Oriana has become a werewolf, which allowed her to walk away from the lair of vampire children. Liz is finally dead, and Vicky's unborn baby is safe, but Vicky feels bitter about Carolyn. Adam is courting Carolyn but is interesed in Quentin's portrait, and has summoned the spirit of Carl Collins to help him.

THE PORTRAIT

Chapter 1

"You want me to negotiate the settlement?" Megan asked Vicky. "I thought that Barnabas Was doing it?"

"I do not want him...He.. he's OK, but in the end, he is a Collins."

Megan nodded. "So you finally figured it out, didn't you kid?"

"I am not a kid."

"Not but you held to your childish dream of being taken by the family, recognized as a member... Very common fantasy among young girls... the 'lost princess', who only needs to wait until a carriage \pulled by four white horses comes at her doorstep."

"They are my family. You said that I was Roger's daughter. But I never really was. Bastards don't count."

"Being a Collins is something special in this town, Or at least that's what they are taught. And that means immunity for their misdeeds, because they are so special, and we are dirt under their feet." Megan spoke from an old bitterness. "Glad to see that you woke up. You might become a woman, yet."

'Not a foolish child?"

"No. And I would also look into your tendency to look for a male protector, who will make the decisions for you. First Burke Devlin, then Barnabas, then Peter, or Jeff. Only when it came to Phillip that did not work. Phillip needed a strong woman who would protect him from himself. If you were not so conditioned to play the damsel in distress, you would have been that woman...Well, it is done. The important thing is that you grow up."

"I still can't believe that Carolyn would let me sleep under her roof, and not even warn her mother about me. Or that Liz, who avoided feeding on Carolyn and Edmund, would care so little for me and my unborn child?"

"They are Collinses and you are not. Why do you think that Barnabas when he first got cursed went to the waterfront and killed the women who fed him, or at least did not care to make sure it was safe for them? Because he was a Collins, and they were dirt under his feet. That's why he did not care to bring the Leviathan box to Phillip and me, turning our life upside down, but when it came to Carolyn, a Collins, he rebelled. I grant you, in the past years he has rejoined the human race. Or come close to it... But you are right. You cannot ask him to negotiate for you. In the end, he will remember that he is a Collins."

"And you will. do it? I cannot pay you yet..."

"When I get you the settlement you will have more than enough to pay me. In the meantime I got a job for you."

"A job? I... cannot do the work you do.."

"You can type, can't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"I got a new computer and I want to put up all the data I got in paper into it. I got a nice database program that will help me search and correlate data. But I want the data to go in. You sit down, enter the data properly and I'll pay you. This way you won't be tempted to ask for your job back. Never let a Collins see you weak. Negotiate form a position of strength, and make them respect you.. And what better way than to let them see that you do not need their money, nor their charity to survive?"

"It sounds like a good plan."

"Good. When can you start?"

They looked so much like children..

But they were not. Barnabas shivered. He knew that he shouldn't, but he could not help himself.

Cecily laughed, a bit sourly "We give you the willies, don't we?"

"You don't" he lied.

"Don't excuse yourself. It happens all the time. So we scare you, and make you uncomfortable. We know it. We are freaks. Vampire children whose bodies will always be childish, even if our minds are old..."

He looked at her. The bitterness at her lot was evident. He gambled and decided to share what Julia Hoffman told him.

"Cecily, when Julia was treating me, one side effect was rapid aging. I got to look my real age. It was reversed. And she did not pursue it, evidently. But the information is in her notes. She does not want to give it Verhoff. She thinks that he many be making you dependent on him on purpose."

"Yes. He is."

"She figures that there must be among you at least one or two who can replicate her experiments, and expand on it."

"Yes. We got a few scientists. Scientists whose discoveries can never be published under their own name..."

"Even if it is only a couple of years, or a couple of months, it might make a difference to them. They might get taller,.. And some of you could reach puberty..."

"And I might get real breasts? Yes, the good Doctor would not like that."

"So you want it?"

"Yes. I will give you a safe deposit box where she can put it. One of us will retrieve it, and they will do the experiments without me knowing about it until there are results and Uncle Ziggy has to live with the facts."

"I am glad."

Impulsively she embraced. him. "This is the nicest thing anyone has done for me. When I get my breasts I will come thank you in person."

She kissed him, and he tried to control his revulsion... She was older than he was, he reminded himself. And one day she would look like it..

"You look quite well." Julia told Oriana cheefully.

"Yes. I feel all right. Except that I am now a werewolf."

Julia sighed at that. "It can't be helped. But there is not reason why you can't learn to live with it the way Chris does."

"But there is a cure for it! Both David and Sandy had it!"

Julia shook her head. "It can't be done, for your own safety. Verhoff will leave you alone as long as you have a secret of your own to protect."

Oriana paled at hearing Verhoff's name. "He's...he's..."

"He's protecting children. I know what a son of a bitch he is. But in this he is right. That's why Barnabas chose him over you. He'll always choose the same way."

Oriana's face darkened with remembered anger. "I never expected him to betray me like that."

"Why? Because you were lovers once? Yes, in different circumstances it would have made a difference. Or not made a difference at all. He would just have rescued you because you were in danger. But never at the expense of children."

"Not children, not properly."

"Yes. But still children, still deserving protection. And you wanted to exploit them, didn't you?"

"No. I just wanted a Freud story. I only wanted some leverage."

"Barnabas gave you plenty of stories already, including the one with Munsungan. Verhoff did not owe you anything."

Oriana made a face "Yes, but... Julia, he KNEW Sigmund Freud personally. I heard it and could not think straight."

Julia smiled knowingly. "I have some idea of how you felt. So you trailed him. And you did not stop to think of how dangerous it could be. You thought that he would be a soft touch, like Barnabas."

"Well, yes."

"You were a fool."

"I know. Chris told me a thousand times already."

"Once more won't hurt. You realize that Chris was under no obligation to rescue you."

"I know that too?"

"If it had not been for him, what do you think would have happened to you?"

In spite of herself Oriana shivered. "You are right, Doctor."

"By the way, why did you dump Barnabas so abruptly? He was quite hurt by your... callousness."

"I wasn't being callous. I was making it easy for the both of us. He thought that I was getting more serious than I really was, and I wanted him to lose his illusions quickly."

"You could not commit yourself."

"Not to him. And you know why. I would want a family one day. How could I get one with Barnabas?"

"No." Julia acknowledged "you could not."

That was, Julia reminded herself, why Barnabas had finally accepted George's love. And that was why she had helped bring it about. Not so much for George's sake, not so much because of her own debt, but for Barnabas' sake, because he needed someone to love and be loved.

"Well, I can't blame you for it, really." she admitted to Oriana. "After your left him he found someone else. And he's happy now, so you did him a favor, after all."

Adam examined the shattered mask. Even broken as it was, with Zachary's sprint gone, there was residual power in it. Angelique could not handle it, and she might have a good reason not to. But he could do it safely.

No, not wholly safely. You had to take precautions with it, as with everything.

He would not be foolish enough to try to wear it in any way. He had heard enough of Judah and what he could do.

But pieces of the mask, ground to a fine powder, well, that was a different story.

He smiled to himself. He had certainly learned a lot since Charles' death. And not just the stuff you learned in night school. Not just how to paint. It was his research into occult libraries that was now bearing fruit. Specially Petofi's diary.

It was strange to read what Petofi had put down about Charles, and about Barnabas.

But it had helped him understand Charles' gift. Everything that he wanted to know about it was there. Petofi had been quite meticulous in writing down his observations and conjectures.

Petofi was dead, of course. He had survived the fire, true. he had overpowered Garth Blackwood and left him behind in the flames. he had thought it wise to let Barnabas and Quentin think that he was dead, while getting ready to strike again. Only Magda had seen him, and alerted the gypsies, who had dispatched him, retrieved the hand, and rewarded Magda by allowing her back into the tribe...

And now he had Petofi's notes and planned to make good use of them.

"So you are coming back soon?" Amy asked Chris over the phone.

"Not yet. Julia wants to make sure that Oriana knows all that she needs to know in order to be safe."

"Why don't you two come over here? You can teach her, and you can go back to work at the same time. And I'll get to see her again."

"Huh... you want to see her again?"

"Sure."

He was not so sure whether he wanted to bring Oriana to Florida. She'd be willing enough, if only to see Amy again. Ad she might have another reason to do so...

She had become friendlier with him. Not just because of gratitude or a shared curse. It was in apart to get even with Barnabas.

He had had enough of that with Sandy, thank you. Amy could feel like a matchmaker, if she wanted to. But he was not jumping into bed with someone who just realized she could not have Barnabas and was ready to settle for a consolation prize.