Series 3/Chapter 1: BEGINNING IN THE DARK

There was complete silence in Collinwood's main drawing room except for the rain tapping on the windows. The storm had caused a blackout and the candles Alexandra and Carolyn lit flickered and danced around casting shadows all over the room. No one said a word and waited for the guest to say something first.

Carolyn again whispered a name, this time questioning out loud if she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing, her long dead cousin Barnabas Collins, whom she believed had died decades before in the late 70s.

But how was this possible? How could he be in front of her now when she thought he was long dead!

"Barnabas? Is that really you ?" Carolyn said stepping closer to the doorway where the shadowy figure stood, this time her voice stronger in tone but still weary of the answer that was to come.

Barnabas too stepped into the drawing room allowing the flickering orange light of Carolyn's candle to catch his face. He looked around, the room had changed over time, but it was still the home he knew for so many years.

"Carolyn," Barnabas said looking at his aged distant cousin. "this is extraordinary. So much has changed!" He said tapping his cane on the floor and reaching out to her for a hug. 

"Who's that?" Kat whispered over to Caleb in a quiet aside.

Caleb, like all Collins family members, knew the legend of his father David's ancestor Barnabas, but like Carolyn, he believed he had died decades ago. Caleb didn't know how to answer but knew something had to be said or his detective girlfriend would naturally start to suspect. 

"He's our cousin, but we haven't seen him in ..." he paused to find an explanation of Barnabas' missing years and settle on "forever."

Leopold felt a twinge of discomfort. He had never been around another being like him before. It was as if the walls were closing in, he could feel Barnabas' power in the air. Collinwood belonged to Barnabas, and it was as if the building itself knew it's master was home--again. 

"How? How can ..." Carolyn said still in shock and clutching Alexandra's hand.

"The universe works in very mysterious ways! I never imagined we'd be all together like this, here...in this time." Barnabas said cryptically as Kat's facial expression showed confusion to his choice of words. 

"Uhh...Its very nice to finally meet you." Caleb said as he cautiously extended his hand to Barnabas. "I've heard so many stories." 

"Have you?" Barnabas said shaking Caleb's hand. "My reputation often precedes me. Who might you be?"

"My name is Caleb, my father is  your cousin David." Caleb explained sensing Barnabas' confusion.

"David's son! David has a son?!" Barnabas said excitedly and looking over at Carolyn who nodded as confirmation. 

"And this is my mother, Dr. Kimberly Collins, my girlfriend Detective Katharine Banning, and this is Carolyn's daughter Alexandra." Caleb said introducing everyone to the visitor.

"And David? Where's David?" Barnabas who had last seen David a teenager in 1978.

Kimberly and Caleb looked at each other waiting for the other to answer, then Kimberly spoke:

"We haven't heard from David since our divorce. It's been about 20 years." She Explained.

"Unfortunate. I would have loved to see him too. And you? Who might you be?" Barnabas asked, motioning towards Leopold who kept to himself. 

"My late husband's cousin Leopold." Carolyn interjected covering up Leopold's true identity. She sensed the awkward feeling coming from Leopold who didn't say a word. "Listen Barnabas, it's been a very long night for all of us, the storm has taken out the power and you must be exhausted from traveling. It's getting late, why don't I set you up in a room and everyone else can settle in as well." Carolyn added.

"That would be wonderful, but a room? Why don't I stay in the old house?" Barnabas questioned not knowing Leopold was staying there.

"Leopold has been staying there, and I'm afraid the rest of the old house has to be renovated. I'm sure you'll be fine here." Carolyn said, nervously motioning for Barnabas to follow her into the dark foyer.

"Well, it was lovely to meet you all. I hope to re-acquaint myself with the family again soon." Barnabas said with his trademark 18th century politeness and a slight bow to the full room.

For Barnabas this all had a feeling of deja vu, this wasn't the first time he had come back to Collinwood from the past. But this time things were different, Barnabas could feel it inside. There was much more to everyone he met in the drawing room. He could sense tension and suspicion all around. 

"Are you ok?" Alex asked Leopold as Barnabas and Carolyn stepped out.

Leopold only nodded, never uttering a word. His nerves were on edge, everything seemed to have changed in a matter of minutes since Victor's death and it was making him go mad.

                                                                         ****

Barnabas followed Carolyn up the main staircase and into a hallway lined with photos of many departed Collins family members like Barnabas' parents Joshua and Naomi, cousins Quentin and Amanda and even Carolyn's beloved mother Elizabeth.

"Carolyn what year is it?" Barnabas asked stopping Carolyn in the hall looking up at Elizabeth's portrait. 

"It's 2016." Carolyn said with a sigh.

"Elizabeth?" He asked softly as he stopped in front of her portrait. 

"She died Barnabas. About 35 years ago. Caleb, Alex and I are the last of the blood family. And David, if he's still alive." Carolyn said sadly. 

Barnabas didn't often touch on his human emotions, but knowing Elizabeth was dead clenched what was left of his vampire heart. 

"If feels like a book I travel through. Every chapter I enter I encounter a new version of our Collins family." Barnabas said touching the painting of his beloved mother.

Carolyn seemed to understand, remembering the moment she met Barnabas

"Well, this chapter of the family, is just as interesting as the others, I assure you." Carolyn said sarcastically. 

Carolyn then lead Barnabas into a spare bedroom towards the end of the east wing of the third floor that was mostly shaded by trees. She knew Barnabas needed the darkest room possible. She then closed the door behind her. Barnabas was removed his coat and got comfortable. 

"Alright, what is this? What are you doing here?" Carolyn said abruptly, feeling the freedom to speak without holding back.

"Trust me, you're not the only one in this room who's surprised. But I have to tell you, this wasn't my doing." Barnabas explained to Carolyn as she continued to keep her distance with the lit candle close to her face.

"I dont understand. What are you talking about?" She questioned.

"No doubt you've met Evangeline, or perhaps you'll know her by the name the nuns gave her at the orphanage: Claudia. She traveled all the way back in time to 1972, a power she inherited no doubt from her mother; traveled to the very moment before I died. And Instead of allowing me to die she saved my life." Barnabas said.

"Claudia! Of course. She's been terrorizing us since the day we returned. I should have known she was behind this." Carolyn scoffed. "Wait, how do you know about Claudia's past in an orphanage?" 

"More surprises, dear cousin, Claudia--or--Evangeline as she was named at birth--is Angelique Bouchard's daughter...I am the father. When she was born, I made a terrible mistake. I took her away thinking she would have a better life away from Collinwood and her mother. I took her to a different time. Away from all of us. I should have never done that." Barnabas confessed. "Claudia is a Collins just like you and I. She is my family." 

Carolyn felt sick. Everything Barnabas and Alex had been was starting to make sense. When Alexandra asked her about Barnabas in the blue room, it had actually been Claudia possessing Alex wanting to know about her father, about all the history of her birth family. All the twisted things Claudia had been doing was her way of revenge, Carolyn thought, but there was one more question:

"So why bring you back to our time? Why did she do that?" 

"Simple. I promised her. I need to make amends for what I did, and the only way to do that was to come back, here, to a time she was present in." Barnabas explained.

"Do you really think that's possible? Do you really think you can have a relationship with Angelique's child, a child mind you, that has been using the same type of powers that cursed you into the creature you are today! Don't you think it's dangerous to have her around?" Carolyn scolded knowing how much he resented Angelique for the curse she placed on him all those centuries ago.

"The fruit may not fall from the tree, dear cousin, but I am sure my return is not a mistake." He replied. "Now I have a question ...this Leopold ...I can sense he is, shall we say, different. I know your keeping something from me, so go on, tell me....what is he?" Barnabas said, his voice deepening and turning cold as he stepped closer and closer to Carolyn and her flickering candle.

Carolyn paused and took a step back and looked over and Barnabas as lightening flickered from the sky outside brightening the room. Would she tell Leopold's secret?

*****

"I should get going and let you all sort this new visitor out." Kat said with a grin grabbing her bag and jacket.

"I'll walk you out." Caleb followed.

The two walked out to the front courtyard of Collinwood, Kat shivered in the chilly damp air, the rain had stopped but the sky still showed a dark face...a warning of more storms to come.

"You know for what it's worth, I'm really happy we're getting closer. I really missed you for so long." Kat said stepping closer to Caleb.

"I am too. What made you decide to give me a second chance?" Caleb asked as he put her jacket on for her. 

For the life of her, Kat couldn't remember why. She just knew that she wanted to, she had feelings for Caleb years ago, and then she didn't , and now she did again. It was strange. Her memory seemed to be blanking out on her all day.

The truth was, she wanted to get close to Caleb again so that she could get an inside look at the family and find out who Leopold really was. But all that changed once Alexandra's spell wiped her memory clean to keep Leopold's secret. A secret the Collins' family couldn't afford to be revealed. 

"Let's just say it was the right decision and leave it at that." The detective said embarrassed that she had forgotten such a detail. 

"Sounds good to me!" Caleb said with a chuckle as he kissed her on the lips.

As Caleb and Kat had a romantic moment in the drizzly Collinsport air in front of the Collinwood mansion, Leopold's cold eyes stared out of the window at them, he still didn't trust Kat, and he was going to do make sure that whatever threat Kat possessed to his existence, knowing the truth that he was a vampire buried deep in her psyche, was extinguished once and for all. 

****

While Caleb said goodbye to Kat outside the main house, Alexandra found a minute to sneak away to the old house where she had been receiving strange vibes ever since Barnabas returned.

She felt Christopher's energy there but since she hadn't heard from him in since the night when he turned into the werewolf that killed Victor she couldn't be sure it was him. The new powers left inside of her were still strange and new and she couldn't decipher what was real of fake.

But the moment before the lights went out and Barnabas returned she felt Christopher's kiss on her lips. She was suspicious and beginning to feel angry and the possibility Claudia and Christopher were together. It was the first time she had ever felt betrayal. And it was eating at her very soul.

Alexandra quietly opened the main entrance to the old house but saw no one in the first few rooms. The house was quiet, with only the sound of the fire place in the main parlor crackling and burning warming an empty room.

She followed her instincts and walked towards a back room where she could see candle light, Alexandra removed her shoes and continued to quietly tip toeing her way down the main hall and peered into the room to see what she feared most. There it was--her nightmare. 

Claudia and Christopher were kissing in the the candle light. And they weren't just small, sweet kisses like the ones Christopher had given her, these were  long deep passionate kisses that through her connection to Claudia could feel too.

Alex's eyes turned black and she started to feel an energy build inside of her that came out of her like a wild scream deep within her soul.

The light that Alex's rage created from her body distracted the couple who instantly felt they weren't alone. They looked into the hall but the light was gone and the hall was empty. Alex had suddenly vanished into thin air without being detected, swallowed up into the light her angry energy had oozed.

Alex's was transported undetected outside to the grounds of Collinwood and brought her to the very edge of Widow's Hill, the cliff side that over looked crashing Atlantic waves below, notorious to all Collinwood residents who carried a sad heart. It had also been where she first met Claudia.

Alex looked down and saw the waves splashing up against the sharp black rocks. Inside her mind she felt destroyed and ruined, not only had Claudia taken Christopher from her but left her with this terrible curse of black magic that she couldn't shake.

In this moment of despair she heard a voice echoing up from the shore below, it flowed up to her ears with the Atlantic mist and enter her mind.

"These new powers may actually work in your favor dear Alexandra, if you put your mind to it." the voice said, "the very powers you detest can be the key to Claudia's final undoing."

The voice inside Alex's mind was right, killing herself on Widow's Hill would only allow Claudia and Christopher to be together and happy, and as long as Alex was alive she would never let that happen.

                                

Series 2/Chapter 7: IT COMES WITH THE STORM

The witch Angelique had been passing herself off as a woman named Cassandra and had married Roger Collins, Carolyn's uncle. Only Barnabas, Angelque's former lover, knew her true identity. While married to Roger "Cassandra" and Nicholas Blair attempted a coup over the Collins family with various wicked spells and deceptions. All of them failure. Cassandra later disappeared, leaving Roger to believe she had left him...the truth was Cassandra had secretly became pregnant with a child and wanted to pass her off as Roger's, but the baby was really that of Barnabas Collins'...a truth no one would discover for years to come.

To save the baby girl Cassandra named Evangeline from a life of disaster Barnabas did the only thing he could do to save her from being raised by the wickedness inside of Angelique's heart. His connection to Angelique was powerful, more powerful than anything the world could ever created. In 1972 he learned of the baby's birth while Cassandra was in hiding. Barnabas went and searched for them. His connection to Angelique (Cassandra) was so strong that her energy was like a honing device which made it easy for him to find them.

There she was, a child so innocent and small asleep near her mother in a secret hideout just outside Collinsport. Barnabas reached in and grabbed the baby from her crib, kidnapping her to a place so far away, no one would ever find her.

In a desperate attempt to save the baby from years of torment by the secrets of her parents, Barnabas time traveled to Collinsport in the year 1850 and placed her in the safe keeping of an orphanage ..leaving Angelique alone, angry and bitter. 

His plan to save the baby he too believed to be Roger's daughter backfired. Just before she died Angelique confessed that Evangeline was really Barnabas' child not Rogers. In his rage, Barnabas attacked and drank the blood of Angelique, a toxic bite of a vampire immediately turned Angelique to ash and left Barnabas gasping for air.

Witch's blood ...a vampire's ultimate poison. 

 Just minutes after Angelique was turned to ash and Barnabas lay dying was the exact moment  where Claudia's own time traveling spell brought her.

                                                         ***COLLINWOOD, 1972***

A bright ball of light started to form at the edge of the room and expanded into the shape of a human figure. Barnabas, now close to death, opened his eyes with his last bits of strength and looked at the light. A small tear came to his eye when he began to think that possibly this was some how his way to a safe eternity away from all the darkness, but to his surprise the figure veiled in bright light was Evangeline, his long lost daughter now named Claudia.

Claudia emerged from the light and saw her father Barnabas laying on the floor covered in her mother's ashes. It angered her, but she knew that she could not undo that part of the past. A witch could not be brought back after the bite of a vampire. But her father, was a different story.

Barnabas coughed and reached out to the woman he saw come from the light not knowing she was his grown daughter Evangeline. He looked up and knew that his life was coming to an end and just needed a small dosage of blood. Perhaps, he thought, he could muster enough strength and take some from the mysterious stranger before him.

Claudia knelt down near her father and stroked his hair away from his forehead. 

"I should leave you here to die. I should sit here and watch you take your final breaths and never think twice about it for all you did. But I guess I'm different then you. I don't react on impulse." Claudia said now standing up and walking to where the mound of her mother's ashes was.

She placed her hands in the ashes, and a single tear rolled down her cheek, the powerful image of the her mother's remains tore her to shreds. She got up again and walked around the blue room.

"It really hasn't changed much over the years, Barnabas. It's  relatively the same. The family on the other hand, well, that's much different. You wouldn't recognize them if you saw them." She said continuing her small tour of the 1972 version of the Collinwood blue room.

Barnabas was now blacking out, and Claudia could feel his energy fading. It was now or never. Either she would bring him back to full life or allow him to lay there and die. The decision was hers, the power was hers, but instead of feeling relief of knowing that man who destroyed her life was dying there right in front of her...she started to feel sorrow.

She felt the fires of revenge eroding away inside of her. He was her father no matter what. But could she bring herself to replicate the exact spell her mother Angelique put on Barnabas that made him who he was and save his life one last time?

****
COLLINWOOD, PRESENT TIME
****

Alex made her way to her mother's room. Carolyn, who had just had a spat with Kimberly, was on edge. So many of things that were happening were exactly the reasons she never wanted to come back to Collinwood in the first place and now it was as if she was re-living her childhood one tragedy after another.

Alex knocked and opened the door to Carolyn's bedroom where she found her mother looking out of the window draped with white lace curtains, curtains that had been there since the room belonged to her mother Elizabeth.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked as she walked in slowly.

"That was Christopher last night wasn't it." Carolyn asked bluntly

Alexandra felt she had to explain everything even though she really wasn't sure herself how exactly Christopher transformed into the beast. 

"Mother, I don't know how to explain it. It must have been..... Claudia must be involved.

"Claudia." Carolyn said as it if to say she should have known Claudia was involved.

"She has had control over me too mother; for the last few weeks she's been inside of me. She has to be responsible for everything. I wanted to tell you last night, but when they found Victor I just couldn't." Alex said confessing her everything she could think of.

"What do you mean she's been inside of you?" Carolyn asked concerned.

"She was inside of me. We were like one person. I could see everything. Hear everything. But it's been Claudia all this time! She's the one who set the fire downstairs." Alex confessed.

Carolyn was shocked at the power Claudia had, she had never seen anything like it before.

"At every horrible turn Claudia has been there. She'll curse the day she ever set foot here."

Carolyn tensed up on the thought of  Claudia now free to roam around Collinwood continuing her chaotic reign, and I terrified Alex who had seen first hand Claudia's powers.

"Have you told Leopold Claudia escaped?" Alex asked.

"No, but we have to. He'll come up with a way to stop her. Come  with me!."

As the two made their way down the giant oak staircase that lead to the east wing that was still in the middle of fire damage repairs a sudden lightening bolt lit the stain class Windows above the staircase causing a kaleidoscope of colors rain down around Alex and Carolyn. 

A storm was brewing above Collinsport.

Just then Leopold walked in from the old house brushing the fresh rain drops from his shoulders. 

"She's free Leopold. Christopher released her!" Burst Carolyn from the top of the stairs.

Leopold took a deep breath before answering:

"I know. I had an unfortunate encounter with her earlier," he said with distaste for his one time flame from another lifetime, "but she's disappeared  again and I don't sense her presence. I can tell she's gone. Maybe for good."

"How can you be so sure?" Alex questioned.

"If she ever does return, we'll be ready for her. With every day that passes I'm more and more in tune with my new senses. There's no way she can get around me." Leopold said attempting to console Carolyn and Alex.

Alex was also getting used to the new senses she acquired as a result of being possessed by Claudia for some time. She feared if the rest of the family knew, they wouldn't understand. So for now, only Caleb would knew. And that's how Alex intended on keeping it.

****

Christopher awoke inside a candle lit room on a makeshift bed alone in the old house. He was thirsty and his muscles and bones ached from top to bottom. He stretched and tried to ease the aches, he noticed that there were fresh clothes folded on a small chair next to the bed. He walked over to the chair, the hard cold wood of the floor poked at the bottoms of his bare feet like needles. 

He sat back down as his head began to spin, like the morning after a long night of drinking. Flashes of the night before came rushing back. The shooting. Alexandra screaming. Seeing his father in the fog, then seeing his father scream for his life; screaming at him. He remembered. 

He killed his own father.

"What have I done?" He thought to himself as he pounded the side of his head, the torment of a shaky  memory was becoming too much. 

Then in a fit of anger, Christopher flipped over the bed he was on and kicked and punched the walls in a hysterical and painful rage. He fell down and buried his face in the flipped mattress, knuckles swollen and bleeding. The guilt was eating at him like a paracite. What had he done? How could this have happened? 

As he lay there devastated by his foggy memories a soft light came to him from the adjacent room.

Christopher lifted his head and got up from the bed stained with his tears. He made his way over to the doorway that faced the adjacent room and saw the woman he briefly met outside emerge from s ball of light with another silhouette, one he didn't recognize.

As the light started to dim around them Christopher could tell that the other person was a man he man. The man patted Claudia on the shoulder and left the old house right through the front door leaving Claudia alone with Christopher. 

She turned to where Christopher was standing and looked in his direction. Chris, scared that she noticed him, backed into the room and hid behind the wall. Claudia made her way into the room dressed in her ruby red cloak. She turned the corner and saw Christopher standing next to the door shaking in fear with his eyes closed hoping it was all a dream. 

"I'm not here to hurt you." She said stroking his face. "We are the same you know?" She said, referencing the fact that both of them had deep rooted pain from their parental betrayals.

Christopher opened his eyes and looked at Claudia. Claudia's anger and pain was gone. She looked at Christopher with kindness and sympathy. Without a spell chanted, or a magic potion poured, Christopher saw something beautiful looking back at him. They looked into each others eyes and his fears were instantly gone. He leaned close and instinctfuly kissed Claudia's lips. 

Inside Collinwood Alexandra felt a kiss on her own lips. She touched her mouth confused... But then knew. It was Chris kissing Claudia. 

Claudia found Christopher as somewhat of a kindred spirit. Both had been virtually used by their parents for their own causes. Both had been cursed with supernatural afflictions that neither actually wanted. Was it was love? A different kind of love that he didn't have with Alexandra?

****

The storm continued to come swiftly and swirled around Collinwood, thunder flashing a bright light into the house through the new windows in the main study. Leopold, Carolyn and Alex made their way into the room where Kat, Caleb and now Kimberly were all sitting hoping to hear from Christopher to tell him about his father. Leopold's eyes zeroed in on Kat who was on the phone in the corner of the room with her partner Detective Loomis McGovern going over the search for Christopher.

 Kat, who's threatening questions about the dead man Leopold had passed off Jack, had not made eye contact with him yet but soon felt a cold chill brush the back of her neck that startled her.  She quickly turned from mid conversation with Loomis to look directly into Leopold's eyes.

"Kat?.... Hey! Kat you still there?" Loomis said from his end of the phone.

"Yeah, yeah ....I'm here. Sorry. Listen, umm, we haven't heard from Chris Reed yet either, but as soon as we do I'll let you know, and if you hear from him first do the same. Ok?" Kat said hastily as she felt she was being watched.

"Detective, so kind of you to stop by." Leopold said now standing directly next to her.

"I was in the neighborhood." Kat said trying to break the uncomfortable feeling between she and Leopold, who did not know that Alex had placed Kat under a spell causing her to forget about the
dead man in the bay.

As Leopold stepped closer he could tell there was something different about Kat, she seemed less confident and more nervous around him. The negative vibrations he once received from her had softened. It was all due to Alex's spell, a spell that made her forget her mistrust of Leopold. But the vsmpire still had his misgivings about the good detective.

Outside, the storm raged and inside the Collinwood mansion the atmosphere was just as turbulent. Kat made her way away from Leopold. He  made her feel like he was a tiger ready to pounce. She  went over to Caleb and grabbed his hand. The fear she was now feeling was a common side effect of overstaying your welcome at Collinwod. 

The energy in the room continued to match the  electric weather outside thanks to the tumultuous events of the night before: Victor's death, Christopher's disappearance mixed with the dangers of Claudia escaping the sarcophagus and running around Collinsport. 

Alexandra began to feel a twinge of anxiety at the possibility of Christopher and Claudia being together somewhere, the kiss she felt, seemed real. 

The thunder clapped and everyone still awaitig news from Christopher jumped in their seats. Leopold knowing Chris was just a few feet away kept his mouth shut, he knew Chris' power might come of good use to him if he kept him for himself.

Kimberly looked over at Caleb and began to feel guilty about everything she had done. Not only to him but to her missing son Chris. The affair, the secrets, the lies, the experiments. Everything. She went over and sat next to Caleb.

"Don't worry. We'll find him." Caleb said calmly to his mother.

"I haven't really talked to him in so long, and now his father's dead. You know, We're all he has Caleb." Kimberly said as the realization that she allowed Victor to cloud her mind with conspiracy theories that took her away from her boys for so long.

"I'm willing to look past everything you did to dad and me, mom, I think it would be a good time to start fresh. Once we find Chris. We'll start fresh." Caleb said wiping a tear from Kimberly's face.

"I'd like that." Kimberly replied.

Seeing that things were getting calmer Kat decided it was time for her to make her way back to the police station.

"I'd better be get going. Caleb, please give me a call if you hear anything from Chris. We need to know if he's safe. If he's not, I'll officially mark him as a missing person and we'll start a search party." She said as she kissed Caleb on the cheek and excused herself.

As Detective Banning made her way to the door the thunder and lightening clapped loud shaking the house. The electricity went out and the family was left in the dark. Carolyn and Alexandra scattered to light candles all over the room when they all heard the front door swing open and hit the wall in a large bang.

"Claudia....?" Alex whispered to her mother in terrified voice.

But the footsteps that were coming closer and closer to the room were heavier then those a woman like Claudia would make. The sound of thick boots and a cane knocked up the foyer that was blanketed in darkness from the lack of lights.

Leopold began to sniff the air. A smell he found very, VERY familiar. The smell of the immortal. The smell of a man from another time, and another place. A man like him with the lust for blood.

The candle light was dim and flickered an orange glow around the room, but it was clear there was now a man standing in all blacked foyer just outside the room the family was in.

Kimberly quaked and shivered with fear, and grabbed Caleb's hand, "who was this stranger?" She thought.

Alex buried her face in her mother's back, thinking it could be Claudia.

The thunder rolled again and flashed a bright white light for a split second illuminating the entire room.

It was like the air was sucked out of the room, and in that split second of bright white light Carolyn squinted and gasped in shock at who she saw standing dead center in the doorway in a pool of rain water that had dripped from his coat and boots.

She whispered the name of a man very familiar to the walls of Collinwood, a name so infamous the entire town of Collinsport trembled.  "Barnabas."

Series 2/Chapter 6: TWO SPELLS

It was mid-morning now. The chaos had subsisted and Victor's body had been removed from the grounds at Collinwood in the very late hours by the Coroner's office. Kimberly was beside herself and in utter shock. The mission had failed and Victor was dead. She looked at herself in the mirror, dressed in all black thinking that things could have been different for everyone had she not listened to Victor all those years ago and experimented on Christopher.

Kim fastened the top button that her black blouse and made her way to her bedroom door, as she opened it, there stood Carolyn awaiting her.

"Carolyn?" Kimberly said surprised to see her.

Carolyn's hands were clasped in front of her, her blue eyes focused and her face was stone cold, she was still not pleased to be sharing her home with the woman who cheated on her cousin David and had caused him to leave to parts unknown. Carolyn had a very bad feeling about Kim, but despite it, knew she needed that keep her enemies close.

"What was he doing here last night?" She asked straight away.

"What?" Kimberly said stalling.

"Don't play this game with me. Why was Victor Reed here last night? And why do I have this sickening feeling you're behind all of this. Why do I feel you know more about that --that--thing that I saw at my door than you're leading on." Carolyn accused.

"That's really typical of you, Carolyn, pointing the finger at someone else. I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know what Victor was doing here! For all I know he was here looking for Chris who was with your daughter last night!" Kimberly said with a bold faced lie as she pushed Carolyn aside to let pass her.  

As Kimberly went past, Carolyn grabbed her arm and spun her back around to face her.

"If you have anything to do with any of this, I swear, you will regret the day you came back to Collinsport and set foot on Collinwood. I will make sure of it Kimberly, don't test me."

"You're so sure of yourself. What is it? What do you think I'm doing here? I have two sons who live here Carolyn, I'd do anything to be with them again. I've made mistakes... I get it. But I'm going to right them whether you like it or not." Kimberly said still caught in Carolyn's grasp.

"I feel sorry for Christopher, I really do. I don't know what kind of relationship he has with you, but I do know what you did to Caleb and how hurt he was when you left him as a child without even a goodbye. And then David left, Caleb's whole world was destroyed--because of you." Carolyn continued.

"You know, I have a feeling a lot of the things that have been happening around here lately didn't start when I came back to town. When did you come back again? When your husband disappeared?" Kimberly said with a veiled  insinuation.

"Jack's disappearance had nothing to do with me." Carolyn argued back.

"Not you. This whole family. This whole cursed place. Do you think I don't know of all the curious and strange secrets that the Collins family hold? Everyone knows Carolyn! There's no sense in pretending that none of this isn't normal to you." Kim shot back.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Face it, no one is safe here. No one, and until we remove the darkness that haunts this place no one will ever be safe." Kim said.

"And just what exactly do you plan on doing?" Carolyn questioned.

Kimberly only looked at Carolyn with a fierce look in her eyes. She was determined to continue the cleansing of the horrible Collins curses no matter how hard Carolyn wanted to stop her. Their relationship was never good, but now it seemed that there was no turning back.

Carolyn huffed and released Kimberly from her grasp and marched down the hall to her own bedroom slamming the door behind her. Kimberly stood alone thinking of her next step now that she was working alone. Her only option was finding Christopher before anyone else did. By this time, he must already know what was going on and who was involved. She had to find him, and keep the secret.

*    *    *   *

Amid the chaos in the main house, there was an even more interesting exchange in a patch of land behind the old house where Leopold was living. Christopher lay naked and shivering in the grass, the effects of the serum shot in his blood stream to change him into a werewolf wearing off. He had survived the night his own father Victor turned him into a werewolf, but Victor did not.

"Poor little thing. They don't understand you do they? They don't really know what to do with you. I saw everything there was to see, and I can be the one to help you. I can be the one to save you! Just listen to my voice." said a breathy female voice that stood above Chris' naked body, now covered by the bottom of a thick red cloak. 

Chris opened his eyes slight and squinted, standing above him, in the same  blood red cloak he was wrapped in was the beautiful sorceress Claudia Bouchard, freshly released from her sarcophagus prison Leopold had subjected her to. 

"Who are you?" Chris said faintly, covering himself with with her cloak.

"I'm here to protect you." Claudia's voice said in a soothing tone.

"What---" Christopher said confused and cold as he was interrupted.

"I'm the only one who can protect you Christopher. I'm the only one who understands." Claudia cooed over Chris' body.

"What do you want from me?" Chris asked.

Claudia knelt down close to Chris. She combed his wet hair back as he shivered and shyly tried to cover his exposed body.

"Don't be scared. There's nothing to be scared of." She whispered. Her eyes meeting his.

There was a connection that she felt with him, a kinship. They both had mother's who at various times were up to no good. They both had father's who were trapped between good and evil. She felt like together they could be something, together they could take control of everything around them. The kiss they shared when she was in Alexandra's body was like a lightening bolt zooming through her body like nothing she had ever felt.

Claudia slowly bent down, closer and closer her lips got to his and just before they touched, a vocal interruption just outside their circle. 

"Enough Claudia!!!" Leopold exclaimed appearing out of thin air and walking up to the two.

Claudia quickly stood up and with wave of her mystical hand froze time all around them, only allowing Leopold and herself to move within it.

"Step away or I'll kill him." She hissed, her voice now menacing and evil.

"I should have known you'd some how figure your way out of that cemetery. Of all the years we were together, you could always connive your way out of anything." Leopold quipped, the memories of the real Leopold flowing into  his mind of his life with Claudia and her previous indiscretions.  

"Do you think you know me? Haven't you figured anything out by now?" Claudia said a sarcastic laugh. "I created you, you fool! Every memory you have belongs to my one time love Leopold. They're not yours! You're just a toy....a creation that I can destroy at anytime I want to, so don't start getting brave with me Leopold. You're not real. You're a twisted hybrid of two men meant to destroy Carolyn, that's all." Claudia said ripping into Leopold.

"What is your obsession with her? Why are you at Collinwood haunting this family?" Leopold questioned. 

Claudia paused to weigh her options: tell the truth of her Collins family connection which she had just discovered herself or keep it all a secret until the right moment?

"The unfinished business I have goes further then I actually knew, Leopold. And I have you to thank for that." Claudia said now circling Leopold like a shark sizing up its prey. 

"How?" He asked as she stepped over Christopher's frozen in time body.

"While you trapped me away, I was still able to release my soul and enter the body of your Alexandra Thorne." Claudia said condescendingly referring to Jack's beloved daughter knowing Leopold still had  a soft spot for her. "She's the most innocent soul I've seen in decades! Through her I discovered who I really was, and you'll be very pleased to know that Collinwood, just so happens to be the home where I was always meant to be. Barnabas Collins, in fact, is my father. This home, is mine!" 

And just as quick as Claudia dropped the bomb of her true paternity to a gobsmacked Leopold she snap of her fingers and flung her  blood red cloak wrapping it around her entire body. As the cloak covered and swirled around her body it caved into itself, and Claudia was gone.

Time then began again, the frosty air blew over Christopher's shivering body. Leopold picked him up and swung him over his shoulder and carried him into the old Collinwood home where he was staying away from the main house with the rest of the family.

With the revelation that Claudia was a Collins too, and not just any Collins, the daughter of the greatest vampire that had ever lived, Leopold felt deep in his dark soul that there would much more to come from the wicked witch Claudia Bouchard. And for The first time in a long time he felt a human emotion...fear.

*    *   *    *

Back inside the main house Caleb and Alexandra sat in the half re-constructed main sitting room, where the walls were painted a deep red. Alex was still unsure of where Christopher was and if he was even still alive. Her fear was that someone would notice he was missing and start to put two and two together and figure out he was the monster from the night before. 

Indeed, Alexandra had changed since her possession by Claudia. She saw things clearer, she felt things before they happened. She knew things before anyone else knew them. As she and Caleb spoke, it was as if she could hear their conversation in her head before it even  happened. She knew this must have been a residual effect left by Claudia. 

Her abilities seemed to be getting stronger by the day. She had a deep connection now to Claudia and could feel her. They were now tied together by a single mind, everything Claudia knew Alex now knew, and everything Alex knew, Claudia took possession of when she entered her body.

As Alex kept her new abilities secretly hidden she and Caleb made small talk about the night before and as they did, Kat walked in with the missing person's form she was given at the police station with the man who Leopold killed to cover up his transformation from Jack to his new identity. 

"You're hear early." Caleb said, pouring her a cup of coffee.

"I actually had something I needed to show you last night before everything happened and I feel like if I don't get to this now something even worse will happened and I never will." Kat explained going into her inside jacked pocket and pulling out the paper.

Alexandra, with her knew powers knew exactly what was on the paper before it was unfolded and stood up quickly to intercept it.

"Is this police business?" Alex said stalling Caleb from opening the paper to read it.

"In a way it is, yes." Kat said surprised at Alex's outburst.

"Don't you think then we should have some sort of representation?" Alex said now taking the paper away from Caleb's hand. 

Caleb looked at Alex confused. 

Alex's only objective was to stall Kat so that she could tell Caleb what Kat had with her. They needed time to come up with a different story as soon as they could.

"All I want is for you to look at this paper, that's all. And once you do, maybe you --or anyone--can shed some light on it." Kat said hinting that she knew more then they knew she did.

Caleb grabbed the paper back from Alex and suddenly, as if by instinct, Alex lifted her hand in front of Kat's face and closed her eyes and said out loud: 

"A window into the mind I go, 

Fazing out everything you know,

Let lies be truths within our walls

Listen to my voice as it calls"

Caleb looked over at Alex shocked, even Alex seemed surprised at her actions. Kat closed her eyes and shook her head. All of a sudden she felt dizzy and the room went into a haze. She opened her eyes and everything was different. Kat's mind seem to be blank. She had the feeling that she was forgetting her thought mid sentence.

"Are you ok?" Alex cautiously tested.

"Ummm...yeah, I just...that was weird. I got dizzy for a second." She replyed.

"Here! Why don't you have some water instead of coffee. Have a seat." Caleb said ushering Kat over to a sofa, totally confused of what had just happened.

Kat mentioned nothing other paper she had just handed him. She then went over and sat down on one of the new sofa's that had come in to replace the one's that burned in the fire.

"The room is coming along nicely isn't it?" Kat said sipping the water. "Anyway, the coroner looked at Victor's body, just before I came here I got a call from him. They're saying some sort of mountain lion must have got to him." 

Caleb stepped aside and opened the paper and saw the missing person's form with the face of the man Leopold killed and passed off as Jack. A sense of relief washed over him, and then he looked over at his cousin Alex, who herself felt a bit of relief her spell had worked. 

"What the hell is going on here?" Caleb whispered to Alex as Kat continued to sip her coffee and look over some of the repairs on the other side of the room. "Did you know what she was bringing here?" He continued carefully folding the missing persons and hiding in his pocket.

"I don't know exactly whats happening to me anymore, but Caleb, I've changed some how. I can see things, I can hear things. It was that woman, that Claudia being. She entered me and...I don't know she's changed me." She said in a similar hushed tone.

"But how did you make her forget what was on this paper?" He asked again making sure Kat still didnt hear him.

"All that matters is that it worked." Alex replied

Leopold true identity was safe; Alex had thwarted off Kat's continuous questioningfor now. But Alex, being a novice when it came to the strength of her newly found powers didn't know how just long any of it would last.

*    *     *     *

Inside the old Collinwood mansion where Leopold was living, sat a vampire and his mortal enemy the werewolf surrounded in darkness and only the light of candles was allowed to touch their faces. Leopold had no idea what he was going to do with Christopher but he knew he had to keep here there before anyone could find him. He had to know how he was created without a full moon.

Christopher however was knocked out cold from the night before and had only woken for a minute outside while with Claudia. 

Leopold paced back and fourth while Christopher slept trying to figure out what was happening around him and if the werewolf was really sent for him and not Victor.

As Leopold contemplated and Christopher slept, he suddenly sensed the same peculiar sensation he felt from Kat that he felt from the night at the Blue Wale pub. He leaned over and made sure Christopher was out cold then grabbed his jacket to make his way over to the main house...Kat and her constant prodding needed to be dealt with before she got too close.

As Leopold dashed off, Claudia watched from a darkened corner of the room where no one could see her. 

She knew that her life was at stake now that Leopold was aware that she had escaped the sarcophagus in the cemetery.

Her plot to seek revenge on the Collins family for Barnabas' sins was beginning to feel misguided. Barnabas was the one who killed her mother Angelique. Barnabas was the one who took Claudia away as a baby and placed her in an orphanage so far back in time that no one would find her even if they tried.

It was clear now that Barnabas was the one person who could pay for what he did, and not the rest of the family. He was the cause of all her suffering, so he would be the one to deal with. 

Claudia slid away unnoticed in the room where Leopold and Christopher sat by candle light. She made her way to an even darker, empty room where she removed her red cloak.

Claudia made a circle in the center of the room on the wooden floor and stood transfixed inside of it. 

She closed her eyes and whispered a spell:

"To another time I go forth and find

The man I call father: time rewind

For he is the one I seek answers of

Let me find him left, right, down, and above"

Claudia's body began to glow so bright it lit up the entire room. She started to feel herself lift and spin in the circle, faster and faster and faster until she was completely filled by the light. Then as the ball of light expanded and she went in, she was gone. Leaving only the red cloak on the floor. 

Series 2/Chapter 5: THE BEAST

It was a night of dense fog that lifted up from the cold blackened ocean rocks that crawled across the Maine shoreline. The smoke like sea air surrounded the grounds of Collinwood like an alien presence creeping up around a Alexandra; before her very eyes, the handsome Christopher began to transform into a hideous beast she saw when trapped under Claudia's possession spell. 

 He was the werewolf that Victor and Kimberly hoped would begin the destruction of the Collins family, again in body, soul, blood and bones. 

As Christopher began to change, his body twisted and contorted in every direction. His feet became massive paws with claws so sharp the could slice a human in two with one swipe. But his eyes, his eyes remained the same kind warm eyes Alex had fallen in love with. Those were Christopher's eyes.

Christopher's breath was heavy, a growl vibrated from beneath his thick fur to the floor reaching Alex's feet.

"Chris...?" Alex said, voice trembling. "Chris, it's me. It's Alex." Alexandra continued with one hand extended to keep the Christopher's werewolf body at  bay. 

The werewolf stood up on all floors, his human clothes ripped to rags.
Victor's syringes still sticking up from his furry back. 

Christopher snarled at Alexandra, his breath shooting out from his nostrils like smoke from a chimney in the cold air. He howled a hideous, ravenous howl that was only broken by Carolyn bursting through the front door with a rifle and shooting at him but missing.

Alexandra turned and ran quickly behind her mother who pointed the gun at Christopher who howled again and dashed off into the distance; the night fog of Collinsport swirling in his wake. 

"Chris, he...he ... I don't....?" Alexandra said in a confused panic in attempting to explain what just happened to the gun wielding Carolyn.

"Get inside, quickly." Carolyn said ushering her terrified daughter into the mansion. Once Alex was comfortable by the fire place in the blue room, Carolyn picked up her phone and dialed Leopold.

"Come quickly." She in a serious voice. Knowing that if there was a werewolf on the loose, it wasn't safe for anyone, much less it's mortal enemy. The Vampire.

*   *    *   *

Back at the Blue Wale pub, Caleb tried to explain the odd and sudden exit Leopold had made. But it didn't seem like Kat believed it, as for Kimberly, her only disappointment was that Victor was no where to be found. And she was starting to grow anxious awaiting  news of the plan they had.

"It's getting late anyway, I think I should head back to Collinwood before Carolyn locks me out." Kimberly said half jokingly knowing Carolyn's distaste for her.

Caleb, still angry at his mother Kimberly about the affair she had on his father David with Victor, still felt a responsibility for her and offered her a ride home.

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that." Kim responded tenderly. 

As Caleb paid the bar tab Kimberly stepped outside waiting for Caleb and Kat, she finally got a phone call from Victor who was still at Collinwood looking for Christopher who ran off.

"Kim, you have to get back here as soon as you can!" Victor said out of breath.

"Jesus Victor, I've been trying to get a hold of you! Where are you??" A panicking Kimberly said while trying to whisper her conversation.

"I'm at Collinwood. I used the serum. It worked Kim!" Victor said in an excited tone.

"Oh my god, Where is he, where is Christopher?" Kimberly said now in a serious tone realizing that situation was dangerous.

"Carolyn scared him off, I'm looking for him now. You need to get here! Hurry up!" Victor responded as he cautiously searched the foggy grounds of Collinwood. 

"Victor, you need to have them all in the same place to get this done, do you understand me? It will only work if all of the entire Collins family are home and we end this in one night." Kimberly said turning to the bar door where Kat was standing and listening.

Kimberly hung up the phone and looked at Kat who's internal detective red flags went up.

Kat cautiously walked up to Kimberly: "Everything ok?" she asked ironically.

Kimberly took a breath and smiled coyly. "You know how families are."

"Right. Families can be..... Complicated." Kat answered with a wink. 

"Victor and I are just trying to fix what we did. I'm sure Caleb has filled you in on everything." Kimberly explained.

"No, not everything actually, but I did notice some tension between you two. Is there something I should know?" Kat  said continuing to drill Kim for information. 

 "We're not on the greatest terms. Victor wants to help me make things right with the Collins, mainly with my two sons but I seem to always come up short in these types of situations." Kim said fudging the truth. 

"What situations would that be?" 

"When you have kids, I guess you'll understand." Kim replyed coldly. 

"I have a brother--I get it. What about Caleb's father David? Is he out of the picture?" Kat asked, her mind still in detective mode.

Kim searched for the right words. She wasn't sure just how much Detective Banning actually knew and how much she was trying to extract via Kim. She had to be very careful.

"After David found out about my affair, he left town. I haven't spoken to him in over 20 years. You can imagine how hard that is for Caleb, his father gone, his mother off working in some country not being able to contact him for all these years. Hence the tension." Kim said again trying to deflect the truth. 

"Well it seems you and Victor are trying to somewhat patch things up." Kat answered.

"He's really a good person." 

"Is he, now." Kat said, nodding passive aggressively. Kimberly was up to something, she just didn't know what, but her probing would have to wait as Caleb soon exited the pub and they all made their way to the car and headed to Collinwood.

*   *   *   *

As Kimberly, Caleb and Kat made their way back to Collinwood, Victor searched for Christopher who was scared off by Carolyn's gunshot. 

Victor moved carefully through the  black night and fog, his rifle pointed outward and loaded with a different serum. This time the antidote that would change Christopher back to his regular self.

Victor's flashlight spun around the Collinwood grounds that was blanketed by the dense sea fog that clung to the air in a thick wet mist. 

Victor walked up at the property's edge. He stepped closer and saw that was a large opening in the fence, just large enough for the massive werewolf Christopher to charge through. Victor carefully made his way through and continued on in his search, his hands shaking in fear but Victor tried to convince himself it was the cold that caused his shutters. The truth was Victor was terrified. 

As Victor made his way through the brush and trees, a snarl and growl came from his left side. Victor quickly turned towards the sound and pointed his gun towards it. Then the growl started to come from all around him now, as if circling him.

"Chris." Victor said as if demanding Christopher make himself seen. "Christopher..." he said again.

The growl deepened and from behind the misty fog two glowing greens eyes could be seen, and slowly Christopher in his werewolf form emerged from the fog walking slowly towards Victor, foaming at the mouth. 

Victor gasped and pointed the gun at Chris and began to walk slowly backwards. 

"Son, its me, its dad!" Victor said, the gun quaking in his hands.

Christopher, who's human side was completely overtaken by the monster he turned into howled and pounced on to his father tearing at this cloths. Victor yelled a yell he had never heard come from his body before and pistol-whipped the wolf with the rifle knocking Chris to the ground.

Victor, panting and gasping for air, regrouped, but as he stood about half way up again, the wolf pounced again knocking the refile from Victor's hand and breaking the remainder of the vials that contained the antidote. The two, wolf son, and hunter father fought and beat each other like two wild animals, one as pray, the other as a nocturnal praetor.

Victor, was being chocked by the giant paws of the beast, and in his last effort reached up and plunged his thump into one of the werewolf's eyes but it was too late for him. His son, the man he created as human and beast; with one single slash of razor sharp claws sliced at Victor's throat leaving him gasping for air.

Christopher jumped off his father's body and howled a horrible howl the echoed throughout Collinsport, reaching the Collinwood where Caleb, Kimberly and Kat had just arrived.

"What the hell was that?" Kat asked as the three turned in unison in the direction of the howl.

Kimberly, knew exactly what it was, her son Christopher in beast form. She helped created that beast with Victor, and now something in the pit of her stomach told her she was wrong. She was frozen in fear, flashes of the past came to her mind, remembering how it all began. Suddenly too the feeling of guilt.

****
COLLINSPORT, 1991
****

In a small medical laboratory underneath a small house in Collinsport, Dr. Kimberly Collins mixed her potions and serums into vials marked CR-1984: The initials of her baby son Christopher Reed, the subject of her new mission. She had taken on her mission with Victor Reed, baby Christopher's father, in hopes that they could save Collinsport from the menacing Collins family. A family that had brought insidious beings to town, those beings haunt every member of the community. She in fact, was a member by marriage, marring David Collins, son of Roger Collins, and had seen first hand the terrible things that went on in that house of horror: Collinwood. When Victor, an accomplished vampire hunter, proposed she use her scientific knowledge and team up with him to destroy them all for the sake of their new son, she knew it would be a treacherous game. But for her two boys, Caleb (a Collins himself) and Christopher she would do anything.

Kimberly's divorce from David  was final, and she had recently given birth to Christopher. Now, she was free to be his mother and work with Victor in ridding Collinsport of the family that made her miserable. Victor's plot, was one of great genius and would take years to finally perfect and realize. Especially because it involved their baby Christopher so much, and could only begin to test when he was much older.

Victor's idea was this: the most natural way to kill those who bring back the dead are with a lycan. But Kimberly's serums had to some how mix both that of a werewolf and the lycan so that when Chris was ready he would be as powerful as the werewolf but control his transformations like the lycan, not solely relying on the light of a full moon like the werewolf.

Once complete, the serums would mimic the effect the full moon has on the body of a werewolf  and give him the strength of the much more powerful the lycan.

Kimberly and her science would be tested on Chris in various trials for the next 28 years.  Baby Christopher would be their chosen one. The one to save them all.

"You're going to help us save the world my sweet Christopher." Dr. Collins said in her laboratory coat and glasses as she picked up her baby to test the serums on human DNA for the very first time.

Victor walked in and hugged Dr. Collins from behind.

****

COLLINSPORT-PRESENT TIME
****

Kimberly shook her head as if to take the terrible things she had done to her own son away, she was shaking and felt faint. Kat noticing grabbed her hand.

"Are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Kat said.

Kimberly grabbed Caleb's hand took a gulp of air, "I need to sit down." She said, the color drained from her face.

As they came inside, Leopold had already arrived home and was sitting in the Blue Room with Alex and Carolyn. 

"Whats happened? Is she ok?" Leopold asked helping Caleb bring Kimberly to the sofa.

"I'm fine. I'm fine" Kimberly said regaining her composure.

"There's something terrible out there. We saw it. It was right here and almost killed Alexandra." Carolyn said bringing Kimberly some water.

"We heard it too." Caleb said. 

Alexandra stayed quiet, she hadn't said anything to anyone about Chris being the animal they heard or even about Claudia who had been released from the sarcophagus and was on the loose for that matter. She was too shell shocked and traumatized.

"Caleb, grab Carolyn's gun. We'll go out there and see what this is." Leopold said fearlessly.

"Are you insane? What if it comes after you? I saw it, its huge!" Carolyn said, knowing that Alex was with Chris at the time. 

  

"We'll be fine! We have to see what it is!" Leopold responded, changing the subject back to the hunt and  motioning for Caleb to follow.

"I'll go with you." Kat said taking her gun out of the holster.

Alex, Kimberly and Carolyn stayed in the Blue Room nervous and impatient all for different reasons. Kimberly hadn't heard from Victor, she had no idea if Christopher was still out there on his own as the terrifying animal she helped create or if Victor had sedated him and taken him home to lock away until the changing potion wore off.

Off to the side Carolyn was pouring the three cups of water to calm their nerves. Alex walked over to her for a private conversation.

"I need to talk to you about something." Alex whispered.

"What is it?" Carolyn said, as she turned her body away from Kimberly's direction.

"The woman who changed Daddy into...into Leopold. Who is she?" Alex quested, noticing Carolyn's expression change.

"She calls herself Clausia, but, I'm not really sure who she is and what she wants. Listen honey, I don't want you to worry. She's gone forever. Leopold made sure of that. You won't have to worry about her doing anything else to us." Carolyn said trying to comfort her daughter.

"I don't think so. I feel her. I feel her all around this place. And she isn't done with us yet." Alex explained dramatically.

"What do you mean? Have you spoken to her?" Carolyn questioned placing the glasses of water down.

"She some how entered my body...she's connected our family mother. She's connected to Barnabas." Alex said unsure of herself and of what she knew was truth, only knowing that while possessed by Claudia she learned there was more to their 18th century cousin Barnabas then Carolyn had ever told her.

Carolyn and her relationship with Barnabas was long gone. He had died when she was in her early 20's and in a way she was happy, with this death all of the horrible memories of life at Collinwood had seemingly gone with him. And now, Claudia was reaching back into the past and bringing everything up to the surface.

"I want you to forget what you're feeling. Whatever Claudia said can't be trusted and can't be taken as reality or truth. She preys on our emorions." Carolyn attempting to console Alex, but Alex knew better.

"She escaped mother." Alex said point blank.

"How do you know she has escaped?" Carolyn asked in a paranoid tone.

"Christopher. She tricked him." 

Carolyn paused and put down the pitcher of water she was pouring. Her mind began to race. With Claudia free from where Leopold has put her, locked away in the sarcophagus of Catherine Collins, Carolyln knew there was even more danger to be delt with.

****

Out side Caleb, Leopold, and Kat were searching the land around Collinwood in the pitch black of night guns in hand. The light of their flashlights beaming from the hands like tiny little lighthouses illuminating the wet frosty grass below. 

Not a soul in site.

But then, off in the distance was a shadowy figure, a black mass slumped on the ground. Kat pointed her gun and carefully walked over to it. 

It was Victor. 

Kat leaned down, the lights from Caleb and Leopold's flash lights now on Victor's bloody body.

Kat knelt down and took Victor's pulse, his body cold and ravaged by the beast. She tried again to see if she could find something, any sign of life.

"He's....dead."