Series 11/Chapter 9: THE HUMAN STAIN

Barnabas Collins

An autumn storm rolled through the state of Maine with the the rumbling of a freight train. The grayness of the evening cast a mist all over the town of Collinsport. Down near the water-front at the Blue Whale pub, Victoria Winter's was meeting with two people she saw as insurers of a of safety. Two people who's power and strength combined made her feel safe from any future threats from Angelique, or worse. Victoria Winters knew, that for every dark creature that roamed the foggy streets of Collinsport, there was an even more dangerous monster just around the corner.

The Blue whale was busy even during this wild autumn storm. Friendly fisherman bellied up to the bar laughing and singing drunken songs together like they'd just started a holiday. Their happy sun-burned faces chugged beer after beer to drink away the aching in the muscles of their hands.

Victoria sat in a back booth cloaked in a fitted black trench-coat and dark scarf awaiting her guests. As she swirled her finger around the rim of a glass of white wine, they finally arrived, it was Alexandra and Andrew. Vicky smiled and waved them over to her booth in the back.

"Thank you so much for meeting me." Victoria said, as the lights from passing cars shined through the glazed over window of their booth.

"Of course. You sounded so worried over the phone, why couldn't we meet at Collinwood?" Alex said, as she removed her warm jacket revealing a light brown sweater peppered with tiny white polka-dots.

"It was better that I saw you here...alone." Vicky answered.

"What's going on?" Andrew questioned.

"It's Curtis. He's ....well, he's chosen to stay with Angelique despite everything she's done and I don't know what to do. He wants to marry her. He told me. He wants to marry that WITCH!" Vicky snapped.

"Do you  believe him?" Andrew asked, his voice low and growl like.

Vicky lifted an eye brow, her heart told her no, but her mind knew Curtis would indeed marry Angelique as soon as he could.

"I've told him that I won't interfere with his choice but as you can imagine, I'm terribly worried." Vicky mentioned. "I know that, Alex, you've had some sort of connection with Angelique. I know that you're sort of bound with her. Is it really over? Are her powers gone?" Vicky asked, referencing Alexandra's absorption of Angelique's powers.

"Well I'm not bound to her by choice, I just want to get that straight. Somehow, I've....well, I've inherited what she once was." Alex pointed out.

" Alex has had to deal with a lot of terrible things since that night in front of the Old House where she and Angelique became connected. From then on it's been a whirl-wind. She's taken a lot on her own too." Andrew added.

"No, I don't mean Alex is anything like Angelique because of her abilities, not at all. I just....Alex, I'm terrified what Angelique could do next. She says she's been rendered powerless but just a few weeks ago she was still able to trick me into thinking you were all dead and trick you all into thinking she was someone else. How can I know if she's really telling the truth? How can I trust her with my son?" Victoria pleaded.

"You're right not to trust her Aunt Vicky. I wouldn't either, and I don't! The things Angelique has done over the years has truly been horrifying at best. What she did to you and to Curtis put her malice past even the most dangerous of creatures I've ever seen but ...she won't be allowed to anymore, she won't be allowed to roam this town and pretend that nothing ever happened. I'll make sure of that." Alex added.

Andrew's faced expressed worry. He loved Alexandra with all his heart and to think she would now put herself square in Angelique's cross-hairs was not what he wanted to hear.

"If you say she's dangerous, I don't want you dealing with her at all. That would be .... it would be insane!" Andrew noted.

"Angelique needs to be watched. We have to protect ourselves from her. She's tried all she could to get rid of me but I won't let her....I won't let her do anything to me or to anyone I love. Not anymore. Just last night Something around the old house has made me feel...well, the only way I describe it as is sick...very sick ." Alexandra explained. “It could be her, it could be Angelique, and because of that I know to be safer and to make sure she's kept under control.” She added

“Sick?" Vicky questioned.

"I can't explain it. It came and went very fast. I could tell it was a form of energy and it was radiating from the old house." Alex explained, not knowing her sudden illness corresponded exactly when Barnabas Collins entered back into the world of the living.

Vicky didn't like what she was hearing and Andrew's face continued to show strains of worry. His werewolf heart not solely in protection mode for the woman he loved.

 "None of this makes me feel any better." Vicky added.

"You have to trust me." Alex pushed.

"But... how can you be sure? How can we be sure we're in the clear when it comes to Angelique when you're getting sick feelings from the Old House---a place Angelique lived for years.” Andrew asked, he had no idea about this incident with the old house making Alex feel ill.

“I’m still getting used to all of the powerful forces inside me. I really don’t know. All I can is is be sure go keep an eye out for Angelique and whatever is going on at the Old house.” Alex further explained.

"I appreciate that" Vicky said, not feeling a bit material for her niece "but I have to ask, Who will keep you safe?"

Alex thought for a second and just before she was going to answer that she wasn't afraid of Angelique, with or without powers, Andrew grabbed Alex's hand and squeezed tightly and answered.

"I will."

Alex looked over at him and grinned. She was an incredibly powerful sorceress now, she didn't need a man to come for her and protect her and guard her from anything, but it still felt good to see that he was there for her in all shapes and forms. They had been through so much together. They had bonded so tightly. They had found each other in the most dyer of circumstances. She had lost the one man she thought she would be with forever, and suddenly found Andrew, their love was something she never expected.  She grabbed his hand under the table and squeezed.

"Vicky, you have my word that Angelique won't have any opportunity to hurt anyone ever again.I promise you, Curtis will be safe. If she even think about trying anything, I'll be there, I will stop her. We both will." Alexandra said.

Vicky took a sip of her wine and shook her head. She had no choice but to believe them. She had no way around Angelique, regardless of her powerlessness. It had to be this way. Vicky had to allow Curtis to make his own choices as a grown man despite the fact she felt he was making a huge mistake. It was the way it was going to be.

"It'll probably be a lot of work and I know that you can't watch her every second of the day. But whatever you can do, whatever you are willing to do, Alexandra, it would mean so much to me." Vicky added.

"Angelique is powerless now. I'm more a danger to her than she is to me." Alex said.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Andrew replied.

"I promise, you both, Angelique is done. She has what she's always wanted: Love. She's searched for so long to get someone who loves her just as much as Curtis says he does and that seems to do the trick. No amount of supernatural power is stronger than that of love." Alex said.

Vicky could see that Alex was right. But none of that quenched her suspicions of whether or not Angelique had changed her tune. All she could do now was hope for the best and pray that Alex and Andrew could not only keep Curtis safe, but the whole of the Collins family. Angelique was as unpredictable as a Collinsport storm. One minute calm and relaxed the next raging and disastrous.

Vicky checked her watch. It was getting late so she thanked Alex and Andrew and left money on the table for  her wine. She tightened the belt around her black trech-coat and slowly made her way through the busy Blue Whale.

"Do you really think you can take care of Angelique the way you told Vicky?" Andrew asked.

"I don't have a choice." Alex said as the waitress came up to the table.

"Just two ales please. " Andrew ordered with the nod of the waitress. "How can you make sure? How can you know for sure that she's really not doing anything to hurt anyone like she told Vicky?"

Alex smirked. She knew she had her ways and wasn't sure if she was ready to tell Andrew the full extent of her new found powers. She grabbed his hands and placed them firmly in hers.

"Close your eyes." She requested, as they both did in unison.

As the two closed their eyes, They were suddenly transported to the front door of Curtis' apartment. Andrew was shocked. He looked around and couldn't believe where he was. He tried to reach out to see if where he was standing was real or imagined with the hand that Alex was holding but Alex tightened her grip.

"Don't let go. Once you do, we'll be back at the Blue Whale." Alex warned.

"Is this real?"

"Sort of. Andrew I can take us anywhere in the world with just my mind. I can watch. I can see. I can make sure Angelique is who she says she is now without her even knowing I'm there." Alex explained.

"You're that powerful. You're that strong?" Andrew asked astonished with her power.

 "I am." She said equally as astonished at just how strong her powers had become since Angelique's lost it all. "I won't let anything happen any more to anyone I love." she added as she let go of Andrew's hand.

When she did, they were instantly back at the Blue Whale pub where the waitress was dropping off their beers.

"Well, aren't you two the cutest things in Collinsport." She giggled.

Alex and Andrew smiled




Vicky began her slow walk through the slick wet and dark streets of Collinsport when she began to hear someone following her.

She turned around and there was no one there.

Vicky started to walk again. She could hear the wind from the storm above slash through the trees like sword through a curtain and with that the sound again came from behind her of foot steps.

Vicky turned.

Again No one.

Vicky began to pick up the pace, her heart now racing her mind started to jump to conclusions and all of her fears started to bubble up and choke her. Was this Angelique following her? Was this the supposed former witch coming to end her once and for all.

Vicky started to make her way up a street where her car was parked that was slightly up hill. The footsteps behind her grew closer and closer and each time she turned around there was no one there. Vicky began to think she was losing her mind, she began to worry that all her time at Windcliff had truly made her insane. She started to rush up the hill when her heel slipped on the slick ground and she fell.

"Need some help?" A voice said.

When Vicky opened her eyes, it was her old roommate at Windcliff, Dominique do Arco.

"My god! What are you doing here? You just took off the other night when we got to Collinwood! Where'd you go?" Vicky asked, not knowing Dominique was just a spirit sent to guide her home.

"I have had a lot of things to take care of since I've come back." Dominique explained helping Vicky to her feet.

"I never got to thank you for helping me back to my family. Were you able to reconnect with David after all? I know how much you wanted to see him." Vicky asked.

Dominique thought about those words, "reconnect with David". She felt almost silly for even trying and guilty for what she had done to Siobhan, but her heart, or what was left of it in her ghostly body had only wanted for David to know of their daughter. He had to. He had to meet her. David was practically all their daughter had in the world aside from Gabriel, and even his light would dim eventually.

"You know? I think that I still need to." Dominique said cryptically.

"Ok. Well, why don't I drive you up to Collinwood. I'm sure he'd love to see you and listen, I owe you that much!" Vicky offered.

"No!" Dominique shouted to Vicky's surprise. "I need to do it on my own and....in my own time. There's something he doesn't know that I need to tell him before I move on. Before I find my way."

"Well, I guess that makes more sense." Vicky said reaching into her purse for her keys. When she looked up again Dominique was gone.

Vicky looked around. Up the street, down the street. The wet fog had now covered the entire area so thick that only the street lamps lit up like starts floating in the sky.

Vicky tightened her coat. The chill the suddenly rushed over her body was not the kind that came from the elements of the autumn night she was standing in. It was the bone freezing sign she had felt many times before when she was around someone or something of the spirit world.

Vicky stood in the street for just a few moments longer as the realization of what Dominique could really be crept into her mind. A spirit. But how? It wasn't making any sense...but she quickly rushed off to her car and drove off back home.

Where she was safe. Where she was protected. Where she felt nothing could hurt her.
At least for a while.

*****

There was a glowing light burning in the cozy living room of the Rose cottage on the Collinwood ground. Julia sat in a chair with a glass of red wine looking through an old picture book of Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard's that had been left in one of the old trunks in her bedroom. Julia smirked at the pictures of baby Carolyn and in the later pages photos of little David and his mother Laura. All memories of a time gone by.

As the fire burned in the hearth, it projected the warmth in the storm like a spring afternoon, Quinn made her way in, with a stern look on her face and her hands behind her back.

"Hi." Julia said with a smile. "Look at this pictures. Carolyn was such a cute baby." 

Quinn didn't say a word but only stared at Julia sternly. 

"There's even some of David. I remember him as a boy. He was just all over the place and no one could tame him. You know, sometimes we'd find him at the Old House just going through things like a thief in the night. Roger had his hands full all the time." Julia reminisced but Quinn still did not respond.

Julia noticed Quinn's lack of response. She closed the picture book and stood up.

"Something the matter?" Julia asked of her grand-daughter.

Quinn said nothing but revealed what she was hiding behind her back in one hand. The broken syringe that Julia had planned on using on Quinn in an attempt to sedate her and remove her ideas of finding out about Julia's murderous past. 

Julia lifted an eye brown at Quinn's discovery. 

"Ins't it an odd thing for someone to go through the garbage? I find it odd." Julia said cynically. 

"It's not that odd when you feel like there's something someone isn't telling you and you live in a world full of secrets and betrayals. What was this for?" Quinn said.

"Quinn, I think you should know that..." Julia aid stalling before Quinn interrupted again.

"I'm going to ask you just one more time, what was this for?"

"You. It was for you." Julia replied point blankly. 

"And what would it have done to me?" Quinn replied equally direct. 

Julia sat back down and tossed the picture book over to the sofa across from her. She shook her head as the truth began to spill out of her mouth.

"It would have allowed me to enter your mind in a much less guarded way. It's as simple as that Quinn." Julia replied.

"And why would you want to do that?" Quinn asked sitting on the sofa next to the book.

"To block you. I planned on blocking you from finding out what I had done so many years ago. But you're relentless. I guess I can see where you get that from. But I didn't. As you can see, Quinn, I destroyed the needle because I began to feel as if I was losing control of myself and that loss of control is what got me here in the first place. I couldn't bring myself to do it....I couldn't do anymore damage and become more and more like the monsters I fought so hard against. I stopped myself Quinn, I stopped myself." Julia replied.

"You were going to ...what? Brain-wash me?" Quinn said, her stomach turning in knots.

"I was desperate. It was the only way I could ...I don't know....keep you away from the truth of what really happened." Julia confessed.

Quinn's eyes began to water. She began to see her grandmother for the woman that she was: a haunted and embattled human being that was constantly wrestling with the darkness in her past. A woman who's life was a never ending carousel of shame and secrets that finally caught up to her, and perhaps was on the verge of breaking her. 

"All I want, all I've ever wanted was to know where I came from and what happened to my father's family. He never knew. He died not knowing the truth, he died never seeing you again. Your own son left this world believing you never wanted him and ....I just can't understand how you can live with yourself, how you've been able to live with yourself all these years never reconciling what you did to him!" Quinn said as the tears began to flow from her green eyes.

"Quinn, you have to listen to me when I tell you this. My life has never ever been easy after what happened to my first husband, your grandfather. I made the choice that my son Michael be free of me because I was no good, not him. He was just a baby and ...what I did was too horrible, I couldn't ever face him again. He was better of without me." Julia confessed.

"What? What did you do that was so horrible that my father had to live his whole life in a home where the people that raised him weren't the people that brought him into the world?" Quinn questioned.

Julia had had enough. She was tired of the secret she had kept almost 70 years, through time and space that she had never even told another living soul before. She had never said it out loud, until:

"I KILLED HIS FATHER! I DID IT!"

Quinn sat back in shock. She sat there not knowing what to say as Julia sobbed in her chair. 

"It was a horrible mistake. An accident. I was trying to kill myself and ... and the gun went off and I killed my Lawrence, your grandfather Quinn. I did a horrible thing. I .... I wish I could change it, I wish I could be like Vicky and go back in time and take away all the pain and all the hurt and everything, but I can't. Instead I've just tried to cover it up with lie after lie and scheme after scheme. I tried to move on. I let work take over my life. I let Barnabas take over my life. I let everything at Collinwood take over my life. I just became ....void. I let my past die with Lawrence. I've been lucky in that sense I guess, I've had things to come into my world to take me away from that truth where I would never have to look in the eye again, but now you're here and, I can't run any longer. I just can't."

There was silence in the room except for Julia's sniffling. Quinn was in shock.

"Say something...." Julia begged. 

"It was an accident?" Quinn replied softly.

"It was."  Julia confirmed truthfully. "It was a horrible mistake. And Michael, your father, was better off without me. Having to look him in the eye each day after that would have killed me too. Instead I let him go. He was better of living with people who could protect him better, people who weren't monsters like I was." Julia said, still sobbing.

"He never knew. You should have told him. I think he would have understood with time." Quinn said, her voice still soft and calm contrasting Julia's terror.

"I should have killed myself too! I should have just ended it all that pain!" Julia said.

"STOP! That's...just stop! It's over now. It's over." 

Quinn had heard enough. She had been a lawyer long enough, too, to detect a lie when someone spoke it and she could see in her grand-mother's face that was un-altered by time, that she was telling the truth.

Quinn got up and placed the broken syringe on the table and knelt down at  her grandmother's feet and lay her head on Julia's lap.

The two women cried together in the glow of the fire place. 

Then a knock at the door that startled their two tear-stained faced. Quinn composed herself and rushed over to the door and opened it.

Carolyn walked in with a pale look on her face. 

Julia noticed immediately. 

"What is it? What's happened?" Julia said, wiping her face. 

"David just called me from the Old House." Carolyn answered.

"And?" Julia asked.

"It's Siobhan. She's ....I don't quite know how to explain it. But she's vanished." Carolyn answered. 

Julia stood up like a dart when the news of her daughter Siobhan's vanished came from Carolyn's mouth. Julia made her way over to Carolyn who never left the front doorway  to get more information.

"How? How is she gone?" Quinn asked.

"Carolyn tell me. I can tell you're not telling me everything." Julia asked, reading Carolyn's body language as the drips of rain on Carolyn's shoulders glistened in the dim light of the room.

"Siobhan's gone, but Barnabas has come back. Siobhan was trying to bring Barnabas home with the use of this paranormal scientist and in doing so she opened some sort of door, a portal where Barnabas could come out of. And He did, but she fell in, Julia. She’s gone to the other side."

Julia's heart sank. Her blood ran cold. And her own life flashed before her very eyes of the various trials and tribulations she had suffered with Barnabas and his travels through time space and other dark dimensions. 

****

The Evans family cottage was as quiet as a grave yard. Rife with anxiety and torment of what had happened at the old house and how Serena was some how a target of Siobhan's.

Serena sat on the sofa entombed in the warmth of a blanket staring at the wall her mind going back to the split second she almost fell into the opening between two worlds, but escaped disaster when Siobhan fell instead.

"Here drink this, it'll calm you." Maggie said coming in from the kitchen.

Serena looked into the mug and allowed the sweet aroma of chamomile tea to fill the air around her face calming her.

"I never want to go back to that place ever again. I never ever want to see another Collins family member for as long as I live." Serena said, tears in her eyes.

"I know its hard to fathom what happened, honey, but you're going to be ok. It's over." Maggie said as Sebastian came through the front door.

"David says there's no sign of Siobhan. She's really gone." Sebastian said sitting next to Serena and grabbing her hand.

"What about Barnabas? Is it true he really came back after Siobhan fall through that....that...opening?" Maggie wondered.

"I saw it with my own eyes." Serena replied blankly. "Hes back. In the flesh."

Maggie paused and took a deep breath. It was probably her worst nightmare come to life. The man that caused her decades of pain and terror. Half of her life was all about getting rid of that stain in her past, the dark stain that she could never seem to remove. It would fade at times, but always, one way or another the stain that was Barnabas Collins on the town and the people of Collinsport always made it's wack to the surface.

"He can't hurt you. I won't let him." Sebastian said to Serena who fell into his arms.

Maggie got up from her chair and patted Serena on the shoulder to help comfort her. She walked over down her hallway passed photos of her father and her mother, photos of her daughter Kat and Kat's family living happily in Paris. She smiled and felt good about their safety away from Collinsport, but worried for her son Sebastian and Serena.

Maggie walked into her room and sat on her bed. She opened a drawer to a side table and pulled out a large 12 inch stake, sharp and ready to stab anyone or anything that dared hurt her family. This time, she would not allow any more pain. If Barnabas Collins even dared to enter her house to continue any sort of torment of them....he would cease to exist, and Maggie would feel no guilt from it.

From now on, Maggie was going to protect her home and her family with all the vengeance and strength she could muster. Once and for all, she would be in control.

As she sat on her bed, clutching the weapon, her eyes flashed a bright yellow, a remnant of her controlled lycan ability. Maggie Evans would no longer live in fear of the shadow man.

****

The storm continued to pour rain down on Collinsport like a powerful waterfall that never stopped. The energy in the air was like a electrical transformer had exploded leaving the residual bursts of nervous energy in the air. It was palpable. Everyone in town could feel it.

At a small diner, sitting in a booth with bright red patent leather booth seats was District Attorney Gabriel do Arco. This was a man on a mission. A man who had come to Collinsport because he made a promise long, long ago, to his dead sister Dominique that he would always protect her in life and in death and with that promise her daughter. He raised India, Dominique and David's daughter while both her biological parents were absent.

Gabriel's powers were those of a being who was blessed, anointed by something otherworldly. He was a man who was a guardian, a protector, a person who's abilities were for the good of man-kind even when there was so much evil around him and those he promised to protect.

He was at this diner, under the bright orange light that hung above his head waiting. As the time passed, he finally saw a car pull up, and a woman jump out dressed in black, her face shaded by the shadow of the umbrella protecting her from the elements of the rain.

The car drove off, and the woman walked into the diner. She closed the umbrella allowing water to spill all over the floor and spotted Gabriel in the furthest booth in the diner. She walked over and sat down across from him and grabbed his hand.

Her eyes were a sparkling hazel, her hair a curly dark brown tied up in a small bun with a few wild curls that escaped and hovering over hear ears.

"It's so good to see you! I've missed you so much." The young woman said with a pouty lipped smile.

"India, you have no idea how much I've missed you too. How is New York?" Gabriel said to his Niece India.

"You know. Crazy. Busy. All over the place. Just like I like it." India smiled. "Your messages the last few days have had me worried. I know you said you started working here because of something that had to do with my mother, but I don't understand the connection." India said of her deceased mom and her connection to Collinsport.

"Yes, well it really has to do with a promise I made her before she died and when she was pregnant with you. When I came here, it was to not only work as the District Attorney but also to fulfill that promise."

"I don't understand." India said confused with her uncle's actions.

"India I promised your mother that when the right time came, when everything was where it needed to be, I would find a way to connect you to the family you belong to, to the father you've never met. Things have a strange way of coming together when you least expect them to, and here, in this town is where this family and your father are. They're here, India." Gabriel explained.

India was confused. Her whole 21 years of life had been such a strange existence. She knew of a man that lived on the east coast that was her father. Gabriel had always told her this as she grew up, but she never knew why she couldn't meet him. She never knew why it was so important for Gabriel to be able to control the when and how she reconnected with her biological father and his family. It was a constant secret that she lived with, and at times resented, but never the less accepted.

And now, after all these years, after all the time she had wasted worrying about how she would finally meet the man that she was half of, it was now time. And her stomach was in knots.

"I don't know if I'm ready. There's so much I can't explain to my father about myself and I don't know if...I don't know. I don't know if I'm ready!" India said in a panic.

"What would you have to explain of yourself? You're a beautiful, caring young woman who attends NYU and you're doing all you can to be the best person you're able to be. That's a wonderful thing, India, your father and his family will be thrilled to have you in their lives.

Gabriel and Dominique weren't the only two in this small family to be keeping secrets. India too knew that she could sense the world of the other side all around her. She knew all about her uncle Gabriel's abilities to see those that have come and gone, because she could too. She could sense them, see them, hear them, feel them. The world of the supernatural had terrified her all her life, so much so, she kept her gift a secret.

India looked out of the window in the blustery cold Collinsport night. The rain continued to pour down as if it would never stop. The thunder clapped and flashed in India's eyes, she knew that there was something about her that she had been keeping from her uncle that if he knew he could never, would never, understand. A secret that perhaps, only the members of the Collins family could really comprehend themselves.

"I just want to be sure I'm ready." India said, knowing full well that eventually things would all come out in to the open. When, this would happen, was another questioned.

"There's no time like the present" Gabriel said, his hand squeezing India's.

 Gabriel had to fulfill this promise to Dominique, that when the time was right David and India would meet. That time was now, the planets seemed to have aligned and now, this day, in this town, David Collins would meet his long-lost daughter, mothered by the woman he had an affair with 20 years before while they were both trapped at Windcliff.

India turned back from the thunderous window and smiled. She knew too, deep in her heart that it was time. All her questions, and all her worries about what this family, this family she never knew would finally be answered.



David, for his part, had a photo of her. A photo left by Dominique one night when her spirit came to him and left the photo out on the veranda while the fog of that night rolled past Collinwood. David too was wondering where this young woman was, David too had questions, David too was curious and scared and unsure about everything that was about to happen, even though he had no idea India was already in town.

But David had bigger fish to fry. He placed the photo of this mystery girl named India down on the coffee table in the drawing room and headed to the old house to see the man he hated more than anything in this world for all the pain and suffering he had caused over the decades, it was time David spoke to the returned Barnabas Collins.

****

David arrived quickly at the Old House despite being pelted by pouring wind and rain. He saw that the front parlor was lit by candelabras, hallmark of Barnabas Collins being home. David stepped up to the front door, the smell of the burning candles surrounded him even from the outside. He wasted no time and burst through the front door causing small puddles on the inner door stop where his soggy feet were standing.

Unfazed by the rough entrance, Barnabas stood up and walked over from his parlor to greet his cousin David.

"You should have knocked." Barnabas said with a twinge of sarcasm.

David was unmoved by Barnabas' lighthearted wit, he followed his vampire relative into the parlor leaving the front door open.

The sound of the pouring rain came in from the open door. It sounded much like the white noise machines that Lucas Granger used to contact Barnabas on the other side.

"Where's Granger's body?" David asked looking at the floor where Barnabas had bitten and killed the man responsible for him return.

"I've taken care of it, you don't have to worry." Barnabas said sitting in a chair dressed in purple smoking jacket. "Come, sit by the fire young David, warm yourself."

"What do you mean you've taken care of it?" David wondered.

"I mean just that. He won't bother anyone else. Ever again. Now, tell me, to what do I owe this sudden visit?"

David's angry was obvious. He was angry that Barnabas was back. He was angry that Siobhan had fallen into the opening of the two worlds which allowed for Barnabas' return, and he was angry that there was nothing he could do to bring her back in place of the man that had caused him so many decades of pain and suffering. All David wanted, was his wife back, all David wanted was for things to come how, once and for all be normal.

"David, there's no use in hiding your feelings from me, you know that I can tell and I can feel exactly what you feel. We've always been connected that way. We've always been two peas of the same pod, haven't we? We were close once and I know that my presence here makes you angry, anxious even." Barnabas said dropping the book in his hand to his lap.

"You're damn right it does." David replied as he sat across from Barnabas.

"What can I do to make it better? What do you need from me to make you feel more comfortable?" Barnabas asked.

"You just don't understand. You've never been able to understand. All you've done is come here and live here infecting us like a plague and we've all just sat back and allowed it to happen. Now my wife is GONE and in her place is you....and look at you? You're sitting here in an old smoking jacket acting like its fine that my wife--your daughter--is gone floating around some neither world. I mean, this is insanity!" David shouted as he got up from the chair and stared up at Barnabas' painting.

"You assume I'm not worried about Siobhan? That I haven't gone over a million times how to get her back here to you baby....and to you? I love Siobhan too David, she's my child, I helped raise her years ago. I would never wish what happened to her on anyone, least of all my own child." Barnabas calmly explained.

"You don't care." David said in a hushed tone.

Barnabas got up from his chair, his face calm and collected. Nothing seemed to bother him. David's accusations that Barnabas had only returned to suit some selfish need to constantly smother the Collins family, generation by generation, with pain and suffering was insulting but Barnabas knew it came from a place of hurt from David. David was angry, but mostly he was hurt.

"I have always cared. In my whole existence there was nothing I wanted more than to be apart of this family. A member that gave as much as he took from the privileged we all live in. But as you know David, as you all know, there are things beyond my control that I could not foresee. Being what I am...being......what I was turned into did not give for an easy life. I did what I could to keep my secret, I did what I could to protect you and Carolyn from everything that I was. The truth of the matter is, there was nothing I could do more to protect you all. I was what I was, and I am what I am. I can't apologize for that." Barnabas explained.

David took a deep breath. He knew deep down that there was truth in Barnabas' words. Barnabas too never asked for any of it. Barnabas too never truly wanted to be the monster, the thing, that he was, but nothing changed the fact that Siobhan was still gone.

"I just want to know how you're going to get my wife back." David said turning to Barnabas and looking him dead in his dark eyes.

Barnabas turned slowly and walked over to a small bar set up. He grabbed a two glasses and a bottle of his favorite Sherry and poured them both a glass to relax them before he responded.

"I'm not going to get her back." Barnabas said coldly.

David became enraged and swatted the glasses of Sherry out of Barnabas' hands into the fire causing the flames to burst into a loud roar lighting the whole room for a split second as the heat ate up the alcohol spilled on it's embers and lunged at Barnabas grabbing at his throat. The heat from the fire mimicking the hate inside David's boiling blood.

David's teeth gritted, his jaw tightened and his hand squeezed around Barnabas' throat.

"You're going to allow my wife, YOUR DAUGHTER, to languish in that ...hell forever?"

Barnabas grabbed at David's hand and tried to peel it off.

"That's not what I said." The vampire replied in a tight voice.

"DAVID STOP!" A voice said coming from the parlor entrance. It was Julia, arriving from the Rose Cottage after Carolyn's reveal that Barnabas, Julia's ex-husband had returned again.

"I should just kill this freak once and for all!" David said squeezing Barnabas' throat again.

"That wouldn't solve anything and you know it! Siobhan needs you to be strong, and you need to have a clear head." Julia said as Carolyn entered the room too gasping at the image of David choking Barnabas.

"David, please!" Carolyn replied.

"The four of us will figure it out, David. We'll get Siobhan back. I promise you, I will not leave my daughter to suffer in that place, I wont!" Julia shouted.

David released his grip from Barnabas' neck. The two stared at each other and David began pacing back and fourth. He turned to Barnabas and turned back to Julia.

"The two of you. Both of you. Figure this out. Get Siobhan back to her son, me and to our family or I will make sure that for the rest of your miserable lives you suffer just like Siobhan is right now. I promise you that." David said as he quickly made his angry exit from the old house.

"He still doesn't understand." Barnabas said softly.

Carolyn shook her head. "He's been through too much, Barnabas. You know that. How else can we expect him to react?"

"I can't believe you're really back." Julia said her eyes glowing with a strange glow of love and hate that for decades had plagued her whole life for a man she wanted to with, but could not control.

"For now." He replied.

"What do you mean?" Carolyn asked.

Barnabas stood up and walked over to Carolyn, he adjusted his collar, ruffled from David's attack. He smirked and gave her a kiss on each cheek. She stared up at him unsure of what he meant, what he wanted and what he planned to do.

"You'll understand in due time, my darling cousin, in due time." Barnabas answered as he made his way up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms of the old house leaving Julia and Carolyn in the parlor to wonder.

Where they safe having this man roaming their world again? What could Barnabas Collins possibly have planned this time around? Their ultimate fear was that all of this could be their undoing, that Barnabas' return, this time, could spell disaster for not only the Collins family and Collinwood but the whole town of Collinsport.

Barnabas Collins was a dangerous because of his unpredictability.

But that is where the family members were wrong. Despite it all there was a heart that did indeed beat underneath the dark facade of the vampire. He was desperate to get his daughter Siobhan back, he was in utter dismay to think that his kind beloved Siobhan was being tormented in the under-world that she did not belong to, usurped by a terrible incident because of Dominique's jealousy of her.

Barnabas was not ignoring this fact, he wasn't attempting to brush it under the rug and pretend it never happened and that he was happy living in the world of the living while Siobhan was suffering, which at one time in his life he might have done.

On the contrary.

 He was biding his time. He was plotting Siobhan's recovery one calculated step at a time because he could not bring her back without one final thing. He too needed to find peace. He too needed to finalize and recognize the pain that was caused not by his own doing but by the curse laid upon him centuries ago.

Before he could bring Siobhan back in to this world, he  needed to break free of his anger and resentment of the curse itself, and only Angelique Bouchard could do that with him.

He needed to speak to Angelique and end their feud once and for all, forever lifting the curse she placed on the Collins family that came in the form of Barnabas Collins.

He needed to find and speak to Angelique. One. Last. Time.

Series 11/Chapter 8: THE RECKONING

Lucas and Serena at the Old House as Barnabas returns via the portal

Sunrise. The brilliance and warmth of the sun. With this new day a kind of score settling within the grounds of the Collinwood estate will begin. A connection to the past will be made, and line of communication to another world will be sought, and death once again will arrive on the Collins family doorstep.

David bounced down the main staircase buttoning his clean white shirt cuffs. He looked around the corner in a smaller room adjacent the drawing room and came out unsatisfied with what he found. Which was nothing.

He entered the drawing room where Maggie Evans and David’s older cousin Carolyn Stoddard-Thorne were enjoying a morning coffee and gossiping about the goings-on down in town.

"David! Hi hon! Coffee?" Maggie’s voice sang, leaping over the furniture and into the foyer to David’s wondering ears.

"You ok?" Carolyn asked handing him a mug.

"Have you seen Siobhan? She got up super early this morning and I haven’t seen her." David asked.

"No." Carolyn replied. "Maybe she’s already made her way out to Windcliff."

"Without saying goodbye?" He wondered.

"Don’t worry, hon, she’s probably busy now that she’s back at work." Maggie assured him.

David accepted Maggie’s conclusion but still something didn’t sit well with him especially after his  bizarre run in with Dominique do Arco the night before where she had left him in a rush only with a mysterious photo of a young woman with his last name. A young woman with his last name and his eyes. David’s mind was all over the place, he could deduce from Dominique’s demeanor that India was the reason for her visit,  but her vanishing act was another story. He still couldn’t figure out how she disappeared so quickly and silently.

"What are you doing up here so early?" David said to Maggie sitting down in a chair with his coffee.

"Serena needed the morning off with John-Michael so I came over for her. She should be here later this afternoon." Maggie explained. "He’s still sleeping like an angel."

The threesome continued to chat among themselves when suddenly Sebastian, Maggie’s son and Serena’s boyfriend walked into the house unannounced in a panic.  He rushed upstairs and said nothing to Maggie, Carolyn and David in the foyer who were startled by his sudden entrance.

"What the devil?" Carolyn said as she turned to Maggie who embarrassingly stood up.

"I’m sorry, I’ll see what’s going on."

Maggie quickly made her way after her son, her heart sinking to her stomach with embarrassment.

David, finding a window of opportunity alone with Carolyn, pulled out a the photo of his daughter with Dominique, who’s name was India, from his inside jacket pocket that was slumped over the back of his chair. He stared at it for a moment then placed it down on the coffee table face up. It was astonishing how much India resembled Carolyn’s mother Elizabeth.

Carolyn sipped from her small opal colored coffee mug and grinned.

"What is this?"

"Who does she look like?" David wondered.

Carolyn’s brow furrowed. She grimaced and snatched up the photo from the table to get a closer look.

"Well I don’t know. She’s lovely, but I can’t tell you who she looks like. She does look familiar." Carolyn confirmed.

"You don’t think she looks like your mother at all?" David lead.

"I can see that, yes. She does have my mother’s eyes. She’s beautiful." Carolyn agreed, flipping over the photo and reading the name out loud and adding two-and-two together.

Her eyes widened, her hand’s suddenly began to give a little shake with shock, it was now obvious what David was trying to tell Carolyn. The girl in the photo was his, a daughter.

"India do Arco....Collins???"  Carolyn read from the back of the photograph. "David....no!!"

"I don’t know how to tell Siobhan. I didn’t even know she was mine, or that she existed until last night. An old girlfriend came by and told me about. I thought maybe Siobhan had overheard or something and was angry and that’s why she’s not here." David answered.

"David, I don’t know what to say. How do you think Siobhan will react?" Carolyn replied shaking her head.

David looked at a small photo on a side table of his wedding to Siobhan and picked it up. "I don’t know." He answered.  "With everything that’s happened with Vicky and Curtis and Angelique and Julia and Quinn, I just don’t know how much more Siobhan can take. It’s been a lot for her the last few months."

"It’s been a lot for all of us, but that’s the thing about the women in this family, darling, we can take anything. You need to tell her before it’s too late. It’ll become a secret as time goes on, and right now you just found out too, so it’s not a secret. Tell her." Carolyn advised.



Up in the main hallway, Maggie caught up with Sebastian coming out of John-Michael’s nursery where he was sleeping. She stopped him in the hall’s long red carpet. He was in a stressed and frightened state, out of breath and sweating. Maggie was  alarmed with her son’s behavior. Her pulse was racing her mind going in all directions knowing that something was clearly wrong.

"What’s happened, is John-Michael ok?" She whispered as the baby was sleeping.

"He’s fine, but Serena isn’t." Sebastian said.

"What do you mean?"

"Mom she didn’t come home last night. I waited for her until almost 2 am. I fell asleep and when I woke up the bed on her side was the same. I came here thinking maybe she slept over but she’s not here either." Sebastian explained.

"Well, no, she messaged me yesterday in the evening asking me if I could cover for her with the baby while she ran an errand until this afternoon. She didn’t tell me anything else. Where could she be?" Maggie wondered.

"I, I don’t know. I called her all night and she never answered. I called this morning and nothing...she wont pick up." Sebastian continued.

"This doesn’t make sense. She told me she had something to do this morning but wasn’t specific." Maggie replied.

"I really have a bad feeling about this. She... she was really spooked about Barnabas...you don’t think..." Sebastian began before Maggie interrupted.

"Ok, Ok...don’t panic. There has to be a logical explanation for what’s happening. Siobhan was gone early this morning too, I have a feeling they might be together. It’s just too much of a coincidence ." Maggie said.

"But You don’t think..." Sebastian said again before his mother Maggie interrupte once more.

"Just come downstairs. We have to tell Carolyn and David what’s been going on. We can’t keep it from then anymore. They have to know Barnabas was reaching out via the baby and we called Lucas. Siobhan and Serena are probably with Lucas now."

Sebastian’s body was already a nervous wreck, telling David and Carolyn that Barnabas, his spirit at least, was trying to break through the veil of the living and the dead via David’s son was not going to go over-well.


Maggie and Sebastian stepped back into the drawing room, immediately David and Carolyn looked up from their conversation about India to find out what was the matter with Sebastian.

"Everything ok?" David asked standing up to greet them as they entered.

"David we need to talk." Maggie replied as she sat down next to Carolyn.

"Is it John-Michael? Is he ok?" The baby’s father worried.

"No, no, he’s fine. For the most part." Maggie added.

"What does that mean?" Carolyn worried.

Maggie and Sebastian looked at each other waiting for the other to drop the truth. Maggie took control.

"Serena came to us a few weeks back and told us that something strange had been  happening with the baby. Something very strange. When we investigated more, we discovered that ..." She paused the horror of the next part of the truth she knew, would shake Carolyn and David to their core. "I just want you two to stay calm when I tell you this."

"Maggie, what the hell is going on here! If my son is in danger, I want to know!" David yelped.

"David, please I need you to stay calm." Maggie said, knowing David’s relationship had always been rocky at best.

"Please." Sebastian added.

"We discovered that Barnabas has been trying to make contact via the baby, and Serena was there and she saw him, and rather than alarm you all, I contacted a friend of mine that has worked on closing fishers in the fabric of our dimensions that allows spirits to attempt contact. We wanted to vanquish Barnabas forever without worrying anyone here." Maggie said, finally dropping the Barnabas bomb.

"You can’t be serious!" Carolyn shot back, her voice raised in shock. As much as Carolyn adored Barnabas and missed him, she knew deep in her soul that their small world atop Widow’s Hill perhaps was better off without him, but hiding the fact he was attempting to reach out was a blow she did not expect from one of her best friends.

"Siobhan found out too on the night we tried to close the connection Barnabas was making and we think that she and Serena are together right now trying to finish job." Sebastian answered.

Carolyn and David felt their blood run cold. Carolyn looked pale and sat back down on the sofa. David’s eyes were seeing red. He was furious at their secret keeping and even worse, Siobhan, the woman he loved the woman he was so dreading telling his own secret to was in on the betrayal.

David’s face instantly changed. If anyone had a true hard spot for Barnabas, it was David. His past with the man who came and turned his world upside down as a child and subsequently traumatized him with nightmares and paralyzing anxiety and stress was a constant thorn in his side. He needed to make sure Barnabas stayed gone forever.

David looked at Maggie and Sebastian and let out growl: "Where are they."

   ****

As a cloudy day began to fill the sky above Collinsport, a vibe began to flow into Alexandra’s bedroom as she sat a plush white chair reading a book she had found in her room that she never finished. It was the book she brought with her from London 4 years ago when she first arrived in Collinsport with her mother Carolyn in search of her father Jack.

“Dracula.”

She flicked through the pages as a sudden urge to feel sick came upon her. She grabbed at her throat. She got up from her char, the book fell to the floor and rushed over to the bathroom that was attached to her bedroom and began to throw up.

Something wasn’t right... something dark was coming. Alex could feel it. Alex felt in her body.

She looked into the mirror, her eyes were flickering different colors and then suddenly stopped; both of her eyes, even the whites turned black.

Alex shook her head still feeling ill, still feeling the queasy uneasiness of this sudden and unexplainable illness. She couldn’t stand to look in the mirror anymore, the haunting flickering of her eyes began to frighten her.

But what was it? What was this horrible feeling washing over like this?

She slowly walked her weak body over to a soft chair near a window that looked out onto the Collinwood lands. Alexandra looked out into the deeper folds of the land and saw The Old House.
Barnabas Collins’ beloved home. And something clicked. Alex could feel the shadows lurking just around that house...

Darkness was indeed near.

****

While Maggie and Sebastian broke the news of the attempts to contact Barnabas at the main house,  Lucas, Siobhan and Serena were setting up the drawing room at the Old House for Barnabas Collins.

Lucas carefully placed the cameras up around the room again ready to snap a photo of anything supernatural attempting to make contact. Serena clumsily placed white-noise recorders around the room. Siobhan flipped through the blank photos of the first attempt hoping to see her father’s face make a break through, her nerves on edge.

Lucas looked over at Siobhan and sat down next to her on the sofa and grabbed her hand. They were about to double-cross Serena and release Barnabas by pushing Serena into the void, in essence switching Barnabas’ place within the realm of the dead so that he could roam free with the living.

"Remember, an eye for an eye, a soul for a soul." Lucas whispered.

Siobhan looked over at the unsuspecting Serena and closed her eyes. Her guilt was bubbling up but the need to see her beloved adopted father Barnabas was stronger.

"I hope I can do this." Siobhan whispered back.

"You just have to push. Just one big push." Lucas confirmed as he got up to finish his set up.

The clouds were beginning to form a large gray cap above Collinsport. It was a storm. It swirled and filled the sky with a massive energy that was palpable outdoors. There was a cold wind brushing up from the sea that pushed up against the windows causing the frail glass to rattle against it’s iron frame.

Siobhan could feel it, she could sense that what they were about to do was really going to happen. She was read.

Off in the corner of the room watching closely. Listening and observing every detail was the invisible spirit of Dominique do Arco. She had followed Siobhan to the Old House. She wanted to see just who this woman was that the love her of her life David, was so committed to.

Dominique, her spirit glowing white without anyone seeing floated into the room and came up to Siobhan and looked her in the face making note of every freckle and every crease and beauty mark on Siobhan’s beautiful alabaster skin.

"She’s perfect." Dominique said to herself noting how beautiful Siobhan really was. It was no wonder David was so attracted to her.

As Siobhan sat there, she could feel the ice cold air surround her. Siobhan puffed out a deep breath and saw it like smoke from a cigarette then dissipate into nothing.

"He’s here." Siobhan said, mistaking Dominique’s ghostly presence for Barnabas’.

Lucas perked up from his camera. His eyes widened like saucers and dashed over to where Siobhan was.

"What do you feel?" He said extending his hands out to feel the cold air.

"It’s so cold. I feel cold." Siobhan answered.

Serena, backed away from the room, her stomach in knots.

"No! No, no! We need you in here. Come on, come on!" Lucas said, guiding Serena back into the drawing room of the old house.

"Listen I want to help keep John-Michael as safe from Barnabas as you do Siobhan but this is getting too serious for me. I’m ...I’m frightened." Serena said. "And doing this behind Maggie and Sebastian’s back...it’s doubly awful." She added.

"Your fear is only temporary, it’s all just an illusion I assure you. Maggi and Sebastian will come later. I promise too." Lucas said lying. He was determined to bring Barnabas back no matter who got hurt along the way.

Siobhan’s heart sank. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do to Serena but she had to, if she really wanted to bring her father back, she had to.

Dominique watched from her invisible state as Siobhan grabbed hold of Serena’s hands to comfort her.

"It’s going to be ok. Everything is, ok? Just trust me." Siobhan said, her heart beating the pulse of a liar.

"Let’s begin." Lucas announced.

Serena reluctantly turned on the white noise machines and Siobhan helped Lucas flick on the various cameras set up to snap photos as soon as the energy began to open up and release Barnabas.

The white noise machines became louder and louder, the wind outside became more forceful banging the trees against the windows.

There was so much noise, the hissing of the white-noise machines, the flickering of the cameras, the strong wind and ocean bashing up against the rocks out side.

"BARNABAS COLLINS... I CALL YOU... COME TO US, COME TO US AND BE FREE!" Lucas said, to Serena’s confusion. "OPEN YOUR WORLD AND COME BACK TO OURS, LISTEN TO THE NOISE AND FOLLOW IT. BARNABAS COLLINS, I CALL YOU OUT!" He continued.

Serena looked at Lucas, then she looked at Siobhan, then back at Lucas. The terror in her eyes was blaring, Siobhan held on to Serena’s hands, squeezing tightly when suddenly the wind burst open one of the windows and began to flow into the room like a damn breaking releasing gallons of water into the room.

As Serena began to understand that Lucas and Siobhan were actually conjuring Barnabas and not  banishing him she tried to break free from Siobhan’ grasp, but Siobhan held tight.

Suddenly, a light. A bright light in the center of the room formed. It looked like a crack in glass, just forming in the center of the room in thin air. Lucas’s eyes were glued to the crack. It was the fisher between the world of the living and the dead opening wider and wider, the crack suddenly lit up like a fire cracker, red, the yellow, then red then white. It started to expand and grow and spread light all over the room.

"BARNABAS! WE ARE HERE! JOIN US!" Lucas screamed over the loud white-noise machines and the wind.

Serena and Siobhan’s hair were flailing around their faces. Their clothes were flapping like flags atop a skyscraper for the powerful force of the storm outside.

"Please! No! Stop this! STOP THIS!" Serena screamed as the flashes of the camera’s began clicking away.

Then it happened.

Barnabas appeared, the opening, in the light, the crack between two worlds. There he was.

Serena screamed. His face was cold, his eyes were dark and seething. He was stepping through once again into the world of the living. Camera’s began to flash again capturing this moment he was standing there now, his shape forming slowly into a man of flesh and bones, no longer a spirit of supernatural matter. His body becoming fuller and more human like. But he could not move until Serena was pushed into the opening of light,

"NOW!!!!!!!!!!" Lucas screamed at Siobhan.

And without thinking Siobhan, yanked on Serena’s arm and began dragging her to the light. Serena was screaming and she fell to the floor, horrified of what was happening. Siobhan and Serena were now struggling for control of one another at the foot of the open portal to the other dimension. Serena needed to fall into the light filled fisher for Barnabas to be fully released into the mortal world.

Dominique, her soul too trapped between worlds, looked into the eyes of Barnabas Collins who’s face was now visible. They were two souls trapped in worlds they did not want to be in.

Dominique snapped. She knew there was one major obstacle in front of her for David and their daughter to reconnect. It was Siobhan. This was her chance to do it. Dominique knew too that the only way for Barnabas to be released was for someone to fall into the light in his place. Time was ticking, she had only a few seconds.

Dominique, in spirit form, and stone faced came to the two woman fighting on the floor of the drawing room at the old house. Siobhan and Serena were pulling and tugging at each other. Rolling around on the floor, Serena trying to save herself and Siobhan attempting to damn her into the world of the dead to free her father Barnabas.

"LET GO! LET GO!" Serena Screamed.

Siobhan didn’t say a word, something inside of her roared. This viciousness inside of her began to expose itself like no one had ever seen.

The camera’s flashed capturing the moment that showed to the naked eye the two woman suddenly stand up and part. Siobhan and Serena had no control over their own bodies now, Dominique, the ghost did. With all her strength and power.

Dominique then did what she felt she had to do to. She grabbed Siobhan by the neck and dragged her closer to the opening. Siobhan, unable to move could only scream terrfied of her body moving without her own power. Serena looked on in terror as she watched Siobhan’s body levitate a few inches from the ground and stand next to the burning light of the other world.

Dominique, squeezed as tightly as she could around Siobhan’s neck and pushed David’s wife into the fisher releasing Barnabas fully. The fisher exploded with Siobhan’s entrance knocking everyone to the ground and a giant bolt of lightening flashed and all the light bulbs exploded. The electricity in the house blasted off and the photo camera’s suddenly stopped flashing.

Lucas lie on the ground, his head bleeding from a hit to a coffee table. Then a hand reached down to his neck and lifted him into the air.

Lucas opened his eyes and he was now 4 inches off the ground, with Barnabas’s hand around his neck, the vampire showing full teeth. Hissing his call for blood.

Lucas screamed and tried to get away, he squirmed in Barnabas grip but the vampire had grown stronger and stronger while in the void of the dead.

"My god! It’s really you!" Lucas said to Barnabas through a strained voice.

Barnabas said nothing, he only snarled his lips and opened his mouth showing long fangs thirsty for blood. The camera’s began to flash again capturing the dark moment where Lucas was at the mercy of the man who had occupied so much of Lucas’ fascination. Lucas tried to scream but nothing came out. He tried to release himself from the vampire’s grip but it was impossible, Barnabas was too strong.

"Let............me.........go!!" Lucas managed to say in a struggled. But it was too late, and too much time had passed. Barnabas needed his life force.

Barnabas pulled Lucas down to his mouth and bit him on the neck. The blood spilled all over Lucas’s face and down his shirt. Lucas screamed and tried to get away but couldn’t. He was trapped in the clamp of a vampire’s kiss.

The blood squirted from the open wound on to Barnabas’ pale skin. Serena looked on in horror.

Dominique stood in her spirit form and saw that she had not passed into the void with Siobhan as she had hoped. She looked around and saw the monster standing in the center of the room blood around his mouth but then, like disappearing ink, the blood vanished from Barnbas’ face leaving no trace of Lucas on the pale man from the undead world.

Barnabas could sense Dominique’s energy; he looked around and tried to find the energy that he was feeling. He then noticed Siobhan was gone. He was incensed. Livid. His beloved daughter was on the other side in the world of the dead.

Siobhan’s  soul was the source of energy given to being a Barnabas back..., they had switched places.

Dominique quickly disappeared, vanishing into air to hide from Barnabas who had dropped Lucas’ body to the ground in a bloody heap. He walked around the room and saw that everything was in it’s place. He grabbed one of the cameras, and hit a bright red flashing button that replayed the photos it took on a small digital screen and saw what her feared most. A spirit had pushed Siobhan into the fisher to replace Barnabas.

 He growled and saw Serena passed out on the floor just feet away from Lucas’ dead body.

Barnabas Collins was home. And he was not happy.

As Barnabas surveyed his old home by stepping over Lucas’ body he growled at what the intruders had done to it. Just then David, Maggie and Sebastian burst into the old house hoping to stop what had already occurred.

Maggie gasped at Barnabas’ reappearance. Sebastian quickly rushed to Serena who was waking up slowly.

Barnabas and David’s eye met.

"I’m home cousin." Barnabas said, taking the first step to a family reunion.

"Where’s Siobhan?" David said, his voice angry.

Barnabas handed David one of Lucas’s cameras and said nothing.

David, confused, angrily snatched the camera from his vampire ancestor’s hands and flicked through the digital photos and saw the horrifying truth, Siobhan had falling into the fisher and was now in the void of the undead. David then looked closely and saw the face of Dominique, the culprit who pushed her.

"Jesus." David said in shock.

Maggie then screamed seeing her friend Lucas dead on the floor.

"A casualty." Barnabas said wickedly.

"Some things never change." David muttered as the storm outside began to drop thunderous rain. "Where’s my wife? Where is she damn it!!!" David screamed.

"She’s gone...for now." Barnabas replied. "My daughter was part of a cruel plot by the dead man right there. You see young David, they attempted to bring me back by playing a very cruel trick on that young woman. Serena. She was the one meant to fall into the other side. But something ....came and switched the rolls. I can already feel you know exactly who I’m talking about." Barnabas said, feeling David’s pulse in his mind, beating fast and faster with Barnabas growing closer and closer.

"Every time you come back to us one of us suffers. I can’t stand you." David bristled.

"Pity. I quite enjoy you. I always have despite what you think of me. " Barnabas answered.

"You’re demented." David short back.

"David." Maggie said unsure of how Barnabas would react to David’s insults.

Barnabas walked up slowly to David, he looked him over and rememberers the spirit of the young boy he met 50 years ago. A boy who was bright and inquisitive a boy who turned into this sinical and closed off adult. David had changed, and his resentment towards Barnabas was palpable, Barnabas could taste as if it were the blood he drank from Lucas’ ripe neck.

"I did not want this, David. As much as I wanted to be alive, the pull to this world from where I was--was not by me. It wasn’t. I swear to you. My choice would be to go away...forever, but this curse constantly brings me back. In which ever form it wants to. And now... true dead man’s twisted plot has not only bright me back but taken my daughter in my place." Barnabas calmly explained.

"You don’t deserve any pity. Not from me. Not from anyone. All the lives you took over the years ... you deserve nothing but hell." David replied.

"How do we get Siobhan back? How do we get her back?" Maggie yelped as Sebastian began to help Serena to the sofa and Lucas’ body continued to bleed out onto the carpet.

"I have to call someone. I have to call someone!!" Sebastian said motioning towards Lucas’ body.

“We’ll take care of it, just calm town honey. Just calm down.” Maggie said staring down at her friend’s dead body slumped on the floor in a bloody heap.

"All in due time. All in due time." Barnabas said lifting an eye brow.

He knew that things would not come easy this time around. He could feel the resentment and the fear but he was not about to cower in the face of a family that didn’t want him back.

Barnabas Collins, the ancient Vampire of Collinsport, Maine had returned to his rightful home again... and he had a mountain of unfisihed business to do on multiple fronts.

Siobhan, Barnabas and Serena as Barnabas returns again from the dead 

     

Series 11/Chapter 7: IN ROLLS THE FOG

Barnabas meets Gabriel in Julia's Mind

Often times we as people forget that our deepest darkest fears lie within us not because we fear the unknown, but because we fear what we already know. We know of the cruelty of humanity and what we are capable of doing to each other, but we don't always know just how far someone would go to keep themselves safe. Like a an animal cornered, the human rage can explode at any moment.

Quinn unknowingly dodged a bullet the night before when Julia decided not to use the serum to hypnotize her as a remedy at steering Quinn's unconscious mind in a different direction--away from the truth. Quinn's nerves were still on edge, however, when it came to her grandmother's secretive life and past that no one would tell her about.

Quinn's suspicions were getting the best of her, she could tell whatever Julia wasn't telling her was as explosive as a powder keg in a match store, begging to explode.

It was mid afternoon on an overcast gray Collinsport afternoon and Quinn sat in her office and stared down at paperwork. The words on the paper blurred in a mixture of black ink and white paper as her mind floated off into a distracted world of thoughts and "plan B's" ....what should she do next to look into Julia's secret? It was eating at Quinn from the inside out.

"Morning." A voice came from her office door.

Quinn lifted her emerald green eyes and saw her new boss Gabriel do Arco standing with a bright grin on his face.

"You ok?" He said, handing her a coffee from a cafe down the street.

"Sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind." Quinn said standing from her desk and removing a short jacket that matched the cream color of her office walls.

"Anything I can help with? I've been told I'm a very good listener and since I kind of already know there's some tension with Julia, I'm sure I can help." Gabriel answered.

"Listen, I know you're just trying to help but....it's just a really long story. My grandmother has gone through a lot and I'm really just trying to sort it all out." Quinn replied.

"Quinn, you can tell me anything." Gabriel said,  his eyes sparkling with fondness that peaked Quinn's interest.

Quinn grabbed the coffee from the table, her facial expression revealing a confused but intrigued look about Gabriel and his opinion of Julia.

"The other day in the car on the way to work, you said I needed to watch out for Julia. You were warning me of something. What was it? What do you know?" Quinn questioned.

"Sometimes we just have to watch out for ourselves and I could tell there was tension, or something going on with your grandmother. I'm very intuitive that way." Gabriel said, hiding the fact that he saw a vision of Julia attacking Quinn with a needed.

"I think maybe that's where I'm confused, Gabriel, there's no tension between my grandmother and myself." Quinn said trying to trap Gabriel figuring he knew more than he was leading on. "Where would you get that idea?"

Gabriel knew that Quinn was lying. He knew that there was something going on especially because his visions are never wrong. He looked at Quinn and could see that she was trying to find out the truth about something, something about Julia, but the truth would be hidden until Julia herself unlocked that secret.

 Gabriel sighed and decided that it was not his place to stir the secretive pot that Julia was burning.

"Whatever it is you're going through, I just want you to know that you don't have to be afraid. I would never let anything happen to you. Never." He said.

She looked over at the handsome man she knew as her boss and felt an ease wash over her entire body. There was something about him when he spoke. She believed every word. She, oddly, believed that he would protect her, she believed that he cared about her and when he told her to watch out for Julia, she believed that too. Which was the biggest reason for her anxiety.

Gabriel was a warm creature filled with some sort of light. He was there to protect people in a way that no one really knew and no one could understand if they knew. His mission was to shine light on all the darkest places and Collinsport was a breading ground for this type of place, it had been for decades.

His sister Dominique, who's life in the shadow world brought her back to finish what she started with David was only one of his many tasks...and now, protecting Quinn, beautiful auburn haired, emerald eyed Quinn, was on his radar.

"I think you know more than you're leading on Gabriel. I just wish people in this town told me the truth. Don't you feel it? Don't you feel the secrecy at every corner? I don't know how much more I can stand it. I just need the truth." Quinn complained as she sipped from her coffee.

"The truth is sometimes harder for people to understand than the reason for it being hidden. We can't always process the truth in a manner for all of us to comprehend, maybe that's why you're not getting it. Maybe that's why the people who love you are protecting you from it." Gabriel answered.

Quinn took this into consideration and allowed her mind to go into that thought process; would she really be better off not knowing the answer to her family's mystery?

 Gabriel's wise words burned inside of Quinn's ears as if he kept repeating them over and over again. But she knew herself better than Gabriel did. She needed the truth to move on.

"You're very wise Gabriel, but I think that keeping things locked away like I believe my grandmother is, is more destructive than just letting things be. I have to find out. I just have to know. This is my family too." Quinn replied.

Gabriel smiled, he understood, he knew that it was something incredibly important for her to connect and know everything there was to know about the family she was born into. Julia's murderous secret needed to come out. He reached over and grabbed her hand and as they touched and a flash of light shot into his mind instantly transporting him to the night before in Julia's bedroom.

He saw Julia in her room surrounded by darkness and the light of candles. He could tell she was scared, she was terrified. Gabriel could feel another energy. Something or Someone else was there with Julia.

Gabriel's heart was pounding. He could feel the electricity of that second being throbbing all around his own. It was horrible and he could sense that this malevolent spirit was from another dimension was there filling Julia with that paralyzing fear.

Then Gabriel saw it. The spirit. The energy that he was sensing, it materialized right before his very eyes: the face of Barnabas Collins. The vampire, the man lurking with the un-dead; staring back at Julia through the glass of the mirror. Gabriel stood in Julia's room, a recreation of the night through the touch of Quinn. It was all so real. Gabriel walked over to the bed where Barnabas was standing in the reflection, they were now both together in the in the mirror standing side by side.

The light, and the dark.

Barnabas turned to Gabriel and smiled.

"Well, you've bitten off more than you can chew, haven't you Mr. District Attorney."

"Who are....you?" Gabriel asked as the candle light floating around the room in an orange murky glow, Julia frozen in time as a memory.

"I am a lot of things, but this sensation you're having. A malevolence, a coldness. This ...dark figure I can see you are sensing. I'm not that. Yet I am. I'm like the moon...there is always a side in the shadow of the sun." Barnabas explained as he stared down Gabriel.

"The sun." Gabriel said softly, as he saw his own inner light glow like the candles all around him.

"That's right. We all carry both. Inner darkness. Inner light. I, perhaps, more than anyone one that has ever lived understand how each of us can fall prey to the pitfalls of living with both of them inside of us. Perhaps, you understand, being what you are." Barnabas continued.

"What do you know about me?" Gabriel growled.

"I can sense you too Gabriel. You are the sun, and perhaps I am the moon." Barnabas admitted.

Gabriel turned and looked at Julia frozen in time.

"Are you going to hurt her? Or Quinn?" Gabriel asked.

 "You fear me. I can sense it in you. I can taste it in your energy. Trust me, we're much more alike than we are different. Both of us from a type of world, created in the shadows of the supernatural.  Both of us fighting to keep our families together and both of us pushing for the truth to be born again. And no. I would never hurt Julia or Quinn. I care for them. I love them." Barnabas said turning from Gabriel and walking over to Julia who was sitting at her vanity, frozen as a figment of the vision Gabriel was having.

"We are not the same. I can't feel your heart beating...I can see the darkness within your mind. Are you the secret Julia is hiding from Quinn? Are you the reason she wants to take away Quinn's right to know her family history?" Gabriel questioned.

Barnabas laughed and looked at the image of Julia in the mirror. The vampire shook his head and looked back at Gabriel. He opened his mouth and hissed a cruel withering hiss with his fangs pointed and sharp, he needed the life force of blood to push him past his darkness but in the world of the un-dead, there was no such things as blood. Barnabas was thirsty, and the real world was calling him back. The sight of Barnabas' fangs scared Gabriel to his core.

"Unholy." Gabriel whispered.

"You have no idea." Barnabas answered with a grin.

"What do you want with this woman?" Gabriel asked referencing Julia.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You see Mr. Do Arco, for centuries  I've been wanting various things. I've wanted love, I've wanted freedom, I've wanted life, I've wanted death. And now, I want nothing from no one. Its like a freedom I've never experienced before. But I feel the pull...I feel the power of ....of I dont know....something. It continues to pull me here, to this time. Its a tether I can't remove from my spirit." Barnabas explained.

"Something sinister in you...something..."Gabriel began before being interrupted by the vampire's ghost.

"I can see that my mere presence frightens you, it makes you tense and hardens your stance, but I can assure you, I finally want nothing from anyone. I'm only here to warn you about what you're stepping into." Barnabas explained.

"What?" Gabriel asked.

"A world of smoke and mirrors. Julia's truth will come out, but trust me it will be on her own terms. Quinn will not be harmed. You can rest assured." Barnabas explained.

Barnabas then began to walk back towards where Gabriel was standing near the bed in Julia's room. Her stepped up to Gabriel, the man of light, the man of hope, the complete and direct opposite of Barnabas, the man of darkness, the man of destitution and grabbed his hand and lifted it up to his mouth. Barnabas opened his mouth and revealed his fangs again and began to come down on Gabriel's wrist.

Gabriel jolted away and found himself back in Quinn's office jolting his hand away from Quinn's.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Quinn asked.

Gabriel didn't know what to say. He had had another vision, this one much more powerful than he ever felt. He looked down at his wrist and saw some abrasions, two small marks on his wrist, like imprints that did not break skin. He remembered what Barnabas said.

"Sorry, I was day dreaming." Gabriel said to a confused Quinn.

Gabriel got up from her desk and turned back around to see her beautiful glowing face in the mid-morning sun coming through her office window.

"I'm here for you Quinn. Whatever happens, whatever you need. I'm here for you." Gabriel told her.

She saw his glow, just slightly, spark from his eyes. It was strange and she thought she was seeing things, and as he left her office she felt a strange and wonderful sense of calmness fall upon her out of no where. It was as if a warm blanket covered her whole body. It was a sense of protection and safety, a feeling she had not felt in a very, very long time.

In that moment, she knew she could trust Gabriel with everything. Including her life.

*****

A fog rolled into town cover the slick streets like a wave slithering over wet sand. It blanketed Collinsport in a soupy white mist and cuddled every street lamp that lit the dusk sky. Walking along the wet path up to Curtis' apartment door was a cloaked figure, statuesque and lean.

The figure only stood in the street and stared at the front of Curtis door, wishing for things to be different. Wishing things had worked out better in their favor. But things were not so, and change had to come.

This was her goodbye. Angelique pulled down the hood of her cloak, a single tear rolled down her cheek and burst over the curvature of the heart shape of her lips, but as she turned to walk away one final time, Curtis emerged from inside the apartment and their eyes locked.

"I..." Angelique said, her voice uncharacteristically trembling with nerves.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Curtis said, stepping into the foggy street.

"I don't know why I came here. I just needed to be close to you one more time before I left." Angelique replied.

"You're leaving?"

"Of course! There's no way I can stay. Not after everything I've done. Not after everyone I hurt. Especially you." She said.

Curtis grabbed Angelique by the hand and held on.

"You almost destroyed my mother. You could have killed her. She's...she'll never ever be the same. But..." he paused. Unsure of what he was about to say and how Angelique would react. "I still love you. No matter who you are. I know the real you. I felt who you were inside. There is a person deep down in there that only wants to be loved just like anyone else. I don't know where any of this will go or how we'll all get through it, but I know we will. We've gotten through so much more. So much worse." Curtis explained.

Angelique looked at Curtis like he had three heads. She had never seen such kindness before. She had never see such selflessness and openness before. Her heart had always been trampled on by the men she loved and when she had her powers she'd always use them as a form of revenge, a way to pay the pain forward. It was a vicious cycle of lies, pain, destruction, exposure and repeat. But Curtis was trying to break that cycle and actually work through the damage.

"I don't see how any of that is realistic. No one would accept me. I don't even know how you could accept me." Angelique said pulling her hand away.

"You know I love my mother very much. She's done everything she could to raise me and love me and treat me just as her own. And I've had a wonderful up-bringing. But she's not perfect. She's done things to people she loves that are pretty shocking too. If we saw past her mistakes, how can she not see past other's?" Curtis replied referencing the fact that Vicky's own demons only a few years ago.

It was true, Vicky's return to Collinsport was wrought with scandal, including her attempts to seek revenge on the whole of the Collins family by killing them by means of the secret society that infiltrated their home and picked them off one by one and even kidnapping Curtis as a baby and taking him to a different time where she raised him as her own.

For all her misdeeds, Vicky was forgiven. For all her mistakes, Vicky returned to herself again. For all the hurt she caused and pain she inflicted 3 years ago on the family she loved, she was taken back in because if anyone in the world understood imperfections, it was the Collins family.

Curtis knew this, and what he knew more was that his mother was imperfect, but not a hypocrite.

"I just don't see it." Angelique whispered as she turned away looking towards the horizon. "There's nothing in this world that I want more than to be with you Curtis, but I can honestly say that I don't believe anyone--especially Victoria--will accept me. No one."

"I'm going to marry you Angelique, because I love you. And that's the truth. No one will stop me." Curtis said.

Angelique could not believe her ears. She could not understand how he could still feel this way about her even after everything she'd done. After all the deception. She was powerless, her curse had broken and he still felt love for her. Angelique could feel the bubbles of happiness float inside her stomach, she could feel the heat of passion filling the tips of her cold fingers and the warmth of Curtis' love go up her arm and into her heart and warm her whole body.

But was that enough? Was his love enough to show the world that she was deserving of it too?

And just as that happiness built inside of the former powerful witch, it was about to come crashing down. In Curtis' doorway stood an angry Victoria Winters.

"Get away! Get away from here!" Vicky screamed as she rushed down the front path of Curtis' apartment forcing Curtis jump in between the two women he loved as Vicky was close enough to Angelique to reach for another slap across the face.

"Mother! Mother! Calm down, please, calm down!" Curtis said, tying his arms into Vicky's.

"What is she doing here? You know how dangerous she is!" Vicky shouted.

Angelique, now mortal and powerless lifted the hood of her cloak and looked at Curtis. She whispered only "I told you."

"Mother listen to me. Stop. Stop." Curtis said, holding Vicky's flailing arms down and looking her dead in the eyes. "Listen to me. You have to stop this. Angelique has giving up her powers, they're gone. Forever....she can't hurt us like that anymore. I promise. Please....calm down. We have to stop all of this fighting back and fourth, the cruelty will never end if we don't forgive each other."

"Forgive?!? You must be under her spell still...that...I can't even believe you'd ask me that. She tried to kill us all, she tired to have me go insane she....she wanted us all dead." Vicky shouted.

"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Curtis shot back.

Angelique perked up.

"What?" Vicky asked, her body suddenly relaxing with the shock of Curtis' accusation.

"It wasn't that long ago that you tried to do the same thing. You programmed Caleb to kill his own family a few years ago. You used mind control tactics to brainwash him. You had Kimberly lock David up in Windcliff years  before that to make him go insane. It's because of you Christopher's parents altered his DNA with a lycan, it's because of you I was taken to a different time and raised by you. You caused pain too mother." Curtis said, listing all of Vicky's own past crimes.

"No, stop this, you don't understand I was....I was ...." Vicky was speechless. She was heartbroken her own son would use her own past mistakes and devious behavior against her in such a way.

"The only difference is mother is that we've all been able to put what you did  behind us because we love you and know that the real you, the you that was always deep inside that broken heart was doing this because of that broken heart. You were forgive, and because of that your bond with your family has strengthened. Why can't we do that for Angelique? Why isn't she worthy of forgiveness?"

Angelique couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She was seeing and feeling true love like she had never felt before. It was something she never thought she'd experience in all her life. No magic, no spell, no supernatural concoction could ever take the place of something as true as what Curtis was doing for her at that very moment on the pavement outside his apartment in the dense and cold fog of the evening.

Vicky looked around Curtis and saw Angelique standing there, her eyes bloodshot with tears, her face a pale pink from crying. She then looked into her son's eyes, the son she raised in secret that she loved so much and realized the monster this time was her.

Vicky knew that love would always triumph over evil. That love was what made the darkness in the world all around her always brighten up.

She knew there was nothing she could do. Love was love. And if Curtis was going to love Angelique, Vicky would have to swallow her pride and meet him half way or else lose him all together.

Vicky released herself from Curtis's grasp and slowly walked up to mortal Angelique who took one step backwards into the slick black street.

Their eyes met, Vicky's lip trembled. They were old foes, foes of 5 decades, and now they'd come at a cross road. Their mutual love of one man would again be their nexus.

"If you hurt anyone I love every again Angelique Bouchard, I swear to you, it will be the last thing you ever do. I love my son with all the power of this earth and I will protect him, so I ask you....protect him too, protect his heart, his love and protect his trust. He's choosing you...don't squander that choice, don't let him regret it."

Then, Victoria Winters, a beauty of a woman, who in her 70 years of life had seen so much pain and destruction had rebuilt her life with her adopted beloved son Curtis was now bowing to the pressure of giving someone a chance. But that was what mother's do. Vicky turned and walked passed her son and touched his face. She smiled and turned back to Angelique again, the smile vanished but a respect was born.

"Come inside, it's getting cold." Vicky said as she then walked into the apartment awaiting her son, and Angelique.

****

Collinwood, engulfed by the flood of fog pushing past the ocean's wild waves, sat on it's perch above Widow's Hill with it's lower level lights burning like the glow of stars in a muddy sky.

David stood alone in the courtyard just outside the drawing room still dressed in his sharp dark suite from his day at work sipping on a night cap of brandy. He look beyond small stone barriers adorned with leafy green ivy and small bushes. He could hear and smell the sea just over in the distance. It had been a very long few weeks.

Suddenly, as he began to feel the relaxing and warmth of the brandy swim though his veins and relax his muscles, he heard a rustling in the bushes. It sounded larger than an animal. It sounded as if someone was standing in the topiaries with their gargoyle pots breaking through the  bushes in the dark to make it to the edge of the veranda right where David was standing.

"Hello? Who's there?" David asked, squinting in the dark and foggy night.

And like the spirit she was, Dominique do Arco stepped forward, Her hair dark and wavy, her eyes bright almond brown, her skin fair and perfect like fresh milk. 

David couldn't believe his eyes. He had not seen Dominique since their time in Windcliff years before when she was transferred to the hospital in Augusta. She had been taken out of the hospital when their affair was discovered and he had not known of her death, David was in shocked to see her either way.

"What...it can't be....Dominique?" David said stepping slowly closer to the barrier. 

"Hello David." She said in a whisper, her gray dress flowing in the soft breeze.

"What are you doing here?" He asked quickly opening a small gate for her to enter the veranda.

"I came to see you. I've been waiting for this moment for so long." She said.

He grabbed her and held her tight, but quickly released her remembering his wife, Siobhan's face popping back into his mind. The woman he loved and the woman he once loved creating a mish/mash of emotions in him as the fog of the evening swirled around the two former lovers. 

"I just wish you had called, or written to me before you came to the house. What were you doing back here? How did you know to find me?" He asked.

"I have my ways I guess." Dominique said, unwilling to tell him she was just a spirit paying a visit. "I was hoping that I'd run into you alone, and seeing you here... has brought back a lot of memories. I really needed to see you David." the ghost added.

"Still I wish you've called. I could have ....we could have had a dinner or...I don't know," David stammering while he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him. "....my god, I can't believe you're standing in front of me, Dominique, you look amazing. You haven't aged a single day since the last time we saw each other. Are you....OK?" David asked, knowing her history of mental illness, his eyes seeing the face of a woman he had loved for a very long time in their time in the sanitarium. 

"I don't have a lot of time, David. We need to talk about what happened after they took me from Windcliff, we need to talk about us." She said getting to the point. 

David suddenly realized what kind of visit this was, one that would not blow over well if Siobhan knew his old flame was there to rekindle whatever they had 20 plus years ago. David quickly began to feel uncomfortable and back away from Dominique. 

"Listen, I'm so glad to see you and I'm so happy for you, now that you're out of the hospital but I have to let you know that I'm married now. There is no 'us.'" David replied.

Dominique furrowed her brow, she didn't know how to break it to him that there was so much more to their re-connection than a romantic entitlement that would never be, especially if they were beings of two different worlds. 

She shivered in the cold and shook her head trying to get him to listen.

"No, you don't understand. I've come back because---" She began before he interrupted her.

"You're cold, here, take this." David said, placing his coat around her shoulders.

"David listen to me." Her insistence made him more nervous, knowing her past mental past could be very dangerous if she were not fully well. 

"Dom, look, I think this is a big mistake, we need to...we have to stop this. We have a lot of history and I just need to be sure you understand where I am now in my life. Had I known you were coming here or even that you were out of the hospital we could have met up when my wife was free---" David began before the ghost interrupted. 

"David listen to me..." She said, as he interrupted back attempting to control of the uncomfortable conversation. 

"No, Dom I can't do this..." David replied turning from Dominique and not knowing the truth of her visit.

There was back and fourth and confusion; David believing Dominique was there to restart their past love affair, Dominique only there to tell him she needed closure from beyond the grave and to finally connect him with her daughter. Their whole conversation was as muddled as the fog all around them. The two sides not making any sense to each other and clouded with the past.

"Siobhan is my wife and I love her and I can't allow you to come here unannounced like this. It's ...I just can't. It just reminds me of the way my father treated my mother. Always doing things behind her back and always making her feel like she was less than the woman she should be." David said of his late father Roger.

"That's not why I'm here, David," Dominique finally made clear, her voice upset at his obvious annoyance at her being there. "and I'm sorry you feel that your wife would keep you from the truth you should truly know."

"Truth?" David said, his back still turned. "What are you talking about."

"I came to tell you something, something I should have told you years and years ago. I should have found away to tell you...but...I was sick David. I didn't really understand how ...how this would effect you. And I made sure no one reached out to you on my behalf. David....You and I have a daughter, a beautiful daughter. She was born after I left Windcliff and raised by my brother Gabriel. She knows who you are....and...I've asked for her to come and meet you. I wish I could have told you sooner before...I...." Dominique said before stopping herself from revealing her own death.

David was shocked. His heart sank into his stomach.

"Before you what?" David asked finally turning back around to face Dominique only to find his jacket on the floor and Dominique gone.

He looked around and saw nothing but fog. He had no idea Dominique was a spirit. To him she was as real as flesh and bone.

The moon shined down on the foggy Collinwood veranda as David stood there alone in the chill of the night. His head went back and forth across the back lawn searching for Dominique. He didn't hear her leave. He didn't hear her open the back gate to to leave. She just vanished.

 He picked up his coat that he had given Dominique to warm her and dusted off the autumn leaves from the sleeves. As he did this, something fell out of the lapel pocket.

David picked up the small scrap of paper, it was a photo. On the back in Dominique's handwriting the photo of the young woman read : "India Elizabeth do Arco-Collins"

He flipped the paper over revealing a photo of the most beautiful young lady.

His daughter. India.

In the distance, invisible to the human eye, the spirit of Dominique do Arco floated in a gauze of light. Her energy was that of a something lost, and forgotten. It pained her to see that the man she loved was blocking her from entering his heart again, all she wanted to do was to bring David and India together. But for some reason, David's fears of what Siobhan would do knowing the true nature of their relationship stopped him from opening his heart to her and stopped him from getting the full explanation of how India came to be and how her life was since her birth.

 It was all a strange mystery to him.

To Dominique, the spirit searching for closure, Siobhan was now an obstacle. Siobhan was a challenge. Siobhan needed to be dealt with. Dominique closed her ghostly beautiful eyes, her chest lifted as if she were taking a deep breath of the salty sea air around her and she disappeared into the night....in search of Siobhan, the one and most powerful final obstacle standing in the way of Dominique finding closure for herself, her daughter and the man she loved.

 She needed that peace to reach the other side.

Siobhan, in Dominique's ghostly mind, had to go.

David and Dominique in the foggy Courtyard of Collinwood