Series 5/Chapter 9: BIRTH OF A LEGEND

The night sky burned with the fluid cool of calm. The milky white moon shined and beamed from it's perch in the center of the stars radiating a glow that covered the entire town of Collinsport, Maine. The serenity of this celestial dance was the complete opposite of what was happening down on earth on the Collinwood land. A woman was giving birth, a man goes missing, and the Collins family adds a branch to it's every growing family tree.


Up in her room Kat was writhing in labor pains. She grasped at her swollen stomach hoping for relief but it was no where in sight. She lay on her bed awaiting Alexandra who rushed down stairs to search for Sebastian who was supposed to be bringing the car around to take Kat to the hospital.

"Oh god please, please, please let this be false labor." Kat said to herself, her face buried in the soft folds of her duvet cover.

Alexandra bounded down the main staircase and saw that the front door was  left wide open. She stepped onto the front step and looked out onto the circular front drive, a shiver ran up her spine.  Sitting there, abandoned in the mist, was Sebastian's car still running with the passenger side door open awaiting Kat.  The headlights blaring into the bushes off the side of the house.

But Sebastian was no where to be found.

"Alex? What is it?" Carolyn asked from the top of the stairs on her crutches.

"It's Kat. She's gone into labor. Sebastian was supposed to take her to the hospital but ...I can't find him. His car is just sitting out there." Alexandra said rushing back up the stairs to her mother.

As Alex reached her mother at the top step a terrible scream came from Kat's room like a wild wind circling them. They both turned their heads down the hall and ran to Kat as fast as they could.

They opened the bedroom door to see the baby was not going to wait any longer. It was time.

"Help me please!" Kat cried.

"Alexandra, go and get some clean towels and get Kimberly. We'll need her up here." Carolyn ordered as she grabbed on to Kat's trembling hand. "You're going to be fine. It's going to be ok. Just breath slowly and calmly and everything will be ok."  Carolyn added as she comforted the mother to be.

Within minutes Alexandra had returned with Kimberly for what seemed like hours to Kat who was in the throws of labor.

Kimberly's medical instincts were in full effect and she quickly washed her hands and carefully knelt down to examine Kat.

"Oh my...ready or not Kat, you're about to be a mother." the doctor said with a smile.

"Is everything ok?" Carolyn asked as she sat bedside with Kat's hand tightly wound in hers.

"Everything looks fine, but even if we drove now to town and got her to the hospital we wouldn't make it. She'd likely give birth on the way. Alex I'll need you to help." Kim said organizing the birth.

"Is everything ok?" David asked too peeking in the door way.

"She's ok. We're about to be grandparents." Kim said as she walked over and flashed a smile at her ex-husband David.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked again, careful not to look into the room.

"There is one thing," Kim said after a brief moment to think. She stepped out side of the bedroom for a quick private moment with David before the baby came. "Alex found my notes for the serum to cure Chris. I have some of the vials already created and placed in darts downstairs but Alex said he's already transitioned. We need to get that serum in him David, it's his last chance." Kim said.

"What do you need me to do?" David questioned.

"Find Chris and shoot him with one of those darts." Kim said nonchalantly.

"Will this serum work?" David questioned.

"It has to. It's his only chance a living a normal life." Kim added as she backed into the room where Kat was about to become a new mother, leaving David standing in a dark hallway stunned at his new task.

As Kim went back to help Kat give birth she passed a mirror and quickly glanced in, and standing in the corner of the room in the mirror's reflection was the ghost of Joanna still stalking Kim, still making sure that Kim never told anyone that David too carried the werewolf DNA they secretly transplanted in him while he was hidden away at Windcliff sanitarium.

The bigger question was, when would David's DNA finally mutate and change from it's current dormant state. It was all up to how strong a hold Joanna's evil spirit had over Kimberly.

****

The commotion in the house made for perfect timing for the man in the mask who had been hiding in all the darkest corners and secret passages within the Collinwood mansion to make his get-away and find Victoria. His news that she was actually the daughter of Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard would surely be most important to her and could cause her to shift her views on what she wanted done with the current family members.

The man in the mask quietly stepped out the secret passages he had been hiding in as he spied on the Collins family. The rooms he lurked in were completely dark; only the moon light guided his way out. He slowly slithered within the shadows that a pair of over-sized widows had cast from the moon light on to the floor. He tip-toed and quietly attempted to make his exit but something blocked him.

As the man in the mask reached for the door knob the shadow of the door slowly morphed into a human figure that slowly begin to walk towards him. The man in the mask stopped dead in his tracks then began to walk backwards into the glowing moon light creeping in from the large windows.

The man in the mask pulled out his weapon and pointed it towards the black mass slowly creeping closer and closer toward him.

"Stop!" the man in the mask yelled.

The shadowy creature continued to walk forward but remained in the shadows, never allowing the face to be revealed.

"Who are you?" The shadow spoke in a deep frightful tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Stop talking! I have a gun and I'll shoot you." The nervous man in the mask said still pointing the gun at the shadowy creature.

The shadow stepped forward into the moon light, its face finally revealed to the man in the mask. A face he feared most of encountering as he hid away in Collindoow's walls: The face of Barnabas Collins.

"Do you know who I am? Do you know...what... I am?" Barnabas growled.

The man in the mask gasped at Barnabas' grey face, black eyes and sharp thirsty teeth. Barnabas opened his mouth larger and hissed at the man in the mask.

"I said stop or I'll shoot!" he said again to Barnabas, continuing to back up into the moon light.

Barnabas lunged and flew onto the man in the mask. The gun went off piercing a hole in a painting of Quentin Collins that hung on the wall causing it to tilt and sit sideways. The two men continued to struggle on the floor, Barnabas twice attempting to bite the neck of the intruder in their scuffle.

On the third attempt at a bite, the man in the mask was able to reach over and punch Barnabas in the face before he sunk his teeth in. Barnabas flew backwards covering his face allowing some leeway for the man in the mask at an attempt to escape and warn Victoria.

Barnabas was too fast, as the man in the mask jumped to his feet and ran for the door he reached over again for the door knob but only found Barnabas who was standing there instead, tall, powerful and in all black.

The man in the mask looked up in fear as he saw what seemed like Barnabas growing taller and taller. The man slowly removed his knit mask and looked up in terror at what he saw standing before him. It was real. It was the man in all the videos and photos Vickie had shown him. The vampire. The legend.

Barnabas looked down at the terrified face of Vickie's spy, a man who had infiltrated Collinwood and saw someone he could not believe looking back at him.

The face of Caleb Collins.

****

In another part of the house, Carolyn, Alex and Kim were all bedside as Kat began to give birth to Caleb's child; the new Collins family member. 

The women all consoled and cared for Kat. Carolyn holding her hand, Alex dabbing her forehead and wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Just a few more pushes Kat. Just a few more pushes!" Kimberly yelled to an excited room.

"You're going to be ok. The baby is coming!" Carolyn said tightening her grip on Kat's hand.

"Ok, last one, hun! Last push, here you go...ok, PUSH!" Kimberly said to Kat's rousing scream.

"It's coming! I see the baby. Push Kat! Push!" Kimberly said again.

And with her final push, Kat screamed one last scream and the baby was born. Kimberly grabbed the baby and cut the umbilical cord. Kat began to laugh with excitement at hearing her baby cry for he first time.  

"Is it ok? Is my baby ok?" Kat said reaching for Kim to hand her the baby. 

Kimberly cleaned the baby with the towels and turned back around to Kat, Carolyn and Alex who were all sitting with great anticipation, even in tears. 

"The baby is fine. It's a healthy baby boy!" Kim said of her new grandson, handing him to the new, loving mother. 

****

"Impossible!" Barnabas said to who's face he was seeing.

Caleb, who had been saved by Vickie's henchman in the ocean after the plane crash had been brained washed and had been used by Vickie to spy on the family, his own family, was now dashing through the room turning over all the furniture he could to block Barnabas who was hot on his trail to find away out of the room and away from the horrifying monster he saw before him.

"Caleb! Wait!" Barnabas called.

Caleb, who's memory was scattered and in pieces due to Vickie's brain-washing had no intention of turning back, all he wanted to do was get back into the secret passages he was hiding in and find his way away from Barnabas and out of Collinwood. But again, Barnabas was too fast. Barnabas disappeared in a puff of black smoke and reappeared at the end of the room blocking Caleb from getting into the secret passage doorway.

"Stop, Caleb!" Barnabas said reaching for his memory-less cousin.

Caleb didn't listen and took another swipe at Barnabas' face. Barnabas grabbed Caleb's fist mid thrust and pushed it back down and looked at Caleb dead in the eyes.

"Do you know who I am?" Barnabas said, speaking slowly. "What has Victoria done done to you?"

Suddenly Caleb did remember something, he remembered that he had more than just a gun at his arsenal. He pulled his fist out of Barnabas' grasped and quickly stepped backwards to give him time to reach into  his black back-pack and pull out the other weapon he was given. He pulled out a crucifix and pointed it--face first--at Barnabas.

"Don't come near me. Don't take another step!" Caleb screamed.

Barnabas hissed and turned his face,  but did not stop his slow walk towards Caleb.

"I said don't move! I said stop!" Caleb screamed as he walked backwards to the door of the room.

Once he got to the door and he turned the knob and ran leaving Barnabas to quickly make his own exit out of the room and away from the crucifix.

Running through Collinwood to make his escape, Caleb began to have flashes of memory of his time at the mansion. His memory was slowly breaking free from whatever vice Vickie had created while she had him captive at Seaside Cottage. He continued to run faster and faster and finally came to the open front door and stepped out on the front step but again, he was stopped in his tracks by something much deadlier then Barnabas.

Snarling and shooting steam and snot from his nose at the foot of the front steps of Collinwood, staring at Caleb with his hellish yellow eyes was Christopher in wolf form.

The wolf had Sebastian's blood stained all over his mouth and face, his hungry grin was dripping with thick saliva, just waiting for this next kill; standing there was Caleb, a man everyone believed to have died staring at his own half brother the werewolf in utter shock.

Christopher the werewolf snarled and circled Caleb like a plotting shark just before a sudden lunge that pulled Caleb down by his black hooded sweater. Caleb was powerless over the strength of the beast and instantly fell to the floor hitting his head that knocked him unconscious. The wolf, seeing his prey ready to be killed and consumed began to drag Caleb into the dirt and slowly over to the bushes off to the side of the mansion like he did earlier with Sebastian.

Then suddenly from the door way a gunshot rang, stinging the wolf in the back. Chris roared in pain as a sharp dart pierced his back.

 It was perfect timing. As the fog from the sea cleared around Collinwood's stoic and centuries old doorway, there stood David with a gun that was loaded with darts filled with the serum Kimberly had created to turn Christopher back to his human form--permanently. .

David rushed over to the wolf who was still breathing and growling but unable to move. David petted  the wolf on his side trying to calm him even though in just a few short moments Chris would be back to normal.

David saw then saw the legs of the man under the wolf. He thought perhaps it was Sebastian, who had gone missing early in the evening.  David carefully pulled the wolf off and saw, to his shock, Caleb, bloody and unconscious, but alive. 

Really, truly alive.

Series 5/Chapter 8: A FULL MOON (Part 4)

The murky evening sky above Collinsport brought a cold snap. The Town-folk usually reserved these late summer months for last ditch swimming in the many quaint seaside escapes this part of Maine was known for but not on this night. This night was different.

At 2356 Harper Street, the house Christopher once shared with his father, the late Victor Reed, the clouds opened up in the sky preparing for a summer full moon to shine down and illuminate the things that go bump in the night.

Christopher and Alexandra had no time to waste. If they were going to find the notes Kimberly took while she did the various DNA experiments on Chris all those years ago, they had to do it before the moon shifted to it's highest point in the sky. The time was now.

The couple searched high and low throughout the house that Chris had now practically abandoned since his father's death on the night of one of Chris' transitions. Chris still felt terribly guilty for his role in Victor's death. He picked up a photo of the two of them on a fishing trip when Chris was only 10. The memory was like a stabbing reminder of guilt. He could still hear his own laugh as they joked with each other that day on the little boat. He could still smell the sweet air around the river bed. He could still feel his father's strong hand pat him on the shoulder when he caught his first catch.

"It wasn't your fault." Alex noticing Chris' glazed off gaze while she sifted through a box of papers they pulled from the attic.

"Just because I wasn't in my own mind doesn't mean I still didn't kill my own father. I'll never forgive myself for that." Chris said putting the photo back down on the table.

"Chris, Victor knew the dangers of what he and Kimberly were doing to you when they started these werewolf DNA tests to begin with. You, the human side of you, would never have done what the monster side of you did. You have to learn to separate the two." Alex advised.

"That still doesn't help much. I mean think about it, no matter how many ways we slice it, I killed my own dad Alex. In cold blood!" Chris said busting open a new box from the attic that had been taped up with an odd amount of tape.

Alex digressed. She knew that his guilt was too painful, and there wasn't much she could do to make him feel better. Not about this, not about the way Victor died. She knew she just had to let him live with whatever feelings he was dealing with and support him. No matter what.

As the two reconciled lovers continued to search for the missing notes on the serum Kimberly had created to reverse his DNA from morphing into the werewolf they noticed time was running short. In just a few more hours, the moon would rise again over Collinsport, and if they weren't careful, Christopher would turn back into the wolf; out again to ravage the city with his wild hunger for human flesh.

Alex continued to frantically search through her box while Chris finally made his way into the box with the severe amount of tape around it.

"Oh my god, I think I found something. I think this is it!" Chris said pulling through paper work.

"What does it say?" Alex asked.

"It's just a bunch of notes, and formulas. Things I don't understand, but the paper work is stamped with my name and my birth date. This whole file is on me. This has to be it!" Chris said excitedly.

Alex crawled through the endless amounts of papers on the floor, like she was rustling around in them like a pile of autumn leaves. She reached over and grabbed Chris by the neck and pulled him over and planted a happy giant kiss on his bearded cheek leaving a stain of lip gloss on his face. As she looked into  his deep brown eyes, she also noticed a second folder in the box.

"What's that one?" She asked grabbing the folder. "Do you think this is more stuff on you?" She continued.

Chris looked down at the birth date on the folder and noticed it wasn't his, but before he could open the folder to check he started to feel strange. He started to feel the bones in his feet start to crack, the hairs on his arms and legs begin to thicken and lengthen. His teeth began to turn razor sharp and he began to sweat profusely.

"Chris...?" Alex said taking the file folders away from his shaking hand.

"I ...... think it's happ....." Chris said, the words barley making it out of his mouth.

"Oh god. You're changing. But the moon isn't even at the highest point yet? Stay with me." Alex screamed as she slowly backed away from Christopher.

"Alex. Take me outside." Chris said, his eyes now turning into deep yellow rings. "For your safety, please take me outside!!" He growled.

Alex put the papers they needed on a table and quickly turned back to grab Chris's hand that now started to resemble some sort of hand/paw hybrid. Chris,  now walking hunched and breathing heavily, was sweating from every part of his body. He was snarling and huffing. His insides twitching and agitated and pushing and shoving as if the human part of him was trying to fight off the power the moon had over his other more monstrous side.

Alex carefully walked Chris to a back door that lead to the yard that lead to a back meadow that lead to the forest. The sky, now a dark gloomy grey, was now filled with the light of the full moon that had yet to rise to it's center point. She looked down at her own hands hold Chris' arm and saw her own skin flash and change into color of Chris'. Her own body was now twitching and pulling and turning into a wolf then back to normal then back to wolf then back to normal, she was shape shifting again like she had the other night after the spell was broken on her walk through town.

She screamed at the sight and let go of Chris. He howled horrible deathly howl and turned back to Alex who was standing in shock on the back steps.

He growled, foam spewed from his mouth, his teeth eager for fresh flesh. But something was different. He saw Alex from the part of his mind that was still Chris. The werewolf side howled again and ran off into the meadow then into the forest just outside the boundaries of the house.

Alex stood alone on the back porch. Her mind racing. Her heart pounding. She realized what was happening to her. For whatever reason when she was at the peak of the most stressful moments in her life, she would shape-shift into whatever was causing her the stress, a lasting and final effect of the powers she once had. But she couldn't think of that now, she had to take the notes she and Chris found to Kim and hope that Kim could recreate the serum to save Chris.

She quickly turned back into the house and grabbed both files they had found. Then grabbed her car keys and dashed back to Collinwood hoping Chris' human side could stall the hungry beast within for as long as possible.

****

Carolyn stared into the mirror of her vanity, the light of the moon gleaming through the window. The glow of blue and grey brought out the blue in her eyes. She stared deeply into those blue eyes. She could see her mother's face looking back at her. It made her happy. After Caleb's death all she could think of was the loss of her family members of the past, mainly her mother Elizabeth. She thought of all the pain her mother endured on earth and she thought of all the difficult decisions she had to make, mainly putting Victoria up for adoption. That guilt probably never left Elizabeth her entire life.

Carolyn believed she was alone that evening, but watching from the other side of a heating vent in the wall, was the man in the mask: Victoria's henchman who was stalking the family and collecting as much information as he could while his mobile phone, the one connection outside of Collinwood, had died. The man in the mask knew he had to somehow find a way to get to Vickie and tell her what he had over heard earlier while Carolyn and Alex were having breakfast. The truth. Vickie was Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard's daughter and therefore a Collins too. But he was trapped within the various secret passage ways in the walls of Collinwood, with no where to go and nothing to do but listen.

As Carolyn got up to go to her bathroom for a new hair brush, a shadowy figure began to grow from the corner of her room hidden away in the drapes. If flowed like smoke from a volcano just about to erupt. Carolyn, gasped and began to walk backwards toward her vanity, she continued to step backwards until she could no longer move, her hands grasped the edged of the vanity. Her eyes grew large her breath became shallow, she struggled to find something on the desk to grab to protect herself and knocked down the contents of the desk to the floor in the process.

As the shadow began to become clear, Carolyn began to realize it was only her oldest cousin alive Barnabas Collins. The man in the walls saw the smoke build up too and begin to form a figure, his eyes widened. To him this was the strangest most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Or so he thought.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Carolyn said sarcastically as she began to regain her composure and pick up the fallen items.

"I only came to thank you for late last night." Barnabas said as he grabbed the back of Carolyn's hand to kiss it.

"Well, you would have done the same for me, I guess. After all you're the one always marching around here talking about family and how much we need to stick together. What kind of Collins woman would I be if I let Victoria just ....do ...whatever she wanted to do to you." Carolyn said stammering with what she wanted to say.

"It would have been the end of me, Carolyn. I am deeply greatful." Barnabas reiterated.

"So you were finally telling the truth, huh? Vickie really is out to get us." Carolyn asserted.

"It appears so, but from what you have told me, she's incredibly misguided. If She really is your half sister, we must find a way to tell her before it's too late." Barnabas said.

"We don't know where she is. We don't know what's she's up to. How in the world...It's just at this point we should worry about that bridge when we cross it. I don't want any of us running around looking for and falling into any more of her traps." Carolyn said not knowing Vickie had planted the man who was hiding in their walls as she spoke. The man's soul mission was to kill the Collins family on Vickie's order.

"There may be a way. We'd have to lure her to Collinwood and then confront her with the truth." Barnabas said.

"Lure her? How?" Carolyn asked.

"Kathryn's child." Barnabas said coldly, knowing just how interested Vickie was in Kat and the new Collins baby she was carrying.

"Barnabas you can't be serious. We can't use an innocent life as bait. There is no way I can allow that. No way in hell." Carolyn said refusing Barnabas' idea.

Even though Carolyn stomped on his plot to get Vickie to Collinwood, deep down he knew nothing would stop him once his mind was made up. He had to get Vickie before she got him. That was a fact.

Then masked man in the walls knew he had to find his way to Vickie before he was discovered. As Barnabas and Carolyn continued their conversation he slowly crept through the walls again down an air ducts that allowed him safe travels through the many floors and quarters of the mansion. He had to get out and find Victoria now!

****

After returning to Collinwood from the doctor's appointment with Kat, Kimberly retreated back to her office in the west wing of the house. The other night she had broken a glass in her hand after a terrifying vision of her dead sister's ghost appeared to her again as a reflection in the windows.

Kim carefully picked up the shards of glass and walked back over to the bar where she had poured two brandies, one for her and one for David. She carefully placed the shards in a small oval shaped garbage bin next to the bar and reached into a crevice at the side of the small mini bar and pulled out an empty vial she had tucked there after pouring it into David's drink. The vial was marked "Liken Represent".

It was the serum she had created to repress the genetic Liken, or werewolf, DNA from becoming aggravated on a full moon. A full moon like tonight.

"You're doing so well Sister." A voice echoed from across the room.

Kim quickly turned and it was again the vision of the dead Dr. Joanna Grayson, Kimberly's sister staring at her with blood covering her face.

"I promised I wouldn't tell." Kim said almost in a trance.

"When will you begin the next step of the process?" Joanna cryptically asked.

"Soon...I'm trying to gain his trust again. It's a slow process." Kimberly responded equally mysteriously.

Joanna and Kimberly had always been close sisters growing up and their separation now, one living and dead did't seem to stiffle their underhanded plotting. No matter how many times Kim tried to put herself in the good graces of the Collins family, a family she belongs to by marriage, she could never escape her wicked sister Joanna, who's thirst for power was much stronger than Victoria's ambitious mission to destroy the family for the made up Organization.

The truth was, while Joanna held David captive at Windcliff Sanitarium in the name of the organization, the two sisters had gone rogue from their task and had done something unthinkable to David.

"David must never know that he too possesses dormant wolf DNA like Christopher. He must never know the experiments we did on him at Windcliff. No one must know." Joanna pressed in her eerie echoing voice.

"I won't tell." Kim responded.

"Now that Christopher is out of reach and aware of his DNA change, David is our last hope against the Collins family. It's our sisterly secret that you must keep." Joanna's ghost said again.

"I promise. What about Victoria Winters? Should she know about David?" Kimberly asked naively.

Joanna didn't say a word and only put her blood stained finger up against her lips again. 

As Kimberly stood staring into the glass of the windows of her office speaking to Joanna who quickly disappeared, Alexandra burst in. Her mind racing, sweat dripping from her face. She had raced home to give Kimberly the notes for the serum that would cure Christopher.

"Kim!! Kimberly!!!" Alex screamed breaking Kim from her sister's haunting trance.

"What? Alex, my god what is it?" Kim replied back to her normal self.

"The notes. Here. We found them. You can cure Chris now!" Alex said out of breath.

Kimberly snatched the notes from Alex's hands and began to read them over. She flicked through the pages, and a giant grin began to stretch across her face. These were the correct notes, and now she re-create the serum to cure Christopher before it was too late. All was not lost and maybe she could do the same for David, that is if Joanna would just leave her alone.

"Where's Chris?" Kim asked impatiently.

"He ran off. It was too late for him, the clouds parted and the moon light came in, he changed right in front of me. We have to hurry, maybe we can find him after the serum is made." Alex said hoping for a miracle.

Kimberly nodded in agreement and grabbed Alex's hand dragging her off to her laboratory, and as they did, Joanna's spirit resurfaced in the glass of the office window's. Her blood still pouring from the Barnabas' bite wounds on her neck. Her skin a glowing pale color. Her eyes angry and furious that the notes on the cure were found.

****

At Seaside cottage, which was formally owned by the Collins family but Willed to Victoria by Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard, Vickie sat at a small table in compete darkness with only the flickering of candles behind her. She slowly removed a  dark blue silk cloth covering the top of a fine pine box. Inside the box an old Ouija board from from the 1920s.

The wooden board was thick and old, with letters and drawings carved deep into its smooth surface. The elegant oracle with its clear glass eye was light and ornate. 

Vickie placed the oracle on the board and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and slowly moved the oracle across the board to the center.

"Are you here.....announce yourself." Vickie said as a cold ocean breeze filled the room pulling the sheer curtains up around the chairs in front of Vickie on the other side of the table. Vickie waited, for an answer but did not receive one.

She tried again and asked the same thing, but this time she carefully lifted her fingers from the ornate oracle just so that it could move on its own if it needed to. And it did.

The salty air swirled around Vickie blowing through her raven hair as the oracle crept over to the YES carving.

Victoria opened her eyes and smiled a dastardly grin. She had successfully contact a different dimension.

"Have you prepared for our arrival?" She asked the board as she watched the oracle circle around the word YES again.

"Tell me the year!" Vickie asked as the oracle carefully moved across the board to the bottom where the line of numbers were where it went over four distinct numbers clearly and cryptically pointing out:

1          9                2               0

Vickie smiled and knew it was finally time set the final stages of her plans to destroy the Collins family. Finally the revenge she sought out for almost 50 years, since she met with the men at the orphanage where the told them The Collins family was responsible for the death of her birth parents.

But Vickie had unknowingly ignited a war based  on the elaborate lie created by her birth father the Priest, Father Joseph, who hoped the cover he created for Vickie would be the way for her to reconnect with her birth mother Elizabeth. No one knew just how far this lie would go. Except Victoria who's entire life since then had been to live and breath the demise of the Collins family...her family.  

Vickie walked over to a taller table in the corner of the room and picked up her cell phone. She clicked her messages and wrote out a text message for Sebastian, her main henchman who was visiting with  his pregnant sister Kat.

"It's time. Inject Kat with the meds. NOW." Vickie's message read.

Then Vickie wrote out a message to The masked man who had been hiding in the walls telling him to take out any Collins family member he saw. That message however was never received. The masked man's phone had a dead battery. He too had a message for Vickie, a warning but there was no way to get it to her. 

Sebastian who had been patiently waiting the "go-ahead" to induce Kat's labor carefully walked over to his sister who was standing on a balcony looking over the Collinwood land talking to Sebastian about how large her belly had become and how they doctor said she was about 8 months. 

Kat's voice was happy and surprised like any new mother would be. She looked out on the beautiful grounds that Collinwood had to offer, the full moon filled the dark sky in the distance over the ocean. 

Sebastian slowly and meticulously walked over to Kat, still going on about her excitement for the new baby, pricked the back of Kat's arm with the needle that had medication that would induce her labor. And within minutes, Kat's eagerness to be a new mom turned to concern. As she stood on the balcony next to her brother she grabbed her arm in the area Sebastian had injected her.

"What did you do?" She asked as she opened her hand a tiny stain of blood from the prick mark.

"Helping you." Sebastian said cryptically.

And as quick as the injection happened, Kat's stomach began to cramp violently. Her labor had began. 

"Bash....... I...I think ...my...."Kat said looking down at her belly. 

Sebastian grabbed Kat's hands and walker her over to a chair inside the room. 

"We have to get to the hospital. It's too early." Kat said started to rush off back into her room from the balcony. 

"Wait here, I'll go and pull the car around and have Alex come up to be with you ok?" Sebastian said now started to feel nervous about what he had done.

Kat sat on her bed breathing hard as the labor pains got stronger and stronger. The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before.  Her mind racing and filled with confusion over what was happened. Did Sebastian do this to her? she thought.

 She lay back on the bed, and grasped on to the bed's comforter tightly, so tightly that she began to tear holes in the lining with her finger nails that dug in.

As Kat lay in agony on her bed with labor pains, Alex rushed in from the hall way where she heard Kat's screams.

"Kat! Are you ok?" Alex asked as she grabbed Kat's hands and pulled them off the bed spread, noting the holes.

"The baby's coming!" Kat said in and out of breaths. "Sebastian is getting the car." she added.

"Just breath Kat, breath! Sebastian won't be too long." Alex said wiping Kat's sweaty forehead.

Downstairs, Sebastian had brought his car to the front of the main entrance to Collinwood. He leapt from the drivers side and flew around the front of the car to leave open the passenger side door for Kat. 

As he made his way across the headlights of the car he heard feral growl just off in the dark distance beneath the brush that closed off an entrance way to a courtyard that lead to the old house. At first Sebastian thought it was Barnabas spying on him. He turned and slowly walked in the direction of the growl allowing the headlights of his car to guide his path.

"Come on, come out of there." Sebastian called out towards the bushes. 

The growl Sebastian believed was Barnabas continued and got louder. His headlights, now a good 50 to 60 feet away, were shining brightly on the green bushes. The high moon too lit the area behind the bushes so much so Sebastian could see all the way to the old house and to his surprise saw Barnabas pass in front of the main windows going into a drawing room.

With a confused look on his face, Sebastian lifted the lower parts of the bushes to see what was behind them. Two large yellow yes looked back at him and squinted from the brightness of the car headlights. 

Sebastian's screamed and fell backwards. It was Christopher in wolf form slowly revealing his large hairy monstrous body out from under the bushes. Chris snarled, and snapped his great claws at Sebastian who was now on the floor frantically pulling himself backwards towards his awaiting car.

But it was too late. Christopher the werewolf lunged at Sebastian and pulled his body up. They struggled for brief moment, but Sebastian was no match for the strength of Christopher's incredible power. The wolf dragged Sebastian off into the dark shadowy distance of the woods away from Collinwood, leaving only marks in the dirt path in front of the main house from Sebastian's struggling body and an empty car with its motor and lights turned on.

The rumbling of the car's engine and smashing of the ocean on the rocks just below the cliff side were all that was left. Nothing more. 

Series 5/Chapter 7: BEWARE THE SUNRISE

Howling winds rolled along the Maine coastline like an invisible river plowing around the sharp rocks and cliffs. The powerful current of air lifted sand and debris up like confetti. Barnabas dusted off the airborne sand from the lapel of his black peacoat, squinted and focused on his destination just a few yards away: the former seaside Collins family cottage named Seaview. Victoria's hide out.

The night sky was dark and filled with stars. The moon with its face half hidden hung high like a bright yellow grape guiding Barnabas towards the front entrance of Seaview. He turned the door knob and pushed the swollen door open into the house.

The Collins family cottage was not your ordinary seaside house. It was massive in size with Windows going all along the sides, a perfect place to spend summers. It was also a place Victoria was fond of in her time as Governess to a young Davis Collins. Which lead Elizabeth to leave it to Vicki in her Will.

Inside, the house had been completely remodeled. It was more modern and cold now. But still hand a wink to the family that once spent their warm summer holidays there.

Barnabas carefully looked around the remodeled rooms. The house was completely dark. He could see photos on the walls and on small side tables; Collins family memories. Elizabeth on the beach one summer day with a baby Carolyn, Carolyn and her uncle Roger playing on the Seaview lawn with a family pet. These were times that were gone.

As he continued to walk through the house he heard a noise from a side room. It had to be Victoria!

Barnabas carefully walked down the hall preparing himself for the fight of his life to protect the family from whatever Victoria had planned. He placed his ear up to the door of the room and listened. There was someone inside. He could feel the beating of their heart. He could feel the heat from their body burn through the door like a wild fire raging through a dry forest.

With the reflexes of a jaguar he pushed the door in and saw Victoria standing at the other end of a large empty room flanked by 6 large windows, three on either side of her, that faced the view of the gorgeous Atlantic sea. The room was new to the cottage, it seemed as if it had been created or added on in recent years as an observatory room. It was a cold and blank space. Barnabas quickly glanced around and saw how steril and medical the space seemed.

 Victoria slowly turned in Barnabas' direction. Their eyes met like two laser beams zeroing in a target.

"We meet again." Vicki said in a calm whispery voice.

"It's been so very long Victoria. Ive longed for this meeting. Of course, under different circumstances." Barnabas said as he kept his distance.

"I assume you're here to end things, aren't you? Ruin my plan to vanquish you and your family from this earth? I should have done it 50 years ago." Victoria said wickedly.

Barnabas' eyes started to change. His anger towards Vickie was something he had never felt before. It was a betrayal beyond anything he could ever imagine. His mind started to race and his anger started to rise. He opened his mouth revealing his fangs and hissed a terrible blood thirsty hiss. But Vickie did not flinch.

Vickie took two steps forward into the moon light that was beaming in from the windows at her side. She pulled down her shirt slightly around her neck and lifted her head back. She put our her arms and closed her eyes.

"This is what you came for." Vickie said waiting for Barnabas to strike.

Barnabas felt his body strength go from zero to 50, his mind only saw red. He was thirsty for blood and he wanted Vickie's. With one deep bite, her blood would begin to flow into his body and he would be able to control whether she lived or died in those next few seconds. The more blood he took, the less chances of her to live.

He walked up released the coat from around his neck and lifted his hands, his mouth gaping open ready to receive her neck.

And just as he stepped into the center of the empty room of windows the floor lowered slightly and four giant walls of bars made of pure silver lifted trapping Barnabas inside. He looked around and saw the walls were too talk for him to leap over. He touched the bars and burned his finger on the silver which like a silver bullets rendered all him powerless. He was as good as mortal while in that cage.

"You see vampire...we've all got a few tricks up our sleeves." Vickie said adjusting her shirt so it covered her neck again.

"What have you done?" Barnabas asked in a growl.

"This isn't exactly what I expected to do with this cage, I mean it was always meant for you and those like you but it was more for experimental use. I guess time just got away from me, experiments would take too long anyway." Vickie said walking over to the walls of windows.

"You're making a very big mistake Miss Winters. Deep down inside you know that whatever your plans are with me and my family, they're wrong. I may be what I am, but you, you are good. There's always been good in you." Barnabas said trying to sway Vickie's thoughts.

"It may have been 50 odd years since I've seen or spoken to you, but you're still the same manipulative creative that tried take possession of me in some sick twisted move all those years ago. It wont work Barnabas. Not this time. Saving the people of this town from you and your like is what I was put on this earth for. That I know for sure." Vickie said sternly.

"That's a very big statement: knowing the secret of life. How can anyone truly know? After all I'm still searching myself." Barnabas said.

"No. I know. I was born to take control of The Organization of the True of Heart, a coalition of people set to make sure the word is safe from the ungodly, the undead, the devilish. That's my lot Barnabas, and that's what I'm prepared to do to you." Vickie answered with a coldness Barnabas had never seen from her before.

He looked at her and snarled, she had changed. Vickie was no longer the kind, curious, courageous woman he had once loved. She was now menacing and vindictive, a woman who's warm sweet heart had turned hard and cold, and Barnabas couldn't figure out why. 

This was not the Victoria Winters Barnabas once knew, she was a brainwashed morsel of the person she once was.

"Whats happened to you? Barnabas growled, but Vickie only smiled wickedly.

"You. You happened. Don't you recall all the mind games you played on all of us? I do. And I was given information that you're the reason I am an orphan. Just another nail in your coffin." Vickie responded as she circled the silver cage.

"What? Victoria that's impossible!" Barnabas said outraged at the accusation that was clearly unfounded and created by Father Joseph, but left unknown to Vickie.

Unfazed by Barnabas' reaction, Vickie then turned and picked up her things from the floor and walked over to the cage where Barnabas was trapped. She looked at him dead in the eyes. He had returned to his normal state, no fangs, no blackness only with a look of desperation in his face. Those windows faced east and it was only hours until morning.

"When was the last time you saw a sunrise Barnabas? Years? Centuries? You'll be happy to know that in just a few hours, you'll finally get to see what you've been missing out on for the last 225 years of your miserable murderous life. The sun will rise right here in this very room over the beautiful sea. I chose this room specifically for this, as you might guess, because it quickly becomes the brightest and warmest as soon as the sun  reflects over the ocean's surface...." Vickie explained as she circled Barnabas trapped in the silver cage.

"You'll never get away with this." Barnabas growled again.

"Goodbye Barnabas Collins. May you rest in peace." She added and slowly turned away and placed the remote control that lifted the cage walls on a chair. She the walked out of the room calmly leaving Barnabas alone his demise by sunlight.

****

Vickie gathered a few things  and packed them into her car. She looked past the cottage onto the horizon, the frothy wind blew her raven hair across her eyes. As she looked back she felt a sense of calmness that in the morning her nemesis would be gone, and everything else would soon fall into place. Vickie got into her car, started it, and drove off never looking back at Seaview. 

****

Back inside Seaview cottage Barnabas paced in his silver cell awaiting a horrible outcome. He stared out the windows and tried to use every ounce of telepathy he had in him to bring the controller Vickie left on a chair closer to him so that he could use it to lower the cage walls, but it was impossible. The silver the cage was made from was too strong and blocked his powers.

An hour went by and the clock inside of Barnabas' mind was ticking away faster and faster and closer and closer to sunrise. He began to wish for some sort of swift end rather than the one he was going to meet soon with the stinging burn of the  morning sun. It was almost like part of his premonition was coming true. In a dream Barnabas saw Vickie stab him with a stake to the heart then finished him off with the stinging burn of the morning sun. But this was reality.

Lucky for Barnabas tonight's reality had an ironic silver lining. His cousin Carolyn who saw him leave Collinwood just as she returned from visiting Father Joseph at St. John's Parish in the middle of the night. For Carolyn seeing Barnabas leave on foot was never a good sign, so she and her driver Powell followed him for as long as they could before losing Barnabas when he disappeared into a wooded area. Eventually, Powell and Carolyn tracked him down to the old Seaview cottage. And just in time before the sunset.

"Trapped are we?" Carolyn said as she walked into the room  on crutches observing the giant cage made of silver in the hollowed out back room.

"Carolyn." Barnabas said in a surprised voice turning to his cousin with his devilish grin.

Carolyn and Powell walked in and surveyed the room Vickie had left him in. The blank walls, the barren floors. It was all a strange and bizarre scene that Carolyn wasn't surprised to see.

"You've gotten yourself into something tonight haven't you?" Carolyn joked.

"There's some kind of controller over there on a chair. Please." Barnabas pleaded.

"Fine. But when you're released from here, you cannot go looking for Vickie to hurt her. Do you understand?" Carolyn warned.

"How can I not? I have to stop her! Look what she's done! And she has more planned!" Barnabas explained.

"Barnabas...there' something you should know..." Carolyn said before motioning for Powell to grab the remote control left on the chair. He did so and pressed the main button lowering the cage and freeing Barnabas.

"..I don't want you to say anything, just listen." Carolyn said sternly as the cage walls came down around Barnabas. "There's a secret I've been keeping for many years for my mother. I discovered this truth after she died when I went through her papers. It's about Vickie....Vickie my mother's daughter. She's family Barnabas. You cannot hurt her."

Barnabas' face turned serious. He turned and grabbed his peacoat and cane from the floor. He dusted off his coat and turned to Carolyn furrowing his brow.

"Are you sure?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. I am. She doesn't know. If we tell her, I believe she'll stop whatever she's trying to do. So that means you have to back off. Do you understand?" Carolyn scolded in her regular tough approach on things.

Barnabas did not react.

She called for Powell to take her back to their car leaving Barnabas standing in the empty room alone. Her night had been long and she was ready to be home.

"I'm leaving in 2 minutes Barnabas, don't make me wait." Carolyn ordered as purple clouds began to pop up in the distance hinting at the approaching dawn.

Barnabas still in shock over Carolyn's revelation had escaped his demise yet again. As he followed his cousin and her driver out of Seaview cottage he felt the frigid sea breeze scale the cliff side and brush his pale skin. He thought about what Carolyn said to him again and decided it didn't matter if Vickie was family, she posed a danger to them all and needed to be stopped before she hurt anyone else. No matter what.

****

The morning came and thankfully no one had been hurt from the night before. The sun burst bright in the sky above Collinsport as if a strong storm had just past through leaving a fresh and new outlook on life. Kat awoke and prepared for a doctor's appointment Kimberly was going to take her to. She stood up out of bed and walked over to a full length mirror and noticed her stomach was much larger then it was the night before. She rubbed her belly with a concerned expression on her face. How could her baby be growing so fast? She must have miscalculated her date, but by how much?

"You up?" Kim asked as she slowly pushed open Kat's bedroom door. "Kat! Your stomach!" She added noticing Kat's 4 week pregnant stomach looking more like 6 months.

"I don't think I calculated correctly. I'm huge!" Kat said with a giggle.

"Well, not to get into too many details but did you and Caleb...'try'...before the last time?" Kimberly asked somewhat embarrassed of her own question.

"A few other other times but, I don't remember ever thinking I was pregnant. Is this how it's supposed to be?" Kat asked concerned and looking back at her stomach in the mirror.

"When I was carrying Christopher I was pretty big too but much later on. Let's get to this appointment and see where things go, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation." Kimberly said as she helped Kat pick out new outfit from the various maternity clothes David had purchased for Kat.

****

Downstairs Alex waited at the breakfast table for Carolyn. The two Collins women had coffee and a small meal together for the first time in many months. Carolyn who was still recovering from her plane accident sat down slowly at the table while Alex moved her crutches to the side.

"I'm glad you're here. I need to tell you something." Carolyn said sipping her coffee.

"What is it?" Alex asked concerned.

"It's about Victoria Winters. Do you remember me ever mentioning her?" Carolyn asked with Alex nodding her head yes as she took another sip from her coffee mug.

"Well there's much more to the story about her. A long time ago your grandmother had an affair with..someone....and that affair resulted in a pregnancy. In those days something like that would have stupidly ruined your grandmother's life. It wasn't like today where things are dealt with in a practical manner. Your Grandmother Elizabeth had to make a terrible choice." Carolyn began to explain.

"Poor grandma! I can see where this is going. Vickie found this baby, right? She's trying to extort money or something?" Alex said guessing the outcome.

Carolyn looked around for the servants, the old Collins family habit of keeping the utmost secrecy and discretion when it came to private family matters. When she noticed they were alone, she turned back to her daughter to divulge the bombshell.

"Actually darling, it's much bigger than that. Vickie is that baby. Not to get into too many details but Vickie doesn't know this yet, and unfortunately she's become rather dangerous to the family. She wants to hurt us." Carolyn said calmly to a shocked Alex.

But they were not alone at breakfast. The man in the mask sent by Vickie to spy on the family until further notice had been lurking around Collinwood all night and had just come out from behind the walls.

He came out of a side door in a hallway that lead to the secret passages within the walls, and slumped down in a corner hiding behind a wall when he noticed Carolyn and Alex were in the next room. He carefully drew his weapon and filled it with bullets.

As he looked into the room but being careful they didn't see him, a flash of white light blinded him bringing flashes of Carolyn's face smiling, then a flash of him and Alex hugging in the foyer of Collinwood. All these images flooding his mind flashing one, two, three then gone. He shook his head and looked around but there was nothing illuminating him in the face that caused this light in his eyes. He was confused but continued to listed to mother and daughter speak at breakfast.

"Hurt us? But why?" Alex asked.

"Its a very long and complicated story, love, one that is about 50 years in the making. I just want you to be careful if you or Chris or any one of us should encounter her. Promise me you'll do that? You'll take care of yourself? Watch your back." Carolyn said grabbing her daughters hands.

The family had been traumatized by the many losses they'd experienced in the past  year. Carolyn's husband, then Caleb she couldn't bare to lose her only daughter in whatever plot Vickie was cooking up. It was a mother's plea that Alex heard loud and clear.

"Of course mother." Alex said reciprocating the grasp of her mother's hand.

The two Collins women continued their breakfast together and talked about what they had planned for the day. Finally a moment of normalcy in a world of complete abnormality.

The man in the mask stayed hidden behind the wall that faced an opening into the breakfast room where Alex and Carolyn were in. He was shocked to discover his boss Victoria's secret parentage...something he was sure she didn't know herself. He grabbed his cell phone but the battery had died.

Suddenly Kat and Kim came walking down the main staircase directly in front of him heading out to Kat's doctor's appointment. He saw Kat and again a flash of light splashed across his mind. In this one he saw images of Kat covered in white sheets smiling and laughing. Her beautiful mocha colored skin glowing against the white sheets. Her face came closer and kissed his. But who was he to her? Why was he having this recollection.

He didn't have time to think, as the two came closer down the main staircase, he became trapped. Through his mask he could see them getting closer and closer. Fearing he'd be discovered by them or Alex and Carolyn in the other room he crouched down and went back into the secret door that lead back into the walls...he was trapped inside Collinwood with a major revelation for Vickie that would change everything. He had to get to her somehow.

Series 5/Chapter 6: PRIESTS KEEP SECRETS TOO

Late in the evening Carolyn called on the new Collins family driver named Powell with a particular request. She had to go down to Saint John's parish and speak with Father Joseph that priest with the tiny blue eyes that performed at Caleb's memorial.

 The driver, who had been recently employed with the family noted the late hour, but Carolyn insisted on going.

Carolyn carefully made her way down the staircase on crutches, no longer needing her wheelchair 24 hours a day. She slowly slipped herself into the back seat of one of the Collins' glamorous black sedans that her driver Powell parked out in front outside of the main entrance.

Powell lowered the glass patrician to check on his employer.

"Comfortable ma'am?" He asked politely.

Carolyn adjusted the collar on her white shirt that was devoured by a thick black coat protecting her from the chilly Collinsport elements. She nodded a simple 'yes', and Powell began their short journey down the winding road that lead from Collinwood to town.

As the car drove past the little seaport village on their way to Saint John's parish, Carolyn looked out of her tinted glass window referencing in her mind all the little shops she had been to, all the cute bistros she had eaten at a million times and most of all the places she never felt safe at when darkness crept into their lives 50 years ago.

Saint John's parish was a large white church with a bell tower in the center of the building that rang every hour from 7am to 10pm every day. It was a place Carolyn was very familiar with. She had come here all her life. Her mother Elizabeth's funeral had taken place here, in fact the Father Joseph, was very, very familiar with her family though he tended to steer clear from them. Even at Caleb's memorial Carolyn felt he was keeping his distance. It had been the first time Father Joseph had seen the family since Elizabeth's death, and his awkward behavior didn't sit well with Carolyn, and she knew why.

Carolyn's car pulled up to the front of the church and her driver Powell ran around the car to open the door for her but Carolyn was already standing with her crutch out. She had never been one to depend on people, a strength she inherited from all the many strong Collins family women.

"Thank you Powell. You won't mind waiting in the car would you? I wont be long." Carolyn said, to an agreeing Powell as he then handed her the manila envelope from her secret box at Collinwood.

Powell helped Carolyn up the main steps but she entered alone. She pushed the doors open and the entire church was lit from front to back with hundreds of candles. The wooden pews were shiny and clean each one with it's own private prayer book. Carolyn continued to walk down the main isle of the old church up to the alter and looked up at the many religious statues.

"Carolyn." the 90 year old Father Joseph with small blue eyes said from behind. "What are you doing here at this time of the night?" He asked walking over to her and handing her his hand helping to sit in a front row pew.

"I needed to speak to you Father." Carolyn answered as she placed her crutch on the seat.

"I see you're healing nicely after your plane crash. I'm glad to see that. I've been praying for you since I heard. So what is it that you wanted to talk about? Couldn't it wait until tomorrow morning?" Father Joseph asked sensing Carolyn's nervous energy but ignoring it.

"Unfortunately it couldn't. Its urgent. I know that many years ago, before I was born actually, something happened with my mother and she sought the council of the church. Do you remember that?" Carolyn inquired.

Father Joseph tensed up when Carolyn mentioned her mother Elizabeth. He looked around the church as if to make sure there was no one else around even in that late hour. He nodded to her that he remembered and again looked around the empty church.

"Your mother was a good person, and yes, she came here to seek help. I remember that." The priest answered adjusting his cleric's collar.

Carolyn handed the priest the envelope with Victoria's baby photos and a few bits of paper and asked him to open it.

"That child is my half sister Victoria. Many years ago she was found by a group of people that covertly planted her in our home as my cousin David's governess. Without going into detail she's been sending these people information on my family and we now believe she's returned to cause harm to us. Father, I don't think she knows that she's actually a part of my family too. She doesn't know that hurting us would be hurting her own blood. When my mother came to see you, I know it was about this baby. What did she say? Did she tell you who Vickie's father was?" Carolyn questioned.

"I'm sorry. I don't remember." Father Joseph answered in a short manner.

"But you said you did remember. Did you or my mother know anything about these people Vickie was working for?" Carolyn continued to probe.

"Carolyn, I don't recall any of the conversation, it was so many years ago. I'm sorry you came all this way tonight for nothing." The priest said dismissing Carolyn.

"Father, please! I know you know something." Carolyn pleaded.

"I'm not sure what you think you know Carolyn. But that was over 50 years ago, and your mother trusted me. and..." Father Joseph said before begin interrupted by Carolyn.

"So you do remember!" She said.

Father Joseph just shook his head and walked over to a table filled with candles under a statue of the Madonna and child and began to light them.

"Well, if you remember something--anything--please let me know as soon as you can. It's very important." Carolyn responded disappointingly. "I'll leave these photos here for you. Maybe it'll help you remember." She added, believing Father Joseph was hiding something himself.

Father Joseph never turned back to Carolyn, he only continued to light the candles and mouth silent prayers.

"You know, my mother Elizabeth was very fond of you. Helping us would mean the world to her...just keep that in mind." Carolyn added again.

A she picked up her crutch and made her way back down the main isle of the church and looked back at Father Joseph. She wasn't buying anything he was selling but hoped that some how he would come to terms with the truth she suspected.

Now alone with his thoughts under the gleaming lights of the church's stained-glass windows, Father Joseph looked through the papers Carolyn left him and the memories began to flood his mind of the night Elizabeth came to see him.

"What have I done?" He whispered.

**COLLINWOOD, ST. JOHN'S PARISH 1945**

A Young Elizabeth Collins burst into the church with tears streaming down her face. She was in distress and needed to see Joseph. She looked all around and could't find him. Her emotions were boiling over and he had to know what was happening. She went over to a private door near the alter and turned the nob, and there he was.

"Liz! My goodness what is the matter?" A young Joseph said pulling her over to sit in a chair, his eyes still tiny crystal blue dots.

Joseph and Elizabeth had known each other since grade school and had been very close before he left to become a priest. When he returned from the seminary in Boston, Elizabeth had become involved with Paul Stoddard, but something happened. Her affection for Joseph never wavered and one night in a fit of passion behind Paul's back and against all the rules of the seminary, Elizabeth and Joseph made love.

Elizabeth, now engaged to Paul, came to the church to tell Joseph the truth. She was carrying his child and didn't know what to do.

"It's ok. Stop crying. We'll figure something out. Have you told anyone?" Joseph asked.

"No. No one. What should we do?" Liz asked in a panic. "I can't lose Paul, I can't!" She added.

"Ok, ok ok...let's think. Is there anywhere you can go for a while?" Joseph asked.

"I think so, yes. I have a friend in New York City that I can stay with until the baby is born." Elizabeth answered.

"Good, New York City is good. I know a good orphanage there that our parish sends charitable donations to. Hammond House. Take the baby there. And when you do, let me know, and I'll take it from there. Understand?" Joseph explained.

"Yes." Elizabeth explained. "Joseph....will I ever see the baby again?" She asked dabbing her eyes.

Father Joseph thought for a second, he knew that he and Elizabeth could never be together now that he was a priest and she was going to be married to Paul Stoddard, but he could tell how much she cared for the child even if she couldn't actually keep it. A mother's love, no matter the time or circumstance is the strongest bond known to man.

"I promise you. I will figure out a way for you to see the baby again. It may take a few years, but I promise you." Joseph said taking Elizabeth in his arms and hugging her tightly.

**COLLINSPORT, ST. JOHN'S PARISH PRESENT TIME**

As Father Joseph remembered the moment his affair with the engaged Elizabeth Collins resulted in the conception of a child, he could only feel guild and pain. He had always kept in touch with Elizabeth throughout the years but their connection was never the same after she married her husband Paul Stoddard. Their meetings were rare and kept mostly in secret during her visits to the confessional.

When Elizabeth's husband was presumed dead in late 1953, she went into a deep depression and never left the house, it was a dark time for the family. Only then did she often seek  Father Joseph's council again openly, though no one really knew their true history.

Father Joseph could clearly remember visiting her at Collinwood one afternoon after Paul's presumed death and saw how devastated she was. On that day they spoke of the child they conceived and gave up to the orphanage in New York. He could see It was the only thing that returned the sparkle to Elizabeth's eyes.  

When he left that evening Father Joseph thought he needed do more: he could find a way to bring their daughter back! When he told Elizabeth of his idea, she agreed so long as the girl never knew the truth. Giving her up and the manner she was conceived was too shameful and painful for Elizabeth and she sought to keep that part of her life away in the shadows. In a way protecting Vickie from her own possible shame and scandal of being the daughter of love sick priest and a rich socialite. 

Father Joseph remembered agreeing to Elizabeth's conditions and promised he'd find their daughter and help her assimilated into the family.  The only question remained, how would he get this plan into motion?

The plan was specific and strange and quite detailed. Playing off the folklore that surrounded Elizabeth's family and was well known around Collinsport since the day the town was founded by the Collins family, Father Joseph and two of his fellow parishioners concocted a plan that had them disguised as three men who belonged to an Organization of hunters of Supernatural beings that the Collins family had rumors of harboring, one specifically from the late 1700's named Barnabas Collins. These rumors had never been proven, but the people in town kept their distance none the less.

The detailed plan had the three disguised priests bringing Vickie back to Collinwood as a governess to infiltrate the family and report back to them. It was all a ruse. But the problem was the plan worked way too well and it took on a life of its own.

Vickie, consumed by the belief she was actually helping a real organization recruited people in secret to join her. What began as a bizarre lie by her priest father to hide her identity and reunite Vickie with her birth mother became a monster all its own.

Throughout the years Vickie not only thrived at sending back information but  her recruits began to spin off and create their own chapters of this fake organization. The Priest lost control over the lie he created decades ago and had hoped it died when they faked Vickie's death, his last ditch effort to end the lie once and for all. But it was a huge mistake, all the years Vickie played dead she plotted her return without Father Joseph's knowledge. In recent years he pretended the fake organization didn't exist, to keep his mind at peace. But now the truth had reared its ugly head.

Victoria, in essence, created what she was told was real and was just days away from murdering her own family. A family she still didn't know she actually belonged to.

Father Joseph sat down on a pew inside the church with the papers Carolyn gave him tossed all around him. He felt hopeless and devastated. He had let Elizabeth down. He sobbed uncontrollably.

His plan worked, but all too well. 

****

In the dark of the night a masked man quietly crept through the overgrown shrubs just outside of the side entrance of Collinwood. It was the man Victoria and Sebastian had been treating at her secret hide-out. He was under strict order to get inside the mansion and stay hidden until further notice.

This new mercenary was stealth and precise. He carefully broke the lock off of the main front gate with the adorned with the C monogram. He swifty crept up the giant main lawn and entered the house by picking the lock of one of the side entrances.

 The section of the house he entered was quiet and dark at the time. Victoria was very well versed in the secrets of Collinwood and gave the man very detailed description of how to get around without being seen. The man, masked and dressed in all black, from  head to toe, quietly made his way passed a open door. It was the Library where Kat was still sitting with her brother Sebastian.

The man's eyes flashed scenes from his mind with Kat in them. They were quick and confusing. Just of Kat's face laughing. Kat's eyes. Kat's smile. He shook his head and sneaked down the hall and into a a the larger room the family called the "Blue Room" where he pulled a secret lever on a fireplace that opened a passage that lead into the walls of the house.

The masked man still shook his head trying to get the images of Kat out of his mind. As he crept through the walls of the house coldly passing room to room without emotion and only scouting his victims.

As he walked through he came to a portion of wall that had two same sizes slits that opened into a room in the east wing of the house. The east wing that was Kimberly's office, formerly Dr. Julia Hoffman's office. On the other side of the two slits in the wall were the eyes a painting of Quentin Collins, perfect sized holes for the masked man to sit and watch as Kim as she opened the door to let in David after they had a small skirmish in the drawing room about her role in Vickie's original plan.

"I'm sorry about earlier." David said as Kim let him in.

"It's fine. We're all under a lot of stress." She said handing him a glass of more brandy to drink.

"If you told me at our wedding day this is where we'd be I would have never believed you." David said casually skimming through a book on blood disorders Julia wrote in the 1990s.

"It has been a very incredible last few months, I'll admit that." Kim said sitting next to David.

"We were good together Kim. We really were. Why did you have to...I mean...Victor Reed? Of all people why did you have to cheat with Victor Reed?" David questioned out of no where.

In all the chaos of recent events, Kimberly and David had yet to reconnect and talk about their past together, mainly Kimberly's infidelity with the vampire hunter Victor Reed that resulted in their love child Christopher. David knew Victor very well. They used to be friends, and Victor at one time worked on the Collinwood land as a handy man.

"While I worked for Victoria in The Organization ...it was just something that happened David. It was all confusing, it was all about that damn woman and what she wanted us to do to this family." Kimberly lamented.

"What does she want with us?" David asked.

As Kimberly opened her mouth to speak she saw the reflection in the widows behind David of her sister again in a now familiar stance: putting her finger over her lips and trying to hush Kim.

"Are you ok?" David asked noticing Kim freeze in fear of the vision.

"I'm fine. ...yes... All I know I was here to do what Vickie did years ago. Just to come in and ...." Kim said as she noticed her sister's image in the glass growing angrier with every word Kim spoke.

In the reflection Joanna opened her mouth and appeared to scream but nothing came out. There was a vibration billowing out of her mouth that no one could see, but it was strong enough to ripple into the space around Kimberly and break the glass of brandy in her hand.

"Oh my god!" David said instantly grabbing Kim's cut hand.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Kim said terrified of her dead sister in the glass now smiling an evil grin.

Kim and David walked over to the small bar in the office, he wrapped her hand in a white cloth and looked deep into her eyes. After all these years and after all the betrayals and secrets, there was still something there, he still loved Kim.

The man in the walls began to have flashes of more memories. These were stranger. He began to see David in a fight. But the fight was with two other men dressed in all black. From the point of view of the memory the masked man was cowering in a corner watching. The flashes of memory came quick, almost like slides from a projector.

He shook his head, it must have been something he saw at Victoria's hide out. These memories weren't real, he thought, just things that were planted in his head.

The man in the mask left Kim and David in their room and came back to Library where Kat was. He could see through the cracks of a secret passage door that lead from the Library into the walls and into private passageways not many knew about. At first, the masked man thought the room was empty, but there in the corner stood Sebastian. Kat had retired for the night.

Sebastian drank the rest of the chocolate drink he had made for Kat while they talked small talk about her pregnancy but then, something happened.

From a darkened corner two piercing eyes floated out into the room. Then a shape in of a black mass started to form around the eyes that made a head then a neck and shoulders and then a torso and legs. The black mass transformed into Barnabas Collins.

Sebastian dropped his cup that spilled to the floor as the masked man watched in shock. The monster from the projections Victoria had been showing him was real and was just as viciously looking as he had been trained to believe.

"What do you want?" Sebastian said backing away from Barnabas.

"Listen to my voice Mr. Banning. Listen to it carefully and well...." Barnabas began as he lifted his arm up, his fingers all pointing Sebastian's way.

The masked man wasn't sure what to do, his orders were not to strike until Victoria instructed him, but now someone from his side was under attack. He had to do something.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!" Sebastian yelled again as he backed into a large oak wooden table.

"Victoria Winters. Where is she?" Barnabas said in a solid cold voice.

Sebastian shook his and closed his eyes knowing exactly what Barnabas was trying to do, the hypnosis wouldn't work. It could'tn work! Sebastian had been sworn to secrecy.

"You know where she is, you know what she wants...send me there, Mr. Banning. Send me to her so that she and I can meet face to face. I am what she wants." Barnabas said lifting his hand directly into Sebastian's face.

As the masked man watched from behind the walls he struggled nervously to reach for his bag to pull out the cell phone Victoria had given him. He needed to tell her what he was seeing.

 Sebastian turned his face, his body frozen in fear, and closed his eyes to avert himself from Barnabas and his hypnotic stare, but Barnabas' strength had centuries on Sebastian's restraint.

Barnabas grabbed Sebastian the neck and turned his head revealing the perfect vein for Barnabas to sink his teeth into. His' eyes turned to jet black his mouth opened wide,  revealing the razor sharp fangs ready to pierce Sebastian's thick neck.

"Hesitance and restraint, Mr. Banning causes the heart to beat faster and makes me thirstier. Open your eyes and trust, that if the truth flows from your lips, blood will not flow from your beck." Barnabas said tightening his grip on Sebastian's pulsing neck.

"I can't!" Sebastian squirmed.

Barnabas tightened his grip again, "Where is Victoria Winters?!" He said this time in a vigorous grown.

Sebastian opened his eyes and turned to Barnabas, who's face was white and gaunt, teeth raging with thirst and eyes black as the night sky. And soon Sebastian succumb to the hypnosis of those eyes, the darkness enveloping his whole body, relaxing his muscles, calming his heart beat.

"Victoria...." Sebastian said in a sleepy voice.

"Yes....where is she Mr. Banning."

Sebastian took a deep breath, his eyes glazed and in a trance and said "Seaview. Victoria is at Seaview Cottage."

Barnabas instantly knew the name. Seaview Cottage was the two story home down on the sea-shore that the Collins family owned and had been Willed to Vickie after Elizabeth's death.

And just like that, the moment Sebastian released Victoria's location, the room returned to it's normal composure and  Barnabas had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared leaving Sebastian on the floor coughing and grasping at his neck. He was only one of a few that had survived Barnabas Collins.

Inside the walls the masked man in the walls working with Sebastian and Victoria and had watched it all happen finally grabbed a hold of his cell phone to send a frantic message to her.

He typed:

"Sebastian is Compromised....Barnabas knows your loc."

He waited for a response...."Come on, Come on..." he whispered to himself through his black mask.

Then his phone vibrated, a message had come back from his boss Victoria:

"Let him come. I've been waiting many years for a reunion."