Chapter 25
Quentin sat on the edge of his bed. "Cousins stick together when something evil tries to devour their lives and those they love, so I did what I could and I took care of Bradford. He is far away from here and won't bother anyone again."
Barnabas put his hand on his shoulder squeezing it offering up a sly grin. "I thank you 'cousin' for helping me. I was sure that I would have died if he had died; all it did was weaken me. However, because of his interference I was not made human again. I am as I was only a little weaker and able to walk in the daylight." His voice had grown regretful. "How am I to marry Victoria if I am not as she? At least I can live the daylight hours with her but I swear Quentin, I will not hunt the night as I once did. How could I have children and be a normal man?" His sadness was infectious he spoke and Quentin could feel his dilemma with how things had turned out with Lang and Hoffman.
"Barnabas, I think we can satisfy the need for blood you have very easily. We tell the family that you have a blood disease and ask if they will donate blood on your behalf, Julia has access to blood and so does Lang. We take it from there and you don't have to hunt the night."
Barnabas stood on shaky legs moving to the window that over looked the front lawn of the old house. Soon, this area would be covered in snow and ice and it would be as bleak as his outlook on life. "I wanted to be human for our marriage. Now how am I to know that one night in our sleep I will not awaken and try to take from her as I once did others? You know as well as I that I have done it before I could do it again."
Quentin stood moved to his cousin's side and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Whatever we will figure it out Barnabas, we always have and I know we always will."
Vicki moved against the gentle brushing against her hair and face she softly muttered, "Barnabas, I love you Barnabas." Turning she kissed the palm of the hand that had been stroking her hair. Once again she fell into a deep troubled sleep but it was a deep sleep.
Adam watched as her eyes moved under her eyelids and gently touched her brow. "Who is Barnabas?" He turned and looked at Julia and Eric. Waiting for their answer.
"Barnabas is her fiancé, he loves her very much and wishes to marry her." Eric offered as the answer to the man-child that sat protectively next to Vicki.
"What is marrying?" He was processing everything and storing it for use to draw on later he intently studied the man with white hair and black glasses, the lady next to him was a skinny lady with arched eyebrows and intense eyes.
She was watching him with a pursed lips and pinched look about her face. Adam was not inclined to like either of them but Momma seemed to like them. She was the one that stood wincing as she did, holding her balance of the balls of her feet she looked kindly into his gaze and spoke softly, "When two people love one another they go to a ceremony that bonds them as what we call husband and wife. They marry, they have children, small helpless babies and then they grow old together and they eventually die."
Julia hoped she had put it in simplest terms that he could process what she had said and understood. She noted how he had watched her intently and listened to what she had said.
She further noted that with the look he now wore on his face he was trying to assimilate the response and put it back into his own terms of understanding. "Momma will have a daddy for me too?" He had taken what she had said and tried to put it in form to what he understood his brief time here in this world and she had to wonder if he was drawing that information from the donor of the brain, was this his reasoning?
"Eric, do you think that a part of our donor is still alert in a part of his brain?" She stood up, taking the pressure off of her knees. Turning she moved back to his side.
"You answer Adam, is Momma going to give me a Daddy?" Adam was irritated that she had moved away from him being rude and not answering his question. The clouded look on his face showed he did not like being ignored.
Eric stepped forward towards Adam stooping down he looked into Adam's eyes. "Adam, I am your Uncle Eric and that lady there is your Aunt Julia, and we are saying yes, Barnabas will be your daddy. Vicki, momma as you call her is going to marry Barnabas and then he will be your daddy. Do you understand?"
Adam nodded slowly, "I understand momma loves Barnabas and will marry her and she will be momma and he will be daddy?" He looked very curiously at Julia and then directed his gaze back to Eric.
"That is correct Adam, you will be one big happy family. But, as you grow with your mental abilities and your ability to understand things on a higher level, she will become Victoria and he will become Barnabas and you will have a life separate from them. Do you understand that?"
Adam shook his head. "No, I don't want to leave. I want to stay with momma, protect her, she is my momma and I love her. " He huddled closer to Vicki as he spoke. Eric mentally thought this was going to be a big problem. He had to get him directed towards something more important.
"Julia, thoughts? You know this could be a big problem." Eric watched Adam huddled close and protectively to Vicki. Eric had turned to peer up at Julia when he asked for her thoughts.
"I think we need Elliott to help us out. If we can get him interested in studies and reading and learning more and the higher his comprehension level grows he will soon gravitate to another life and another form of wanting to survive. He will eventually break that emotional and mental umbilical cord to Vicki."
"Why don't you call Elliott, then call Barnabas, we are going to have to introduce Adam to them slowly and one at a time I think." Eric considered how he would get Adam to leave Vicki while she slept.
"Adam, would you bring Momma and take her upstairs to the spare bedroom and put her on the bed. I think she would be more comfortable and safe there, then you could come down here and talk with Uncle Eric and Aunt Julia."
Adam seemed resistant until he heard "Momma' speak softly. "I will be ok, take me up to the bed Adam, Momma will be safe." Adam smiled, stood, lifted Vicki and followed Eric up the stairs to the spare bedroom, where he gently laid her on the bed.
He looked at her one more time, bent to brush her hair from her face and then turned to leave the room, closing the door behind him.
Following Eric he turned one more time to look at the closed door. "Momma is safe?" He seemed reluctant to leave her unattended.
Eric nodded, "Momma is very safe there and she will be comfortable. Adam there is so much I want to teach you and help you to learn so you can be a big boy on your own." Eric used his coaxing tone while leading him back down the stairs to the living room.
"I don't want to be alone, I want to stay with Momma. She needs me to protect her against bad man." He followed Eric to the sofa where Eric indicated he should sit.
"Sit Adam and let us talk. I want you to meet someone that is very smart and teaches at a college nearby, he teaches big boys and big girls." He tried to keep it simple while he explained about Stokes and his abilities to teach to big boys and big girls.
Adam listened intently his mind assessing and knowing some words but unable to articulate what he comprehended. "Will I like this Elliott?" He was starting to understand a lot more just by talking and listening to Uncle Eric.
"Yes and you will call him Uncle Elliott. Most big boys and big girls call him Professor because that is what he is, a Professor, he teaches and that is what they call the teachers where he teaches."
Adam listened not saying a word. He glanced up when Julia entered the room and it was then he noticed she walked with a limp and seemed to be uncomfortable. "Aunt Julia should sit down, she looks like she is in pain."
Eric was surprised by his observation he spoke of Julia being in pain. "Yes, you are right Adam, Aunt Julia should sit down she was in a bad accident. She is not healed totally."
Julia smiled her appreciation and moved to a chair to lower herself onto the seat with a slight grunt and a soft moan. Adam watched her with an intentness she almost felt he was dissecting her with his thoughts. "Elliott will be over after his last class, he said he would bring something simple to help him learn to read and write. He actually suggested that since Adam is so tied to Vicki we might use her for his rudimentary lessons while he deals with the more complex subjects. He is interested to see quickly he is able to comprehend things and how far we can go in teaching him."
Eric interjected. "I knew he would be interested once I told him my hypothesis of how I planned to proceed with this experiment." Eric moved to Julia's side and sat on the edge of her chair. "Adam would you be interested in staying here and living with Aunt Julia and me for a while? We can make sure that momma comes every day to visit with you and help you learn. She is after all a teacher."
Adam looked curious. "Momma is a professor like Uncle Elliott?" He was most curious about this bit of information that Eric had just imparted.
"No, for little boys and little girls that need to learn they are called teachers." Eric was trying to think of a way to explain the concept of a teacher as opposed to a Professor.
"Rebecca." Adam said the name and smiled, "I had a teacher named Rebecca, and she was very nice to me. She helped me a lot and I was able to get through freshman year with her help."
Adam had recalled a memory from his past life. This astonished Eric and Julia. "We need to keep a journal on this Eric and record these bits of information when he finds and remembers them." Julia had spoken softly to Eric.
"I agree this is really fascinating. Adam do you recall anything else about this Rebecca?" Eric had moved to a roll topped desk, finding a journal book and pen he moved back to Julia's side and sat, making a quick note of 'Rebecca' and the memory experienced by the test subject.
"I remember she smiled and laughed a lot, she was small and had red hair. She told me that no matter how hard things seemed, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. She helped me and tutored me. I remember her eyes were a deep blue and they seemed to sparkle when she talked about a book we had read together."
Julia gasped softly, "That is such a complete and well thought out memory. I really think he is recalling his past life Eric. This is wonderful news. See if he can remember anything else."
Adam yawned and then blinked his eyes. "Adam tired, Adam need to sleep." He looked around the room. "I go up and sleep on floor next to Momma."
"No Adam we are going to let you sleep in the room next door to Momma's room. Come along, you can take a nap until the Professor arrives." Eric led him up the stairs and next to Vicki's room. The rooms had a connecting door and Julia opened the door so that Adam could lie on the bed and see 'momma' sleeping in her bed.
Seeing him comfortably situated in the room and watching him fall asleep, Eric left the room, pulling the door to the hallway close behind him. Moving back down stairs he sat next to Julia, "Did you get Barnabas?"
Julia nodded, "But he is not feeling well, apparently the reason that Adam brought Vicki here was because of Bradford, he attacked Barnabas when he went to protect Vicki from an attack by Bradford. From what Quentin told me, he took care of Bradford and we will not have any more problems with him."
Eric frowned, "What if he dies what will happen to Adam?" Eric stood and began to pace, "What if Adam dies then what will happened, the three of them are tied together."
"Well from what Quentin indicated he has more to tell us about Adam, Barnabas, and Bradford when they get here which should be anytime." Julia too had grown concerned over the disposed of Bradford. She glanced about the room noting the oriental carpeting, the spatter of small end tables and a coffee table, the pole light that sat behind one of the chairs and was more than likely put there to accommodate Eric when he read at night. The room was large and airy with the high ceilings accented by the antique chandelier converted from gas to electric.
It was a comfortable room and obviously belonged to a bachelor, she had plans of softening the look to a more feminine with her touches. Her thoughts were distracted by a knock at the door.
"Oh that must be Quentin and Barnabas now." She stood when Eric stood motioning her to reseat herself.
"I will get it my dear. You rest." He moved to kiss her forehead and then went to answer the door. Stepping aside he allowed Quentin and Barnabas to enter the room. "So glad you could make it gentlemen, do come in and make yourself at home."
Eric followed them into the parlor. "Would either of you like something to drink while we wait for Elliott?" Eric moved to a small sideboard that held some bottles of liquor.
Quentin smiled, "How about a brandy for me." He looked to Barnabas who shook his head. Julia stood and moved to a water carafe pouring herself a glass of water. Moving back to her chair she sat down holding the water close to chest.
"Well I guess we have ourselves a pickle here, Adam my creation has for some odd reason attached his affection for a mother to Vicki, he said he was protecting her from the bad men. Would one of you like to explain?"
Barnabas sighed leaning back he was tired and he was confused as well as feeling uncomfortable a part of him was still relating to Adam, he no longer felt Bradford since he died on that branch. He was kicking himself for pulling the stake out.
He had not known that by doing so it would reanimate a vampire and this annoyed him. Bradford knew and that was why he was so confident in lording it over Barnabas. Bradford had time to be free and learn more about his limitations and his powers. Whereas; he was still learning about these newly found abilities.
A part of him was feeling cheated and he was not a happy. More so he was not happy that he was still learning about his abilities and his newfound abilities. He certainly was not ready to challenge until he had more time to adjust. "Yes, well once I had discovered my curse was still on me I was thinking of my mother and my sister. Then I thought of Vicki and I was going to see her. That is when Bradford must have felt my feelings and he too decided to go to Vicki."
Barnabas stood and moved to the nearest window he peered outside. "We fought. I killed him. He was thrown against a tree limb that went through his body through his heart. I felt him die, I felt him leave my body and I grew stronger from his death." Barnabas turned and looked the room over, "I went and pulled him from the branch and when the branch was removed from his heart he was restored and came at me with a vengeance. That is when Quentin showed up with a silver cross and Willie had silver chains."
He turned to Quentin; "You should explain what happened afterwards I was taken home due to my weakened state by his reemergence into life again."
Quentin accepted the glass of brandy from Eric looked at the color, swirled it around in the glass then took a sip. "There is something I have never told any of you about. It has been a family secret since the first Quentin decided he wanted to travel through time." Quentin knew he had their attention. "There is a secret stairway through time in the west wing of Collinwood. It is activated by anyone that has Quentin Collins genes in him, which would be me. I can open the door and activate the stairway through time. Which I did." He lifted his glass and swallowed.
"I took Bradford to the year 2020. There was in Eagle Hill Cemetery an open grave with a running backhoe sitting idle next to the grave, I put him in the casket with the previous occupant a nice older lady and buried the casket with him in it."
The occupants of the Lang's parlor were stunned. "Really a stairway in time?" Eric was the first to comment and he sounded fascinated by what he had just heard.
"Yes, my Great. Great grandfather wanted to invent and travel through time. So, he found a way to create this stairway and well I used it on occasion when I needed research for my book I was writing. I would dress for the period I would be going to and come out of the west wing closet to that time."
"The problem is that to use it you must do it during a time that Collinwood existed. I could go back to the time that Barnabas laid in that damn coffin chained and release him if I had wanted to and not allow him to lay there isolated in darkness for as long as he did."
He smiled while he studied his glass then glanced up at Barnabas. "This is simply fascinating! Why keep something this wonderful to yourself?" Eric enthused he thought about the possibilities that this stairway in time could produce for him. He could become wealthy and world renowned if he had access to it.
"The reason to keep something like that hidden would be to protect the future, if you change the course of life as it is now represented, and then you go back and change one thing then the reality we know would no longer exist." Elliott spoke as he walked into the room.
"Sorry, I did knock and no one answered so I let myself in. I hope you don't mind." Eric stood moving to Elliott's side offering his hand as a gesture of welcome.
"Not in the least Elliott we are glad that you were able to get here so soon. Did you hear Quentin's story?"
Elliott nodded to those present accepted a glass of sherry that Julia had gone to get him, sipped it with a satisfied smile. "I did and I believe that Quentin has done the right thing in not using it for his own benefit. To do so would alter our reality here and it could very well result in one of us dying or not being born. That he has kept this secret as long as he has is commendable. I salute you Quentin." Elliott raised his glass in a salute the swallowed again. "Now as to the current situation we have here. Adam obviously has found a mother figure to cling to. Unfortunately, it is our dear Victoria. So we must do the separation gradually. To do so we will see if she can come daily to teach him the rudiments of reading writing and arithmetic."
Elliott moved to the sofa and lowered his body to the sofa's seat. Taking care to hold his sherry so he would not spill any of it. "I would like to assess him when the first possible time presents itself. Then I would say we start the separation now. Perhaps Barnabas and Quentin could take Miss Winters home to Collinwood and see her safely ensconced there in her room."
Barnabas nodded, "I agree but I feel she might be well protected at my house for now. Then what and how do you propose we proceed with this new project?" Barnabas was disappointed he had not become human. He showed his disappointed in the tone and sound of his voice when he spoke.
Eric was the first to catch and make note of the information that Barnabas had passed along. "Barnabas you said that once Bradford died you felt the death and then nothing?"
Barnabas nodded, "After the death occurred, I felt a little weak but I was alive. After he was resurrected I felt his anger but not much more, I believe a part of him that was a part of me had been severed and I will say about an hour ago, that suffocating feeling I had experienced when Quentin said he buried him in the ground. That part left me. So I am not sure why if it is because he is in a time I have not lived or this staircase that Quentin spoke of."
Eric stood and began to pace. "But death separated you and you remained alive. Apparently Adam must have felt something of the same but has not since shown any concern or feelings of suffocating since you took Bradford to the future."
Elliott nodded, "That would seem to be the answer to our problem for now. How much intelligence as Adam shown?"
Julia leaned forward, "he has done more than just express and show his capacity to learn he has latent memories that have been surfacing, and we believe he is remembering things from the donor's past life. He recalled a schoolteacher in his freshman year of high school by the name of Rebecca. He vividly described how she mentored and helped him through the school year which was apparently a difficult period of time for him."
"Now that is truly remarkable, perhaps that personality and memories of the donor are the ones he is trying to adapt and perfect. Is he interested in learning more?"
"He seemed to be very interested in wanting to learn and he is very protective of Vicki. We may have a separation problem with him when it comes to her." Julia commented then took a slow drink from her glass of water.
"Then we make sure he has concentrated time with Victoria and allow her to teach him, we will reimagine a new image of Victoria for him, perhaps one as a teacher."
"We can give them time together but begin the separation process when I take over completely, I plan to be at most his lessons including those with Miss Winters." Elliott had appeared to decide how this was going to play out and everyone's role they would play.
"I think the sooner we get started on this project the quicker we can conclude this farce that she is his mother and the separation process should be completed before you two are married." Elliott looked to Barnabas and watched him lower his chin and sighed sadly.
"What is the matter Barnabas you seem distressed." Julia was showing her concern.
Barnabas looked up, "I fear that because the experiment was not a success, it might be better if I broke the engagement to Vicki and we not get married."
A soft gasp from the head of the stairs and all eyes shifted to see a stricken look on Vicki's face the tears burned her eyes. Barnabas realizing she had heard him stood. "Vicki!" He watched in horror to see her turn and dash down the hallway seeking the servant's entrance to the upstairs. Finding it she moved blindly down the stairs catching her foot and falling landing at the bottom of the steps with loud snap as her neck broke and she died instantly. Her eyes fixed open, she looked up shocked and then the life faded from her vision and she breathed no more.