Terror Returned part 3
Date: 3/13/98
From: barnster
*WARNING: STRONG STOMACHS ARE A MUST!*
As Maggie's body grew limp, Barnabas gripped her more firmly to him. The 'blood-rage,' had
consumed him, and there was nothing he could do. Through the crimson fog that clouded his
mind, he wondered vaguely how Maggie could ever forgive him, when he could not even forgive
himself.
As her blood coursed through his veins, he strength slowly returned. But with it, came his more
'human' senses. He was sickened by what he was doing, and yet aware that he could no more
control it, that he could the rising and the setting of the sun.
As he drank, and his thirst lessened, and his strength grew, he became aware of Maggie's heart,
resounding in his ears. Now the blood-rage relinquished its grip, and the vampire side of his
nature, grudgingly give way to his 'human' nature. Barnabas lifted his head, and was
horror-stricken at the death-like paleness of Maggie's skin. With a gentleness that would not have
been possible only seconds before, he lifted Maggie's limp form, and carried it to a sofa. As he
laid her down, her head lolled to one side, exposing the cruel puncture wounds, which stood out
in stark relief against her pale skin. Blood slowly oozed across her throat.
Barnabas had knelt down beside the sofa. He stared at her motionless form. The paleness of her
skin terrified him. Had he taken too much? He tried vainly to remember how long her heartbeat
had sounded in his ears. He touched her face. The coolness of her flesh served only to increase
his fears. His mind reeled at the possibility, that he had succeeded not only in satiating his
diabolical thirst, but passing it on to Maggie. He banished the unpleasant thought away. But the
stillness of her body and waxy pallor bothered him.
"Maggie?" he said hesitantly. There was no response. "Maggie?" he said again, this time a little
louder. Only stillness.
Panic seized him. "Maggie?" he said more urgently. When he still received no reply, he felt for a
pulse....and found none.
"No!" he whispered hoarsely. It wasn't possible! Surely he had stayed within the limitations?
What limitations, he thought numbly. There were no limitations for his kind. His face contorting
with revulsion and grief, he lifted Maggie's head from where it lay, and pressing it close to his
chest, buried his face in her hair. Though he was incapable of crying, his shoulders shook.
He gently laid Maggie's head back on the cushion. His eyes riveted to the puncture wounds on her
throat. Grief consumed him. He closed his eyes tightly, and clenched a fist against his mouth as a
moan escaped him. Anger rose up in him. Anger at having let this happen. Why had he let her
talk him into this? Why! But he knew why. Just as he knew it hadn't been her fault. Her love for
him had made the sacrifice the only logical thing for her to do. She had been prepared to do
anything, than watch him suffer the turmoil of his existence. Now she had paid the price. Dearly.
Now he leaned over her lifeless body, and held it close to him, for the last time. As he released
her, she let out a sigh. He snapped his head to the left. "Maggie?" he asked hopefully. Thinking
that perhaps, it was only the drain on her blood and her own strength, that had rendered her
motionless. She had been too weak to move, or to respond to him.
His relief soon turned to horror. With disbelieving eyes, Maggie's body seemed to collapse within
itself. The flesh dissolved until only the skeleton remained. "No!" he mewled, in horrified
disbelief.
His eyes bulging, he could only watch in abject terror. As he watched the bones of the skeleton
dissolved into nothingness. Maggie Evans Collins, was no more.
His paralysis broken he give a terrified shriek of terror. And Angelique's mocking laughter filled
the house...........
Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.