Chapter 19

Julia struggled against her bonds, and her captor chuckled again. "My, dear Julia, as you can see, it is quite pointless to try and break free. My servant, found it necessary to bind you to that chair, but as you well know, I have my own method." He held up his left hand, and Julia stopped her struggling.

He watched approvingly. "You are a wise woman, Doctor. There is no need to remind you of what I am capable of, despite my appreance." He turned, facing into the room he had just left. "You can turn on the lights, now that our…guest is fully recovered for the effects of the drugs."

So, they had used drugs...no wonder her head ached, she realised. From the outer room, another figure appeared, apprehensively, and from the stance, and height, she knew it to be Dane. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach.

How could he have helped do such a thing? More importantly why?

The argument that she and Barnabas had had the previous day played through her mind. She had thought, that even after all these long years of marriage, that Barnabas had been nothing more than jealous. He had warned her, that Dane had come here for other reasons, than he pretended. Now she realised, that he had been right. She wished she had listened to him, but what good was hindsight, when it was far too late?

If she ever got out of this, she would find some way to make it up to him.

She wondered if she had been missed. Had Barnabas realised? Of course, he must know by now…Matthew would have gone to the Cannery, as soon as he realised that she was late. An ache deep down tugged at her, wanting nothing more than to turn the clock back, and be home, safe and loved, by the two most important people in her life.

Light filled the bare room, and Julia got her first glimpse of Petofi as he stepped further into the room. She couldn't help the gasp of horrified surprise at the scarred face before her. The whole left side of his face was a ruined mess of healed scar tissue. An eye-patch covered that eye. The beard had been shaved off. But apart from the scars that the fire had left, he hadn't changed that much; he was just the same as she had seen him in 1897.

He nodded. "As you can see, Barnabas Collins has a lot to pay. You see me now, as the fire in which he thought I had perished, as left me. He thwarted my plans, before. But not this time. You are to be my unwilling pawn, in my revenge against Barnabas. I will make him wish he had never been born." He clenched his terrible, powerful hand, into a fist, and neither Julia nor Dane, ever doubted his word.

Petofi turned to Dane, who hung back, unable to look Julia in the eyes.

"Get some food and drink for our guest," he ordered sharply. Dane glanced quickly at her, and then hurriedly left the room, to obey his master.

"I'm sure I need not tell you, that trying to escape will do you no good, and can only make this…confinement only the more harder for you. I have allowed Dane his own method of keeping you here, but I will not hesitate to use my powers, should you become... bothersome."

He turned and left the room, leaving her alone. Her heart raced painfully in her chest. She had faced many powerful enemies since she had discovered what Barnabas was, when she first arrived in Collinsport. When she had remained staunchly at his side no matter what he or the supernatural world had thrown at her, her life had been in jeopardy at some point or other; but only on two occasions had she ever feared for her life, with no hope of rescue. She glanced towards the windows, and the darkness outside. Barnabas would be looking for her; wouldn't he? She closed her eyes, briefly. He must find her…he must.

Dane returned half an hour later, with a tray laden with food. He set the tray down, after closing the door. Julia stared at him, accusingly. Seeing the accusation he turned away, unable to face her, as he busied himself, with the tray.

Finally he came to her, placing another chair opposite her, and a small table. For the first time he looked at her, and refused to turn away at the anger and reproach in her eyes. "I'm to untie the gag, now," he said. "But if you scream or call for help, I don't think I'll be able to stop Ravensbrook from doing something far worse."

Gently, he leaned over, and undid the knot of the handkerchief that silenced her. Once it was removed, Julia moved her jaw stiffly, and licked her dry lips. Dane watched her, from the chair opposite her. "Better?" he asked.

She looked at him. "Why?" she asked, not answering his question. "How could you do this, Dane? To me, to Barnabas? To my son?"

A coldness seemed to creep across him, at the mention of Barnabas' name.

His hands clenched into fists, around the hankie, until his knuckles turned white. Julia sensed the change come over him, and felt fear stab her heart.

Again, she was confronted with the evidence that Barnabas had been right.

She remembered the chance meeting in the village only a few days before.

She had thought there was something different about him then, but she had chosen to ignore it. Then there had Matthew's instant dislike of him.

Matthew was usually polite to people, but thinking about it now, she remembered that his politeness had been strained, forced. He rarely if ever, answered back, when someone called him "Matt" and yet he hadn't liked it when Dane had done so.

Dane stood up quickly, knocking the chair over. He moved away from her, still clutching the hankie.

"My question bothers you, Dane," she observed. "Why? You know that you can't get away with this. Barnabas will have a search party looking for me, the police."

Dane whirled and crossed over to her. "Just shut up about Barnabas!" he yelled, his face only inches away from hers. "If you'd married me instead of him, you wouldn't be here, now, like this!"

"You've done all this, because I didn't marry you?" asked Julia, incredulously. "I love Barnabas. Why can't you accept that?"

"I'll never accept it. He'll never be right for you. In time you will see. Ravensbrook has a score to settle with him, and so do I."

"And you think this will make me change my mind? You're insane, if you believe that. I love Barnabas, and nothing can change that."

"That remains to be seen. You'll learn to love me," he said, and roughly kissed her. She twisted as much as she could to avoid his kiss, but to the limited movements that she was allowed, she found it near impossible.

"I lost everything, because of Barnabas," he said, breathlessly, when the reluctant kiss ended. "And I'm gonna see him lose everything."

He roughly tied the hankie around her mouth again, not bothering with the food, for now to angry and furious at her lack of co-operation to think about the food he had brought her. She struggled valiantly, making it as difficult for him as possible. He finally succeeded, then turned, turning out the light, leaving her alone once more in the dark.