Search and rescue

"The Dark Stranger" © VeGirl 2014

Slowly we walk to Esme's house. It is hard for Aoleon to walk even if I gave her my most comfortable flat ballerina shoes. She keeps stumbling and slipping on the slightest unevenness. I grip her arm several times to steady her and she gives me a grateful look. "Thank you." She is at least trying, I think and smiles proud as if I was her parent.

"You'll get the hang of it," I encourage.

"I am a clumsy dork," she says and this is the first time we share a hearty laugh.

"Yes you are."

Esme is out in her front yard as we approach.

"Hey, look; I've got some clothes on her," I say proud.

"Are they supposed to be this uncomfortable?"

"You should have been here in the eighteen hundreds, with corsettes that prohibited you to breathed," Esme informs her with a frown.

"No thank you! This is hard enough," she claims while pulling the fabric of her clothes with a frown that makes both Esme and me laugh out loud. She looks up at us and share the smile.

"Come, let's get inside." Esme gestures with her head and we follow her through the abundant garden where I miss to notice how Aoleon's curious eyes try to catch everything.

Esme's house smells like home and I accept another cup of coffee even if my nerves are getting edgy from the caffeine.

"So, what are we doing about that husband of yours?" Esme is as delicate as usual.

"We can't simply look through missing person's dot com, I supposed."

Esme gives me an apologetic look before she shakes her head slowly.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," I sigh and sink into deep contemplation. "What about his house on the other side of the gate?"

"Nope; I've already checked that."

Yeah of course she has.

"Is there any other known arrival halls from heaven?" I enquire.

She takes a deep breath. "Not that I know of."

"Well, I'm not going up there again to find out, that's for sure," I murmur. "They're a bunch of raging lunatics."

"What do you know?" Esme is addressing Aoleon who looks utterly surprised.

"I was never allowed to know anything!" Her defence is ferocious. "You've been there recently and know the pecking order."

"Yeah, I know," I sigh. "I just hoped that you might have heard anything."

"If anyone might have heard anything, they don't dare even to think about it."

I simply shrug my eyebrows, knowing exactly what she's talking about. It is essential that I find him and the more I worry that he might be in danger, the more urgent my search is becoming.

Where do I start?

It is quite obvious that I am not someone that is in the tracking business, I am absolutely worthless in thinking outside the box; heck I can't even think inside the box.

"I did a locator-spell when I came home last night, but I didn't get a clear read."

My eyes flew up towards Esme with hope lightening them. "Will it help if I'm present? Can we do it again?"

She shrugs. "I might help..." There is suddenly a light in her eyes. "Yeah, your connection might actually help. All I got was a weak shadow over the States, so I figured that he is in the country. And that was my second try and I had an old clock of his for connection." She looks like the rambling is more her own contemplation that her way of sharing it with me.

"So, you're a witch?" Aoleon is watching us wide-eyed.

"Yeah, I was a witch even before my father found of about me and took me up to heaven. Luckily I got to keep my skills when I returned."

"You fell deliberate...?"

"Your father is an angel?"

Esme's eyes flicker between us before she decides that Aoleon's question is the one she intends to answer. "Yup."

Aoleon's thoughtful face makes us watch her in contemplation for a while.

Esme is the one that snaps us out of it by getting in her feet abruptly. "Let's get this show on the road." She doesn't even turn to see if we are on her tail as she brusquely walks through the backdoor and head for a pavilion in the back yard. Amazed I watch her raise her hands towards the sky and dark clouds instantly appear and slowly but determinately block the sun.

Inside the pavilion there is a large pentagram painted on the floor and the shelves around the room is littered with candles. There is no doubt what this room is intended for; magic.

Aoleon and I hold back as Esme walks towards the section of books embedded into the wall. She raises her hands and out flop the book she searched for and she manages to catch it before it hit the floor. The book opens on its own in a way I have never seen before. I catch my reflection in one of the windows and remind myself to close my mouth.

Jeeze this is freaking Hogwarts all over.

This is a whole different game of balls than when she did magic with my cousin.

With a snap of her fingers all the candles are lit.

She actually starts to scare me.

With another snap she points at me to sit on the floor opposite her and I don't dare to do anything else.

With a swift hand motion she pulls a map from the cover of the book and places it on the floor next to the book in front of us where we sit. I am flabbergasted as the worldmap with a weak shadow over the US of A slowly starts to focus like the map in my room upstairs could do. All I can think of is; this is a map made on paper; this is not possible.

"Hold your hand over it and focus on Vincent," Esme orders businesslike and the second I hear his name I see him for my inner sight and it is easy to focus. 'Vincent' I breathe in my mind to get in touch with him. He has always instantly answered in my mind and I imagine his loving answer.

While I sit here thinking about the one thing that is missing in my life, Esme starts to chant words that I initially have a hard time to understand.

"Prodest, quibus potest...dat, qui cito dat...amor fati..."

Even if I knew the words, I can't seem to understand what she is chanting and she keeps saying a few phrases again and again. A picture of Vincent is emerging; he doesn't look good at all, confused and weak and finally I see him reach a hand towards me.

Suddenly a gust of wind sweeps in, blow out all the candles and the room lays in darkness. Everything is absolutely silent as the clouds slowly dissolve and the room eventually lights up.

"Ha!" Esme exclaims, making me jump two feet up in the air. A glib smile graces her face. "Got ya!"

On the map before us a dark burn is visible south of Phoenix, right next to Tucson. I sit there mimicking a goldfish for some time while Vincent's battered face is painted on my retina.

"Is that where he is?" My voice is breathy and I am anxious to see him. "Can we go now?"

"Hold on now! We have to think clear here." Esme is using her authoritarian voice for me to stay put. "We need an ally."

"Why?" I don't get it. "A couple of angels and a kick ass witch; can't we handle anything?"

"How is your olfaction?"

Huh?

As if she can read my mind she is looking defiantly at me. "We need a good tracker, do you know one?"

I strain my mind to come up with anything else than a dog, while my mind flickers to Vincent's friend. "What about snaggletooth?"

This is Esme's time to look like the riddle.

"Damian; Vincent's friend who happens to be a vampire," I explain as if that is the most natural thing in this world.

A definite thud makes both of us look to the side where Aoleon has slumped to the floor. I had totally forgotten about her, and now she is out for the count; passed out. We grab hold of her and carry her into Esme's house with great difficulty while still plotting our next adventure. "She'll come around!" I sweep Aoleon's wellfare to the side for more urgent matters. "It is probably just some diabetic adjustment. Do you want me to call Damian?"

"Do you have his number?"

"Layla does."

"Whoa! Layla, your cousin? You can't just call her; you've been missing for ten years."

"What?" I had forgotten about that little unfortunate detail. "How are we gonna fix this? Am I to stay here in never-never land forever?"

She gives me a stern look before she start to think creative again. "As a last resort I can reset the time from where you left, by folding the fabric of time." Esme's face is in deep contemplation.

"You can fold the fabric of time and send me back to the time right after we left?" I am astounded. "Can you do that?"

"I'm a wicked witch," she smirks.

* * *

As soon as we get Aoleon up and kicking again, we put our plan to work. I take her over to the main house where somebody can keep an eye on her while Esme works her magic.

Pun definitely intended!

"I don't understand why I can't come with you?"

"You fainted when I told about vampires, I think you need some time to adjust, just like all of us have had."

"Vampires! That is crazy talk," she hiss.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," I mutter. "Drink some o.j." I continue and have to clear myself when she looks confused again. "Orange juice! You need to up the sugar level in your bloodstream."

"Oh..."

"No, o.j..." I mumble sarcastically to myself with my back turned on her.

"How do you know all this stuff?"

This is my turn at looking like a birdhouse. "What?"

"Yeah, how do you know about sugar level in the blood and all that stuff?" she asks while she is sipping the juice.

"I...I've been here for quite a long time... I guess." I am suddenly a little embarrassed by her praise. "You pick up a little here and there."

"Yeah, that's clear..."

"Come on, we better get moving." I know that I am rushing her quite a bit, but I am anxious to get going. If Vincent's life is on the line, there is no time to waste.

It is obviously hard to adjust to a life here in this crazy world, but Aoleon's claustrophobic tendencies as I close the car-door behind her is straining. "It is okay," I assure her loud and calming as I round the car to get to the driver-seat. "It is okay, it's supposed to be a silent bubble."

She is grasping my clothes, almost clawing at me and her breathing is fast and shallow. "Beautiful, beautiful..." She keeps chanting and at first I wonder what she is ranting on about, but it hits me that it is our emergency code.

"Aoleon, calm down." I clasp my hands on either of her cheeks to get her to focus on my eyes and I force her breathing to calm down. "This is okay," I say slowly. "It's just a way of travelling." Thoughts flitter through my mind of fear of flying, but I say nothing. "It is just a short ride... and I wouldn't be in here if it was dangerous, right?" My smile seems to reassure her and she nods.

I take a deep calming breath and let go of her cheeks. "Okay." As I put the key in the ignition I halt and prepare her for what's coming. "The engine will start and the car will... purr." A wicked smile spreads as I turn the ignition. I love this car.

I promptly ignore Aoleon's panicking as I would do with a gun-shy dog and slowly drive off. It is a short ride as I said and when we stop outside the big yellow building that once was a monastery I notice that Aoleon's knuckles are white where they clasp the doorhandle.

Jocound I round the car to open the door and let her out of the confinement. She almost bounce out of there to glare suspiciously at the car.

"I'm gonna introduce you to some people."

Her eyes are still wide open in fear and I start to wonder why she wanted to come here anyway. Where is her sense of adventure?

As I grab the handle I recalled the reaction I got when I arrived here again, not so long ago with no memory of this place. With a deep breath and a confident smile I walk inside.

The people we meet gasps and glance at me with fear in their eyes before they respectfully lower their eyes. "Your highness."

"It's Sam," I correct with an easy smile that is far from my honest feeling. "I need to speak with someone in charge, if you'd be so kind."

"Of course..." She bows and hurries along to go fetch somebody that I can leave my friend with.

Not long thereafter she returns with the same girl I have met before. "Hey Sam." Her smile is tentive as if she is simply checking if that still is what I wish to be called.

"You remembered. Thank you." I return the smile. "I'm in a predicament and I'd need your help."

Her expression changes into businesslike and I know that she is taking me seriously. "Vincent is in trouble and Esme and I are going after him," I explain to the girl who nods seriously. "In the meantime, I need your help to look after somebody. This is Aoleon," I introduce.

"Alien?"

"No, Aoleon." I do my best to loud and clear pronounce every syllable in the name that I had found unusual in the start. "Her name is Aoleon and she needs somewhere to stay for a few days while she adjusts. Can you get someone qualified to manage that?" I can hear how snotty I sound and I don't like it one bit, but this girl before me is urgent to please.

"We're on our way to find Vincent; he might be in trouble,""I add more humble. "It is important to find him and she needs somebody right now."

"We will arrange that Your Highness."

I manages to not bite my jaws together in frustration and only bow humble before her. "Thank you." I turn to the wide-eyed Aoleon. "This girl will personally make sure that you are perfectly comfortable here and that you'll learn everything that you'll need to function.

"I don't want to stay here; I want to come with you," she complains.

"We'll be going by car." I notice how her eyes widen. "I will be back in a few days."

"I will send a search and rescue band after you if you don't."

She actually hugs me before I race out of there.

Here I come!

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