Tonight was the night. O'Byrne's pub would be back in business. Now maybe my life can get back to some semblance of normal. Whatever the hell that means. I had been at the pub since nine in the morning and I was a wreck. My entire staff and Leah and been trying to get me to go and at least get something to eat. I had been thru half a pack of smokes already and I was driving everyone insane adjusting things and moving pictures just a fraction of an inch I just could not leave well enough alone. I was standing fixated on the location of the large table on the family dining room when Aidan walked in and literally picked me up and hauled my ass out of the pub. "And don't bring her back until a half hour before we open!" Leah shouted as he practically tossed me in his car.
When we got back the house Aidan turned to me. "Please don't kill me they bribed me really well." "Wait my staff and family bribed my boyfriend to kidnap me?" "Yeah they said any day off I have in the next six months you have off too and we won't get any phone calls or texts unless someone is dying." Yeah that was something Aidan couldn't turn down. I decided just to roll with it. Tonight the pub was opening and I was taking my place and just the chick who signed the checks just like I had promised Aidan. "So what do we have to do to get them to extend that to an entire year?" Aidan laughed and reached behind him and grabbed a takeout bag from the pub. His plan to take my mind of the grand re-opening was to fill me with food from the pub and to watch movies until I fell asleep. We were half way thru the extended version of the Two Towers when I fell asleep. The last thing I remember was Legolas stair surfing at Helms Deep.
It turned out I was worried about nothing. The opening was a huge party. The only thing that went wrong was my parents showed up. Not much can scare a two hundred and sixty year old vampire except his girlfriend's parents who are extremely powerful witches. I tried really hard not to laugh when Aidan came into my office looking paler then normal. I giggled when I said to him "Babe what's wrong you look like you've seen a ghost." "Did you know your parents were going to be here?" I slammed my head on my desk. "Damn they threatened to come to this but I thought they were messing with me." "Nope not messing with you they are here." Try as we might we couldn't avoid my parents all night. They gave me crap for being with Aidan like I was supposed to learn a lesson from the spell. I did learn a lesson from the spell I found out who I could and couldn't trust in my family. And it looks like they got added to the couldn't trust list. After forty-five minutes and three black and tans later I had had enough. "Máthair!..." Before I could finish what I was going to say to my mother in Gaelic Kylie came running up and grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the dance floor. "You promised auntie De that you would dance a jig with me." "Go you don't want a huge seen with them don't let them ruin tonight for you." I danced a jig with Kylie and then a slip jig started and before I could even get off the dance floor Leah linked arms with me and we danced together for a couple of songs. Just as a reel started I again tried to slip off the dance floor but I was caught by two strong arms and pulled back. Oh Shit I forgot Aidan knew how to dance reels. I had to close my eyes half way thru the dance because he was spinning me so freaking fast. I would have kicked him when we stopped dancing but I don't think I could have kept my balance my head was spinning. I slowly made my way back to the big table in the new family dining room. I didn't plan on dancing any more after my jack ass boyfriend spun me like a redheaded Irish top. In the end even with Aidan making me dizzy and my parents being all negative it was a good night. It was almost good enough to make us forget all the other bullshit we had to deal with.
The next morning we were woke up way to early by Josh. "Hey I hate to wake you guys up but have you see Erin?" "No how long has she been gone?" I asked. "A couple of days she took off the day after we went to Nora's parents place for her mom's birthday." "Why didn't you tell us?" "We didn't want to ruin last night for De. We were hoping that she would just come back she kind of seems like that kind of kid that would take off for a while then come back. Nora is really worried so I thought I would ask if you had seen her" "Well we haven't not for a few days but we have been pretty busy." Aidan said. "Josh I might be able to find her I just need a map of Boston and something of Erin's like something with her DNA on it like some hair from a hairbrush or something. I have a bad feeling that this may have something to do with Liam. I really hope I'm wrong." Josh left to get the items that I said I needed and Aidan and I got up and got dressed. "Pendulum pendulum where are you?" I said as I knelt over the cedar chest that had all my magical supply's in. My pendulum jumped out of the chest at me. Aidan caught it just before it hit me in the face. "OK what the hell was that?" "That was a case of me needing to practice more with my upgraded powers. I swear the more I do the more power I seem to have. it's like it's never going to let up. I really need to figure this out. but now we have more pressing things going on."
In the kitchen I took the map from Josh and spread it out on the table. Then I wrapped the strands of Erin's hair around the chain of my pendulum and looked at the map for a minute Josh, Nora and Aidan where standing over me and making me feel nervous. "I don't want to get your hopes up to much this may not work. It just depends on where she is and who she is with. So cross your fingers or whatever." I took the pendulum by the chain and held it over the map not moving it closing my eyes and letting the magic flow thru me. It started to swing then stopped and dropped out of my hand like a lead weight and started glowing "Any of you know where this is? I don't think I have ever been in that part of town before." "I do there are lots of really big old houses there. I think Mother may have had a house there at some point." Aidan said. Leave it to someone who had lived in this area for over two centuries to know where the really old houses would be.
We took two cars Aidan and I in my charger and Josh and Nora following in Josh's car. Making Sally stay at the house we fun I almost had to make her take a nap she just didn't want to be left out on all the fun. Yeah this would so not be fun. I just knew we would be dealing with Liam.
We pulled up to a huge gated area. "Holy compound Bat Man." I said and Aidan rolled his eyes at me. We all gathered around my car. I closed my eyes and concentrated. "Well there are six wolves stationed around the outside of the fence. All of them armed. I think they all want to take a nap don't you?" I said looking at Josh and Nora. They looked at me for a second and then nodded. I closed my eyes and tried to pinpoint where the werewolves were. They weren't very good at hiding from my magic. I smiled and waved my hands to the left and right. Aidan held up is hand counting off the wolves he heard fall. It took ten seconds for all six to hit the ground.
We walked to the huge gate there was a call box. "Should we call or..." Josh said. Aidan reached out and touched the lock and the gate swung open. "I don't think they were expecting us." Nora said. "Maybe Erin told them we don't care." I said. "I don't know I just want to get her back I don't know what Liam has told her but I don't think it's good." Josh said. I had never seen him this mad before. Aidan pushed the gate open and we all headed for the huge house.
"Secret werewolf headquarters or South American drug lord?" Aidan asked me trying to break the tension. "Part of me almost hopes it's the latter." He smiled and took my hand and we walked up the long drive way. Before Nora could knock on the door it swung open with Liam standing next to it. "I assume you are here for Erin. She is just getting her things." Liam said gesturing for us to come in "Um what? Did I miss something?" Aidan said to me as we walked into a scene from an old horror movie. "It looks like Bella Lugosi decorated this place, or one of your old friends." Aidan elbowed me lightly "Sorry I couldn't help myself, next time we are somewhere that's totally Goth you can give crap." I said looking down at my corset top I was wearing. "I like your Goth clothes anyway." Yeah I bet you do I thought to myself. It was so strange Erin comes down the Gone with the Wind stair case and we left, like we were picking her up from a werewolf sleep over.
Erin got into Josh's car and the three of them went home. We went to my favorite coffee shop. We needed to talk where adolescent werewolf ears couldn't hear. I sat on bench with my knees pulled up to my chest sipping a white chocolate mocha thinking way to hard about what had just happened. Aidan came back from the counter with my triple chocolate muffin and sat it in front of me. "Is it just me or was that like way to easy?" I asked. ." I sat there picking at my muffin listing to Aidan try to make sense of what had just happened "Liam had that planed. I bet she went to him after she had that fight with Josh. And he used her being mad at Josh to his ." "Wait what fight with Josh?" "The day after they went Nora's parents house Nora's brother showed up and he caught them in her bed her brother all over Erin. "OK wow I really do miss a lot when I'm at the pub so much. Any way I think we really need to watch her. Did you see that she had a cell phone? I don't think Josh and Nora got that for her. I bet he has her snooping around the house on all of us. I think I'm going to put a spell on the door to the basement so that only the two of us can go down there she has no need to be down there for any reason. I finished my mocha and muffin and we left. I locked down the basement door and re-did the locking spell on my magic chest. Aidan and I both decided to crash since he had to work tonight and goddess knows what magical problems I would have to deal with tonight. Sometimes its sucked being the high-priestess of Boston.