7 yrs, Gone and Forgotten

Chapter 13: No Way

     Halfway asleep I was awakened by the pinging of my phone. Reaching for it, I only prayed it was my wife, she had been radio silent for three days and I was beginning to get worried about her. I hated that she had been sent for such a dangerous mission, and I begged my best friend to choose someone else, but he insisted on it being her. I also hated being so far away from her, in six years we had never spent a night away from each other, and not only were we apart now, but we had also been apart now for weeks while she traveled all over the place looking for a book and some kind of rare stone.

     The phone pinged again pulling me from the thoughts of her, I turned the lamp on and unlocked my phone to see I had three messages, one from Luscious and two from her. I tapped on the message from Luscious first, I planned on looking at hers, but I was going to call her too, so I wanted to get his out of the way quick.

       His message made my brows raise:

             -Better figure out how to cancel that wedding, you aren’t going to believe it.

       I couldn’t help but laugh, the wedding had been off and on now for four years, and I was pretty sure nothing was going to stop it this time unless it was the hateful mood of the groom that hated the world. I quickly opened the keyboard and replied back:

           -Dude you know how he is; nothing is stopping it this time, and you better plan on being here in three weeks for the bachelor party. Talk to you tomorrow.

      Luscious had been on the go for the last six months looking for evidence on his cousin Lumen and Lumen’s wife. They were into some shady stuff, and we had gotten wind that they had a hand in human trafficking and a couple murders in our secret community. It was a death sentence to our kind when you put humans lives in danger, but Lumen was good, he hid his tracks well. I just hoped that he found something soon, the order of things had been out of whack and in an uproar for seven years, ever since we lost.

        The phone pinged again breaking me completely from my thoughts as I opened the message Luscious replied back.

           -Wait for proof from Eva. Trust me, figure out a way to stop that wedding. And I will be there.

       I didn’t even bother replying at the mention of her name, I didn’t know how they had crossed paths, but I was more interested now at what I might find. I opened the other message from her:

          -I miss you and love you.

     Was her first message. The next message made me even more curious:

          -We have to stop wedding, no other choice.

      I typed my reply back quickly:

          -You know better than anyone, that isn’t going to happen. And you have to get back here quick, Tess is going crazy without her maid of honor. Laney is of no help. Besides I miss you more than anything and love you, I am going crazy here with your numb minded hateful brother even if he is my best friend.  And why are you messaging, call me. If you have service to message, you can call, I want to hear your voice.

       I started to lay the phone down and it pinged just as I took my fingers off, I rolled my eyes as I picked it back up and opened the messages.

         -Be patient. I am sending a video, it is still in process, but if I were you, I would get my shoes on and head over to mom and dads, dad needs to see it too. But only my parents, do not show anyone else until I tell you to. I will call as soon as possible. And don’t roll your eyes, this is probably the most important news you will ever be responsible for.

      I hated when she did that, but I loved her so much I decided not to argue, even though it was like two in the morning, and I was pretty sure her parents were asleep. I slid my shoes on and placed my phone in my pocket as I left the house. We all lived in the mansion, so I only had to go one wing over to get to them, but still I hated moving around this late at night in the house. Mr. Grumpy seemed to never sleep anymore, and goddess help me if he caught me going to his parents this late at night.

       My phone pinged just as I reached their door, and I sighed a breath of relief when I looked around and noticed no one. I quickly tapped on the door and waited patiently. A few seconds passed and I couldn’t hear anything, so I tapped again. After the third time tapping, I heard footsteps and a very sleep eyed old man opened the door.

       I smiled sheepishly as I leaned in the door and whispered, “I am really sorry to bother you at this time, but Eva insisted I come here now.”

      He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me in the door, “Come in.” He shut the door and guided me over to the small sitting room just off the hallway. “Is everything okay, did she find the book and the stone? Is she coming home?”

      I laughed as I grabbed my phone and noticed that I had a video message, I waved the phone, “I don’t know what’s going on in truth. She sent me a video and said that I needed to be here so you guys could watch it with me, and under no circumstance am I to show it to anyone other than you until she says otherwise. So, your guess is as good as mine.” I laid the phone down and ran my hands through my hair, “And let’s not mention that I have her and Luscious messaging me telling me we have to stop the wedding.”

      “Yea that’s not going to happen.” He chuckled as he took a seat next to me. “Now how about we see what this is all about before I go bother my love.”

       “That’s the best plan I have heard all day.” I picked my phone up and opened it up.

      I turned the phone sideways and placed it in front of me where we could both see it. I impatiently tapped my foot as the little circle spun around and around buffering, and then finally it stopped and the screen lit up. I don’t know why, but I could feel my heart racing, looking at the screen. A small girl that looked to be about our age stood in the middle of a ring in her leggings and tank top. Her long dirty blond hair hung down her back in a tight braid and she wore a black blind fold around her eyes. The ring was surrounded with men and women alike and all their eyes were focused on the girl. Suddenly a large man about my size charged her and with no effort at all she dodged the attack. My heart stopped as I watched her move around the ring so gracefully like she was dancing but at the same time she was fighting, and she was winning. I felt my breath stop in my chest and the whole world stopped spinning when I watched as she effortlessly took him to his knees, and he tapped out.

      Eva turned the camera to herself and smiled into it, “You saw that right? Oh, and hey dad love you.” And the screen went blank.

      “No way!” I shouted.

       Before I had time to think he grabbed the phone and played the video back again, and then again, and then once more. We watched in silence, and I was sure the old man was going to have a heart attack right there next to me, because I know we had the same thoughts. I finally took the phone away from him and placed it back in my pocket as we sat in silence trying to make sense of what we had just watched.

      “Luca is it possible?” I finally mumbled out.

      He shook his head and stood up as he began to pace, “I don’t know Jake. But I know we have to stop that wedding and we have to get that girl here.”

     I opened my mouth to speak, and the door slung open, in stepped the grumpy man of a best friend with his usual erotic wild want to kill look, “Jake what are you doing at this hour in my parents’ home?” He growled. I used to know how to handle him, but over the years he had become almost unbearable, Tess seemed to be the only one to calm him down these days, and she only partially did it at that.

      I opened my mouth to speak, but Luca beat me to it. “Son, like you said this is our home, and we can have guests at any hour we like.”

      He slammed the door behind him and stomped toward his father, “This might be your home, but you know we don’t allow people to move around at this hour.”

Luca squared his shoulders up and stepped toward him, “And you can’t just barge in here.”

     Mr. Grumpy turned on his heel and stormed back toward the door. He flung it open and turned back over his shoulder in the doorway, “And don’t get any hair brain ideas about cancelling this wedding, it’s taking place, with or without that damn book and stone.” And those were his last words as he slammed the door behind him.

     “What’s going on?” A half-awake Carol asked as she stumbled through from the bedroom.

     Luca looked down at me sitting on the couch and I nodded. He turned back to her and gave her a smile, “Honey that was our demon of a child.” He laughed and walked over, gently grabbing her arm and guiding her to the seat next to me. He pointed to me, “You might want to show her.”