Subj: Dark Light -- 2
Date: 3/20/99 7:32:29 PM Central Standard Time
From: Flashman

Chapter 2-Answers, Reflections, and Decisions


Annie awoke with a start. Where was she? Had it all been merely a terrible dream? She wasn't in the mausoleum anymore. In fact, she was in a nice, comfortable bed. The room was somewhat decaying but it was well lit with candles. Candles everywhere, it seemed. Annie looked around the room and tried to get her bearings. She saw a portrait on the wall. It wasn't the same one she recalled from the night before. This portrait was that of a woman and was older, much older. She strained her eyes and saw Josette Collins on the inscription. 1795 appeared to be the date. That old, thought Annie. Maybe she could make off with the portrait and hock it in some Collinsport pawnshop. That is, if they had a pawnshop in Collinsport.

****

She felt very weak and nauseous. Hell, she probably couldn't even carry the portrait into town. Annie assumed she was still somewhere on the outskirts of Collinsport but for all she knew she could be in Bangor. Suddenly, Annie felt a sharp pang of pain in her neck. She touched the sore spot with her hand and felt two puncture wounds over her jugular vein. What had happened to her?

****

Then she remembered the man in the coffin. The same man in the portrait she had seen when she had broken into the old house. He had awakened from an apparently deep slumber and bared fangs. Fangs, she remembered it clearly now. Could the man have been a vampire? Nonsense, Annie decided. There were no such things as vampires unless you counted Alan Spaulding. But still, there were those two puncture wounds in her neck. There had to be a logical explanation and she was sure as hell going to figure out what it was.

***

Suddenly, Annie heard voices from outside the door of the bedroom. One sounded somewhat foreign. English maybe. The other voice had a New England accent with maybe a touch of Irish thrown in. Both voices were strangely familiar to her. She had heard them before, somewhere.

***

The two voices apeared to be arguing but not vehemently. The English one was asking her identity. New England/Irish said he thought the girl's name was Annie and that he'd seen her in the Blue Whale last night. Of course, that's who New England was, thought Annie. Willie Loomis, the drunk at the bar. Hell, this was probably all his doing. Maybe he hadn't been as drunk as he appeared to be in the bar. Maybe the other guy was his accomplice and they'd rigged up some silly game to lure her into that mausoleum. The whole house was probably wired with some kind of electronic equipment and that would account for the voice and heartbeat she had heard. But why? What was their game? Had she escaped from that prison only to come to this godforsaken town and end up in the clutches of two lunatics?

***

Still groggy, Annie couldn't make out every word the two men said. She'd find out soon enough. Just wait. That was all she could do now. Annie thought about how hard Reva would be laughing if she could see her predicament now. Reva, that bitch. It seemed as though her thoughts always returned to Reva. If not for Reva, she'd be happy. She would have married Alan Spaulding and been the grande dame of Springfield. Now she was on the run. A prison escapee who had fallen into the clutches of two lunatics, maybe more.

***

Then the door opened. Annie cringed in terror. Willie Loomis entered the room first, followed by the man she had seen lying in the coffin. The man with the hideous fangs. Annie Dutton screamed to wake the dead.

***

"Be quiet. Stop that infernal screaming!" said the second man.

It was the same voice she had heard last night summoning her to go to the mausoleum. It had a strong sense of command. Annie ceased her screaming and waited for her ordeal to begin.

***

"Now my dear, suppose you tell me your name and what you were doing in this house last night?" the second man whom she had seen in the coffin asked.

***

"My name's Annie. Annie Dutton. I climbed in through the window. The glass was broken so I just reached in and opened it. I didn't want to steal anything from the house, I swear. I only wanted to spend the night because I didn't have enough money for a motel. I'm on my way to Bangor. Please, please don't hurt me! Hey! Hey! I might as well tell you. I'm an escaped convict from Ohio. they've probably got a reward out for me by now. If you guys turned me in to the police unharmed it might be worth some money to you."

***

Both men paused to consider Annie's words. At least Annie knew where she was now. Still in the house she had broken into on the previous night. In a nice, comfortable bed in a room lit with candles. In fact there didn't seem to be any electricity in the entire place. Probably disconected years ago when the house was abandoned.

***

"Hey Barnabas, this chick could be worth some money. Let me call the police and see if there is a reward on her."

***

"Forget the police, Willie," replied Barnabas. "Aren't you forgetting that she knows our secret too?"

***

"Ah, who'd believe her?" Willie was already spending the reward money in his head.

***

"Probably more people than that small mind of yours could imagine. There are, I'll wager, plenty of people still in Collinsport who remember the events of 25 to 30 years ago. David, in particular. You informed me last night that he lives at Collinwood with Amy, his wife. He was there 25 years ago when Elizabeth and Roger had me chained in my coffin for what I presumed would be the final time."

***

"Like I told ya last night, David's gone to Florida on vacation with Amy and the kids. The servants and the nanny are gone too. I'm the only one left on the estate for the next two weeks," said Willie, still anticipating the reward money.

***

"Hold on, hold on," interrupted Annie. "Did you just say you were chained in that coffin for 25 years? How are you still alive? What the hell are you?"

***

"Haven't you guessed by now, Miss Dutton?" answered Barnabas. "I'm one of the Undead."

"You mean a vampire?"

"I prefer the term Undead but yes, that's what I am. Barnabas Collins. Born in the year 1760. Died in the year 1795 according to the history books. But in reality cursed to live forever, never to find love or happiness and never, it now appears, to find final peace."

***

Barnabas sounded very melancholy when he made that statement. Annie felt a slight twinge of sorrow for the man. To be cursed to live forever without love. Geez, if this guy really is who he says he is, then his life puts mine to shame. Still, being a vampire had its advantages. You could live forever and be eternally the age at which you were turned into one. Annie began to wonder.

***

"You just rest here for a little while longer, Miss Dutton. I drained quite a bit of blood from your body last night. A little more than I probably should have but you'll be all right in a bit. Willie and I are going downstairs. I'm going to lock the door. Just start banging on it if you need anything. One of us will come up.

***

"You're in a very special room. This is the room where the love of my life, Josette DuPres, nee Collins, resided. Despite the fact that it has decayed somewhat in the past twenty-five years this is exactly how it looked in 1795. Every piece of furniture is accurate. Except for the portrait. I placed it up there in 1967, when I was first released from my coffin. Willie here did the honors then."

***

Barnabas and Willie exited the room leaving Annie to rest. She stared at the portrait. The closer she looked, the more familiar the face became. Who did the face remind her of? Maggie, the woman at the Blue Whale! That's who the portrait resembled. Maggie was considerably older now than the woman in the portrait was when it was painted. Annie wondered if Maggie and Barnabas had been lovers years ago. Maybe Maggie was a vampire too. No, Annie remembered seeing Maggie's reflection in a mirror at the Blue Whale. Everyone knew that vampires cast no reflection.

***

Annie felt very tired. Might as well do as he says. Get some rest. Then see what he has in store for me. Annie drifted back to sleep and began to dream about returning to Springfield. Returning in triumph, not in chains.

***

Barnabas Collins and Willie Loomis walked away from Josette's room, down the stairs, and into the living room.

***

"What do we do with her, Barnabas?" asked Willie. "You said no police. I sure hope you're not going to kill her. She's a looker, that one is." Willie, through the years, had never lost his eye for beautiful women although he seldom had any success with them. The one he had his eye on now was the new nanny at Collinwood who'd been on the job for about six months. Boy did that girl have a pair of knockers. However, she looked at Willie like he was dirt. Oh well, it never hurt to dream.

***

"You're right, my observant friend. She is quite a looker. Did you see those beautiful green eyes? I haven't decided yet what to do. I think I need to contemplate some more. I just need more time to take in the fact that after 25 years I'm free again. Free to pursue my destiny, whatever it may be. I think I'll take the secret passageway in the basement down to the shore. I'll return in about an hour."

***

"Okay Barnabas," replied Willie.

***

"Oh, and be sure you don't bungle things and let her escape."

***

With those words Barnabas disappeared into the basement where the secret passageway to the seashore was located. Barnabas's parting words stung Willie but he knew that he had bungled things in the past for Barnabas so he let them slide off quickly.

***

Willie, now that he was alone, had time to contemplate himself. After so many years Barnabas was back. He wished Julia Hoffman was still alive so she could see him. Poor Dr. Hoffman, she died loving Barnabas. Even talked of freeing him a few times when Willie would visit her in Windcliff Sanitarium. Funny, Julia spent the last ten years of her life confined to the very institution she was once director of. Of all the people from the old days, Willie thought of Julia the most.

***

What of the rest of the Collins family from years ago? What had happened to them? David Collins, he knew well because he worked for him as handyman at Collinwood. He'd worked there since 1974, the year Baranbas's secret had been discovered and he'd been chained in his coffin for a second time. Both Roger Collins and Elliott Stokes wanted to destroy Barnabas. It was Elizabeth Stoddard who persuaded them not to. Just chain him up in his coffin. If we kill him it would be cold-blooded murder, were her words.

***

Anyway, back to David. David had married his childhood sweetheart, Amy Jenings, and now lived in the great house with her and their three children: David, Jr., Christopher, and Edwina. Willie had an uneasy relationship with David Collins. If he had a dollar for every time David had threatened to run him off of Collinwood for good, he'd be a rich man by now. Willie and David both knew that would never happen simply because Willie knew too many secrets about the Collins family.

***

One thing about David, Willie had to admit, was that he had managed to keep the Collins family business afloat after some hard times it had encountered due to Elizabeth's failing health and Roger's all-around incompetence. The business would probably never again be the power it once was but at least it was still providing some jobs for the citizens of Collinsport.

***

Let's see. Elizabeth Stoddard had died in 1989 after a long bout with cancer. Roger Collins followed her to the grave in 1995, shooting himself in the head after learning he had contracted Alzheimer's Disease. Elizabeth, on her deathbed, had confessed that Victoria Winters had been her daughter from an earlier affair with former family lawyer, Richard Garner.

***

Victoria Winters. Now there was a name Willie hadn't thought of in a long while. Jeez, what everyone said had happened to that girl was just plain spooky, even for Collinsport. Supposedly, on her wedding night, Victoria Winters and her husband, Jeff Clark, had disappeared into the past. Neither was ever seen in Collinsport again. Before Willie had ever arrived in Collinsport, Victoria Winters had dated Frank Garner, the son of Richard Garner. Frank, according to what Willie had heard, had broken off the romance suddenly and moved to New York to practice law on Wall Street. Willie guessed that Frank's father had told him the truth. He also guessed that Victoria Winters had never learned it.

***

Speaking of Victoria Winters, Willie thought of a girl who could have been her reincarnation. That girl who had been Claus von Bulow's mistress, Alexandra Isles. Man, that girl and Victoria Winters had been exact doubles.

***

Back to the Collins family. Carolyn Stoddard, who had known Barnabas's secret, married Sebastian Shaw, the astrologer who resembled her first husband, Jebez Hawkes, in 1972. She moved with him to Boston that same year. Sebastian Shaw wrote the astrology column for the Boston Herald and Carolyn owned one of those psychic friends phone lines. Together, on weekends, they hosted a late night program on one of the independent television stations in Boston showing bad old B-horror movies. The show was a hoot. Willie would have to tell Barnabas about it. Carolyn and Sebastian had one child, a daughter named Elizabeth after her mother. Elizabeth Shaw was a stage actress in New York who had appeared in several off-Broadway plays.

***

Quentin Collins simply beat it. Willie guessed that after Barnabas was exposed, Quentin feared being next. No one had heard from Quentin in 25 years although David told Willie he had heard rumors that Quentin was living in Europe. The portrait of Quentin painted by Charles Delaware Tate was locked securely in the attic at Collinwood. That meant that Quentin would look exactly the same today as he looked 25 years ago.

***

What about the others? Let's see. Elliott Stokes had died of a heart attack in 1978. His niece, Hallie, had followed her uncle into academia. She taught literature at the University of Maine in Orono. Hallie and her husband were good friends with David and Amy and often visited them at Collinwood.

***

Maggie Evans, after suffering a nervous breakdown in 1970, was confined to Windcliff Sanitarium where she was reunited with her old boyfriend, Joe Haskell. Everyone Willie talked to said that the love they felt for each other had restored both to sanity. They were released from Windcliff in 1971 and married shortly afterward. They had left Collinsport immediately after the wedding and settled in New Bedford for about ten years. There they had a daughter named Samantha, after Maggie's late father, Sam. Samantha Haskell was now in the United States Air Force.

***

Then, around 1981, both moved back to Collinsport when Joe, who had grown tired of the fishing business he worked for in New Bedford, bought the old Blue Whale Pub. The place had done well under Joe and Maggie until a few years ago when Joe's health began to fail. Medical expenses took their toll and when Joe Haskell died in late 1997 of a heart attack the place was on the verge of closing. Still on the verge because Maggie was determined to hang on. Willie liked that about Maggie. Inside her pleasant exterior lurked the iron will of a survivor.

***

Maggie never remembered her kidnapping by Barnabas and himself in 1967. Julia Hoffman had hypnotized her into forgetting the whole event. Of all the bad things Willie had done in his life, and there had been many, that was the one he regretted most. Thank God Maggie never remembered that incident and had remained friends with Willie all these years.

***

That brought Willie into the present. He supposed he would remember last night almost as vividly as the night in 1967 when he was the one who had freed Barnabas from his imprisonment. It began like so many others. Willie made his rounds at Collinwood, making sure everything was secure, and headed into town. He had hitched a ride because he had recently lost his driver's license due to a DUI conviction.

***

Willie entered the Blue Whale and took his usual seat at the end of the bar at about 8:00 p.m. Business was slow. A few people filed in, had some drinks, and departed. Willie drank his fill and then some. At about 10:00 she walked in. the best looking woman he'd seen in Collinsport in a long time. Harry Johnson, the son of a former Collinwood housekeeper and the cook/bartender at the Blue Whale, noticed her too. Her eyes, that's what stood out about her. They were a beautiful shade of green. That, plus a long and slender body and gorgeous blonde hair.

***

Despite her beauty, Willie immediately felt uneasy. She had a desperate look about her. She looked like she was on the run from something. Maybe an abusive husband or boyfriend, maybe the law. She sat down at the bar, a few stools over from Willie, and asked Maggie if she could get something to eat. Harry Johnson fixed her a sandwich and some chips and Maggie got her a club soda to drink. Willie came over and introduced himself. The girl then said her name was Annie. Maggie said for her not to mind Willie.

***

"He may look dangerous but he's gentle as a lamb."

"I'll take your word for it," was her reply.

***

Willie sauntered back over to his barstool as Maggie and the girl who said her name was Annie began a conversation. Willie was nursing his drink and then Harry brought him another so he missed quite a bit of their conversation. He vaguely heard Annie ask Maggie if she could have a job at the Blue Whale. That perked Willie's ears up. Maybe the woman would stay in Collinsport a little while and he could get to know her. You never know what might develop.

***

Sadly, Maggie replied that she was just barely making it and then said if it weren't for Willie the place would probably close. Willie had then laughed and nearly fallen off his barstool. The woman then inquired about lodging for the night. Maggie recommended the Collinsport Inn. Willie then said that the woman could stay at his place for the night if she wanted. He was politely rebuffed.

***

Then the woman who said her name was Annie left the Blue Whale and went out onto the street of Collinsport. He supposed she had made it all right to the Collinsport Inn. She had been in the bar about an hour. Well, at least she had given his tired old eyes something beautiful to look at for a time. What might have been, Willie remembered thinking.

***

At about 11:45 Maggie began her nightly closing ritual. Willie was smashed as usual and as usual Maggie offered him a ride home to Collinwood. Willie staggered into Maggie's car and she drove him up the steep road to his cottage on the Collinwood estate. He remembered leaning on Maggie's shoulders as they entered the cottage. He then fell onto his bed without removing his clothes and began a deep, drunken slumber.

***

Sometime later, he wasn't sure just how much, Willie heard the noise. It had roused him from his slumber. No, it can't be, he remembered thinking. It had to be a hallucination. It was the same terrifying heartbeat he had first heard that night in 1967 when he stared at the portrait of Barnabas Collins in the lobby at Collinwood. He had come to Collinwood that year at the bequest of his buddy, Jason McGuire, who had promised him a big score. Neither one of them had made that big score. Jason was long dead. Buried underneath the floorboard in the Collins Family Mausoleum. He had been killed by Barnabas after discovering his secret. Willie, of course, had discovered the secret of Barnabas Collins earlier when attempting to rob the tomb. Barnabs had made Willie his stooge. His Renfield as it were.

***

Now Willie heard the terrifying heartbeat again. It could only mean one thing. Barnabas Collins was once again freed from his coffin. What had happened? He would have to go to Barnabas because Barnabas still controlled him. By this time, Willie reckoned he had been scared sober. He heard the voice of Barnabas over the heartbeat saying to come to the Collins Mausoleum in Eagle Hill Cemetary. He had no choice but to obey.

***

Willie reached the cemetary as fast as he could. He went inside the mausoleum and pulled open the secret panel. There stood Barnabas, freed from his chained coffin. On the floor, bleeding from two bite wounds in her neck and unconscious, was the woman he'd met in the Blue Whale. Annie, that was what she had said her name was. Somehow, some way, she had discovered Barnabas and set him free.

***

Willie picked up Annie's unconscious body from the floor and carried her back to the old house. Barnabas instructed him to place her in Josette's room. Willie was surprised at this. He knew Josette's room was a special place for Barnabas. This girl must have made quite an impression on Barnabas for him to have her placed there. Willie then locked the door to the room and went downstairs with Barnabas.

***

They spent most of the night going over old times. Willie filled Barnabas in on what had happened to old friends and family members in the 25 years since Barnabas had been chained in his coffin for a second time. Willie enjoyed being with Barnabas again. Despite the fact he had been little more than a stooge for Barnabas for the better part of seven years, he always felt Barnabas cared for him and would never abandon him. Willie remembered the Maggie Evans business and how Barnabas got him released from Windcliff, where he'd been sent after being declared insane for his part in the kidnapping.

***

Willie had to confess that he knew almost nothing about Annie other than the fact he'd met her that night in the Blue Whale. By this time, it was getting close to time for sunrise. Barnabas rose and departed for his coffin in the Collins Mausoleum. Willie went to a room upstairs to sleep. The two met again at sunset the next night.

***

That was where things stood at this point in time. Barnabas would be back soon. Willie wondered if perhaps Barnabas had gone into town and gotten a fresh victim. Not likely, Barnabas had already fed on Annie and his lust for blood would die down for a while. Besides, Barnabas wasn't stupid enough to risk getting caught on his first night of freedom.

***

Suddenly, Willie heard footsteps on the stairs leading to the basement. Barnabas had returned. The door to the basement opened and Barnabas Collins walked through it into the living room.

***

"Willie, I've come to a decision about our charming Miss Dutton," he announced. "Come, let's go upstairs."

***

Willie followed Barnabas as he walked slowly up the stairway.