Monday, February 1, 2016

Series 2/Chapter 5: THE BEAST

It was a night of dense fog that lifted up from the cold blackened ocean rocks that crawled across the Maine shoreline. The smoke like sea air surrounded the grounds of Collinwood like an alien presence creeping up around a Alexandra; before her very eyes, the handsome Christopher began to transform into a hideous beast she saw when trapped under Claudia's possession spell. 

 He was the werewolf that Victor and Kimberly hoped would begin the destruction of the Collins family, again in body, soul, blood and bones. 

As Christopher began to change, his body twisted and contorted in every direction. His feet became massive paws with claws so sharp the could slice a human in two with one swipe. But his eyes, his eyes remained the same kind warm eyes Alex had fallen in love with. Those were Christopher's eyes.

Christopher's breath was heavy, a growl vibrated from beneath his thick fur to the floor reaching Alex's feet.

"Chris...?" Alex said, voice trembling. "Chris, it's me. It's Alex." Alexandra continued with one hand extended to keep the Christopher's werewolf body at  bay. 

The werewolf stood up on all floors, his human clothes ripped to rags.
Victor's syringes still sticking up from his furry back. 

Christopher snarled at Alexandra, his breath shooting out from his nostrils like smoke from a chimney in the cold air. He howled a hideous, ravenous howl that was only broken by Carolyn bursting through the front door with a rifle and shooting at him but missing.

Alexandra turned and ran quickly behind her mother who pointed the gun at Christopher who howled again and dashed off into the distance; the night fog of Collinsport swirling in his wake. 

"Chris, he...he ... I don't....?" Alexandra said in a confused panic in attempting to explain what just happened to the gun wielding Carolyn.

"Get inside, quickly." Carolyn said ushering her terrified daughter into the mansion. Once Alex was comfortable by the fire place in the blue room, Carolyn picked up her phone and dialed Leopold.

"Come quickly." She in a serious voice. Knowing that if there was a werewolf on the loose, it wasn't safe for anyone, much less it's mortal enemy. The Vampire.


*   *    *   *

Back at the Blue Wale pub, Caleb tried to explain the odd and sudden exit Leopold had made. But it didn't seem like Kat believed it, as for Kimberly, her only disappointment was that Victor was no where to be found. And she was starting to grow anxious awaiting  news of the plan they had.

"It's getting late anyway, I think I should head back to Collinwood before Carolyn locks me out." Kimberly said half jokingly knowing Carolyn's distaste for her.

Caleb, still angry at his mother Kimberly about the affair she had on his father David with Victor, still felt a responsibility for her and offered her a ride home.

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that." Kim responded tenderly. 

As Caleb paid the bar tab Kimberly stepped outside waiting for Caleb and Kat, she finally got a phone call from Victor who was still at Collinwood looking for Christopher who ran off.

"Kim, you have to get back here as soon as you can!" Victor said out of breath.

"Jesus Victor, I've been trying to get a hold of you! Where are you??" A panicking Kimberly said while trying to whisper her conversation.

"I'm at Collinwood. I used the serum. It worked Kim!" Victor said in an excited tone.

"Oh my god, Where is he, where is Christopher?" Kimberly said now in a serious tone realizing that situation was dangerous.

"Carolyn scared him off, I'm looking for him now. You need to get here! Hurry up!" Victor responded as he cautiously searched the foggy grounds of Collinwood. 

"Victor, you need to have them all in the same place to get this done, do you understand me? It will only work if all of the entire Collins family are home and we end this in one night." Kimberly said turning to the bar door where Kat was standing and listening.

Kimberly hung up the phone and looked at Kat who's internal detective red flags went up.

Kat cautiously walked up to Kimberly: "Everything ok?" she asked ironically.

Kimberly took a breath and smiled coyly. "You know how families are."

"Right. Families can be..... Complicated." Kat answered with a wink. 

"Victor and I are just trying to fix what we did. I'm sure Caleb has filled you in on everything." Kimberly explained.

"No, not everything actually, but I did notice some tension between you two. Is there something I should know?" Kat  said continuing to drill Kim for information. 

 "We're not on the greatest terms. Victor wants to help me make things right with the Collins, mainly with my two sons but I seem to always come up short in these types of situations." Kim said fudging the truth. 

"What situations would that be?" 

"When you have kids, I guess you'll understand." Kim replyed coldly. 

"I have a brother--I get it. What about Caleb's father David? Is he out of the picture?" Kat asked, her mind still in detective mode.

Kim searched for the right words. She wasn't sure just how much Detective Banning actually knew and how much she was trying to extract via Kim. She had to be very careful.


"After David found out about my affair, he left town. I haven't spoken to him in over 20 years. You can imagine how hard that is for Caleb, his father gone, his mother off working in some country not being able to contact him for all these years. Hence the tension." Kim said again trying to deflect the truth. 

"Well it seems you and Victor are trying to somewhat patch things up." Kat answered.

"He's really a good person." 

"Is he, now." Kat said, nodding passive aggressively. Kimberly was up to something, she just didn't know what, but her probing would have to wait as Caleb soon exited the pub and they all made their way to the car and headed to Collinwood.


*   *   *   *

As Kimberly, Caleb and Kat made their way back to Collinwood, Victor searched for Christopher who was scared off by Carolyn's gunshot. 

Victor moved carefully through the  black night and fog, his rifle pointed outward and loaded with a different serum. This time the antidote that would change Christopher back to his regular self.

Victor's flashlight spun around the Collinwood grounds that was blanketed by the dense sea fog that clung to the air in a thick wet mist. 

Victor walked up at the property's edge. He stepped closer and saw that was a large opening in the fence, just large enough for the massive werewolf Christopher to charge through. Victor carefully made his way through and continued on in his search, his hands shaking in fear but Victor tried to convince himself it was the cold that caused his shutters. The truth was Victor was terrified. 

As Victor made his way through the brush and trees, a snarl and growl came from his left side. Victor quickly turned towards the sound and pointed his gun towards it. Then the growl started to come from all around him now, as if circling him.

"Chris." Victor said as if demanding Christopher make himself seen. "Christopher..." he said again.

The growl deepened and from behind the misty fog two glowing greens eyes could be seen, and slowly Christopher in his werewolf form emerged from the fog walking slowly towards Victor, foaming at the mouth. 

Victor gasped and pointed the gun at Chris and began to walk slowly backwards. 

"Son, its me, its dad!" Victor said, the gun quaking in his hands.

Christopher, who's human side was completely overtaken by the monster he turned into howled and pounced on to his father tearing at this cloths. Victor yelled a yell he had never heard come from his body before and pistol-whipped the wolf with the rifle knocking Chris to the ground.

Victor, panting and gasping for air, regrouped, but as he stood about half way up again, the wolf pounced again knocking the refile from Victor's hand and breaking the remainder of the vials that contained the antidote. The two, wolf son, and hunter father fought and beat each other like two wild animals, one as pray, the other as a nocturnal praetor.

Victor, was being chocked by the giant paws of the beast, and in his last effort reached up and plunged his thump into one of the werewolf's eyes but it was too late for him. His son, the man he created as human and beast; with one single slash of razor sharp claws sliced at Victor's throat leaving him gasping for air.

Christopher jumped off his father's body and howled a horrible howl the echoed throughout Collinsport, reaching the Collinwood where Caleb, Kimberly and Kat had just arrived.

"What the hell was that?" Kat asked as the three turned in unison in the direction of the howl.

Kimberly, knew exactly what it was, her son Christopher in beast form. She helped created that beast with Victor, and now something in the pit of her stomach told her she was wrong. She was frozen in fear, flashes of the past came to her mind, remembering how it all began. Suddenly too the feeling of guilt.

****
COLLINSPORT, 1991
****

In a small medical laboratory underneath a small house in Collinsport, Dr. Kimberly Collins mixed her potions and serums into vials marked CR-1984: The initials of her baby son Christopher Reed, the subject of her new mission. She had taken on her mission with Victor Reed, baby Christopher's father, in hopes that they could save Collinsport from the menacing Collins family. A family that had brought insidious beings to town, those beings haunt every member of the community. She in fact, was a member by marriage, marring David Collins, son of Roger Collins, and had seen first hand the terrible things that went on in that house of horror: Collinwood. When Victor, an accomplished vampire hunter, proposed she use her scientific knowledge and team up with him to destroy them all for the sake of their new son, she knew it would be a treacherous game. But for her two boys, Caleb (a Collins himself) and Christopher she would do anything.

Kimberly's divorce from David  was final, and she had recently given birth to Christopher. Now, she was free to be his mother and work with Victor in ridding Collinsport of the family that made her miserable. Victor's plot, was one of great genius and would take years to finally perfect and realize. Especially because it involved their baby Christopher so much, and could only begin to test when he was much older.

Victor's idea was this: the most natural way to kill those who bring back the dead are with a lycan. But Kimberly's serums had to some how mix both that of a werewolf and the lycan so that when Chris was ready he would be as powerful as the werewolf but control his transformations like the lycan, not solely relying on the light of a full moon like the werewolf.

Once complete, the serums would mimic the effect the full moon has on the body of a werewolf  and give him the strength of the much more powerful the lycan.

Kimberly and her science would be tested on Chris in various trials for the next 28 years.  Baby Christopher would be their chosen one. The one to save them all.

"You're going to help us save the world my sweet Christopher." Dr. Collins said in her laboratory coat and glasses as she picked up her baby to test the serums on human DNA for the very first time.

Victor walked in and hugged Dr. Collins from behind.

****
COLLINSPORT-PRESENT TIME
****

Kimberly shook her head as if to take the terrible things she had done to her own son away, she was shaking and felt faint. Kat noticing grabbed her hand.

"Are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Kat said.

Kimberly grabbed Caleb's hand took a gulp of air, "I need to sit down." She said, the color drained from her face.

As they came inside, Leopold had already arrived home and was sitting in the Blue Room with Alex and Carolyn. 

"Whats happened? Is she ok?" Leopold asked helping Caleb bring Kimberly to the sofa.

"I'm fine. I'm fine" Kimberly said regaining her composure.

"There's something terrible out there. We saw it. It was right here and almost killed Alexandra." Carolyn said bringing Kimberly some water.

"We heard it too." Caleb said. 

Alexandra stayed quiet, she hadn't said anything to anyone about Chris being the animal they heard or even about Claudia who had been released from the sarcophagus and was on the loose for that matter. She was too shell shocked and traumatized.

"Caleb, grab Carolyn's gun. We'll go out there and see what this is." Leopold said fearlessly.

"Are you insane? What if it comes after you? I saw it, its huge!" Carolyn said, knowing that Alex was with Chris at the time. 
  

"We'll be fine! We have to see what it is!" Leopold responded, changing the subject back to the hunt and  motioning for Caleb to follow.

"I'll go with you." Kat said taking her gun out of the holster.

Alex, Kimberly and Carolyn stayed in the Blue Room nervous and impatient all for different reasons. Kimberly hadn't heard from Victor, she had no idea if Christopher was still out there on his own as the terrifying animal she helped create or if Victor had sedated him and taken him home to lock away until the changing potion wore off.

Off to the side Carolyn was pouring the three cups of water to calm their nerves. Alex walked over to her for a private conversation.

"I need to talk to you about something." Alex whispered.

"What is it?" Carolyn said, as she turned her body away from Kimberly's direction.

"The woman who changed Daddy into...into Leopold. Who is she?" Alex quested, noticing Carolyn's expression change.

"She calls herself Clausia, but, I'm not really sure who she is and what she wants. Listen honey, I don't want you to worry. She's gone forever. Leopold made sure of that. You won't have to worry about her doing anything else to us." Carolyn said trying to comfort her daughter.

"I don't think so. I feel her. I feel her all around this place. And she isn't done with us yet." Alex explained dramatically.

"What do you mean? Have you spoken to her?" Carolyn questioned placing the glasses of water down.

"She some how entered my body...she's connected our family mother. She's connected to Barnabas." Alex said unsure of herself and of what she knew was truth, only knowing that while possessed by Claudia she learned there was more to their 18th century cousin Barnabas then Carolyn had ever told her.

Carolyn and her relationship with Barnabas was long gone. He had died when she was in her early 20's and in a way she was happy, with this death all of the horrible memories of life at Collinwood had seemingly gone with him. And now, Claudia was reaching back into the past and bringing everything up to the surface.

"I want you to forget what you're feeling. Whatever Claudia said can't be trusted and can't be taken as reality or truth. She preys on our emorions." Carolyn attempting to console Alex, but Alex knew better.

"She escaped mother." Alex said point blank.

"How do you know she has escaped?" Carolyn asked in a paranoid tone.

"Christopher. She tricked him." 

Carolyn paused and put down the pitcher of water she was pouring. Her mind began to race. With Claudia free from where Leopold has put her, locked away in the sarcophagus of Catherine Collins, Carolyln knew there was even more danger to be delt with.


****

Out side Caleb, Leopold, and Kat were searching the land around Collinwood in the pitch black of night guns in hand. The light of their flashlights beaming from the hands like tiny little lighthouses illuminating the wet frosty grass below. 

Not a soul in site.

But then, off in the distance was a shadowy figure, a black mass slumped on the ground. Kat pointed her gun and carefully walked over to it. 

It was Victor. 

Kat leaned down, the lights from Caleb and Leopold's flash lights now on Victor's bloody body.

Kat knelt down and took Victor's pulse, his body cold and ravaged by the beast. She tried again to see if she could find something, any sign of life.

"He's....dead."