Chapter 33

A/N Thanks for the reviews as always. WARNING: Character deaths in this and following chapters. Please don't shoot me; they are necessary for the story progression. :)

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Mother and son held each other for several minutes, before Matthew pulled away from her. His brown eyes regarded her seriously. "What's wrong with Daddy?" he whispered.

Julia swallowed, taking the time to think of how best to explain it to him.

He was still no more than a child; a boy barely nine years old. He's life had barely begun, and he had seen far too much in the last twenty-four hours, that would have sent an adult mad with fear and horror. Any adult that had never experienced life at Collinwood that was.

"He's sleeping right now, Matthew, " she explained, to him gently.

"Sebastian and I had to do a little operation to make Daddy feel better, and now he's resting. He'll most likely be much better, once he wakes up."

Matt glanced at his sleeping father, he's head ringing, with the strange feeling he got, when he was near his father now. He swallowed and frowned, trying to work out, what had changed and why he was suddenly so…he's frown deepened suddenly, as an unfamiliar feeling swept over him. A sudden urge to hurt his father! How could he even think of it! He loved him with all the love a nine year old boy could love a father. He didn't understand it. He released his mother and walked a little away from her.

Julia looked after him, puzzled by his behaviour, but said nothing. She walked over to the window. Her curiosity rose as she discovered that the sunlight filtering through the glass felt "wrong". She glanced over towards Barnabas, the sunlight was lying across him, and yet he remained unaffected by it. Then she knew what was "wrong" about it. There was no heat. The glass had been polarised to prevent the sun's rays from fully penetrating the room. She looked around the room, with curious eyes. It seemed that this room had been designed and arranged, specifically for the needs...of a vampire. She pushed the thought out of her mind; that was ridiculous!

/

Several hours later, Sebastian returned to the hidden room, and Julia turned to him expectantly. Her happiness was short lived when she saw the look on his face.

"Sebastian, what is it? Have we been discovered?" she asked, going over to him.

Sebastian looked down at his feet for a moment, and when he returned her glance he said, "You haven't been discovered. My...colleagues are at quite a loss on your whereabouts. However, there is...some news." he trailed off, not knowing how to tell her, what he had to.

"Sebastian, what is it?" demanded Julia, not quite managing to keep a sudden inflection of fear out of her voice, and not understanding why a coldness had suddenly gripped her heart.

"I'm very sorry, Julia," he said shaking his head, sadly. "The villagers massed on the Collins Estate as we expected them to last night." He trailed off mid-sentence.

Julia shook her head in denial. "No, you're wrong!"

Sebastian continued to hold eye contact. He swallowed, and again, softly, said. "There was a fire. Collinwood was completely destroyed, and the Old House, was partly destroyed. The fire department managed to extinguish the flames, but there was just too much damage.."

"Collinwood and the Old House." said Julia, quietly, believing the Englishman's quite words. "…gone...I can't really believe it. My home…destroyed…" Tears welled in her eyes, suddenly. When would this nightmare ever end? "The Collins family?" she whispered, "did they…"

Sebastian cast his eyes downward. When he spoke again, she barely heard him. "There are no reported survivors. I am so very sorry, Julia. For you and your family. I know that you and Barnabas were quite close to each member of the family." He reached out a hand of comfort, Julia still reeling from the shock, barely noticed.

"I know that you will want to tell Barnabas yourself when he awakens tonight. Would you like me to tell Matthew?" he asked gently.

"I'd prefer to tell him myself," said Julia, just managing to hold her tears in check, as Matthew entered the room. She looked at Sebastian intently. "Barnabas will have questions when he hears of the tragedy. Have you the answers to give him? And me?"

"I promise you, Julia, that tonight, I will explain everything to you. But I must say again, that I don't mean any harm to Barnabas. I hope you can believe that."

"If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here talking about it," said Julia sadly. "Will your explanations revel anything about Dane or Petofi?"

"I'd rather wait until tonight, then I won't have to repeat myself. I'm really sorry about everything, Julia. I had hoped to avoid all of this. I feel partly responsible.."

"None of this is your fault, Sebastian," Julia said quickly. "You could hardly have known that they would set the Collins Estate ablaze. Even if they were looking for Barnabas, it was because of Petofi that they were looking for him in the first place. If it wasn't for you, Barnabas would have been destroyed."

"Thank you, Julia," replied the Englishman, gratefully. "I appreciate your understanding and faith. I have to leave you now. There are a few things I need to do, before dusk. You'll be safe here."

He left then, and Julia was left alone to bare the burden of grief of a family lost, and how to explain it to her eight-year-old son.