Dark Shadows - Clementine

Four

The next year and a half was painful for the Collins family. Their beloved Collinwood was being rebuilt by a lot of workers that Clementine's money managed to pay for. Gradually, the main hall that served as a large airy sitting room was recreated. Then the kitchen and dining room, the bedrooms, and then it became a liveable space, as the rooms in the old wing weren't necessary. However, despite the fact that they did not need the other rooms, Barnabas had them rebuilt, too. He said that if he was to have a home, it had to be a whole house, not just a half. So the rest of the house was built, and the Collins family had their mansion back.

......

Once they had a place to live, Barnabas and Elizabeth made a joint agreement to have the cannery rebuilt with the rest of Clementine's money. After a majority of the money had been spent, Josette took Carolyn and David to buy some clothes, food, duvets, pillows and cooking equipment. They were accompanied by the ghost of David's mother and a large sum of money left over from the house and cannery, which was gradually moving uphill.

Later, the trio (counting invisible ghosts, the quad) arrived back at Collinwood loaded down with bags and bags of supplies. The fire in the main hall was lit, its orange flames casting a soft light everywhere. Willie was in the kitchen awaiting the food so he could put it away. Josette delivered the food and cooking equipment directly to him, then sent Carolyn upstairs to Elizabeth in the drawing room, where Elizabeth took the clothes to everyone's rooms, and David was given the burden of making sure there was at least one pillow and duvet in each room. With time, everyone was very much at home. But nothing really happened until the cannery was opened opposite Angelbay again. Business went well. Then the money started coming in; beds were bought, a desk for Elizabeth, chairs and tables, a sofa or two, a couple of coffins, items that took people's fancy, such as clocks or lamps, an oven (they had to stop using the fire for everything at some point) and everything else that you might find in a house.

......

Josette was getting on well in the Collins' house. Barnabas took good care of her, Carolyn tried her best whenever she was around, David stuck to her like he did to Vicky, Willie was courteous and Elizabeth was polite. Nothing seemed strange or hidden in that house. Everyone knew Barnabas and Josette were vampires. They all knew David really could see ghosts and that Carolyn was a werewolf. And of course they all knew Clementine, who visited them sometimes, was pyrokinetic. Due to the fact she had been Angelique's 'sister', and was also the one who had burnt their house to a crisp, Clementine was never truly welcome in Collinwood, no matter how hard they tried to forget the past.

Clementine was also working hard not to feel any hate towards Barnabas and the rest of his no-good family. Angelbay was making good business, and the Collins' cannery wasn't doing as well yet. The reason behind the fact that Angelbay cannery was producing more cans of fish was that Clementine was paying her workers more and had more shifts, so her workers weren't as tired and was constantly working. If someone was off, another who wasn't too tired and had nothing to do would take over the position. The Collins' hadn't gotten that far with their business and envied Clementine for her luck and good fortune.

Every now and again one of the Collins' would visit Clementine in office. She had not taken this lightly. Barnabas was usually the one who came to her every week. Occasionally it was Elizabeth or Josette. But Barnabas was the only one who was actually willing to speak to her. Their conversations consisted of the past. For example, Barnabas was extremely interested in when Clementine found out about her pyrokinesis.

"How exactly did you find out that you were pyrokinetic?" Barnabas said to her one day.

"It's a long story..." she muttered in reply.

"Go on, I'm curious..." Barnabas insisted. Clementine rolled her eyes and took off one of her gloves then began playing with her flame.

"Alright... I was seven. My mother and I worked at a manor on the outskirts of a city just off Maine. It was a cold winter's evening and I was ordered to light the fire. I'd seen my mother do it before, and I was determined to try. I lit it in the way my mother had shown me, and came away with my hand on fire. It was agony, but I didn't want to admit it. I stole a pair of Lady Ferr's thick gloves.

"I was helping serve supper when Lady Ferr noticed I was wearing her gloves, and they were also burnt. She shouted, and I jumped, spilling hot tea over my hands. My hands already on fire, the tea only made it worse, and before long, the gloves were burning. I ripped them off, only to find my hands had become clubs of fire. You wouldn't believe me if I told you the rest," Clementine reached over her desk to a glass of water, which partly evaporated at her touch. "Oops..." She pulled her glove back on and grabbed the glass again. She sipped it, shuddered at the heat, and placed it back on the desk.

"I have seen too many odd things in my life. And what if I chose to believe you?" Barnabas said.

"It seems there's no holding back the truth. Believe me, I'm terrified you'll bite me and I'll crack up," she said, referring to the night Angelique died. Barnabas nodded slowly.

"Just tell me," he said. "It does not need to be repeated." Clementine breathed out.

"Lord Ferr had me chained in the dungeons. They had dungeons built specially for servants that tried to make a break for it, or if they damaged something in the house," she explained. "He had my hands in fists, and then he chained them that way. He plunged them into buckets of icy water three times a day. He didn't understand that it just made them worse. Stupid man, he never realised anything until someone told him about it. Only I told no one but myself."

"You never told him about it?"

"No, why, should I have?" Clementine questioned harshly. Barnabas said nothing, so she carried on. "I spent years there. My mother died of grief, as she was never allowed to see me. Although I suspect she also refused to eat... and so I became lonely until one Angelique Bouchard crossed me quite by accident." Barnabas stared at Clementine in amazement.

"She helped you?" he asked, stunned.

"Oh, she did more than that," Clementine said. "She freed me. I was... I can never remember, but I was a few years younger than her. She saved me, and I pledged myself to her, but I could never repay her truly. She killed the lord and lady of the house, and let all the servants go free, too. She took me with her, and we became sisters. She gave me gloves to stop the fire from burning everything and we settled in Collinsport, and built Angelbay.

"It was fun. When Angie reached the age that she should 'die' at, she pretended to become her own 'daughter'. Then when the daughter 'died', she became the first Angelique's 'grand-daughter', and so on. I stayed the same. I became Clementine the Never-Aging, thanks to a freeze spell Angie had placed on the both of us. Then we worked together for Angelbay, and that leads us to now."

The knowledge that Angelique had at least done one good thing in her life changed Barnabas a little; Angie had freed servants kept under rough conditions.