Chapter 10

Today was probably the most important day in Vicky's life. But she did not know it.

But she would, Barnabas promised to himself. Before dawn she would know of it.

"Do you think you can do it?" Julia asked him.

"I have psyched myself not to pull out of her throat. I'll probably be spitting out most of the blood, so don't be alarmed when this place ends up real messy."

"Well, more work for the cleaning crew, then. Bur remember, once inside her mind, you will be part of her dream world. Unless you resist it, you might end up trapped there forever. Concentrate in getting her out and don't let anything distract your from that."

"You have been through this a thousand times." Barnabas said, with a beginning of irritation.

"Once more won't hurt."

Barnabas knelt by Vicky's side while Julia waited for hi to settle himself and find the most comfortable position before she used the transfusion on Vicky, so that there would be no danger in what Barnabas was attempting to do.

Barnabas closed his eyes, trying to concentrate his mind on the task to be done. Then, once he was sure of himself, he bit into the throat and plunged into the tunnel.

Some part of him remembered that the moment she felt satiety overtake him he should start spitting out the blood instead of just pulling out as he usually did. But then it just slipped into his unconscious as he looked for Vicky in the mists.

Vicky was still in the same place where he had left her the last time. Even in the same position.

"Vicky" he lifted her to her feet "Wake up. We have to go back."

Vicky hung limply from his hands, her eyes unfocused.

"Wake up, Vicky." he repeated.

Vicky's eyes rolled, seemed to fix themselves on him.

"Yes, Vicky. We are going back."

"Bar... Barnabas?" she managed to say.

"Yes, it is me."

"Barnabas?" She wobbled and fell into his arms. Barnabas embraced her.

"Let's go back. It is all right now."

"Don't leave me, please..."Vicky said, pulling even closer to him.

"I won't. I promise."

She took his head in her hands. "I love you she said, kissing him.

"I love you too," he heard himself say.

...And he did love Vicky. Had loved her from the start... Vicky had been the only one he truly loved... Not Josette, nor Roxanne, not Angelique... it was Vicky all along...

And she wanted him...

Then his tongue missed his fangs.

His fangs... they were gone... he could not touch them, could not feel them...

Because Vicky had never known of this - he realized with shock. - in her dream world she knew nothing of vampires.

'You might be trapped there forever.'

He pulled back, afraid for the first time.

"Don't leave me." Vicky said plaintively.

"I won't. We have to go back."

"I can't"

"Yes, you can. Walk quickly."

Vicky tried a few steps, then collapsed.

"I can't" she turned to him. "hold me, please. Don't leave me alone."

"I won't" Barnabas held her at arm's length. "You can, Vicky. Just try and you'll see how you can."

"I am not strong enough!"

"I am strong for both of us. But still you have to help me. You have to want to go out."

"No! Not out!" Vicky screamed.

"We are going back to Collinsport. Do you remember Collinsport?"

"There are snakes out there!"

"I haven't seen any when I came in."

"They are here!"

"They are gone. Come, Vicky, walk,"

Vicky took a step and faltered. But Barnabas would not allow her to fall. He forced her forwards. So she took another step, and another.

"I told you that you could walk." Barnabas said with quite pride. Suddenly all the pain and guilt his curse had brought him were worth it...

Vicky was weak and fearful. Only the fact that Barnabas held her tightly kept her moving forward.

She knew that there were snakes there... she had seen them. But as Barnabas led her, none came to stop them. Maybe they were truly gone.

"You are doing all right." she heard him say.

He could feel her grow stronger. Knew that now she was carrying her own weight.

"Just keep walking and you'll do fine."

"Won't you hold me?" she asked plaintively.

"When we get back."

A faint light showed ahead of them.

Vicky moaned and fought to escape from Barnabas' hands.

"What is it?" He spoke gently,, but without relinquishing his hold.

"Don't make me got there! There are snakes! I have seen them!"

"There are no more snakes."

"There is a Ring there, and bottles and..."

"The Ring has been destroyed and the bottles have been broken. It is only Julia out there."

"No!"

"Trust Vicky. There is no danger."

But arguing would not convince Vicky. So he acted quickly. He lifted her and threw her towards the light. She screamed. A high pitched piercing scream that stayed with him as he himself plunged into the light.

... He was being bathed in light and he held Vicky in his arms, and Vicky was babbling...

"You did it!" Julia said behind him "you brought her back."

He pulled his teeth from Vicky's neck and stepped back.

Vicky's body was covered with blood... the blood that he had been spitting out all this time... and Vicky would see it any moment now.

He lifted her in his arms, quickly, pressing her head against this chest, to keep her from seeing the worst of it.

"She's going to need a clean bath" he said to Julia "And a clean bed, and..."

Vicky held to him, moaning, rubbing her body hungrily against his, but he did not notice it.

He washed her himself and put a clean nightgown on her, while she hung from his neck. still moaning.

He laid her on the bed and tried to get up. She would not let him. He tried to pry her hands apart so as to be able to leave her, but her eyes met his and he could not do it.

There was unbelievable hunger in those eyes. She needed to be held, stroked, loved... She was desperate for human contact... for intimate contact.

She pulled her body closer to him again. There was no mistaking it, it was sexual hunger.

If he denied her, if he rejected her in any way she might retreat into the cold mists. He could not allow that...

He laid himself alongside her and caressed her, and let her caress him, and set the rhythm of their lovemaking...

He had uses his fangs a few moments earlier to bring her back. Why not use another part of his body to make her stay?

Roxanne flew over the streets. She had to find someone else. The last one had been sent by his family to an institution for a rest cure, and she dared not come close to him again.

The police might be on her tracks too. And worse than the police, Megan was after her.

Barnabas... Megan... even among her own kind she had no friends. The deal that she had made once robed her of any possibility of affection.

She had Sebastian, she reminded herself. But she also knew why she had been allowed Sebastian. As a crutch to help her recover her mind. As a potential recruit...

But they would not have Sebastian.

All she had to do was to send him away from her. He'd be safe that way.

But not to see him again? Alone, completely alone?

But if he stayed with her, one day he would hate her. As the man she had already sent probably hated her. And their hatred now, born of the strange changes in their bodies was nothing compared to what they would feel when they fully understood how little freedom they would have.

They would hate her as much as she hated Barnabas.

As much as Sebastian would one day hate her...

But they wouldn't have Sebastian. She would give them enough of others to keep them happy..

There would never be enough of others... In the end, they would have Sebastian, too.

He felt both tired and happy when Vicky finally fell asleep and he was able to pull his clothes again into a semblance of decency. Vicky was back and he was determined that she would stay, whatever it too.

"I always thought that Julia's methods were a bit unorthodox, but you have done her one better."

"Dave" Barnabas said with a tired smile "I wondered when you would show up to comment on it."

"And you are the one who got red on the face just because he had to do a proctologic procedure."

"It was different." Barnabas felt the blush return to him.

"Different how? Of course, no one would accuse you of being homosexual after seeing your performance with Vicky"

"She needed it done." Barnabas said with intensity, even as he lowered his eyes.

"I agree with Julia in one thing. You have no sense of humor." Dave chuckled "it is so predictable, the way you fall for it."

"You... you are not serious?"

"No. Of course not. It was an excellent job you did. Both her and Phillip. Maybe there should be a way to give you and honorary degree, after all."