Subj: Dark Light -- 9
Date: 3/26/99
From: Flashman
Chapter 9-Barnabas and Annie Reflect
It was 4:30 a.m. Barnabas and Annie sat at the dining room table Willie had purchased earlier in the day. Several candles provided the light. Always with the candles, Annie thought. The shades were drawn tight so that no one would peer inside. Annie was still a wanted fugitive.
Barnabas had returned a little after 1:00 a.m. Annie had introduced him to Fran, their new stooge. Willie had asked when it would be that he could return to Collinsport. Barnabas replied that it would only be a short time now. Maybe Willie could get back to Collinwood before David returned from his vacation. He had called Gary Johnson from a payphone earlier that night. Gary said all was well at Collinwood. Willie hoped so.
Willie and Fran were both sleeping now. Resting for their tasks the next day. Fran slept on the couch in the living room. Willie was upstairs in a sleeping bag. Willie would return to the furniture store in the morning and purchase two beds. Fran's tasks were to buy clothes for Annie and Barnabas (Willie having forgotten that chore) as well as a used car for herself. Money was still no problem. Besides, Annie and Barnabas expected to get a lot more tomorrow evening. That's when they would deal with Alan Spaulding. Alan would be Annie's get, Barnabas had agreed.
Fran would take the first watch in the morning. Willie, the afternoon. The only time Barnabas and Annie would be left unattended was in the late afternoon when Fran and Willie would go to pick up her vehicle. Barnabas would take Fran over to Nola's rooming house tomorrow night to pick up her belongings. There was a man named Ross Marler whom he wanted to see. From what Annie said, he was the best attorney in Springfield. Barnabas wanted him to prepare a document. A document for Alan Spaulding.
"Well, what do you think of Frannie?" asked Annie, breaking the silence. In the past few days since she had known Barnabas, she had learned he was prone to long periods of uncommunicativeness.
"She'll probably do all right. She seems like a very pliant personality. Easier to control than Willie. He could be difficult sometimes in the old days," was the response.
"Frannie will do what she's told. I always could manipulate her easily."
"Yes, you told me that before," said Barnabas.
Annie, curious about what Barnabas had done on his adventures that night, asked, "So Barnabas, tell me what you did. I want to hear all about it. Did you enjoy the charms of some female in our fair city?"
"Yes, Annie. As a matter of fact I did. I ventured down to that section of the city you told me about. Point Lester. There, I met a young woman. I assume she was a prostitute. Nancy Diaz, I believe her name was. I fed on her in an alley. I drained quite a bit of blood from her because the lust was so strong," said Barnabas.
"You didn't kill her, did you?" Annie didn't want the police getting any suspicions this early in the game.
"No, I didn't. She was still breathing. I hid in the alley when some young hooigans came by and found her there. They called an ambulance. She should be all right in time," answered Barnabas.
"Good. I hope you didn't get too attached to her. There's a nice looking blonde I want you to meet in a day or so. Cassie Layne, the one I've been telling you about."
"Ah yes, Cassie. I hope she is as gorgeous as you say she is. From the way you've built her up, I have a feeling that anything less than perfection will be a disappointment," said Barnabas.
"Don't worry. Don't worry. You're going to love her," reassured Annie.
Annie knew that Cassie Layne had suffered a great tragedy during the time she had been in prison. One of Beth's letters had informed her of this. Cassie's ex-convict husband had drifted into town and had abducted her daughter, Tammy. The two had then died in a fiery car crash on the interstate to Chicago, where he had been taking the child. Annie had wept in prison when she had read this. She too had loved Tammy. She was still convinced she would have been a better mother to Tammy than that ex-stripper, Cassie.
Cassie Layne had recovered somewhat from the tragedy. She had postponed her impending wedding to Hart Jessup, Blake Marler's half-brother. She needed time to get her bearings. Cassie was still living with Hart on his horse farm outside the city. That, and running the bar named Cassie's that Hart had purchased for her previously. They had set a new wedding date for sometime late in the summer. Beth Raines didn't know the exact date, according to her letter to Annie in prison.
Well that wedding isn't going to happen. Just like Annie's wedding to Alan Spaulding had never happened because of the interference of Cassie and Reva. Annie still cringed in humiliation at the thought of that event. Arrested and taken from the Springfield Country Club in her beautiful wedding dress. All because that no good Eddie Banks, whom she was still legally married to, had shown up. Brought there by Cassie and Reva.
And Cassie, though you've suffered, you're going to suffer some more. How does being a vampire's moll sound to you? That's what you will become. A plaything for Barnabas. Annie felt some twinge of sorrow for Hart Jessup. He had never directly wronged her. He was good looking in a rugged, outdoor type of way. His only mistake had been to succumb to the charms of Slutbutt, Annie's nickname for Cassie. Maybe Hart would get back together with Dinah Marler, his ex-fiancee and Annie's former friend. She used the term former because Dinah had never once visited or wrote to her in prison. Dinah was too wrapped up in herself to stay friends with anyone for long.
Beth Raines would come soon enough. Though she and Annie had little in common they had hit it off fairly well during the short time Annie had known her. Not for Beth the position of stooge like Fran, and later Alan and Cassie. No, Annie would make Beth immortal. One of the Undead like herself and Barnabas. Kind of a thank you gesture, Annie thought. And everyone in Springfield had said Annie had no heart, that she had no feelings.
The time passed and soon it was nearing sunrise. Annie woke up Fran on the couch. Willie had already stirred from upstairs. He too had an instinct about these things. Barnabas and Annie retired to their coffins in the basement. Tonight is the big night, Annie thought as she pulled her coffin lid shut.
Willie gave Fran her instructions. Stay inside and don't answer the door for anyone until he got back. Hopefully, the furniture guys would be with him. Then in the afternoon it would be Fran's turn to go out.
Willie walked outside to start the van. Blake Marler was outside in her yard, getting her morning newspaper. Just my luck, Willie thought to himself.
"Hello, Willie," she said. "How are you and Mr. Collins doing today? He stopped by last night. I think he's absolutely charming. You're both welcome to come and visit tonight, if you want to."
"Probably won't, Mrs. Marler. Mr. Collins, he has some real important business to attend to tonight and I'm probably going to head on back to Maine," responded Willie.
"Oh, have a safe trip. Keep it between the ditches, as they say. Is Mr. Collins going to be living in the house alone?" asked Blake.
"No, he hired a housekeeper just last night. Name's Fran. Fran Ridgkins."
Willie got into the van and drove off. After Willie had driven away Blake began
to think. Fran Ridgkins. Wasn't that the name of one of Annie's friends? The one
who had artificially inseminated her.
