Subj: DARK FRONTIER, DS/TOS Crossover, pt 7
Date: 4/14/01 10:39:48 PM Central Daylight Time
From: JM Lane

As for the girl who had been attacked, she was now in Barnabas' power. Her strength was slow in returning, despite the transfusion, so she needed assistance for even the simplest tasks and only left her bed for the exercise of the usual bodily functions. She also talked in her sleep, seemingly delirious, and what she said made little sense in view of her condition.

"Please…let me go… Don't stop me…I must go to him… Please…he needs me…"

Questioning as to who Lani was referring to did no good; it was as if she didn't hear the questions at all--and even as weak as she still was, she kept trying to leave her bed and would have left the room or opened the window if she hadn't been watched constantly. The most they could get out of her was that the window must be kept unlocked and open; she became agitated upon being told that window must remain closed and locked for the safety of everyone.

To calm her, McCoy prescribed the minimum dosage of the mildest sedative he had; otherwise she might have died then--or worse, been attacked again. Even at that, it was all they could do to keep her under control. If they had ever harbored any doubts as to the supernatural origin of her affliction, the doubts were quickly erased by what Lani had said the last time they had prevented her from leaving: "I'll get away eventually; you cannot stop me. Nor can you stop him. No power on Earth can do that."

If only to be on the safe side, everyone had taken to wearing crucifixes shortly after the attack, one of the things which were
said to repel the undead, despite the fact that only the Medical Officers had been present to hear this. It sent cold chills down their spines at the implications behind what Lani had said. If her statements were true, nothing they could do could prevent the supernatural being controlling her from taking her and turning her into one such as himself. In that case, they would have little choice but to destroy them both…and the best procedure to destroy the undead was to drive a stake through their hearts. Only that way would they truly be dead--and best of all, at peace.

As much as they hesitated to do so, they knew that if worst came to worst, they could have no choice but to kill Lani in such a manner. McCoy knew Kirk would hate to lose her skills and expertise, but in a very real sense, she was already lost to them, even now--and killing her would be an act of mercy rather than murder, however messy and distasteful it might be.

***********

Meanwhile, Kirk had dispatched Spock and Dickerson to question other guests at the Inn, see if they'd noticed anyone suspicious or heard anything unusual. The best either had come up with as some guests who had been awakened on the night of the attack by Lani's piercing screams--but no one had seen or heard anyone or anything suspicious otherwise.

The closest thing to it was Christine's meeting with Barnabas Collins, and when it was put to her, she flatly denied that he could be in any way responsible and insisted that however strange some of his actions might be, it could be due as much to his British background and upbringing as to the supernatural. She liked him too much to think (or want to believe) otherwise, though inwardly had to admit that his seemingly disappearing into thin air, his odd dietary habits, his audio-only comlink and the fact she only saw him at night could be explained in more ways than one--and one of those ways was the one she didn't want to think about.

Which reminded her, she was supposed to go to the Hall of Records and see if she could discover any more on the Collins family, improve on what Barnabas had told her. Of course, it might be better if she simply allowed their historian which specialized in paranormal phenomena, Lt. Marisa Holloway, to look into it…but Christine would have preferred to do it herself, if only to prove Barnabas' innocence to the others.

If nothing else, she could go to the offices of the local paper, the Collinsport *Sentinel*, to see if any of their back issues reported any unusual or unexplainable happenings--specifically, those related to the incidents they were currently investigating. Leonard was currently looking after Lani, Lt. Dickerson standing guard now that the interrogation of the guests was completed, so Christine considered it safe enough to leave for a while and send Lt. Holloway to the newspaper office while she went to the Hall of Records.

After talking with the Captain and obtaining his permission, she triangulated with Lt. Holloway, deciding to have the younger woman meet her in the Inn's lobby at 1900 hours to compare notes, see what each had come up with. After asking directions the women split up, Christine going to the right, Holloway to the left. Chris was even lucky enough to see Spock returning from the latest interrogation of Inn staff, which he was conducting on his own, inquiring about any unusual occurrences at the Inn--but he didn't see her…or if he did, he didn't acknowledge her.

Ordinarily it would have bothered her, but at the moment her mind was on other things, such as her mission and Barnabas. She just couldn't stop thinking about the tenderly passionate evening the two of them had shared, unable to help wishing she could have had more.

Not even Roger had been such an incredible lover! In fact, Barnabas' technique was reminiscent of what she had always believed an interlude with Spock could be like, if only… In fact, it would serve him right if he happened to either overheard her telling Leonard about her dates with Barnabas, particularly the second one….or happen to make a seemingly casual remark about the latter's bedroom prowess. In fact, she might even do that upon returning from the Hall of Records after checking on Lani's progress.

Barnabas had even told her about the destruction of the original Great House of Collinwood in 1970 and how it had occurred. The tale was too complicated and involved for her to recall everything, but she did remember that Collinwood had been rebuilt shortly after the dawn of the 21st century, around 2005--some 35 years after its original destruction--and that the latest remnants of the family lived there with a few trusted servants.

However, Barnabas had not been there since it had been rebuilt and re-occupied, although he had heard it was supposed to be better than ever…yet he recalled vividly how beautiful the original mansion had been prior to its destruction, particularly when he had lived there. After his vampirism had begun, he had stayed at the Old House, which had miraculously escaped destruction, keeping his casket in a secret compartment behind one parlor wall there until he had relocated Quentin and decided to move in with him into an apartment located in a building owned by the family corporation about a century or so ago--which was where they still resided and intended to stay until and unless circumstances dictated otherwise.

**********

Christine spent the entire afternoon at the Hall of Records, finding out many things about the Collins family--some of them very strange, unusual and mysterious, even unexplainable…such as the legend that one of the original members had been cursed by a witch when he had spurned her love…a vampire curse which would plague him for all eternity. Until he had met Julia Hoffman and began her treatments to become Human again, there had been periodic attacks, officially attributed to some kind of wild animal.

Christine had found some hard copies of the more colorful family legends, which had been offered for sale (this one among them), and had bought them, along with some computer cassettes of still others to take home for study. Coupled with what they already knew, particularly if Lt. Holloway also hit paydirt, she was hopeful of soon finding out what was behind the most recent attacks and stopping them once and for all.