Chapter 8

"How's Phillip? Roxanne asked Barnabas.

There was no concern in her voice. Impatience, maybe, not concern.

"He's better. But we better not push him."

"Which means that he's not ready still to tell me what he knows."

"You push him too much and he may end up catatonic."

"We can get information out of catatonics if we have to."

Barnabas shuddered. How they would get that information he'd rather not know.

"I suspect that it would take longer than what I am doing."

"So, is he making progress?"

"He's more calm. He responds well."

"He does not scream at your drawings, you mean?"

"It is the first step."

"Much too slow."

"What is it that you need to find, anyway?

"The location of the Ring of Fire." Roxanne shot quickly back.

"The Ring of Fire?"

"That's the name of the process the Leviathan use when they take over a human's body."

"Like they did to me?"

"You never went through the Ring of Fire. If you did, you'd not have rebelled against them. There wouldn't even be a Barnabas Collins, just an empty shell moved inside by the mind of a centuries old Leviathan. Just the way Vicky is now."

"Vicky?" Barnabas almost shouted this. "Yes, he had suspected something like that. But not so complete..."

"Yes. When she ran away with Peter, they caught her and used her. As for Peter, they just let him hang. He did not matter."

"Is there any hope for Vicky?"

"I do not know of any victim of the Ring of Fire that ever recovered.

No... not Vicky...

"So you see why the Ring has to be destroyed. And Phillip is the one who can tell us how to find it."

David and Sandy were lying side by side, their eyes closed, as Chris sat by their side, speaking softly.

But it wasn't to David and Sandy that he talked, but to the beasts caged inside them.

He tried to tell them not to be afraid. To trust him. He stroked David's face, who was breathing in and out, his face blank. As blank as he had made his mind to allow Chris to talk to his wolf without interference.

He turned to Sandy. Her face was blank, too. And in both of them he felt the stirring under the surface. The wolves were there, afraid, hurting, lost. And ready to lash out if given half the chance.

He did not know if he had gotten through, yet. And the full moon when he would have to go with them into the cage was only a couple of days away...

"Breakaway bottles?" Julia studied the bill to see if she should really pay it, or it was just that Barnabas had suddenly become a practical joker.

"I need them for Phillip."

"Phillip?" she paused "Yes, it makes sense. First he gets to tear up your drawings, then he starts smashing bottles themselves.

"So he's gradually losing his fear of them. Eventually he should be able to talk about them without cracking up. And the, doctor, he's all yours."

"It'd better be fast, for his sake."

'Not you too, doctor! Barnabas complained. "It is bad enough that I have to listen to Roxanne on the subject. I am getting results, which is more than you can say."

"Barnabas" she stiffened, knowing that she was fighting Roxanne's hold over her by telling Barnabas the truth. "Roxanne wants to torture Phillip because she knows she can get to you that way. Phillip had a breakdown because she laced his drink with LSD. And she kept tormenting him while he was here, because she knew that you had a link with him, and could hear his screams through your mind."

Julia felled down on her seat, exhausted after her effort to defy Roxanne's will.

"She did that? To Phillip?'

"Please, don't say anything. Specially not to Megan "Julia pleaded.

Barnabas began to protest, but a gesture of her hand silenced him.

"We still got those...creatures as Collinwood and we cannot afford to fight among ourselves. I just wanted you to know that Phillip is in danger. For as long as his secret is locked in his mind, he will be vulnerable. to Roxanne. And she will use it again and again... I am not sure what is more important to her now, whether to stop the Leviathan or to get revenge on you... so, for Phillip's sake, find a quick way to get that memory out. By any means. I will not stop you. I would do it if...she opened her collar showing the old scars... if Roxanne had not gotten to me first."

Nicholas grumbled as he dug Jason McGuire's grave. It wasn't right. The reason why he had gone into magic was to keep from making acquaintance with shovels and other work implements.

But Vicky wanted it that way, and Vicky was not to be disobeyed.

He wondered if it was worth it. True, he had gotten his revenge on Carolyn. And soon he would be able to collect on Angelique, Barnabas, and Megan. But what was the use? He still would be under Vicky's thumb.

Carolyn was easy to live with, compared to Vicky. He was less than nothing to her. At least Carolyn had been human...'

He was nothing but an errand boy. First for Carolyn, and now for these creatures.

A metallic noise told him that he had hit something. He worked his way around it until he managed to uncover some bones.

"The body is all decomposed now." he told Vicky "I don't think that you can find..."

"It was hanging from a chain around his neck. Use your hands, and you'll find it."

Distastefully, Nicholas went down to his knees and searched.

"I don't understand it." he said, digging his fingers in the dirt.

"What don't you understand?"

"You knew he had it, and where. You had him killed by Barnabas, right? Why not arrange for Barnabas to remove it instead of letting it be buried with him?"

"And risk Barnabas losing it? Or worse, remembering about it later? Here, it would not go anywhere." she looked at the bones. "Jason knew too much about Paul Stoddard and Carolyn, and would have used it. Learn from him your proper place."

Nicholas caught a metallic chain, pulled it up and was holding a small irregular stone that reflected the light in changing colors.

"Is this it?" Nicholas asked.

"Yes. This is it." Vicky said. "now cover the body again."

Nicholas obeyed, while Vicky studied the decomposed body, a mocking smile on her lips.

"Poor Jason" she said "you were not as smart as you thought. You should have never tangled with us."

"Are you sure that you want to go through with this?" Julia asked Chris.

"I have to."

"It could be dangerous, you know."

"Danger of what? That one of them could bite me? I am the only one who can do this safely."

"You are right." Julia acknowledged. "But I can't keep from worrying."

She handed him the keys. "Go with Sandy firsts" she said "she is likely to do less damage if something goes wrong."

"Nothing will go wrong."

Sandy had almost finished locking in her chains when Chris entered her cage and motioned her to stop. "Not today" he said. "we are going to try something different."

"It...It might be dangerous."

"No. It won't. I will stay with you tonight and I will teach you to tame your wolf. Just sit by me.."

Then sat side by side on the cot, Sandy looked down.

"You still can't forget what Tom did to you?" Chris asked softly.

"If it wasn't for him I would be with my children...I know that it isn't your fault..."

"Don't repress your feelings. It only makes things worse in your situation. It is all right to say that you are angry. I understand your resenting me. I do look too much like Tom, and you are now a prisoner in a cellar...it all seems to repeat itself."

"Yet it is not the same. You are here as a friend. The problem is that subconscious does not know it yet. As Barnabas says, the subconscious is very stupid."

"He told you that, too?"

'Yes. Have you every thought what a wonderful man he is?"

"I know it. But he prefers not to hear it. It makes him uncomfortable."

"I was mean with him. But he never held it against me."

"As I did?"

"You had reason to be bitter. If what happened ton Amy should happen to my little girl..."

Chris nodded at that.

"We should have tried to see it from your viewpoint. We should have admitted that it was our fault, that we were wrong. But it hurt our pride to admit it. Kira had played us for fools.. and we knew so little of everything. We knew the Bible forwards and backwards, and that's all we ever knew..."

She doubled un in a painful cramp.

"Take it easy, Sandy" Chris said "Don't fight it. Let it come out."

The body went rigid and would have fallen if Chris had not held her.

"Let it ride." he said "it is best that way."

She began to twist and moan as hair began to sprout.

Later, she would learn how to make a painless transition. Now, he had to make himself understood by the wolf.

He changed shape himself and sat watching the wolf come through her.

He moved to it and licked its face. "Keep calm" he tried to say to the frightened beast "You won't be hurt."

The wolf recognized his own species and the friendliness of the stranger in front of him. The pain was still great, but he was not alone...

Chris kept licking the changing face, calming the wolf down that way.

The transformation wasn't complete. It was still a rough human shape, walking on its hind legs. The wolf looked down, bewildered, at his changed body...

Chris wagged his tail, reassuring him.

The wolf tried to run, hitting the walls of the cage. Chris quickly snapped at its heels, and resumed its tail wagging and friendly sound making when the beast turned to face him.

The wolf still tried to escape, but each time Chris stopped him. Finally it sat down on the floor.

Chris licked its face again.

There was more pain through the wolf now. Then the face grew longer until finally Sandy was on four legs, just like Chris.