Old Loves, Old Lies
-by Baron Karza von Karnstein
-dedicated to Diane Neal
N.B. I do not own any of these characters. Dan Curtis owns all the Dark Shadows Characters. Joel Soissons and Patrick Lußier own all the Dracula II: Ascension Characters
IV
"DAMMIT, ERIC!" blasted Liz "DIAL DOWN THE LIGHTS!"
Barnabas was still screaming. The lights did not dim.
"Now, now girlie!" boomed Eric's amplified and patronising voice from the table he had set up. "We're not here for you to look up your family tree. We have a business arrangement."
Barnabas' screams did not abate.
"e-RIC!" growled Liz. "Your damn lights are hurting MY EYES. If you hurt me, Lowell won't do squat for you."
"We'll see about that!" There was a sneer of contempt in Eric's voice, and no sign that he had been moved by Liz's warning. "If you want that thing to jump out and bite you, more power to you. But I'm attached to my mortality, and I am not going to jeopordise it just so you can ask grandpappy here about the past."
"He had every chance to attack us, Eric!" fired back Liz. "If that's what he wanted, don't you think he would have done that by now? Dial down the damn lights."
"You should listen to her, Eric." advised Lowell from the other room. "We can't collect any samples from our friend here if he's burned to a crisp."
Eric pondered this for a moment. "I suppose you're right, Lowell." he replied, as he twisted the dial on the switchboard counterclockwise until the candlepower of the floodlights was at a minimum.
Barnabas stopped screaming and started to heave. Liz ran towards him.
"Mr. Collins! Are you all right?
After several seconds of shallow breathing and grunts, Barnabas finally regained his voice.
"What…kind of…trickery…is this?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Collins…" pleaded Liz "We found your bod—we found you in the basement of a bar. We started to examine your—you, and we saw your teeth—"
"You EXAMINED me? What…are you?"
"I'm a medical student, Mr. Collins."
"You were going to…try to cut me open…"
"I'm sorry…I…we thought if we could examine you, and learn about your kind…we could find a cure for…"
"A cure!" Barnabas was disheveled from his thrashing about in a useless attempt to escape Eric's sun-brite lights, but there was a something in his voice that told Liz he had recovered some of his composure. "You thought you could find a cure if you tried to dissect me like a dead animal..."
Liz looked down. The contrition also showed on Tanya and Kenny's faces.
"I'm sorry…that's all I can say…I'm sorry…"
"Liz wasn't in this alone, Mr. Collins." declared Tanya. "We were all in it with her."
Barnabas looked at the shapely blonde, and scrutinised her closely for the first time.
"How many of you are there?" he asked after a tense silence.
"There's Liz, and me…I'm Tanya…and this is Kenny…"
"Who is that fiend who tried to burn me to ashes?"
"S'Name's Eric." replied Kenny. "And he represents the money."
"Money!" a look of growing anger came across Barnabas' face "So, you were PAID to do this!"
"No, Mr. Collins no!" protested Liz, head now raised back up, eyes looking to Barnabas for forgiveness. "I mean, we got this anonymous phone call promising us money if we brought your body here from the morgue. But, it turned out that the money was for our pathology Professor, so he could…do research on you…to find a cure…"
"For what do you need this cure you keeping speaking about?" asked Barnabas.
"It's for Lowell…our Professor…he's dying…slowly dying."
"And you think that, by experimenting on me, you could stop that?"
"We don't know, Mr. Collins. But no one has ever scientifically studied a live vampire before…who knows what we would find in your blood, or in your DNA?"
"You are wrong, my dear!" proclaimed Barnabas with an air of certitude. "A doctor once examined my blood. All she could do was to allay the effects of my curse…temporarily."
"A Doctor?" Lowell's amplified voice boomed across the empty pool. He still had his lip mike, but now, he was back at the edge of the pool. "What was her name? Where did she publish her study?"
"You must be Lowell." commented Barnabas.
"What was her name, and where did she publish her study?" insisted Lowell.
"She didn't publish anything, Lowell." answered Barnabas "And her name will do you no good, since, by now, she is already long dead."
"Then you gotta tell us what she found out."
"I am not a doctor, Lowell. She told me things, but they meant not the slightest thing to me."
This brought a silence.
"Then we'll just have to draw some of your blood and do our own work."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then, boyo…" interjected Eric "We give you a nice suntan…"
"NO!" blurted out Liz, futilely throwing herself between Barnabas and Eric, but entirely unable to block out the floodlights, should Eric fire them up once more. "I won't let you do it!" She glared defiantly at Eric, and then shot a burning stare up at Lowell, as if trying by the fury of her eyes to deter them.
"Everybody hold on your horses!" Lowell's lethargic and annoyed voice dampened the room and the anxieties within it. "Eric, that won't be necessary. Our friend here…"
"He has a NAME, Lowell!" shouted Elizabeth, "He has a name!"
"I'm so sorry, Lizzie…Eric, Mr. Barnabas Collins here is going to cooperate with us voluntarily."
"And how can you be sure of that?" asked Barnabas.
"It's simple Mr. Collins. Lizzie over there is my lover. If I die, she will be heartbroken…"
"You sick bastard!" muttered Liz.
Barnabas heard this.
"It is all right, my child." he softly told Liz. Then, he raised his voice "Is this true, Ms. Blaine?"
Liz began to sob. Slowly, she turned to face Barnabas.
"Yes, it's true!" she said in a loud voice. Then, in a lower voice she added "The heartless bastard manipulated me."
"So you see, Mr. Collins, if you don't help me, you'll be killing poor Lizzie over here. We can't have that, now can we?"
Barnabas stared at Lowell.
"Very well, then…"