Episode 1493

Aired: Wednesday March 14, 1972

Kathryn Leigh Scott's voiceover: "A day of reckoning has come to Collinwood, a day of payback for all the shadows of the past. For Barnabas Collins, it means confronting the darkest areas of his soul and dealing with the awesome guilt he feels for the pain he has caused. But for his one-time mortal enemy who is now his wife, any feelings of guilt are often in competition with an unusually fierce drive towards vanquishing whatever stands in the way of her desires....and now, that conflict will be further tested by an enemy of enormous power...."

Barnabas tells Angelique that "Miller's control over Maggie must be ended!" Angelique argues that "You shouldn't risk your own life for that girl! Remember Brian's threat...to turn you back into a creature of the night!" Barnabas admits that such a result would be "unmeasurable agony" but "If that happens because of my efforts to free Maggie from his control, then so be it!" Angelique says "And what about me? What about Sarah? What do you tell her, Barnabas? You're so willing to play the white knight and sacrifice yourself....for your precious Josette! That's it, isn't it? Brian has awakened Josette's spirit inside Maggie and you feel you must save her!" Barnabas snaps "No! He is only using Josette to get to me.... it's Maggie I must save! Don't you understand? In what seems like an entirely different life, I nearly murdered her! I cannot let her die, I cannot!"

After the titles, Maggie walks through the woods and eventually meets up with Brian. He tells her that she has done well, and that she should return to Collinwood "as Maggie Evans, until I call upon you again." She nods and walks back to Collinwood, still in her trance. Brian snickers. "Oh yes, my dear Angelique.... you are playing right into my hands...." he says. Back at the old house, Angelique scolds Barnabas about "giving into his guilt" but Barnabas insists that "I cannot let anything happen to that girl because of all the thing I have been responsible for! I cannot go on destroying those I care about!" Angelique says "What about me? Wouldn't you destroy me if you left me for Josette, again?" Barnabas answers "I wouldn't leave you for a ghost. You must believe me. But... if it meant saving those I loved, I....would give up my own life. If that is to be the meaning of the strange destiny that has befallen me, then so be it." Angelique tells Barnabas "I don't understand you... how can you choose the life of a stranger over your own...." Barnabas says "I couldn't live with myself otherwise. Could you live with a man so selfish?" Angelique doesn't answer, and only runs upstairs nearly in tears. Barnabas looks out the window, and his eyes slowly fill with hate. "Miller...." he scowls. "I vow never to destroy the innocent again...and you are not innocent...." Upstairs, Angelique walks down the hallway towards the master bedroom. She opens it and enters, and is suddenly standing in fog. She looks around in confusion as the doors slam behind her. The room seems to go on forever as the fog pours in. "What is happening?" she says out loud. Suddenly, she looks up and sees a familiar robed figure standing before her.

The robed figure says "How soon we have forgotten our master." Angelique scowls. "Diablos....you have no more hold over me! I have forsaken you!" Diablos laughs. "As if that was ever your choice. Even when you last destroyed Judah and Nicholas, you cannot destroy me, nor can you escape me." Angelique turns away. "I have paid you everything I ever bargained with you for. There is no more. Return me from the underworld to my life!" Diablos answers "You have drawn the interest of one of my minions in the physical world, the one who calls himself Brian Miller." Angelique realizes that Diablos must be the stronger power Brian had mentioned to her. "You seek that which he seeks, the secret of immortality," Diablos continues. Angelique lies that she is "perfectly content to live her life as a mortal. Aging and dying along with my husband." Diablos says "You used to be a much better liar. I will provide the immortality you seek for both you and Barnabas given you provide me what will secure the everlasting loyalty of Brian Miller." Angelique says "You're worried about Miller's loyalty?" She laughs. "Why not deal with him then? I demand you return me to my life!" Diablos snaps "You can demand nothing. Brian Miller has been under the delusion that he can best me in his own bargaining. That's where I will require your help. And I can help you. You seek the destruction of the one known as Maggie Evans, who has become a vessel for the spirit of Josette DuPres. Sacrifice her to me, so that I can utilize her to control Brian Miller, and I shall grant you the powers to do with as you will, never to trouble you again." Angelique gasps "Sacrifice Maggie Evans?" Diablos answers "You can destroy Josette once and for all. Do you agree?" Angelique thinks about it.

Angelique says "A part of Barnabas still loves her.... that's what you want, isn't it?" Diablos responds "Her spirit still loves Barnabas... it is that love that makes her soul as valuable as it is to me. Brian Miller knows this and that is why he wants to control such a soul, not only to get what he wants from Barnabas Collins but also to bargain with me. This cannot stand." Angelique says "So, you've come to bargain with me. How desperate you must be." Diablos, angered, shouts "Do not dare to mock me! I can force a bargain if I so choose!" Angelique sneers. "Of course....but you know as well as I do that Barnabas would never forgive me if I destroyed Maggie Evans. He's tortured by his own guilt as far as that girl goes." Diablos laughs. "All the more reason to bargain with you. After what you've done to my previous plans, I shall enjoy seeing you squirm over the possibility of losing your only Earthly love!" Angelique glares at Diablos. "I shall never lose him! Not for any reason!" Diablos replies "Then deliver the soul of his beloved to me... and immortality upon the Earth shall be yours, and yours to share." He holds out a bony hand for her to shake. She at first backs away, but then thinks a moment before weakly taking his hand and shaking it. "Done..." she murmurs. After she takes her hand away, she spits in Diablos' direction, but suddenly finds herself back in the master bedroom. She looks at her hand and then out the window. "Fate is sealed...." she says with a little fear in her eye.

At Collinwood, Barnabas peeks into Maggie's room and sees her sleeping. He looks at her sadly, and we hear him thinking "You will have your own identity back, Maggie. You will have it back if it's the last thing I ever do upon this Earth..." He closes her door and leaves. As he comes down the stairs, he hears a dog howling outside. "A dog..." he says as it howls again. "A sound all too familiar to me...." He hurriedly leaves Collinwood and outside, hears the howling again. He shouts "Miller! I can hear you taunting me! You will not keep that girl! Do you hear me? You will not have her!" Barnabas takes a step into the woods, and suddenly faces Brian. "Mr. Collins," Brian says. "What on Earth are you shouting about?" Barnabas snarls "You will release Maggie Evans from your control. Your quarrel is with me, and does not need to involve that girl!" Brian snickers. "What makes you think I'm involving that girl? Didn't you involve her when you tried to make her into your Josette?" Barnabas says "I'm warning you, Miller. That girl is not to be harmed!" Brian says "Perhaps you've forgotten my warning to you, Barnabas! Think of the existence you'd face under my curse....throughout all eternity!" Barnabas answers "Destroying you would be my first task under such a curse...." He raises the heavy wolf's head on his cane. "Unless I decide to destroy you now, with my bare hands!" Brian is surprised when Barnabas grabs him by the throat. "Get ready to die, Miller!" Barnabas shouts as he begins choking Brian.