Subj: The Obsession of Barnabas Collins, Chapter One
Date: 5/6/00
1:38:04 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Beverly LaCroix
Chapter One
Quest For A Bride
"I've got to have her." Barnabas mumbled for the hundredth time. Pacing
back and forth in the drawing room of the Old House. Wringing his hands
with impatience, waiting for Willie to deliver his message to Quentin, his
mind kept darting to the woman he wanted for his eternal bride. Her beauty
had been so breathtaking, it had caught him unaware, and he had felt like
a silly schoolboy going through the throes of puberty instead of a worldly
200 year-old vampire. He had stared at her and listened to her voice as
though hypnotized. Her voice reminded him of a gentle breeze stirring wind
chimes on a spring morning. Her eyes captured him, and he knew they would
be imprinted on his mind for an eternity, and he would stop at nothing to
have her.
Walking towards The Abbey, Quentin and Julia's large home that was
structured like an Abbey from some old place in England, but Willie wasn't
thinking about the historic origins of the design of Quentin and Julia's
home. He was angry, angrier than he had been in a long time. He didn't
relish going to fetch Quentin and deliver him to Barnabas, and he cringed
at the errands he had been assigned to do today. Finally reaching the huge
old rustic doors of The Abbey, Willie finally lifted the old iron knocked
and knocked. He breathed a sigh of relief when Quentin answered the door,
and all seemed quiet.
Quentin looked nonplussed after Willie explained Barnabas wanted to see
him immediately, and would not take no for an answer.
"Loomis, you're very fortunate that Julia has taken the children to the
circus tonight, and I couldn't go because of a work deadline or Barnabas
would have been sadly disappointed." Quentin said irritated. He loved his
cousin very much, but wished he would get it through his head that they
weren't all there just waiting for his summons, and anyway if Julia found
out about this he would be in the doghouse, literally, for six months.
"I'm really sorry, Quentin. I don't like coming out here to get you any
better than you like being gotten. So, you just save your complaints for
Barnabas. I'll bet you want tell him that." Willie shot back in a
quarrelsome voice.
Quentin studied the man at his side, surprised at the sharpness of his
tone. He didn't much care for Loomis, and the feeling was mutual, but
because Quentin was a Collins, and had a common bond with his cousin,
Willie had always maintained a forced tone of civility, so this must be
urgent.
Neither man said another word, and walking through the double doors of
the Old House, both men automatically took a step back. Barnabas was
enraged, fangs were glistening with saliva, his eyes were blood red, and
Quentin detected a low growl coming from the maddened sight before him.
Quentin hated it when Barnabas was like this, and he was unprepared, and
so was Loomis from the looks of it. Now he heard the dogs howling, and the
threatening roar of thunder, sure signs Barnabas was more than a little
upset.
"Barnabas!" Quentin said sharply, but Barnabas had moved quicker than
the human eye could even begin to fathom and had a quivering, crying
Willie Loomis by the neck, ready to pierce the large jugular vein of the
helpless young man.
Quentin grabbed Barnabas from behind, trying to conquer his fear, and
Barnabas jerked quickly around and it seemed he noticed his cousin for the
first time since he had walked in the door.
Barnabas returned to normal, apologized to Willie for the near attack,
and began to pace again.
"Barnabas, I don't know why you wanted me to come here, but it sure as
hell had better be for something more than watching you pace. If Julia
finds out I'm here, I'm in big trouble. You know what how mad she was the
last time I got involved with you and one of your schemes or ideas."
Quentin said sharply.
"Schemes, Cousin. I don't scheme, that was for a good cause and you
know it." Barnabas retorted peevishly.
"Uh-huh, right, Cousin. If you call trying to I-ching us back to the
15th Century so you could get a vase from Queen Elizabeth I to impress a
certain lady in Boston, then I'm almost reluctant to ask what this
emergency is about." Quentin replied sarcastically.
"Oh, all right, maybe you have a point, Quentin, but I rather doubt
it." Barnabas replied with equal sarcasm.
"And, don't take it so lightly, I almost lost my head in that dreadful
Tower." Quentin said with a shudder.
"Well, never mind that. This has nothing to do with time travel. It has
to do with a woman that I need to meet. She is the most beautiful woman I
have ever seen in my existence, and I intend to make her mine. My eternal
bride, Quentin." Barnabas said, his voice getting softer, and more
seductive as he thought about the woman in mind.
"Now, how may I help? And who is she? Do I know her?" Quentin shot off
a volley of questions, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of
his stomach. He just knew this was going to be disastrous.
"Go on, tell him, Barnabas." Willie said, as he walked in the room.
"I will, Willie!" Barnabas said glaring at the servant.
"Barnabas, who is she?" Quentin said not sure if he wanted the answer,
but knew it was as inevitable as the guillotine for the guilty man.
"Her beauty defies description. She is Cleopatra, Joan of Arc,
Nefertiti, Marie Antoinette, all the great beauties combined, and more."
Barnabas was saying.
Willie was nodding his head, listening to his master/employer trying to
describe her to Quentin, sickened at the whole business, he wanted to walk
out of the room, but then again he wanted to see Quentin's reaction.
"Barnabas, who is she?" Quentin said.
"Elizabeth Taylor." Barnabas said very seriously, a look of rapture
covering his countenance at the very sound of her
name.
