Chapter 10

The rest of the night was a blur for Vicki; she had discretely kept herself busy in the kitchen. After making the coffee she had gone up to her room and changed clothing, dressing in something comfortable. Finding a pair of jeans and a cable knit sweater she slid on her tennis shoes and combed her hair, pinched her cheeks then started to go back to the drawing room. That is when she saw the foyer full of more police and the state forensics lab people going up and down the stairs and excusing them selves as they passed her.

Deciding instead to take up a position in the kitchen she helped Mrs. Johnson as she prepared sandwiches and coffee for all the extra people. Because she did it so stoically and quietly Vicki suspected Mrs. Johnson was upset over what had happened and was just too tired to express her displeasure at being put upon to do so much extra. It was not until well past noon that her mother looking worn out and very haggard stumbled into the kitchen and collapsed on the barstool at the island. "I am exhausted." she muttered softly.

Vicki smiled, "Mother why don't you go on up to your room, take a nice hot bath and lie down for a while. You look so tired and there is really nothing else that you will be able to do. This is apparently going to go on for a few more hours, and I know Barnabas went home an hour ago. If there is anything needed, Maggie, Uncle Roger and myself can handle it. I know Maggie said something about taking David into Portland earlier maybe to an early show or shopping to keep him out of the way and not expose him to what has happened."

Liz nodded slowly, "That is a great idea. She might go on and get him ready to go now and darling would you mind standing in for me and help out Uncle Roger? I know he wants to go into the cannery and check on things there. If that is the case that will leave your father in charge here and he does not know the house as well as you."

Vicki smiled hugged her gently then kissed her forehead. "Don't fret mother, I can handle anything else and Mrs. Johnson you don't need to stay around. She can go visit her sister, right mother?" Vicki smiled for Sarah and then turned that pleading look to her mother who readily agreed to give poor Sarah a break from all the tension in the house.

"By all means yes. Do go and visit dear Clara. I am sure she will be bursting at the seams to know what happened at the haunted house on the hill what with the news media about to show up anytime." The dread in her voice made Liz close her eyes thinking of all that was going to happen when word got out there was a suicide at the house instead of Widow's Hill.

Sarah removed her apron, folded it neatly and laid it on the counter. "Thank you Mrs. Stoddard, I am telling you my bones were aching all night, I just knew something was going to happen and it was not going to be good. I think I do need a break from all of this." She was wringing her hands and pacing, which was annoying Elizabeth somewhat. Liz's nerves were already frayed and her patience was beginning to wear thin.

For eighteen years she had used this house as her self-imposed prison and had taken the staff down to nothing then to Sarah Johnson. Her reprieve had come indirectly thanks to Jason and his mechanizations to manipulate her into a loveless marriage. After discovering that Jason had hidden the truth from her. Elizabeth had been furious over the fact she had wasted 18 years of her life and living.

What she had discovered was Paul never died. He just used Jason to help him leave Collinwood leaving her with the belief that she had killed her husband. Finally with the truth out she was free. It did not preclude the fact that she felt protective of her home and those that she allowed to roam its interior. That was a part of this sordid mess that was unsettling. The fact was there were strangers in Collinwood roaming freely. "Just keep them in the areas of interest dear, I think I will go take a hot bath and relax. If you need me you know where to come find me." She kissed Vicki's cheek then walked to the servant's stairs.

Liz started up the first step and paused. Turning she half turned peering over her shoulder. "Vicki, you might want to check on Cousin Henri, I put him in the bedroom next to Daphne's. Daphne is also with Julia, would you call and check on her and then check on Carolyn and make sure she is doing well?"

Vicki smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, I checked on Daphne earlier and Carolyn mother, both are doing fine. Carolyn is resting comfortably at Greg's and he hired a nurse to sit with her while she is at his house. I understood that he was on his way over to see if Henri needed his legal expertise on this whole mess. As for Daphne, Julia heavily sedated her and she was still sleeping. Julia thinks and this was between us mother that seeing Josephine jump brought back a long buried memory of another person she cared deeply for dying and this has kind of caused a break in her psyche. So, Julia wants to take her time bringing her out of it. I don't think Daphne will be back for a couple of days."

Liz frowned, "This just becomes more nightmarish as we go along. Poor child. Well thank you for taking care of those calls for me. I would still encourage you to check on Henri, he has not been heard from since they put him to bed late this morning." Turning Liz disappeared up the stairs. Vicki really did not want to go to that bedroom. She was not sure why and it was not her nature to just feel heartless about anyone. He unsettled her so much that she was almost afraid of him.

Doing the dirty dishes up she was unaware she was being watched from the servants stairs. From behind she heard his voice. "You look so charmingly domestic cousin Victoria. Is there any coffee?" Henri stepped from the stairs and Vicki turned with a tense smile. Reaching for one of the china cups in the over head cabinet, she set it on a saucer, poured out the coffee and turned with a plastic smile painting her lips. "Sugar and cream are in the center of the island." She set a spoon on the counter for him and watched from her peripheral as he slid onto the barstool and leaned over the counter.

Taking a few more of the dirtied dishes that had been delivered to the kitchen earlier she rinsed them and placed them in the dishwasher. "I am so glad mother got this for Mrs. Johnson it sure cuts our work in half when it comes to the regular dishes." She had to make small talk to keep from feeling unsettled around him. His voice was Quentin's, and in looks he was Quentin only at an older age, he could have been Quentin's father with the greying temples and the half smirk that seemed to be permanently etched on his lips.

"How quaint that you would not mind to do the menial tasks to take care of those around you." He paused, then spoke softly, "Josephine . . . " He paused and affected a look of tragic loss. He swallowed hard, took a deep breath and deliberately made a play of squaring his shoulders appearing to give the appearance of staying strong over his loss. "My dear Josephine would worry about breaking a nail, or wrinkling her hands or soiling her dress."

He sighed deeply cast his gaze down tipping his chin towards his chest but watched her reaction from the corner of his eye. Vicki nodded and turned squaring her own shoulders, "I know it must be difficult. You loved her very much?" She posed it as a question more than a statement then turned to see him looking like the tragic figure he tried to portray.

"in the beginning it was I believe lust more than love at first sight, we were so caught up in the idea of us and she always appreciated what I had to offer and could give her, that it was a near perfect match, I provided and she took. That was the beginning and accepting the position. I suppose we spent so much time with the present us that we did not really take time to explore the deeper or future us. Then we were married and well . . . "He let his voice trail off and had managed to affect the perfect pitch and pauses needed to elicit the right sympathy from his listener. That is what he had he hoped.

For Vicki it almost seemed to be too contrived his plying his sorrow on the past and speaking of his wife in such an almost callous way. "Are you saying she was vain and selfish and only married you for your title and money?" That was how it appeared when he explained their relationship. Vicki was not so quick to feel sorry for him when he explained his relationship as such.

Petofi knew he had been very callous in explaining his relationship; he really had nothing to draw from, since from the beginning of time he had always taken. Thinking he spoke and this time it was from the deepest part of him when he remembered a time long ago when Johnny Romano came to avenge his sweet Mila. "I know that when two people are destined to be together whatever their faults or their designs, it will happen. For me, she was young and filled with life, where I . . . " He paused and Vicki could tell he was being sincere with his thoughts.

"I was selfish too and arrogant and needy. I was living a wild life and I wanted it all and then I found someone that wanted what I wanted and was willing to help me find it. I had to accept her with her faults and that unnecessary baggage she carried." He looked down and hid the calculating smile behind a polite mask of indifference in his manner. "I admit she was not perfect but nor was I. She had her faults but in those faults I found something in myself. Unfortunately after the death of our son she got worse and reality and growing up became my new life, we grew apart."

Vicki turned and leaned against the sink. Folding her arms over her chest she watched him as he played with the stem of his cup. With his head bent she could not see his features so she listened to the tone of his voice as it became more thoughtful. He glanced up with a sheepish smile. "I suppose I indulged her and when I was ready to be more altruistic to others she was still wrapped up in her needs and not wishing to share. I think that is what started her into the turning to the black magic's and playing at being a witch." He shuddered which was easy for him to shiver his shoulders and drop his gaze to study his cup.

"Do you really feel she just started dabbling in magic that she was not doing it all along? I mean it was the next thing to witch craft you do realize that don't you?" Vicki did not wish to sound judgmental for her it was hard not to. "Are you aware that your wife looks exactly like a witch that lived here nearly two hundred years ago?"

With practiced ease Petofi ne' Henri looked up with an assumed look of shock. "She did?" He watched her nod and her face was set in a pensive manner bordering on anger and outrage. It was a look that stunned him because he had not seen on Vicki before this moment. "Is there a photo or painting of her?" He did sound surprised and curious. He watched her nod her head and push from the sink.

"Follow me, it is not one of the more prominent portraits kept in the obvious view for those visiting Collinwood, but there is a portrait of her in the west wing library that has been closed for years." Walking to the hook by the kitchen door she lifted them from their resting place and walked to the servants stairs. Henri pushed from the stool and followed her up the stairs admiring the view from behind as they walked to the second floor and entered the hallway across from where he had been placed with Josephine.

Walking down by her bedroom door she lifted the keys and opened the door that had been secured and David had spoken of the night he was caught going through Victoria's room. Stepping into the wide hallway she waited for him to enter. Proping the door open she pocketed the keys and took him down another series of halls to a set of double doors. Opening the doors she pushes aside the thicken cob webs and stepped in switching on the light to the room.

With the light coming on, it showed the dust and the sheet-covered furniture in grim detail. Nodding to over the fireplace here was a portrait of a beautiful blond woman with blond hair in long curls and blue eyes that smiled a humorless smile at any that looked upon her features. "My God, it is Josephine!" Henri gasped in surprise artfully accenting his voice. He turned with a lock of horror and confusion written across his features. "She looks just like Josephine who was she?" He waited to find to why there was a portrait of a servant hanging in Collinwood. He wanted to hear this story and hid his amusement behind a mock look of expectancy.

"Her name was Angelique Bouchard, she was from Martinique and she was or had been a witch from the time she could speak the words and pledge herself to her dark lord. Her mother had been a witch and made her to give to her dark master. Angelique went willingly to her master and she met the original Barnabas Collins and had an affair with him. When that Barnabas grew tired of her, and found a new interest he asked his best friend Peter Bradford to distract and entertain her. Angelique Bouchard fell in love with Peter and well he did not fall in love with her."

Vicki had lived a part of this story and it was way to familiar for her comfort. She had leaned against the open door frame and looked at Henri then back to the picture as she told the story of Angelique. As she ended a portion of the story she was not about to tell him that she had cursed Peter who in turn had turned Barnabas and had caused Josette's death. She just deftly shifted the focus on the portrait. "I understand that prior to the break up between Barnabas and Angelique he had one of the island's artist paint her portrait and had given it to her for her birthday. When she came here to Collinwood and began to create problems she . . . "

Vicki took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "She had another blamed for the witchcraft she was practicing. That poor girl was taken by a horrible man and was abused and then she died." Vicki's voice had grown distant and her gaze had gone to the past. Henri found this fascinating.

"You speak almost as if you had lived it." He spoke softly, he had felt that way many times in the past. He watched her shake her head and smile sadly.

"Would you believe me if I told you I had lived it. I was in that time and I met those people and I knew what happened because I was a part of it?" She looked down knowing he might think she had lost her mind. She had remembered Jeremiah and the stolen kiss on the beach and his pleas with her to stay and he would release Josette from her marriage to him.

How he had on one sunny morning while drawing a sea scape had penciled a picture of her sitting on a rock overlooking widow's hill and had sketched her likeness and then later had her portrait done with her sitting in a chair at the old house holding a cup of cordial in her hand and the back drop of the ocean was behind her while she wore the lovely white gown that had once belonged to Josette. How she had appeared to them that night when she was found on the road.

"You are entertaining Victoria no one can travel through time." Henri was cajoling in his tone but he watched her stiffen and there was truth to her story. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she looked to the picture of Angelique.

"You can believe what you want Henri. I know what happened I was there. There was a séance' and I was thrust back to the year 1796 and I saw everything that happened to this family and they were all nearly destroyed by that woman there and she put the blame for her deviltry on a woman by the name of Phyllis Wycke. That horrible witch hunter Trask came and took Phyllis to test her and he took an unhealthy interest in me. It was a horrible time and I thought I would die in that time but somehow what ever forces gathered together to send me back brought me home."

She turned and looked at the end of the hallway and saw Sarah smiling and waving at her and she smiled at Sarah in return. She was unaware that Henri had come up behind her and he reached out to take her in his arms seeing she had grown upset with his teasing. Using the hand that had given him so much power he tried to exert his will over her.

"I am sorry Victoria, I should not have teased you. I hope you will forgive me?" He lifted her chin and peered deeply into her eyes and for a moment he felt her will give over to him. He smiled, "You truly are lovely and it will be a shame to take your heart destroying that beauty, but you are a Romano."

Vicki looked deeply into his gaze and there she saw another image, one that belonged to another an old man with thick glasses, full lips and a failing body. He lay in a bed and appeared to be unconscious from the depths of his mind something seemed to be screaming out to her. "Help me!"

Vicki gasped as she felt his lips touch hers and she stepped back and blushed. "Excuse me. I think this is totally inappropriate Cousin Henri, I really need to go see if Father needs anything." She had pressed her hands to his chest and pushed against him. Turn and rushed down the hallway.

Henri clinched his fist and hit it against the door. "Why does it not work!" He growled and turned seeing a small girl standing in the hallway. Her hands behind her back she curiously watched him. She was dressed in 18th century garb. "You must be the famous Sarah Collins the ghost."

She nodded and studied him. "You are a bad man Count Petofi and you will never have Miss Winters, she is for my brother and you will never be able to control her with your powers. The Romano blood is strong in her and her heart beats pure that is why evil always tries to court her."

Henri advanced on her and tried to grab her with his hand and she shimmered from view with a soft laugh. "Never Count Petofi, never." The words faded into the over powering shadows of the room. He frowned and then shook his head. He could not allow this to deter him from his plan and if one plan did not work then he merely needed to devise another plan.

Daphne had already told him she had taken care of his body. So he did not need to worry about Henri any longer he was now a distant memory and Petofi was home free in this body. Walking at a more sedate speed he walked out of the west wing into the hallway and saw the door to Victoria's room which had been opened earlier was now closed, smiling he made his way past her closed door down the hallway to his new room. He could hear the police specialist doing their job by going over his room looking for the clues he cleverly left for them to find that Josephine had been dabbling in dark magic's and might have been driven crazy by her practices, which ultimately cost her the life, she valued so strongly.

Entering his room he walked to the small closet and opened the door, looking at the oval mirror that hung on the door he waved his hand over the mirror and watched as the stones he placed in her room began to give him a complete view of her room and now of her. She had lain across her bed and was hugging her pillow. She was upset and he knew why. This was going to be harder than he thought, as he watched the mirror another image began to form over the mirror and he stumbled back against his bed post. The eyes that narrowed and looked at him with the hatred of ages was Johnny Romano.

"You will never have her Petofi. You cannot take the heart from her. Do you know why? Because Petofi she is the heart. She does not have the heart she is the heart. She alone will be your ultimate destruction. Trust me I will see you punished for Julianka and for Mila, you will pay for this I promise you." The image faded and Petofi had looked away form the mocking look in Johnny Romano's eyes and upon his face.

"I swear if it is the last thing I do, I shall take the heart of the Romano. It may not be Victoria's heart but I will have my heart!" He clinched his hand and slammed it into the bed and he was filled with fear something he had not felt for a very long time. He had to wonder what King Johnny had meant by she was the heart. He knew that the jewel within the blade that had taken his hand so long ago was named the Heart of the Romano's and that it was the power in that jewel that was able to cut his hand from his wrist.

Then the blade disappeared with his hand. His hand had turned up in the possession of Quentin Collins in the late 1800's and that is when Petofi had gotten his hand back and was going to take Quentin's body from him. But something circumvented that possession. It was not until he had remembered about the Grand Duke that was a duplicate to Quentin that he knew exactly where he had to go and why.

Discovering that they were distantly related to the Collins only made it more perfect for him to devise his plan to destroy the Collins family, Quentin Collins, and Barnabas Collins that had taken his Victoria from him in 1845. Then to discover she had the blood of the Romano's in her only made the idea of taking her and her heart on her wedding night even more delicious to his plans?

Now he had reconsidered whether or not he wanted to destroy her or make her his slave and have her do his bidding. The thought of controlling a Romano was exciting and would finally give him his justice and full fill his own need for revenge and that revenge had been brewing since King Johnny took his hand those many years ago.

Henri closed his eyes he needed to get a grip and formulate a new plan and it did not take him long to see what he would need to do to get everything he had wanted. George Patterson knocked on his door and asked him if he was ready to give him a statement. He would be able to control Victoria and Penelope through their father and that made him smile.