Angelique's Revenge, Part 28
Date: 3/16/98
From: AngeliqueBouchard

Vicki and Nicholas stood in the drawing room at Collinwood exchanging wedding vows in front of the Collins' family and their friends. Nicholas felt quite smug that his plan was going off without a hitch.

"I Victoria Collins, take thee, Nicholas Blair to be my lawful, wedded husband..."

Gasps from those watching the ceremony interrupted Vicki's vows. All eyes turned to the open doors in which stood, Roxanne and Jeb along with the very tired and dirty looking Barnabas and Angelique.

"What's happened here?" Elizabeth asked.

"We were kept prisoner in a hidden room in the cellar by that evil spirit who was trying to possess Angelique," Barnabas explained.

"What? I just saw Angelique this morning," Carolyn said, incredulously.

"No you didn't," Barnabas said. "She just looked like Angelique. Somehow she looks human now."

"Amazing," Elliot said. "Did she tell you what she wanted?"

"Revenge on someone," Angelique said. "She wanted to get revenge on someone and then kill me and take my place. She said she could make Barnabas forget all of this."

"Thank God for Roxanne," Barnabas said. "That witch gloated over blocking Jeb's psychic powers, but she didn't consider Roxanne to be a threat, I guess."

Suddenly, David's eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth and screamed. He started running towards the foyer yelling, "My mother is burning! My mother is burning!"

Roger caught David, "What do you mean? You must calm down."

David could do no such thing and just kept rambling about his mother burning. Julia had the presence of mind to believe the boy, "Where is she David? Tell us where she is."

"At the Old House!" He screamed.

Roger ordered Mrs. Johnson to watch David while everyone fled outside and ran towards the Old House. The stench of the fire was in the air, confirming everyone's fears, as the large party plowed through the woods toward the Old House. The soft glow of orange and yellow could be seen flickering as they neared.

Angelique Bouchard stood laughing as the flames consumed Laura's dead corpse. She stopped suddenly and stood wide eyed at the large crowd forming around the clearing. Thoughts raced through her head of how she could explain this and come out looking like a hero. Angelique's eyes rested on Barnabas and Angelique. Her mind raced trying to figure out how she could bewitch such a large group of people into forgetting the whole incident. Then she saw Nicholas. Hope burst forth in her black heart. Together they could do this. She looked imploringly at him.

Nicholas stared at Angelique. She was ruining everything. It was enough she was doomed, did she have to bring him down with her? Someone was sure to see her gazing at him so intently and understand they were working together. Why didn't she just disappear? No, she was too greedy for that. There was only one thing to do. Nicholas charged full force at Angelique pushing her into the fire. She screamed and hung onto his shirt as she entered the inferno. He managed to unhook her hand and he fell back to the ground. He looked down at his torn shirt and realized she had inadvertently ripped off his pendent when she clutched his shirt and it went into the fire with her.

Angelique's unearthly screams died down and silence once again came to the clearing. Angelique's grandmother fell to her knees still clutching Laura's baby. Tom came over and took the baby out of her arms as Angelique helped her grandmother to her feet.

"Ohh, Angelique, what have I done?" Her grandmother said with tears in her eyes. "I betrayed you and helped her to do whatever she wanted."

"I think you were under her spell grandmother. It wasn't your fault." Angelique said.

"How do you feel Jeb?" Elliot asked.

Jeb was elated. "My powers are back."

"We're so grateful for what you did, Nicholas," Elizabeth said.

"Thank you, I just wanted to protect Victoria and her family," Nicholas said, quite aware he was now on his own without any charm spell to help him. At least his hold on Victoria wasn't jeopardized. The magic at work on her was much stronger.

Vicki came over and hung on Nicholas' arm, "You're a hero!"

It was decided that Vicki and Nicholas should be married in the morning. As the group disbanded Elliot and Julia pulled Roxanne and Jeb aside. "Jeb, is there something you want to talk about?" Elliot asked.

"I didn't think it was that obvious," Jeb confessed. "I felt something cold, something evil. I know it wasn't just after effects from the witch and what she did. This evil is still alive and at work in the Collins' family."

"Where was it coming from?" Julia asked.

"Nicholas Blair," Jeb replied. "Nicholas Blair."



TO BE CONTINUED