Down in the village two old friends, Maggie Evans and Carolyn Stoddard-Thorne, caught up on a walk to the Evans family cottage. Maggie, in particular, had a weighing secret she needed to express and Carolyn was the only person she could trust.
The two old friends slowly made their way through the village as the sun made its final decent behind the hills that bordered the western part of town. It was twilight now and the orange glow from the sky beamed down on Maggie and Carolyn's faces like candle light from the sky.
"I never thought I'd walk this way again." Maggie said interlocking her arm with Carolyn's.
"It is very good to have you back, even if its just for a while." Carolyn said.
"Well, I don't know about that. Something has come up I might have to say longer." Maggie explained.
"Oh? What's that?" Carolyn asked stopping Maggie on the sidewalk to talk close to the Evans' cottage.
"Carolyn there's a lot you don't know about the years you were gone. When you left to London 35 years ago, my life changed too. And I wish I could say it was for the best." Maggie said.
"I have to admit, I don't know much about what happened here in town when I finally left. It was just too much for me to keep tabs...after my mother died, I needed to get away from here, I thought I'd never look back. For that, for leaving like that, I'm sorry, I wish I could have been here to help you. What happened in those years Maggie?" Carolyn asked.
Maggie took a deep sigh and tightened her grip on Carolyn's arm.
"I was married at one time. To a man that did not treat me very well. He was cruel, Carolyn, beyond anything you might imagine. I suffered for a long while before things changed. I couldn't allow myself to go through another torment. Not again" Maggie explained, referencing her suffering at the hands of Barnabas Collins years before her marriage.
"Oh Maggie, I didn't know."
"We had two children together but his cruelty only extended to me. He loved his children." Maggie explained further.
"You have other children! Maggie, where are they? Do they know you're alive?" Carolyn questioned remembering that Maggie had been hiding under an amused name at Windcliff after she faked her death.
Maggie turned and looked off over into the sea. The waves crashed and splashed up against the rocks spewing salty sea spray all around them sprinkling on their skin and glistening little orange dots that reflected the setting sun. As Maggie paused in introspect she noticed a large ocean liner just off in the distance heading directly towards them. The seagulls floated above it circling around and around: the Collinsport welcome wagon. Maggie smirked at the sight of the seagulls, and turned back to Carolyn.
"They don't know. I left them in the safety of a friend of mine, she took care of them while I hid away from their father at Windcliff. They assumed I went insane and died. But as you know it was an escape plan from everything that haunted my life; my children's father. Barnabas. Collinwood. To keep my children safe I thought I had to make sure their father believed I died." Maggie expalined.
"But why? Why would it matter if you were alive or dead?" Carolyn questioned.
"My ex-husband, Thatcher, made sure my life was a living hell. If thought I was gone, he would leave Collinsport, and let the children have as normal a life as possible. I know that for a fact. But if he finds out it was all a lie...he'll come after me and them." Maggie explained.
"And none of them know." Carolyn said as a way to connect the final dots.
"No." Maggie confirmed.
"After David and I found you and we took care of Nicholas we thought you'd move on. So what's changed now? Why have you decided to stay in Collinsport and come out of hiding? " Carolyn asked sensing the other shoe was about to drop.
"He's back, and he's looking for our son. I can't let him get to my children Carolyn. I can't. I've kept myself hidden long enough and now is the time for me to fight back." Maggie said as she grabbed Carolyn's hand and continued on their walk to the Evans' cottage.
They continued the short distance to the cottage that had been left in similar condition for many years after Maggie's father Sam died. Maggie had purposefully left it the way. It was a way to honor her father, a way to preserve his life and existence throughout decades. The cottage remained small, cozy and most of all a place of solace and beauty. It was filled with Sam's art.
Carolyn walked into the house and smiled. She saw all of Sam's paintings. Carolyn toured the front room and touched the beautiful canvas paintings feeling all of the bumps of dry paint that were so carefully painted with the perfect stroke of an artist.
"He was so good." Carolyn said marveling at one of Sam Evan's landscapes.
"He really was." Maggie agreed handing Carolyn a small black book.
"What is this?" Carolyn asked taking the book before opening it.
"Sit down Carolyn." Maggie said pulling Carolyn at her arms down to the sofa.
Carolyn looked confused and slowly opened the book, there were photos two beautiful children.
Maggie's children.
"These are my kids. My son Sebastian. My daughter Kathryn."
Carolyn looked up from the book with a smile at first then when the names of Maggie's children registered in her mind her facial expression changed.
"Your children. .... Kath...Kat? Kat your daughter? Caleb's Kat?" Carolyn asked.
"Yes. They're mine." Maggie confirmed proudly. "That's why I need your help Carolyn. I need your help to protect them. Kat can never know I'm her mother, she needs to always believe I died. Knowing that it was all a lie could destroy her." Maggie asked.
"But she's a police officer Maggie, she can help you if she only knew of whats happening." Carolyn pressed.
"No, Thatcher believes he's above the law. Whatever he does is beyond anyone's control. He's had that complex every since I met him. That should have been my first warning. Men who think they're above any kind of institutional control are always trouble." Maggie said with a whip like wit.
"So what do we do?" Carolyn asked.
"We need to find Thatcher before he finds us....and we need to kill him." Maggie answered coldly.
Carolyn was stunned into silence.
****
It was now early dusk. The setting sun had turned the sky a deep purple and the crows had now settled in the trees above Collinwood resting for another day, and keeping watch over the great mansion. These powerful black birds had lived in the branches above this land for generations.
And just as generations of crows fell to their sleep outside, three generations of Collins men met inside. Caleb joined David in the drawing room with baby Canan after a long nap and the strange occurrence with Anna Tate.
"Well, if it isn't my two boys. How's he doing?" David asked as he pinched Canan's plump little cheek.
"He's doing much better. Carolyn told me about what happened. How's Anna?" Caleb questioned.
"She's fine. Resting in her room, the poor thing. You know she's been here for three days and she hasn't had a good one yet." David said as he cooed with the baby.
"Do they know why she was calling your name when she passed out?" Caleb asked sitting down now with the baby by the hearth.
"What do you mean?" David replied in confusion.
"Kat called me when she went back to work this afternoon after her visit that when Anna woke up from fainting she was calling your name. No one really understood why, I thought they would have told you." Caleb explained.
"No, no one said anything. I came in to help her up and take her to her bedroom but no one said anything. How odd." David said.
"What do you think about her? Ever since she's been here she's been sick but no one knows why?" Caleb said noting the odd behavior.
"I don't know. I feel sorry for the girl. She was supposed to be in town researching a roll for a film and so far all she's done is seen the inside of her bedroom. I myself have been feeling a little odd since she's come too. The damned headaches!" David said.
"You're getting headaches?" Caleb questioned with a bit of concern.
"Nothing to worry about really. There's a new doctor coming to Windcliff, I'll make an appointment with her and see what she can do." David explained.
"Windcliff? The mental hospital? Why would you go there for headaches?" Caleb asked in surprise.
"It's the last place I was that dealt with me medically. They have a file on me." David explained to Caleb's confusion.
"What do you think about her? Ever since she's been here she's been sick but no one knows why?" Caleb said noting the odd behavior.
"I don't know. I feel sorry for the girl. She was supposed to be in town researching a roll for a film and so far all she's done is seen the inside of her bedroom. I myself have been feeling a little odd since she's come too. The damned headaches!" David said.
"You're getting headaches?" Caleb questioned with a bit of concern.
"Nothing to worry about really. There's a new doctor coming to Windcliff, I'll make an appointment with her and see what she can do." David explained.
"Windcliff? The mental hospital? Why would you go there for headaches?" Caleb asked in surprise.
"It's the last place I was that dealt with me medically. They have a file on me." David explained to Caleb's confusion.
As the two men continued to talk, just beyond the two French doors where Caleb was sitting with the baby was a small court-yard thick and lush with blooming flowers, bristly green shrubs and ivy that attached itself to the building, growing all the way up the sides of the mansion's walls like an outer sheath of green leafy armor. Inside that thicket was Anna, listening intently, her hands tightly wound on a locked around her neck.
Back inside, a knock on the door. David dashed over to answer it.
"Well, well, well look what the cat dragged in." David said as he opened the door to Sebastian Banning, Kat's brother and Canan's uncle.
"Mr. Collins, pleasure to see you again." Sebastian said as David stepped aside to let him in.
"I guess it's not a strange thing for me to ask where the hell you've been hiding all these months, now, is it? I mean what kind of person induces his sister's labor then literally vanishes of the face of the earth." David said, slugging Sebastian with a truth bomb right off the bat.
"I'm sure you all have many questions." Sebastian answered as he walked into the drawing room where Caleb was.
"You're damn right we do." David pounced.
"I honestly don't have any explanation. The night Canan was born is a blur to me. I honestly do not remember anything after running down here to get my car so that I could take my sister to the hospital. After that, it's just gone. My memory is gone." Sebastian answered.
David sat silently as he let Sebastian explain his way through the hours after his disappearance. How he woke up in a hospital outside of down days later without any memory. How someone had found him miles away in total disarray, attacked, it seemed by some wild animal.
Though Sebastian's memory was bleak at best, David's was not. He remembered what he saw outside the night Kat went into labor. He remembered finding Christopher the werewolf snarling and foaming at the mouth only steps away from Sebastian's running car. He remembered also finding Caleb half alive himself under that werewolf.
David was connecting the dots. Had Christopher also attacked Sebastian, yet Sebastian survived? David knew what happened to those who survived a werewolf attack. He knew what it meant. But did Sebastian?
As Sebastian continued to tell his story to a sympathetic Caleb and a weary David, Anna continued to listen outside. She peeked around the corner from the window. The voice of the stranger, Sebastian, spiked her interest. She looked in and saw a tall, dark and handsome man. He was strong and rugged but had a kindness and sensitivity to his eyes.
Anna stepped a little closer to the glass to get a better look, still clutching the locket around her neck. She was enamored by him. She was struck by his aura. There was something about him, something that attracted her instantly to him. It wasn't just his good looks. There was something underlying that she couldn't put her finger on. What was this impulsive attraction to him? What did he poses that made her feel this way so quickly?
Whatever it was, it was evident, Sebastian had to be the one. He was the one that she felt would understand her, he was the one she felt would go where she needed him to go and do what she needed him to do. Sebastian was the chosen one.
Anna released the locket in her hand allowing it to dangle now on her neck. The locket, a pretty early turn of the century gold, had initials carved on the cover: LMC.
****
As the clock struck the dinner hour, Thatcher Banning inched his way closer to finding the truth about many things in his life. First, he still had no idea his son Sebastian had returned to Collinsport. Without hearing from his daughter Kat, the sincere worry crept into his heart and sat there like a stone.
But just before dark he decided to check Sebastian's last known place of employment: Windcliff Sanitarium.
Sebastian had worked there as Dr. Joanna Grayson's assistant for many years, he even kept this fact secret from Kat and Caleb so that David Collins could continue to be held there against his will. But those days were gone, Dr. Joanna Grayson was gone, and Sebastian was gone too.
A whole new era was beginning at the fledgling mental hospital, and a new chief of staff was on the horizon. Thatcher, however, only wanted one thing. Information.
"Excuse me." Thatcher said to one of the nurses standing with her back turned to him at the nurse's station.
But just before dark he decided to check Sebastian's last known place of employment: Windcliff Sanitarium.
Sebastian had worked there as Dr. Joanna Grayson's assistant for many years, he even kept this fact secret from Kat and Caleb so that David Collins could continue to be held there against his will. But those days were gone, Dr. Joanna Grayson was gone, and Sebastian was gone too.
A whole new era was beginning at the fledgling mental hospital, and a new chief of staff was on the horizon. Thatcher, however, only wanted one thing. Information.
"Excuse me." Thatcher said to one of the nurses standing with her back turned to him at the nurse's station.
"What is it dear?" The nurse replied still with her back turned.
"I'm looking for someone. Do you think you can help me?" Thatcher replied, trying to get a look at the nurses face.
"Visiting hours end in about 20 minutes, hon, do you think it's worth it?" The nurse replied in her bristly Boston accent.
"Actually, I'm not here to visit anyone, I just need to know if someone still works here. My son. I haven't heard from him in a while and the last time I checked in with him, this is where he worked." Thatcher said. "Sebastian Banning." He continued.
"Oh!!! Yeah! I know him!" The nurse answered, happily.
"So he works here?" Thatcher asked again.
"No." The nurse answered abruptly to a frustrated Thatcher.
"But he did?" Asked the father.
"Yup--but he left a long time ago. He stopped working here when our old boss got ..." The nurse said as she ran her finger across her throat and stuck her tongue out.
Thatcher was confused, he shook his head as if to shake out the nonsense the silly nurse was spewing. He looked around to see if there were any other people around and saw a man at the end of the hall sweeping.
"Do you think that guy would know where Sebastian went?" Thatcher asked the nurse.
"No. He's a patient, don't go over there. Listen, why don't you come back when we get our new chief of staff, she'll have much more leeway when it comes to opening up personnel files, ok? All I can tell you is that your kid worked here, and now he don't." The nurse said.
"Oh! Well good, I'd like to speak with her too...oh, actually one more thing before you go...." Thatcher said noticing the feisty nurse was getting ready to leave the nurses station for her nightly rounds. "I would also like to know about a former patient. My wife. She died here and I was wondering if any of her belongings were left behind."
"W wife. huh?....no patients have died here in a while, Who's she?" The nurse replied suspiciously.
As the two were talking, the male patient on sweeping duty at the end of the hall had reached the nurses station. He was strikingly handsome, thick black hair, hazel eyes. His skin a perfect tone of peach. He continued to sweep, even pretended to, just to get close and listen in on the conversation.
"This was a while ago, yes, you see I haven't been in town for years and..." Thatcher began before being interrupted.
"What's her name honey, I aint got all night ok?" The rudely quipped.
"Margaret. Margaret Banning, or maybe she was under her maiden name Evans." Thatcher answered as the nurse looked through a small filing cabinet next to the desk.
"Margaret 'Maggie' Evans"? The nurse replied.
When the name Maggie Evans was said out loud, the sweeping patient's head lift straight up. It was a name he was very familiar with. It was a name he had etched in his brain for many many months.
In fact, the sweeping patient strangely appeared passed out on the front steps of Windcliff one very stormy night, unconscious and burned on the palms of his hands and the bottom of his feet. These burns the patient strongly attributed to Maggie herself because the patient was Maggie's illegitimate child Nicholas Blair Jr, the same Nicholas Blair Jr that Maggie believed she had vanquished back to hell to his father Nicholas Sr.
Nick, as he was going by now, was left powerless after Maggie's vanquishing, and was returned directly to Windcliff by his father's powers never to see the light of day again. He was rendered insane and a danger to the outside world.
But now, now that Thatcher was here and asking for, by name, Maggie Evans he knew it was a sign. She slithered back into his life by coincidence and now he saw his chance to get revenge.
"Sorry pal, Mrs. Banning didn't leave any personal effects when she passed." The nurse said swiftly as she turned around quickly and walked down the hall passing Nick.
Thatcher rolled his eyes and went to reach for his car keys that were sitting on the counter top of the Nurse's station when Nick suddenly grabbed them first with the reflexes of a black cat.
"Hey now, give me those keys. I don't want any trouble." Thatcher said holding his hands up between Nick and himself.
"I know Maggie." Nick said holding the keys close to his chest. "I know her. I know who she is, and I know where she is." He added.
"What do you mean? You know where she's buried?" Thatcher asked confused.
"She's not dead. Maggie is alive. She lied to you." Nick said, his cold eyes looking deep into Thatcher's.
"What the hell are you talking about? Maggie died in this hospital years ago, I know she did. They told me she did." Thatcher countered.
"She lied. She faked her death. Get me out of here and I can take you to her." Nick said with an evil smirk.
Thatcher looked at the patient, the man with the broom, Nicholas Blair, Maggie's demented son born of an evil curse placed on her during The Black Mass, the same Nicholas that tried to take her back to hell for this father and kidnap Alexandra at the same time. Alive and well, hungry for revenge on his mother and his father for abandoning him in this hospital he saw was a personal hell.
"Take me with you." Nick repeated.
****
The fog of the late evening rolled in, crossing over the Collinsport short and surrounding the entire village in one big soupy white mess. Only the lighthouse peeking through the mist ever so often could be seen.
In the harbor, a large ocean liner had docked. Curious passengers disembarked for a very happy relief from their long trip aboard. Most of them visitors who would catch some sleep at the Collinsport Inn for the night then head off on to tour buses that would shimmy across the small East Coast roads that showed off Maine's regal and majestic forests before heading off to Boston and then Philadelphia.
But one couple, an elderly gentle man and his adult daughter were here to stay. As they slowly made their way out of the ship, and their luggage and the large crate carrying Dr. Julia Hoffman's remains were carefully placed on a large truck, they stopped at a small booth at the end of the dock to register.
"Good evening, welcome to Collinsport. Passports please?" The man said.
The man looked at the passport of the woman and smiled. "Welcome Dr. Morgan."
He stamped her book. Then looked at the old man's British passport: "Mr. Barnabas Collins....." the man said as his face turned to white.
The citizens of Collinsport weren't green on the history of the Collins family. It was well known to all the dark side of their founding family's history. The rumors. The secrets. The murders.
"Uh, well, sir, I welcome you home." The man said as he stamped Barnabas' book, his eyes locked on Barnabas' aged face.
As the man looked on, still white as a ghost, Siobhan helped her father Barnabas carefully into a waiting black sedan driven by a man who flew in from Singapore before them named John Xander.
She buckled her 93 year old father's seat belt and jumped in the seat next to him, motioning to Xander to drive off.
"He seemed frightened." Siobhan said in a soft concerned voice.
Barnabas only turned his 93 year old head and looked out of the window towards the man in the booth and lifted an eye brow.
"He should be." Barnabas whispered to himself.
