Episode 1477

Aired: Tuesday February 21, 1972

Grayson Hall's voiceover: "The secrets of the Collins family go back through the centuries, secrets that could be worth a great deal to those who seek to harm the family or just to seek power. The great estate has seen its share of such ambitious men through the years, and now faces new and more dangerous threats than ever before..."

Quentin puts the cloth over the portrait as Lori thinks. "Wondering, doctor?" he says. "Wondering what sort of scientific explanation there can be for the monstrous?" She answers yes. "What sort of power could Tate have had to transfer the curse you described into this canvas?" she asks. Quentin says "It wasn't quite Tate... the power came from someone much more dangerous who Tate also happened to get much of his talent from." Lori says "And I assume that someone else is no longer available?" Quentin answers "You could say that, doctor. Because I had to kill him." Lori is shocked.

After the titles, Lori has heard the Petofi story and only says "I had read of Petofi a little...most literature on his life is very vague and addled. I had no idea he actually had the kind of power described by some of the old gypsy literature on him." Quentin says he's living proof of Petofi's power, though "Petofi's plans for me didn't quite come to fruition." Lori says "If the portrait somehow manifests the results of the curse you still have in your body, your blood should have the key elements of the curse inside it. Perhaps if I continue to work on isolating that element and purifying your blood..." Quentin starts to laugh. "And then what? I become what I should have been by 1972? The rotting corpse in that portrait? No thank you, Doctor, I've grown quite accustomed to my face as it is." Lori says "All those years, never changing, never aging. Haven't you watched friends get older, even die?" Quentin turns away from her. "How could it be possible to love under such immortality? What did you tell your family back then..." Quentin turns around and snaps "That's enough! I don't want to think about that. It's been a blessing sometimes and a burden most other times, but I keep clinging to life....don't ask me why. The curse would carry down to my children and through the generations... I have to live with that. I don't want to be reminded of it over and over again." Lori says "Then there were children... that would explain..." Quentin says "Explain what?" Lori answers "Chris Jennings."

David is getting ready to leave Collinwood when Julia walks in. She asks him where he's off to in such a hurry, and he says that he has to meet Brian at his laboratory. Julia asks David why he isn't working for Lori Slater, and David said "She doesn't need me anymore, at least that's what she said." Julia tells David she doesn't like the idea of him working for Brian, and that "Brian doesn't seem like the most trustworthy person." David asks her why she'd say that, and when she doesn't answer, David knowingly says "You've been talking to Quentin." Julia says "Quentin?" David answers "I think he's jealous of Brian over Lori or something like that. I don't want to get mixed up with any of that, I only wanted to get a job where I was interested in things." Julia tells David that she thinks Quentin's suspicions of Brian "go beyond any jealousy over Lori Slater." David asks Julia "What is it then? Tell me." Julia doesn't really answer and David gets angry. "Why are you still treating me like a dumb kid? Barnabas trusts me, why can't you?" Julia answers that this doesn't concern Barnabas, and David snaps "Quentin trusts me as well, at least I thought he did." David storms out of the house as Julia calls after him.

David is walking through the woods towards Brian's lab, grumbling how he'll "know all the secrets there are to know" if he wants. He hears some footsteps in the woods, and looks over to see Chris, moving quickly away. David calls to him, and Chris tells David he's "in a hurry." David asks why, and Chris looks at his watch and answers "Never you mind. I'll have to see you later." Chris runs off, and David thinks a moment before moving on. We hear him think "Something's going on with him...he was heading towards Lori Slater's lab.... I think working with Brian can wait..." David follows after Chris. Chris enters Lori's lab and heads quickly downstairs. David slips in behind him and then heads downstairs after he hears some noises. We cut to outside and we see that the moon has begun to rise. Downstairs in the lab, Chris is locking himself into a cell and tossing the keys onto a nearby desk. He begins to lock his ankles into heavy chains coming out of the walls when David suddenly walks in. "David!" Chris shouts. "Get out! Get out of here!" David looks at this strange scene and says "What are you doing? Why are you locking yourself in there?" Chris locks the leg irons and throws the keys through the bars while yelling for David to "get out! I'm telling you for the last time! Get out!" David refuses, and suddenly Chris lunges over from pain, straining to tell David to go away, but David moves closer to the cage and says "Chris! What's wrong? You're hurt!" Chris groans as David takes the keys from the desk. "I've got to get you out of there and get you some help!" Chris' eyes open wide as he screams "Nooooo! Get away!" David says "What's wrong with you?" as we start to hear growling noises. David looks terrified as he drops the keys and backs away from the cage. Chris' hand has turned into a hairy paw as the growling gets louder....

The werewolf growls in the cage, and lunges at a terrified David, but the leg chains keep him restrained. David runs out of the lab and into the woods, barely able to believe what he's seen. As he runs, he runs smack into Quentin and Lori. Quentin asks him what's wrong and why he's running so fast, and David stares right at Lori. "What did you do to Chris Jennings? What did you do to him?" David shouts. Lori says she's done nothing, and Quentin asks David what he's talking about. David says "Chris! He turned into some kind of monster...I saw it happen! Right in your lab...and I think he knew it was going to happen! He locked himself in so he couldn't get out!" Quentin tells David to forget everything he's seen, and David snaps "How could I forget that?" Quentin says that Chris would want what happened to stay a secret since "there are others who wouldn't understand. That's why he has to lock himself in, so he won't hurt anyone besides himself." Lori tells David "I didn't do anything to him, David. Chris is suffering from something that I think I might be able to stop." David thinks a moment and says "That blood work you were doing.... that was Chris' blood you were testing?" Lori says yes. David says "Then what about Brian? Does he know about Chris too?" Lori and Quentin don't know how to answer.