Barnabas leaned of Julia's past as a child of the Holocaust. Julia is pregnant, and worried if her baby will be normal. Yolanda Overton found stones that give off great power, but feed on human energy, and risk killing her. Quentin has left Collinsport to try his luck in the wide world. Adam and Carolyn plan to marry. George met the old sheriff, George Patterson, who resents the one who has taken his place and hints at blackmail. David is set to marry Hallie Stokes, not knowing that she is now a phoenix.

THE HUNGER

Chapter 1

Barnabas was there, waiting for him.

It felt good to know that. Somebody missed him and had been waiting for the moment when he would see him again. It was something that he had done without for a long time and had told himself it did not matter. But it did.

They had a joyful reunion, told each other the news, and in order to make up for the days they had lost, got into an argument.

At least - George told himself later - it was a highly original argument. No one else had the problems that the and Barnabas had.

It all started when Barnabas said that he might like to work for Maggie again.

"Why would you want that? Remember the last time you tried that, and how you finally had to tell her to stop blackmailing you emotionally? Do you really need to be abused by her? Because that's what she'll do. She'll use you when she can, and throw you away when she's done... And it will have nothing to do with what happened in 67. She'll do it because she can get away with it. She's a barracuda."

"She's not."

"All politicians are barracudas.. They could not make it otherwise.. I grant you that many of them are sincere and dedicated. But deep down, they are ready for the kill. Keep away from them if you know what is good for you.:"

"What about you? You too have to run for office. That makes you some kind of politician, too."

"Don't remind me."

"Should I keep away from you too?"

"Hardly" George smiled. "I am not much of a barracuda. If I say so."

"But Maggie's different, isn't she?"

"She is.. You know what she's done in the past, what she can do again. Save yourself a lot of grief and keep away from her."

"I know. Still" there was a wishful look in Barabbas's eyes that told George that his desire to volunteer had nothing to do with Maggie herself.

"You just want to be involved in a political campaign, is that it?"

Barnabas nodded.

"Well, I am running for reelection. If you want to run a campaign, run mine."

Barnabas looked abashed. "It is not the same thing. You have no opposition to speak of."

"Neither had Patterson for many years. Until he was voted out."

Barnabas shook his head again.

"What's the matter? Am I not good enough?" Now George was slightly irritated again. Did he mean less to Barnabas than Maggie did?

"George, if you were running for more than a local office..."

George stared at Barnabas. "You meant that you care only for national office?"

"I was born to it."

"What?"

"With my social position, with my family connections, I could have aspired to the highest offices in the land. If it had not been for Angelique, what might I not have become?"

"President?" There was skepticism in George's voice, but Barnabas did not hear it.

"Yes. Even that. It might well have been me instead of John Quincy Adams."

George shook his head... The worst part was that Barnabas was right about that.

"So I am going to be with a President wannabe." he said in good humor.

"It might have been me. I do not know what kind of President I would have made, and what the historians would have to say about my Administration. But I could have made it. And something is me is not resigned to the fact that I never got the chance for it."

"And Maggie is your only link with Washington, DC."

"I know that it is dumb of me, but it still appeals to me."

"You are not going to get our political career back from her, any more than you got Josette through her."

"That's a cheap shot."

"Bit it is true, is it not?"

"It is not like that!"

"No? I wish to believe it. Damn it, Barnabas you are so... so unpredictable. Why don't you ask Angelique that she give you the political career that she cheated you of?"

"Because... because.."

"Because you know that your time at the national stage is past. You know that you could not truly function in today's political climate, not with the demands that would be made on you."

"I know that. But why can't I have a little bit of it through Maggie?"

"Because it makes you dependent upon her."

"I could make a better President than Reagan. You have to admit that much."

"I could make a better President than Reagan too! But I don't put myself at Maggie's disposition because of it."

Julia's lips curled slightly. In spite of herself the humor of the situation did not escape her...

At her age... an expectant mother...

She had had a complete physical examination that the pregnancy seemed to progress normally. No complications expected.

Yet.

At her age... She had her life all set up. All in order, always following a routine. All well fixed...

And this happened...

And Kenneth, was he willing to be a father? So late in life for him, too. When he had come to the conclusion that he would not be and accepted it...

Oh, never mind. It was a baby, not a catastrophe. It was not earthshaking event, by all means.

Still, to be a mother, after she had completely given up on it...

"So Julia's going to have a baby?" George commented to Barnabas, their previous quarrel forgotten for the moment.

"And she's not the only one. Buffy and Frank are expecting, too."

"They too? And then there is Vicky's baby. It is a regular epidemic."

"Yes, that's what it is."

"You know." George said, a bit dreamily "Sometimes I wonder what kind of a father I'd make. What is it like to be a father. To hold a child in your arms, a little baby and to know that this child is flesh of your flesh."

Barnabas did not know what to say to this.

"Actually I have many children, if I bothered to track them down. There is even a chance that Sabrina's child is my daughter."

"Sabrina's child? How?"

"I am a regular donor at the sperm bank." George confessed "Maybe it is a conceit. I believe that my genetic material is too good to waste. Of course, I am no genius no Nobel Prize winner, so I don't qualify for the Shockley bank. But still, there is a lot of good stuff in me, and I'd like to pass it on."

"I would like that, too."

"You already did. Did you forget Tammy?"

"She and I are not particularly close."

"I am not very close to my children, either. I can't even find them. And if I did, it would not be fair to them or their mothers if I were to butt in. Urien should be enough to satisfy my paternal leanings. You were right. I should be more responsible for him."

The kitten mewled nervously in Yolanda's grasp. She tried to calm it by petting it, but she was too tense and the kitten sensed this. It could not understand why and wanted to get away.

Yolanda's hand closed around the kitten's throat. She felt tempted to strangle it for its orneriness, but restrained herself. She had brought him to feed the stones or at least try to. Certainly it was worth being clawed and bitten.

The kitten finally gave up and went limp. Yolanda bit her lip. Now she'd see if it could be done.

She made a cut into the small body. Blood spattered her hand and the kitten struggled again.

She pushed a stone into the open wound, using the knife to push it further into the body cavity.

The kitten screamed.

Yolanda used the power of the stone to stop the blood and close the wound..

The kitten had calmed down again. She set it down, and stroked it.