Chapter 20

Old House earlier

"Trask, I hope you make that decision before I return it would be to your benefit and the benefit for not only Miss Winters now but to Doctor Hoffman." Barnabas gave a nod of his head and ambled towards the cellar door. Walking with haste towards where he felt Willie's presence he could hear a soft moan. He arrived at the cell that held Clark. Frowning deeply Barnabas observed the door was opened and Willie lying half in and out of that door. "Willie!" Barnabas stooped down to check Willie, but not before checking the coffin that held Clark, raising the lid he was aghast to see that it held Dr. Lang and Clark, where was Clark?

Willie stood weakly rubbing the back of his head, "Where did he go?" Barnabas frowned, checking Lang for life and found he too was just unconscious.

"Obviously not far in the daylight, he has to be still hidden here in this house. Get up and go get Quentin send him down here and have Trask check upstairs. Also arm Quentin with a cross and tell Trask he might need to have a cross for religious purposes but nothing more. Willie move and do it quickly."

Then he heard it a soft moan of extreme pain. The pitiful sound was coming from the darkest interior of the cellar near the wine cellar. Barnabas listened again and heard the moan it was an old croaking sound but a moan of pain of ages past. Walking towards the sound he paused and then shifted his hand to the wall and the light switch when the lights came on he was astonished and appalled at what he was looking at. The pathetic being that laid on the floor huddled in a mass of decaying bone and age was none other than Peter Bradford, he had held up his arm to block the light and he screamed in his aged voice from the pain of the light hitting his eyes.

"What a pathetic being you have come to be Peter Bradford." Barnabas observed dryly. The old man on the floor was moaning.

"Help me Barnabas don't let me end this way, help me. Kill me, end my life now!" Bradford pleaded in his dry old voice and huddled to hide his face and his eyes from the light.

"Help you? Would you be so forth coming to help me were the situations reversed? I believe not. So why should I help you now Clark, Bradford or whatever name you choose to go by now."

"Help me and I will help you, I promise, I will do anything you wish of me, I will help rescue Miss Winters. Just help me." The man was desperate he was feeling the years creep into his very soul if he had one left and it was the cold fingers of death that were trekking their way towards his very existence while he huddled and pleaded with the last man in this world he would ever have thought to plead.

"Get up and go back to your coffin, then we will discuss how or if I will help you." Barnabas could hear Willie and Quentin coming down the stairs towards their voices. He spun around and frowned, he had forgotten he had told Willie to bring Quentin with crosses. Stepping into the darkness he waited for them to pass, then he stepped back out to Bradford, "Get up." He hooked his arm under the other vampires arm and hefted him up.

Guiding him back to where Lang had just managed to get out of the coffin he frowned, "He got me as I turned he broke through the defenses and . . . " then his sight was leveled on Bradford, now aging to a two hundred year old vampire hanging onto Barnabas' arm. "Oh my god." Was all he could think to say. He hurried to assist Barnabas to put Bradford back in the coffin then secured him with the burning of silver around his hands and across his chest.

"What is wrong? What could have gone wrong?" Lang was aghast at the reaction Bradford was having to the third treatment.

"Obviously I cannot know what is wrong or going wrong had that been me, you would be dead. You and Hoffman are the doctors I would suggest you find a fix for this." Barnabas turned and headed back to the main room of the cellar and called, "Willie, Quentin, where is Trask?"

Trask had opened the upstairs door and called down, "All clear up here." Quentin and Willie arrived as Trask announced the upstairs was clear.

"Wise choice to leave him up stairs, if I were you, I would go on up Quentin and declare the emergency of the intruder is over. Willie and I will be up shortly, Dr. Lang was injured and I need to see to his care."

Quentin frowned, nodded and patted Willie on the shoulder, "Get some ice for that bump it should go down in a day or so." Looking at Barnabas, he smiled, "Trask saw the light and wisdom of joining with us against Mircea, he will drop him as a client and give us the information we need."

Barnabas smiled it was a tense smile with little humor to travel to his eyes and nodded, "Excellent, then we shall wait for the call together in my library."

Barnabas had left Willie to Dr. Lang's care and examination for any other damage. Prior to leaving Lang he warned, "Find out what went wrong Lang or you will loose me as a test subject."

Present time

The earlier problem with Clark and seeing how the serum had aged him to nearly two hundred years, then the phone call from Julia was very upsetting and not putting him in a very good mood.

Trask had left them with a diagram to the vault at Castle Vanier where they suspected Vicki, Julia, and Alexandru were staying. Trask agree that it was the most likely place the portrait painted by Charles Delaware Tate now rested. Barnabas studied the map and the notes left by Trask, it would be better to concentrate on what was going on and not think about what was happening to Vicki while in that man's care.

"You know Quentin if I am given a chance I am going to torture that man and kill him off a little bit of the way for a year, I want to watch him suffer."

"You are sure it is as bad as Julia said?"

"Yes." His words were soft and sad. "We agreed to some key words prior to her leaving if she was unable to be truthful to me and she worked it beautifully to let me know that Victoria had been very ill treated. I fear it is far worse than I previously imagined from what I was able to decipher from what Julia said."

Quentin frowned, "Damnit Barnabas, I never intended for anything so harsh to happen to our little governess. I feel responsible."

"You should feel responsible. None of this would have happened had you not been playing your silly games with a psychotic buffoon like Mircea. But it is done and we must do what we can for damage control. She also indicated that my own life is at risk that an assassin has been dispatched to end my life."

Quentin was feeling bad enough without having Barnabas remind him of his screw up. "You are as indestructible as he or I. He does not know of your condition correct?" He waited for an assent from Barnabas and watched him grow distant and nod slowly. "Look for what it's was worth. I felt I had to try and I felt I could have used the artifact to better my standing with the university. They have a whole section dedicated to the occult and dark arts."

Barnabas had started up the stairs and then paused and quirked an eyebrow turning to look Quentin directly in the eyes. "The life of an innocent girl was worth less than your standing in a learning institute?" He tone of disapproval was all it took to let Quentin see the foolishness of his endeavor. Shaking his head he spoke contritely.

"No, not in the least, I like Miss Winters and would wish her no more harm than I would Liz or Roger or any family member."

"Well I see your reasoning is not affected by your climb for status and glory. You I know from what I have heard Quentin you are very noteworthy in several countries including this one just as an author why would you wish to raise your status quo?"

"The search for something better, to find some accolades I had not gained, I suppose it was my vanity. Why did you have an affair with your Uncle's wife? We are all human and have a nature that drives us to achieve, thrive and demand more from life than what we have. As a Collins it is inherent to strive for more."

"Not by what I witnessed of Roger, he was a squandered and a philanderer until Elizabeth saved him from himself."

"Maybe Barnabas but it is there, he is just not as motivated as most Collins Family Members are. You can see it in Carolyn; she has the wanderlust just as I had it. I could not be faithful to but one woman and she died. Carolyn is the same way she flits from one man to the other because she can not be satisfied."

"I do agree but Carolyn is young and in her young life she had been handed the mantle and the reigns to Collinwood and held her own when she was forced to be an adult and not a carefree teenager."

Quentin had not heard of this and frowned, "When was she in charge of Collinwood?"

"Shortly after Roger's first wife appeared on the scene and it was discovered she was a Phoenix. She could die in a fire and return one hundred years later."

Quentin paused and he almost paled from the information just imparted. "His first wife, would you happen to know her name?"

Barnabas paused thought a moment and then looked up, "Laura, Laura Murdock Collins."

Quentin had made it to the drawing room and upon hearing Laura's name he collapsed to the nearest chair a light sweat beading his forehead. "She died, in a horrible fire."

Barnabas nodded, "Yes, she did die in a fire in the fishing shack by the beach. She nearly took David and Vicki with her from what Carolyn told me."

Quentin leaned forward and buried his head in his hands. "It cannot be the same woman are their pictures of her?" Quentin glanced up awaiting a response from Barnabas.

"I believe David has a whole album of pictures of when his mother was here and when they lived in Augusta."

Quentin stood, "So this Laura what was her part in having Carolyn take charge of Collinwood?"

"Apparently the woman had some mystical powers and as a phoenix she affected a spell over Elizabeth incapacitating her. Rendering her comatose."

"And you say that she nearly took David with her in the fire?"

"Yes, he was trapped in the fishing shack as Laura apparently went up in flames, had Vicki not been there and rescued him from the flames he would have died with her."

Quentin turned away his eyes narrowing and his face contorted in anger as he thought of what would have happened and then he said ever so softly, "To live again, rise as the phoenix you need a sacrifice to Ra."

"What was that?" Barnabas waited for Quentin to stand so they could proceed to the library where Trask awaited them.

"Nothing, just an old legend I heard of a long time ago while traveling in Egypt, that to seek immortality, you would need a human sacrifice to offer when you gave up your own life to the fire and Ra, that to give over someone you loved more than you loved your own life would guarantee your immortality."

Barnabas looked down at his hands. "It sounds like this was a subject you have researched fairly well, so would you mind to join me with Trask, I believe I will need you there to keep me from wanting to strangle the man."

Quentin had gone distant and then shook his head, smiled and stood up then followed Barnabas into the library. There they both observed Trask while he sat complacently drinking on his glass of cordial.

The rest of the evening whet quietly until Trask took his leave, Barnabas saw him out Lang and Willie entered the library. Lang sighed deeply, "Julia's serum did not factor in the reality that to bring someone along to a more stable human blood producing form would also allow the natural aging process to continue with the subject."

Barnabas glared at the Doctor as he listened impassively, "And the results have been reversed?" His words had been said so low and with such a calculated tone that Willie involuntarily shuddered, again those phases of anger that Barnabas was phases 3 for what was now coming out in the mega mad phase he silently prayed he would not be the recipient of the anger that was being contained.

"Oh yes, I reread her notes on the dosses for the subject to slowly revert the cellarer structure to produce the blood cells needed to rebuild the blood's content and she had a reversed engineered format in place, I have corrected it, given the subject whole blood through IV therapy and we should . . . "

Barnabas held his hand up and looked at Lang, "I don't care about the medical terms or the reason behind it, I want to know if it has been corrected."

"Why yes of course it has, with the whole blood transfusions he should be back to as he was before only this time more weakened and more able to tolerate sunlight in small dosses."

The same tenor of voice had filled his words when he spoke again, "I have heard from Julia, Vicki is in far more dire straights than we previously guessed."

Lang frowned, "That is not good."

"No I would say it is rather distressing to say the least. I may wish to move up our timetable to just get her out of that situation. How close are you to bringing him around so his vampiric senses are no longer available to him?"

Lang frowned and took his glasses off and began to tap them against his lips as he went into thought. "I would say we could elevate him by maybe this coming Friday?"

"Doctor Lang would you be asking me or telling me?" Again that tone that shot the fingers of fear into Willie's heart and squeezed.

Lang glanced up and smiled sheepishly, "I am sorry I have a habit of forming my thoughts in questions more for myself than the casual listener, no I am telling you we could have this to a point of taking him physically into daylight in three days time."

Barnabas stood and nodded, "Very good, well gentlemen I think to keep Elizabeth and Roger from becoming so concerned over Victoria's absence I will pay them a visit to assuage any concerns. I would suggest you find out what caused your lapse in security regarding Mr. Bradford."

"I know where I failed with Mr. Bradford. I thought because it was still daylight, that he would still be in his undead state, when I went to do the injection, the cross was hampering my injection sight so I took the cross off. That is when he opened his eyes and in a last ditch effort he reached up and choked me into unconsciousness but not until I yelled for help. The last thing I remember was Willie appeared and then I went out."

Willie nodded. "That is how I found him, going down as Clark choked him, I went to get more help, and that is when I felt my head being slammed into the wall and I went down and out."

"I suppose it was a good thing that we had daylight as our ally or we may be short one very aged vampire running around trying to revert himself back by attacking anyone he came in contact with not to mention our own lives being worth nothing to him after he regained control."

It was a chastisement in the irritated voice and a reminder that they were all playing a very dangerous game with a wounded vampire. "I suppose you have a new plan of action to avoid this problem in the future?"

Lang nodded, "Ultra Violate lights that can be turned on by a clap or snap of the fingers."

"This ultraviolet lights what do they do?"

"They are the rays or the part of the sunlight that affects you and your blood condition, they are the ones that are deadly and will cause your blood to begin to boil and your body to explode."

"Did you explain to Bradford what would happen if he tried his foolish attempts to escape again?"

"We did and he understands he will die, so we have a more docile and cooperative vampire to manage now."

"Very well then we will move our timetable up, now we need a neutral meeting place we both may agree on near Portland. Suggestions?"

Quentin smiled, "As a matter of fact I do have a suggestion but it will require us allowing the man in question in on our plan and what we are dealing with and whom. I know for a fact he knows Alexandru and his doctor Klaus very well and he happens to be a very close friend of mine."

"Whom might that be?" Barnabas had been playing with the ink pin on his desk.

"Professor Timothy Stokes, of Portland University." He watched Barnabas' hand froze and his head shot up.

"Stokes you said Stokes?""

"Yes, a dear friend and he is an Emeritus status at the University. I believe he comes from this area he was researching a relative of his from the late 1700's."

"Ben Stokes." Barnabas smiled thinking about his old friend and manservant from the days he lived here as a young man. Ben had been his servant and had performed his duties without question or fail.

Willie looked up and noted the reaction and frowned. "Yeah that is the name of the man that does things better than me." Willie's thoughts were filled with what, was he feeling jealous because this was the perfect Ben?

"Hardly perfect just efficient Willie, something you do not show nor have in your vocabulary." He glanced up to see Barnabas staring into his eyes; the look was one of nostalgia and regret. "He was a good man Willie, a very good man and he never disappointed me or lied to me." Barnabas had said this out loud catching the attention of Quentin.

"You knew his ancestor?"

"Yes, he was my man servant when I lived here in the late 1700's. He was an indentured servant to my father and worked his debt off instead of stealing, lying or cheating others." He pointedly looked at Willie when he spoke of Ben. "Can you contact this friend of yours and see if he will meet with us tomorrow? His place or here would be fine, I will give him limited information just for security reasons."

"Of course, when I leave here and get back to Collinwood, I will give him a call, I may even drive up there tomorrow and audit one of his classes."

Barnabas stood and smiled, "Thank you Quentin, and will let us see what we need to do to set this up for Friday. Willie you will go tomorrow and pick up the artifact. Bring it back here without fail. Is that understood?"

Willie nodded but held his resentment to himself his anger began to cloud any further contact with Barnabas telepathically. The men walked towards the drawing room to stop short and peer at the figure that now stood in the center of the room. Her ethereal small form smiled she looked at Barnabas and then to Dr. Lang, Quentin, and Willie.

"Sarah!" Barnabas dropped to knelling so he would be eye to eye with the sweet-faced child he had held when she took her last breath. Rushing forward she buried her face in his shoulder and started to weep.

"You need to hurry dear brother Miss Winters will die if you do not hurry."

Later after everyone leaves

Barnabas walked from the library and paused, standing in the doorway, was a figure dressed in black clothing. His voice was harsh and raspy. "You should never have pissed off the Baron. Now you die." He lifted his gun and fired point blank into Barnabas' chest. The assassin aimed and emptied his gun into Barnabas center mass. Barnabas stood blinking with each report made. When the man had emptied his clip into the man in frnt of him he finally knew fear. The man had not flinched he had not shown signs of being hit. Instead the man in from of him just smiled.

"I wondered with that buffoon would make his move and now I will make mine." Barnabas was on him bend his neck and biting into him. Draining him to a husk, then letting him drop to the floor. Looking down at the body on the floor he glanced up to see the look of resignation on Willie's face.

"Do I need to dig a grave?" He was not happy but he understood Barnabas did not have any choice.

"No, strip any identification from his body and bring it to me, take the body and dump it in the ocean. Leave him for the tides to take out. Then Willie you may go to bed."

Taking the identification from the man's body, which was very little, Barnabas packaged it up. Addressing it to Mercia. Smiling he sat back and really wished he could be the one to be there when he had Sarah deliver the package with the man's finger and his identification. "Brother are you sure?"

"Sarah, just leave it in the center of his desk he will know and wonder how I could get it delivered so quickly, he might be worried enough that he won't do any more harm to Miss Winters." He watched her smile and lift the envelope and disappear with it.

Alexandru's castle

Sarah appeared in the library, glancing up hearing his voice off in the distant she heard him approach the library so she quickly placed the envelope on his desk, disappearing, she stepped back in the corner to watch his reaction. "Brother he is coming now." Her words were soft and in his mind.

Alexandru was laughing about how he was able to dispatch his assassin and they would not be dealing with Mr. Barnabas Collins anymore. Walking into the library he paused and saw the bubbled packed envelope and walked to the desk and observed the scripted writing of his name on the envelope. Lifting it he frowned, then opening it he saw something wrapped in plastic and a note, with some form of personal identification.

Taking the note out he dropped the ID and the plastic wrapped item on his desk and opened th envelope. "The next time you send someone to kill me, make sure they are more competent than this one, this is only a small example of what I can do and will do to you when we meet again. Barnabas Collins."

Alexandru was not happy, while he carefully unfolded the plastic wrapped item. Sitting heavily he looked up to Klaus, "How the hell could he know and do this? What manner of man is this?"

"A dangerous one obviously."

The next morning Portland

Quentin pulled up into the guest parking area of the University. Tucking his tie in his coat, he lifted his head and looked around at the ancient looking buildings that held many a honorable scholar in his past days. He smiled when the wind picked up and blew his full head of curly hair over his face and he unconsciously shook his head to remove his curly hair from his eyes.

"Oh my god is that Grant Douglas?" One college female co-ed squealed to her friend and dug through her load of books to pull out his latest novel. Rushing up to him to get an autograph. The jacket cover on the back had him posed looking studious with his arms folded and his square chin resting on his folded knuckles looking sexily into the camera. The suit he had worn that day was the one he wore now. The girl's other female friend followed she too was shifting her books to pull out her book. Before long Quentin had gathered quiet a small crowd and was signing books and smiling his appreciation and winking at some of the girls causing them to giggle and flush a bright pink at his attentiveness.

The crowd had gathered both students and faculty, a uniform car pulled to a halt and two officers exited the vehicle. "Sorry no unlawful gatherings allowed, you all will need to move along!" The officers stepped forward to see what was causing the stir and paused. Harry Stiles elbowed his partner Joe Barker and spoke softly, "Hey ain't that Grant Douglas the author?"

Joe snickered and shrugged. "How the hell would I know I only read Play Boy or Penthouse."

Professor Haggerty sniffed, "Does not surprise me you were a piss poor student in history and I seriously doubted you knew how to read Barker." The group was being dispersed and that left Quentin with Stiles and Barker.

"Gentlemen, would you please direct me to Professor Stokes class, I was going to audit his class today."

Stiles snorted and sighed. "He aint here today."

"Oh and where is he today?"

"He was outta the country until last night I guess he is home resting up before he comes back tomorrow." That was Joe Barker who was still feeling the cut by the professor on his academics.

Quentin turned and entered his nice sports car, "Man it must pay good to be a writer to have a sweet ride like this." Barker had walked to Quentin's car door and much as he would rub a lover he slid his hands over the car with a true appreciation for the cherry red sportster.

Quentin smiled with a genuine twinkle in his deep blue eyes. "Yes, it is good to be the author as much as it is good to be the King of your own world, later gentlemen."

He pulled away with a gun of his engine and a slight squeal of his tires Barker stepped back with a wide grin. "Guess I should have paid more attention during English Class, maybe I could be driving something like that instead of breaking up fights or kegger parties at the sororities."

University Drive

Quentin enjoyed the warmth of the day, they would be few and far between in a couple of months and he would not be able to drive with the top down much longer. He also was glad the rain had moved out last night and left the day feeling fresh and crisp. Navigating his way off campus he drove at a little higher speed on the open road and was glad that most the state police would be tied up in the north toll road areas today with a move of a large old house being transported six miles to a new location. He would have to watch out for the local yokels. However, for now he would appreciate the speed that lay between his hands and under his feet shifting the gears and tore up the highway.