Back in the dining room, Julia sat back down and couldn't help but notice Vicki's change in appearance and decided to do a quick test to confirm her suspicions. "Getting a bit creative with your makeup now, are we, Vicki?"

"No. I don't wear much makeup."

Elizabeth patted her mouth with a napkin and cleared her throat. "No point in beating around the bush, Julia. Everyone knows now."

Julia raised her eyebrows and slumped back into her chair. "Really? Then let me be a bit more frank." She looked at Josette again and her face as well as her tone made it unmistakable that she was mocking the woman. "So you're a blood-sucking monster now, too, eh?"

Josette looked down and frowned, not having considered her decision in that aspect before. She had hastily made the decision to become a vampire purely so she could be with Barnabas. She was ashamed to admit that she hadn't, until now, even thought of the consequences of that choice.

"Well, Vicki, I guess that answers my question."

Josette turned to the doctor, feeling suddenly livid towards her. "My name is not Vicki!" She realized her voice had raised and took a deep breath before continuing. "It's Josette."

Julia chuckled. "Oh so that's true too? You really are the reincarnation of his beloved Josette?" She spoke the last few words with a mocking tone, and almost gagged on them as she did. Somehow, even after what he did to her, she still found herself jealous of his devotion to her when she had done nothing but sit and be all sweet and innocent. She, herself, had kept his secret and done another "special favor" during the first transfusion that she doubted "Josette" ever did. What was so special about her anyways?

"Yes. I love him, and he turned me so that we could be together forever, just as he promised me the first time around."

"Oh stop it with that sentimental crap before I puke!"

"Doctor Hoffman!" came a voice from behind the doctor. She turned around to see Barnabas glaring at her. "Do not insult her."

"And what are you gonna do about it?"

Barnabas's hand began to raise, ready to strangle her right there for as long as he felt like it, but Julia's eyes flashed and the same grin from before spread across her face. His hand balled into a fist and dropped to his side again as he gritted his teeth and returned to his seat.

The rest of the breakfast went by as usual, without another word being spoken by anyone at the table. Julia was the first to leave as soon as she finished her meal. She went up to her room, explored a little since she had gone straight to bed the night before, and found it untouched. While she didn't have any clue how long she had actually been gone, it didn't seem to have been too long, but she still half expected Barnabas, or at least his lackey, to have raided her jewelry or something. With a smile, she sat down on the bed and squeezed the comforter on top of it. After spending so long wrapped in a sheet and tied up in the ocean, her bed, hard as it was, felt like paradise. While she didn't plan to sleep, she lay down anyways and her arms fell up by her head. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as another smile appeared on her face.

Shortly after, she heard a knock on her open door, which caused her to open her eyes again as her head flopped over to see who it was. Barnabas stood in the doorway, looking much less angry. "What do you want now?"

"I just had an inquiry for you, as to whether or not you were truly serious about your threat. Would you really murder the family that sheltered and fed you for the last two years?"

"You make me sound like a dog, Barnabas." Julia sat up again and stretched before speaking, then let out the deep breath she was holding. "Look. Okay, so I might have grown a little attached to them...or, at least some of them. Bitchy Lizzy could take a dive off Widow's Hill for all I care. But just because I care about them doesn't mean I wouldn't do it."

"You mean you would kill those you love just to prove a point to me?"

"To put it so bluntly, yes." Within a fraction of a second, she was suddenly right in front of him, right up in his face. "If you think I'm bluffing, feel free to try me."

Barnabas swallowed hard and lifted his hands to clutch her arms and push her farther away. "No no. There will be no need to prove that."

After being pushed away, a bit of the old Julia began to peek through again. Her eyes now shone with a slight sadness rather than insanity and bloodlust, but she still retained a strong appearance. "So can I ask you a question then?"

Barnabas' confusion was clearly shown on his shadowed features. "Of course, Doctor Hoffman."

"Do you really love Josette? Or are you just after the 'forbidden fruit', so to speak?"

"Of course I love her. She was reincarnated just in time for me to be released from my underground prison. Surely it must be a work of fate."

Julia's eyes shone again from the increased sadness, making her strong exterior a bit harder to keep up, but somehow she at least still mostly managed thanks to the slight anger and jealousy that came with it. "Okay. Whatever. Just go, alright? I want to be alone for a while." Julia turned towards the bed again to hide the pain that was getting harder to mask.

"Are you sure you are-?"

She quickly turned back around to him, her eyes filling with tears that she tried to stop at least until he left. "I said go!"

With a small bow, Barnabas did as she bade him and closed the door gently behind him.

Julia sat back down on the bed and wiped her eyes, noticing the mascara and eyeliner smeared on her fingers and sighing. She couldn't even remember the last time she cried like this, nor was she totally sure why she was. She knew he didn't love her, that much was obvious. He did kill her, after all. And yet, for some reason, she was still head over heels for him. In fact, her feelings felt even stronger now than they had been before. Once she thought about it, the answer to at least the first mystery was painfully obvious. She hadn't had a drink or a single pill since she came back. For once there was absolutely nothing to stop all these painful emotions from pouring out and showing full force. She now remembered one of the reasons why she had started with them in the first place. All of this felt horrible, even that everlasting spark of love, which is supposed to be the happiest thing a person can feel, was torture.

With that final thought, her mind was made up. She had to shut it all up the best way she knew how, which meant raiding the liquor.

The doctor made her way through the great manor, on a hunt for booze, until she heard Barnabas' voice coming from a nearby room, the door cracked open slightly. Despite her instincts telling her otherwise, she crept up to the door and peeked through the small opening to see what was happening.

Barnabas and Josette were together on a couch. Both vampires were smiling and she was lying on his lap, looking up at him. "I see the doctor's return hasn't really bothered you." Josette said.

"No, it has not."

"You don't think she'll be out for revenge or anything?" She joked, giggling slightly.

Barnabas' smile grew a little wider. Hers was so beautiful, her eyes smiling right along with it and glistening in the dim light of the room. "I do not think so."

"You said she was infatuated with you before. You don't think she'll try and take you, do you?"

"If her feelings somehow still persist, then I will not let her. I am yours, my darling. I said we would be together forever, and I never break promises."

Josette sat up and turned around so she was sitting beside him. She placed a hand on his cheek and turned his head to face her. "Then forever it is, my love." She kissed him deeply and he responded by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in closer.

That was enough. Julia quietly moved away and back up to her room, giving up on trying to numb herself for the night, not wanting anyone to see her so upset and vulnerable. She hurried back to her room and plopped down into her bed, hoping sleep would come quickly so she could at least escape that way.