Fall from Grace (Book 2: An Angelblood Novel) (27 page)

“Aura knew who I was. She kept asking me
questions that I couldn’t answer. I tried to leave, but she
blocked me.”

“Why didn’t you use the portal?”
“I couldn’t. She had some kind of hold on me.”

“She must have used Gideon’s shield
.
I knew Eve
could call for it. I didn’t know that Aura could summon it
too.” Jeziel moved away from the table and started pacing.
“How did the scar re-appear?”

“When Aura touched my cheek, a light came out of
her hand. I could feel it burning.
I looked in the mirror and
saw that I was myself again.”

“Why did she let you go? Surely they must know
that you were responsible for Ella and Jasper’s death. That
was the reason your father wanted to keep you hidden.
It
doesn’t make sense.”

“Aura had no choice.
She had to let me go. I
threatened to kill that priest they are so fond of.”

 

“Father Patrick? That was foolish of you. Your
father told you not to do anything stupid.”

 

“Well it seemed like the only option I had at the
time, considering.”

 

“Considering what?”

“Considering most of the Archangels were there. I
should have made an excuse to leave after they arrived. But
that would have looked more suspicious.”

“The Archangels were there? All of them?” Jeziel
sounded worried.

“Most of them were there.”
“Did they say anything about me?”

Natalie looked oddly at her cousin. “They didn’t
even mention your name.
They were there to celebrate Rita
and Jessica’s engagement; at least that’s what they said.”

“Does Aura know about me and the fire?”
“She said, “Tell your friend I’m coming and Hell’s
army is not going to stop me!”

 

“Do you think she was speaking about me when she
said that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she was talking about my
father or one of his friends.
Maybe she was talking about
Samhael.
I cantell you this; she and Aidan weren’t fighting
anymore. You should have seen them together.”

“Maybe Aidan was just being polite. I’m sure she
saw me kissing him last night,” Jeziel said.

 

“Yes, but he didn’t return your kiss did he? You
gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked away.”

Jeziel
slammed
her
fist
into
the
kitchen
table,
knocking the cups to the floor. “I kissed him on the mouth
for your information, and he didn’t pull away.”

“I’m not trying to upset you. I’m only saying that
Aidan andAura looked pretty friendly,” Natalie said, trying
to apologize. Jeziel was her only friend.
The last thing she
wanted to do was to chase her away.

“Perhaps I’ll pay Aidan another visit and see for
myself. Right now, we have to get out of here. I don’t trust
Aura. There was a reason she let you leave. I’m certain it
wasn’t because you threatened Father Patrick. She’s
planning something. I know it.
Do you know how to get in
touch with your father?”

“He told me to go to Phillipe if anything happened.”
“Then that’s what you’ll do. I’ll go with you, to
make sure we aren’t followed.”

“I would appreciate the company. I know Father’s
going to be furious with me.
At least having you there,
might diffuse the situation a little bit.”

“Call Phillipe first to make sure he’s there.” Jeziel
handed her the phone.

 

“I doubt it will be necessary. He promised my
father he would be available if I needed him.”

Jeziel raised her brow. “Make the call. Right now I
would rather be sure, before we get there and find he’s not at
home.”

Natalie took the phone and quickly dialed Phillipe’s
house. One of the servants picked up the phone. “May I
help you?”

“I need to speak to Phillipe. Tell him its Richard’s
daughter, Natalie.”

A
minute
later,
Phillipe
came
to
the
phone.
“Natalie, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. Is there a
problem?”

“I need to speak to my father, urgently.”

 

“I’ll call him now. Is there anything you want me to
tell him?”

 

“No, it will be better if I speak to him in person.
We’ll be there in a few minutes. I need to change first.”
“Very well, I’ll be expecting you shortly. Did you
say we?” Phillipe asked.

 

“Yes, my cousin Jeziel will be coming with me. We
should be there soon.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.” Phillipe wondered what
the big mystery was.
Had Natalie gotten herself in trouble
yet again?
Phillipe knew that he promised Richard to look
after her, but the last thing he wanted was to be harassed by
the Guild.
Natalie was trouble. Even her father knew that
truth.

Natalie wasn’t looking forwar
d
to
having
a
conversation with her father. She didn’t chance returning to
her cottage.
She borrowed fresh clothes from Jeziel since
they were the same size. Once again the girls looked almost
identical, except for the scar.

“Damn Aura, she ruined eve
rything. Look at this. I
am as hideous as ever.
I thought when the Enchantor
removed this scar, it would be gone forever. Now it’s back
again. This is Aura’s fault. I swear I’m going to make her
pay if it’s the last thing I do,” Natalie ranted.

“That’s one promise, I will be happy to help you
keep,” Jeziel said. “Aura is more trouble than she’s worth.
I’m going to speak to Samhael about this. I don’t care what
my brother says, Aura has to be stopped.”

“What does your brother have to do with Aura?”

“It’s nothing that I can’t handle. Mortriel has this
notion that he wants Aura for himself. I really don’t care
what he wants.
If she gets between me and Aidan, there is
going to be an all out war!” Jeziel huffed.

“Why would your brother want her? Surely he
could have his choice of girls.”

“We can talk about that later. Right now we should
get out of here. The Guild doesn’t know about this place
and I intend to keep it that way.”

“Are you sure that Aura doesn’t know?”
Jeziel smiled. “Aidan would have told me.
He tells
me everything.”

After Natalie changed, they left for New York.
It
was still early afternoon, so they used a portal to take them
to the Devereaux’s estate. She knew Yvonne and Yvette
wouldn’t be there; they were still at the Godwin Academy.

At least she wouldn’t have t
o explain the scar to
them.
But her father was going to be a different story.
She
could still feel the welt on her neck from where Aura broke
the chain.
Her ring was gone now.
She should have left it
behind.
Was that how Aura identified her?
Her father
would be most angry about that.
She was grateful for
Jeziel’s company. Perhaps her presence would diffuse some
of Richard’s rage.

Chapter 26

When the Guild returned, the High Council had
agreed that Mahlyssa could adopt Shannon. They were also
given permission to perform the blood exchange if they
passed the test with the feather.
Aura was sure Myra would
want Mahlyssa to share her blood, but she wasn’t sure who
the others would choose.

Paul explained how the test worked. “If you are
truly a child of Heaven, you have nothing to fear. However,
I need to warn you if you are trying to deceive us, the
Feather can burn you.”

The O’Hara’s and the Finney’s were apprehensive
until Aura assured them they would pass easily. “This is just
a formality.”

“After this can I get my wings?” Shannon asked
enthusiastically.

Aura smiled at her. “Of course you can. We need to
give you a drop of angel blood and then you will have wings
too.”

“Will they be as beautiful as yours?”
“I have no doubt they will be magnificent.”

“I’m ready! Can I be first to hold the feather?”
Shannon asked.

Myra looked at her mother and said, “Don’t worry.
She’ll be fine, I promise.” Mahlyssa smiled lovingly at her
daughter and then held her hand. She couldn’t believe this
was happening.
After forty years she had a family again.
She looked to Heaven and thanked the Almighty for granting
her this special wish.

Paul called for the feather and the others gasped
when they saw how beautiful it was. The Guild knew it was
beautiful, but it could also be deadly in the wrong hands.

He asked Shannon to stand in the center of the room,
which she did obediently.
The golden eye opened and a
beam of light shot out and crossed the little girl’s chest.
Within seconds the light disappeared, the eye closed and the
feather was gone.

“Did I pass the test?” Shannon asked.

 

“Most definitely,” Martin smiled.

 

Shannon beamed with pride. “When do I get my
wings?”

 

“Soon,” Myra said. “First we have to allow the
others to be tested.”

Katie Scarlett decided she wanted to go next.
Once
again the feather appeared; the light from the golden eye
embraced her and then closed as it did for Shannon.

Shannon walked over to give her friend
a hug.
“You’re going to get wings too Katie Scarlett,” she said.
The girls waited for the next one to take their turn.
One by
one each of the mortals held the Feather of Trust and one by
one each of them passed the test with ease.

Mahlyssa was the last to be tested.
She looked
fearfully at her daughter Myra. “Are you sure about this?”

“You’ll be fine mother
,I promise,” Myra smiled at
her. Mahlyssa couldn’t get over the warm feeling she had
each time Myra referred to her as mother.
Even if she had
doubts, she never let it show.

Mahlyssa held the feather, not knowing what to
expect.
As with the others, the light emerged from the eye
and passed across her chest.
She prayed to Heaven she
would be worthy of the gift she was about to receive; though
no other gift could compare to having her daughter back.

Myra hugged her mother. “You see, I told you there
was nothing to worry about.”

 

“Now we need to decide which of you will give our
newest family members your blood,” Aura said.

“I guess the easie
st way to do this is to have one of
us, choose one of them.”
purebloods
were
forbidden
anyone except their children.

Aura
explained
how
the
from
passing
their
blood
to

“I didn’t want you to think it was because you
weren’t worthy. It’s a law we have to abide by. After we do
the exchange, we’ll spend the next couple of days getting
you all acclimated to your new lives.”

Mia was the first to stand up.
“I give me blood
Shannon?” she asked. Myra looked proudly at her
granddaughter and the whole room applauded.

“This not hurt. I promise. We done, we have some
chocolate celebrate; Ok? You like chocolate?”

 

“I like chocolate a lot, butShannon
laughed.

 

strawberry’s my favorite.”

 

“We have shawberry Shannon?” Mia asked.
Aura laughed. “There’s strawberry syrup
in
the
pantry, next to the chocolate.”

Mia looked at Joey who quickly ran into the kitchen.
Everybody laughed when he came back carrying the whole
bowl of chocolate candy.
At two years old he had already
figured out how to avoid conflict with Mia.
Some of the
others could take a page out of his book.

Paul called for the piercing rod and both girls tried
to act brave, even though they knew it might hurt a little.
Paul was gentle with them; piercing Mia’s finger first and
then Shannon’s. As soon as he saw the drop of blood he told
the girls to hold hands, making sure their fingers touched.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Shannon said.

“We have chocolate now!” Mia said, as they both
walked over to the bowl.

The
others
all
received
the
blood
without
any
incidents.
Reaghan gave her blood to Katie Scarlett.
Joey
gave his blood to Sebastian, after Mia convinced him to do
so. Mahlyssa was the last to complete the exchange.

For
the
most
part,
each
of
the
angel-bloods
exchanged their blood with only one mortal. After that, the
next person would pass it along.
They were convinced this
would keep the blood powerful and wouldn’t cause it to
weaken. Aura wasn’t sure if that was true, but it was a
custom that they didn’t divert from.

Myra’s youngest daughter
Matilda
decided
she
would give her blood to her Grammy.
Mahlyssa thought it
was an adorable term of endearment, and decided she liked
it. Soon the other little ones were all calling her Grammy as
well.
The gesture made Mahlyssa feel at home.
Of course
Shannon continued to call her Mum.

After the new angel-bloods were made, Paul told
them they had one last point of business that needed to be
addressed without delay.
paperwork
which
would
authorities.

Jack had drawn up the necessary
be
filed
with
the
appropriate

“Shannon I need you and Mahlyssa to stand before
the Guild now,” Paul said kindly. “It has been decided by
the High Council since your biological parents have had no
contact with you in five years, Mahlyssa has been granted
her request for adoption.”

“What does that mean mum?” Shannon asked.
“It means thatnow you are truly my daughter,”
Mahlyssa said with a tear falling down her cheek.
“I can stay with you forever mum?”

 

“Forever and ever,” Mahlyssa assured her.

Shannon beamed with happiness.
She ran to her
mother and gave her a big hug. “I love you mum. I’ve
always loved you.”

“Me too,” Mahlyssa smiled. Everyone cheered.
“Now we have another reason to celebrate,”
Alannah said.

 

“We certainly do, “Aura responded. “Our family is
growing.”

 

Tiffany
looked
at
Logan. “Should we tell them
now?”

 

Logan was grinning from ear to ear.“I think it’s the
perfect time.”

“Perfect time for what,” Bren asked
, looking at
Tracy and Alannah for information.
They both shrugged
their shoulders. They had no idea what she was going to tell
them.

Tiffany walked over and held Logan’s hand
.“We were
trying to find the right time to tell you, but I guess now is as
good a time as ever. We’re having a baby,” she gushed.