Macey's Missing: Taber Blood II

Chapter 9

"David, wake up,"

David slowly opened his eyes. At first, everything was a blur. A few moments later, he saw the ceiling and three faces, Roxanna, Eddie, and Brenda's, to be exact. He lifted his head. Pain shot through his skull, "What happened?" 

Everyone started talking at once, which made David's head hurt worse. "You checked out. That's what happened," Brenda said. 

"Have you been eating right? When's the last time you had a check-up?" Roxanna was about to take David's fainting to a new level. 

David mumbled something incoherent as he struggled to remember what had happened. In a swift move, he sat straight up. Eyes wide as he searched the room, "Where's Jared?"

"Take it easy," Eddie said

"Jared!" They've never seen David lash out like this, not even when he lost Macey. 

"David, I'm right here," Jared said.

David stumbled to his feet. Eddie grabbed his arms to steady him, "You ok?"

It was a good question. In any other circumstance, David would reply, "Yes, and thanks for asking." Not when Evalena has crept back into their lives. Why that horrid witch doesn't stay in hell is beyond David. And, she's back to her old tricks. It's not clear what would have happened if Jared had connected with his mother in Evalena's alternate world she's crafted. David didn't want to think about it, though he must before Evalena sinks her crooked teeth into Jared. Looking at Jared now reminded David how fragile Jared is when it comes to his mother. He drew close to Jared taking sight of the boy he's come to love as his son. "Do you remember the hall, Jared?" 

"The hall?"

"Yes, behind each door, there was something desired but fictitious—an alternate world." 

The sadness in Jared's eyes revealed he did indeed remember. He remembered seeing his father, who had died a year earlier. Evalena, the witch, did many cruel things, including killing their beloved butler, but the horrific alternate world where a child touched, smelled, heard his dead father was the worst. In that world, Jared's father, Paul, was alive. Jared returned to the mansion with his mother, leaving his father behind a fake one.  Comfort by the ghost of his birth father helped overcome the pain. But, now all the family ghosts are gone, leaving sad memories in their place. 

"What made you bring it up?" Uncle Eddie asked.

David gestured back at Jared and said, "We were just there."

"No, I wasn't there," Jared said. "I haven't been there since we destroyed Evalena."

David's jaw dropped, "We were just there," he insisted. He gazed downward, trying to make sense of it all. Jared wouldn't lie. He's not capable of deceit toward the very people who stayed with him and continue to help him find his mother. Whoever David saw in Evalena's cruel alternate world was not Jared. 

"Wait, you were there?" Jared asked. "Evalena is back. If she's back then, who is the queen of hell?"

Brenda knew what Jared was thinking. If Evalena isn't the female boss of the underworld, then it must be his mother. "Evalena can be both. The question is why. Why is Evalena after David, unless."

"Unless David is a threat, she must destroy to accomplish something else," Roxanna said. "We must learn what she covets."

~~~

Deep down in the underworld where the once human now demon beings are confined, a queen thrives. Every soul sent to hell is under Evalena's control. It is there she imprisons Macey. She sent Johnathan to work in the Taber mansion as a personal butler to Jared. It worked well until the demon butler met his end at the hands of Jared and Eddie, the beast.