Subj: Into the Light Part 3
Date: 7/29/99 11:50:47 AM Central Daylight Time
From: MsAnn

June 19, 1968

Tonight I received a letter from Angelique or Cassandra or whatever she is calling herself, saying she has agreed to meet me here at the Old House at 10:00PM. However, I don't have much time to muse over this minor victory. Professor Stokes arrives right after I finish reading the letter. Hopefully he will let me purchase his talisman.

Stokes walks in chattering about everything except why he was called here. I immediately ask about the talisman. Stokes, however wants to make himself at home with some sherry instead and wants to see my witch. Stokes also correctly notes my nervousness, but I recover by saying I have an interest in such things, then changing the focus from me by asking him about other talismans I had read about. Stokes warns of keeping talismans as they attract "silly women and some men" to the holder. I wonder does he think I am such a person.

Stokes' mind wanders again to the architecture of the drawing room and to who made the plant stand I have next to the desk. Can this man stay focused on any one subject for longer than five minutes? I am beginning to wonder just what happened to Ben's family after my imprisonment. Ben was many things, but he at least paid attention to me when I spoke to him.

Therefore, I decided to be blunt. I offered Stokes $1000, but he refused, saying he could never afford to buy it back when he wanted it. Stokes made a counter proposal of loaning me his talisman until my need of it was over as he had correctly assumed it is needed. Stokes told me that the talisman must be kept near me at all times in order for it to be effective. As he left, Stokes does comment on his desire to find out more about what was really going on here. However, I am too euphoric from receiving the talisman to really care at this moment.

At 10:00 Cassandra arrived. I am feeling rather confident now that I have the talisman. I go through the standard greeting with her, just to show that I am the "gracious" host, but then I get to the point. I tell her I know she is Angelique. Cassandra denies his, as expected. It would be too much for her to admit the truth at this point in whatever game she is playing. I continue my verbal assault asking questions I knew she couldn't truthfully answer without revealing her true identity. Cassandra continually denies being anything other than the "innocent" wife, but I tell her that in the end, I will expose her and she will not be the victor this time.

I waited a few moments to give Cassandra time to get back to Collinwood. Then, I left to see Dr. Lang so that I could give him the talisman before Cassandra could act. Unfortunately, Lang had retreated back into his former view of the supernatural and laughs at my suggestion of using the talisman for protection. I told him he would need it. I know what Angelique is capable of. Lang shrugs it off, saying I have a vivid imagination some sort of anxiety complex that I need to have addressed with a psychologist.

The arrival of Lang's patient interrupts my arguments. Lang orders me to a back room to wait. A few minutes later, a shaken Dr. Lang opens the door to let me back into his office. He tells me of his strange experience with the woman named Cassandra Blair. I tell Lang that the woman was Angelique, no matter what name she chose to use. She is using the same tactics she used back in 1795 to accomplish her goals.

Reluctantly, Lang agrees with me and keeps the talisman. I know the situation is now getting desperate. I ask Lang what his plans are. If we are to prevent Cassandra from coming up with a way to sabotage everything for me, we must act now. Lang said he wasn't ready yet, so I offer money, other doctors, extra help but Lang adamantly refuses them saying no one can know of his work. I do finally convince him to tell me just what was going on with his experiment. Now I would learn the reason for all this secrecy.

Lang began with a cryptic explanation about how if he fails, I will die, but if he is successful, I will die. I am very confused at this statement. Lang shows me a secret lab located upstairs from his office. There I see his creation, a headless, lifeless body on a table covered by a sheet. Lang explains that he will drain my life force into the creation, thus killing my current body.

This whole setup reminds me of a book of Willie's I read shortly after being released last year called Frankenstein (and if anyone else happens to read this, let it be known that despite his outward appearance, Willie was quite a literate person. He had a number of Victorian era horror novels that I borrowed to familiarize myself with recent literature). How Lang hopes to accomplish this is beyond me. I am constantly amazed at all the medical advances made over the past 173 years, but I never would have thought creationism was possible from man's perspective. Life from death just isn't possible unless one has been cursed like I have been. Unfortunately, circumstances dictate that this is the only choice I have if I want to escape Angelique. I only hope Lang knows what he is doing.

Lang didn't notice my confusion and continues with his explanation of how he will be putting my life force into the creation. He says that then Angelique will think me dead and that will be the end of the curse. I take a moment to gather my thoughts and ask about my chances of survival. Lang says he is "almost certain." This doesn't boost my confidence. I then ask what would happen to my present thoughts and memories. Lang has no explanation for that. I tell Lang I must think about this before I can make up my mind.

I left for Collinwood shortly afterwards. I met with Julia asking her to meet me in the gazebo and to leave by the back entrance so as not to be seen by Cassandra. About a half-hour later, Julia arrived. She was confused by my request for secrecy, but I had no time to deal with that. I asked her opinion of Lang. She said he was competent but wanted to know why I needed to know this. She suspected Lang has told me his plans. I told her that Lang had revealed his plans, but I did not go into specifics. When it became clear I would reveal no more, Julia left me to my thoughts in the gazebo.

A short time later, I heard voices approaching. I hid in the bushes and overheard an intimate conversation between Vicki and Jeff Clark. I feel a wave of intense jealousy wash over me as I watch. I knew I had to come up with a new way of competing for Vicki's affections. At that moment, I made two decisions: first, I was going through with the experiment and secondly, I wanted to look like Jeff Clark.

As soon as it was safe to leave, I returned to Lang's. He was surprised, but delighted to hear of my decisions. Then it was he who surprised me by saying he could do better than having me look like Jeff Clark by being Jeff Clark. I was immensely pleased. I left Lang to his work shortly afterwards and returned to the Old House. To my surprise, I received a visit from Tony Peterson. He barged in when I opened the door, then admitted that he'd followed Carolyn here a while back and asked what my intentions were. It was all I could do to keep from bursting into laughter. That was the most ridiculous thing I'd heard in a long time. Perhaps Tony is a long lost relative of Reverend Trask's. He seems to have inherited some of his crazy thinking. As it is, a small laugh escapes before I escort Tony into a chair in the drawing room and explain everything to him. He still looks skeptical, but accepts my explanation

Tony then does the strangest thing at this point. He gets up and frantically searches his briefcase for something. He says he needs his lighter for his cigarette. There are many lit candles around him, yet he needs a lighter for his cigarette. I don't think I'll ever understand modern people. I do suggest that he look for his lighter at Collinwood, and Tony decided to take my advice and left.

I had a dream a short time later. Angelique appeared to me but I could do nothing except listen to what she had to say. She claimed I was only asleep, but I still feel as though I was under some sort of thrall in her presence. Angelique tells me to beware of dreams, both mine and others. She is planning to restore the curse by mounting a "dream curse," which will become progressively more terrifying as it moves from person to person. I finally awakened, but as expected, I am alone in the Old House.

June 20, 1968

I have had another regression. As I took a walk this evening, I felt the bloodlust descend over me like a wave. I rushed over to see Dr. Lang's office and tell him my feelings. I look around and noticed I have interrupted something. Lang had Jeff Clark drugged on an operating table. He was really going to cut his head off for the experiment. A few days ago I wouldn't have cared about the death of Jeff Clark any more than I would have the death of a moth. Now, I cannot do such a thing. I know that if I did, I would be haunted by my own guilt and the ghost of a man whose death I caused. Lang balked at my sentiment, saying I should be used to horror by now. I told him that there comes a point where even I can cry enough. I have been responsible for enough tragedy in Collinsport. I didn't wish to add to my guilt unnecessarily. Lang warned me that if I didn't go through with the experiment, I would revert and destroy everything I held dear. This hit a nerve and weakened my resolve against further killing so I told Lang to continue with the experiment.

On the way out, however, I overheard Vicki calling out for either Dr. Lang or Jeff. I immediately informed Lang, who was less than pleased. I listened in the hallway to Lang and Vicki's conversation. I heard her speak so lovingly of Jeff Clark and then declare her love for him. In a rage I left to kill Clark myself so that for once I could finally be happy. As I was about to strike, I paused. Looking down at Clark's face and thinking of Vicki's speech gave me the courage to do what I had wanted to earlier. I cannot destroy Vicki by killing Jeff, even if it means that I am condemned to loneliness forever. The time had come for me to cry "enough!" I free Clark from the table.

Lang's mood had deteriorated upon his return. Desperation seemed to have crept into him. As we debate Clark's face, he woke up and tried to attack Lang. I told Clark he was now free, hoping he would leave peacefully. Lang tried to use some sort of psychology to make Clark surrender. It kept Clark distracted long enough for Lang to give him a shot of some sort.

Clark fell so heavily to the floor, I feared he was dead, but Lang says he was merely sedated. I tried to tell Lang that killing was unnecessary, but Lang would hear none of it. He even accuses me of thinking he is acting out of bloodlust. Bloodlust isn't a word I would have chosen, but it is appropriate for the current situation. The only way we can all get out of this terribly complicated situation, in my opinion, was to contact Julia and have hear hypnotize Clark so he wouldn't remember what had happened. Once again Lang shunned my idea. This time, however, I stood my ground despite Lang's arguments and protests. Even at this point Lang still wanted to keep everything secret, even though it all might fall apart for him. I assured Lang that Julia would be trustworthy but Lang still refused to listen. Clark began to stir and call out for Vicki at this point, so I picked up the phone to call Julia. Lang, to my surprise, pulled out a pistol, saying that I am now susceptible to bullets like ordinary men, and that he would kill me if I made my phone call.

I look at Lang in disbelief. He actually thought he could kill me with ordinary bullets. Unfortunately, Lang took this time to inform me that because of my cure, I am now mortal enough for a bullet to kill me. I was comforted by the fact that I am now human enough for that to happen to me.

At that point, I decided to regroup. I hung up the phone, but I still insisted that Julia needed to be brought in to clean up this mess. Lang was still anti-Julia, however. I told him again that Julia could be trusted because of her feelings for me. I knew she wouldn't do anything to betray me, and so did Lang, but he was not convinced. I decided to call anyway. I knew Lang wouldn't shoot because he needed me. So, I decided to call his bluff. As I predicted, Lang doesn't shoot as I called Julia.

It doesn’t take much to get Julia over to Lang's. Unfortunately, Cassandra answered the phone so I carefully instructed Julia to come over with her medallion.

Lang and I told Julia that Clark had been paranoid and believed Lang wanted to cut off his head. Julia believed our story, fortunately and went up to hypnotize Clark. Lang was still a little leery, but I told him not to be so paranoid.

Lang became very impatient after a short period and went up to the second floor bedrooms to investigate. We both heard Julia's screams coming from Lang's lab. We found her standing by Lang's creation. Apparently, Clark has told Julia of the experiment and she is hysterical. She cannot believe what she had seen. We tell her the experiment was still on as soon as we found someone else to be its face.

Julia left, but Lang didn't like what he saw in Julia's behavior and follows her. Lang and I find that Julia was about to call the police. I knocked on the door desperately trying to get her to see reason before Lang tried to shoot her.

I tried telling Julia the police must not become involved. I tried to get her to remember what's-his-name from last year. Lang jogged my memory by supplying the name I couldn't--Dave Woodard. How he knew about Woodard is beyond me. I made another note to ask him about this later. Anyway, that seemed to have worked. Julia left the locked room
saying, "You always win, don't you." That is not true, Julia. We have been checkmating each other for some time now.

Back on the terrace at Collinwood, Julia tried to talk me out of the experiment again. She said I could escape without the experiment using the transfusions and medicines I am taking now. I simply told her that that Angelique wouldn't let me live a normal life, no matter what. And then, I looked up and saw a lime-green shadow on the other side of the iron fence. It was Cassandra, spying on our conversation. She made all her usual comments about my "accusing" her and saying I was mad before making her escape. This is all the reason why we must go through with the experiment as soon as possible. Angelique is bound to try to act quickly now that she has discovered part of my plans. But what she will do is still unknown to me. I only hope Lang can finish his experiment before Angelique can act.

A half-hour after my return to the Old House, Lang appeared at my door saying I'd left a message for him about some accident and to come whenever he got in. Obviously this is a trick of Angelique's. She wants something, but what could it be? I asked Lang if he had his talisman with him. If he does, he will be safe here at the Old House for the time being. Unfortunately, he doesn't, and the reason for the mysterious message was now clear to me. Angelique needed to get Lang out of his office to steal his talisman and make him vulnerable to her witchcraft. We immediately rushed over to Lang's. I knew what to expect, but I kept hoping it wasn't true. Lang's blunder may have just cost him his life. Unfortunately, Lang proved my suspicions true not long after we arrived. The talisman was gone and Angelique was the only one who could have taken it.

I explained to Lang that the theft of the talisman was Angelique's doing. Even if Lang had remembered to carry the talisman, Angelique's servant could have arranged for an "accident" to relieve him of it. Lang asked if there was another, but unfortunately, I was unable to find any others or I would have obtained it as well.

Lang resolutely replied that the experiment would go on in two days. As it was late, I asked him when he was planning on resting. Lang said there would be no rest for him until he finishes. He won't let his dream die. All he asks for is some assistance with the final preparations. I immediately knew the perfect person for the job--Willie Loomis. I will be able to accomplish my dream of defeating Angelique and also repair some of the damage I caused in my vampire state all in one act.