Barnabas Collins stared, wild-eyed, around him. The bat that had crashed through the window was obscenely huge. It burst through the glass, shattering it, and homed in on his throat. He reached up his hands to protect himself but sensed it was too late; the hideous creature's fangs were bared, aiming for his throbbing jugular vein.

Suddenly, Angelique, blood streaming from her shoulder, rose from the floor. She grabbed the small table in front of the window, and, her throw something a future baseball scout would have salivated over, tossed it at the rampaging bat. It smashed into the creature in mid-flight, killing it instantly. It harmlessly grazed Barnabas' throat and fell, with a few weak flaps, to the carpeted floor.

Barnabas, gasping, stared into his wife's tear-stained, fury-filled blue eyes. She was clutching her bleeding shoulder, tears of pain running down her face. Barnabas tore off a piece of his shirt and quickly bound up the bloody wound. "Angelique. . .you. . .you saved my life!" he whispered hoarsely.

"Now do you believe I love you above all else?" she demanded.

He nodded, and embraced her, careful of her shoulder. They would have a happy life together. He was sure of it now.

Love, RobinV