It was a new day. One that would bring new beginnings that were stained with the curse of past events. One such curse, the Collins family knew well, the curse of death.
Off on a desolate and wooded part of the land around Collinwood, Kimberly and Caleb searched for Christopher who ran off in the chaos of the night, the chaos of killing Leopold.
They searched every corner of the woods and finally found Christopher laying naked, shivering and covered in morning dew fresh off his deadly transition from the werewolf.
Caleb and Kimberly looked at each other, saddened at what had to be done to insure their family's security. But at the same time they both knew deep down inside, this was not the end.
They picked Christopher up, wrapped him in blankets and helped back to Collinwood.
At the mansion, Carolyn had not slept, and was struggling to deal with Jack's death yet again, even when she explained it to Alexandra who at this point seemed accustomed to all the horror around her.
With the help of Caleb and Sebastian, they buried Leopold on Eagle Hill, the cemetery on the Collinwood land that held the remains of every single Collins family member since the 18th century.
It was a long and complicated morning. Each of the Collins family members dealing with the death of Leopold in a different way: Caleb and Kimberly felt relief, Alexandra kept her emotions distant, for she no longer saw Leopold as her father Jack, and Carolyn was completely devastated.
She stood alone gazing out of one of the large windows in the drawing room, dressed in all black, her hair up in a tight clench, and pearls around her neck and dotting her ears. She was the spitting image of her mother Elizabeth.
"Are you ok?" Kimberly asked as she walked in with some of Carolyn's favorite tea.
"It's almost like a dream, you know. Even though mentally he was someone else, inside he was Jack. I feel like I've lost him again Kimberly." Carolyn confessed.
"I wish I could say something that would help." Kim said.
"You can tell me why you did it? Why did you allow Barnabas to use Chris like he did?" Carolyn retorted.
"Carolyn, it was our only solution. Leopold was dangerously close to being discovered....by Kat. You of all people know how important it is for this family to keep its discretion." Kimberly said in hushed whispers knowing Kat could have come in from any corner. "You have to separate Leopold from Jack. I know that it's difficult for you, but they were two different people. Barnabas, in his own way, did this for all of us. We had no choice." Kimberly further explained.
"That seems a little bit misplaced." Carolyn said.
"What seems misplaced?" Kimberly asked confused.
"This sudden change in you....this 'one for the team' attitude you're displaying. You've been behind so much distress at this house since you've returned Kimberly, pretending any of this bothers you is simply disgusting. Did you plan this all along?" Carolyn said turning to Kimberly from the windows, in an angry rant.
"Carolyn, you're not making any sense. And yes, what Victor and I attempted to do, destroying the family by using Christopher was wrong and I've admitted that, and Victor, well, he paid the ultimate price for that didn't he? I'm making up for my part of that every single day when I look into my sons' eyes. I can assure you, I had nothing to do with planning this."
"If you say so." Carolyn answered coldly.
Kimberly took note of Carolyn's understandably dismissive attitude and left her to be alone in the drawing room with her grief. It was a pain that only she could understand at this time.
"Fine. Suit yourself, for what it's worth, I know we've not been the closest, but we're still family. If you need me....I'm here." Kim said, as she walked out of the room.
Carolyn turned back to the window and continued her glazed off gazing into the morning light that stung her eyes. A single tear fell from her eyes and sparkled like a diamond as it rolled down her perfect white skin.
****
**BANGOR, MAINE**
A car pulled up to the large baroque style building, the sign out side read: Windcliff Sanitarium. The man driving the car had just come back from staying with a family for a few days just north of Bangor. He walked in and instantly the smell of old unwashed sheets, damp towels, and burnt toast hit him in the face. It was a smell he didn't miss very much. He walked down the noisy green hallways that were lit with florescent lights that zig-zagged across the ceiling and passed a nurses station with two very bored nurses playing on their cell phones. One with un-kept curly red hair stuffed under a nurse's cap that looked like it was from the 1960s. The other with thick curly blond hair, a giant mole on her face and a faint peach fuzz mustache adorning her upper lip peered up at the man from her coke bottle glasses.
"Ohhhhh well, well well. Look who's back! How'd they treat-cha all the way up in Collinsport?" the nurse with the red hair said to the man in her Boston accent.
She picked up the phone and dialed an extension. "Hello Dr. Grayson, Sebastian's back.... yes, I'll let him in....you can go back Mr. Banning." the red headed nurse directed flashing her grotesque smile.
Sebastian walked to the locked door, and waited to be buzzed in from the nurses station. As he walked back to Dr. Grayson's office he could hear screams of patients and people yelling all around him. He wasn't at all intimidated. He was used to it all. Windcliff Sanitarium had been the place he had been working for years and years, this was his second home.
He carefully knocked on a door that read DR. JOANNA GRAYSON and waited for her to let him in. Once he heard her voice he carefully turned the knob and walked in.
Inside the office stood Dr. Joanna Grayson, a woman in her mid 50s with a striking face and thick brown hair. She was a brilliant psycho therapist that had been at Windcliff for decades. And was the person Sebastian was calling on the phone with reports back from Collinwood. A place Joanan was very, VERY interested in.
"Glad you're back. What else did you bring me?" Joanna asked as she sat at her desk.
"That place is ....I don't even know how to explain it. I mean my phone calls were probably too vague. But here...this is what happened last night." Sebastian said passing her his cell phone that he used to take video of Christopher and Leopold's fight in the court yard.
"How did you get this?" Joanna said with an evil grin.
"It happened last night. I mean it was just right in front of me. I heard all these loud noises and I looked out my window and there it was. Things like this happen almost daily, Joanna. The things that happen at Collinwood are going to make us rich!" Sebastian said.
"With what I already know and what we've learned with your sister's unknowing help, we can certainly make a bundle. All the years of research and waiting and finally It's here. My time is here. Sebastian." Joanna said as she stood up and walked over to a second side door in her office.
She opened the door and both she and Sebastian looked in. Inside the side room to the office was a private recovery room with a single bed, a sofa, a chair. Inside that bed was a man in a sedated sleep.
"Has he come to?" Sebastian said standing next to Joanna and looking at the man in the room.
"When we have our sessions I wake him, then I sedate him again. He's done very well." She said of her patient.
"When do you think you can pump more info out of him? Will you show him the video?" Sebastian asked.
"Of course, I'll show him the video. I'm sure he'd love to see photos of his old home." Joanna said turning to Sebastian with an evil grin.
Joanna and Sebastian both looked at the man in the bed, who had been at Windcliff for two decades. A man very familiar with Collinwood and Collinsport, and knew it like the back of his hand.
A man that had disappeared from his family and hadn't had contact except for writing one vague letter.
A man by the name of David Collins.
Kat decided to take a walk around Collinwood with Caleb, when they returned home they walked back into the house and passed the drawing room where Carolyn was still sitting alone drinking her tea, they decided to leave her in peace and walked over to a smaller, side room with smooth leather couches and large bar at the back. It was the old smoking room, filled with wooden art, hunting weapons, a large fire place and hunted game all over the walls.
****
Kat decided to take a walk around Collinwood with Caleb, when they returned home they walked back into the house and passed the drawing room where Carolyn was still sitting alone drinking her tea, they decided to leave her in peace and walked over to a smaller, side room with smooth leather couches and large bar at the back. It was the old smoking room, filled with wooden art, hunting weapons, a large fire place and hunted game all over the walls.
"Do you think she's going to be ok? She's taking this pretty hard." Kat said as she sat down on one of the sofas.
"She will, Leopold's death was unexpected last night, but heart trouble runs in the family I guess." Caleb said, using the lie the family created to cover the truth about the manner of Leopold's death.
"How did she take it when your dad died? I know they were pretty close growing up." Kat asked trying to figure out the next step in Carolyn's mourning.
"My dad didn't die! He's still alive. Somewhere out there." Caleb answered.
"Wait, what? This whole time I thought he was dead. So your dad is out there and you don't know where he is?" Kat questioned.
"No! I mean the last I heard he was somewhere here in New England but no one has seen or heard from him. He's been sort of missing I guess. But on his own terms. He did write me a while back." Caleb answered.
"Have you tried to find him at all?" Kat questioned again.
"Kat, I don't think he wants to be found. If he did, he would have dropped a few clues, don't you think? I haven't seen him since I was---God, like 15 years old." Caleb said.
"Well what did he say when he wrote you last? Did he say where he was?" She questioned further.
"....I don't really remember. I have the letter here actually." Caleb said as he got up and went to a large dark wooden bureau that sat in the far corner of the room. He pulled open the thick drawer and shuffled through some folders that belong to Collins Fishing Fleet & Cannery, then pulled out a large manila envelope. He pulled the tab at the top of the envelope open and walked over to Kat with it's contents. Then handed her the letter.
"That's the letter he sent me. ....See, its really short and kind of to the point. 'Hello, how are you, hope you're well' type of stuff. Actually that's the the only thing in this envelope, I guess, he only wrote me once." Caleb recalled.
"This letter was post marked with a zip code in 1996. We can trace it back to this zip code Caleb! We can start from there and find out where the letter came from. Maybe its an old apartment complex or some sort of boarding house that might have kept records." Kat said using her detective's wit.
"You really think that can work?" Caleb questioned looking over the envelope the letter came in.
"Absolutely. I've done it a hundred times. I'll call the station and have them pin point this zip code and post office. Once we find out what post office this letter came from we can find out if your dad is still around there. Most people mail out letters from a local post office. Unless they're really trying to hide from someone. But if he was really trying to hide from you---he wouldn't have sent a letter...know what I mean?" Kat explained.
Caleb smiled a huge smile and jumped back on the sofa next to Kat and kissed her all over her face like a happy puppy. He was ecstatic. The thought of his father actually being found would bring so much happiness to the house, and even, just maybe bring Carolyn back from the brink of depression.
Kat laughed a gitty school girl laugh and picked up a land line that was set aside on a table. She dialed the station and gave her credentials and the extension she needed. As she waited for the person on the other line, she looked over and Caleb who was still reading over his father's letter, but this time with a giant smile on his face.
"Hey, Ralph, it's Detective Banning, how are you?......I'm good too, thanks. Listen I need your help, can you punch up a zip code for me and get me a list of post offices around that zip?.....great, thanks, it's 04401-41....."
Kat waited for a few seconds as Ralph on the other end of the phone typed in the zip code from the envelope. Then her expression changed from a smile to confused and serious.
"Yes, I'm sure there's a 41 on the end....why?.....what do you mean?...........are you sure? You're positive?.....Ok..... well thanks Ralph. I'll see you soon." She said as she hung up the phone.
"Whats the matter? What did he say?" Caleb said standing up and noticing Kat's expression.
"Something very strange. He said that zip code is a private zip within the city of Bangor. Sometimes, places that have heavy amounts of mail can register for their own zip code, like airports and universities. This zip is like that."
"Ok?" Caleb said still questioning.
"Caleb, this zip code is registered to Windcliff Sanitarium in Bangor! Your father has been only miles away this whole time."
"A sanitarium?" Caleb said concerned and confused. "What the hell would he be doing there?"
"Only one way to find out. Let's go to Bangor." Kat said with a grin.
****
Over in the drawing room, Carolyn, still in a terrible depressed state, fell asleep on the sofa. Her unconscious mind wondered into dark places and she began to have terrible visions of Jack. He was calling out to her, begging her to help him but all she could do was scream in the dark and watch him fall deeper and deeper into an abyss her mind had created. There were so many screams and so many painful memories bubbling up and reaching for her and pulling at her and trying to drag her into the abyss with Jack but Carolyn resisted. She screamed and tried to pull away but couldn't. Then she saw Alexandra. Alex too was standing in the dark screaming "Mother! Mother! MOTHER!!!"
"Mother!" Alexandra said shaking her mother and trying to wake her. "You're having a nightmare." Alex said as Carolyn came to.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I ....I fell asleep." Carolyn said adjusting her clothes that had been pulled in uncomfortable positions while she slept.
"What did you dream?" Alex asked.
"You don't want to know Alexandra. You really don't want to know. I feel so guilty about everything. If I hadn't asked your father to come here in the first place instead of me, none of this would have happened. He would have never met Claudia she would have never turned him into Leopold. None of this would have ever happened." Carolyn confessed.
"That's not true. We don't know what would have happened. Maybe something terrible would have happened if you had come instead." Alex said.
"When I was in that mirror, I thought all my days were over. I thought for sure, I was gone, but I felt that at least you would be here with Leopold, who in some way was still like Jack. He was still some how your father deep inside. I felt like he would protect you when I was gone. And I couldn't protect him. I let him down." Carolyn said tearfully.
"Mother you have to stop blaming yourself. You had nothing to do with what happened to daddy, or even with what happened last night. He had no control over it either." Alex said sternly.
"You're right. I had no control over it." Carolyn said in a sudden realization. "This house seems like it's always out of control--or at least in someone else's control. Like a board-game, and we're just the pieces shuffled along. Always pawns in someone's game." Carolyn said cryptically as she stood up and looked at the portrait of Barnabas over the fireplace that was blazing a hot fire.
"We need to take back control." Carolyn continued.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"The book! The book you found in the attic. You can read it can't you? We can use it to take back control of this house. Take back control from Barnabas." Carolyn said.
"Mother No! That book only brought terrible things, one mistake in a spell and it could be a disaster. I would never ever want to use it again. I almost lost you!" Alex said grabbing a hold of her mother's hands. "There has to be another way." Alex said.
"'Another way'.....that's what I told Barnabas when he told me what he had planned for last night. I said there had to be another way. But he wouldn't listen. He said it was too late." Carolyn remembered.
"I'm sorry this is happening. I really am. But, we just have to pick up from this and move on. That's what daddy would have wanted." Alex said.
Carolyn smiled at her daughter and touched her cheek with the back of her hand.
"You're right. He would have wanted us to move on. Listen, why don't you have the rest of this tea, I'm going to go upstairs and rest." Carolyn said.
But Carolyn was not going upstairs to rest. She was still very much sure there was another way to get back control over the house from Barnabas so she set off to deal with him the only way she knew how. Confrontation.
As she made her to see Barnabas, she passed a room where her great-great Edward kept ancient artifacts and old family heirlooms: The old smoking room, now empty. She walked in and walked directly to large oak case sitting at the foot of a large stuffed grizzly bear Edward had shot and killed in the mid 1800s. The bear had large fangs and was standing on it's hind legs with one paw lifted ready to strike. It reminded her of Christopher and how he killed Leopold. That reminder was the permission she needed to open that case.
Inside the case was another small box, this one painted black, and on top of the black case was a Gothic crucifix, adorned with four red rubies, one on each tip of the cross. In the center the letter C shaped in smaller red rubies.
Carolyn opened the box, inside was a pistol and 6 silver bullets, all molded by the melting down of 6 blessed silver rosaries made when Edward Collins first knew of curse the held his family down. These six bullets were never used, but Carolyn intended to.
Carolyn carefully loaded the pistol and walked out of the room and headed for the old house where Barnabas had taken up residence after Leopold's death.
As Carolyn made her way through the sunny courtyard and past the very sport Christopher had left Leopold's body, cold and bloody Kimberly noticed Carolyn from an upstairs window where she was watching over Christopher who was medically sedated from the night before.
Without regard , Carolyn walked up the creaky steps and stopped at the door. She took a breath then turned the knob.
Carolyn walked into the darkened house carefully, making sure no one was around to see her. She looked around and all she could see were candles flickering in the rooms. Tears came to her eyes when she realized what she had in mind to do, but she understood that this was the only way. Barnabas had to die, and the blessed silver bullets would do the trick.
She walked into the darkest room in the old house, and there was Barnabas' coffin. The black lacquered coffin sparkled brilliantly in the candle light. She paused and thought for a second, the voice in her head told her to open the lid. She complied and carefully reached over to open the coffin Barnabas was asleep in.
"What the hell are you doing?" a voice said from behind.
Carolyn turned and it was Kimberly who had followed her from the main house.
"Get out." Carolyn said sternly as she flashed the gun.
"Carolyn, I know you're upset, but you have to let this go. You can't seek revenge this way. There must be----" Kimberly spoke before Carolyn interrupted.
"---another way?" Carolyn said finishing Kimberly's sentence. "That must be a catch-phrase of the house, isn't it. That's what Alex said to me, and that's what I said to Barnabas yesterday but he didn't listen. So why should I listen?"
"This isn't you." Kimberly whispered as to not wake Barnabas in his daylight slumber.
"Isn't it? Kimberly I think you should leave. I think you should leave now." Carolyn said as she angrily lifted the lid and watched it crash to the floor. Inside the coffin was Barnabas, his arms crossed at the chest, his face still soft and white in a deep sleep.
Carolyn lifted the gun filled with the silver bullets molded by Edward Collins and pointed it at Barnabas sleeping body.
Kimberly came from behind and grabbed Carolyn's arm and lifted it up, Carolyn shot one shot waking Barnabas, his eyes snapping open. He slowly levitated his upper body up and saw Carolyn and Kimberly fighting over the gun.
"You can't do this!" Kimberly said as she pulled at Carolyn's wrist.
Carolyn said nothing and continued to struggle, Barnabas' eyes filled with anger as the realization of what he was seeing registered. His own cousin tried to kill him, an act no Collins had ever attempted so boldly.
Carolyn and Kimberly continued to fight and struggle over the gun, Carolyn again shooting off a bullet that went into the wall.
Kimberly put her leg behind Carolyn's knocking her to the floor, the gun spun out across to the other side of the room. The two women looked at each other then at the gun, Kimberly jumped at the gun but Carolyn grabbed her by the ankle causing Kimberly to fall. They both wrestled and struggle some more moving closer and closer to the gun.
Barnabas, jumped from his coffin, hissing and turning into his vampire self, his eyes completely black, his skin white like fresh frost, his body lifting from the coffin in mid air. His anger manifested in the release of his fangs, he hissed again and jumped to the floor, his mouth gaping open ready to feed.
Barnabas saw the gun gleam over in the corner and made his over to it, but Carolyn had already gotten hold of it by crawling over Kimberly in a the scuffle. Kimberly composed herself and stood up as Carolyn, gun in hand, pointed it at Barnabas. In the blink of a eye Kimberly lunged at Carolyn with all her might.
"You can't do this Carolyn." Kimberly said twisting Carolyn's wrist.
The two continued to struggle for power of the gun. Barnabas saw this as moment to grab control of the opportunity and reached for the gun himself and tried to pull it from Carolyn's grasp.
Barnabas saw the gun gleam over in the corner and made his over to it, but Carolyn had already gotten hold of it by crawling over Kimberly in a the scuffle. Kimberly composed herself and stood up as Carolyn, gun in hand, pointed it at Barnabas. In the blink of a eye Kimberly lunged at Carolyn with all her might.
"You can't do this Carolyn." Kimberly said twisting Carolyn's wrist.
The two continued to struggle for power of the gun. Barnabas saw this as moment to grab control of the opportunity and reached for the gun himself and tried to pull it from Carolyn's grasp.
At this point all three had their hands on Edward Collins gun, a gun that was meant to protect the Collins family from the evils that surrounded them and the curse that caused them all so much pain. The three were in close proximity, their bodies touching, pulling and pushing, each one still trying to gain control over the fire arm that was tightly bounded between their three hands and between their intertwined bodies standing in the center of the room.
Then, in a sudden blast, the gun went off, a single silver bullet piercing skin in a hot violent blow. Blood droplets sprayed on the wall and dripped to the floor like the first drops of rain in a spring storm. Droplets then turned to a river that turned into a pool.
The gun slipped out of Carolyn's hands and fell to the floor into the pool of blood. The blast was so strong it knocked Barnabas, Kimberly and Carolyn all to the floor; all three slumped down in a pool of blood that belonged to one of them.
The three lay motionless in the room with only the sound of candles flickering away in slight breeze, dancing to the sound of silence.
