Series 3/Chapter 8: A FAMILY SÉANCE

Night came quickly and consumed the entire Collinwood estate leaving lights from one of the downstairs rooms to pour out of the windows, but that light filled room was empty. The real action was happening in an upstairs bedroom that belonged to Alexandra Thorne.

Alex and Claudia stood in the bedroom together staring at the mirror both their mother's were trapped in under the spell Alex cast, the spell meant for Claudia. But by mistake, Alex's own mother Carolyn was pulled in by Angelique's book of spells that trapped her behind the glass. Alex's use of black magic and her inability to fully grasp it's treachery was to blame and Claudia would not let her forget it.

"You can change this can't you?" Alex pleaded with Claudia knowing full well the extent of her powers since she possessed Alexandra's body and posed as her for weeks.

"I don't think you get it Alexandra. Half of my abilities have been depleted after I left your body. I can't undo anything any more, especially not in this capacity. Angelique's book is much too powerful." Claudia explained as she inspected the mirror Carolyn was trapped in.

The mirror, a large ornate 18th century piece, was hanging on Alexandra's wall. It had angels on each of its four corners, all four angels trumpeting long skinny trumpets that added to its golden frame's elegance. The frame was crowned by a sun made with crystals and etched with the initials JC for Josette Collins, Barnabas' first wife that leaped to her death off Widow's Hill. The glass inside the frame looked normal, just like any other, but behind it was a portal to the underworld, where all the souls damned there for eternity could only look out on the world of the living in vain.

"We have to do something. We have to get my mother out of there." Alex said, now looking at the mirror with Claudia.

Alexandra went over to the book that had fallen to the floor and knelt down to open it hoping and find another spell to reverse what she had done and pull Carolyn out of the mirror and save her from the land of the dead. The book, that had earlier felt as if it were welded shut, now was opened without struggle, but just as Alex pulled back the cover it was forced shut by someone standing over her.

Barnabas had walked in and with the bottom of his cane pushed the cover closed, and held it down tight.

"I believe you've done enough damage with this, haven't you Alexandra." Barnabas said reaching down and picking up the book.

"Barnabas, you have have to help me. I made a terrible mistake. I listened to Claudia's mother and I tried ---" Alex said jumping up to her feat.

"Claudia's mother? How do you know Claudia's mother?" Barnabas said interrupting Alex.

"She was here Barnabas. She convinced Alexandra to use her book and this is the result. Carolyn is gone." Claudia coldly explained.

"Gone? Where? Did Angelique take her?" Barnabas asked.

"Into the mirror." Alexandra confirmed as she pointed to Josette's mirror on the wall.

Barnabas looked over at Claudia who stood next to the mirror and waited for her to further explain but Claudia only had a plan of action in mind.

"Time is of the essence. If we don't figure out how to get Carolyn back from the other side she'll be there forever Barnabas. We have to use Angelique's book. Something in there will help us. What's left of my powers alone won't do." Claudia explained.

"No. That book will only work counter to our motives. Angelique has always been that way. Twisted and devious. We'll have to do find Carolyn a different way." Barnabas said turning to the mirror and running his fingertips over it's gilded frame, allowing small memory flashes of his sweet Josette to cloud his mind for split second.

"How?" Alex said with tears in her eyes.

"Before the witching hour strikes, we'll have to summon Carolyn. A séance perhaps. Her life is at stake, and if we can reach her through an open portal she can come through and hopefully find her way back to us." Barnabas explained.

"Hopefully?" Alex said in a worried voice.

"What you've done here Alexandra has no grantee of repair. You've opened a door to the other side and it's not been shut closed. The only way we can get your mother back is if we try to re-open that portal again, but this time without the help of Angelique's book. Using her book will only cause a larger tear in the veil between the living and the dead, allowing who knows what to escape. A séance is the safest way to find Carolyn.....and only Carolyn." Barnabas explained.

"We'll need a fourth person." Claudia instructed.

"I'll find Kimberly." Barnabas said.

As Barnabas left to find Kimberly who was in her laboratory, Claudia and Alex collected the mirror and headed down to the drawing room to prepare for the séance. Carolyn's life was a steak and there was no time to spare.

****

In a completely different part of the house, a much quieter scene. Caleb was helping Kat into a large canopy bead filled with pillows and comforters. The room was decorated to the highest of elegance, a room fit for a queen. And Kat certainly felt like a one.

"I really don't need this kind of treatment Caleb, but thank you." Kat said jokingly.

"I just want to make sure your comfortable and taken care of. That's all." Caleb answered tucking her in.

"I'd like to thank you too, my room is very accommodating." Sebastian said as he hung up some of Kat's things in the adjecent closet.

"Of course." Caleb answered.  "So, Kat, why don't you get some rest, and I'll show Sebastian around."

Kat smiled as Sebastian and Caleb made their way out of the room and closed the door behind them. As they walked Caleb took Sebastian to a large dining room that had a 24 person table in the center.

The walls were covered in a soft maroon wallpaper depicting scenes of Collinsport's ship yard and the ship that brought the Collins family from England to America 4 centuries ago. The 20th century chandelier given to the family by Elizabeth Collin's mother's father's family (the Stoddard's) sparkled and twinkled above them as a cook brought over specially made Maine clam chowder for the two to have for dinner.

"I hope you don't mind chowder." Caleb joked.

"No, its fine. Thanks. Listen, I really do want to thank you for having us here. It's very kind." Sebastian said.

"Listen, I love your sister. I would do anything for her. This is really no trouble at all." Caleb answered.

"How long have you lived here?" Sebastian asked as he took a sip of his soup.

"Most of my life really. After my parents divorced my mother took off and my dad and I lived here on our own for a bit. But then he took off too, I was here all by myself with a Nanny for a while then went off to boarding school. I would spend Christmases and birthday's in England with Carolyn and her family. When we figured my father wasn't come back, Carolyn and I decided to sell the house, but that's changed now. The family business is still doing well, so we're keeping it." Caleb explained.

"No word from your dad--ever?" Sebastian asked dipping bread into the chowder.

"I got a letter from him a few years ago and----oh excuse me!" Caleb said as his cell phone starting ringing. "Jesus, Sebastian, I'm so sorry. This is the office, I really have to take it. Ever since I've been back on the board at Collins INC, it's been really crazy. Would you mind if I excused myself and took this call?"

"No! Please by all means." Sebastian said as Caleb rushed off to answer his phone call in a different room.

As soon as Caleb left the room Sebastian wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin with the light blue embroidered C and dropped it on the table. He was alone in the dinning room, this was his moment to look around Collinwood without being detected and find what he needed within the walls of the mansion for his boss.

Sebastian sneaked through the hall way, a long winding corridor dotted with large portraits of former family members, each portrait painted more severe then the next. He came to one of Roger Collins dated 1976, and across from him, an unfinished painting of a teenage boy dated the same year. The boy stood in a court yard within the confines of Collinwood, his face cold and sad.

Sebastian's face took concern over the image, he believed he knew who was in the painting, David Collins.

He made his way down the hall and down the back stairwell that lead into The Blue room. No one was inside. He looked around, the shelves were freshly dusted, the books were neatly organized, the furniture clean and perfect. Nothing out of the ordinary it seemed.

As Sebastian continued to look around the room he noticed there were two large gargoyles on either side of the fire place sitting. The right one had it's right paw raised, the left one had its left paw raised. But one gargoyle's paw looked different, it had some sort of break in it, at the base where it attached to the rest of the body. Sebastian walked over and placed his hand on the paw that instantly lowered and released a lock the pushed the large fire place inward revealing a secret passage within the walls.

Sebastian looked around, still no one in the room, and he carefully walked in the secret passage and followed down the dark hallway.

****

Back in the main drawing room, Alexandra and Claudia had set up a round table with a large 3 pronged candelabra in the center for the séance. They dimmed the lights and waited for Barnabas and Kimberly.

"Do you think this will work?" Alex asked a quiet Claudia.

"It has to, if we ever want to get your mother back, it has to." Claudia replied as she lit the candles.

"Have you ever done this before?" Alex asked shyly. 

"No." Claudia said matter of factly and in truth a bit nervously. Every since Leopold had trapped her in the cemetery and she used her powers to possess Alex, nothing felt the same. Her powers were weaker. She felt different.  Even the confidence in her abilities waned, a mortal symptom. 

"You don't think it'll work do you? I can see it in your eyes." Alex said in a panicked tone.

"Alexandra, listen to me. Barnabas isn't going to just allow Carolyn to wonder around the world of the dead without a fight. Regardless of what he is, and what he's done, he actually cares about this family. More than anyone wants to give him credit for. We just have to trust him." Claudia said aggressively.

"I don't know what I believe anymore. I don't even know what I am anymore. Ever since Christopher and I broke up I've been this whole other person. I don't know what's happening to me. I just want things to be back to normal." Alex confessed. as she broke down on the sofa.

Claudia couldn't help feel responsible for Alex's pain. After all Claudia was the main factor for Alex and Carolyn coming back to Collinwood after she changed Jack into Leopold and then set fire to the mansion, and possessed Alex and left her to deal with the residual powers inside of her. It was all Claudia's fault, but she couldn't change anything anymore. All she could do was offer her help.

"Are we ready?" Barnabas said as he walked in with Kimberly who herself looked white as a ghost.

 "We are." Claudia said picking Alex up by the hand and walking her over to the séance table.

"Barnabas I don't know what I'm doing here, this is lunacy. A séance?" Kimberly said as she nervously poured herself a glass of water. 

"It's the only way we'll be able to reach Carolyn on the other side, if we don't she may never return to the life of the living." he explained.

"This is insane!" Kimberly said in a loud whisper as Barnabas took her by the hand and sat  her down at the table. 

Claudia dimmed the lights further and propped the mirror that Carolyn disappeared into up against the sofa facing the seance table. 

"Hold hands, never break the circle our hands create." Claudia instructed. "Close your eyes." She continued. "In the wilds of the beyond, we call out to those that have gone. Send us our's who was wronged. Send us Carolyn Collins Stoddard-Thorne!" Claudia called.

Nothing happened. 

"Carolyn....we ask that you listen for Claudia's voice and try to make your way home. Carolyn...can you hear us? Can you hear Claudia call out to you?" Barnabas said, as Kimberly opened one eye to look around.

And just as Barnabas' sentence ended the mirror began to shake. It moved twice then stopped.

"It's her. Try again Claudia." Barnabas asked.

"From out in another space. Another time. Another world. Come home Carolyn to this time. This place. This realm. Find my voice and listen well, come back to home --away from hell."

The lights in the room flickered on and off. The table began to shake, then lifted then dropped to the ground, the mirror began to shake again and the glass began to morph into liquid and inside they could see, deep down below was Carolyn screaming, her call echoing through out the room.

"Its her!! Mother!! Come back! Follow my voice!" Alexandra said as the portal from the mirror began a wind all around the room.

"Alexandra don't get close. She has to do this herself, or you'll risk falling in too!" Claudia said holding on to Alex's hand and Alex tried to reach for the mirror.

On the other side of the wall, through a hollowed out portion of the room, Sebastian stood peeking through the eyes of a painting the looked directly into the room where the seance was taking place. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was witnessing first hand the living contacting the dead on the other side through a mirror, just a regular mirror. To Sebastian it was extraordinary, and would be further good news to report back to his boss. 

"Carolyn, you must try! You must try and come back! Reach through!" Claudia yelled, trying to make her voice reach Carolyn as best she could over the loud sounds coming from the mirror.

The wind from the portal grew stronger and stronger and things from inside the room began to swirl in the air and fly into the mirror, and Carolyn still stood there screaming trying to escape but to no avail. 

"Barnabas do something!" Kimberly said now terrified and in disbelief at what she was seeing.

Barnabas let go of Alex and Kim's had and placed them together as to not break the circle, he carefully walked over to the mirror that was now spewing energy matter all around in colors of green and blue. He stood up, strong and stern against the mighty winds coming from the portal and put his cane into the mirror pushing it further and further in hoping Carolyn would use the end of it to find her way out.

Barnabas' hand was now almost entering the mirror itself, Carolyn was just inches from the edge of the other side and almost grabbed on, but suddenly a hand reached out from inside the mirror and grasped Barnabas' wrist and began to pull him in. He struggled and struggled. His arm was now half way into the mirror. 

"Barnabas!!!!" Kimberly screamed.

"Don't..............break .................the circle!!" Barnabas screamed as he continued to struggle against the hand.

The energy matter from inside the mirror soon turned from only just colors to Angelique's face, it was she who was pulling Barnabas into the mirror laughing in his face as she was finally going to get her revenge on her former lover.

"This is the end Barnabas Collins. For all your evil deeds ....for taking my daughter away. For taking her away from her life with me.....for destroying our love and killing me.....you finally pay!!!' Angelique hissed, then put another hand on his wrist gathering more strength to pull him in.

As she continued to pull Barnabas in, Claudia knew there was only a matter of time before he fell in, and once Barnabas was in, he would never return, for he was the un-dead... she made a choice. She closed her eyes and whispered a soft chant to herself, one she knew would work, and mustered all the powers she had left in this one last spell.

"...from this place I lead you out, from this time I have no doubt. away with you, and we'll be free, this is the way it has to be."

It was a spell that no witch ever wants to use, it is a spell against another witch to banish them forever. By using it, Claudia would be able to use her powers one last time before for-fitting them forever...for she used her powers against a sister witch, her own mother.... all her powers would be gone forever.

Soon Angelique began to fade and her strength over Barnabas's wrist weakened, she knew what had been done, Claudia had  betrayed her and used the power over a witch. As she began to dissipate within the glass she looked out onto Claudia's tear stained face, this was the last time they'd see each other.

"Evangeline Why?" Angelique said her voice echoing away in silence.

With Angelique slowly going away, Carolyn was able to grasp on to Barnabas. He saw her terrified face and pulled her and pulled her. His arm now coming back out of the mirror, then his wrist, then Carolyn's head and shoulders. Then finally a large bright explosion that locked the portal and knocked everyone to the ground.

Alexandra crawled over to her exhausted mother and curled up next to her crying profusely.

"Alex! Come on! Come on! Lets take her up to her room! Come!" Kimberly said grabbing on to mother and daughter.

As Barnabas and Claudia both got up and dusted themselves off he walked over to his daughter and hugged her.

"You saved me once again." He said softly.

Claudia couldn't believe she did it too, knowing that she no longer had powers and that she would never see her mother again. But it had to be done.

Claudia smiled and hugged Barnabas back.


Sebastian ran back through the corridor after watching what was the most amazing, exhilarating event he had ever seen. He closed the hidden passage in the blue room where he first found the secret door and dialed his boss on the phone.

"Hey! Hey!! It's me again. You're not going to believe what I just saw. Everything you've told about this place is true. Everything. We're in! We're in!!!!" Sebastian said excitedly.

****

In the library Christopher sat alone still looking through books completely unaware of what had just happened downstairs in the main drawing room when Caleb walked in.

"Oh! Hey! Did Sebastian come in here?" Caleb asked looking for his dinner guest who had disappeared.

"Who?" Chris asked.

" Kat's brother Sebastian, they're staying with us for a bit. He didn't come in? I had to leave during dinner and when I came back he was gone. Weird. Anyway, what are you doing in here with all these books?" Caleb asked.

"Research I guess. Listen, when's the next full moon?" Chris asked awkwardly.

"Ummm I have no idea. There's gotta be an almanac in here somewhere right?.... Oh here." Caleb said cracking open the almanac.

"Does it say?" Chris asked apprehensively, knowing the next full moon was the date of Leopold's demise.

Caleb looked up from the passage he was reading. Knowing what he knew about his brother Christopher and what happens on full moons he took a gulp of air and said "Tomorrow night."

Series 3/Chapter 7: REVENGE OF THE WICKED

The moon had dissipated into the sky, slowly swallowed up by the morning sun, blanketing Collinsport. It was a foggy day as usual and Collinwood stood on it's bluff basking in the cool ocean air surrounded by a thick fog.

In the library that had recently been re-constructed and cleaned after a fire, Christopher poured over book upon book of the history of werewolves and likens. Those that were his kind. If the cure for his transitions were gone forever, he would have to learn to live with it and Collinwood's library had an extensive back log of research.

As Christopher researched, Claudia quietly approached and hugged him from behind and kissed the side of his head.

"What are you doing here?" Chris said gleefully.

"I have a few things I need to take care of for my father. What are you doing here?" Claudia asked as she curled up into one of the over stuffed sofas next to Chris.

"It's hard to explain. Last night I was at home and Alex came by." Chris said to a now more serious looking Claudia. "I don't know whats going on with her but she's not herself. She's different."

"What were you doing there in the first place?" Claudia asked.

"It doesn't matter now, all that matters is that I have 4 days to figure out what I'm going to do before the next full moon." Chris said knowing Claudia's powers were weaker now, and there was nothing she could personally do.

Claudia thought about it for a second then realized there was a way to break Christopher's werewolf curse and help her father Barnabas at the same time. The way to reverse Christopher's werewolf transitions was to kill and drink the blood of the werewolf's mortal enemy...the vampire, and there was one particular vampire she and Barnabas needed dead. Leopold.

"Chris, what if I told you I could help you become normal again?" She said now scooting over to him on his side of the fluffy sofa and entangling her fingers with his.

"What do you mean? I didn't think you could help me." Christopher asked confused.

"I believe you can actually help me! Or, better yet, we can help each other. You see, there is a way that you can break this curse yourself but it will require you to do something you may not exactly ... it's something you might find difficult." She said cautiously.

"Anything! I'll try anything!" Chris said sitting up straight.

"Christopher, the only way a werewolf can rid himself of the body morphing during a full and high moon, is if he kills and drinks the blood of the undead. A vampire." She explained.

"WHAT!? Claudia what are you talking about?" Chris said jumping out of his seat in outrage.  "I've already killed my own father! Now You want me to kill some folklore character I don't even know exists? What does that even mean?" Chris continued standing on the other side of the room.

"You're real aren't you?" Claudia said pointing out Chris himself turned into a sort of folklore character. "Of course Vampires are real Chris. And they are closer to you the you realize. One in fact so close that he will consume everyone and everything if he isn't stopped. I think you can be the one to do it. You must!" Claudia continued pressing Chris on the topic then grabbing on to his shoulders.

Christopher pulled away from Claudia's grasp, completely confused and horrified at the notion that he should kill again. And as he walked away from Claudia who grew frustrated and knew there was only way to explain this more clearly. 

"You leave me no choice." She said

Claudia closed her eyes and began to mutter words in Latin as if she were praying but Chris could tell it was not prayer. She was summoning something. 

Suddenly an icy chill oozed into the room filling its four corners. Then the heavy drapes that hung neatly on the giant glass windows began to sway and pull themselves closed causing the brightness of the room to dim, darker and darker until not a single ray of outside light could be detected.

"What's happening?" Chris asked to Claudia who sat down again recognizing what was about to happen.

Christopher walked over to Claudia, his heavy breathing pumped puffs of smoke from his mouth from the chill in the air, his eyes darting back and fourth at each corner of the room that had been blackened  by the lack of light.

 In a corner, a large oak shelf adorned with small statues and a small globe that belonged to Joshua Collins began to spin. The  shelf, filled with hundreds of books from the world's greatest authors slid open revealing a secret passage door that lead into a black corridor.

Christopher's mouth hung open, he could't believe what he was seeing, and suddenly a man came through the passage way dressed dark and carruin a cane. It was Barnabas.

"Christopher Reed I presume." Barnabas asked standing in silhouette as the chilly air swept around his black suit.

"Who is this? What's going on?" Christopher asked, lifting Claudia from the sofa.

"Relax Chris, relax. This is Barnabas Collins. He's here to help you. She said calming Chris.

"When my Claudia mentioned that she has began to fall in love with a man with your particular issue I wasn't too keen. Historically our two kinds rarely get along you see. And truth be told I haven't exactly been the most discerning when it comes to love myself, but we have bigger troubles a foot." Barnabas said to a shivering Christopher.

 "I don't understand, Claudia said I needed to---"

"We. We need you to kill Leopold Divernet. As soon as the moon fills the sky in just four days, your transition will take place, then you'll do what needs to be done." Barnabas said as Claudia stayed off in the background.

"This is insane! All I want to do is find a way to stop being this way! Why would I want to kill him?" Chris asked innocently.

"He's a threat to us all Christopher. My daughter has foolishly created a monster and he's already began a war without you even knowing it." Barnabas said.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"He attacked Katherine Banning last night. Caleb was arrested by mistake. The police will no doubt begin investigations." Claudia explained.

"Yes, even perhaps investigate the death of your own father." Barnabas said digging into Chris guilty conceives a little more. "You see, if Divernet is not taken care of, his disregard for this way of life will put us all in danger. Discretion, Mr. Reed, is key to our survival and Leopold no longer fits that dichotomy." Barnabas said in a manipulating tone.

Chris stood back from both Claudia and Barnabas and thought for a second. If he did this, he could not only get his life back but also might save a few too. Could that make up for what he had done and wha he was about to do. Chris turned and stared Barnabas dead in the eyes and asked:

"What will happened to me once he's dead?" 

"It'll be over. You'll be back to normal." Claudia said.

"I want to hear it from him!" Chris barked.

Barnabas smirked and walked over to Chris. His body almost seemed to float as his black suit was camouflaged within the shadowy library. 

"Once Leopold Divernet has been removed from this world, you too will be free. That I promise you. Does this mean you agree?" Barnabas asked coyly.

Christopher looked at Barnabas then back to Claudia. 

"I'll do it. I'll kill Leopold." 

****

At the hospital, Kat was feeling much better, but still had issues remembering everything about the night she was attacked, more so her long term memory was still a foggy mess, but her brother Sebastian who came to Collinsport from his home in Bangor was there to help. As the two Banning siblings reminisced on their past as a way for Kat to start to remember, Caleb knocked on the hospital room door and walked in.

Sebastian, who had only seen Caleb's photo in the paper that morning knew what he looked like and immediately stood up and tried to block him from entering, after all he was still a "person of interest" in Kat's attack.

"You shouldn't be  here!" Sebastian said stopping Caleb at the door.

"What? Who are you?" Caleb questioned as he had never met Sebastian before.

"Kat's brother." Sebastian answered.

"It's ok. He can come in." Kat said from her bed, as she sat up looking directly at Caleb.

"Kat, I'm so happy to see you. How are you feeling?" Caleb said rushing to her side.

"Better, but I can't remember a whole lot. Small things have come back to me, thankfully." She said

"Kat, listen, I just want you to know I had nothing to do with what happened. I swear it." Caleb said as a suspicious Sebastian stood close.

"Everyone keeps saying you do, but I don't remember anything. It's all really just a blur." Kat responded.

"What was the last thing you do remember from last night?" Sebastian asked.

"I was talking with someone, I don't remember if it was in person or ...maybe on the phone. I just felt like I was being followed the whole time. You know, when you have that feeling you're being watched." She responded.

"Have the doctor's said when you'd be released?" Caleb asked, looking up at Sebastian who shook his head "no".

As the trio made small talk in Kat's room, hoping more of the return of more of her memory, Leopold, in human form, walked in, to a shocked Caleb, who knew that he had been behind Kat's attack but for the sake of Barnabas' plot, kept it secret.

"Good afternoon. How is my favorite detective doing?" Leopold asked with a twisted grin.

"This is the man I was telling you about Kat, he came to see you last night." Sebastian said.

"You came to see her last night?" Caleb asked with a twinge of anger. "Why?"

"I had heard of the indecent, and wanted to come by and check on her, that's all." Leopold answered as he swooped over to Kat's side. "And I couldn't help but over-hear that you should be released soon. I insist that you come back to Collinwood and recuperate.:

Caleb scoffed, making an audible sound of air, knowing full well Leopold wanted nothing more then for Kat to be dead and gone, he was certainly not interested in her recovery.

Kat too felt a strange feeling of discomfort towards Leopold, and even though she didn't know why, she felt it enough to decide that wasn't the best place for her to go to recover.

"Thank you, but I don't think that is necessary. My brother is here, and he can take me home and I can recover there. In my own home." Kat said forcefully.

"I would't hear of it! Collinwood can be a very peaceful place at times, and that is the best place for you to go and have some peace of mind until you are back on your feet. You're like family now." Leopold said with a cold grin towards Caleb.

Although the notion of Kat going back to Collinwood to recover from the attack and the wound on her head was strange, Sebastian instantly knew that this would be the best way to get into the mansion and get what he needed. He thought about it for a second and finally interjected.

"You know, sis, it doesn't sound all that bad! I mean if the Collins family is willing to help you out, why not take them up on the offer. That is if they wouldn't mind me coming along too." Sebastian said.

Caleb was shocked. The whole conversation was strange to him. He knew that Leopold really only wanted Kat close by so that when the time came that she begin to remember everything that happened the night before when he attacked her, and of course, his true identity, he could easily destroy her; and for the life of him, Caleb couldn't figure out why Sebastian would encourage Kat to go back to Collinwood at all.

"I think the family would be most happy to have you near, wouldn't you agree Caleb?" Leopold asked of his cousin.

Caleb took a breath and a split second to answer. The danger of having Kat that close to Leopold was evident to him, but as long as he was at the house too he would protect her, and surely Sebastian only wanted what was best for his sister too...even if Caleb couldn't tell if it was sincere or not.

"Absolutely. As long as I'm around you'll be safe and you'll get better. We'll have Kim monitor you and make sure you don't need another other medical care, and if you do we'll send out for a doctor." Caleb said, reaching for Kat's hand.

"Alright. I'll go back with you. And hopefully I can begin to remember everything. I know Loomis is going crazy trying to figure this all out." Kat answered.

"You remember Loomis....so your memory is coming back!" Caleb said excitedly.

"In bits and pieces. But it's not all there yet." She responded to him.

"And when it does come back....we'll be there. All of us." Leopold said cryptically.

As the doctor and a nurse came into the room to check on his patient Caleb, Leopold and Sebastian were asked to leave so that they could assess Kat for discharge.

Just on the other side of the hall from Kat's room Caleb and Leopold waited together. Caleb seethed over Barnabas' theory based on Caleb's description of the person he saw, that Leopold was the person who attack Kat the night before, but he could't lead on.

"You seem distant Caleb, distracted." Leopold noticed.

"It's been a long night, as you can imagine. What were you doing here lat night?" Caleb asked.

Leopold sensed Caleb's suspicion, a cold look came upon  his face and he walked over to Caleb and stood just inches away, but Caleb stood strong and showed no fear.

"Your insinuated something. I can feel it. But whatever you have in your mind, let it go. I have a need for a certain red bodily fluid, as you understand. I have a connection here that gives me stolen pints of blood for my own personal use. How else would I be surviving?" Leopold said in  bold face lie.

Caleb had no choice but to pretend to believe, after all he trusted Barnabas, and knew that whatever Barnabas has plan he had for Leopold.

Caleb then turned and walked over to Kat's room and waited for the doctor to come back out, Leopold stood in the waiting area, knowing that Caleb knew that he had attacked Kat, now there was more danger then just Kat's memory recover.

As Caleb and Leopold talked, Sebastian went off into a corner again and grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. He waited for a few seconds, the other end picked up.

"Its Sebastian. There's good news.......They're discharging Kat, and she's been asked to recover at Collinwood. We're in!"

****

The sun began to set on Collinwood. Alex sat in her room staring at the black book she found hidden in the attic with Angelique's help. She walked slowly to the book to open it again. She walked slowly, feeling the book's powerful energy seeping out into the air around it. It energy was so strong it illuminated a light, as if the old pages within were glowing a bright white light.

Alex reached and touched the book's black cover and felt the engraved red letter A that stood for Angelique. 

"You feel it's power don't you?" Angelique said from behind in a transparent state, dressed in all white. 

Alexandra turned around and saw Angelique coming closer to her, a plume of white smoke swirled around her, as she floated over.

"Barnabas Collins must be destroyed! Do you understand me Alexandra. You must use the powers in this book to destroy him." Angelique demanded.

"Why?" Alex asked truly not understanding the history Angelique and Barnabas shared.

"He took the one good thing I ever did away from me many years ago. He took my child away, a child I bore out of my desire to finally turn another leaf in my life." Angelique answered.

"You had a child?" Alex asked.

"Yes. I was married too. Everything had changed, I was living my life ---here---in Collinwood with Rodger Collins, your great uncle. I did everything I could to leave my old self behind: I changed my name, I lived for the most part honestly. But Barnabas knew who I was the whole time. I don't know why, but even as much as we hate each other, we always come back together. The child is his....but he took her away and I never saw her again." Angelique explained. "And now he must pay."

"What should I do?" She asked.

"Open the book and the book will tell you where to go." Angelique explained backing away from Alexandra.

Alex walked over to the book and carefully opened it's cover. The pages instantly began to flip, faster and faster as if a mighty wind was turning the pages. Alex stood back and waited for her instructions.

Then the pages stopped turning and a spell was revealed.

Alex carefully read over the spell then turned back to Angelique for guidance.

"You want me to trap Barnabas into falling into your portal?" Alex asked.

"Once Barnabas is no longer in the realm he will no longer have control over Collinwood, or the people around him. It's the only way I can find peace. And maybe find my daughter." Angelique said as tears fell from her eyes on to her pale white skin.

Alex turned back to the book and then things began to be more clear. Barnabas had told them that Claudia was his daughter, but had never revealed Claudia's mother identity. Then, Alex had an idea. The only way she could get Claudia away from Christopher would be to twist Angelique's plan for Barnabas for Claudia removing her from the equation all together.

Alexandra looked down and began to chant the French words on the pages of the book as the pages began to glow. There was a small tremor in the room, the picture frames began to shake, the curtains began to sway slightly with as Alex's chanting got louder and louder. Alex lifted her hands and her head with her eyes closed at the ceiling, still chanting as the mystical glow from the book began to swirl all around her and the room and even Angelique's spirit.

Angelique began to feel the energy in the room, the spell was working all Alex had to do was name the person that was to be trapped in the realm of the dead with her for all eternity.

"Name him Alexandra. Call Barnabas Collins back to the land of the dead!!" Angelique called as the glowing and swirling energy in the room intensified.

As Alex and Angelique called from the book, Claudia was making her way to the Old House from the library with Barnabas and Christopher down one of the many vast hallways in the mansion. From the edge of the stairwell she saw a bright flashing light coming from under Alexandra's door. It flashed yellow, then white, then yellow then white.

"What are you doing?" Carolyn said from the bottom of the stairs

Claudia not knowing what to say stepped down on the first step going to the bottom but kept her eye on the door, baffled by what she was seeing.

"What? What are you looking at?" Carolyn said in a frustrating tone.

"What is that?" Claudia asked as she pointed, even though she knew something supernatural was happening before her vary eyes, it was all too familiar to her.

Carolyn dashed up the stairs to see what Claudia was looking and saw the same lights coming from Alex's room.

"Alexandra!!" Carolyn screamed in fear as she ran down the hall to Alexandra's room with Claudia hot on her trail.

Carolyn tried to open the door over and over again but it seemed locked. Angelique sensing someone at the door and foolishly believing it was her tormented lover Barnabas released the door lock. It slowly opened showing Alexandra floating above the floor swallowed in yellow and white light and in a trance repeating the French spell from the book over and over again.

"Alex!!!" Carolyn screamed.

A scream the broke Alex from her trance and she looked at her mother Carolyn. Alex opened her mouth and called to Carolyn but all that came out was a whisper that echoed through the room. 

"Mother......."

Alexandra had never once said Barnabas' name and had yet to say Claudia's name, the book interpreted this as Alexandra wanting to pull Carolyn into the realm of the dead when she whispered "mother". The light that swirled around Alexandra shifted and formed two bright beems of energy that  grabbed Carolyn by the neck and waist and lifted her from the ground.

Claudia gasped and raised her arms and chanted her own spell, an attempt in vain to use her own powers to fight against the book, but a third branch of energy was released from the book and swung it's way to Claudia knocking her to the ground.

Alex could not stop the book's powers from grabbing her mother, all she could do was watch Carolyn get pulled all the way to a large mirror on the wall and disappear into the glass that had morphed into a liquid like state submerging Carolyn completely.

When Claudia opened her eyes she saw the floating woman in white, Angelique, coming towards her.
They locked eyes, and Angelique instinctually knew Claudia was her baby girl Evangeline. Angelique could see it in Claudia's soul and in her eyes. Claudia too seemed to recognize her mother but as the two reached out to touch each other's hands in a make-shift reunion the book begin to pull Angelique back into the mirror too to join Carolyn.

All that was left was the echoing sound of Angelique's voice crying out to Claudia by her birth name 

"Evangeline!!!"

The light from the book instantly dissipated and causing Alexandra to drop to the floor from her elevated state. The energy in the room settled. The frames on the walls stopped moving but remained crooked on the walls, the curtains stopped swaying and Claudia stood up massaging her neck from the fall.

Alex go up from the flor and  on to her hands and knees.

"What have you done?" Claudia asked in anger.

"Mother! Mother!!" Alex said ignoring Claudia and jumping up to the mirror and trying to find her mother. But it was no use. Carolyn was gone.

"What have you done!?!?!" Claudia said again this time much more forcefully and pulling Alex's body around to face her.

"She made me! She made me do it!!" Alex said bursting into tears and thrashing her arm away from Claudia's grasp.

"Who?" Claudia asked.

"Your mother!!!" Alex said filled with anger and resentment that her own revenge against Claudia for taking away Christopher backfired and now her mother was gone.

"This was all your doing Alexandra. No one else, what you've done cannot be repaired." Claudia explained. 

"It can! I can be fixed!" Alex said rushing over to the book to find a reversal spell but the book wouldn't open. She pulled and pulled but the book seemed to be welded shut.

"It's over Alexandra. You've dammed your own mother to the land of the dead."

Series 3/Chapter 6: THE BLACK BOOK

The Collinwood mansion sat in a bath of moon light from the cold sky above. The house, was a buzz with activity, all for different reasons that soon would collide into one momentous act.

In the upper crevasses of Collinwood's northern wing there where hollowed out ceilings that created large drafty attic to house some of Catherine and Elizabeth's old furniture that was over 80 years old. There were mirrors all around covered in white clothes that had turned yellow with age and old paintings of family members with their smiles and eyes faint of color. Spider webs swayed in the corners of the rafters with the icy breeze from the Maine seaside, and slipping quietly inside was Alexandra Throne.

She was on her mission to find the book she was told to locate in the attics. Her eyes swung from one corner of the room to the other quickly looking over the room, her heart was pounding. Her palms were sweating. She almost didn't want to find the book, but knew in her soul, that she had no choice.

A gust of wind blew into the attic and made a flurry of icy air swirl around Alexandra causing all the draped clothes to sway like sails on a ship, stronger and stronger the wind came and suddenly the same voice in Alex's head spoke again.

"Keep looking.....the book is here Alexandra. Find it! Find it now!" the disembodied voice said echoing through the attics cold air.

Alexandra began pulling out stacked boxes and searched through them but only found old photos of the family from the 40's and 50's. Boxes of old letters, and pages and pages of Collins Cannery paper work, business forms that meant nothing to Alexandra. But no book.

And as if instinctively, Alexandra turned and looked behind her to a chest covered in a black sheet sitting alone next to a painting of a blond woman from the 18th century. She walked over to the painting and knelt next to it touching the woman's face and feeling the bumps from every stroke of the painter's  brush. She stared deep into the the woman's eyes.

The woman's eyes and lips began to move. Alexandra shook her head believing she was seeing things, but it was real, the woman's brow furrowed and she looked directly at Alexandra. Alex finally recognized the face, it was the face she saw in the reflection downstairs, a reflection that she believed was hers.

Within another gust of wind the woman in the painted spoke forcefully:

"Open the chest Alexandra, open it!"

Alexandra was almost in a trance, her eyes glazed over and she went over to the chest and removed the black sheet with one swoop. The chest was ornate and beautiful. It looked heavy and it's feet were like lion's feet. It was covered in thick gold plating that had been chipped away over the years.

Alex knelt down again and slowly opened the chest, inside was a thick book bound in black leather, with a shiny crimson ribbon marking the center of the book. Alexandra naturally opened the book at the spot and suddenly it jumped out of her hands with such a force that it knocked Alex to the ground.

The book fell to  the floor, flipping open, the pages turning faster and faster on their own. Alex jumped back and watched as the pages finally came to a leafy stop. A terrified Alex slowly crawled over to the book on the floor and saw the chapter it has opened to, but everything had been written in French.

Alex tried to make sense of it but had only studied French for a short time, but the voice came again from the painting.

"Alexandra, reveal one of the mirrors that have been covered. Hold the book in your hands and look deep into the glass and repeat after me." The voice from the painting ordered.

Alexandra complied, she knew that whatever the voice was saying would surely help her finally get vengeance on Claudia and Christopher. It was her only, for Alexandra, this was the only way.

Alex got up from the floor and picked up the book and walked over to one of the covered mirrors. She pulled the yellowed cloth, revealing a grand beautiful golden mirror with the letters BC carved in the wood at the top. She closed her eyes and waited for the voice's instructions.

Then, the wind came again, this gust stronger then the others, it swirled around pulling all the cloths from the other old furniture and rustled the papers and photos all over the room. The voice in the painting spoke again, but this time only in French, over and over again, The voice and Alex repeated from the book:

Etre Libre

Etre Ici

Cette Heure

Pour Toujours

Maintenant

Completment 

And as the wind surged, a powerful energy broke free from the glass in the mirror spilling out onto the floor in a green light, spinning and swirling around, creating a figure glowing in transparency and standing above Alex who had closed her eyes in fear. 

"Open your eyes girl!" The woman said, floating 3 inches from the floor dressed all in white.

Alexandra looked up and saw that with the book's powers, she had opened a portal to the other side; lifted the vale between the living and the dead and released a spirit trapped within time and space. The woman that had been speaking to Alexandra and had been hidden in the glass had been slightly familiar to her. After all she was Angelique Bouchard, Claudia's sorceress mother and the woman who cursed Barnabas and the entire Collins family for over 3 centuries. 

****

Down stairs in one of the many great drawing rooms the mansion offered Carolyn returned with tea she had prepared for her and Alexandra, only to find her daughter was no longer in the room, but Caleb and Kimberly were.

"Caleb! Thank god you're ok. What happened?" Carolyn said placing the tray of tea down and rushing to her young cousin's side.

"I don't even know how to begin to explain this. Kat was being attached and I saw, and so I rushed over to help. She was hurt so I carried her to my car and just before I left I was arrested." He explained.

"How's Kat now?" Carolyn asked.

"I don't know. No one from the hospital will tell me anything." He answered.

"They ended up releasing Caleb. Barnabas was so amazing. He convinced Loomis that based off of lack of evidence he had to let him go --pending the investigation of course. But the good news is, Caleb is home." Kimberly added, rubbing her son's back.

"Where is Barnabas?" Carolyn asked out loud looking for her centuries old cousin. 

"He said he had to take care of something, I don't know."

Carolyn worried for a second knowing that Barnabas' mind was always two steps ahead of everyone else's. Of all the people alive today, she knew him best, and deep down she knew something was coming. Something big. Something bad.

As the three Collins family members sat in the drawing room talking over the night's events, in walked Christopher rushing over to his mother and brother.

"I got mom's text. Are you alright? What the hell happened?" Christopher said. 

"Long story man, thanks for coming." Caleb answered exhausted from going over the events. "It's going to be ok. ... I hope." He added.

"Have you seen Alexandra?" Carolyn asked Christopher still noting her missing daughter.

"Actually, yes. And I was hoping she was home. Is she?" Chris asked hoping to find out what was going on with Alex. 

Chris and Alex's meeting earlier that night had not ended well. She was angry that he and Claudia had fallen in love behind her back, so much so that she destroyed all the vials of the antidote that could reverse the effects of morphing into the werewolf. 

Carolyn looked at Christopher and could tell something was the matter. She could sense that he wasn't telling her something about Alex, but she didn't quite yet know what it was. Just another thing for her to worry about it seemed.

"Why don't you all have some tea, it's fresh. I'll go and find Alex, she might be upstairs." Carolyn said dashing off up the grand Collinwood staircase.

Kimberly helped herself to the tea while Caleb continued to try and get answers over the phone with the hospital, but to no avail, and as she poured herself a glass, Christopher found the opportunity during Caleb's destraction to tell Kimberly about the destroyed vials.

"They're gone. The vials are gone." Chris whispered as he stood close to his mother.

"What? What do you mean?" Kimberly asked anxiously.

"I went back home and searched for them, but I didn't find then. Alex came over and she and I had a fight and just before she left, she found them. I don't know how she did it but she found them. Something is going on with her, I don't know what." Chris said.

"What did she do with them?" Kim asked as she stirred her tea.

"She threw them on the floor. They're gone. She destroyed them." Chris said with terror in his eyes.

"Oh Chris, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say. But we still have time, don't we? The next full moon isn't for another week." Kim said.

"Mom, we have to find your notes, and we have to find them quick. If we don't I'll turn into that thing again and I don't know what I'll do. I can't live with myself if I hurt anyone else." Christopher said with his eyes beginning to water. 

"What are you talking about? Who did you hurt?" Caleb said now listening in late on the conversation.

Chris and Kim had been talking and had not noticed that Caleb was off the phone. He stood in close proximity and heard the very last thing Chris had said, something strange and ominous. Caleb walked closer and asked again : "Hurt who?"

Chris looked at Kim who fell silent. She had no idea  how to explain to Caleb what had been done to Christopher as a child, but if they were going to be a family again she had to be open and  honest with them, that is what she promised Caleb, and that was what she was going to do.

"Caleb, a long time ago, when your father and I divorced and I became pregnant with Chris, I made a mistake--actually, a few mistakes. I allowed Victor to manipulate me in a way that I don't look back on fondly. When Chris was born Victor convinced me the only way we could be free of the Collins family was to destroy them, so we used gene therapy on Chris and turned him into ....well, the thing that ended up killing Victor in the end." Kimberly explained.

Caleb was stunned. He looked over at Chris and then again at Kimberly and had no words.

"There's an antidote. Mom made an antidote, but the last vials were destroyed. Caleb, I only have one week before I transition again." Chris said sadly. 

Caleb felt half confused but with everything that was happening around him chose to accept the news of his half brother being some kind of night creature. What else could he do? 

"Jesus, man. What is happening here? ...Look whatever I can do I will do, but this feels insane!" Caleb said dumbfounded. 

"I know. It's crazy. But its true." Chris responded.

"You said there was an antidote. Where is it?" Caleb responded as he looked to his mother for answers.

"Well that's the thing, there were vials Victor kept safe, but some how Alex got a hold of them and she destroyed. them." Kim explained.

"There has to be another way." Caleb said.

"We only have 5 days. 5 Days before I turn into that.....thing again! No one is safe." Chris said with a great fear of what was to come lingering in his voice. 

****

From Caleb's detailed description of what he saw actually attack Kat on the street, Barnabas knew exactly who the guilty party was and while the other family members convened in the great room in the main mansion, Barnabas slipped away to the old house to confront the true guilty part: Leopold Divernet.

 Barnabas crept into the old house, trying his best to open the door without making a sound. Inside he found only darkened rooms lit by the light blue candles that flickered and danced for no one at all. He slowly made his way down the main hallway to a back room where he knew Leopold had laid himself to rest inside a casket that once belonged to Barnabas.

Barnabas stepped in, but he did not feel Leopold's presence.

"What are you doing here?" said a voice from behind Barnabas.

Barnabas swirled around and saw his daughter Claudia creep out from behind the shadows of the old mansion, slowly stepping into the dim candle light.

"I've come for Leopold." Barnabas said sternly.

"I haven't seen him all night." Claudia replied truthfully. "I take it by the tone of your voice father, that this isn't a social call either." She quipped as she slid around the doorway and into the room with her father.

"He's done something terrible, and it's time I put an end to his malice." Barnabas said, in his heart still seethed with anger over  his own daughter's involvement in creating Leopold.

"It can't be anything worse then you've ever done, now could it?" Claudia teased.

Barnabas' eyes darted and he reached and grabbed Claudia with both hands by her forearms and pulled her close.

"We may be of the same stalk but I will assure you, you have no idea what I am capable of, daughter. To answer your question, what I did is in my past. This is about survival, and what Leopold has done threatens that very principle."

Claudia released herself from his grip and pulled away from him, now understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Tell me, what has he done?" She asked as she walked over to the other side of the room.

"He attacked Detective Banning tonight. Attacked her, and left her on the floor, allowing the authorities to confuse Caleb as the culprit. He doesn't understand the recklessness of this. He needs to be stopped." Barnabas explained.

"And he wasn't discovered?" Claudia probed.

"No. He escaped. And no one has seen him since. Claudia, listen to me, when my kind attacks another there are only two results. Neither of witch allow for even the slightest bit of questioning. We cannot allow Leopold to run around Collinsport creating a panic." Barnabas continued.

"What do you propose?" Claudia asked as she moved closer to her father.

"We must eliminate him at all costs." Barnabas answered.

"Does Carolyn know that this is your plan?" Claudia asked, as she knew that eliminating Leopold would actually be killing Carolyn's husband Jack whom she turned into Leopold.

"Carolyn? No, I have not spoken with her of this. But she will have to understand. Jack is gone, and only Leopold remains, and as such he will destroy us all if he isn't dealt with." Barnabas said.


"Well, then, if you can handle Carolyn, I will handle Leopold. I'll figure out a way that we can all live and---" Claudia said before she was interrupted by her father Barnabas.

"No! He cannot live. Claudia, listen closely to me: the creature you turned Jack Thorne into, must be eliminated once and for all, and if you cannot reverse the spell on him, or if you cannot bring yourself to end his life I will. This must be done....as soon as he returns to Collinwood." Barnabas said as Claudia looked on with trepidation and pausing to think and looking again into the flames of the candles.

"I don't know if I can reverse the spell." Claudia admitted.

Barnabas took a deep breath, heaving his chest and taking a step over to where Claudia was standing. He put his large hand on her shoulder as they both faced the flickering candles that created shadows on the bare walls of the old house.

"I know all too well that there is more then one way to kill a vampire. All you have to do, is lure him back to the old house, once he arrives, I will take it from there. It'll be simple." Barnabas responded.

"And what if he refuses? You must know, that his senses are just as keen as yours. If he even feels the slightest bit suspicious it could spell disaster. For both of us Barnabas." Claudia said, using Barnabas' name instead of calling him "father".

"Trust me Claudia." Barnabas said now, in a deep and menacing voice. "The only way Leopold will leave this place is dead and gone. Forever. That you can be assured. Get him here. Get him here fast."

Series 3/Chapter 5: BLOOD OBSESSIONS & MEMORY REGRESSIONS

The night sky was filled with thick grey clouds that seemed to accumulate at the top of Widow's Hill, only yards away from the great mansion that oddly felt very busy deep within its body.

Kimberly scurried around Julia Hoffman's cold laboratory in a white lab coat placing different slides under microscopes. Her theory was that somehow Barnabas's genes had mutated just like Christopher's when Angelique placed her curse; changing his DNA forever and requiring him to (and even desire) the taste of human blood to survive. Her scientific answer to a supernatural question could change Barnabas' life everything!

The only problem was Kimberly had yet to find the gene she needed to then begin tests at reversing his biology. Kimberly was going at this the same way Julia had, scientifically, but Barnabas was a being of supernatural creation, the main question that needed to be uncovered was if Kim's knowledge of science in 2016 could finally rid the impatient Barnabas of his hated trait.

Barnabas did have a more concerning fear of the project. Julia fell deeper and deeper into the depths of the supernatural powers that circulated Collinwood, could Kimberly fight the powers that were all around her? 

As she worked Barnabas walked in silently as to not disturb Kimberly, but it didn't work. She could feel his presence as he paced around the room. His energy and force was so strong no one at Collinwood could even pretend not to notice him. Barnabas was in his element. 

"Come to check up on me?" She said without lifting her head from her work.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you, I was curious to know what you found." Barnabas said as he looked around the Laboratory that had been updated with the most state-state-of-the-art equipment from Kimberly's own personal instruments. 

"Barnabas it's only been a few hours. I've only just began testing your tissue samples. It's going to take time." Kimberly responded.

"I've been waiting for so long for any kind of break through and since you've come along, I feel like this could be it. I feel like I could finally be free. Don't you feel that too?" Barnabas said with hope in his eyes.

Kimberly turned and had half a smile on her face. She could see the optimism written all over Barnabas' face, a sign of happiness that hope that surely through his life rarely ever felt. And for the first time in a long time she felt that her work was actually going to do some good.

"I'll do everything that I can." she said.

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be between two worlds? It's a strange question to ask a person. But have you ever?" He asked Kimberly as she kept her head down to her work.

"No. Well, in a way. I guess everyone has at one point. We wonder what's on the other side of death. That's sort of the same thing. But I come from a scientific background, you see in my mind everything has a beginning and everything has an end." Kimberly said speaking in her best Doctor voice.

"Ahh... but there it is. You see I have never had an end. Everything in my world has been in constant motion. A beginning like everyone else, and then frozen in time forever experiencing everyone else's life as they pass through. But not I. This is why what Julia tried and what you are doing for me is so important. If discovered, this gene you speak of, can save me from an existence of loneliness." Barnabas explained.

Kimberly looked up briefly from her microscope to see Barnabas staring directly at her with clear and kind eyes, eyes that she did not expect to see from a man who was literally the living dead. And for that brief moment in time she felt as though she understood him. 

"Well, I hope I can make this----" as Kimberly finished her thought Carolyn burst in with a grim look on her face that Barnabas and Kimberly noticed right away.

"Carolyn! What is it?" Kimberly asked concerned.

"It's Caleb. He's been arrested for attempted murder."

Kimberly gasped and immediately began to remove her lab coat, "I have to go to him!"

"I'll go with you." Barnabas said moving towards the lab door.

"Are you crazy? You can't! What if someone see's you Barnabas!" Carolyn replied interjecting herself before he could run through the door.

"Caleb is family, I must go to him. Please, Kimberly may I come?" He asked.

Kimberly in her panic about her eldest son only nodded a faint yes,  to Carolyn's displeasure.

As Barnabas continued to pass Carolyn in the door way she stopped him one last time by placing her hand directly onto his chest.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"Kimberly needs us. Caleb too." He said softly.

"Listen to me, this town has't seen you in over 50 years, putting yourself in the cross-hairs of people who don't know you've come back--again--Barnabas it's dangerous and it puts all in danger." Carolyn explained.

"I understand." Barnabas quipped, flippantly avoiding his Collinsport history.

"Just be careful when you're out there, and Barnabas, whatever happens here in this laboratory, with Kimberly.....look, she's not Julia Hoffman, ok? Just remember that." Carolyn said noticing the twinge of affection Barnabas was beginning to have for Kimberly, a woman Carolyn didn't fully trust yet.

Once Carolyn released him, Barnabas ran off with Kimberly in the night to the police station to find Caleb leaving Carolyn in the doorway of the laboratory with her thoughts and concerns. She knew Barnabas more then anyone in the entire world. He could charm anyone into doing what he wanted. But there was always a price to pay. 

****

At the hospital Leopold lurked around Kat's room while she was being attended to, just waiting for the right moment to go into her room where they would be alone. He stood in human form in his black coat in a small hall just across from her hospital room and waited. Then the moment came.

He overheard an orderly tell a nurse that the woman in hospital room 6 was resting with a laceration to the back of her head. But would survive and he'd return to check on her later. Kat was alone. Leopold walked over quietly to her room and walked in.

The walls in Kat's hospital room was painted a faint blue that looked gray with the low lights. Kat lay asleep in her bed, almost angelic in contrast to Leopold's dark demeanor. He stood over her like an evil tower and closed his eyes. He tried unsuccessfully to go into Kat's mind but it was blocked, his telepathic abilities were no match for the spell Alexandra had placed on her, but it was too late. He knew Kat's mind was locked, and if the spell were broken she would surly try and reveal his secrets, and for Leopold the could spell disaster. He very existence depending on no one knowing the truth of his lust for blood.

He leaned in close to her as she continued to rest and felt her breath on his cheek. He could feel the blood rushing through her body like hundreds of red rivers flowing through her. He was tempted.

"Things could have been so different Katherine. If only you had stayed away like I had hoped. But you chose differently." Leopold said in a sinister whisper of a voice in her ear. 

And as he spoke he looked around her hospital room with all the machines monitoring Kat's vital signs. He flicked the IV bag and watched the liquid slowly drip by drip into the vial that the poured into her veins. He walked over again to the other side of her bed where the heart monitor beeped its precise notes of Kat's heartbeat. 

"Detective, It's time you die." He whispered, with a tone of voice the echoed his dark obsession with ending her life.

Leopold's eyes began to change to their evil Amber color, his skin turned pale and his fangs poked through as his jaw widened. Leopold slowly went down closer and closer to Kat's neck where he could feel the heat from her blood pumping in her veins. A chill filled the room as death came inches away from Kat's body. 

Suddenly the room door opened and the light from the hall peeked through and created a golden triangle of light on Leopold's back. 

"Excuse me, can I help you?" A young man's voice asked from the doorway.

Leopold instantly reverted back to his normal self. His eyes and skin and fangs all went back to normal as he slowly turned to face the person who interrupted.

"No, thank you. I just came to see my friend." Leopold said as he patted Kat's pillows.

"Oh. Ok. I'm her brother Sebastian. Thank you for coming so late. None of the nurses told me anyone was here to see her. I just drove in from Bangor, myself." Sebastian explained to an irritated Leopold.  

"Her brother." Leopold said confirming.

"Well half brother. Who did you say you were again?" Sebastian asked suspiciously noting the strangers awkward behavior.

"Just a friend, I should go. I'm sure you'd like to be alone with your sister." Leopold said.

Leopold left Sebastian with a strange feeling as he left the room. Leopold was disappointed  that his chance at killing Kat to retain the secrecy of his identity and leaving the situation in limbo but this wouldn't be the last time he would find Kat alone, in fact he was going to make sure that Kat wouldn't leave the hospital ...alive.

After Leopold left, Sebastian sat patiently sat at his half sister side as she started to come to. He jumped from his seat and grabbed her hand at the side of the bed.

"Kat! Kat, thank god, you're ok!" He said kissing her cheek.

"What happened?" She said reaching for her head.

"No, don't touch. You were attacked in town. You hurt your head."

"What....I...who............ ?" Kat asked looking at her brother with a foggy head and drowsy eyes. 

"It's me, Sis, its Sebastian. Do you remember? Can you tell me who attacked you Kat?" He asked hoping for an answer.

Kat looked around the hospital room, her mind was foggy and confused. She tried as hard as she could to grasp on to something in her head that would make sense  but couldn't muster up anything coherent.

"It's ok. Don't push your self, you need to rest. You hit your head pretty hard." Sebastian said comforting his sister.

Kat looked around and then back at Sebastian who was smiling at her hoping she would say something, anything.

"I dont know you. Do I? What am I doing here? I....I dont remember anything." Kat said to a shocked Sebastian.

Sebastian took a step back and smiled a comforting smile at his sister who was terrified. Not only was her memory partly suppressed by Alex's spell, but she had now also forgotten everything else. Including who she was, where she was, and most importantly her attacker. Kat had amnesia.  

"Just relax ok, I'll get a doctor." Sebastian said walking out of the hospital room quietly.

As Sebastian stepped out of his sister's hospital room he found a quiet corner and pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. The other person soon answered.

"It's Banning. Kat's awake but we have a problem. She doesn't remember a thing......... No, nothing at all..... Yes I understand the situation, but we'll get inside Collinwood another way. I promise. I'll call you back once I get more info." Sebastian said and quickly hung up the phone. 

****

The police station was oddly quiet considering they had just arrested someone for an attempted murder. Kimberly and Barnabas burst in looking for Caleb. Searching for any officer who knew his whereabouts, and finally they came to Loomis.

"Calm down, yes we have your son." Loomis explained pulling out the case file.

"Well I want to see him! Detective, there is no way my son could have done this. He loves Kat!" Kimberly explained.

"Kimberly I heard it with my own ears over the phone. Kat clearly said his name as she was being attacked, and right now she's in a hospital room unconscious. " Loomis concluded.

"That just can't be." Kimberly said in a worried voice.

"What's going to happen now?" Barnabas asked Loomis.

"He'll be arraigned in the morning and bail will be set." Loomis explained.

"That is if you have enough evidence, of course." Barnabas added.

"Excuse me?" Loomis said turning to Barnabas 

"Yes, you cannot keep a man in jail if you don't have enough evidence of the crime. So far all you have is something heard over a telephone, is that correct detective? I would assume you would wait for Detective Banning to recover so that she could give her side of the story." Barnabas said.

"Who are you again?" Loomis said baffled at this new person's meddling.   

Barnabas' eyes changed to pitch black and Loomis looked directly into the black pools that swirled around and around. Barnabas then touched Loomis' chest and said "I am Barnabas Collins. The one. The only. And from here on out, you will listen to my demands. Caleb Collins shall be released, you will note the lack and insufficient evidence in his case and pursue him no more?" 

Loomis' face had no reaction, Kimberly was shocked at what she was seeing, something she had never ever seen before. A hypnosis. 

Loomis then opened the case file and began to write his report, quietly. He then handed it to Barnabas and walked into a hall. Barnabas and Kimberly looked at each other then opened the file that read Caleb had been suspected but not charged in Kat's attack, and was subsequently released on his mother's recognizance pending further investigation.

"How did you do that?" Kimberly asked.

"My dear, even though I hate what was done to me, there are some added side effects that work in my favor."

"Mind control." Kimberly said astonished.

"Caleb is family. I have learned from my past that family is the strongest key to one's own progress. Young Caleb needs to be free so that he can find out who really did this to Detective Banning." He explained.

"Thank you Barnabas." Kimberly said with tears welling in her eyes. No one had ever done something so extraordinary for her. "Caleb is innocent. There has to be some other explanation." She added.

"I'm sure there is." Barnabas said suspiciously. 

As they both stood in the quiet Police station Caleb came running from the same hall that Loomis silently walked into.

"Mother!" he said rushing over to her and hugging her. "How did you get me released so quickly." Caleb asked.

"I didn't do anything. It was Barnabas." Kimberly stated.

"Thank you. How can I ever repay you?" Caleb asked turning to his centuries old cousin.

"We're family young Caleb. And your mother, thankfully, is on her way to helping me in return." Barnabas said, coldly referring to the gene therapy she had began in the laboratory before Caleb's arrest. "Shall we go?" he asked.

They agreed and quickly made their way out of the police station.

"Just a second." Loomis said as he also came back from the holding area Caleb was in. "You've been released but not cleared Mr. Collins, so I wouldn't be traveling anytime soon. Once detective Banning comes to, she'll be interviewed and then we'll see what the real story is.

"I swear to you, I didn't do anything to her. I was on my way to meeting her and when I crossed the street after I parked I saw her in this side ally....And there was this... I don't know, this shadow or dark figure holding her up by the neck." Caleb explained to an unconvinced Loomis.

"Like I said. Stay in town. I'll be calling you." The detective continued.

Caleb, Kimberly and Barnabas turned and quickly walked out into the Police station lobby. Barnabas grabbed Caleb by the arm and pulled him close.

"This black mass, or figure you saw, cousin. Can you describe it for me again." Barnabas whispered feeling as though Caleb's initial description sounded familiar. Very familiar.

"Well it was large, but not larger then a man. And it was consumed by darkness, almost as if it was coming from the shadows. It was bizarre. It had Kat by the neck and it was holding  her up and when she screamed for me it turned and dropped her. That's when she hit her head." Caleb explained.

"Did it look at you?" Barnabas asked.

"Barnabas what's going on?" Kimberly asked, noting Barnabas' deep concern.

"It did. I saw just yellow, or bright eyes, but nothing else. It was all so fast." Caleb said.

Barnabas knew exactly what it was.

"This"it" in question was not an "it" at all, but a who. I have seen those same eyes when I visited the old house just the night before. Those were the eyes of Leopold Divernet." Barnabas said to a shocked Kimberly and Caleb.

Loomis returned to his desk where another police officer was reading the case file, confused and surprised.

"Hey Loom! You let that guy go?" The officer said in his Boston accent.

"No evidence. But don't worry, I'll be watching the Collins family very closely, and when they finally slip up, I'll be waiting for them. Kat and me." Loomis said definitely. 

****

Back at Collinwood, Carolyn eagerly awaiting Caleb, Kimberly and Barnabas' return. She stared out of the drawing room window waiting for any sign of someone returning home, when finally the door opened and in walked Alexandra.

"Darling, where have you  been?" Carolyn asked as Alex walked in with a long face. "What's the matter?" Carolyn added.

"I've  had a horrible night mother, I really don't want to talk about it." Alex said brushing off the confrontation she had earlier with Chris where she destroyed the last vials of antidote that would cure him.

"It's been a very eventful night for everyone, I'll get us some tea. Why don't you sit down, I'll be right back." Carolyn said sitting Alex on the soft sofa that over looked a warming fire place.

As Alex sat alone she began again to hear the voice calling to her from Widow's Hill. The voice that she now could tell was her own voice, echoing across the bluffs and into the room and swirling around her mind. 

"Your job is not done." The voice said inside her mind.

"What do you want from me!" Alex replied back shaking her head as if she were shaking water out of her ears.

"The only way to get revenge is to remove the cancer that has brought all of this upon you. You must destroy Claudia." The voice said as Alex stood up and looked out of the window to where she felt the voice coming from even though it was actually in  her own head.

As Alex looked out of the window the reflection in the glass facing her startled her. The face was an angrier, more wicked version of herself, darker red lips, longer wavier hair, but it was definitely Alex, just another more horrible creation from her mind.

"What should I do?" Alex asked her reflection.

"In a room in the attic above the East wing there is a book bound in leather. It hold's powers you could never imagine, Alexandra. You must find it, and you must use it. When you reach it Alexandra, open it to a page marked with a crimson ribbon with the embroidered letter A. There you will find the answers." The reflection said. 

The doe eyed Alex reluctantly agreed and ran off to find the boo in the attic, and as she did, her reflection remained in the glass and slowly the reflection began to morph into the face of a mysterious blond woman with deep blue eyes laughing a evil laugh.