The other guests made their way downstairs shortly afterwards. “Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. There is tea and coffee on the cart.”
When her father and mother came in with the other families, Aura told Paul quietly that she needed to speak to the Guild after breakfast.
“What’s this about?” her father asked. “You don’t have to worry about Claudia Cavanaugh coming back here again. She’s dead,” Aura said.
“Are you certain of this?” Mahlyssa asked. “I’m absolutely certain. I saw how she died in one of my visions. This one came to me early this morning. She’s dead; there’s no doubt.”
“How did she die?” Mahlyssa asked. “I would rather speak to the members of the Guild, before I say anything else. I don’t want you to worry. You and Shannon are completely safe here,” Aura said.
“Who is Claudia Cavanaugh?” Aidan asked. “She is Shannon’s biological mother. She was responsible for the deaths of the other Enchantors who were residing with Mahlyssa.”
“She came here yesterday to demand custody of Shannon. We told her that Shannon was staying with us,” Bren said. “Why wasn’t I told about this?” Aidan asked Aura. “You were enjoying your date with Jeziel. I saw no reason to involve you,” Aura replied sarcastically.
No one in the room wanted to get in the middle of their argument, so they changed the subject.
“Jessica and I were thinking about going to New York to pick up our dresses from Anastasia’s this morning,” Rita said. “I promised the girls, I would take them to New York too. We can all go together,” Aura said. “Just make sure we all stay in a group,” she said as a warning.
“Has something happened that we should know about?” Jessica asked.
“Nothing you can’t handle, but stay close to me,” Aura said. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to go to New York?” Mahlyssa asked. “Nobody makes dresses like Anastasia. We won’t need any alterations when she finishes with them. If we leave today, she can have the gowns ready, and sent here first thing in the morning. I’m sure they’ll be perfect,” Aura said. “You really don’t have to worry. Natalie, Meredith or Jeziel won’t be there.”
Chapter 19
Jeziel and Natalie returned to her cottage. “What happened?” Meredith asked. “Did they get custody of the child?” “There has been a change in plans. The girl can wait - we have other matters that need our immediate attention,” Jeziel said. Natalie smirked. “Claudia Cavanaugh will no longer be a problem.” She winked at Jeziel.
“What are you talking about? Did she betray you?”Meredith asked. “Colin wasn’t there. He didn’t want to honor our request. He abandoned his wife to deal with us on her own. As Natalie said, she will no longer be a factor because she’s dead,” Jeziel said heartlessly.
“How did it happen?” Meredith asked. “We had no further need of her. Aura burned the book, although I’m still trying to figure out how she managed that little trick. We locked Claudia and her servants inside the house, and called Samhael to burn it to the ground.He was only too happy to oblige us,” Jeziel said.
“You burned them while they were still alive?” “They weren’t alive for long. Have you ever seen hell -fire? The entire house was engulfed in a matter of seconds. They screamed for a little while, and then they stopped. We needed to teach Claudia a lesson. Those who betray us will suffer the consequences,” Jeziel said.
Meredith was troubled by the lack of compassion from Natalie or Jeziel. It was one thing to seek revenge on the Guild, but to kill innocent servants. That was something she would never have done.
She was always uncomfortable with the way Richard used those creatures to kill the residents in Utopia. Of course she would never have said anything to him, for fear he would see her as weak. Richard knew what he was doing, and he explained that the deaths were necessary if they were going to take over Utopia.
She stared at Natalie, who like Jeziel, had no regrets about the incident. Meredith began to wonder what she had gotten herself into by becoming close to Jeziel and Samhael. Surely, the Guild would be all over them once they learned of their involvement in this new tragedy.
Not that she was defending the Enchantor, but they had no reason to punish the servants so severely. She thought of her own servants in Utopia. How could she protect those who had been loyal to her since her birth?
“What do you want to do for the rest of the day?” Natalie asked Jeziel. “I was thinking about seeing Aidan again. I’m sure Aura was upset with him when he returned home so late.” She started laughing. “He might need a little TLC after dealing with her.”
“What would you like to do, Grandmother?” “I would like to contact Charisse, to make sure Desiree is alright. I stopped at Phillipe’s house and they told me he was gone. They didn’t know where or when he would return. I left a message, and told them to have him contact me immediately if they heard from him. I don’t imagine you have any idea where Charisse may have taken Desiree, do you?” she asked Jeziel.
“I barely knew the woman. I thought you would know where she went. Weren’t the two of you close?” “We were best friends growing up. As you can imagine, we grew apart over the years, as we became involved with our own families.”
“I’m sure Phillipe will contact you in a day or too. Don’t be too concerned about his whereabouts,” Natalie said. “We’ll hear from him. We just need to be patient. I thought it was decided to remain separated until after the baby was born? Have you changed your mind?” Jeziel asked Meredith.
“No – I’m just concerned about the wellbeing of my grandson.” “I can assure you, my father won’t let any harm come to him. From what Samhael told me, Lucifer was excited to hear the news of Desiree’s pregnancy. Why don’t you take your grandmother to that place Jayden took us? She might beable to relax for awhile.”
“That’s a good idea. Why don’t you change your clothes Grandmother? It’s warm there, and we can sit by the ocean and try to unwind. There’s really nothing for us to do here.”
Meredith agreed that it would be best to leave the area for awhile. She was not comfortable being so close to the Guild, despite Jeziel’s assurance that they were safe.
As Jeziel was walking out the door, she gave Natalie a hug and told her she would see her later that evening. She hoped Aidan would be receptive to spending another day together.
They were just finishing breakfast when there was a knock on the door. Aura knew it was Jeziel, but she saw no reason to alarm the rest of the family.
Alannah insisted on answering the door, and was disappointed to see Jeziel standing there. “What do you want?” she asked, not caring about the bitterness of her tone.
“I’ve come to see Aidan. Is he here?” Alannah led her into the dining room where Aidan was sitting at table. Jeziel was shocked to see Phillipe Devereaux and his daughters sitting there.
“Phillipe, I wasn’t expecting to find you here? I hope everything is alright?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t it be?” Aura answered.
“I wasn’t aware your family was close to the Devereaux’s.”
“We’re all family here. What brings you to my home this morning?”
She smiled. “Aidan was out so late with me last night; I wanted to make sure you weren’t angry about us spending the day together.” “Why would I be upset about that? I don’t keep Aidan on a leash. He is free todo as he pleases, with whomever he pleases.” Aura looked at Jeziel’s hand. “I see your that wound has healed.”
Jeziel hadn’t thought about the bite from the horse. She held her hand out and smiled. “Yes Aidan took great care of me.” “You’re welcome to stay for breakfast if you’d like. I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me. I have important matters to discuss with the Guild.”
Jeziel took a seat next to Aidan. Alannah hurriedly moved to the other side of the table, and was followed by Bren and Tracy. When Aidan gave her a curious look she said, “I know Jeziel doesn’t want to be close to us brats.” Alannah whispered something to Bren and
Tracy, and then looked at Jeziel. “If you’ll excuse us, we need to get dressed. Mommy is taking us out for the day, but I’m sure Aidan will be more than happy to keep you company.”
Everyone in the room could hear the bitterness in her voice. “Do you want me to help you choose something to wear?” Aidan asked.
“No thank you. Mommy will take care of us. Mommy always takesgood care of us.” The three little ones left and ran up the stairs to get dressed, leaving Aidan with a dumbfounded look on his face. Everyone in the room stared at Aidan. There was no doubt that Alannah was angry with him too.
Phillipe didn’t want to stay in Jeziel’s company any longer than the others, so he excused himself. Marie followed him up to their room, but Yvonne and Yvette could have cared less about Jeziel’s arrival. They stayed and continued to finish their breakfast.
Rita and Jessica, sensing Phillipe was leery of Jeziels arrival, followed him and Marie to their room. Making sure that they were alone, Rita tried to calm his fears. “I don’t want you to be concerned about Jeziel being downstairs. We knew she was going to find out that you were staying here sooner or later.”
“You don’t understand. She will view our presence as an act of betrayal. My family will be in danger, now that she knows we’re here,” Phillipe said.
“As long as you remain in the valley, our shields will keep you andyour family safe. Jeziel won’t dare challenge us. We can call for angelfire. Even Lucifer doesn’t have a weapon that can compare to that,” Rita insisted.
“Are you sure you can keep my daughters from harm? I don’t care about myself, but they are everything to me,” Phillipe said. “No one is going to get hurt. We promised Aura we would stay close to them. We intend to keep our promise. Aura has powers unlike anyone else. We watched her put Lucifer’s son on his knees not long ago, and that was without trying. Please trust us about this. If you stay with us, you’ll be protected,” Jessica said.
“You might want to talk to dad about moving into one of the houses in the valley, at least until we deal with Natalie and Jeziel. We have more fire power in our little valley, than all of hell - believe it,” Rita said.
Phillipe was still skeptical. He knew from his past experience that Natalie was unforgiving. “We’ll be going to New York this morning. Your daughter’s will be safe, until we return. Jeziel isn’t about to challenge anyone in Aura’s house, because my sister will kick her ass and you can take that to the bank,” Rita said.
“If Jeziel senses that you’re afraid, she’ll use that fear against you,” Jessica warned.
“Just act naturally. If I know Jeziel, nothing will piss her off more than that,” Rita said. “Rita’s right. We have a wedding in a few days, and our Archangel grandparents will be in attendance. Even if Jeziel does show up, she’ll be outnumbered. Not that I wouldn’t love for her and Natalie to show up, but I made a promised I was going to behave on my wedding day. There’s always next week though. I should be regenerated after my honeymoon,” Jessica snickered.
“She’s right, Phillipe. The Guild has offered us their protection. We have nothing toworry about. I trust them absolutely,” Marie said.
“It was my greed and ambition that got us into this mess in the first place. I couldn’t bear it, if anything happened to you or the girls,” Phillipe said.
“Nothing is going to happen.” Marie patted her husband affectionately on the arm.
“Of course not,” he finally agreed. “Living in constant fear, is like having no life at all. We’ll do as you ask,” he said. The group left the bedroom, and walked back downstairs. Phillipe felt better after speaking to Rita and Jessica. But in the back of his mind, he still worried that Natalie and Jeziel would want revenge for his betrayal. He wondered how safe his family really was.
Chapter 20
As soon as Aura and the Guild were in the library, she quietly closed the door.
“What’s this about?” her father asked. “I told you the Enchantor was dead, but I didn’t tell you how she died. I’m afraid it wasn’t a pleasant vision.”
“You said the Enchantor. I’m assuming you are referring to Claudia and Colin Cavanaugh?” Adam asked. “Fortunately, Colin wasn’t home when they came after his wife. After they left yesterday, Colin tried to convince Claudia to be done with Natalie and Jeziel because he wanted his daughter to remain protected. It wasn’t his idea to come after her; it was their idea.”
“So he survived the attack?” her father asked. “Yes - I believe Colin cares about Shannon; enough to give her up. He argued with Claudia and when he asked her to leave with him, she refused. I suppose she thought she could explain why she was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, Natalie and Jeziel were not in the forgiving mood.”
“What does Jeziel have to do with the Enchantors death? Did she kill Claudia?” Joseph asked. “Not exactly when they discovered I burned Marcus’s book, they didn’t have any further use for Claudia. Jeziel called Samhael. He bolted Claudia and the servants in the house, and Jeziel told him to burn them. Samhael was responsible for the hellfire that burned Hespa’s house.”
“Samhael used hellfire a second time?” Adam asked.
“Yes, but only after Jeziel asked him to. She told him to make sure that no one escaped the blaze. Jeziel may not have started the fire, but she was responsible for having Samhael start it.”
The men looked at each other. Perhaps it was time for them to meet with her. “Those people were still alive when he burned the house. I can still hearthem screaming. I know Claudia shouldn’t have aligned herself with Richard, but even she deserved a better death than that,” Aura said.
Martin was furious. “We should confront Jeziel immediately, and bring her before the High Council now.”
“We can’t allow her to continue taking innocent lives while we stand around and do nothing,” Adam added.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a little longer before you can bring Jeziel in front of the Council,” Aura said.
“Aura, you can’t ask us to continue to overlook these deaths?” Joseph said. “I’m not asking you to overlook anything. I have a plan, but I need a couple more days to have everything ready. Then Jeziel, Natalie and Samhael will know the justice of Heaven.”
“I still think we should bring her before the Council now,” Adam insisted. “Jeziel wasn’t expecting to see Phillipe and his family here. She’ll probably run right back to Samhael and tell him that Phillipe has betrayed them. We’re going to New York this morning to see Anastasia about the dresses for the wedding. Make sure that Yvonne and Yvette don’t wander away from the valley.”
“What about Aidan? Shouldn’t we warn him about Jeziel’s involvement in Claudia’s death?” Paul asked.
“He won’t listen. Aidan is changing since he’s grown close to Jezie l. I have other reasons for not trusting him, but I can’t tell you about that yet. For now, we’ll keep Jeziel close. I don’t want Aidan to know what we’ve just talked about.”
“That hardly seems fair,” her father said. “You may think I am being deliberately deceitful, but I have to keep the family safe, including our friends from New York and Utopia. The wedding is in a couple of days. You’ll know more then.”
“I’m not certain I agree with you,” Joseph said. “I need you to contact Arthur and the other govern ors. Meredith has altered her appearance, and she’s already made one trip to Utopia. It’s worth mentioning that Natalie is becoming close to Samhael. I see a wedding in the near future. Samhael wants a son with Lucifer’s blood, and Natalie will oblige him.”
“You are asking us to turn away from the justice of Heaven.” Joseph said. “I’m not asking you to turn away, just postpone this matter until after the wedding. We will have other visitors to deal with in a short time. They will not be your concern. Iwill take care of them.”
“Have you had another vision?” “I have seen many visions, but I’m forbidden from interfering at this time. Heaven is testing Aidan. I need to make sure his decisions are his ow
n, and are not influenced by me or you. Jeziel and Samhael are plotting to overthrow the Utopian government, but that’s only the beginning.”
“We will consider your request, but if it looks like another life is in danger we have to protect the angelblood,” Paul said. “I can ask for no more than that,” she said.
“What about you and Aidan? Do you have any plans for a future with him?” her father asked. “No – Aidan is content to keep company with Jeziel. He understands that I have no desire to further our relationship, but Alannah will remain with me even ifhe leaves.”
“Aura surely you know that Aidan loves you,” Paul said. “There are different kinds of love Dad. I can’t in good conscience be involved with anyone who would hurt my little ones, intentionally or not. You may not understand my reasons, but I have to distance myself from Aidan to allow Jeziel to get closer to him. It’s the only way that my plan will work.”
“Do you believe Aidan would give up his daughter?” Aura hesitated before she answered. Aidan would never give up his family, especially Alannah, but Dahnael wasn’t Aidan. Aura couldn’t tell her father that Aidan was an imposter, because it could ruin her plans to rescue Alorrah and Alexis from Hell. Jeziel still believed that Aidan was himself, and Aura wanted no chance that she would discover the truth, not yet.
For now, the Guild would not be told about Dahnael. They would insist that he return to Heaven. Aura needed him to remain here, so that he could stay close to Jeziel.
“I will be civil to Aidan for Alannah’s sake, but we will never b e anything more than friends. Please don’t ask me to explain this to you; it will only cause you to be disappointed.”
Paul kissed his daughter on the forehead. “I could never be disappointed in you.” “I should tell you that the wedding may be moved up by a day or two depending on what happens, when I return from New York today. We can talk about that later. I am asking you once again to trust me.”
Esra's Prohpecy (Book 3 An Angel-blood Novel) Page 13
