Dauntless Angel

2. Home Sweet Home-2

I looked up with my spoon suspended. Two pairs of worried eyes were mirroring my every move. “Guys! I’m fine,” I attempted to convince them, but I didn’t want to sound ungrateful either. After all, they could’ve left me at the gates of that appalling hospital. “I mean, I really, really appreciate all the trouble you both have gone through for me. I’ll be okay. So, stop worrying!” I forced a smile. To be honest, I might’ve been trying to assure myself that as well.

Dom reached across the table patting my hand. “Why don’t you let us do what we do best?” He smiled, stretching his pencil mustache even thinner.

“I’m sorry.” I dropped my spoon into the bowl of soup and withdrew a faint sigh. “I don’t want you guys to fuss over me.” I couldn’t be more grateful for their endeavor to nurse me back to health, but I had nothing to give back. I was empty and barren.

“We want to help,” Dom smiled warmly.

I hesitated for half a second then I spoke up. “I have to ask. It’s been on my mind for a while.” I paused. Dread washed over me. “Have you heard from Aidan?” I blanched, fearing whether or not I really wanted to know.

Jeffery and Dom shared a strained glance. Jeff took the lead and answered. “Boo, we ain’t seen Aidan,” he inhaled a sharp breath. “Since that night you were kidnapped and all sorts of spooky mojo s**t has happened.” Jeffery’s oval blues bugged.

“Like what?” My heart skipped a beat.

“For starters, that whole damn castle vanished, foundation and all.” Jeffery face paled as if he’d seen a ghost.

I gawked in surprise.

Then Dom added, “We haven’t heard from Aidan since the disappearance. His cell phone goes straight to voice mail. Everyone has disappeared, and we have no explanation to why. Even his uncle Van and his son, Sam, have vanished off the grid.” The taunted wrinkles in Dom’s forehead were stark.

I sat there in silent shock. It was no secret that Aidan’s Uncle Van and Sam were not my favorite subjects. Sam was a psychopath and a serial rapist, and his uncle wasn’t any better.

I couldn’t vouch for Van’s whereabouts. Although, I knew what happened to Sam. Aidan took his life. Though Sam’s demise was abrupt and violent, it was justified. He was going to rape me and leave me for dead. Aidan saved my life by killing Sam before he’d finished me off but not before Sam had badly beaten me.

If it hadn’t been for Aidan and his Druid magick, I would’ve died. I reckoned that was one thing I could be grateful for. “How is it possible for Aidan to be MIA?”

Jeffery chimed in. “That’s an understatement! We have no mofo idea. We is still scratchin’ our heads. I got a sneaky suspicion that his family used that voodoo s**t and poof, castle and all those mofo jokers went bye, bye. Apart from Aidan, I hope none of them return.”

Dom interjected, scolding his partner. “Jeff, you’re too superstitious. There has to be a logical answer to their whereabouts.”

“I beg your pardon!” Jeffery gaped, “Where the hell have you been, mister?” Jeffery started wagging his finger in Dom’s face. “Explain to me how that damn castle vanished, Mr. I-Believe-In-No-Ghost? Even the rosebushes disappeared,” Jeffery pursed his lips in a huff.

Dom kept his composure as he gently countered, “Clearly I don’t have all the answers, but don’t assume without facts, ma chère. Nothing around here is ever as it seems.”

“Well, you need to stick to what you know best, cooking,” Jeffery retorted with an extra dose of sour-cream.

Suddenly, I started to laugh, hysterical laughter. Both the men forgot about their tiff and shifted their wide eyes to me. At that moment, I’d lost my senses. I couldn’t catch my breath. Soon Dom and Jeffery joined in, and the room filled with insane mirth.

It felt good to free this strange emotion inside me. The peculiar hilarity seemed odd to my ears, a sound that jumped ship since the asylum.

Even so, with no warning, my mood changed like the wind. I started to sob, and the house became still. For a brief moment, my two friends gaped in stunned silence.

I was a mess. The drugs were flushing out of my system faster than I’d expected and reality was forging through.

Looking down the barrel of a gun was hard to swallow. My life was a train wreck. I wasn’t sure what was worse, dead inside or alive and despicable.