Chapter 7
"Carolyn" Adam asked, a bit shakily "will you marry me?"
Carolyn looked at him, a bit sad.
"You know I can't"
"Why not? Because Roger's missing?"
"Yes, it was my fault that he ran away."
"They will find him."
She shook her head
"And even they don't. Even if... if something happened to him, will your refuse to live your life because of him?"
He knew that he was in shaky ground. She could accuse him of caring nothing for Roger, of enjoying the situation, and even worse, of engineering his disappearance. But he hated being kept hanging, as he was."
Carolyn shook her head again. "I am sorry, I just can't, now."
"Are you going to call on Angelique?"
"Yes. She is our best bet" George answered "There is only so much that you or I can do. She still has her powers and knows how to protect herself.
"We did not part friends, as I recall."
"Megan was very hurt. And Angelique did not want her to return and find Richard again. Her price for her help was this. That Megan continued to believe Richard dead."
"And we have to make sure of that."
"Well, that is not so difficult to arrange. Richard, I mean Howard, knows to make himself scarce. He did not really love her that much.. It was a highly charged emotional situation, but it was no great love. He and Frances seem happy now."
Julia seemed hesitant and George insisted. "Come on, what else can we do? Keep on reading Stokes' notes, hoping that we can find something of value? Staring at the wall and wondering what is happening to Barnabas and the others?"
"No." reluctantly, Julia agreed. "All right. How are we going to summon Angelique?"
"We need something of hers. And I have that."
"Why do we need to summon her that way? Couldn't she have given us a phone number?"
"Megan was going off the grid... Seems that is something vampires need to do on a regular basis. So, tracking them should be hard... "
It took them a couple of hours to get themselves ready but eventually they sat at the table, and George lighted a candle on top of it.
"Angelique Bouchard." George intoned solemnly "We need your help. We wish to know where you are, how you can be found. We need you by us."
Julia repeated the words.
"I summon you to come. We call you with the power of the flame. Angelique Bouchard. Miranda du Val. Angelique Duval. Angelique Rumsen. Valerie Collins. Cassandra Blair. Under whatever name you are, we summon you."
George ran his hand quickly through the flame. Once, twice, three times.
"Come to us in our hour of need."
Julia lanced George's wrist and let the blood flow freely.
George lifted his hand over the flame, letting the blood droplets fall.
"With my blood I summon thee." he said.
Julia gave him the scarf that Angelique had left behind. George let his blood fall on it and then lifted the scarf over the flame.
"Angelique, come to us. We wait for you."
Angelique felt the summons and the strength behind it. There was desperation in it.
There was trouble in Collinsport.
Megan saw this. "Anything wrong?"
"They need me, they need us in Collinsport."
"Who is summoning us?"
"I sense George... And Julia?"
"Julia? She does not want to kill me anymore?"
"I do not know."
"Well, call them, and have George tell you what's the matter. And why Barnabas isn't there with them."
"You think that it worked?" Julia asked.
"We followed the procedure, as she detailed it."
"I know we did, but it might not be enough."
"Then we'll have to try again. I am serious, Julia. We cannot do this alone. We have no power. You said it yourself. They do not think us a threat. We have no powers we can use to fight back. We have no idea of how to enter the egg, much less on how to rescue anyone in it."
She nodded.
"I think that they might be using Barnabas' life force. Peter has recovered, which means that they are no longer draining him. Nor Iris... I had to explain to her that it was not her fault. That they were controlling her... not that it did much good, I am afraid..."
"Yes."
"Which is better than what I imagined. I had this nightmare last night of him being hanged by this butcher's hook... having the hook go through his throat, tearing the windpipe out... Julia, we have to do something, and our best bet is Angelique, no matter how well you and Megan get along. Or not get along."
It was then that the telephone rang.
"You need me, don't you?" Angelique said, at the other end.
"Yes." George said. "We need you desperately. All of us." he recounted feverishly the events, how they had unfolded, how Amy and Sebastian had been taken. "And now they have taken Barnabas, and we think that they are draining his life force. We need your help Will you come?"
"I..." Angelique was about to answer, but Megan took the receiver form her hand.
"She will do no such thing!" she said with asperity. "We are done with you and your problems! Get out of our lives!" And with this she slammed down the receiver.
"But Megan..." Angelique protested.
Megan shook her head. "No!" and stepped out.
Angelique followed her , into what was her, Angelique's, inner chamber. The place where she worked her strongest magic. The place which she had sealed from any prying eyes seeking her secrets.
"Megan. we have to." she insisted
"Haven't you heard what they said? Amy offered to help, and was taken. Sebastian offered to help, and was taken. Barnabas got involved and was taken. You go to Collinsport and before you know it, there is silvery dust falling and you are taken too."
"But we cannot do nothing."
"What we cannot do is broadcast that we are doing anything about it. We are not drawing any fire to ourselves. Let them everyone in Collinsport believe that we are abandoning them. Because whoever is there knows whether or not help is coming, or not. And let it be clear that no more help is coming. So, we are safe, and we can plan our moves.
"What is our next move? How can we learn anything?"
"We can get Stokes' notes. You can bring them here."
"And when Julia asks?
"Tell them that you want them for yourself. That they are too good to be wasted on her. Or rather make a copy of them and put them back. Although it might be safer for Julia if the notes completely disappear."