Series 5/Chapter 11: FATHER, DAUGHTER & THE EVIL SPIRIT

The night was slowly creeping towards the morning with dawn only inches away from crowning the sky with a new day. Still the starts lingered above the great house known as Collinwood like a celestial patchwork glistening in a purple sky where the Collins family was left reeling after Vickie's tumultuous returns to the house.

In the drawing room, the family gathered but there was a strain in the room. Detective Loomis McGovern had finally come at his partner Kat's request about the kidnapping of her new baby and the disappearance of her brother Sebastian who went missing at the same as the kidnapping.

Carolyn sat nervously while Kat filled Loomis in on all the details, but deep down she knew that the police could not be involved, especially if Barnabas had plans to take on Vickie. She would have to make sure Loomis stayed off of Victoria's trail so that Barnabas could handle the situation as he wished.

"And you didn't see Sebastian come in and take the baby?" Loomis asked trying to connect the two missing people to a tearful and worried Kat.

"No, when I went into labor he went out to get the car and then never came back. When I fell asleep he must of come back for the baby, but I don't know why. I don't know whats going on with him." Kat answered as Kimberly tried to comfort her.

"The last time you and I spoke you mentioned you felt something was going on with him. You said that he might be keeping something from you. Did he act strangely again?" Loomis continued to probe.

"Loomis, I think it's time we let Kat rest, don't you? I'm sure the police are doing all the can; can't we pick this up later in the day?" Carolyn said trying to get rid of Loomis.

"Are you serious right now?" Loomis asked as he and Kat looked at Carolyn like she was crazy.

"I insist. If Sebastian was in any way involved with the kidnapping, I'ms sure has't gone far and Kat really needs to rest, she just gave  birth! Kimberly hasn't even had time to examine her fully." Carolyn continued.

"I'm sure Dr. Collins can do that after I get all the information I need, isnt that right?" Loomis asked Kim.

"Well..." Kim began before being interrupted by Carolyn again.

"Detective. I don't want to be rude. But again, I insist, Kat needs to rest. Please come back later." Carolyn said sternly.

"It's fine Loo, Carolyn's cousin Barnabas is out looking for them too, maybe you can catch up to him and see if he's found anything." Kat said to a stunned room.

"Barnabas?" Loomis asked suspiciously. "Is he in law enforcement? I'm confused...why would he be out looking?" the detective continued.

"Detective, I'd really like Kat to get some rest. She's had a very traumatic night it would be really be better if you came back. You have enough information don't you?" Kimberly asked, picking up where Carolyn left off.

Loomis looked over at his detective partner Kat who had her head buried in Alex's lap and in tears. He noticed that she was very distraught and felt felt that he needed to go.

But Loomis' gut was telling him there was more to the story, as there always was when a Collins was involved, but there was nothing he could do. Carolyn and Kimberly were adamant on his departure.

"I'll put an A.P.B out and an Amber Alert. As soon as I hear anything  I'll call you." Loomis said as he looked at each family member.

As soon as Loomis closed the front door to the house, Carolyn let Kat in on what was happening.: they were buying Barnabas time to get to Vickie before any law enforcement got involved.

"I'm sorry, Kat, I had to make sure Loomis was gone." Carolyn said making sure the coast was clear. "I know that all of this seems insane, but Barnabas went after the person who took the baby." Carolyn explained.

"Sebastian? Was it my brother?" Kat asked as she sat up on the sofa.

"No, darling it wasn't your brother. Alexandra and I saw last night Victoria Winters leave with the baby. We interrupted her in the moment but we weren't able to stop her." Carolyn continued to explain.

"Victoria?! Who is that? What does she want with my baby?" Kat asked confused.

"Vickie is an old family ....well, Vickie is my estranged sister; and for some reason she believes taking your baby will settle a score between her and the family. I'm so sorry darling we should have told you.... the baby is with her.

"Why would your cousin go after her?" Kat asked still trying to piece the story together.

"They have a long-long-history and we cannot involve the police if we're going to get the baby back safe." Carolyn continued.

"I don't understand any of this!" Kat said jolting up and going towards the window that stared out into darkness, the sea air flowing in from the open window and brushing up in her hair. "If Vickie took my baby, then where's my brother? Where is Sebastian?" She added.

"Oh, Kat I wish we had all the answers." A consoling Kimberly said.

"Barnabas....can we trust him?" Kat asked of the family.

David and Carolyn, who knew Barnabas the longest confirmed that, yes, Barnabas was a trust worthy member of the family despite knowing what they knew about him.

Kat then looked over at Kimberly, a former member of Vickie's made up Organization, a woman who had centered almost her whole life's work into infiltrating the family by marrying David and using all the information she gathered against them had second thoughts. All Kim was taught about Barnabas and those like him was to never trust them, never love them, and make sure they never had a chance to corrupt another living soul.

Kim's heart was beating fast. Her years and years of working and training with this so called organization burned inside her and all she wanted to do was tell Kat to grab her things and save herself from the clutches of the Collins family...a family she was herself a part of. But with all her might, Kim kept her composure and grabbed Kat's hand.

"There's more more...Vickie faked Caleb's death. She had him this whole time." Kimberly added to the mix.

"What?...... Caleb's alive?? Where is he??" Kat screeched at Kim for more details.

"He's in my laboratory resting. It's been a long night for everyone." Kim explained.

"I want to see him! I need to see him!" Kat screamed.

Kim nodded in agreement and grabbed Kat's hand and carefully walked her to the laboratory to see Caleb who, from all Kim knew, was still fighting off his restraints. Kim had no idea what state Caleb would be in when Kat got there, but she knew she could not keep them apart any longer.

As they came to the laboratory door that once belonged to Dr. Julia Hoffman, Kim turned and stood in Kat's way and grabbed her shoulders.

"Now listen, he's been through a lot. There is a lot of mental trauma and brainwashing that has occurred and we're working on reversing it, he may not respond to you all that well. Also, Christopher is in there too. He had ....an episode last night. So just be prepared." Kim warned.

"An episode? What do you mean?" Kat questioned.

Kim took a break and knew she couldn't lay any more on Kat, she was going through enough. Telling her Christopher was a werewolf might just throw her over the edge of hysteria. Another lie had to be spun.

"Well, he has epilepsy and sometimes he has these violent episodes. It's something we're taking care of. That's all." Kat said twisting the truth.

As the walked into the lab,  Alex was watching over a sleeping Christopher who was in a cage now in his human form, still sleeping after he dragged off Sebastian to parts unknown that same night when he was in wolf form. Alex comforted her sedated boyfriend while caring for her own bruises from the tussle with Victoria just hours early.

David was standing over a woozy Caleb and ushered Kat over his bedside with a warm smile.

Kat's eyes were bombarded by confusing images of cages, dart guns and medical equipment as she looked around the lab. Why was Chris in a cage if he just had epilepsy? But none of that really mattered because tied to a bed was the love of her life, the father of her new born son and the man she thought had died in a plane crash.

Kat rushed over to him and collapsed at his side burring her face in his chest. Her tears ran down her face, the happiness, the saddens had all taken it's toll on her to the point it even effected David and Kimberly who comforted each other at the site of such love.

Even after their own ugly divorce, David and Kim still felt love for each other, and seeing their son and his girlfriend so much in love, warmed their hearts.

"I know your face. I saw it. I saw it over and over again. I know your face." Caleb whispered.

"It's me, It's Kat." Kat whispered back as she grabbed his face as if to feel he was real.

"Kat." Caleb repeated knowing the name was right.

"I thought you were gone forever. I thought we'd never see you again, but you're back. And I will never ever let you go again." Kat cried.

"Kat. I love Kat." Caleb answered and smiled as his mind began to connect the dots.

****

Meanwhile, through the foggy mists of the shore and as the sky remained in its purple pre-dawn haze, Father Joseph slowly walked up to Seaview house, the former Collin's seaside residence that was Willed to Victoria by Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard.

Father Joseph knew that he was solely responsible for all of Vickie's actions thanks to his fabricating  the death of Vickie's "real parents" and the creating the biggest lie of them all: the make-believe Organization of hunters of the undead. All of it a rouse he created just to get Vickie back into Collinwood so that she could be with Elizabeth, her real birth mother.

Father Joseph, had no idea it would have gone this far and had never expected the myths and fables of the secrets of the Collins family to be true.

But they were, and Vickie had been battling them for over 50 years under the guise she was battling them for a cause. She wasn't.

Now, as he stood at the door of Seaview he was going to end it. He was going to tell Vickie the truth: He was her father, and Elizabeth was her mother. Vickie was conceived by virtue of love, but under a circumstance neither Elizabeth nor Joseph could foresee. He was a priest, and Elizabeth was betrothed to Paul Stoddard.

With this information revealed to his biological daughter,  Father Joseph was going to make Vickie stop what she was doing and rightfully join her family. He had to do it, for Elizabeth's sake, for Vickie's sake, and for his own moral conscious.

Father Joseph turned the door knob and was surprised that it was unlocked. He pushed the wooden door open that had been battered by years of salty ocean winds and slowly walked into the front room that was just as Elizabeth had left it. Comfortable. Clean. Welcoming.

He continued on his way and turned down a narrow hallway the lead him to a kitchen where Victoria was standing holding a baby and feeding it with a bottle.

She looked up and saw the priest and quickly pulled a gun from an open kitchen counter drawer.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Vickie said with one arm holding Kat and Caleb's baby the other extended pointing a gun.

"Victoria don't you remember my face? I came to you many years ago while you were in New York. I told you about your family. Do you remember?" Father Joseph said raising his hands in the air.

Victoria squinted and suddenly the tiny blue eyes on the man in front of her were the same tiny blue eyes of one of the men she remembered who came to her to tell her about The Organization and how she could help them. He was the first man who showed her the photo of the painting of Barnabas Collins who Vickie wouldn't meet until a full year after she was David's Governess.

"You're with The Organization. What are you doing here?" Vickie said putting the gun down.

"No, I'm not. Vickie there is no Organization. I'm sorry. It was all a lie. I've come here to confess this...to tell you that it was all lie and that your birth parents were never killed by some malevolent make-believe being the Collins family was hiding. I made it all up! It should have never gotten this far." Father Joseph quickly confessed.

"What? What are you talking about? How could it all have been a lie? The things I saw and experienced were real. The torture I went through 50 years ago...none of that was a lie." Vickie demanded.

"No Vickie, it was....I was hiding a secret ...I made it all up to conceal the truth. Your mother and I wanted to make sure our daughter was close but without a story, a sort of reasoning for you to come to Collinsport I didn't know how I could get you back. It's all my fault." Father Joseph answered.

"My mother? Did you know my parents?" She questioned.

"Yes. Elizabeth was your mother Victoria, and I am your father. We had an affair shortly after she became engaged to Paul Stoddard and after I joined the seminary. My name is Father Joseph Helsing. You are my daughter." Father Joseph continued to confess.

"NO! That's not true! You told me the Collins family was responsible for my birth parents death. That they had everything to do with it, now you're saying you made it all up? Everything I have done has been for nothing??" Vickie questioned in a loud voice as she cradled the baby.

"It's true Victoria. Everything has been for nothing." A voice said from behind Father Joseph.

Standing behind him, dressed in his signature black pea-coat and cane was Barnabas. He was there to return the baby and right the wrongs of so many things Vickie had done.

Vickie raised her gun again and pointed it at Barnabas but she knew that she didn't have silver bullets. Nothing in that gun would take down Barnabas and he knew it too. His mind was linked to her's like a laser. He knew her thoughts and could feel her pulse beginning to race. He stepped forward and slowly crossed Father Joseph who instantly recognized him from the portrait he once showed Vickie.

A portrait of a man he believed to be long dead, a portrait of a man the people of Collinsport believed lived among them almost 50 years ago as a man of the shadows, a man of the darkness. A vampire!

"Dear God, it's you. YOU'RE ALIVE?" Father Joseph explained.

"That's right, this is the demon I thought you were warning me about 50 years ago. Go on, show him your crucifix." Vickie instructed the priest.

Father Joseph looked at Vickie in total confusion. He pulled out the cross from around his neck slowly and pointed it at Barnabas who quickly hissed and pulled the corner of his coat over his face. The bright sparkle of the cross shined so bright in his eyes it seemed to burn.

"Dear god!" Father Joseph yelled.

Barnabas, still covering his face dashed over and started to pull the now crying baby from Vickie's arms. In the struggle the baby bottle fell to the floor breaking open and spilling the whitest milk all over the small kitchen floor.

Father Joseph stood in shock and awe at what he was witnessing. All these years he believed the fables of the Collins family were all just small town gossip but now in  his heart he could feel the ungodliness in the room floating around them like the heavy mist of the sea.

"Help! He can't take this baby back!" Victoria yelled at her birth father.

Father Joseph quickly ran over and grabbed on to the baby that was now in a tug of war between Barnabas and Vickie, Barnabas opened his mouth revealing his fangs. He hissed and turned his head and snapped at Father Joseph who screamed and fell to the floor in utter terror of the site.

In his struggle, Barnabas somehow lost grasp of the baby who was utterly hysterical. Vickie then pushed Barnabas aside and dashed out of the room. Her plan wasn't to leave with the baby at day-break to a place no one would find. She could no longer wait.

They were waiting for her on the other side.

****

The morning sky was still dark and the manager of the Blue Whale was just coming in to start his shift. He walked up to the back door and slowly turned his key. He stepped in and turned on the lights and watched them as they flickered one by one on the ceiling. He walked over to the back of the bar and put his things down.

He began his morning prep of the bar for the early morning fisherman who would be coming in for before their next trip out to sea for the next big catch. He started the coffee machines, wiped down the tables. Suddenly there was a knock at the main entrance.

"Who the hell could that be?" He said as he threw his cleaning rag over his shoulder.

He went over to the front door and lifted the shade then unlocked the door and opened it.

Standing there was a handsome man with a short beard and tight dark beard with a full head of thick brown hair. The man turned, shivering in the pre-dawn chilly Collinsport air. He threw a cigarette from his mouth and to the street.

"Hi-ya!" the handsome man said.

"Mornin', listen we don't open 'for another 2 hours." The manager of The Blue Whale said.

"Oh! Shoot, sorry about that, I'm kinna knew around here. I didn't really know. Mind if I come in and keep you company? Just until you open?" The man said.

The manager thought this was odd but given the stranger's kind face, he let him in.

"Just don't tell anyone will ya? I don't want a rumor going on around town saying I'm a softy for a shivering stranger." The Bar's manager joked. "So, just passing through or sticking around?" He continued as he cleaned a fresh coffee mug up for the stranger..

"That all depends really. I'm looking for someone that I think might be in town." The stranger said.

"Oh? Well they're aint anybody in this town I haven't seen at least once. Who ya lookin for?" The bartender asked as he poured a the hot coffee into the white mug.

"Well, that's just it, I don't really know if she's here. It's a possibility. She used to live here for many  years but went away....anyway, I thought maybe I'd look for her here, in Collinsport, before I went anywhere else." The stranger explained.

"Oh? Come on now! Don't be coy...like I said I've seen and heard it all. Who ya lookin for?" The bar manager asked again.

"My mother. Maggie Evans, have you seen her?" The stranger asked to a shocked bar manager who hadn't heard Maggie's name after she supposedly died at Windcliff Sanitarium.

No one in Collinsport had known that Maggie had faked her death by switching identities with another patient that died at the sanitarium.

At hearing Maggie's ghostly name the bartender dropped the other glass he was cleaning to the floor shattering it. He reached down and picked up some of the shards and looked up at the stranger with a face that was pale and cold looking.

"Are you ok?" The stranger asked noting the bartender's sudden change in appearance and behavior.

"Son, I think you're looking in the wrong place." The bartender responded cryptically

The bartender then placed the broken pieces of mug down and grabbed a pen and a cocktail napkin from behind the bar and drew three straight lines that intersected and one long winding and curved line that led to the far corner of the napkin. At the end of the long curvy line he placed the letter C in a circle and slid the napkin over to the stranger.

"Here, take this. It's a map. The people at the end of that map, right there, where that letter is, they'll know all about your mom." The bartender explained.

"I don't understand, where does this take me?" the stranger asked.

"It takes you to Collinwood."

****

Back at Seaview cottage Barnabas chased Vickie into a room that she had locked. He pounded and pushed his body to open the door.

"Leave her!!!" Father Joseph screamed.

Barnabas turned back to the sound of Joseph's voice and instantly regretted it. The priest was standing directly behind him holding out the crucifix directly in Barnabas' face.

Barnabas yelled a pain an inhuman scream and instantly fell to the floor covering his eyes, the feeling of a deep burn tearing at his corneas.

Joseph continued to hold the cross over Barnabas with his right hand, and with  his left shoulder pushed and pounded on the door Vickie was behind, eventually gaining access and what he saw in that room would change him as a man of the cloth forever.

The room was ice cold with ice hanging from every corner. As Joseph looked into the room in horror his heavy breath could be seen floating in the icy room like the steam of a locomotive.

There standing before a giant time vortex of white and blue light swirling in cold air in the center of the room coming from the small oracle from Vickie's Ouija board. The same board that a only a few weeks ago she contacted someone or something on the other side.

Her plan was to jump through the vortex that would instantly plunge her into a different time saving the baby from what she thought would be a life of terror and pain at the hands of the Collins family and their ties to the supernatural, thus once again shifting through time and dropping them safely somewhere Barnabas or anyone else could ever get to them.

Vickie, after all, was no stranger to time travel. She had been subjected to it's perils many times in her past.

"Victoria!!!" The priest screamed at Vickie as she and the baby inched closer and closer to opening time channel vortex.

The powerful winds swirled around yanking at Vickie's hair and clothes. The room began to feel like a giant frozen vacuum pulling papers and thing that weren't held down into the vortex with Vickie and the baby.

"This child must never know the life of a Collins. I have to keep it safe." Vickie said as she turned slowly around to Father Joseph.

"Vickie no!" Father Joseph screamed as he saw Vickie slowly go closer and closer into the swirling pool of light and suddenly get swallowed up entirely.

Father Joseph braced himself against the door frame. He could  now only see the outline of Vickie and the baby get smaller and smaller as the opening of the vortex which began to contract and get smaller and smaller closing the time portal to the other side.

As the portal began to close, Barnabas got up, still writhing in pain from the Priest's crucifix. He pushed Joseph aside and ran towards the opening. It was closing quickly and if Barnabas was going to keep his promise to the family and save the baby, he had to get into that portal too.

The portal began to shut faster and faster. Barnabas made two quick skips and jumped into the vortex following Vickie and the baby milliseconds before it closed leaving the room dark, cold and in a total icy disarray.

Father Joseph stood at the door way, his hands clutching his crucifix so tight that it broke the skin in the palm of his hands. His mind could not compute and process what he had just witnessed. He stood there, alone,  in shear disbelief.

Vickie, the baby and Barnabas were gone.

Series 5/Chapter 10: THE MIND GAMES OF WAR

In the late hours of the night, the house was finally still even with the excitement and confusion of what was happening. Christopher was still in his wolf form but sedated and locked in a large cage set up for him in the laboratory. David and Kimberly gathered together, not just to care for Christopher who would soon be rid of his curse, but also to see Caleb who David shockingly discovered outside during a fight with his werewolf half-brother.

The family who had assumed Caleb was dead and had mourned him was shocked yet relieved that he was alive. But there were so many unanswered questions to his return. Why was he secretly hiding in the house? Why was he dressed all in black and running around with a mask and weapons?

David and Kimberly reluctantly tied Caleb by his wrists and ankles to a table in the lab until they felt he was no longer a threat. They were concerned that when he finally became conscious he would turn violent and forceful. Tying their son up, they thought, was the only way they'd find out what was happening to him without anyone getting hurt.

As David and Kim toiled in the lab with their two sons, Barnabas suddenly entered the room. Carolyn told him about Caleb's capture after their encounter just hours before in the darkness of one of the sitting rooms on the first floor.

As Barnabas slowly entered, Caleb moaned and rolled his body from left to right. He slowly came to, and opened his eyes. David rushed over and patted his son on the chest to calm him.

"Caleb, can you tell us where you've been? Can you tell us what happened to you?" David asked of his fidgeting son.

"Let me go!!" Caleb yelled angrily.

"You have to tell us what's happened. Why were you hiding here? Where have you been?" David continued.

"It's simple, young David. This is none other then Victoria's doing. She must have understood the terribly irony of the family mourning Caleb's death then place him here hidden in the house this whole time doing --who-- knows what...she wanted to use him against us. His own family." Barnabas stated coldly.

"Oh for God's sake Barnabas!" David scoffed, frustrated with Barnabas' constant conspiracy theories. "None of that matters! Don't you see? My son is alive and that's what matters!" He continued.

"Of course it matters! Can't you see? This was a plot to assassinate us. David, Caleb was here to destroy us for Victoria, once and for all. Caleb, tell them!" Barnabas insisted.

"Son?" Caleb said confused as he looked up at David.

"Yes, I'm your father, and this is your mother. You're home son. You're safe." David said softly disregarding Barnabas and looking into David's eyes that seemed to suddenly soften.

"You doubt me again? After everything that I have said and everything that has happened, you still doubt that Victoria was involved?" Barnabas said matching David's earlier frustrations. "Tell him Kimberly. This is Vickie's doing isn't it!?" Barnabas asked to of Kim who was trying her best to stay out of the argent regarding her former employer Vickie.

"Barnabas, I don't know. I don't know what she's planned with anything. I've left all that behind. I've made that very clear." Kim said as she tended to Caleb's small wounds from Chris's sharp claws.

Barnabas took a frustrated deep breath and grabbed Caleb's face with both hands shoving his parents aside. He held on tightly and looked deep into Caleb's blue eyes while Caleb shifted his body from left to right and left to right, struggling to shake off Barnabas but the vampire was too strong.

"Barnabas what are you doing?!" Kimberly screamed as she watched David try and remove Barnabas from their son's face.

"Caleb, stare into my eyes and let me see deep into your mind. Let me see inside the world that you've been living in for the length of time you we thought you dead.... open up to me and let me in!" Barnabas said in a hypnotic tone.

Instantly Barnabas and Caleb fell into a cohesive deep trans. Their eyes turned to pitch black, and Caleb's memory of the last few weeks started to flow from the depths of his brain into Barnabas' mind. In Barnabas' head he could see everything that had happened since the plane crash; it played out in swift flashes like a film:

The plane crash.   The members of the organization rescuing him but leaving Carolyn.
Waking up a prisoner at Victoria's seaside Cottage.    Brainwashed by the terrible crime photos.
Arriving in Collinwood.     Hiding in the Walls.    Secretly listening to his family.
Fighting with Barnabas in the dark room.    Fighting with Christopher the wolf.

As Barnabas collected the memories from Caleb's brain into his, he reached over and grabbed David's hand but David refused and shoved Barnabas away. With the strength of a thousand men, Barnabas turned and grabbed David by the face and stared into his eyes.

David tried to look away but Barnabas' mind control was too powerful, he and David looked into each other's eyes and everything that poured out of Caleb and into Barnabas then streamed into David's mind like a waterfall of memories, situations and moments from Caleb's short time as Vickie's minion. 

The energy in the lab was electric and had began to fill the space of the room and move the objects of the laboratory. Glasses began to shake, utensils began to twitch, items on desks and tables started to move on their own, all with the power of Barnabas Collin's mind control.

Kim herself began to see the power of Barnabas for the first time since the night at Windcliff Sanitarium when he took her sister Joanna's life. Watching Barnabas remove Caleb's memories and plant them in David was something very familiar to Kim. It was the exact way he deleted her memories of the past.

The strange feeling she had that she had seen this before made her uncomfortable and it made her terrified. 

David stood in Barnabas' grasp for what seemed like forever. The flow of memories was all Barnabas needed to prove his case to David about Victoria and how she was behind it all.

As soon as the flow ended, David pushed Barnabas off of him and the two fell to the floor exhausted and drained of all of their own energy.

"My god Barnabas! Was that necessary?" Kimberly said helping David up from the ground.

"He had to see." Barnabas said stoically. 

"She .....she tortured him." David said in a concerned tone of voice as he rubbed his neck and walked over to Caleb who was still tied up on the table. 

"Who?" Kim asked confused.

"Victoria." Barnabas answered with a tight, angry jaw.

"But how? I don't understand." Kimberly responded again.

"She tied him up and showed him awful things. She tortured our son and then sent him here to kill us. How could she do this? We were like family; she was like family to us!" David said outraged after finally realizing the truth.

"She too has been lied to David, her whole life long. With the past so squarely placed in her present she has had no choice but to look at this family and use it as an excuse to do the things she done. In a way it isn't her fault. Everything she believes is based on a lie she was told. Our job now, is to reverse that. But we do not have much time." Barnabas explained.

"How can we find her? She could be anywhere. Even here, inside Collinwood. Just like Caleb; hiding in the various secret passages we have. You know as well as I do, Barnabas, this house can hide anyone...anywhere and Vickie knows this house better than any of us!" David concluded.

"When the time is right. Vickie will come and everything will change." Barnabas answered as the lights of the lab twinged and blinked off and on as the electricity in the room began to sway back and forth.

"What does that mean? Have you planned something?" Kimberly asked.

"Victoria has one last trick up her sleeve...and when she comes to Collinwood to get what she wants...we'll be ready for her." Barnabas said cryptically.

****

The clock continued it's ticking path towards 2 in the morning and Victoria still had not heard from Caleb, her brainwashed minion she dispatched to Collinwood to hide in the house and watch over the family. He was to report back as soon as Kat had given birth, an act that Vickie herself was responsible for when she ordered Sebastian to medically induce Kat's labor.

She saw that obtaining the new baby would be her crowning glory, saving it from a life of--what she thought--misery and horror withing the walls of Collinwood. A life she lived for years.

Vickie's car pulled up near the front of the main gates of Collinwood. She allowed some distance between herself and the actual entrance as to not been seen. She carefully walked up the small path to the front and looked up and the tall monogrammed gate with the letter C. The moon perfectly encircled by the rusted letter. Vickie walked over to the side of the gate and carefully squeezed her arm through the other side unlatching the emergency lever that opened the gate making it easy for her to slip her sleek body through and up the green hill to Collinwood; the house of horrors she once called home.

As she carefully sneaked through the yard, she remembered that when David was a boy he had found hundreds of secret passages that lead from inside the house to the outer courtyards that separated the main house from the old house--Barnabas' refuge. She was careful to keep herself out of the moon light and beneath the shadows of the thick foliage of the late summer trees as to not be seen.

She crept slowly and quietly to one of David's secret passages remembering how easy it would be to push the opening forward, then lift, then slide the door to the right. It was as if it were just yesterday she'd reluctantly follow David around these places exploring the many secrets of Collinwood.

On the other side, inside the home, Vickie emerged slightly dusty from the piles of ancient dust crowning the door from inside the house. She quietly slid the door closed and entered the main foyer of the house. Her eyes began to water. Everything was almost exactly the same as it once was when she lived there. The smell of the wood. The coolness of the foyer air.

She noticed Carolyn had taken up many of her mother's decorating queues, mixing the old with the new, Especially Elizabeth's favorite rule: always fresh lilies on the mahogany foyer table...which was now a like living monument to Elizabeth's legacy. Vickie cupped one of the lilies in her hand and smiled. She remembered just how much Elizabeth had always watched out for her. Like a best friend. Like a mother.

Time was wasting, and still Vickie had no idea if the baby had been born, but she knew she had to get her hands it, if it was the last thing she ever did; a last ditch effort to destroy the Collins family the way they did her. A revenge plot based on a lie by Father Joseph: Vickie's parents hadn't been killed by the shadowy members of the Collins family, in fact, they were the members of the Collins family!

Vickie's misguided anger and fear toward her birth family were memories she wished she could forget. She knew in her heart what she was doing was the right thing. The baby needed to be saved!

Vickie began her quiet walk towards the stairs that lead to the second floor bedrooms but staring back at her on the wall from in side the main drawing room was a portrait of pure evil. Barnabas!

"He's not real." Vickie whispered to herself noting it wasn't really Barnabas, but his painting.

She continued up the stairs, the house was quiet. She believed that everyone must have been asleep. The moon light bathing the hall way in a cool glow.

As Vickie turned down the hall, Alexandra came out of her bedroom at the opposite end. She was on her way to check on Kat when she noticed Vickie tip-toeing her way down the hall.

For a second Alex's stomach tied into a giant knot, she knew who it was, after all her mother Carolyn had warned that Vickie might try something - anything - including breaking and entering.

Alex had no idea what Vickie's true plan was, but she knew she had to try and stop her.

She had to think fast, and she could feel herself getting nervous and anxious. It was exactly what she needed. Alex's new ability of shape-shifting only worked when she felt like this, and the only way she could get to Vickie was to shape-shift into what Vickie hated most: Barnabas.

Alex closed her eyes and held her breath, her body began to twitch and squirm, she could feel her self quickly turning into what her mind's eyes focused on---then suddenly she opened her eyes and looked into the glass of a frame hanging on the wall to see her reflection.

It had worked. Staring back at her was Barnabas' face. Alex took a deep breath and stampeded down the hall towards Victoria who was slowly making her way to Kat's bedroom where the new baby was. Alex got close then tapped Vickie on the shoulder.

Vickie stopped dead in her tracks and slightly turned her head. In her peripheral vision she could see the dark coat and a shine coming from the golden ring with the black pearl on his hand.

"You survived your first sunrise." Vickie said as she slowly turned to see the fake Barnabas standing behind her.

But Alex kept quiet, she had no idea if her voice would be the same or if Barnabas' would be heard. Within seconds, Alex (as Barnabas) grabbed a hold of Vickie's leather jacked and began to pull her back down the hall toward the staircase, Vickie struggled and pulled back. The two of them pulling back and forth and back and forth knocking over tables and vases in the hall. The noise of the crashing glass startled the new baby and he began to cry.

Vickie heard the cry and instantly turned around towards the sound of the baby allowing a moment for Alex/Barnabas to hit Vickie in the shoulder knocking her to the floor.

"You bastard!" Vickie yelled from the ground.

Alex/Barnabas then leaned down and grabbed Vickie's foot and again began to drag her to the stairs, forcefully trying with all her might to remove her from the house. Further and further Vickie was dragged until they both got to the top of the stairs.

Vickie grabbed a hold of the bottom of the banister and held on as tight as she could, then with her free foot, Vickie pulled back and lodged it square in Alex/Barnabas' face and watched as Alex lost her balance on the top stair tumbled down the steps to the bottom of the foyer flat on her back.

When Vickie got up from the floor of the hallway she looked down and saw only Alexandra in a back in her normal form unconscious in her nightgown, not the immortal man of the undead Barnabas like she expected.

Vickie gasped and covered her mouth in shock at Seeing Alexandra and not Barnabas but her moment of guilt broke quickly when the baby's cry reminded her of what she had come to Collinwood to do in the first place.

Vickie knew now, that any moment the baby's mother would wake and come to care for him. She had no time to lose. She rushed down the hall and into the room where the baby was.

She opened the door and saw that Kat still had not come into the room. It was now or never. Vickie reached into the baby's bassinet and scooped him up in her arms where he instantly stopped crying.

"I'm going to save you from this place little one. No one is going to hurt you. No one is going to do to you what they did to me. I promise you ...the Collins will never corrupt another living soul so long as I live." Vickie said to the small baby that had yet to be named.

Victoria then turned and dashed down the hall and carefully stepped over Alexandra who was now moaning her way into consciousness.

"Vickie Stop!" A voice said from the top of the stairs.

Victoria looked up and standing there was her half-sister, Carolyn.

But it was no use, Victoria had her mind made up and Carolyn who was still nursing her legs from the plane crash could not make it down the stairs fast enough to catch her. Vickie smiled an evil grin and burst through the front door and back down the main knoll to her awaiting car leaving Carolyn and a now lucid Alexandra helpless.

"Are you ok?" Carolyn asked Alex who was rubbing her neck.

"Fine, Just a little bump here and there. She took the baby!" Alex answered.

"I know, quickly I'll call Loomis McGovern. Wake up Kat, and find David and Kimberly. They must still be in the east wing in the lab." Carolyn ordered.

"How did Kat sleep through all of this?" Alex asked in surprise after the loud noises from her fight with Vickie.

"Kim gave her something to help her sleep." Carolyn answered.

Carolyn quickly made her way into the drawing room to make her phone call to Detective Loomis McGoverm, Kat's partner at the police station. She didn't even stop to turn on the lights. She picked up the old fashioned phone and went to dial, but froze when she felt a chill crawl up her spine and a hand come from behind her that grabbed the phone and hung it up.

"I will handle Victoria." the voice said.

Startled, Carolyn quickly turned and squinted her eyes to see who was in the room with her.

It was Barnabas complete with his cane and coat ready to make his way back to where Victoria took the baby and stop this madness.

"Barnabas!" Carolyn exclaimed.

"The score will be settled cousin Carolyn. Just give me the rest of the night." Barnabas said calmly as he slowly made his way out of the room and out of Collinwood.

"What are going going to do?" Carolyn asked concerned for Vickie's life.

"Save our family. Past. Present and future." Barnabas said as he slowly made his way out into the foyer past Alex, Kat, David and Kim.

Carolyn stood alone in the drawing room as the other's came in to make sense of what just happened.

Kat's breathing shallowed, her mind raced. Her world felt like it had just blown up.

"Can we trust him?" Kat asked of the other family members who could only look at each other as if to wait for someone to say the right hing.

"At this point, we really have no choice." Carolyn said trying to comfort Kat's panic as she looked up at David.

Carolyn and David knew how Barnabas worked. They knew deep in their souls just how Barnabas settles his scores and it made them nervous because as much as he was a loyal to blood family members he was also cunning and unpredictable.

Series 5/Chapter 9: BIRTH OF A LEGEND

The night sky burned with the fluid cool of calm. The milky white moon shined and beamed from it's perch in the center of the stars radiating a glow that covered the entire town of Collinsport, Maine. The serenity of this celestial dance was the complete opposite of what was happening down on earth on the Collinwood land. A woman was giving birth, a man goes missing, and the Collins family adds a branch to it's every growing family tree.


Up in her room Kat was writhing in labor pains. She grasped at her swollen stomach hoping for relief but it was no where in sight. She lay on her bed awaiting Alexandra who rushed down stairs to search for Sebastian who was supposed to be bringing the car around to take Kat to the hospital.

"Oh god please, please, please let this be false labor." Kat said to herself, her face buried in the soft folds of her duvet cover.

Alexandra bounded down the main staircase and saw that the front door was  left wide open. She stepped onto the front step and looked out onto the circular front drive, a shiver ran up her spine.  Sitting there, abandoned in the mist, was Sebastian's car still running with the passenger side door open awaiting Kat.  The headlights blaring into the bushes off the side of the house.

But Sebastian was no where to be found.

"Alex? What is it?" Carolyn asked from the top of the stairs on her crutches.

"It's Kat. She's gone into labor. Sebastian was supposed to take her to the hospital but ...I can't find him. His car is just sitting out there." Alexandra said rushing back up the stairs to her mother.

As Alex reached her mother at the top step a terrible scream came from Kat's room like a wild wind circling them. They both turned their heads down the hall and ran to Kat as fast as they could.

They opened the bedroom door to see the baby was not going to wait any longer. It was time.

"Help me please!" Kat cried.

"Alexandra, go and get some clean towels and get Kimberly. We'll need her up here." Carolyn ordered as she grabbed on to Kat's trembling hand. "You're going to be fine. It's going to be ok. Just breath slowly and calmly and everything will be ok."  Carolyn added as she comforted the mother to be.

Within minutes Alexandra had returned with Kimberly for what seemed like hours to Kat who was in the throws of labor.

Kimberly's medical instincts were in full effect and she quickly washed her hands and carefully knelt down to examine Kat.

"Oh my...ready or not Kat, you're about to be a mother." the doctor said with a smile.

"Is everything ok?" Carolyn asked as she sat bedside with Kat's hand tightly wound in hers.

"Everything looks fine, but even if we drove now to town and got her to the hospital we wouldn't make it. She'd likely give birth on the way. Alex I'll need you to help." Kim said organizing the birth.

"Is everything ok?" David asked too peeking in the door way.

"She's ok. We're about to be grandparents." Kim said as she walked over and flashed a smile at her ex-husband David.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked again, careful not to look into the room.

"There is one thing," Kim said after a brief moment to think. She stepped out side of the bedroom for a quick private moment with David before the baby came. "Alex found my notes for the serum to cure Chris. I have some of the vials already created and placed in darts downstairs but Alex said he's already transitioned. We need to get that serum in him David, it's his last chance." Kim said.

"What do you need me to do?" David questioned.

"Find Chris and shoot him with one of those darts." Kim said nonchalantly.

"Will this serum work?" David questioned.

"It has to. It's his only chance a living a normal life." Kim added as she backed into the room where Kat was about to become a new mother, leaving David standing in a dark hallway stunned at his new task.

As Kim went back to help Kat give birth she passed a mirror and quickly glanced in, and standing in the corner of the room in the mirror's reflection was the ghost of Joanna still stalking Kim, still making sure that Kim never told anyone that David too carried the werewolf DNA they secretly transplanted in him while he was hidden away at Windcliff sanitarium.

The bigger question was, when would David's DNA finally mutate and change from it's current dormant state. It was all up to how strong a hold Joanna's evil spirit had over Kimberly.

****

The commotion in the house made for perfect timing for the man in the mask who had been hiding in all the darkest corners and secret passages within the Collinwood mansion to make his get-away and find Victoria. His news that she was actually the daughter of Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard would surely be most important to her and could cause her to shift her views on what she wanted done with the current family members.

The man in the mask quietly stepped out the secret passages he had been hiding in as he spied on the Collins family. The rooms he lurked in were completely dark; only the moon light guided his way out. He slowly slithered within the shadows that a pair of over-sized widows had cast from the moon light on to the floor. He tip-toed and quietly attempted to make his exit but something blocked him.

As the man in the mask reached for the door knob the shadow of the door slowly morphed into a human figure that slowly begin to walk towards him. The man in the mask stopped dead in his tracks then began to walk backwards into the glowing moon light creeping in from the large windows.

The man in the mask pulled out his weapon and pointed it towards the black mass slowly creeping closer and closer toward him.

"Stop!" the man in the mask yelled.

The shadowy creature continued to walk forward but remained in the shadows, never allowing the face to be revealed.

"Who are you?" The shadow spoke in a deep frightful tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Stop talking! I have a gun and I'll shoot you." The nervous man in the mask said still pointing the gun at the shadowy creature.

The shadow stepped forward into the moon light, its face finally revealed to the man in the mask. A face he feared most of encountering as he hid away in Collindoow's walls: The face of Barnabas Collins.

"Do you know who I am? Do you know...what... I am?" Barnabas growled.

The man in the mask gasped at Barnabas' grey face, black eyes and sharp thirsty teeth. Barnabas opened his mouth larger and hissed at the man in the mask.

"I said stop or I'll shoot!" he said again to Barnabas, continuing to back up into the moon light.

Barnabas lunged and flew onto the man in the mask. The gun went off piercing a hole in a painting of Quentin Collins that hung on the wall causing it to tilt and sit sideways. The two men continued to struggle on the floor, Barnabas twice attempting to bite the neck of the intruder in their scuffle.

On the third attempt at a bite, the man in the mask was able to reach over and punch Barnabas in the face before he sunk his teeth in. Barnabas flew backwards covering his face allowing some leeway for the man in the mask at an attempt to escape and warn Victoria.

Barnabas was too fast, as the man in the mask jumped to his feet and ran for the door he reached over again for the door knob but only found Barnabas who was standing there instead, tall, powerful and in all black.

The man in the mask looked up in fear as he saw what seemed like Barnabas growing taller and taller. The man slowly removed his knit mask and looked up in terror at what he saw standing before him. It was real. It was the man in all the videos and photos Vickie had shown him. The vampire. The legend.

Barnabas looked down at the terrified face of Vickie's spy, a man who had infiltrated Collinwood and saw someone he could not believe looking back at him.

The face of Caleb Collins.

****

In another part of the house, Carolyn, Alex and Kim were all bedside as Kat began to give birth to Caleb's child; the new Collins family member. 

The women all consoled and cared for Kat. Carolyn holding her hand, Alex dabbing her forehead and wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Just a few more pushes Kat. Just a few more pushes!" Kimberly yelled to an excited room.

"You're going to be ok. The baby is coming!" Carolyn said tightening her grip on Kat's hand.

"Ok, last one, hun! Last push, here you go...ok, PUSH!" Kimberly said to Kat's rousing scream.

"It's coming! I see the baby. Push Kat! Push!" Kimberly said again.

And with her final push, Kat screamed one last scream and the baby was born. Kimberly grabbed the baby and cut the umbilical cord. Kat began to laugh with excitement at hearing her baby cry for he first time.  

"Is it ok? Is my baby ok?" Kat said reaching for Kim to hand her the baby. 

Kimberly cleaned the baby with the towels and turned back around to Kat, Carolyn and Alex who were all sitting with great anticipation, even in tears. 

"The baby is fine. It's a healthy baby boy!" Kim said of her new grandson, handing him to the new, loving mother. 

****

"Impossible!" Barnabas said to who's face he was seeing.

Caleb, who had been saved by Vickie's henchman in the ocean after the plane crash had been brained washed and had been used by Vickie to spy on the family, his own family, was now dashing through the room turning over all the furniture he could to block Barnabas who was hot on his trail to find away out of the room and away from the horrifying monster he saw before him.

"Caleb! Wait!" Barnabas called.

Caleb, who's memory was scattered and in pieces due to Vickie's brain-washing had no intention of turning back, all he wanted to do was get back into the secret passages he was hiding in and find his way away from Barnabas and out of Collinwood. But again, Barnabas was too fast. Barnabas disappeared in a puff of black smoke and reappeared at the end of the room blocking Caleb from getting into the secret passage doorway.

"Stop, Caleb!" Barnabas said reaching for his memory-less cousin.

Caleb didn't listen and took another swipe at Barnabas' face. Barnabas grabbed Caleb's fist mid thrust and pushed it back down and looked at Caleb dead in the eyes.

"Do you know who I am?" Barnabas said, speaking slowly. "What has Victoria done done to you?"

Suddenly Caleb did remember something, he remembered that he had more than just a gun at his arsenal. He pulled his fist out of Barnabas' grasped and quickly stepped backwards to give him time to reach into  his black back-pack and pull out the other weapon he was given. He pulled out a crucifix and pointed it--face first--at Barnabas.

"Don't come near me. Don't take another step!" Caleb screamed.

Barnabas hissed and turned his face,  but did not stop his slow walk towards Caleb.

"I said don't move! I said stop!" Caleb screamed as he walked backwards to the door of the room.

Once he got to the door and he turned the knob and ran leaving Barnabas to quickly make his own exit out of the room and away from the crucifix.

Running through Collinwood to make his escape, Caleb began to have flashes of memory of his time at the mansion. His memory was slowly breaking free from whatever vice Vickie had created while she had him captive at Seaside Cottage. He continued to run faster and faster and finally came to the open front door and stepped out on the front step but again, he was stopped in his tracks by something much deadlier then Barnabas.

Snarling and shooting steam and snot from his nose at the foot of the front steps of Collinwood, staring at Caleb with his hellish yellow eyes was Christopher in wolf form.

The wolf had Sebastian's blood stained all over his mouth and face, his hungry grin was dripping with thick saliva, just waiting for this next kill; standing there was Caleb, a man everyone believed to have died staring at his own half brother the werewolf in utter shock.

Christopher the werewolf snarled and circled Caleb like a plotting shark just before a sudden lunge that pulled Caleb down by his black hooded sweater. Caleb was powerless over the strength of the beast and instantly fell to the floor hitting his head that knocked him unconscious. The wolf, seeing his prey ready to be killed and consumed began to drag Caleb into the dirt and slowly over to the bushes off to the side of the mansion like he did earlier with Sebastian.

Then suddenly from the door way a gunshot rang, stinging the wolf in the back. Chris roared in pain as a sharp dart pierced his back.

 It was perfect timing. As the fog from the sea cleared around Collinwood's stoic and centuries old doorway, there stood David with a gun that was loaded with darts filled with the serum Kimberly had created to turn Christopher back to his human form--permanently. .

David rushed over to the wolf who was still breathing and growling but unable to move. David petted  the wolf on his side trying to calm him even though in just a few short moments Chris would be back to normal.

David saw then saw the legs of the man under the wolf. He thought perhaps it was Sebastian, who had gone missing early in the evening.  David carefully pulled the wolf off and saw, to his shock, Caleb, bloody and unconscious, but alive. 

Really, truly alive.

Series 5/Chapter 8: A FULL MOON (Part 4)

The murky evening sky above Collinsport brought a cold snap. The Town-folk usually reserved these late summer months for last ditch swimming in the many quaint seaside escapes this part of Maine was known for but not on this night. This night was different.

At 2356 Harper Street, the house Christopher once shared with his father, the late Victor Reed, the clouds opened up in the sky preparing for a summer full moon to shine down and illuminate the things that go bump in the night.

Christopher and Alexandra had no time to waste. If they were going to find the notes Kimberly took while she did the various DNA experiments on Chris all those years ago, they had to do it before the moon shifted to it's highest point in the sky. The time was now.

The couple searched high and low throughout the house that Chris had now practically abandoned since his father's death on the night of one of Chris' transitions. Chris still felt terribly guilty for his role in Victor's death. He picked up a photo of the two of them on a fishing trip when Chris was only 10. The memory was like a stabbing reminder of guilt. He could still hear his own laugh as they joked with each other that day on the little boat. He could still smell the sweet air around the river bed. He could still feel his father's strong hand pat him on the shoulder when he caught his first catch.

"It wasn't your fault." Alex noticing Chris' glazed off gaze while she sifted through a box of papers they pulled from the attic.

"Just because I wasn't in my own mind doesn't mean I still didn't kill my own father. I'll never forgive myself for that." Chris said putting the photo back down on the table.

"Chris, Victor knew the dangers of what he and Kimberly were doing to you when they started these werewolf DNA tests to begin with. You, the human side of you, would never have done what the monster side of you did. You have to learn to separate the two." Alex advised.

"That still doesn't help much. I mean think about it, no matter how many ways we slice it, I killed my own dad Alex. In cold blood!" Chris said busting open a new box from the attic that had been taped up with an odd amount of tape.

Alex digressed. She knew that his guilt was too painful, and there wasn't much she could do to make him feel better. Not about this, not about the way Victor died. She knew she just had to let him live with whatever feelings he was dealing with and support him. No matter what.

As the two reconciled lovers continued to search for the missing notes on the serum Kimberly had created to reverse his DNA from morphing into the werewolf they noticed time was running short. In just a few more hours, the moon would rise again over Collinsport, and if they weren't careful, Christopher would turn back into the wolf; out again to ravage the city with his wild hunger for human flesh.

Alex continued to frantically search through her box while Chris finally made his way into the box with the severe amount of tape around it.

"Oh my god, I think I found something. I think this is it!" Chris said pulling through paper work.

"What does it say?" Alex asked.

"It's just a bunch of notes, and formulas. Things I don't understand, but the paper work is stamped with my name and my birth date. This whole file is on me. This has to be it!" Chris said excitedly.

Alex crawled through the endless amounts of papers on the floor, like she was rustling around in them like a pile of autumn leaves. She reached over and grabbed Chris by the neck and pulled him over and planted a happy giant kiss on his bearded cheek leaving a stain of lip gloss on his face. As she looked into  his deep brown eyes, she also noticed a second folder in the box.

"What's that one?" She asked grabbing the folder. "Do you think this is more stuff on you?" She continued.

Chris looked down at the birth date on the folder and noticed it wasn't his, but before he could open the folder to check he started to feel strange. He started to feel the bones in his feet start to crack, the hairs on his arms and legs begin to thicken and lengthen. His teeth began to turn razor sharp and he began to sweat profusely.

"Chris...?" Alex said taking the file folders away from his shaking hand.

"I ...... think it's happ....." Chris said, the words barley making it out of his mouth.

"Oh god. You're changing. But the moon isn't even at the highest point yet? Stay with me." Alex screamed as she slowly backed away from Christopher.

"Alex. Take me outside." Chris said, his eyes now turning into deep yellow rings. "For your safety, please take me outside!!" He growled.

Alex put the papers they needed on a table and quickly turned back to grab Chris's hand that now started to resemble some sort of hand/paw hybrid. Chris,  now walking hunched and breathing heavily, was sweating from every part of his body. He was snarling and huffing. His insides twitching and agitated and pushing and shoving as if the human part of him was trying to fight off the power the moon had over his other more monstrous side.

Alex carefully walked Chris to a back door that lead to the yard that lead to a back meadow that lead to the forest. The sky, now a dark gloomy grey, was now filled with the light of the full moon that had yet to rise to it's center point. She looked down at her own hands hold Chris' arm and saw her own skin flash and change into color of Chris'. Her own body was now twitching and pulling and turning into a wolf then back to normal then back to wolf then back to normal, she was shape shifting again like she had the other night after the spell was broken on her walk through town.

She screamed at the sight and let go of Chris. He howled horrible deathly howl and turned back to Alex who was standing in shock on the back steps.

He growled, foam spewed from his mouth, his teeth eager for fresh flesh. But something was different. He saw Alex from the part of his mind that was still Chris. The werewolf side howled again and ran off into the meadow then into the forest just outside the boundaries of the house.

Alex stood alone on the back porch. Her mind racing. Her heart pounding. She realized what was happening to her. For whatever reason when she was at the peak of the most stressful moments in her life, she would shape-shift into whatever was causing her the stress, a lasting and final effect of the powers she once had. But she couldn't think of that now, she had to take the notes she and Chris found to Kim and hope that Kim could recreate the serum to save Chris.

She quickly turned back into the house and grabbed both files they had found. Then grabbed her car keys and dashed back to Collinwood hoping Chris' human side could stall the hungry beast within for as long as possible.

****

Carolyn stared into the mirror of her vanity, the light of the moon gleaming through the window. The glow of blue and grey brought out the blue in her eyes. She stared deeply into those blue eyes. She could see her mother's face looking back at her. It made her happy. After Caleb's death all she could think of was the loss of her family members of the past, mainly her mother Elizabeth. She thought of all the pain her mother endured on earth and she thought of all the difficult decisions she had to make, mainly putting Victoria up for adoption. That guilt probably never left Elizabeth her entire life.

Carolyn believed she was alone that evening, but watching from the other side of a heating vent in the wall, was the man in the mask: Victoria's henchman who was stalking the family and collecting as much information as he could while his mobile phone, the one connection outside of Collinwood, had died. The man in the mask knew he had to somehow find a way to get to Vickie and tell her what he had over heard earlier while Carolyn and Alex were having breakfast. The truth. Vickie was Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard's daughter and therefore a Collins too. But he was trapped within the various secret passage ways in the walls of Collinwood, with no where to go and nothing to do but listen.

As Carolyn got up to go to her bathroom for a new hair brush, a shadowy figure began to grow from the corner of her room hidden away in the drapes. If flowed like smoke from a volcano just about to erupt. Carolyn, gasped and began to walk backwards toward her vanity, she continued to step backwards until she could no longer move, her hands grasped the edged of the vanity. Her eyes grew large her breath became shallow, she struggled to find something on the desk to grab to protect herself and knocked down the contents of the desk to the floor in the process.

As the shadow began to become clear, Carolyn began to realize it was only her oldest cousin alive Barnabas Collins. The man in the walls saw the smoke build up too and begin to form a figure, his eyes widened. To him this was the strangest most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Or so he thought.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Carolyn said sarcastically as she began to regain her composure and pick up the fallen items.

"I only came to thank you for late last night." Barnabas said as he grabbed the back of Carolyn's hand to kiss it.

"Well, you would have done the same for me, I guess. After all you're the one always marching around here talking about family and how much we need to stick together. What kind of Collins woman would I be if I let Victoria just ....do ...whatever she wanted to do to you." Carolyn said stammering with what she wanted to say.

"It would have been the end of me, Carolyn. I am deeply greatful." Barnabas reiterated.

"So you were finally telling the truth, huh? Vickie really is out to get us." Carolyn asserted.

"It appears so, but from what you have told me, she's incredibly misguided. If She really is your half sister, we must find a way to tell her before it's too late." Barnabas said.

"We don't know where she is. We don't know what's she's up to. How in the world...It's just at this point we should worry about that bridge when we cross it. I don't want any of us running around looking for and falling into any more of her traps." Carolyn said not knowing Vickie had planted the man who was hiding in their walls as she spoke. The man's soul mission was to kill the Collins family on Vickie's order.

"There may be a way. We'd have to lure her to Collinwood and then confront her with the truth." Barnabas said.

"Lure her? How?" Carolyn asked.

"Kathryn's child." Barnabas said coldly, knowing just how interested Vickie was in Kat and the new Collins baby she was carrying.

"Barnabas you can't be serious. We can't use an innocent life as bait. There is no way I can allow that. No way in hell." Carolyn said refusing Barnabas' idea.

Even though Carolyn stomped on his plot to get Vickie to Collinwood, deep down he knew nothing would stop him once his mind was made up. He had to get Vickie before she got him. That was a fact.

Then masked man in the walls knew he had to find his way to Vickie before he was discovered. As Barnabas and Carolyn continued their conversation he slowly crept through the walls again down an air ducts that allowed him safe travels through the many floors and quarters of the mansion. He had to get out and find Victoria now!

****

After returning to Collinwood from the doctor's appointment with Kat, Kimberly retreated back to her office in the west wing of the house. The other night she had broken a glass in her hand after a terrifying vision of her dead sister's ghost appeared to her again as a reflection in the windows.

Kim carefully picked up the shards of glass and walked back over to the bar where she had poured two brandies, one for her and one for David. She carefully placed the shards in a small oval shaped garbage bin next to the bar and reached into a crevice at the side of the small mini bar and pulled out an empty vial she had tucked there after pouring it into David's drink. The vial was marked "Liken Represent".

It was the serum she had created to repress the genetic Liken, or werewolf, DNA from becoming aggravated on a full moon. A full moon like tonight.

"You're doing so well Sister." A voice echoed from across the room.

Kim quickly turned and it was again the vision of the dead Dr. Joanna Grayson, Kimberly's sister staring at her with blood covering her face.

"I promised I wouldn't tell." Kim said almost in a trance.

"When will you begin the next step of the process?" Joanna cryptically asked.

"Soon...I'm trying to gain his trust again. It's a slow process." Kimberly responded equally mysteriously.

Joanna and Kimberly had always been close sisters growing up and their separation now, one living and dead did't seem to stiffle their underhanded plotting. No matter how many times Kim tried to put herself in the good graces of the Collins family, a family she belongs to by marriage, she could never escape her wicked sister Joanna, who's thirst for power was much stronger than Victoria's ambitious mission to destroy the family for the made up Organization.

The truth was, while Joanna held David captive at Windcliff Sanitarium in the name of the organization, the two sisters had gone rogue from their task and had done something unthinkable to David.

"David must never know that he too possesses dormant wolf DNA like Christopher. He must never know the experiments we did on him at Windcliff. No one must know." Joanna pressed in her eerie echoing voice.

"I won't tell." Kim responded.

"Now that Christopher is out of reach and aware of his DNA change, David is our last hope against the Collins family. It's our sisterly secret that you must keep." Joanna's ghost said again.

"I promise. What about Victoria Winters? Should she know about David?" Kimberly asked naively.

Joanna didn't say a word and only put her blood stained finger up against her lips again. 

As Kimberly stood staring into the glass of the windows of her office speaking to Joanna who quickly disappeared, Alexandra burst in. Her mind racing, sweat dripping from her face. She had raced home to give Kimberly the notes for the serum that would cure Christopher.

"Kim!! Kimberly!!!" Alex screamed breaking Kim from her sister's haunting trance.

"What? Alex, my god what is it?" Kim replied back to her normal self.

"The notes. Here. We found them. You can cure Chris now!" Alex said out of breath.

Kimberly snatched the notes from Alex's hands and began to read them over. She flicked through the pages, and a giant grin began to stretch across her face. These were the correct notes, and now she re-create the serum to cure Christopher before it was too late. All was not lost and maybe she could do the same for David, that is if Joanna would just leave her alone.

"Where's Chris?" Kim asked impatiently.

"He ran off. It was too late for him, the clouds parted and the moon light came in, he changed right in front of me. We have to hurry, maybe we can find him after the serum is made." Alex said hoping for a miracle.

Kimberly nodded in agreement and grabbed Alex's hand dragging her off to her laboratory, and as they did, Joanna's spirit resurfaced in the glass of the office window's. Her blood still pouring from the Barnabas' bite wounds on her neck. Her skin a glowing pale color. Her eyes angry and furious that the notes on the cure were found.

****

At Seaside cottage, which was formally owned by the Collins family but Willed to Victoria by Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard, Vickie sat at a small table in compete darkness with only the flickering of candles behind her. She slowly removed a  dark blue silk cloth covering the top of a fine pine box. Inside the box an old Ouija board from from the 1920s.

The wooden board was thick and old, with letters and drawings carved deep into its smooth surface. The elegant oracle with its clear glass eye was light and ornate. 

Vickie placed the oracle on the board and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and slowly moved the oracle across the board to the center.

"Are you here.....announce yourself." Vickie said as a cold ocean breeze filled the room pulling the sheer curtains up around the chairs in front of Vickie on the other side of the table. Vickie waited, for an answer but did not receive one.

She tried again and asked the same thing, but this time she carefully lifted her fingers from the ornate oracle just so that it could move on its own if it needed to. And it did.

The salty air swirled around Vickie blowing through her raven hair as the oracle crept over to the YES carving.

Victoria opened her eyes and smiled a dastardly grin. She had successfully contact a different dimension.

"Have you prepared for our arrival?" She asked the board as she watched the oracle circle around the word YES again.

"Tell me the year!" Vickie asked as the oracle carefully moved across the board to the bottom where the line of numbers were where it went over four distinct numbers clearly and cryptically pointing out:

1          9                2               0

Vickie smiled and knew it was finally time set the final stages of her plans to destroy the Collins family. Finally the revenge she sought out for almost 50 years, since she met with the men at the orphanage where the told them The Collins family was responsible for the death of her birth parents.

But Vickie had unknowingly ignited a war based  on the elaborate lie created by her birth father the Priest, Father Joseph, who hoped the cover he created for Vickie would be the way for her to reconnect with her birth mother Elizabeth. No one knew just how far this lie would go. Except Victoria who's entire life since then had been to live and breath the demise of the Collins family...her family.  

Vickie walked over to a taller table in the corner of the room and picked up her cell phone. She clicked her messages and wrote out a text message for Sebastian, her main henchman who was visiting with  his pregnant sister Kat.

"It's time. Inject Kat with the meds. NOW." Vickie's message read.

Then Vickie wrote out a message to The masked man who had been hiding in the walls telling him to take out any Collins family member he saw. That message however was never received. The masked man's phone had a dead battery. He too had a message for Vickie, a warning but there was no way to get it to her. 

Sebastian who had been patiently waiting the "go-ahead" to induce Kat's labor carefully walked over to his sister who was standing on a balcony looking over the Collinwood land talking to Sebastian about how large her belly had become and how they doctor said she was about 8 months. 

Kat's voice was happy and surprised like any new mother would be. She looked out on the beautiful grounds that Collinwood had to offer, the full moon filled the dark sky in the distance over the ocean. 

Sebastian slowly and meticulously walked over to Kat, still going on about her excitement for the new baby, pricked the back of Kat's arm with the needle that had medication that would induce her labor. And within minutes, Kat's eagerness to be a new mom turned to concern. As she stood on the balcony next to her brother she grabbed her arm in the area Sebastian had injected her.

"What did you do?" She asked as she opened her hand a tiny stain of blood from the prick mark.

"Helping you." Sebastian said cryptically.

And as quick as the injection happened, Kat's stomach began to cramp violently. Her labor had began. 

"Bash....... I...I think ...my...."Kat said looking down at her belly. 

Sebastian grabbed Kat's hands and walker her over to a chair inside the room. 

"We have to get to the hospital. It's too early." Kat said started to rush off back into her room from the balcony. 

"Wait here, I'll go and pull the car around and have Alex come up to be with you ok?" Sebastian said now started to feel nervous about what he had done.

Kat sat on her bed breathing hard as the labor pains got stronger and stronger. The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before.  Her mind racing and filled with confusion over what was happened. Did Sebastian do this to her? she thought.

 She lay back on the bed, and grasped on to the bed's comforter tightly, so tightly that she began to tear holes in the lining with her finger nails that dug in.

As Kat lay in agony on her bed with labor pains, Alex rushed in from the hall way where she heard Kat's screams.

"Kat! Are you ok?" Alex asked as she grabbed Kat's hands and pulled them off the bed spread, noting the holes.

"The baby's coming!" Kat said in and out of breaths. "Sebastian is getting the car." she added.

"Just breath Kat, breath! Sebastian won't be too long." Alex said wiping Kat's sweaty forehead.

Downstairs, Sebastian had brought his car to the front of the main entrance to Collinwood. He leapt from the drivers side and flew around the front of the car to leave open the passenger side door for Kat. 

As he made his way across the headlights of the car he heard feral growl just off in the dark distance beneath the brush that closed off an entrance way to a courtyard that lead to the old house. At first Sebastian thought it was Barnabas spying on him. He turned and slowly walked in the direction of the growl allowing the headlights of his car to guide his path.

"Come on, come out of there." Sebastian called out towards the bushes. 

The growl Sebastian believed was Barnabas continued and got louder. His headlights, now a good 50 to 60 feet away, were shining brightly on the green bushes. The high moon too lit the area behind the bushes so much so Sebastian could see all the way to the old house and to his surprise saw Barnabas pass in front of the main windows going into a drawing room.

With a confused look on his face, Sebastian lifted the lower parts of the bushes to see what was behind them. Two large yellow yes looked back at him and squinted from the brightness of the car headlights. 

Sebastian's screamed and fell backwards. It was Christopher in wolf form slowly revealing his large hairy monstrous body out from under the bushes. Chris snarled, and snapped his great claws at Sebastian who was now on the floor frantically pulling himself backwards towards his awaiting car.

But it was too late. Christopher the werewolf lunged at Sebastian and pulled his body up. They struggled for brief moment, but Sebastian was no match for the strength of Christopher's incredible power. The wolf dragged Sebastian off into the dark shadowy distance of the woods away from Collinwood, leaving only marks in the dirt path in front of the main house from Sebastian's struggling body and an empty car with its motor and lights turned on.

The rumbling of the car's engine and smashing of the ocean on the rocks just below the cliff side were all that was left. Nothing more. 

Series 5/Chapter 7: BEWARE THE SUNRISE

Howling winds rolled along the Maine coastline like an invisible river plowing around the sharp rocks and cliffs. The powerful current of air lifted sand and debris up like confetti. Barnabas dusted off the airborne sand from the lapel of his black peacoat, squinted and focused on his destination just a few yards away: the former seaside Collins family cottage named Seaview. Victoria's hide out.

The night sky was dark and filled with stars. The moon with its face half hidden hung high like a bright yellow grape guiding Barnabas towards the front entrance of Seaview. He turned the door knob and pushed the swollen door open into the house.

The Collins family cottage was not your ordinary seaside house. It was massive in size with Windows going all along the sides, a perfect place to spend summers. It was also a place Victoria was fond of in her time as Governess to a young Davis Collins. Which lead Elizabeth to leave it to Vicki in her Will.

Inside, the house had been completely remodeled. It was more modern and cold now. But still hand a wink to the family that once spent their warm summer holidays there.

Barnabas carefully looked around the remodeled rooms. The house was completely dark. He could see photos on the walls and on small side tables; Collins family memories. Elizabeth on the beach one summer day with a baby Carolyn, Carolyn and her uncle Roger playing on the Seaview lawn with a family pet. These were times that were gone.

As he continued to walk through the house he heard a noise from a side room. It had to be Victoria!

Barnabas carefully walked down the hall preparing himself for the fight of his life to protect the family from whatever Victoria had planned. He placed his ear up to the door of the room and listened. There was someone inside. He could feel the beating of their heart. He could feel the heat from their body burn through the door like a wild fire raging through a dry forest.

With the reflexes of a jaguar he pushed the door in and saw Victoria standing at the other end of a large empty room flanked by 6 large windows, three on either side of her, that faced the view of the gorgeous Atlantic sea. The room was new to the cottage, it seemed as if it had been created or added on in recent years as an observatory room. It was a cold and blank space. Barnabas quickly glanced around and saw how steril and medical the space seemed.

 Victoria slowly turned in Barnabas' direction. Their eyes met like two laser beams zeroing in a target.

"We meet again." Vicki said in a calm whispery voice.

"It's been so very long Victoria. Ive longed for this meeting. Of course, under different circumstances." Barnabas said as he kept his distance.

"I assume you're here to end things, aren't you? Ruin my plan to vanquish you and your family from this earth? I should have done it 50 years ago." Victoria said wickedly.

Barnabas' eyes started to change. His anger towards Vickie was something he had never felt before. It was a betrayal beyond anything he could ever imagine. His mind started to race and his anger started to rise. He opened his mouth revealing his fangs and hissed a terrible blood thirsty hiss. But Vickie did not flinch.

Vickie took two steps forward into the moon light that was beaming in from the windows at her side. She pulled down her shirt slightly around her neck and lifted her head back. She put our her arms and closed her eyes.

"This is what you came for." Vickie said waiting for Barnabas to strike.

Barnabas felt his body strength go from zero to 50, his mind only saw red. He was thirsty for blood and he wanted Vickie's. With one deep bite, her blood would begin to flow into his body and he would be able to control whether she lived or died in those next few seconds. The more blood he took, the less chances of her to live.

He walked up released the coat from around his neck and lifted his hands, his mouth gaping open ready to receive her neck.

And just as he stepped into the center of the empty room of windows the floor lowered slightly and four giant walls of bars made of pure silver lifted trapping Barnabas inside. He looked around and saw the walls were too talk for him to leap over. He touched the bars and burned his finger on the silver which like a silver bullets rendered all him powerless. He was as good as mortal while in that cage.

"You see vampire...we've all got a few tricks up our sleeves." Vickie said adjusting her shirt so it covered her neck again.

"What have you done?" Barnabas asked in a growl.

"This isn't exactly what I expected to do with this cage, I mean it was always meant for you and those like you but it was more for experimental use. I guess time just got away from me, experiments would take too long anyway." Vickie said walking over to the walls of windows.

"You're making a very big mistake Miss Winters. Deep down inside you know that whatever your plans are with me and my family, they're wrong. I may be what I am, but you, you are good. There's always been good in you." Barnabas said trying to sway Vickie's thoughts.

"It may have been 50 odd years since I've seen or spoken to you, but you're still the same manipulative creative that tried take possession of me in some sick twisted move all those years ago. It wont work Barnabas. Not this time. Saving the people of this town from you and your like is what I was put on this earth for. That I know for sure." Vickie said sternly.

"That's a very big statement: knowing the secret of life. How can anyone truly know? After all I'm still searching myself." Barnabas said.

"No. I know. I was born to take control of The Organization of the True of Heart, a coalition of people set to make sure the word is safe from the ungodly, the undead, the devilish. That's my lot Barnabas, and that's what I'm prepared to do to you." Vickie answered with a coldness Barnabas had never seen from her before.

He looked at her and snarled, she had changed. Vickie was no longer the kind, curious, courageous woman he had once loved. She was now menacing and vindictive, a woman who's warm sweet heart had turned hard and cold, and Barnabas couldn't figure out why. 

This was not the Victoria Winters Barnabas once knew, she was a brainwashed morsel of the person she once was.

"Whats happened to you? Barnabas growled, but Vickie only smiled wickedly.

"You. You happened. Don't you recall all the mind games you played on all of us? I do. And I was given information that you're the reason I am an orphan. Just another nail in your coffin." Vickie responded as she circled the silver cage.

"What? Victoria that's impossible!" Barnabas said outraged at the accusation that was clearly unfounded and created by Father Joseph, but left unknown to Vickie.

Unfazed by Barnabas' reaction, Vickie then turned and picked up her things from the floor and walked over to the cage where Barnabas was trapped. She looked at him dead in the eyes. He had returned to his normal state, no fangs, no blackness only with a look of desperation in his face. Those windows faced east and it was only hours until morning.

"When was the last time you saw a sunrise Barnabas? Years? Centuries? You'll be happy to know that in just a few hours, you'll finally get to see what you've been missing out on for the last 225 years of your miserable murderous life. The sun will rise right here in this very room over the beautiful sea. I chose this room specifically for this, as you might guess, because it quickly becomes the brightest and warmest as soon as the sun  reflects over the ocean's surface...." Vickie explained as she circled Barnabas trapped in the silver cage.

"You'll never get away with this." Barnabas growled again.

"Goodbye Barnabas Collins. May you rest in peace." She added and slowly turned away and placed the remote control that lifted the cage walls on a chair. She the walked out of the room calmly leaving Barnabas alone his demise by sunlight.

****

Vickie gathered a few things  and packed them into her car. She looked past the cottage onto the horizon, the frothy wind blew her raven hair across her eyes. As she looked back she felt a sense of calmness that in the morning her nemesis would be gone, and everything else would soon fall into place. Vickie got into her car, started it, and drove off never looking back at Seaview. 

****

Back inside Seaview cottage Barnabas paced in his silver cell awaiting a horrible outcome. He stared out the windows and tried to use every ounce of telepathy he had in him to bring the controller Vickie left on a chair closer to him so that he could use it to lower the cage walls, but it was impossible. The silver the cage was made from was too strong and blocked his powers.

An hour went by and the clock inside of Barnabas' mind was ticking away faster and faster and closer and closer to sunrise. He began to wish for some sort of swift end rather than the one he was going to meet soon with the stinging burn of the  morning sun. It was almost like part of his premonition was coming true. In a dream Barnabas saw Vickie stab him with a stake to the heart then finished him off with the stinging burn of the morning sun. But this was reality.

Lucky for Barnabas tonight's reality had an ironic silver lining. His cousin Carolyn who saw him leave Collinwood just as she returned from visiting Father Joseph at St. John's Parish in the middle of the night. For Carolyn seeing Barnabas leave on foot was never a good sign, so she and her driver Powell followed him for as long as they could before losing Barnabas when he disappeared into a wooded area. Eventually, Powell and Carolyn tracked him down to the old Seaview cottage. And just in time before the sunset.

"Trapped are we?" Carolyn said as she walked into the room  on crutches observing the giant cage made of silver in the hollowed out back room.

"Carolyn." Barnabas said in a surprised voice turning to his cousin with his devilish grin.

Carolyn and Powell walked in and surveyed the room Vickie had left him in. The blank walls, the barren floors. It was all a strange and bizarre scene that Carolyn wasn't surprised to see.

"You've gotten yourself into something tonight haven't you?" Carolyn joked.

"There's some kind of controller over there on a chair. Please." Barnabas pleaded.

"Fine. But when you're released from here, you cannot go looking for Vickie to hurt her. Do you understand?" Carolyn warned.

"How can I not? I have to stop her! Look what she's done! And she has more planned!" Barnabas explained.

"Barnabas...there' something you should know..." Carolyn said before motioning for Powell to grab the remote control left on the chair. He did so and pressed the main button lowering the cage and freeing Barnabas.

"..I don't want you to say anything, just listen." Carolyn said sternly as the cage walls came down around Barnabas. "There's a secret I've been keeping for many years for my mother. I discovered this truth after she died when I went through her papers. It's about Vickie....Vickie my mother's daughter. She's family Barnabas. You cannot hurt her."

Barnabas' face turned serious. He turned and grabbed his peacoat and cane from the floor. He dusted off his coat and turned to Carolyn furrowing his brow.

"Are you sure?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. I am. She doesn't know. If we tell her, I believe she'll stop whatever she's trying to do. So that means you have to back off. Do you understand?" Carolyn scolded in her regular tough approach on things.

Barnabas did not react.

She called for Powell to take her back to their car leaving Barnabas standing in the empty room alone. Her night had been long and she was ready to be home.

"I'm leaving in 2 minutes Barnabas, don't make me wait." Carolyn ordered as purple clouds began to pop up in the distance hinting at the approaching dawn.

Barnabas still in shock over Carolyn's revelation had escaped his demise yet again. As he followed his cousin and her driver out of Seaview cottage he felt the frigid sea breeze scale the cliff side and brush his pale skin. He thought about what Carolyn said to him again and decided it didn't matter if Vickie was family, she posed a danger to them all and needed to be stopped before she hurt anyone else. No matter what.

****

The morning came and thankfully no one had been hurt from the night before. The sun burst bright in the sky above Collinsport as if a strong storm had just past through leaving a fresh and new outlook on life. Kat awoke and prepared for a doctor's appointment Kimberly was going to take her to. She stood up out of bed and walked over to a full length mirror and noticed her stomach was much larger then it was the night before. She rubbed her belly with a concerned expression on her face. How could her baby be growing so fast? She must have miscalculated her date, but by how much?

"You up?" Kim asked as she slowly pushed open Kat's bedroom door. "Kat! Your stomach!" She added noticing Kat's 4 week pregnant stomach looking more like 6 months.

"I don't think I calculated correctly. I'm huge!" Kat said with a giggle.

"Well, not to get into too many details but did you and Caleb...'try'...before the last time?" Kimberly asked somewhat embarrassed of her own question.

"A few other other times but, I don't remember ever thinking I was pregnant. Is this how it's supposed to be?" Kat asked concerned and looking back at her stomach in the mirror.

"When I was carrying Christopher I was pretty big too but much later on. Let's get to this appointment and see where things go, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation." Kimberly said as she helped Kat pick out new outfit from the various maternity clothes David had purchased for Kat.

****

Downstairs Alex waited at the breakfast table for Carolyn. The two Collins women had coffee and a small meal together for the first time in many months. Carolyn who was still recovering from her plane accident sat down slowly at the table while Alex moved her crutches to the side.

"I'm glad you're here. I need to tell you something." Carolyn said sipping her coffee.

"What is it?" Alex asked concerned.

"It's about Victoria Winters. Do you remember me ever mentioning her?" Carolyn asked with Alex nodding her head yes as she took another sip from her coffee mug.

"Well there's much more to the story about her. A long time ago your grandmother had an affair with..someone....and that affair resulted in a pregnancy. In those days something like that would have stupidly ruined your grandmother's life. It wasn't like today where things are dealt with in a practical manner. Your Grandmother Elizabeth had to make a terrible choice." Carolyn began to explain.

"Poor grandma! I can see where this is going. Vickie found this baby, right? She's trying to extort money or something?" Alex said guessing the outcome.

Carolyn looked around for the servants, the old Collins family habit of keeping the utmost secrecy and discretion when it came to private family matters. When she noticed they were alone, she turned back to her daughter to divulge the bombshell.

"Actually darling, it's much bigger than that. Vickie is that baby. Not to get into too many details but Vickie doesn't know this yet, and unfortunately she's become rather dangerous to the family. She wants to hurt us." Carolyn said calmly to a shocked Alex.

But they were not alone at breakfast. The man in the mask sent by Vickie to spy on the family until further notice had been lurking around Collinwood all night and had just come out from behind the walls.

He came out of a side door in a hallway that lead to the secret passages within the walls, and slumped down in a corner hiding behind a wall when he noticed Carolyn and Alex were in the next room. He carefully drew his weapon and filled it with bullets.

As he looked into the room but being careful they didn't see him, a flash of white light blinded him bringing flashes of Carolyn's face smiling, then a flash of him and Alex hugging in the foyer of Collinwood. All these images flooding his mind flashing one, two, three then gone. He shook his head and looked around but there was nothing illuminating him in the face that caused this light in his eyes. He was confused but continued to listed to mother and daughter speak at breakfast.

"Hurt us? But why?" Alex asked.

"Its a very long and complicated story, love, one that is about 50 years in the making. I just want you to be careful if you or Chris or any one of us should encounter her. Promise me you'll do that? You'll take care of yourself? Watch your back." Carolyn said grabbing her daughters hands.

The family had been traumatized by the many losses they'd experienced in the past  year. Carolyn's husband, then Caleb she couldn't bare to lose her only daughter in whatever plot Vickie was cooking up. It was a mother's plea that Alex heard loud and clear.

"Of course mother." Alex said reciprocating the grasp of her mother's hand.

The two Collins women continued their breakfast together and talked about what they had planned for the day. Finally a moment of normalcy in a world of complete abnormality.

The man in the mask stayed hidden behind the wall that faced an opening into the breakfast room where Alex and Carolyn were in. He was shocked to discover his boss Victoria's secret parentage...something he was sure she didn't know herself. He grabbed his cell phone but the battery had died.

Suddenly Kat and Kim came walking down the main staircase directly in front of him heading out to Kat's doctor's appointment. He saw Kat and again a flash of light splashed across his mind. In this one he saw images of Kat covered in white sheets smiling and laughing. Her beautiful mocha colored skin glowing against the white sheets. Her face came closer and kissed his. But who was he to her? Why was he having this recollection.

He didn't have time to think, as the two came closer down the main staircase, he became trapped. Through his mask he could see them getting closer and closer. Fearing he'd be discovered by them or Alex and Carolyn in the other room he crouched down and went back into the secret door that lead back into the walls...he was trapped inside Collinwood with a major revelation for Vickie that would change everything. He had to get to her somehow.