Chapter 20

"Son. Remember earlier that I was telling you about how the curse was pass on because of Jenny being killed by her husband?"

"Yeah. I remember you telling me about that. That she married a Collins, went mad after he left her, she tried to kill him. Failed. He kills her. Has curse put on him by his by his in-laws. But what I want to know is, what happened to him?" Brian wanted to know.

"You're looking at him. That's what happened to him." Quentin told him.

"I don't believe it. There's no way that by father is that old. I know that you're old, but not that old. You have got to be kidding me." Brian said.

"It's true son. Barnabas was there when it happened. He had travelled back in time by way of the I-Ching to stop me from haunting Collinwood in the present by preventing my death."

"O.K., you're telling me that you are over 100 years old. Why I am not surprised. First, I have a cousin who was a vampire. Now my father tells me that he's over a century old, plus a werewolf on top of that. What's next, that I have a relative that is some sort of supernatural being as well? Please answer me that, will you."

"As a matter of fact yes. My Great Grandson, Chris Jennings is a werewolf as well. This is going to be hard to explain, but I will do my best."

"Great, I have a relative that's also a werewolf. How many more are there that you don't know about?"

"Listen, I'm trying to tell you something here, and you're making smart remarks about this. I wonder where you get this from. I know, it's me. I still the same way to this date. Can't help myself on that. Anyway, Chris, along with his girlfriend Sabrina Stuart, and his sister Amy had gone overseas to see if they could find some way of finding a cure for him. Haven't heard from them in a while. I would like to know if they have cured him or not."

"Alright. So I've got your smart mouth and your curse as well. I just wonder what else I've inherited?"

"Just let me get back to the story here. Now then, I told you part of the story of what happened. Now for the rest. A man by the name of Count Andreas Petofi came to Collinsport looking for his hand that was stolen by Madga to cure. She took the hand from her tribe of gypsies of the Romano clan. Petofi had found out that the hand was in Collinsport and was trying to get it back."

"Wait, what does this have to do with you and the curse? What was so important about his hand?"

"I'm coming to that. The Hand of Petofi is what made him into what he was. His hand held his power to do things that no mortal could do. He still had some power about him, not like when his hand was attached to him. He had lost his hand 100 years before he came to town. He had told me and Madga that he was once a werewolf as well. In order to remove the curse, the King of the Romano clan at that time hand to cut off Petofi's hand, and the curse was lifted off of him."

"Alright, so some gypsy cuts off this Count's hand and the curse is lifted off of him. He comes to Collinsport to get his hand back. Do I have this right so far?"

"That's correct so far. Anyway, Petofi promise's me that he can remove the curse from me, but with a price. I told him no at first, but he managed to convince me later on. He had somehow taken possession of Jamison Collins back in 1897. He then proceeds to take possession of everyone else in Collinwood. Both Barnabas and I tried to stop him from this, but we both failed."

"So then, how did you get cured if he took possession of everyone then?"

"A gypsy by the name of Julianka came to town looking for the hand to take back to her clan. She tried to help me, by she was killed by Petofi's henchman named Aristede. After a lot of other things that had happened, which would take too long to explain, I agreed to Petofi's terms to be cured. He had a painter by the name of Charles Delaware Tate come and paint my portrait for me. I had no idea that the portrait would cure me at the time."

"So a painting is what cured you. So what happened to it? Would it be possible for this to happen to me?"

"Trust me, you don't want that to happen to you. As you can see, I haven't aged that much from 1897. I can't get injured, or even possibly killed. Don't want to put that to the test. I nearly did die a few times over the past 100 years, but was able to recover because of that portrait. Back to the story. Petofi found out that Barnabas had travelled back in time, and was trying to get him to tell him how he did it. Barnabas, naturally refused to tell him and had Barnabas chained in a coffin for a period of time until he told Petofi what he wanted to know. At this same time, Julia had travelled back in time the same way that Barnabas had done. She tried to help, but at some point she had to go back because she could not stay in the past like Barnabas could because he had possessed his own body."

"So, Julia couldn't stay in 1897, but Barnabas could because he had a body back then. So you finally got cured."

"Yes, but Petofi wanted to take my place and travel into the future. He wanted to do this by switching our minds. He nearly succeeded, but with the help of Barnabas, it did not last that long. Later on, he called upon the spirit of Garth Blackwood to go after Aristede, because while our minds were switched, I told Aristede to go kill "Quentin", by making him think that Petofi's mind was still in my body. He almost succeeded, but Petofi told him that the switch had reversed itself."

"So, this Aristede nearly killed Petofi for you. Plus you were cured from the curse. Is there some way of curing me this way?"

"I'm afraid that is not possible. Chris tried that by find a very old Tate. He painted Chris's portrait, but it didn't work. Chris ended up changing into a werewolf while he was with Tate, and killed him. After Petofi was killed by Blackwood, I left Collinwood and travelled the world. I eventually returned to Collinwood. I finally came home, and met your mother a short time later. We fell in love, and finally got married. I love her very much. She doesn't know about what I am, and I want you to keep that promise."

"Alright, I'll keep that promise. I just hope that there is a cure for me. I don't want to keep going through this anymore."

"Don't worry son. We will try to find a way to cure you."