Chapter 12

Megan listened to what Barnabas had to say.

"You think that Zachary is behind Angelique's disappearance?"

"He is probably seeking revenge on her. She betrayed him once. That is one thing that is the same in this reality and the Parallel Time we visited via the time staircase."

Megan lit a cigarette and puffed at it. Barnabas frowned, but said nothing. Megan was worried and tense enough.

"Judah Zachary" she said, her eyes narrowing "That means big trouble."

"Depends of whether or not the head came back. As long as it is only the headless body and the mask, we may have a chance."

"Sebastian is probably under his power. Actually, anyone can be under his power. Joe who is tailing him, for sure. And George too. Better not tell him anything."

"I could try to find out from George..."

"No, if he's been taken over, Zachary will figure out that you know about him the moment you start probing into his mind. Just play it dumb with him."

"You are right. I guess we have to depend on each other now. Our...condition may provide us with some protection."

"Some... how much I cannot tell, but some... You said Miss Oates is involved?"

"Yes."

"Good, you tail her, I tail Sebastian."

"How about during the day?"

"From what I gather, covens meet at night."

Sebastian looked at her with misgivings. Did he have to do this? Even for Roxanne?

On the other hand...

"Let me go, Sebastian." she pleaded again.

Sebastian looked away. He could not let her go. But it was hard, when she looked at him with hurt eyes. Why the accusation? Why the sense of betrayal?

He owed it to Roxanne..."

"She is not Roxanne!" Angelique was screaming "She's Yolanda Oates, and she's got you in her power!"

Sebastian turned his back to her and Angelique knew that she had gone too far.

"You should know about that." he grumbled. "you of all people. You used m and you thought that I would not know that you and Megan.. you and Megan..." he became angry " and you called me a child, and mocked me when you were... with her."

Angelique tried again. "Sebastian, what Megan and I do means nothing..."

"No! It is I who mean nothing to you! I was only your pet! Less than that!"

"Sebastian..."

"Roxanne came back for me. And this time she will not leave me."

Sandy was surprised to see the flowers waiting for her at home. Who cold have sent them?

She picked up the card. "Get well quick. I can't afford to loses you now. And I am found of you. X. Davenport."

"Davenport?" she wondered aloud. Had he sent her flowers?"

She looked at the flowers again. They were lovely, in fact. And it was such a thoughtful gesture, now that she was feeling so low, thinking of what might have happened...

And then...

She remembered those first days when she had accepted at last hat she had become a werewolf. Everybody whispered behind her back. Xavier had not. He had been matter of fact in his acceptance... Yes, Barnabas had accepted her, but it was different...

Just imagine, that old fool sending flowers o to her!

But Davenport wasn't that old. He was not a fool. And he was good looking.

And he wasn't Barnabas.

And did she really want Barnabas?

Vicky sat by the window, knitting. she would have this coat done soon, then she would start on the booties and...

It was strange, to have nothing t do, noting to worry about, except knit for her child. Barnabas had insisted on it, saying that she needed to rebuild her strength. He had said that he'd take care of revalidating her teacher's certificate so that she could go back to work. But that would be later. He had also spoken of her doing piecework for Sandy Miller. Or give private lessons. In fact, he insisted on her teaching Urien once the hospital got around to discharging him, and make it possible for him to take the equivalence test.

She wondered what it would be like. A street kid... a runaway. It scared her, somehow. But Barnabas said that Urien was bright an eager to learn..

She knew that Barnabas was lying in his coffin in the room behind the library. She shivered. That room was so cold. And to think that Barnabas did not even have a blanket. He had insisted that he did not need it, but she still worried about it. Couldn't she do something for him? Knit him a blanket? He had done so much for her...

Megan and Barnabas sat together. "If we part from the basis that Judah's mask is out there, and is responsible for Angelique's disappearance, then Sebastian is taken over, because if he wasn't he'd be screaming at us to go look for her. Joe is too, because after tailing him, he insists that Sebastian does noting out of the ordinary. Miss Oates is in it, because Urien saw her bringing the mask to Nicholas. For some reason she did not deliver it... Maybe the mask did not like him fro some reason, and stayed with her... Those three we know for sure. The rest are suspect."

"Yes." Barnabas reluctantly agreed. "And if Miss Oates has the mask, then everyone on Collinwood must be affected. Carolyn, Roger, Quentin, Edmund, the servants..."

"Anybody can be taken over... Even ourselves. It might take longer but we can be taken over."

"Maybe we can hypnotize each other into resisting."

"That might work. Then we have to think that those helpers will fight us. We have to be willing to fight them too." she pulled out her gun.

"You plan to use it?" Barnabas asked with dismay.

"yes. And you better get one too. This is not the time for anti-gun diatribes. But we will load them with rubber bullets. They hurt, and then can stop people. But they recover. Just take them out so that they do not interfere."

"Should we bring in Derek?"

"No. He can be taken over. Nicholas took him over once. And Judah is probably more powerful than Nicholas. No, this time it is just us two, no one else."

Sebastian pressed the knife against his palm. Roxanne wanted him to do this. Roxanne...

Then she would come back to him, and things would be as they were. When the witch died, Roxanne would be reborn.

Then that memory of her decapitated body, blood still pouring out, would have been only a bad dream. The blood world be Angelique's and she would be the bad memory, the nightmare.

Yet, in a way, he had been fond of Angelique... in a way..- his hand closed on the handle... Angelique and Megan.. Why hadn't he seen it sooner?'

After Angelique, it would be Megan's turn, he promised himself. After all, it had been Megan who had sent Tammy to do that to Roxanne. Surely Roxanne would want Tammy punished, too..

But Tammy was mad now. Surely that was punishment enough.

But Barnabas would be made to pay...

Carolyn wiped her eyes. her mother's death, the funeral, and now looking at those old photos.

She had come close to burning them once. She had not, but she had hid them at the bottom of a drawer, determined never to look at the again.

She could still feel her old anger, compelling her to get rid of them. Yet she had not. Maybe that counted for something..

Barnabas watched how Urien slept.

He would soon be discharged, he knew. And then life would get back to... to whatever normal meant at the Old House.

George was with him. It was late. Yolanda had gone to sleep, so he had felt free to come. And George, who had a late shift, had dropped in. He felt guilty hiding the truth form him, but as Megan had said, they could take no chances.

"You still want a child of your own?" George asked.

"Yes. Why not? I gave him life, in a way. I am the first adult he's ever trusted in a long time. The first one that did not rip him off nor abuse him. And this is one child that no one will try to steal. And he's your child too.

George laughed. "If only our first meeting had not been so disastrous.

Barnabas laughed too. "Well, you did right by him in the end. And don't go pulling a guilt trip. It is bad enough when I do."

"You know, if you try to adopt him, Zeb may make trouble for you."

"We will handle him... You know a year ago we had to handle Zeb. And now again. It is kind of ironic that the other kind of trouble was solved so easily, while this one is going on and on..."