In the upper crevasses of Collinwood's northern wing there where hollowed out ceilings that created large drafty attic to house some of Catherine and Elizabeth's old furniture that was over 80 years old. There were mirrors all around covered in white clothes that had turned yellow with age and old paintings of family members with their smiles and eyes faint of color. Spider webs swayed in the corners of the rafters with the icy breeze from the Maine seaside, and slipping quietly inside was Alexandra Throne.
She was on her mission to find the book she was told to locate in the attics. Her eyes swung from one corner of the room to the other quickly looking over the room, her heart was pounding. Her palms were sweating. She almost didn't want to find the book, but knew in her soul, that she had no choice.
A gust of wind blew into the attic and made a flurry of icy air swirl around Alexandra causing all the draped clothes to sway like sails on a ship, stronger and stronger the wind came and suddenly the same voice in Alex's head spoke again.
"Keep looking.....the book is here Alexandra. Find it! Find it now!" the disembodied voice said echoing through the attics cold air.
Alexandra began pulling out stacked boxes and searched through them but only found old photos of the family from the 40's and 50's. Boxes of old letters, and pages and pages of Collins Cannery paper work, business forms that meant nothing to Alexandra. But no book.
And as if instinctively, Alexandra turned and looked behind her to a chest covered in a black sheet sitting alone next to a painting of a blond woman from the 18th century. She walked over to the painting and knelt next to it touching the woman's face and feeling the bumps from every stroke of the painter's brush. She stared deep into the the woman's eyes.
The woman's eyes and lips began to move. Alexandra shook her head believing she was seeing things, but it was real, the woman's brow furrowed and she looked directly at Alexandra. Alex finally recognized the face, it was the face she saw in the reflection downstairs, a reflection that she believed was hers.
Within another gust of wind the woman in the painted spoke forcefully:
"Open the chest Alexandra, open it!"
Alexandra was almost in a trance, her eyes glazed over and she went over to the chest and removed the black sheet with one swoop. The chest was ornate and beautiful. It looked heavy and it's feet were like lion's feet. It was covered in thick gold plating that had been chipped away over the years.
Alex knelt down again and slowly opened the chest, inside was a thick book bound in black leather, with a shiny crimson ribbon marking the center of the book. Alexandra naturally opened the book at the spot and suddenly it jumped out of her hands with such a force that it knocked Alex to the ground.
The book fell to the floor, flipping open, the pages turning faster and faster on their own. Alex jumped back and watched as the pages finally came to a leafy stop. A terrified Alex slowly crawled over to the book on the floor and saw the chapter it has opened to, but everything had been written in French.
Alex tried to make sense of it but had only studied French for a short time, but the voice came again from the painting.
"Alexandra, reveal one of the mirrors that have been covered. Hold the book in your hands and look deep into the glass and repeat after me." The voice from the painting ordered.
Alexandra complied, she knew that whatever the voice was saying would surely help her finally get vengeance on Claudia and Christopher. It was her only, for Alexandra, this was the only way.
Alex got up from the floor and picked up the book and walked over to one of the covered mirrors. She pulled the yellowed cloth, revealing a grand beautiful golden mirror with the letters BC carved in the wood at the top. She closed her eyes and waited for the voice's instructions.
Then, the wind came again, this gust stronger then the others, it swirled around pulling all the cloths from the other old furniture and rustled the papers and photos all over the room. The voice in the painting spoke again, but this time only in French, over and over again, The voice and Alex repeated from the book:
Etre Libre
Etre Ici
Cette Heure
Pour Toujours
Maintenant
Completment
"Open your eyes girl!" The woman said, floating 3 inches from the floor dressed all in white.
And as the wind surged, a powerful energy broke free from the glass in the mirror spilling out onto the floor in a green light, spinning and swirling around, creating a figure glowing in transparency and standing above Alex who had closed her eyes in fear.
"Open your eyes girl!" The woman said, floating 3 inches from the floor dressed all in white.
Alexandra looked up and saw that with the book's powers, she had opened a portal to the other side; lifted the vale between the living and the dead and released a spirit trapped within time and space. The woman that had been speaking to Alexandra and had been hidden in the glass had been slightly familiar to her. After all she was Angelique Bouchard, Claudia's sorceress mother and the woman who cursed Barnabas and the entire Collins family for over 3 centuries.
****
Carolyn worried for a second knowing that Barnabas' mind was always two steps ahead of everyone else's. Of all the people alive today, she knew him best, and deep down she knew something was coming. Something big. Something bad.
As the three Collins family members sat in the drawing room talking over the night's events, in walked Christopher rushing over to his mother and brother.
"I got mom's text. Are you alright? What the hell happened?" Christopher said.
"Have you seen Alexandra?" Carolyn asked Christopher still noting her missing daughter.
"What are you talking about? Who did you hurt?" Caleb said now listening in late on the conversation.
"There's an antidote. Mom made an antidote, but the last vials were destroyed. Caleb, I only have one week before I transition again." Chris said sadly.
"I know. It's crazy. But its true." Chris responded.
****
Down stairs in one of the many great drawing rooms the mansion offered Carolyn returned with tea she had prepared for her and Alexandra, only to find her daughter was no longer in the room, but Caleb and Kimberly were.
"Caleb! Thank god you're ok. What happened?" Carolyn said placing the tray of tea down and rushing to her young cousin's side.
"I don't even know how to begin to explain this. Kat was being attached and I saw, and so I rushed over to help. She was hurt so I carried her to my car and just before I left I was arrested." He explained.
"How's Kat now?" Carolyn asked.
"I don't know. No one from the hospital will tell me anything." He answered.
"They ended up releasing Caleb. Barnabas was so amazing. He convinced Loomis that based off of lack of evidence he had to let him go --pending the investigation of course. But the good news is, Caleb is home." Kimberly added, rubbing her son's back.
"Where is Barnabas?" Carolyn asked out loud looking for her centuries old cousin.
"He said he had to take care of something, I don't know."
Carolyn worried for a second knowing that Barnabas' mind was always two steps ahead of everyone else's. Of all the people alive today, she knew him best, and deep down she knew something was coming. Something big. Something bad.
As the three Collins family members sat in the drawing room talking over the night's events, in walked Christopher rushing over to his mother and brother.
"I got mom's text. Are you alright? What the hell happened?" Christopher said.
"Long story man, thanks for coming." Caleb answered exhausted from going over the events. "It's going to be ok. ... I hope." He added.
"Have you seen Alexandra?" Carolyn asked Christopher still noting her missing daughter.
"Actually, yes. And I was hoping she was home. Is she?" Chris asked hoping to find out what was going on with Alex.
Chris and Alex's meeting earlier that night had not ended well. She was angry that he and Claudia had fallen in love behind her back, so much so that she destroyed all the vials of the antidote that could reverse the effects of morphing into the werewolf.
Carolyn looked at Christopher and could tell something was the matter. She could sense that he wasn't telling her something about Alex, but she didn't quite yet know what it was. Just another thing for her to worry about it seemed.
"Why don't you all have some tea, it's fresh. I'll go and find Alex, she might be upstairs." Carolyn said dashing off up the grand Collinwood staircase.
Kimberly helped herself to the tea while Caleb continued to try and get answers over the phone with the hospital, but to no avail, and as she poured herself a glass, Christopher found the opportunity during Caleb's destraction to tell Kimberly about the destroyed vials.
"They're gone. The vials are gone." Chris whispered as he stood close to his mother.
"What? What do you mean?" Kimberly asked anxiously.
"I went back home and searched for them, but I didn't find then. Alex came over and she and I had a fight and just before she left, she found them. I don't know how she did it but she found them. Something is going on with her, I don't know what." Chris said.
"What did she do with them?" Kim asked as she stirred her tea.
"She threw them on the floor. They're gone. She destroyed them." Chris said with terror in his eyes.
"Oh Chris, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say. But we still have time, don't we? The next full moon isn't for another week." Kim said.
"Mom, we have to find your notes, and we have to find them quick. If we don't I'll turn into that thing again and I don't know what I'll do. I can't live with myself if I hurt anyone else." Christopher said with his eyes beginning to water.
"What are you talking about? Who did you hurt?" Caleb said now listening in late on the conversation.
Chris and Kim had been talking and had not noticed that Caleb was off the phone. He stood in close proximity and heard the very last thing Chris had said, something strange and ominous. Caleb walked closer and asked again : "Hurt who?"
Chris looked at Kim who fell silent. She had no idea how to explain to Caleb what had been done to Christopher as a child, but if they were going to be a family again she had to be open and honest with them, that is what she promised Caleb, and that was what she was going to do.
"Caleb, a long time ago, when your father and I divorced and I became pregnant with Chris, I made a mistake--actually, a few mistakes. I allowed Victor to manipulate me in a way that I don't look back on fondly. When Chris was born Victor convinced me the only way we could be free of the Collins family was to destroy them, so we used gene therapy on Chris and turned him into ....well, the thing that ended up killing Victor in the end." Kimberly explained.
Caleb was stunned. He looked over at Chris and then again at Kimberly and had no words.
"There's an antidote. Mom made an antidote, but the last vials were destroyed. Caleb, I only have one week before I transition again." Chris said sadly.
Caleb felt half confused but with everything that was happening around him chose to accept the news of his half brother being some kind of night creature. What else could he do?
"Jesus, man. What is happening here? ...Look whatever I can do I will do, but this feels insane!" Caleb said dumbfounded.
"I know. It's crazy. But its true." Chris responded.
"You said there was an antidote. Where is it?" Caleb responded as he looked to his mother for answers.
"Well that's the thing, there were vials Victor kept safe, but some how Alex got a hold of them and she destroyed. them." Kim explained.
"There has to be another way." Caleb said.
"We only have 5 days. 5 Days before I turn into that.....thing again! No one is safe." Chris said with a great fear of what was to come lingering in his voice.
****
Barnabas crept into the old house, trying his best to open the door without making a sound. Inside he found only darkened rooms lit by the light blue candles that flickered and danced for no one at all. He slowly made his way down the main hallway to a back room where he knew Leopold had laid himself to rest inside a casket that once belonged to Barnabas.
Barnabas stepped in, but he did not feel Leopold's presence.
"What are you doing here?" said a voice from behind Barnabas.
Barnabas swirled around and saw his daughter Claudia creep out from behind the shadows of the old mansion, slowly stepping into the dim candle light.
"I've come for Leopold." Barnabas said sternly.
"I haven't seen him all night." Claudia replied truthfully. "I take it by the tone of your voice father, that this isn't a social call either." She quipped as she slid around the doorway and into the room with her father.
"He's done something terrible, and it's time I put an end to his malice." Barnabas said, in his heart still seethed with anger over his own daughter's involvement in creating Leopold.
"It can't be anything worse then you've ever done, now could it?" Claudia teased.
Barnabas' eyes darted and he reached and grabbed Claudia with both hands by her forearms and pulled her close.
"We may be of the same stalk but I will assure you, you have no idea what I am capable of, daughter. To answer your question, what I did is in my past. This is about survival, and what Leopold has done threatens that very principle."
Claudia released herself from his grip and pulled away from him, now understanding the gravity of the situation.
"Tell me, what has he done?" She asked as she walked over to the other side of the room.
"He attacked Detective Banning tonight. Attacked her, and left her on the floor, allowing the authorities to confuse Caleb as the culprit. He doesn't understand the recklessness of this. He needs to be stopped." Barnabas explained.
"And he wasn't discovered?" Claudia probed.
"No. He escaped. And no one has seen him since. Claudia, listen to me, when my kind attacks another there are only two results. Neither of witch allow for even the slightest bit of questioning. We cannot allow Leopold to run around Collinsport creating a panic." Barnabas continued.
"What do you propose?" Claudia asked as she moved closer to her father.
"We must eliminate him at all costs." Barnabas answered.
"Does Carolyn know that this is your plan?" Claudia asked, as she knew that eliminating Leopold would actually be killing Carolyn's husband Jack whom she turned into Leopold.
"Carolyn? No, I have not spoken with her of this. But she will have to understand. Jack is gone, and only Leopold remains, and as such he will destroy us all if he isn't dealt with." Barnabas said.
"Well, then, if you can handle Carolyn, I will handle Leopold. I'll figure out a way that we can all live and---" Claudia said before she was interrupted by her father Barnabas.
"No! He cannot live. Claudia, listen closely to me: the creature you turned Jack Thorne into, must be eliminated once and for all, and if you cannot reverse the spell on him, or if you cannot bring yourself to end his life I will. This must be done....as soon as he returns to Collinwood." Barnabas said as Claudia looked on with trepidation and pausing to think and looking again into the flames of the candles.
"I don't know if I can reverse the spell." Claudia admitted.
Barnabas took a deep breath, heaving his chest and taking a step over to where Claudia was standing. He put his large hand on her shoulder as they both faced the flickering candles that created shadows on the bare walls of the old house.
"I know all too well that there is more then one way to kill a vampire. All you have to do, is lure him back to the old house, once he arrives, I will take it from there. It'll be simple." Barnabas responded.
"And what if he refuses? You must know, that his senses are just as keen as yours. If he even feels the slightest bit suspicious it could spell disaster. For both of us Barnabas." Claudia said, using Barnabas' name instead of calling him "father".
"Trust me Claudia." Barnabas said now, in a deep and menacing voice. "The only way Leopold will leave this place is dead and gone. Forever. That you can be assured. Get him here. Get him here fast."
