Sunday, December 11, 2016

Series 6/Chapter 7: ONCE BITTEN


The moon hung high in the brisk autumn sky above Collinsport. A soft wind blew through the skeleton trees devoid of all their summer leaves. A small blue car turned slowly on a rural road, careful of every winding curve that lead it to Ezrabette's small house hidden in the finger-like shadows of the trees.

It was Kat heading for her midnight rendezvous with the voodoo mystic, but she wasn't alone.

As Kat popped out of her car onto the frost bitten grass drive way at Ezrabette's home, headlights of another car suddenly blared blinding Kat as she turned to look and see who was there. She shaded her eyes and stared in the direction of the headlights as the silhouette of a tall person came closer and closer. Kat slowly backed away unsure of who might be there watching her and as she continued to squint in the person's direction the person stood in front of the lights blocking the brightness.

It was Kat's detective partner Loomis McGovern.


"Loo! Jesus, you scared me half to death, what are you doing here?" Kat said shoving Loomis in the chest.

"I should ask you the same thing. It's probably safe to say you'd agree that it's strange for a woman to be in the middle of no where in the middle of the night alone." Loomis answered.

"I can take care of myself, I don't need you watching over me like this." Kat said, the chilly air freezing her breath into a white steam as it exited her mouth.

"Does Caleb know you're out here? Does he know what you're doing?" Loomis questioned.

"No, and I don't have to tell him everything I do. Besides I don't know he would understand." She answered.

"Understand what?" Loomis questioned.

"Loo...get back in your car and go home, ok?" Kat answered with a brush off.

"You broke your promise to me." Loomis said. "You said you'd come to me as soon as you had more answers about where your baby went, and I have a feeling you already have an idea and have decided not to tell me. Our deal was that you'd let me know as soon as you knew Kat, what the hell is going on!! What are you doing here?" Loomis exclaimed.

"Listen I know what I told you but I have nothing to report back I can't..." Kat began before being interrupted.

"I don't believe you, and I'm your partner. You've put me in a really bad spot here with the prescient. How can we have this partnership if I can't trust you?" Loomis asked angrily. "I followed you here earlier too. Who lives here? Do they know where your kid is?" He continued his questioning.

Kat was furious that Loomis had followed her. She turned around in frustration and anger and looked off to Ezrabette's house only wanting to run off into the house to leave Loomis there in the cold. She knew the clock was ticking and that they only had a few more minutes before midnight. The window of time was closing.

"Loomis! Just shut up!! If you want to know what's going on come inside with me. I don't have much time to explain anything but once we're inside you'll understand." Kat said grabbing Loomis by the hand and dragging him off to the front porch.

As the two detectives walked up to the door, it was already open, but the screen door was closed and Kat and Loomis could see inside the house. It was dark and only lit by candles all over the front room floor. It was like the inside of a great cathedral lit from top to bottom by candle light.

Sitting in the back of the front room at a table drenched in lace was the Voodoo mystic Kat's mother trusted most: Her best friend Ezrabette Baptiste.

"Come in child." Ezrabette said from the dimmed room.

"What the hell?" Loomis whispered as he and Kat walked inside the house filled with candles.

"You've brought a friend. He does  not believe ma cher...this could be problematic." Ezrabette stated.

"You came to some...some...witch doctor? Kat, really??" Loomis said.

"Witch doctor? Child, your mouth talks loud but your heart speaks volumes, I aint no witch doctor. But you know that deep inside. You've seen this before too, haven't you mon petite." Ezrabette said through the muffle of her black veil.

"Ezrabette has promised me that she could get me to my child, and I believe her. The problem is now, you have to believe her. If you don't this wont work. The energy in the room must be of the realm of belief." Kat explained.

"Time is clicking away and we haven't much more, sit down. We must begin." Ezrabette said.

"What is she going to do?" Loomis said faintly confused by the woman in front of him.

Ezrabette had covered her hair with a lace veil of black to match her black dress. She was completely covered in black from the tips of her fingers to the bottoms of her shoes, like a widow at her husband's funeral.

"We're going to find my child. Ezrabette is a medium, not a witch doctor, and she is going to channel all of her energy so that we can find him." Kat explained as she sat down at the table.

"You're kidding?" Loomis said in doubt.

"Loomis shut the hell up and don't say another word. This is all I have at this point and if you ruin this for me..." Kat said leaving her sentence unfinished  as she was afraid of where her anger would take her.

"As the lights of the candles begin to melt the wax, so goes time and space; slow and steady away from the hot flame of life that burns. Kathryn...give me your hands." Ezrabette began, Kat complied. "Winds of time, light of life complete the story of this woman's strife. A child's will has been usurped, where has he been taken? Where has he gone?" Ezrabette continued.

A flow of air swirled through the room chilling every inch of anyone's exposed skin. Loomis looked around, his eyes wide as saucers watching each flicker of candle light. He then looked over at Ezrabette and began to see the lace veil blow in the breeze. The breeze began to intensify and the veil over Ezrabette lifted revealing her eyes as white as snow without irises.

"My god!!" Loomis screamed.

Kat kept her eyes closed and held on to Ezrabette's hands as the breeze inside the room turned in a wind. It blew and flowed over their bodies like a tiny tornado flushing the cold air around and around extinguishing the candles all over the room and as Loomis looked over at Kat she opened her eyes. Loomis jumped back at the sight of Kat, she was under a trance, her eyes had turned to completely white just like Ezrabette's. Kat had gone into a time warp. Her body was in 2016, but her mind and soul had flown out and gone in search of her baby in 1920.

****

As Kat and Loomis met with Ezrabette in the thick fog in the forests outside town, Christopher was quietly making his way back into Collinwood after staying out much of the evening. He knew that as the night progressed he would soon be able to sneak into Kimberly's files and make good on his promise to his half brother Caleb in retrieving what they needed to find out what was really bothering David.

The clock struck 1am, and the bell of the great grandfather clock sang through The Blue room just outside the main drawing room. Christopher walked slowly down the hallway towards Kim's lab and was careful to make the least amount of noise possible, hopefully keeping quiet enough so no one would know what he was up to.

He continued on his way past several other rooms in the great house. The electric candelabras were shining an orange light dimly throughout the hallway illuminating a shadowy glow on the faces of the portraits that hung on the wall. Christopher looked at each face as he passed the portraits, his eyes keeping focus on each of the painting's eyes...he swallowed a small gulp, a nervous tickle at the back of his throat.

It didn't take long, but he finally arrived at Kim's office. He took another gulp of air and swallowed hoping that no one was inside the office. As he turned the knob he slowly pushed the door open. Inside only darkness.

Christopher was aware of the history of the office. It had once belonged to Dr. Julia Hoffman who was also granted the small adjoining laboratory. Dr. Hoffman had practiced many experiments and tests when she worked on several of the families members in the past there, the walls were billowing with history, but Chris had a task, and standing around in the dark thinking of what had happened in the room would not get him anywhere. He reached into his pocked and pulled out a lighter that flickered a golden light once lit. With his own light source now, Chris pored over each of the corners of the room searching for something--anything--that might hold the secrets to why David's behavior had been so erratic and alien to Caleb. What had happened to David in his past at Windcliff Sanitarium under the care of Kim's evil sister Dr. Joanna Grayson that changed him so much?

 As all those thoughts filled Chris' head he looked over and there, in a small darkened corner was a green filing cabinet that he knew had to have the answers to those questions. Chris quickly made his way to the cabinet and opened the top drawer. He looked through the files and saw names he did not recognize. He continued to flip through the pages of notes and documents and finally came across the patient's surnames that ended with the letter C.

There it was: COLLINS, DAVID.

Chris thought for a second. Should he read through the file first before taking it to Caleb? Was it ironic that he was stealing a private medical document but was still thinking of having discretion enough to not read it himself?

Chris pulled the file from the cabinet and tossed it on top of Kim's desk over the dark green blotter. He flipped it open and came close to the white pages with his lighter. He looked over it but didn't really understand much of what was written. But as he continued to read through the pages he saw something shocking. The forms he was reading looked very similar to the forms he and Alex found on himself. Forms that told the story of DNA tests, and experiments with serums to alter that DNA. Then the words LIKEN and LIKEN DNA. It was all the same.

"Jesus." Chris quietly said to himself when he realized that the same tests that were performed on him as a baby were also performed on David.

"He's a werewolf too." Chris said again to himself as the papers continued to tell the story.

Chris grabbed the ends of the file and flipped it closed and grabbed it and headed out towards the open door to the hallway. In his haste rushing towards the door, his shoe snagged on Kimberly's throw carpet and tossed Chris to the floor causing him to drop his lighter and leaving him in complete darkness.

As he lay on the ground on his stomach, he blindly searched for the illusive lighter by patting his hands on the floor. He patted and patter but never found it. Then suddenly just above his head he heard a flicker then a small spark of light.

He looked up and saw nothing.

Chris then again patted the ground on while laying on his stomach struggling to find the lighter to brighten the completely dark room.

And again...the flicker and a spark just above his head. Chris looked up and there was nothing, but he recognized the sound he was hearing it was the sound of his lighter flickering and lightening but quickly going out.

Chris waited again and continued to look for the lighter and as he patted his hand over the carpet again in search of the lighter he hit what he knew was the top of someone's shoe. He looked up and the flicker again came but this time his lighter stayed lit and was in the hands of Joanna Grayson's ghost.

Joanna's face was illuminated with the light of Chris' lighter, he face was gaunt and grey her hair was disheveled, her eyes had dark circles underneath, and they twitched with anger.

"GET OUUUUUT!" Joanna screamed in a horrible murderous scream.

Christopher bounced up from the ground and looked at Joanna again, he was frozen in fear. Joanna screamed at him again.

"GET OUUUUT!"

Christopher reached down on the floor and found the file and grabbed hold, his mind was racing, his heart was pounding. He reached for the door knob and opened the door then looked back to see the ghost.

She was gone. As soon as the light from the hall way made its way into Kim's office, Joanna disappeared.

Chris shook his head and quickly closed the door behind him never looking back, he rushed down the hall and took the file to his room to await Caleb so that they could go over what he found.

Moments later Kimberly came out of her adjoining Lab where she was conducting very late secret tests on samples of David's DNA, she opened the door to her office and turned on the lamps on either side of her desk. The light from the lamps hit the mettle of Chris lighter on the floor in the middle of the room sparkling in Kim's eye.

She walked over and picked up the lighter. As she looked it over she noticed the inscribed initials on the metal cover. C.R.... Christopher Reed.

Kim instantly knew the truth was about to come out. And when it did, she could lose the two things she loved most in the world. Her two sons. 

****
COLLINWOOD, 1920

As the night progressed in the present, so it did in the past. Barnabas had made his way to a private room over the east wing where he knew there were secret passages in the walls that would allow him to sneak way before the sun rise, in the meantime he removed his dinner jacket and white bow tie and laid them out on the ruffled bed in front of him. He loosened the cuff-links and walked over to the window that looked over the great courtyard that lead to his beloved old house.

"That old thing is an eye sore isn't it?" A sultry voice said from behind Barnabas.

Barnabas turned and standing in his doorway was Jacqueleen in a long dress with her hair still slicked back in finger-waves, pearls dripping from her ears and a cigarette dangling from a long stick at the end of her mouth. 

"I find the house quiet beautiful actually. I thought you and the other ladies had retired for the night. What can I do for you Mrs. Walsh?" Barnabas quickly answered noticing Jacqueleen had dressed again for the evening.

"I just feel the night is so young, don't you? I couldn't possible go to bed now. Lets say you and I drive off somewhere Barnabas, just the two of us and have a night of it? What do you think?" Jacqueleen said puffing from her cigarette and removing her long opera gloves and tossing them over her shoulder.

"I'm afraid I have business to attend to tomorrow morning. I wouldn't be able to do anything of that, perhaps another time." Barnabas said as Jacqueleen walked into the room and got closer to Barnabas.

Jacqueleen scrunched her nose in disappointment. She tip-toed over to a the bed and sat on the edge dangling her legs over the back. 

"You don't seem the type that would pass over a good time, now, why don't you want to spend some time with me?" Jacqueleen said again in a sultry tone.

"I can see where this is going, Mrs. Walsh and..." Barnabas began.

"Please, call me Jacqueleen." She replied.

"Jacqueleen....that is such a beautiful name. First names will put us on a more informal level." Barnabas said as Jacqueleen got up from the bed and walked over to Barnabas and met him in the center of the room.

"That sound good to me." She replied with a twinkle in her eye.

"I don't know how my cousin Jamison would feel about ...us....becoming more informal. I don't plan on staying in town long and I would hate to ruin my welcome." Barnabas answered.

"Oh, come on! He doesn't even have to know. It's been such a long time since I've had such a handsome man around me, you see, and now that Catherine is so busy with her baby....well, I'm bored." Jacqueleen said with a grin.

"You wouldn't like me in the morning." Barnabas joked.

"Let me be the judge of that." Jacqueleen said as she leaned in to kiss Barnabas. 

Jacqueleen hoped that her seductive flirting would lead to something more with Barnabas, now that she was broke and a widow. Barnabas was the first handsome man with a bank account that she had come across in Collinsport and he may be the last, all she had to do was reel him in, just like she did all the other's she loved and married, but what she didn't know was that Barnabas came with a hefty amount of his own baggage. 

As they touched lips, Jacqueleen stroked the side of Barnabas's face with one hand the slowly slid it up so that her fingers began to make their way into his thick black hair. 

Barnabas had not been kissed like this in what felt like a century. Her lips her soft and plump, her skin was white like milk. Her neck....her neck was a perfect pale and just below the surface of that white skin was the pulsating heat of what Barnabas really desired. The crimson life force that drove his passions.

As Jacqueleen continued to knit her fingers through his hair Barnabas began to kiss her neck. Jacqueleen sighed with delight dropping her hand from his hair, the other hand with the long stick and the now extinguished cigarette fell to the floor. Jacqueleen's eyes began to water, a passion she had not felt in years.

But Barnabas could not control himself any longer. His eyes began to change. and his mind began to go blank. He pulled down on the neckline of her dress to expose more of her neck, she squealed with excitment not knowing what would come next. As his eyes turned to blackness, his fags peirced through. 

Barnabas opened his mouth and planted his sharp teeth deep into the white flesh of Jaqueleen's neck.

At first she froze and then as the blood began to seep from her neck and it started to become clear that the pinching at her neck was no longer the passionate feeling she expected she began to push him away. But it was too late, Barnabas, tried to control himself, but the urges were stronger than he had ever remembered. 

Jacqueleen started to struggle but Barnabas was too strong, she pushed and pushed but he held on, the blood was pouring into him like a river. She stared to feel faint and her eyes started to close. Jacqueleen tried to stay awake in Barnabas' arm and she had no idea just how far this would turn. As they struggled, he turned her slightly towards a mirror, and there she was in the reflection, alone without Barnabas; two holes in her neck pouring blood over her white dress.

The site of it terrified her. She closed her eyes and screamed but Barnabas covered her mouth and continued to drink the life force out of her until she fainted, and once she fainted he continued to drink until all the life in her was gone.

Barnabas put his hand on her heart and it was not beating. His tuxedo shirt was stained with blood, his mouth was covered too by the red liquid. He was almost in shock. Jacqueleen's body fell limp in his arms and he grabbed her and pulled her up. 

Without a second thought, he picked her up, with his foot he opened the door to his room that had been slightly left ajar and dashed down the hall as quietly as he could until he came to Victoria's room.

Vickie had been fast asleep, Barnabas pushed the door open ripping through her door startling Vickie so much she fell out of her own bed to the floor.

Barnabas said no words but looked at Vickie who slowly got up from the floor in sheer terror. 

What was she looking at? What had he he done? Thousands of questions filled her head.

"Help me, Victoria....help me." Barnabas simply said as Vickie looked on at Jacqueleen's lifeless bloody body in Barnabas arms.