Note: This is strong stuff. Worthy of the M rating. Once I was committed to creating a vicious psychopath I had to show him in action. It is not pretty, and quite a bit sickening. Psychopathas usually are.

Tom has been possessed ty by his dead twin, Tom Jennings, whoi is cobtemplating mayhem towards everybody who ever did him a bad turn,unjustified or not.

TOM JENNINGS

Chapter 1

Frank screamed in horror.

"How am I supposed to drive in this snow?" he asked.

Angelique looked at him curiously. "You call this snow?"

"Don't make fun of me!" he pleaded "I can't drive through this."

"There is nothing to it. Hell, this is nothing."

"You mean it gets worse?" Suddenly Frank realized what a Maine winter could be. "How high does the snow need to be before they call in the plow?"

"Higher than this. This isn't D.C., you know. We know how to drive in the snow."

"But I...I never learned."

"Well, we'll see about giving you lessons."

Break

The Reverend Trask was pleased with the way the meeting was going. They might have come out of curiosity, but now they were just pending of what Barnabas hade to say. He smiled slightly. Barnabas could have made a good used car salesman, the way he was peddling Bread for the World to them.

"But why?" Sandy Miller insisted. "don't we give enough foreign aid already?"

"We give much less than Sweden, and they have a smaller GNP. Also we give it to the wrong people. Ten years ago they recommended land reform in Latin America. But it never came out."

"Land reform is communistic!" Sandy argued "It is against Christian principles."

"Is malnutrition a Christian virtue? Is human servitude?" Barnabas answered heatedly "Do you have any idea what the social conditions are?"

"It is communist propaganda"

"Wrong. Those who want to keep them in bondage accuse their victims of being communists. Do you know who is doing the accusing?"

"I read what the governments there do with the opposition." Frances intervened. "they kidnap, torture, and murder them. You'd be surprised to find out how many Christians you are selling down the river with your attitude. In Argentina, they kidnapped, tortured, and murdered two nuns. In Chile they don't balk at torturing pregnant women."

"And in Russia it is worse..."

"Whatever they do in Russia, we are not payi8ng for it. What about the right to life of the fetuses inside the pregnant women? Is abortion wrong unless the mother is a communist and dies of it.?

Barnabas had the feeling that the argument between them had nothing to do with what was being said...Still, he went on.

"Human rights are human rights, no matter what the ideology is."

Frances turned again to face Sandy. "And you of all people should know of it. Or have you forgotten who you got to sell your clothes at the Davenport Center?"

"Frances, that's enough"

He was the topic of discussion between those women, not Bread for the World. He had to bring the discussion back to the matter at hand.

"Anyway. What Bread for the World does is first try to educate people about the extent of the problem, and get them to put pressure on their elected officials, both at the national and the local levels."

"Why local?" another woman asked. "hunger is an overseas problem."

"It isn't. You'd be surprised as to how many hungry people are here in the U.S.A. One thing that Bread for the World is trying to do is count them."

And so it went for a while, until the moment when he had nothing more to say, and they had no more questions to ask.

"Quite a showing." Trask said to him afterwards.

"I am sorry if I talked more than I should. And for the arguments."

"Arguments are better than people falling asleep in the middle of a speech."

Frances lingered behind. He came to her side.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, but do not be so hard on Sandy."

"It isn't just what she said here. It is the things she says about you."

"What kind of things?"

"That you are wicked and can't be trusted."

"Let her" he put his hand on her arm "she is not hurting me."

She looked up at him. It always disturbed him to see the adoration in her eyes. She trusted him completely, much more than he trusted himself.

"Do you know that I am giving a costume party this weekend?"

"Yes."

"Do you think that you could come?"

She nodded "You don't have to invite me, just because you were at my throat."

"Yes, it is a problem." he admitted "If I bite you and don't invite you, you'll feel slighted. If I invite you, you'll think it was because I was being polite. I wish Emily Post has written something on the subject... I want you to be there, Frances."

"It is true that you have five cats now?"

"Kittens. The Quarles' cat whole litter. It took them in, and they are good company for Amy.

"Well, then I'll think I'll go. Costume party, you said?"

"Your chickens seem to be doing well." Sabrina said lamely.

She wished she could think of a better opening. This man was her husband. They had once loved each other. Why did they now stand as strangers?

"You seem changed" she said.

He stiffened in alarm. "Did she notice? Could she tell that while the body was Chris, it was him, Tom, doing the driving?

"You seem more mature, more self-assured. Barnabas was right. I was crowding you out.

He relaxed a bit. "You like the change?"

"Yes. Amy does not live with you anymore?"

"She is with Barnabas. We talked about it and we all agreed that it was best if she stayed with him. I seem to have a knack for saying and doing the wrong thing."

"You were under a lot of pressure" she paused again. "Chris, I know that I have no right to ask this of you. I am not going to be staying at Collinsport long. But we are still man and wife. Couldn't we, even if it is only for a few days...?"

Tom considered it. Sure, why not go to bed with her?

Except for the fact that she might suddenly get wise as to who it was she was sleeping with. And if she found out, he'd have to kill her.

And there would be a lot of questions afterwards.

"No." he shook his head " there is no point to it. It is over between us."

Oriana Falchi checked into her hotel room. That article she had written about the Davenport center had pleases the readers. The reaction had been so good that she was now hunting for another article on Representative Evans.

Sure, it was a cinch. Margaret Evans, in her hometown, with all her childhood friends, and the down to earth people who were her neighbors and constituents. But maybe there was a juicier story.

One about the campaign manager, or rather ex-campaign manager. What was his name? Barnabas Collins.

There was a story about him, somewhere, and she meant to find it.

...If only Maine wasn't one of the coldest states in the Union, it would be perfect...

The Old House shone with the light of the candles burning inside. And the snow on the ground reflected that light, gleaming like silver.

"Cold" Frank thought. Colder than he ever imagined. How could he ever learn to drive under those conditions?

His ears hurt. Why had he come in as Mr. Spock? After all, if Angelique came as Miss Piggy, he should come as Kermit.

But he wasn't Kermit to Angelique's Miss Piggy. He knew who was Kermit. He should have come as The Great Gonzo. He certainly felt like a turkey.

Barnabas, the bag over his head, greeted the new arrivals., Willie and Louella as Tom and Mary Hartman.

"Do you want some chicken soup?" Louella asked innocently.

"Not today, Hey" he turned to Willie "do you want a hundred dollar bill?"

"Of course."

"Fine. Here's my phone bill."

"This is your doing" Julia pointed her head, freshly capped with a cone, towards Barnabas."

"Yes." Megan admitted while moving sinuously in her Cher outfit. "he got so embarrassed at Halloween that I told him to put a bag over his head and come out as the Unknown Comic. How was I supposed to know that he'd like it so much?"

"So now he just keeps on putting on that bag and making an ass of himself in public." Julia sighed. "I wish that Kenneth hadn't insisted that we come as Coneheads. It itches horribly."

"Sabrina must have it worse with the Wonder Woman outfit. It is just too cold outside for it."

Officer Ripley from "Alien", that is Maggie was talking to Lieutenant Columbo, that is, Joe.

"I hear you have a new girlfriend." Maggie was amused to feel traces of jealousy in her over Joe.

"Yes, she's back there, Lieutenant Uhura."

"She...pretty."

"And a damn good detective. She wanted us to come as a zebra."

"A zebra?"

"I had to point out that if we came as any kind of a horse, I wouldn't play the rear end. Not while Barnabas is wearing that paper bag."

Amy, in her Princess Leia costume was stroking a kitten. It was hard to move about all those people laughing ad talking while she had to use a writing pad. And Chris seemed too busy at the other end of the room.

But at least she could play quietly with the kittens there and have some fun that way.

Frances Jackson - or Bonnie Parker tonight - offered a drink to Darth Vader.

"Who are you, really?"

"David" he lifted his mask so that he could drink. "who's the guy in the sheet?"

"Derek Pearce"

"Is he supposed to be Roman or what?"

"John Belushi in 'Animal House'. Watch him. He's doing it again."

Derek pressed the empty beer can against his forehead and crushed it with a triumphant smile..

"He finally got it right" George said to a giant Bugs Bunny.

"What?" Phillip said. He was still looking at Megan with longing.

"Still can't let go of your wife? Take my advice and get yourself a girl."

"They all say that." Phillip shook his head. The big ears made his movement comical instead of wistful, and George wished that his Lone Ranger mask covered more of his face so that Phillip would not see him laugh.

"How come you are Ronald McDonald?" Kenneth chided Xavier. "I thought you were into health food."

"I am" Kenneth took out a carrot "you want"

"Give it to Bugs Bunny there."

Tom smiled politely at Sabrina. Politely, but boldly. Better to keep his distance. She and Amy knew too much.

He looked out of the window. Not much to see in this dark. But he knew that the woods were full of game.

Maybe later he'd go after deer. Something in him itched for the excitement of the chase.

He grinned. Chris had been a fool going after cattle. Cattle was too slow, too tame for what he wanted. And it got you in trouble with the law.

And because of Chris getting in trouble, he now had to wait a while before hunting Sandy. Soft Sandy. Doe-eyed Sandy...

"Are you all right?" Iris put her hand on his arm.

"Uh...no... I was trying to remember all that happened this last year. Trying to figure if I am better or worse off."

There were punctures kin her throat, as probably were in all the women's there. Quick, delicate, almost painless.

He thought that Barnabas was a fool. Not to know how to rip a throat properly!

When he was done with Sandy, he's come for Iris, he decided.

"You look very dashing. Black goes well with you"

"I always wanted to be Zorro when I was a kid."

"And I just love Carol Burnett. Why else would I come up as a charwoman instead of showing off my bellybutton like Megan?"

"We raise broccoli " Delia was saying "the problem is that we get plenty of green worms in it, and we don't always get them out. So they get cooker, and if you are not careful, when you think you are eating broccoli, you are chewing a worm."

"Roseanna Roseannadannna all right" Barnabas shuddered.

Maggie smiled back at him. "You know that I thought of? I bet that there is a Parallel Time where there was a Barnabas who tried to recreated Josette as you did. Only, instead of Maggie Evans, he chose Roseanne Roseannadanna."

Barnabas winced "The bastard. The poor bastard."

Maggie smiled fetchingly.

"I am glad that you can talk about it, even to the point of making jokes."

"The tapes that Julia sends to Sabrina are doing the job. They are drawing the poison out."

":If there is anything I can do to help.."

"You have already done enough." she saw him turn his face away, so she moved to reassure him. "I mean it. You pulled me back and got me on my feet again. And then...I've had time to think. Sure, it was ugly and frightening. But it wasn't the worst thing in the world." she lowered her voice "I went on that trip to Cambodia...I can't describe you how it was. So much misery...Children with matchsticks arms, people dying within reach of aid because they are too weak to crawl there...Somehow I don't have the right to have personal problems after seeing that..."

Amy moved towards the window. The snow kept piling on the ground, still looking like silver in the moonlight, looking as white as the kitten on her lap.

She realized that someone was walking out there...And there was something wrong about the way that person moved...

She got up and went to Barnabas, tugging at his sleeve until he followed her to the window.

It wasn't a prowler, he decided. Nor a guest. Seemed to be lost...

And it wasn't a night to be lost.

He went out as the drifting figure stumbled an fell face down.

In one second he had reached it, and in another second he had recognized who it was.

"Vicky! Vicky Winters!"