Chapter 10
Old House Vicki and Barnabas' bedroom
Barnabas jerked the pillows out from under Vicki's head, her body began to seize, her eyes were fixed and from what he could tell she was not breathing. Julia had turned to her medical bag and withdrew a vial and syringe and inserted the needle filled with adrenaline in her artery. Turning she prepared a second injection of Dilantin. She watched for a moment to see if Vicki would start breathing on her own. Taking the second syringe she drove it into Vicki's hip. Stepping back she waited to see if the Dilantin was going to take affect. She anxiously watched to see if she was going to start breathing again. Julia started to bend over to begin mouth to mouth.
Sorin had followed Barnabas up the stairs and when he heard the Princess was not breathing, he stepped into the room and risking all he was, he stepped up to the bed, pulled Julia away and laid his hand over her face and began to concentrate and spoke mysterious sounding words. "I chema afară și expulza toata energia negative." Watching her wide eyes fixed and her chest not moving he began to speak commandingly, "Am deplasa și risipi toate vrăji anterioare stabilite de demoni sau vrajitoare Plecați!" Vicki drew a deep breath and exhaled, her eyes closed and she went limp.
Elliott had watched what happened and nodded, "Excellent choice my boy! Furthermore, I must commend you on an excellent execution of dispelling the unfavorable spell placed and discharging the entity that must have taken over her body." Barnabas had looked with confusion and awaited an explanation of what just happened. Elliott walked into the room and looked down to see that Vicki's features had softened and she now lay in an unnatural sleep but a relaxed one. "How did you know to use a spell from the Romanian old country?'
Sorin looked up a sense of relief had passed over him when she began to breathe again and he was more than annoyed. He was angry and he knew where this attack had come. He would deal with the perpetrator in a while for now he had to make sure she was going to be fine before he reported to his Prince. "I surmised she was going under a possession when she spoke Romanian before she passed out that an old demon from Transylvania had over taken her body. If that were the case the only obvious alternative to exorcise the demon from her was to use a Romanian spell. I am fluent in Romanian, Russian and Italian Professor it was on my resume. " He backed away and looked from Professor Stokes to Barnabas. "You may not have noticed but earlier while at dinner she suddenly became lethargic and was not hungry when she had told me earlier she was famished and looking forward to Mrs. Cook's dinner tonight."
Julia nodded slowly, "That is correct, she did say she was really hungry and then she ate nothing on her plate and became distracted. When she left the table she turned and spoke an odd language then she passed out." Julia checked Vicki's pulse and lifted her eyelids and checked the pupils of her eyes and her breathing. "She is resting and I suspect she has put herself into a deep sleep to recover." Julia stepped back to let Barnabas sit by his wife. "I will send up Daphne to sit with her when you are ready Barnabas why not join us downstairs?"
The rest of the family waited for word on what was happening with Vicki and once they were reassured that Vicki had weathered her attack but would be exhausted and needed to rest. That was when most of them decided to retire to their rooms. Quentin had gone up to check on Daphne and knocked on the door. "Come in." Daphne had relaxed when Vicki opened her eyes and smiled tiredly then closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
Quentin stepped to Vicki's bedside and looked with concern from Vicki to Daphne who now sat in a fireside chair. "Is this natural for what she has gone through?" He walked to Daphne bent down and placed a light kiss on her lips and smiled into her eyes. Daphne returned the chaste kiss and returned his smile.
"She seized and quit breathing. From what I have heard she may have been possessed and that is what happened, when the demon or whatever it was tried to take her body over, she was unable to fight it and that affected her respiratory system. She has been sleeping since Uncle Elliott's assistant did some kind of spell on her. We just need to monitor her the rest of the night to make sure she does not stop breathing again."
"So would you like some company while we wait for Barnabas to join his wife?" He curled his hands around her hands and pulled her up. Turning he slid down in the chair pulling her down on his lap. Wrapping his arms around her he cuddled her close and nuzzled her neck. Daphne giggled and curled into his hold.
"I would love your company my dearest one." She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes and sighed. "You make this so worth while. Do you know how much I love having you hold me close like this." She whispered against his ear and nibbled his lobe and watched his neck turn red with his pent up passion.
Shifting her in his arms he looked into her eyes and smiled, "As much as I enjoy and love having you sit on my lap and cuddle with me?" He teased and captured her lips for a deep passionate kiss. "Have I told you my dear Ms. Harridge how much I love you lately?" He watched the smile play over her lips. She dropped her eyelashes over her gaze and sighed relaxing into his hold.
"I think it might have been at least about an hour ago that you confessed your love to me so by my estimation you owed me at least three more pledges of your undying love for me because as I recall did you not promise me that you would remind me of that love every fifteen minutes for the rest of our lives?" She smiled and kissed his lips lightly, tugging her teeth on his upper lip to go for a deeper more passionate kiss.
Quentin chuckled softly, "Then I must apologize and reaffirm my last pledge to you and say that I love you with all my heart, I love you with all my soul and I love you with all of what and I am and could be from now until forever." He nuzzled her ear and nibbled lightly. "I also have to admit having you compromised in my lap like this, I could easily get used to this life with you for the rest of mine and that my dear is a very, very, very, very long time to come."
Barnabas' den
Barnabas sat behind his desk and looked out at the unfriendly night and noted the weather was still pelting the ground with its icy offering with occasional spurts of snow. "Whom do you think is causing this situation with Vicki? I mean whom might be trying to possess her?" His first instinct had been to blame Angelique she was one of the few that could affect something this deadly. However, he had not seen her or heard from her in nearly two hundred years. He sat back to consider who was attacking his wife and why.
Elliott looked to the ceiling; his thoughts were collectively eliminating possibilities while he thought about what had occurred. "I think what we have here is a possession of a restless spirit that has been looking for a host for sometime. I am sure it was possibly something that attached itself to our Victoria when she was in Romania, and more specifically near the Burgos Pass. Would you not agree Gabriele?" He studied his assistant who had sat quietly by the fire upon their arrival to the library. Elliott noted the young man was staring intently into the fire and appeared to be thinking about what had happened.
Julia and Barnabas studied Gabe in his thoughtful pose awaiting his response. Taking a deep breath he let it out slowly and stood walking to the window to look out at the unfriendly weather he was preoccupied with how he would get to MDI from Collinsport and back. He had heard Elliott but he wanted to present a viable response that would gain the Professor's approval. "I think that this whole area is restless and that there have been a lot of unexplained deaths and restless spirits that seem to be wandering the grounds, especially around Widow's Hill. For something that dark to travel all that distant to just attach to Mrs. Collins I think is a stretch, why and for what purpose? There are far too many superstitious villagers that would work just as easily for possession. No I think this is darker, and older than even we know."
"What an interesting hypothesis my dear boy, do go on with what you think, I would be very interested to hear what you might have to add to this peculiar situation we have suddenly been thrust. I also recall you said that Victoria had been speaking in Romanian earlier thus the reason you thought it was a demon from the old country." Elliott smiled watching Julia pouring him a glass of sherry. "Thank you my dear, I do so love a good glass of sherry and especially the Collins sherry is a particular favorite of mine." Elliott took a long sip and sighed. Leaning back he closed his eyes.
Gabe frowned he was not sure how he wanted to present what he thought and still keep his cover. "My thoughts are if something old has been in this land for a while, it was searching for someone or something that would allow it access in and would give little resistance. It is possible it was something when she was in Romania or Transylvania. It is the first thought because she was speaking in Romanian and did not make sense with what she said. In Mrs. Collins case, which is another thought I had regarding this possession? I think because she is such a pure innocent that coupled with the fact from what you have told me Professor that she is a medium, she has a special light they can see and they are attracted to her. Because of all the odd things you say have happened to her and by her own admission to me today she has traveled through time and lived an entire life for several months in the past, perhaps it was while she was doing this traveling she picked up what we call hitch hikers. They were attracted to her and attached themselves to her while she was traveling back and forth."
This captured Elliott's attention and he nodded, "Julia could it be a past life that is trying to reassert itself back into her life?" Elliott thought of that being a possibility too.
"I could do a pass life regression therapy with her as I did with Daphne to see how far back we could go and find if there is something triggering these episodes." Julia sat next to her husband and thought a moment. "It might be something trying to reassert its place back into her current life. I am going to keep a supply of Dilantin and adrenalin on hand in case she seizes again. This is not good for her or us and frankly I am thinking we need to get to the core of what is causing all of this." She felt Elliott grab her hand and squeeze. "I would be tempted to move her to Wyndcliff and admit her for a couple of weeks to see if it is the environment."
"You look tired my dear, why not go on up and check on Vicki and go on to bed. I am sure that Barnabas will be up shortly to allow Daphne a chance to prepare for bed." He leaned over to place a light kiss on her lips. He watched that delightful color fill her cheeks. She nodded, stood and pulled her jacket down over her hips and walked to the door. "None of you should stay up too late." The lights flickered which reminded them of why they were staying at the old house this night with the wind beginning to pick up.
"Not to worry about loosing power, when we upgraded the house, I had one of those gas generators installed and we shall be warm with the fireplaces and the gas heat." Barnabas reassured his guests of their safety in the old house.
Sorin faked a yawn and turned stretching his arms and sighing. "Well I think I will go on to bed, I really am tired and perhaps we could research this a little further in the morning Gentlemen?" He smiled and followed Julia out of the door leaving Barnabas and Elliott alone. He needed to get to his room and begin to prepare to make his trek up the coast to his Prince. He knew it was a vital necessity personally for him to put the witch in her place; this possession had her hand written all over what happened to Vicki. He was going to enjoy what he had planned for her. Before this night was done she was going to regret what she had attempted sending a demon to try and possess Vicki and to draw upon one of the old ones from Romania was not going to set well with his Prince. It was not making him very happy either.
Going into his room, he locked his door and became immediately aware he was not alone. Turning he saw Radu standing near the fireplace. "Come, I have the tunnels from here to Collinwood mapped out and we can get you to a car and on the road to Vlad. He needs to know what happened here tonight." Sorin smiled, this was how a plan would come together to take the females from Collinwood and the old house and to the island retreat Vlad had bought the island for the express purpose of retrieving the one love of his life. Sorin's problem; he was beginning to have feelings for Vicki that were his own. Following Radu to the secret tunnel he was happy that for once he was not responsible for learning this layout. The tunnels had been intricately designed to confuse any that accidentally found them and wanted to use them. Using his excellent eyesight he found he was now entering into the bottom cellar of Collinwood. "If you follow this tunnel down to the beach I have moved your car there, you will find the keys on the front driver side tire." Sorin smiled clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you my friend, this is I am sure an important meeting. I am sure he will wish to proceed tomorrow to bring over the other and the sister?" He stepped back and saw Radu nod. "And Gilda is she behaving herself?"
Radu frowned, "I have not seen her for a couple of days. I did hear of two attacks in Logansport and Portland. I figure she is getting around." Radu led him to the main tunnel to the beach wished him well and then stepped back to turn to mist. Sorin walked towards the flow of cold air and exited the tunnel near the bottom of widow's hill. Looking at the car covered in ice he sighed and walked to the door and began to break the ice that had sealed the car doors and car handles. Freeing the car from its entombment, Sorin slid behind the wheel and looked over the crystalized looking coast of the winter Atlantic seaboard. Putting his car into gear he carefully and easily manipulated the car off the beach and onto the ice slicked roads.
Mount Desert Island Castle Lochia
Sorin pulled the four-wheel drive vehicle into the arched drive of the castle and coasted to a stop near the front garage entrance. Turning the car off he felt fairly lucky having negotiated almost sixty miles of black ice and hazardous roadways. Getting out of the car, he looked to the high arches and the gothic appeal of the castle. "Poor excuse for a home as far as castles go it is mediocre by his standards but serves his purpose." He mumbled and entered the castle through the rear entrance. Passing a bevy of servants that appeared to be in a flurry of activity they ignored the dark looking man with set in stone features. Walking towards where the most activity was occurring he snagged a servant. "Please tell Prince Vlad I am here and will be in after I have finished with the witch."
The servant bowed his head and cowered back from the stern man watching him with a hint of fear charge down the hallway towards the lower part of the castle. He could hear Nicholas in the library making demands, "Surely Count Tepes you can see yourself some compassion for another follower of the Dark Arts! She is a woman and prone to being overly hormonal. You must understand coming from virtually the same situation with your wife being married to the very man that is her husband!" The incessant whining of Nicholas faded with the deeper into the bowels of the castle he traversed.
Walking to the door he paused took a deep breath he was more than irritated with her he was angry. Listening he could hear a soft chant, banging the door open he thrust into the room and laid those cold black eyes on her. She stood and dropped the makeshift doll she had formed from bits and pieces found in her cell. Reaching for the doll in her hand he pulled it into his and narrowed his eyes. "Cease-torium!" he muttered and watched the modicum of light that had encircled the doll begin to diminish and disappear.
Turning to snag her wrist pulling her to him and glared into her eyes. "You know when we first met I warned you what would happen to you if you continued on this vendetta against the Princess. You have crossed the line for the last time witch." Flinging Angelique across the prison cell he watched her bounce on the bed and land on the floor with a gasp of pain and in her gaze he saw her fear ebbing over her features like the flow of time. He stood before her and taking his forefingers and thumbs he form a triangle; pointing the index fingers at her.
Angelique closed her eyes she knew of this spell but had never experienced it and then he chanted, "From beginning of time to the end of life, you Angelique Bouchard shall know what it is like to feel the pain and anguish of all those you have harmed in one form or another. Until you are truly ready to repent you shall experience the curse of shame and same. I collect all you have done and place rebound curse on you this night until such time you repent your actions, you shall suffer what you have dealt, it all shall be felt." His words fell on the silence of the room and he heard her gasp out and then she began to laugh, that cynical humorless laugh.
"You think you can put a curse on me for rebound? My god will not allow you to do this, he will not allow such a dark and unfair punishment be set down on me and especially by a no body like you!"
She was so sure she would be permitted to beat his curse until she felt the cold touch of the demon she had sent to possess Victoria enter the room. Like gelatinous goo it was it slithered to her and began to cover her from her feet growing and slithering its way up her form to her breasts.
Sorin watched with a satisfied smile. "This is the first of the returns that have come to carry out the curse. Where is your god now Angelique Bouchard? Where is Diablos? I can tell you where he is not. Here to protect you from your own spells."
The realization of what he had done and what was about to happen set in on Angelique. Screaming "NOOOOOOO, nooooooo! Do not do this you will kill me." She flung herself at his feet and cried out her apology. "I will not ever again harm anyone unless directed, I will not disobey the Prince or your requests do not do this!" The whole time the demon that was the one that had possessed Victoria earlier began to claim her body and absorb its essence in Angelique and she could feel it beginning to claim her reason.
Sorin shook off her arms from his legs, lifted her by her hair guiding her up to a standing position. "So it begins, you have a week to experience what you have put Victoria through. You will know that when the Prince says to follow his orders you do not make your own agenda. At the end of the week we shall have more guests here and if you are on your best behavior we will see about lifting the curse. Until then sweet dreams." He had drug her face close to his and had whispered the last part for her benefit and so she could see how serious he was with his threat. Pushing her away he watched her slump to her cot. "I will do one thing for you, I will ask the Prince to secure you in a more comfortable surrounding so when you are tormented you won't miss out on one moment of the delicious terror I have planned for you." Slamming the door behind him he locked her in without a backwards glance and walked with determination to the library.
Castle Lochia Library
Vlad sat behind his desk, his manner had grown cold and distant the whole time Nicholas was posturing his position and Angelique's position to what Nicholas considered was a pompous ass. "Surely you realize that by punishing Angelique it will cause a rift between our two dark powers. That obviously is not what my master would like or accept you do not wish to create a rift and start a war between our two houses." Nicholas smiled and for the first time in Vlad's this lifetime he was considering ripping the delegate of another's dark powers head off his body. Instead he stood, turned to Rudolpho and Petru, you will excuse me while I go and see how Sorin is faring with our guest."
Sorin stepped into view slid that calculated gaze over Nicholas, waved his hand in a slow and methodical way and muttered "Silence is Golden Nicholas Blair." Nicholas grabbed his throat and began to choke and fell to his knees gasping, eyes bulging. With his face suffusing with a peculiar shade of red and then blue he watched Vlad smile and then turn to Sorin.
"I take it the witch is receiving your special brand of spell casting as Mr. Blair is now experiencing?" Vlad stood in front of Nicholas and watched Nicholas lie face down, roll on his back and continue to claw at his throat. Glancing up to peer at Sorin and he received his response with a curt nod of yes. Vlad smiled again and felt for the first time that he could have peace. "Good, now Mr. Blair, I suggest you go back to your master and tell him how dissatisfied I am with the talent he sent me to deal with my problem and that the next time I may turn to one of his competitors to assist me. You might remind him of the debt he owes me." Vlad had locked his hands behind his back and rocked on the heels of his feet.
Looking down at the man that was as near to death as any he had seen with gentle treatment he nodded to Sorin whom once again waved his hand over Nicholas and spoke softly, "Darkness claims its own, I release you." The affect was immediate. The choking sensation was gone and Nicholas laid with eyes tightly closed and his breathing beginning to return to its normal pattern. Gingerly he pushed his body up into a kneeling position, got his balance and then stood on shaky legs. Taking his time to brush his jacket off and straighten his body and fought to regain his dignity he bowed to Vlad, turned with one final glare at Sorin left the room.
"Well that was tedious and very unsettling Vlad my boy." Rudolpho spoke softly then stood, "With that said Petru and I will leave you to your right hand while we see to our accommodations." Rudolpho bowed to his son in law, grabbed the pictures of Elizabeth, Victoria and Carolyn from the desk and walked from the room followed by Petru.
Petru paused then turned to Vlad, "You are expecting them to be here tomorrow night?" He was looking at his set of pictures of Carolyn with a light smile crossing his features.
"Providing this system moves out and there are no further complications with getting our guests here safely, it would not due to have them die because of horrible weather related road conditions."
Petru smiled nodded, glanced briefly in Sorin's direction hid his hint of a scowl turned and left the two alone. It was obvious that Petru resented Sorin and he did a very poor job of disguising his dislike for the henchman.
"Still no resolution between the two of you I see." Vlad had observed the subtle tension between the two men.
"Never will be as either of us are alive or in each other's company."
"I take it the witch is . . . "
From the distance they could hear a piercing scream of pain and fear. "Never mind, I never doubt your work." Vlad turned and smiled. Tomorrow it begins bring Elizabeth and Carolyn here to this location and if you have to sedate them so be it."
"Consider it done. But you should be aware she had summoned an ancient one to attack the princess tonight and it damn neared killed her. Had I not intervened you would be burying your love instead of preparing to embrace her. " Sorin turned and walked back to his car with one thought and one direction in mind, it was time to rain down terror on Collinwood.
Vlad was not happy; as a matter of fact Vlad was far more angrier than he had ever been in his entire life even before the Priests had denied his beloved a burial on sanctified grounds. He was going to see the Witch suffer and longer than Sorin had dictated.