Chapter 11

Megan sat in front of Angelique, her hands crossed on her lap.

"So Barnabas is right?" Megan said.

"Yes. I know that she hates me and Barnabas. I suspected that she hates me to the point that she does not care for anything else. She says she needs me, but does not want me to help. And Sebastian says that she is changed, that she gets too angry, too out of control when he mentions me. I needed confirmation to tell you, but what Barnabas says is confirmation. You cannot trust her to be rational any more."

"So I have to take charge, then."

"Yes. They have the key. Roxanne did not seem to react or care about the news. Said we had plenty of time. I do not think we do."

"Wait a moment! what key?"

"So Roxanne did not bother to tell you... The key that opens the dimension to them. There is a gateway on the grounds of Collinsport and they intend to open it. It can only be opened by the child that Carolyn is carrying. We thought that we had time until it was born, but since he's got control of her body... No humans can open it. No Leviathans. Only a mixed breed child can."

"What is the key like?"

"A rough edged dark stone, small enough to be worn as a pendant. You cannot tell it from other stones unless you put it in a certain way against the light."

"And you saw them get it?"

"From Jason McGuire's grave.."

"Jason McGuire... Did they have anything to do with his death?"

"They put him in Barnabas' way, and since in 1967 Barnabas was hardly in control of himself, he killed Jason. But the real reason he died was what he knew about Carolyn. Do you remember a girl that drowned at that time? One who looked like Maggie?"

"I have heard of it."

"No other local girl was missing. No one identified her body. She came out of nowhere, and stayed in the water only long enough to be mistaken for Maggie."

"The Leviathan arranged for that?"

"Yes. She was Jason's accomplice, and she knew too much. Her death served to protect Barnabas, who was valuable property for them at that time."

Megan nodded. "Well, that is interesting, but the history lesson does not help us to figure out what to do now. They have the key. When do you think that they'll try to open the gateway."

"The child has to develop further. But it will be soon." she gulped. "The opening requires human sacrifice. Two children, male and female."

"Children?" Megan shivered. Not children, ever... not if she could help it.

"And Roxanne says that we have plenty of time?"

"She is wrong."

"Yes, she is. Anything else that might help us?"

"In 1970 Julia Hoffman ran some tests on Jeb Hawkes. You can try getting her notes."

Barnabas looked out of the window. It was late and everyone was asleep. Or most of them... Roxanne wasn't...But he could avoid her if he had to...

He could have gone to Collinsport. The way Julia had set up his schedule, he could go and return in two three days. But he was reluctant.

Was it because he did not want to leave Phillip alone where Roxanne could get to him? Was it because he did not want to meet Iris...He knew, even if she did not, that it would not last. It would be better if it ended quickly. He wanted more than Iris was willing to give, and nothing could change that. They had tried, again and again. It did not work...

So she would be angry... After listening to Roxanne's anger, it was foolish to fear Iris...

But there was something else, something that he wanted to share..

"If only I could tell someone..." he muttered.

"Am I good enough for you?"

Barnabas smiled wistfully at the apparition. "You still hanging around me? Am I so interesting to you?" he asked Dave Woodard.

"Seems you are...Well, I am curious. I want to know what you'll come up next. You are full of surprises."

"Thanks."

"What was it that you wanted to share?"

"What I have found here at Wyncliffe... My job as a therapist..."

"You are doing a good job."

"Do you know why I do it? Because I do bite my patients, and can thus get in direct contact with their minds. If did not do it, I might not be able to do my job.."

"So, you made it work for you."

"Dave, it is the first time that I can think of my condition in positive terms. Not 'avoid doing too much harm' not 'paying it back somehow' No, for the first time I can say that it is a good thing."

"I would say that the first time was when you could find Sandy."

"Yes. That time. But when I work here.. it is as if all those bad experiences in then past disappeared, or were not important..."

"Well, you have control of something very powerful, with a lot of potential. What you do with it is up to you."

"I wonder if it was always a negative thing, or I rediscovered something that had been there all along... If only there was some reliable history..."

"I have no idea how you could track that kind of history. What I can tell you is that the more powerful and effective the drug, the more damage it does at the wrong dose or prescribed wrongly. You have hold a very powerful and effective drug, and have to know how to handle.. When you started you had no idea of what to do with it, and the result was a disaster. But then, if you were put on the controls of a speeding car, with no idea how to drive, the result would be a disaster too.

"I made so many bad decisions."

"And no one would give you a head slap."

"Do you want to give me one? "

"You do not need it now. But you pull something stupid again, and I'll ask George to slap some sense into you.."

Joe couldn't repress a shudder when he got inside Wyncliffe. He was only visiting Chris now, on a mission for Megan. For the townspeople, he was being dragged to do his duty for his cousin by Tammy. For Roxanne, he was just bringing news of the chickens. As for himself he'd rather not be here at all. It brought back too many memories.

"Are you afraid that they won't let you out again?" Tammy asked him with gentle irony.

Joe nodded, his face frozen. "Let's get it done, then get out of here."

"You know what to do?"

"Yes. I tell Chris that we need his help to find the notes Julia took of Jeb Hawkes. You stay inside and I go out for some fresh air, or whatever, and case the joint.'

Chris was blowing smoke rings when they came in.

"Well, hello, cousin" he said. "long time no see.!"

"Hello"" Joe sat uncomfortably "do you have to stay here?"

"Officially I am still nuts and dangerous.. Oh, I go out, but only on four legs. The orderly at the door knows different, but he won't say a thing. Roxanne made sure of that. Well, this place is no worse than an efficiency apartment."

"You are training Sandy and David?"

"Yes. And both of them are making good progress. David had trouble going the whole wolf, but mentally he is in control of his actions."

"The wolf that walks like a man." Tammy muttered. "Maybe it would be better if he didn't change fully."

"That was Barnabas' argument. Of course, he has another reason for it. He wants David to take the full cure. He knows that if David goes like me, it will mean a vasectomy. Barnabas wants a grandchild, and he can only get it through David."

Tammy let out a nervous laugh.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized how ridiculous the whole thing is. A nuthouse turned into a training school for werewolves. A vampire who wants a grandchild. And.." she laughed again.

"Tammy!"

"I'll be all right... I'll just go out for...for some air."

She went out, nodding to the orderly. "It gets too much" she said to him. "I know that he's not really sick, yet it gets to me."

"Your first time here?"

"Here and inside any mental institution,."

"He your boyfriend?" the man pointed with his head towards the closed door.

Tammy thought quickly.. For the looks of the man, he did not like the idea of interracial couples.

"No." she lied quickly. "But he and I are the two only normal people in the outfit."

"I know what you mean."

Inside Chris shook his head.

"It is crazy. You can't riffle through Julia's files like that. They'll catch you."

"But with your help..."

"There is no way it can be done without Roxanne finding out. I have been here for quite a while and I now how much she knows of what goes in here. And anyway, Julia has hundreds of notes. How can you find out what you want in a hurry?"

"But we need those notes of hers."

"What is exactly that you want to know?"

"Julia ran tests on Jeb Hawkes in 1970. Megan said that we could use the information."

"Why not ask Julia outright?"

"Because she's under Roxanne's control. And Megan does not want her to know."

"Why doesn't Megan want Roxanne to know?"

"She does not approve of the way Roxanne is handling things. Says she's more interested in getting personal revenge than in defeating the Leviathan."

Chris nodded. He suspected the same thing.

"Listen Joe. I will ask Julia herself, like it was my own idea. She will share it, as we share so many other things, Then I will let you know."

"Makes sense. When you get the information, give it to Barnabas so he can bring it out to us."