Chapter 13

Dracula's Lair on MDI

Sorin made it safely back with his next three charges tucked in the back of his van. Walking into the main foyer of Dracula's new castle he waited for the servants to collect Penny, Daphne, and Maggie into the house and lock them securely in the bedrooms assigned to them. Walking down the hallway he paused and smiled, it would appear that Angelique was growing exhausted from her trip down memory lane of all ill deeds she had visited upon many innocents in her lifetime. He turned to Vlad and smiled. "I suppose this pleases you?" He was dressed in his dark clothing and knew that the outside had become as uninviting as the inside was warm and now ready to welcome the living.

"Yes, my faithful servant very much so. The Witch has been quiet for a while but usually that is before another visitation in her mind is released and then she begins her wailing again. I must say I regret not having her locked in soundproof room. My first guests were awakened in the middle of the night by her horrendous yells of fear and anguish. It took me calling in our personal physician to calm my guests." Vlad walked with the confidence of a man that has been reborn to what he considered was his greatest reward. Sorin followed in step by his side.

"Are things in place for you to announce to the Princess your intentions and for Gilda to begin her attack?" Vlad walked into his library stepping to a side table that held a cut glass crystal decanter filled with a rich dark looking viscous fluid. Pouring out the thick substance into a glass he sipped, sighed and smiled "Ahh vintage Ukrainian 1705." He shifted and walked to his desk where he flopped ungracefully down in the chair and propped his feet up on the rich red cherry desk. Looking over the glass at his henchman he studied the man and noticed something slightly different.

"I will be prepared to call her day after tomorrow, I want them to know the first strike has happened and I want them all upset and scrambling over each other to try and figure out what my next move will be and I am just as sure they will know I am coming for Victoria." Lifting the glass he studied the color through the light and the crystal glass. "Sorin you have changed, you have not lost sight of what your goals are have you?" Vlad sipped and continued to study his assassin over the top of the glass.

"You are not questioning my loyalties are you highness? I can assure you my direction is clear and my loyalties are yours and yours alone." He stepped to the chair across from Vlad and sat back with such a degree of confidence that if Vlad thought he was switching sides he was now just as sure the man across from him was as he had said loyal to only him.

"Good, not questioning your loyalties just your direction of this mission. I sensed a change in you something that was a little softer and more open to possibilities if the right ones were presented. I will take your word that you have not lost your direction and I would never question your loyalties." He watched Sorin relax and return his studious look. "I question your feelings for Victoria verses my feelings for the woman I believe she to be and is in my eyes my Princess." Vlad watched every nuance about him while he lightly sipped and savored the flavor of his drink.

"Lord Vlad, I can assure you that what you will and want is the same as what I will and want for you. I find the lady in question to be very endearing and beautiful. She is in my opinion the very essences of what you said was your Elizabeta from so long ago. I also know that being reborn and living lives over and over sometimes we forget that changes occur and nothing we can do to change a mind in that respect will happen. My concerns are that you will not be disappointed and then reject her if someone else comes along that you fancy as being Elizabeta." He watched his lord and master react to his words with a tensing of his hand on the stem of the glass.

"You would question my decision to take this woman as one of my brides?" Vlad had lowered his own voice to a soft near whisper that hinted on the edge of anger. He lowered his feet to the floor, setting his glass on the desk and leaning over the desk to pin those cold-appraising eyes directly on Sorin.

Sorin did not flinch he had never shown his fear, or uncertainty in front of his boss before and he was not about to do it now. "I don't question anything that you desire my lord, I just expressed my regrets should you be disappointed that she does not live up to your expectations. What then? Shall you suffer through an eternity wondering and waiting for your true love to show up and be as you wish them to be or will you use your patience to allow them to feel what you feel for them?" His words were said with an easy level manner to express extreme confidence in his beliefs. He continued to return his own calculated and cold gaze to those eyes that had changed to a ice blue and a face that was set for anger and then relaxed with a twitch of his lips and a slow easy smile spread across his face.

"Thank you for being my voice of reasons my friend. I now see what you are not questioning me or my decisions. I understand that you have doubts. I further see that you are concerned for my feelings, which are vulnerable. I give you this much Sorin, you certainly press my good graces sometimes and I would deeply regret having to kill you." He lifted the glass and sipped again looking at how Sorin had taken his soft-handed reminder that he had almost pressed him too far with his open and frank appraisal.

Sorin did not bat an eye. "If ever I thought I was not to a point of being faithful to you my lord, I would not be around for you to kill me, or attempt such an act. I would simply disappear and you would never see or hear from me again and you well know I have that power and ability to do just that. If that makes you feel threatened then you have no one to blame but yourself, you did give me those powers and the abilities to best you should the time come and it had to be done."

1698 Romania

Sorin was now drifting back to a time so long ago he had nearly forgotten it existed after so many years of being alive and the lifetimes he had lived. Vlad had taken him to a dark cavern near the top of the Carpathian Mountains. "Some day I will build my home here so day." Vlad drifted to the interior of the cave and called out. "Come I am here and I have brought you a student!" There was a shuffling sound and a humpback straggled haired crone walked into the center standing in a pool of moonlight. Hideous beyond his young mind's comprehension. Her voice crackled and she wheezed and smelled worse than the pig dung in the stables.

"Student? You have for me a student!" She shuffled forward and looked Sorin over with her rheumy eyes faded from eons of working her evil magic and learning more. She pinched his cheeks and her half rotted teeth yellowed with age and unkempt management she had a breath that would have stopped a bull moose. "Soooo pretty boy . . . you want to learn from Grannie Bali mount? You want to know real power?" She laughed and grabbed his crotch. "Then Grannie wants something from you." Sorin at the time was scared to death that she was going to want him to bed her and he was not sure he could satisfy her. She had easily enough fondled his genitalia and it did make him feel good but the look of her was enough to keep him soft.

"What do you want old woman?" He smiled and it made him even more handsome in her eyes. "If you think I should bed you, you had better offer me more than a few words and some incense to fill the air. A bath might help." He muttered, and looked from Vlad to the hideous crone.

She cackled again. "Grannie does not need your little pizzle she just needs your attention. " Squeezing a little harder she watched him try to hide the pain. "Good see past the pain and we will begin with your first lesson." She cackled again. Squeezed harder and she saw the sweat pop out on his forehead. "Very good, you brought me a good one Vlad you may go." She waved her free hand and Vlad turned to mist and floated from the room. Sorin had been amazed at the amount of strength she displayed in her grip.

Current time

"So you wish me to bring her to my home so you may call and speak with her?" He watched his master push up from his desk and walk to the window.

Studying the weather he sighed, "I think I want you to start Doctor Hoffman on her journey to hell and back with our plan to begin tomorrow, then I will call you and tell you when to enlighten Elizabeta to what are plans are and how she is affected by them, do not hesitate to have her meet Gilda and let her know Gilda is going to go after her husband." Vlad turned rocking on the heels of his feet. "I believe that once we allow them to stew on the fact that most of their women are missing they will be obliged to want to ask me what I want, I think it would be a fair trade for us to have Elizabeta for Penny, Daphne, and Carolyn."

"What of Maggie and Mrs. Stoddard?" Sorin was not sure where he was going with this but he certainly wanted to listen to what he said.

Vlad smiled, "Not negotiable, I need leverage to entice Elizabeta to be more agreeable to my plans. We do not offer the mother or the best friend." He folded his arms over his chest and studied the floor looking down at his feet. "She is my everything Sorin make no mistake and I know she has been away from me for over three hundred years. It will take time to bring her over. Once I have her conditioned to my way of thinking we will then be happy and she will forget Collins, as long as she has her mother and her best friend here she will do anything I ask of her."

Sorin nodded. Thinking about what he planned he had to admit it was a good plan and he could see it working to their advantage. The problem was mortal humans were unpredictable. Look what Josette had done to not become what Barnabas wanted her to become, he felt that if Vicki were in a similar situation she very well could end her own life to prevent herself from becoming what Vlad was. He certainly had not embraced that way of life by choice; he did not like being controlled by urges. He would have preferred to control instead of being driven. He killed by choice and he enjoyed his job maybe too much according to his master. Rising he looked out the window." I suppose I need to get back to Collinsport before the roads become impassable. I figure most will be house bound since the roads will be in fairly bad shape." He walked to the door.

Putting his hand on the door to open it he heard Vlad's voice behind him. "Sorin, you are starting to care about Victoria as Victoria and not Elizabeta, do not be fooled, she is Elizabeta reborn into this new age and time, she was my wife and make no mistake she will be my wife again." Sorin nodded opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. For the first time in a very long time he was feeling something in the pit of his stomach and at the back of his mind. He was feeling sorry for a mere human. Walking down the hallway he knew he needed to get back and start on the second part of their revenge and this time the doctor would be the one to feel the fear and threat of death hanging over her.

Next Day

Wyndcliff Julia's Lab

Julia was looking through the microscope. The specimen she had on the plate was the last blood drawn from Barnabas. Looking up she was puzzled, was there was a mutation? Sitting back she sighed. The study from the seminar had been pretty specific and now she had applied that science and smiled. "maybe if I take a sample and . . ." she was interrupted in her thoughts by the sound of a spectral sounding voice coming from the shadows in the corner of her lab. Looking up she gasped, her eyes widen and she put the back of her hand to her mouth leaning back from the image that had appeared in her lab.

"Why Julia? Why did you let him do this to me? We were friends and I had hoped more Julia, I loved you!" The spectral image of Dave Woodard drifted towards Julia hovering in the room a look of torment filled his ghostly features and he moaned again. "Whhyyy Julia? Why?'

Julia pressed back against the lab table and pleaded, "I had no choice Dave, please you have to forgive me so you can go on and rest. Please forgive me Dave, you have to forgive me!" Julia cried out backing away from the table and staggered back against the wall. Tears blinding her retreat she slid down the wall and huddled on the floor, crying over and over. "Dave you have to forgive me."

"Julia! My dear Julia?" Elliott entered her lab seeing her huddled on the floor in tears, he helped her to stand. "Julia, darling, my dearest love, come let us get off the floor." Elliott lifted her and guided her to a chair and helped her to sit. Turning he walked to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of sherry, something she had kept in her office since they married. Pouring out two glasses he turned to carry them back to his wife, sitting them on the desk he took her hands in his and smiled. "Now calm down my dear, and here try to drink this." He handed her the sherry and watched her hands tremble lifting the drink to her mouth. Elliot helped her to take the drink to her lips. Until he felt her hands calm.

"Now my dear what has you so terribly upset?" He pulled a chair up and sat on it leaning forward. Taking her trembling hands in his, he smiled and encouraged her.

"I saw Dave Woodard in the corner, Elliott, he thinks I helped Barnabas kill him and he is not happy." Julia looked down and buried her face in her hands.

"Did you help Barnabas Julia?" Eliott's question was made with so much sympathy he had his answer by her reaction before she shook her head.

"I had no choice, it was a dark time for him and he was threatening to kill me too. If Dave had to die because Barnabas felt threatened I felt it should be done in a humane way. Elliott not a day goes by that I am not riddled with guilt over what happened and if I could change it I would gladly give my life to bring his life back. You knew how protective Barnabas was over his identity and what he was. I was working hard to cure him. Dave would not listen and kept poking his nose around and finally, he made Barnabas feel threatened and was throwing his knowledge of what Barnabas was and said he was going to expose him for what he was." Julia sobbed, heartfelt deep guilt ridden sobs clinging to Elliott's neck burying her face into his broad chest.

Elliott loved Julia, and he would protect her no matter what so he had decided then and there that he would stand by her no matter what. "Julia, my dear sweet darling Julia, come let's go home and I will find a way to protect you from this ghost that is Dave Woodard and perhaps I can find a way to help him cross over. Come my dear, we have a home that needs us now and this place may wait another day." He helped her to stand, gathered her purse and her coat and not wishing to allow the staff to see how upset she was he lead her out the back door of Wyndcliff to their car. Seating her in the car, he set the vehicle in motion to head back to Collinsport.

Collinwood West wing

Vicki opened the door to the west wing and stepped into the hallway looking around she clutched the items to her chest, her heart was racing and she was a worried sick. She had hoped she had not been missed. Looking up she saw Sarah standing there smiling and waving her towards her at the end of the hallway. "Come on Victoria, I will show you a way home that no one but you and me know of." She took Vicki's hand in her cold one and walked with her to a hallway that ran parallel to the one she had just exited. "Uncle Jeremiah had this tunnel dug when the house was first built. It connects the old house to Collinwood. No one will know you were gone from the house." She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand.

Sarah walked her through a series of turns and counter turns where Vicki felt she was confused. That is until Sarah pointed to the marks on the wall. "You follow the three marks and they will lead you to the Old house and the Big House, if you follow the two marks it will lead you to the beach and the 1 mark will just confuse you but they were used to hide gun powder from the royalists. Poppa and Uncle Jeremiah made sure there was dry gun powder for the war and our side." Vicki found herself in the cellar of the old house bent down to hug the child and slide the slender looking tablet under her sweater. In her pocket she had tucked the thing that Sebastian had called a charger. She wanted to get to her room lock herself in and go over the booklet he had given her that he had called technology.

She had been amazed by what the future held and to have seen herself through the curtained off area of the store was unsettling but she saw she was obviously happy and whatever she had done now was obviously allowing her a happy life with Barnabas. So she made sure to pay special attention to what Sebastian had told her. He had looked at her with a seriousness that was unnerving. "If you do not follow these instructions this future for you will not happen and you will be doomed to the events that are unfolding in your time." This had frightened her enough that she made sure she followed his instructions and had even wrote them down on a small slip of paper.

Now walking up the stairs to the foyer and the drawing room she looked around and saw she was by herself. Hugging the device to her chest she scurried up the stairs to her bedroom, locking the door, she walked to the fireplace and sat down and began to look at this thing called an i-pad. Running her hand over the surface of the new technology she smiled, she was now empowered and hoped she would never have to use this device. She had promises Sebastian that she would keep it hidden. She knew how powerful this device was not because of the knowledge it held but because of the fact it had come from the future a future she had been privy to see. She had hidden in the back when Sebastian had told her to hide and had been shocked to see herself in another thirty years.

Earlier Sebastian Shaw's Shop

She had just received instructions on how to use the device he had given her and she had promised should she need it and it was used, she would bring him another to replace it to which he had laughed and said lightly, "You already gave me three, don't worry about it just be sure to learn these spells and use them." She had heard the tinkling noise and he grimaced, "here hide behind this curtain." She watched amazed, as she was the one that had entered the shop. She was older and looked happy. She had walked into the room and looked at the curtain and smiled and winked at herself then turned to Sebastian.

"The newest upgraded one. Thank you Sebastian, thank you for giving me my life back." She had hugged him and then turned and spoke softly. "I am here now behind that curtain aren't I?" Sebastian had guided her out the door. She was not sure how she felt about it. But she knew one thing was certain she needed to get back to Collinwood and her time and let Sarah take her back to Rose Cottage so she could begin her life anew and make sure that she learned all she could. She knew that the darkness was slowly encroaching into her life and with the arrival of the elementals this was a heralding.

Rising she hugged the i-pad close to her chest and walked to the window, even the shadows appeared to be alive and becoming liquid folding in on themselves and moving closer to the house. A cold feeling ran her spine. Then she felt him behind her, "My Princess, you seem lost and sad. Perhaps you should think about returning to your roots and the one that truly loves you!" Radu with his smirk painted on his face stood mockingly in front of her.

"Why are you here?" She demanded pressing her back against the window. "Who are you and what do you want?" He walked around the room running his fingertips over the various pieces of furniture and watching her unease grow with each movement he made and at one point watched her jump when he made a lunging motion in her direction.

"I my Princess would be a part of your past and your near future. I am here to make sure you are kept safe until your triumphant return to the Prince of Wallachia and his loving arms." He smiled and then chuckled when he lunged towards her and watched her hug the device in her arms closer and jump back pressing to the window. "I am a reminder of the days gone by and why you have now returned to be with him who is the love of your life and not that one that is now stuck in Portland due to the storm." Radu continued to circle the room.

"I think sir you are mad and should leave my room now!" Vicki had stiffened her spine and glared at him. He in turn chuckled softly extended his hand.

"Your hand my dear and sit, we will have a brief conversation and then I will leave you to mull over what I propose." Vicki hesitated and watched him curve his fingers motioning for her hand. She reluctantly and with much hesitation took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the chair by the fire. "Now sit and let us begin your re-education."