A projector flashed images of viscous crime scene photos from the mid 1960s inside a small smokey screening room at a private residence hidden behind a thick layer fog on a beach just outside of Collinsport. The videos were of people and animals mutilated by an unknown assailant and as the projector flicked through the photos quicker and quicker they became more violent the next. There were photos of humans, drained of their blood, and their bodies carefully placed on the floors of their rooms, left their to bleed out whatever was left in them with two tiny puncture wounds on their necks.
The film, taken illegally from the Collinsport Police Department cold case files, was being shown to a man taken against his will. He was tied to a chair with his eyes forcefully held open by tiny mettle hands while Sebastian maintained the moisture of his eyes with eye drops and read his brain activity to Victoria who sat patiently in the corner of the room as the video clip continued to play on a loop for the man.
The man had been in Vickie and Sebastian custody since he was found unconscious by a few of The Organization's goons after an accident he had. Vickie was set on making this man in the chair the final nail in the Collins family coffin.
The man twisted and turned in the chair and tried with all his might to move his face away from the horrible photos, for the longer he looked at them, the more real they became. It was almost as if he could smell the rooms the bodies were in. His imagination and mind were starting to control him.
"His vitals are beginning to show sines of breaking, Miss Winters. Shall we continue?" Sebastian asked as he looked at the clock. 2 hours had past.
Victoria stood up and walked over to the man they were testing, he looked up at her and tried to speak but was unable to. All he could do was cry. Tears of despair ran down his face and pooled at the base of his neck and inside the grooves of his clavicle bone.
Victoria stroked the man's cheeks. Then they looked directly into each other's eyes:
"No. Twenty more minutes." Victoria said rigidly.
Sebastian, started to feel a tad uncomfortable with this, but swallowed his thoughts and grabbed a different reel of film while the man huffed and puffed. His eyes still wide open. The new film, wouldn't be a relief, if anything the new photos were even more vial. All setting the stage to create a state of mind in the man to understand his mission and his enemy: The prince of the un-dead, the Vampire known as Barnabas Collins.
The photos had all been unsolved crimes within the city of Collinwood from the mid 1960's that the police had failed to link to Barnabas. But Victoria knew the truth. She knew Barnabas' kind and now that "The Organization" had lost Joanna, Kimberly and even David in their mission this was the only way; creating a new weapon to destroy Barnabas and his family. Wiping them clean from the world.
Victoria sat back down and watched as Sebastian continued the videos for the man in the chair.
"Whats the end game for him?" Sebastian asked.
"This is our best weapon against everything "The Organization" has taught us. The Collins will be taken care of, and once they are, we'll dispose of him too. Collateral damage Sebastian." Victoria said coldly as she gathered her things and began to leave the room.
"Is this really what you want?" Sebastian asked.
"There's only one way our friend here can learn and know what he's up against. He has to see for himself the chaos and brutality that can happen with those of Barnabas' kind floating around us. There is no other way Sebastian." Victoria said with her voice slightly breaking.
"So brain-swashing..." Sebastian said as he shook his head in disbelief. "Is this what you plan on doing with Kat's baby once it's born? Because I can't allow that. Kat's baby is my family too." He added.
"Don't worry about that now. The baby is innocent. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Vickie said staring down Sebastian in his moment of outburst as she saw a small crack in his allegiance to her.
Victoria's cold demeanor came from years and years of terror brought on by Barnabas and his family, however indirectly they were responsible for all the events that happened to her in her past. She felt in her heart that this was the only way she could overcome all the pain and sorrow she felt as an orphaned child due to, what she was coerced int believing by the men who visited her all those years ago that the family had everything to do with her real parents' death.
After a short while, the man's groans became too much. Vickie gracefully got up and walked over to the him in the chair on her way out of the room and looked again into his watery eyes. Suddenly a moment of regret washed over her as he tearfully looked away from the videos of the murder scenes./ Was she just as bad as those she believed killed her parents? The flashes on the screen burned bright on Vickie's beautiful face...had it really come to this? She thought.
The man looked at Victoria from his tortuous chair hoping she'd stop what he was seeing. But it was no use. Victoria quickly turned away and left Sebastian to his job.
As she closed the door behind her, all the grief and stress boiled over and she broke down. 50 years of secrets, lies, mystery and misery had taken it's toll on the new leader of "the Organization". Victoria dropped her things to the floor and collapsed in a heap of tears on to a leathery green sofa from the 70s. It was all too much...but it was her destiny, she could not stop now.
****
Strolling along the foggy docks in Collinsport, Christopher and Alexandra felt as if they had a new lease on life now that the curse placed on Alex was broken. In Addition, Barnabas' daughter, the witch Claudia who had tormented the couple for so long, had left town and with her departure they could finally be together again. It was a feeling of euphoria and re-connection. They were back where they started. In love and stronger than ever.
They walked along the docks cuddled in each other's arms, listening to ship's horns blaring in the fog making their way through the soupy air; most of them Collins Fishing fleet out on their nightly path into the big blue unknown as they had for generations before them.
Alex could not believe how happy she felt. It was a feeling she had missed. There had been nothing but sadness and danger lurking around every corner since the day she arrived in Collinsport with her mother Carolyn Stoddard-Thorne.
"I'm so glad your mom is back at home getting better after that awful crash. It's where she belongs." Chris said making small talk as they walked.
"Me too. I just with Caleb was here too. I miss him every day. We all do. But as time passes hopefully things will get better with out him, you know? And he has a new baby on the way! It's like I can actually feel that things are finally changing. Can't you?" Alex asked with her returned optimism.
"Well...." Chris said pausing.
"What is it?" Alex wondered as she stopped their stroll noting his reaction.
"...everything is back to normal until there's another full moon and I transition again. Then what? I don't know if I'll be able to control myself once it happens." Chris answered.
"Kimberly hasn't been able to create another cure?" Alex asked.
"No. And I don't know if I should keep pushing her. She's so overwhelmed right now with David coming home, Carolyn's getting better and most of all my brother dying. It's just one more thing you know?" Chris explained.
Alexandra could tell Christopher was deeply worried, and he had reason to be. Every time there had been a full moon, Chris' transition into the werewolf his mother Kimberly created through various genetic alteration when Chris was baby had left people dead. There was no controlling him when he was in that state. And Alex knew it, and her guilt for destroying the last of the antidotes in a jealous rage didn't help her cause either.
"You still have access to your father's house don't you?" Alex asked curiously.
"Yeah I do, he left it to me in his Will. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. It's too hard to let that house go." Chris answered.
"Perfect. Why don't we go there and search as hard as we can for a any kind of clues for a serum to cure you. There's got to be something there Chris. We have to find it!" Alex said with a smile.
Christopher pulled out his cell phone and opened the calendar app and scrolled through the dates.
"What are looking for?" Alex asked looking down at his phone.
"The next full moon." he said. "There....we have four more days to find my mother's notes and the antidote to cure me before the moon is full again. If you really think we can pull this off, I say we do it." he added.
Alex nodded in agreement and they kissed a sweet kiss, like they hadn't ever kissed before. The twinkling lights from the village around them was like stars in the sky illuminating them in a romantic light like never before. Alex and Christopher were officially back together. And together they would find a cure for him. But it all had to be before the next full moon.
"Let's go there now. It's still early in the evening." Chris said, to an agreeing Alex.
As Chris pulled out his car keys and ran off to pull his car around, Alex stayed on the dock. She was smiling ear to ear. Her life was back to normal. She no longer had to worry about the powers she had inadvertently absorbed from Claudia, the aging curse was broken, her mother was healing nicely from the plane crash and her relationship with Christopher was back on track.
She sighed, letting in a huge gulp of salty Collinsport sea air, that filled her lungs and allowed the air to flow through her whole body. Her life force had returned.
She opened her eyes and looked out on to the splashing bay in front of her that looked like a shimmering black diamond in the night then looked down at her hands when she felt a strange sensation. They were changing. Changing rapidly from old to young then old to young again.
Startled she looked at her reflection in the water darken by the night sky and it was doing the same. Her face and hair was switching from the old lady she was turned into then back to her youthful self again in quick split second flashes. Then...it stopped. She was back to her youthful self.
She stood there for a second paralyzed with fear. What had just happened. Was the aging curse not actually broken? Before she could think Chris came up from behind.
"Hey, I brought the car around...you ok?" Chris asked noticing Alex's mood seemed a little strained.
"Fine! Yeah! I'm ready." She said avoiding the subject of what she just in the water.
Alex started to walk to the awaiting car, she looked back at the bay behind her where she saw her reflection switch back and forth from the real her and the older her...she flashed a nervous smile to Chris as they both got in to his car then drove off. Alex never once mentioned what she saw.
****
The mood at Collinwood was a somber one. Carolyn and Kimberly, still in a gloom after Caleb's memorial service, sat in the main drawing room; Carolyn still in her wheel chair recovering from the accident that battered her body, and took Caleb's life. The two women had always had a strained relationship at best, but Caleb's death brought them a tiny bit closer. After all Kim was his mother, but Carolyn raised him.
David entered the room, still a bit frazzled by his confrontation at the cemetery with Kim. Kim too, was still shaken by his overt reaction. Her nerves as he entered were on edge.
Carolyn, noticing the tension between the two ex's, welcomed David in and asked him to sit down and have a drink with them to hopefully quash the matter between them.
"We're going over stories of Caleb when he was little." Carolyn said beaming from her wheel chair about her late young cousin to David.
"What does Kim know about Caleb when he was young? She was off with her lover running around joining this organization or cult or something. She was definitely not being a mother." David said coldly.
"David!" Carolyn exclaimed, her attempts at peace suddenly vanishing.
"No. It's ok. He's venting out his anger. Caleb's gone now and it's painful. He probably blames me, and maybe in some capacity I did have something to do with his death. I don't know! But none of that changes the fact that I loved our son David, I did with all my heart." Kimberly responded to both Carolyn's exclamation and David's outburst.
"Enough you two.: Carolyn announced silencing them both. "This isn't the time. We all loved Caleb very much and in our heart's he will never be gone. In fact, now that Kat is having his child, he'll live on through that baby, we should be feeling grateful and joy for that." Carolyn pointed out.
David, felt a twinge of guilt for his outburst and sat down next to Carolyn. His whole demeanor was filled with anxiety and stress and it was written all over his face, but the realty was it had very little to do with Caleb's death and everything to do with what Barnabas had told him just the night before about Victoria Winters returning to Collinsport and planning on destroying the family with the heavy hand of "The Organization".
"Carolyn I need to ask you something, but I want you to keep an open mind. It's something Barnabas told me last night." David said, surprising Kimberly.
"What did he say?" Carolyn asked as she took a deep breath preparing for the worst.
"The other night, Barnabas told me that Vickie was back. He said that she was apart of this organization that has had it out for our family for 50 years and she's returned to finish what she started." David explained. "I know it sounds insane, especially since we thought Vickie died years ago, but.....Carolyn, Barnabas was adamant."
Carolyn's face had confusion all over it. She shook her head in disbelief.
"None of that makes any sense. Vickie--" Carolyn said before David interrupted her.
"Died...I know. That's what I said. But Barnabas said he overheard it himself. Isn't that right Kim?" David said reeling in Kimberly's part in the whole scheme. "Tell Carolyn how you were also employed by this so called origination and only married me so that he could keep tabs on us for them." He continued.
Kimberly didn't say a word. All she could do was stand there and stare at Carolyn and David with tears bubbling up in her crystal blue eyes.
"Is this true?" Carolyn asked concerned.
"It is true. But that's besides the point now, our new concern isn't Kimberly. It's whatever Victoria has planned for us. Kim, if you know anything. You have to tell us. Please." David said now in a concerned panicked voice.
"Well, no wait. If Kim was involved somehow, then I would hope she would tell us. Kimberly...what's going on?" Carolyn asked wheeling herself over to Kimberly who was pouring herself a drink.
"I don't know the whole truth, so I can't speak about what Victoria Winter's true plans are. I don't know even know she's come back to Collinsport. It is true that I was used by this organization to keep tabs on your family by marrying David all those years ago, but that's all over Carolyn. I promise you. I've left all that in the past. I swear." Kimberly responded as she took a sip of her brandy.
"But why? What do they want wish us?" David asked.
"I ....I don't know. I don't remember everything." Kimberly said sounding overwhelmed.
"That doesn't add up Kim." David said frustrated with Kim's memory loss.
"It's true David, they hired me, but their reasons and interest in your family, at the time, was kept confidential." Kim responded.
"But you still did it!" David explainmed turning away from Kim and towards the open window that allowed the cool night air in.
Kimberly was starting to feel cornered. She took another sip of her brandy and looked up over the fireplace at the painting of Barnabas Collins: the myth. The legend. He was the real reason "The Organization" was so interested in the family, the real reason they had done so many things to infiltrate the family dating all the way back to the late 1800s; but most notably when Victoria Winters came to Collinwood---at least that is what Kimberly had been told, and what had been wiped clean from her memory.
"David, Just calm down. Everyone calm down. Kimberly why don't you go upstairs and rest. It's been a long day for all us. This isn't the way we should be spending the evening of Caleb's memorial." Carolyn said patting Kim on the hand.
Kimberly agreed and wiped her eyes. She placed her glass of brandy on a table and collected her things and made her way up the main staircase and into the hallway to her room. As she walked, she passed a large ornate mirror. In her peripheral vision she thought she saw another person.
She quickly turned but there was no one behind her in the dark hallway. She slowly turned back around and there in the mirror was her sister Joanna again, still covered in her own blood, still wounded by Barnabas' viscous bite, and still placing her finger up to her lips.
"Shhhhh. Keep the secret." She whispered.
Kimberly blinked hoping it was all a dream but it wasn't. Joanna still glared at her in bloody clothes from beyond the glass.
"What do you want from me?" Kim whispered at the reflection. "I won't tell anyone." She added
Joanna's eyes turned to drops of red blood and the image leapt from the mirror, her grey cold hand slowly coming out of the mirror and barley grabbing at Kim's hair.
Startled at the malevolence in Joanna's eyes, Kim dashed down the hall to her office and locked herself in. It was as if the sins of her past were beginning to manifest themselves into ghosts, haunting her from the other side. She could only think this was some kind of punishment.
Back in the drawing room, Carolyn rolled her wheel chair back to where she was before, nearest the fireplace. She took a deep breath.
"There's so much more to this than you actually know David." Carolyn said.
"What do you mean?" David asked sitting back down next to his cousin.
"I don't know if Vickie is back or not. I don't know if what Barnabas told you is true or not. What I do know is that stranger things have happened here, and I've learned not to doubt things before I see them. That's something every Collins should have engraved in their psyche." Carolyn explained.
"But you know she's lying right? She has to know more than what she's telling us." David asked.
"Like said, there's always more than meets the eye. And with that, we also have to point out that whatever Barnabas told you, he probably thought was true. He may be a lot of things, but he's never been someone to create a situation out of thin air." Carolyn pointed out.
"So what do we do? Barnabas came to me basically asking for help to find Vickie and stop her before she did anything to any of us. Should we go along with it?" David asked his older cousin Carolyn.
"I don't know exactly what Vickie's motives are working with this organization against us, especially because..." Carolyn said pausing.
"...because what?" David asked.
"If Vickie did fake her death, and she was working here as your governess under false pretenses, it might have more to do with the fact that she was in search of something for much more than just information on her employers." Carolyn said cryptically.
"She was here searching for answers to questions about her family. I remember. But I also rememebr she didn't find anything." David concluded..
Carolyn wheeled her wheelchair over to a table that had a small chest underneath it. The chest, no larger then a bread box, carried inside of it what Carolyn thought was the real motive of Vickie's plot against the Collins. A plot that was two fold: One for the organization and one for Vickie.
Carolyn pulled a necklace from around her neck that had a small silver key dangling from it. She placed the key inside the box's lock and turned it. Inside were papers in a manila folder just like the one Vickie was given before moving to Collinwood and photos of a baby girl that she then handed to David.
"I believe this is her motive. This is her reason for spying on us 50 years ago. They paid her and she could get close to her real family. David, that baby girl is my mother's oldest daughter. That baby girl, is Victoria Winters."
