"Wh-wh-what…" Victoria attempted to say, but she couldn't seem to find the courage amidst the shock.

"Forgive the intrusion, my dear, but your home just seemed so….inviting," Barkis interrupted her, still smiling that sick, twisted smile of his. Victoria swallowed hard.

"How did you get here," she finally managed to say.

"How did I get here," Barkis answered with a question. "That, darling, is a very good question. You see, once I was thrown in jail, I had a lot of time to think about the events that led me to my imprisonment, and I began to realize that you were indeed, the one to blame. Well, I couldn't very well let you get away with that, so for the next six months I began to plot my revenge against you. I guess you can say it consumed me," Barkis explained calmly, as if he was describing what he had for breakfast to her. Victoria thought she was going to be sick.

"Well, it took some doing, but I finally managed to find just the right way to gain said revenge and escape the jail to fulfill it. After that I gathered a few supplies and performed a few spells and well, here I am," he concluded with a very nonchalant shrug. Victoria had to take a deep breath to keep from fainting. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she spotted on a table next to the staircase a huge vase full of thorny flowers. Slowly she began to form a plan in her mind.

"But why me," she asked in a shaky voice, hoping it would lead him into another monologue.

"Why you," Barkis asked incredulously. "Why you! Why not you is the more appropriate question! You were supposed to be an easy target, Victoria! You were supposed to provide me the funds I needed to move on to my next victim! But instead, what do you bring me! Death," he screamed at her. Meanwhile, Victoria slowly began to inch her way closer and closer to the table.

"Everything was working out perfectly," Barkis continued. "Perfectly, until you revealed that you were poor! And then you had the nerve to run out on me to seek out that twit of a husband of yours!"

"I still don't see why that makes me the cause of your demise," Victoria interrupted him in an attempt to lead him into yet another speech.

"You led me to the church," he screamed, causing her to jump in surprise. Apparently, her planned worked. "You caused the duel between your husband and myself, you led me to that poisoned goblet of wine, you, you, you! If everything had gone according to my plan in the first place, you would be dead and I would be rich! But you had to go off and spoil it all! Don't you see, Victoria! You're the one that's supposed to be dead!"

Victoria couldn't stand one more moment of his ranting. She reached for the vase and hurled it at Barkis as hard as she could. The vase shattered about him, causing Barkis to stumble backwards from the surprise of the blow. Taking advantage of his momentary weakness, Victoria turned around and bolted up the stairs, but it didn't take long for Barkis to recover from the shock and take off after her.

With the head start she had on him, however, Victoria managed to make it to her bedroom before he could reach her. She slammed and locked the door, leaning against it for a second or two to catch her breath. Then, still breathing heavily, she ran over to the glass doors that led to the balcony and tried to open them. But she soon discovered they had been locked from the outside.

"Oh please open," she pleaded with the doors as she tried them once more, but it was to no avail. She whirled around in frustration and gasped when she came face to face with Barkis.

"Next time you try to barricade yourself in a room, love, make sure all the doors are locked," Barkis said as he pointed to the door to the washroom. Victoria mentally kicked herself when she realized she forgot that the washroom also had a door that could be accessed from the hall.

"Now, where were we," Barkis asked sinisterly as he began making his way closer to her. Victoria backed up as far as she could until her back pressed against the cool glass of the balcony doors. He was about to grab for her when they heard the sound of the front door closing.

Victor, Victoria thought, her heart leaping for joy within her. She could see the look of panic on Barkis' face, making her realize that soon he would try to prevent her from getting his attention. She had just one chance…

At that thought, Victoria opened her mouth and let out one of the loudest screams she had ever screamed in her life. She was soon cut off, however, by Barkis, who put his hand over her mouth and grabbed her arm roughly. He wrenched her arm behind her back and began to pull her way towards the washroom. She tried to make herself as heavy as possible to slow him down, but the pain in her arm was so intense, she had no choice to comply. She tried to catch her breath several times, but Barkis' hand over her mouth was making it very difficult for her. Between the pain and the lack of oxygen, Victoria could slowly but surely feel herself slipping into darkness. Through the pain, however, she could distinctly hear Victor's footsteps bounding up the stairs and her name being called.

"The fool! He'll ruin everything," Barkis said in annoyance. That annoyance, however, was quickly replaced with a look of worry as he maneuvered Victoria to a sort of position where her arms were immobile and he could still have a hand over her mouth; from a distance it would have looked like he was dipping her. With his free hand, Barkis reached into his pocket and pulled out a vile of a suspicious looking liquid. Victoria's eyes widened with fear as he removed the cap of the vile and took his hand away from her mouth. He then tipped the vile towards her lips and tried to force her to drink its contents.

Knowing that whatever was in that vile couldn't be anything good, Victoria pursed her lips tightly to prevent the liquid from entering her mouth.

"Drink it," Barkis demanded, but Victoria just shook her head in protest. He continued to try to force her to drink, but she continued to resist, all the while wondering where her husband was.

Hurry Victor, she thought with desperation. Please hurry!

A few minutes earlier…..

Victor eyed his pocket watch impatiently as he bounced along in the carriage ride that was taking him home. He wished his horse would go faster; he was late enough as it was, but he knew the driver was already going fast enough. Any faster and they would run the risk of capsizing.

I hope Victoria's not too upset with me, Victor thought nervously. He knew it wasn't like him to be late, but some confusion had arose with one of the orders just as he was about to leave. He had no choice but to stay behind and sort it out.

It just had to be today of all days, Victor thought with slight annoyance. He wanted so much to spend that special evening with his beloved wife.

Victor looked at his feet and eyed the flowers and small necklace he had bought to surprise her with when he got home. He had realized earlier that week that that day was going to be his and Victoria's one month anniversary that day and, even though he realized it was somewhat foolish to celebrate being married for as little time as a month, he couldn't help but see it as a special occasion. After all, it had been the happiest month of his life.

Victor nearly leapt out of his seat when he first spotted his house down the road. He was finally home! He gathered the flowers and the jewelry box that contained the necklace in his arms out of impatient anticipation. He couldn't wait to see the look on Victoria's face when he presented her with the gifts.

As soon as the carriage stopped in front of his house, Victor jumped out and bounded up the stairs and through the front door. He closed it behind him distinctly and waited for Victoria to come running out as she usually did. When nothing happened, Victor could immediately sense that something was wrong.

Victor began to walk over to the table by the staircase when he heard a crunching sound beneath his feet. He looked down to find the shattered remains of the vase that had been on that table. He sidestepped the debris and put his gifts down on the table, a look of worry etched on his face. He was about to go searching for his wife when he was nearly frightened to death by the sound of a blood-curdling scream, which was abruptly cut off a few seconds later.

"Victoria," Victor called out with fear. "Victoria!" He knew he distinctly heard the scream coming from upstairs, so he ran up the stairs as fast as his legs would take him and began searching frantically for the source of the scream.

After having no luck with the other rooms, Victor finally came to his and Victoria's bedroom door. He listened intently and could make out the sounds of scuffling coming from within. He gathered all his courage and burst into the room, ready and willing to fight whatever he came up against, but the sight before him stopped him dead in his tracks. There was his wife with a look of great fear on her face, attempting to be forced to drink something in a vile by none other than…

"Barkis!"

Barkis paused from his struggle with Victoria when he saw the bedroom door fly open and Victoria's ninny of a husband appear with a look of complete shock on his face. The twit exclaimed his name, but Barkis barely heard it. Screams of panic from within him flooded his ears.

Stupid fool! He ruined everything, Barkis thought. It's not finished yet! Stupid, stupid fool!

Though it pained him greatly, Barkis realized he couldn't complete his revenge with the husband present. He quickly recapped the vile and returned it to his pocket.

Still refusing to leave empty-handed, however, Barkis had to do something, anything that would constitute as some sort of revenge against the Van Dorts. So, channeling all his anger into hand, he returned Victoria to a standing position and slapped her as hard as he could across the cheek with the back of his hand. He watched with satisfaction as the force of the blow sent her flying backwards and causing her to land with a thud face down on the ground. Barkis then whirled around and crashed through one of the doors that led to the balcony. He leapt of the balcony, landing perfectly on his feet, and cast one last look of pure hatred toward the house before disappearing into the night.

Victor ran over to Victoria, who was lying motionless on the floor.

"Victoria," he called out to her with panic. He turned her over to where she was lying on her back and delicately stroked her face.

"Oh Victoria, please wake up," he pleaded with her. He began to shake her gently, but it was to no avail. He knew he had to get help.

With tears of fear gathering in his eyes, Victor put one arm under Victoria's knees and his other arm under her back and scooped her up into his arms. He was carrying her over to lay her on the bed when the servants, who had been asleep in their rooms at the far opposite end of the house, came to inquire about the commotion they had heard. All gasped when they caught sight of the master with his wife in his arms. Victor turned to them wildly.

"Christian," he said, addressing the male member of the staff, "take the carriage and fetch the doctor," Victor told him. Christian stared at Victor for a moment more, very confused as to what was happening.

"Quickly," Victor added. At that, Christian snapped out of his reverie and ran out the house. Meanwhile, Victor gently laid Victoria in their bed.

"Mary, I need a wet cloth of some sort to put on her head," he told the girl who had interrupted them that morning. He turned to the remaining servant, Susan, and commanded her to get some smelling salts. Both nodded obediently and quickly went to fulfill their duties. Victor turned his attention back to his wife and knelt by her bedside.

"Victoria," he said to her as he took her hand in his, "please wake up! Please!"

When she offered no response, Victor leaned his head against her hand and there he stayed to wait for the doctor, all the while praying earnestly that she would be alright.