Still Missing

Randi:

“What happened?” Rushing down the hall, dodging a few guards extinguishing small fires lingering along the charred mahogany walls, halting outside of the imploded solarium as the smoke billowed heavily from the shattered glass roof.

Scanning over the carnage of debris as groaning grunts echoed through the roaring chaos of voices. Pointing out the mounds of debris shifting and falling away as one-by-one the guys appeared with swirling translucent flames licking from their bodies.

“Fucking Phoenix’s.” Chortling out in glee, rushing in with Desmond as the guys slowly stood to their feet, looking around the massive open-aired room coughing out sooty debris with firm fists to their chests.

“You boys okay?” Desmond checked each one quickly, snapping his eyes around the room in panic as the guys moved into action quickly, flipping over piles of debris looking for E.

“ELICIA!”
“E!”

“She just disappeared.” Elias coughed out a heavy lung full of soot as Roger patted his back with a firm palm.

“ELICIA!” Spinning around as LC and Izzy ran down the hallway, tripping over debris as her red puffy eyes grew darker with each step.

“She’s not here…she’s not here.” Desmond quickly scooped her into his arms as her fists pounded against his charred chest, burying her face into his shoulder sobbing.

“Where is she? Is she okay?’ Izzy looked between us with swirling crimson orbs, rubbing the back of my neck as the ringing slowly faded away to a soft pulsing hum.

“She just…disappeared.” Elias held his hand in disbelief, looking over his shoulder at the massive canvas of debris as Harrison walked in handing the guys shorts. Apparently them being naked as ‘Jay Bird’s’ was nothing major as they slipped on the shorts, scooping LC into their huddle of hugs.

“D-Derek and the kids are okay. He finally called.” She collapsed into their strong arms sobbing again as they looked at us with questioning expressions.

“Dad are you okay?” Ben circled his finger to his face with a concerned look as Desmond gave him a firm nod.

“This is nothing. We need to figure out where she ‘poofed’ too.” He nodded his head to follow him back to his office as Izzy followed LC back to her room, quickly checking the guys over with a soft smile and silent understanding in passing.

“What happened, she was calm and happy… then ‘BANG’!” Ben threw his hands in the air emphasizing the massive explosion as we walked into Desmond’s destroyed office, dusting of the sofas and chairs as Harrison grabbed the whiskey-tonic, spiking it with blood to help boost our healing.

“It was the News Feed of the Orphanage on fire. One male body found inside the side door of the kitchen.” Desmond slid into a chair with a hissing growl as Harrison handed him a wine glass of donor blood.

“According to Damian and Amelia’s phone call, the unknown male has been identified as Peyton. One of the firefighters on-scene recognized his tattoo.” Motioning to my ribcage, sipping on the blood spiked whiskey-tonic as the blood additive rushed to my senses, shivering under the euphoric rush of energy.

“What about Bailey?” Desmond growled out in a satisfied humming as his charred flesh began to close up with sizzling red snaps of energy. Flinching against the roaring snarls as the guys leaned forward with their heads held firmly in their hands.

“Still missing.” Humming against the glass, chugging down the rest of the whiskey-tonic.

“Will someone explain what the…FUCK IS GOING ON! WE WERE JUST RESTING NOT EVEN AN HOUR AGO…AND NOW THE CASTLE HAS A FUCKING OPEN-AIR CONCEPT, ELICIA’S CHILDHOOD HOME IS BURNT TO A FUCKING CRISP, AND HER SISTER IS MISSING.” All four guys paced erratically through the office, exhaling growling snarls as their hands rubbed through their greasy locks, tugging them out in all directions.

“Don’t forget Peyton’s dead body, OH!, and LC being here instead of Bailey. My Ace Ventura’s.” Chuckling at their crazed scowls as they snapped their blazing orbs of ambers at us.

“ani aharog at etmu, (I’ll fucking kill himself)” Chris roared out in Hebrew, stunned by the words that rolled from his tongue as he looked between his brothers amused expressions.

“kah numer. (Take a number)” Pointing my finger at him with a wink, pulling my thumb down like a gun mockingly.

“Why you…” Chris was pulled back by his brothers as Desmond narrowed a pointed glare in my direction.

“Verführe mich nicht. (Don’t tempt me)” Desmond growled into his wine glass, sipping slowly with a perked brow holding my hands up in surrender.

“Long story, short, Peyton was Bailey’s mate. Her and her mom swapped bodies to bait him so she could reject him. However, it seems like someone else is involved because I just spoke with JR. Rocko and a few warriors were at the DeLois Estate in Colorado rounding up the vermin at the time of all of this. They have Dani and Patrick in custody, but Bain disappeared.” Izzy walked in looking pissed, confused, and spooked.

Since when is Izzy ever spooked.

“Izzy, Honey. What’s wrong?” Desmond stood up briskly, rushing over to her as she flinched back in surprise, looking up to his healing face then over to me with misty crimson-jade eyes.

“Desmond…your brother… Helmer, is alive.” Paling at the name that whispered over her lips.

You know that sensation when you stand-up too fast?

That rushing light-headed feeling as the blood whooshes through your body, tingling in a slight numbness as you regain your equilibrium. Yeah…but my ass was firmly planted to this chair as Desmond looked over his shoulder with swirling crimson orbs of obliteration.

“Looks like ‘Returning from the Dead’ is a theme this fucking year.” Slamming my palms down on the armrests as my legs wobbled to a standing pose, jumping back in shock as my phone vibrated along my numb thigh. Scooping out the annoyance with trembling fingers, pressing accept blindly.

“WHAT!” Bursting from the seams of anger, confusion, deceit, heartache.

“Well, Hello to you too.” Face palming myself as Rex shuffled around on his end.

“Rexy, I’m so sorry. Things just got…complicated.” Exhaling, pressing speaker as Desmond rubbed Izzy’s forearms, staring into her blank orbs as she searched his face for a hidden answer.

“Tell me about it. You’ll never believe what I found? Firstly, turn on the International News.” Shuffling through the debris and paperwork covering the coffee table, fumbling with the remote as the TV came to life above the fireplace mantle.

“Breaking News from Egypt Tonight. Several Archaeologists have been hospitalized after a strange ball of light appeared outside of Dendera. Locals claim the Archaeologists came rushing out of dig sights, frantic, mumbling incoherently as they all shouted out in fear and panic that the ‘Mummies came to life’ but when the locals investigated, the mummies claimed to be ‘alive’ where indeed still dead. The only strange occurrence was the glowing symbols representing the Goddess Hathor. Several videos are flooding in from different locations across the Desert Valley of the same symbols glowing a majestic golden hue.” Pressing the mute button in complete shock as the guys walked over to the TV, examining the videos pouring in from different dig sights of the glowing ‘Eye of Horus’ highlighted across several walls.

“Not strange at all, right?” Rex laughed softly, shuffling through what sounded like thick pages as the guys ran their fingers over their pectoral muscles, looking up with tilted smirks.

“Rex, when did this happen?” Desmond spoke with an amused tone as Izzy stared at him with her head cocked in a blank stare.

“About thirty minutes ago, right around the time I found something about Elicia’s lineage.” That got everyone’s attention as they rushed up to my stunned pose, looking at the phone with excited expressions.

“Randi, switch over to video chat. You need to see this.” Fumbling with the phone before stabilizing my hold to engage video chat as Rex’s handsome, clean-lined, bearded face appeared in a smooth stoned room with scrolls, old leatherbound books and hanging incense burners peppered throughout the background.

“What did you find?” Roger chirped out nervously as they all huddled behind me, watching Rex spin a book around, focusing his camera on a hand-painted family tree with photos next to the names.

“Meet Azqa “Prue” Kashif, my older sister. She disappeared about twenty-five years ago from our family vacation house in Alexandria. I didn’t know she had disappeared because I was estranged from my father, so it kept me from being in contact with my family. Elicia is my niece.” A pin could drop from across the world, and it would have been heard with how silent the room was besides the fluttering heartbeats of the guys.

“That’s what I was trying to explain earlier.” Literally jumping out my shoes as we all turned in surprise as Amelia shuffled through the debris with a manilla envelope I her hand.