Chapter 24

Old House 1796

Vicki watched the setting sun with a hint of trepidation. She knew that Barnabas was about to rise and go after Phyllis Wick. She also knew Josette had made it through the night and tonight would be her last night on this earth. She was concerned that her next act that would eventually get her back to her time would be in one week's time during a space-time of what was being called the grand conjunction. Julia and Elliott had pressed her hard with good cause if she killed Petofi she would surely cause her own death or the death of Quentin. When they finally wore her down, and she finally told them what she needed to do, Elliott had assured her that he would figure a way out of this for them all. He was adamant that Julia immediately returned to the future and Julia was just as adamant that she was not going to leave.

She knew at this time she was the only one alive in this house and she heard movement upstairs. Taking a deep breath she was not sure who would come down those stairs if it was going to be Barnabas or if it was going to be the Barnabas from this time. She closed her eyes and silently prayed it was her Barnabas. Then she heard his voice. "Victoria? Why are you here?" She turned not sure who was in his body.

"I waited for you. I knew this would be a difficult time for you and I am here to offer you my blood." She walked to him and undid the top of her gown so he could have access to her neck. "I know how badly the blood lust is for you and I wanted to give you what I have because I know it won't hurt me as much as it might someone else." She could see the desire in his eyes and the lust of his need by the way his tongue snaked over his teeth.

"Vicki, I can't take from you like that. You know I have to do what I did once before." He looked at her anxiously and she was now sure he was her Barnabas. "Even now I feel the draw of going to Trask's room where I know she is and I must complete what happened, to not do this would set the future off balance again, and I fear if I should try to take from you now, I might go to far and I could not live with myself if I were to end your life. We are destined to be together in the future."

"Barnabas, what if we did not return to the future, what if I stayed with you here in the past and did what I was suppose to do? What if we had our life now, in this time? I could protect. I could be your guard during the day."

"You would do this for me?" He looked shocked and touched by her offer. "In the future when we meet again Victoria, we will go down a lot of roads together and I will eventually be able to give you the life you so richly deserve. I fear to even change it for our own selfish needs would cause a cascade and our Collinwood in the future will fall. I don't think that is what you want and I know it is not what I want." He turned and walked to the door and paused. "Just know that I love you more now than I have ever loved you before. We must get through the next week and then we can resume our life together and we shall marry."

She had watched him leave with a heavy heart and her eyes filled with tears, walking to the door she stopped and closed her eyes. She wanted to kill Peter Bradford and she knew where he would be this night. Then again to go against the credos would certainly mean that the future would be altered again. She slumped into the chair by the fireplace and then she heard his voice. "How touching, you would give up your life to save the very man that is about to become a monster just like me."

Vicki's head shot up and she frowned, he was here in the house and she looked up seeing him standing at the top of the stairs. She had never hated in her life she had always made excuses but for this man she held nothing but hate and contempt. "You are the monster Peter. Barnabas is your victim. Any that come in contact with you become a toxic mixture for your pleasure and I for one am not going to fall into that category."

He had moved so quickly that without her own senses she would have been in his clutches. Watching him move fast, she beat him to the other side of the room. He looked stunned. "You are not vampire, how are you able to do this?" He tried to move towards her again and once again she was faster than he was, slipping past him and taking time to grab the blade from the folds of her skirt, she drew it out and her eyes glistened with her own need for blood.

"Come at me again and I will serve your heart to you. I can do this because I hold the life forces of a vampire and an immortal in my blood. That is why if you tried to take my blood I would heal in no time and not die. That is why if you try to harm those I love or me I shall cut your heart out and feed it to the seagulls. You are a fledging to what I have in my body Peter Bradford. You are nothing to what I can do and by the name of the Romano tribe I promise you should you ever try to harm me or my sister again you will live only to see the sun burn your eyes out just before I cut out your heart."

Peter considered her words and felt a pull for him to do what he had come to do and that was summoning Josette to Widows Hill. "I will deal with you later Miss Winters for now I go to take care of what I must do." He bowed and shifted to mist and drifted from the room. Vicki leaned against the railing of the stairs and watched him go. Closing her eyes she knew she should return to Collinwood and the sooner the better for all concerned, this had to play out the way it was meant to.

Gazebo Collinwood rear garden

Vicki sat in the enclosure and watched Daphne with Quentin, for her it was Quentin, in manner and looks. They strolled together pausing occasionally to go into each other's arms and kiss passionately. She smiled, knowing that as long as Quentin could keep Henri at bay he could court his Daphne in the way he should have been able to without the interference of Petofi. She closed her eyes and then she heard a voice behind her. "Issue of Johnny Romano, follow me now, you are summoned by the current Johnny Romano." Vicki felt her hair stand up on her neck. She had not heard him approach her.

Rising she slipped from the gazebo and began to follow the covered individual in front of her. He was leading her away from the house and into the forestlands that surrounded the wild coastline of Maine. She walked on silent footfalls keeping pace with the figure in front of her and when she entered the forest floor deeper into the wood line the figure stopped. He turned and looked at her from the depths of his hood. "You are the choose for the good King Johnny to end the curse for the tribe. He has needed to speak with you. You stay here and he will come to you." The dark figure drifted into the shadows and disappeared.

Vicki stood waiting for the current King Johnny to appear and from the depths of the shadows he did appear, walking straight to her and coming up short in front of her a bare three inches away from her. She did not flinch she waited to hear what he had to say. "The old one that occupies the servants body, you know him as Professor Stokes, has come to us to make a plea. We have listened to the plea and we think his plan is better than to kill Petofi." We waved his hand and Professor Stokes as Ben was escorted into view. "Tell her your plan." King Johnny did not turn to look at Professor Stokes.

"Victoria my dear, instead of cutting out his heart, we will make him human and vulnerable, you will cut off his hand again and this time we will give it to King Johnny. He will keep the hand away from Petofi. The time line will be restored and Quentin will be safe from dying." It sounded fair and this King Johnny liked the idea of having the hand of Petofi as his personal trophy.

"I like the idea of watching him grow old as a human and unable to put his curse on our people ever again. So now on the night of the grand conjunction when the full moon is at its highest point in the sky, you will go to widow's hill and he will follow and you will take his hand do you understand?"

Vicki nodded she was glad she would not need to kill someone she just did not have it in her to do so. She knew that Tate would be needed to paint a picture of Quentin saving him from his curse otherwise there would be no Quentin in their time. "I understand but I have a question for Professor Stokes." She watched them escort Elliott to her side. "Professor, what of the portrait of Quentin?" She watched him smile.

"You mean to be painted by this man?" He turned and motioned the men in the back to bring another figure forward. "This my dear is Mr. Tate and he is about to begin to paint that portrait and while I have Petofi under my control will have him enchant the picture." Vicki looked at the man and frowned.

"How can this be the same man that paints Quentin's portrait in one hundred years?"

"Easy my dear, this is his grandfather who was a famous artist too. We shall solve our problems in one time frame and set the future right and give the tribe freedom of Petofi and his influence. It solves everything for us!" He chuckled at the brilliance of his plan. Vicki still felt uneasy.

"I see so all I need to do is take his hand and once we have the hand, then the timeline and my mission will be completed and Daphne will no longer be under Petofi's influence?"

"He will loose his control because he will be dead my dear. He will have never existed in our time and therefore cousin Henri will never have come with Angelique in tow, and Daphne will no longer be under his control. We will all go back to our normal lives and you my dear will be able to marry your Barnabas and life can return to some sanity for all of us."

Vicki smiled for the first time since this meeting began. She wanted to lean into Professor Stokes for support because her legs had begun to feel wobbly. "I think I need to sit down, I am feeling a little unstable." She felt the strong grip of King Johnny's arms as they encircled her and lifted her from the ground.

"Come we go to the vardo and you rest for a little while then you and the old one can go back to Collinwood. I know you will be needed there; a great darkness is sweeping over the land before the gathering and the coming of the grand conjunction. Much must be done before then."

Professor Stokes Home

1969

Quentin blinked looked around and noticed a man sitting across from him staring at him and holding a sketchpad. He continued to watch Quentin and study him as he drew his portrait. "Don't I know you?" Quentin noticed that Julia sat transfixed, along with Barnabas and Professor Stokes. "What is going on? Why am I back in my own body."

The man looked up and smiled. "It needed to be done so I could paint your portrait and have it imbued with the dark magic of Count Petofi. Then you would be safe. Your portrait will be a little older but it will still hold the power to keep you from dying n this time. That is at least how it was explained to me." He continued to move his fingertips over the charcoaled sketch he was drawing. "I just need another hour and I will have what I need to complete your portrait and you may return to doing whatever it was you were involved with prior to awaking here." He continued to draw Quentin sitting at the table.

Collinwood

1796

Victoria had adeptly dodged Duke Henri for the past two hours, she only had another hour to dodge him until Quentin could come back and take his place in Henri's body. It was bad enough that she had to avoid him and do to so had become a creative endeavor but she also knew Henri and Andréas was in Henri's room and had been for the past hour and she was worried they were starting to remember what had happened to them. Her worse fears were confirmed when while hiding behind the curtains in the drawing room she had over heard them discussing missing pieces of their memories and wanted to discuss it to see what had caused this amnesia. That had been an hour ago.

She had paced back and forth after they had left the room and then not sure how she wanted to handle this she decided the best place would be for her to go to the old house. This house was upset with the death of Josette and the discovery of the bloodless corpse of Phyllis Wick on the beach. She had to find a place where she could think without distraction she definitely wanted to be gone before Sarah died and Barnabas was chained in his coffin. So much was about to happen and Vicki was not sure if she could go through this again. It had been so hard for her and tragic when little Sarah had died and then she had to save Daniel so that Quentin could be born.

Walking to the door, she paused lifting her cloak from the hook; Joshua entered the foyer from the dining room area. "Victoria, are you not hungry my dear?" He entered more fully watching her draw on her cloak and only hesitate a moment. Turning he could see she was extremely upset. "Oh my dear, I know that it is tragic that Josette jumped from widow's hill, you should know she loved you at the end just as she loved all of us." He walked to embrace Vicki in his arms and gently patted her back.

"I am sorry Joshua I just do not feel well and want to take a stroll, there has been so much and I need a little alone time to gather my emotions and my thoughts." She spoke softly into his chest turning her head to rest against the roughness of his wool jacket. "I hope you understand. There was Jeremiah, and then Barnabas, now Josette, where will it all end?" She sighed deeply into his chest when a voice from over head spoke rather smugly.

"I am sure you know exactly when it all will end my dearest love. After all, you come from the future and you know the fate of us all by this time of your short time at Collinwood. Is that not so my dear?" Henri with a superior tone and look walked commandingly down the stairs to stand accusingly before Vicki and Joshua.

"What kind of chicanery is this Cousin Henri?" Vicki stepped away from Joshua and turned her back on Henri, "What is this preposterous allegations you are making against this woman whom you proclaim to love?" Joshua postured himself before Henri pushing Vicki behind him. Vicki not ready to face these allegations bolted for the door and into the now deepening shadows of the setting sun. Dashing towards the rear pathway she did not know where she was going, she just needed to get away. She was not sure how much more she could take before she broke, she just had another week to make it until she was released from this nightmarish world. Running head long into the woods and to the path that would take her to the old house she was afraid she was being pursued. Feeling her breath come in harsh rasps she ran until she felt a pair of strong arms grab her and pull her up short.

Stifling a scream in the back of her throat she turned eyes wide and body filled with fear and looked in relief and loved filled eyes to the man that would be her salvation here and her love in the future. "He knows! He is accusing me of being from the future, where is Quentin?" She clutched Barnabas as he drew her close to his body and held her tightly to him. She felt him lower his lips to her throat and willingly she bent her neck and allowed him to drink from her.

He did drink the blood lust was on him and he needed to drink. Holding her so she would not jerk and cause more damage to her neck he drank deeply feeling her grow weak in his arms until her knees buckled. Pulling back he looked up and saw Sarah watching him. "No you are not my brother! You are a monster!" She turned and ran off screaming and crying. Barnabas looked down at the pale barely breathing form of his beloved.

"Here my love, drink from me now." He bit his wrist and pressed his bleeding arm to her mouth. He felt her lips pucker and she tasted his blood before she went totally unconscious. Hearing the servants from the house along with his father rushing to the woods he turned and turned to mist and drifted away leaving Vicki to be found by Joshua and Henri.

"My God it's Victoria!" Joshua bent and rolled her over to see her neck had been torn and she was bleeding from the wound. Henri bent and lifted Vicki in his arms and cradled her close to his chest. Turning he glared at Joshua and the servants.

"Someone summon the doctor now!" Turning he carried her back to Collinwood. Walking into the drawing room with her limp frail body in his arms he glared at the servants. "Water, soap and some bandages now!" He looked up to see Julia and Daphne standing in the foyer. "GET IN HERE NOW!" He shouted at them.

Julia and Daphne rushed into the drawing room and pushed Henri aside. Julia methodically began to check Vicki and found she had a slow barely discernable heartbeat. "Will she come out of it Aunt Julia?" Daphne whispered seeing Julia's look of concern. "Do you need me to get your bag?" She nodded and turned to Henri.

"I will need some blood from you Duke Henri, you are the same blood type as Victoria if you are near enough to Quentin." Julia knew Quentin had to go back to his body because they needed Tate to paint his picture. To her knowledge Quentin was about to resume his possession of Henri's body and why Julia had come to Collinwood to make sure she could trigger him to go unconscious so Quentin could take over. She had never expected to find that Barnabas had attacked Vicki like this and brought her near death.

Henri sat next to Victoria rolling up his sleeve. He looked from Daphne who rushed into the room carrying a strange looking black bag. Julia grabbed the bag opened it and began to remove some very strange looking items. "Daphne bottles, sterile bottles get them quickly. I need four, bindings and scissors if they have them here." Taking a rubber tie, she wrapped it around Quentin's arm and smacked his arm bringing a vein to the surface. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a needle and inserted the needle into his arm. Taping it off, she turned to Vicki and tied off her arm and found a vein. Inserting a needle into her vein she reached for tube and put the tube into the needle in Henri's arm.

Daphne was curious as to what her aunt was doing she thought that once Vicki rested she would restore her own blood supply. Sitting the jars down she stepped back and waited. "Once we get two of these from Henri, my dear Daphne you will put them on the mantle and put Vicki's tube in the jar and allow it to flow into her vein." Julia stood up from Henri and felt his free hand to shoot out and captured her hand.

"Not so fast my dear Doctor Aunt Julia, you have some questions to answer." His voice was soft but threatening. Julia narrowed her eyes and spoke with clipped tones.

"You will let my wrist go and you will sit there and relax. I am taking blood from you and it will affect your body and make you dizzy and tired. " She jerked her wrist from his hand and stepped back. "If you behave yourself I might give you the answers you so desperately seek." She turned to Daphne and spoke softly. "We give it another twenty minutes and that should about do what I needed accomplished."

The words were cryptic for Daphne, and it finally dawned on her what was going on. She knew her Aunt was taking enough blood from Henri to make him sleepy and wanting to rest. That Vicki would not really need the blood being transfused into her. Standing and watching Julia collect the two bottles of blood from Henri she watched his head sag and then drop to his chest. Julia walked to his side, removed the transfusion tube, checked his pulse and waited. "I think Quentin should be joining us shortly." She spoke softly as she threw the tubing into the fireplace allowing it to burn. Daphne walked to Vicki and disconnected her tube and looked at the two jars of blood they had.

"What do we do with this?" She set it on the table and waited for instructions as to what her Aunt wanted done."

"We will take them to Barnabas at the old house. We wait for him to return and we let him know that Victoria is going to be just fine. If she had not taken on the aspects of Barnabas and Quentin with the life force exchange she would have needed both these jars and more." Julia looked at Vicki's neck and smiled noting the wounds were already healing. Vicki slowly opened her eyes and grimaced.

"How long was I unconscious? Is Barnabas unharmed? He could not help himself Julia, truly he could not he cannot be blamed." She tried to sit up and found she was still dizzy.

"Lay back Vicki you need to rest, you are healing." She glanced over at Henri and noticed he was beginning to show signs of life and he opened his eyes and smiled.

"I am back!" He laughed and looked around and frowned. "What happened while I was gone?" He stood and felt light headed and sat quickly on the chair.

"Barnabas attacked Vicki and left her to be found by Henri and Joshua in the woods. We have collected some of Henri's blood and you are not going to be fit to follow us. We are taking Victoria to the old house and we will wait for you there and update you on what is happening and what Elliott has decided should take place and how we plan to execute this last part of our journey."

Vicki shook her head. "I can't go to the old house. I need to stay here and Professor Stokes needs to go the cemetery and find Sarah to bring her and Daniel back here. We have entered the next phase of the curse on Collinwood and little Sarah is about to die." She had sounded so stricken with her dire prediction. "I think you and Daphne need to go to the old house and Quentin needs to find Ben so he can bring Sarah home. She will be hidden behind Jeremiah's headstone she saw Barnabas attack me. She has run away and if things are on course. . . . " With those words uttered, the sound of thunder vibrated over the house and the grounds sending a sensation of doom through those that occupied the drawing room. "So it begins again." She whispered softly as a brilliant flash of lightening lit up the evening sky.