Dark are the Shadows 03/28/2020

Dark Are The Shadows
by Ms. Hunter Ash aka B. Cooper

a BTVS & Dark Shadows crossover

rating: PG13

pairings: Willow/Tara, Quentin/Buffy, Barnabas/Roxanne, Giles/Angelique, Xander/Anya


# # # #


SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA


Spike caught up with Buffy near the mansion.

“Buffy! Come on now, stop.”

The vampire reached her and began walking alongside her.

“You can't just walk away from this,” Spike said.

“What part of punching you in the face do you not understand?” Buffy snapped.

“So we had a fight,” Spike said easily. “It's not our first, luv, and it doesn't change anything.”

Buffy stopped and turned to him. “It changes everything, Spike! I want you out. I want you out of this town, I want you off this planet! You don't come near me, my friends, or my family again ever! Understand?”

She began walking again.

In a moment Spike shook his head and followed.

“No, it's not that easy,” he protested. “We have something, Buffy.”

Buffy turned at the mansion and headed for the front door.

“It's not pretty but it's real and there's nothing either one of us can do about it,” he declared.

“I am with someone, Spike,” Buffy repeated.

She opened the door and turned to face the vampire.

“Like it or not, I'm in your life, you can't just shut me out,” he said anxiously.

The vampire looked startled when he couldn't follow her inside.

Buffy watched him with a grim look.

“Buffy?”

Buffy closed the door.



## # # #



COLLINSPORT, MAINE


“And our friend was on the second story with an oil lamp,” Julia was saying as Barnabas and Maggie entered. “He was holding it over Nicholas Blair. One wrong move and the oil lamp would ignite the kerosene.”

“A standoff,” Joe commented and Julia nodded.

“He was very clever,” Julia agreed. “The hero that came to rescue us was a witch and got Rupert out of there.”

“He's really smart and braver than he thinks he is,” Dawn added.

Barnabas resisted smirking. As if anyone in the house would think Angelique was a hero except maybe Carolyn...

“I can't believe you were back in the 1890s,” Joe said and moved over on the sofa so Maggie could sit next to him.

Barnabas pulled off his iconic cloak and dropped it over the back of a chair and hooked his cane on top of that.

“We've been through some remarkable.... well, I'm not sure adventure is the right word,” Barnabas said.

“Adventure somehow implies... fun or excitement,” Maggie agreed.

“Some of it was not fun or exciting,” Julia said.

“We have met some remarkable people, however,” Barnabas said. “Rupert said that young Miss Elizabeth there was quite brave and amazing when she was back in time with him and Julia.”

“She was,” Julia agreed.

Elizabeth giggled and climbed up into her father's lap and rested her head on his shoulder.

“And we've kept her up very late,” Barnabas noted.

“We should be getting back to the Old House,” Julia agreed. “Barnabas...”

“I'm going to spend some more time with Carolyn and Amy,” Barnabas said. “Tomorrow evening I need to speak with the sheriff and Thornton Sr. and spend more time with family which includes Maggie and Joe. I'll say goodnight now, Julia.”

“Elizabeth, help your father out to the car,” Carolyn said.

“Julia, it's good to see you again,” Maggie said as Julia, Thomas and Elizabeth stood up. “We've missed you both.”

“Thank you, Maggie,” Julia said and hugged Maggie and then Joe. “We'll get together later on in the week.”

“I'll see Thomas to the car,” Barnabas suggested and followed the werewolf and his daughter outside. The vampire waited until Thomas had helped Elizabeth into the car and turned to talk with Barnabas.

“What?” he demanded.

“Why the hostility?” Barnabas asked. “I held you while you were dying and you professed love for both Julia and myself. I cannot change how I felt about Roxanne and I cannot change Julia's distrust of those feelings. I'm not the one that left. I still love you both. You are both very important to me.”

“You've hurt her,” Thomas said.

“You know I wasn't with Roxanne until YOU left with Julia,” Barnabas countered. “Do you regret being with her?”

“What? Of course not!”

“Then, to put it in modern terms, get over it,” Barnabas snapped. “You have Julia and a good future here in Collinwood and I haven't killed you for stepping into that vacancy brought about by Julia.”

“You'd threaten me?” Thomas asked softly.

“Your growls are as much a threat to me and we both know it,” Barnabas said. “Thomas, my feelings for you and Julia haven't changed despite the pain.”

“Pain?”

“You don't think it hurts me to lose my wife and to have a good friend, a brother that turned against me while stepping into that place?” Barnabas asked softly. “I didn't betray Julia or you.”

“You're with Roxanne,” Thomas said with a growl.

“And you're with my wife,” Barnabas countered. “You know Julia and I have traveled time on several occasions, ask Julia how she found me when I was bricked up in 1840. That's another reason she feared Roxanne's return.”

“What are you talking about, Barnabas?” Thomas demanded.

“Ask Julia,” Barnabas repeated. He glanced back towards the house when Julia stepped outside. He walked over to the door.

He kissed Julia's cheek. “Goodbye, Julia. I may not have loved you or anyone enough and I'm sorry for that.”

“I'm sorry, Barnabas,” Julia said and hugged him tightly. “I'll get Tom to make the cottage secure for me before you come back. Will you bring Roxanne with you?”

“I don't know,” Barnabas said. “I'll let you know before I return.”

Julia kissed Barnabas for several moments and then touched Barnabas' arm. Before he could say anything, she ran for the car where Thomas and a sleeping Elizabeth waited.

Barnabas watched the car pulling away and shrugged when Maggie touched his arm.

“Come back inside, Barnabas,” she urged. “Are you always destined to have tumultuous relationships?”

“The original Barnabas Collins was cursed to never know rest and any that love… loved him would die,” Barnabas said. “I don't think many in the Collins family have had happy, uneventful lives. I do have someone waiting for me that has loved me for many years.”

“Then I'm sorry for you... your namesake,” Maggie said. “A man cursed like that would probably go insane at times.”

“Yes, no doubt, perhaps many times but especially after a long imprisonment,” Barnabas said and opened the door for her and they walked back into Collinwood.



# # # #



SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA


“Buffy?” Giles exclaimed and everyone glanced up and quickly crowded around the Slayer including her mother and sister.

“Easy, guys!” Buffy urged. “I'm okay. I had a conversation with Drusilla and Spike.”

“What happened?” Giles asked anxiously. “Here, sit, I'll clean those scratches and bruises.”

“I dropped by Spike’s crypt,” Buffy said. “I didn't expect him to be there and I wanted to see what was down below that crypt.”

“And he was there?” Quentin ventured.

“He was when I came out,” Buffy said.

“What was down below?” Giles asked.

“A good sized cave,” Buffy responded. “And... two empty coffins, lots of skulls and a shrine to me.”

“Say what?” Willow asked.

“A shrine,” Buffy said.

“What does that mean?” Joyce asked.

“Lots and lots of pictures, drawings and poems to and about me,” Buffy answered. “Ow, easy with the alcohol pads, please. And some of my stakes and.... clothes.”

“Clothes?” Joyce repeated.

“Yeah, stuff I thought Dawn borrowed and didn't give back and missing underwear I thought the washer ate,” Buffy explained.

“Oh my God,” Joyce said softly.

“You're saying.... Spike has the hots for you?” Xander asked.

“Yeah, he admitted it,” Buffy said and then explained what had happened.

“Good lord,” Giles muttered.

“At least Drusilla left him,” Tara said. “Do you think she left town?”

“Yeah, most likely,” Buffy said. “Now Spike will either be really dangerous or... really pathetic.”

“Probably pathetic at first but then really dangerous,” Angelique commented. “People get... unreasonable when rejected by someone they believe they love beyond all measure.”

“But he can't hurt humans,” Xander protested.

“He can have someone else do his killing for him,” Giles suggested.

“Terrific, let's hope he doesn't think of it,” Buffy said wearily.


# # # #


COLLINSPORT, MAINE


“Tell us about Roxanne, Barnabas,” Carolyn urged. “I didn't spend much time with her when I was in California.”

“It was after the Leviathans had cursed me and we'd not found a solution yet,” Barnabas said. “I ended up in a parallel band of time through a doorway that opened to that parallel time but it was random. I met most of the same people but they were different, relationships were different and the history was as well. I relied on my own story here to explain my presence there, that I had come over from England. Julia found a way over in time to save my life from her own counterpart. We met a young psychic name Roxanne and... I fell heavily and she with me.”

“What happened?” Maggie asked. “What does she look like?”

“Like sunshine,” Barnabas said softly.

“Very Irish or Scottish looking,” Caroline said. “Pale skin, red hair and blue eyes. Somewhat pixie like.”

“Go on,” Joe urged.

“There were occult forces out to destroy the Collins family and Collinwood,” Barnabas said and looked at his hands. “They succeeded for the most part. Quentin, wife and children escaped but... Julia and I were trapped in the room with the time portal as Collinwood burned. Roxanne was being held by the last of the villains and I couldn't reach her through the flames.”

“Collinwood?” Carolyn said softly.

Barnabas nodded. “And we shall come back around to this part of the story in a bit. The next Roxanne I met was the one that was here, in our time. Maggie, you may have met her. She was also psychic but also a vampire.”

“You weren't a vampire then?” Maggie asked.

“I was but didn't realize she was,” Barnabas said. “We can't always tell and I was remembering the Roxanne I had lost. Things went wrong here and Julia escaped violent death through another time portal. Yes, I know, it seems impossible but it happened. I managed to follow when Professor Stokes and I discovered history had been changed and Julia had died in the past. I went to save her and to change the past so certain incidents didn't happen here.”

“Wasn't that taking quite a risk?” Joe asked. “If you change one thing couldn't that set off a chain of events that could make things worse?”

“Things couldn't have been worse here,” Barnabas said. “Saving Julia and changing the past were the only options.”

“Go on,” Carolyn said after a moment.

“We knew the Roxanne of our timeline here became a vampire but not who had made her one or when,” Barnabas said.

“You obviously saved Julia and changed the past,” Maggie commented.

“Yes, but at a cost,” Barnabas said. “When I was sent back in time, I was... out of control and bit Roxanne. With Julia's help, she recovered much to my relief. I was very afraid that I had actually been responsible for the Roxanne of 1970 being a vampire.”

Well, there was enough truth in that, he thought.

“What happened to her?” Joe asked. “Do things get out of control often?”

“They can, yes,” Barnabas said. “If starving or gravely injured the need for blood can be overwhelming. Roxanne did become a vampire because of the sorcerer we were trying to stop.”

“But that doesn't make sense,” Carolyn complained. “You didn't go back in time before to turn her into a vampire so you could go back in time to turn her... Do we keep repeating the same thing over and over?”

“No,” Barnabas said. “We have changed the past and things here changed. Roxanne was preying on others including Julia. I told Roxanne's brother how to destroy her.”


# # ##


SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

“So what do we do about Spike?” Xander asked

“Eliminate him from our lives,” Giles suggested.

“Since he can't hurt us we can stand up to him,” Willow added.

“Where's Buffy?” Tara asked.

“Taking a shower.... a long, hot shower,” Joyce said. “She might have skin when she gets out. She feels...”

“Like she's been slimed,” Xander said.

“Exactly.”


# # # #


COLLINSPORT, MAINE

“So Roxanne wasn't a vampire here but she is now?” Joe asked. “Barnabas, this is giving me a headache.”

“We had no idea how the Roxanne of 1970 became a vampire when we returned,” Barnabas said. “We assumed she wasn't and just that she and Sebastian had left Collinsport while we were gone.”

“But she was still a vampire?” Amy asked.

“Yes, Carolyn saw when she resurfaced,” Barnabas said. “We discovered that there are several kinds of vampires and I and Julia don't seem to be common and Roxanne is like us. Roxanne herself didn't know how she became one. Julia figured it out and I was responsible.”

“But if you changed the past first by biting her and then killing her, how could she be here?” Joe asked.

“When we were in the parallel time, I did bite that Roxanne,” Barnabas said. “Not enough to even make her more than a little light headed. It's... I can't explain adequately. There was no danger of her becoming like I was, something I was very against. I did not want anyone going through what I've been through.”

“That's one heck of a love bite you've got there, Barnabas,” Carolyn teased.

“So, you bit her and then?” Maggie asked. “Collinwood burned and she was trapped in it.”

“Julia suspected that it was possible that Roxanne fell into the room with the portal behind us,” Barnabas said. “We were sent to 1995 and we're not sure what year Roxanne was sent to and somehow the portal accelerated my... my bite, poison, however you want to look at it and she was a vampire when she reached this time-line.”

“Are you sure? That's a bit of a reach,” Amy asked.

“A vampire can summon a victim to them by a psychic call,” Barnabas explained. “We can also sometimes communicate with those we've turned. To test whether Julia's theory was correct, I summoned Roxanne and she responded.”

“So, in a way you were responsible,” Carolyn surmised.

“Yes, despite never wanting Roxanne to go through this,” Barnabas said.

“But you turned Julia into a vampire,” Joe pointed out with a frown.

“She helped me become mostly human again but I became very ill and Julia cared for me,” Barnabas said. “Nicholas appeared again and reawakened the curse. When I rose, I found Julia hadn't had the strength to drive a stake through my heart and she was dying. She asked to join me. Julia, more than anyone alive, knew what she was asking. I'm also not a saint. I couldn't let her go and face the darkness alone.”

“And Tom traveled with you as a... guard?” Amy asked.

Barnabas nodded. “Yes, it was his choice after Willie became too ill to watch over us.”

“So, you go on while everyone around you grows older and dies?” Joe asked.

“Yes,” Barnabas said. “As you can see, this is a... difficult existence. We prey on others if there are no animals available. We don't kill but it doesn't change the fact that we are preying on humans. We tend not to make friends easily or stay in one place too long. It's been extremely difficult being away from all of you.”

“I'm glad you've trusted us,” Maggie said. “You're very vulnerable during the day, aren't you?”

“Yes, very,” Barnabas acknowledged. If she remembered how he had treated her when he first arrived at Collinwood... he deserved to be staked for that but he had tried to make up for it over the years.

“Some vampires can move about in the daytime as long as they stay out of the sun, others can't,” Carolyn explained.

“The vampires we usually deal with in California are the ones that can move around and they look creepier than Barnabas,” Dawn commented.

“Creepier?” Joe asked.

“We have canines that elongate into fangs,” Barnabas said. “And our eyes can be described as fierce.”

“Our vampires’ faces change, they have forehead ridges and yellow eyes,” Dawn explained.

“Where are you going to sleep tomorrow?” Joe asked.

“There are a lot of places in Collinwood where he won't be found,” Carolyn replied. “I'm not sure even David discovered them all. Dawn can have her pick of rooms.”

“We’d like to show Dawn around tomorrow, want to come along?” Joe offered.

“I’ve got some work I need to take care of here tomorrow,” Carolyn said. “You and Amy can show her the sights. All three of them.”

“How is David doing?” Maggie asked. “Are he and the family coming home for the holidays?”

Barnabas relaxed into discussion about the family.


# # #


COLLINSPORT, MAINE


“Maggie and Joe seemed really pleased to reconnect with you,” Carolyn said as she led Barnabas and Dawn down to the basement area of Collinwood.

“Yes, I'm very grateful,” he replied. “Maggie remembers something but she isn't saying what. Given her history with the family and me in particular that can be good or bad. She dismissing the memories as nightmares. Her way of giving us both an 'out', so to speak.”

“Wow,” Carolyn said and grabbed an old discarded chair. “David and I discovered this when we were moving things around and getting rid of a bunch of junk last year.”

“An old root cellar perhaps?” Barnabas ventured as she moved a box to reveal a small half door.

“Or a hiding place, there's a lock on the inside and there's plenty of air somehow,” Carolyn said. “David and I are the only ones that know about this place. There's an old bedspread here that you can lie on. It won't be very comfortable...”

“Once the sun rises I'm neither comfortable or uncomfortable,” Barnabas said. “I'm expecting a call before sunrise. Can you come back down and move the chair back in front of the door after sunrise?”

“Of course,” Carolyn said and hesitated and then hugged him.

“I am so glad you told me you remembered everything,” Barnabas said. “You, David, Elizabeth and Roger became my family not just... distant cousins. I found it very lonely not being able to see you and having to pretend to be my own son as if we'd never met.”

“I wasn't sure you wanted the contact or I would have spoken up sooner,” Carolyn replied. “I knew you were both in danger and had to tell you both that I remembered and that I love you both.”

“You and David have given us both something missing in our lives, family,” Barnabas said.

“I do have a question for you, Julia and Quentin to think on,” Carolyn said. “Do we tell my son and daughter?”

Barnabas frowned. “We will have to think on it and ask you more about them.”

“I'll leave you to your phone call,” Carolyn said and kissed his cheek. “Tell Roxanne hello.”

Barnabas smiled as Carolyn and Dawn trotted up the stairs.

His smile widened as his cellphone began vibrating.

“Hello, my love,” he said. “You remembered the time difference.”

“Of course, I did,” Roxanne said from California. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I found how Willie died and handled it with no violence,” Barnabas said.

“Your voice, you sound slightly different. You saw Julia?”

“Yes,” Barnabas said. “And Maggie, Joe and Amy. You won't remember Joe and Amy. She is the mother of Thomas.”

“You... you revealed yourself or are you the next generation Barnabas Collins from England?” Roxanne asked.

“Maggie and Joe found me at Willie's grave,” Barnabas replied. “I couldn't let them think me a ghost.”

“Given the tone of your voice it sounds as if it went well, my love,” Roxanne commented.

“Yes, very well,” Barnabas said. “With Julia, well, we were civilized and even had dinner and spent time with everyone. With Tom in tow, of course. I talked with him. I'm not sure how that went.”

“Are you safe for the day?”

“Yes, Carolyn has taken us in,” Barnabas answered. “None but Carolyn and David know about the room I'll be in. I will be safe and Thomas and Julia will leave the Old House soon.”

“You want to return to Maine after this is done here in California?” Roxanne asked.

“I don't know but I'll not be driven from the house I was born in,” Barnabas said firmly.

“When are you coming back, I miss you terribly,” Roxanne asked. “We were apart for so many years but... I'm glad you were with Julia, that you had someone, someone that loves you very much.”

“Being with you is…amazing. I may need to stay here tomorrow night to settle the aftermath of Willie's death,” Barnabas said. “We’ll fly out the next night. How are things there?”

“Much the same,” Roxanne said and her voice lost its vibrancy. “The attacks are taking a toll on everyone. Quentin didn’t even try to talk me out of seeing you. I’m not staying at the mansion. I’m keeping a low profile, as they say.”

“I'll be back as soon as I can,” Barnabas promised. “Roxanne...”

“I know, the sun is coming up soon for you,” Roxanne said. “I love you, Barnabas. Be safe tomorrow night.”

“I shall,” Barnabas promised. “Tell Quentin his secret will be safe with the family. I love you, Roxanne. Rest well.”

The vampire grabbed the bedspread and entered the hidden room and was grateful to find floorboards and not just damp, Maine earth. He spread the cloth down and closed and locked the door.


# # # #