4

In 1897, barely anyone knew Pine Road Rectory was still in the woods east of Collinsport yet the few figures that hid out there. Illuminated by gas lamps and whatever else, the main hall of the rectory served as the best location to hide out apart from the Old House as Dr. Julia Hoffman used her knowledge of medicine to stave off Barnabas's current vampire dependency.

"So David is free of Quentin's control in the present." They discussed the events passing by them and ahead of them.

"Yes," Julia injected him. "Barnabas, why don't we just return to the present..."

"I don't dare." Barnabas looked at her as her words filled him in on details happening since he had departed from the time then known to him as 1968. "I've changed history so much. I don't dare leave Petofi with the knowledge he already has. We can't return until we are sure everything is set as it was." He became silent as they heard the footsteps out on the veranda. He had changed the sequence of events in the past too far and his secret existence as a vampire revealed for the moment. Reduced to live in hiding for fear that Count Andreas Petofi would learn much more, he sat in shock and listened to the sounds of prowlers. Two sets of footsteps on the outside grounds crunched the dry leaves and weeds and advanced on the outside entrance. It could have been Petofi and his assistant Aristede as Barnabas and Julia nervously watched and waited before noticing Angelique returning with more medical supplies.

"This is everything I could get." She stood in her long violet dress as she dropped the bag by Julia.

"Good," Julia looked through it. "I hope it..."

"One question," Angelique grinned oddly to Barnabas. "Just how many people are you planning to visit from the future?" Barnabas looked to Julia a bit perplexed.

"What do you mean?" Barnabas asked as Angelique looked out to the outside foyer. She gestured to the figure standing out in the shadows. It was a young man. He had dark brown hair and eyes; his face had a bit of nervous tension in them as he scanned the room and looked with odd recognition upon them. Angelique grinned fondly and took his hand.

"Congratulations," She declared beaming ear to ear. "It's a boy."

"What sort of game are you pulling this time?" The reluctant vampire asked of his estranged wife.

"Dad..."

"What?" Julia was incredulous.

"His name is William Benjamin Collins." Angelique grinned ear to ear as she looked upon her son. "He was born on September 9, 1971..."

"1971!" Julia didn't believe it. "Barnabas, that's two years into our future!"

"You're lying." Barnabas glared to Angelique. It was a face the son had never seen his father make. "This is another trick..."

"Is it?" Angelique grinned as she raised a confident eyebrow.

"Dad, please," William spoke with nervous assurance. "It's me. I know why you're here. Uncle Quentin told me years ago how the four of you came back through the stairway in time to confront his ancestor. Uncle David was possessed, you had to..."

"I don't want to hear this nonsense." Barnabas refused to hear the meandering ramblings of another likely liar. Julia meanwhile grinned and began chuckling.

"Uncle Quentin...?" She began laughing. It wasn't so unlikely to her. Quentin had been told the portrait Tate had painted for him would keep him young for as long as it existed. It was very likely as well that he would pass himself off as his own descendant as Barnabas had.

"Barnabas... Quentin re-invented and put himself into this year's events..." She laughed a bit more. "Stairway through time? Only Quentin could make up something like that!"

Angelique decided briefly to tell the truth then recanted. She knew the

stairway was real. Before Quentin and Nicholas Blair restored her to life, she had been there as well. She had died in that time with Barnabas confessing his love for her and had stayed close to Collinwood in spirit form before restored to life for these events. The Barnabas of this time had yet to live through those moments, but as much as she wanted to tell him, she saved that truth for later and stepped closer to her Barnabas with the words of his undying love still in her ears. A pity to her he still had to live those events when proof of their happiness was already before them.

"Barnabas," She started. "He is our son."

"A trick." He replied back. "Angelique, I care for you as a friend, but Jos-" She put her fingers on his mouth and stopped him from talking to keep William from learning too much.

"I don't understand." William started. "You two were always so much in love. Why are you acting like this?"

"William," Julia saw a lot of Barnabas and Angelique in him as she gently distracted him. "Let's just say your parents have had their ups and downs. One question I have, why did you come to this time?"

"I haven't a clue. I thought I was dreaming..." He gazed upon her and contemplated warning her of the cancer that took her life. She was so tall when he was young, but now she was just a bit shorter. It was like seeing an old family friend again as the surreal reunion grew larger.

"Barnabas, I must speak to you." Quentin had arrived on horseback and hurriedly came in. He glanced at William and Angelique and drew silent as if he was hesitant to speak what he had to say.

"Quentin, what's happened?" Barnabas met him. "What's changed?"

"Who's this?"

"As odd as it sounds," Barnabas sounded as if he were hesitant to admit anything. "My son."