Subj: A More Consistent Origin, Part 21
Date: 12/31/98 2:55:54 PM Central Standard Time
From: Whitey Pale

Part 21

Angelique turned her attention to the book of spells she had just acquired. She leafed through the yellowed pages looking for two specific spells. She was pleased to learn that she had all of the ingredients that she needed for them in her bag.

After mixing an herb with a potion, she hid a vial in her dress and walked quietly to the top of the stairs. After she and Gavroche had reached the inn, and particularly when Gavroche was out running his errands, Angelique had paid close attention to the men who had arrived at the inn, looking for possibilities.

From the landing, she could see down into the dining room, although of course, that was too elegant a term for the dirty, smoky and loud establishment below. Angelique noticed that both of the men that she had noticed as having some means--they had arrived by hired carriage rather than on horseback--were sitting at tables, drinking. One was already with what appeared to be "a lady of the evening." The other was drinking alone.

Angelique went down the stairs and took a seat by her next victim, a clean cut young man, Phillipe, about 30, who appeared to be a businessman. With ease, she gained his confidence and, at a strategic moment when his attention was diverted, Angelique poured the vial into his drink.

After Phillipe had downed his glass, he complained about feeling strange. It was then that Angelique informed the hapless Phillipe that he was under her power, and that the next morning they would leave together by carriage to head towards the other end of the island. It was all so easy, it took less than an hour.

However, while Angelique was seducing Phillipe, she was also noticing a woman wiping tables and bringing drinks. The woman had white hair, and moved slowly, with a limp, as though she were elderly, though upon closer inspection, she appeared to be middle-aged. At one point, Angelique overheard the innkeeper refer to the woman as "Michele." Angelique knew that this woman was her grandmother.

After Phillipe was "captured", Angelique retreated to her bedroom to plan her next move. She sat in her bed and read by candlelight from her book of spells, learning more and more as she excitedly read on. Finally, at about 3 a.m., Angelique could no longer hear the noise from downstairs. She knew that it was time to make her move.

She lit a black candle, pulled out some incense powder and quietly crept down the stairs. The dining room was deserted. Angelique searched for the cellar door and, upon finding it, softly opened it and stepped in.

Angelique climbed down the steps and found a supply cellar, but in the far corner was another door. She knew from her vision of the previous night that this was where her grandmother slept. She grimly smiled and walked to the door.

Angelique gently rapped on the door. "Who is it?" a voice inside said.

"Please, Michele, you must let me in. I have important news for you!"

At first there was no reply. Then the voice said, "Who are you? I do not know who you are. Go away!"

"Do not be afraid, madame." Angelique said "madame" trying hard to mask her contempt, "I bring you news about your daughter."

Again, there was silence. Then the voice returned, this time with a slight tremor. "I have no daughter! Go away!"

Angelique frowned in anger, but persisted. "No, I cannot. I bring you an urgent message from your daughter, Alexis Bouchard. Please let me in."

With the mention of Alexis' name, Angelique heard the body on the other side of the door get up with a start. She heard the woman get up, put on a shawl and walk slowly to the door.

When Michele opened the door, Angelique could see that her grandmother was definitely a fright--her white hair all bedraggled and unkempt, her face haggard and weary, eyes dark and sunken in the candlelight. Her fingers were somewhat gnarled and bony. Michele looked at Angelique with open-mouthed surprise, and Angelique could tell that her grandmother was missing a tooth or two as well.

"I saw you downstairs tonight. I thought you was a tart." Michele said in amazement. "Who're you, and how do you know my daughter? You're too young, too fancy to know her."

Angelique smiled at the "too fancy" line. Angelique thought that, although she was furious at her grandmother for turning Alexis out into the streets, had she not done so, Angelique would have grown up an ignorant servant at the inn and not had the advantages of growing up with the Du Pres. Then again, Angelique thought, her mother would still be alive.

"Oh, come now, Michele! I am not too young to know Alexis. I admit that I am too young to be her friend, but I am not too young for another relationship." Angelique said half-coyly, half-sarcastically.

However, the sarcasm flew right over Michele's head. "Is she--is Alexis your servant? Why didn't you tell me this evening."

Angelique smiled at this, but was unmoved. "The time was not right this evening. There were too many people around. As far as how I know Alexis, well, why do we not let her tell you herself?"

Michele grew pale and began shaking. She suddenly seemed very uncomfortable. "She's here? My daughter, Alexis is here?"

"No. Not yet. But she is coming here." Angelique then frowned and asked, "But Michele, why are you so afraid? I thought you would be pleased to see your daughter."

Michele continued to shake. "It's just that--that--I haven't seen her for years." She began to fool with her disheveled hair. "I don't want her to see me like this."

While Michele was speaking, Angelique began to sprinkle the incense powder surreptitiously behind her back. "But Michele, if your daughter has not seen you for so long, will she not be happy to see you no matter how you look? After all, you are her mother?" Angelique was now making no attempt to hide the sarcasm, which Michele was still not noticing.

Suddenly, Michele heard footsteps coming down the cellar stairs. They sounded soft, like a woman's, but weary like her own. Michele became extremely agitated. "Ah, that must be Alexis now." Angelique said, smiling enigmatically.

"No!" Michele said and limped to a corner of the room. Suddenly the door to her room flung open and a figure in a dark robe entered. "Mother! Mother! Are you here?" the figure said.

Michele turned towards the figure in horror. "Alexis! It is you! It is your voice! But why have you come here? Why now?"

"I wanted to ask you one question mother, and tell you some important news." the figure said evenly.

"W-what do you want to say to me?" Michele cowered.

"Why, mother?" the figure wailed, "why did you turn me out of the inn, into the streets to starve with my unborn child? Why did you leave me, your only child, out to die? How could you mother?" the figure stood still, but her words hurled towards the miserable woman who was now pressed quavering against the bed.

"I-I had no choice! I couldn't let you stay! Another baby! We'd all starve! We'd be all thrown into the streets! There was a drought! I had no choice!" Michele began sobbing uncontrollably.

"But your own daughter and grandchild! How could you mother? How could you have left us out in the streets to die?" the figure accused.

"But-but you didn't die!" Michele pleaded, "you survived! This woman who brought you here. She must treat you well. You've definitely had a better life than mine."

"But did I survive, mother?" the figure asked.

"What-what d'you mean?" Michele asked fearfully.

"I think you know what I mean. That maybe I am, in fact, dead, and am returning to find out why I had to die."

"NO! It's not possible! Alexis, you're obviously alive! You are here with me now! Oh, please Alexis! Please! Forgive me! I did not mean to send you away! I've regretted it for years! Please forgive me, please!" Michele was now becoming hysterical.

"You are right mother, I did survive after you turned me out. But I had to pay a terrible price for that survival. I had to make a deal with a demon to save my unborn child. Then she broke that promise and I have paid dearly, very dearly!" the figure began to advance on Alexis.

"Alexis, what--what are you talking about? Go away! You're scaring me!" Michele cried.

"When you betray a demon, the penalty is always death. Yes, mother. That is what I have come to tell you. I have died a horrible death. The day before yesterday. This is what has become of me!" and with that, the figure removed the hood revealing the mutilated face of Alexis, torn almost beyond recognition by a wild animal.

Michele screamed and collapsed onto the bed. The apparition then vanished, and Angelique stood over her grandmother. She had not really summoned the ghost of her mother, Angelique was too timid to try that. Instead, she had created a hallucination, partly preying on her grandmother's guilt and partly using her own powers of suggestion. It was Angelique who supplied the voice that Michele thought belonged to
Alexis.

"Well, now I know that my mother spoke the truth about my grandmother," she said ruefully. "And when you wake up, I know that you will regret what you did for the rest of your life!"

"Oh, dear! I think that it is a little late for that." a voice behind Angelique said. Shocked, Angelique turned around to find a man standing in the room with her, elegantly dressed, very dapper, and with a vaguely
satanic mustache.

"Who are you? And how did you get in here?" Angelique growled threateningly.

"Temper, temper, my dear." the man said smugly. "I think that you have far greater problems than my presence at the moment. You see, Angelique, your grandmother is dead. You killed her by your magic, and that means that your soul now belongs to me and my master."

Angelique ran to her grandmother and listened to her heart. There was no sound. She realized that the man had spoken the truth. Horrified, she turned back to him and blurted out. "You must be Judah Zachary!"

The man smiled and, ignoring Angelique's remark, said, "My name is Nicholas Blair."