Series 3/Chapter 5: BLOOD OBSESSIONS & MEMORY REGRESSIONS

The night sky was filled with thick grey clouds that seemed to accumulate at the top of Widow's Hill, only yards away from the great mansion that oddly felt very busy deep within its body.

Kimberly scurried around Julia Hoffman's cold laboratory in a white lab coat placing different slides under microscopes. Her theory was that somehow Barnabas's genes had mutated just like Christopher's when Angelique placed her curse; changing his DNA forever and requiring him to (and even desire) the taste of human blood to survive. Her scientific answer to a supernatural question could change Barnabas' life everything!

The only problem was Kimberly had yet to find the gene she needed to then begin tests at reversing his biology. Kimberly was going at this the same way Julia had, scientifically, but Barnabas was a being of supernatural creation, the main question that needed to be uncovered was if Kim's knowledge of science in 2016 could finally rid the impatient Barnabas of his hated trait.

Barnabas did have a more concerning fear of the project. Julia fell deeper and deeper into the depths of the supernatural powers that circulated Collinwood, could Kimberly fight the powers that were all around her? 

As she worked Barnabas walked in silently as to not disturb Kimberly, but it didn't work. She could feel his presence as he paced around the room. His energy and force was so strong no one at Collinwood could even pretend not to notice him. Barnabas was in his element. 

"Come to check up on me?" She said without lifting her head from her work.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you, I was curious to know what you found." Barnabas said as he looked around the Laboratory that had been updated with the most state-state-of-the-art equipment from Kimberly's own personal instruments. 

"Barnabas it's only been a few hours. I've only just began testing your tissue samples. It's going to take time." Kimberly responded.

"I've been waiting for so long for any kind of break through and since you've come along, I feel like this could be it. I feel like I could finally be free. Don't you feel that too?" Barnabas said with hope in his eyes.

Kimberly turned and had half a smile on her face. She could see the optimism written all over Barnabas' face, a sign of happiness that hope that surely through his life rarely ever felt. And for the first time in a long time she felt that her work was actually going to do some good.

"I'll do everything that I can." she said.

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be between two worlds? It's a strange question to ask a person. But have you ever?" He asked Kimberly as she kept her head down to her work.

"No. Well, in a way. I guess everyone has at one point. We wonder what's on the other side of death. That's sort of the same thing. But I come from a scientific background, you see in my mind everything has a beginning and everything has an end." Kimberly said speaking in her best Doctor voice.

"Ahh... but there it is. You see I have never had an end. Everything in my world has been in constant motion. A beginning like everyone else, and then frozen in time forever experiencing everyone else's life as they pass through. But not I. This is why what Julia tried and what you are doing for me is so important. If discovered, this gene you speak of, can save me from an existence of loneliness." Barnabas explained.

Kimberly looked up briefly from her microscope to see Barnabas staring directly at her with clear and kind eyes, eyes that she did not expect to see from a man who was literally the living dead. And for that brief moment in time she felt as though she understood him. 

"Well, I hope I can make this----" as Kimberly finished her thought Carolyn burst in with a grim look on her face that Barnabas and Kimberly noticed right away.

"Carolyn! What is it?" Kimberly asked concerned.

"It's Caleb. He's been arrested for attempted murder."

Kimberly gasped and immediately began to remove her lab coat, "I have to go to him!"

"I'll go with you." Barnabas said moving towards the lab door.

"Are you crazy? You can't! What if someone see's you Barnabas!" Carolyn replied interjecting herself before he could run through the door.

"Caleb is family, I must go to him. Please, Kimberly may I come?" He asked.

Kimberly in her panic about her eldest son only nodded a faint yes,  to Carolyn's displeasure.

As Barnabas continued to pass Carolyn in the door way she stopped him one last time by placing her hand directly onto his chest.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"Kimberly needs us. Caleb too." He said softly.

"Listen to me, this town has't seen you in over 50 years, putting yourself in the cross-hairs of people who don't know you've come back--again--Barnabas it's dangerous and it puts all in danger." Carolyn explained.

"I understand." Barnabas quipped, flippantly avoiding his Collinsport history.

"Just be careful when you're out there, and Barnabas, whatever happens here in this laboratory, with Kimberly.....look, she's not Julia Hoffman, ok? Just remember that." Carolyn said noticing the twinge of affection Barnabas was beginning to have for Kimberly, a woman Carolyn didn't fully trust yet.

Once Carolyn released him, Barnabas ran off with Kimberly in the night to the police station to find Caleb leaving Carolyn in the doorway of the laboratory with her thoughts and concerns. She knew Barnabas more then anyone in the entire world. He could charm anyone into doing what he wanted. But there was always a price to pay. 

****

At the hospital Leopold lurked around Kat's room while she was being attended to, just waiting for the right moment to go into her room where they would be alone. He stood in human form in his black coat in a small hall just across from her hospital room and waited. Then the moment came.

He overheard an orderly tell a nurse that the woman in hospital room 6 was resting with a laceration to the back of her head. But would survive and he'd return to check on her later. Kat was alone. Leopold walked over quietly to her room and walked in.

The walls in Kat's hospital room was painted a faint blue that looked gray with the low lights. Kat lay asleep in her bed, almost angelic in contrast to Leopold's dark demeanor. He stood over her like an evil tower and closed his eyes. He tried unsuccessfully to go into Kat's mind but it was blocked, his telepathic abilities were no match for the spell Alexandra had placed on her, but it was too late. He knew Kat's mind was locked, and if the spell were broken she would surly try and reveal his secrets, and for Leopold the could spell disaster. He very existence depending on no one knowing the truth of his lust for blood.

He leaned in close to her as she continued to rest and felt her breath on his cheek. He could feel the blood rushing through her body like hundreds of red rivers flowing through her. He was tempted.

"Things could have been so different Katherine. If only you had stayed away like I had hoped. But you chose differently." Leopold said in a sinister whisper of a voice in her ear. 

And as he spoke he looked around her hospital room with all the machines monitoring Kat's vital signs. He flicked the IV bag and watched the liquid slowly drip by drip into the vial that the poured into her veins. He walked over again to the other side of her bed where the heart monitor beeped its precise notes of Kat's heartbeat. 

"Detective, It's time you die." He whispered, with a tone of voice the echoed his dark obsession with ending her life.

Leopold's eyes began to change to their evil Amber color, his skin turned pale and his fangs poked through as his jaw widened. Leopold slowly went down closer and closer to Kat's neck where he could feel the heat from her blood pumping in her veins. A chill filled the room as death came inches away from Kat's body. 

Suddenly the room door opened and the light from the hall peeked through and created a golden triangle of light on Leopold's back. 

"Excuse me, can I help you?" A young man's voice asked from the doorway.

Leopold instantly reverted back to his normal self. His eyes and skin and fangs all went back to normal as he slowly turned to face the person who interrupted.

"No, thank you. I just came to see my friend." Leopold said as he patted Kat's pillows.

"Oh. Ok. I'm her brother Sebastian. Thank you for coming so late. None of the nurses told me anyone was here to see her. I just drove in from Bangor, myself." Sebastian explained to an irritated Leopold.  

"Her brother." Leopold said confirming.

"Well half brother. Who did you say you were again?" Sebastian asked suspiciously noting the strangers awkward behavior.

"Just a friend, I should go. I'm sure you'd like to be alone with your sister." Leopold said.

Leopold left Sebastian with a strange feeling as he left the room. Leopold was disappointed  that his chance at killing Kat to retain the secrecy of his identity and leaving the situation in limbo but this wouldn't be the last time he would find Kat alone, in fact he was going to make sure that Kat wouldn't leave the hospital ...alive.

After Leopold left, Sebastian sat patiently sat at his half sister side as she started to come to. He jumped from his seat and grabbed her hand at the side of the bed.

"Kat! Kat, thank god, you're ok!" He said kissing her cheek.

"What happened?" She said reaching for her head.

"No, don't touch. You were attacked in town. You hurt your head."

"What....I...who............ ?" Kat asked looking at her brother with a foggy head and drowsy eyes. 

"It's me, Sis, its Sebastian. Do you remember? Can you tell me who attacked you Kat?" He asked hoping for an answer.

Kat looked around the hospital room, her mind was foggy and confused. She tried as hard as she could to grasp on to something in her head that would make sense  but couldn't muster up anything coherent.

"It's ok. Don't push your self, you need to rest. You hit your head pretty hard." Sebastian said comforting his sister.

Kat looked around and then back at Sebastian who was smiling at her hoping she would say something, anything.

"I dont know you. Do I? What am I doing here? I....I dont remember anything." Kat said to a shocked Sebastian.

Sebastian took a step back and smiled a comforting smile at his sister who was terrified. Not only was her memory partly suppressed by Alex's spell, but she had now also forgotten everything else. Including who she was, where she was, and most importantly her attacker. Kat had amnesia.  

"Just relax ok, I'll get a doctor." Sebastian said walking out of the hospital room quietly.

As Sebastian stepped out of his sister's hospital room he found a quiet corner and pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. The other person soon answered.

"It's Banning. Kat's awake but we have a problem. She doesn't remember a thing......... No, nothing at all..... Yes I understand the situation, but we'll get inside Collinwood another way. I promise. I'll call you back once I get more info." Sebastian said and quickly hung up the phone. 

****

The police station was oddly quiet considering they had just arrested someone for an attempted murder. Kimberly and Barnabas burst in looking for Caleb. Searching for any officer who knew his whereabouts, and finally they came to Loomis.

"Calm down, yes we have your son." Loomis explained pulling out the case file.

"Well I want to see him! Detective, there is no way my son could have done this. He loves Kat!" Kimberly explained.

"Kimberly I heard it with my own ears over the phone. Kat clearly said his name as she was being attacked, and right now she's in a hospital room unconscious. " Loomis concluded.

"That just can't be." Kimberly said in a worried voice.

"What's going to happen now?" Barnabas asked Loomis.

"He'll be arraigned in the morning and bail will be set." Loomis explained.

"That is if you have enough evidence, of course." Barnabas added.

"Excuse me?" Loomis said turning to Barnabas 

"Yes, you cannot keep a man in jail if you don't have enough evidence of the crime. So far all you have is something heard over a telephone, is that correct detective? I would assume you would wait for Detective Banning to recover so that she could give her side of the story." Barnabas said.

"Who are you again?" Loomis said baffled at this new person's meddling.   

Barnabas' eyes changed to pitch black and Loomis looked directly into the black pools that swirled around and around. Barnabas then touched Loomis' chest and said "I am Barnabas Collins. The one. The only. And from here on out, you will listen to my demands. Caleb Collins shall be released, you will note the lack and insufficient evidence in his case and pursue him no more?" 

Loomis' face had no reaction, Kimberly was shocked at what she was seeing, something she had never ever seen before. A hypnosis. 

Loomis then opened the case file and began to write his report, quietly. He then handed it to Barnabas and walked into a hall. Barnabas and Kimberly looked at each other then opened the file that read Caleb had been suspected but not charged in Kat's attack, and was subsequently released on his mother's recognizance pending further investigation.

"How did you do that?" Kimberly asked.

"My dear, even though I hate what was done to me, there are some added side effects that work in my favor."

"Mind control." Kimberly said astonished.

"Caleb is family. I have learned from my past that family is the strongest key to one's own progress. Young Caleb needs to be free so that he can find out who really did this to Detective Banning." He explained.

"Thank you Barnabas." Kimberly said with tears welling in her eyes. No one had ever done something so extraordinary for her. "Caleb is innocent. There has to be some other explanation." She added.

"I'm sure there is." Barnabas said suspiciously. 

As they both stood in the quiet Police station Caleb came running from the same hall that Loomis silently walked into.

"Mother!" he said rushing over to her and hugging her. "How did you get me released so quickly." Caleb asked.

"I didn't do anything. It was Barnabas." Kimberly stated.

"Thank you. How can I ever repay you?" Caleb asked turning to his centuries old cousin.

"We're family young Caleb. And your mother, thankfully, is on her way to helping me in return." Barnabas said, coldly referring to the gene therapy she had began in the laboratory before Caleb's arrest. "Shall we go?" he asked.

They agreed and quickly made their way out of the police station.

"Just a second." Loomis said as he also came back from the holding area Caleb was in. "You've been released but not cleared Mr. Collins, so I wouldn't be traveling anytime soon. Once detective Banning comes to, she'll be interviewed and then we'll see what the real story is.

"I swear to you, I didn't do anything to her. I was on my way to meeting her and when I crossed the street after I parked I saw her in this side ally....And there was this... I don't know, this shadow or dark figure holding her up by the neck." Caleb explained to an unconvinced Loomis.

"Like I said. Stay in town. I'll be calling you." The detective continued.

Caleb, Kimberly and Barnabas turned and quickly walked out into the Police station lobby. Barnabas grabbed Caleb by the arm and pulled him close.

"This black mass, or figure you saw, cousin. Can you describe it for me again." Barnabas whispered feeling as though Caleb's initial description sounded familiar. Very familiar.

"Well it was large, but not larger then a man. And it was consumed by darkness, almost as if it was coming from the shadows. It was bizarre. It had Kat by the neck and it was holding  her up and when she screamed for me it turned and dropped her. That's when she hit her head." Caleb explained.

"Did it look at you?" Barnabas asked.

"Barnabas what's going on?" Kimberly asked, noting Barnabas' deep concern.

"It did. I saw just yellow, or bright eyes, but nothing else. It was all so fast." Caleb said.

Barnabas knew exactly what it was.

"This"it" in question was not an "it" at all, but a who. I have seen those same eyes when I visited the old house just the night before. Those were the eyes of Leopold Divernet." Barnabas said to a shocked Kimberly and Caleb.

Loomis returned to his desk where another police officer was reading the case file, confused and surprised.

"Hey Loom! You let that guy go?" The officer said in his Boston accent.

"No evidence. But don't worry, I'll be watching the Collins family very closely, and when they finally slip up, I'll be waiting for them. Kat and me." Loomis said definitely. 

****

Back at Collinwood, Carolyn eagerly awaiting Caleb, Kimberly and Barnabas' return. She stared out of the drawing room window waiting for any sign of someone returning home, when finally the door opened and in walked Alexandra.

"Darling, where have you  been?" Carolyn asked as Alex walked in with a long face. "What's the matter?" Carolyn added.

"I've  had a horrible night mother, I really don't want to talk about it." Alex said brushing off the confrontation she had earlier with Chris where she destroyed the last vials of antidote that would cure him.

"It's been a very eventful night for everyone, I'll get us some tea. Why don't you sit down, I'll be right back." Carolyn said sitting Alex on the soft sofa that over looked a warming fire place.

As Alex sat alone she began again to hear the voice calling to her from Widow's Hill. The voice that she now could tell was her own voice, echoing across the bluffs and into the room and swirling around her mind. 

"Your job is not done." The voice said inside her mind.

"What do you want from me!" Alex replied back shaking her head as if she were shaking water out of her ears.

"The only way to get revenge is to remove the cancer that has brought all of this upon you. You must destroy Claudia." The voice said as Alex stood up and looked out of the window to where she felt the voice coming from even though it was actually in  her own head.

As Alex looked out of the window the reflection in the glass facing her startled her. The face was an angrier, more wicked version of herself, darker red lips, longer wavier hair, but it was definitely Alex, just another more horrible creation from her mind.

"What should I do?" Alex asked her reflection.

"In a room in the attic above the East wing there is a book bound in leather. It hold's powers you could never imagine, Alexandra. You must find it, and you must use it. When you reach it Alexandra, open it to a page marked with a crimson ribbon with the embroidered letter A. There you will find the answers." The reflection said. 

The doe eyed Alex reluctantly agreed and ran off to find the boo in the attic, and as she did, her reflection remained in the glass and slowly the reflection began to morph into the face of a mysterious blond woman with deep blue eyes laughing a evil laugh.

Series 3/Chapter 4: NEVER WALK ALONE

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.

****

At the police station Loomis sat at his desk with his feet up biting on a pencil in deep thought. His green desk lamp illuminating just a few things around him, especially the giant crime file he pulled marked "Collins". He still had a strange feeling about Kat. In all the years he had known her she had never just given up a hunch the way she had about Leopold and the Collins family.

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. 

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." 

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.

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."

Series 3/Chapter 3: THOSE THAT ARE SCORNED

The sky over Collinsport continued to swirl with remnants of a late winter's storm. The air had a mist that sprinkled all around town and stuck to everything it touched. It was water from the sea. It was water from the sky. It made the slopelike streets of this seaside town slick and black, and Christopher followed those streets from Collinwood all the way to the house he once shared with his father.

It was going to be s long road ahead for Chris and Kimberly. Their relationship had to start from scratch and even though he instinctually knew his mother Kim was behind the altering of his DNA to mutate on a full moon, he still loved her. And the only way back from it all was if he could find the missing vials of antidote. 

He pulled into the driveway of the small cottage and sat in the car. He couldn't get himself to get out just yet, but he knew he had to. He had to search the house for anything his father left that would be a clue to where the vials of antidote were. If he couldn't find them, he'd be doomed forever.

Christopher unlocked the front door and stepped in, memories came flooding back of his childhood with Victor and without his mother. They were good times, even if he was lonely. His father treated him well, even though most of his life was lies and betrayal. But this home, this life was all he knew. And the guilt that he was responsible for his own father's death, no matter the state of his mind, was killing him.

Despite it all, the sadness and the guilt, Chris knew that the only way to end it all was to find the vials of the antidote Kimberly created and Victor harbored. Chris searched high and low in the little house he shared with this late father, even in the dark basement with the cage where Victor kept Chris during the full moon experiments. But nothing. The antidote vials were still missing.

Christopher was beginning to fear there may not be any of those vials left to save him, and just as he began to clean things up and leave Alexandra walked in the front door.

"Alex! Hi! What are you doing here?" Chris asked surprised to see her.

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you for two days." Alexandra replied coldly.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's been really insane lately. I haven't really been myself." Christopher said truthfully. "How did you know I was here?"

Alex didn't want to tell him she was connected to him telepathically now, her new powers were to be kept as secret as possible, and if she was going to get back at Claudia for what she had done, Chris needed to be kept in the dark as well.

"It was the only place I could think of. How've you been?" Alex said coming up to Christopher very closely.

"Uh..." he said uncomfortably, and pushing her away. "...a mess actually. Its like I don't know where reality begins or ends."

"Are you mad at me? Why do you feel so distant all of a sudden?" Alexandra questioned with a furrowed brow.

"Alex, look, a lot of things are different now. My father has died, my mother is back and---" Chris said as turning away from Alex as he began to explain his situation when Alex suddenly interrupted.

"And you're sleeping with Claudia?"

Christopher turned back to Alex quickly with a shocked expression on his face. He could feel the angry energy radiating from Alex's body in his direction. She even looked different. This was a side of her he had never seen before.

"What? What are you talking about? That's not true!" Chris answered.

"She'll never be the right person for you. She'll only take take take and take some more and then when you have nothing left she wants she'll just dispose of you Christopher. You have to listen to me!" Alexandra said in a sudden shift in moods of anger and desperation.

"Alex I don't know what you think you know, but Claudia has been....well she's been through a lot too." Chris said stammering in his speech.

"Is that what she told you? Everything she's ever been through is just a smoke screen to cover up the kind of person she is. She's evil!" Alex yelled.

"NO!" Chris responded defiantly. "You don't understand us."

"'Us'? So you're an 'us'?" Alex shot back, again changing moods.

Alexandra's eyes began to water at what she was hearing. She knew what he was going to say next. It was at the tip of his tongue and she could feel it. She could see in his mind that his life was changing and that she would  not be apart of it, at least not in the same was that she was before.

"She and I are a lot of like, Alex. You wouldn't ---you couldn't---understand. Actually you should be very grateful that you don't understand the type of people Claudia and I are. We're different. Things have happened to us, strange and unexplainable things." Chris said referring to Claudia's supernatural powers and his werewolf alter ego.

But Alex did understand. Ever since Claudia left Alex's body she had retained some of those powers, powers that were now overtaking her mind.

"Well....then I guess that's it then. We're over before we could ever really begin." Alex said as she seemed to accept Christopher's explanation, but there was one more thing she had to do.

Alexandra knew why Chris came home, to search for the vials of antidote. Every inch of her being could read Chris' mind now, he was an easy read. Despite having a very dark side when then full moon rose above Collinwood, he was a kind person who was trapped between the dark and the light.

"Oh, one more thing..." Alex said turning back around to face Christopher. "Were you looking for something?"

Chris looked at her confused, how would Alex know he was looking for something. He did not answer, and she smiled a Cheshire cat smile that made the hairs on the back of Chris' neck stand up.

Alexandra closed her eyes and the room's temperature turned freezing cold. Chris could see his breath coming from his mouth. The energy in the room suddenly turned menacing while Alex seemed to go off into a distant place in her mind. She took a deep breath and snapped open her eyes and coldly walked over to painting of the bay that surrounded Collinsport on the living room wall. She carefully removed it to reveal a safe that she easily opened, leaving a chilled to the bone Chris in utter shock.

As she opened the safe she pulled out a brown leather satchel and inside the satchel were 6 vials of a lavender substance that seemed to almost glow. Christopher instantly knew what they were, the vials of antidote that would remove the mutated gene Kimberly and Victor created that turns him into a werewolf. The substance that Chris so desperately needed.

"Alex, I need you to give those to me." Chris said calmly as he stepped closer to her with his arm reached out.

She smiled again and then smashed all six of the vials on the hardwood floors. They were destroyed. Gone.

Christopher felt gutted and stood in shock as Alexandra grinned again and said in a sinister voice that Christopher barley recognized:  "Don't worry. I'm sure Claudia will make it all better."

Christopher stood in devastated silence in the living room and watched Alexandra walk out the front door into the misty Maine evening without a regret in his stride.

***

The Collinwood mansion soon saw itself blanketed by the ocean fog as the sun began to set over Widow's Hill. The moon, in it's cyclical form, crept far off in the distance awaiting the slow steep decline into the sun's deep sleep. Barnabas, fresh off his altercation with Leopold, knew it was safe to journey out in to the manor. His mission this evening was to locate his good friend Dr. Julia Hoffman.

For years Julia did all she could to rid Barnabas of his lust for blood. Her time in Collinwood was marred by a string of unfortunate events that this generation of Collins family members were already experiencing for themselves. Its true, Collinwood was no place for the meek at heart, it was a place for those who were destined to see the kind of things no one else would ever imagine they would encounter, and Julia was one of those people, even if she had ulterior motives. 

Barnabas, dressed in one of his finest dark suits made his way into to south part of the mansion on the first floor that had been specifically designsted as Julia's offices. She had three rooms in that wing of the house apart from a small apartment like area on the second floor.

The area was somewhat abandoned, meaning most of the current crop of Collins family never went there, but was kept clean every week. The housekeepers, were often seen dusting along the hall and vacuuming the ornate Persian rugs that lined the long corridor that connected all three of Julia's rooms.

Room 2 was the room Barnabas was curious about the most. It had been the room where Julia had conducted a number of the experiments on him. A room that brought back several memories. He took a gulp and tried the door, but it was locked. Barnabas closed his eyes and took the knob again into his hand, the hallway darkened and the potted plants began to tremble. The drapes on the windows swayed slightly by a mysterious breeze and suddenly everything stopped and the locked clicked.

He opened the room's door and looked around. It was relatively the same for the most part. But the furniture had changed. He ran his finger along Julia's desk as he past it, leaving a straight line down the side of the desk where the dust had settled.

 He carefully walked over to a book shelf, with what seemed like hundreds of volumes of Julia's notes. He pulled one and saw the date. July 18th, 1969. He opened it and read:

"....he isnt reacting well at all to treatment. I have, for the most part, continued with all my knowledge to help him, but I feel as though, perhaps, whatever I have done has not done Barnabas any good. We will start a new form of therapy tomorrow. I hope we can work out our differences by then as well.                  -Dr. Julia Hoffman."

There were thousands of notes. Notes on her experiments, explanations on how she created them, how Barnabas reacted to them, how she modified them. Notes of his therapy under hypnosis. Notes on just about every aspect of their relationship. It was all he needed. Barnabas grabbed a few more of the volumes and dashed out of the Julia's offices to find Carolyn.


Carolyn was having tea alone in the red drawing room. She skimmed through a book she found in the newly renovated library, and sipped slowly from the steamy early gray tea enjoying this moment of quiet solitude, when just then Barnabas came in with Julia's notes.

"Good evening cousin." Barnabas said in a low voice as to not startle her.

"Oh, Barnabas, hi!" Carolyn said looking at the clock across from her noticing it was now 7 in the evening. "You're up early." She joked.

"I have a few things I need to take care of." Barnabas answered setting down the notes on a desk that sat to the side of the room. "Carolyn, may I be completely open with you about something?" He added

"Of course, what is it?" Carolyn asked.

"I don't trust this cousin of your late husband Jack. Why didn't you tell me he was like me? Why didn't you tell me we share the same curse?" Barnabas questioned.

Carolyn put down her book and sighed, she knew she would have to answer this question eventually but didn't expect it to come so soon.

"The truth is Barnabas, I didn't know how to tell you. All your life you've struggled with your ailment and for me to add on to that by telling you you were no longer the only one, I don't know, I didn't know how this is all going to work out. Which brings me to the truth... he isn't Jack's cousin. He's Jack under Claudia's curse. We have been saying they're cousins to protect Leopold's secret." Carolyn said bitterly.

"Months ago I had to go back on my vow to never return to Collinwood. I was happy living in London away from here and the terrible things that happened as I grew up. And when we decided to sell Collinwood, my husband Jack agreed to come to town for me and bring back a few things of our family heirlooms." Carolyn said filling in the blanks for Barnabas.

"And how did Claudia get involved?" Barnabas questioned.

"When Jack came to the house she was here, shes been living in Collinwood all these years. Waiting. Waiting for anyone, I guess. And when she saw Jack, she put the curse on him. The same curse Angelique but on you, but this curse aged Jack backwards and turned him into this vampire she calls Leopold. We've been in a way reliving what happened to you almsot 50 years ago." She continued. 

"Indeed. Fifty  years ago...how very strange to think of my present time being the past. And Carolyn, since we are speaking about the past,  I imagine that living in this age medical technology has advanced. Has it not?" He questioned.

"Since 1978? By leaps and bounds, yes." Carolyn confirmed.

"Then there must be a way for me to finally find myself free from this, isn't there? Earlier, after I left the old house---"

"The old house? You went to the old house?" Carolyn interrupted.

"Yes. Needless to say, that's why this  topic of Leopold and our similarities has come to mind. But that's besides the point now. It made me think, in this age, at this time I can be cured. I can finally be cured. I have even found some of Julia's old medical notes. Look!" Barnabas said optimistically, handing Carolyn one of the note books.

"Oh, Barnabas. I don't know what to say. I wouldn't even know where to begin to look for answers. And Julia..." Carolyn said skimming through the notes before Barnabas interrupted.

"We must find Her, only she can unlock me from this terrible thirst for blood. There are thousands of these notes Carolyn. She recorded everything. By now she must have come up with a cure." Barnabas explained.

"Barnabas, let me finish...." Carolyn said pausing herself mid thought, "I don't know how to tell you this. Barnabas, you've traveled 38 years into the future. A lot has happened. A lot has changed" She finished.

"I understand." Barnabas said in a tone as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Before I moved to England, many years ago, Julia died. Barnabas she died in 1985. If she were alive today she'd be close to 95 years old. I'm so sorry Barnabas." Carolyn said.

The realization that there may be no hope finally started to set in and Barnabas began to feel his first real taste of defeat. A sensation he was not comfortable with, a sensation he was not accustomed to.

"Life seems to come and go for so many, and yet I remain here. As this, a prisoner of time. Cursed forever to see my family and friends move on. Forever."

Barnabas then turned and looked out of the drawing room window that looked over a grand lawn that stretched out to the cliffs that so often are battered by an unrelenting Atlantic sea. The reality of his position now in this time was overwhelming. How could he now save himself? How could he finally be free from the powerful curse of Angelique.

Carolyn felt horrible, she knew that Barnabas' quest to return to who he was had been his life's mission, a mission that for over 50 years he had failed to achieve time and time again.

Just then Kimberly and Caleb walked into the foyer directly across from the drawing room. They had spent most of their day out and about Collinsport reconnecting. Caleb went upstairs to change clothes for a meeting with Kat and Kimberly walked into the drawing room shuffling through her purse.

Carolyn and Barnabas both turned when Kimberly walked in, a moment that would break the seriousness of their conversation. And in that moment Carolyn had an idea that felt like a double edged sword: Kimberly should be the doctor that assists Barnabas in his quest for the vampire cure. It was the only way.

"Kimberly." Carolyn said softly when the idea came to her.

Barnabas looked confused and Kimberly looked up from her purse and noticed she wasnt alone in the room.

"Oh excuse me! I was in my own  head there for a second. Good evening." Kimberly said.

"Good evening Kimberly. So lovely to see you." Barnabas said in a short bow to his cousin's ex wife.

Carolyn walked over to the stack of notes Barnabas had taken from Julia's office and opened them up to a random page and handed it over to Kimberly.

"Kim, what if I were to ask your medical opinion on something. Like this, these are notes from our former family doctor Julia Hoffman who was David's therapist and also worked on Barnabas' blood condition."

"Blood condition?" Kimberly questioned in an interested tone as she took the notes from Carolyn and began to read.

Barnabas looked at Carolyn confused. He had no idea what she had planned and didn't know the type of doctor Kimberly was.

"Yes, he's had it most of his adult life and it affects the way he lives. He cannot go out in the day, and he cannot .....well....Kimberly, Barnabas needs to drink blood to stay alive. Human blood." Carolyn said matter-of-factly.

Kimberly lifted her eyes from the notes that she was reading and it finally clicked in her mind. This was the Barnabas was the same man who David and Victor had both spoken to her about years ago, the mysterious Collins family vampire that had lurked around Collinwood for centuries.. The man who's curse fell on the entire family like a thick Maine fog for generations to come, and here he was standing in front of her.

 Now Carolyn was asking for her help. Help in figuring out a cure to end the curse.

"If you would  help, Kimberly, Our family would be indebted to you." Carolyn said with a tight jaw knowing that her relationship with Kimberly had been strained at best since her divorce from David and the affair with Victor was revealed.

Would Kimberly agree? And could Carolyn's scorn for her finally erode if she did agree?

Barnabas stood patiently awaiting her decision, knowing full on that this would be something he could never repay her for if she did agree.

Kimberly opened the notes again and looked them over. She took a minute to think.

"When do we begin?" Dr. Kimberly Collins, her voice clear and precise said in her decision.

Barnabas and Carolyn looked at each other silently.

 A new era was about to begin.

Series 3/Chapter 2: FORGIVING, FORGETTING & FANGS

It was dawn now. The sounds ships in the chilly bay groaning their deep foghorns echoed up from the sea cliffs to the Collinwood estate scaring off seagulls that haunted the highest peaks of the mansion's neo-Gothic architecture.

Christopher, still in human form, made his way through the courtyard that separated the old house and the main house where the family resided the morning after his father Victor's death. He was unaware of the new guest that had just arrived and crept in the through an unlocked back entrence and saw one of the housekeepers silently working in the freshly painted and repaired library that had fallen victim to Claudia's arson. He carefully slid past her unnoticed.

Christopher was looking for his mother, Kimberly.

He quickly walked up the grand staircase, his sense of smell now in full effect following a flowery perfume that his instincts told him was his mother's and down the hall past the portraits of Collins family members; each portrait with eyes following his every step, looking down on the werewolf that turned Collinwood upside down.

He turned back and looked up at the faces he didn't recognize and their eyes seemed to glaze over again, returning to their frozen painted state.

Christopher continued on his way following his mother's sent and came to a bedroom door made of the thickest wood. He took a breath and opened it not knowing what or who he would find inside. To Chris' relief there she was: the mother who put his body through secret tests to turn him into bloodthirsty werewolf, her blond hair glistening in the morning sun like spun gold.

She was the mother he had longed for all his life, even though his now dead father Victor told him stories of her and how much she loved him, but they were nothing like the real thing.

Kimberly, who was sitting at a vanity fixing her hair for the day saw Christopher in the reflection of her mirror. She took a deep breath and slowly turned around not knowing what state Chris' mind would be in.

Christopher walked slowly into her room and stood next to Kimberly as she stood up. Now they were face to face and tears welled up in Christopher's eyes.

"I've missed you." He said softly.

Kimberly let out a gasp of air, as she was holding her breath awaiting what might come from this encounter, and as she reached over and pulled her youngest son close and embraced him, it was like she had reconnected with herself. The two burst into tears. It had been a long time coming.

"Promise me one thing, and you have to be truthful...no more lies." Chris said pulling away from his mother's arms to look her in the eye.

"Anything!" Kimberly responded. "No more lies!" She said wiping her tears.

"What happened to my father?" Chris asked Kimberly as if trying to confirm his foggy violent flashbacks  he was having of a bloody Victor laying in the grass of Collinwood.

"He was killed Chris. Something ...I don't know ... An animal or something attacked him." She answered.

"Me! I did it!!" Chris screamed.

"Stop! Listen to me. It wasn't your fault!" Kimberly said grasping Chris by the shoulders.

"I killed him! I ...I ripped his---"

"Listen it wasn't you. It was what we made you. I'm so sorry Christopher. It's all my fault. I should have never listened to Victor's paranoia about the Collins." Kimberly confessed. "Can you ever forgive me?" Kimberly added, without going into further detail of her involvement in the experiments. 

"I know the injections he gave me are what turned me into the wolf but Is there an antidote? Or am I going to be this thing forever every time there's a full moon?" Christopher asked, his eyes welling up with tears again.

Kimberly knew the truth of how her experiments worked and their effects on Chris' body. But she wasn't sure he was ready to hear her answer. The truth, she thought, might be too much.

"There is an antidote. I did create one." Kimberly responded hesitantly.

"Thank god!" Christopher said relieved.

"But I don't know where Victor put the vials, Chris. I don't know where they are." Kimberly answered feeling the hope of finding the location of the vials of antidote was as dead as Victor Reed.

"I have to find them!" Chris said sternly. "I have to have that antidote before the next full moon."

****

Over at the Collinsport Police station Kat walked in with a skip in her step and a smile on her face, something that her detective partner Loomis McGovern hadn't seen in a very long time. She flicked on her desk lamp and sat down to read emails she missed from over night during the storm. All while Loomis stared at her in wonder.

"Ummm ... Having a good morning?" Loomis said sarcastically. 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kat teased with a grin.

"So what's up, did you crack the Collins case or something? What's making you so happy?" Loomis questioned.

"What do you mean? What Collins case?" Kat answered with confusion.

Kat's mind had been completely wiped clean by Alexandra's spell. All of her suspicions that Leopold had murdered someone and passed the body off as Jack Thorne were gone. Loomis, was just as confused as Kat, he knew how passionate she had been about cracking the case and now seemed completely indifferent to it.

"What do you mean what do I mean? The Collins case. Remember? You were thinking something funny was going on over there. In fact you've been dragging me with you about this for weeks. Remember? The body in the bay? The whole Jack Thorne thing?" Loomis said his frustrations growing.

Kat looked at him and paused. Something he said was resonating but her mind was completely blocked. She felt embarrassed that she couldn't remember but didn't want to lead her partner on. Kat sat back and nodded her head to give off a sense that she finally understood.

"Right! Right! You know what, I think whatever I was thinking, just didn't add up. Seriously, I was there all night and they're just a really misunderstood family. Seriously. I don't know what I was thinking." Kat resigned.

"Really." Loomis said unconvinced. "What were you doing there all night?" He pressed.

"Well, we were looking for Christopher to tell him about his father Victor and----" Kat said as Loomis interrupted.

"Wait, so, you were there all night, and you didn't hear from Christopher Reed and nobody knows just how Victor 1) got on the premises and 2) how he ended being mauled to death by some kind of random animal that lurks around on the Collins' property? Kat, you don't find anything a bit strange?" Loomis questioned.

"Well, look, I dont think there's anything we need to worry about thats all I mean." Kat said, her mind still in the fog of Alexandra's spell.

"Listen Kat, I don't know what's gotten into you but this is really weird." Loomis said now in a whisper so no other police officer could here. "Do you want to tell me something?" 

"No Lou! I don't. I told you I'm fine. Trust me. I've gotta go file these, excuse me." Kat said as she stompped off to file paperwork.

Loomis couldn't believe what he was hearing but at the risk of causing an argument he left it at that. After all they had been partners for a few years and they trusted each other completely but something was very strange. Kat's reactions and attitude caused Loomis to now question what was really happening over at the Collinwood estate. Was Kat right all along? Was the Collins family really up to something and did they get to Kat? Loomis planned to find out with or without Kat's cooperation.

And just as Loomis' mind began to wonder about the truth Kat's cell phone began to ring. It was Caleb Collins. Loomis took the phone and declined the call. He knew deep inside: whatever was happening with Kat involved the Collins family.

****

In a darkened room on the third floor of the Collinwood mansion, Barnabas laid still in a canape bed that was draped with the thickest red and black velvet drapes. Even though it was now mid morning, his room was almost completely black. One side effect from being alive and you're un-dead was that the sunlight was persona-non-grata.  

There was something bothering Barnabas, and he couldn't rest when he wanted to. He got up from his bed in the darkened room and walked over to a large cherry wood wardrobe. Barnabas knew this wardrobe well, it belonged to his mother and was over 300 years old. He walked around it, still in the dark, and felt its smooth edges. He Imagined his mother Naomi coming in from downstairs rooms where she washed all her linens and placing fresh bedding inside the wardrobe. 

Barnabas cracked a smile, but then remembered the night before and the uneasy feeling he received the man, Leopold, who had been staying in the old house now turned into a dark guest house. The house he used to stay in before he was brought to year 2015. 

Why did he get that feeling from that man? Barnabas thought. Carolyn wasn't answering his questions, and he could sense she was frightened when he asked her about him. There was only one thing he could do. Find out what this Leopold was all about.

Barnabas pushed the giant cherry wood wardrobe to the side making a loud dragging sound across the wooden floors revealing a secret passage that hadn't been opened for decades. Barnabas place his hand on the door that matched the room's wallpaper and moved it around looking for the soft spot that when pushed unlocked the passage.

He felt around for a few seconds, and suddenly, there it was. Barnabas pushed the section of the wall that had been purposely softened to indicate it's whereabouts and the passage sprung open.

Almost every single room in the Collinwood estate had a secret door that lead to countless passageways to various other parts of the house and also tunnels below the home that lead to the old house just across the courtyard. Barnabas grabbed his coat, a  candle and his cane and stepped into the dark corridor that lead down to the catacombs of Collinwood. 

The passages had been left unattended to since he had last seen them in 1978, but there were virtually the same, covered in dust and thick mounds of dirt. Barnabas covered his mouth and nose with his jacket and quickly walked through the passage way leading under both houses. The sound of rats and mice scurring around below could be heard, fearing for their lives as Barnabas was an intruder to their subterranean territory.

Finally, Barnabas came to the top of a small staircase and to a door that lead into the old house where Leopold had  been staying. He turned the nob and pushed the door open. On the other side was another pitch black room empty of anyone and anything except for a single black coffin in the center of the room. 

Barnabas recognized the coffin, it was his from years ago. He carefully walked around it and lit a few more candles to brighten his view, and as he turned around and there stood Leopold hissing and floating above the now opened coffin, his eyes a red as blood his fangs sharp and needles.

Barnabas's brow furrowed and he too released his fangs and raised his hands that had morphed to claw like appendages. The two floating mid air in candle light, each trying to place the twinge of fear within the other. 

Leopold struck first darting directly for Barnabas' neck but, Barnabas was quicker and faster and with the speed of light virtually disappeared and moved out of the way causing Leopold to brace himself up against the wall. After all he had many more years of vampire experience the Leopold did.

"I should have known there was another." Barnabas said hissing.

"What do you want?" Leopold said in an equally as sinister voice.

"Who sent you?" Barnabas asked as he came closer to his long time coffin, and questioning Leopold without knowing how he was created. 

Leopold felt threatened and lunged again at Barnabas who was inches away from the coffin. Leopold landed on top of the lid and closed it, like a lion protecting its property. 

"Get out!" Leopold growled.

"Who sent you!?" Barnabas questioned again this time louder.

"Leave him." A voice from the other side of the room said softly.

It was Claudia, Barnabas' daughter, the one who turned Jack Thorne into the un-dead version of her former lover Leopold Divernet. 

"Leopold and I have a long history, and in fact, he has a long history with Carolyn. He's her former husband, bewitched...... by me." Claudia said feeling guilt of her terrible deed.

She looked away from her farmer in shame.

"What have you done?" Barnabas asked with sadness in his eyes. "You have created this? Like your mother created me?" 

"I was angry, I was vengeful." She explained in vain. 

"You are your mother's daughter." Barnabas said of Claudia's mother Angelique coldly. 

He then threw his falling cloak back around his shoulders and walked away. He looked back at his daughter Claudia but had no parting words. But she could see the disappointed in  his eyes. He then retreated to the catacombs beneath the two houses and back to his darkened room leaving Leopold and Claudia alone together.

"You must hate yourself as much as I hate you." Leopold said, his eyes and teeth now to their natural state. 

"Listen to me, I want you to stay away from my father. Do you understand me?" Claudia warned.

"You silly witch, I want nothing more then to be distant from that other ---that other thing. You keep him away from me. Besides I have other matters at hand." Leopold said cryptically. 

"Have you? And what pray-tell does that mean? You sure lead a very busy life, for a vampire." Claudia said sarcastically. 

"Katharine Banning. That detective. She's getting too close. And I think her constant prodding and questioning has run its course. It's time I put an end to it."  Leopold warned an uninterested Claudia.

"Interesting." Claudia said with an eye brow raise. "What makes you think Caleb will even let you near her? They're closer the ever before." She added with careful instigation.

Leoopold suddenly lunged at Claudia and hissed his vampire hiss with his fangs out and ready for blood. But then, like a wave washing over a sandy Maine beach, he noticed something was different about Claudia. 

"My my my........." he said as he sniffed. "what scent is this?" He questioned inches from her neck.

Claudia backed away quickly knowing exactly what Leopold was sensing.  

The scent of a werewolf was particularly obvious to a vampire, especially one that was so close in proximity. The werewolf Christopher. Yet another little secret he could use to his advantage.

"What would dear daddy think of this?" He said with an evil grin.

****

Barnabas now back in his room struggled to understand how everything seemed to have come full circle. He had traveled back in time once again to be with a new generation of his family but all was the same. He was still the monster he hated and now his own daughter had done the same to another man as her mother Angelique had done to him.

It was clear to Barnabas now that to end all of the suffering and break the curse and save his famly he needed to finish what he started decades before.

He peeked carefully out of his bedroom window, shaded outside with thick birch trees and said:

"I must find her. I must find Julia Hoffman."