A Birth day

Ruby listened to him talk of the creole woman and shook her head " never worried to begin with Marcus" she said then watched as he drew a scetch of the woman with warty toad head on and she burst out laughing as he showed her it " oh, yeah no competition." she said still laughing at the picture then she heard Marcus and chuckled " yeah, put out a bulitin of a creole woman with a toad head." she said smiling as she placed down the cup or him.

Moving back to the couch she watched as Caprice rolled to her back and kicked off the blanket that covered her. Seeing this she picked up the blanket and placed it back over her making Caprice grab it and hold it against her.

"Now," Edward said, a tad more paternal now. "how about you try it again and put the proper face on her?"

"Oh, I suppose," Angus said. He worked on eating and sketching, and he finally had her face. He worked on it til he had it right. He wanted the clothes, the beads, the facial expression, all of it just right. He handed the sketch around.

"If she weren't so evil, she actually might be beautiful," Simone said, "but you're right. The darkness in her spirit robs all the beauty right out of her."

"I think this might actually be helpful," Marcus said. "Particularly if no one has actually gotten close enough to get a photo of her."

"Maybe I should lure her down to Bourbon Street so all the muggle cameras get footage of her," Angus shrugged.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I've been doing some reading. They've sort of recreated what they believe Marie's house looked like, and its a voodoo gift shop. Its on Bourbon Street--the main street of the French quarter in New Orleans. If I hang out enough there or at the cemetery at her grave, I'll lure her eventually. Certainly would be easier than trying to hunt through every inch of Louisiana swamp," Angus said. "Or I got to sleep and challenge her."

"Well, that last option sounds rather like a harakiri mission, actually," Marcus said. "Let us try a game where we can all play, shall we? I think we'd all like to thwack her just once."

"I was actually thinking just standing in one spot and waling on her awhile," Edward said casually.

"Knock knock," a woman's voice came from the front porch. Then the door opened just slight. "Anybody home?"

"Tiggy? Come in," Angus called.

"Sorry," she said, coming in with a tall, young black man with her. He was young, maybe only around 30, Angus guessed. He was wearing jeans, a light beige linen shirt tucked neatly into his jeans, and he had and a gray casually cut linen jacket over the shirt. "This is Beauregard Dufour. He's one of our men, and he grew up in New Orleans."

"Call me Beau--please," the young man said. "My family still lives in New Orleans, and some of my family does practice voodoo. Lee thought perhaps I could help. Which one of you is Angus?"

"I am," Angus said, getting up and going to Beau. He shook hands with him. "Nice to meet you."

"Oh, I can see why she is attracted to you," Beau said, as they shook hands. "You have quite a unique energy signature. Strong. Relentless, A fighter by nature. And fast. Fast thinking, fast moving. High principles--not easily conquered by anything or anyone."

"And you're a seer," Angus said.

"Guilty as charged. I think even if she weren't perhaps working for Mrs. Gelding she might still be attracted to you. She tends to surround herself with big, dumb, slow thugs. You, however, you would interested her a good deal."

"That may well be, but she disgusts me," Angus said. Beau nodded.

"Could we offer you some tea or coffee?" Simone asked. "

"Whatever you have would be lovely," Tiggy said.

"Same for me," Beau said.

Ruby sat and listened to them talking hearing Tigg arive she stood up and picked up Caprice holding her close. When she saw her enter she saw a man behind her and moved to stand with Angus. " she can admire him from afar" she said then moved to the kitchen to make several cups of cappachino for everyone who had arrived. Now with the tray and several cups she flaoted it over to them " hep your selves" she said walking with Caprice over to them.

"Beau its good to meet you, Im Ruby " she said and shook his hand with a smile before placing Caprice on her knee as she listened to them talking " so whats the plan?" she asked

"We're not in charge of plan making," Tig said, taking the cappuchino Ruby handed out. "Thanks. That's up to Lee and Robert. We're here to see what Angus has seen, what he knows that might help us identify where to find Marie or who she really is. All we know is her alias. If we can find out her real name, then we might be able to trace and see what her magic abilities really are."

"You mean if she went to magic school of some sort," Angus said.

'Yes,"Tig said.

"Does Ilvermorny teach voodoo?" Angus asked.

"No. It does not. That does not mean, though, that if she does have some legitimate voodoo connections, she might actually know some spells."

"Any chance she's a muggle?" Angus asked.

"Unlikely," Beau replied, sipping the cappuchino. "This is lovely. Thanks. No, for her to have such finess at her spells, she has to have some magical abilities. All most muggles can do is illusion of magic, not magic. I know you've probably had to show your burns a hundred times today, but could I see them, please?"

"Why not?" Angus sighed. He unbuttoned his shirt just enough, and Beau looked at them and he touched them lightly, not saying much.

"Can you start at the beginning and tell me everything she said, everything you saw, everything that happened?" Beau asked.

"Sure. Let's go outside. These guys don't need to hear it for the one thousandth time," Angus said, picking up his coffee mug. He led the way and went outside with Tig and Beau and walked them down to the tea garden. Simone got up to start putting away the lunch leftovers, stacking the dishes in the sink so she could cast a washing up spell.

"I think we got quite a lot of the weeding done this morning," Simone told Ruby. "If we keep at it, we might finish it by nightfall. How about we order from Sparks for supper tonight so we can just keep working?"

"Fine by me if that's what everyone else wants to do," Edward said.

"Do we need to be concerned, then, that, if Angus gets worn out, that he won't dare go to sleep?"

"No, we'll find a way to keep him safe. I'll wager Robert and Nigel are on that," Edward said. "We still have that hanging baby cradle if you want to take the baby outside and perhaps put her in the it for a nap so she's outside with us while we work. That's up to you, though, Ruby."

Ruby looked at Tigg and Beau and sighed "Yeah" she said then heard them ask Angus to show them his bruises and the burns. She also heard him say for them to go outside since he didn't want them to hear for the hundredth time. Ruby watched threw the window as they went out side then heard Simone " we did I think about half even with Angus pulling Marigolds." she said not taking her eyes off Angus, Tig and Beau outside.

Hearing Edwards's suggestion she turned and looked at him " sure fresh air will be good for her, and me" she said heading out to the flower garden and the swing crib where once there she lay Caprice down and covered her with a light blanket before returning to pulling weeds but this time each had a frogs head and it was the woman she was pulling out of the ground.

Simone cast a washing up spell on the dishes, and then she and Edward and Marcus went outside to work on the weeding.

Angus repeated his story with all the detail he could remember, but Tig and Beau had endless questions, and they fired them at him in rapid fire fashion, taking copious notes, until Angus felt like his head was swimming. And he was getting a fierce headache. He was trying to be patient, but he was starting to want things to just slow down just a little bit.

Angus sighed heavily, frustrated, and then as they were talking, Tig got a voodoo book out from her ever present bag and started flipping through the pages. Angus glanced down at the book as she flipped past a symbol that was identical to the coin.

"Wait!" he said, snatching the book from her. He started flipping back the pages until he saw the symbol again. "That's it. That's the symbol on the coin!"

"You're sure?" Beau asked.

"He's right. I've seen it. That's it," Tig said.

"The colors are wrong, though," Angus said.

"That's important. What was the color of the rune?" Beau asked.

"Gray," Angus said.

"No, it was white," Tig said.

"It was a thin line of white, actually, surrounded by gray."

"Good," Beau said. "Where is the coin now?"

"Robert has it at the main house," Angus said.

"We need it," Beau said.

"Shall I go get it, then?" Tig asked.

"Yes. Right away, can you?" Beau asked. Tig got up and walked over to the main house.

"I think that coin just might be something that can help," Beau said, "if it's what I think it is." Tig came back a moment later with the coin, and Beau looked at it. "Bingo!" Beau said. "I can use this and get some help laying some additional spells on it. It just might help to keep her away from you tonight in your sleep. It's worth a try. She won't thank us for it, but we'll deal with that later."

"Well, what is this symbol?" Angus asked.

"Its a protection spell. It is used primarily to protect against dark spells. And, the fact that someone has taken the time to make sure the run was done in gray and white is important too. White stands for truth and purity--in other words, white light energies. And the gray is an important color meaning authority, power. Someone has dedicated this coin and this rune to protect a white lighter and they've surrounded the white lighter with power and authority. Someone made this for you--to help protect you. I think we can maybe add some additional protection to it to keep you safe tonight. I don't know about tomorrow night, but let's handle it one night at a time, shall we? I need to go and take this to someone I know who can help but how will I get back?" Tig reached in her pocket and handed Beau her portkey that Robert had given her. Beau took the coin and ported out.

"A development?" Marcus called.

"Maybe," Angus said, getting up. He went to them and explained what Beau had said to him.

Ruby watched as she saw Beau head to the main house after something Angus had said then return moments later with something in his hand. She continued pulling weeds untill none were left "that should do it" she said brushing off her hands " and snapdragons are good for keeping down the bugs and flies, I like there color too" she said to Simone " Simone is it normal to be angry at that woman and wanting to rip out her eyes for hurting some one that I love about?" she asked simone moving to sit next to Caprice who lay in the swing crib. " I know Angus is a protecter , I understand that, but as his well wife I want to rip her eyes out to protect him for once, I feel he won't want that from me but.. gods I can't sit around." she said softly in a calm voice she was frustrated but calm too about it knowing eventually they would get the woman but she just needed some one to vent to and she hoped Simone would understand.

"Well, I think it would be normal," Simone said. "Although, honestly, if some woman were coming after Edward with the intent of harming him or killing him, I'm afraid I'd want to do worse than ripping out her eyes. That's just me, though.

"I'm not an expert on Angus," she said, "not like some other folks here, but he seems stressed about this one. He strikes me as a fellow who is pretty open and friendly and optimistic until something is bothering him, and then he seems like he handles stress by being rather closed about those things. I presume that might well have come from being rejected by his whole bloody family except for Caprice and Edward. I suppose that had to have been damned painful for a little kid. Edward has shown me some family pictures, including some of Angus when he was just a little boy. He was adorable. I can't imagine anyone rejecting such a beautiful little boy. He always has such a lost look on his face in those pictures unless he's with Edward or Caprice. Edward believes, I think, that Angus learned that to express himself to much of anyone made him vulnerable to people who did not have his best interests in mind, and that makes sense to me. If the people who were supposed to love you didn't love you but also actually hated you, I think you'd learn not to hand them your feelings so it could all be used as a weapon against you. So for him to trust people now, he has to go against a whole lifetime of having to protect those feelings. I think, in his own way, he is trying, though.

I've been meaning to ask Edward if he has any ideas how to we could help to bring Angus out of his shell when he's stressed. Marcus seems like he's broken through that and so has Edward. I get the sense that, from time to time Robert just plain demands to be let in but Angus certainly doesn't confide in him. To your credit, I think he's learned to tell you a thing or two to you to let you know what he's stressed about but I don't think he ever really deeply discusses how he feels when something either angers him or frightens him or causes him pain. And I think the bigger that fear or pain is, the more closed he becomes.

"i don't think he's afraid of Suzanne in the least. I think she angers him, but this new woman? I get the feeling that there is something about her that he feels he needs to be more cautious about, and I trust he's right about it. Since she's coming at him in his sleep, though, I don't know how the heck we can help him. It's like trying to fight an enemy we can't see. I hope some of Lee's people can bring some new ideas or information that we can use to get rid of her somehow."

Ruby looked at Simone and nodded o her " I feel like I want to be in a gym puntching a bag than pulling weeds so I can vent some anger about this woman hurting the man I love." she said softly so as not to wake Caprice it was now she thought about the space down in the basement to one side of the girl's bedroom and bathroom " I wonder if we could slip a gym into the basement?" she asked and looked to Simone " it would work for Angus and Marcus too" she said looking over to where they stood talking to Tigg and Bea.

Going back to the wedding she accused a hot cup of cappuccino. She walked over to Angus handing him a cup. " for good measures" she said then looked at Bea as he spoke about Angus being a cute boy. " that's where I think Caprice gets her cuteness from" she said and smiled at Angus as a tray with coffee for the rest floated up beside her " help your selves" she said transfiguring the stone into a table and setting down the tray on it.

"You might be able to do that. Don't forget, though, that there is a huge workout room in the main house and those big running tracks. Maybe you should take a run," Simone said. "Marcus would go with you, I'm sure, or anyone that runs. I think all of the first string members run, except for probably Angus. And when the kids get home, Robert will probably insist that they run. I know Marcus still runs, but Angus has had issues that have kept him from running. Hopefully he'll be able to get back into that training soon."

"Thanks," Angus said, taking the cup of cappuccino.

"Thank you, Ruby," Edward said. "You know, if we're all willing to put in an extra hour or so after supper tonight, I think we'll actually knock all this weeding out in one day. And, I think we're supposed to get rain tonight, so Mother Nature will do our watering for us. We should wake up to our plants being in good shape tomorrow. What do you think? Angus? You up for another hour after supper? Angus?"

"Huh?" Angus asked, preoccupied.

"Mind in New Orleans?" Edward asked him.

"No, Colorado, actually," Angus replied. "Wondering how the kids are doing in their first couple days of training. I promised myself I wouldn't contact them and that I would just wait until they decide to contact us."

"I think no news is good news," Edward said. "If they'd gotten hurt, you'd have definitely heard. Leave them be, Lad. They're fine."

"I'm sure," Angus said. "Sometimes they seem so grown up to me, and sometimes their immaturity shines right through, and they seem like little kids." That made Edward laugh.

"Enjoy it because that will wear off by the time they're through their twenties."

"I have to wait that long?" Angus looked at him. Edward laughed again.