The sea was quiet and splashed up against the docks in small waves that kissed the decades old wood that held them up. The smell of salt filled the cool air in sprays of sprinkling water that came down on a young man's face who gazed out onto the Atlantic contemplating where he had been for the last decade.
It was Andrew Shaw, freshly released from Collinsport Hospital. His mind was filled with the confusing memories of a man he did not know, and of people he did not recognize, all of which belonged to the mystery man's DNA. "How could this be happening?" he thought. "What is going on inside of me?"
As his mind continued to glaze over the sea a beautiful blond came out of a coffee shop just across from him at shore line. She was bundled up in a white jacket and grey scarf. Her eyes were a blue grey to match the late winter/early spring sky. It was Alexandra Throne.
Andrew's eyes instantly locked on her. He couldn't stop starting from the dock. He knew her yet he didn't. He had memories of her, but yet he didn't.
Alex, clutching a warm coffee and searching for her car keys could also feel the heavy gaze of someone. Her instincts were to quickly get away from whatever, or whom ever, was staring but she ultimately looked up and saw Andrew standing now at the edge of the street just across from him. Their eyes met...connected. Or Reconnected as it were.
She knew who he was. She had seen his photograph in the paper. She knew everything about his accident, the one that made him fall into a coma so many years ago, she knew what his father Dr. Jeffery Shaw did to get him to wake up, she knew that Christopher's DNA, her beloved Christopher was now a part of him and she knew that Christopher was dead so that Andrew could live.
Alex, seeing no way around not going over to him, took a step forward and turned toward Andrew who nervously turned back towards the sea, shying away from any formal introduction.
"Oh!" Alex said, frustrated with her own awkwardness. She walked slowly almost as if giving herself time to back out of the meeting but within seconds was in front of the man who was alive because her beloved Christopher was dead.
"Excuse me." She said in a small voice eaten up by the lapping waves below.
Andrew turned around then a flash hit him, his mind quickly flew into a tailspin of memories, all of them Christopher's. It was as if he were in Chris' shoes; Kissing Alex, hugging Alex in London's Hyde Park, running after Alex in the foggy mist of what looked like a large lawn. Seeing Alex's face screaming...all of this, the good and the bad, were Chris' memories, some too confusing for him to put together in a short period of time and under the pressure of having Alex right in front of him.
"Are you ok?" Alex ask seeing Andrew fall into a sort of spell.
"What? Oh, yeah yeah, I'm fine. Sorry." He said, trying to cover for the few seconds of strange silence.
"Listen, this is going to sound very weird, and I know you'd probably not want to talk about it, but I know who you are, I know what happened to you. I know pretty much everything." Alex offered with a little giggle.
"You do?" Andrew asked with twinge of embarrassment.
Alex nodded her head confirming.
"Christopher and I were together. He was my boyfriend. The night he was taken, I was with him, and they just left me there for the police to find me." She explained.
"Christopher." Andrew repeated, hearing the name of the man's DNA running through his body for the first time. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I know that it was a really horrible thing for you and your family. I just hope that, for what it's worth, I can help everyone's grief. I don't know how I could, but I'm willing." he finished, reminding Alex so much of the kind spirit Christopher was.
"Thank you." Alex said with a twinkle in her eye. "How have you been holding up?" She asked quickly changing the subject.
"I just got out of the hospital a few days ago. Everything seems to be working." he joked. "Thank's to Chris' stem-cells. It's amazing how much I've missed since I've been ...you know, out of it." He said referring to his coma.
"Right...it's been a really crazy last 5 years for me too. And..." She paused unsure of how to ask the next question. "What about your father?"
Alex felt uncomfortable bring up Andrew's father Jeffery, the man that did all of this. The man that gave Andrew Chris' DNA, thus killing him. But she had to know She had to see and hear for herself how Jeffery was getting on now that it all was said and done. Surly, he too, was suffering she hoped.
Chris could see tell Alex didn't really want to hear that Jeffery was adjusting fine knowing that he had committed a crime.
"He's still at the Inn. I was actually hoping not to run into him around town."
"So you're staying in Collinsport?" She questioned.
"Yeah, someone was kind of enough to get me a small studio apartment here in town for a few months while I get myself back on my feet." He answered.
"Oh! That's great. Your father?" Alex asked, wondering if the horrible Jeffery might have been the one.
"No, no, I haven't spoken to him at all yet. Uhh...there's a restraining order on him. He can't come within 20 feet of me after what he did. I really hope, for your family's sake, that he goes away for a long time." Andrew stated.
"I hope so too. Look, the whole situation isn't your fault. You never asked for any of this....here...." Alex said pulling out a scrap of paper from her purse and scribbling down her number. "If you ever need some time to just talk or feel like you need a friend, please call me. Ok?" Alex continued as she handed over the paper.
Andrew smiled, and reached for her Alex's phone number, he was grateful for the new friend. As their hands met, his finger quickly touched her's and suddenly Alex's own mind went back to memories of her life with Christopher that flooded her mind. Once she let go of the paper, those memories quickly disappeared.
She was startled, she was confused. Why did that happen? What had caused her brain to suddenly go into that kind of memory parade when they touched. For many years, she had suppressed the powers that she had inherited from the time Claudia Bouchard had possessed her body. She forced herself never to use the small amount of magic that she had, but with this added powerful jolt she received from Andrew's touch, she knew something was different and she had an advantage in her blood to figure it out.
"So...call ok?" She smiled nervously and turned and walked away.
Andrew looked down at the paper, but he didn't need it. He already knew her number by-heart. He already knew so much about Alex without even asking. Her touch. Her face. Everything was there.
He would call. He would definitely call.
****
The midday sun filled the landscape of Collinwood, bathing it in golden sunlight that warmed the dewy lawn. It was a happy moment, a new life had begun with the birth of David and Siobhan's son John, and the family was now beginning to feel the joys of having a child in the house again. But this joy was not without it's shadowy danger, as Julia knew all too well the dangers of forgetting what was just outside their door living at the Old House.
Siobhan carefully tucked baby John into his crib. He was smiling up at her wiggling his little feet. She smiled and reached down into the crib and shook his little foot. He smiled again.
"He's perfect." Julia said from the nursery doorway.
"Are you all settled?" Siobhan asked her mother referring to her moving back into the mansion. Julia nodded yes. "You know, for what it's worth and the strangeness of how it all came about, I'm grateful you're here. It's like a dream come true, I can have my mother here to help me raise my baby. It's what all mother's want." Siobhan added.
Julia smiled an uncomfortable smile.
"What is it?" Siobhan asked.
"Darling, there are things about this place that I don't --I don't know if you understand. Many years before I left with your father to Singapore I lived here, and I don't really know if its a good place for a baby." Julia said to Siobhan's surprise.
"I understand your concern, mother, but I don't feel unsafe, not even after all the things that have happened since I've moved in and gotten married. David wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt us. After all he was a child once here too. Who better than him to protect us?" Siobhan replied.
Julia smiled, and grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and looked into her eyes intently. She could see how much Siobhan loved David, but the fear and the anxiety of living at Collinwood again wouldn't leave Julia.
"I know you want to believe that, but darling, I have my reservations. I've seen it all before. But, listen, I won't stand in your way. You want to stay here...and so will I. Whatever David can't protect you and John from know that I will. I won't let anything hurt any of you." Julia said.
"What is it that you're so afraid of?' Siobhan wondered.
"I ..." Julia paused.
"Mother...." Siobhan said, knowing exactly what Julia was feeling even without her saying it.
"He's not who he once was. He just isn't the same person. I don't know what's different but he's not the same." Julia said turning towards the window.
"Barnabas has been through a lot over the years since you've been..." Siobhan paused just before saying the word "dead". It felt odd to refer to her mother as dead even though she was standing right in front of her, a figure from the past brought back by the incredibility of time travel. "Everyone knows that over time we all change. It's just the nature of human beings." Siobhan finished, her psychiatrist hat firmly in place.
"Human?" Julia said turning back to her daughter. "That's where you go wrong, honey, the first step to understanding who your father is, is knowing that there is hardly any part of him that is human. I helped him get back to what he once was before his curse, I cured as much of this disease as I could. But he's never been fully human again. But that was then. Now? Well now, he's back to how he was when I first met him. It's a full regression into the darkness and frankly I don't know if we can steer him back. Mistaking that for humanity is a downfall I don't think you or anyone else who thinks like you, have the luxury of making." Julia warned.
"He would never hurt us." Siobhan replied, her voice now flipping from soft to resolute.
"He's unpredictable," Julia shot back. "That's all I want you to remember."
Siobhan said nothing more, Julia gave her a half smile and hoped that what she had said would stick with Siobhan. She only wanted her daughter to be careful, and to stay safe now that there was a little one around. The threat of Barnabas Collins lurking around doorways and in the shadows was something Julia believed to have gone with the times, but she could see now that it was as it once was before. She would do everything in her power to protect her daughter Siobhan and grandson. Nothing would stop her.
Julia left Siobhan and the baby alone and walked through the sun-kissed halls of the third floor down into the parlors of the main floor. She could sense the past filling her mind with memories of Elizabeth and Roger, of little David and Vicky, of everything that had happened in those walls. She remembered the night terrors and the feelings of uncertainty, of the many times her life was at risk.
She knew that what she and Carolyn tried, and failed to do, the night Curtis staked Barnabas would come back to haunt should he ever discover it, and that would also mean the end for her.
Julia understood full well that she needed to protect more than just herself, now her child and grandchild's lives were at stake. This new growing little family was all she really had.
Julia stared off into the emptiness of the parlor on the first floor flicking through a magazine. The 2018 pages of Vogue were completely foreign to her. The fashion was believable. Her mind then went into blank memories of the past floating off into the distance of the magazine's pages; her life before Singapore, before she saved and changed, Barnabas into the good man she had remembered, not the monster he had once again become.
"You seem to have settled in nicely." A cold voice said from the door. Julia startled, turned quickly to see Barnabas, her husband, standing there in his dark coat with the collar pulled up around his neck, his cane glistening in the sunlight that came in through the parlor window.
Stunned at who saw looked back at her, Julia backed away.
"What are you doing here?" She said, her voice shaky.
"Why are you afraid of me? Have we not enough history between us Julia, that you can't find a way to trust me?" He said.
"That was then. I don't know why, but the person you were when I was in Singapore is not the person you are here. I don't see that sparkle in your eyes. There's nothing in your eyes. What are you doing here?" Julia said, quickly changing the subject.
"I've come to see my new grandson John." Barnabas stated.
"Absolutely not!" Julia said with her voice raised to Barnabas' sour response. "I won't let you near that boy."
"Julia, you've gone mad." he chuckled as he walked closer to his one time wife. "I can see it in your eyes, something is snapped deep inside that little head of yours." He added now inches from her face.
"I won't let you hurt anyone anymore, Barnabas. Not anymore. You brought me back from the past for your own twisted sense of reality, but maybe my real purpose was to return to keep Siobhan and her baby safe from you." She replied.
"Yes, you are mad." He confirmed for himself in a cold and monotone voice. "You see Julia, there are often times we forget how to behave, and when those times arise we must be punished because the truth of the matter is, I have no intention of hurting anyone. Not my grandson, not my daughter, not even you. Because I am not the one who misbehaved, am I? I'm not the one who took drastic steps to remove someone from all existence. Wouldn't you think that kind of person was more dangerous, then me?" Barnabas said, looking Julia up and down dropping hints that he believed she was the one who staked him in the chest.
"What are you talking about?" She bristled.
"Don't you remember? Or has time travel erased that part of your memory too!" Barnabas said, throwing the fact that Julia had suddenly gotten her memory back, and forgetting that she had been pretending to have amnesia from her time travel.
Julia only sneered at him.
Barnabas turned and walked towards a plush leather sofa in the room and removed his coat and carefully placed his cane over it. He adjusted his sleeves and cuff-links and turned back to Julia who's breathing had become shallow with nerves.
"I know what you did. I know that you somehow escaped the room I had you in and I know you came into my chamber and tried to kill me. There's no use in pretending, there's no use in saying you didn't because I have it on good authority that it's true. Did you think you would get away with it? Did you really think that I would just be gone so quickly?" Barnabas said, his face turning cold, his eyes as black as night.
Julia's brow furrowed, she had no idea what he was talking about, she and Carolyn never found Barnabas that night and failed to kill him. But Angelique's lie was firmly in place and Barnabas was in revenge mode.
"You're the one who's mad, I don't know what you're talking about!' Julia said, but Barnabas suddenly lunged at her and grabbed her throat. His ring siring a mark into the soft flesh of her neck.
"I could kill you right here right now and make life so much easier for myself. But as usual, I'm torn, Julia, torn! I brought you back because our love was so strong at one point. We lived and loved each other all those years in Singapore, you must remember that!" Barnabas said, his lips closer to her ears, burning each word into her mind. His body conflicted between lust and hate for the woman he was touching.
"That's gone. All of that is gone. It's the past. Neither of use---can---bring it back." Julia said, struggle to speak with his hand around her neck.
"No, we can't. But you trying to kill me is something I never expected." Barnabas said tightening his grip. "I should do you the favor and take you out of your misery, you're miserable, aren't you Julia? You're stuck in this new time away from the things you knew and trapped here with me and miserable. I can snuff you out, I can take it all away, just say the word." He added, as Julia attempted to release his grip.
"Siobhan.....would....." Julia said, her voice struggling to escape her strangled throat. "Never....forgive you Barnabas." She manged to say.
With that one mangled sentence, Barnabas instantly let go. His daughters were always the key to his humanity. Siobhan and even Claudia. Both of those girls brought him pain and joy. Barnabas stared down at Julia who was now rubbing the redness off of her neck. She could see him bitterly battling the fact that he wanted her dead for attempting to kill him but he backed away. The key that always unlocked his human side was to use those he loved to bring him back from the brink, and Julia was always the consummate locksmith.
Barnabas adjusted his jacket and turned back to Julia still rubbing her neck.
"There is nothing in this world more important than Siobhan's happiness. But how would she feel to know that you tried to kill me? Wouldn't that put a small damper on your own happy reunion?" Barnabas said.
"It's not true, and she wouldn't believe you. I didn't do it." Julia said still rubbing her sore neck.
"Keep your secrets my love, because I will expose them. Trust me on this. I will not be vanquished so easily. Not now, not never, and certainly not by you." Barnabas quipped as he gathered his things and walked towards the door.
"NO!" Julia said standing in front of him. "I won't let you see the baby!"
Barnabas looked at Julia who had her arms and legs making an X over the door. He could easily overtake her and charge his way up to the baby's nursery to see him, but Barnabas was smarter than that. He knew that Julia would make a scene and he knew that that scene would cause a panic in the house and every one would see him as the aggressor--as he often was.
"Step aside." He said softly.
"Over my dead body." She replied.
Barnabas' nostrils flared at her persistence and he said "Don't tempt me Julia."
"Over. My. Dead. Body." She again stated.
Barnabas backed away from the door and stood back in the center of the room. He wanted her dead more than anything, and she was piratically tempting him to do it. But perhaps Julia was worth more alive than dead. She was, after all, the woman he chose to adopt a daughter with. Without Julia, his access to his beloved Siobhan would be cut.
"Have it your way." Barnabas replied, knowing full well that leaving Julia on a cliff unsure of his neck move would be just as torturous than actually killing her. He placed his coat over his shoulders and snapped his fingers the quickly vanished into a puff of black smoke that chocked Julia and stung her eyes.
As soon as the smoke evaporated she saw that he was gone.
She looked around thinking perhaps it was another trick. But there was no Barnabas. Julia was only left with more questions than answers: How did he know she had tried to kill him? Why did he actually think she went through with it when in fact she hadn't?
Angelique's lie blaming Julia and covering the true attempted assassin was now in full effect. Julia had to find Carolyn. They had to come together and figure their way out of this.
Once and for all.
****
As the sun began to fall, in a small 4 block neighborhood in Collinsport named 'The Mists', for its close proximity to the sea that sprays a misty glaze over the house, Curtis was going over paperwork he brought home from work at this kitchen table. He sipped on a glass of wine and carefully went over purchase orders, and filled out forms that the Collins Fish Co. needed done by the morning.
The kitchen table was crowned with an overhead light that hung in a orb open at the bottom on a golden wire from the ceiling. As Curtis stared intensely over his work, the wire began to swing the orb light fixture from one side to another like a pendulum.
Curtis did not notice. Then, all the electric objects in the apartment flickered on and off, on and off, on a off in quick succession. This got his attention. He quickly stood up and dropped the pen on the table as he looked around. His long lean body standing tall, alert and slightly shaking.
"What was that?" Curtis' mother Victoria said coming from down the hall.
"I don't know." Curtis replied looking around the apartment.
Just over in the corner of the apartment, hidden under the shadows of the dark living room, stood Angelique, invisible to the mortal eye, staring into the kitchen at Curtis and Victoria. Her eyes fixated more on the beautiful man she saw at The Old House staking Barnabas.
"And now .....what's that? Do you feel that?" Vicky asked, feeling another strange sensation aside from the oddity of the electricity flickers.
"What? I don't feel anything." Curtis said, confused as there were no other flickers.
"You don't feel that?.. ....... who's there? Who's there!!" She said, sensing Angelique's invisible body.
"Mom? What's going on?" Curtis asked concerned.
"I can sense something here. There's a presence here. Something not of this world...its a dark presence...malevolent." she answered. "Barnabas! Is that you!?" She called out, to the one person who could make her feel this way, but no one answered.
Curtis could see the stress of the last few weeks was getting to his mother. She was no longer the young woman she once was, the woman who ran across Collinsport in the past dealing with the un-dead, the twisted evils that haunted her and this town for over 50 years. Her body was tired, and the pain and overwhelming powers that had come to face her were now taking their toll. She was now a woman in her late 60s, ready to enjoy her life after decades of trauma, but still the scars of the past always seemed to open up as fresh wounds.
"Why don't you go rest." Curtis said turning his mother from looking into the darkened living room. "It's starting to get late and you've had a really rough go the last few weeks. I don't know really know if you've slept." he added referencing Barnabas' blackmail to get her to bring Julia back from the past with her time-travel.
Angelique invisibly looked on the two in the kitchen and got closer to the mother and son but remained hidden in the shadows.
"It's been impossible. I've been on red-alert since, well since I can remember." Vicky answered.
"I know. Maybe it's time that you tried to let all of that go. Maybe go speak to Siobhan. She's a psychologist, she can help you." Curtis said.
"How can I? With Barnabas out there under no one's control. Honey, his powers are truly indescribable. If he regains the strength he had way back when, there's no telling what he could do to anyone. Especially you...and me." Vicky explained as her voice trailed off in worry.
"That won't be a problem." Curtis answered cryptically.
"What do you mean?" She wondered.
"Barnabas won't be a problem for us or anyone anymore, I can guarantee that." Curtis explained.
"No one can guarantee anything when it comes to Barnabas Collins. He's unpredictable, and for the fact no one has seen or heard from him in a week makes me even more worried." Vicky said, noting the fact that she could still feel the presence of something or someone in their apartment.
"Well there's a reason people haven't heard from him." Curtis replied to Angelique's delight.
Vicky began to pick up on what Curtis' small hints. He had done something, something to Barnabas.
"Curtis, what have you done?" She wondered.
"The evening of Christopher's memorial, I needed a break from everything going on in the drawing room at Collinwood. I needed a breather, so I went into one of the studies. I found something that David had hidden away in a drawer. It was a stake." Curtis explained.
"Curtis, you didn't." Vicky said softly.
Curtis turned to his mother and looked deep into her eyes. He knew that Barnabas scared her to death. There was still an awful hold the vampire held over her, even if her secret about Curtis' true identity was out of the bag in terms of Curtis' knowing.
"He's gone. He wont bother us ever again." Curtis answered incorrectly.
Vicky turned from her son, there were tears in her eyes. She knew that if that were true, she would have know. Someone at Collinwood would have found Barnabas and the news of his vanquishing would have spread through town like wild fire.
But there was no wild fire. There was only silence from the family. Even Curtis, who works with David everyday at the Cannery offices never mentioned anything about whether or not there was something strange about Barnabas'. It was clear to Vicky that although Curtis had thought Barnabas was gone, it wasn't true.
"If that were true, we would have known. We just would. You can't tell anyone what you just told me. No one." Vicky said turning back to her son who looked confused. "I don't believe Barnabas is gone, and if he ever finds out it was you that tried to kill him ---my god--he can never know, do you understand me? He can never ever know!!" Vicky said her voice raised in fear for her son's safety.
"Why? How can you be so sure he's not dead? I saw his body begin to---" Curtis said before being interrupted by Vicky as Angelique continued to watch invisibly from the shadows.
"CURTIS! Listen to me, Barnabas is NOT dead. I would know. He's here. I can sense him. Something in this room is telling me....I can feel it as if I were looking right at him in his face. There is no doubt about it, in my heart that his presence is still in Collinsport, and if you want to keep us safe, you will never, ever go back to The Old house and you'll stay away from Barnabas Collins." She warned.
Vicky's fear of her son's safety suddenly turned into frustration over her son's recklessness. She turned from him and went back into the guest room of his apartment where she was staying leaving Angelique to stare into Curtis' handsome face.
Curtis was confused by his mother's reaction. He thought that by killing Barnabas he was doing not only his mother, but the entire Collins family a favor. He thought it was some how, a gift he was giving them even if he never told anyone.
But, he thought, was she right? Was Barnabas really still alive?
Angelique knew. She was curiously circling Curtis now, in a long white flowing gown as he sat back down to finish his work.
She was astonished at how handsome he was. She could see into his soul, she could see how kind he was, how true to his heart and love his mother he was. She could tell that there was a beauty within him that she had never seen anyone one else. This pureness and humanity was something she had craved for so long, and wished for herself.
She reached for his face, her hand invisible caressed his check. Curtis felt the icy chill. This startled him, he bounced out of his chair, that flipped backwards and fell to the floor. Angelique was smitten. An instant falling in love. She was sure of it, and she felt stupid for not seeing it before: the only way back to her own humanity was not through Barnabas but through Curtis!
There in that room, as Curtis continued to search for what made his lights flicker and what cold hand made his face feel the ice cold touch of death, Angelique made a vow to herself: She would not allow Barnabas to ever hurt Curtis. She would protect him at all costs, even if she had to kill Barnabas herself.
However the vampire of her past, the love of her life--at one point--could never ever know, or it would mean disaster for her plans for full domination. Angelique, needed to play both sides, continue to use Barnabas to unite their powers, and somehow find her humanity with this new man she had unexpectedly fallen for.
Or everything she wanted for herself would fall apart. Forever.
