Subj: Collinsport -- 86
Date: 6/18/01 1:57:59 AM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

Minutes after he disappeared behind the closed door, the servant returned. This time, he left the door open.

"Mr. Blair will see you now." He said gravely.

* * *

Neil spent most of the walk to Tori's car wondering if he'd misunderstood, or if she really did know that he was a vampire. {She had been staring at that "mirror."} He thought. {Hadn't she?}

Finally he decided to take a chance and broach the subject. "Miss Collins," he began.

"Please, call me Tori," she favored him with a dazzling smile.

"All right. Tori." He smiled back. "Back there, when I mentioned that I was once a co-worker of your father's."

"Yes?"

"Well, I was more than that." For reasons he couldn't quite comprehend, he wanted to get it all out in the open. "I sort of hired him for that position."

Her eyes widened. "You mean you were the . . ." She moved her arms up and down in a gesture vaguely reminiscent of Morris Day dancing 'The Bird.'

He smiled at her. "Yes, but there's a lot more to the story than that. If you're still willing to take me, I'll be happy to tell you all about it on the way to Rockport."

"Dad's in Rockport?"

"Yes, and we've got to stop him from making a big mistake."

"Well, here's my car. Let's get on the road."

* * *

Barnabas assumed there was more to the first floor than the foyer, but he never got to see it, for immediately after they left the foyer, they began to descend a long, gradual staircase.

The staircase never turned but it seemed to go on far beyond the limits of the house.

Finally, the staircase ended in a large, dark, cavernous room, dominated by a huge table. A fireplace flickered at the far end, outlining the shape of a man.

"Nicholas? Nicholas Blair?" Barnabas called out.

"Ah, Barnabas! Come in! I've been expecting you!"

Barnabas made his way slowly across the room, all the while noticing that the floor seemed to be made of one uninterrupted slab of granite. As he drew closer to the fireplace, the only source of light in the room, he thought that it seemed to be red in color.

He finally reached the end of the table, to find Nicholas more babyfaced than he expected. "Nicholas? Is it really you?"

The other man gave him a dazzling smile, his blue eyes twinkling in the firelight. "Not what you expected, eh, Barnabas?"

"You're just younger than I expected."

"Reincarnation. Better than any health spa for the man who wants to retain his youth. I highly recommend it."

The sorceror continued, "I doubt you came here just to find out my personal beauty secrets. What can I do for you?"

* * *

"So, you're my father's . . . sire, is it?" Tori asked as she pulled her car onto the highway.

"That's the term." Neil responded with false confidence.

"How'd it happen?"

"This is going to be a long story. You know who Angelique is?"

"My father's first wife." Tori responded.

"Right. Well, that was a long time ago . . ."

"In 1796."

"Okay, just checking. Well, Angelique and I have been friends for a long, long time. Around," he did the math in his head. "309 years. Give or take.

"She and your father fell in love on Martinique. I met him and thought he was a good man, and good for her, and he did seem to love her, so when she went to Maine as Josette's maid, I thought certainly they'd find a way to be together.

"So, fully expecting them to have found a way to be together, I came up to Maine for a visit, I was living in London at the time, not the best time perhaps, but the Regency period was about to start, and what decent vampire doesn't love low-cut gowns, gaming hells and midnight duels?"

He grinned at her, but at her stern expression, returned to his story. "Well, when I arrived in Collinsport, I found Angelique and Barnabas married, just as I'd believed they would be. I decided that I really wasn't needed there, and was about to leave, when the strangest compulsion overtook me. Later, I found out about Angelique's curse, but at the time, it was just this voice in my head, telling me to go back to the Old House. When I returned, Barnabas was just stepping onto the porch, and the little voice told me that since Angelique was effectively immortal . . ."

"'Was'?" Tori interrupted.

"Through her involvement with Diabolos and Nicholas Blair, she was able to reincarnate herself. When her old body was killed, she could find someone recently deceased, and, if it was soon enough after the death, inhabit that body."

"She made it look like a near death experience." Tori supplied, to indicate her understanding.

"Exactly." Neil responded with a smile. "Anyway, since she was immortal, the voice told me, I could even things up. Make Barnabas immortal as well, and they could go through the centuries together."

"So you turned him. Without his permission."

"Yes." Neil paused, waiting for her to pull over to the side of the road and throw him out of her car.

* * *

Suddenly, Barnabas's confidence drained out of him, leaving him weak and shaking. Nevertheless, he carried on. He drew himself up and, looking Nicholas directly in the eye, said, "You know why I'm here, Nicholas."

"Do I?" The feigned innocence suited Nicholas's new, younger features even more than it had suited the more mature face that Barnabas had known.

"Yes." Barnabas answered shortly. When Nicholas didn't hurry to agree with him, he elaborated. "It's about Angelique."

"Really? You've been in touch with her, I take it?"

"Come off it, Nicholas. You know I have. And you know that she sold you her soul in exchange for the power to heal Julia's heart. She had no right to do that."

"On the contrary, Barnabas. She had every right to do that. It is, after all, her soul to sell. Or rather," he added with a smirk, "it was."

"But she used it to buy something that wasn't hers to buy. It was my place to make that sacrifice." Barnabas didn't notice the look of anticipation on Nicholas's face as he furrowed his brow in indignation and proclaimed. "You should take my soul as payment, instead."

Nicholas's eyes suddenly lit up. "What did you say?"

"I said that I want you to give Rosario back her soul and take mine instead."

"All right." Nicholas smiled. "Have it your way."

"Do I need to sign anything?" Barnabas asked.

"Oh? You mean a contract with the Devil written in your own blood? Things like that?"

Barnabas blanched slightly, then nodded.

Nicholas laughed. "Of course not."

"Then is it that easy to lose one's soul? You just wish it away, and it's gone?"

"No." Nicholas shook his head. "I'm no longer a sorceror, in any sense you'd understand. I've moved up in the world. I'm now a . . . I guess you'd call it a broker, of souls. I buy them, and then sell them to the highest bidder. You willingly made an offer to a broker, and I'm basically bound to purchase it. That's why you could get Angelique's soul back. Because I hadn't sold it yet. I was hanging onto it, just in case."

"So that's it? When will I know who's bought my soul?"

Nicholas shrugged. "You may never know. Not until after your death. Then you'll find out. But keep the good thought. Maybe I won't be able to find a buyer, and title to your soul will revert to you on your death. Antoine will see you to the door." And with this, Nicholas swiveled his chair around to face the fire.

The servant stepped out of the shadows. "Mr. Collins? Right this way, if you please." And with that, he led Barnabas back up the stairs.

Subj: Collinsport -- 87
Date: 6/27/01 5:37:17 AM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

Tori drove on in silence, leaving Neil to wait for her decision. She remained silent through Frankfort, and Stockton Springs. Finally, as they entered Belfast, she sighed. "So, why am I driving you to Rockport? You must be able to fly there faster."

"I'm glad you asked. You see, I was a little nervous about bringing up this subject."

"What subject?"

"You see, I'm the one who told Barnabas that Angelique had sold her soul for the power to save your mother's life."

Tori slammed on the brakes, nearly causing her car to skid in the loosely-packed snow. Then, as she pulled her car to the side of the road and put it into 'park,' she exclaimed. "She *what*?"

Neil sighed. "I was afraid of this. See, do you remember when your mother was in the hospital?"

"How could I forget?"

"You remember a young Mexican-American woman who came to visit her?"

"Yeah. Right before Mom recovered." Her eyes widened. "That was Angelique?"

Neil nodded. "I was furious when she told me what she'd done. I immediately went to your father, and told him about it. As I expected, he said that he should have borne responsibility for your mother, and asked me to help rectify the situation."

"And so you did."

"Yeah. I got the address that we're on our way to, and gave it to him."

"And where we're going is?"

"The home of Nicholas Blair. He's a soul broker."

"Broker? Like someone who buys and sells - souls?"

Neil nodded again.

Tori took a leap of logic as she put her car into gear. "And so my father's going to sell his soul in exchange for Angelique's unless we stop him. Unless *I* stop him. We'd better get moving, then."

Tori threw her car back into gear and pulled out onto the highway. As they passed through downtown Belfast, Neil asked, "I'm starting to get a little hungry."

She was about to offer him some of the snacks she kept in her car, but then she realized what he was talking about. "Oh. All right." She blanched slightly as she held out her right forearm to him, and was slightly affronted when he laughed in response.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "That's not what I meant at all. I was wondering if you'd mind if I ate in front of you."

"Ate in front of me?" She asked, then she got her answer as Neil reached into his briefcase and pulled out a bag of premixed blood.

"Works almost like one of those fruit juice drinks." Neil grinned at her. She gave him a puzzled look and he demonstrated as, with a slightly-exaggerated flourish of his fangs, he punctured the bag and began draining it.

"You know," Tori began, but then she blushed and stopped.

Neil carefully disengaged his fangs. "What?"

"No. It's just silly. You'll laugh."

"I promise. I won't laugh. Tell me."

"No."

"Tori . . ." Neil said in a coaxing tone.

"All right." Tori sighed. "I've always sort of wondered what it tastes like."

"Blood?"

"Yeah. Like I said, it's silly."

"It's not silly."

"Really?"

"Of course not. Though I am surprised that you didn't have any friends in college who were into that sort of thing or anything."

"Well, I knew kids like that, but I never had any good friends, at least not *that* good, who were into it."

"You can have a taste of this, but I can tell you now that you won't like it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Honestly? Because this stuff really doesn't taste all that good to *me.* It's nothing like blood coming right out of a person's veins . . ." He paused. "No good going down that route. Let's just say that it's only resemblance to the real thing is that it keeps body and soul together. So to speak. But if you really want a taste . . ."

Tori debated for a moment, then nodded. "I know it's not the real thing, but hopefully I'll never have a chance to try the real thing, so I'll never know, right?"

He squeezed a few drops onto his fingertip. "Here. This will give you an idea of what it tastes like."

She pulled to the side of the road and looked down at the finger he offered her. "This won't *do* anything to me, will it?"

"Like turn you into a vampire?" He laughed warmly. "No. It's just blood from the local blood bank."

She furrowed her brow at him, and then gently licked the blood off his finger. She shuddered. "Ick. That's *awful*!" She made a face.

Neil smiled. "Didn't I warn you?"

"Yeah. You did. Blech!" She put the car into Park and reached into the backseat for a bottle of Coke. She opened the top and poured the carbonated beverage into her mouth to wash out the taste.

Then, still making distasteful sounds in her throat, she put her car into Drive and pulled back out onto the highway.

They drove on for several minutes, before Neil began laughing again.

"Stop it! That's not funny!" Tori protested, before being overtaken by the giggles herself. "I guess I learned my lesson." She breathed in between gales of laughter.

Eventually, their mirth subsided.

Neil sighed contentedly. "I'm really comfortable. Happy, even."

Tori looked at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really. I don't know what it is. I've never been comfortable around women. Except Rosie, of course. I guess I have some Oedipal issues left over from my childhood."

"Don't tell me you believe in Freud's theories?"

"Not wholesale, no. But I did, in fact, kill my father. And even if I never did try to marry my mother, I did try to marry my stepmother."

"Really?" Tori said for the second time.

"Yeah. It's a long story, and I don't even know why I brought it up."

"Maybe you just needed someone to talk to about it."

"Maybe." He agreed, and they drove on in silence.