by Vivi Dumas
“And now?”
“I’m comfortable with who I am. I don’t care what others feel about me.”
“Really?”
Staring at the floor, Angel answered softly, “Mostly. Some people still matter.”
“And your mother? Does she matter?” Marie shifted her skirt and tucked the end of her head-wrap.
“Mother has issues. I’ve realized her faults for a long time. I just never felt good enough about myself to understand her perception was flawed.”
“I hope things have changed.”
“Speaking of Mother. We’ve got to wake her up when we get back to the house. I think we’ve kept her knocked out long enough.”
“Such a shame. I enjoyed the quiet.” Marie’s sweet voice echoed off the brocade walls.
“Okay, I’m going to get the girls and Etienne so we can head back.”
She found the girls chatting with two of the guys from Damon’s pack. They seemed pretty comfortable being with the Supes. She expected more resistance, especially after Jazzy’s initial reaction. Angel sat on the cot next to the fair-headed were.
“Hey, who’s your new friends?” Angel teased.
“This is Rick and Thomas. They were pretty banged up last night. They look much better today.” Nat winked at Rick.
“You must be the infamous Angel.” Thomas flashed a lopsided grin.
“I don’t know about infamous, but I’m Angel.”
“Are we ready to go?” Jazzy asked.
“Yep, whenever y’all are ready. Have anyone seen Damon?”
“Some of the pack took him back to Lake Charles. He was pretty bad off,” Rick answered.
“Oh, I’ll have to go see him when things calm down. If y’all see him, tell him to call me.” She placed a hand on Rick’s leg, winning his appreciation. “Sure will.”
“All right ladies, we got to get back to the house.” Angel stood. “Nice to meet you guys.”
“Back atcha.” Rick’s smile beamed with warmth.
***
Angel ran in the house, hoping Jacque had returned. Disappointment set in when she realized he was still gone. She went to her mother’s room to check on her. She sat at the edge of the bed, debating whether to wake her or not. Finally, Angel blew the glittering dust in her mother’s face and whispered the spell.
Her mother woke from her slumber. Elise glared at Angel and snatched her by the wrist. “You let them take me.”
“I didn’t let anyone take you, Mother. We came and rescued you.”
“You left me with those filthy monsters. Do you know the things they did to me?” Elise’s nails dug into Angel’s skin, drawing blood.
“Get your hands off me, Mother, or those monsters will be the least of your worries.” She stared into her mother’s fiery brown eyes.
Elise shook as she released her hold.
“Mother, you need to come out here and eat. You’ll keep your mouth shut and not say anything offensive to anyone. These people helped us. Saved you, even after you decided to cut off Laurent’s foot.”
“I want nothing to do with these abominations.”
Angel’s jaw hurt from her clenched teeth. “Fine, I’ll have a car take you home, and you can fend for yourself and see how long you can stay alive. I’m tired of your bullshit.”
“You dare talk to me like a child. I’m all you’ve got now. I know Faith is dead.” Elise’s expression was mocking.
“See, you’re wrong. I have people who love me. They’ve helped me more in this short time than you have my whole life. Mother, I’ve finally realized I don’t need you.”
Elise snatched Angel by her shoulder. “You would’ve been nothing without me.”
“No, I was empty with you. I didn’t understand my true worth until now. With or without you Mother, I’ll be fine. The decision is yours.”
“You’ll find out you need me. When he gets tired of looking at your ugly ass and leave, you’ll come crawling back to me.”
“Even if he does leave me, I’ll never come back to you. You don’t deserve to be called a mother.” Angel balled her hands in tight fists, wanting to land one in her mother’s mouth.
The sting of Elise’s slap burned. Angel’s patience and sympathy for her mother had run out. She no longer had the strength to fight the poison Elise continually administered. I must cut her out of my life before she ruins me forever.
“I’ll have a car take you home. Pack your shit and be ready to go in ten minutes.” Angel stormed out the room, slamming the door behind her.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jacque raised a brow as he pulled into the driveway and saw Elise on the steps with her bags. Something went wrong. He almost didn’t want to know. He parked the car and got out. Anger oozed off Elise like toxic waste. Whatever happened left her in a tizzy.
“Hello, Elise.” Jacque stopped at the foot of the steps.
“I don’t know what y’all did to turn my daughter against me. I hope y’all rot in hell. Freaks!”
He regretted stopping. “Did you and Angel get into a disagreement?”
“She threw me out.” Elise pouted like a child.
His instincts told him to run, instead he asked, “Why would Angel throw you out? Did something happen?”
“You don’t know anything about my daughter. Just like her father, she’s abandoning me.”
“I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding. Let’s go inside and figure this out.”
“I’m not going in there. If she wants me to stay, she needs to come out here and ask me.” She folded her arms across her chest, staring across the driveway to the traffic on St. Charles.
“Okay, Elise. Let me go inside and talk to Angel and see what’s going on.”
“Suit yourself. You just tell my daughter I won’t come back in until she apologizes to me.”
Jacque shook his head, restrained from rolling his eyes, and went in the house. Laurent was in the same spot on the sofa as earlier. Etienne sat in the armchair with his head in his hands. He heard his mother and Marie in the kitchen.
“Where’s Angel?” Jacque called into the parlor.
“Upstairs,” Etienne answered.
“What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know exactly. All I know is Angel told her mother to get out. She asked me to send her back to her house.”
“Shit. Why’s Elise sitting out on the steps?”
“I wasn’t sure if was a good idea to send her home. I haven’t sent for the car yet. Angel refused to let her come back in the house, so there she sits.”
Jacque ran his hand through his hair. “Okay, I’ll go talk to Angel.”
“I’m with Ang. Let her ass go home.” Laurent made a crude gesture toward the door.
Upstairs, he opened the door to the room and found Angel lying across the bed. He slid in next to her, kissing her on the nose. He leveraged his arm under her and rolled her to him.
His hand lightly traced the curve of her hip. “What’s going on, Ang?”
“I’ve had it with her. She needs to go.”
“Is sending her home alone the smartest thing to do right now?”
“I don’t care. She’s like poison. She can’t stay here with me.”
Jacque hated dividing his resources. He sensed Angel needed this. “All right. If you need her gone right now, we’ll send her home. I’m sure we can get someone to keep an eye on her.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Being on my side. I was afraid when Faith passed, I wouldn’t have anyone on my side anymore.”
“I’m always on your side. Even when you don’t know it.” He lifted her face to his and kissed her softly.
“Okay, please go send her home now. We got a lot to talk about. I’ll come down in a minute.” Angel rolled over on top of him, pushing him to his back, and her lips found his again.
“Keep kissing me and we won’t be making it downstairs.”
***
<
br /> Laurent’s foot fully regenerated. What little color Etienne possessed returned. Angel struggled with the estranged relationship with her mother. Her guilt tugged at her for putting her mother out of the house. She trained with Jacque to release her stress. Jacque’s mother and Marie huddled in the kitchen, speaking in whispers all day. Jacque wondered what they were plotting. Nat helped develop the spell and potions needed to conjure Xavier. Jazzy decided to go home when everyone left Le Fleur.
Jacque pulled the towel off the stone bench in the garden. He wiped the sweat dripping down his face as Angel wiped his back. The sun beamed high in the sky. The New Orleans’s summer was brutal, almost as bad as Hades. Jacque smiled at the comparison. Until they found Xavier, this was his new Hell.
“You sure you want to do this tonight?” Angel rubbed the towel on the back of her neck and dabbed her forehead.
“Babe, we can’t wait forever. We need to catch him before he comes back for us.”
“I know. I’m just worried.”
Her nervousness surrounded him, throbbing in the base of his neck. “Hey, no need to worry. You guys came up with a good plan. And I know I can take him one-on-one.”
“I don’t doubt you.” She pushed up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips.
“Hey, have you talked to Jazzy?”
“No, she’s not answering her cell. Why?”
Jacque pressed his lips into a thin line. “I know she was kinda freaked out ‘bout everything.”
“Yeah, she was always the straight-laced one in the group. She’s strong, she’ll be okay.”
“I have someone keeping an eye on her, too.”
Angel lightly touched his arm. “Thanks.”
“Your mother hasn’t left the house since we dropped her off. Have you called to check on her?”
“No, I’m not ready.”
Jacque picked up the water bottle and towel. “Okay. You can’t avoid her forever.” He snapped the towel, hitting Angel on the back of her leg.
“Ouch!” She threw her bottle of water on him and ran into the house.
Jacque entered the welcoming coolness of the room. The air hit the moisture on his body, sending a shiver through him. Standing at the kitchen sink, he downed the rest of the water in his bottle.
His mother leaned in the doorway. “Hello, Son.”
“Hi, Mom. What’ve you been up to?”
“Speaking with your father.”
“Where is Dad?”
“He’s been negotiating. Trying to come to some kind of truce with Luc.”
“Any luck?”
“No, Luc is very unhappy with the recent happenings. You and Angel seem to have attracted a lot of attention in the Underworld. It’s been quite the embarrassment for him.”
“He started it.”
“Actually, your Angel started it when she went to Luc for help,” Isis corrected.
Jacque hated when his mother was right, which was most of the time. “Yeah, she figured out it was a bad idea. You don’t have to bring it up.”
“I know. You seem to be very enamored with Angel. Where is this going, Son? She’s not like Bell. She’s not the kind of girl to play around with.”
Jacque gripped the edge of the counter. “I don’t plan to. I love her.”
“The Casanova found his match.” His mother’s smile beamed.
Jacque returned her smile with one of his own. “It seems she’s caught me.”
“She’ll be good for you.”
“I just hope I’m good for her. She’s had a hard life.”
“You’ve already been good for her. I think you were just what each other needed.”
“I guess only time will tell.” Jacque kissed his mother’s forehead on the way out the kitchen.
***
The sun dipped into the auburn and sienna clouds floating outside the window. The sky resembled the soft glow of a fire. Jacque focused in on the clock on the nightstand. It was seven o’clock. They had another two hours before they planned to conjure Xavier.
Jacque lay on his back and tucked his hands behind his head. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about the impending fight. He hated having to kill Xavier. His brother had problems. He also felt there was something redeeming under the pain and anger. Jacque just didn’t know how to access it.
He wanted to spare his brother, but couldn’t risk the lives of the two women he loved. Xavier would continue to hunt Angel and his mother until Jacque stopped him. He breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of Angel’s hair, which swept over his shoulder as she scooted closer to him. She murmured something in her sleep and stretched her arm over his stomach. The softness of her touch made his stomach flutter. It awakened a growing need inside him.
Jacque gazed down at Angel. She appeared at peace in her sleep. Her beauty radiated about her. Even in her slumber, she unconsciously hid the scar marring her perfection. Angel’s confidence was much stronger than when he first met her, but she still had some underlying insecurities. She was at her full glory when he first laid eyes on her, however nowhere near as magnificent as the woman he held today.
Her eyes fluttered open. She caught him studying her. “What’re you doing?” she asked, her voice husky from sleep.
“Watching you.”
“Exciting stuff.” She pushed her hair out of her face and lay on the pillow beside him.
“What were you dreaming about?”
“You.”
“Something good, I hope.” Jacque rolled to his side, turning toward her.
“It’s always good when I dream of you.”
Jacque twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. “You’ll tell me anything.”
“What were you thinking about, baby? You seemed to be deep in thought.”
“A lot of things. Mainly you.”
Mischief flared in her smile. “Hopefully, you were planning all the naughty things you’re gonna do to me.”
“Always.”
She giggled. “Such a bad boy.”
“Angel, where do you see us?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you want out of this relationship?”
“I want to be happy, and I want to make you happy.”
“Do I make you happy?”
She reached out, running her finger along his jaw line. “More than you’ll ever know.”
Jacque sat up and slid off the edge of the bed.
“Where’re you going?” She called after him as he disappeared into the closet.
“Hold on. I want to show you something.”
“A present?”
Jacque mused at her excitement. “You’re easily bribed.”
When he came back in the room, Angel bounced on the edge of the bed, waiting for him. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, her chocolate eyes shining bright. He took her hand and pulled her to her feet.
“Angel, I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. I’ve lived longer than you could ever imagine and not until I met you have I felt complete.” Jacque kneeled on one knee and pulled the ring from his pocket. “Angelique Dias, would you do me the honor of being my wife?” Jacque’s heart pounded in his chest as he waited what seemed an eternity for her answer.
Tears fell down her cheeks. She tilted his face to her, kissing him softly and whispered, “Yes.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Angel blinked to adjust her eyes to the candlelight in the room. Jacque followed close behind with his fingers intertwined with hers. Marie, Isis, and Nat set everything up for the ritual.
Her heart raced from both happiness and fear. She was close to having everything she wanted. The fact it could all be taken away tonight petrified her. She gave Jacque’s hand a tight squeeze before releasing it.
“Nice of you two to join us,” Isis joked.
At least Angel hoped it was a joke. She crossed the room to stand by her grandmother. “Is there anything else I can do?”
Marie adjusted the candles in the circle. �
�Non bébé, everything is ready.”
As she pushed her hair from her face, the light of the candles reflected in the large emerald-cut diamond in her ring.
Isis’s eyes widened with question. “Is there something the two of you would like to tell us?”
The ladies stared as they waited for her to answer.
“I asked Angel to marry me and she said ‘yes,’” Jacque answered proudly.
Marie hugged her, holding her tight. “Oh, Angel! I’m happy for you.”
“Congratulations, I wasn’t sure if this day was ever going to come. I’m happy it’s here.” Isis kissed her son and winked at Angel.
“Can demons get married?” Nat asked matter-of-factly.
“Can they?” Angel turned to Jacque with raised brows.
“We won’t be going to get a marriage license. I guess we can have a ceremony. I just ask one thing. No churches. Not that I can’t go in one. It just doesn’t seem right.” Jacque grinned.
Marie clapped her hands. “This is great news!”
“What’s such great news?” a voice called from the hall.
Angel stomach tightened when Isabella appeared in the doorway. “What’re you doing here?”
“I came to see what was going on and make sure everyone was okay.” Isabella tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder.
“Where’ve you been?” Jacque questioned. “We’ve been worried about you.”
“I didn’t know you still cared, sugar.” She flashed him a beguiling grin.
Angel wanted to slap the smile off Isabella’s face. “We were just concerned something happened to you.”
“Yes. We wouldn’t want you to miss Angel and Jacque’s engagement party,” Isis chimed in. The tremble in Isabella’s lips showed the impact of Isis’s words.
Isabella stepped back, stumbling over her own feet. “W-w-what?”
“Yes, Jacque asked Angel to marry him. See?” Marie held up Angel’s hand, showing off the ring.
“I have to go. Where’s my brother?” A glaze washed over Isabella’s eyes.
“He was in his room. It’s on the second floor.” Jacque watched Isabella, his eyes shaded with sadness. “Do you want me to show you?”