Missing V

Here I am in a dark house I never imagined to exist. I have to admit I miscalculated. This lady wasn't talking about an ordinary disappearing act. She isn't interested in a tarot reading or a symbolic tale to help her believe in the significance of her life, after life or love relationship.
I look at her and feel a slight tension building up. What if she's really older than me. But masked and mastering secrets of life I haven't found out about yet. I see her face in profile. She's very beautiful, ancient. Her ears are covered with silver earrings and milk white moonstones. Her pitch-black hair is held together by a very old ebony comb decorated with strange undistinguishable signs.
Maybe I have been still for too long, not to have seen this coming.
A sound is approaching. Rhythmic. A hollow thump followed by sharp clicks.
It must be the gatekeeper. No one on earth would keep a door like this unguarded.
"C'est toi, Virginie?" a sharp, breathy voice asks. "Is that you?"
"Yes, mother," my guide replies. "I've brought the clairvoyant, like you asked."
I peer into the dark corridor, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature approaching us. Thump, click click, thump. A smell of rain and another sharp odor related to gunpowder.
My guide clears her throat.
"Edith, I want you to meet my mother. She officially went missing 52 years ago."