Chapter 2

"Here I am." Barnabas told George "the father of the bride."

"Did Tammy ask you to be the father at the wedding?"

"No. She's bringing in an uncle to do the honors. I am just a friend. It is right that way. I can play at being her father, but I am not."

"And what does the uncle say about her marrying a white man?"

"He's not thrilled about it, but is willing to accept it. Anyway, he's an Innes, which is how she wants it. I am the secret in her closet, which she does to come out."

"Which means that you will not be giving her your mother's jewelry as a wedding present."

"No. I learned my lesson. I may be giving them a sleeper sofa."

"How can you afford it?"

"The same way I can afford anything else. One more expense will not make that much more of a difference."

George shook his head. "One more expense... Barnabas, you are hopeless.!"

"Come on, George. She is the closest thing I have to a daughter, and she's getting married. I can't imagine a better reason to spend money."


Julia wondered how Richard would look. Of course, he would be unchanged. She was the one who had changed. She ran her hand over her hair. Too many silver strands in it. And her baby, due to come soon. What would Richard think of her? Would he recognize her?

She had loved Richard hopelessly, ever since she could remember. Because of that, she had told herself at some point that she loved Barnabas. It was not Barnabas' fault that he could not be Richard... Her love for Barnabas had waned. Had her love for Richard waned too? Or was it hidden in her, in wait to see him again to flare anew?

She had become disillusioned with Barnabas because he did not fit her image of him. Would Richard disappoint her too? Would he be different from her somewhat childlike, overawed image that she had built for herself?

He would come after dark. And dark was a few hours away. Why was she so impatient? She had waited so many years to see him again. She could wait a couple more hours too...

Yet the last minutes are the ones that stretch the longest. Months, years could pass and you could take them in stride, but suddenly five minutes become unbearable., and a half hour the definition of eternity.

What would Richard think of her? Would he approve of the way she had conducted her life? Or would he be subtly disappointed?

And the minutes ticked away, and she could not think of anything else to do.

Kenneth looked at her, up from his magazine. "This will not help" he said. "try to keep yourself busy."

"I can't I am too nervous to sustain interest in anything."

"Give it a try. Start writing your Christmas cards."

"It is a bit early for that. And they should be Hannukah cards."

"So start doing it leisurely."

"I am too nervous This is just too important to me."

"I know, you haven't seen him for ages and you wonder how the meeting will go."

"We were so close... you can't imagine how close."

"Yes, you two had no other family, thanks to Hitler."

"I was the only one left... Somehow it was as if I had to make it up to him for all the others. I had to be them for him. We were utterly dependent on each other..."

"Yet one day he walked out of your life."

"Yes. Maybe he realized how unhealthy that dependence was. Then, he was involved in Mossad work and it was dangerous. He could be vulnerable through me... He did not want me tied down to him. Because as much as it was not important to him, he still was a vampire, and I should be around normal people."

"And you managed to tie yourself to Barnabas."

"As I said, I tried to do to him what he tried to do to Maggie. We both failed."

"Julia, give him time to get here. After all, he can only travel after dark.

Julia nodded, but still did not believe Kenneth. Richard should be here by now.

"I feel kind of jealous." Kenneth confessed. "Barnabas was bad enough, and now I find that Barnabas was only a stand-in for another, and that the real thing is going to show up. I am not sure how I am going to take it."

He knew that there was something formidable in this unseen relative of Julia, something to be found in neither Barnabas nor Megan. As for Derek, even when he was one, you barely thought of him as a vampire...

It was a while. A long while. But eventually their doorbell rang.

Julia jumped up and ran to the door.he was there, at last.

Richard stood there. Tall, dark, and handsome. And young. so young...


Amy looked with surprise at the man calling on her. He looked like Quentin, true, but he had changed. He looked... older. Yes, he seemed to have aged, no so much physically as mentally.

"Amy?" Quentin spoke softly. "Don't you recognize me? Have I changed so much?" And when he spoke of changing he sounded glad."

"Quentin? Is that you?" For the first time Amy saw Quentin as more than the perpetual adolescent with a talent for getting into everybody's way. "Yes, you have changed. I can't figure out how."

"Somebody did something to my portrait.' Quentin said. "Set me free of it at last, and let me find my way. I am still looking for it... I can't describe how it is, to be able to be free of your past, to change, to make something of yourself after wasting so many years...

Quentin was gushing enthusiastically about his change, his newfound sense of purpose, and Amy listened to it patiently. Later on, Quentin might stumble on some of the drawbacks of change, but after being trapped for so long, he could see nothing but good in it.

"Amy I heard that you might get married."

"No more. It did not come off." she sighed. "Peter was not the person I thought he was. And I don't think that he could cope with the kind of family that he would be marrying into. I think that I wanted to marry him mostly to get out of Chris' life. But now that he's married Oriana he's a lot easier on me. He understands at last that I have to go my own way."

"They are going to adopt, don't they?"

"Yes. Chris had himself vasectomized so he cannot have his own... I hope it works out between him and Oriana. It didn't with Sandy, who was secretly pining for Barnabas."

Quentin nodded. "Amy I came to see you because I need your help."

"My help?"

"I have to find Adam. He disappeared. He did not answer my letters, and the last one I sent him was returned with no forwarding address."

"Couldn't you ask Angelique?"

"I don't want to go to Collinsport. Not until I make something of myself, and can walk there with my head held high."

"So you want me to read the cards for you?"

"Yes."

"I can do better. Do your remember Sebastian Shaw?"

"He used to be Angelique's lover. And before that, Roxanne's"

"Yes."

"He lives nearby. And he's a rather good psychic. He does not charge much."

"I never had that many dealings with him." except for that caper with the mask... but being in the power of Judah Zachary did not count as an introduction...

"You pay him, and he'll deliver it. I know that Barnabas used him to fin Iris and Tammy. So I know that he is good."


Julia did not come to, yet. Richard was rubbing her temples and smiling shyly.

"It has been a long time." he said to Kenneth "It did not seem so, but it was."

"She's been all excited over it." Kenneth said. "She kept telling me all about you, over and over. I think that she was not sure that you'd come at all."

"I tried to stay out of her life." Richard studied Kenneth critically. "You said that she told you everything about me."

"Yes." he knew what Richard meant. "that you are like Barnabas Collins."

"Barnabas Collins?"

"Didn't Julia tell you about him?"

"No. What about him?"

"She is a good friend of hers. And a vampire."

Richard did not react. He evaluated this piece of information. Julia's husband did know about him. And he sounded awfully tolerant. And then this Barnabas Collins...

"Being a vampire is not the most important thing to know about me." Being a Mossad assassin was more to the point, he thought, Someone might come hunting for him... but he had covered his tracks well.. Still...

"She told me the rest. But she had to tell me that so that I would not be surprised at the way you look so young after having raised Julia."

Richard nodded. "Yes. she had to tell you something. What about this Barnabas Collins:? Is it because of me that you react so easily to me?"

Kenneth nodded. "I was a complete skeptic on these matters. Then I moved into this crazy town. We have two other vampires apart from Barnabas... Well, one, Derek has become human again. We had a werewolf, but he moved to Florida, with his sister, who is a Tarot card reader. We have a witch. We had a phoenix. We've had cases of possession. We have Quentin Collins, who was given eternal youth. We have..."

"A pretty kettle of fish." Richard finished for him. "Kenneth" he said wearily. "Don't expect me to be like them. True, I am a vampire, I need to hide from the sun and I need blood. But there are two things that are far more important. The first one this. "he pulled up his sleeve to show his tattoo. "That's where I learned what true ruthlessness is."

"And the second one?" Kenneth had shivered at the tattoo, The horror that it represented could not be ignored. He had read about it, seen dramatizations. But seeing it...

"I have worked for the Mossad. And I did not grow any softer. I have killed many times. Never for blood. I killed for Eretz Israel, and what it meant to me and every other Jew...I hope to be done with killing, but, it might well be that you can take the man out of the Kidon, but not the Kidon out of the man."

"Kidon? what is that?"

"It is a newly formed unit of the Mossad, for assassins and such. It means point of the spear... Or knife. I am a knife, a weapon, Kenneth."

Julia stirred. "Richard?" she asked.

"I am here, Jewel" Richard said softly.

"Jewel." Julia said wistfully "It is you, then. No one else ever called me Jewel."