Yours For Eternity {Barnabas Collins}

i. blood is thicker than water

Liverpool, 1760

It is said that blood is thicker than water. It is what defines us. Binds us. Curses us.

A young Barnabas Collins followed his mother and father onto a boat "Come, my love. Come, Barnabas" Joshua Collins beckoned his wife and son.

For some, blood means a life of wealth and privilege. For others, a life of servitude.

Barnabas stared at a young girl as he walked past her. The girl stared back at him. A hooded woman grabbed the girl's arm. "Angelique, how many times do I have to tell you not to stare at him?" The woman chastised.

When I was but a boy... my father took us to the New World to expand the Collins family empire. We brought English industry to the wilds of Maine... and built a fishing business... the likes of which America had never seen.

One year later, Collinsport was a booming business. Joshua walked with his son along the dock. "A man should take pride in what he builds. But remember, Barnabas, family is the only real wealth. Hm?"

As our business grew, the town of Collinsport grew with it... and we decided to put down
permanent roots. We spent the next 15 years building our beloved home: Collinwood. But not everyone shared in our family's success.

Fifteen years later, Barnabas and Angelique had found privacy in a dark room, the only light coming the the peaks in the curtain. They were passionately kissing.

Angelique pulled away. "Je t'aime. Let me hear you say "I love you, Angelique. I want you."

Barnabas stared at her. Angelique stepped away from him. "Angelique...I am sorry, my dear...but you would be hearing a lie"

Angelique did not take the rejection well. You see, the woman was a witch. She was alone in her room, reciting a spell. "Make the high and mighty low. Arrogant creatures, down you go"

Joshua and Naomi Collins were taking a stroll one stormy night. The mood was perfectly set for the doom they would meet that night. They would meet their deaths when a statue had fallen on them.

Convinced my parents' death was no accident... I became obsessed with dark magic and ancient curses.

Barnabas read from a book. "Lo! Above the gates of hell...he found a single letter. A letter proclaiming Satan's true name. Mephistopheles" He ran his fingers over the gold M that was on the page.

But even then, in the depths of my grief, not all was darkness. For I had found my one true love.

"Promise we'll be together forever" Ophelia DuPres asked of Barnabas. The two of them were lovers, despite the fact the Ophelia was betrothed to another.

"God as my witness, Ophelia... I swear it" Barnabas promised. He sealed that promise to her with a passionate kiss.

Of all the servants I could have spurned... all the hearts I could have broken... I got the one with the secret. I got the witch.

Angelique watched with no emotion as the two of them kissed. But Angelique wasn't the only one who caught them. Ophelia's fiance, Jonathan Hargreaves. He watched with burning anger as his wife to be kissed another man. Ophelia belonged to him. Not Barnabas. Angelique had managed to spot Jonathan in her peripheral vision. She grinned evilly to herself. She could use his own spurned emotions to her advantage.

That night, Angelique had lured Jonathan into her room that night. She placed him under a spell. "If she doth chooses another, then you must make her pay. By all means necessary" Her sultry whisper spoke in his ear. "Kill her in front of the man she betrayed you with"

Caught in Angelique's spell, Jonathan had taken my beloved Ophelia towards Widow's Hill... where many a despondent soul had leapt to their death.

Barnabas rushed to save his Ophelia from her fate. "Ophelia!" He called her name as he ran. He came to the hill where he saw Ophelia being held by Jonathan. He held a knife to her throat. "Please, let her go!"

"Help me" Ophelia pleaded desperately.

"If I can't have her, then no one can!" Jonathan declared. He dragged the blade across her throat. The stainless steel was stained by the crimson liquid. Ophelia's body went limp. Her body was thrown off the cliff by Jonathan. Barnabas looked over the cliff and watched as her lifeless body hit the rocks below.

Since the deed was done, Jonathan had become broken from his spell. He looked at the knife in his hand. When he saw it was stained with blood, he dropped it. "What have I done!?" He cried when he realized. "I've killed the love of my life!" With that, he ran.

Barnabas did the only thing he could do now. He wasn't going to live without Ophelia. He took a leap off the cliff. "Ophelia!" He shouted her name as he fell. He hit the rocks but he didn't die. He was still moving and breathing. He looked at Ophelia's body. The water had washed away the blood that was on her neck.

No, Barnabas Collins wasn't dead, but rather he was undead. He looked up at the cliff where Angelique stood. "What have you done?!" He screamed at her. Barnabas watched in horror as he nails grew sharper and his skin turned paler.

Angelique had cursed me to be a vampire... so that my suffering would never end. As for Jonathan... he never faced any punishments for what he do to Ophelia... nor did he live with the guilt. Angelique took care of that... Ophelia's sister, Josette, was too taken with grief, that she jumped off the same cliff where her sister died, so they could be together again.

One day, when Barnabas had opened the door, he was greeted to angry townsfolk carry torches and pitchforks. "There's the monster!" Angelique, who was in front, pointed at him. "He killed the DuPres girl and threw her body off the cliff!" The townspeople grabbed Barnabas. They all followed Angelique as she lead them into the forest.

Resolved that I would never belong to her... Angelique turned the townspeople against me... and condemned me to suffer my anguish alone in the dark

The townspeople had but Barnabas in a chained up coffin. They lowered it into the hole they had dug in the ground. All the while with Barnabas pleading, banging against the coffin. "Let me out! Let me out, I say!"

...for all time.

Angelique watched with a pleased smirk as the coffin was buried.