Episode 1287

Aired: Tuesday June 1, 1971

Julia and Barnabas enter the basement to see if everything is safe. As they come downstairs, we see there is no coffin in the usual place as Julia says "He couldn't find anything down here, why would he bother?" Barnabas reminds her that "He might stumble upon something" as they head toward Adam's old cell. When they get there, the door is still locked, to their relief. But a noise off to the side shakes them up as Barnabas shines his light and says "Who is it? Who is back there?"

After the titles, Selby steps out from behind the shadows (or the dark shadows, if you must). Barnabas asks him what he's doing in the basement, and Selby lies that he came by the old house and heard a noise from downstairs. "When I saw the basement door open, I came down here to investigate." Barnabas plays along with "Did you find anyone down here?" Selby says no, and Barnabas lies that he's been meaning to fix some of the support beams in the basement of the old house, since "their noises can often play tricks on you." Barnabas leads them away from Adam's old cell and towards the stairs, but Selby looks momentarily back towards the cell before following Barnabas and Julia to the living room. Barnabas asks Selby where David is, and Selby says that he is sleeping upstairs. Julia says "No, he's not there anymore." Selby looks surprised and blurts "That's impossible." Barnabas asks why, and Selby tries to recover with "Well, I saw him up there before I heard the noise downstairs." Barnabas answers angrily "Well, David is gone now. And I think it's time we dropped this charade." Selby answers "What do you mean?" "I mean I want to know what you've done with David, and I want to know now, Count Petofi," says Barnabas.

"And what makes you think I'm Petofi?" Selby says with a smile. Barnabas answers "You were searching the house for Quentin, who you trapped in that vampire body. I'll make sure you will never find him to destroy him." Selby laughs. "You're mortal now, Barnabas Collins," he says as he circles Barnabas and Julia. "You no longer have the curse of vampirism, but you also no longer have the powers that curse brings. You are altogether vulnerable to a man like me. And I know that as long as you believe that you can save Quentin, you will never harm this body." Julia nervously asks "What do you want? Why do you hate the Collins family so much?" Selby laughs again, and answers "It's not so much hate as simple revenge, my dear doctor. I gave Quentin his particular kind of immortality in order to serve my needs, and he eluded me. I much prefer the daylight to my other immortal existence, shall we say? I only needed to find Roxanne to assist me, and when you trapped her, it became very easy." Barnabas gets angry and asks "What do you want with Roxanne? You are the one who has polluted her soul, Petofi!" Selby snaps "No, my dear Barnabas. She did that quite well on her own. Once again you follow your heart and not your mind." Barnabas looks at Selby sternly and says "Enough of this. Tell me where David is.... or I will destroy your portrait."

Selby tells Barnabas he is bluffing, that he would never destroy the portrait as long as he thought he could save Quentin, and Julia answers that there may be a way to save Quentin in the body he is in now. "We might even be able to save you," she adds to which Selby laughs heartily. "That is one cure I would not prefer, Doctor Hoffman. You see, you'd be curing me from what I treasure most, which is my indefinite existence in this world." Barnabas gets more threatening and demands Selby leave the house. "I must return to Collinwood before nightfall anyway," he says. "But I think I will leave you with something as a warning not to interfere with my plans. It may start out as a warning, but wind up as an eternal punishment. No one knows more than I how much you treasure your present existence, Barnabas...." As Selby leaves laughing, the candles in the room blow out, and suddenly, there is a crashing sound of breaking glass. Barnabas and Julia look around nervously, and suddenly Julia screams as they turn to see a giant bat hovering in the living room, staring at them with bright red eyes...