Welcome to my Dark Shadows Christmas Special! I hope you enjoy it!

The Collinwood estate holds many secrets, some of them less earthly than others. One of those is the small child Sarah, a spiritual reminder of a time long past. For Willie Loomis those times constantly intersperse with the present, creating a tapestry of terror that haunts his dreams. This adventure, however, holds a touch of sweetness to its soul as Sarah and he find themselves bound together to prevent both of them from succumbing to the evil designs of a desperate woman.

Characters: Willie, Sarah, Barnabas, Julia, OCs.

Chapter 1

"Why'd you have to come to this place?"

The scolder was Willie Loomis, caretaker of the Old House and its resident vampire, Barnabas Collins. The person to whom he scolded was also Willie Loomis, and the reason for his grumblings were the ghostly hunks of stone that surrounded him.

"Why'd you think the cemetery would be a good place to get firewood?" he grumbled.

Contrary to his words, his arms was full of short bundles of dry timber. Winter had come upon Collinsport, a time when the dark shadows of the area were filled with a deep chill. Christmas would soon come to the small community, and with it would come festivities that Willie would view from afar. There would be bright lights at Collinwood and laughter among its many halls, and Barnabas and Julia would mingle among friends and family in a gaiety that came only once a year.

Willie paused to adjust the load in his arms and sighed. Christmas was a time that reminded him of his lonely existence. Even the company of Barnabas and Julia Hoffman provided little in the way of companionship. They were too birds of the same feather while he was a completely different species.

Willie shook himself from his cold ruminations and trudged onward. He had parked his truck at the edge of the cemetery, and the back was already half filled when he rolled his armload across the bed. He dumped the armload onto the tailgate and rolled them deeper into the bed.

Willie turned and leaned his back against the tailgate before he wiped his forehead with his sleeve. A soft white flake fell on his sleeve and made him look up. The white-gray clouds that had lingered over Collinsport all day now threatened to drop its load of heavy snow.

"I sure wish I had some help. . " he muttered to himself. A soft whimper floated over the wind to his ears. He grabbed his flashlight that lay on the open tailgate and spun around. The beam found nothing but the monuments to the dead. "N-not that kind!" he stammered.

The sound came again, and this time his mind was able to comprehend the whimpering. It was that of a small child crying. He took a few steps forward and peered into the growing darkness. It was only a half hour until sunset. Nobody should've been out there, much less a child.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" he shouted.

The whimpering was quieter. His yellow spine told him to shut the tailgate and get the heck out of there, but there was something so heartbreaking to the sound. Besides, he couldn't leave there. He knew how horrible that place was at night.

"I'm coming," he called as he trudged forward.

The noise kept him on a very familiar path as he walked through the graves. The trail ended at a marble tomb, and Willie paused and shone his flashlight high above him. The name 'Collins' peered down at him with all the disgust befitting that ancient name. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

A loud squeak startled him and he directed his flashlight at the lower front of the tomb. The gate squeaked open a few inches and shut in a slow, repetitive motion. A trembling sigh escaped his lips before he walked up the steps. He grabbed the gate and swung it open, shining his flashlight in the space. All looked as it should-

Willie paused his flashlight over the tomb to his right. He squinted his eyes and took a few steps into the damp room. "What the-?"

The stone coffin belonged to Sarah Collins, the little sister of Barnabas. Her ghost had haunted the area for quite a few months after his return, but she hadn't been seen in a few years, not since giving her brother a verbal beating about his evil behavior.

The beam of Willie's flashlight had found a few strange spots at the far end of the coffin close to the wall on which hung her plaque. The plaque, like those of her parents, was etched with her name and dates of birth and death.

Willie crept closer and paused beside the coffin. He reached down and brushed his fingers across the spots, and came away with damp fingertips. The moisture was warm. He lifted his fingertips to his mouth and flicked out his tongue. The moisture was salty.

Willie leaned back and furrowed his brow. "Tears?" He raised the flashlight to the stone plaque and took a step closer. "You don't need to hide from him anymore, Sarah. He's not so bad."

The only reply was the dampness creeping into his bones. He shivered and grasped the front of his thin coat. Time to go.

Willie half-turned toward the door, but something made him pause. He looked over his shoulder at the far corner of the tomb. His pulse quickened. Was that-? No. His shoulders slumped. Just some rustling shadows reminding him of the coming night.

Willie hurried from the tomb and back to his truck. He forgot to shut the gate to the stone house of the dead, but a small figure appeared in the doorway. She slipped out of the tomb and shut the gate behind her before she followed in the young man's steps.

Willie got into his truck and drove back to the Old House. He'd gathered all the firewood they'd need for a month, but his chore wasn't finished. It had to be stacked in the woodshed behind the house, a chore made easy by the fact that he could back his truck up to the open shed and toss out the hunks of wood.

The main road leading to Collinsport was not as lonely as usual owing to the many pickups loaded with the seasonal treasure, the family Christmas tree. Willie passed several such vehicles, their cabs were full of excited children and tired fathers. The children had only three more nights of intense waiting before that fateful gift-getting day would arrive.

Willie had no such familial or seasonal comforts as he bounced along the rough country road. He was returning to a cold, dark house occupied by two close friends, but that was the extent of his familial connections. Even Maggie Evans was gone from his life.

The sun had only a few minutes of life left by the time he reached the Old House. The extent of the Christmas decorations consisted of a wreath hung on one of the front doors and the replacement in the entrance hall of a few blue candles in favor of some red ones.

Willie parked the truck in back and hopped out. He climbed into the bed where he began tossing the wood into a rickety old shed. It leaned a little, a matter he hadn't had time to remedy, even after all these years.

"Maybe next year. . ." he mumbled to himself. If only people would stop disappearing or being possessed.

Willie was half done with the load when movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he glanced in that direction. The woods of the Collins estate lay thick around the Old House so that he could only see a few feet into the brush. A cloaked figure had their back to him and was hurrying away from the house in a southward direction.

"Hey! Hey, you!" he called out.

They quickened their pace and disappeared into the trees. Willie snatched his flashlight from the passenger seat and barreled into the woods after them.

"What are you doing around here?" he yelled.

The branches swatted his face and the roots tried to trip him. He'd gone fifty yards before he found himself in a small clearing. The figure was nowhere to be seen, but a short hump in the clearing might change that. He climbed on top of the mound and looked in every direction.

A sharp crack beneath him was his only warning before the ground beneath him gave way. Willie fell straight down into a narrow shaft and hit the bottom hard. He cracked the back of his head against a smooth stone and was knocked unconscious.

Willie didn't know how long he laid there, but he was awakened by a soft, soothing voice. The sound was in direct contrast to the greeting his body gave to him. His bones were sore and the pain of bruises covered his arms, legs, and back. He forced his eyes open and was met with darkness. The sun had set, leaving him without its precious light.

But he wasn't alone. A small figure knelt beside him. Willie blinked his eyes at the smiling girl with the bonnet and dress that dated from the eighteenth century.

His cracked lips parted in a whispered name. "Sarah?"

Sarah nodded. "That's right. Are you all right?"

Willie tried to sit up, but he fell back when his body sharply complained, especially his right ankle. It was badly twisted. "I-I don't know. I feel kinda dizzy."

Willie scanned his surroundings. He'd dropped twenty feet into a hole with walls that were lined with smoothed stones. The bottom was littered with the rocks that had fallen free of the ancient mortar that clung between the stones of the walls. The twinkling of stars in the night sky was his only source of light as his flashlight lay shattered beside him.

"I can stay with you until they find you," she offered.

He turned his full attention to her and studied the young girl. She was just as he remembered her, what with her pale dress and bonnet. "What are you doing here? I mean, it's been a long time since anyone saw ya."

"Yes, but you needed me," she pointed out. Willie tried to sit up again, but his body protested so much that he fell back with a cry. Sarah put her hands on his chest. "You shouldn't move."

He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. "So I noticed."

"My brother told me that when you're lost you need to stay so they can find you," she told him.

Willie peeked open his eyes. "You know, Barnabas has been pretty worried about you."

Sarah's face fell and she turned her head to one side away from his curious eyes. "I know."

"Then why don't you come see him?" Willie asked her.

She shook her head. "Because he's forgotten everything he taught me about being good."

"He isn't like that anymore," Willie insisted.

She shook her head, shaking her long hair like a golden mane. "No! He hurt people! I won't let him see me!"

"But ya gotta be lonely not seeing him. Or anyone else," Willie pointed out. A thought struck him. "How about you see him for Christmas? That'd be the best gift he could get."

"No!" Sarah leapt to her feet and balled her hands into her fists at her side. "I won't see him! I won't!" At her last word she vanished.

Willie started back at the quick retreat of his companion. His head swam at his sudden movement and he lost consciousness.