Episode 1273

Aired: Wednesday May 12, 1971

Grayson Hall's voiceover: "It is night at Collinwood, a night filled with the seemingly eternal power of evil. An enemy of Quentin Collins and the entire Collins family, long thought dead, has returned in a new guise and with terrifying new powers. On this night, he has told of his chance escape from the gypsies who held him prisoner nearly a century ago, and how his escape led to twin curses of monstrous dimensions, a curse that he intends to spread further...."

We are in the Collinwood drawing room as Storm/Petofi is moving towards Quentin with his outstretched hand. Quentin is backed up against the door as we fade to black.

After the titles, Quentin is struggling with the doorknob as the laughing Storm/Petofi gets closer, but suddenly the window blows open. Both men look towards it as a cold wind rushes through the room and the lights flicker. Storm/Petofi looks around the room and demands to know "Who is it?" At that moment in front of him, Angelique's ghost appears and glares at him. "You!" he says. "Your powers are no match for mine, my dear." Angelique laughs silently and waves her hands - and the doors fly open behind Quentin. He looks out of the room and sees the front doors swinging open in the wind as well. Quentin looks towards Angelique with a smile and runs out of the house. Storm/Petofi tries to follow, but Angelique waves her hand in front of him and he is pushed back for a moment. "Death has made you stronger somehow my dear," he says. "But this battle is far from over." She fades away as Storm/Petofi looks at the open front door in frustration before waving his hand and shutting them.

Quentin has made it back to the old house and tells Barnabas and Julia that they are dealing with Petofi. Barnabas asks how, and Quentin answers "A long story, but he stole another body to escape from the gypsies long ago. The fools punished that body with the curse of the vampire, not knowing it had Petofi's soul inside." Barnabas and Julia are not happy with this development. "All that monstrous power added to what he already had," says Barnabas. "A power that corrupts and spreads evil, polluting the soul." Quentin snaps "That's assuming he had a good soul to begin with." Julia agrees, adding "Your curse changed you until you fought back Barnabas, Petofi must clearly prefer what has happened to him." Barnabas smiles for a moment, but then thinks and says "But what of Roxanne? What has it done to her?" Julia says she doesn't know. "Perhaps she is under Petofi's control," Barnabas says, but Quentin answers that if he followed Petofi's story correctly, Roxanne was cursed separately and not by Petofi himself, which means that she may be acting completely on her own. Barnabas is not thrilled with this theory.

Barnabas is looking out the window, and says that it will be dawn soon, and that they can try to find Petofi's hiding place during the day. Quentin tells Barnabas that he's been thinking about some of the things Petofi has said, like referring to himself as a "prisoner of the night" as opposed to its master. "I'm not sure he is so happy with the fate he has been dealt," says Quentin. Barnabas answers that Petofi's evil has no other possibilities other than creating more evil, for himself and others. "I know, I know, the fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves, right Barnabas?" jokes Quentin. Julia asks Quentin what he thinks Petofi's plans are, and Quentin is not sure. "Revenge is the only thing I can think of. The last time he touched me with that hand I aged several lifetimes. Perhaps he saw me now after all these years and wanted to make me like that for all eternity. If Angelique's spirit hadn't intervened, he may have succeeded." The mention of Angelique makes Barnabas a bit melancholy, though he asks Quentin if she said anything to him. Quentin says she didn't, all she did was open the doors. "If she has more power than Petofi," says Julia, "she may prove to be a valuable ally."

It is daylight, and Barnabas and Quentin are ready to find Petofi's hiding place. Quentin doesn't think he would be at Collinwood now, but Barnabas says it's the only lead they have. Quentin says "That's not true. There was the house that David found. There may be a clue there, if not Petofi or Roxanne themselves." Barnabas agrees, and says they should wake David and get him to tell them exactly where the house is. Quentin looks at Barnabas and says "It's daylight and it's safe. I think he should just show us himself."