did you, by any chance see a masked man walk along these caves? I would really appreciate it if you point me in the right direction." He took out his handkerchief out of his robe pocket and dabbed his dripping forehead.

"Perhaps I should push you back down into the pit. That is where you belong for following back to my home," Erik hissed.

The Nadir was taken aback. He didn't expect this man, this boy rather, to be the person who saved his life.

Erik turned on his heal and with a swift pace headed back to his house by the lake.

"Wait!" Nadir called. "I don't know my way back. I was turned around quite a few times back there."

"Well, that's not my problem is it?" Erik spat back, without stopping.

"Then I shall follow you till you help me back. I don't feel like falling into the same trap again," Nadir half chuckled.

"I highly doubt you would fall into the same trap, unless you are that dense. If anything you will fall into one of my other traps," Erik called behind his shoulder.

Nadir was trying to keep up with Erik's long, quick strides, as they twisted and turned threw Erik's complex maze. He could barely see Erik's outline of his body in front of him. He mostly relied on his sense of hearing rather then his sense of sight.

"Others? You have other traps set around here?" Nadir asked, short on breath.

"Yes, to keep people like you out of my domain."

Erik pushed threw a hidden entrance. Nadir soon found himself in Erik's kitchen.

Erik turned around and pushed the button that slides the ice box back into place, to cover the hidden entrance to the caves. Erik looked over his shoulder and saw Nadir staring at him. He hated it when people stared at him. The only person he didn't mind was…

"Oh, you're still here," Erik grumbled. "I'm not much for entertaining any guests, so if you'll excuse me." Erik gave Nadir mock bow and left the room. Nadir followed him into the living room where he saw Erik downing a glass of the red wine that he stole only an hour ago.

"I suppose you saving my life makes up for your robbery today," Nadir joked.

"Believe me when I say this," Erik looked at him with a stony expression, "your life meant nothing to me." He took a long sip from his glass. Even when Erik said these words he knew deep down that he couldn't kill this man. The man didn't seem to want to harm him in anyway. The man just seemed curious, a little too curious for Erik's liking.

Erik had started to wonder why he had let Nadir follow him to his lair. Perhaps Erik needed someone to talk to. Someone to keep him company though this lonely point in his life.

Nadir ignored his comment. Instead he looked around the living room and peered outside the window to see a lake. There were rocky walls and ceilings with a big iron gate in the lake.

"Curious little place you've got here," Nadir chuckled. "If I didn't know any better I would've thought you were the Phantom of the Opera that everyone is talking about."

A/N: Dun Dun Dun! I again end the chapter with Nadir finding out Erik's identity! Wow! What a shocker! Anyway, I hope you liked this review. I tried to make it long to make up for my lack of reviewing lately.

PLEASE BE GOOD TO ME AND REVIEW!!! 0)