Chapter 10

Restless and unable to sleep, Barnabas sat in the pitch-black hotel room. He had never experienced anything like what just happened in his entire life. As the hours of the day slowly ticked by, his thoughts consumed him with images of the past and present.

Before Angelique died in 1840, she had lifted his curse so Barnabas and Julia returned to the present to find Collinwood and the family back to normal. Once again, Julia helped Barnabas heal from a broken heart. For a while, they lived a quiet, simple life together, which included getting married. Barnabas asked Willie to be best man, who accepted and eventually got married. It was a happy time for all of them, as he shared a life with Julia at the Old House, until she became fatally ill. He never figured out why she became so withdrawn and secretive from him, her husband. It broke his heart when he was informed she wouldn't accept visitors, not even him.

Barnabas placed his head in his hands as he sat quietly on the bed. As his thoughts returned to the present, Barnabas saw Maeve in his mind. For some time, he had been watching and dreaming of her. He thought she looked familiar and found himself falling in love with a slayer. Preposterous. Now believing she knew what he was, Barnabas looked at the illuminated clock, noticed it was too early to flee and just waited. He would have to stay here until sunset. Then he would escape the inevitable battle he suspected was coming. He had hoped Maeve wouldn't want to kill him since there appeared to be a connection developing but he wasn't sure anymore.

He tried to relax when he thought of Maeve, ignore the fear that was building and only imagine the delicious time they spent together. He slowly absorbed the visions of her into his consciousness, unaware of how much time past. Then the scenes changed into something unexpected.

Two celestial beings came into focus in his inner vision which bewildered and fascinated him. Although he could not tell what was happening, or what the relationship between them were, Barnabas sat entranced. The two entities continued to communicate with one another, the white one appeared to be directing the smaller blue entity. After a while, his inner vision ended.

He desperately desired Julia's counsel, except she was dead. Shaking his head in despair, he remembered the night he was told she died, the doctors' said from lung cancer. Once again, his heart felt broken. He just could not live at Collinwood again. Barnabas told his family he needed time alone and had planned to travel around the world. They never learned the truth about where he went and he never saw them again. A short time after he left Collinwood, he slowly started to revert into a vampire. He never figured out why. That was a long time ago. It was not until sometime later that he cast eyes on the slayer in action.

Wait a minute, he thought. He had the power to summon Julia's ghost as he had summoned Josette's ghost a century ago. Enthusiastically, he stood up, concentrated all his powers on the image of Julia and demanded her to appear.

"Julia, I need you. Come to me, Julia . . . You must come to me. You have no choice . . . You will hear my voice and you will come." He repeated this several times, each time intensifying his will on the astral world. Out of the darkness radiated a pink light in which the apparition of Julia hovered before him.

Eagerly he exclaimed, "Julia! You must come to me . . . Oh Julia I need you. You must help me, Julia." Barnabas smiled and felt enormous joy to see the spirit of Julia.

"Why have you summoned me," said the spirit unaware of who called her.

"Julia, it's Barnabas, I need your assistance." Swaying before him, Julia extended her arm as though she was trying to touch him. Barnabas unconsciously reached out to take her hand. There was nothing to hold on to.

"Barnabas."

"Yes, Julia, it's Barnabas," with hope in his voice.

"Barnabas, why did you bring me here?" Julia looked straight at Barnabas then over to her right into the darkness. Barnabas looked in that direction too however he did not see anything, even with his bat vision.

"Julia, I need to talk to you. I have . . ." Barnabas started to tell Julia about the slayer but she interrupted him with a warning.

"Barnabas . . . beware," Julia said her right arm stretched out.

Taken aback, Barnabas asked, "Beware of what, Julia?"

"Barnabas, beware," Julia repeated as though she didn't hear him talking. "Beware . . . three . . ."

"Julia! Beware three what?" He didn't understand her cryptic message.

"Beware Barnabas . . . three . . .," Julia said as her image started to waver and disappear.

"NO" roared Barnabas causing everything around him to tremble. He was so furious he picked up his cane and slammed it on the nearby wood chair that splintered into many pieces. Within minutes, he heard a noise in the hallway outside his room. He turned on his heals and stalked towards the noise. He heard a muffled knock at the door.

Roughly he hissed, "Who is it?"

"I . . . uh . . . I'm sorry to bother ya, sir, but me manager asked me to . . . uh . . . see if ya are alright. Is there anythin' I can do for ya?" asked a frightened feminine voice.

"NO," Barnabas snapped a little more forcefully then he intended. "I'm sorry, I just had a nightmare and it startled me. I'm ok now. Thank you," he added more calmly.

She asked again not sure what to do next, "Are ya sure ya don't want me to get ya anythin', sir?" Barnabas was beginning to feel drained of energy and the lust for blood started to build up in his chest. He walked over to the door, placed his hand on the knob, ready to open it, thinking of grabbing the unexpected girl.

Pausing he said more reserved, "No, thank you. I'm fine," fighting the urge to open the door.

"Ok."

He heard footsteps heading the opposite direction and he let go of the knob. Drained and defeated, he walked back to his bed and sat down. As he thought of Maeve again, the energy they had together started to build up within him and it helped to fight the blood lust. Barnabas then looked at the clock and noticed it read 2:50 p.m. Having to wait many hours before leaving his room, it now felt like a prison as his coffin had in the past. His mind wondered again, thinking 'would it be possible for him to have a relationship with the slayer and would she want one with a vampire? What did Julia's warning mean? Three what?

Interrupting his reflection, he heard three rapid knocks on the door. Looking at the clock, he saw 3 p.m. Three knocks and 3 o'clock, Barnabas thought. Is this Julia's warning? He could not flee so he would have to stand his ground. Three more rapid knocks came and a voice called out to him, "Barnabas, open up. I know you are in there. If you do not open up, I will open it myself." He knew that voice and he knew he couldn't avoid her any longer.

His heart sunk as he walked over to the door prepared to open it. He needed an advantage so he kept the lights off and let the door swing open.