Evening turned to dusk and the street lights around Collinsport lit up awash in a soupy fog from the cold Atlantic. Around town it felt like a normal evening, but normal for Collinsport was outright macabre by any other town's standards.
Detective Kat Banning made her way through the drowsy town to meet up with her boyfriend Caleb who had been running late himself. She was clenched up in her warm coat, her heels echoing each step through an old cobblestone street on her way to a quiet restaurant where they would meet. She was bundled up, but still felt the frosty sea air on her face and neck, the only exposed parts of her body.
Ealier that day she had gotten into a dispute with her partner Detective Loomis McGovern about her sudden change of heart regarding the fact she felt there was more to Leopold Divernet and Jack Thorne's death then the Collins were leading on, but she truthfully could not remember any of that. That's thanks of course to Alexandra's spell, erasing any doubt she had. A ploy Alex made in a desperate attempt to keep the family's vampire relative s secret.
Leopold, however, did not trust Kat, fading memory or not, and was hot on her trail through the foggy Collinsport night.
Kat's skills as a detective were as keen as they had ever been and could sense something was off. She was alone on the street but felt as if she were being watched. And she was right. Leopold was there. He hid in shadows and in corners following her every move, watching carefully and closely. Each step for Kat more dangerous than the next. So she picked up her pace hoping to lose whatever feeling she was having and get closer to a more busier street.
Leopold kept up too waiting for the perfect moment to strike and illiminate the detective once and for all.
Detective Kat Banning made her way through the drowsy town to meet up with her boyfriend Caleb who had been running late himself. She was clenched up in her warm coat, her heels echoing each step through an old cobblestone street on her way to a quiet restaurant where they would meet. She was bundled up, but still felt the frosty sea air on her face and neck, the only exposed parts of her body.
Ealier that day she had gotten into a dispute with her partner Detective Loomis McGovern about her sudden change of heart regarding the fact she felt there was more to Leopold Divernet and Jack Thorne's death then the Collins were leading on, but she truthfully could not remember any of that. That's thanks of course to Alexandra's spell, erasing any doubt she had. A ploy Alex made in a desperate attempt to keep the family's vampire relative s secret.
Leopold, however, did not trust Kat, fading memory or not, and was hot on her trail through the foggy Collinsport night.
Kat's skills as a detective were as keen as they had ever been and could sense something was off. She was alone on the street but felt as if she were being watched. And she was right. Leopold was there. He hid in shadows and in corners following her every move, watching carefully and closely. Each step for Kat more dangerous than the next. So she picked up her pace hoping to lose whatever feeling she was having and get closer to a more busier street.
Leopold kept up too waiting for the perfect moment to strike and illiminate the detective once and for all.
****
The file he pulled didn't make him feel any better. He lowered his legs and sifted again through its contents. Page after page of neighbor testimony and citizen reports about strange occurrences at the Collinwood estate and the local businesses that the Collins family owned that dated back more than 200 years. These were bizarre stories that included mysterious disappearances, murder allegations and accusations of occult activity. But nothing has ever been proven or corroborated.
He couldn't take it anymore. Loomis felt that Kat was just another patch in the Collins family quilt of the unexplained and had to tell her what he had found. He picked up his desk phone and dialed Kat's number.
Kat reached for her phone and stopped for a second on the darkened street to answer. She opened her purse and saw that it was Loomis and thought for a second if she should pick up, but decided to, after all he was her partner.
"What's up Loom?" She said in a nervous nonchalant tone.
"Hey, listen I was wondering if you could come to the station for a minute I have some stuff I want you to look at." Loomis said still sorting through the files.
"Right now? I'm on my way out actually. I don't think I can make it. Can it wait 'till tomorrow?" Said said looking around the dark street.
"It's really important, I think you should come now." Loomis expressed.
"Well what's this all about?" Kat said, still keeping her eye on her surroundings, noticing something in the shadowy distance move.
"I found this file that you really need to look at. There are old case numbers, lots of 'em! All about the weird stuff the Collins family has had happen to them up in that house. I mean, Kat, this stuff goes back to the 60s! You may have been right about them." Loomis explained.
But Kat wanted nothing to do with it. As far as she was concerned she had no need for any of it, and thought she had been clear about that before.
"Loomis, I don't know what you're doing or why you think you needed to look into anything about Caleb's family. It's unnecessary. I told you, maybe I was wrong about them." She said still watching as the shadowy figure moved. Her voice sounding more nervous.
"Kat. Are you ok? Where are you?" Loomis asked picking up on her tone.
"What? I'm fine. I'm just trying to get downtown to meet up with Caleb for dinner." She said trying to change her nervous voice.
"Where downtown?" Loomis asked but Kat did not immediately respond. "Kat? Hey?! You there?"
Kat for a split second turned to begin walking again toward her destination when all of a sudden the dark figure fell like a giant pitch black cape falling to the floor directly in front of her startling her so much she dropped her cell phone to the floor. Within the black mass were Leopold's two amber colored eyes piercing their way out, and a strange reverberating purring sound coming from his throat.
"Oh my god." Kat said out loud as she stepped back.
"Kat!? KAT!!" Loomis screamed in the other line as he heard her voice now distant.
****
That same evening Barnabas walked Kimberly back to Julia Hoffman's old area of the mansion. The area where she would perform some of her experiments in hopes that she could cure him from his vampire curse. But blood transfusions never worked. Neither did the therapy and hypnisid. If anything, they only exasperated what he had already wished to go away.
Kimberly was having a moment of deja vu. As she walked the shadowy halls of Julia's old stomping grounds she remembered her time with Victor and how he had taken her to the laboratory where she would conduct experiments on their child Christopher when he was young.
"Are you feeling alright?" Barnabas asked noting Kimberly's sense of discomfort.
"Yes, thank you. I think I'm just a little tired." She said continuing down the hall.
Once they reached the three rooms, Barnabas opened Julia's office and pushed the door open for Kimberly to walk in first. She walked in and immediately flicked the light switch that lit a scattered amount of dim lights revealing a Julia's old office of old leather brown chairs, darken cherry wood furniture, thick velvet red drapes and a dusty Persian carpet.
"This is where she and I would have most of our talks. Some went well. Some did not. The laboratory is next door." Barnabas said as he sat on the leather sofa.
"Barnabas, can I be frank?" Kimberly asked sitting across from him in Julia's old chair.
"By all means."
"What exactly do you expect from this? What do you want?" She asked bluntly.
"To be free. This life, or...existence I should say, has ruined me beyond all comprehension. I cannot find love. I cannot find peace. I cannot find myself." He explained.
"David often spoke of you, well, not by name of course. He mentioned this family member, a legend, almost this folk hero type. Just today I realized you were the same person as the man in David's stories. David cared for you, you know? And he cared for everyone. I wish I hadn't betrayed him." Kimberly said.
"What betrayal?" Barnabas asked.
Kimberly thought for a second and stood up. She walked over to the window that faced an outer courtyard within the manor. Barnabas watched her every move carefully, her body tightly confined in her black dress, her bright blond hair perfectly coiffed back revealing her porcelain skin.
"While married to David, I had an affair. It's something I'm not proud of. And not just any affair, with a man who ... a man that wanted to destroy this family, from the inside out. He manipulated me into doing terrible things to our son. Anyway, it's over now. And I want to make up for it. For David. For my sons, and even for Carolyn. She was there for my son Caleb when I could not be." Kimberly confessed.
"Kimberly," Barnabas said now standing next to her by the window, "if we were all judged for the mistakes we had made in the past, I surely would been doomed decades ago." He said, his hands now on her shoulders.
The two then began to search through Julia's notes to pick up where she had left off. Notes that were extensive and massive in volume. But they were determined to do it. And as soon as Kimberly felt up to speed, the experiments would begin her DNA tests and gene therapy on Barnabas.
****
Kat started to walk backwards, but the dark mass that was Leopold began to follow. She could hear his slow breath and his hissing mouth opening.
"What are you doing?" She said loudly, with her arms stretched out in front of her.
Leopold said nothing as she continued to walk backwards facing the vampire who's face was still covered in blackness.
Loomis was listening and could hear everything that was happening. "Kat! Kat!!!" He screamed trying to get his voice loud enough from the phone on the floor to her ears. But to no avail.
Then when the moment felt right, Leopold had lured Kat into a dark corner of the street and lunged at her. The blackness that covered his face revealed a vampire with long fangs and pale skin. She screamed and fell backwards on to the floor and Leopold jumped at the chance to finally bite her.
As he sat on top of her she managed to swing once and strike him on the face. He pulled back and she got up and ran over to her phone but Leopold was much too fast for her. His arm reached long and wide and pulled at her left shoulder turning her and dropping her to the floor again, just inches from her fallen phone where Loomis still listened and at the same time, was trying to locate her.
Leopold, with his arm, stretched long, and holding Kat down on the cold wet cobblestone street begin to float over to Kat, and when she got close she turned over, from her stomach to her back, and kicked him in the midsection causing to lose his breath and fall back again.
This angered Leopold. He regained his composure and lunged at her again jumping on top of her pinning her to the floor still inches from her cell phone. He lifted her up and held her neck.
"You should have stayed away." Leopold said in a deep cruel voice.
Kat's eyes were like saucers, she recognized the voice but was too terrified to speak. Then from the corner of her eye and over Leopold's lower arm she saw Caleb walking on the other side of the street towards the restaurant they were to meet.
With all her might she screamed his name.
"CALEB!!!!"
Caleb was starteled and turned in the direction his name was called and saw a dark mass now holding Kat up by the neck on a side street. He jumped into action and ran towards them.
Leopold tightened his grip around her neck and Kat screamed again.
"Noo!!!"
All Loomis heard over the phone as he frantically tried to trace her call was "Caleb, No!"
Leopold knowing he had no time with an approaching Caleb tossed Kat to the ground where she smacked her head on the stones below, then he disappeared.
Caleb reached Kat who was unconscious and tried to wake her.
"Kat?? Kat can you hear me? Kat!!" Caleb said softy tapping her face to try and wake her. But to no avail, then he saw the beginning of a small river of blood coming from behind Kat's head where she had hit the cobblestone street. He instantly picked her up and carried her to his car.
Within seconds the police, with Loomis, had tracked the location of her cell phone and surrounded Caleb's car. The red and blue lights flashed and reflected off of the wet ground illuminating everything that surrounded the area. People peeped through windows and came outside in the chilly night to witness the spectacle.
"Kat?? Kat can you hear me? Kat!!" Caleb said softy tapping her face to try and wake her. But to no avail, then he saw the beginning of a small river of blood coming from behind Kat's head where she had hit the cobblestone street. He instantly picked her up and carried her to his car.
Within seconds the police, with Loomis, had tracked the location of her cell phone and surrounded Caleb's car. The red and blue lights flashed and reflected off of the wet ground illuminating everything that surrounded the area. People peeped through windows and came outside in the chilly night to witness the spectacle.
As they cornered the car, the police pulled out their guns and pointed at Caleb and Kat who was still knocked out on the passenger side seat.
From over a bullhorn Loomis demanded:
"Collins...get out of the car with your hands up."
"Collins...get out of the car with your hands up."
Caleb was completely confused but complied. As soon as he was out he was rushed by 5 to 6 police officers who placed handcuffs on him.
"What are you doing? My girlfriend was attacked, I'm taking her to the hospital." Caleb said as police removed Kat and put her into an ambulance.
"What are you doing? My girlfriend was attacked, I'm taking her to the hospital." Caleb said as police removed Kat and put her into an ambulance.
Loomis walked up to Caleb who was being placed in a police car and punched him in the face.
"You're under arrest for the attempted murder of Detective Katharine Banning."
