Subj: 2000 One Time-Space Odyessy (Part One)
Date: 10/11/00 5:26:42 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Kallie

"The Same Old Story"

Into the lonely void of darkness he awoke, as he had so many times before. Eyes heavily encrusted with sleep opened and stared into the blackness, slowly adjusting to the absence of light. Smells began to assault his senses. Rat droppings and the scent of general decay mingled with that of the mold on the wall, a result of the dampness permeating the tomb outside. But his finely tuned vampire senses had also detected the scent of the living.

It had been this way at each awakening. For almost two hundred years during his captivity, the close proximity of a potential human victim would trigger him back into a state of consciousness. Like a shark he detected the subtle coppery scent of the prey's blood and heard the constant beating of its heart, circulating the crimson liquid he so craved. Blood. How he ached to get at it, to drain to the last corpuscle every victim unfortunate enough to cross his path. He licked his lips as he dreamed of such a feeding frenzy.

But a small silver cross stood guard over him preventing his emancipation. Without its presence he could have easy ripped the lid off the coffin and escaped. But over the long torturous years freedom had not come to the vampire. Each time after wearing himself to a frazzle in the close confines of his claustrophobic prison, his body's metabolism would once again slow down, returning him to that deathlike state of sleep so necessary to conserve his energy. Waiting until a fresh supply of blood could return him once again to being the efficient and deadly predator created by Angelique's curse.

The cross, the bane of his eternal existence, had been placed there by his father. On that fateful night so many years ago Barnabas had expected to go to sleep and never wake up again. Put to sleep forever by the lethal silver bullets in Joshua Collins' pistol. It was what Barnabas wanted. But Joshua had loved his son too much to put a bullet through his heart. And in what he believed was an act of compassion instead chained up Barnabas inside his own coffin. In reality he had condemned his son to a living hell from which there seemed to be no escape.

This time the vampire sensed the presence of two potential victims. Their heartbeats pounding away in his mind, each louder than the other as if they were battling for domination, so nearby, yet so out of reach. His hunger burned as one of them departed, another missed opportunity. Now the sound of the single heartbeat became maddening, as if it were taunting him, teasing him with what he was unable to attain while locked away in the moldering confines of the casket. Not able to stand the sound anymore he screamed in anger, causing his potential feast to run away, it's footfalls echoing as they faded away into the stillness of the night.

This only served to frustrate him all the more. He clenched his fists in rage causing him great pain, for although he was for all intents and purposes a dead man, his nails continued to grow. They had grown so long they had begun to curve around. Every now and then he would break one off while nervously scratching at the sides of his satin lined coffin. But the worst part was his toenails. Sharp with no room in his shoes to grow, they too curved around, until they began to slice right back into the very skin of the toe. Barnabas' unwanted existence was an excruciating one.

But the pain also had its benefits. It helped him to quickly emerge form his torpid state and focus his mind. He had learned through the centuries that if he concentrated just right, his mind could leave his body for short periods of time and explore the outside world. It would not allow him to feed, but he had hoped to touch the mind of a stranger who could unwittingly assist in his release.

It took many awakenings to master this new ability. Several times he had sent various visitors to the graveyard off screaming in terror, as he experimented with amplifying the sound of their mortal heartbeats. He was looking for someone whose mind he could manipulate without scaring them away. He had found such a mind in one called Willie Loomis. While exploring the man's thoughts he had discovered a rather excessive fondness for jewels, an obsession so strong that it over rode all common sense. He also discovered that a boy by the name of David had already fired the young man's imagination with stories of the Collin's family treasure. The bait had been set; at last Barnabas has found his pawn.

Night after night he whispered sweet dreams of untold treasure into Willie's brain. He could not see him, but he knew his plan was working by the excited thoughts of riches he found within the man's mind. Through an old portrait of his former self, he intensified the mind link. During his out of body excursions, he found that he was able to slip his essence into painting and become one with it. As the young man would stare at the portrait, pondering the existence of the jewels illustrated there, the eyes staring back at him would take on a three dimensional quality and then began to glow.

Using those supernatural eyes the vampire had been able to implant hypnotic clues buried deep in the man's subconscious, to emerge when the time was right and lead him to the jewels, and then his inevitable fate. It was important that this thief in the night believe that he alone would be responsible for the events about to transpire, a victim of his own greed.

Barnabas felt no pity for the man, in fact he had taken an extreme dislike to his would be benefactor. Not only because the man was a thief, but when looking at the portrait, the impudent young fool had the nerve to say that the ancient Barnabas Collins looked like a beatnik, the vampire took this as a personal insult. Of course he had no idea what a beatnik was, but the tone in the man's voice made it sound most unflattering. Beat Nick? No, instead he'd beat Willie when he got his hands on him. His lips curled up in a fiendish grin as he thought about this delightful possibility. Yes, he thought, I'll just have to beat the sass right out of the insolent little pup.

As always happened when he exerted a lot of energy, Barnabas began to feel his body begin to relax as it became heavy with sleep. "Not now." He whispered in desperation squeezing his nails into the skin, hoping the pain would be enough to prevent himself from going back into hibernation and interfering with his plan. But it was a losing battle, his eyes just wouldn't stay open and soon his hands relaxed as he drifted into a state of unconsciousness.

A short time later his eyes flew open wide. His nostrils flared in anticipation as they once again picked up the scent of human prey. A minute later he could hear the man's heart beat and in that moment he knew it was Willie Loomis. The mouse had taken the bait and was about to enter the trap.

The vampire wiggled and squirmed with excitement as he heard the ancient door to the mausoleum squeak open. Footsteps followed, then the thud of something heavy setting down on the cold cement. The man seemed quite excited, almost manic as he began to try to pry something opened. Then a wave of heated anger surged through the undead creature as he realized from the source of the noise, that the man was about to desecrate his mother's grave.

This should not have disturbed the vampire, but it did. For even thought his vampire self, who valued self-preservation above things, ruled his thoughts and actions, a small part of the human Barnabas still remained buried deep inside bubbling to the surface at unguarded moments.

He needed to distract the man's attention away from Naomi's grave. Quickly he began to concentrate on reeling in his catch, getting inside the head of the thief to somehow get him to pull the ring on the lion's head. For a moment there is silence, then a strike of a match is heard, followed by the pungent smell of tobacco. A short time later a creak could be heard coming from the other side of the secret door. Success!

Excited once more, Barnabas cruelly fills the mausoleum with the sound of the man's own heartbeat, but then senses his prey is about to run, so he pauses, but starts again once he is sure things are going his way. Finally he hears the sound of the ancient stone door grinding open. The footfalls of the intruder echo through the secret room as he approaches the coffin in anticipation.

That's right you avaricious little dolt, just come a little closer, Barnabas thought to himself as the man approached the coffin and began to fool with the chains. Yes, that's right remove those chains and I'll give you a surprise you'll never forget!

The next few moments seemed like forever for the vampire, as Willie Loomis enthusiastically worked on freeing the chains, squealing with delight as he imagined the treasure hidden within. Finally the vampire heard the chains run along the sides of the coffin as they fell crashing to the floor. Barnabas focused all his pent up frustration and anger on the thief about to set him free. Not wanting his victim to see the emaciated condition he was in, the vampire called forth his powers of illusion to restore his appearance, then set poised like a snake, all tensed up and ready to strike.

The unsuspecting man lifted up the lid of the coffin smiling as it creaked and groaned in protest. Quick as lightening the vampire's hand darted up and clutched the young man's throat, changing his expression of joy into one of sheer terror. The man began to gasp for air. In the hand strangling the man's neck, Barnabas could feel the victim's rapid pulse beating away, ringing like a dinner bell.

Just as he was about to partake in his first decent meal in two hundred years, he felt his body begin to shake…….

Kallie >^,,^<

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