Dark Shadows: The Diary of Titus Clark

October 16, 1797

This record is the account of myself, Titus Clark, also known as "Titus the Beloved", a disciple of my lord, Judah Zachary. I joined the coven of my master 17 years ago as a small child. Judah raised me as his own and gave me life. As he oft refers to me, I am a man after his own black heart.

The irony and tension were thick as my heart grew sick with despair as I stood and watched my master bound as a common criminal before the filthy locals of Collinsport. His charge: crimes against humanity. The means: through occultism and witchcraft.

The echoes of angry accusations and the harsh shouting of the tribunal silencing the crowd resounded within the tiny walls of the courthouse. No one knew I was there except for my master, Judah. He could not see me, as the tribunal saw fit to cover his head and eyes with a black hood, leaving only room enough for him to breathe the stagnant smell of mildew and cedar that filled the courtroom.

I watched every last witness testify against him, and at long last, the time came for a verdict. I had been with my lord many years to know that, in trials involving witchcraft, there was no such thing as a "not-guilty" verdict. Eager to silence the angry locals and increase their chances for re-election, the presiding "honorable" men in their powdered wigs would always deliver the accused to the accusers. This trial would be no exception. I would see my beloved master sentenced and put to death.

If only these simpletons would hear him out, they would find that Judah Zachary only wanted to better them. The deaths and blood he was responsible for were necessary to advance his cause. However, it was necessary, perhaps, that he did enter into death's slumber. As he often told us in many of our sanctuaries, he would one day lay down his life, as it was necessary for him to conquer death before he could truly come to full power that we all knew that only a savior could possess. Judah would not allow himself to be captured. Perhaps he knew it was time for him to face death and conquer it, so that he may lead us to Paradise, a world where we would rule with him as gods among men.

Watching the splinters of the cracking wood flying into the floor, my eyes beheld the judge, Joshua Collins, pounding the gavel for the last time and delivering the verdict and sentence in his well-known arrogance. The verdict: guilty on all accounts. The sentence: death by beheading. I listened to the prophetic words of Judah as he spoke directly to the man who delivered his death sentence.

"Hear me now, Joshua Collins, and all of you! I set a curse upon the house of Collins! I command the powers of darkness to inflict my wrath upon you! The night of my death an evil familiar shall deliver a curse upon your family so violent that none of you shall survive! All of you here who have stood in judgment against me will perish because of the evil that will befall the Collins family!"

Joshua's gavel began breaking the wood of the podium he stood behind, and his eyes burned with fear and rage. The gasps and drawing back of the crowd were like music to my ears. Judah had the power, with his words alone, to kill the strongest and bravest of men by fright. Tonight, he didn't want to kill them. No, he wished them to dread something far worse than death. During the struggle of the guards trying to silence him and take him away, his black hood was removed and he gazed out at the crowd who stood silently paralyzed with fear. Even the mighty brawn of Collinsport's finest deputies stood helpless and withdrew from him as he fixed his eyes upon the crowd.

"Harken unto me, you fools! With my death in this body, you will release in me a power that will one day conquer this earth! I will resurrect and become the chosen vessel of he who sits on the throne of brimstone to rule the world! You will all burn and suffer in torment in the flames of Hell! I shall laugh and mock your pain as you have mocked the God whom you claim to be devoted to with your hypocrisies! I care not what happens to this body! None of you are safe! Your women and your children will suffer greatly because of your persecution of me! My hatred will return with me upon all of you and your children for generations to come! Their blood…is on your hands!"

All the self-control I could exhaust was barely enough to contain my laughter when I heard the bloodcurdling screams of all those who were there. Screaming and trembling from disbelief, they all raised their hands that were soaked and dripping with blood. Children wailed and women fainted. Men cursed and wrung their hands angrily.

As if the world had suddenly stopped turning and time itself were suspended, I felt an energy filling the room as Judah turned to face me.

All was still as he spoke these words to me with his mind, "Titus, my beloved disciple, the time has come to assemble together all of our brothers and sisters together to invoke my most powerful curse I taught to you. The one I have marked to bear the curse is the firstborn child of Joshua Collins. He will be the destructor of this doomed village. Weep not for me, my dearest son. Death in this body will only strengthen me beyond mortal comprehension, as it is written and as I have taught you since your youth. Tell our brothers and sisters to honor my last commandment, and we shall bring forth a new world bathed in the blood of those who stand against us. We shall be reunited very soon. My end is our genesis, Titus. I shall remember you, my beloved disciple, most of all as I enter into my kingdom below. Go now."

Time seemed to flow freely again, and I disappeared from the chaos inside the room into the night. My destination was our secret sanctuary underneath the jagged rocks of a cliff that the townsfolk called "Widows Hill". This small alcove was our most secret meeting place. Judah had told us to assemble there on this night. He said that, no matter what happened to him, do not disobey. Perhaps, now I understand that Judah knew it was time for him to face death so that he may rise as the new ruler of this world…

(…page torn, writing illegible…)

I am going to stop here. My hands are losing their strength and my body is weak from the curse we have conjured tonight. Perhaps, in the morning, I shall have strength enough to continue.

(…pages missing…)

…as he smiled. A hush had fallen over the crowd because of the fear that washed over them like a wave of the ocean beneath the cliffs of Collinsport. My master, Judah, stared into the souls of each of them. I could feel it. He saw within them their deepest sins, struggles, and darkest secrets. With a blink of his eye, a sharp wind blew. The gasps of men and screams of women and children erupted as the torches and firebrands were extinguished all by his power, leaving them in a shroud of darkness.

The executioner wasted no time, and covered his head quickly with a black hood and pulled him hurriedly to the block. My sadness of seeing my master dying at the hands of such hypocritical fools was swallowed back as I heard the words of my master within my ears. "My end is our genesis, Titus. I shall remember you, my beloved disciple, as I enter into my kingdom below."

With one torch rekindled in the village square, a red glow shone over the crowd. My master sat still on his knees, and he neither moved nor trembled. Only a man destined to be the prince of this world was capable of such calm in the face of death. Soon he would overcome death itself, making it his first servant. The shrill hiss of wind being split in two by the steel of the executioner's axe seemed to stir the hearts of all the people there in the village square.

Loud cheers and cursings filled the cold, crisp air that night. With one mighty swing and the sound of fine steel slicing through the air, I lowered my head and felt my heart grow sick. I looked up, and there lay my master's lifeless body. The constable quickly carried Judah's body to the poorly made box that was to be his bed for eternity.

The few guards present all but struggled to keep the angry crowds away as they ran toward the platform demanding the body surrendered to them so that they may destroy it. The constable shouted above the crowd, insisting that Judah's body must first be properly purified by holy water to keep him from returning before burying him. The superstition was that, even if ashes were all that remained, one's inner evils still contaminated those ashes. The reality was, I could not allow Judah's body to be anointed by holy water. The purification would make him suffer in great pain before his soul would be forced back into the depths from which he came.

In obedience to Judah's commandment, the mistress, Angelique, whom Judah esteemed as his beloved sister in the faith and owner of his heart, went…

(handwriting illegible, a page is missing)

…to our secret sanctuary. The people in town would have much to talk about tomorrow. They would say that Judah's disciples have stolen him, and, as accurate as that is, they will never trace us here.

The "saintly" Joshua Collins would not attend the execution a few hours ago. We knew he would be trying to contain the misery of what was going to be the most painful suffering and shame that any member of the great Collins family has ever…

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(I do not own the rights to Dark Shadows. This is my fanfic written for reader enjoyment)