Episode 1396

Aired: Monday November 1, 1971

Lara Parker's voiceover: "A dark night at Collinwood, where the enemies of the Collins family have seen their evil plans of destruction come to pass... Julia Hoffman, possessed by the warlock Judah Zachary, has lured all those who live at the great house to what is intended to be their doom, in an eternal vortex of burning hellfire. As for Barnabas Collins and his wife Angelique, they will be forced to watch the destruction of those they love...."

In a repeat of Friday's close, Barnabas is holding the gun on Julia. In the time that Barnabas says "Julia....forgive me..." Nicholas waves his hand and the gun flies out of Barnabas' grip and across the room. "Compassion is once again your downfall," says Julia, and as she waves her hand, the drawing room doors slam shut. "Now!" Julia says. Nicholas takes the ring out from beneath his shirt and places his hand over the crystal. "Open...." he says. "Open the eternal torment of the land of darkness....." Barnabas and Angelique see the planks, and then the vortex begins to form within it. As it comes into focus, we see that it is focused on a world of eternal hellfire, and we hear the screams of the souls being tormented. Julia raises her hand and suddenly Sarah stands. "Who is moving me? I can't stop! Uncle Barnabas! Make it stop!" she yells. "Sarah!" Barnabas yells back. Julia laughs as she moves her hand and Sarah helplessly begins to walk towards the burning hellfire in the vortex. "I can't stop moving towards it! Help me, Uncle Barnabas! Help me!" Julia laughs as Barnabas screams "Sarah!" and she moves closer and closer to the hellfire....

After the titles, Sarah starts to scream as she approaches the hellfire. Julia laughs as Barnabas vows "I'll destroy you, Blair!" Nicholas starts laughing, but stops when the drawing room doors burst open - Quentin and Harrison enter the room and see what's happening - and Nicholas is startled to see Quentin carrying Judah's head in its glass case! "Put that down, Quentin! You don't know what you have!" Nicholas says. "I think I know exactly what I found in your house by the sea, Blair! This thing opened its eyes and looked at me! It's taken possession of Julia Hoffman and that ends now!" Julia lunges at Quentin from behind, but he knocks her aside. Sarah screams and falls. Barnabas yells "Sarah!" but Harrison gets to Sarah and says "She's only fainted!" before yelling "Quentin! The vortex! The hellfire!" Quentin sees Nicholas coming towards him, and takes Judah's head out of the case. Nicholas yells "Stop!" but before he can do anything, Quentin throws Judah's head into the vortex of hellfire. Julia suddenly groans and falls against the couch, and we see the head trapped in the flames with its eyes wide open in shock. Nicholas yells "No!" as we see the face of Judah Zachary come out of Julia's body and drift towards the head in the burning vortex. "Oh my God..." Quentin says as the image of Judah finally meets the head - and when they meet, the head suddenly starts to scream in horrible agony. Nicholas yells "Judah! No!" as the head burns and screams. Suddenly, it's a burning skull with bloodshot eyeballs, screeching horribly as the hellfire consumes it. Nicholas looks at Quentin furiously and waves his hand, saying "You will pay for that, Quentin.... you will pay for that with everything you hold dear..." Quentin grabs his throat and begins to choke, but then Harrison has grabbed the fencing foil from the wall and slashes Nicholas' hand with it. Nicholas turns to face Harrison and snaps "You... you annoying insect! You came here to save these pitiful people, but it will be you who is destroyed!" Nicholas turns towards Harrison and starts to wave his hand, but suddenly Nicholas starts to cough and choke only to see Angelique waving her hand at him. "You gave me power, Nicholas.... and now you will see what I can do with it," she says. Barnabas goes to Julia and tries to revive her. "Julia! Julia! Speak to me!" he says. Quentin says "Blair can't fight us all at once! That's why he needed that thing! Keep distracting him!" Nicholas snarls "I have enough power for all of you! Even without Judah!" He stares Angelique down, who cannot fight back. She runs to Barnabas and says that Nicholas is too powerful. Nicholas sneers and again aims at Quentin, saying "I'll begin with aging you until you rot where you stand!" Quentin seems to face Nicholas alone.

Nicholas starts to wave his hands at Quentin, but suddenly the fencing foil is at his throat. He turns to face Harrison, laughing "Do you think you can kill me with such a mundane weapon? I am not human!" Harrison smiles, says "I am aware you are not human" and suddenly lunges the foil forward. We see the neck chain Nicholas is wearing snap. Nicholas yells "The ring!" just as Harrison makes another quick move with the foil - he has caught the ring on it, and as he raises the foil upwards, the ring slides to him! "I believe this is mine," he says, grabbing the ring and dropping the foil to the floor. "Quentin! Get out of the way!" Harrison yells as Nicholas starts towards him. "Give me that ring!" Nicholas thunders, but Harrison stands still, places his hand over the ring and says "Widen....open...widen...." Nicholas looks confused at first, but then turns to see the vortex is opening towards him! He tries to step out of the way, but Harrison moves with him, and Nicholas falls backwards with a scream. Quentin and Barnabas watch as Nicholas is surrounded by the burning hellfire. He, like Judah, screams in agony, and then his own head becomes a burning skull with bloodshot eyeballs. Quentin and Barnabas are disgusted, but Angelique smiles as she watches. Harrison brings the ring to his lips and says "Close..." and the vortex collapses upon itself taking Nicholas with it, his screeching agony fading away like dying echoes. He and Judah are gone. Harrison plops down into a chair with a heavy sigh. Quentin says "Is he gone? Are they really gone?" Harrison nods, and Angelique says "Yes... consumed by the same eternal hellfire they meant for us. My former master is not very forgiving." Quentin answers "I can't think of a better end for those two." Barnabas tries to revive Julia, and Quentin asks how Julia is. "I don't know!" Barnabas says. "I can't seem to wake her up!" Quentin and Barnabas look at each other.

Barnabas continues to try to revive Julia, who suddenly opens her eyes. She looks around and starts to wake up. "Barnabas...." she begins to say. "Julia...I am here! I am here! Please, tell me you're all right!" he says. She begins to cry hysterically, saying "I could see everything! I could see everything he made me do, and I couldn't stop myself! I couldn't stop myself! Forgive me, Barnabas! Forgive me!" Barnabas holds her close and tells her "I forgive you, Julia. I know you would never harm any of us! I know you love us too much." Angelique begins to frown watching Barnabas and Julia. Meanwhile, Liz, Carolyn, Alan and Vicky all begin to wake up, and wonder why they are in the drawing room. Barnabas tells Quentin and Angelique to see to them. Angelique says she'd rather stay with Barnabas. Liz and Alan don't know why they are downstairs, and only remember going to bed. Carolyn asks Vicky why they are all in the drawing room. Vicky tells Carolyn she doesn't remember, but then looks at Barnabas and Angelique and realizes what may have happened. Noticing Angelique's glares at the sobbing Julia, she tells Angelique to wait behind with Sarah and that she will help Alan, Liz and Carolyn upstairs. Harrison lifts Sarah and places her on the couch. Quentin remarks how good it is that no one seems to have a memory of what just happened. "Sarah was conscious throughout much of it," Barnabas frets. "I hope she doesn't remember. It would be too horrible for a child to remember what just happened." Quentin answers "It's pretty bad for anyone to remember what just happened." As Barnabas looks at Sarah, we dissolve to Maggie, waking up in Nicholas' house. The armoire has been smashed open. Maggie looks around and then says "What... what am I doing here?"

Julia is drinking some tea and reassures Barnabas that she is fine now. Angelique tugs at Barnabas and tells him that they will need to take Sarah home. "Julia can handle herself," she adds jealously. Barnabas starts to pick Sarah up off the couch, and she awakens a little. "Barnabas?" she says. "Yes, Sarah...it's me. Everything is going to be all right now," he says. "Why did they want to hurt me?" she asks. Barnabas thinks a moment and says "You were only having a bad dream. You must forget about it. I am here now, and I promise you, no one will ever try to harm you, ever." Angelique tells her "Your uncle and I will take you home to sleep now." Sarah looks at Angelique and says "Uncle Jeremiah is here? Where is he?" Barnabas and Angelique look at each other with wide eyes, and Barnabas only says "Sleep, Sarah. I will take you home." Sarah closes her eyes, and Barnabas tells Angelique "We will deal with this later...when Julia is feeling better." Angelique says that perhaps she could "handle this instead of Julia" and Barnabas only says that they will "discuss it later" as he carries Sarah out and Angelique follows. Quentin pours a drink and Harrison asks for one. "You deserve more than just a drink, Harrison," Quentin says. Harrison smiles and says "Perhaps, but right now all I want is just a drink." The two clink glasses and laugh a little. Meanwhile, Maggie is wandering through Nicholas' house wondering why she is there. "This is Nicholas Blair's house by the sea...." we hear her think. "Why would I be here? I don't remember coming here, or Nicholas inviting me.... he's such a mysterious man... almost frightening.... why do I think he's frightening? Something he did.... but I can't remember....I've got to remember..." She has reached the living room. "Perhaps I should just go home and forget it... if I see him I can always ask him later..." she thinks, but then she sees a gift wrapped package sitting on a table. She approaches it, and sees that it has a tag labeled "From Nicholas, To Maggie." Curious, she unwraps the package and finds what looks like a hatbox. "Did Nicholas leave this for me?" she thinks as she opens the box. Maggie reaches inside, and takes out what we recognize as Josette's music box. She opens it, and as the tune begins to play, Maggie looks deep in thought....