Dark Shadows: Diligence
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prose_alchemistTitle: Diligence
Author:jordannamorgan
Archive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: G.
Characters: Julia, Willie, and Barnabas.
Setting: Soon after Julia reveals to Barnabas that she knows what he is.
Summary: An extraordinary being’s pretense of normalcy takes some surprisingly ordinary efforts.
Disclaimer: They belong to Dan Curtis Productions. I’m just playing with them.
Notes: Written for the prompts of “Current” atfan_flashworks, and “Books Are The Best Weapons” at genprompt_bingo.
One evening as Julia was moving laboratory equipment into the Old House, she near-literally bumped into Willie at the door.
It was her own mistake. That morning she hadn’t been able to get away from the Collins family and make the trip to Windcliffe as early as she’d wished, which left her returning just as the sun was sinking toward the horizon. Thus she was hurried and annoyed as she carried heavy things from her car to the foyer, distracted by anxiousness to get the task done before Barnabas rose for the evening… and while stepping outside to fetch another load, she nearly threw the door open on Willie. In any case, it came close enough to make the manservant reel back with a noise of surprise, dropping his own stack of carried objects that fell to the ground with separate soft thuds.
“Oh, Willie, I’m sorry! Let me help you…” Hastily Julia bent to help him collect his scattered burden—which proved to be a number of books. In the light that fell through the front door, she saw titles concerning history, technology, and even medicine. She further noted a Collinsport Public Library label on each of them.
“I must admit I’m a little surprised,” she murmured, raising an eyebrow as she stood with the stack of books she had gathered. “From what I know about you, frankly… well, I wouldn’t have thought getting a library card was ever high on your list of priorities since you came to Collinsport.”
Willie squirmed and scowled, hastily—and oddly almost possessively—reclaiming the books to pile them onto the others he had picked up. “Barnabas made me do it. I just get the books I can find about whatever he wants to know.” He shuffled inside and thumpingly deposited them on an end table. Without meeting her eyes, he added in a mutter: “…The library in a little town like this don’t exactly keep late hours.”
“I see.” Once more Julia regarded the titles on the spines of the stack, her interest thoroughly piqued. None of the books appeared to be more than a few years old, and a few sounded fairly advanced. “But this all seems like a lot for a man who just recently stepped out of the eighteenth century. Barnabas must be an exceptionally quick study.”
“I’ve had to be,” a calm and precise voice interjected from the doorway leading to the basement, and Julia turned to see Barnabas Collins himself emerging from his daylight refuge.
It was not lost upon Julia that Willie paled and averted his gaze at his master’s appearance. She may have been the only person with whom he didn’t disguise the terror he felt for the being that held power over him. It caused her to feel a moment’s fretful unease… but then, she knew very well that she was equally at risk of the vampire’s wrath. Barnabas may not have taken her free will from her as he had Willie’s, but by revealing that she knew his secret, she had voluntarily put her own life in his hands. If he ever thought for a moment that she endangered him—or quite possibly, even that she was of no further use to him—she knew he would follow through without hesitation on the threats he had already made.
Even so, she still didn’t regret her gamble. The knowledge she hoped to learn from his condition was more than worth risking her life for.
At least for the moment, there was no overt hostility in his demeanor. He sauntered forward like a cat, giving his servant a lofty look. “Willie, where are your manners? Go and prepare a cup of tea for the good doctor. I’m sure she’s had a very long day.”
His eyes rolled toward her on that conclusion, offering a faint challenge. She met it resolutely, staring back at him.
“You know if I’d done anything to betray your trust, others would have already come here to find you. No, Barnabas, I’m not going to throw away the opportunity you represent for me—just as I hope you won’t dismiss the chance I’m offering you.” She deliberately relaxed the tension in her body. “I simply spent most of the day on a trip to Windcliffe, to pick up more of the supplies I need to study your condition.”
After a long moment of calculation, Barnabas followed her lead, his rigid and wary posture subtly easing. “Excellent. As eager as you are to begin your work, Doctor, I can assure you I am immeasurably more so.”
“Fine.” The feeling that a lurking crisis had been averted was becoming all too familiar. Julia let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding, and glanced toward the front door. “I still have a few things to bring inside. I’ll only be a few moments.”
By the time Julia had finished carrying the supplies from her car and moving them to the basement, a teacup awaited her in the sitting room. With cool civility, Barnabas invited her to sit down and refresh herself before she returned to Collinwood for the night. He himself sat opposite her as she sipped her tea, his attention focused on one of the books Willie had brought.
“…I meant it. I am impressed,” Julia remarked at length. “Until now, I suppose I hadn’t really given thought to just how much you’ve had to learn to become current with the twentieth century.”
Keen hazel eyes rose to meet hers. Vampire or not, Barnabas was still man enough to smirk pleasedly at the compliment.
“Indeed, Doctor. The truth of the matter is that these are my greatest weapons of self-defense.” He rested a hand upon the stack of books beside his chair. “I have ample experience at protecting my own secrets—but the trivial facts of this new world I’ve come into are as much a danger to me. The smallest overlooked nuances of what you consider common knowledge in this era could betray me. That is why I must learn all I can.”
A breath caught faintly in Julia’s chest. As Barnabas turned back to the pages of his book, she gazed at him wonderingly, overcome with a new epiphany.
It’s true. All his supernatural powers are useless to save him from his own ignorance; from the alienness of the modern day. To overcome that danger, he’s had to make the far more mundane efforts of an ordinary person. He’s had to study nearly two centuries worth of history, of advances in technology and human knowledge, until he could treat that information as casually as anyone else. From the very start he realized this, and he’s been working at it all this time. It’s incredible how much he’s learned already.
Barnabas Collins is something inhuman and extraordinary, yes, but…
He’s also a remarkable man.
And in her heart, beneath the admiration and sympathy she felt in spite of herself, Julia sensed the first restless stirring of a feeling she didn’t dare give a name to.
© 2022 Jordanna Morgan
Author:
jordannamorganArchive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: G.
Characters: Julia, Willie, and Barnabas.
Setting: Soon after Julia reveals to Barnabas that she knows what he is.
Summary: An extraordinary being’s pretense of normalcy takes some surprisingly ordinary efforts.
Disclaimer: They belong to Dan Curtis Productions. I’m just playing with them.
Notes: Written for the prompts of “Current” at
fan_flashworks, and “Books Are The Best Weapons” at genprompt_bingo.One evening as Julia was moving laboratory equipment into the Old House, she near-literally bumped into Willie at the door.
It was her own mistake. That morning she hadn’t been able to get away from the Collins family and make the trip to Windcliffe as early as she’d wished, which left her returning just as the sun was sinking toward the horizon. Thus she was hurried and annoyed as she carried heavy things from her car to the foyer, distracted by anxiousness to get the task done before Barnabas rose for the evening… and while stepping outside to fetch another load, she nearly threw the door open on Willie. In any case, it came close enough to make the manservant reel back with a noise of surprise, dropping his own stack of carried objects that fell to the ground with separate soft thuds.
“Oh, Willie, I’m sorry! Let me help you…” Hastily Julia bent to help him collect his scattered burden—which proved to be a number of books. In the light that fell through the front door, she saw titles concerning history, technology, and even medicine. She further noted a Collinsport Public Library label on each of them.
“I must admit I’m a little surprised,” she murmured, raising an eyebrow as she stood with the stack of books she had gathered. “From what I know about you, frankly… well, I wouldn’t have thought getting a library card was ever high on your list of priorities since you came to Collinsport.”
Willie squirmed and scowled, hastily—and oddly almost possessively—reclaiming the books to pile them onto the others he had picked up. “Barnabas made me do it. I just get the books I can find about whatever he wants to know.” He shuffled inside and thumpingly deposited them on an end table. Without meeting her eyes, he added in a mutter: “…The library in a little town like this don’t exactly keep late hours.”
“I see.” Once more Julia regarded the titles on the spines of the stack, her interest thoroughly piqued. None of the books appeared to be more than a few years old, and a few sounded fairly advanced. “But this all seems like a lot for a man who just recently stepped out of the eighteenth century. Barnabas must be an exceptionally quick study.”
“I’ve had to be,” a calm and precise voice interjected from the doorway leading to the basement, and Julia turned to see Barnabas Collins himself emerging from his daylight refuge.
It was not lost upon Julia that Willie paled and averted his gaze at his master’s appearance. She may have been the only person with whom he didn’t disguise the terror he felt for the being that held power over him. It caused her to feel a moment’s fretful unease… but then, she knew very well that she was equally at risk of the vampire’s wrath. Barnabas may not have taken her free will from her as he had Willie’s, but by revealing that she knew his secret, she had voluntarily put her own life in his hands. If he ever thought for a moment that she endangered him—or quite possibly, even that she was of no further use to him—she knew he would follow through without hesitation on the threats he had already made.
Even so, she still didn’t regret her gamble. The knowledge she hoped to learn from his condition was more than worth risking her life for.
At least for the moment, there was no overt hostility in his demeanor. He sauntered forward like a cat, giving his servant a lofty look. “Willie, where are your manners? Go and prepare a cup of tea for the good doctor. I’m sure she’s had a very long day.”
His eyes rolled toward her on that conclusion, offering a faint challenge. She met it resolutely, staring back at him.
“You know if I’d done anything to betray your trust, others would have already come here to find you. No, Barnabas, I’m not going to throw away the opportunity you represent for me—just as I hope you won’t dismiss the chance I’m offering you.” She deliberately relaxed the tension in her body. “I simply spent most of the day on a trip to Windcliffe, to pick up more of the supplies I need to study your condition.”
After a long moment of calculation, Barnabas followed her lead, his rigid and wary posture subtly easing. “Excellent. As eager as you are to begin your work, Doctor, I can assure you I am immeasurably more so.”
“Fine.” The feeling that a lurking crisis had been averted was becoming all too familiar. Julia let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding, and glanced toward the front door. “I still have a few things to bring inside. I’ll only be a few moments.”
By the time Julia had finished carrying the supplies from her car and moving them to the basement, a teacup awaited her in the sitting room. With cool civility, Barnabas invited her to sit down and refresh herself before she returned to Collinwood for the night. He himself sat opposite her as she sipped her tea, his attention focused on one of the books Willie had brought.
“…I meant it. I am impressed,” Julia remarked at length. “Until now, I suppose I hadn’t really given thought to just how much you’ve had to learn to become current with the twentieth century.”
Keen hazel eyes rose to meet hers. Vampire or not, Barnabas was still man enough to smirk pleasedly at the compliment.
“Indeed, Doctor. The truth of the matter is that these are my greatest weapons of self-defense.” He rested a hand upon the stack of books beside his chair. “I have ample experience at protecting my own secrets—but the trivial facts of this new world I’ve come into are as much a danger to me. The smallest overlooked nuances of what you consider common knowledge in this era could betray me. That is why I must learn all I can.”
A breath caught faintly in Julia’s chest. As Barnabas turned back to the pages of his book, she gazed at him wonderingly, overcome with a new epiphany.
It’s true. All his supernatural powers are useless to save him from his own ignorance; from the alienness of the modern day. To overcome that danger, he’s had to make the far more mundane efforts of an ordinary person. He’s had to study nearly two centuries worth of history, of advances in technology and human knowledge, until he could treat that information as casually as anyone else. From the very start he realized this, and he’s been working at it all this time. It’s incredible how much he’s learned already.
Barnabas Collins is something inhuman and extraordinary, yes, but…
He’s also a remarkable man.
And in her heart, beneath the admiration and sympathy she felt in spite of herself, Julia sensed the first restless stirring of a feeling she didn’t dare give a name to.
© 2022 Jordanna Morgan