Subj: Love's Familiar Face ch20
Date: 7/11/99 2:38:11 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Miranda

Chapter Twenty
Parallel Time

Precious time flew by as Barnabas unsuccessfully tried to contact Julia. All morning he sat in Angelique's room calling to her, hoping against hope she would be there, in her own time band, watching him. He also waited for a door to open between the time bands, but nothing happened. Time was running out if he wanted to stop Josette, but he just couldn't do it alone.

Now Barnabas sat silently in the house by the sea contemplating what he could do to stop this madness. He couldn't help but in some way feel responsible. Was he so blinded by his memories of love that he failed to see the difference in Josette from the beginning? "Yes, I was," Barnabas said, silently answering his own question.

"Barnabas, are you here?"

"Julia!" Barnabas was elated at the sight of his faithful friend walking into the parlor where he sat. "You heard me. You were in the east wing watching me."

"Actually, it was Angelique who heard you. She said that she felt something was wrong and went to the room. She heard you calling me."

"Angelique," Barnabas murmured.

"Well, tell me what's wrong," Julia urged. "Being in this time band while a double of me exists here is dangerous."

While Julia patiently listened, Barnabas poured out his story. "I don't know what to say Barnabas," Julia said when he was through. "From your stories about Josette I never would have imagined she could have been capable of doing the things you say she did, even though she was a vampire. Is it possible the Josette in this parallel time was always evil?"

Even though he hated to admit it, there was no point in denying it any longer, "No, I do not believe so. Everything about her up until the time she was made a vampire seemed to be exactly like the Josette I knew in 1795. "

"I think you know what must be done, Barnabas," Julia said quietly.

"Yes, I know." Barnabas paused. "Would you…would you be the one to do it?"

Julia shook her head. "No Barnabas. This is something only you can do. If I were to do this you would always see me as the person who murdered Josette." Barnabas opened his mouth and started to object, but Julia held up her hand to silence him. "I know that you could rationalize and logically know that wasn't the case, but in your heart you would always think of loosing Josette when you looked at me."

Barnabas looked down at the floor. "You are right, Julia. You are right."

A few hours later Barnabas slowly walked through Eagle Hill cemetery to the mausoleum. In his hands he held a wooden stake and a mallet and in his heart he held the great despair and loneliness that were once again to be his closet companions. For now things would unalterably changed forever. Never again could he hold up Josette as the perfect model of female perfection to which he measured every other women he encountered. Whether it was this Josette or the Josette from his time, the truth was the same; she was never perfect. It was only Barnabas' memory that made her that way. The hunger to have what he could never obtain drove his desire and made him aspire for that which was truly impossible. For no woman could be the ideal paragon that Barnabas created Josette to be, not even Josette herself.

With exaggerated slowly Barnabas pulled on the ring in the lion's mouth to gain entrance to the secret room. He approached Josette's coffin with the darkest dread he had ever felt in his whole existence. He lifted the coffin lid, stared down at her lovely face, and touched her cheek. "Goodbye my Josette. Deep down in my heart I will always love you."

Barnabas positioned the stake over Josette's heart, raised the hammer over his head, and struck the stake deep into her chest. Josette's eyes opened. With blood pouring out of her chest and dripping down the corner of her mouth, she stared silently at Barnabas. Then she closed her eyes in the sleep of death and Josette DuPres Collins went to
her eternal rest.