My name is Victoria Winters. The past has been left in confusion, while the present is also chaotic. Unknown to the residents of Collinwood, an angry spirit roams the house, searching for vengeance, possessing the bodies of the inhabitants and forcing them to perform her evil deeds. And now, Julia and Willie are not the only people who know Barnabas's secret...

Vicki stared over Liz's shoulder at Barnabas, terror written in her expression. It was him, it had to be! Her Barnabas was the same one she'd met in 1796, she was sure of it! The same cold demeanor hiding the same fiery temper, the same slate grey eyes staring into her soul. But no human could survive for 200 years, her logic reasoned. But if that were true, and he was the same Barnabas, then it must also be true that he was a vampire! She trembled in Liz's arms.

Barnabas read the fear in Victoria's eyes. Although it could stem from a number of things, he knew instinctively that she now recognized his true identity, his vampiric doom. Anger coursed through his veins as he stared at her, followed by despair and a desperate burning in his teeth. The room suddenly became claustrophobic, and Barnabas tore his gaze away from Victoria and exited to the hallway, where he leaned against the wall, eyes closed, until his bloodlust subsided. All that was left in his mind was despair.

"Barnabas, what are you going to do?" Julia's clinical voice cut through Barnabas's sorrow. She had witnessed the exchange between Barnabas and Vicki and recognized it for what it was.

"I want you to kill me, Julia," Barnabas answered, his eyes remaining closed. "To put a stake through my heart."

Julia was taken aback. Kill Barnabas? "I can't, I won't," she answered. She cared too much about him to want to, or to be willing to, intentionally kill him.

"Then what do you suggest?" Barnabas asked, finally opening his eyes. They were filled with tears, tears of agony and frustration.

Julia's throat constricted at his pain. "Let me try treating you again," she suggested. "I've been working on an improved serum."

"And will it make Victoria stop hating me?" he asked bitterly, his voice full of self-loathing. He doubted there was anything anyone could do to make Victoria stop fearing and hating him.

"When you stop hating yourself," Julia answered.

Elizabeth shooed everyone out of the room and bade Vicki goodnight. But as exhausted as Vicki was, she simply couldn't fall asleep. She was being haunted by two darkly handsome faces: Barnabas Collins and Peter Bradford, her advocate in 1796. They'd both done everything they could to save her from going to the gallows, but Barnabas had disappeared the day she'd been scheduled for execution...she didn't want to speculate where, and Peter had been shot as she stood on the gallows, watching.

Barnabas had been cold but polite, and completely enamoured of Vicki's doppelganger, Josette du Pres. It had been strange to see him in love with someone else, no matter how similar Josette was to herself. Barnabas wouldn't open up to her then like he had now, but now he was something dark, something...evil...

But Peter, Peter had been so sweet and gentle. In their few weeks of acquaintance, he'd gone from struggling to believe her insane story to falling in love with her and believing the truth, that she'd come from the future; she'd seen it in his eyes and his every action. He had been shot trying to rescue her from the gallows. But what had happened to him after she'd returned to the future? Had he survived his gunshot wound?

Joe Haskell looked at the notebook he held in his hands. It was the journal of his great-great-great-great-great-grand-uncle, Peter Bradford. He'd found it in the closet of his grandparents' house in Portland, Maine, and had been curious about what secrets it held. The first entry was dated September 6, 1796. He began reading.

Barnabas faced the sunrise, but only a minute passed before he had to withdraw into the shadows. Julia had given him the serum an hour ago.

"How long will it be before I'll be able to appear at Collinwood during the day?" Barnabas asked impatiently, anxious to speak to Victoria before she told anyone about his...condition.

"A few weeks," Julia answered, facing him. His complexion was more pale and gaunt than ever, and she knew that he hadn't taken blood or hunted for weeks. "I can only give you one injection a week, but this serum is an improvement over the last." Julia studied the calculations in her notebook. "With any luck, this should take half the time the last serum took."

"Luck..." Barnabas whispered softly. "I've never had any." His eyes looked bleak, and his heart felt like it had been shattered into pieces.

Julia knew what he was referring to. "Would you like me to talk to Vicki for you?" she asked, understanding his fear and desperation. He nodded. "I'll go this morning."

Alexis Barrett checked into the Collinsport Inn, just down the street from the Blue Whale. She wasn't sure why she had come to Collinsport; she didn't have family or business there, and she didn't know anyone in town. There was just something about the town. It had been calling her, drawing her to it.

Reeling her in...

‘Where did that thought come from?' Alexis wondered. `I'm not a fish, and I wasn't drawn here by some outside force! That's just crazy!'

Still, the thought persisted. Determined to take her mind off the subject, she decided to take a walk to acquaint herself with Collinsport.

Joe Haskell set aside Peter Bradford's journal. He was almost finished with it, and it was a fascinating story. Peter had been deeply in love with a girl who, according to his uncle, came from the future with an incredible story, and then disappeared into thin air as she was about to be executed. Peter had recovered from taking a bullet in his gut, but he had never married because of his love for this girl. He also detailed a number of strange things, such as the accurate predictions the girl had given him, and the fact that there was a vampire in their midst, but that the vampire had disappeared. Joe couldn't read the name of the vampire, as the page had gotten wet and the ink had smeared.

Joe didn't know what to make of the story, but it had helped to take his mind off Daphne, her death, and her resurrection as a vampire. For the first time since Daphne was finally put to rest, he felt up to returning to Collinwood and facing Liz, Carolyn, and Roger.

Maggie Evans walked into the Blue Whale to talk with her father. She found him standing behind the counter, conversing with a young, blonde-haired woman that she didn't know. Curious, she joined them at the counter.

"Hi, Dad," she said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Maggie, sweetheart," Sam Evans greeted his only child. "Have you met Alexis Barrett?"

Maggie turned to face the woman, who held her hand out to Maggie. Maggie met the woman's blue eyes with surprise. Alexis looked so familiar to her for some unusual reason, but she couldn't place her.

"Hi," Maggie greeted Alexis, who smiled in response. They shook hands.

Floating above Maggie, Angelique grinned in recognition. Phase one of her plan was about to begin...