Disclaimer: I do not own the Ironside or Dark Shadows characters. They are the creation of Collier Young and Dan Curtis.
This story will stand alone, and will not be a part of my Ironside timeline for obvious reasons. However, it is a follow up to Dark Shadows Among Us, another of my "unusual cross-overs."
Dark Shadows Among Us does not need to be read in order to follow this story as I will give a background on the plot. However, you might do so first as I think you will enjoy it. I hope you enjoy this new story and thanks for reading.
Dark Shadows in San Francisco
Chapter 1
Chief Robert Ironside sat at the table reading the morning newspaper. His aid and friend, Mark Sanger was in the kitchen cooking breakfast for the two of them. The chief had showered, shaved and dressed for almost an hour and he was hungry. He wondered what was taking Mark so long to make waffles and bacon. After all, all he had to do was put the mix in the waffle iron, and it would do the rest.
Picking up the paper, the detective always checked the headlines first and read the front page news next. Mostly it contain puff pieces on the mayor and what the city council had planned for the citizens of San Francisco. Politicians! Ironside was not real fond of them. He knew they were a necessity in society, but wished they paid more attention to the needs of the people, and less about doing and saying whatever they had to to get elected.
Still waiting on his breakfast, Ironside turned the page of the paper to continue catching up on anything he might have missed. One of his favorite past times when he was young was to read. He read everything he could get his hands on. Unfortunately, he rarely had time to read anything beyond the paper and crime reports related to whatever big case was in his office at the time.
He skimmed the second page. Nothing of interest caught his attention. There was the usual calls the police got to checkout complaints, break-ins, and domestic disturbances. He glanced down the long list and shook his head. He remembered looking outside the previous night and staring at the full moon. It had been said that people were affected by a full moon. If the list of crimes and complaints listed in the paper were any indication of the effect of the moon, then he believed it. Didn't he deal in facts? The fact was crime always seem to be up when there was a full moon.
Full moon ... that term had an all new meaning for Robert Ironside since he had returned from Collinsport, Maine. A friend, Sheriff George Patterson had contacted him for help in investigating the disappearance of Maggie Evans and the attack on several women in the area.
Robert Ironside had almost left police work all those years ago when his wife, Bella had tried to talk him into a different career. She did not like the idea of him putting himself in harms way on a daily basis. Ironside had considered it until George Patterson, also in police work, had talked him into staying in the academy. He had convinced him that he would regret the decision for the rest of his life. The chief, who was a young man at the time, and married for only a short period, came to the conclusion that Patterson was right. He had decided to continue in police work. Bella did not like it, but in time she came to accept his decision to be a cop until her death.
Today, Ironside was only the most celebrated police detective in the country. He could hardly go anywhere and not be recognized. Many news stations had started covering the man's legendary career in criminal detection. It had little effect on the man as what was important to him was protecting the citizens of San Francisco from harm.
Chief Ironside had never looked back. He could not imagine himself having done anything else for a living. Police work was what he loved and he knew he was extremely good at it.
Mark finally walked over and put breakfast in front of his boss. He set butter, syrup and coffee down on the table. Using his fork, the young man took a couple waffles off the center plate and begin to butter them. Ironside did the same.
"Where's the bacon?" the chief asked in his loud boisterous voice.
Mark got up, went back into the kitchen and brought the bacon with him. He put a couple slices on the boss's plate and a couple on his own.
Ironside looked at the two pieces of bacon and complained. "Is that all the bacon you cooked this morning?"
"That's all the bacon we have left," Sanger answered.
"Have you ever heard of a grocery store, Mister Sanger?"
"I have and would be happy to go there if you did not keep me busy doing police work," Mark returned.
"I thought you wanted to be a lawyer?"
"I do."
"Then the work I give you to do will help you with your law career, since we police officers deal with the law every day of our lives," the chief said sarcastically
The door to the office opened, Sergeant Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield entered and came down the ramp. "Boy does that bacon smell good," Eve said.
"I hope you weren't looking to have any," Ironside grumbled, "since Mister Sanger has allowed this office to run out of bacon."
Mark shook his head, if it wasn't the coffee, it was the bacon. He swore the chief just needed something to complain about in the morning.
"Did you get a line on the jewelry store robberies, yet?" Ironside asked as he shovelled more of his waffles into his mouth.
"The MO is the same in every robbery, Chief," Eve said. They cut the alarm system off, broke in, took the most expensive pieces and left. No prints, no one saw them come or go and the video surveillance systems all failed to capture a thing on computer. There simply are no clues as to who is doing it."
"There are always clues, Officer Whitfield. They are there, you just have to find them and interpret them," Ironside corrected.
"Well, we sure have not been able to find them," she said.
"Ed?"
Sergeant Brown looked his boss in the eye. "They have to be professionals, chief. They know how to disable the alarms, turn off the surveillance systems and get in and out without being seen. What baffles me is a couple of them are in areas where people live above some of the surrounding stores and no one seems to notice a thing."
"In other words, you have nothing," Ironside said.
"We have nothing ... no we do have something, we do know that they are using the same pattern for every robbery."
"So we use a jewelry store to set them up," Ironside suggested.
"You mean announce some new line of jewelry in a store and then find a way to lure them into a trap?" Eve asked.
"Can you think of a better way to catch them in the act?" the chief asked his officer.
"But Chief, how are we going to catch them. If they are pros, they would spot a stake-out a mile away, and they seem to be able to disable anything that is set up to protect the store," Ed said.
"We find a way," Ironside insisted.
"Okay, but what way?" Eve asked.
"They are only looking for one system covering the jewelry store, wouldn't you say?"
"You mean have the store owner put in a backup system?" Mark asked.
"Precisely," Ironside answered.
"How are we going to get any of these store owners to put in a second system?" Eve wondered. "It is very expensive just to put in the first one."
"It is also very expensive to have their jewelry cleaned out," Ironside countered. "I think we will find at least one of them to act as the prey. Then maybe we can keep them out of this list of crimes committed in the city."
Suddenly, something caught his eye on the page where the city crimes were listed. It was in the middle column on the page, near the bottom. Ironside became silent as he read the small article.
A woman was found dead behind a local bar. She was discover by the bar owner when he came to his establishment to clean it up for the next days business. She appeared to have no signs of violence. There was no immediate cause of death known. She did have two small puncture wounds on the left side of her neck. An autopsy was scheduled for today to determine the cause of death. Her name is being held back until next of kin are notified.
Ironside continued to stare at the small article. It couldn't be could it? He remembered the time he had spent in Collinsport, Maine investigating. He had discovered that Maggie Evans had been kidnapped by a vampire! He was also the source of the attacks on the women there.
Ironside had always kept an open mind regarding the supernatural, but what he had discovered in that town had turned his fact-filled world upside down. Both he and Ed had come close to losing their lives upon discovering that Barnabas Collins, supposedly from an English branch of the Collins family, was indeed the same Barnabas Collins from two-hundred years previous! The portrait that hung in the foyer of the Great House was supposed to be the ancestor of the current Barnabas. None of the family had known that it was indeed the same man. Ironside had to deal with the reality that everything he had thought to be fiction in a movie or a book did exist.
He came in contact with ghosts, witches and warlocks. Barnabas Collins had convinced him to help with another of the Collinsport threats in the way of the Leviathans, a loathsome race of creatures from the underworld led by the dangerous warlock, Nicholas Blair. Blair had kidnapped Officer Eve Whitfield, even after Barnabas had bitten her to keep an eye on Ironside's progress.
That was when Ironside came in contact with the witch, Angelique Bouchard, who had an obsession with the vampire. She had taken control of Ed Brown and had tried to control Ironside, although she was not successful in the latter.
Blair did not want Ironside to discover that the Leviathans were attempting to get a foothold in Collinsport, with their ultimate goal of controlling the world. He considered the best way to do that was to allow Doctor Julia Hoffman, who was seeking a cure for Barnabas's vampirism to succeed in doing so. Since Angelique had been the one to curse Barnabas two-hundred years earlier, she had no intention of allowing him to be released from her curse unless he declared his love for her.
Angelique created a doppelgänger of Maggie Evans when Nicholas Blair demanded a trade, the Evans girl for Eve Whitfield. Angelique joined forces with Barnabas after telling him that Blair had no intentions of trading the real Eve Whitfield. Instead he intended to kill her for Ironside's meddling in his affairs. Barnabas promised to go after her while Ironside was trading doppelgängers. Unfortunately, he was to late. Eve Whitfield was dead.
The ghost of Josette Dupres suggested the death of Eve Whitfield could be reversed if Barnabas returned to the past and avoided the meeting with the Leviathans, in which he returned to the present with the box that took away the will of anyone who looked into it. It was decided that Robert Ironside would return to the past with Barnabas to be sure he was not taken over by the Leviathans.
About the only fond memory Ironside had of the trip to the past was they discovered that he did not need a wheelchair as he could walk since the events were before the assassin's bullet cut his legs out from beneath him.
Barnabas and Chief Ironside decided that the only way to really stop the Leviathans was to destroy them completely, so they came up with a plan to do so.
When their mission was completed, they returned to the present. Having changed the timeline of the past, Eve Whitfield, to Ironside's relief was now alive. None of the people remembered anything about what had happened, including Eve, Ed and Mark.
Through the course of working with Barnabas, Ironside, despite his reservations of allowing him to get away with the kidnapping of Maggie Evans and the attack of the women, Ironside realized that he could not hold him to the same standard of the law. Barnabas Collins did not ask to be a vampire, in fact he hated it. The detective knew that the vampire had killed. He also realized that Barnabas had no choice. He could not risk discovery. It became apparent that he would only kill to protect his secret or to remove the evil in the supernatural world.
Ironside was surprised that the time he spent with Collins brought about a friendship between the two men. In the end, Ironside and Barnabas came up with a logical sounding reason and culprit for the kidnapping of Maggie Evans and the attack on the women.
They parted friends and promised to stay in touch. Since that time Robert Ironside had received several calls from the vampire. The most discussed subject, of course was where the research stood on Doctor Julia Hoffman's quest to cure his vampirism.
Now, as Ironside read the small article about the murdered woman, it concerned him greatly that the evil part of the supernatural world had reared its ugly head.
"Chief, are you listening?" Eve said.
"What?" Ironside was brought out of his thoughts of the events of Collinsport. "I am sorry, Eve, what were you saying?"
Eve picked up the paper to see if she could ascertain what had the chief's attention. She looked throughout the page. She had watched and heard the chief repeat some of the crimes or calls the police had experienced the day before. She saw nothing in the list that would have her boss so engrossed. Only one thing on the entire page had caught her eye. If it had been brought to her attention, she had to believe it was what had taken his attention away from them and the jewelry store robberies.
"Chief, you must have read this," she said pointing at the small article about the woman found behind the bar.
Ironside knew his pretty policewoman had spotted the same small article that he had. He looked down at the paper in front of him where Eve Whitfield's finger was pointing. "Yes, I read it. What about it?"
"Well, I don't know. It is just that from the way it sounds, there did not appear any reason for the woman's death."
Ed and Mark walked over and looked over Ironside's shoulder. Ed said, "Don't laugh, but it sounds like a vampire."
Eve and Mark both chuckled. However, Ironside was not amused. Since not one of his staff had any real memory of what had happened in Collinsport, Maine, they had no idea that the remark no longer held any humor for him. They had no idea how close they might be to the truth.
Ironside wanted to do some checking into this, but he intended to leave his staff out of it until he had more facts. "Isn't this a working day?"
Both Ed and Eve recognized that was a subtle order to get to work. They got up and started to head out the door. Eve looked back at the boss. She wondered if his quick dismissal had anything to do with that article in the paper. She left the office wishing she knew what the chief was going to be doing.
Little did she know, the one person Robert Ironside wanted to talk to was Barnabas Collins. Unfortunately, it would be a waste of time to call him in the daytime.
*
The lid to Barnabas Collins's coffin opened and the vampire sat up. Waiting for him was his servant, Willie Loomis. "Hello, Willie." He looked around but there was no sign of Julia Hoffman.
"Good evening, Barnabas. Is there anything I can do for you tonight?"
"You can tell me where Julia is," the vampire said.
"She is in her lab working on the cure."
"Thank you, Willie. Are the candles lit?"
"Yes, Barnabas. Is there anything else?"
"No, Willie. Why don't you take the night off. You have not left this house in almost two weeks. Go into the desk in the drawing room and get some money. Go over to the Blue Whale and enjoy yourself for the evening."
"Are you sure. You might need me for something," Willie fretted.
Barnabas smiled. "Things are different now, Willie. You should know that. I want you to live a normal life. In fact, I have decided to pay you for your work here. Starting today, you will be receiving a regular wage. You are no longer my servant, but my employee."
"Gee, Barnabas, I don't know what to say," Loomis said.
"Just go and enjoy yourself. I want to spend some time with Julia."
"Okay, Barnabas. Thanks." Willie left the vampire's side and headed up the stairs of the basement.
Barnabas Collins went down the hall to the lab where he knew he would find Doctor Julia Hoffman. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she did not hear him open the door, despite the creaky complaining it did upon being opened.
The vampire walked over to come up behind her. He bent down and kissed her temple.
Julia turned around to a smiling Barnabas Collins. He bent down and kissed her. "Any progress, my love?"
"Oh Barnabas, sometimes I get so frustrated. If it weren't for I know I will find a cure for you, I would think the situation was hopeless."
"Since we know that you will find a cure eventually, why don't you just take a break and spend some time with me?" Barnabas suggested.
"Oh Barnabas, the more time I spend working, the closer we come to a cure."
Barnabas took the vial out of her hand and set it on the table. "We have time, Julia. You will find the cure, but tonight we are spending the time together. I sent Willie to the Blue Whale to enjoy himself for the evening. We have the Old House to ourselves.
She smiled up at him. "Alright, Barnabas, I guess I won't find that cure until I am suppose to anyway."
They left the lab and headed for the stairs. They climbed them one by one and when they reached the top, Barnabas put the padlock on the door to his lair and locked it. They strolled down the foyer with an arm around each other's waist. The vampire looked down at her with adoration. He was so intent in his attention to her, he was startled when Julia gasped and put the back of her hand over her mouth.
Barnabas looked to see what had frighten her so. Standing in the middle of the drawing room was a tall man with pale skin. Wearing a cape and looking directly at Barnabas and Julia, Barnabas knew who the man was. He protectively pushed Julia behind him.
"Good evening, Mister Collins," he said, slightly bowing. "Forgive my intrusion on your house." He spoke with an accent.
Barnabas noticed that Julia was enthralled with the presence of this man. It did not, however, surprise him. He too had that affect on women. They continued to stand there in the doorway looking at the visitor.
The visitor could read the nervousness in both. "Relax, Mister Collins. I present no threat to you or the mortal. I came to speak with you."
"Speak with me? What about?" Barnabas questioned. He noticed his visitor kept looking at Julia. He was certain that he could smell the blood.
"About a couple things. First of all aren't you going to introduce your companion?" he asked. Smiling, he then said, "Never mind. I will do it myself. "Miss Hoffman, I am Count Dracula." He bowed at the waist.
"Dracula? So you really do exist," she exclaimed.
He smiled and said, "Indeed I do. Would you prefer I address you as Miss Hoffman or Doctor Hoffman?"
"How do you know who I am?" Julia said.
"The council keeps track of all vampires, Miss Hoffman, including Mister Collins. You see, they must, in order to be sure that none of us draw any attention to ourselves."
"I see and how has Barnabas done that?" Julia asked.
"He hasn't ... exactly," he answered. "The only mortal a vampire is suppose to have is the one that protects him, however the council overlooks you, Miss Hoffman, because you have been completely loyal to Mister Collins, and of course there is your research. Not to mention, I don't allow them to touch him.
"What has her research to do with them?" Barnabas asked.
"There are many vampires like yourself that would prefer to live as mortals. Your doctor will unquestioningly be sought out by others of our kind. In that case, it could present a problem for the two of you."
"It is nothing I cannot handle," Barnabas told him. "That cannot be what you came here to see me about."
"No, you are correct, Mister Collins. I just wanted you to be aware of the situation.
"Then what did you want to see Barnabas about?" Julia asked Dracula.
"I normally do not get involved with the council as I do not allow them to control me. You can understand that, Mister Collins. You don't allow them to control you either. However, it has been brought to my attention, one of our kind is killing and leaving the corpse where the police can find them. So far it has been in rural cities that do not have the resources to figure out what is going on. Mortals still believe that vampires are something out of a Hollywood movie or from the works of fiction writers. These police departments are not advanced enough or open mined enough to believe it is a vampire killing these women.
"However, that may come to an end," Dracula said.
"What do you mean?" Barnabas asked.
"This vampire has been moving from place to place, but if I am not mistaken, he has chosen his first major city to prey on women in."
"How do you know this?" Barnabas asked.
"I do not for sure, yet. However, there appeared a small article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a young woman who was found behind a pub. She had been murdered. There was no sign of violence except two puncture wounds on her neck. When they do the autopsy they will probably find that she doesn't have a drop of blood in her body. Now in that particular city, it may present a problem, and I am sure you know why.
"When you rid Collinsport of the Leviathans, you joined forces with a police detective, a man by the name of Robert Ironside. Despite the fact that he discovered your true nature, you allowed him to live."
"Robert Ironside is a friend, Count Dracula. He will not betray me. He is of no danger to our kind," Barnabas insisted.
"The council has been keeping track of your Chief Ironside, and they have up to now agreed with that assessment."
Barnabas raised an eyebrow. "Up to now? What changed their minds?"
"As I said before, most police departments in this country did not have the resources or the open-mindedness to determine that a vampire is responsible for the dead woman. You know that is not the situation with Robert Ironside. He was able to find out that you are a vampire. Moreover, when he reads that small article, he will immediately recognize that it was a vampire, or at the very least, he will start looking into it. You are already aware of his abilities as a detective. He is brilliant. He will discover that no mortal killed that woman."
"What if he does, what difference does it make? You don't honestly believe he will tell the public that it is a vampire that is responsible. The people of San Francisco would think him mad."
Dracula smiled. "That is the problem, Mister Collins. We have no doubt that he will not try to reveal that it is a vampire, we do, however, believe that he will seek to destroy the vampire."
Barnabas's expression turn to one of puzzlement. "I don't understand. How could that be a problem? Isn't that what the council would want, to destroy a vampire that was drawing attention to himself."
"Normally that would be the case, but the vampire in question is Peter Adell."
Barnabas sat back. "The son of one of the council members, Andrew Adell."
"That is correct."
"What are they proposing? Barnabas asked.
"They want me to go to San Francisco and bring Peter back to Transylvania."
"I still do not see the problem," Barnabas said.
"They want Robert Ironside eliminated. I am to kill him," the count said, with no emotion, "so that he can not find and destroy Peter Adell."
Julia gasped as Barnabas shot out of his chair. "No! I will not allow it! Chief Ironside has remained quiet. He helped me save my family and the entire town of Collinsport. No! I will stand against anyone who tries to harm him."
Count Dracula bore his eyes into Barnabas Collins. "Even if it means going up against me?"
Barnabas could not keep from showing his discomfort. This man was the oldest of all vampires; the older the vampire the more powerful. In other words, he was the most powerful vampire on the planet. Yet, regardless of that knowledge, Robert Ironside had kept his word and had protected Barnabas's true nature. He was not going to stand by and allow any of his kind to kill the man. As far as Barnabas was concerned, Robert Ironside might just as well be a Collins. Barnabas would protect him, even if it meant the end of his very existence.
He looked Count Dracula directly in the eye. "Even if it means going up against you. Robert Ironside is my friend. I will allow no supernatural being to harm him."
It dawned on Julia that Dracula must have had a reason for warning Barnabas. Otherwise, he would just have gone to San Francisco and killed Robert Ironside without Barnabas's knowledge. "Count, why are you telling Barnabas this? You must have a reason."
Count Dracula turned his attention to the mortal standing beside the vampire. "Yes, Miss Hoffman, I do have a reason for telling Mister Collins. I have long admired his ability to stand up to the council. Most of our kind roll over like puppy dogs when threatened by them. Your Mister Collins has not allowed them to control him, and as a result the master can't control him either. I have made sure that the council has left Mister Collins alone for that very reason.
"Until now, we have never met. I felt an obligation to warn you, as I have no doubt that had we known each other over the last two-hundred years, we would have become great friends."
"But why warn me," Barnabas said. "You must have known I would not stand for anyone harming Robert."
"Yes, Mister Collins, I had already anticipated that. I am not here for a confrontation with you. I am here to give you the opportunity to save your friend."
"And how may I ask can I do that?" the younger vampire asked.
"By helping Robert Ironside to find and stop Peter. You must convince him to turned Peter over to me. I will return him to Transylvania to face the punishment of the council. It is up to you, Mister Collins, but I must have your answer now. Will you help your friend or shall I just go to San Francisco and kill him?"
Without hesitation, Barnabas answered, "I will help Robert find him. How will I contact you when we find him?"
"You won't, I will find you, either to take Peter back or to kill your Chief Ironside. I suggest you get started right away."
Dracula stood up and walked over to Barnabas and Julia. "I hope it does not come to a showdown between you and me, Mister Collins. I would hate to have to destroy a man that I have admired for two-hundred years." He walked towards the foyer and stood in the doorway. Before disappearing, he turned back to them and said, "Good luck, Doctor Hoffman. If it is what you and Mister Collins want, I hope you find that cure. I do not, however, understand why he would want to give up immortality, especially since I consider him to be as superb vampire. Good night." He disappeared before them.
Julia watched Barnabas closely. She could sense the turmoil that the vampire was feeling. She knew how much respect and high regard that he held Robert Ironside in. Barnabas looked at Julia and said, "I must contact Chief Ironside immediately. He stepped over to the telephone and begin to dial.