Tue. May 5, 1970
In the month since Barnabas Collins was chained inside his coffin, Angelique Rumson has taken over as mistress of the Old House... Barnabas lies trapped, desperate to interfere, as Angelique holds a seance with her coven to try and rid the home of the ghost of Josette Collins, once and for all...
Every day it was the same. His dreams took him back to the past, when he was alive and free. Back to when he was young, and in love. But, he found himself going in circles, never completely able to find her…
Then the dreams ended, and he awoke to the darkness, and the nothingness around him—and the confusion set in—until there was an awareness that it was another night—and he was still imprisoned...
Every evening he went through the same routine... Unable to leave his coffin, he lay there and listened... Often he heard Angelique, planning and scheming, talking to him through the wall…
But, there was another presence in the Old House, a stranger—who he was, Barnabas was not sure of—but the stranger would sit and read, and he would read his thoughts as he read…
He guessed that this man was troubled. He seemed to not have a past—or, if he had a past he blocked it out so completely that Barnabas could not find it…
It was on this night, that his thoughts seemed to be sent directly to him—"Is there anyone there?" the stranger thought out to him, "Is there anyone who can help Angelique?" his thoughts reached out to him.
Barnabas scowled in the darkness… Help Angelique, indeed! So, Barnabas concentrated—relaxing his mind, body and spirit—as he focused on the stranger's thoughts, reaching out to him, letting his mind's eye meet his…
There was a terrified scream, and someone stood up, knocking their chair down to the floor. "I-I'm not staying here!" a woman's voice exclaimed.
"Hannah!" Angelique shouted in the darkness. "Stay seated! The circle cannot be broken!" Hannah did not listen, of course, and Barnabas heard her run out of the house, not even shutting the door behind her.
Barnabas heard Angelique get up and turn on the nearest lamp. Barnabas blinked and looked at the illuminated room, but his new mortal eyes were not as sensitive to the light as his own had been.
Angelique turned back to the table, and Barnabas smiled at the witch. "Angelique…" he said, in a voice that was not his own.
Angelique stared at him, and Barnabas deliberated whether he should tell her who he really was, or let her think that he was her new handyman. While he deliberated, he looked over towards his left and saw a balding man staring at him.
"Who are you?" Angelique asked tentatively. "Master?" She put her hands up on the back of the wooden table chair nervously…
Act One:
Barnabas chuckled a little with his strange, new vocal cords. A third opportunity had presented itself—pretend to be Satan, Himself! But, he decided against it—it was easier to pretend to be this new handyman. He scoffed. "I'm no 'Master' of yours, Angelique!"…
Angelique looked relieved, despite herself. "Are you all right, John?" She glanced over at Horace, but he shook his head questioningly.
"Of course I'm all right!" Barnabas insisted. He stood up on his new, long, lean legs and stretched. He looked around the room, surprised at all that had been changed since Julia and Willie had imprisoned him back in his coffin. The most surprising difference had to be the new electrical lights.
Angelique stood next to him. "You were groaning, as if you felt something—some presence."
"And then you shouted, "No!" just before the candles blew out!" Horace added.
Barnabas glanced over at his bookcase prison, but his eyes were drawn to the huge portrait of Angelique that hung above the fireplace. "When did that get put up there?" Barnabas exclaimed. He stepped over towards the fireplace and stared at the portrait, while Angelique and Horace just stared at each other…
Meanwhile, Doctor Julia Hoffman drove herself back to Collinsport from Windcliff, her stationwagon filled with boxes and suitcases from her apartment near the hospital. It had been a month of reflection and decision-making, for Julia had decided to join the staff of the Collinsport University Hospital, as the resident psychiatrist.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" played over the radio, and Julia found herself crying again, despite herself. "Oh, Chris…" she sobbed out loud raspily, "I failed you…" Julia wiped the corner of her eye as she drove, thinking of all the times she should have looked after Chris instead of Barnabas.
"Barnabas…" she said out loud, shaking her head with dismay. All that time in 1897, and she was really needed here, in the present time. She thought of Barnabas, still locked away in his coffin at the Old House, or so she assumed. "I can't see you again, Barnabas, I can't…"
Part of the reason Julia had taken the job at University Hospital was that she wanted to be close to the Collins family, without actually living at Collinwood. She had phoned Quentin a week ago, inquiring about any rental properties she could move into, but it ended up being Roger who go back to her. He had agreed to rent her Seaview, the home that Nicholas Blair had once rented. Julia, quite familiar with the home, decided it would be the best home in Collinsport for her to stay in while she worked at the hospital.
As "Bridge Over Troubled Water" came to an end, Julia grabbed a handkerchief out of her purse on the passenger seat and dabbed at her eyes. It wasn't just guilt that made her cry over Chris. Julia had been attracted to the young man, despite herself. She would never in a million years have told him so, but she had to admit to herself that if he had not been the twin brother of Tom Jennings, the vampire, she would never have been so invested in helping him. Julia thought of the moon poppy she had collected a month ago. She had just started to isolate the properties of the flower that made it combat the werewolf cells, when she heard the news about Chris and Sabrina's, deaths.
Julia turned into the driveway of Seaview. Only the light of the moon lit the mysterious home. No lights shone in any of the windows, nor did there seem to be an outside light. "Roger probably didn't have the power turned on, yet," she mused to herself. Leaving the car lights on for a few minutes, Julia grabbed a suitcase and her purse, making her way onto the front porch of the house…
Act Two:
At the Old House, Barnabas stared in shock at the portrait that hung above the fireplace. Angelique loomed above him in an elegant blue dress, an evil, self-satisfied look upon her face.
Angelique came up beside him and place a hand on his shoulder. Barnabas jumped a little, despite himself. "You've seen that portrait before, John. Remember, yesterday? I told you I had Tony Peterson hang it up while you were gone."
Barnabas turned to the blonde witch and nodded. He remembered reading John's thoughts that a new portrait had been hung up, but seeing it in person was a shock to him. "Well, yes, I'm sorry Angelique, I just momentarily forgot… That's all."
Angelique stared at Barnabas for a moment, looking over at Horace, who was also staring at him. "Are you SURE that you're John Jaeger?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Of course I am!" Barnabas snapped. He had to get out of this house—it was no longer his! If he stayed, there was no telling what Angelique would do!
"Well," Angelique said. "There's still three of us here—why don't we try and make contact again?" She looked over at Horace, who nodded in agreement.
"I'm game if you are, my dear," Horace said. "Come, John, sit down. I don't think Hannah is coming back tonight… Maybe never."
Angelique's face flushed. "Hannah is a fool! A flighty, nervous fool! We should have never agreed to let her into the co… group."
"I'm not going through another séance!" Barnabas protested. "Not now, not ever!" Barnabas knew that if he agree to sit down with them, there was a chance that John Jaeger would push him out of his body.
"John, wait!" Angelique called after him, but Barnabas strode into the foyer and looked at the coat rack for what looked like something John Jaeger would wear. Finding a poncho that looked suitably youthful, he started to put it on.
Barnabas saw that there was a mirror in the foyer, so realizing that he could now see himself as a mortal man, he checked his appearance in it. Seeing the tall, curly haired blond man in the mirror, Barnabas brought his hands up to his face. "Jeb Hawkes…" he murmured, wondering if he was now inhabiting his former foe's body.
"John!" Angelique strode into the foyer, Horace close behind her. "What are you doing? You're not going out now, are you?" she demanded.
Barnabas turned away from the mirror, deciding that he was not in Jeb's body, for he HAD been reading John's mind for weeks now, and there had been no indication that he was Jeb Hawkes. "I've got to go, Angelique!" he exclaimed. He turned and opened the doors to get out of the house before Angelique could possibly use her witchcraft on him. "Don't wait up for me!" Barnabas rushed out into the night air, exhilarated to finally be free from his dark, lonely prison…
Act Three:
Julia brought the last box in from her stationwagon and set it in the parlor of the Seaview. She had lit several candles, finding that Roger had not had the power turned on yet. The phone was not working either. "I'll have to stop by Collinwood tomorrow!" Julia shook her head.
Deciding there was nothing else to do, but go to bed, at least for tonight, Julia picked up a candelabra and took it upstairs with her to go and find the master bedroom. After looking in both a bathroom, and a small bedroom, she finally found what looked like the master bedroom. She set the candelabra on the nearest dresser and turned to look around the room. A shadowy figure sat up on the bed. Julia brought her hand up to her mouth in her characteristic gesture and let out a loud, raspy scream…
Barnabas walked down the path from the Old House to the beach below, wondering at the sights and sound of the night. Oh, how he had missed it! When he was a vampire he missed the daytime, but now, after being locked away for a month, he found that the night sounds and smells were intoxicating to him. His senses were not as strong as when he was a vampire, but this mortal body would do just fine.
Barnabas walked for a long while along the seashore, enjoying the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore, as the moonlight made the water glitter across the sea. Barnabas found himself walking so long, that eventually he saw another house looming ahead—Seaview, the property that the Collins family owned, and occasionally rented it out. Barnabas saw that several candles were burning inside the house through the windows.
Curious to see the new inhabitants, Barnabas walked up the sandy hill and saw a familiar-looking stationwagon parked in the driveway. "Julia?" he asked himself out loud. "No, it can't be, Julia would never leave Collinwood," Barnabas shook his head. But, he used to think Julia would have never chained him up in his coffin, either.
Finally reaching the house, Barnabas crept in the bushes and tried to peer inside without being seen. He had to be more careful now, now that he was in a mortal body. Barnabas gasped when he saw Julia and Quentin walking down the staircase. Barnabas strained to hear what was being said inside with his new mortal ears…
"I'm sorry, Julia!" Quentin said sheepishly. "I certainly didn't think Roger had rented this house out yet." He stepped off of the staircase to join Julia in the candlelit parlor.
"Quentin, don't you remember I asked you about renting just last week!" Julia admonished. She looked around the room for any liquor that might still be around.
Quentin sighed. "I'm sorry, Julia!" He lifted the sheet back and slumped down on the sofa. "So much has happened lately. Sabrina, Chris, Amy… And now, today, an old friend of mine…"
"What old friend?" Julia asked. She went over to the nearest chair and pulled off the dust-covered sheet. "Don't tell me…"
"Yeah…" Quentin nodded. "His name was Dameon Edwards… I just watched him die today. I saw him fall off the balcony at Collinwood."
Julia gasped out loud, clutching her throat. "Quentin, no!" She shook her head with dismay. "Oh, when will the tragedy end!"
"Never, Julia!" Quentin said sadly. "Not as long as we're alive, anyway…" Quentin over at the red-haired doctor. "That's why I have to leave Collinwood—I came here to spend the night, to get away—but tomorrow, I'm leaving Collinsport… Forever!"
Outside the window, Barnabas narrowed his eyes. He felt bad for his old friends, but there was nothing he could do to help them. He knew that if he revealed himself, they would never allow him to keep inhabiting this man's body. "Julia! Quentin! If only I could reveal myself!" Barnabas exclaimed outside the house, turning away from the window and walking off into the dark night…
Cast:
Dr. Julia Hoffman… GRAYSON HALL
Quentin Collins… DAVID SELBY
Angelique Rumson… LARA PARKER
Barnabas Collins/John Jaeger… CHRISTOPHER PENNOCK
Horace Gladstone… JOHN HARKINS