Subj: The Devil's Children pt.4
Date: 11/10/99 9:19:54 AM Central Standard Time
From: Donna Eubanks

The weeks went by rather peacefully, at the house by the sea.Nicholas was so proud to be a father to baby Zachary.He was a fine boy. One day we would grow to be a powerful warlock, just like his father.

Angelique was thrilled beyond words, to be a mother to baby Cymbaline. The baby girl was so beautiful. She would grow to be just as beautiful as her mother.She would also be a witch with many powers.

"I'm sure your grandmother is looking down on you, sweet child." Angelique told her baby girl. "She would be so very proud of you." She kissed her baby sweetly on her tiny face and hands. Barnabas came to visit his daughter regularly, but not as much as Angelique would like.

One night, just as Nicholas and Angelique had put their babies to bed, they heard an ominous voice. It filled with Nicholas with fear, and Angelique with shear terror. It was the voice of their Master, Diabolos himself!

"The time has come, my children, for you to pay your debt to me." "This is what I want from both of you." "You shall both give your children to me."

'NO! MASTER !PLEASE DO NOT TAKE MY SON !!!" Nicholas shouted.

'NO, MASTER, NOT MY BABY DAUGHTER!!!" Angelique screamed.

"Yes, you shall hand them over to me." I shall raise them as my own."

"Will we ever see them again?" Nicholas demanded.

"I shall return them to you at age eighteen, if I deem you worthy."

"Master, I beg of you, please do not take our children from us!" Nicholas pleaded.

"I shall die without my baby daughter, Master!" Angelique said, her face streaming with tears. "I have never been a mother before, Master!" "You know that, please do not take her from me!" Angelique cried. "We have had our babies for so little time, Master!" Angelique said. "Please have mercy!" She begged.

"Your Master has spoken!" He told the two frightened parents. "Nicholas and Angelique, I shall call upon you again, in the distant future. You will give me a child born of you both. Nicholas shall be the father, and Angelique its mother." "I shall expect no excuses the next time!" "Here my words, children, and obey them!" With that, their Master was gone, and their two little babies, Zachary and Cymbaline too.

"NOOOOOO....!!!" Angelique screamed into the darkness. "You have taken away my only child! I may as well die now, without her!!" She fell to the floor in despair. She sobbed uncontrollably, as Nicholas tried in vain to comfort her.

Nicholas had never felt so alone in his entire existence, as he did at this moment. "What have we done, Angelique, what have we done?" Nicholas asked.

************************************************

Angelique knocked on the door to the Old House. Barnabas answered the door. He knew instantly that something was wrong. "Come in, Angelique, what is wrong?" He asked her. He could see she had been crying.She looked as if she hadn't slept at all."Come and sit down, Angelique."

She sat down, and she reached for Barnabas' hands. 'Barnabas, something terrible has happened!" "Our baby daughter has been taken from us, by my Master!" She told him, crying.

"What?" He asked. "Is it because I am her father?" He demanded.

"Yes, I suppose it is, Barnabas." "Our Master wanted me to have Nicholas' child." "We failed him and this is our punishment." "I cannot go on, Barnabas, without her!" She confessed.

Barnabas looked at her, and offered her a tissue. 'I shall miss her too, Angelique; even though she is a witch."

"She is a sweet and innocent baby, Barnabas!" "I am afraid of what he might do to her, and to Nicholas' son." She confided.

"I doubt he would hurt them, Angelique, for they are his children too." He
tried to reassure her.

Angelique looked at him, with love and tears in her eyes. "Barnabas, won't you let me stay here with you, in the Old House?" "Will you let me love you once again?" "Can you love me without me casting a spell on you?" She looked into his beautiful eyes as she spoke. "I have loved you for so long, Barnabas. You are the only man I have ever truly loved." "You do know that, don't you, Barnabas?" "Please let me live here with you, please let me love you." She pleaded.

Barnabas looked at her with concern, and pity, but alas, not love. "I feel sorry for you, Angelique, that your daughter was taken from you." "You and I cannot live together."We would surely end up destroying each other."

She looked at him with fury in her eyes now. "I do not want your pity, Barnabas Collins, nor do I need it!" "Cymbaline is not just my daughter, she is yours, as well, or have you forgotten already?" She looked at him , with daggers in her eyes, she was crying no more. "I have received your answer to my question, Barnabas Collins." "I wish I had never, ever met you!" She left the Old House quickly, slamming the front door as she left. Angelique had been rejected, yet again by the only man she had ever loved.

***************************************************

She walked into the house by the sea, her eyes were red from the tears.

Nicholas was waiting for her to return. He looked lonesome and upset too. "How did Barnabas take the news?" Nicholas asked.

"He doesn't care, Nicholas, he acts as though she were only my child, not his." Poor Angelique, she looked so very, very sad.

'He really does not deserve you, you know." Nicholas told her. "Why do you persist in trying to love him, Angelique?" "Why do you torture yourself this way?" He asked.

She looked into his eyes. "Because I am a woman, Nicholas, that is all you need to know." "We only have each other now, Nicholas, for we are alone once again." She told him.

"Barnabas Collins is a fool, Angelique." Nicholas told her. " He may not love you, but I do." He confessed.

"Nicholas, you are only saying that to make me feel better, but nothing shall do that."

"I speak the truth, Angelique." He told her. 'Don't you know that I love you, my dear?" "Don't you know how I really feel about you?" He took her face in his hands, and looked into her beautiful eyes.

'Do you really speak the truth, Nicholas?" She asked.

"Yes, don't you know that?" He asked. He kissed her lips. Their bodies, and souls, were drawn to one another. "I am going to make love to you, Angelique." He told her. "I shall take no excuses." He told her. Her heart was beating faster, as she felt her passion rising. He led her to his bed. "Let me undress you." He suggested. Slowly and seductively he removed her dress. He kissed her beautiful body, over and over again. Angelique closed her eyes, as her passion was building more and more. She lie in his bed.They needed each other desperately, for it seemed all was lost to them now.

"Nicholas, can you give me another child?" She asked. 'Will you give me another baby daughter?"

"My beautiful Angelique, I have no doubt about that." He told her. "Perhaps I shall give you two, a daughter, and a son."

Her face beamed as he told her this. "I hope so, Nicholas." I swear by all that is unholy, I hope so!" Angelique replied, as she gave herself to him eagerly. They were so lonely. They wanted to have a child again, to love. In the morning, when they awoke, they made love once again.

'What if I should give you three babies, Angelique?" He asked her.

"No, Nicholas, that is too much." "One or two shall do nicely."

'You are so very sweet and exciting to love, Angelique." He told her. "Perhaps I shall keep you here all day long." He told her.

"Oh, what a devil you are, Nicholas Blair!" "I am just the one to let you do that." She told him, as he loved her once more.

****************************************************

While Nicholas was making passionate love to Angelique, she was enjoying it immensely. The weeks went by.Angelique still could not forget about Barnabas. It seemed she was always cursed with his memory.She could see his handsome face, and his precious eyes.She could hear his voice in the night. Oh why, why can't I forget about you, Barnabas Collins?" "I have Nicholas to love me, but still I cannot forget you. I know that you will never love me. Angelique thought to herself. She tried to put him out of her mind. Nicholas was pursuing her more and more. They spent most of their time in bed.She loved Nicholas, but she loved Barnabas more.

******************************************************

One night, during a raging thunderstorm, Angelique was extremely restless. She was haunted by the faces of her baby daughter, and of Barnabas. Try as she might, she could not get rid of the visions. She could hear her babies cries, she could hear Barnabas' voice. It was driving her to the point of madness. Suddenly, she ran out into the night.It was thundering and lightening.The lightening was so fierce it touched the ground. Angelique stopped by the sea, and fell to her knees. She held her hands to the sky. "You may as well strike me down now, for I am without my child, she is lost to me.The man I love most, shall never love me, without witchcraft." She cried bitterly, her face in her hands. She could hear Nicholas, calling for her in the distance.

'Master, I have paid my dues to you, for you have my child!" "Please, I beg of you, do not hurt her!"

'I wish you could give Barnabas to me.I wish you could make him love me." "I shall do anything, give you anything, do be with Barnabas!" "He is all I ever really wanted in this life!" "Oh hear me Master! Please listen to my pleas!" She cried bitterly once again. She felt like throwing herself into the sea.

'Your words have touched me,Angelique!" Her Master replied. "So you will give anything at all, to be with Barnabas Collins?"

"Yes, yes I shall, Master!" She told him.

"Would you give up your powers, and be a mortal woman, to be with him?" He asked her. Angelique thought for a moment, she thought what this would mean. She saw her entire existence flash before her. She saw Martinique, she saw Josette. She saw Collinwood in the year 1795. She saw her mother, brushing her beautiful long hair, and the little house where she lived with her mother, so very, very long ago.

She looked to the raging sky, and said, "Yes, I shall give up my powers to be with Barnabas!" "I shall live as a mortal, and grow old with him, and die with him!"

"Very well, my child, it is done!" "You are no longer my child,Angelique!" The thunder crashed and the lightening came.

"Shall I see Cymbaline when she is grown?" Angelique asked him.

"Yes, you shall see her, when she is a grown witch, and full of a witch's powers.

"Oh, thank you, Master!" "I shall never forget what you have done for me tonight!" At that moment, the storm ceased, and the night was quiet. She walked back to Blair house, a mortal woman now. She would soon go to Barnabas, and fall into his arms.

******************************************************

"Nicholas, I have given up my powers, I am mortal now." "Our Master has given Barnabas to me." That is the price I have paid for him."

"My, what a love you have, Angelique." "I have never seen that kind of love." He told her. He lied as he spoke these words.There was once, a very long time ago, a woman who filled his heart with love.She was a beautiful, dark-haired woman, with blue eyes.He loved her more than anyone he had ever met, then or since. Her name was Donnamarie.She was lost to him long ago, but her memory was always with him. "I shall miss you,Angelique." Nicholas told her. "Please do not be a stranger." 'Come and visit me, now and then?" He asked.

"Yes, Nicholas, I will miss you too." "You have been a very good friend to me." 'You have been my Master for so long, but you have also been my friend." "I know it saddened you, when you had to punish me." "I thank you now, for that." 'You have always loved me so tenderly, Nicholas." "I shall never forget you." She told him.

"Then give me a proper kiss good-bye." Nicholas told her. They kissed for several moments.

"We shall always be friends, Nicholas." She told him.

"Yes, Angelique, VERY good friends!" He replied. "Now go, Barnabas is waiting for you." Nicholas told her.

"Good-bye, Nicholas, I hope that you find happiness with Maggie." She told him. As she spoke these words, she was crying once again.She quietly left Blair house.

******************************************************

Barnabas embraced Angelique as she entered the Old House. "What a fool I've been, Angelique!" " I've loved you always, but tried to fool myself!" He
told her.

"I knew, that one day you would finally come to your senses, and know that you loved me!" She told him. They covered each other in kisses, and vowed to never let each other go.

'I want to make love to you, Angelique!" He told her.

"Take me to your room, Barnabas." "Take me to our bed." Angelique said

***************************************************

Back at Blair house, Nicholas sat in the dark this night. He had been thinking about how much he had lost. Once, long ago, he had lost his true love, Donnamarie. He had lost his son, Zachary. Now he had lost Angelique, too. He could hear a storm, about to begin. The house had a strange chill tonight. Perhaps he should call Maggie soon. The storm was building outside. Nicholas Blair, shed three tears this night. The man, thought never to cry, was crying this night. One tear, for Donnamarie, one for Zachary, and one for Angelique.Then he shed another tear...for Nicholas Blair.

the end...

Message Boards