Chapter 7
Motionless. That was how Vicki felt; she was motionless standing eyes closed and only listening. The very air around her became active with so much at one time. There was the buzz of voices from across the room, then the sound of radio blaring out the disk jockey's voice while he announced a request. Slowly she pivoted on the balls of her feet in a circle. Hesitating for a moment she began to open her eyes. Then she took her time to study her surroundings. She could pick out and saw minute flecks of dust and insects small gnats that were hanging on with the fall's chilled breeze. In one millisecond she had become a microphone, and the lens of a high-powered camera to her surroundings. She had become a part of the living space around her.
Barnabas spoke softly from across the room, "Now concentrate on my voice Vicki, my voice only, block out all the other distractions and concentrate on my voice." Vicki fixed her gaze on him nodded slowly narrowed her eyes and began to try and only hear his words as he spoke to her. "That is right look at me and concentrate on what I am saying and nothing else." One by one she began to lock down the other noises that were distracting and focused on his voice and his voice only. Very subtly the sounds began to grow less noticeable and finally all she heard was his voice.
"Now, deep breathe and hear the sound of your breath while you exhale and try to block it with my voice as you do. As you block out that sound and only hear what I am saying to you." He encouraged her to do as he bid and watched her. She closed her eyes and he saw her chest expand with her deep breath she took. Then her shoulders and her chest shifted. She was slowly exhaling her breath and listening to his voice. He could sense she was struggling to only hear his voice. "That is right listen to me. I am here for you and you can do this. Now listen to my voice and hear only my voice. That is it, my voice is what you are listening for and only my voice." He continued to watch her face.
There it was, the smile he expected to see when she had accomplished the feat he had just encouraged her to complete. "Excellent my dear you are adjusting to the surroundings and learning to listen to what is important and blocking out the superfluous. That is how you must at this point in your life learn to accept and adapt."
Vicki opened her eyes and nodded slowly, "Thank you so much Barnabas. You must realize how difficult this has been for me."
Barnabas walked to her and gathered her into his arms. "I do realize how difficult this had been for you my dear Vicki. That is why Quentin and I have agreed to help you deal with this newest aspect of your life. You are going to find that with the two life forces that were used to bring you back to us, you have acquired some very unique skills. It is how you deal with these skills that will ultimately define you and your new life."
Vicki sighed she leaned into his hold. "Barnabas perhaps you should have just let me go and allowed me to die that night. Then I would not be such an embarrassment and threat to you and Quentin." She felt his hold tighten on her and he whispered softly into her ear.
"Never! Never would I have allowed that to have happened. My dearest Victoria, do not ever think or say that again. You are the dearest most precious life I have ever held in my arms and in my heart. To think of you as no more would be devastating to me." His voice had taken on a tremor with his thoughts of loosing her forever to death.
His sudden extreme emotions were over whelming her as she felt the pain she had just caused him. Blinking back tears she clutched his arms and held tightly not wishing to let him go. Her hold tightened and she held to him. "I am sorry Barnabas please forgive me. I would not wish to cause you this pain." He could feel her trembling against him speaking passionately all her feelings.
Upstairs Old house
Willie had started down the stairs and hearing Vicki with Barnabas quietly withdrew back up the stairs. Walking past the door to his sister's room he stopped before the door to knock. Raising his hand he stopped, something was bothering him since his dream last night. Leaning his head to the door he pressed his ear to the door. Leaning back he knocked lightly, "Becky?" His call was a soft voice filled with concern.
It was way past noon and she should have been up, knocking lightly again he called, "Becky?" Slowly he moved his fingers to the doorknob and turned, "Becky?" He stepped into the room prepared to avert his eyes if he were to see something he should not. Entering the room he saw her bed was made, her clothing was folded neatly on the end of the bed. It appeared she was preparing to put it in one of the drawers. Looking around he stepped into the hallway looking to the bathroom. The door was open and no sign of his sister.
"Hmm, I wonder where she is? Maybe she went to the kitchen to get something to eat." Willie stepped out of her room closing the door behind him. Walking to the rear stairs Willie stepped briskly down the steps to come to a stop in the kitchen entrance. Looking around at the empty kitchen Willie scratched his head. Stepping into the kitchen more fully he saw a note on the table.
Walking to the note on the table he began to read, "Dear William, I have gone to town and will stop by Collinwood to check with Mrs. Stoddard to see if I might have the use of the cottage Carolyn spoke of last evening. Sorry I missed you this morning. I will see you around six tonight. I love you very much, your sister Becky." Willie had read the note aloud laid it on the table and sighed.
Looking around the room he felt bereft not having a chance to speak to his sister before she left for the day. Walking back up the servant's stairs he went to his room. There was not much more he could do until Vicki and Barnabas were out of the way. Going to his bed he laid down and watched the ceiling. He counted the number of cobwebs in the corner, listened to the fall of rain hitting the windowpane of his room. Closing his eyes he allowed the sounds to lull him into a light nap.
Collinwood
Carolyn's chatter had become constant from the moment she picked her mother up from the hospital until they arrived back at Collinwood. "So, I have decided I need to spend more time at home and help you mother. I have been very neglectful of my duties as your daughter."
"Carolyn darling, it is not necessary for you to give up your social life to cater to me. I am fine; it was a horrible accident that I was knocked down by that big wolf. I must say I have never seen a wolf as big as that one before last night."
Carolyn thought a moment. "I guess they are growing larger, the one that tried to attack me in Collinsport was huge. He almost seemed abnormally large and he was quick. If Vicki had not blocked him and that Adam person been there to stop him I am afraid I would have been his dinner."
Liz frowned, "I just find it odd how both of us were attacked by a large wolf on the same night almost an hour apart. I am worried about David and his wayward play areas. If he is out after dark and gets caught by something like that I fear he could very well be killed." Liz was doing what she did best and that was fret about David. Her fretting was beginning to rub off on Carolyn.
"Another reason I should stay closer to the house now to help keep an eye on David, not that I think Vicki could not handle David alone it would just be nice to give her a break and have some more time with Cousin Barnabas. You know especially now that they are engaged."
Liz chewed her bottom lip. "I am not sure if they are engaged or not. I have not seen a ring on her finger. I just have Barnabas saying he has asked her and she said yes." Carolyn thought it odd too. She knew her cousin was very strict about customs and traditions and she too had wondered why there was no engagement ring on Vicki's finger.
"Well I am sure once they find the perfect ring he will put it on her finger and claim her as his for now and forever." Carolyn was playing the romantic speaking wistfully. She personally had wondered if Gregory would ever ask her to marry him or if she was only going to be his pretty side ornament to show off to his friends.
Elizabeth sensing where her thoughts had drifted asked with a cautionary tone, "And you Carolyn? Are you and Greg moving your relationship towards something more permanent?" Liz slid her gaze over her daughter's pensive features noting her chew her lip while she wrestled with her response.
"I think Gregory needs to learn to appreciate me more than he has lately. I feel he has taken me for granted and well, it might be a good time for a small separation from each other." It had taken a lot for her to say that since she had been treating her relationship with Trask as a drug for her ego.
"So, he is loosing interests and wants to move on?" Liz translated the unsaid part of Carolyn's response. Which caused Carolyn to go on the defensive.
"No, he is not paying me the proper attention and has some bad habits that annoy me to no end mother. Another really good reason to spend more time helping you at home." Carolyn's voice had grown petulant but she was also trying to be realistic for Carolyn.
Liz had sat quietly thinking about her daughter and the lack of responsibility that she had shown lately. She compared her to Vicki her levelheaded even-tempered daughter and found that she had over indulged Carolyn. Sighing softly she chewed on her lip thinking of how she would some day be able to approach Vicki and tell her the secret that Liz had kept for over twenty-five years. Pulling under the supportive canopy at the entrance of Collinwood, Liz opened the door and gingerly slid from the car. She paused to look around the area in the daylight and found it hard to believe that she had come so near to death the night before when the wolf charged and attacked her in the foyer of the great house of Collinwood.
She turned to face the double doors and paused, the door was flung open and David came dashing out to throw his arms around his aunt's waist. "Aunt Elizabeth! I am so glad you are home and not hurt any more!"
Elizabeth Stoddard put her arm over David's shoulder and led him back to the house, "I too am glad I was not hurt as badly."
David was hugging her close, "Father said it was a really big wolf and that he had to hit it to get it off of you. That you could have died!" He was filled with his excitement and was easily tiring Elizabeth with his enthusiasm. "I am so glad you were not killed Aunt Elizabeth, I would have much preferred it being father being attacked than you."
Liz understood his sentiment, she had wished he had expressed it a little differently, "Well David had it not been for your father I very well may have died, and I don't think I could have been as brave as he was and saved him."
David shrugged, "Oh well, the important thing is that you are not hurt and are home now."
"And I am wondering if you have those assignments I gave you earlier done?" Vicki with Barnabas following walked into the foyer through the open door. She directed her schoolmarm look at her charge.
"Yes I have Miss Winters and it's on the desk in the library just like you told me to do and I finished tomorrow's assignment too." Vicki was pleased with his progress.
"Well maybe I should double up your assignments to keep you busy." She stepped past the vestibule and walked more fully into the foyer, sliding her coat off to feel Barnabas taking her coat from her. She glanced over her shoulder to see he had removed his own jacket and hung it up and was waiting for her coat.
"Oh no Miss Winters please don't double up my assignments, I wanted to get done just in case Aunt Elizabeth could not come home and was going to be staying in the hospital and I would get to see her there." His look pleaded her to relent on giving him more homework.
"All right for now David, you can go on out and play but stay close to the house. We don't know where that wolf is that attacked your Aunt and Carolyn." David was slipping on his coat and sighed huge.
"Oh don't worry about me, Sarah has told me the safest places to play would be and there is no wolf in those areas." He had exited through the door and out it before any more comments could be made or questions asked. Vicki had noticed that when Sarah's name had been mentioned that the hold Barnabas held on her arm had tightened somewhat and she shook her arm subtly letting him know he was hurting her arm. With the slight shake he had loosen his grip on her arm relaxing next to her.
"Well mother I am going up to change, and then will be down, now if there is anything you need me to do, run errands, go to the cannery for you just let me know." Carolyn smiled, kissed her mother on the cheek and turned to dash up the stairs to her room.
Those in the foyer watched her go up the stairs and out of sight. Vicki turned her attention back to Mrs. Stoddard, "I am so sorry I was not here for you last night Mrs. Stoddard. Are you sure you should be up and moving about?"
Elizabeth stepped to Vicki's side and slid her arm around her waist walked with her into the drawing room. "I am fine, just a little bump on the head that knocked me out." Vicki walked slowly with her to the sofa and sat next to her. Barnabas sat on the other side of Vicki watching quietly the play between the two.
"Is there anything I can do?" Vicki was concerned for her employer noting her lack of color and the slight bruise over her left eye.
"Not really my dear. I do think though between you and Carolyn I might become an invalid and need to be placed in a rest home if you keep showering me with all this attention."
Vicki chuckled softly, "It is only because we care for you and your health is important to all of us."
"So I am told repeatedly. No dear I am fine, just a bit tired. You never rest well in the hospital what with them coming in and checking you every hour on the hour." Liz sounded very put out and truthfully would have like to retire to her room and take a nap now that she was safely back in her own home.
"As long as you know how much we care and we just want to help if we can." Vicki tried to reassure her that she was being respectful and only wishing to help.
"I understand perfectly and I promise you both." She looked from Barnabas to Vicki, "I promise you both that I shall go up to my room and lie down for a little while before lunch and maybe you two can find something to occupy your time?" Liz stood slowly smiling her appreciation to both Vicki and Barnabas.
Vicki stood along with Barnabas walking with her to the stairs. "Remember if you need anything just let us know?" Barnabas spoke to her retreating back watching Elizabeth go up the stairs.
Liz paused looked down at the two nodded and smiled, "Oh don't worry if I need anything, you will be the first to know." They watched her disappear into the family's private section of the second floor.
"I really am concerned for her, she did not look well, don't you think?" Vicki turned her concerned gaze to Barnabas. He nodded slowly.
"I think she is just exhausted from the ordeal of nearly being killed by a wild animal. She will rest and I am sure will be feeling better soon enough to run circles around us." Barnabas placed his hand on Vicki's elbow turning her to escort her back into the drawing room. "Now, do you think you can get the estate car and we could take a trip into Collinsport?"
"I can get the estate car with no problem, why do you wish to go to Collinsport?" Vicki was curious to say the least he had never asked to go into Collinsport this early before and she suspected he was planning something.
"I will tell you once we are on the road. We will be meeting Quentin, Julia, Elliott, and Daphne at the Blue Whale later for lunch. For now I just wish you to take me to Collinsport." Barnabas was being very mysterious. Not wishing to pry, Vicki went to the key cabinet collecting the key to the Bentley. Coming back to the foyer she found Barnabas had put his coat back on and was holding her coat.
"Now shall we head to the main street of Collinsport and find a place to park. Then I shall escort you to where we need to be for the appointment I made."
Eagle Hill Cemetary
Rebecca walked through the cemetery and paused at the stately looking concrete building. The words were time worn and weathered from years of harsh winters and hurricane infested years. Looking overhead the worn face of the angelic cherub that posed as a guardian over those inside looked down from his dark socketed eyes his face worn from time. It gave her a chill to look upon the features of something that should represent peace but all she could think of was demonic.
Going to the Iron Gate she tugged and it gave a resistive irritated squeal from the rusty hinges that held the door in place. The door opened then hung only allowing six inches to squeeze through the gate and step inside the dark damp building that at one time held the bodies of all the notables and nobles of this town. Stepping over to a vault she stood looking at the lid and sighed.
Putting her hands to the lid she used her weight to slide the lid over and peer at the bronze casket. A chill swept through her body she looked at the slightly aged casket. Lifting the lid she looked down upon familiar features. They were frozen with embalming fluid and looked peaceful. "Rebecca my sweet child I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I will find a way to bring you back to your body, to your life, I promise I am not a bad mother but one desperate to see a child she had not seen in so long."
A wail filled the chamber she stood in; the keening was so heart wrenching and filled with anguish reverberated around the room. "MOOOOTTTHHHER HEEEELLLPP MEEEE!" Rebecca stepped back dropping the lid to the casket. Her eyes wide open had become filled with fear. Using her weight she slid the lid back in place, then slumped against the vault.
"Oh my dearest daughter, I am so sorry. I will help you. I just need to know how." Rebecca covered her face with her hands and wept; through her sobs she heard the voice that had haunted her earlier.
"Mother seek out a man named Marley, Harlan Marley. He will help, then take that man to Professor Timothy Stokes, Professor Stokes will help reverse what you have . . . " Her voice was cut off and once again there was an anguished filled shrill scream that echoed around her.
"What? What is happening?" Rebecca stood up looking around in the darkness and then he stepped from the shadows, standing in his perfectly groom three piece suit, bowler hat, twisting that damn pinky ring on his finger.
"Shame, shame, Mrs. Loomis, you should have not gone behind my back. Now you will need to be punished for disobeying me and trying to break our contract." Nicholas Blair's dark beady eyes twinkled with the mischief he was about to stir. "Now what would be a befitting punishment for disobeying me?" He walked around the room; his foot falls echoing in the dungeon like atmosphere.
He smiled and that gave his carefully groomed mustache a twitch of its own. "I know your son, Willie or William. What shall I do to William Loomis?" He rubbed his hands together in a devilishly delightful way that gave him a more ominous look. "I shall make him have a nasty accident. Yes, I think that will remind you of what you should and should not do."
"No! Don't hurt Willie; he is the innocent in all of this. If you have to punish someone then let it be me!" She cried through tear filled eyes she watched him smile, tuck his chin shake his head and fade back into the darkness that surrounded him like a liquid blanket. Rebecca fell to the floor her body wracked with sobs afraid to move and afraid not to move she cried out the anguish and slammed her fists against the stone floor a braising them and bringing blood to her palms and knuckles. "No, no, no." she cried over and over rocking and hugging her arms close to her chest.
She could not allow this to continue she would to figure out a way to return to the world of restless spirits and bring her daughter back. "I am sorry Becky, I am so sorry Willie, I am sorry." She wept into the shadows that grew longer with the light beginning to fade to allow the onset of yet another storm making its way through the town of Collinsport.
Blue Whale
Elliott and Julia walked up to the door of the Blue Whale, pausing to look up at the threatening cloudbank that shrouded the town overhead. "Looks threatening does it not?" Elliott noted letting Julia into the tavern.
Julia nodded, "I hope Eric gets back from Bangor before this gets too bad or he might be stranded." She stepped on through the door and paused looking around looking for Quentin and Daphne. She saw them in the corner booth she smiled and waved to them. Sliding her purse over her arm she walked towards the booth and slid over on the bench seat across from them making room for Elliott to join them.
"It really is starting to look bad out there. I don't suppose you know what Barnabas wanted to meet here do you?" Elliott took his hat off and hung it on the post of the booth's back.
Quentin shrugged lightly, "I would think it has something to do with the newly acquired abilities that Vicki seems to possess."
This was news to Elliott; he tilted his head and looked at Quentin with a questioning look. "What might those be my dear boy?"
Quentin knew how much he should say in front of Daphne but was not prepared to reveal all he knew. "I think the incident last evening has him upset, she seems to be able to hear calls for help over three blocks away and can respond at some pretty fast sped and she has no idea she is doing it."
Elliott glanced at the non-pluses look on Daphne's features then to Julia. "She knows most of what I know. I told her and she is prepared to keep to the Hippocratic oath of not revealing a patient's medical history so you gentlemen may speak freely in front of Daphne." Julia reassured them and smiled at Daphne.
Daphne watched her folded hands on the tabletop. "I know most of it Quentin, not all of it. Regardless I will not speak of it out side of this family group, I have given my word to my Aunt."
Quentin laughed uneasily, "Well that takes care of part of our problem. So now we have to wait for Barnabas to see where he wants to go with this situation."
