Chapter 2

Old house Barnabas' bedroom

Vicki stretched like a lazy kitten, rolled to her side and blinked noting the sun peaking through the window's shade. Smiling she looked at the empty spot her husband had just vacated, she heard the toilet flush and the sound of water running in the sink. The door to their bathroom opened and he poked his head out and saw she was awake. "Did I wake you my love?" He padded back to the bed and slid under the covers.

She curled into his warm body and snuggled close. "No, I just woke up and got lonely because you were gone." He put his arm around her and curled her into his body, lightly kissing her head. She had pleasantly exhausted him the night before and now he was ready to cuddle. She snuggled closer to his body and spoke softly into the warmth of his chest. "Mother wants us to come to Thanksgiving, I said we would. I hope you don't mind." She nuzzled his neck and smiled until she felt him tense. "What? Don't you want to go to Collinwood for Thanksgiving?" She pushed against him raised her chin and looked into his troubled eyes.

"I thought we would celebrate in our own home for Thanksgiving. I actually have never really celebrated such a thing." He tried to pull her back against him and Vicki stopped him from pulling her back into his arms. She sat up in the bed and smiled at him.

"Barnabas celebrating Thanksgiving Day is our way of celebrating our freedom and finding this country. We as families get together have a huge turkey dinner, then we give thanks for the blessings we have received over the past year. Usually everyone eats until they are as stuffed as the turkey that is prepared and the men like to watch football and the ladies sit around and gossip. If you wish for me to cook, then we could have the family here and use the formal dining room here. I was going to help mother with the meal and so was Carolyn, Julia, Maggie, Daphne . . . " She saw him get that perplex look on his face when she said Daphne.

"That is Quentin's newest girlfriend. He met her at the local hospital, she is a nurse working the emergency room there." She smiled seeing her husband smile. "I think they are quite the item." Vicki slid from the bed, leaned over kissed him lightly and walked to the bathroom. Barnabas smiled watching her walk across the room and was reminded of why he had married her she looked good walking away from him as much as she did walking towards him.

Sliding from the bed, he went to his dressing room and pulled out his three-piece dark suit; dressing quickly he wanted to make sure that he was by the phone when the jeweler called. He did not want her hearing what his surprise would be after Thanksgiving, he had bought her a thirty-day anniversary gift that had been specially crafted for her and wanted to make sure it would be here in a timely fashion. Smoothing his hair down he paused, he was sure he had heard something in their bedroom and he knew Vicki was still in the shower he could hear the water running. Stepping into the bedroom he looked around and frowned.

The room had a different feel to it; someone had been in their bedroom. Walking around the room he paused and heard the phone ring. Walking to the door, he opened and walked out into the hallway and picked up the phone. "Barnabas Collins." He heard a click and another click and a female voice came on the line.

"You may go ahead sir, your party is on the line." There was a brief pause and then his voice came on the line and it froze Barnabas' heart. He had hoped they were rid of his presence and his life forever. Apparently, he had more lives than a cat. He waited as the voice that held a gloating tone began to speak.

"Hello Barnabas, I am sure you thought you would never hear from me again, but here I am. You were very naughty and now you have to pay a price for taking my wife away from me." There was a long pause, Vlad was not sure if he were still on the line. "I am sure you are still there fortunately for you and for me, my ears are excellent I still have my vampiric powers Collins. I can hear you breathing and that your heart rate has increased. I know how long you waited to become human and to have that heart beat and I know you think it beats for your Victoria, the problem is, your Victoria is my Elizabeta and soon enough it will be beating for me until she gives me a son, then it will beat no more and she will soar into the night with me as we embrace an eternity together."

Barnabas was thinking and trying to come up with a snappy retort all he could think of was, "She is not your wife any more Tepes, she belongs to me now and she is my wife and you will not hurt her in any way." He was fighting hard to contain his anger as the words that were just uttered to him. Barnabas had felt his knuckles grow tense and knew they were white with his tension. He knew if he kept squeezing the phone he would end up breaking the phone. He heard the chuckle over the long distance line and then once again there was that self satisfied almost triumphant sound to his voice.

"My dear Collins, I can assure you, that you may have put a ring on her finger, and you may have claimed to be human again, you may even be living the ideal life you always thought you should have. However, Victoria is my wife Elizabeta and she will be returned to me and sit at my side on my throne and be my eternal and forever mate." Vlad did not give him time to retort he hung up the phone, crossed his arms and chuckled. "Let the games begin." He had spoken more to hear himself talk than to anyone in particular.

Barnabas looked at the phone in his hand, his mood had grown darker with each passing minute he stood by the phone, and replacing the phone into the cradle he nearly jumped when it rang again. Grabbing it he snarled, "You won't get away with this I will see you burn in hell before I allow you to hurt any member of my family or my wife."

The voice on the other end was silent for a moment and then a timid young sounding female voice spoke softly, "Excuse me? Is Mr. Barnabas Collins there? This is Juliette with Tiffany's calling to say your package has been sent by special courier and should arrive on the twenty-ninth of November." Juliette's voice had grown dry with the threat she had heard earlier and was wondering what was going on. She waited for a response.

"I beg your pardon, I thought this call was from someone else. Thank you my dear for all your courtesies and your promptness." He hung up the phone and could hear Vicki moving about their bedroom and suspected she was making their bed. He closed his eyes and spoke softly. "Nothing will take you from me my darling nothing." He turned with a tense smile at the opening of their bedroom door.

"Did I hear the phone?" She was dressed casually in jeans and sweater; she was wearing her boots so he knew she was planning on going to Collinwood's barn and ride. He walked to the open door gathered her into his arms and kissed her deeply. "Wow, I should ask if the phone rang all the time just so I could get a response like that." She giggled softly holding tightly to him her arms wrapped securely around his neck.

"Yes I believe they said it was a wrong number, they asked for a Tammy or something like that." Barnabas was quick to come up with a plausible explanation for the phone ringing, he was not about to tell her that Vlad had called or that his gift was coming and would be here at the end of the month. He smiled trying to calm his anger. Which was easy holding her as he was. "I see you are dressed for a ride?" He slid his arm around her waist and walked with her down the hallway.

"I thought a ride and then mother wanted me to go shopping with her to pick out the items we would need for the dinner. I hope you would reconsider, and then perhaps next year I will volunteer our kitchen and our dining room to host Thanksgiving Dinner. They walked to the landing and the steps, a glimmer from the hallway caught Barnabas' attention and he saw small Sarah standing outside of Josette's bedroom. Pausing he kissed her lightly on the lips and smiled.

"That sounds lovely my dear. You go on and I will see you later, there are a few phone calls I need to make and those figures from the sale of those coins need to be dealt with. If you see Willie, please have him see me when he is not busy." He watched her skip down the steps in a lively little jaunt heading to the door, pausing to get her jacket from the coat hook. Turning she blew him a kiss and was gone from sight.

Turning he rushed to Josette's room. Sarah and Josette stood in the room waiting for him. "Oh Mon Cheri, it is most 'orrible. Zat evil man iz back and wants our Victoria!" Josette was upset and so was Sarah she looked concerned with her little face puckered in her worry.

"Barnabas, why are they trying to hurt Miss Winters? She is not his wife, she is on this side of our world, and she is not Miss Winters. She is proud to be Mrs. Barnabas Collins!" Little Sarah had not looked so sad since the day she saw him as he used to be and became so ill. That it had eventually caused her death. Barnabas bent to his knee and looked into her sweet little sad face.

"My dear sister, there is nothing that will harm our Victoria, I will make sure she is safe and will be with us always. The evil man has no hold over her or me. So you do not worry my sweet sister." He watched her look so trustingly into his face. Then her face broke into a smile. Looking to Josette he nodded to her and watched her take Sarah's hand in hers and slowly they faded from view. Standing Barnabas nodded slowly, "Nothing will ever harm Victoria or take her from our family again."

Collinwood Foyer

Victoria had a glorious ride along the beach, she had brought back Champ and handed him over to one of the new groomsmen Elizabeth had hired. She had decided since their family would be increased with her and George's marriage they should increase the horses, and hire some stable hands. Vicki handed the reins over to Charles and smiled. "Take good care of him, he is a special baby Charles." She had walked back to the front entrance held up her hand to knock and saw her engagement and wedding ring on her hand and smiled. The door opened and David burst through the door nearly plowing her down. Whoa there David!" She laughed and caught him to her chest and smiled.

"Oh Vicki I was just coming to the old house to look for you Aunt Elizabeth is ready to go shopping! I was wondering can I come too?" His anxious little face was filled with excitement and she had to wonder at what had brought about this excitement glistening in his eyes.

"You should use proper grammar, and it is may I come not can, I know you can do this but you need permission so may I come is the proper way of asking to join us in our grocery shopping." She watched his face fall and he sighed huge.

"Oh is that what you are shopping for? I thought it was for something cool. Then I don't want to come, I think instead since Maggie is going with you, I am going for a walk on the beach and see if I can find Sarah." He dashed away from her in such a hurry it almost made Vicki's head spin. Stepping through the door she paused to see Carolyn, Maggie, and Daphne were all waiting on her.

Carolyn wrinkled her nose. "Wow you smell like horse, maybe you should go change clothes, I don't think I want to be stuck in the car with you all day long with you smelling like a barn." Vicki laughed and shook her head.

"Well then we need to run by the old house so I can run up and change."

Daphne shook her head, "Not necessary you can borrow something from me. Come on it won't take a minute. Mrs. Stoddard was sweet enough to give me a room while I am visiting here. I am sure you will be able to wear something of mine, we look to be about the same size."

"Well almost your size, but not quite, she is about two inches shorter than you Daphne." Quentin smiled brightly walking down the steps stepping towards Daphne, gathering her close to his body he bent and placed a light chaste kiss on her lips. "I think I am the luckiest man in the world to have found such a beautiful and loving girlfriend don't you think Mrs. Collins?"
Quentin smiled widely when he called Vicki Mrs. Collins. He also noticed that saying the name had brought a refreshing blush to her cheeks.

"I think she is charming, beautiful and much to nice for you Quentin." She teased him lightly. Vicki watched Daphne break his hold, and start up the steps. Vicki then turned and followed Daphne and had been tempted to stick her tongue out but only gave him an impish grin. Both girls disappeared up the stairs and from sight.

"Well what is the big adventure for today ladies?" He looked at Liz dressed comfortably in her two-piece suit with her herringbone coat, Carolyn was in her jeans and sweater with her hair tied back in a ponytail. He had started towards the drawing room and paused to wait for his answer.

"We are getting groceries for the Thanksgiving Day dinner, so mother wanted to go to Portland to shop, if we can't find what we want there we were going to head towards Freeport. She wants enough turkey to feed everyone. I thought we could just go to Wadsworth on I95 near Brunswick but mother is wanting to shop and she will not be happy until we have traveled the entire Maine Coastline." Carolyn had gone off on a tangent unaware her mother was now giving her the all-purpose mother look.

Quentin recognizing that look well, chuckled softly turned and sauntered the drawing room calling back. "You have a fun day. I bet you do more than just shop for groceries." He ducked into the drawing room to avoid something being thrown at him.

Downtown Logansport

Vicki, Maggie and Daphne had sat in the rear seat of the station wagon, Carolyn had driven them and Elizabeth had watched the map and the road to direct her to where she wanted to go and select her turkey. They had bought the turkey and it was a huge one, thirty-pound turkey and was frozen solid. Elizabeth had made arrangements to have it shipped back to Collinwood. "You know we need some holiday decorations for the dining room." Carolyn was excited they were shopping and had bought most the dry goods, and was in the process of looking for a turkey when they found it while the day was still young.

Elizabeth smiled and knew her daughter well. "Why don't we go on to Portland my dear, and then we all could see what we think we would need to wear to the Thanksgiving Day dinner and from there we shall see what happens for decorations. I know that we have plenty of tablecloths. I was thinking we would set the table with the good china, and use Great Grandmother Edith's crystal. Naomi's silver and what else do we need?"

Carolyn laughed, "A horn of plenty mother, we need to fill it with dried fruit or something to decorate that huge table so that it looks attractive to everyone." Vicki, Maggie and Daphne had taken a backseat to this discussion while they were busy loading their largess in the rear of the station wagon.

"Will we be dressing formally for Thanksgiving mother?" Vicki was curious because the two prior Thanksgivings, Roger, Elizabeth, Carolyn and David had gone to Boston. She was not sure what the protocol for the Collins Family gathering should be or what was expected. She had half look forward to just dressing comfortably since everyone usually over ate and was so full they were unbuttoning their pants.

She remembered at the foundling home there were three special days to be able to pig out at the table. One was your birthday; the other two were Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was a whole new experience for her. Last year, she had stayed at Collinwood and Burke had taken her out to dinner at one of those posh dining resort places up the coast. It was not really like Thanksgiving and she would have preferred to have stayed home and read a book.

"Not really dear but we all need new clothing and they just brought out the new winter line and I thought we could get new coats, boots, gloves and hats since the forecaster is saying its going to be a really cold winter. She looked at Maggie and smiled, "I have your costs covered dear, so don't be bashful." She watched Maggie blushed and shift uncomfortably.

"Really Mrs. Stoddard, I have my own money. After Pop's death, well he had an insurance policy and I put some of that money back and I am getting the rent from the cottage so you don't need to buy me my clothing." She was a proud thing and did not want to be considered a leach on the Collins Family.

She watched Elizabeth's mouth clamp down and she had that stubborn look she had oft time seen on her father's face when he had made up his mind about something and she knew she might as well give in because the great lady had spoken. "Margret Evans. I had planned to do this so do not disappoint me by showing me that Evan's independence. When you and Joe are married or you are on your own then use your money then. This is Roger's treat and mine. Now girls come along."

The trip to Rockport was done in relative ease and quiet. Vicki was feeling tired and at the back of her mind she was bothered by something. She was not sure what it was but it had begun earlier that morning when she heard Barnabas on the phone. He had sounded angry. Now thinking over it she knew he had been upset by the way his body tensed and he had kissed her goodbye that morning. "So, Vicki, how long did you know Barnabas?" Daphne had leaned against her and was fighting the sleepiness that riding ion a long road trip always brought on.

"Oh we knew each other for about two years before we got married." She smiled thinking of how she realized she really did fall in love with Barnabas. Maggie had shifted uncomfortably in her seat hearing the question and remembering when she first met Barnabas. She had been working and was closing the café at the Collinsport Inn when he came in and wished to have a cup of coffee.

"So was it love at first sight?" Daphne knew this is what she felt when she first met Quentin. She was feeling less tired carrying on a conversation with her new friend.

"Not really, I was engaged to another man at the time we met and well, Burke died in a plane crash. Barnabas was so supportive and helpful during this time that I naturally gravitated to him and then when that horrible man came and kidnapped me. I knew then how much I missed Barnabas and what he really meant to me."

Daphne was stunned; she had no idea that Vicki had been kidnapped. "You were kidnapped?" She looked shock and touched Vicki's arm in sympathy.

Carolyn piped up. "Oh she has been kidnapped twice and each time we thought she would end up in some ditch dead." She had not meant to sound so crass it was just Carolyn.

"Carolyn!" Elizabeth had scolded her softly. "You should watch how you say things you could hurt feelings being so unfeeling about it."

Carolyn sighed huge and then shook her head. "Mother Vicki has had one weird thing after another befall her since she arrived, it was no secret. For gosh sakes, she was kidnapped by Matthew Morgan who nearly chopped her head off, but said he did not because the famous Lady in White came to save her, then there was that weird thing where she went back in time and lived with the original Collins family, and then that mad man named Radu, isn't that what he said his name was?" She looked at Vicki in the rearview mirror.

Vicki nodded and looked pale and withdrawn. Daphne noting the subject matter was upsetting her friend reached for her cold hand and squeezed and offered her a smile. She noticed that Maggie had also withdrawn somewhat. "Maggie?"

Carolyn ever so wanting to be helpful laughed, "Oh yeah, Vicki is not the only one that had weird things happen to her, Maggie was kidnapped too and she was missing for almost six weeks and later her father found her near death on the beach. We even thought she was dead because we were told she had died of shock after she was brought into the hospital." Daphne's eyes narrowed looking at the back of Carolyn's head and she turned and looked at Maggie who had gone quite white and was shaking somewhat.

"Maggie?" Daphne's voice was reassuring and comforting as she spoke her name. Maggie turned her wide brown eyes and looked past Daphne.

"Carolyn is right, I was very ill, and then I was found wandering in the cemetery. Then one night after I was taken to the hospital, I disappeared and I have absolutely no recollection of that whole ordeal."

Elizabeth was starting to become annoyed with Carolyn and had clamped her lips together forming a thin line of discontent. Speaking softly she almost commanded. "Carolyn, may we please change the subject I fear we may upset Maggie and Vicki and we have been having such a wonderful time up until now."

"Mother I am fine really. I am sure Maggie is too. It is just the trauma sometimes comes back to haunt me and I am sure Maggie had the same feelings too." She smiled and felt Maggie's hand curl over her hand and she squeezed. Daphne laid her hand on top of Vicki and Maggie's hand and she smiled at them both.

"Well the only dramatic thing I had happen was I got to meet the President, when he toured our military hospital and came for his physical. I had to have a background clearance to be his nurse for the day." She smiled and then subject was then a series of questions about the President and what kind of person he was and was he as nice as he seemed.

Carolyn found a parking spot near the Camden Maine Downtown area so they could walk to the nearest Department Store. The five women spent the day enjoying their shopping trip and Elizabeth felt she spent a small fortune but it was worth it they all now had good warm boots, coats, hats and gloves for the impending winter. As a reminder that winter was on its way it was obvious when they left the store, the wind had grown colder and it was a brisk chaffing walk back to their car.

Collinwood

The drive back was long and tiring but the car was full and the sun was just beginning to set when Carolyn drove into the garage. Unloading, Vicki gathered her packages and started back to the old house with her arms full of the gifts her mother had insisted she have. Smiling shyly she approached the house and felt a set of eyes on her from the wood line. Turning she watched as a huge white wolf bounded out of view. She wondered if that wolf had been following her the whole time she was walking through the woods. Glancing to the skyline she noted that dusk was approaching fast.

Letting herself into the house she laid her packages on the table calling out, "Darling?" Turning she was surprised to see a very handsome dark hair, dark eyed man standing in the entrance of the drawing room, he looked her over from head to toe and an easy smile. "Hello?" She walked towards him not sure why she suddenly had a hard knot in her stomach. He bowed to her and lifted his chin to level that chilling cool appraising gaze into her eyes and for a moment, Victoria felt her world tilt and she thought she might faint.

He was quick to sweep her up in his arms and carry her to the sofa. From a far off distance she could hear another voice speaking in a language she was sure she did not know. She whispered softly, " Ai venit în numele prințului Vlad nu-i așa?" She saw a knowing smile cross his lips and a brief nod. Vicki felt her world spin out of control and she lost consciousness. He spoke softly against her hair.

"Yes, my Princess, I come in the name of Vlad but that is between us." He has spoken to her unaware form as he gently placed her in a chair and turned and called. "PROFESSOR STOKES! DOCTOR STOKES! COME QUICKLY I FEAR WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"