Episode 1494

Aired: Thursday March 15, 1972

After a replay of Friday's close and the titles, Barnabas holds a choking Brian by the throat and tells him "How dare you come here and interfere with my business and my life? For Quentin, for Maggie, and for me and mine, I'll extinguish the life out of you!" Barnabas throws Brian to the ground and lifts his cane, but Brian seems to put something into his mouth before Barnabas can bash him. Barnabas suddenly gasps as his cane is raised now over Brian, but above a snarling vicious dog. The dog barks and howls at Barnabas as he swings his cane now in defense. "Miller...I will destroy you no matter what form you take...." Barnabas yells, but as he swings, the dog leaps away and runs through the woods. Barnabas, a bit out of breath, watches helplessly. "How do you fight someone with powers like that...." Barnabas thinks. "Who can turn into any animal at will...even the bat that could destroy me..." Suddenly, Barnabas gets an inspiration. "So then why didn't he become that bat now? Why the dog instead? What could it mean? It must mean something. I must tell Julia.... this has to be significant!" Barnabas moves off.

At Stokes' house, Stokes examines the jeweled necklace Vicky found in the parallel time room. "Most interesting, Miss Winters," he says. "You were able to bring an object back into this time from that one." Vicky says she didn't intend to, but also brought back Burke's handkerchief. Stokes looks that over and says "Such a strange thing, to think that a man who has been dead five years in this world lives on in another." Vicky says "There must have been a reason I was there, Professor! I can't think that it was only a coincidence... not after what Burke told me what happened in that world." Stokes answers that most mysteries of time are often left "unsolved." Vicky says "Burke was so lonely in that world...so embittered by what had happened. I couldn't help but think I was sent there to save him, somehow." Stokes answers "With your counterpart in that world dead, it would be possible for you to exist there, perhaps, but what of this world? It's best not to disturb such things, if you ask me. If you were thinking of returning to that other time on a permanent basis, it could be quite dangerous." Vicky answers "That wasn't what I was thinking at all." She holds the handkerchief. "If I could bring this object back, could I also bring Burke back? Back to this world? Back to where everyone he knew still lives and there was none of the tragedy of that other time?" Stokes says "It could be possible, but it could also be just as dangerous. There might be a balance to different time bands, Miss Winters, where the loss of certain energies on one end must be matched on the other. If someone were to come through the doorway, those energies would have to be balanced somehow, I would assume." Vicky says "But you can't be sure." Stokes says "No, I can't. And I suppose one could make the argument that if this handkerchief could come through without smashing the balance between the doorways, then it would be possible to bring that Burke Devlin to this time somehow. But there's something you must ask yourself, Vicky." Vicky asks what, and Stokes answers ominously "Would he really want to come here, to a world where he's been dead for years?" Vicky has no answer.

At Lori's lab, Barnabas finds Julia working alone. She tells him that Lori and Quentin will leave tomorrow for Boston to meet Liz and Alan, to escort them back to Collinwood. "What a time for them to return," Barnabas says. "With the strange goings on in the west wing and Brian Miller threatening us all!" Julia asks Barnabas is Brian had threatened him again, and Barnabas answers "I nearly killed him tonight." Julia is shocked, and asks how and why, and Barnabas tells her how Brian has been using Maggie Evans against him and Angelique. Julia remarks "It sounds more to me as if he's trying to separate Angelique from you so that he can use her powers against you as well." Barnabas admits that might be possible, but that "Angelique is a different person now than she once was. She will not turn against me, especially not for him." Julia tells Barnabas that Angelique might instead "point her wrath at Maggie" in order to "destroy Josette once and for all." Barnabas tells Julia "Getting rid of Miller will free Maggie and solve the problem! And just now, something very interesting happened. When I attacked him, he transformed himself into an animal, a vicious dog." Julia says "Dear God! You weren't hurt, were you?" Barnabas says "No, I was able to drive him away with my cane. But I couldn't help wondering...why a dog? Why not the bat that he had transformed himself into before? He could have placed his curse upon me then, why didn't he?" Julia wonders. "It's an interesting question. It may have something to do with the way he transforms himself. Think logically... if he didn't turn into a bat when it would have been the smartest thing to do.... then perhaps the transformations are not totally under his control somehow. But that makes no sense!" Barnabas answers "Perhaps. Perhaps there's some other unknown factor to his transformations. Something we're missing that determines just what kind of animal he becomes and when." Julia says "There's one person who might know more about this we ought to ask." Barnabas replies "Stokes?" Julia shakes her head and answers "Angelique. If you're right, she should help a great deal." Barnabas says "I know I'm right about her just as I know...." He stops mid-sentence and Julia asks "What were you going to say?" He steps closer to Julia and says "Just as I know I can always trust you to be there for me." Julia smiles, though seems to wonder what brought this on.

Vicky has finished re-enacting her movements in the parallel time room for Stokes. "So... as the necklace fell into your lap, you found yourself back here, in this time," Stokes thinks. Vicky says yes, and that she has no idea what caused her traveling from one world to the other. Stokes holds the necklace and says "There is a theory....associated with objects such as these. If this necklace indeed belongs to that other world, its atomic vibrations would conform to the physical qualities of that universe. It belongs in that world, not in this one." Vicky says "But it's here!" Stokes answers "Precisely! And unlike this handkerchief, which is also here but shouldn't be, the necklace can do something the handkerchief cannot. It can surround you in this world, forming an unbroken circle of those physical qualities associated with the other universe." Vicky asks "The necklace? When I wore it and it wrapped around me, I was in the other world. When the clasp opened and the necklace fell to my lap, that circle was broken..." Stokes finishes her sentence "....and you returned here. Perhaps physically you were always here, and the circle only allowed cross-perception between the two universes. Who knows, for sure? Even though you were only able to see and interact with that other world, holding onto this handkerchief still brought it back. Truly phenomenal." Vicky says "Then if I went back there by wearing this necklace inside that room... I'd be back in that world as long as I wore the necklace?" Stokes says "Inside that room, yes. Outside that room where the two universes intersect, who knows?" Vicky keeps thinking. "And if I held Burke's hand and unclasped the necklace...." Stokes says "He might come to this time, or then again... he might not. It's a huge risk, Miss Winters, and you may be gambling with both your lives." Vicky looks at the necklace and wonders. Back at the old house, Barnabas and Julia have told Angelique about Brian, though Angelique's thoughts seem elsewhere. Barnabas asks her what it could mean, and Angelique says "I'm not sure... I don't know what affect getting rid of Brian would have on Maggie Evans either...." Barnabas repeats how "we must save that girl from his control." Angelique says "I don't understand your fierce devotion to that girl, especially at the possible cost to your own life. What happened in a parallel world visited by Vicky Winters has nothing to do with anything here!" Barnabas answers "It has everything to do with it!" Looking at Julia, he continues "But for a few key elements, that timeline is almost exactly like this one! I must not let Maggie Evans be harmed!" Angelique says she didn't find what she was looking for in Brian's lab before he found her. Julia asks what she was looking for, and Angelique answers "Special herbs used in the form of shamanism I thought we were dealing with." Julia asks "Herbs? What sort of herbs?" Angelique says "There are different rare herbs that, if utilized in proper combinations with rudimentary spells, can produce the kinds of transformations Brian Miller seems capable of. Other than that, the only way he could be doing with would be through traditional witchcraft, which might also be a possibility." Barnabas thinks a moment, and says "No, it can't be witchcraft. If it was, he would have become a bat and not a dog. And he seemed to put something in his mouth after I threw him to the ground!" Angelique says "Into his mouth? Then I was right...he's using herbs. Different ones to become different animals." Julia continues "And since you surprised him, he wasn't prepared with whatever he used to become the bat the first time!" Barnabas says "Yes.... that must be it! So... now we know he may have an Achilles' heel." Angelique says "Don't be overconfident. Brian Miller is still more powerful than any of us had imagined." Barnabas and Julia wonder what she means.