A simmering sun stung the late afternoon overcast sky over Collinsport. It was a fresh spring day filled with brightness that on face value only masked the real treachery and upheaval the most famous family in town had not yet realized, the reality that their entire world was about to flip upside down.
Carolyn was still missing. What was worse, so was Barnabas.
David and Siobhan continued their disagreement in the drawing room over who or what might be involved in Carolyn's disappearance. More often than not, Barnabas was the culprit but he hadn't been seen in just as many days, which matched up perfectly to David's suspicions of him.
"I wish you'd give my father more credit!" Siobhan said of her adopted father Barnabas rocking baby John in her arms.
"I've allowed him to live here since I came back from Windcliff 4 years ago, I think that's credit enough. especially considering everything he's put is through over the years, not just the most recent but throughout his whole existence here." David said smugly.
"He would never hurt Carolyn, David, you know that. He's always thought of her as his own daughter, it's just not possible." Siobhan said.
"But he has hurt her. Not physically, no, but in the past he's done some very cruel things to her. Think of how Jack died, and how Jude died. Barnabas was directly involved with both of those situations." David pointed out.
"Well, I'm obviously not getting through to you. There's only one way to end this. Siobhan said, putting the baby down in his crib.
"How's that?" He asked.
"I'll just go down to the old house and search it myself. If Carolyn was there at any time, I'm sure we'll be able to find some sort of evidence." Siobhan said.
"No! Absolutely not! If you're father is on one of his tirades again, I do not want you stepping foot in that house. He's...to...no. Shiv, I'll go down there and make sure that everything is ok." David said still ignorant of the fact that both Barnabas and Carolyn were indeed at the hold house encased in stone by Angelique's spell.
As David and Siobhan continued to talk, the front door opened and in walked Julia Hoffman and her newly found granddaughter Quinn fresh from her stint at the Collinsport Hospital after the car accident that took Jeffery Shaw's life.
Julia had secured a safe place for Quinn to recover from her injuries at the Collin's family cottage down the way from the main house, a home Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard named Seaview.
Julia helped the limping Quinn into the drawing room where David and Siobhan were surprised into silence.
"Mother!" Siobhan said greeting her mother as she and Quinn walked into the room.
"Siobhan, I'd like you to meet, well, your niece I guess. This is Quinn Devereaux." Julia said as Siobhan then greeted Quinn and helped her sit down.
"Small world, isn't it." Quinn said noting that she knew David and Siobhan from the circumstances surrounding Christopher's death.
"I thought you would have left town by now." David said in a cold tone to Quinn who he blamed for getting Jeffery off of murder charges.
"I almost did, but there were things that I needed to take care of and....well here I am." Quinn responded.
"When Julia called me after your accident and explained what had had happened I can honestly say I wasn't exactly upset. Jeffery was a horrible person." David said. "But....you're family now Quinn, so I'm glad you're alright." David added.
"It's very weird to hear that." Quinn said her voice hinting how awkward she felt. "Family....I never really had one, not like this anyway."
"I know it's a lot to take in to discover your grandmother is still alive, and....well, that she looks like this, but trust me there are even more stranger things to worry about. Right now just focus on getting better." Siobhan said to Julia's grin.
"Vicky has been staying with her son Curtis, so Seaview cottage is all yours." David mentioned referencing that Seaview was technically Victoria's home as left to her by Elizabeth in her will.
"Thank you." Quinn answered. She and Julia then started to make their way out of the drawing room and off to get settled at the cottage.
"Before you go, Julia, you haven't had contact with Carolyn or Barnabas lately have you?" David asked to Siobhan's annoyance.
Julia paused and turned back to David, she felt the question seemed strange the way he had used both their names together, as if something happened both of them together. Julia suddenly thought of what happened, how she and Carolyn had entered a pact to kill Barnabas and rid the Collins family of his horrible, monstrous curse once and for all. But Julia hadn't spoken to Carolyn since they decided to do it, and she couldn't imagine her going off on her own to take on Barnabas.
"That's a peculiar question." Julia said. "No, I haven't."
David and Siobhan looked at each other, the worry showing more and more on their faces.
"Why?" Julia said stretching for information.
"Well..." Siobhan began feeling as if telling Julia both Carolyn and Barnabas were missing would send off alarms in her mother's already stressed mind. "we can't find either of them. Alex hasn't heard from her mother and I haven't heard or seen father in at least 4 days."
Julia's facial expression turned from curious to furious. She hadn't thought anything not seeing Carolyn in days as the house was large, and they both lead very busy lives, and Julia was purposefully avoiding Barnabas. Now things seemed dyer.
"Have you gone over to the old house? You have to go there! She must be there!" Julia said in a rush of energy.
"Ok, Ok, calm down." David said. "I was just on my way there when you and Quinn came in. I'll get over there and make sure everything is ok, and if she's not there I'll give Loomis a call." David said reassuring them all that he'd bring in detective McGovern.
Julia seemed satisfied and continued on her way to Seaview with Quinn who was in a complete state of confusion about what was happening with Carolyn and Barnabas.
David grabbed his coat and his cell phone and started to make his way towards the front door to the Old House when he suddenly received a phone call from Curtis.
"Curtis, what is it?" David said as he could tell Curtis was in a panic.
"It's my mother, she's....David she's really sick." Curtis said on the verge of tears.
"What do you mean?" David wondered, unsure how serious Vicky's state was.
"The other day she wasn't feeling well and she wasn't able to talk. I thought maybe she caught a cold and was suffering from laryngitis, but I came home just now and..." Curtis paused and began to hyperventilate.
"And what? Curtis what happened to Vicky!!?" David said, concerned for his former Governess' well being.
"David she can't see. She can't see! She can't see!!' Curtis continued to say, unknowing that Angelique's binding spell was causing both of Vicky's horrible afflictions.
"Oh my god!" David said frightening Siobhan. "Listen, just hold tight, I'll be right there, ok? Just hold tight." David said as he hung up the phone. "It's Vicky. She's really ill. I have to get over there and see what's going on. We might have to take her to the hospital." He explained to his wife.
"Do you want me to come?" Siobhan asked.
"No, just stay here, if Carolyn turns up call me...whatever you do Siobhan, do NOT go to the old house, under no circumstances do I want you there. Deal?" David warned.
Siobhan pursed her lips and lifted an eye brow, she agreed but knew in her heart that she wouldn't be told what to do. As soon as she heard David's car pull out of the large circle drive way in front of the mansion she called for John's nanny who had been in the kitchen preparing a light early dinner bottle for the baby.
"Will you watch Johnny for a minute? I'm just going to go down to the Old House for a second and see my father." Siobhan said, breaking her promise to David as the nanny gleefully agreed to watch the baby John.
Siobhan grabbed her coat, placed it loosely over her shoulders, and did not put her arms through the sleeves and quickly made her way down to the old house.
If anyone was going to find out the truth about where Barnabas and Carolyn were, it was going to be Siobhan, little she know, however, the horror show she'd find when she got there.
****
On the western slope of the sand dunes, Alexandra followed her vision of the beach. The cold sea wind blew her hair in wild whips around her face. The salty mist from the crashing waves landed on her lips, she could taste it.
As she continued to walk down the breach, she thought about what happened. The thought about the horrible way Andrew began to change into this wolf form right in front of her eyes in the back seat of the car. She saw how horrible it was for his body to go through. The pain. The shock to his system. She thought about Chris and how horrible it must of been for him to go through it too.
It was so hard for her to understand what had happened, but she promised herself that she was going to protect Andrew now that he was apart of Chris, and Chris was apart of him. She was feeling for Andrew what she felt for Chris, her heart was pushing her towards him. All she wanted to do was find him, protect him and get him the cure for these horrible transitions and hopefully he could live a normal life. Why she felt like it was all her fault, she couldn't comprehend, but it was there, in her mind hoping to correct everything that had happened in the last few weeks.
As she harsh cold water washed over her bare feet, in the distance she could see something, a body, slumped over near the shore hidden within the the hard cold rocks of the shore. Alex squinted her eyes to make sense of it. What was it? Who was it?
Alex, felt drawn to the image in front of her. She kept walking forward in the sand. Faster and faster she went on the beach until she caught herself sprinting on the beach towards the body.
It was Andrew, cold, naked, wet and shivering on the seaside slope huddled in the rocks.
"ANDREW! ANDREW!" Alex screamed.
He was still in shock from his transition and in the fetal position. He had his arms wrapped around his body for warmth. He was suffering acute hypothermia from being all morning in the ice cold spring air near the sea with nothing to cover him,
Alex reached Andrew and removed her coat and placed it over his shivering naked body. She caressed his head and kissed his cheek.
"You're ok now, Andrew, I'm here." Alex whispered.
Andrew opened his terrified eyes and saw the most beautiful blond woman kneeling over him in the sand. He reached up and touched her face.
"What happened?" he replied in weakened voice.
"Just relax, ok? We're going to get you out of here. Do you think you can walk?" Alex asked looking around for the best way for here new werewolf love to go back up to the top of the bluff and to Alex's car.
"What happened?" He said again as he tried to get up.
"Careful, careful." Alex answered helping him sit up in the sand. "You had your first full transition last night while we were in the car trying to get you to your dad's hotel room for the serum." Alex continued.
"The car, the back seat." Andrew said putting the puzzle pieces together.
"There was an accident." Alex said tapping here bruised forehead.
Andrew looked up and touched her forehead. He seemed sad, his eyes warmed to her and he started to slowly remember what happened.
"We hit another car and then I got out. Right?" Andrew said, Alex nodded her head and confirmed. "Are the other people ok?" He asked.
Alex didn't know what to say. She knew that the freak accident had another layer of shock that it happened to be his father and Quinn in the other car. She didn't know how she was going to break the news that the accident that he caused killed his father. Alex grabbed his hands as he sat there in the sand and sat down right in front of him while the waves crashed on the beach.
"What is it?" Andrew said shivering.
"Andrew we have to get you off this beach but before we go, I just need you to know about who was in the other car." Alex answered.
Andrew looked at her with a strange reaction. He didn't understand what was coming next.
"Who was it?" Andrew asked.
"It was your dad, and his car flipped over when we hit it." Alex explained. "Andrew......he didn't make it." She added.
"What? What do you mean? How could he not....what do you MEAN??" Andrew said, shivering and shaking in his place on the sand.
He broke down and began to sob in Alex's arms. The waves continued to break wildly against the rocks just feet from them. The waves were starting to get closer, the tide was coming in and Andrew needed to get off the beach.
Alex didn't know what to do. She knew that if they didn't leave the beach soon, Andrew could go into a deeper more dangerous hypothermia shock. Her jacket wouldn't keep her out of danger, but she also knew that the shock of his father's death and that he was mainly responsible for it, was taking a lot out him.
Alex put her hand on his chest, his tear stained face looked up at her as a warm flow of energy began to flow from her body to his. He closed his eyes and allowed the energy to fill his body and warm him. He took a deep breath and grabbed hold of her hand by the wrist. He opened his eyes, his body feeling surprisingly stronger and pulled her in for a kiss. They kissed, there on the sand, as the waves slowly made their way closer and touched their bodies slightly wetting them while they kissed.
Andrew and Alex opened their eyes after their kiss and looked at each other, they were fully in love and her magic was now returning stronger and stronger than it had ever been before.
"We have to get you home." She said in a soft voice.
"I can't go back to that hotel room. Not now." Andrew said.
"You can stay at Collinwood, its not far from here and I can go back to the hotel and get your things. But we need to go now, you won't be able to be out here much longer." Alex said standing up from the sand ad Andrew did as well.
Andrew tied Alex's jacket around his waist and the two hurried down the sandy beach back to Collinwood. His life in shambles, her life in an uncertain ways but together as one fighting force.
Together they would fight this, together they would get through this and together they would be, for as long as they could.
*****
As Alex and Andrew made their way back to Collinwood, David arrived at Curtis' apartment to help in anyway he could with Victoria's illness. He was concerned, and unsure of what he would find when he entered Curtis' home but he wanted to help her as best he could. Vicky had been like a surrogate mother to David for so many years, and now that she had returned to down practically for good, he wanted to make sure she was taken care of. To David, Vicky was family.
David entered the apartment, ad Curtis lead him to Vicky's bedside. What he saw, turned him inside out.
Vicky was in bed, back-lit by her bed-side light that placed shadows all over the walls, even in the late afternoon light. Vicky was looked up at the ceiling and almost looked completely unconscious, but she was in her right mind, only bewitched by Angelique's cruel spell of silence and blindness.
"Vicky? It's me?" David said as he grabbed her hand. She recognized his voice grabbed back and squeezed startling him as he sat on her bed side.
"She can hear you, she just can't see or speak." Curtis said, shocked about his mother's strange and sudden illness.
"What the hell happened?" David said as Vicky began to try and speak. "What? What do you want to say?" David said, as Vicky seemed to try and peak. But nothing would come out. Only a sound from her throat that seemed to make her chock.
"Don't speak mother, don't speak!" Curtis said in panic.
"It's ok, calm down, it's ok." David said to the equally as panicked Vicky as he patted the back of her hand.
Vicky, now in her late 60's, had always been a healthy person. She was strong and had been through a tremendous amount of trauma in her 20s, but never, ever had she had health issues. This shocking turn of events made David see a side of her that he didn't like to see this side of her that showed her mortality. The vibrant woman he knew as a child was now sickly and, to his eyes, on the brink of death.
Angelique's spell was working perfectly.
David patted Vicky's hand and told her to relax and rest a bit while David and Curtis stepped outside into the living room. David was no where near ready for Vicky to die, he was also unsure of what was going to happen. He could't understand how she had gone from so well taken care of to suddenly mute, blind and dying.
"We need to get her to a hospital right away." David demanded.
"I've already called, they'll be here soon to take her." Curtis said.
"Take her? You called for an ambulance? I think we could have driven her to the hospital." David replied surprised at Curtis' strange request.
"I didn't call the hospitals ambulance service." Curtis informed.
"Then I'm confused." David replied curtly.
"I called Windcliff." Curtis replied to David who had his own strange history with the mental hospital just out of town.
"Then I'm confused." David replied curtly.
"I called Windcliff." Curtis replied to David who had his own strange history with the mental hospital just out of town.
"What?? Why on earth would you call the staff at Windcliff? Your mother's issues aren't mental. They're clearly physical." David said.
"I think it's the best place for her. There are people there that can take care of her mental and physical health. I'm sure Siobhan can vouch for that hospital and I'm sure things will work out fine." Curtis said, the spell Angelique put on him working just as good as the one she put on Vicky. He was following Angelique's every order, even though he had no idea he was doing it.
David didn't like the fact that Curtis would bring up that his wife Siobhan, who was the head of the psychiatric department at Windcliff would take his side.
"Curtis, none of this makes sense to me. You said your mother was sick, I get here and I can see it for myself, and now you're telling me you're sending her to a hospital that deals with more mental and psychiatric then physical. Do you know how strange this sounds? We need to take her to Collinsport Hospital." David added.
"She's my mother and I think I know what's best for her. She been showing signs of a mental breakdown for a week, David. She's been under so much stress since Barnabas made her go back to get Julia ....she's been through too much. She was sitting in my apartment just a few weeks ago telling me she felt his presence. There was no one there. Just her and I." Curtis recounted, still unknowing the presence Vicky felt was the invisible Angelique staking them.
Before David could object, there was a knock on the apartment door. Curtis opened it and 4 large men in white outfits walked in. They were from Windcliff and Curtis pointed them in the direction of Vicky's room.
David quickly dashed over to the bedroom to help Vicky who surely had no idea what was about to happen. Just as he walked in he saw her frustratingly fighting the men who were trying to put her in a wheel chair.
"Mother you calm down. They're here to help you." Curtis said to Vicky's wailing and beating back the men.
One man finally had had enough, and from a side satchel he pulled out a syringe and went to stab it into the fighting Vicky.
"WAIT! What the hell are you doing!?" David said, holding back the man's arm from pricking Vicky with whatever was in the syringe.
"I'm going to sedate her." the man from Windcliff said.
"That's hardly necessary. Vicky, please just calm down, ok? They're going to make sure you're taken care of. Just please relax." David said grabbing Vicky's flailing arms.
The blind and mute Vicky murmured something no one understood. She wanted to tell them everything. She wanted to tell David that Angelique had returned and that she was calling herself Cassandra and that Curtis was tangled up in some sort of relationship with her. She wanted to tell him that she was convinced that this had to be Angelique's doing, there was no other exploitation.
But nothing came out of her mouth, and the man from Windcliff pricked her with the needle anyway, knocking Victoria out as she collapsed into another man from Windcliff's arms as they put her in the chair and tied her arms up in a straight jacket.
"Oh my god, really!?" David said shocked at the way they were handling Vicky.
"Sorry--its policy." The third man said as they slowly rolled Vicky into the awaiting white van out front.
Vicky, in her mind, could hear and feel everything that was happening to her. The medicine had only knocked her out physically. She was unable to open her eyes, not that if she could open them she'd be able to see anything. All she knew was that the people she loved were in danger and there was nothing she could do about it.
She was going to Windcliff and Angelique was free and running around Collinsport causing untold amounts of suffering. Vicky knew she was powerless. She had been played and her own son Curtis was now an unwilling accomplice, bewitched by Angelique and made to push his own mother into disablement.
She was going to Windcliff and Angelique was free and running around Collinsport causing untold amounts of suffering. Vicky knew she was powerless. She had been played and her own son Curtis was now an unwilling accomplice, bewitched by Angelique and made to push his own mother into disablement.
As the van, and a slightly defeated Vicky drove off, David stood on the stood of Curtis' building and watched as the van slowly got smaller and smaller down the street. He remembered his own removal from Collinwood by men from Windcliff by the order of his ex-wife Kimberly. He remembered how she too lied to get him taken away, but David was trapped there for almost 25 years. He remembered how lucky he was to have found Maggie who helped him finally escape.
In the van all Vicky could do was feel the light from the sun warm her skin from the van windows as she was taken to Windcliff for an unknown amount of time. Vicky knew that Angelique had won this round, she knew that getting her out of way was the only way Angelique could remain free of being found out, but she prayed that somehow, some way, should could get through this and save the ones she loved from Angelique's yet to be revealed vicious plans.
In the van all Vicky could do was feel the light from the sun warm her skin from the van windows as she was taken to Windcliff for an unknown amount of time. Vicky knew that Angelique had won this round, she knew that getting her out of way was the only way Angelique could remain free of being found out, but she prayed that somehow, some way, should could get through this and save the ones she loved from Angelique's yet to be revealed vicious plans.
"She's going to be fine." Curtis said in a cold and strange voice, a side effect of Angelique's love spell as the van carrying his mother Victoria drove off.
"She better be. If anything happens to her there, it'll on your head. And I wont let you get away with it. Do you hear me, if ANYTHING happens to Vicky I'll make sure you pay." David said sternly to Curtis who didn't know how to take David's message.
David said not another word and buttoned up his jacket and made his way back to his car leaving Curtis on his stoop unsure of his decision. Curtis stood there... confused. What had he done? Why had he done this? Angelique's powers had taken hold but at what cost?
Angelique's plan to get Vicky out of the way of her newly found obsession and love for Curtis had worked and his mother was out of the way now for sure.
****
Maggie sat in her bedroom looking into her vanity mirror. Just staring at herself. Only one light was lamp was lit in the corner of the room as the sun began to go down. She just stared at her face, with it's claw scratched scars that had scabbed over from Andrew's attack after the car accident. She just stared and stared, her eyes stone cold.
Her heart was beating at a slow pace, she couldn't believe what had become of her. With just one scratch, with just the slightest mixing of blood she too now was what Andrew was, and what Sebastian was, and what Christopher once was. A lycan. A werewolf. A creature of the night.
Maggie continued to stare at herself in the mirror and did not move. As she stared into the glass, her own reflection changed and mouthed the words: "The old house....the old house..."
Maggie jumped out of her vanity's chair allowing it to fall to the floor of her bed room. She gasped at her reflection speaking to her from the other side of the mirror. Her reflection's eyes were glowing. The person was Maggie, but it also wasn't Maggie.
Maggie gasped and tried to scream but nothing came out. For some reason the image in the mirror had sucked all the energy in the room, nothing made noise. Not Maggie, not the chair falling to the floor, nothing.
"The old house.... the old house...." the reflection repeated.
Maggie, stared into the mirror again, this time her face was lit by the glowing image looking back at her. Maggie's reflection began to shift, it began to change. It began to morph into something, or someone familiar. Maggie looked closer and in a flash of green and yellow light her own reflection changed to that of Josette Collins in the mirror.
Josette, the woman who was once the figure of Barnabas' obsession, the woman who married Jeremiah Collins and broke Barnabas' heart leaving him in the clutches of Angelique Bouchard who used his pain to her advantage only to have the tables flipped on her when Josette returned and Barnabas fell back in love with her.
Josette, the long deceased woman Maggie was a dead-ringer for, continued with the haunting words.
"The old house....go to the old house"
Then, suddenly, Maggie felt this urge of electricity that made her lunge over to her bedroom window where she saw that the sky was colored sunset purple and there was something sitting in the sky that was just as alarming as the face in Maggie's mirror.
A crescent moon.
The second most powerful moon in lyncanism was crescent moon. Not only did it cause transitions like the full moon, but for a shorter amount of time, but these were just as deadly as the full term transition of the full moon. The cyclical power of the crescent moon would also connect other werewolves to join together as on solid pack--alleviating the loneliness and despair of the werewolf mind.
Maggie could feel this, and even though she did not fully understand it, her new instincts were pushing a heart-pounding feeling that something was about to happen.
Maggie shook her head. She wanted nothing to do with what was happening to her. She wanted nothing to do with the new feelings and powers that she had inherited through the slash to the face Andrew gave her. They were unholy. They were unnatural. But she could feel it none-the-less.
Maggie screamed and rushed over to her the bathroom that was in her room and slammed the door behind her and fell to her knees in a panic and terror of what or could be happening to her.
"No, please I can't do this. This cannot be me! I cannot be this ...this thing...!" Maggie said holding her head and praying in her mind that she would not transition. She could feel her senses getting stronger. Her vision was powerful. She looked down and could see every fiber of the bath mat as if they were magnified a thousand times. She looked over at the sink's faucet and saw a single drop fall, as it it were directly in front her face and when it hit the bottom of the porcelain sink she could hear it echo all around her as if she was in a giant room with vaulted ceilings. All her senses were heightened to the extreme.
Maggie covered her ears and screamed again. This time, her son Sebastian came to the bathroom door, and in a surge of strength burst it open breaking the lock. He saw his mother on the bathroom floor, sweating and terrified for what was about to happen.
"Sebastian! NO! Get out of here. Take Serena and go please!" She screamed.
Sebastian got down on his knees and grabbed his mother by the shoulders. She looked up into his eyes and something was different. He too was feeling the power of the crescent moon.
"Something....something has happened." Sebastian said. "You feel it too?" He added, the beads of sweat now rolling down his forehead.
"What is it? What is it that we're feeling?" Maggie asked in a frantic voice.
Sebastian didn't know how to answer her. They just sat at on the floor of the bathroom as the sun began to set. Lower and lower the sun went as the sky turned darker and darker. The crescent moon began to shine bright above Collinsport.
"There's something ...." Maggie began to say.
"What is it?" Sebastian said, bracing himself for a transition, a transition he had not felt in years.
"The old house. We have to get to the old house. Something is there that we have to take back, or take control of. We have to go." Maggie said getting up.
"But what happens if...." Sebastian said stopping himself. "We can't be out, its too dangerous."
"If we stay here, there's no telling what will happen. It might be even more dangerous if we stay. I have to go to the old house at the Collinwood estate." She said again, almost as if her mind and body were in a trans.
"What's there? Why do you have to go? We could be seen!" Sebastian worried.
But Maggie was undeterred. She knew that the force of the crescent moon and the warning from Josette had to be connected. Whatever was at the Old House was powerful enough to wake the dead Josette to send her to Maggie and even powerful enough to wake the long dormant werewolf DNA within Sebastian to begin his own transition.
"I need you to come with me. There's a reason you and I both are going through this together...at the same time. Sebastian, please, I know how dangerous all of this is, but I have to go, and ..." Maggie paused when she realized she was literally asking her own son to go into one of the most dangerous situations she could have ever imagined, even if she had no idea what was waiting for her at the Old house. "I need you. I need you." She said.
Both were now feeling the full effects of the transition in progress, their bodies were beginning to feel the stretching of the bones deep inside their bodies, their eyes were turning color, they had to make it to the old house quickly.
Sebastian finally agreed and he and Maggie started off towards the front door in a rush.
Serena came out of her bedroom and saw them leaving. She had no idea what was going on. She got to the front door that Maggie and Sebastian left open. As the fog from the near by sea started to roll in over the darkened street, she heard two werewolves howl in the the distance.
Serena turned around quickly and closed the door behind her and locked it. She was breathing hard. She was terrified. She was horrified. Then again, as she stood there in the living room of the Evans cottage, alone, she again heard the mother and son wolf howl. It made her shake as if the room were filled with ice.
She could only hope and pray that Maggie and Sebastian would come back. Safe and sound. And in human form.
****
The crescent moon was now squarely over Collinwood crowning the sky like a precious pearl in a regal tiara. Andrew was laying in a room resting after his terrible first transition. He thought he was safe. He thought being with Alex and at Collinwood near her would protect him, but the dangers and old family curses weren't just for those who came from the Collins family line. They extended to those connected in all ways. Just ask Maggie Evans.
The curtains in Andrew's room were drawn but down the center was an opening where the moon light started to stream in. Andrew suddenly woke up...his eyes were glowing yellow. Just outside his window two other wolves were breathing hard, their snarls and grunts waited for their third member of new wolf pack.
Alex was in the drawing room still trying to contact her mother by phone while Andrew rested. As the fire crackled in the fire place she heard the wolves howl outside. She instantly stood up and dropped her cell phone to the floor. Her heart was pounding. Her blood was racing. She rushed out of the drawing room and knocked over a side table spilling a mug of tea all over the drawing room carpet and ran upstairs to check on Andrew.
She ran down the hall, her heart beating in her ears she burst through the door calling his name but there was no one in the room.
The curtains were pulled back blowing in a cold wind from the large open window Andrew jumped out of. Alex rushed to the window and looked out and saw three wolves joining together and rushing over towards the old house. Andrew. Sebastian. and Maggie.
"ANDREW!!!!" Alex screamed, but it was no use mystical energy from the crescent moon was pulling them to the old house through the vision Maggie had from Josette in the mirror.
The stage was set.
****
"What are you doing?" She asked Julia as she noticed her shuttering the windows and locking the doors.
"I heard wolves." Julia said.
"Wolves?" Quinn answered with a strange expression on her face.
"Three. I heard three maybe four wolves. Something is out there. Something is happening." Julia said.
Quinn's stomach turned. Her heart felt as if it stopped and instantly thought of Andrew.
"How? How can this be happening, its not a full moon." Quinn said standing back into the hall way in fear.
"This is Collinsport... things don't always work like they do in the movies. We just have to stay here. We have to stay here Quinn. We cannot leave until sun up....do you understand me, do not open that door or any windows until the sun comes up and we're safe." Julia warned.
Quinn nodded her head that she understood and shuttered at the sound of the wolves howling in distance.
****
At The Old House, Angelique walked around in the candle lit rooms as the lady of the manor. Barnabas and Carolyn, two strong-holds of the family, were literally statues of themselves in the drawing room, images locked away in a spell by Angelique that placed then in a prison of stone.
Angelique delighted in the fact that she had finally taken back what she felt would have rightfully been hers, had she and Barnabas remained married all those years ago. She danced around the two statues and giggled to herself in the candle light gazing into the terrified rock face of Carolyn and the angry frozen stone eyes of Barnabas.
"Careful now Barnabas, or I'll make turn you into just a bust!" Angelique joked looking directly into the vampire's frozen reaction.
Carolyn and Barnabas weren't the only two Angelique checked off her list. Her spell on Vicky had worked as well. Vicky was now on her way to being locked away, mute and blind, at Windcliff, never to be an obstacle in the way of Angelique and Curtis' love.
As for the other Collins family members, their times would come too. It was only a matter of time, but she had to be careful and plot their demises slowly and methodically. Destroying an entire family all at once would case a panic and too much attention. She'd wait. She hold back, and strike again. One death at a time.
In the mean time, Angelique was happy with what she had done. She was celebrating, her powers were getting stronger and stronger, her control over everything she touched was matched by no one, no witch, warlock she had ever encountered ever. She was elated. It had all worked out. She grabbed a bottle of Champagne that she had picked up on her way gone and a glass from the liquor cabinet and poured herself a glass.
Grinning, and guzzling the drink she looked at the two statues of Carolyn and Barnabas from her place on the sofa in the Old House drawing room. It was getting late. She had done so much in the last few weeks, she thought.
Her Champagne dizzy head grabbed the bottle and the glass and made her way up stairs to a bedroom. She opened the door to Josette Collins bedroom and looked around. Barnabas had kept it the same for decades, since the remodeling of 1967. The peach toned, rose embroidered curtains had been refurbished and recreated to the same kind Josette once had hanging in the large windows the faced the sea. The cream carpet was freshly cleaned, the bedding was even the same white sheets with small tiny pink flowers with pillows of lace trim that had Josette's initials crocheted into the corner tassels of each pillow.
Angelique put down the bottle of Champagne and sat at the vanity mirror looking at her beautiful reflection. Her wide blue eyes gazed back at her, they twinkled with delight and happiness of how her plans had come full circle after all these years, after all the heartache and death, and mistrust, and abuse, and terror she had suffered and made other's suffer, it was now coming together.
She would soon bring Curtis to the old house and they'd
Then, whole Angelique's head was back downing the sweet drink, the mirror she was sitting in front of began to glow. The light from the mirror cast a golden hue over Angelique's face. She put down the bottle and looked into the mirror. A figure appeared. It's eyes were glowing and staring back at Angelique. It said nothing but Angelique could sense this glowing image looking back at her was angry and furious.
Then, outside, the sound of three wolves howling their bloodcurdling call.
Angelique got up quickly. The bottle of Champagne fell down and spilled all over the bedroom floor, and the wolves howled again while Angelique stared directly into the glowing image in the mirror.
"Payback." A voice said that came from the mirror in a hissing like image.
Angelique's giant blue eyes widened when she realized who it was. It was Josette.
Josette's imagine slowly began to float out of the mirror, the light was almost as bright as the sun and it lit the entire room up like a fire burning only white light.
Josette's dress, also made of the same translucent light, covered the vanity table like a waterfall flowing and washing over rocks as it cascades down a mountain side.
"Payback." The hissing Josette said again as her mystical arms reached for Angelique.
"NO!" Angelique screamed as she lifted a hand and allowed a powerful serge of energy to burst from her palm hitting the mirror behind Josette.
The wolves howled again outside at Josette's command. Josette had called them, she had used the power of the crescent moon to create the wolf pack that would bring on the supernatural powers strong enough to bring Josette out of the mirror to take revenge on her rival Angelique.
The ghost of Josette got floated closer and closer to Angelique who felt her mind cloudy with the Champagne. She quickly tried to make run for the door, but Josette's powers slammed it closed. Angelique turned to look at the grey glowing eyes of Josette and she was standing, now, directly behind her. Josette placed her hand, glowing, hot, white light filled hands, around Angelique's throat and squeezed.
Angelique could feel the hot energy of this ghost squeeze the breath out of her. She could feel Josette's hands as if they were made of flesh and bone. They were tightening and tightening around Angelique's throat like a vice. Angelique, crippled by her inebriation and dazed mind could not bring herself to use her powers, she was too focused on trying to release the hands from around her neck that were there but not there.
She could not find the hands to pull off of her, but Josette was chocking her.
Siobhan made it to the Old House to check on her father and hoped she would find him there, somewhere, without any signs that he was in involved with Carolyn's vanishing. All she wanted to do was to clear her father's name in the eyes of not only David, but the law that would eventually come knocking if David continued to say that he believed Barnabas was somehow connected.
She walked in to the old house. She saw the dark front rooms only lit by candles. She stepped into the drawing room and looked around. Two statues stood in front of her. It was strange. Why would her father have these giant statues just standing in the middle of the room. She got closer, allowing the darkness around the statues to subside, and the faces became clear.
Siobhan gasped and stepped back in total horror at seeing her father and Carolyn's faces frozen in stone, frozen in a screams and anger and encased in these prisons of rock like creatures. In her shock, she heard a commotion coming from an upstairs location. She turned and slowly walked backwards towards the bottom of the staircase never allowing herself to look away from the statues that looked back at her as if they were begging for help.
She turned and slowly, step by step, walked up the staircase towards the sounds she was hearing.
In Josette's room, Josette had Angelique lifted in the air now by the throat. Angelique was gasping for air and trying to pry herself out from Josette's angry grasp. The glowing ghost was going to make sure the witch that had ruined so many lives was going to die and with her death all of her curses forever.
Siobhan slowly made her way down the hall. A light from under a door twinkled and flashed calling Siobhan to open the door and see what was behind it. She slowly stepped up to the door and grabbed the door knob.
Angelique, her eyes slowly turning blood-shot puffy from the strangulation was starting to see flashes of stars in her eyes. She was beginning to black out but she still heard the howls of the wolves outside waiting for their next order from Josette's ghost.
As Angelique began to die, her head slumped over towards the door and saw that the door knob was turning. The door suddenly opened and standing there was Siobhan, she screamed at the sight of the ghost chocking the witch 5 feet in the air in the center of the bedroom.
Siobhan's entrance distracted her, and she slightly loosened her grip on Angelique who saw her way out. Angelique lifted her hand towards Siobhan. She extended her fingers towards her and then quickly made a fist.
Suddenly a jolt of energy bolted from Angelique's fist and hit Siobhan, and in a quick, slight of the hand Angelique and Siobhan had switched places.
Siobhan was now being strangled by Josette, and Angelique was now standing at the door watching. The witch, once again, had gained the upper hand over Josette. Angelique began to levitate, her powers were building and she lifted both hands and pointed them towards the ghost of Josette and the chocking Siobhan.
"Velim Tibi
Procul ab inferno,
in speculo vos
mi vale"
The spell Angelique spoke created a giant circle of light around both Josette and Siobhan. The circle closed off and trapped them both inside. Josette released her grab on Siobhan's neck and tried to get out of the circle of light but it was no use, the two women were both trapped inside. Angelique lifted her arms and the circle of light, the giant orb, began to collapse with both women in side and in a blink of an eyes flew back into the mirror with only the screams of the two woman echoing from the glass.
Angelique, angry and still feeling the hands of Josette around her throat walked over to the mirror and picked up a lamp on the side of the vanity then threw it into the glass breaking the mirror into hundreds of shards that fell down to the cream carpet. Locking the two women in the world of the unknown forever.
Siobhan was gone.
The wolves outside howled a horrid, terrible sound. They felt telepathically that Josette failed to kill Angelique. They could feel that good did not win this time and that Angelique still roamed the halls of the Old House unchecked and full of fury and power.
Outside the Old House, the three wolves, Maggie, Sebastian, and Andrew growled and sniffed and waited for a taste of the witches blood.
Angelique stepped onto the front portico of the Old House feeling like the most invincible creature on earth. She was all powerful, all knowing and could destroy anyone she came in contact with. She mad her way down the front steps and stepped into the yard where the wolves came and surrounded her.
Like three great white sharks, they circled around her pacing and snarling waiting for her to make a move so that they could then strike and kill her.
"Poor little things, you've been summoned by someone who'll never win. Josette is no longer a threat. Go on....leave this place now before I make you all regret you ever saw the moon." Angelique said to the hungry wolves teasing them without regard of their teeth and thirst for her blood.
They continued to circle around her, three werewolves of Collinsport, until Maggie lunged at Angelique who shot a lightening bolt at her knocking Maggie down and tossing her werewolf body over to the side of the house.
Maggie whimpered as her body changed back into human form laying under a small grove of tress smoking from the power bolt of Angelique's powerful jolt
Then Sebastian, angry at he saw happen to his mother reached and snapped at Angelique's arm. He missed and Angelique grabbed his my his werewolf throat. He shook Her violently and knocked her to the ground, she quickly regrouped but was now cornered by Sebastian and Andrew, growling, snarling and foaming at the mouth for her blood.
Angelique raised her hands and the ground began to split open. The ground started to open wide and large gaps in the earth, like graves, began to be carved out of the ground. The werewolves jumped and dodged the opening ravines below them and tried to avoid falling in. But it was too late and too difficult. The giant gaps in the ground that Angelique created were becoming too many to keep up with and both wolves fell in, howling and scrambling to get up and get out.
As Sebastian and Andrew, in wolf form, struggled to get out of the deep trenches Angelique created all the witch could do was laugh. It seemed like she was free and clear, no one would stop her. No one could stop her! Her cackle echoed throughout the wide open spring air, and to the wolves' terror, the trenches began to close. The walls of the earth slowly began to collapse and dirt began to fall in.
They were buried alive.
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A woman's scream came from behind Angelique who had just buried Sebastian and Andrew alive.
Angelique turned and it was Alexandra who had followed Andrew from Collinwood to the Old House when she saw his room empty and the window wide open.
"We finally meet face to face. The woman who caused so much sorrow for my daughter Claudia." Angelique hissed referencing the past history between Claudia and Alex.
"Angelique Bouchard?" Alex said connecting the dots.
"In the flesh" Angelique replied with a slight bow.
"What have you done?" Alex said noting all the destruction all around her as the giant gashes in the ground were beginning to come back to normal.
"I've taken back my place, this is where I have always belonged, and no one, little Alex, is going to stop me." Angelique answered, her eyes now changing from blue to a cold white.
Angelique began to levitate again and stretched her arms out wide while floating in the air.
The energy of everything all around her began to be pulled into Angelique's body like lightening bolts striking her over and over and over again. These blasts were bright, white lights that could be seen from all over town.
Serena stared out of her window at the Evans' family cottage and hunkered down in fear.
Curtis was still standing in front of his apartment building and saw the flashes from there.
Julia and Quinn quickly hid in the back bedroom of Seaview as Angelique's powers began to get stronger and stronger and the light filled the sky over Collinsport.
David saw it in his car on the drive home from Curtis' to Collinwood.
Alex was terrified, but she had to do something. She had to find a way to get this monster, this cruel witch of a being to end whatever she was doing to control everything around her.
Alex was rusty when it came to using her powers, the powers that she had suppressed for many years. She closed her eyes. She began to picture herself floating, she began to picture herself rising off the ground, her feet in the air and facing Angelique once and for all.
When she opened her eyes again, just seconds after closing them she was indeed in the air facing the monstrous witch, bolts of energy rushing around them like lasers from the sun.
Angelique laughed at Alex's attempt to confront her, no matter what she did, Angelique new her powers had grown incredibly strong, no one could stop her. She lifted her arm and closed her hand into a fist and sent a power bolt of light at Alex, but missed.
Alex put her hands together in a prayer position and sent a jolt over to Angelique that hit her but no effect came of it. Angelique was just absorbing all the power and energy all around her like a sponge to water.
Alex tried again, but the same thing happened, the jolt of energy from Alex was absorbed by Angelique's body. She began to feel helpless. She began to feel like there was nothing more she could do, Angelique was too strong.
"There's no use Alexandra. This is where we are. I am the one that will control everything from here on out. I will be the one that makes you happy and makes you sad, I will be the one that creates life and takes it away. I will be the one that changes the way life is forever. But...I can spare you. I can spare you from the darkness that I will unleash." Angelique said, her eyes glowing a bright white.
Alex, still in the along side Angelique, the powerful winds of the atmosphere blowing her hair all around here was disgusted by Angelique's thought of joining forces with this evil creature.
"Not on your life." Alex said trying once again to send a powerful bold of energy from her body. But again it was no use.
"Think of the possibilities, think of the things you too could do if we were on the same side! I can give you all you've ever wanted." Angelique said to Alex who was now coming down to the ground from mid air.
"I had what I wanted. At least I thought I did, and it was taken away from me. Chris died, and I was given a second chance with Andrew and now he's gone too. Everything has been taken away from me. My mother. My father. What good are you? Nothing you do will give me back the things I love." Alex said. "Not really. It'll all be a fantasy." She added.
"I can bring you back your mother. That's all? Ohhh...that's simple." Angelique said as she closed her eyes.
Inside the old house, the two statues of Barnabas and Carolyn began to crack. The cracks began to shake and move and then one by one the statues fell to the floor of the drawing room, then suddenly, and completely broke into crumbles of dust and rocks of stone.
In the rubble, a very much alive Carolyn began to cough. She was gasping for air rolling on the floor full of dust and powder from the stone that had encased her for days and days. She took deep breaths, her face covered in white dust and then she remembered, she wasn't the only one Angelique locked in the stone like jail.
Carolyn quickly turned her head over to her side for Barnabas and saw a mound of rocks and pieces of stone. Barnabas had not made it. It was just her. No one else. Carolyn picked up the stones that were once part of her body and part of Barnabas and held them in her hand. He was gone, now just a pile of rocks and stones, dust and powder.
As she began to cry, and looked up at his painting that hanging crookedly over the fire place. Carolyn thought to herself that this couldn't be the last of him, it just couldn't be! They may have had their differences but the manipulation he suffered at the power hungry Angelique was just too much for her to comprehend.
"Barnabas." Carolyn whispered as she sobbed on her knees in the rubble of her former cousin, the man she hated yet adored. The man she saw as a second father, even though he at times kept secrets from her, the man who took so much from her. She loved him. She truly love him--but she could not save him.
Carolyn looked up again over the fireplace. His painting bathed in a flickering light from outside. Her tears pouring down her face, she could not reconcile his death, his vanishing withing the encasement of stone that Angelique had locked them in, but then again she was a being of the supernatural, not like Carolyn who was mortal. His supernatural body succumb to the spell, and disintegrated into dust when the spell was broken.
Suddenly, mourning for Barnabas quickly extinguished when she noticed the bright lights coming from outside that shined on Barnabas' painting. She sniffled, wiped her eyes and got up from the pile of stones, limping towards the front door, she opened it, stepped outside and gasped in terror at the incredible sight she saw in the air.
Her daughter floating in front of a powerful glowing with rage Angelique.
"Look." Angelique said pointing to the Old House below.
"Mother! MOTHER!!" Alex screamed.
"Alex!!!!" Carolyn screamed in total anguish for her daughter's safety.
"See what I can do you for you Alexandra? Do you see I can make things come back and I did it just for you. Now, if we combined our powers, imagine the possibilities. Imagine bringing Chris back!" Angelique said danging the carrot of Chris' life in front of her.
Alex, her tears of frustration rolling down her face only shook her head. She knew the dangers of witch craft. She had seen the dark-side of being this powerful before and it almost cost her her own life many years ago. There was nothing Angelique could offer her that would make her cross back into that side again. She would never join forces with Angelique no matter what.
"I would rather die then do anything with you or for you. Don't you see? Nothing you do can convince me. Nothing!" Alex said.
"You're a fool!" Angelique screeched.
"Like your DAUGHTER!" Alex shot back.
Angelique's eyes widened. Her anger was unparalleled. Alex and Angelique's daughter Claudia once fought over the love of Christopher and in doing so, Claudia lost and vanished into the world never to be seen again. Angelique wanted nothing more than to have Claudia back, but the truth was, Claudia wanted nothing to do with her witch mother Angelique. But the pain of that feeling, the rejection of Claudia was too much, and Alex was throwing those emotions in Angelique's face; a dangerous step.
"You'll wish you never said that." Angelique growled and lunged at Alex from her place in mid air and landed right in front of her.
"Oh my god! No! Alex!!!" Carolyn screamed from below.
Angelique and Alex were now eye to eye. They could feel each other's breath on their face. Angelique grabbed Alex by the face and began to suck the life out of her, but Alex, would not give in without a fight, she grabbed Angelique in return and miraculously began sucking back energy from her too.
The two witches were now spinning in the air, locked in a powerful struggle like a ball of electricity spinning in the air. Angelique with her hands on Alex's face, and Alex with her's on Angelique.
They spun around and around, the power of both women flowing back and forth into each other. Back and forth, back and forth. The power struggle was building wildly 200, then 300, then 400 feet from the surface of the ground.
The Sky began to turn black, and clouds began to cover and storm. Lightening began to flash. Thunder began to clap. The wind began to push the two magical beings into a thunderstorm in the air. The two powerful women were strengthening in the air with the elements surrounding them.
But the energy surrounding the two dueling sorceresses was too strong and they were starting to over lap. It was too much for the atmosphere to hold in one place and in one giant explosion of power. Angelique had only one more shot to take control as best she could.
She lifted her free arm into the air and conjured one last thunder bolt that hit both women blasting a giant bright light over the town of Collinsport, blinding anyone who looked up.
The flash of light was so bright it looked as if a second of day light had happened within the blanket of night.
At the Evan's cottage Serena screamed and fell to the floor from what she saw come from the window.
At Seaview house Julia and Quinn screamed too and hid behind furniture.
At his apartment, Curtis was blinded by the light and fell backwards onto the stoop covering his eyes.
While on his drive back to Collinwood, David quickly pulled over on the side of the road as the blast was so bright it obstructed his view.
Carolyn covered her eyes and fell back into the foyer of the old house that was now bathed in the white light of the explosion, hitting her forehead in the fall.
Everyone in town screamed as if a nuclear bomb had gone off, turning the night sky into a giant flash of white light engulfing everything it touched.
And for a moment there was silence. A silence that was almost deathly. A silence that was cold and harsh but was broken by the moaning of Alexandra who was now laying in the green grass of the old house grounds.
Carolyn, rubbing the bump on her head from her fall when Alex and Angelique collided in the thunder clap, opened her eyes and sat up. She saw Alex in the grass and quickly went over to her.
"She's gone. She's gone!" Carolyn said with her arms around Alex noting Angelique was no where to be found, the light and energy absorbed the witch completely removing her from the scene.
Maggie, Sebastian and Andrew too were now getting up, back in human form. They looked around, their werewolf bodies suddenly melting away back into the softs of human flesh, gone the monstrous creatures the night made them.
Angelique's spell over Collinwood seemed to be broken, even Siobhan, who was sucked back into a mirror inside the old house was now waking up in a daze on the carpet floor of Josette's room. She quickly made her way down stairs past her the rubble from the broken statue that was her father and joined the other's outside.
"It's over. It's all over." Carolyn said, tears in her eyes as Sebastian helped a limping Maggie over to where Carolyn, Alex and Siobhan were. Andrew too joined, kneeling in the wet grass and grabbing Alex's hand lovingly. She squeezed back.
"It's all over" Carolyn said again, her voice soft and calm as Alex buried her head in her mother Carolyn's lap, sobbing with relief of the end of the nightmare.
"Where's my father?" Siobhan asked of Barnabas.
Carolyn looked up and began to shed tears. She couldn't bring herself to tell Siobhan what Angelique had done to her and Barnabas, and that Barnabas did not make it. All Carolyn could do was mouth "I'm sorry" to Barnabas' daughter.
Siobhan gasped and covered her mouth and turned back to the Old House, Barnabas' beloved home and sobbed.
Maggie, who had a lengthy and checkered history with the vampire of Collinwood over the past 50 years, grabbed on to her son Sebastian upon understanding Carolyn's notion of Barnabas' demise.
The nightmare....seemed over.
****
"Are you awake?" A voice asked softly. "It's time for your medication. Wake up now, come on, wakie wakie."
The person opened their eyes. Everything was foggy, everything was confusing. The room was a blur, they could barley make out objects. The room smelled of fresh flowers and at the same time it smelled of sick. The person was in a bed with rough white sheets that scratched their skin. The person looked down at their arms, still blurry and confusing but they were able to make out an ID bracelet that read: PATIENT 124570 -- WINDCLIFF SANITARIUM
"Come on now, take your meds." The voice said. It was a woman's voice. She was clearly a nurse. "You sure have had a crazy few weeks huh? How are you feeling?"
The person could not answer.
"Hmm...well you look ok." the nurse said brushing off most of her duties.
The person in the bed with the scratching sheets tried to speak but couldn't. The nurse noticed and smiled then handed over a pad and pen.
"Here you go...what is it? What do you want to tell me?" The nurse asked, uninterested in what was really happening.
The person grabbed the pen and without being able to see clearly where they were writing still managed to scribble out something for the nurse to read back.
"W H ER AM I?" The note read.
"It's finally being taken care." The nurse said. "Don't worry, as soon as things calm down, it'll all start to make sense." The voice said.
The person grabbed the pad and pen again and blindly scrolled out "C UR T I S"
"Oh.... well, he's the reason you're here and why you're not gone like the rest of them. That's right hon, Carolyn....David...Barnabas....Julia...Alex....all of them. They're all gone. Every last one of them. But Curtis, he's your saving grace."
The person suddenly perked up at thinking Curtis might be there to save them but they were still unsure of what was happening, the fog in their mind possibly from medication, was disorienting.
"Clam down calm down!!" the nurse said shoving the person back down on the bed. "Like I said, things will start to become more clear soon. Or maybe they won't. I don't know. That's not what I care about right now." The nurse said coldly.
The patient in the bed, a woman, pointed to the pad again where she had written Curtis, she wanted more information, she was adamant about finding out more about Curtis. Where was he, was he coming to get her?
The nurse grinned and leaned down very close her patient. The nurse was so close now, the patient could feel the nurse's breath up against her cheek. The patient's blurry eyes, damaged and strained became fixated on the nurses name tag as she leaned in close. The female patient could only make out the first four letters on the nurse's name tag.
"C AS ....S...."
"I couldn't part with Curtis...no, not at all. He means everything to me. I'll take good care of him for you Victoria." The voice said switching from uninterested nurse to cold and evil and finally naming the patient who was in the bed as Victoria Winters.
It suddenly dawned on Vicky just who was standing in front of her, the voice...the name tag....It was Angelique Bouchard, still alive and posing as Vicky's nurse at Windcliff : "Cassandra".
Angelique stood over Vicky and giggled evilly and took Vicky's pad and ripped up the pages she had written on.
Vicky lie there in her bed at Windcliff. Tears ran down her face. She had no idea what had happened to everyone. The white light...the powerful bright light that engulfed all of Collinsport. What had it done to everyone? What had it done to her friends? Her family? Where was her son Curtis? What had happened to Collinwood? Her mind was in a complete storm confusion and panic.
Angelique's binding spell had left Vicky almost completely sightless. Vicky could not talk at all and was trapped at Windcliff.
Alone, terrified and mute Vicky felt like she had lost everything around her to a power hungry witch. She continued to lie on the bed staring up at the ceiling in the white room, the tortured witness to Angelique's complete annihilation of everything she loved.
A new nightmare was born, and Vicky was being led to believe her whole family was dead. Angelique was not going to give up on Curtis this easy, her spell, although broken with the majority of the Collins family still held a tight noose around Curtis and Vicky.
Vicky wailed in terror at the thought of her family and friends' demise.
To Vicky, unknowing of the truth, all seemed lost.
Now, who would save her?
The person opened their eyes. Everything was foggy, everything was confusing. The room was a blur, they could barley make out objects. The room smelled of fresh flowers and at the same time it smelled of sick. The person was in a bed with rough white sheets that scratched their skin. The person looked down at their arms, still blurry and confusing but they were able to make out an ID bracelet that read: PATIENT 124570 -- WINDCLIFF SANITARIUM
"Come on now, take your meds." The voice said. It was a woman's voice. She was clearly a nurse. "You sure have had a crazy few weeks huh? How are you feeling?"
The person could not answer.
"Hmm...well you look ok." the nurse said brushing off most of her duties.
The person in the bed with the scratching sheets tried to speak but couldn't. The nurse noticed and smiled then handed over a pad and pen.
"Here you go...what is it? What do you want to tell me?" The nurse asked, uninterested in what was really happening.
The person grabbed the pen and without being able to see clearly where they were writing still managed to scribble out something for the nurse to read back.
"W H ER AM I?" The note read.
"It's finally being taken care." The nurse said. "Don't worry, as soon as things calm down, it'll all start to make sense." The voice said.
The person grabbed the pad and pen again and blindly scrolled out "C UR T I S"
"Oh.... well, he's the reason you're here and why you're not gone like the rest of them. That's right hon, Carolyn....David...Barnabas....Julia...Alex....all of them. They're all gone. Every last one of them. But Curtis, he's your saving grace."
The person suddenly perked up at thinking Curtis might be there to save them but they were still unsure of what was happening, the fog in their mind possibly from medication, was disorienting.
"Clam down calm down!!" the nurse said shoving the person back down on the bed. "Like I said, things will start to become more clear soon. Or maybe they won't. I don't know. That's not what I care about right now." The nurse said coldly.
The patient in the bed, a woman, pointed to the pad again where she had written Curtis, she wanted more information, she was adamant about finding out more about Curtis. Where was he, was he coming to get her?
The nurse grinned and leaned down very close her patient. The nurse was so close now, the patient could feel the nurse's breath up against her cheek. The patient's blurry eyes, damaged and strained became fixated on the nurses name tag as she leaned in close. The female patient could only make out the first four letters on the nurse's name tag.
"C AS ....S...."
"I couldn't part with Curtis...no, not at all. He means everything to me. I'll take good care of him for you Victoria." The voice said switching from uninterested nurse to cold and evil and finally naming the patient who was in the bed as Victoria Winters.
It suddenly dawned on Vicky just who was standing in front of her, the voice...the name tag....It was Angelique Bouchard, still alive and posing as Vicky's nurse at Windcliff : "Cassandra".
Angelique stood over Vicky and giggled evilly and took Vicky's pad and ripped up the pages she had written on.
Vicky lie there in her bed at Windcliff. Tears ran down her face. She had no idea what had happened to everyone. The white light...the powerful bright light that engulfed all of Collinsport. What had it done to everyone? What had it done to her friends? Her family? Where was her son Curtis? What had happened to Collinwood? Her mind was in a complete storm confusion and panic.
Angelique's binding spell had left Vicky almost completely sightless. Vicky could not talk at all and was trapped at Windcliff.
Alone, terrified and mute Vicky felt like she had lost everything around her to a power hungry witch. She continued to lie on the bed staring up at the ceiling in the white room, the tortured witness to Angelique's complete annihilation of everything she loved.
A new nightmare was born, and Vicky was being led to believe her whole family was dead. Angelique was not going to give up on Curtis this easy, her spell, although broken with the majority of the Collins family still held a tight noose around Curtis and Vicky.
Vicky wailed in terror at the thought of her family and friends' demise.
To Vicky, unknowing of the truth, all seemed lost.
Now, who would save her?
