Chapter 19

Dawn Collins Estate Nearby Field

1796

Daphne huddled close to Vicki in the predawn mists that had formed over the ground. It gave the area around a surreal feeling. Daphne whispered softly, "Obviously this never happened before, so what do you think will happen now?" Vicki had not been able to sleep most the night, she was sick over what had happened and once again it seemed the past had been altered. She had to make a decision and that decision was to talk to Barnabas and tell him not to meet with Peter Bradford, she was about to give up on her happiness to allow Barnabas his with Josette. The heartache of her decision had devastated her to the point she was about to become ill.

"I don't know, if Trask dies then Phyllis will not be arrested as a witch. The time line has already altered dramatically with Jeremiah still alive. I just don't know Daphne, I fear if we ever get back to 1969 we will find an entirely different Collinwood and not what we left. Frankly, I am afraid." She buried her face in Daphne's shoulder and trembled at the thought of how horribly everything had gone awry. She did not want Barnabas to die and become a vampire, she did not want Jeremiah to die and she certainly did not want her life to change in the future or be stuck here in the past.

"Once this is over, I suggest we meet at the Old House and discuss this. I think we need to figure out what needs to be done to set things right for our future. I personally would not like to think things have gone awry, I mean what could happen?" Daphne was beginning to feeling sick to her stomach. This was something she had not expected to encounter and now they were here to watch two men fight over honor and the good reputation of her faux sister.

Henri was in a jovial manner; his smile was wide and his eye watching the two women standing on the edge of the field. Taking his jacket off, he handed it to Andréas. "You will do what you always do won't you my dear friend? Then I will claim the lady's hand and we can begin our life anew." He with a swagger to his walk stepped confidently towards Victoria. Pausing in front of her he smiled wickedly, wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Breaking the kiss he smiled and bowed to Daphne taking her hand and kissing it. He turned and boasted to those that chose to listen. "A condemned man should claim his last prize before facing death don't you think my dear Victoria?"

Barnabas accompanied by Joshua and Jeremiah walked onto the field, looked at pocket watches; turned to study the road to the field. Off in the distance they could see a wagon slowly lumbering its way to the field. Sitting next to the Bailiff was none other than Reverend Trask. "I shall allow God to decide this match today my friend. God is always on the side of the righteous." Although he said these words to try and dispel the unease that had settled over him he hoped his prayer was heard. Truth be told he knew his life had not been exemplary or was he as Christian as he purported. He just hoped that God had turned a blind eye to his tiny transgressions.

He looked to see Victoria and Daphne standing on the edge of the field, close to where the Duke now stood holding her in his arms and making his claim. A darkness of anger and hatred filled him watching Henri with Victoria and then his gaze shifted to the woman at Victoria's side. She was very attractive too. Had he heard correctly was that her sister. His thoughts were, "Sisters in the hold of the dark lord himself." He smiled; he could have two for the price of one soul if he played this right.

Pulling the team to a halt, he watched Henri release Victoria after one quick kiss, and with a swagger to his walk, advanced back to the man he had learned was Count Petofi. Another popinjay with a claim to aristocracy that in his opinion was of questionable reputation. From the edge of the wood line that abutted the field, several dark figures formed a line to stand and observe. "Vicki look, who are they?" Victoria turned and saw the man that had joined her in the cave the other evening. He was now surrounded by what appeared to be a tribe of gypsies.

Vicki smiled, "They are family, keep an eye on things, I will be right back." Vicki turned and started to walk towards the line of men dressed in traditional gypsy dress. Approaching the man she had met in the cave she smiled shyly, "Hello it is good to see you again. What brings you to the estate of Collinwood this early morning?"

Rocky stepped forward and bowed low. "We come to protect our own. You are considered family and we know that all is not going to go as planned today and there will be a death. That fool Trask has drawn his last breath." He turned to the troop with him. "This is King Johnny's great, great, great grand daughter, she is here from the future to correct the wrong and make right our world once again." All ten men that had surrounded Rocky went to bended knee.

"Your Highness! It is a great honor to meet the chosen one that will make whole our nation again and remove that which has troubled and killed our kind for years." One by one they stepped forward bowed over her hand and kissed it. Looking up they saw Andréas Petofi watching them with narrowed eyes.

Rocky spoke softly, "Beware the wolf in the house of the lambs we shall talk more later." They drew back and allowed the shadows to swallow them into its embrace. Vicki watched them disappear and turned surprised to see Barnabas had grown concerned and walked towards her. He now stood with a curious look on his face.

"That was most unusual my dear. Are you ready to come out of the line of fire, they are about to begin." Barnabas enveloped her with his arm and protectively walked her back to Daphne's side.

"Barnabas when this is done, Daphne and I would like to meet with you at the old house there are facts you need to know." She felt her heart tighten and she knew she was going to stop him from going through the hell that would be created against his will. She smiled tensely watching him study her with a curiosity that was way to familiar.

"Victoria what has you so upset? We will meet, father is motioning to me, I must join him." He bent kissed her hand then turned smartly and walked with reluctance back to the five gentlemen assembled at one end of the field. Barnabas turned one more time to look at Victoria, distracted seeing Jeremiah had also turned to peer over at the girls standing nervously watching at the edge of the field.

Petofi, had turned to Henri, adjusted his cravat smiled, pinning the medal into place at his throat. "Your protection spell is in effect, aim true and get what your heart desires." Henri leaned over to kiss one cheek then another cheek of his second. Patting his upper arms he nodded.

"I am ready, send the dueling pistols out to the braggart and let him choose his weapon. And Andréas my heart's desire is both those beauties that are watching me now. To have my heart's desire would to marry one and have the other as a bed warmer on nights I would grow bored with Victoria." He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked. Andréas laughed bowed to his friend and walked to the center of the field. Jeremiah had followed and stood awaiting instructions from Petofi.

His glance shot to Victoria and he held a grim but determined look to him. Victoria caught his gaze and in that moment, Victoria knew that Trask was not going to be the only one to die this day. Her heart constricted with the anguish of having to witness his death again. Her eyes clouded with her tears and she turned into Daphne's shoulder. "Oh god no. Jeremiah will die today." She gasped and felt her body tremble at the thought.

"How do you know?" Daphne was struck by her intuitive powers. Daphne held onto her and looked at the handsome Collins male that would have been a father and was married to a woman he did not love.

"I just know Daphne, he is not walking off this field." Trask and Henri walked to face each other, Petofi read off the rules of the challenge, allowed each man to grab a weapon, and stand back to back. "Pace off ten paces turn and fire." Petofi and Jeremiah stepped back and began to count. When they reached ten, Trask turned and aimed, Henri however, turned and fired, watching his bullet strike Trask who flinched and turned his hand the weapon firing and hitting Jeremiah in the chest. Henri's bullet had struck true; Trask laid dead on the field of honor with a bullet through his chest. However, Jeremiah lay dying on the field and it was the echoing scream of Victoria that filled the air when he crumpled to the ground clutching his chest.

Daphne was at a dead run, rushing towards Jeremiah with skirts flying and her heart beating in her ears. Reaching the three men that huddled around Jeremiah without thought, she tore his shirt open and began to work feverishly using all her knowledge on how to stop gaping sucking wounds. Ripping a part of her petticoat from her dress, she wadded it into packing and pressed it to his chest. "We need to get the bleeding to stop!" she shouted to the men that had fallen back to allow her to do what she could, but from the sounds of his breathing they knew he was as good as dead.

Victoria walked up to Daphne and went on bended knee, "Where do you think the bullet went?" she whispered. From the gasping breaths and the wheezing she was hearing she turned to Vicki her eyes fixed and her determination to save his life because that was why she had gone to nursing school.

"His lung, I think its low and that its filling with blood, I could get it stabilized if I had a reed that could allow air into the lung." She saw the position of the bullet and felt the blood filling up his lungs. Vicki glanced around and saw the hollow looking ornamentation on Joshua's belt. She reached forward and grabbed it from his belt. Thrusting it into Daphne's hand, she laid her hand over Daphne's on Jeremiah's chest.

"Here, use this." Daphne looked around and seeing no knife to make a slit. "I need a knife!" From over her shoulder a stiletto blade appeared, Daphne took it in her blood soaked hands, pressing her fingertips to the rib cage she found the perfect point of entry and pressed the blade into the intercostal area, taking the reed, she poked it into his chest and immediately he drew breath and passed out.

Barnabas was by Victoria's side. "Is he dead?" He truly looked concerned.

Daphne pressed her fingertips to his throat. "No we have a heartbeat, it is thready but it's a heartbeat we need to get him back to the house without loosing this reed in his chest and not allowing the wound in his chest to bleed out." Daphne looked up to see the doctor approaching them after declaring Trask dead. He stood over Jeremiah and sighed.

"Another reason these silly duels should be outlawed." He turned and nodded to Henri and the bailiff, Andréas walked to Victoria's side and gently tried to pull her from Jeremiah.

"No, I can't let go of this wound, he will bleed out." Daphne frowned noting that Henri was still immaculate after taking a man's life, no blood on his body, yet Victoria and her was covered in Jeremiah's blood.

Henri let go of his hold and snapped his fingers, two boys rushed from the side of the tree line. "These young boys came with the doctor, they will assist him with the patient come my dear you need to come back to Collinwood and clean up. You will never need to worry about that cretin again, he has been erased from this earth forever." He smiled allowing the young men to take over for Daphne and Victoria. Wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder, he gathered Daphne close to his other side. "She will need her sister at her side." He was amazed at the command Daphne had shown in seeing to Jeremiah's wounds.

The doctor looked to Daphne, "You had medical training?" He was equally impressed with her abilities. Daphne nodded slowly. "Good then you stay with me, I will need help when we get him back to the house, and I need to get that ball out of him." Daphne pulled from Henri looked to Vicki and sent her a silent signal to meet her later. Victoria nodded then allowed Henri to help her off the field. She looked anxiously over her shoulder watching Daphne show the doctor what she had done and helping Jeremiah to breathe easier. They were whispering softly to one another.

"Do not over extend yourself my love. Come we must get you cleaned up and out of these bloodied clothing. You will be of no help to poor Mr. Collins looking as if you had just fought a battle and lost.. You appear to be suffering a lot of distress and looking like a battlefield refugee. I fear though that he will not be long for this world. He had the death rattle sound to him." He had been so practical sounding it had come across cold and impersonal.

Andréas had walked up next to them. He smiled and spoke softly. "That makes twenty-seven so far Henri, very impressive and not a miss." He had brushed his cravat removing the pin he had worn while doing his duel. With a deft movement of his fingers he pocketed the protection amulet. Henri smiled widely.

"That is because when you are as good with the pistols as I am my dear friend, you cannot miss. Now I must clean up before I present myself to Mrs. Collins when she is informed of the unfortunate happenstance that has just occurred and be there to comfort her when her husband passes."

Victoria felt her whole body grow cold with how cavalier they were discussing Jeremiah. Pulling from Henri's hold reaching the front door she spoke as coldly as they had. "Excuse me, I really must go and take a bath, change and be there to support Josette. I do have faith that Daphne and the doctor might pull him through." She spun around marching into the house past the startled servant seeing her covered in blood.

Elliott's House

1969

Quentin, Elliott, Barnabas, Julia and Willie were now stuck in the vortex of time frozen. The whole air had taken on different currents and feels. "Something had gone wrong. There is a fluctuation in the flow of time." Elliott looked very concerned. He stood and began to pace trying to get a feel of what was happening. "It is all wrong, some of us very well could disappear from here. We need to try and correct what has happened. We need to fix this before all our lives are irrevocably changed forever!"

Julia stood up and the first sign of a change was Julia was no longer pregnant, she was as slender and svelte as the day she arrived at Collinwood. "Julia! You are not pregnant." This was the first sigh of a change happening in the past. "Quentin dear boy, quickly the I-Ching wands, we must stop what is happening before some of us begin to disappear!"

Quentin turned and quickly located the wands. Dropping them on the table, they searched for the sixty-fourth parallel wands. Sitting quickly, he and Barnabas grabbed hands and Elliott joined them, together they began to focus and one my one they left their bodies. Turning in ethereal form all three walked to the door and opened it.

Collinwood 1796

Barnabas was the first to find his body and enter into the consciousness. He knew he had not been turned so it would not be necessary to send Ben to release him. Elliott had to search a little longer to find Ben but was successful in locating him and assuming his consciousness. Finally, Quentin found Henri and was having difficulty assuming his body; he had to wait for him to fall asleep before he could take him over. It was most tedious and hard for him to not try to force his presence into the Duke.

While Henri waited for Victoria to finish her bath he was very proud of himself he had her practically eating out of his hand. All he needed was to wait for Jeremiah to die and then perhaps he could finally not only capture the elusive Miss Winters, he would have her sister and the fair Josette, although he knew that he had competition with the elder Collins brother's son for her hand. He even suspected her child was Barnabas' child. He wondered what it would be like to be a father.

Lying on the bed, he propped his booted feet up on the bed and closed his eyes. The day had been a long one for him and he felt himself falling into a deep sleep. Quentin in ethereal form assumed the body of Duke Henri. Opening his eyes, he needed to see Daphne, to hold her and kiss her and tell her she was no longer there alone. He knew he needed to find Ben and Barnabas. He wanted to know what was going on. No he needed to know, this whole vibe was off and the whole of Collinwood was upset. Had Barnabas turned? Had Josette jumped from widows hill?

Stepping into the hallway he looked around to see he occupied the room that the Henri from his time had occupied. Stepping down the hallway he paused, he could hear Daphne's voice and another voice he was not familiar with and did not know. Hearing the soft sobs of a woman he pushed the door open and peered into Jeremiah's room and saw Daphne frantically working with the doctor to try and save a mortally wounded Jeremiah. She was covered in blood. Walking into the room, Josette lifted her head and rushed towards Henri. "Oh Misère Henri! He is going to die is he not?" Quentin automatically put his arms around the woman's shoulders finding it hard to call her Josette when she looked so much like Maggie Evans.

"Please your lordship, take her from the room, so that Mrs. Harridge and I may try and save him, she is distracting us with her hysterics." Quentin looked to Daphne, gently putting his arms around Josette's shoulders he guided her out of the room and down the hallway to where he knew Josette's room was located, which would have been Elizabeth's room in his time.

"Come Josette, let us find your maid. You are covered in blood." He noticed the young girl standing outside the door. "Come in here and attend your mistress." His voice was full of command and arrogance and the girl scrambled forward to help her mistress. "Where is Miss Winters, Barnabas or Joshua?" The young girl was trying to get her mistress behind the screen to undress her so she could be bathed.

"They are in the drawing room Milord." She called over the screen watching him walk from the room. She thought he was so handsome. She sighed and continued to help her mistress undress.

Quentin stepped into the hallway and looked down to the west wing entrance and saw her door. "Vicki." He whispered. Walking to the door he knocked softly. "Vicki?" The door was thrust open and she stood eyes flashing and her temper high.

"How dare you!" She slapped him across the face. She began to close the door in his face and he thrust his foot inside the door and stepped in. "What is wrong with you?" She turned with incredible speed she rushed forward and slammed him against the door.

She snarled into his face, "I said, you were to never enter my room again without my permission. You are despicable!" Quentin had never seen her so angry as she was here and that was his first clue that part of the problem was what was going on between Vicki and Henri.

Keeping his hands in plain view, he spoke softly, "Vicki its me Quentin! We had to come back something has gone horribly wrong. Julia is not pregnant and we are afraid one of us will disappear and be lost forever!"

Vicki shook her head released him, "Quentin! It all has gone awry! Trask is dead, Jeremiah was not killed in a duel with Barnabas and Josette is pregnant. None of this had happened before. I have made contact with King Johnny's clan and they said I have a purpose but I am not to meet with the main person for another week and Barnabas will by then be . . . " she had said it all so quickly.

"A vampire Vicki. Which is what he needs to become so that he can be released in 1967 and save the family. If he does not then all we know as Collinwood will be no more."

Vicki swallowed hard and collapsed on the chair. "Henri is being such an ass Quentin, he has been pursuing my hand in marriage. Daphne came back as well and we don't know why." She stood and paced to the window and sat on the edge of the window seat. "We have made up this story that I was her sister and had run away from a marriage of convenience to a man in New York. That was one of the best explanations we could come up with before all this other stuff started happening. I frankly don't know what to do?"

She sighed and looked at her hands. "Henri is most persistent and I thought you were him, that was why I was so hands on with you, he has been very touchy-feely with me." She felt his hands cover her hands sitting in the chair next to the window he smiled.

The door was flung open and Daphne stood there her eyes filled with outrage. "Get away from her!" Daphne marched towards him and was startled when he stood grabbed her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

"Hello Nurse Nightingale." He whispered his nickname he had for her and felt her stiff body suddenly relax and she was now returning his kiss. He chuckled softly running his palm up and down her back.

"Oh Quentin! I am so glad you are here. I don't know how but I am sure that with your arrival we can now set things right. Jeremiah has only a slight chance to live this night. I fear we did all we could and he is not going to live." She sighed and buried her head into his chest.

"We were going to meet at the old house. Try to figure out what had happened to make things go so far off course. Daphne, he says that Professor Stokes is here and Barnabas. We need to get them to the old house so we can speak freely without being over heard or challenged. Although now with Trask's death, we should easily avoid being branded a witch." Vicki stood and hearing a knock at the door, she walked to the door and called softly.

"Yes? Who is it?"

"Victoria it is I Barnabas please let me in." Vicki threw the door open and looked with relief into his love filled eyes.