Chapter Ten

After the fuss of the family's recent revelation, the atmosphere at Collinwood died down once more, leaving Julianna alone with her thoughts. She no longer had anything left to occupy her day with, bar the hour long sessions she had with David every other evening. This was why Julianna was reasonably shocked when the door to her office swung open one Tuesday evening. She was even more shocked when she caught sight of the black cloaked figure leaning on the doorframe.

"David, I thought our session wasn't 'til tomor… oh." she sighed again as the pale face stepped further towards the young woman. Barnabas.

"Mr. Collins." greeted Julia, both chuckling a little at the reminiscence of Julia being addressed as 'Dr. Hoffman' for the whole time that Barnabas had been there.

"Is it Julianna now?" asked Barnabas, a slight hint of a smirk crossing his face.

"Well, Julia's a nickname, so it doesn't really matter. Just don't call me Dr. Hoffman."

"Of course not, Dr. Lovett." They both broke down with laughter once more.

"Alright, seriously, what d'you want?" asked the doctor, her laughter barely being masked by her seemingly serious expression, to which the vampire sighed and sat down in a floral armchair opposite the physician.

"I wanted to discuss your condition with you, if you do not mind at all."

"No, of course not. Shoot."

"Right. Well, I obviously could not help but notice your aversion to sunlight, but I wondered if you had recieved any other vampiric characteristics. Blood lust, paler skin?"

"No. None at all, just the sunlight."

"Ah. Miss Hoffman-"

"Uh-hmm?" coughed Julia, raising her eyebrows.

"Miss Lovett, I apologise...was your transaction complete during the incident in your office a few months ago?"

"No. You caught me just before I completed it. It wasn't complete."

"So, the transaction was not complete, yet you survived my attempt to kill you, yet you have no vampiric symptoms except aversion to sunlight...when you ran away from a fire when you were six. Oh!"

"What? What's with the O-ing, what?"

"Julia, you are not a vampire." breathed Barnabas.

"WHAT?" screamed Julia. "No! I have to be! You couldn't kill me and...and the sunlight!"

"I accidentally drained one quart of my own blood, the blood from the transfusion and thus, one quart less of yours. While you were under the water, it must have replenished itself. And as for the sunlight...you ran away from a fire when you were six. So, as a physician, you would know about-"

"Snapback. It's like shellshock, only with a significant part of someone's past. Fire."

"Heated light."

"So...I'm not, then...a vampire, I mean."

"No. I would count yourself lucky, Julia. Vampirism is a small gift, burdoned by a great curse. You would not have wanted the life that would've awaited you."

"I did once."

"You didn't know how much grief it could cause you. Now you do."

"I'm so sorry, Barnabas, I never meant to hurt you. You know I d-"

"Shh, I know, I know." soothed Barnabas, walking over, pulling Julia out of the chair, sitting down and pulling her into his lap, wrapping his arms around the now sobbing redhead. He kissed her tears away with a tenderness almost impossible for a vampire and whispered soothing words into her ear.

He barely caught sight of the streak of blonde fading from the window.

A/N: Cliffhanger! I think we all know who that'll be. Confrontation coming up next chapter. This story might be 13 chapters actually and I'm going to do a short sequel story.