Series 4 Chapter 3: THE OTHER PATIENT

The sun slipped beneath the clouds calmly taking its place lower and lower in the sky paving the way for a starry sky to come forward over the town of Collinsport. The sea was calm, yet crashed fiercely against the cliff side of Widow's Hill, calling out to all who could hear.

Standing in a window, just off in the distance at the old house was Barnabas Collins, now reigning over his childhood home of 3 centuries alone. Now the only one of his kind. His plan to rid Collinwood of Leopold Divernet had worked, he felt calm, collected and even content.

"The sky seems to go on forever, doesn't it father?" Claudia said from the foyer leading into the main parlor of the old house where Barnabas stood.

"Claudia! How good of you to come see me, please come in, come in." Barnabas answered. "I can't imagine a sky more beautiful." He said as he sat down on one of the chairs.

"You're oddly in a good mood. This wouldn't happen to be because you're free of Leopold's ever present glare now that he's dead and all." Claudia said sarcastically.

"Now, now, what kind of man would I be if I started to speak ill of the dead." Barnabas quipped back with a Cheshire-cat grin.

"You'd be the man who had him killed." Claudia said with just as devilish a grin as her father.

Barnabas just smirked uncomfortably.

Besides their friendly back and fourth over Leopold's demise, Claudia felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. After all, she knew that Kimberly's tests had revealed that not enough blood from Leopold's body entered into Christopher's system; in realty only half of Barnabas' promised plan worked....the part the suited him. That rubbed Claudia the wrong way. She felt Christopher was left out to dry.

Then there was also the subject of how Kim planned on getting blood from Barnabas to help cure Chris. A plan Claudia didn't feel comfortable keeping from her father Barnabas, and equally didn't feel comfortable telling him.

"I'm sensing something off putting about you this evening, Claudia. What is it?" Barnabas asked as he poured himself a cup of what looked to be red wine.

"It's been a very trying week. I'm just very tired." Claudia answered quietly, noticing the wine flowing into Barnabas' glass seemed thicker in texture, and of course, wasn't really wine.

"No, there's something more. Something you're not telling me. What is it?" Barnabas asked suspiciously as he sipped the red liquid from the glass.

"You know I often think about what I've done. I think about how I turned Jack Thorne into Leopold, trying to recreate something from my past. And for what? The past is over. I think of going back and finding you choking on the floor when you killed my mother....and then saving your life to bring you to this time. I think I should never have done that." Claudia said bluntly.

Barnabas' face stayed stone cold, no emotion, no reaction. He got up and walked over to an empty fire place and looked inside and with a snap of his fingers a raging fire lit inside the fire place glowing hot with an exuding an orange light all around him and his daughter Claudia.

"That's a pity. You know, you're much more like me then you realize Claudia. You're feeling guilt, and guilt is a very mortal emotion. What you don't see is that for some reason our paths crossed again after everything that has happened over time, and for that, you and I should be thankful." Barnabas said turning his back to the fire and facing his daughter.

"Everything just feels so uncertain now. I've never felt this way...I've always had my powers to surround me and protect me and without them I can't seem to make sense of things." Claudia confessed.

"The mortal life is a daunting on, but doubt too can bring you to the brink of madness. Whatever happens from now on, will be left up to the fiats." Barnabas said as he kissed his daughters cheek and walked back over to the window to look at the brilliant night sky.

Claudia for a moment felt again that she needed to tell Barnabas that if Kim could not gather enough blood from him during one of their sessions Chris would take matters into his own hands and possible kill him just as he did Leopold. She was torn between the father she was just getting to know and the man she was falling in love with. A truly terrible place to be.

Claudia got up and walked over to Barnabas at the window gazing out to the dark of the night. She could see herself in his eyes, but there was something about him that was still very secretive and mysterious, something even human.

"What was it like to live here as a child?" She asked him.

"Collinwood was like a magic fairly land when I first came here. My father build this exact house almost 400 years ago. It was his masterpiece. That was all before everything changed." Barnabas said with a slight deepening of his voice.

"What changed?" Claudia asked.

"When my sister Sarah died, our word here at Collinwood turned dark. There was no more laughter. No more loving. No more happiness. It was the first curse of our family, the true beginning of the end." Barnabas explained.

"And then?" Claudia prodded,

"The rest is history Claudia. Everyone who has ever lived here has bore the brunt of these curses...Sarah was first; it has never been lifted. Everyone we have ever come in contact with, friends, neighbors, lovers, have all been effected." Barnabas continued.

"Lovers...have you been able to love?" Claudia asked.

"I have, though, it's been a painful experience for the most part. But it's special while it lasts. Are you asking me because you feel like you are falling in love with Christopher?" Barnabas asked pointedly.

"I don't know if I'm capable of love. Once I believed I was in love, but ......tragedy struck. Which led me to where I am today." Claudia said, glossing over the fact that the real Leopold Divernet killed himself over 100 years ago when he discovered his fiance Claudia was a witch.

"Love has a way of gripping us by the throat whether we want it to or not, and now, you're mortal. You're powers are all gone. Now you can actually feel love in its true are rarest form. In a way, I am envious of you." Barnabas said.

"So you believe that Christopher and I can make a life for ourselves?" Claudia questioned.

"Let nothing stand in your way." Barnabas said as he turned away from Claudia again to look out onto the starry Collinsport sky.

Claudia smiled and kissed her father on the side of his cheek and walked out of the Old house leaving Barnabas with a faint smile on his face. He was happy with the direction their relationship was going but he knew she was hiding something. It wasn't just his fatherly instincts either. He could feel it in her body language, in her blood flow, and in her heartbeat.

As she walked back to the main house through the foggy courtyard she knew that something was standing in her way of living a normal life with Christopher like she so wanted. It was Barnabas. She needed enough blood from him to cure Chris in hopes to make him normal again too, and she wasn't sure Kimberly would be able to do it on her own.

Barnabas watched as his daughter made her way from the old house to the main house in the dark of the night. And as she crossed through the courtyard that separated the two mansions, he went over to an closet he kept locked. He pulled a key out of a secret door and opened the closet where a large painting of a woman, her face kind, the grin she expressed warm.

"Love.......it had a strange effects on us, didn't it?" Barnabas said to the painting as he started deep into the woman's brown eyes. "And yet, I feel those effects never really went away, my sweet sweet Maggie." He added noting the painting was of his lost love Maggie Evans, the woman he once beleived was the reincarnated soul of his first true love, Josette.

But that was 50 years ago. As for Josette, her life was taken away over 3 centuries ago, in a similiar way that the original Leopold passed: a victim of the painful darkness that surrounded Widow's Hill. 

Barnabas just stared at the painting that brought him so much joy and memories of two women he loved and held so dear.

****

As the night got later Caleb and Kat finally returned home from visit to Bangor to search for David at the Windcliff Sanitarium. They were both talking to each other a mile a minute making noise as they walked in. Their entire demeanor were filled with energy of what they saw and what possible could be the out come.

The noise caused Carolyn to come out of her room and walk down the hallway to the end of the staircase to see what the fuss was all about.

"It's like the two of you have seen some kind of ghost! What's the matter?" Carolyn said carefully coming down the stairs in a fashionable white pant suit.

"You'll never believe whats happened. I think we found my father!" Caleb said excitedly.

"What?? Oh my god! Come on, come into the drawing room!" Carolyn said equally as excited as Caleb as she ushered the two into the main drawing room where Alex was reading. "This is amazing. Just the other day I felt like I had a dream where my mother told me David was alive!" Carolyn added, not realizing that it actually wasn't a dream.

"Whats going on?" Alex said putting down her book.

"Caleb and Kat found David!" Carolyn answered with a smile.

"How!?" Alex asked.

"Kat had this great idea, she asked me to give her a letter my father sent me 10 years ago and we zeroed in on a zip code in Bangor. What's really strange is that that zip was from inside this mental hospital." Caleb explained.

"Your father was in a mental hospital?" Carolyn asked surprised.

"It looks that way. What's even stranger, is that we think he's still there. The woman running the place wasn't exactly fourth coming on information about where David might be today. It leads us to believe he's till there." Kat explained like the true detective she was. "I'm going to call Loomis at the station and see what kind of background he can give me about this Dr. Grayson person." Kat added as she dashed off to the nearest phone.

"Oh Caleb, I'm so happy for you. I'm  happy for all of us. Finally some good news. But what in the world would David be doing in this mental hospital?" Carolyn asked confused.

"I don't know. The last time I spoke with him in person was when he sent me to visit you over Christmas break, just before he went missing. Do you remember?" Caleb asked as he sat down next to Alex on the sofa.

"I do. God, 20 years have gone by since then. I can't believe this is really the first time we're hearing anything about him in 20 years." Carolyn said also sitting down but across from Alex and Caleb in a big fluffy chair.

"Another thing, while we were leaving, a woman grabbed my arm and said that my dad was there. ...she actually said he was there! So now we know for sure that my dad is alive and at this hospital. We just have to figure out how we can get the doctor to let us see him!" Caleb said.

"Your dad? Where's your dad?" Kimberly asked as she walked into the room.

"Mom, you'll never believe this. Kat and I think we've found dad in some hospital. It's in Bangor and---" an excited Caleb explained as he was interrupted by Kim

"--Caleb what are you doing looking for your father? If he wanted to be found, we would have by now, don't you think? You shouldn't have gone after him." Kimberly said to a shocked room.

"What? What are you talking about? This is great news!" Caleb said surprised at his mother's reactions.

"I just don't understand why you felt like you had to go ....I don't know...snooping around. You're father left you alone, don't you remember that?" Kim said in a harsh tone.

"Yes, but not before you left him...and this entire family, Kimberly, for just about the same amount of time with your lover Victor. What are you trying to do here?" Carolyn said standing up now next to Caleb. "If David is at this hospital, we're going to get him out." She added.

Kimberly felt the temperament in the room change when Caleb, Alex and Carolyn were all staring at her with confused expressions trying to make sense of her reaction to the news that David had been, somewhat, found. She quickly tried to back peddle.

"If you're sure that you really want to find him, and he's in some kind of mental break down, then by all means Caleb, do what you'd like. I only want whats best for you. That's all I meant." Kimberly said.

"Kim when was the last time you saw David?" Alex asked.

"I don't remember. Probably when I left Collinsport." Kim answered.

"Left him for Victor!" Carolyn snapped, to Kimberly's displeasure.

"These last years have been a mix of tragedy and pain I just want you to be careful with what you find." Kim responded. "But listen, Caleb, again....Whatever makes you happy and whatever makes you feel most complete. I'm sure it'll all work out. I have a lot of work to do in the lab, let me know if you need anything. Ok?" She added as she stiffly hugged her son and quickly made her way out of site.

"That was bizarre." Alex noted.

"Yes, she's never had a very good poker face, that Kim. What do you think that was all about?" Carolyn asked Caleb.

Caleb's face looked heartbroken. All he ever wanted was his family back together in one form or another. It always seemed like either one parent was missing or both all his life and now he had the chance at having both of them back at the same time and it didn't' feel as good as he expected. Especially given that his mother Kim's reaction was such a negative one.


"Maybe she's embarrassed or something. I don't know. I think after the divorce and after we all found about about her and Victor and Chris that maybe she would rather my dad not come back." Caleb said.

"This is where your father belongs. And I for one, am very happy he's been found. Caleb, whatever you do, bring him home. Bring him back to Collinwood!" Carolyn said giving Caleb a big, deep hug, giving him the support he always knew he could count on from her.

Just around a corner wall, Kimberly listened in on Carolyn and Caleb...panic set in. She quickly made her way down to her office. She stammered through her pockets frantically searching for her office keys, finally unlocking her office door.

The flicked on the dim office lights that created a warm inviting comfortable mood within her office, flattering the dark brown leather furniture and deep green drapery that hung like large oak trees in the corners of each side of the main wall.

She ran over to her desk chair where she had flung her lab coat over the back and quickly grabbed her cell phone from it's pocket. And there was the proof. A missed call from Dr. Joanna Grayson, and a voice mail explaining to Kim that David's whereabouts had been discovered.

Kim's panic turned to dread and she slumped down in her office chair and began to think of ways to get herself out of what was to come. A secret that she had been hiding for over 2 decades was very close to being raveled. All her work getting her two sons back, all her work getting back into Collinwood was at risk if this secret was to be exposed.

Kim knew she had no choice but to make sure it wouldn't.

****

At Windcliff Sanitarium in Bangor, Maine, David Collins sat on the floor of his tiny hospital room, the cold mettle from his bed frame pressed deeply into the skin on his back. It wasn't painful, but it gave him the only kind of psychical sensation he had felt in years. Its what made him know he was still alive and not in some strange hell, frozen in time. 

He watched a small roach creep into his room from under the door and scurried across the floor under and into the mettle grate of a air duct. David crawled on all fours and looked into the air duct, and thought for a second that if he could pry the grate of he could shimmy into the airways of Windcliff to freedom. But that was a fruitless fantasy. The space was too small for David's large framed body. His shoulders were too wide and strong to squeeze into the small opening he would make. 

David took a deep breath and exhaled. There had to be away for him to escape. 

As he toiled away processing what had happened to him over the years, and how Dr. Grayson had forced him to go over some of the terrifying things that happened to him as a child, over and over again in his mind. He remembered how she almost found pleasure in the terrible things he was talking about, how she almost found delight in the descriptions of ghosts and spirits and mysterious activity he was surrounded by all his life. 

The painful memories of his childhood were only warmed by the thoughts of his son Caleb, and his wife Kimberly. Unfortunately for David, those warm memories of his small family were clouded too. How soon he forgot about Kimberly's extra marital affair, and how she left Caleb and him alone at Collinwood all those years ago. 

Going through his past David started to try to piece together how he even got to Windcliff in the first place. He remembered being at home one night, Caleb was away at school, Kimberly had been gone for at least 5 years. He remembered a break in, fighting with two men. One man seemed familiar. He swore he knew at least one of the faces of the men who broke in and attacked him, but couldn't remember from where.

The fight during the break in ended quickly, as the other man who broke in stuck David with a needle filled with some sort of tranquilizer. The next thing David remembered he was at Windclff. And the rest is history. 20 years of locked away history. 

As David reminisced his anger over started to bubble up, he was angry because he couldn't fight off the two men who broke into Collinwood that night. He was angry because it took him 20 years to get a clear head and to finally have this break through and now he sat in a darkened hospital room with no freedom inside.

Then his door knob began to jiggle, but the lights in Joanna's office that adjoined David's room were off, it was the middle of the night and no one should have been there. David stood up and stuck out his chest believing that it could be Sebastian coming to check on him, David was ready to pounce on him.

The jiggling continued. But no one gained entrance. 

David soon realized that if this person trying to get into the room was Sebastian he would  have had a key, and would have entered much faster. He relaxed his body and stood down and waited. The person on the other side of the door was clearly trying to break into his room. He remained silent. And waited.

It took what seemed like forever to get the lock on David's door to open, but finally, after half an hour there was success. David braced himself for a fight or some kind of attack, for he had no idea what awaited him. And as the door opened, a small little woman in a bath robe with the initials M.E. on the lapel stood there. With a very kind, warm grin.

"Hello David." The woman said in a whisper. 

"What are you doing?" David said to the woman.

"When I found out you were here too, I knew that one day I would have to help you out of here. I knew that one day we'd have to wait for this day....your son was here David. We have to get you home." The woman said.

David looked at the woman who was now standing aside, giving David a clear passage into Joanna's office and out into the hall past the office door that the woman had also broken into.

"Who are you? I feel like I know you from somewhere." David said, seeing something familiar in the woman's face.

"Oh David.....it's been so many years. So many lost years. You've already forgot me. I don't blame you, you were so young the last time we saw each other. David, It's me. I'm Maggie Evans!"

Series 4/Chapter 2: INSIDE THE ASYLUM

The smell inside the halls was of human waste and garbage. The little Caleb and Kat knew about Windcliff Sanitarium was exposed by the conditions of the hospital and it's staff, especially the off-putting chief of staff Dr. Joanna Grayson, who's personality was as cold and ridged as the rocks that clung to the side of Widow's Hill.

The yellow walls felt like they had never been cleaned, the sticky linoleum floor grabbed on to the bottom of shoes and made a sticky ripping sound as each foot pulled itself free from the floor, a feeling Caleb and Kat were very uncomfortable with. She grabbed on to his hand as they stood at the nurses station listening to the sounds of feet unlatching from the stickiness all around them.

They came to Windcliff on a hunch that Caleb's father, David Collins, had been at the hospital sometime around 1996, when David mailed a letter from a private zip code from within the hospital's campus. And now, they were there for answers.

"Dr. Grayson, these two are here to see ya." Said a snarky nurse with her Boston accident as she took paperwork from Joanna was signing at the station and scratched her scalp with the end of a pen.

"What can I do for you?" Joanna asked, noting a familiar resemblance in Caleb.

"About two decades ago my father disappeared and just recently we found a clue to his whereabouts. I received a letter from him that came from this hospital. Can you tell me when he left? We're trying to track him. His name is David Collins." Caleb asked, assuming his father couldn't possibly still be at the hospital 20 years later.

Joanna's eyes seemed to almost pop out of her head when she heard the last name, and realized the resemblance. Instantly she knew that she had to make sure no one knew where David was until the right moment; until she was ready to pounce on the goldmine that was the Collins family and their fascinating connection to the world of the supernatural and psychotic, all the things David mentioned of his life inside the walls of Collinwood.

"Unfortunately, I am unable to give you any information about our patients here. Under absolutely no circumstances." Joanna said bluntly.

"But you can tell us if he was here once, can't you?" Kat asked.

Joanna paused and licked her lips, the dishonestly dried out her mouth so much it was like she had been licking stamps all afternoon. "Mr. Collins might have had a history with this establishment. But that's all I can tell you. Details of whether or not he was here are under the strictest doctor/patient confidentiality." She quipped.

"But, Doctor, you have to understand, I'm his son, I should be able to know where he went after he--" Caleb said before he was interrupted by his detective girlfriend

"Unless he's still here!" Kat said abruptly. "If David is still a patient here then of course you wouldn't be able to talk about him, he's still your patient."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave. As you can see we're a very busy facility and there are lots of patients we need to tend to ." Joanna said abruptly as she gathered papers on the Nurse's station.

"You can't tell his own son if he's still your patient? That's absurd. I have a right to know if my father is still seeking your help here at Windcliff." Caleb shouted.

As Caleb argued his point, patients began to hear the commotion and started to walk out of their rooms and into the halls in night gowns, cautiously making their way closer and closer to the talking.

Some seemed to have never been washed, other's seemed to just stare at the walls. As soon as they noticed Caleb start to get animated and demand any sort of answer from Dr. Grayson they all started to crowd into the nurses station, like moths to a flame. Where there was any kind of commotion or chaos they would gather.

"Mr. Collins I am going to have to ask you to keep your voice down." Joanna said in a sort of half whisper noticing the patients dragging their feet, just a short distance now from them.

"I want to know!" Caleb shouted again.

"I WANT TO KNOW!!" One patient mimicked.

"I WANT TO KNOW! I WANT TO KNOW!" Another mimicked louder then laughing an evil laugh.

Kat scooted closer to Caleb and wrapped her arm around his, keeping an eye on the enclosing patients as they all sent menacing glares her way, like tigers pacing and circling their prey.

"That is information I cannot give you, now if you kindly leave. Your presence is upsetting the mood of my patients and I cannot have any kind of out bursts." Joanna said.

A female patient in her 70s walked over to Kat and plucked at her hair, staring at it with a sort of nostalgia and saddness mixed with jealousy and rage. She then got very close and primped her own hair; red with white roots.

"You look familiar. Like a movie star. Are you a movie star. Do you make movies. I was a movie star. I made movies. Do you like me? I was a movie star. I made movies." she said in Kat's ear.

"You're lovely.............I HATE LOVELY!!!" Another patient screamed at Kat.

"I WANT TO KNOW!!!" Screamed a fourth patient again from a corner, still mimicking Caleb.

Caleb and Kat begin to feel nervous with everyone floating around them, it was beginning to feel dangerous being there especially not knowing what was really happening and if they were safe.

Joanna grabbed a phone and called for some hospital orderlies to come and take the patients back to their rooms and Caleb grabbed Kat's hand and they begin to leave. And just as they did, Kat turned and in a split second saw someone peek their head out from Joanna's office door then hid again when they noticed that Kat saw them.

The face Kat saw was a blur to her, but in a way she felt she recognized it. But Caleb pulled her along trying to get them safely outside before she could see that it was her own brother Sebastian hiding David in Joanna's Windcliff office.

They made their way down the long, stinking corridor to the front entrance. The nurses station, Dr. Grayson, and the rowdy patients all behind them. Except  there was patient, an older woman, thin and frail, dressed in robe that had embroidered letters on the lapel: M.E. She  popped out of a corner doorway and grabbed Caleb by the arm. Her eyes, seemed tired but lively, big and brown exuuding a sense of kindness that Caleb did not see in the other patients.

"Inside this place ........he's here. Your father is here." The woman said.

And just as quickly as she grabbed Caleb, the older woman, with dark hair and wisps of white roots dashed off down the corridor back into the chaos of the Windcliff.

 Caleb and Kat burst through the entrance and dashed off into their car parked under a giant willow.

"What the hell was that?" Caleb said relieved that they were now safe in their car.

"It's not over. She's hiding something." Kat said sternly. "That other patient said he's there. And I believe her."

"But what do we do? She wont tell us anything." Caleb asked.

Kat looked at Caleb, her glance was one that he had seen before, but he couldn't exactly know what she was thinking, all he could tell was that she had a plan.


Back inside Windcliff, the patients had all been cleared from the hall way and Joanna was back in her office with Sebastian, both feeling a sense of relief themselves.

"How did they find him?" Joanna said angrily.

"I don't know! I heard Caleb say he got a letter from David years ago from here. Is that true?" Sebastian asked.

"It could be. If it was sent in the first weeks that he was here it's possible he was lucid enough to have sent Caleb a letter. But why would they come looking for him now, after all these years? We're not ready to put the plan in motion yet. Nothing is ready!" Joanna said pounding her fist on her desk in frustration.

"What do you want to do?" Sebastian asked.

Joanna looked at Sebastian but said no words, all she did was pick up the phone and dial. The phone rang once, then twice, then three times but there was no answer. Just a voice mail beep, allowing Joanna to leave a message for the person she called:

"This is Dr. Joanna Grayson. I understand it's been quite sometime since we have had contact with each other, and I can understand if you would wish that I had never called, but the moment we wished never happened, has happened. I need your help. David has been discovered. You can call me back here at your convenience." Joanna said before hanging up.

And inside his small little hospital room cell attached to Joanna's office, David listened but could do nothing. All he could do was sit by the door and hope that for one second Joanna and Sebastian would be off their guard and he could escape. His sat there, his back up against the door, his arms tucked between his legs and thighs, his eyes starting at his bare feet. All he needed one a second, just one second, and he could free himself. It was his last hope of freedom, and it could possible come with a little help from someone with the initials M.E.

***COLLINWOOD***

While Caleb and Kat were away in Bangor searching for David, Collinwood was uncharacteristically calm. Most of the residents took to their respectful rooms and rested, read, or chatted quietly. Since Leopold's death, the quiet seemed to come. Or was this the quiet before the storm?

Kimberly, however, had a lot of work to do in her laboratory. Not only was she working on a blood research and therapy for Barnabas but her son Christopher also needed tests done to see if Barnabas' experiment on him had worked: Had all of Chris mutated genes reverted back to normal as Barnabas promised after drinking Leopold's blood?

Barnabas, even Claudia, had known that werewolves who kill vampires, like Chris did Leopold, would be free from the moon curse, but no one knew for sure, and Kim had painstakingly stayed up for two nights testing Chris tissue samples.

As she worked, Chris and Claudia came in to see if the results were ready. They were hand in hand, nervous and hoping for the best. Claudia, now void of any supernatural powers after using a final spell on fellow witch (her mother Angelique), was hoping that Chris too would be free of his curse, and they would be free to live normal lives together, forever. 

"How's it going?" Chris asked his scientist mother apprehensively.

"I should get results soon. How are you feeling?" Kimberly asked her son.

"I feel fine, but I dont feel different. I mean, I dont even know if I'm supposed to feel different. I've never not felt this way." Christopher said noting that all his life he's been used as a test subject; Kimberly's test subject. 

"I saw Leopold's blood all him the other night. It had to have worked." Claudia noted.

"What happens if I'm still this way? What will we do?" Chris asked.

"You won't be. This has to work." Claudia mentioned.

"But.....if by chance something went wrong and there wasn't enough blood to go into your system, we'll figure something else out. We'll do something different. Some how, we'll get this fixed Christopher, I promise you." Kimberly said.

Then finally, the tests were ready and Kimberly walked over to the table where the results were being sorted through blood tests and vials all scanning and searching for traces of werewolf DNA that had been genetically inserted into Christopher when he was a baby, altering his genes to mimic those of a wolf when the moon touched his skin. 

Kimberly scanned the blood again, and printed them out for her to read. She carefully went over the tests, reading them twice to make sure what she was reading was definitive and correct. 

She removed her glasses and walked over to Chris and Claudia with a glum face.

"I'm sorry. It didn't work. There are no signs that Leopold's blood effected you. The DNA mutations that we created and placed in your cells as a baby are still present." Kimberly said to a shocked Christopher.

"How??? How can this have happened?" Claudia said equally as shocked. 

"There may have not been enough blood to go into Christopher, after all he was interrupted by Carolyn when she scared him off." Kimberly explained.

"So I killed someone I barley even knew for nothing. Barnabas had me murder someone for nothing!!" Christopher screamed.

"No! Not for nothing! Chris, Leopold was dangerous and could have done so much more damage to us had you not listened to Barnabas' plan. You did the right thing." Kimberly explained.

"This is insane. I should have never listened to you, I should never listened to Barnabas!" Christopher said with tears in his eyes.

"There was no other way to ..." Kim said as she was interrupted by Chris.

"NO! Stop. I don't want to hear anymore. I was supposed to be cured. I was supposed to be free, and now I'm exactly in the same place I was before any of this ever happened. What's worse is that I've killed two people now. I can't keep doing this." Chris said in an emotional break.

"There has to be another way Kimberly." Claudia said tears welling up in her eyes.

"We have to find my notes from when Chris was just a baby. Those notes have the recipe for the serum that will cure him. Without them, I don't know what we could do." Kimberly said.

"What about Barnabas. What if we used his blood." Chris asked. "He's just like Leopold. What if we used him."

"Chris what are you asking me?" Kimberly questioned even know she knew what he was asking.

"If it was a good enough plan to kill Leopold on a full moon so that I could use his blood to cure me, then why couldn't we try it with Barnabas?" Christopher asked nonchalantly indicating another death.

"Chris you can't do that." Claudia said shocked at Chris' notion.

"Why not? What does Barnabas have over everyone here? He's just as cruel as Leopold was." He answered.

"He's my father, Chris." Claudia answered back.

"And Leopold was Alex's dad.... at one point. But no one stopped to think about that." Chris snarled.

"We don't have to go to those extremes. I have tested Barnabas' blood here in the lab. The amount of vials I have here aren't enough to cure you, but we can try and collect more." Kimberly explained.

"Then get more." Christopher said in a deep angry voice. "You made me this way, now you figure out a way to get more blood out of Barnabas to cure me. Either you do it, or I do it, but trust me, you wouldn't want me to get Barnabas' blood my way. So figure it out." Chis added as he grabbed Claudia's hand.

Kimberly was left in her laboratory in a very hard predicament. She had to figure out how to get blood out of Barnabas, enough in quantity to cure Chris and still keep Barnabas alive. She knew she had to do it, she knew she had to make sure she made things right for her son, especially since she was responsible for making him  the creature that he hated. In Kim's eyes, Chris had to be made whole again, no mater what.

Kimberly took a deep breath and went back to her work on Barnabas' blood samples with no resolution in site for his own ailments. A cure for his curse for craving of human blood was no closer to being solved.

Kim  toiled away analogizing side after slide and as she did, over in a darkened corner of the lab, sitting deep in side a lab coat pocket was Kim's cell phone. Blinking a reminder message that Kim had missed a phone call and had a voice mail waiting for her to listen to... from Windcliff Sanitarium.

 

Series 4/Chapter 1: MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS

The cold afternoon sea air crept over the Maine cliff-side and on to the green pastures that surround both houses on the Collins family land. It's an icy and salty wave or air that burrows into your nostrils and leaves you tasting the Atlantic without ever touching the water.

Alexandra felt this wind carry her feet as she burst into the old house after hearing the single gun shot from the gun filled with 6 blessed silver bullets that Carolyn used to attempt to kill Barnabas for his role in Leopold's murder.

Alex wasted no time in getting into the old house and dashed through the darkened hallways all the way down to the room where Barnabas, Kimberly and her mother Carolyn were laying after the gun went off.

Barnabas slowly lifted his head, allowing the flickering candle light to hit his gray skin. He looked up and saw Alexandra in total shock as a small crimson river of blood carved it's way towards Alexandra's feet.

Barnabas got up and instantly looked down to check himself and see where the blood was coming from. He was unharmed, Kimberly who lay unconscious on the floor after hitting her head in the fall had blood on her too but it did not belong to her, it was all Carolyn's.

"What's happened?" Alex said kneeling down next to her mother, blood circulating her knees.

"She tried to kill me....with this." Barnabas said kicking the gun over to Alexandra with his foot, not allowing any part of the blessed silver to touch exposed skin.

"Mother? Mother wake up. Wake up mother!" Alex said tapping the side of Carolyn's face.

But Carolyn could not be woken, she was inches from death, the cold air from the sea now seeping in from outside into the hallways and into the room slowly swirling around Carolyn's limp body that psychically was at Collinwood but soon would  be spiritually was lifted away to somewhere no one alive could explain.

In her mind Carolyn could hear Alex's voices echoing further and further away.

***IN THE UNKNOWN PLACE***

It was perfect all white. Light surrounding everything. Yet there was nothing. Simply whitness, and Carolyn walked alone. She heard no sounds. Just complete and utter silence all around her. She looked down and the white had completely surrounded her body, from the ground to the air.  It was as if she were standing in white cloud of nothingness; there was no up there was no down. Just blank. 

"You've made it." A voice said from behind her. "You've finally made it." 

Carolyn turned around and to her surprise, there standing dressed just as Carolyn remember her: demure pastels and perfectly quaffed hair and droplet pearl earrings dangling from her perfect ears   was Carolyn's mother Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard who died over 15 years ago.

"Mother? Is that really you? Where....where am I?" Carolyn said confused.

"You're nowhere, yet you're everywhere, darling. This is where we go when we leave the psychical. Well...it's the first place we go. Oh I've missed you Carolyn." Elizabeth said embracing her daughter.

"Leave the psychical? Do you mean.... Have I died?" Carolyn asked with tears in her eyes. 

"In a way, yes. And I've come to make sure you're entrance into the unknown is peaceful, and quiet." Elizabeth explained. 

"I don't understand, this wasn't meant to happen. I only wanted to stop Barnabas. This isn't right, I have to go back. Maybe I'm inside the mirror again! Or maybe it's all a dream." Carolyn said looking around for a way to leave.

"It's no mistake, it has happened." Elizabeth said taking Carolyn's hand. "Come we need to wait here." She said bringing Carolyn to a different place in the white space.

"I remember. I was ........ I had a gun and I accidentally fired it. I was shot, wasn't I?" Carolyn said finally remembering her last moments as Elizabeth moved her further into the void.

"We don't talk about how we leave the psychical here, Carolyn. It's irrelevant. All that matters is that when the light finally comes, that you walk towards it. Once you're inside you're free." Elizabeth said.

"Mother I'm not ready to be here...this is a mistake!" Carolyn said terrified.

"There are no mistakes Carolyn. I wish this were...but you have come here for a reason. I know that there has been much tension surrounding you in the physical but now you're able to let that all go. Nothing here can hurt you," Said Elizabeth.

"But what if I'm  not ready to let it go. There's too much at stake, mother. Can't I go back. Just for a little while! I'm not ready!" Carolyn explained.

"That's not up to me Carolyn. It's up to the fates that control when and where our time begins and ends. Once they decide -- it's done." Elizabeth said.

"And what about Alexandra? Jack's gone and now me....she's all alone. I can't stay here. Please, I can't stay." Carolyn said heartbroken over leaving Alex so suddenly.

"These things aren't always planned. Alexandra will be alright." Elizabeth said cuddling her daughter.

"Are you here alone? Where's Daddy and David?" Carolyn asked curious of the way things worked.

"Daddy is here too...somewhere. I was chosen to greet you first, once the light comes to take us back, you'll see everyone. Except David." Elizabeth pointed out.

"Why not David?"

"Darling, David is not here. He belongs still to the psychical. He has been all this time. His time has not come. Look...there....the light is coming! Are you ready?" Elizabeth said putting her arm around Carolyn.

As Carolyn looked on towards the light in slight confusion over Elizabeth's revelation over David, she saw small crack in the white background revealing a speck of light that was growing larger and larger, like a single star that was getting closer and closer and brighter and brighter as it came nearer. Carolyn dried her eyes from small tears that rolled down her fair skin and smiled at her mother who was comforting her as she began to walk her towards the the opening sphere of bright white light.

"If David is alive I need to go back and...." Carolyn said trying to delay the inevitable. 

"You're here Carolyn.... that is all there is." Elizabeth answered.

***COLLINWOOD***

Kimberly finally came to and rubbed her head where the bump popped up from her fall during the fight over he gun. She then noticed the stain of blood on her hands from where it seeped out of Carolyln's body.

"Oh my god, is she ok?" Kimberly said crawling over to Carolyn and Alexandra.

"She's dead." Barnabas said coldly.

"He's right, I don't feel a pulse....oh, Alex I'm so sorry." Kimberly said now sitting next to Alexandra who had Carolyn's head in her lap.

"No, this is not how my mother is supposed to die, I won't accept it!" Alex said, the tears streaming down her face.

"There's nothing you can do Alex." Kim said stroking her hair.

"Alexandra, your mother is gone from her body, that is true. But As we did in the seance we can still pull her back from the brink. But it's up to you." Barnabas said reluctantly giving Alex a clue to use the powers she inherited from Claudia to pull Carolyn back.

"Barnabas, what are you talking about?" Kimberly scolded. 

Alex took Barnabas' queue  and carefully placed Carolyn's head on the floor as she got up from the ground. She looked over and Barnabas who didn't make a move and Kimberly who was still on the ground looking over Carolyn's body.

Barnabas looked over again at Alex and Alex looked at Barnabas as if to say he was ready for whatever magical spell she had cooked up. This time she wouldn't use Angelique's book, just her instincts and magic from deep inside her soul, a soul that had bee tortured for weeks over Chris, and Claudia, and her father, Alex pulled from that tortured grief and took a deep breath.

 With her exhale she let out a bewitching scream of a banshee that broke windows and sent out vibrations all across Collinwood shaking the buildings and the trees, causing a vocal wave the burst through all time and space. 

Suddenly everything started to move backwards within the ripples of sound coming from Alexandra's scream. Kimberly moved back to the floor, Barnabas then sat down, and then went back into his position on the floor next to Carolyn and Kimberly all while Alex's scream caused the minutes to track backwards, the hours to tick counter clockwise, and soon she was seeing everything that happened before Carolyn was shot--all in backwards motion. All before Carolyn died.

She was turning back time to stop the shooting from happening to begin with. And it was working. 

***THE UNKNOWN PLACE***

As Alex's voice began to turn back the hands of time, the sphere of Light Carolyn was waking towards suddenly began to shrink back into a the darkness that once surrounded both Elizabeth and Carolyn.

"What's happening? Why is it going away?" Carolyn's asked her mother.

Elizabeth smiled and took her daughter Carolyn by both hands "The only reason the light would begin to retract is because it is no longer needed, darling, you got your wish!" Elizabeth said with tears in her eyes as she looked around the darkness and saw that indeed the light was dimming and Carolyn would be able to go back, thanks to Alex.

"I don't understand!" Carolyn confessed. "What does that mean?"

"Carolyn! You're being called back! You can go back to your life in Collinwood!" Elizabeth said excited for her child. "Take this as  is your chance to make things right. Make things better for everyone in our family." She added.

Carolyn felt a sadness for leaving her mother, but a relief that it looked like she was going back to Collinwood all at the same time.

"I wish I could take you with me. Collinsport isn't the same without you." Carolyn said still wiping the tests from her cheek.

"Oh my time has come and gone. I'm no longer needed in that world, but don't worry, I see everything. I'm there, all around you. This is Your time, but Carolyn remember, our family's legacy is paramount you must protect it at all costs. No matter what." Elizabeth said, her words resonating deep inside Carolyn.

"That's what Barnabas was doing wasn't he? Protecting us." Carolyn realized.

"He has his own way of doing things doesn't he." Elizabeth smirked

"Will I ever see you again?" Carolyn asked holding both of her mother's hands in hers.

"You will. But hopefully not for a very very long time. Carolyn, you are the torch holder of our family now, you and David. Remember .....you're family." Elizabeth said as she reached in and pulled Carolyn in for a hug.

As they embraced Carolyn slowly began to fade from inside the darkness and away from her mother's arms. Soon all that was left was a ghostly Elizabeth standing alone with tears streaming down her face.

***COLLINWOOD***

Alex saw the gun go off backwards time, the bullet retreat back into the silver piece her great great great Grandfather once owned. Then the initial scuffle of Kimberly and Carolyn over the gun, then Barnabas jumping back into his coffin. It all went backwards all while her powerful scream reverberated through time and space.

Then she followed, as her mother crept backwards down the hall and out of the old house where she got the gun, in that moment Alex stopped the screaming spell and time resumed. 

Carolyn started her walk towards the exit of the old smoking room inside the main house to see Barnabas but was stopped by Alex.

"Don't do this mother!" Alexandra said stepping in her mother's way.

"God! Alex you startled me. What are you doing? Following me?" Carolyn said in a gasp as she didn't see Alex come in behind her.

"Just hand me the gun. Hand it to over." Alex said reaching for the gun behind Carolyn's back. "Whatever you do, do not do what you had in mind. We've come so far and I've already lost Daddy, I cannot lose you too. You're all I have left, and....and if we're going to live here in this place then I want to have you as long as possible. So, just hand me the gun mother." Alex said in the most mature moment of her whole life.

Carolyn took the gun from behind her back and looked at it and then looked at her daughter who was in tears in front of her. She could see that something inside Alex was telling her to do this, having no memory of what hadn't happened yet, she complied and handed over the gun to Alex.

"I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life, wasn't I?" Carolyn said causally walking over to one of the large brown leather sofas and adjusting the single strand of thick pearls around her neck.

"Yes. You really were." Alex answered as she put the gun back in the black lacquered box. 

"Your grandmother was a lot like you, you know. She always had a way of making sure I made the right choices in life--I didn't always listen, but something told me I should listen to you now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for almost going off the deep end." Carolyn said as she looked over at a large painting of her mother Elizabeth.

"What were you going to do?" Alex cautiously asked. 

"It doesn't matter now. What matters is.....well, is what matters is that we are going to start fresh from this moment on, ok. Whatever happens here on out, we'll stick together. A mother and daughter team!" Carolyn said enthusiastically. 

Alex laughed and sniffed her nose and gave her mother a big tight hug. Carolyn dogged the bullet. Literally. 

****

In a darkened hospital room in Bangor, Maine, an illusive member of the Collins family slept in an induced sleep that he had fallen under for weeks. The feeling of calmness at Collinwood and Alex and Carolyn's emotional reunion reverberated through the air and sky all around and into David Collins' room and broke him from his deep medically induced sleep.

He gasped for air and shot straight up in his bed, sweating and panting. His eyes were blood shot, his breath still short, his thick chest heaving for air, it was like he had been asleep for two decades. 

He looked around, his mind felt foggy. He wasn't sure he knew where he was, or if he was still dreaming. He carefully got up out of his bed and stepped on to the floor. His big bare feet slowly reaching the ground. He tried to get up but was still woozy from whatever medicine he was under.

It had been a long time since his mind felt clear, and now, it was an odd sensation. It seemed that at every turn in his sessions with Joanna something would set off his memories of this past and Joann would then give him a sedative to relax him, calm him down, and sedate him.

But today was different. She hadn't come in to see him. Maybe she forgot? Maybe something had happened to her. He was locked in this room and his mind was beginning to clear from the dizzying for he had been subjected to for years and years. 

He slowly raised himself from the cot he slept on and walked over to a door and turned the knob. It was locked. The door's small square window looked into Dr. Joanna Grayson's office. The office door was wide open and David could see through into a hall way, and in that hallway stood Joanna at a nurses station looking over papers, signing them, flipping to more papers, and signing those.

As David looked though his door window and into the office and through the door that was opened to the hospital hall way, he saw two weary people walking up to the nurses station where Joanna was looking over her paper work. One a stranger, the other a very very familiar face.

It was Caleb and Kat coming to check up on their lead that David had once been at this hospital.

David's eyes watered. He recognized the man's face. But he couldn't say his name, or where he recognized it from, but something deep in his psyche was telling him this was his moment. 

As he stood there pacing back and fourth in this room, trying figure out what to do, it finally came to him. A memory finally broke free from the chains of two decades trapped behind steel doors.

David went back to the small square window on his door and whispered "Caleb."

And just as he was about to pound on the door to make noise, Sebastian's face popped up from the other side of the small window giving David a cruel scowled look.

Sebastian then smiled cruelly and wagged his finger in David's face, a silent teasing gesture that David had disobeyed the rules then placed a large black card over the window, blocking David's view.

David was trapped.

Series 3/Chapter 10: CIVIL WAR

The full moon sank under the grey clouds beyond the horizon, settling in for it's own slumber allowing for a brilliant morning sun to wash all over Collinsport.

It was a new day. One that would bring new beginnings that were stained with the curse of past events. One such curse, the Collins family knew well, the curse of death.

Off on a desolate and wooded part of the land around Collinwood, Kimberly and Caleb searched for Christopher who ran off in the chaos of the night, the chaos of killing Leopold.

They searched every corner of the woods and finally found Christopher laying naked, shivering and covered in morning dew fresh off his deadly transition from the werewolf.

Caleb and Kimberly looked at each other, saddened at what had to be done to insure their family's security. But at the same time they both knew deep down inside, this was not the end.

They picked Christopher up, wrapped him in blankets and helped back to Collinwood.


At the mansion, Carolyn had not slept, and was struggling to deal with Jack's death yet again, even when she explained it to Alexandra who at this point seemed accustomed to all the horror around her.

With the help of Caleb and Sebastian, they buried Leopold on Eagle Hill, the cemetery on the Collinwood land that held the remains of every single Collins family member since the 18th century.

It was a long and complicated morning. Each of the Collins family members dealing with the death of Leopold in a different way: Caleb and Kimberly felt relief, Alexandra kept her emotions distant, for she no longer saw Leopold as her father Jack, and Carolyn was completely devastated.

She stood alone gazing out of one of the large windows in the drawing room, dressed in all black, her hair up in a tight clench, and pearls around her neck and dotting her ears. She was the spitting image of her mother Elizabeth.

"Are you ok?" Kimberly asked as she walked in with some of Carolyn's favorite tea.

"It's almost like a dream, you know. Even though mentally he was someone else, inside he was Jack. I feel like I've lost him again Kimberly." Carolyn confessed.

"I wish I could say something that would help." Kim said.

"You can tell me why you did it? Why did you allow Barnabas to use Chris like he did?" Carolyn retorted.

"Carolyn, it was our only solution. Leopold was dangerously close to being discovered....by Kat. You of all people know how important it is for this family to keep its discretion." Kimberly said in hushed whispers knowing Kat could have come in from any corner. "You have to separate Leopold from Jack. I know that it's difficult for you, but they were two different people. Barnabas, in his own way, did this for all of us. We had no choice." Kimberly further explained.

"That seems a little bit misplaced." Carolyn said.

"What seems misplaced?" Kimberly asked confused.

"This sudden change in you....this 'one for the team' attitude you're displaying. You've been behind so much distress at this house since you've returned Kimberly, pretending any of this bothers you is simply disgusting. Did you plan this all along?" Carolyn said turning to Kimberly from the windows, in an angry rant.

"Carolyn, you're not making any sense. And yes, what Victor and I attempted to do, destroying the family by using Christopher was wrong and I've admitted that, and Victor, well, he paid the ultimate price for that didn't he? I'm making up for my part of that every single day when I look into my sons' eyes. I can assure you, I had nothing to do with planning this."

"If you say so." Carolyn answered coldly.

Kimberly took note of Carolyn's understandably dismissive attitude and left her to be alone in the drawing room with her grief. It was a pain that only she could understand at this time.

"Fine. Suit yourself, for what it's worth, I know we've not been the closest, but we're still family. If you need me....I'm here." Kim said, as she walked out of the room.

Carolyn turned back to the window and continued her glazed off gazing into the morning light that stung her eyes. A single tear fell from her eyes and sparkled like a diamond as it rolled down her perfect white skin.

**** 

**BANGOR, MAINE**

A car pulled up to the large baroque style building, the sign out side read: Windcliff Sanitarium. The man driving the car had just come back from staying with a family for a few days just north of Bangor. He walked in and instantly the smell of old unwashed sheets, damp towels, and burnt toast hit him in the face. It was a smell he didn't miss very much. He walked down the noisy green hallways that were lit with florescent lights that zig-zagged across the ceiling and passed a nurses station with two very bored nurses playing on their cell phones. One with un-kept curly red hair stuffed under a nurse's cap that looked like it was from the 1960s. The other with thick curly blond hair, a giant mole on her face and a faint peach fuzz mustache adorning her upper lip peered up at the man from her coke bottle glasses.

"Ohhhhh well, well well. Look who's back! How'd they treat-cha all the way up in Collinsport?" the nurse with the red hair said to the man in her Boston accent.

She picked up the phone and dialed an extension. "Hello Dr. Grayson, Sebastian's back.... yes, I'll let him in....you can go back Mr. Banning." the red headed nurse directed flashing her grotesque smile.

Sebastian walked to the locked door, and waited to be buzzed in from the nurses station. As he walked back to Dr. Grayson's office he could hear screams of patients and people yelling all around him. He wasn't at all intimidated. He was used to it all. Windcliff Sanitarium had been the place he had been working for years and years, this was his second home.

He carefully knocked on a door that read DR. JOANNA GRAYSON and waited for her to let him in. Once he heard her voice he carefully turned the knob and walked in.

Inside the office stood Dr. Joanna Grayson, a woman in her mid 50s with a striking face and thick brown hair. She was a brilliant psycho therapist that had been at Windcliff for decades. And  was  the person Sebastian was calling on the phone with reports back from Collinwood. A place Joanan was very, VERY interested in.

"Glad you're back. What else did you bring me?" Joanna asked as she sat at her desk.

"That place is ....I don't even know how to explain it. I mean my phone calls were probably too vague. But here...this is what happened last night." Sebastian said passing her his cell phone that he used to take video of Christopher and Leopold's fight in the court yard.

"How did you get this?" Joanna said with an evil grin.

"It happened last night. I mean it was just right in front of me. I heard all these loud noises and I looked out my window and there it was. Things like this happen almost daily, Joanna. The things that happen at Collinwood are going to make us rich!" Sebastian said.

"With what I already know and what we've learned with your sister's unknowing help, we can certainly make a bundle. All the years of research and waiting and finally It's here. My time is here. Sebastian." Joanna said as she stood up and walked over to a second side door in her office.

She opened the door and both she and Sebastian looked in. Inside the side room to the office was a private recovery room with a single bed, a sofa, a chair. Inside that bed was a man in a sedated sleep. 

"Has he come to?" Sebastian said standing next to Joanna and looking at the man in the room.

"When we have our sessions I wake him, then I sedate him again. He's done very well." She said of her patient. 

"When do you think you can pump more info out of him? Will you show him the video?" Sebastian asked. 

"Of course, I'll show him the video. I'm sure he'd love to see photos of his old home." Joanna said turning to Sebastian with an evil grin.

Joanna and Sebastian both looked at the man in the bed, who had been at Windcliff for two decades. A man very familiar with Collinwood and Collinsport, and knew it like the back of his hand. 

A man that had disappeared from his family and hadn't had contact except for writing one vague letter.

A man by the name of David Collins.

****

Kat decided to take a walk around Collinwood with Caleb, when they returned home they walked back into the house and passed the drawing room where Carolyn was still sitting alone drinking her tea, they decided to leave her in peace and walked over to a smaller, side room with smooth leather couches and large bar at the back. It was the old smoking room, filled with wooden art, hunting weapons, a large fire place and hunted game all over the walls.

"Do you think she's going to be ok? She's taking this pretty hard." Kat said as she sat down on one of the sofas.

"She will, Leopold's death was unexpected last night, but heart trouble runs in the family I guess." Caleb said, using the lie the family created to cover the truth about the manner of Leopold's death.

"How did she take it when your dad died? I know they were pretty close growing up." Kat asked trying to figure out the next step in Carolyn's mourning.

"My dad didn't die! He's still alive. Somewhere out there." Caleb answered.

"Wait, what? This whole time I thought he was dead. So your dad is out there and you don't know where he is?" Kat questioned.

"No! I mean the last I heard he was somewhere here in New England but no one has seen or heard from him. He's been sort of missing I guess. But on his own terms. He did write me a while back." Caleb answered.

"Have you tried to find him at all?" Kat questioned again.

"Kat, I don't think he wants to be found. If he did, he would have dropped a few clues, don't you think? I haven't seen him since I was---God, like 15 years old." Caleb said.

"Well what did he say when he wrote you last? Did he say where he was?" She questioned further.

"....I don't really remember. I have the letter here actually." Caleb said as he got up and went to a large dark wooden bureau that sat in the far corner of the room. He pulled open the thick drawer and shuffled through some folders that belong to Collins Fishing Fleet & Cannery, then pulled out a large manila envelope. He pulled the tab at the top of the envelope open and walked over to Kat with it's contents. Then handed her the letter.

"That's the letter he sent me. ....See, its really short and kind of to the point. 'Hello, how are you, hope you're well' type of stuff. Actually that's the the only thing in this envelope, I guess, he only wrote me once." Caleb recalled.

"This letter was post marked with a zip code in 1996. We can trace it back to this zip code Caleb! We can start from there and find out where the letter came from. Maybe its an old apartment complex or some sort of boarding house that might have kept records." Kat said using her detective's wit. 

"You really think that can work?" Caleb questioned looking over the envelope the letter came in.

"Absolutely. I've done it a hundred times. I'll call the station and have them pin point this zip code and post office. Once we find out what post office this letter came from we can find out if your dad is still around there. Most people mail out letters from a local post office. Unless they're really trying to hide from someone. But if he was really trying to hide from you---he wouldn't have sent a letter...know what I mean?" Kat explained.

Caleb smiled a huge smile and jumped back on the sofa next to Kat and kissed her all over her face like a happy puppy. He was ecstatic. The thought of his father actually being found would bring so much happiness to the house, and even, just maybe bring Carolyn back from the brink of depression. 

Kat laughed a gitty school girl laugh and picked up a land line that was set aside on a table. She dialed the station and gave her credentials and the extension she needed.  As she waited for the person on the other line, she looked over and Caleb who was still reading over his father's letter, but this time with a giant smile on his face. 

"Hey, Ralph, it's Detective Banning, how are you?......I'm good too, thanks. Listen I need your help, can you punch up a zip code for me and get me a list of post offices around that zip?.....great, thanks, it's 04401-41....."

Kat waited for a few seconds as Ralph on the other end of the phone typed in the zip code from the envelope. Then her expression changed from a smile to confused and serious.

"Yes, I'm sure there's a 41 on the end....why?.....what do you mean?...........are you sure? You're positive?.....Ok..... well thanks Ralph. I'll see you soon." She said as she hung up the phone.

"Whats the matter? What did he say?" Caleb said standing up and noticing Kat's expression.

"Something very strange. He said that zip code is a private zip within the city of Bangor. Sometimes, places that have heavy amounts of mail can register for their own zip code, like airports and universities. This zip is like that." 

"Ok?" Caleb said still questioning.

"Caleb, this zip code is registered to Windcliff Sanitarium in Bangor! Your father has been only miles away this whole time." 

"A sanitarium?" Caleb said concerned and confused. "What the hell would he be doing there?"

"Only one way to find out. Let's go to Bangor." Kat said with a grin.

****

Over in the drawing room, Carolyn, still in a terrible depressed state, fell asleep on the sofa. Her unconscious mind wondered into dark places and she began to have terrible visions of Jack. He was calling out to her, begging her to help him but all she could do was scream in the dark and watch him fall deeper and deeper into an abyss her mind had created. There were so many screams and so many painful memories bubbling up and reaching for her and pulling at her and trying to drag her into the abyss with Jack but Carolyn resisted. She screamed and tried to pull away but couldn't. Then she saw Alexandra. Alex too was standing in the dark screaming "Mother! Mother! MOTHER!!!"

"Mother!" Alexandra said shaking her mother and trying to wake her. "You're having a nightmare." Alex said as Carolyn came to.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I ....I fell asleep." Carolyn said adjusting her clothes that had been pulled in uncomfortable positions while she slept.

"What did you dream?" Alex asked.

"You don't want to know Alexandra. You really don't want to know. I feel so guilty about everything. If I hadn't asked your father to come here in the first place instead of me, none of this would have happened. He would have never met Claudia she would have never turned him into Leopold. None of this would have ever happened." Carolyn confessed.

"That's not true. We don't know what would have happened. Maybe something terrible would have happened if you had come instead." Alex said.

"When I was in that mirror, I thought all my days were over. I thought for sure, I was gone, but I felt that at least you would be here with Leopold, who in some way was still like Jack. He was still some how your father deep inside. I felt like he would protect you when I was gone. And I couldn't protect him. I let him down." Carolyn said tearfully.

"Mother you have to stop blaming yourself. You had nothing to do with what happened to daddy, or even with what happened last night. He had no control over it either." Alex said sternly.

"You're right. I had no control over it." Carolyn said in a sudden realization. "This house seems like it's always out of control--or at least in someone else's control. Like a board-game, and we're just the pieces shuffled along. Always pawns in someone's game." Carolyn said cryptically as she stood up and looked at the portrait of Barnabas over the fireplace that was blazing a hot fire.
"We need to take back control." Carolyn continued.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"The book! The book you found in the attic. You can read it can't you? We can use it to take back control of this house. Take back control from Barnabas." Carolyn said.

"Mother No! That book only brought terrible things, one mistake in a spell and it could be a disaster. I would never ever want to use it again. I almost lost you!" Alex said grabbing a hold of her mother's hands. "There has to be another way." Alex said.

"'Another way'.....that's what I told Barnabas when he told me what he had planned for last night. I said there had to be another way. But he wouldn't listen. He said it was too late." Carolyn remembered.

"I'm sorry this is happening. I really am. But, we just have to pick up from this and move on. That's what daddy would have wanted." Alex said.

Carolyn smiled at her daughter and touched her cheek with the back of her hand.

"You're right. He would have wanted us to move on. Listen, why don't you have the rest of this tea, I'm going to go upstairs and rest." Carolyn said.

But Carolyn was not going upstairs to rest. She was still very much sure there was another way to get back control over the house from Barnabas so she set off to deal with him the only way she knew how. Confrontation.

As she made her to see Barnabas, she passed a room where her great-great Edward kept ancient artifacts and old family heirlooms: The old smoking room, now empty. She walked in and walked directly to large oak case sitting at the foot of a large stuffed grizzly bear Edward had shot and killed in the mid 1800s.  The bear had large fangs and was standing on it's hind legs with one paw lifted ready to strike. It reminded her of Christopher and how he killed Leopold. That reminder was the permission she needed to open that case.

Inside the case was another small box, this one painted black, and on top of the black case was a Gothic crucifix, adorned with four red rubies, one on each tip of the cross. In the center the letter C shaped in smaller red rubies.

Carolyn opened the box, inside was a pistol and 6 silver bullets, all molded by the melting down of 6 blessed silver rosaries made when Edward Collins first knew of curse the held his family down. These six bullets were never used, but Carolyn intended to.

Carolyn carefully loaded the pistol and walked out of the room and headed for the old house where Barnabas had taken up residence after Leopold's death.

As Carolyn made her way through the sunny courtyard and past the very sport Christopher had left Leopold's body, cold and bloody Kimberly noticed Carolyn from an upstairs window where she was watching over Christopher who was medically sedated from the night before.

Without regard , Carolyn walked up the creaky steps and stopped at the door. She took a breath then turned the knob.

Carolyn walked into the darkened house carefully, making sure no one was around to see her. She looked around and all she could see were candles flickering in the rooms. Tears came to her eyes when she realized what she had in mind to do, but she understood that this was the only way. Barnabas had to die, and the blessed silver bullets would do the trick.

She walked into the darkest room in the old house, and there was Barnabas' coffin. The black lacquered coffin sparkled brilliantly in the candle light. She paused and thought for a second, the voice in her head told her to open the lid. She complied and carefully reached over to open the coffin Barnabas was asleep in.

"What the hell are you doing?" a voice said from behind.

Carolyn turned and it was Kimberly who had followed her from the main house.

"Get out." Carolyn said sternly as she flashed the gun.

"Carolyn, I know you're upset, but you have to let this go. You can't seek revenge this way. There must be----" Kimberly spoke before Carolyn interrupted.

"---another way?" Carolyn said finishing Kimberly's sentence. "That must be a catch-phrase of the house, isn't it. That's what Alex said to me, and that's what I said to Barnabas yesterday but he didn't listen. So why should I listen?"

"This isn't you." Kimberly whispered as to not wake Barnabas in his daylight slumber.

"Isn't it? Kimberly I think you should leave. I think you should leave now." Carolyn said as she angrily lifted the lid and watched it crash to the floor. Inside the coffin was Barnabas, his arms crossed at the chest, his face still soft and white in a deep sleep.

Carolyn lifted the gun filled with the silver bullets molded by Edward Collins and pointed it at Barnabas sleeping body.

Kimberly came from behind and grabbed Carolyn's arm and lifted it up, Carolyn shot one shot waking Barnabas, his eyes snapping open. He slowly levitated his upper body up and saw Carolyn and Kimberly fighting over the gun.

"You can't do this!" Kimberly said as she pulled at Carolyn's wrist.

Carolyn said nothing and continued to struggle, Barnabas' eyes filled with anger as the realization of what he was seeing registered. His own cousin tried to kill him, an act no Collins had ever attempted so boldly.

Carolyn and Kimberly continued to fight and struggle over the gun, Carolyn again shooting off a bullet that went into the wall.

Kimberly put her leg behind Carolyn's knocking her to the floor, the gun spun out across to the other side of the room. The two women looked at each other then at the gun, Kimberly jumped at the gun but Carolyn grabbed her by the ankle causing Kimberly to fall. They both wrestled and struggle some more moving closer and closer to the gun.

Barnabas, jumped from his coffin, hissing and turning into his vampire self, his eyes completely black, his skin white like fresh frost, his body lifting from the coffin in mid air. His anger manifested in the release of his fangs, he hissed again and jumped to the floor, his mouth gaping open ready to feed.

Barnabas saw the gun gleam over in the corner and  made his over to it, but Carolyn had already gotten hold of it by crawling over Kimberly in a the scuffle. Kimberly composed herself and stood up as  Carolyn, gun in hand, pointed it at Barnabas. In the blink of a eye Kimberly lunged at Carolyn with all her might.

"You can't do this Carolyn." Kimberly said twisting Carolyn's wrist.

The two continued to struggle for power of the gun.  Barnabas saw this as moment to grab control of the opportunity and reached for the gun himself and tried to pull it from Carolyn's grasp.

At this point all three had their hands on Edward Collins gun, a gun that was meant to protect the Collins family from the evils that surrounded them and the curse that caused them all so much pain.  The three were in close proximity, their bodies touching, pulling and pushing, each one still trying to gain control over the fire arm that was tightly bounded between their three hands and between their intertwined bodies standing in the center of the room. 

Then, in a sudden blast, the gun went off, a single silver bullet piercing skin in a hot violent blow. Blood droplets sprayed on the wall and dripped to the floor like the first drops of rain in a spring storm. Droplets then turned to a river that turned into a pool.

The gun slipped out of Carolyn's hands and fell to the floor into the pool of blood. The blast was so strong it knocked Barnabas, Kimberly and Carolyn all to the floor; all three slumped down in a pool of blood that belonged to one of them.

The three lay motionless in the room with only the sound of candles flickering away in slight breeze, dancing to the sound of silence.

Series 3/Chapter 9: A FULL MOON (PART 3)

In the slow burn of the late morning sun, Kat sat alone in the garden room of Collinwood; a large screened off area of the house that allowed fresh air to come in off the ocean. She was waiting for Caleb who was inside the main house putting together a small late brunch for them to share. Kat had been recuperating at Collinwood for 3 days now, and had easily fallen in love with the old mansion and its many elaborate rooms. As she waited, the door opened and one of the servants pointed Kat's partner Detective Loomis McGovern in Kat's direction.

"Loo! What are you doing here?" Kat said happy to see her old partner.

"You remember me?" Loomis answered noting that she had some memory loss after the attack.

"Things are coming back slowly. So to what do I owe this visit?" She asked patting the seat next to her for Loomis to sit down.

"Well, I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to check in on you. I haven't heard from anyone in a few days. Sebastian was supposed to keep me in the loop but, I guess he's gotten a little carried away in Collinwood grander." Loomis said looking up at the house.

"The neighborhood? This is the only house up here...." Kat said with a laugh. "Look, I'm sorry. I know things have been really crazy these last few weeks. But I want to thank you for all you've done, you know being there for me when I needed you." Kat said.

"Of course, you're my partner!" Loomis responded.

"I also wanted to talk to you too about the night I was attacked. I have a bit of that night back. Just pieces really, but I do remember that Caleb came to me after the attacker had fled. He had nothing to do with it." Kat confided.

Loomis scoffed and seemed and shook his head in disbelief but Kat insisted that her attacker was for sure not Caleb Collins.

"How can you be so sure? You were knocked out." Loomis countered with an eye roll.

"Loo...come on. You know me. I know me! I wouldn't be here if it was Caleb." Kat said with a smirk. "It wasn't him. I'm sure of it."

"I DO know you, and I know you wouldn't just let something pass without asking questions....but I won't press you about it anymore, if you're sure. I'll drop it. But promise me something. Promise me you'll keep your eyes open around here. Even if Caleb had nothing to do with your attack that still doesn't explain the countless stories and reports I read about in the files at work. I mean you really got to get a hold of them some day. They're incredible." Loomis said.

"What do you mean? What's in the files?" She asked.

"Just really weird things, and they all some how connect members of this family with really strange occurrences in town and to this  house You should ask Caleb about his Dad. There's a few things about him in there too. And be careful, that's is all I ask." Loomis pleaded.

"Detective McGovern. Pleasure to see you." Caleb said coming from inside the house.

"Mr. Collins. I was just leaving." Loomis said.

"So soon? You just got here." Kat said standing up with Loomis.

"I got to get back to the station anyway, which is something I hope you say pretty soon too." Loomis said as he hugged Kat goodbye and shook Caleb's hand.

Caleb sat down next to Kat and started placing down the items for their brunch picnic.

"What were you guys talking about?" Caleb asked.

"Oh you know small talk. Nothing big. He said he was going to make sure you were cleared for the attack. That's good news right?" Kat said in a happy tone.

"Yeah! Absolutely! That's great." Caleb said pouring Kat orange juice.

"He kind of glossed over some stuff though.... I don't know it was odd. He mentioned weird things happened years ago here. Apparently there's a huge case file or ....case files. You're dad is even mentioned. Do you know anything about that?" Kat wondered.

Caleb knew all the stories his father David once told him of his own childhood at Collinwood in the late 60s and 70s, and even some he begrudgingly got stories out of Carolyn a few times when he visited her in England on Christmas break from boarding school, and of course he knew Leopold's secret, and Claudia's and Barnabas'. But as true a Collins as Caleb was, he knew those stories remained in the family vault, never to be spoken of. Never to be acknowledged and revealed.

"You know how small towns are. Rumors always make for a better reality, know what I mean? This family has been here since ---god, since the 1700s. There's a lot of urban legends." Caleb answered.

"But for things to be in a police case file? that doesn't strike you as odd?" Kat asked in her typical police detective voice.

"What I think is odd, is that these amazing strawberries are sitting in front of you and you're not at all interested." Caleb said as he picked up a strawberry and dipped it in whipped cream and fed it to Kat.

She smiled and picked up some whipped cream on her finger and tapped it on his nose. They looked at each other lovingly and kissed, a long and passionate kiss. Finally a symbol of real love within the walls of Collinwood.

****

Hours later, the late afternoon and the sun had moved on to a different part of the house, enveloping the eastern part of the house where Carolyn was recovering from the events of the seance from the night before. She sat in her room on a comfy sofa dressed in a soft casual outfit with her eyes closed listening to silence. Her mind was else where. Her mind was on Alex and what she had done.

She was in utter disbelief that her own daughter would dabble in black magic and bring such terror to their lives, even after everything Alex knew about the family. She was hurt, and disappointed. But that Alex was the only person who would cause her pain and disappointment.

As Carolyn rested her room dropped in temperature. A slight breeze began to blow and caused her drapes to quickly close blocking any of the sun light to creep in. And up from the shadows rose Barnabas Collins uncharacteristically appearing in daylight.

"This is new." Carolyn said in her often sarcastic tone of voice.

"How are you feeling cousin?" Barnabas said still standing in a shadowy corner of Carolyn's bedroom.

"Like I've been to hell and back....oh wait, I did go to hell and back." Carolyn said with more sarcasm.

"I'm please to see you have your wits about you." Barnabas said coming closer to her, but still not disclosing his face.

"How else can I be? Last night was the most horrific thing I have ever experienced, and I've lived in this house for decades. That should tell you just how traumatized I am. How could Alexandra do such a thing? Play with that book she found. How? Barnabas I don't understand her." Carolyn confessed.

"She was bewitched. Angelique has a terrible effect on people, I know first hand." He said now sitting next to her on the sofa.

"Are you here to check up on me?" Carolyn asked realizing that he had never actually been in her room before.

"Of sorts, yes. But I also came to tell you about what will happened tonight. Unfortunately, it's more of a warning." Barnabas explained.

"What are you talking about? What's happening tonight?"

"Leopold Divernet has gone too far. He's taken too many risks with the lives of the people in this family and this town. Especially with that of a law enforcement officer. A person that, had she not lost her memory, would surely begin to investigate the people in this house further. Causing quite the panic in Collinsport, wouldn't you say?" Barnabas pointed out.

"Yes, I guess I can see how his behavior has been ....troubling." Carolyn conceded. "But he's only doing what you would do Barnabas. He felt that he had to, I don't know. I mean if he actually did attack Kat Banning, then I assume he had good reason to." She continued.

"I would have killed her." Barnabas answered, coldly pointing out their differences. "And Good reason? He attacked her and let her live Carolyn. Then allowed for one of our own to be implicated as the culprit. That alone should show you he has no regard for this family. That is why I've made the decision that I did."

"Decision? What decision?" Carolyn questioned as she carefully sat up on the sofa.

"Upon the transition of Kimberly's son Christopher on tonight's full moon, Leopold will be cornered and killed. A vampire cannot survive the viscous bite of a werewolf, and on his death I will take my place back in the old house across the main courtyard here on Collinwood."

 "WHAT? You're going to have Leopold killed? Barnabas you can't!" Carolyn said in shock.

"It has to be done. There is no other way." Barnabas replied.

"There has to be some other way Barnabas. You cannot do this. You can't take Jack away from me again!" Carolyn said with tears in her eyes.

"Jack is gone, Carolyn. Whatever is left of Jack has been eaten up by Leopold, and now it's time to rid ourselves of him. You know that this is the only true way." Barnabas answered her.

Barnabas got up from his place next to Carolyn and walked back towards the shadows he emerged from. He turned around and faced her to see Carolyn's face in utter anguish.

"You haven't changed one iota. You're the same selfish, cruel maniac that has haunted this family for decades Barnabas. I don't care what you pretend to be, or how kind you behave, you're never going to change. And there's not a gene therapy or blood transfusion on this planet that will help get your humanity back. Do this, and I promise you, I will make sure you finally answer for everything you've done. Past. And present." Carolyn warned.

"You don't know what you're saying Carolyn." Barnabas replied crudely.

"Don't I? I've know you my entire life! I know what you did to Maggie Evans, and Victoria Winters. I know how you used Julia Hoffman. Don't think I can't tell that you're trying to do the same to Kimberly....not to mention everyone else you've come in contact with. I mean for god's sake, you kidnapped your own baby and took her back in time a whole century to hide her from her mother. You're cruel! And now you'll kill ----"

"ENOUGH!" Barnabas said snarling at Carolyn and flashing his fangs, his eyes turning to pitch black staring deep into Carolyn's soul. But she had no fear.

She carefully stood up and walked over to Barnabas who seethed with anger at Carolyn's protest and looked him dead in his angry black eyes.

"---I wasnt finished talking." She said referencing his interruption. "If you have Leopold killed Barnabas, I promise you, it will be the last thing you do."

"You're too late cousin Carolyn. Jack and Leopold are both dead. In one way or another. I'm just making sure they stay that way."  Barnabas said before lifting his cloak and vanishing into thin air back into the shadows leaving Carolyn standing alone in her bedroom as the curtains began to open slowly again allowing sun light to cautiously dip its way back into the room.

****

As the evening turned to night the energy at the Collinwood mansion shifted to electrifying. Tonight, when the full moon rose to its highest peak Christopher would transition again to his werewolf alter ego, and kill Leopold Divernet for Barnabas Collins.

In her laboratory Kimberly scurried around monitoring Christopher's vital signs. She constantly checked of his heart-rate and blood pressure every second it seemed. She was consumed by worry. As she looked down at her son who seemed nervous himself, she gave him a warm half smile and patted him on the shoulder, sending him a message that everything would be alright. Even if she had no idea of the outcome herself.

Barnabas soon walked in, casual and calm. His normal demeanor in times of crisis.

"I don't know how you convinced me of this." Kimberly said quietly to Barnabas.

"Everything will be fine. And this is for the good of everyone." Barnabas said as he looked over at Christopher who was resting before the main event. "How is he?" He continued.

"He's calmer than I expected. But it's still early, things will change closer to midnight. Barnabas how can you be so sure this is all going to work the way you want it to?" Kim asked consumed with doubt.

"It will. It has to." Barnabas said.

"And Claudia, how can you be so sure you can trust her to deliver Leopold?" Kim continued her questioning Barnabas' motives for involving his daughter.

"Claudia knows that this is the right choice too. If she ever wants any kind of relationship with Christopher, Leopold must be out of the way. That I can assure you. Everything Kimberly, will work out." Barnabas said with one eye brow raised in a very confident tone of voice.

"It better. Because if it doesn't and something happens to Christopher......I will never forgive you Barnabas." Kimberly warned as she walked over back to Christopher who was laying on his back attached to machines monitoring his every heartbeat.

It was then that Barnabas realized, there actually was a real danger that if his plot to rid Collinsport of the reckless Leopold failed his relationship with Kimberly would too. That was something he could not afford, for Kim held the key to unlocking the vampire curse that haunted him for over 300 years.


The hours crept by and the moon slowly made its accent above the sleepy seaside town. The waves crashed upon the rocky shore and the late night fog rolled in, thick and soupy surrounding every building in town.

Claudia, stood at the edge of Widow's Hill looking out on to the sea. She thought about how she came to this section of her life and how her former lover, the real Leopold Divernet jumped to his death in the very spot over 100 years ago when he realized Claudia was a witch, and now, she had to help in taking his life again. But it didn't matter, This Leopold was different. Cold and vengeful. The plan to remove him from their lives was indeed necessary.

Claudia pulled her hair back from her face and wiped away a tear then made her way from Widow's Hill to the old house on the Collinwood property ready for everything that was to come.

She entered the old house quietly. As usual, all the front rooms were dim, lit only with candles wall to wall. She carefully made her way down the blackened corridor, her arms extended wall to wall touching the sides of the hall way. She felt every single bump and crevice in the paneled walls all the way down  to the room where Leopold kept his coffin, the coffin that once belonged to Claudia's own father, Barnabas Collins.

She peeked into a room, and there was Leopold standing near a large candelabra carefully lighting it and allowing the light to surround his chiseled face.

"Settling in for the night?" Claudia said with a smirk.

"What do you want?" Leopold replied as he kept his back to Claudia and lit more candles.

"Can't a girl visit a friend? I came to see how you were doing. Maybe even catch up." She teased.

"Go." Leopold said plainly.

Claudia circled the room like a caged panther looking, she looked around and noticed near a large black chair there was a mettle table and on that mettle table was the carcass of a decapitated hare, the same type that ran wild on the Collinwood property.

"Did I interrupt dinner?" Claudia said again with a tease in her voice. "No thanks, I already ate." She added.

"I asked you you go!" He yelled and turned to her with his fangs protruding and his eyes yellow and angry.

Then something came over Claudia, the Leopold she once loved was kind and caring and this Leopold, the one she changed Jack Thorne into was filled with anger and spite. She furrowed her brow and unloaded on him.

"I should have never created you." She said in a angry tone. "You've done everything I never thought you would do, and now....you're just this empty monster attacking female detectives in the middle of the night and eating hares for dinner." Claudia said condescendingly.

Leopold growled and lunged at Claudia grabbing her by the throat and lifting her up, his mouth open showing his white fangs ready to pierce her soft flesh.

"I should tear your flesh apart.....your powerless now, your witch blood wont kill me." Leopold siad sensing her powers had gone. "What do you know about that detective?" Leopold hissed.

"Barnabas....................knows." Claudia said struggling to breath. "Everyone knows." She added.

Leopold threw Claudia to the floor, she fell on her knees clutching her throat gasping for what air she could.

"You don't know anything." Leopold growled as he picked up the hare and squeezed blood from its open wound into his mouth.

"Barnabas........He wants to meet you, at midnight. In the courtyard." Claudia said still panting for air.

"Meet me for what? Barnabas Collins is old, decayed. He has no power over me of what I can do. But if grandfather Collins wants to wants to meet I will. But I cant' guarantee he'll make it out alive." Leopold said coldly.

Leopold looked up at a twisted old grandfather clock that had been repaired and placed in the corner of the room. It was 5 minutes to midnight. He snarled at Claudia and grabbed a cape like tweed coat and began to make his way outside to the courtyard to meet Barnabas.

As he stepped out of the old house, the large courtyard between the main house and the old house was quiet. The fog rolled across the grass like puffs of smoke searching for a way to dissipate and dissolve into nothing.

Leopold put on his cape and fastened the top notch around his neck and carefully walked down the front steps, Claudia knowing she had set a trap wickedly smiled to herself from the door watching Leopold walk out to eerie emptiness of the courtyard and looked around, all he could hear was the waves from the sea crash near by.

Christopher cautiously walked out of house from a secret side door, apprehensive yet calm, knowing that in just seconds when the clock struck midnight and the moon was in the highest position he would begin his transformation and fulfill his part in Barnabas' plot to rid Collinwood of Leopold. Taking another life made him weary, but he trusted his mother Kimberly and Kim seemed to trust Barnabas.

If Barnabas believed Leopold to be a threat to their existence, it stood to reason that he had to be stopped. His mind was made up, he would go through with the plan for Barnabas and Leopold.

Chris' mind raced as he walked into the shadows keeping his eye on Leopold standing in the courtyard alone. Then it came, like a single sail boat alone in a calm sea the moon rose to its full glory. The hairs on Chris' body began to twitch, his bones began to stretch and pull his skin inhuman directions. His teeth grew sharper and his mouth watered for human flesh. His body collapsed to floor writhing in pain, breathing heavy and hard. His heart pounded deep and fast. 

Leopold turned back to his left side and noticed two bright yellow eyes looking at him from brush near the main house.

"Come out." Leopold said thinking it was Barnabas.

But what Leopold heard, did not come from Barnabas. A growl came from shadowy bushes nearest the main house. Then yellow eyes that got larger and larger and started to come out from the shadowy corner revealing Christopher, in werewolf form snarling and shooting hot breath from his nose like the beast he was.

Leopold hissed again and opened his mouth revealing his large fangs and flicked his cape backwards to giving his arms space and hissed again at Christopher.

The werewolf carefully paced pack and fourth then at the stroke of midnight, bayed at the moon and lunged at Leopold who instantly jumped 20 feet in the air and landed on the opposite site of the werewolf directly behind him.

The wolf quickly turned and snarled and lunged again, Leopold again jumped but the werewolf caught the end of Leopold's cape and dragged him down to the ground and swiped his large claws and sliced Leopold's face.

Leopold punched and hit the werewolf across its large vicious snout then stuck a thumb in the werewolf''s eye causing him to back off and regroup. Leopold then lunged at the wolf and tried to bite but missed when Christopher turned over and pushed Leopold off of him.

The werewolf again carefully and methodically moved across the foggy courtyard, both of them pacing and waiting for the other to strike again beneath the purple light of the midnight moon that sat in the sky with a halo of light surrounding it.

Claudia walked out on to the veranda of the old house causing Leopold to be distracted at the motion to his right side and looked over at her. In that perfect moment Christopher the werewolf moved to strike, and he did.

The wolf pounced on the distracted Leopold and laid his giant paws on Leopold's chest pushing down and crushing him, then with one final swoop of his claw swiped at Leopold's throat.

Leopold got up and gasped for air, blood seeped from the giant gash like a waterfall. He stumbled and walked towards the center of the courtyard leaving the werewolf growling off to the side to watch him die. Leopold held his neck and looked up and Claudia for help, gasping and clutching his neck, but Claudia backed away slowly from the light of the moon that hit the veranda and stepped back into the shadows.

Suddenly a door burst open from the main house. It was Carolyn with a gun pointed at Christopher.

She shot one bullet but missed and Christopher howled at her and then ran off into the shadowy distance of the Collinwood estate, Claudia gasped and ran out on to the grass passing Leopold who had collapsed.

"Carolyn what are you doing?" Claudia said standing between the gun and Leopold with her arms stretched out.

"Where is he? Where's Jack?" Carolyn screamed rushing out into the purple light.

Leopold lay in the center of the courtyard between the old house and the main house in a pool of his own vampire blood. Carolyn gasped and covered her mouth. She couldn't believe her eyes. Leopold was slowly turning back into Jack, Carolyn's husband.

All his features were turning back to normal, his eyes, his beautiful kind eyes. The curse had been broken once Christopher slashed his throat.  Carolyn broke down and collapsed on Jack's chest in tears.

"How will I ever tell Alex? How....how can I tell her?" Carolyn said devastated.

Claudia stood over Carolyn and Leopold's dead body and looked up at the main house to a window where a shadowy figure was standing and watching. It was Barnabas.

Barnabas looked down at the scene, Leopold was dead. Now he could once again rule over Collinwood like he was meant to, alone. Now, there was no one alive that could stop him from getting what he wanted.