Help

Terry S. Bowers

November 16, 2000

Uncertain if she should enter or not, Julia stood on the threshold of the parallel time room, staring into it. The room was as it appeared in her time, and she knew it was her only way to Barnabas. She clutched the key in her hand, almost ready to do as Barnabas had asked her; lock the door so no one from this time band could be trapped there with him.

"Julia."

She glanced over her shoulder as Quentin approached. He stood beside her, gazing into the room.

"What's wrong?"

"Barnabas..."

"Have you seen him?"

"Yes,... he was here, in this room. He came back, Quentin, but..."

"Where is he now?"

Quentin stepped over the threshold and Julia followed him in, slipping the key into the pocket of her green tweed suit so Quentin wouldn't question her about why she had it.

"He went back. He was worried about the Maggie of parallel time and determined to do something to help her."

"He did what? I don't understand how you could let him stay in this room."

Julia swallowed hard, trying to distance herself from her own feelings of guilt. Quentin had no idea of what she and Barnabas really shared, or how hard it had been for her to not drag him from the room against his will. Perhaps, someday, Barnabas might have forgiven her, but she would have destroyed what they did share. She knew Quentin would never understand, but she had at least try.

"I tried to dissuade him, Quentin, but his mind was made up. He said he had to help Maggie."

"Doesn't Barnabas realize he's placing himself in danger? He's really pushing his luck. If those people know anything about vampires and even suspect he is one, Barnabas is as good as dead."

Julia cringed, wishing Quentin had been more careful with what he said. He let his anger and worry rule his head, and was careless, forgetting that anyone from parallel time could be watching them, listening to what they said. But there was nothing to be done now. He'd said it and all Julia could do was try to minimize the damage.

"I know. If only there was something we could do to help him."

"Other than going into parallel time and dragging him back here, I don't know what it would be. Let's get out of here."

Quentin walked away from the double doors to leave by the side entrance. Julia started to follow, then paused, surveying the room, studying the doorway carefully. She could not prove it, but she was certain she was being watched, and that the person watching her meant to harm Barnabas with the information Quentin had revealed. They would kill Barnabas. If the person watching was the other Hoffman or Angelique... No, she would not leave. Now, more than ever, Julia knew she had to risk the dangers of parallel time and find her way to Barnabas. He was not always careful when it came to his own safety. She had to help him.

Shaking her head, Julia slowly followed Quentin out the side door. She waited a moment, long enough for whomever had been watching to leave, then Julia re-entered the parallel time room. She crossed to the double doors and used the key Barnabas had sent her to fetch; she locked herself in.

Julia glanced around the room. She was getting nothing from Barnabas, their link was silent, but that would not discourage her. Barnabas needed her, he needed her help, and she would be there for him, no matter what he said, just like she always was.

She'd done it. She'd made the transition to parallel time. One instant the room had been cold, dark and empty. Julia closed her eyes for a brief moment and when she opened them, the room was different and she in parallel time. But she had no time to pause and get her bearings; Barnabas was in danger, she knew it as certainly as she breathed. Hurrying from the room, Julia knew she could find Barnabas at the Old House.

No! Barnabas!

Julia saw her counterpart, a stake and mallet in her hands, entering the secret room behind the bookcase. She had learned Barnabas' secret; she was the one whom Julia had sensed listening to herself and Quentin, and there was no doubt about what Hoffman intended to do. Julia had come to this time band to help Barnabas, to protect him, and she had better start right then.

Glancing around the room, Julia moved to the fireplace and removed the poker from its stand. Not pausing long enough to appreciate how clichéd her weapon was, Julia quietly slipped into the secret room behind Hoffman.

The woman had Barnabas' coffin lid open, the stake positioned over his heart, the mallet raised and ready to strike. Julia acted first. She struck the housekeeper on the back of the head with the poker. Hoffman dropped her weapons, clutched her head in pain, and sank to the floor. Julia released a deep sigh and let her gaze rest on Barnabas in his coffin. He was unharmed.

Kneeling down, Julia checked her counterpart. She was dead. She hadn't meant to kill her, only stop her, but... she had saved Barnabas. Barnabas... Julia stood slowly and looked at him again.

"Barnabas..."

Had he been able to hear her, he would have known how much she loved him by the tone of her voice, by the relief and compassion reflected in the simple utterance of his name. Julia stared at Barnabas a moment. His eyelids fluttered. Had he, in his death-like trance, heard her; did he know she was nearby? She could sense nothing from him and it was something she could never ask him.

Carefully, Julia removed the stake and mallet from where they had fallen on Barnabas, laid them aside, then gently closed the coffin lid. She glanced down at Hoffman, then turned to leave the secret room.

Pausing just short of the end of the path between Collinwood and the Old House - Loomis House - Julia wrapped her arms around herself and willed herself to stop trembling. It had been too much and she was beginning to feel her delayed panic. First being confronted by Bruno, held at gunpoint by Will Loomis, then facing Angelique... Julia didn't know how she'd managed it, but she'd stumbled and bluffed her way through the confrontation with Angelique, grateful for her impatient orders to continue following Barnabas.

Taking a deep breath, Julia shook her head. She'd been wrong. The Angelique of this time band was even more cunning, deceitful, cruel, vicious and self-centered than the Angelique she'd encountered in her own time stream. This Angelique radiated evil, and it was all Julia could do not to react to it. The woman - if that's what she was - could not be allowed to find out anything about Barnabas.

Barnabas... Julia needed to be with him; to see him, talk with him, sense him in her mind, be near him even briefly. She glanced at the sky, realizing it was still hours until dusk, hours until Barnabas would rise.

She started forward again, knowing Will was waiting for her at Loomis House. He at least was a friend and could be trusted. She had to trust him, but not with everything. Whether he cared to believe it or not, no matter what he thought of her intention to continue posing as Hoffman, Julia knew she was taking a huge risk; and she was taking it for Barnabas; not for Maggie, not for herself, but for Barnabas. Somehow she would find a way to be with him when he rose. It would be dangerous, it might arouse suspicions she couldn't afford, but she had to be with im, so he knew she was there to help him; so she knew he was really all right. Everything she did lately was for Barnabas. Someday, she hoped, he would realize it.