Series 6/Chapter 1: BY THE LIGHT OF DAWN

Dawn finally reached the shores of Collinsport. The night previous had seen the new branch of the Collins family torn apart within only hours of it's creation thanks to a culmination of a five decades long lie. Victoria Winters had been manipulated and lied to all her life and because of that her decision to take Caleb and Kat's new baby son away to another dimension of time would send ripples through the family for generations to come.

At Collinwood, the family awoke after a terrible night's sleep and all awaited news from Barnabas who had offered himself to get the baby back from Victoria, after all he had the most history with her. If anyone could reason with Vickie once the truth about her birth family was revealed it would be Barnabas.

Caleb was now in his own bed under a medically induced sleep while Kat sat at his bed sight staring at the man she loved. The man she thought had perished in a plane crash and thanked God he had returned. It was all, of course, bitter sweet. Caleb returned but their baby was stolen by a woman out for revenge. It was all too hard to comprehend.

There was an autumn chill in the room. Kat could feel it all through the air and down to her bones. As Caleb rested she stepped over to his side of the bed and carefully pulled the blanket higher, making sure he was snuggled in. She rubbed her exposed arms and looked for a small sweater to keep warm when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Kat quickly rushed over so that another knock wouldn't wake Caleb. She opened the door and standing there was her partner at the police station, Detective Loomis McGovern.

"We need to talk!" Loomis said in a hushed voice.

Kat shushed him and pushed Loomis back into the hallway away from her sleeping boyfriend. and closed the door behind her.

"What are you in here? Have you heard anything about the baby? Do you have any leads?" Kat said, her own detective skills rushing back to her.

"The housekeeper let me in, and no, not yet, we're still looking. We're doing our best under the circumstances." Loomis stated.

"What do you mean?" Kat responded.

"Kat, I can't help feel that there's something else going on here. If the family wont fully cooperate I can't really help find your son. I need all the information. I need to know everything! You know how these investigations work." Loomis explained.

"Look, I get it, but I can assure you, I don't think anyone really knows more than they're saying." Kat fibbed. "You have to understand, they're a very guarded family and they have lot of trouble trusting people who are on the outside looking in. When something happens to one of their own, they clam up and try to figure everything by themselves. This is my son who's missing, so trust me, if you need to know something I'd make sure you knew it. " Kat added.

"Something like why the man we all thought died in a plane crash is asleep in your bed?" Loomis pointed out. "Whats going on with that? You got some creative explanation for that one too?" he continued sarcastically.

"Actually I do! The person that took my baby is also responsible for faking Caleb's death." Kat explained.

"The person who took your baby? So you know who took the baby? Kat...you need to start being honest with me, or we're going to have some real issues here, and I don't mean you and I, I'm talking about the law." Loomis explained.

Kat took a deep breath and looked around hoping no one in the family had woken up and heard them talking.

"If I tell you what's going on, or at least what I've been told is going on, can you keep it to yourself until I know more?" Kat asked cautiously.

"That all depends, how bad is it?" Loomis questioned.

"To be honest, I don't even know how bad. But I think if you can keep this on the down low, everything will sort itself out. The family has faith in .....well, in it's solution and I'm going to trust them on....for now." Kat said to a confused Loomis.

Loomis, was a good cop, and he knew that Kat was a good cop too even if she had been off the force for some time dealing with her personal issues. He could sense that whatever it was she knew about the kidnapping she felt somewhat confident about and had no choice but to trust her. If her gut said to trust the Collins family then Loomis felt compelled to go along with it.

For now.

"Fine, I wont't feed anything to the investigation but you have to make sure that I'm kept in the loop. No matter what Kat. Hear me?" Loomis answered.

Kat nodded her head in agreement.

"Hey." Loomis said as he made his way back down the hallway to leave "you've only got a few days before I start asking more questions so whatever these mysterious plans are they better be working to an end in three days, otherwise, I'm jumping in." Loomis warned.

"Fine." Kat whispered.

****

A stranger in town looked down at a small cocktail napkin that had been turned into a crude drawing of a small section of Collinsport drawn by the manager of The Blue Whale. The map was to help him find his way to the great house on the cliff. The house all the locals knew very well indeed.

The stranger, bundled up in his thick scarf and blue coat. He felt the kiss of the autumn breeze on his lips and cheeks. He looked out on to the damp streets of Collinwood, the wailing horns of the ships heading out to sea in the background made for a perfect scenery in this seaside village he had heard so much about from his father, a former Collinsport resident himself, who had a very vivid memory after all.

He looked down at the crude napkin map and started off to his final destination. The front door to Collinwood manor to find all the answers he was looking for, but first he had to prepare. What he needed to do would take time, and before he met finally met up with the Collins family, he needed to know what he was in for.

Nothing or no one, here or else where, would get in his way. This was his destiny.

****

Carolyn stood in the downstairs sitting room as she watched the morning sun creep over the lush hills of Collinwood that stretched all the way to jagged seaside cliffs where the ocean bashed it's forceful hand against the black rocks of Collinsport shore. She stood like a mirror image of her Mother Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard who stared out that same window often lost in thought and deep contemplation.

Carolyn walked over from the window and picked up a photograph of her departed mother and caressed the glass edges of the frame. She wondered what her mother would do in this situation. What would she do to help find Kat and Caleb's baby? What would she do to help Victoria see that the family wasn't her enemy? She could almost hear her mother's voice telling her to carry one, to keep moving forward...keep the family together.

But it wasn't only up to Carolyn, it really all hung on whether or not Barnabas could get through to Vickie and stop her from harming the baby in whatever capacity that might entail.

Carolyn's thoughts and daze were soon broken when she heard a knock at the door. At first she thought it was just her imagination, who could be at the house at such an early time, but then there was another knock, this one much more frantic and loud, it startled Carolyn to the point where she froze in the drawing room, terrified of who might be on the other side.

As the knocking subsided, Carolyn carefully walked through the drawing room and into the foyer where she met David who also heard the knocks from the kitchen and was coming to answer them.

"It's 7am, who could that be?" David said to Carolyn who had a worried look on her face.

"I'm almost scared to even think." She responded as she slowly kept back  away from the door.

"Barnabas?" David whispered. "But ...there's sun light!" He continued

David then carefully walked to the door when the knocks came more and more frequent and impatient. David quickly unlocked and opened the door to see Father Joseph standing on the other side sweating and out of breath.

"My god! Father Joseph! Come in! Come in!" Elizabeth said rushing over to the elderly priest.

"Carolyn...." the priest panted as he fall into David's arms.

"David take him into the drawing room and lay him down on the sofa. I'll grab something for him to drink."

"What happened?" David asked of the priest who did not answer.

"He looks like he's in shock. He's dripping wet!" Carolyn said bringing Father Joseph a glass of water. "Here, drink slowly." She added assisting the old man.

"Victoria....she had a baby. She took the baby into the light with the dark man." Father Joseph said as he gasped for air.

"A dark man...?" David parroted in a confused tone and still trying to calm the hysterical priest.

Joseph pushed David aside and wiped the sweat that was pouring from his forehead and down his face and puddling around his collar. He  looked up at the portrait of Barnabas and then at Carolyn. It was very clear who Joseph meant.

"The dark man from ...that painting!" Father Joseph said as he caught his breath again pointing at the Barnabas' steely look in the painting that surrounded so much of the myth and legend of Collinsport folklore.

"Father Joseph, did you go see Victoria? You saw her?" Carolyn questioned.

"I went to see her to tell her the truth. I could no longer keep this secret in my heart and knowing that she was causing so many problems within her own family based on something I did, a lie... based on a lie!!" Father Joseph explained.

"And what happened? Where is Vickie now?" David asked as he took the now empty glass of water away.

"She's gone. She....they....they've just vanished." Father Joseph answered.

"I don't understand, you saw them leave Collinsport? Did Barnabas go with them?" David probed.

"You don't understand. Victoria has gone off the rails. When I told her the truth, that I was her father and that Elizabeth was her mother I could see it register with  her, but she still had other plans. This....this man, this dark man from the depths of ...I don't know where...he interrupted us. They fought and she escaped him." The priest explained.

"Where did she escape to? Can you describe her car?" Carolyn questioned still not knowing the full extent of what the priest actually saw.

"No! NO! Listen, she' vanished into thin air. She's gone! She opened a portal and broke the seal between this time and another time and entered in. She took the baby and Barnabas followed her." The priest finally admitted.

"What? This isn't making any sense." David responded frustrted with the Priest.

"You have to believe me!!" Joseph begged.

"Carolyn... come on, are we really going to..." David, every the skeptic begin before being interrupted.

"What is he talking about!?!" A voice said from the entrance of the drawing room.

 David and Carolyn turned around and it was Kat who was still awake from her visit with Loomis earlier that morning. Her eyes still puffy from crying herself to sleep.

"Where's Barnabas?" Kat continued to ask.

The two Collins cousins looked at each other, still conflicted over what Father Joseph had said about Barnabas following Vickie to another dimension with the new baby.

The worst part was, no one knew how to explain it to Kat.

****

It was dark. It was foggy. So foggy the sky was blank and covered, not a single star could be seen. Barnabas lay face down in the wet grass deep in a wooded area. He lifted his face from the ground and looked about his surroundings. These were woods he was oddly familiar with, yet still seemed foreign to him.

He raised himself from the ground and dusted himself off. The wet dew still clung to the skin of his face like droplets on rose petals. He looked around for any sign of Victoria and the baby, but did not see them. Just the grey autumn tress clutching to the night fog.

He slowly crept around the strange wooded area, listening as close as he could to every sound he heard. Those were the sounds of nocturnal creatures such as himself scurrying away as he got close. An owl beckoning an alarm to the rest of the woods from his high perch, Barnabas was an intruder in their world.

Suddenly a different type of rustling came from a far left side of him behind a thicket or brush. Barnabas quickly dashed through fallen branches and dead leaves to follow the scattering sound and try to reach it. He pushed aside the overgrown bushes and wet plant life and saw on the other side of a wide empty and grassy area a shadow qucikly making it's way through to another densely wooded area.

"Victoria." Barnabas whispered  to himself as he quickly followed.

Barnabas chased the shadowy figure as fast as he could, dodging and moving about the forest like a wild animal chasing it's prey. At one point he could almost make out an image clearly, but the fog became too thick and left Barnabas dazed and disoriented.

Then the shadowy figure was gone. It simply disappeared within the thicket of trees.

Barnabas stood alone in the woods, listening as close as he could to the sounds of the night to help guide him. He closed his eyes and extended his hands held his breath, the earth below his feet began to break, the leaves above his head attached to the trees began to break and fall all around him. The air became colder, like the very minute an ice storm begins. Barnabas was summoning whatever spirits of this mysterious  place he could that would grab hold of his hands and show him the way to where every Victoria was hiding the baby.

Out of the fog and mist of the land humanoid shape appeared dressed in white. The mist flowed from below it as the shape hovered over the wet grass.

 The spirit's face was covered by a mask of fog, empty, no eyes, no mouth just blank and gaunt. When Barnabas opened his eyes and saw it directly in front of him he could feel it's energy pulsing through his own body.

"What are you?" Barnabas asked of the spirit, his tone of voice strong and demanding.

The spirit, floating above the ground in a cloak of mist and clouds only pointed to a small path hidden by a patch of thorny bushes.

"Where does that take me? Answer me!" Barnabas again demanded of the spirit without a face.

It did not answer, but only moved closer to the opening of the path still pointing the way.

Barnabas cautiously walked past the smokey spirit still floating above the ground and still pointing the way to the path. He looked into the direction of the path, it was dark, the canopy of dead tree branches above looked like hundreds of skeleton bones pointing in the same direction of the spirit.

When Barnabas looked back, the spirit was gone, only the plumes of fog remained dancing above the wet ground.

He took a breath and turned back and followed the dark path as it carved it's way through the forest's shadows. Barnabas was not in fear, but he was on high alert. He knew that the shadowy figure he was chasing had to be Vickie and the baby, and he also knew that he was not in the same time period as before, knowing which time Vickie's portal took him to was paramount. Not knowing gave Vickie the upper hand, and the path he was following could lead him into a trap.

His hyper awareness was a powerful and natural ability of his. But he soldiered on in the darkness and along the bath the cloud spirit silently pointed to.

Barnabas followed this dirt path for what seemed like hours, and during that time all he heard were the sounds of owls in flight, creatures darting away from his every step and the crunching and cracking sounds of the dirt and branches below his feet, but as he got closer to the end of the path he heard the sea. The sea crashing up against rocks. The sea sloshing its powerful breast upon a rocky shore line, it was a sound Barnabas was one hundred percent familiar with. and when he came to the opening of the path he saw something he had no expectation of seeing:

Collinwood Manor in the year 1920.

Series 5/Chapter 11: FATHER, DAUGHTER & THE EVIL SPIRIT

The night was slowly creeping towards the morning with dawn only inches away from crowning the sky with a new day. Still the starts lingered above the great house known as Collinwood like a celestial patchwork glistening in a purple sky where the Collins family was left reeling after Vickie's tumultuous returns to the house.

In the drawing room, the family gathered but there was a strain in the room. Detective Loomis McGovern had finally come at his partner Kat's request about the kidnapping of her new baby and the disappearance of her brother Sebastian who went missing at the same as the kidnapping.

Carolyn sat nervously while Kat filled Loomis in on all the details, but deep down she knew that the police could not be involved, especially if Barnabas had plans to take on Vickie. She would have to make sure Loomis stayed off of Victoria's trail so that Barnabas could handle the situation as he wished.

"And you didn't see Sebastian come in and take the baby?" Loomis asked trying to connect the two missing people to a tearful and worried Kat.

"No, when I went into labor he went out to get the car and then never came back. When I fell asleep he must of come back for the baby, but I don't know why. I don't know whats going on with him." Kat answered as Kimberly tried to comfort her.

"The last time you and I spoke you mentioned you felt something was going on with him. You said that he might be keeping something from you. Did he act strangely again?" Loomis continued to probe.

"Loomis, I think it's time we let Kat rest, don't you? I'm sure the police are doing all the can; can't we pick this up later in the day?" Carolyn said trying to get rid of Loomis.

"Are you serious right now?" Loomis asked as he and Kat looked at Carolyn like she was crazy.

"I insist. If Sebastian was in any way involved with the kidnapping, I'ms sure has't gone far and Kat really needs to rest, she just gave  birth! Kimberly hasn't even had time to examine her fully." Carolyn continued.

"I'm sure Dr. Collins can do that after I get all the information I need, isnt that right?" Loomis asked Kim.

"Well..." Kim began before being interrupted by Carolyn again.

"Detective. I don't want to be rude. But again, I insist, Kat needs to rest. Please come back later." Carolyn said sternly.

"It's fine Loo, Carolyn's cousin Barnabas is out looking for them too, maybe you can catch up to him and see if he's found anything." Kat said to a stunned room.

"Barnabas?" Loomis asked suspiciously. "Is he in law enforcement? I'm confused...why would he be out looking?" the detective continued.

"Detective, I'd really like Kat to get some rest. She's had a very traumatic night it would be really be better if you came back. You have enough information don't you?" Kimberly asked, picking up where Carolyn left off.

Loomis looked over at his detective partner Kat who had her head buried in Alex's lap and in tears. He noticed that she was very distraught and felt felt that he needed to go.

But Loomis' gut was telling him there was more to the story, as there always was when a Collins was involved, but there was nothing he could do. Carolyn and Kimberly were adamant on his departure.

"I'll put an A.P.B out and an Amber Alert. As soon as I hear anything  I'll call you." Loomis said as he looked at each family member.

As soon as Loomis closed the front door to the house, Carolyn let Kat in on what was happening.: they were buying Barnabas time to get to Vickie before any law enforcement got involved.

"I'm sorry, Kat, I had to make sure Loomis was gone." Carolyn said making sure the coast was clear. "I know that all of this seems insane, but Barnabas went after the person who took the baby." Carolyn explained.

"Sebastian? Was it my brother?" Kat asked as she sat up on the sofa.

"No, darling it wasn't your brother. Alexandra and I saw last night Victoria Winters leave with the baby. We interrupted her in the moment but we weren't able to stop her." Carolyn continued to explain.

"Victoria?! Who is that? What does she want with my baby?" Kat asked confused.

"Vickie is an old family ....well, Vickie is my estranged sister; and for some reason she believes taking your baby will settle a score between her and the family. I'm so sorry darling we should have told you.... the baby is with her.

"Why would your cousin go after her?" Kat asked still trying to piece the story together.

"They have a long-long-history and we cannot involve the police if we're going to get the baby back safe." Carolyn continued.

"I don't understand any of this!" Kat said jolting up and going towards the window that stared out into darkness, the sea air flowing in from the open window and brushing up in her hair. "If Vickie took my baby, then where's my brother? Where is Sebastian?" She added.

"Oh, Kat I wish we had all the answers." A consoling Kimberly said.

"Barnabas....can we trust him?" Kat asked of the family.

David and Carolyn, who knew Barnabas the longest confirmed that, yes, Barnabas was a trust worthy member of the family despite knowing what they knew about him.

Kat then looked over at Kimberly, a former member of Vickie's made up Organization, a woman who had centered almost her whole life's work into infiltrating the family by marrying David and using all the information she gathered against them had second thoughts. All Kim was taught about Barnabas and those like him was to never trust them, never love them, and make sure they never had a chance to corrupt another living soul.

Kim's heart was beating fast. Her years and years of working and training with this so called organization burned inside her and all she wanted to do was tell Kat to grab her things and save herself from the clutches of the Collins family...a family she was herself a part of. But with all her might, Kim kept her composure and grabbed Kat's hand.

"There's more more...Vickie faked Caleb's death. She had him this whole time." Kimberly added to the mix.

"What?...... Caleb's alive?? Where is he??" Kat screeched at Kim for more details.

"He's in my laboratory resting. It's been a long night for everyone." Kim explained.

"I want to see him! I need to see him!" Kat screamed.

Kim nodded in agreement and grabbed Kat's hand and carefully walked her to the laboratory to see Caleb who, from all Kim knew, was still fighting off his restraints. Kim had no idea what state Caleb would be in when Kat got there, but she knew she could not keep them apart any longer.

As they came to the laboratory door that once belonged to Dr. Julia Hoffman, Kim turned and stood in Kat's way and grabbed her shoulders.

"Now listen, he's been through a lot. There is a lot of mental trauma and brainwashing that has occurred and we're working on reversing it, he may not respond to you all that well. Also, Christopher is in there too. He had ....an episode last night. So just be prepared." Kim warned.

"An episode? What do you mean?" Kat questioned.

Kim took a break and knew she couldn't lay any more on Kat, she was going through enough. Telling her Christopher was a werewolf might just throw her over the edge of hysteria. Another lie had to be spun.

"Well, he has epilepsy and sometimes he has these violent episodes. It's something we're taking care of. That's all." Kat said twisting the truth.

As the walked into the lab,  Alex was watching over a sleeping Christopher who was in a cage now in his human form, still sleeping after he dragged off Sebastian to parts unknown that same night when he was in wolf form. Alex comforted her sedated boyfriend while caring for her own bruises from the tussle with Victoria just hours early.

David was standing over a woozy Caleb and ushered Kat over his bedside with a warm smile.

Kat's eyes were bombarded by confusing images of cages, dart guns and medical equipment as she looked around the lab. Why was Chris in a cage if he just had epilepsy? But none of that really mattered because tied to a bed was the love of her life, the father of her new born son and the man she thought had died in a plane crash.

Kat rushed over to him and collapsed at his side burring her face in his chest. Her tears ran down her face, the happiness, the saddens had all taken it's toll on her to the point it even effected David and Kimberly who comforted each other at the site of such love.

Even after their own ugly divorce, David and Kim still felt love for each other, and seeing their son and his girlfriend so much in love, warmed their hearts.

"I know your face. I saw it. I saw it over and over again. I know your face." Caleb whispered.

"It's me, It's Kat." Kat whispered back as she grabbed his face as if to feel he was real.

"Kat." Caleb repeated knowing the name was right.

"I thought you were gone forever. I thought we'd never see you again, but you're back. And I will never ever let you go again." Kat cried.

"Kat. I love Kat." Caleb answered and smiled as his mind began to connect the dots.

****

Meanwhile, through the foggy mists of the shore and as the sky remained in its purple pre-dawn haze, Father Joseph slowly walked up to Seaview house, the former Collin's seaside residence that was Willed to Victoria by Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard.

Father Joseph knew that he was solely responsible for all of Vickie's actions thanks to his fabricating  the death of Vickie's "real parents" and the creating the biggest lie of them all: the make-believe Organization of hunters of the undead. All of it a rouse he created just to get Vickie back into Collinwood so that she could be with Elizabeth, her real birth mother.

Father Joseph, had no idea it would have gone this far and had never expected the myths and fables of the secrets of the Collins family to be true.

But they were, and Vickie had been battling them for over 50 years under the guise she was battling them for a cause. She wasn't.

Now, as he stood at the door of Seaview he was going to end it. He was going to tell Vickie the truth: He was her father, and Elizabeth was her mother. Vickie was conceived by virtue of love, but under a circumstance neither Elizabeth nor Joseph could foresee. He was a priest, and Elizabeth was betrothed to Paul Stoddard.

With this information revealed to his biological daughter,  Father Joseph was going to make Vickie stop what she was doing and rightfully join her family. He had to do it, for Elizabeth's sake, for Vickie's sake, and for his own moral conscious.

Father Joseph turned the door knob and was surprised that it was unlocked. He pushed the wooden door open that had been battered by years of salty ocean winds and slowly walked into the front room that was just as Elizabeth had left it. Comfortable. Clean. Welcoming.

He continued on his way and turned down a narrow hallway the lead him to a kitchen where Victoria was standing holding a baby and feeding it with a bottle.

She looked up and saw the priest and quickly pulled a gun from an open kitchen counter drawer.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Vickie said with one arm holding Kat and Caleb's baby the other extended pointing a gun.

"Victoria don't you remember my face? I came to you many years ago while you were in New York. I told you about your family. Do you remember?" Father Joseph said raising his hands in the air.

Victoria squinted and suddenly the tiny blue eyes on the man in front of her were the same tiny blue eyes of one of the men she remembered who came to her to tell her about The Organization and how she could help them. He was the first man who showed her the photo of the painting of Barnabas Collins who Vickie wouldn't meet until a full year after she was David's Governess.

"You're with The Organization. What are you doing here?" Vickie said putting the gun down.

"No, I'm not. Vickie there is no Organization. I'm sorry. It was all a lie. I've come here to confess this...to tell you that it was all lie and that your birth parents were never killed by some malevolent make-believe being the Collins family was hiding. I made it all up! It should have never gotten this far." Father Joseph quickly confessed.

"What? What are you talking about? How could it all have been a lie? The things I saw and experienced were real. The torture I went through 50 years ago...none of that was a lie." Vickie demanded.

"No Vickie, it was....I was hiding a secret ...I made it all up to conceal the truth. Your mother and I wanted to make sure our daughter was close but without a story, a sort of reasoning for you to come to Collinsport I didn't know how I could get you back. It's all my fault." Father Joseph answered.

"My mother? Did you know my parents?" She questioned.

"Yes. Elizabeth was your mother Victoria, and I am your father. We had an affair shortly after she became engaged to Paul Stoddard and after I joined the seminary. My name is Father Joseph Helsing. You are my daughter." Father Joseph continued to confess.

"NO! That's not true! You told me the Collins family was responsible for my birth parents death. That they had everything to do with it, now you're saying you made it all up? Everything I have done has been for nothing??" Vickie questioned in a loud voice as she cradled the baby.

"It's true Victoria. Everything has been for nothing." A voice said from behind Father Joseph.

Standing behind him, dressed in his signature black pea-coat and cane was Barnabas. He was there to return the baby and right the wrongs of so many things Vickie had done.

Vickie raised her gun again and pointed it at Barnabas but she knew that she didn't have silver bullets. Nothing in that gun would take down Barnabas and he knew it too. His mind was linked to her's like a laser. He knew her thoughts and could feel her pulse beginning to race. He stepped forward and slowly crossed Father Joseph who instantly recognized him from the portrait he once showed Vickie.

A portrait of a man he believed to be long dead, a portrait of a man the people of Collinsport believed lived among them almost 50 years ago as a man of the shadows, a man of the darkness. A vampire!

"Dear God, it's you. YOU'RE ALIVE?" Father Joseph explained.

"That's right, this is the demon I thought you were warning me about 50 years ago. Go on, show him your crucifix." Vickie instructed the priest.

Father Joseph looked at Vickie in total confusion. He pulled out the cross from around his neck slowly and pointed it at Barnabas who quickly hissed and pulled the corner of his coat over his face. The bright sparkle of the cross shined so bright in his eyes it seemed to burn.

"Dear god!" Father Joseph yelled.

Barnabas, still covering his face dashed over and started to pull the now crying baby from Vickie's arms. In the struggle the baby bottle fell to the floor breaking open and spilling the whitest milk all over the small kitchen floor.

Father Joseph stood in shock and awe at what he was witnessing. All these years he believed the fables of the Collins family were all just small town gossip but now in  his heart he could feel the ungodliness in the room floating around them like the heavy mist of the sea.

"Help! He can't take this baby back!" Victoria yelled at her birth father.

Father Joseph quickly ran over and grabbed on to the baby that was now in a tug of war between Barnabas and Vickie, Barnabas opened his mouth revealing his fangs. He hissed and turned his head and snapped at Father Joseph who screamed and fell to the floor in utter terror of the site.

In his struggle, Barnabas somehow lost grasp of the baby who was utterly hysterical. Vickie then pushed Barnabas aside and dashed out of the room. Her plan wasn't to leave with the baby at day-break to a place no one would find. She could no longer wait.

They were waiting for her on the other side.

****

The morning sky was still dark and the manager of the Blue Whale was just coming in to start his shift. He walked up to the back door and slowly turned his key. He stepped in and turned on the lights and watched them as they flickered one by one on the ceiling. He walked over to the back of the bar and put his things down.

He began his morning prep of the bar for the early morning fisherman who would be coming in for before their next trip out to sea for the next big catch. He started the coffee machines, wiped down the tables. Suddenly there was a knock at the main entrance.

"Who the hell could that be?" He said as he threw his cleaning rag over his shoulder.

He went over to the front door and lifted the shade then unlocked the door and opened it.

Standing there was a handsome man with a short beard and tight dark beard with a full head of thick brown hair. The man turned, shivering in the pre-dawn chilly Collinsport air. He threw a cigarette from his mouth and to the street.

"Hi-ya!" the handsome man said.

"Mornin', listen we don't open 'for another 2 hours." The manager of The Blue Whale said.

"Oh! Shoot, sorry about that, I'm kinna knew around here. I didn't really know. Mind if I come in and keep you company? Just until you open?" The man said.

The manager thought this was odd but given the stranger's kind face, he let him in.

"Just don't tell anyone will ya? I don't want a rumor going on around town saying I'm a softy for a shivering stranger." The Bar's manager joked. "So, just passing through or sticking around?" He continued as he cleaned a fresh coffee mug up for the stranger..

"That all depends really. I'm looking for someone that I think might be in town." The stranger said.

"Oh? Well they're aint anybody in this town I haven't seen at least once. Who ya lookin for?" The bartender asked as he poured a the hot coffee into the white mug.

"Well, that's just it, I don't really know if she's here. It's a possibility. She used to live here for many  years but went away....anyway, I thought maybe I'd look for her here, in Collinsport, before I went anywhere else." The stranger explained.

"Oh? Come on now! Don't be coy...like I said I've seen and heard it all. Who ya lookin for?" The bar manager asked again.

"My mother. Maggie Evans, have you seen her?" The stranger asked to a shocked bar manager who hadn't heard Maggie's name after she supposedly died at Windcliff Sanitarium.

No one in Collinsport had known that Maggie had faked her death by switching identities with another patient that died at the sanitarium.

At hearing Maggie's ghostly name the bartender dropped the other glass he was cleaning to the floor shattering it. He reached down and picked up some of the shards and looked up at the stranger with a face that was pale and cold looking.

"Are you ok?" The stranger asked noting the bartender's sudden change in appearance and behavior.

"Son, I think you're looking in the wrong place." The bartender responded cryptically

The bartender then placed the broken pieces of mug down and grabbed a pen and a cocktail napkin from behind the bar and drew three straight lines that intersected and one long winding and curved line that led to the far corner of the napkin. At the end of the long curvy line he placed the letter C in a circle and slid the napkin over to the stranger.

"Here, take this. It's a map. The people at the end of that map, right there, where that letter is, they'll know all about your mom." The bartender explained.

"I don't understand, where does this take me?" the stranger asked.

"It takes you to Collinwood."

****

Back at Seaview cottage Barnabas chased Vickie into a room that she had locked. He pounded and pushed his body to open the door.

"Leave her!!!" Father Joseph screamed.

Barnabas turned back to the sound of Joseph's voice and instantly regretted it. The priest was standing directly behind him holding out the crucifix directly in Barnabas' face.

Barnabas yelled a pain an inhuman scream and instantly fell to the floor covering his eyes, the feeling of a deep burn tearing at his corneas.

Joseph continued to hold the cross over Barnabas with his right hand, and with  his left shoulder pushed and pounded on the door Vickie was behind, eventually gaining access and what he saw in that room would change him as a man of the cloth forever.

The room was ice cold with ice hanging from every corner. As Joseph looked into the room in horror his heavy breath could be seen floating in the icy room like the steam of a locomotive.

There standing before a giant time vortex of white and blue light swirling in cold air in the center of the room coming from the small oracle from Vickie's Ouija board. The same board that a only a few weeks ago she contacted someone or something on the other side.

Her plan was to jump through the vortex that would instantly plunge her into a different time saving the baby from what she thought would be a life of terror and pain at the hands of the Collins family and their ties to the supernatural, thus once again shifting through time and dropping them safely somewhere Barnabas or anyone else could ever get to them.

Vickie, after all, was no stranger to time travel. She had been subjected to it's perils many times in her past.

"Victoria!!!" The priest screamed at Vickie as she and the baby inched closer and closer to opening time channel vortex.

The powerful winds swirled around yanking at Vickie's hair and clothes. The room began to feel like a giant frozen vacuum pulling papers and thing that weren't held down into the vortex with Vickie and the baby.

"This child must never know the life of a Collins. I have to keep it safe." Vickie said as she turned slowly around to Father Joseph.

"Vickie no!" Father Joseph screamed as he saw Vickie slowly go closer and closer into the swirling pool of light and suddenly get swallowed up entirely.

Father Joseph braced himself against the door frame. He could  now only see the outline of Vickie and the baby get smaller and smaller as the opening of the vortex which began to contract and get smaller and smaller closing the time portal to the other side.

As the portal began to close, Barnabas got up, still writhing in pain from the Priest's crucifix. He pushed Joseph aside and ran towards the opening. It was closing quickly and if Barnabas was going to keep his promise to the family and save the baby, he had to get into that portal too.

The portal began to shut faster and faster. Barnabas made two quick skips and jumped into the vortex following Vickie and the baby milliseconds before it closed leaving the room dark, cold and in a total icy disarray.

Father Joseph stood at the door way, his hands clutching his crucifix so tight that it broke the skin in the palm of his hands. His mind could not compute and process what he had just witnessed. He stood there, alone,  in shear disbelief.

Vickie, the baby and Barnabas were gone.

Series 5/Chapter 10: THE MIND GAMES OF WAR

In the late hours of the night, the house was finally still even with the excitement and confusion of what was happening. Christopher was still in his wolf form but sedated and locked in a large cage set up for him in the laboratory. David and Kimberly gathered together, not just to care for Christopher who would soon be rid of his curse, but also to see Caleb who David shockingly discovered outside during a fight with his werewolf half-brother.

The family who had assumed Caleb was dead and had mourned him was shocked yet relieved that he was alive. But there were so many unanswered questions to his return. Why was he secretly hiding in the house? Why was he dressed all in black and running around with a mask and weapons?

David and Kimberly reluctantly tied Caleb by his wrists and ankles to a table in the lab until they felt he was no longer a threat. They were concerned that when he finally became conscious he would turn violent and forceful. Tying their son up, they thought, was the only way they'd find out what was happening to him without anyone getting hurt.

As David and Kim toiled in the lab with their two sons, Barnabas suddenly entered the room. Carolyn told him about Caleb's capture after their encounter just hours before in the darkness of one of the sitting rooms on the first floor.

As Barnabas slowly entered, Caleb moaned and rolled his body from left to right. He slowly came to, and opened his eyes. David rushed over and patted his son on the chest to calm him.

"Caleb, can you tell us where you've been? Can you tell us what happened to you?" David asked of his fidgeting son.

"Let me go!!" Caleb yelled angrily.

"You have to tell us what's happened. Why were you hiding here? Where have you been?" David continued.

"It's simple, young David. This is none other then Victoria's doing. She must have understood the terribly irony of the family mourning Caleb's death then place him here hidden in the house this whole time doing --who-- knows what...she wanted to use him against us. His own family." Barnabas stated coldly.

"Oh for God's sake Barnabas!" David scoffed, frustrated with Barnabas' constant conspiracy theories. "None of that matters! Don't you see? My son is alive and that's what matters!" He continued.

"Of course it matters! Can't you see? This was a plot to assassinate us. David, Caleb was here to destroy us for Victoria, once and for all. Caleb, tell them!" Barnabas insisted.

"Son?" Caleb said confused as he looked up at David.

"Yes, I'm your father, and this is your mother. You're home son. You're safe." David said softly disregarding Barnabas and looking into David's eyes that seemed to suddenly soften.

"You doubt me again? After everything that I have said and everything that has happened, you still doubt that Victoria was involved?" Barnabas said matching David's earlier frustrations. "Tell him Kimberly. This is Vickie's doing isn't it!?" Barnabas asked to of Kim who was trying her best to stay out of the argent regarding her former employer Vickie.

"Barnabas, I don't know. I don't know what she's planned with anything. I've left all that behind. I've made that very clear." Kim said as she tended to Caleb's small wounds from Chris's sharp claws.

Barnabas took a frustrated deep breath and grabbed Caleb's face with both hands shoving his parents aside. He held on tightly and looked deep into Caleb's blue eyes while Caleb shifted his body from left to right and left to right, struggling to shake off Barnabas but the vampire was too strong.

"Barnabas what are you doing?!" Kimberly screamed as she watched David try and remove Barnabas from their son's face.

"Caleb, stare into my eyes and let me see deep into your mind. Let me see inside the world that you've been living in for the length of time you we thought you dead.... open up to me and let me in!" Barnabas said in a hypnotic tone.

Instantly Barnabas and Caleb fell into a cohesive deep trans. Their eyes turned to pitch black, and Caleb's memory of the last few weeks started to flow from the depths of his brain into Barnabas' mind. In Barnabas' head he could see everything that had happened since the plane crash; it played out in swift flashes like a film:

The plane crash.   The members of the organization rescuing him but leaving Carolyn.
Waking up a prisoner at Victoria's seaside Cottage.    Brainwashed by the terrible crime photos.
Arriving in Collinwood.     Hiding in the Walls.    Secretly listening to his family.
Fighting with Barnabas in the dark room.    Fighting with Christopher the wolf.

As Barnabas collected the memories from Caleb's brain into his, he reached over and grabbed David's hand but David refused and shoved Barnabas away. With the strength of a thousand men, Barnabas turned and grabbed David by the face and stared into his eyes.

David tried to look away but Barnabas' mind control was too powerful, he and David looked into each other's eyes and everything that poured out of Caleb and into Barnabas then streamed into David's mind like a waterfall of memories, situations and moments from Caleb's short time as Vickie's minion. 

The energy in the lab was electric and had began to fill the space of the room and move the objects of the laboratory. Glasses began to shake, utensils began to twitch, items on desks and tables started to move on their own, all with the power of Barnabas Collin's mind control.

Kim herself began to see the power of Barnabas for the first time since the night at Windcliff Sanitarium when he took her sister Joanna's life. Watching Barnabas remove Caleb's memories and plant them in David was something very familiar to Kim. It was the exact way he deleted her memories of the past.

The strange feeling she had that she had seen this before made her uncomfortable and it made her terrified. 

David stood in Barnabas' grasp for what seemed like forever. The flow of memories was all Barnabas needed to prove his case to David about Victoria and how she was behind it all.

As soon as the flow ended, David pushed Barnabas off of him and the two fell to the floor exhausted and drained of all of their own energy.

"My god Barnabas! Was that necessary?" Kimberly said helping David up from the ground.

"He had to see." Barnabas said stoically. 

"She .....she tortured him." David said in a concerned tone of voice as he rubbed his neck and walked over to Caleb who was still tied up on the table. 

"Who?" Kim asked confused.

"Victoria." Barnabas answered with a tight, angry jaw.

"But how? I don't understand." Kimberly responded again.

"She tied him up and showed him awful things. She tortured our son and then sent him here to kill us. How could she do this? We were like family; she was like family to us!" David said outraged after finally realizing the truth.

"She too has been lied to David, her whole life long. With the past so squarely placed in her present she has had no choice but to look at this family and use it as an excuse to do the things she done. In a way it isn't her fault. Everything she believes is based on a lie she was told. Our job now, is to reverse that. But we do not have much time." Barnabas explained.

"How can we find her? She could be anywhere. Even here, inside Collinwood. Just like Caleb; hiding in the various secret passages we have. You know as well as I do, Barnabas, this house can hide anyone...anywhere and Vickie knows this house better than any of us!" David concluded.

"When the time is right. Vickie will come and everything will change." Barnabas answered as the lights of the lab twinged and blinked off and on as the electricity in the room began to sway back and forth.

"What does that mean? Have you planned something?" Kimberly asked.

"Victoria has one last trick up her sleeve...and when she comes to Collinwood to get what she wants...we'll be ready for her." Barnabas said cryptically.

****

The clock continued it's ticking path towards 2 in the morning and Victoria still had not heard from Caleb, her brainwashed minion she dispatched to Collinwood to hide in the house and watch over the family. He was to report back as soon as Kat had given birth, an act that Vickie herself was responsible for when she ordered Sebastian to medically induce Kat's labor.

She saw that obtaining the new baby would be her crowning glory, saving it from a life of--what she thought--misery and horror withing the walls of Collinwood. A life she lived for years.

Vickie's car pulled up near the front of the main gates of Collinwood. She allowed some distance between herself and the actual entrance as to not been seen. She carefully walked up the small path to the front and looked up and the tall monogrammed gate with the letter C. The moon perfectly encircled by the rusted letter. Vickie walked over to the side of the gate and carefully squeezed her arm through the other side unlatching the emergency lever that opened the gate making it easy for her to slip her sleek body through and up the green hill to Collinwood; the house of horrors she once called home.

As she carefully sneaked through the yard, she remembered that when David was a boy he had found hundreds of secret passages that lead from inside the house to the outer courtyards that separated the main house from the old house--Barnabas' refuge. She was careful to keep herself out of the moon light and beneath the shadows of the thick foliage of the late summer trees as to not be seen.

She crept slowly and quietly to one of David's secret passages remembering how easy it would be to push the opening forward, then lift, then slide the door to the right. It was as if it were just yesterday she'd reluctantly follow David around these places exploring the many secrets of Collinwood.

On the other side, inside the home, Vickie emerged slightly dusty from the piles of ancient dust crowning the door from inside the house. She quietly slid the door closed and entered the main foyer of the house. Her eyes began to water. Everything was almost exactly the same as it once was when she lived there. The smell of the wood. The coolness of the foyer air.

She noticed Carolyn had taken up many of her mother's decorating queues, mixing the old with the new, Especially Elizabeth's favorite rule: always fresh lilies on the mahogany foyer table...which was now a like living monument to Elizabeth's legacy. Vickie cupped one of the lilies in her hand and smiled. She remembered just how much Elizabeth had always watched out for her. Like a best friend. Like a mother.

Time was wasting, and still Vickie had no idea if the baby had been born, but she knew she had to get her hands it, if it was the last thing she ever did; a last ditch effort to destroy the Collins family the way they did her. A revenge plot based on a lie by Father Joseph: Vickie's parents hadn't been killed by the shadowy members of the Collins family, in fact, they were the members of the Collins family!

Vickie's misguided anger and fear toward her birth family were memories she wished she could forget. She knew in her heart what she was doing was the right thing. The baby needed to be saved!

Vickie began her quiet walk towards the stairs that lead to the second floor bedrooms but staring back at her on the wall from in side the main drawing room was a portrait of pure evil. Barnabas!

"He's not real." Vickie whispered to herself noting it wasn't really Barnabas, but his painting.

She continued up the stairs, the house was quiet. She believed that everyone must have been asleep. The moon light bathing the hall way in a cool glow.

As Vickie turned down the hall, Alexandra came out of her bedroom at the opposite end. She was on her way to check on Kat when she noticed Vickie tip-toeing her way down the hall.

For a second Alex's stomach tied into a giant knot, she knew who it was, after all her mother Carolyn had warned that Vickie might try something - anything - including breaking and entering.

Alex had no idea what Vickie's true plan was, but she knew she had to try and stop her.

She had to think fast, and she could feel herself getting nervous and anxious. It was exactly what she needed. Alex's new ability of shape-shifting only worked when she felt like this, and the only way she could get to Vickie was to shape-shift into what Vickie hated most: Barnabas.

Alex closed her eyes and held her breath, her body began to twitch and squirm, she could feel her self quickly turning into what her mind's eyes focused on---then suddenly she opened her eyes and looked into the glass of a frame hanging on the wall to see her reflection.

It had worked. Staring back at her was Barnabas' face. Alex took a deep breath and stampeded down the hall towards Victoria who was slowly making her way to Kat's bedroom where the new baby was. Alex got close then tapped Vickie on the shoulder.

Vickie stopped dead in her tracks and slightly turned her head. In her peripheral vision she could see the dark coat and a shine coming from the golden ring with the black pearl on his hand.

"You survived your first sunrise." Vickie said as she slowly turned to see the fake Barnabas standing behind her.

But Alex kept quiet, she had no idea if her voice would be the same or if Barnabas' would be heard. Within seconds, Alex (as Barnabas) grabbed a hold of Vickie's leather jacked and began to pull her back down the hall toward the staircase, Vickie struggled and pulled back. The two of them pulling back and forth and back and forth knocking over tables and vases in the hall. The noise of the crashing glass startled the new baby and he began to cry.

Vickie heard the cry and instantly turned around towards the sound of the baby allowing a moment for Alex/Barnabas to hit Vickie in the shoulder knocking her to the floor.

"You bastard!" Vickie yelled from the ground.

Alex/Barnabas then leaned down and grabbed Vickie's foot and again began to drag her to the stairs, forcefully trying with all her might to remove her from the house. Further and further Vickie was dragged until they both got to the top of the stairs.

Vickie grabbed a hold of the bottom of the banister and held on as tight as she could, then with her free foot, Vickie pulled back and lodged it square in Alex/Barnabas' face and watched as Alex lost her balance on the top stair tumbled down the steps to the bottom of the foyer flat on her back.

When Vickie got up from the floor of the hallway she looked down and saw only Alexandra in a back in her normal form unconscious in her nightgown, not the immortal man of the undead Barnabas like she expected.

Vickie gasped and covered her mouth in shock at Seeing Alexandra and not Barnabas but her moment of guilt broke quickly when the baby's cry reminded her of what she had come to Collinwood to do in the first place.

Vickie knew now, that any moment the baby's mother would wake and come to care for him. She had no time to lose. She rushed down the hall and into the room where the baby was.

She opened the door and saw that Kat still had not come into the room. It was now or never. Vickie reached into the baby's bassinet and scooped him up in her arms where he instantly stopped crying.

"I'm going to save you from this place little one. No one is going to hurt you. No one is going to do to you what they did to me. I promise you ...the Collins will never corrupt another living soul so long as I live." Vickie said to the small baby that had yet to be named.

Victoria then turned and dashed down the hall and carefully stepped over Alexandra who was now moaning her way into consciousness.

"Vickie Stop!" A voice said from the top of the stairs.

Victoria looked up and standing there was her half-sister, Carolyn.

But it was no use, Victoria had her mind made up and Carolyn who was still nursing her legs from the plane crash could not make it down the stairs fast enough to catch her. Vickie smiled an evil grin and burst through the front door and back down the main knoll to her awaiting car leaving Carolyn and a now lucid Alexandra helpless.

"Are you ok?" Carolyn asked Alex who was rubbing her neck.

"Fine, Just a little bump here and there. She took the baby!" Alex answered.

"I know, quickly I'll call Loomis McGovern. Wake up Kat, and find David and Kimberly. They must still be in the east wing in the lab." Carolyn ordered.

"How did Kat sleep through all of this?" Alex asked in surprise after the loud noises from her fight with Vickie.

"Kim gave her something to help her sleep." Carolyn answered.

Carolyn quickly made her way into the drawing room to make her phone call to Detective Loomis McGoverm, Kat's partner at the police station. She didn't even stop to turn on the lights. She picked up the old fashioned phone and went to dial, but froze when she felt a chill crawl up her spine and a hand come from behind her that grabbed the phone and hung it up.

"I will handle Victoria." the voice said.

Startled, Carolyn quickly turned and squinted her eyes to see who was in the room with her.

It was Barnabas complete with his cane and coat ready to make his way back to where Victoria took the baby and stop this madness.

"Barnabas!" Carolyn exclaimed.

"The score will be settled cousin Carolyn. Just give me the rest of the night." Barnabas said calmly as he slowly made his way out of the room and out of Collinwood.

"What are going going to do?" Carolyn asked concerned for Vickie's life.

"Save our family. Past. Present and future." Barnabas said as he slowly made his way out into the foyer past Alex, Kat, David and Kim.

Carolyn stood alone in the drawing room as the other's came in to make sense of what just happened.

Kat's breathing shallowed, her mind raced. Her world felt like it had just blown up.

"Can we trust him?" Kat asked of the other family members who could only look at each other as if to wait for someone to say the right hing.

"At this point, we really have no choice." Carolyn said trying to comfort Kat's panic as she looked up at David.

Carolyn and David knew how Barnabas worked. They knew deep in their souls just how Barnabas settles his scores and it made them nervous because as much as he was a loyal to blood family members he was also cunning and unpredictable.