Chapter 14

Julia, Barnabas, Elliott, and Quentin congregated in Barnabas library. All had thought about the message delivered to Barnabas by his future son. "So how would we go about finding a body to use for my life force."

Barnabas burned with more than his need for blood, he yearned for normalcy. Something he had tasted and now craved. Julia thought a moment. "I don't want to be conspicuous with what we are planning so I am not about to rob the morgue."

Briefly her thoughts turned to Dave Woodard; there was a wrong she had hoped to correct. By now his body would be too decomposed for any help.

It was Willie coming to the door to advise there was a visitor in the drawing room demanding to see Julia. "Um excuse me, but there is some hot chick in the front room asking for Doctor Hoffman. She seems very upset and will not leave until she speaks to her."

Julia looked curiously around the room and rose, "Julia wait. Willie please do ask the 'hot chick'."

Barnabas used the term Willie had to describe the woman, "Do have her to join us here in the library. "

"Yeah sure, if you are sure?"

One of Willie's more irritating qualities was his insecurity. "Yes, Willie I am sure, show her in here with us." Willie did an about face moving out of the room and down the hallway.

The notable interest in the room was palatable. Within a short time, Willie knocked again, opened the door and to everyone's amazement, Danielle Clark entered the room in tears. "You have to help me Doctor Hoffman, Dr. Lang said you were the only one with the talent or intelligence to subscribe to his methods and understand the complexity of his notes to repeat his experiment."

All of this information came pouring forth from the distraught and grief stricken woman. "You can use me for the life force but you have to help me, I can't believe he did this, I can't believe he just killed himself."

Quentin looked at Barnabas then to Professor Stokes. "Who killed themselves, Danielle?"

Her hysteria was mounting with her grief. "Jeff or Peter or whatever name he wanted to be called."

With those two statements she had rattled the core of more than one occupant of the room. "Wait, are you telling me Jeff Clark actually is Peter Bradford?"

Danielle was near collapse and recognizing an impending swoon, Barnabas rose allowing her his chair. "Here sit and allow me to pour you some brandy, that will help calm your nerves."

Julia rolled her eyes wondering why the solution to someone's near collapse had always been to pour him or her a brandy. However, in this case of hysteria and drama she did feel a good strong shot of alcohol would calm her enough to get her to be more coherent with what she was saying.

Waiting as she drank the brandy down in several gulps, Danielle sat the glass on the desk, took a deep breath as the liquid burnt itself down her throat. Quentin offered his kerchief, accepting it, she dabbed at her eyes sighed and looked forlornly at those in the room with her.

Julia had allowed her time to compose herself. "Now, Mrs. Clark start from the beginning."

Danielle studied her long fingers from the knuckle to the tapered long nails. The nails gaily polished in hot red was an antithesis to her emotions, she was feeling no gaiety in her life. "It started when Vicki went back in time, she met Jeff, I mean Peter and he fell I love with her and broke off our affaire. The night he disappeared he sent me a letter telling me that he found a way to transcend time and to follow her to this time."

She looked broken speaking of this devastating set of events of her life. "I researched and found he had made a pact with Angelique and she instructed him how to bend the fabric of time and space and brought him here. The problem was he had no memory of his past life, just vague memories and impressions. He was found wandering the streets of Boston and was taken to one of Lang's clinics. It was then Lang recruited him to steal body parts from fresh graves."

She sniffed glancing up as Barnabas offered her another drink. "Thank you."

Taking a more sedate attitude with her brandy she daintily sipped from the lip of the glass. "That is how he constructed Adam, he always wanted Vicki as the life force because of her condition."

Barnabas held his temper, "What condition?"

Danielle looked at Barnabas, "Because she had the cells that you called toxins of Vlad in her blood steam. He wanted Adam to be invincible and immune to death. He said his achievement would be beyond what God could do and he would have created more than just a life."

Julia had suspected for a while that Lang was bordering on madness and this proved it. "Go on Danielle."

Danielle was feeling the warm flush of the liquid coursing through her system. She was relaxing allowing the alcohol to dull her grief and freely loosen her tongue. "When Vicki showed signs of being cured and you Doctor talked of cleaning her blood with that kind of dialysis machine, he had to stop you. So, he began to dilute the shots that were being given to Vicki."

She sniffed dabbed at her eyes and sighed. "Then Lang ordered Jeff to kidnap her and take her to a fishing shack near his boathouse and hold her there, hoping to revert her. What none of you realized at the time, was Dr. Lang had become a vampire by using the part of Vicki's blood that had the highest concentrations of Vlad Tepes blood toxins. He added what he called elements to the plasma and concentrated it and began to inject him self with it. When the process was not going fast enough, he began to take the blood from her while she was reverting."

"After Vicki escaped from the fishing shack, she was nearly attacked by a man in the alley, Jeff saw it all. He said he had tracked her to the docks and as she left the docks and passed a dark alley a man pulled her into the alley at knifepoint. He was going to rape her, when Jeff said this huge white wolf jumped at the man knocking him and Vicki down. The wolf tore the man apart. Jeff said Vicki began to scream and became hysterical, he was going to get her then the wolf changed into a man, and he lifted Vicki and disappeared into the night with her."

Danielle knew this sounded crazy but this was how Jeff had explained what happened that night when he returned. Quentin looked at Barnabas and Elliott, "Radu. He must have been watching her."

Danielle looked curious, "Radu?"

Julia nodded, "Vlad Tepes' Captain, who had kidnapped Vicki for Vlad. He has sworn to watch over her for the rest of her life."

Danielle nodded, "That makes better sense than some white wolf turning into a man. Who could believe a man can be a wolf."

Quentin shifted uncomfortably. "Do go on Mrs. Clark."

Danielle took a deep breath and felt the affects of the brandy forcing her into a calm state. Feeling the warm euphoria from the alcohol she continued her story.

"Lang wanted access to Vicki, so he devised a plan to try and separate all of you from her, making her vulnerable and susceptible to his plans. Instead you had sent her home, he then devised the plan to set you all adrift near Pirates Cove hoping you would stay lost at sea."

Danielle sniffed and looked pitiful looking into the glass she held. "Then he booked a freighter's flight for Peter to bring Adam in a crate here and we followed in a commercial plane. It was bad timing all around, Peter ended up driving in an ice storm back to Lang's and we got stranded in Florida. Then was forced to drive through the ice storm."

Danielle played with her purse strap as she tried to recall the events that followed. "Before we left the island, Jeff called the authorities to report Lang's boat missing and you missing with the boat. If they had checked Lang's boathouse at the edge of the clinic property, they would have discovered his boat and known that there was more to your being stranded on that island."

Quentin frowned and stood, moving to the bay window he put his back to those in the room. He was growing more and more angrier at her tale. Barnabas glanced away from Danielle to see the ramrod position of his cousin's back.

"It was that night Lang forced us to end his life so he could be reborn into the new life of a vampire. He had stored bottles of blood so he would not be caught attacking someone from the island; you see he was a hero to those on the island because of his clinic. Had they known what was really going on there I am not so sure he would not have maintained his hero status."

Julia nodded, "I know that the authorities would hear no wrong about Dr. Lang and were very uncooperative with us when we demanded they search for our missing loved ones."

Danielle looked with an apology written on her face and then she looked away embarrassed. "I think he knew you would receive such treatment before we left, he even commented on the fact that it would be a cold day in hell before you got any help trying to find your missing men folk."

Sitting down her purse, she pleated Quentin's hankie between her fingers. "Lang had immediately began taking the serum that he had given you Mr. Collins and Vicki, except his serum was not diluted nor was yours' he was determined to force Vicki into being the life force for Adam, he did not care about the baby, he did not care if you were found and he most certainly did not care if the experiment killed your wife as long as her life gave Adam life.' Danielle was feeling exhausted as she continued with her account of what had happened.

"The night he decided to bring Adam to life, he sent Jeff under threat to get Vicki. You have to believe me when I tell you Jeff did not want to involve her in his experiment."

Professor Stokes posed his own question, "What kind of threat?"

Danielle sighed looked at the Professor, "If Jeff did not go and bring Vicki to him, he was going to drain her of her blood and force her into a permanent vampiric state."

Quentin clinched his fist and slammed it against the frame of the window. "That monster, what would he not do to get his way!"

Danielle cringed at the force his anger took. "He would have killed all of you if he had to. He was not about to give up on the one thing he had set his mind for and that was Vicki Collins as his life force. He had said this was the culmination of his life's work."

She sniffed as she felt the edge of her grief begin to return so Julia distracting her for the moment questioned, "Do go on Mrs. Clark I know it's difficult but please do go on."

Danielle nodded, "That night Jeff broke into the house and physically carried Vicki out of the house and drove her to Lang's house, and held her prisoner in the basement. That was where he had his lab and Adam's cadaver. He had converted sections of the lab into holding cells and that is where Lang had Vicki held until the rest of her transformation had occurred. I can assure you while she was in Martinique, Lang had bitten Vicki, where he thought no one would notice and fed from her. He bragged that it was the sweetest blood he had ever tasted and almost seemed to be on a euphoric high."

Taking a deep breath she continued. "Anyhow, he watched as she converted to the bloodthirsty animal he said was her nature. I watched in horror but I was also fascinated to see her change so completely from the loving caring person she had been to this crazed animal that struggled against her bonds. I knew if she had gotten loose we all would be dead including Lang. He knew it too. That is why he held her on the exam table with a cross surrounding her. It was when he decided that the experiment needed to progress that I felt the horror of what he had done. I watched as he sent current after current of transferring power through both their bodies and when she screamed, she kept screaming and screaming. I had to cover my ears and turn away. Then it was over, he had shouted to Jeff to shut it down and Adam showed life."

Barnabas stood with his own fury coursing through his body; if it had been possible, he would have killed Lang again. Hearing how he had tortured his wife was unbearable. Danielle continued her story, "He watched as both, as he called them, 'his' subjects became aware of each other. We did not know if Adam would try and kill Vicki, he waited and he watched and he was fascinated by the interaction between them."

Danielle sniffed again sighed deeply and continued with the horror story. "He thought he could enhance the bond by threatening one of them. It was his first mistake, Adam was so protective of Vicki he attacked Lang, and that is how they broke loose and escaped. Well Lang was afraid Vicki would go to the authorities, so he staged a fire and accidental deaths making it appear that Jeff, him, and me had died in the fire, when in fact he had Jeff dig up three bodies from the cemetery."

She sighed, "That is when we took refuge in the basement of his house. By then his supply of serum had run out and he was beginning to revert to his vampiric state. The night of the experiment, Vicki confronted him she knew what he had become other than the monster she had experienced; she knew he had become a vampire."

She gave a short chuckled remembering the look on Lang's face. "He was amused and his intent was to find her and kill her. Then take Adam and use Adam's life force to create another like him. Lang had even boasted that if he needed to use himself as the life force he would."

She shook her head and sighed deeply, "Jeff and he argued continually. Jeff even called him a coward. " Her gaze softened with the memory of her husband being courageous enough to confront the monster that was Dr. Eric Lang.

"Jeff was going to try and stop him, but he had already disappeared and left us alone in the basement. We stayed there until we thought we could escape under cover of darkness. Lang never came back so we figured he had been killed or was trying to make a new identity for himself elsewhere."

She moved her shoulders expressively and spoke softer looking at the crumpled hankie in her hand. " Jeff and I decided to move to Logansport and it was while we were living there he . . he . . he. . ." The grief had resurged and she was reliving the moment her voice faltering. "Killed himself. He overdosed on a bunch of pills."

Her grief was threatening to over take her, turning to them pleading. "I can't live without him. You have to help me doctor, I have all of Dr. Lang's notes on how to transfer life force to another but I don't understand his notes. Please you have to help me get him back. I will give up my life if that is what is needed to bring him back." She once again broke down into long grief-felt sobs. Her pain was not in doubt deep long sobs were stifled into the handkerchief. The occupants of the room watched her dispassionately mourning her loss.

Julia looked at the others in the room. "I would suggest we go get Lang's equipment and Clark's body and bring them back here."

Elliott was not as certain as his wife, "My dear is this something that you should be doing while in your condition?"

She nodded, " I will be fine Elliott, it will not affect me or the baby. However," she turned to the now hopeful tearstained face of Danielle that showed a glimmer of encouragement. "The life force will not be yours we use, we will use Barnabas."

Quentin spun around and he too showed that glimmer of eupeptic optimism. "Then our answer lies with Clark's body." Turning to Danielle he spoke rapidly, "Where is his body?"

Danielle looked around at the others in the room. "Its in the car, I put it there and came here immediately."

Julia frowned, "How long ago did he die?"

Danielle considered the time it took to drive here and the telling of her story. "I found him in our bedroom within probably 20 minutes of him taking the pills, I could not feel or hear a heart beat and knew that he had died, he left a note that he could not go on with his life knowing how much he had hurt those he cared about and did not want to live. I kept the note, it's here in my purse."

Danielle waved the letter and Julia shook her head. "That is between you and your husband. Now, we need to work fast to keep the body from deteriorating any further, Danielle do you have Lang's notebook?"

That she did produce from her purse and handed it over to Julia, "I need to study this, while you all go with Danielle to Lang's house and bring back the equipment, time is of the essence. Danielle, did you help with the assembling of the equipment?

" She nodded, "I helped both on the island for the first test and then here."

Julia began to take over as she gave out her commands. "Barnabas you and Elliott take Danielle break down the equipment, you might take Willie with you to further this experiment along." Julia turned to an animated Quentin

"Quentin, I need you to go to Wyndcliff and bring back some supplies from my lab there.

She sat down and began to write out what she needed, "Tell Matt to help you gather these things together and show him this list, he will know its from me. Now we all must make haste."

They were all starting to split up in teams when Barnabas asked, "What about Clark's body?" Julia glanced out the window; spring was rushing away with summer now approaching fast. The nights were still cool. They were cool enough to allow a body to slow in its decomposition as it decayed.

"Leave him out there until we are ready for him. Once you get back with those chemicals Quentin, we will prep his body to keep any more decomp from causing a problem for us."

Julia sequestered herself in Barnabas office reading through Lang's notes and she was impressed by the simplistic brilliance of what he had accomplished. She had within the first twenty minutes of her read figured out the rudimentary process of setting up the equipment and preparation of the body for initiation to a new life.

She surmised Lang's theory was pretty much proved by what had happened during the transference of the life force from Vicki to Adam, hearing the return of Quentin, she met him in the hallway, "Those need to go down to the lab, we also need to bring in Jeff's body and get it prepared. If I work this right, we will be able to finish this and see if we are successful with our experiment and restore Barnabas to his human form."

Quentin smiled for the first time since he had heard Danielle's retelling of what happened when they were adrift at sea. "This is the first good news I have heard tonight Julia, do you believe in karma?"

Julia laughed, "No Quentin, I am a scientist we don't believe in karma, though working with this family, I would have to admit that fate plays a nasty trick on us sometimes and then turns it around and makes it nice. Come on we have to get Clark's body down stairs."