Subj: Quentin's Thoughts and Barnabas' Demise X
Date: 5/21/99 9:24:16 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Mysterious Millicent
Quentin's Thoughts and Barnabas' Demise X
Quentin's room at Collinwood........
Angelique looked back at Quentin and said, "I have something to tell all of you. It is important that you listen to me because it will explain why I need your help." She turned away for a minute and then taking a deep breathe began her tale.
"A long time ago, I was known by another name. I lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was a maid for the Sanderson family. I was 18 when I met Judah Zachary. He was the most fascinating man I had ever met. I fell in love with him and found out too late that he was a warlock. He was very powerful and scared me. But he adored me and bestowed upon me the powers of witchcraft. I learned a great deal from him and was fascinated by the power. But Judah was mean and cruel and I saw many atrocities that he committed. And so when I was asked to testify against him, I did. I was terrified, but I kept my promise as long as they would not let Judah look at me. The judges promised me I would go free and be given free passage out of the Colonies. When the trial was over, Judah was convicted of witchcraft and the judges did what I had asked. They hung him up in the town square, and when he was physically dead, they decapitated him, and buried his body in an unmarked grave. The head was hung in the townsquare as a reminder for anyone who wanted to practice witchcraft.
Beth began to tremble again at this and Aristede put his arm tighter around her and began to whisper soothing words to her. Quentin was full attention now, wondering where this was leading.
Angelique continued. "I left the colonies and traveled to the Caribbean, to the Island of Martinique. There I continued to practice my witchcraft in secret. It was there that I met Lord Greystone. He was a very wealthy man from England who was an archeologist and fascinated by the rare. He had heard of the Head of Judah Zachary and had traced it to the Caribbean. Or at least information about it there. He had eventually met a woman named Tabitha Ravnos and she was interested in the head as well. They fell in love and eventually married. They had been working for several years trying to find out information regarding the head when they met a man named Count Andreas Petofi."
At this Aristede took in a deep breathe. {So that is where Petofi had come from.} Now he too was listening intently.
"Petofi too, was in search of the Head. He was very intelligent and had some occult powers himself and used it to help Lord Greystone unbeknownst to the Lord.. So they all begin to work together and pool their knowledge. A few months later, Lord Greystone sent Tabitha to the Colonies because he had heard there was information regarding the Head in a place near the Territory of Massachusetts. It was while she was gone that I met Lord Greystone. When I found out what he was doing and what he was up to, I realized how dangerous a mission he was on. I tried every way I could to persuade him to drop this quest, and I thought I had almost succeeded. But that was when I met Petofi. I knew when I met him that he had powers of the occult. They almost matched mine at the time and I was a bit afraid of him. So I said and did nothing to give myself away to him.
He did not seem to suspect me of witchcraft but did seem intrigued with my knowledge of the occult. I passed it off with simply saying I was very learned in voodoo, which is not the same thing. He seemed to accept that and I was safe.
But not long after Lord Greystone and I had met, I realized how kind he was and how much he meant to me. We met secretly for many weeks, and had a wonderful time together, until Count Petofi came one day and told Lord Greystone that he had found out a great deal of information about his wife. He told Lord Greystone that his wife was a gypsy of the Lupine Family and was well versed in the occult. This angered Lord Greystone for having been betrayed, for even though he was interested in rare artifacts, he had no desire to be involved in the occult. I knew then to be very secretive of my witchcraft. I tried to console him. But he was very despondant. He would not be comforted."
At this point, Angelique stopped and looked directly at Quentin. "This is where you come in Quentin!" And Quentin nodded listening very attentively. "When Lady Greystone returned, Lord Greystone confronted her about the gypsy blood. She knew there was no way she could deny this and so admitted it to him. He then told her to leave his household, and made it clear that he had met me and that he wanted to divorce her and marry me instead. I said nothing for fear of arousing her wrath, and was not that sure of my powers yet. She glared at me and then left. It was later that we realized she had gone to Petofi and confronted him with the facts and that she knew he had told her husband. We heard later that he had laughed at her and she simply smiled as if she understood and before she left the room she suddenly turned around and placed the curse of the werewolf on him.
Two days later, when Lord Greystone was leaving an excavation site under the full moon, he was attacked by the werewolf and died. I was devestated. But I knew who had done the deed. I also knew that Tabitha was responsible.
It was quite sometime later that Petofi came to the Colonies and sought out the gypsies of the Romano Tribe and requested a cure. These gypsies had heard of the powerful hand he possessed and knowing that a gypsy would never give anything without payment, they requested his hand as payment for the cure. Although Petofi did not know this until after the cure had been administered. So he had no choice but to surrender his hand.
That is the parchment of proof that you hold in your hand Quentin" At this Quentin looked down again at the parchment paper. Now he understood why Angelique had come back. She was planning to help him and get revenge for what these two had done to her.
He looked up at Angelique and said, "What are you going to do?"