Dark Shadows: The Morning Star

By Laura Ellison

A demon, in the form of entrepreneur Sterling Gift, has come to Collinsport to destroy the struggling Collins family fortune, managed by heiress Carolyn Stoddard. When Carolyn's eighteen year old granddaughter Jenna time-travels to 1975, she meets her cousin David Collins. Sterling also arrives in 1975, accompanied by the witch Angelique, who has not forgotten Barnabas Collins, the vampire asleep for decades in his coffin, cleverly hidden by David. Relatives and friends reunite forty years apart to defend the family from an evil that can only be matched by the supernatural creatures hidden in the family tree and others whose passion makes them search for a sleeping monster, once a man loved, then cursed, by a witch.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Ellison
• Release date: May 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463144459

Laura Ellison

Laura Ellison was born in Muskegon, Michigan in 1972, the youngest of four children. She is a graduate of Grand Valley State University, where she majored in English, her emphasis in creative writing. She is also the author of Karma House and Blood In Trust. You can contact Laura through her Facebook page.

Book preview

Dark Shadows: The Morning Star

by

Laura A. Ellison

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2020 Laura A. Ellison

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied, and distributed for commercial and non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Chapter One

My father preferred to see but not hear me because whatever I had to say as a boy could not be as important as being David Collins, heir to the Collins estate. I learned to repress my rage, becoming deeply depressed years later. Like Father, I was guilty of the same pride and fear concerning that hint of madness in the family. I could have checked into the Windcliff, my hometown insane asylum; instead, I went to a hospital in Boston. I spent a few months there stewing in my failure following my first and only year at Princeton. I had started to suffer panic attacks along with the depression. I never attempted suicide. However, I sometimes wonder if Father had been relieved if I killed myself; interred in the family crypt, another Collins who had died young.

The summer after Princeton, I helped my immortal cousin Barnabas execute a plan that concluded with me laying him to rest yet again, the coffin’s wood already two hundred years old, and wrapped the box with chains, as he asked. For whatever reasons, Julia had not returned from the past; just like Victoria Winters, or so I thought...

Collinsport, Maine-2015

Maggie Evans glanced at the time on the car radio. Five forty-five a.m. Her shift at the cannery started at ten minutes after six. She slowed her car to a stop at the red traffic light in the heart of Collinsport. The sun had yet to rise. Maggie took a sip of coffee, placing the covered mug back in the holder, never taking her eyes off the road. In the distance, the cannery was alight and busy. Soon, the third shift would be ready to go home; Adam in line with the others at the time clocks, his head down, black hair streaked with gray. He looked that way every morning, never leaving the night shift.

Carolyn Stoddard had helped him get that job and he did not make her sorry; few angry outbursts, never complaining about overtime or whatever task he was given. His strength, even after fifty years, was still admired.

Maggie’s mind had started to wander when the driver in front of her came to a sudden stop. Maggie slammed on the brakes while taking in the personalized license plate:

GIFT

Not Maine plates, but Alaska. The black SUV made a left turn, Maggie’s heart still pounding. She took a deep breath and reached for her coffee.

Maggie did not see Adam as she entered the building. The other third shifters, however, were already in line. She placed her yellow hardhat on her head, covered with a required white net cap, her hair tucked inside.

She reached her office, smiling at the person who was at her desk, sitting in her chair.

Carolyn Stoddard seemed more interested in her iPhone, which she held in her lap. Good morning, Maggie. I had an early meeting. The pressure is back on to sell, and I have my choice between the Canadians and the Pakistanis...

Carolyn had let herself age gracefully. Her blonde hair, still thick and shiny, was now in a shoulder-length cut, bangs neat against her forehead. She wore a green suit with a white blouse, along with a gold silk scarf, a gold and diamond brooch on her jacket lapel.

You don’t want to hold out for too long, Maggie said.

Carolyn looked up from her phone. This place should have closed down ten years ago. Did we make it through the Great Recession just to sell out to foreigners? Uncle Roger is turning in his grave, I know it. But what can I do?

I think Roger would understand. So would your mother.

Carolyn sighed and rose from her chair. Collinwood will be the only thing left. The great house needs so much work, and the old house should be condemned.

What about Paul and Jenna?

Jenna has many ideas, but she’s too young, just out of high school. Paul hasn’t called me in months.

My Sam hasn’t heard from him, either. Remember when our boys were best friends?

You can thank my daughter-in-law. Drags my only child all the way to California, leaving Jenna without her father...

Maggie had heard it all many times before. Dawn, the daughter-in-law, had wanted to move away because she had been afraid at Collinwood, the place terrified her. Carolyn usually failed to mention how Paul had hated being a Collins, touchy about his father’s identity.

Paul was no different than David, Maggie thought. Always trying to get away.

I never thought I would live to see Collins Enterprises get sold, piece by piece, Carolyn said. And I never thought I would be the one to do it. David was the heir, but he’s...not well.

David hasn’t been well in a long time.

It’s not his fault, I know. Carolyn looked out the office window, her back to Maggie. When are you planning to retire?

Not ‘til October.

That’s only six months away. Carolyn grabbed her purse from the desk. I better get to the meeting upstairs.

Before she could turn away, the door opened. Adam, a black hardhat on his head, walked in.

Adam never learned how to make a quiet entrance, but his energy had always been unique. He was flesh and blood, a creation born out of someone else’s genius. Over the last forty years, he had carved out an identity for himself as a working man, but his friends could sometimes still see the angry, lonely orphan in his dark eyes. There was no one else like him, his one mate long-dead by his hands.

Adam was still tall, a little heavier around the middle, salt and pepper beard covering the darkly handsome face. The hardhat helped cover the scars on his forehead, but not around his eyes, now surrounded by crow’s feet.

He wore a red T-shirt and black pants, heavy work boots on his feet. He hands remained strong and flexible. With age, Adam had grown more patient, even smiled at his co-workers or shared a joke, but was also likely to be quiet. If in a dark mood, he would go for a walk, sometimes as far as Widow’s Hill, but he always came back.

Adam’s voice, still deep, was directed at Maggie. Did you still want me to stay over?

Oh, that’s right. Maggie said. I forgot. Yes, Adam, I need you to train a new hire. He’s probably waiting for you at the north end. I don’t think you’ll have to stay long. He’s a quick study.

Do you know him?

She grinned. It’s Lucas. No special treatment, even if he is my grandson.

Adam returned her grin. Is he old enough to work here?

Eighteen last week.

Maggie noticed Adam rubbing his belly, then across his chest. You all right?

Heartburn. I need to stop drinking coffee.

I can get you some Tums.

While Maggie searched her desk drawer for antacids, Carolyn asked, When do you plan to retire, Adam?

When you don’t need me anymore.

Lucas Evans stood next to the inactive hi-lo, watching the shift change. He thought it was interesting, the people leaving looked relaxed already, even smiling, while the people coming in were sipping their coffee, eyes still sleepy or awake and wary of another day at work.

Am I wrong to feel the same way? he thought. To already not like my job?

Lucas had worked since he was sixteen, but those jobs were part-time. Now, he would have to prove to his grandmother, who was also his boss, that he could be responsible.

Should I call you Grandma at work? Lucas had asked Maggie the night before.

Gosh, I don’t know, she said. I guess you should call me Maggie, like everyone else does.

Lucas knew he would only have to last the summer, going off to Cornell in the fall. His acceptance had shocked him, even Jenna Stoddard had been impressed.

You got into Cornell? I mean, it wasn’t one of my choices, but that’s great, Lucas.

Jenna Stoddard had been accepted to Boston, Sarah Lawrence, and Columbia. She would not have considered a college in Maine, but Lucas was aware of doing the same thing.

I want to go away, too, he thought. Just like my dad.

Maggie had named her son Sam after her father. Young Sam had come home to Collinsport with his mother when he was two years old. His father had been a Vietnam veteran who committed suicide when Sam was a baby, prompting Maggie’s return from California. Maggie had never married Sam’s father, so he took his mother’s last name.

Sam, after college in Boston, met a local girl named Audrey Peterson while visiting home. Her father Tony had once dated Carolyn Stoddard. Tony, who had become a successful attorney and businessman in Collinsport, did not approve of the match, well-aware of Maggie’s friendship with the Collins family. Audrey was a college graduate who had attended Yale, planning for law school. Her father did not hesitate to brag about his only child to anyone who would listen. However, Audrey soon became pregnant for Lucas.

Sam had studied architecture in college, inheriting his grand- father’s artistic talent. Unfortunately, like Grandpop Sam, he also had a drinking problem that grew worse in college. He took a job in Manhattan for an architecture firm, Audrey attending law school at Columbia, baby Lucas being looked after by a nanny.

Sam lost his job, then another, because he could not work a whole day without a drink, coming back from lunch too drunk to concentrate on any project. He and Audrey lost their apartment, and Audrey returned home with Lucas. Her father, angry that Audrey had to leave school, encouraged a divorce. Audrey complied with one caveat; she would return to school full-time, but only if Lucas could live with Maggie. Tony Peterson, a proud man with a big house and money enough to support his grandson, reluctantly agreed with the promise that he could visit Lucas whenever he wanted. Maggie, getting by on her paycheck from the cannery while paying off her own modest home, feared a custody fight as soon as Audrey left town. But Tony did not retaliate. Maggie asked Audrey to look for Sam in New York. Sam would go in and out of their lives, finally settling in North Carolina, sober and employed, but always at a distance.

Lucas noticed the layer of sweat on Adam’s face as he approached. One big hand was rubbing his chest through his shirt.

Good morning, Adam.

Adam nodded in reply, taking a labored breath. Let’s show you how to use this...

Adam gestured for Lucas to get in the seat of the hi-lo. Lucas jumped on, getting in place. Adam began to show him the gears, pointing and explaining how to get the blades to function. For a moment, he had to stop, shaking his head like a dog.

Are you okay? Lucas asked.

The older man pulled off his hardhat. He took a few steps back, staggering. Then he collapsed, falling to his side on the cement floor.

Lucas jumped off the hi-lo. Other workers also saw Adam fall, running to his side. Someone told Lucas to get Maggie. Lucas ran, but Maggie had already been messaged. When he reached her office, she was outside the door, Carolyn at her side.

Maggie and Carolyn remained silent as the EMTs tried to bring Adam back to consciousness. The other employees had parted to make room. Carolyn held back her sobs, her chest heaving, Maggie’s arm around her.

The EMTs placed Adam on a stretcher, his long, sturdy form still. His eyes were still open and Carolyn, for a moment, thought his gaze was on her. Only when his face was covered with the sheet, did she look away.

.

Chapter Two

Collinwood, the great house well over two hundred years old, could be considered a blessing or a curse. The upkeep of such a magnificent place took wealth and patience. Stretching two wings, the west closed off for over a century, Collinwood was most habitable in the drawing room, kitchen, and upstairs bedrooms, including Roger Collins’s old study. The tower, where young David Collins once had his room, was now used by Jenna Stoddard, Carolyn’s granddaughter.

The foyer was more modernized, the flooring and main door replaced, but the old grandfather clock and the portrait of Barnabas Collins remained along with the stained-glass windows at the head of the stairs. Some things Carolyn did not want to change, the past giving her comfort, with she and Jenna the only family living in the great house.

Jenna had passed on a trip to Europe before college. She knew, even if her grandmother had not mentioned it, that the money could be used for something else. Particularly, maintenance on the house and grounds.

Jenna regretted not getting a summer job. She could have gone to the new mall or the drive-in theatre. Like Lucas, she was already eighteen, so there was nothing stopping her.

One look at my name on the application, she thought, and no manager would interview me. They all hate us, especially if Grandmother sells the cannery. They would wonder why Jenna Stoddard needs a job folding T-shirts at the Gap or making popcorn at the drive-in.

She was in her room. The dark walls were now painted a cheerful shade of lavender, the ceiling and furniture white. The blue and purple stained-glass window remained. Her canopy bed was made up of lacy white linen, with lavender pillows and a few stuffed animals. This was the room where Jenna had spent her entire childhood and she was unsure if she was ready to let it go. Jenna loved Collinwood. She wondered if her grandmother would ever take her ideas about the future seriously. She put down her phone and rose from her bed.

She looked in the antique mirror. She had discovered the mirror in the attic, cleaning it herself. She found the octagonal shape interesting, along with the floral and vine border. When she saw her face, she thought she was looking at herself in another time, framed in romance.

Jenna had inherited her great-grandmother Elizabeth’s shiny black hair that Jenna wore chin-length and straight, bangs long against her forehead. She had Carolyn’s blue eyes, but her mother’s eyes had also been blue. Jenna straightened her purple tank-top, the shoulder straps lacy, her denim shorts just above her knees. Her skin was too fair to tan, but she was never the outdoor type, except for her walks at Collinwood.

Jenna wiped the shine from her small nose, not bothering with makeup that day. Her lashes were so dark, she did not need mascara. Her lips were small, her chin defined.

She had only a few pictures of her mother, the beautiful Rebecca Stockbridge, who had to choose between young Paul Stoddard and David Collins, an older man by then. David had wanted Rebecca to come with him to Boston. Instead, she chose Paul. Paul and Rebecca were married for almost six years, Jenna born after the third. Paul had learned the business from Uncle Roger before his death. Rebecca stayed at Collinwood with Jenna.

One evening, Rebecca and three-year-old Jenna went for a walk on the grounds. They had been gone for over an hour before anyone went to search for them. Jenna was found near the old greenhouse. She stayed silent for days and, when she could, she was not able to give the authorities much information. To this day, Jenna could recall little.

The search for Rebecca Stoddard continued for almost a year with no sightings, no ransom demands, nothing.

Paul Stoddard was a strong man, returning to work to occupy himself from the anxiety and anger over Rebecca’s disappearance. Cousin David Collins had returned home for a while to help with the search but returned to Boston suffering from nervous exhaustion.

Rebecca had been gone for over a year when Paul met Dawn Manners while away on business. Convinced Rebecca was dead or far away, he divorced her in absentia. Paul and Dawn were married weeks later.

Dawn and Jenna never bonded. Carolyn, in mourning after the recent death of her Uncle Roger, had already become Jenna’s substitute mother along with a few different nannies. Jenna was a headstrong and independent child. What Jenna did not know was Dawn had other plans.

Dawn never adjusted to living at Collinwood. She claimed to be sensitive to spirits and she had encountered her share of ghosts in the house and on the grounds. After seeing the ghost of Josette du Pres at the old house, Dawn gave Paul an ultimatum; they leave Collinwood, or she would go alone.

Jenna loved her father, although he had become more distant since Rebecca’s disappearance. He did not put much stock in the supernatural, even though he grew up