by Katie Allen

"Julia!" he cried. He closed the distance between them and enfolded her in his arms and kissed her again and again, murmuring things that made little sense. The familiarity of his hands and depth of his kisses touched a longing in Julia. Without thinking, she returned his kisses. Then he pushed her gently from him, his face doubting and puzzled. "You aren't Julia. Who are you?"

"I am Julia Hoffman." she insisted.

"Julia Hoffman?" He exclaimed. "I don't understand."

"I'm not sure I can explain it. I come from a parallel time. This room seems to be some sort of doorway to other universes."

"And if you walk out of this room, will you disappear?"

"I don't think so."

Barnabas took her hand as though needing to touch her. "There were always rumors about this room. That's why I came here. I hoped..." He paused considering his words. "The fact that you are Julia Hoffman leads me to believe that our times are not much alike. And yet..." He smiled, remembering the way she reacted to his kisses. "You know me in this other time."

"Yes. I do." Julia said without elaborating.

He still considered his words carefully. "Does the name Angelique mean anything to you?"

Julia tried to turn away. "Yes. The Barnabas and Angelique of my time are on their honeymoon."

Barnabas turned her back to him. "But she is evil." He exclaimed. Then he saw the pain on her face and once again enfolded her in his arms. "The Barnabas of your time is a fool." They were silent for a few moments. "Then are you free? No ties to this other time?"

"I have no ties there, no one at all in my own time." Julia said into his shoulder.

Barnabas let go of her and said, "I'd like to talk with you about something. Let's get out of here."

Julia held up her hand, the decision to make a new life without Barnabas had not been easy, but with much deliberation, it had been made. "Barnabas, I won’t leave this room without knowing more. If I leave with you I may not be able to go back. By now there is a taxi waiting for me. If I don't find a way back now, how could I ever explain where I've been, and how I got back into the house, when I'm supposed to be in Europe?"

"Julia, I took a lot for granted. You said you had no ties in that other world, that you were alone. Are you any worse off remaining here?" Barnabas took her hand. "Is Europe so important to you? If you stay, I can promise you that you never need be alone again. You will always have a family." He looked into her eyes, "I need you, Julia."

Julia had never been able to resist Barnabas when he needed her. And truly, there was nothing to return to. "I'll come."

Barnabas squeezed Julia's hand then let it go to take her case. After checking to see all was clear, he smuggled her out of the house. "I can explain my presence in the house, but not yours."

The sun had risen. Julia thought about her Collinwood. By now the cab driver had given up and no one would miss her. Her impulse to step into the room was now an irreversible step. One she hoped she wouldn’t regret.

Barnabas opened the door to the Old House. Willie came to the door to greet Barnabas, looked hard at Julia, his face losing all its color. He studied Julia hard, then smiled. "Julia! It's really you!" He looked at Barnabas. "The room worked, Barnabas! It worked!"

Barnabas put a hand on Willie's shoulder. "It worked Willie, only Julia is not feeling well. Maybe you could make her some tea."

Willie smiled and gave Julia a gentle hug. "Of course you're not feeling well. You've been dead. I'll make you a cup of tea. The best I've ever made." Willie hurried off to the kitchen.

Julia looked at Barnabas, a mixture of amusement and puzzlement in her face. "I've been dead? Why didn't you tell him the truth."

Barnabas rubbed his forehead. "I'm afraid I have a lot more to explain than that. First of all here, in my time, you are my wife." Julia looked startled. Barnabas led her to a couch. "We don't have much time. There are some people whose lives depend on you." Barnabas was in a hurry, but chose his words carefully. "I am assuming a lot, but you know what I was."

Julia answered, "A vampire."

Barnabas looked relieved. "That helps. Julia, my Julia, was Dr. Julia Lang when I met her. Eric Lang's widow." Julia looked startled. "Do you know Eric Lang?" He asked

Julia answered, "I knew him. He is dead in my time too."

Barnabas would have liked to know more, but time was important. "When Willie let me out of my coffin, I attacked him brutally. When he was found the next morning, they took him to Emergency where you, I mean Julia was on call. They patched him up, his injuries were severe, and he was terrified into silence by what happened to him. Julia hypnotized him."

"The next evening when I awoke, Julia greeted me with a cross. After all the years of research with Lang, I think she took me on as another project. I met the modern day Collins family and took over the Old House, giving me a safe place to rest and Julia a place to set up her lab. By the time Willie had healed enough to leave the hospital, the treatments had begun to work, and Willie has lived with us since. He is not strong, and does not remember what I did to him. That is part of the guilt I must live with."

"Julia and I grew close and even before I had become a normal man again, we became lovers. Once we were sure the treatments had worked, we married. It was quite a surprise when Julia became pregnant. She had no children with Lang, and thought she couldn't."

Julia looked around. "Children? Where?"

Barnabas' face softened as he said, "One child. Bramwell is three now." A shadow passed over his face. Angelique came back a couple of months ago. The fact that we were so happy caused her to turn her hatred on Julia. A talisman protected Julia from the worst of Angelique's anger. Angelique, unable to touch Julia with her magic began to use other methods. Bramwell began to have accidents. Nothing we could trace back to Angelique, and nothing life-threatening. It was to frighten Julia, and it worked. On the night of the last full moon, Angelique took Bramwell out of his bed. Even with her twisted obsession, I know she would never have hurt him. She wouldn't have dared risk my anger, but the fear she had caused in Julia..." Barnabas took a deep breath. "She left a note on Bramwell's bed threatening to give Bramwell to Chris as the moon rose, or Julia could take his place."

Barnabas closed his eyes, "If only I had been here. But Angelique had seen to it that Quentin and I were not here. Julia believed her, and went to where Chris would be locked up for the full moon. Angelique stood there holding Bramwell. He watched as his mother stepped into Chris' cell. He listened as Chris killed her."

Barnabas face looked like it had been carved from rock. Julia put her hand on his. He put his arms around her and held her, resting his head on hers. Julia’s eyes welled with tears, as she felt him cry silent tears. How deeply he had loved his Julia. And how selfish she felt envying a woman whom was now dead. When Barnabas had fought his emotion, and had himself once more under his iron control, he continued the story, still holding Julia.

"Willie found her. When Quentin and I got back, Willie was sitting next to her body, rocking back and forth. He didn't want to leave her." Barnabas pulled away from Julia, to look into her face "The room I found you in has a legend that says the room can bring back the dead. The only way to make Willie leave Julia, was to promise to find her again in that room. I've been going there every day since." Barnabas paused, then smiled weakly at Julia. "Maybe the legend wasn't all together wrong."

"Quentin and I buried Julia in the secret room in the mausoleum, in the coffin that was once mine." he said softly. Then his face took on a savage look, his smile chilling Julia. "We threw Angelique's ashes over Widow's Hill." He paused looking satisfied.

"Julia this is where you come in. Bramwell is in the hospital. He is a sick little boy, who needs his mother. The police picked up Chris the morning after he killed you, I mean Julia, but they had to let him go. Between the blood on Chris' clothing, our inability to produce you, and the stories Bramwell's been telling the nurses, it is only a matter of time before the police come here with search warrants. They arrested Chris last night for your murder. If you hadn't come to that room this morning, I'm afraid all would have been lost. Besides the risk to our secrets, the full moon is just a few nights away. If Chris is not confined where he can not get out, there will be more death, and none of us will be safe."

"You want me to masquerade as Julia? Your Julia?"

Barnabas smiled, "No. You just be yourself. When the police questioned us, we told them you had been in a terrible accident, and were too ill to answer questions."

Julia interrupted him. "What would you have done if you hadn't found me? You couldn't have believed in the legend."

Barnabas took her hand. "I think I wanted to believe it. Willie has accepted you as Julia, everyone else will. A memory loss should cover any other problems. You will do it."

Although it hadn't been phrased as a question, Julia answered it, "I will help you."

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