Angelique's Revenge, Part 24
Date: 3/11/98
From: AngeliqueBouchard

Later in the morning of the auspicious day that Daphne's bite marks disappeared, Quentin, Chris, Tom, the Stokes, Daphne, and Roxanne explored the forest near the cemetery in search of Quentin Collins' grave. Gerard's instructions proved to be true and the group unearthed a skeleton under the tree which bore the symbol of Ra. The remains were put into a box and left in the cemetery until they could be properly buried.

The group rushed back to Collinwood and found Elizabeth and Roger in the drawing room. While Quentin spilled out the story, Tom paced the floor hoping this would at last convince Roger of Laura's supernatural powers and somehow be vindicated from betraying his cousin.

Roger looked into Tom's face as he spoke, "This is unbelievable. I never for one second thought this could actually be possible."

"You've got to get David away from her," Chris interjected.

"All right," Roger said. "We'll leave tonight after the wedding."

"Wedding? What wedding?" Quentin asked.

"I didn't have a chance to tell you," Elizabeth said. "Vicki has decided to marry Nicholas Blair tonight."

"Who's Nicholas Blair?" Daphne asked

"A man she met the other day in town," Elizabeth explained. "I find this whole situation to be ridiculous. I wish there was a way to convince Vicki to wait until she gets to know him better."

"Do you think he's after her money?" Quentin asked.

"Not according to Vicki," Elizabeth had apparently already tried this argument. "She says he is very wealthy himself and even insisted on signing an agreement that he would acquire no Collins' money should they ever divorce for any reason."

"I can't believe Vicki is doing this," Chris said. "She's usually not this impetuous."

"He should be arriving here at Collinwood shortly so we can all meet him. I hope that after I see him in person I'll have a good reason to persuade Vicki to call this wedding off."

An hour later Nicholas Blair arrived at Collinwood. He was well prepared for the opposition he would face. Underneath his finely tailored suit he wore an amulet. It had a spell cast on it to charm those whom the wearer touched. It would be enough for the Collins family to be inexplicably drawn to him. The only exception would be anyone with psychic powers or those who practiced the black arts. The charm spell was not strong enough to influence such people. Nicholas was not concerned about this however. Angelique had already taken care of Jeb Hawkes and no one in the Collins family were proficient in the practice of magic.

Quentin answered the door and Nicholas immediately greeted him. "Hello my name is Nicholas Blair," he said with a confident smile as he shook Quentin's hand.

Quentin suddenly felt warm inside. He never experience such an instant liking for a person, not even Daphne. Before the afternoon was over Nicholas had the admiration and affection from everyone at Collinwood. Only Roxanne did not share the other's sudden love for this stranger. She frankly could not understand why everyone was so taken with him. He seemed like an ordinary man, but she sensed a coldness about him. It was hard for Roxanne to concentrate on her impressions of Nicholas, however. The feelings of others calling out to her for help were getting stronger and harder to ignore.

TO BE CONTINUED