Chapter 13

Collinsport Maine

Josette's Room Old House

Vicki was still disturbed by the appearance of the lady that looked so much like Josette. It was a feeling of unease and unrest that filled her and all she wanted to do was claw her way out of her own skin. She had the feeling the woman was the epitome of evil. Shivering she stepped from the comfort of the bed and walked to the very same window she, the mystery lady had stood before earlier.

What struck Vicki the most was the look in her eyes, they had been soulless and held no warmth to them as she dissected Victoria. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was more than unsettled she was afraid. The more she thought about her appearance, the more convinced Victoria had been she had been the very same woman that had tried to buy her so long ago.

How was it that she could look like Josette and thereby look so much like her? She shook her head and turned to look around the room she occupied. Looking up at the portrait of the innocently sweet Josette she sighed deeply. "Who was she Josette? Why is she constantly showing up in my life?" Walking to the fireplace she paused in front of portrait and studied the longing and distant look in the exotic beauty's face.

"I know what happened between you and Barnabas, and that was Angelique's evil hand at play. My question is who is this woman and why is she showing up in my life all the time?" She really did not expect Josette to answer her. She was just confused and afraid. "I wish I knew what was going on with Mother and Carolyn. Roger has made it too uncomfortable for me to stay at Collinwood until they are home."

A soft knock on the door and she turned peering over to the door and saw Willie in his usual unkempt way peeking into the through the door. "Um Miss Winners, you okay? I mean I heard you talkin' and all and was hopin' there was nuthin' wrong?" Vicki smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No, no Willie, I think I had a nightmare and it woke me and I just was curious about some thoughts I had and was expressing them to Josette's portrait." She tried to reason the why she was talking to a portrait and perhaps voicing it out loud would make her feel better but it did not. "Willie? Did Barnabas ever speak about any of Josette's brothers or sisters?" She asked half knowing the answer.

"No, he only talked about her and how much she was the only love the original Barnabas ever had. He did not speak to me much about her at all only that he thought you looked a whole lot liked her and wondered if you were her rein . . . rein . . . "

"Reincarnation?" Vicki offered because he appeared to be having trouble with the word. She watched the sudden light flicker in his eyes and a smile and nodded.

"Yeah that is the word. He thought maybe you both were their reincarnations." He was not sure how much she remembered or knew about Barnabas and his past life so he played it dumb which in his opinion he could do real good. Vicki slumped down in the nearest fireside chair and closed her eyes.

"I suppose since its so late I will just rest here for a while until I get over my unsettled feelings from that dream. Thank you Willie." She opened her eyes and smiled for his benefit. She watched him fidget then duck out the door leaving her alone with nothing but the fire crackling in the fireplace. Glancing down at the fire she watched the flames as they danced in the fireplace. They shifted and hissed the sound almost taking on an ominous tone.

From the shadows of the corner a voice whispered. "Why do you not come to me Victoria, join me be my handmaid. Join me in the flames and live forever." Victoria stood from the fireplace and spun around looking the room over.

"Who's there?" She asked with a tremor in her voice. "Why are you doing this?" She walked towards the corner she heard the voice and there it was a light tinkling chuckle.

"Oh you silly girl are you really considering that buffoon Ra's proposal?" She stepped from the darkness appearing like some ethereal prophetess of doom. Her dark eyes shimmered with a predatory glow and she smiled. When she did Victoria could see her canine teeth were longer than most and sharpened to a point. Vicki staggered back and looked at her with shock and dismay.

"Who are you? Josette?" Her voice was so soft she could hardly believe it was her voice. She had been frightened beyond her years and she had faced death but this was far worse than anything including Reverend Trask and his hangman's noose.

She drifted past Victoria leaving a path of deathly cold pervading the area she had perviously occupied. That coupled with appearing to float towards the center of the room and glanced up at the image that could have been her but for the softness in the portrait's eyes as she looked longingly into the distance. "I am hardly her, she was far too soft and to gullible. Mother wanted her and not me, so I was given away but my lot was not so bad." She turned and smiled and for the first time Victoria understood what was happening. She was facing Josette's immortal sister. A twin.

"Where Josette was treated like the Princess by her family, I actually became a Princess and married a Prince." She smiled and there was no doubt she bore pointed canine teeth that glistened under the limited lighting in the room. "I had the life she only dreamed of having and then she flung herself off that hill out beyond the woods and it ended, mine did not." She danced her fingertips over the back of a chair and looked coyly at her from under her half closed eyes.

Victoria was confused. "What do you mean yours did not end?" She had to ask and she was about to get an answer she was not prepared to hear. Vicki watched as she threw her head back and laughed. It was a totally amused light sound that could almost be termed mocking in tone and tenure.

"You are as naïve as Josette was. Sit Victoria and I will tell you a tale that will make you think your trip back to the year 1790 was just a dream or that perhaps the experience drove you to the edge of insanity." She extended that slender hand with the painted talons that appeared to be dipped in blood to the chair she previously sat in as her invitation in a house she was far to familiar. Those eyes locked to Victoria's and she could feel her fear, furthermore it was almost so intense, that the very air was palatable with it and it made the mystery lady smile.

"Come, come my dear great, great, great, granddaughter, you should hear the truth from the lips of your grandmother." She chuckled and once again with that ability to appear to just drift around the room she looked the room over and then stood by the bed and peered up at the portrait of her sister. In that momentary look Victoria was sure she saw something that was the closest thing to a humane look she had seen from this woman. Obviously she must be mad because she just said she was her great three times grandmother.

She glanced to the girl in the chair and smiled. "You believe I have gone mad and there is no way I can be your great, great, great grandmother but I assure you my dearest child I am just that and I was her sister. A sister she did not even know she had." For a moment the voice had grown softer and was filled with a hint of momentary regret. Blinking she remembered who she was and why she was there.

Walking around the room she paused and then began her story, "Once upon a time there was a very rich and very spoiled French noble woman of incomparable beauty. All the noble families vied for her attention for their sons but she was blind to their pleas, bribes and coercions. She had seen and fallen in love with one man a noble man that had flights of fantasies and saw his life buried on a sugarcane plantation on the mystical island of Martinique."

She smiled as she recalled this story. "She was quite taken with Andre DuPres and his romantic versions of the trade winds and the Caribe Island. So, he also fell in love with the beautiful and very rich and spoiled Jeanette LaFrinier and they married and much to the disappointment of the Countess and Count LaFrinier they watched their beautiful daughter move away to the island paradise that was her husband's dream. As Andrea was also a Count and in line to inherit his families titles and lands he left those lands and titles to his sister in law one Natalie Chevalier DuPres, the widow of his deceased older brother Pierre."

She paused gathering her thoughts and noted that Victoria was watching her with an intentness that had reminded her of Josette from so long ago. She smiled and continued with her story. The love story could not be complete unless the lovely little spoiled noblewoman produced a heir to the entitlements that belonged to her husband. It was not long after they arrived in the mystical island that Jeanette found she was with child. It would not be until the time of her birth and her return home to her beloved France that she would discover she was heavy with twins and would more than likely not survive the birth of two children."

Josephine laughed and it was a cold and heartless laugh. "When her time came; her Aunt Natalie was there at her side and helped her and sure enough she had two daughters, born perfect a little small but perfect. However, the labor had been difficult and Jeanette was not recovering well from the births, she had only enough milk to nurse but one child and Natalie had hired a wet nurse to feed the other child. A time came and after naming the children, Natalie told Jeanette she would never be able to take care of two children. Secretly Natalie had made arrangements to give one of the children to a noble family that had been forsaken for children and the mother had lost yet another child during the birthing of that child."

Josephine's voice grew even softer and her eyes grew distant. "So, Natalie asked Jeanette to decide which child would be raised by a Duke and Duchess. Jeanette was holding and nursing Josette at the time while she watched the other child being held by the wet nurse." She continued to speak softly, recalling the events as they had been explained to her. "Of course the new mother was conflicted and she stated that she did not want to give up either of us. But her weakened body could not care or nurse both children so without looking at the child in the wet nurse's arms she nodded to that child the one she had named Josephine."

Vicki was shocked and she could feel the pain the poor woman must have suffered to decide which of her children she would have to give up, a situation that was somewhat similar to what Vicki's own mother has suffered when she had placed her in the foundling home. "Oh how tragic and horrible to have to decide like that and what it must have cost her!" Vicki's sympathies was not wasted on the woman now standing and looking up at the mirror image of herself in the portrait.

"Yes, how tragic." Her tone was flat and filled with sarcasm as she spoke and continued to speak. "Do not mourn for the child, she was given to a very noble family and was eventually made a princess and was married off to a Prince, the second wife to a man that had forsaken his god and cried that blood was the life and life was the blood and was cursed to become something so horrible that his wife who had bore him six children soon joined him in his forever night life." She smiled and drew the point of her tongue over her fangs. The smile was horrendously evil and it reminded Victoria of a hungry cat looking for its next meal

"The problem with the nightlife my husband choose for me is that he soon lost interest in me as his wife and sought something more. I was never enough for him. We secreted ourselves away and through the ages we have taken on many identities. It has been well over three hundred years since I last saw my husband and I hear he still occupies the castle he so loved in Romania."

She sighed dramatically and then smiled a tight and resigned smile. "I seek what I want at night and sleep during the day and imagine when I arrived in this new country to discover a sister of the dark arts that had need of a vampire to carry out a curse she had placed on her ex—lover." She thought a moment about that night, how she had dressed as Josette and came to Barnabas.

He was so eager to warmly embrace her and how ironic it was that it was her very own sister's paramour that had been one of her first victims in the new world. The thought of it had caused her to chuckle and run on a high that she had not experienced for a long while. He had tasted wonderful. After turning him she had lost track of him or the dark sister Angelique but she had learned that her sister Josette had died by throwing herself from widows hill. At first she laughed at how foolish she had been and then when she learned it was the dark sister that had caused her death she was angry.

"After hearing of Josette's death, I left the new world but not before I saw you and you can imagine how I felt. I was possessed to find out more about you. Was it possible my mother had birthed triplets and you were the result of that birth, then I discovered your story was you had traveled back in time and taken the place of some poor unfortunate governess." She sighed again and thought about this for a moment. "From that point on, I made it a my business to come back to Collinsport to try and find you again."

"Imagine my surprise when it was your mother cavorting with my great, great grandson and they made babies with their love making. So I followed her progress and her pregnancy. I even dressed as a midwife and helped bring you into this world Victoria along with your weaker brother Charles." She smiled a bittersweet smile. "I wanted a part of my family with me to raise and I made the choice to give her you and take your brother. Unfortunately, Charles was doomed, terribly under weight and a sickly baby he did not make it past his first year. I buried him in the cemetery down the street from the foundling home you where you were raised."

So that explained her interest in her from childhood and now this confession of taking her brother. "So you thought you could buy me?" She was shocked at such reasoning.

"Well of course. Why do you think I made the offer? I found a house close to the foundling home where I could watch you grow up and grow into the lovely young woman you are today." She smiled and for the first time Victoria could see her as her grandmother although she looked more like her sister.

"Victoria your mother had no choice on who she got to keep. I made sure of that. I decided that you would stay with her and I would take your brother you see men are more highly valued than women at least they were from my time and that is what I based my decision on when I choose your brother over you."

The words were spoken with a purr. "You see, I watched you and then when I learned you were coming back here to the very place that had wrought so much anguish for you. Well what was a grandmother to do? So, I followed you here and imagine my surprise to see the very man I had turned back in 1790 courting my granddaughter." She laughed and saw the shock look on Victoria's face.

"What do you mean you saw the same man you turned? You are telling me that Barnabas Collins the one that lives in this house is the same one I met in 1790?" Her voice had choked as the realities of what must have happened now came home and a flicker of a memory from her past made itself known. The realty of her conversation with Peter Bradford was coming back to her and it was making her stomach burn with fear and anguish.

Josephine nodded and chuckled. "I tried to have him discovered when I brought your cousin Daphne over. Barnabas had summoned her to pull her deeper under his thrall and well, when he left her dazed but alive on the patio, I just finished what he should have and I took her life and made her into what she should have been. Like me a vampire." She smiled and sighed dramatically very proud of her feat.

Victoria could not remain seated she had to stand and paced to the window to look blankly out over the gardens in front of the house. Her mind was twisted and turning with the ifs and whys as she thought about the things that had happened so long ago in this house and the town. The number of women killed, the horror and anguish that was created by a curse placed on the man she was growing to love to become a monster. "But I have seen him in the daylight. We have walked together on the beach."

Josephine chuckled softly. "My dear Victoria, what do you think that female doctor was doing while she was spending so much time with him in this house? She thought to cure him and now along with the other doctor they have gotten his," she cleared her throat thinking about the proper word to use to not shatter the calm that was already stretched to a thin layer and hysteria was about to set in. "his condition. . . she thought to cure him from his condition. Using her knowledge for science. All she succeeded in doing foolish woman was falling into infatuation with him and got jealous of you!"

With a dramatic paused, with a turn of her foot, walked to the window and placed her chilled fingertips on her shoulders. "You were the image of his lost love, he thought to create you over into Josette and he would pretend to be who he has been all along." She tightened her fingers on Vicki's shoulders and leaned in to whisper with cool breath against her ear. "He never wanted you, he wanted his Josette back and there was you." She smiled seeing the stricken look of realization fill her. With a soft gasp and a strangled sob Victoria drew herself away from Josephine.

"I was falling in love with him! He was becoming my world and I wanted to be with him. I gave him my virginity and for what to be a pale resemblance of someone he lost?" She slumped to the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands. "How could I have been so foolish!" She sobbed. Josephine actually felt sorry for her. She was after all her grand daughter. But she had a mission and she wanted to see it through. Tightening a hold on her own emotions she sighed.

"There, there, there my pet dry those pretty eyes. You have learned the truth. The rest is up to you. You must decide how you wish to proceed. For me . . . " She did a dramatic pause, "Once you know what you want my dear; ce qui sera- sera." She smiled a sympathetic smile. "For now my dearest lamb, you should just adopt a wait and see attitude for I think before this week's end all will be home and so will the players that thought to use you for a sacrificial lamb to a demon god that wanted you to bear his children. I can assure as long as I live that will not happen."

Vicki looked up at this woman that had been such a mystery most her life and now she was putting herself in the place of a protector. Deep down Victoria no matter whom she said she was could not dispel the fact that she was evil and had a dark nature. For now though she needed someone strong to hold onto and be there for her. "I can't call you Grandmother, you look far too young to be a grandmother." Vicki knew it sounded lame but she had to fill in the uncomfortable void of silence that lay between them.

"Then call me Tante Josephine my sweet child." She smiled and drifted to her side taking those long delicate finger tips with the red tipped nails and drew them along her jawline to cup her chin and smile down into her eyes. "I am here to protect you Victoria and there are those that surround you that mean you harm or destroy you. I am not about to loose you now that I have found you and you know the truth." She had said the words with such sincerity that Victoria for a moment let down her guard.

"Thank you Grand-mère Joséphine." She had used the perfect inflection to catch Josephine's attention and that alone was enough for her to momentarily lower her own guard and smile into her eyes and then place a cool dry kiss on her forehead.

"When we are alone Moi Cheri, you should call me Grand-mère but in the company of others I shall be Tante Josephine. You and I together will bring down the darkness that surrounds you and this tragic family. We shall bring your grand-père to the States and he shall claim his right as your grand-père once again and we shall reunite our family!" She sounded so happy she did not realize she had just divulged her whole plan to a stunned Victoria.

Josephine looked to the now growing tendrils of light that were beginning to spread across the darkness of the night sky. "Now my little love time for you to go to sleep and only remember that your Aunt came to visit." She caught and held Victoria's gaze, offered her a sincere loving smile and drew her into her thrall. "Remember only that your Aunt Josephine came to make herself known and that you had a nice chat and caught up on old time. Sleep now my sweet one and when once again we are alone, I shall allow you to remember what we discussed this very night."

Vicki felt a veil drape over her mind feeling very tired and sleepy. "That is right my sweet one, sleep for now and when you awaken, you will remember Aunt Josephine came to call and make your acquaintance." She helped Victoria to stand and to the bed, helping her into the bed she smiled and covered her with the duvet, bent and kissed her forehead. "Sleep for now my sweet one."

She stepped back and watched Victoria's eyes close and then the steady rise and fall of her breasts as she slept the deep enthralled sleep of her vampire's touch. Turning she looked up at the portrait of Josette. "Soon little sister, I shall have everything you had and more. I shall be the favorite one and I will do it all through the one person you thought was your reincarnation." With a subtle little chuckle she faded from view and was gone leaving Victoria to sleep the sleep of a dreamless sleep.