Chapter 20

(1940)

Angelique stood over Danielle with her arm raised. Angelique began to quickly bring her arm down! Just before Angelique stabbed Danielle, Danielle turned around and put her arm up to block Angelique. Danielle grabbed Angeliques arm and twisted to make her drop the knife.
"Thought you were going to kill me did you Angelique?" Angelique gave Danielle a funny look. "Yes," Danielle said, "I know you are Angelique. I know you killed your sister, Alexis. I know that you came back in time to try to steal Julia's soul. It all came to me when I saw them laying on the floor. You won't get the chance to take Julia's soul Angelique. I will kill you first," Danielle told her.
"And how is it you think you will kill me? I cannot die. You know that," Angelique told her with a confident smile on her face.
"Yes, I know as a witch you cannot die. But as a mortal you can."
"I am not a mortal, as you know. I cannot be killed. Only by fire, which I am sure you know, but where are you going to get fire now? There is no fireplace in here, no candles. You will die before I will Danielle, and you know you will."
"You are so confident that you have me beaten, but, haven't you forgotten something?"
"What have I forgotten?"
"You only have fifteen hours as a witch, remember? Diabolis only granted you fifteen hours. 'How does she know this?' is probably what you are thinking. Well, I will tell you. I have psychic abilities. Didn't you wonder why I was so willing to blame you for what happened to Amanda, when we had been such close friends? Well, I had foreseen what was going to happen, what is happening now, that is. I wanted you to be locked up so that you would not hurt anyone. I realize now that you would kill anyone whom got in your way. You are true evil, and I was naïve to think otherwise."
"So, you have psychic powers? So I guess you know the outcome of this situation?"
"Yes, I do. You will die. You see, you time as a witch will soon run out. You haven't the time even to perform the soul stealing ritual. You have about a minute left before you are mortal once again. When you are mortal, I will kill you. There is no doubt. You pose a threat to me, my family and the rest of the world. You must be dealt with. Others feel this way also. Your husband, Barnabas for instance. He found out shortly after you disappeared that you were the witch once again. It hurt him so. You know, I think your curse will finally devour you."
"What curse is that?" said Angelique, acting as though she was not scared in the least bit.
"Oh, come on, you must not tell me that you do not remember your own curse. Why, the curse you placed on Barnabas of course! Remember? Anyone whom Barnabas loves shall die? He loved Josette, she died, he loved his mother, and she died. He loved Chris, and well, look at him now. He is dead. He loved you, and well, soon you will be dead also. You will interfere with my life no more Angelique. I shall see to that."
Just before Angelique could open her mouth to reply, there was a loud crash in the room. Through the wall, came a dark evil being.
"Angelique, have you finished what I asked you to do?"
"Diabolis! Please, please, give me more time!"
"More time you ask? NO! I have given you more time all of your life. You have failed me time and again. This time you will not get what you want. You do not have payment for me. I must find something. Your soul shall do fine Angelique. This time, however, there will be no pleading, no asking for another chance. You have used all of your chances. This time, you will perish into the depths of hell for ever!" Diabolis reached his hand out and grabbed Angelique. He held her close to him as he descended into the opening from which he came.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed as the hole closed up.
Danielle fell to the floor.

Carolyn was sitting at the desk in her room at the Collinsport Inn. She had written out the name "Victor S. Retniwia" on a piece of paper. So did not know why, but for some reason the name sounded a bit familiar to her. She had tried everything to jog her memory. Carolyn was sitting at the desk trying to think of what she could do with the name. What did it mean? Why did it sound so familiar to her?
"Of course!" Carolyn yelled. "It must be an anagram!" Carolyn quickly grabbed her pen and wrote the letter out with a few spaces in between them.
"V-I-C-T-O-R  S.  R-ET-N-I-W-I-A," she said aloud as she wrote the letters down. Suddenly, as if everything she had been searching for had been answered, she remembered something. She pulled down the "S. Retniw" from the name, which  "Victoria". Then she rewrote the last name backwards, which made "Winters"
"Yes! Why didn't I remember before? When Vicki and I were bored one day we decided to try and make up names from the letters in our names, and "Victor S. Retniwia" was one of hers! Victor S. Retniwia is Victoria Winters!"

Danielle was lying on the couch in the drawing room of Collinwood. David walked in.
"Danielle, Danielle?" he said as he gently shook her. "Danielle, wake up."
"Huh? What? David! Am I at Collinwood?"
"Yes, where else would you be?"
"I don't know. David, would you mind fixing some tea?"
"No of course not. I will be right back." David walked out of the room.
"Was it all just a dream? Is Angelique really gone? I must find out!" Danielle jumped up, and ran into the foyer. She quickly put on her coat and gloves. David was coming from the kitchen with the tea.
"Danielle? Where are you going? Come in here and have your tea."
"David, I have to go real quick. I won't be gone long. Have your tea, and I will have mine when I get back," Danielle said as she ran out the door. She almost knocked Carolyn over as she was leaving. Carolyn came in and took off her coat. She hung her coat on the coat rack. She saw David in the drawing room, and went in.
"David, I am glad you are here. I want to talk to you."
"Hello Carolyn. Sit down and have some tea won't you?"
"Thank you." Carolyn said as she sat down and began to pour herself some tea. "David, I have found out something."
"What is it Carolyn?"
"Vicki is back."
"Vicki who?"
"Victoria Winters!"
"Vicki is back? When did she arrive? Why hasn't she come to see us?"
"I do not know any of that. You see, the real reason I cam back is because I promised mother that when she died I would come back to investigate her death because she always thought she was going to die from something supernatural. I went to the coroners office, and got her files. The coroner found an unknown substance in her blood. So, I had a copy made of the file, and then went to a potion shop. There I asked them if they sold such ingredients to make a potion that was untraceable, and the man told me they did. He also told me that they sell many other things, including a virus, which takes a month to kill its victims. I realized that this must be the virus that killed Uncle Roger. It was planted. Neither Uncle Roger, nor Mother died of natural causes, they were both murdered!"
"Well what does all of this have to do with Vicki?"
"I am getting to that. The man told me that the only person to buy both the virus and the potion ingredients recently was Victor S. Retniwia. I went home, and remember that one day Vicki and I made up names using the letters in our own names. One of the names that Vicki made up was Victor S. Retniwia. I realized that Victor S. Retniwia was a anagram for Victoria Winters! Vicki must have had something to do with Uncles Rogers, and Mothers death!"

Danielle is walking through Eagle Hill Cemetery. She looks at all of the older grave stones. Reading each one carefully. She reaches one and smiles contently.
"Angelique Bouchard," she read aloud, "hung as a witch in 1796 by the Reverend Trask." Danielle continued to smile. "So, Diabolis put you back into the past as a mortal, and this time the good Reverend found the right person. Well, that is a good thing. At least now I know that I will not be hung."

Chapter21
David looked at Carolyn with a look of disbelief on his face.
"David I swear I am not making this up. I think that Vicki killed Mother and Uncle Roger," Carolyn said.
"Carolyn, what proof do you have other than this name? That could be anyone's name."
"I know David. Don't you think I thought of that already? Look, I know this is hard to believe but somehow Vicki must have traveled back from the past. I don't know how or why, but she did. Vicki is here somewhere. She killed your father and my mother. She killed them David. Accept it."
Danielle came through the door. She hung her coat up and walked into the drawing room and sat down.
"Hello Carolyn, what brings you here?"
"Danielle, Carolyn says that she thinks my old governess Victoria Winters murdered my father and Aunt Elizabeth," David told his wife.
"What? Victoria Winters? Are you talking about my great-great grandmother? She lived over 200 years ago. How could she have possibly killed them?"
"Danielle," Carolyn said, "when David was a child Vicki, traveled back in time to the year 1795. She later returned to present day, but when your great-great grandfather, Peter Bradford was sent to the year 1795, Vicki followed him. She was supposed to live in 1968 but she traveled back to 1795 and lived their instead. Somehow, she has returned to this time, and she has killed my mother and Uncle Roger."
Danielle looked a Carolyn, as if she was scared of something.
"Danielle, I think Carolyn is right. Maybe Vicki did travel forward in time. But what motive does she have? Why would she want to kill Elizabeth and my father?"
"I have not figured that out yet David," Carolyn explained.

At the Old House, Barnabas is packing the rest of his things into a bag. The crosses, and holy water are the only things that are left. There is a rustle of wind as he hears a voice.
"Barnabas……………Barnabas………………"
"Who is it? Who's there?"
"Barnabas…………."
"Angelique! Appear to me! You have betrayed me! You must die! You will have no mercy from me this time!"
"No Barnabas, I have not betrayed you," Angelique said. Barnabas turned around to see her standing in front of the fire place.
"Angelique, I know you tried to steal Julia's soul. I know you have your powers back."
"Barnabas, I was trying to save our son. Christopher. He is a vampire now. You must save him. I cannot. I have been perished from this Earth by my master. After this, I am never to return. Barnabas, you must go to Nicholas' house and force him to change our son back. I know you can do it. I love you Barnabas. Nothing will ever change that. Now go! Before it is to late! Go!" Angelique disappeared.
"Angelique!!!" Barnabas screamed. Barnabas quickly threw the rest of the things into his bag, and ran out the door. He jumped into his car, and floored it. He raced to Nicholas' house.

At Collinwood, David, Carolyn, and Danielle are still talking in the drawing room.
"Carolyn, is their any motive you can think of that would make Vicki want to kill Father and Aunt Elizabeth?"
"Not right now. Look, I am going to sit here and work it out. Why don't you two go to bed? You both look extremely tired. Go to bed. If I figure out something, I will tell you in the morning."
"Carolyn is right David, lets go to bed."
"All right, but if you find out anything, wake me up okay?"
"Okay David. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Carolyn," David said as he and Danielle went upstairs.

Barnabas got out of his car. He carried his bag up to a house. He knocked on the front door. Chloe came to the door and welcomed him into the drawing room. She told him that Nicholas would be right down. Barnabas went into the drawing room and sat down. He placed the bag on the floor beside his feet. Nicholas soon walked in.
"Well, Barnabas, what a pleasant surprise this is."
"Nicholas, I wish not to be friendly. I have come here for one thing and one thing only."
"Oh? And what my that be?"
"I know what you have done. I know that you turned my son into a vampire. I know that you and Diabolis forced Angelique into getting her powers back in order to spilt us apart. It didn't work. While Angelique is dead, I am still alive and I will make you turn my son back into a regular person."
"Why Barnabas, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."
"Nicholas don't play stupid with me," Barnabas said as he was walking towards him. He grabbed Nicholas by the shirt and slammed himself against the wall. "Now Nicholas, you know what I am talking about don't you? And you will comply with what I ask, or, I will kill you."
"Okay Barnabas, you have me now don't you? You must think you are so smart. Well, have you forgotten, that their is now way that I can be killed?"
"Oh, but Nicholas, there is a way you can be killed. By fire. Fire is the only thing that can kill you. And it will kill you forever the way I do it!"
"Oh really?" Nicholas said as she pushed Barnabas off of him. Nicholas raised his hand and shouted something which made black bolts shoot from his hands and throw Barnabas back to hit the couch. Barnabas reached for his bag, and pulled out a sword and a torch.
"And so it begins," Barnabas said.

Back at Collinwood, Carolyn is sitting in the drawing room, trying to figure out why Vicki would want to kill her mother and Uncle Roger. Upstairs, David is drinking his brandy that Danielle had fixed for him. Danielle is laying in bed sleeping. David finishes his brandy and lays down. He closes his eyes and falls asleep. David begins to snore. Danielle hears him snoring, and slowly gets out of bed. She walks around the bed and picks up the glass David's brandy was in. She runs her finger around the top inside the glass. Her finger is covered in white powder. She smiles.
"Sleeping powder. Very powerful," she whispers to herself. Danielle walks around the bed again, and throws the glass into the fire. She opens her dresser drawer and pulls out a gun. She walks around the bed, and stands beside David, with the gun pointed at his head.

At Nicholas' house, Barnabas runs toward Nicholas with the sword outstretched in his hand. Before Nicholas can do anything, Barnabas runs the sword through Nicholas gut. Nicholas fell to the floor.
"Now, you can either save my son and live, or die Nicholas. The choice is yours."
"Why Barnabas……you should….know….what….my ….answer……to that," Nicholas said with blood gushing from his gut to from a pool on the floor.
"Yes, I suppose I did know your answer, but for some reason I thought you might change your mind."
"You…..though…..wrong…..," Nicholas said as blood started to run from his mouth.
"Yes, I suppose I did," Barnabas said as he swung the sword. Barnabas swung the sword around until it came in contact with Nicholas' neck, and chopped his head off. His head flew into the fire. Barnabas went over to his bag, where he had dropped the torch, and picked the torch up. He walked over to the fire where he lit the torch. He walked over to Nicholas and set the torch down on his body. Barnabas grabbed his bag. He walked out in the hall, to find Chloe standing at the door listening. Barnabas grabbed her arm, and led her out. Barnabas put Chloe in his car, and made his way to the Collinsport Inn where he found Chris and his coffin. He was sorry to see that his son had met the same fate as he had over 200 years before.
"Chris, Nicholas is dead. I will be moving you to the Old House tonight. Help me carry your coffin downstairs," Barnabas told his son. They carried the coffin downstairs.
"Father, leave it here with me. I can transport it back to the Old House into the cellar."
"Very well Chris."

At Collinwood, Carolyn is still trying to figure out a motive for Vicki to kill Elizabeth and Uncle Roger.
"Think Carolyn, think!" she said to herself. "Of course! That is it! Why didn't I think of it before?" Carolyn said as she ran out of the drawing room and up the stairs. In the master bedroom, Danielle is holding the gun pointed a David. She begins to pull the trigger as Carolyn bursts through the doors.
"Danielle! What are you doing?"
Danielle pointed the gun at Carolyn. "I am doing what I should do. What I have to do to get what is rightfully mine!"
"What is rightfully yours?"
"Yes what is rightfully mine. All of this! All of this land! And the one man on it that I always loved!"
"So you are Vicki! You are not Danielle you are Vicki!"
"Very good Carolyn, yes I am Victoria Winters. And Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was my mother. I am your older sister, so rightfully, this should all be mine!"
"Then why? Why did you kill our mother, and Uncle Roger?"
"Why? Well I wanted the money straight away! You see, I came back from the past with an allotted amount of time. I had to get the money before I had to return to the past. So, I killed Elizabeth so that they money would go to David. I killed Roger because, the old fart that he was, he was taking away from my fortune! He just had to go."
"And why are you telling me all this?"
"Well, you asked didn't you? Besides, now that you know, I have a reason to kill you. You won't get in my way anymore. And after I have finished with you, I will move to on to my "beloved husband"."
"And whom is this man that you are speaking of?"
"Why Barnabas of course! I realized that I never loved Peter Bradford. I had always loved Barnabas. So, to come back to present day, I made a deal with Diabolis. I told him that I knew of a sure way to get Angelique to be his servant again and that I would only tell him if he allowed me to travel through time. So he agreed and I told him. Lucky for me Angelique finally broke down and went to Diabolis for help in turning her son back to normal again. So Angelique had her powers back, and she once again did all she could for the good of her ownself, like I knew she would. Then, when you told Barnabas it was Angelique whom tried to steal Julia's soul, well that just made my plan even better. You see, I hadn't figured out a way to get Angelique away from Barnabas, but when he found out she betrayed him, well that was just the best! Then he hated her once more. So, she traveled back in time to the year 1940 to steal Julia's soul from her then, but I killed her. Quite convenient for me. Now, I do not wish to be rude, but I have to kill you now Carolyn. Goodbye."

David was slowly waking up behind Danielle/Vicki, and listened to the whole thing she had just said. He slowly got up and as Danielle/Vicki pulled the trigger, he jumped on her. Danielle/Vicki fired the gun, but it hit a lamp instead of Carolyn. David wrestled the gun away from Danielle/Vicki and stood up.
"So, Carolyn was right in saying that you killed Aunt Elizabeth and my Father Vicki."
"Yes, she's quite the detective isn't she?"
"Vicki, I always took you for a nice an honest person, but the only reason you ever came here at all was because you knew that Aunt Elizabeth was your mother and you wanted the money. So I guess all that nice, and honest crap was a cover up for the bitch underneath!" David pulled the trigger of the gun and shot Vicki right in the chest.
Right before Vicki died, she mumbled, "David……….you……will…….die……soon………" Vicki lay dead on the floor. David dropped the gun, and turned to Carolyn.
"I a sorry to have doubted you, Carolyn."
"It is quite all right."
"Thank you for saving my life."
"Thank you for saving mine! If you had not woken up when you did I would have been dead." Just then, Amanda walked into the room.
"Amanda, get out of here! Come on. Let me take you back to your room!"
"Mother!!!!!" Amanda screamed. She tried to run over to Vicki's lifeless body laying on the floor, but David grabbed her.
"Carolyn, please take her downstairs. I will be down in a second." Carolyn did as David asked her to. David picked up the gun, and threw it into the fire. He took a sheet off of his bed and put it over Vicki, for he did not want to see her face ever again. He went out of the room, shut the door, and locked it. He walked down the hall to the steps. David was standing on the landing above the steps, when he began to feel light headed. He leaned on the railed for support. 
In the drawing room, Carolyn was trying to calm Amanda down when she heard a loud crash. Carolyn followed by Amanda ran out into the foyer. They both screamed. David had fallen over the railing, and landed on the black table that stood in the middle of the foyer. Carolyn ran up to David's body, and crouched down beside it. She felt for a pulse. There was none. She screamed again.
*                                     *                                     *
David's body was taken to the coroners office, and the coroner determined that he had died by poison. David was buried in a new mausoleum which was constructed for him. Vicki's body was thrown over widows hill. David's will was read, and he had named his wife heir, but since she was dead, Amanda was named heir. Since she was only 14, Carolyn ran things until Amanda turned 21. Chris remained a vampire, and Barnabas saw to it that no one outside of the family ever found out.

To Be Continued...