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#6
FEB 09 |
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“Tug of War”
Tante Mattie paced the floor of her small home. Ever since the young woman in the next room had arrived, she’d only been sleeping fitfully. “Girl, you got somet’in big comin’ for you,” she murmured. On the small bed, the woman with long blond hair slept peacefully.
Bloodscourge fell to the floor with a heavy thud. LeVeau regarded him with disgust. “Get up,” LeVeau ordered. Shaking and weak, Bloodscourge obeyed his master.
“Good,” LeVeau said. “I have a task for you.” He handed Bloodscourge a syringe that the hulking monster immediately injected himself with. “When you are able, come to my drawing room.” LeVeau walked out. He hated watching Bloodscourge’s response to the serum.
Remy LeBeau walked into the brownstone that served as home and headquarters for the Thieves’ Guild. Jean-Luc, his father, met him in the entrance hall. “Welcome home,” he said.
“T’anks,” Remy replied.
“Were you able to rescue Bella Donna?” Jean-Luc asked.
Remy paused a moment as he started to climb the stairs to his bedroom. “I guess you could call it dat. She pretty much rescued herself.”
“And her abductor?”
“She dealt wit’ him, too.”
“Sounds like a wasted night,” LeBeau said as he walked out of the hall.
“Sounds like, don’t it?” Remy asked himself as he walked up the steps. He gently rubbed his lips with the tips of his fingers, remembering Bella Donna’s kisses the night before.
Bella Donna lay back on her bed. She smiled as she ran her fingers across her lips, remembering her husband’s kisses from the night before. Suddenly her eyes fluttered and she fell into unconsciousness.
Bella Donna sat up on her bed (was it her bed?) and looked around. Everything in her room seemed to have a hazy quality to it. A blond woman sat at the end of her bed. Anger welled up within Bella Donna when she saw that the woman was examining her mother’s gold hand mirror. She tried to attack the woman but couldn’t move.
She must have managed to make some small sound because the woman turned around and smiled at her. “So you’re finally here,” she said as she carefully laid the mirror back down on the dressing table.
“Who are you?” Bella Donna demanded.
The woman smiled. “Call me Fontanelle,” she said. “I am an observer.”
“Observer? Of what?”
Fontanelle smiled her mysterious smile again. “Right now, my focus seems to be on your husband, Remy LeBeau.”
Bella Donna smiled faintly as her mind turned back to the night before. Suddenly she was shocked to see that she and Fontanelle were standing in the warehouse, watching what had transpired that evening after Marcel’s death.
“Well,” Fontanelle said. “Apparently you had a momentous evening.” She smiled as she studied Remy’s body. “I can’t say that I blame you, either.”
Rage filled Bella Donna at Fontanelle’s invasion into this most private of moments. “Who do you think you are?” she demanded as she started toward Fontanelle. She immediately froze once more.
“Simple, dear,” Fontanelle said as she leaned close to Bella Donna’s face. “I am an observer. Right now I see how matters are racing toward a conclusion. I simply want to understand what groundwork is being laid. After all, big days are coming.”
Bella Donna awoke with Fontanelle’s laughter still echoing in her ears.
The next morning, Remy awoke to a pounding at his door in the brownstone. Jacques, his brother, simply grunted and pulled his covers up over his head.
“Never mind, I’ll get it,” Remy said as he pulled the door open. Tante Mattie stood on the other side. “Tante Mattie?” Remy asked. “What’s wrong?”
“You must come wit’ me at once,” Tante Mattie said.
“Sure,” Remy said, pulling his shirt on. “What about-”
Tante Mattie held up a hand to cut him off. “I just need you. You’re de one who understands dis.”
Remy nodded slowly as he pulled his boots on. “All right,” he said. “If you say so.”
“Trust me, Remy, all will be made clear.” Tante Mattie nervously looked around the room. “But we got ta go now!”
“Den let’s go,” Remy said as he pulled on his coat. The two walked out, closing the door behind them.
Tante Mattie stopped short as she saw her home. The door on her small shack had been splintered and light shone out from the door into the dark of the swamp. “Stay here,” Remy said as he snapped his bo staff to its full length. “I’ll see if anybody’s in dere.”
“Be careful, Remy,” Tante Mattie said. “For her.”
Her? Remy thought. He put the thought out of his mind as he made a quick search of the house. “Come on in,” he finally called. “Ain’t nobody here.”
Tante Mattie hurried in. “Where is she?” she asked.
“Who?” Remy asked.
Tante Mattie leaned back. “Do you remember the woman you told me about?”
“Anielle,” Remy breathed as he remembered. The young woman had been an angel, sent to terminate a demon. “But she’s gone,” he said as he remembered the final battle outside the Vatican.
Tante Mattie picked up a picture and carefully replaced it on a table. “Dat’s what you said,” she said. “But I met a young woman who was exactly like her. She’s de one who was stayin’ here. Dat’s why I came after you.”
“An angel,” Remy murmured. “Dere’s only one person I know who’d go after an angel.” His eyes widened as he saw a small pile of dust on the floor. He knelt and rubbed it between his fingers. “Graveyard dust. It’s him all right. LeVeau.”
“Baron LeVeau?” Tante Mattie asked.
“Dat’s de one,” Remy replied. “One a his pets is de reason I got dat hole in my leg.”
“Be careful, Remy,” Tante Mattie said. “He’s dangerous.”
“Don’t worry none,” Remy said. “So am I.”
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To Be Continued...
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