Chapter 3
He turned at the entrance of Professor Stokes, Dr. Hoffman, and Barnabas and watched as they all huddled around Vicki. Julia was the first to go on bended knee. She immediately took her pulse, frowning she lifted her eyelids, stood and walked to the hall table lifted her medical bag and walked back to Vicki who was just beginning to open her eyes and look around her confused and somewhat embarrassed. "What happened?" She sat forward and put her fingertips to her forehead. She looked up briefly at the man standing behind Julia next to Barnabas. "Oh my I vaguely remember seeing you in my drawing room and I apologize for . . . " She trailed off seeing Julia pull out her stethoscope and blood pressure cup. "What is this?"
"When I took your pulse it was extremely fast Vicki, I just need to see if your blood pressure dropped or was elevated when you fainted. We need to make sure it was nothing more than fatigue or something more serious." She looked to Barnabas, "Maybe we should get her to the bedroom so I can do a proper exam on her." Barnabas nodded; bent to lifted her from the chair. Julia started for the stairs and waited for Barnabas to pass her.
Sorin turned to look at Professor Stokes, "Does she do this often? I hope I did not upset her. I know she did not recognize me when she came in and then she went all blank and well she started to fall and I caught her." He had added enough concern over the situation to detract any suspicion from him being responsible for causing her to loose consciousness.
"Gabriel my dear boy, do not concern yourself, Victoria has been through a lot and frankly she has times when she blanks out, we think from a possible past life. You do not understand what she has been through to bring her and Barnabas together."
"Past life? That is interesting has anyone done past life regression with her?" Gabe ne' Sorin walked to the fireplace mantle. He rested his arm over the top of the mantel.
"Julia tried to do past regression with her once a very long time ago, but was not successful. She had been doing so well we were not about to upset the proverbial apple cart so to speak. We wanted to let things stay status quo. We are happy so far with how things had progressed. However, today something must have triggered this episode."
The front door opened up and Daphne stepped into the foyer. "Uncle Elliott?" She called softly, walking further into the room and paused seeing the handsome man standing at the mantle. "Oh hello." She smiled and he turned and bowed to her. Turning she saw Elliott. "Oh there you are, is Aunt Julia with Vicki?" Daphne slipped off her coat, and stood in her nurse's uniform. Sorin studied the young attractive woman in front of him and waited for Elliott to finish his conversation with Daphne.
"Oh Daphne sweet child, your Aunt is upstairs with Vicki and Barnabas, I fear she must be having an issue with old problems. She passed out earlier and Julia was worried about her, so she had Barnabas carry her to bed. Did your Aunt call you?" Elliott lowered himself to the chair and looked up at the lovely young woman that was as much a mystery as Vicki's illness.
"Yes, she said she needed me to bring her other doctor's bag and to come quickly." She nodded to the stranger and started for the stairs. "Are they in Barnabas room or Josette's?" She turned to peer over at her Uncle.
"I would think my dear they are in Barnabas' room, now that they are married, I believe Josette's room is now used as a guest room." Daphne smiled nodded and headed up the stairs.
"Lovely young woman that one. You said her name was Daphne?" Gabe turned to look at Elliott his mind was working fast, he was sure that this one was not on Vlad's radar. The door opened one more time and again another figure entered the room, and Gabe recognized him as Quentin Collins the cousin to Barnabas.
"Oh Elliott, is Daphne upstairs with Vicki?" He smiled stepping into the room.
"Yes, as a matter of fact she is with Julia and Victoria now." Turning he smiled at Gabriel. "Oh Quentin, I wanted you to meet my newest assistant. Gabriel Matthews this is my dear friend Quentin Collins. Quentin may I present Gabriel Matthews, a student attempting his doctoral thesis under my tutelage in field of ancient practices and dark arts."
Quentin stepped forward offering his hand. "Please to meet you. I can assure you that you could not find a better or more astute tutor than Elliott. I have known him for several years. Each time he has surprised me with his vast knowledge on matters that would creep most out or boggle the minds of those around him." Quentin was being very effusive with his compliments of Elliott.
"I know Mr. Collins, I applied for this position because it was Professor Stokes. I cannot tell you how excited I was to learn I was chosen to be a part of this internship. We have already uncovered some fascinating aspects of the culture surrounding the mythos that was Vlad Tepes." He smiled and looked humble to be in the presence of the man he professed to admire.
"Really, the Vlad Tepes, also known as Dracula. Oh and by the way call me Quentin. Mr. Collins was my father." He chuckled at his joke.
"Then by all means you must call me Gabe, I fear I don't have parents." He smiled and watched Quentin look at him with the appropriate look of sympathy.
"I am sorry were you an orphan? Because you would have shared something with Vicki, for most her life she thought she was an orphan and was even raised in a foundling home. She was fortunate and discovered her parents before she married my cousin and would you not know it! She found she was a born true blue Collins too!" He chuckled and looked at Elliott who was studying the fire in the fireplace.
"Yes, she discovered that she was Elizabeth's daughter born out of wed locked and placed in a foundling home. She made it home and now she is happily married to a distant relative of Elizabeth."
Gabe ducked his chin assumed a thoughtful pose and spoke with the right amount of regret in his voice. "No, my parents were killed when I was a young boy and I was pretty well shuffled around from home to home and raised by foster parents for the rest of my life. I have my memories of them and will cherish them to my dying day and know I shall be with them again that is once this life is over." He had sounded so soulful as he spoke of his parents that Quentin was quiet touched.
"Well I certainly hope you do Gabe, now if you two will excuse me I want to go check on Vicki and see how things are going. I know she has been very stressed out lately and she was hoping she was pregnant. I hope for her sake that is the problem."
This information was upsetting to hear for Sorin, he did not want to transport a pregnant Princess Elizabeta to her true husband. "Well for the newly weds I hope this is the happy occasion they had awaited. Professor Stokes, if you would be so kind as to allow me the keys to your car, I will drop it off at your house, I am sure your wife will give you a ride home. It was a pleasure to finally meet the Collins family of Collinsport."
Quentin chuckled, "Not likely, you have met us all. I would like to invite you to Collinwood for Thanksgiving, I am sure that Elizabeth would be delighted to make sure you are here for the holiday and enjoying it at her table." He shook his hand one more time clapping his shoulder. "We will be dining around one and will be happy to have you as one of our special guests, I am sure Elliott and Julia plan on being there."
Gabe smiled, "I would be delighted, may I bring something?" He was feeling confident that he was finally going to see the inside of Collinwood. He had felt the unrest in the old house and there were spirits that were watching him as he was given the tour. The strongest place he felt the unrest was the room they had called Josette's room. He could sense she was hiding and watching him.
"My dear boy, I am sure anything you bring would be a delight for Elizabeth, she would expect you to bring yourself with not strings for coming to eat at the Collins family table. I already know she is going to have others that are not direct members of the family present. They plan to come early and they will be there to help. So it is your choice." Elliott smiled, dropped his monocle from his eye prepared to escort him to the door. Reaching into his pants pocket he pulled out his keys. "Just leave the vehicle at the house and drop the keys in the mail box."
Handing the keys over Sorin took them with a smile. "Thank you Professor, I will see you tomorrow for your first class." He gave him a half salute, turned smartly threw the keys in the air with a happy whistle. He had the keys to the Stroke's family home and to their car. Now all he needed was to make copies. This had been better than shooting ducks in a barrel. He would have a lot to report to Vlad once the call came through. Getting into the car he inhaled the scent of Julia's perfume and the scent of Professor's Stokes aftershave. Both had chosen something subtle but affective. It was a reminder of what they had done to his Prince. That set his jaw to tighten and his mind working feverishly as to how he would proceed with his mission.
He knew he needed to contact Radu, have him and Gilda find the secret passages in the old house and take up housekeeping there so they both could easily keep an eye on his two main objectives. Starting the car, he put the car in reverse and backed out of the long driveway of the long circle drive of the old house. Stopping at the end of the drive, he adjusted the rearview mirror and focused on the windows of the second story, there was a figure standing in the window, wearing a white gown, she appeared to be watching him then she shifted and disappeared. He smiled, 'So you do exist as Radu said. Well we will see what happens next." Sorin pulled into the main roadway and headed to Collinsport.
Old House Barnabas and Vicki's bedroom
"Well Julia, what caused her to go unconscious?" Barnabas was concerned watching his wife lie half asleep on the bed, she was fighting the injection Julia had given her.
"I think she got extremely exhausted, somewhat dehydrated, and reacted with a drop in blood pressure. I am pretty sure Vicki you are not pregnant. I am sorry." Julia watched the disappointment edge its way across her face. "I think you were too anxious over the possibility you were pregnant and you managed to get yourself over excited and you will rest and you and Barnabas will try again." She smiled patted her arm, turned to put her stethoscope into her medical bag. "Now, I am going to head for home, I was up most the night with a difficult patient."
Daphne stepped forward and could see how desperately disappointed Vicki was over not being pregnant. "It will be all right Vicki. It was just not the right time. You need to rest and Quentin and I will spend the night and I will take care of you. We have a big week coming up. We are going to need you to help us with the big Thanksgiving dinner." She smiled as she edged her hip on the side of the bed. She reached for Vicki's hand and squeezed and smiled with a hint of encouragement for her. "Besides think of the fun you and Barnabas will have in trying to make a baby." She had spoken softly for her ears only and saw the delightful spread of color into her cheeks. "Good we can still make you blush."
Quentin stepped to the side of the bed. "Hey no secrets from the men here. Oh and guess what? Elliott invited his new assistant to join us for Thanksgiving nice fella name of Gabe Matthews."
"Oh is that who that was in the drawing room?" Vicki had played with her gown's ribbons while she looked up to smile bravely for her two friends. She watched Quentin drop his hand over her shoulder and squeeze it lightly. She watched Daphne smile, and cover his hand with her hand. "Hmmm, when do we hear about you two getting married?" She was teasing them and watching the sweet smile spread over Daphne's face.
"We are waiting for me to complete school first. Then we will set date and I hope you will do me the honor of being my matron of honor. Your friendship has meant so much to me Vicki. I feel we have bonded with one another." Daphne's voice had been so soft and filled with such sincerity that Vicki was touched.
"I would be honored to be your matron of honor." She yawned and Daphne smiled. "Well I can't fight the drug Julia gave me much longer. I fear sleep is calling to me. " Vicki smiled apologetically.
Daphne covered her and spokes softly. "I will be down the hall if you need me." She turned rising from the bed, she looked to Barnabas. "She really should rest. Her blood pressure was dangerously high. We don't need any problems for her now." Daphne walked with Quentin from the room, closing the door behind her she turned to Quentin with a look of absolute concern. "That was not good Quentin, she could have stroked."
Quentin gathered her close to him and kissed her earlobe. "Then we watch her and get some wool cotton and wrap her up in it tightly. Then she will be safe. Now come along, we have dinner to fix and plans to make." He nibbled her neck and heard her giggle. "Did I ever tell you how delicious you were?" She giggled as he nibbled her neck, turning they walked down the hallway together.
Beach house near Collinwood
Sorin, pulled his vehicle to a halt outside the neatly kept cottage, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the house key and exited the car. Walking up the paved walkway he used the key to get into the house, turned on a light then walked to the dining room table. Carefully he pulled out the key impressions he had made and smiled. He was already halfway to starting his plans for Dr. Julia Hoffman. The phone rang and he lifted the phone and spoke in his native tongue. "Hello my prince."
"You are established? You have made contact?" The deep rich voice of his master spoke with an air of confidence he had grown to appreciate.
"I am, I have the keys to the Stoke's house, car, and I believe Dr. Hoffman's office at Wyndcliff. I am also invited to a dinner at Collinwood. I have also discovered Quentin Collins a cousin has a very lovely young woman he has an interest in and you might wish to consider her a guest too. I noticed that Quentin Collins is very close to Barnabas and I suspect he is not all he appears."
'He is not all he appears, and the young woman you are speaking of is Daphne Harridge. I believe she is a nurse hired by Julia to stay in residence at Collinwood. I think you may be right, we will add her to our list, but I want her brought when we bring Elizabeta. I don't want her to panic and try to hide from us, so she will be allowed one friend to travel with her."
Sorin smiled; he liked the idea of a little bit of hope to dash it in the end when they both discovered they were on their way to Romania and the guest of Count Vlad Tepes. "We had a bit of a problem today I thought you should know, she spoke to me in our native tongue and then she collapsed. The doctor thought she might be pregnant by Collins." He had anticipated a long pause but not this long. He waited because he knew Vlad was on the other end and was probably digesting the information he had just given over.
"Do you know if she is pregnant?" The words were so soft, that Sorin was glad he had listened closely to what was being said. Sorin had not been present for the outcome of that decision so he did not know.
"I am not sure, I had to leave to get copies of the keys. I am sure I will find out by tomorrow." He waited again and that long held pause was longer. "My lord?" He asked and heard him clear his throat.
"YOU need to find out if she is pregnant. If she is to have a child it will be my child. Do you understand me Sorin. You may wish to get Gilda and Radu in place. We may have to move up our plan. I was hoping to have her mother in residence with her sister right after that ridiculous holiday they like to celebrate."
"Yes, my lord I understand. Do you wish Gilda to convert Collins or do you wish him to be tasted only, she has been difficult to control according to Radu." Again there it was a slightly less than the longer pause he had taken before.
"Have her bite him and only taste him. I want him here when I take her as my wife and bring her over. I want him to feel the grief he caused me while I was being resurrected. I want him to know what it is like to watch and loose what you cherish the most."
"Understood again my lord, I will have the information you seek when once again we speak tomorrow."
"Very good Sorin, I will leave you to your duties. Until tomorrow around the same time; I will bid you good night." The line went to a dial tone and his connection with Vlad was gone. Sitting back he frowned. He was sure he was not about to risk the Princess life by having him try to force a miscarriage. He knew his master too well to think he would not take them both. He risked the hatred of his beloved if he took what she wanted the most.
Closing his eyes he sighed deeply. Tomorrow would be a very busy day. The finals for the classes would be given before Thanksgiving break. He would have more time to do what he needed and he needed to set up a nasty little surprise for Julia. He opened the table drawer and pulled out the vial of clear fluid and smiled. "yes, my dear Dr. Hoffman you will now see what it is like to have a drug introduced into your system that you never expected to have."
Collinwood Drawing Room
George Patterson sat back in the chair by the fireplace, he laid out his paper on his lap, pulled his glasses from his pocket and slipped them on. Looking down at the paper he felt comfortable and relaxed. Something he had not felt for a long time. Hearing the door open he glanced up and smiled seeing Thomas walk in with Pamela Watkins on his arm. "Hey Pop. You remember Pam don't you?" He put his arm around her waist and drew her into the room. George noticed she was anxiously looking around the huge room with wide eyes.
"Yes, I do Pam, how is your mother doing? I know your Dad is in Wyoming on business and she was home alone. Everything okay?" He had promised Mitch he would keep an eye on the house and his wife Caroline.
She still looked around the room and whispered softly to Thomas. "You sure this place ain't haunted?" Thom rolled his eyes.
"Yes, now answer Pop and don't be rude." He admonished her with a degree of impatience. "Pop Caroline is fine, she is home now and wished us a good evening." George removed his glasses, held them with his thumb and forefinger and studied the young flighty girl and prayed Thomas was not that interested in her because she appeared to be rather vacuous.
"Oh Sorry Sheriff, yep mom is fine. Dad is coming home earlier than he thought so things should be happier." George smiled watching the woman behind Thomas step into view.
"Hello Thomas, and who is this?" she walked further into the room to George's side bent and kissed his forehead, and then sat in the chair next to George. Elizabeth looked to Thomas and his friend. "You two could come in and sit if you want." Liz smiled and reached her hand over for George's hand. Feeling him curl his fingers into her hand she smiled and watched Thomas escort his girlfriend into the drawing room. Taking a seat on the sofa she waited to be introduced.
"Um Elizabeth, this is Pamela Watkins. Pam this is Elizabeth Stoddard." He watched his girlfriend pop her head up and look wide eyed and impressed that she was sitting with Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.
"Oh my goodness, my Dad works for you." She blurted out and then slapped her hand over her mouth.
"Mitchell Watkins is your father? Why how charming. You must be very proud of your father." Elizabeth was being gracious as she spoke to the young girl that seemed to be more impressed with the fact she had something juicy to hold over her friends than agreeing with Elizabeth. "Your father is in Wyoming now on business for Collins Canneries. He is setting up an outlet for our fishing business and if he is successful, he will be pocketing a nice bonus."
She felt George squeeze her hand and she turned to smile for him. Pam finally realized she was being rude and she spoke up rather excitedly. "Well he called mom before Thom picked me up and said he would be home early he was finished and that he had them sign on the dotted line. So I guess that should make everyone happy especially mother who has been so lonely with him being gone and all."
David entered the drawing room with his jacket on. "Um Aunt Elizabeth, I am going to the old house to see Vicki, someone said she was ill and I wanted to make sure she was ok." This announcement brought George to his feet.
"I will drive you over David, do you want to come Elizabeth? Thomas don't be out too late. You have finals coming up and I know that Pam has her finals due also." He helped Liz to stand and together they walked towards the door.
Liz paused turned and smiled. "Please make yourself at home and if you do go out be careful, we have a cold front blowing in and it is suppose to bring some ice with it. It was nice meeting you too Pamela, you both have a lovely evening."
The two watched the three of them leave and Pam turned and squealed, "I just met Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and they are gone do you want to call up Eleanor and Bobby and see if they want to come out and we could party. They got a lot of booze here!"
Thomas stood and pulled her up. "Nope we are going to the Blue Whale if you want to drink you can do it there." Thomas was resolved to not take her out again. He just wanted this date over so he could find the right girl.