245 - June 2, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[narrating]
- My name is Victoria Winters.

Streaks of red, the color of blood,

wash the sky that sets the western limits of Collinwood.

It is as though the day were dying a horrible death

and the peace the sunset usually promises

has failed to penetrate the darkness.

The fear that the day could not disperse remains.

An already mounting terror continues, unchecked.


- I am a Collins,

and that means I am a man of my word.

You understand that, don't you?
- No.


- I promised the doctor

you'd give him a sample of your blood.


- No, please, I wouldn't dare.


- And why not?


- I don't know what about me.

I won't let him take it
-
- I won't let him take my blood.


- I promised, and I always keep a promise.


- Why are you gonna do this?

You have as much to lose as I do.

Please don't. Please!


- I'm sorry, Willie. Now, you must calm your nerves.

The doctor will be here presently.


- No. Please.

Please!

[eerie music]

♪♪


- You sure Willie's gonna let you take a blood sample?


- Well, Barnabas gave me his word.

He said Willie was convinced that he had to cooperate.


- Well, Barnabas convinced him before and it didn't work.


- I know, but if Willie doesn't cooperate this time,

he can be served with a court order.

He could be charged, you know,

with harboring a dangerous disease
-
-

the same one Maggie had.


- There's more to it than that.

There's more to Maggie's disappearance

than a rare blood disease.


- Well, of course there is.

But my main concern at the moment

is trying to understand what I saw in that blood sample.

We might see it again in Willie's blood, you know.


- And if you do?


- Well, if we do, we continue examining Willie.

It's conceivable that we might be able to, uh,

identify the disease precisely,

and we could find out how he contracted it,

where he contracted it.

We might even be able to find out, uh...


- What? What, Dave?


- No, I'd better not say that.

I'd better stick to what I think is possible.


- Come on, Dave, tell me. What?


- Well, how could diagnosing a disease

tell us who took Maggie from that hospital?

There's a great deal more

than some blood abnormality involved here
-
-

at least in Maggie's case.


- Listen, Dave, the other day you used the word "impossible"

to
-
- to describe what you saw in Maggie's blood sample.


- Well, not what I saw
-
- what I thought I saw.


- Well, could Maggie's disease or condition

or whatever you want to call it
-
-

could it have been caused by an animal?

A wild animal?


- Well, why do you say that?


- Well, to be specific, could it have been caused

by a wild or
-
- or rabid dog or wolf?


- Why?


- Well, when Vicky was, uh, staying with Maggie
-
- remember?


- Yeah.
- She said she...

she heard dogs howling right outside of, uh, Maggie's door.

Then, when we went inside, we found

the most terrible gash marks in her neck.


- None of the tests that were done on Maggie indicated that.

Besides, Burke, listen, no dog or wolf

got in this office and stole that blood sample.

It was a man
-
-

a madman who didn't want us to get too close

to look at those slides.


- Willie.


- What?


- Willie Loomis.

Why didn't he
-
- he
-
-

he want you to take a sample of his blood?


- Now, listen, a lot of people are squeamish,

even terrified of having blood taken from them.

I'm sorry, Burke, I just can't see Willie Loomis

as a possible suspect.

Besides, to begin with, he wouldn't have had

strength enough to do what was done to this office.

Remember the bars on the window?


- Even in a crazy state?


- Even in a crazed condition.


- Well, it was just a thought.

Vicky and I are gonna have a drink at the Blue Whale.

Could you join us later?


- Well, I doubt it.


- I'd like to find out how you make out.


- Well, I'll try.

But I warn you, it's gonna be pretty late.


- Dave, this is not just idle curiosity.

Unless we find out exactly what's going on, no one is safe.

Every time I look at Vicky, I get scared.

What if something happens to her?

♪♪


- I know this is strictly a professional call,

but I couldn't let you come all the way out here

and offer no hospitality at all.


- Well, thank you very much.

I do have to be getting back to town pretty soon, though.


- I understand that.

Willie, Dr. Woodard is here.

Willie?

Ah, there you are.

Eh, we shouldn't keep Dr. Woodard waiting.

You know, he's a very busy man.


- Do I have to?


- Now, Willie, look at it this way.

This could, in some remote fashion, help Miss Evans,

and it may help you.

Now, unknown to yourself,

you may have some very tragic malady.

Now, the doctor only wants to help.


- Sit down, Willie.

It'll just take a minute.

Believe me, you're not going to miss

the little drop of blood that I take from you.

Now...

give me your hand.

All I need's the tip of your finger.

Why, you won't even feel this.

Just look the other way.

All you're going to feel is a little prick of a pin.

Come on.
- No, please.


- It, uh, may be some comfort to you to know

that a great many people share your dislike

for giving away your blood.


- Now, in a way, isn't that understandable?

After all, blood is the life force.

It reaches in to the deepest recesses

of both the heart and the brain.

It is the familiar of our complete being.

To surrender even one drop of it

is to suggest a partial surrender of one's utmost self.


- Oh, it didn't hurt that much.


- I shouldn't have let you do it, doc.


- There, now.


- Now, you had no choice.


- Come on.

Now, pour the doctor another drink.


- Oh, really, no thanks. I have to be getting back.


- Oh, please, just a little.

Willie?


- I'm, uh, not what you'd call a great wine drinker,

but I, uh, I must admit, this is excellent.


- Thank you.


- Thank you, Willie.


- That will be all, Willie.

Now, the doctor and I are both very grateful

for your cooperation.


- Yes, we are.

And don't you be embarrassed now by being frightened.

I understand.


- No, you don't understand.


- Willie! That will be all.

May I, uh, see the slide?


- Oh, yes, of course.

There isn't much to see unless it's under a microscope.

Hold it on the side.
- Hmm. Thank you.

It's like a delicate little flower painted on glass.


- Yes, even under the microscope,

it has a certain beauty
-
-

the intricate structure of the cells

and the great variety of color and shadings.


- Yes.


- I guess some of the most beautiful sights

I've ever seen in my life have been, uh,

microscopic views of hideous malignancies.


- Well, I hope poor Willie doesn't provide you

with such an experience, thrilling though it may be.


- Of course.


- And, yet, to be honest,

you would like to see, on that slide,

a repetition of what you saw

in Miss Evans' blood, wouldn't you?


- As much as I regret to say it, yes, I would.

It's a terrible thing to say you hope somebody has an illness,

but I can't help it.

If this slide shows what I hope it does,

it could, in its own way, lead us to Maggie.


- Oh? How?


- Well, if we can diagnose it accurately, and if we can

find out where and how Willie contracted the disease
-
-

if we could even prove some connection

between Maggie Evans and Willie...


- But you don't really suspect that Willie's involved, do you?


- No, not really, but if the blood sample

showed some marked similarity, well, obviously,

we'd have to go on looking for other connections.

We'd have to, uh, look very carefully.


- Well, I must say that, uh,

I hope that Willie has nothing to do

with what's happened to that young girl.

I would find it extremely difficult to accept it,

even in my imagination.

But, as you say, I hope that we may have some clue,

even if it means that Willie that has to provide it.


- Mr. Collins, I wonder if I could ask you

to keep Willie around the house here

until I've finished examining the blood.


- I understand.

You are afraid of contagion.

He won't leave the house until I hear from you,

one way or another.
- Thank you very much.


- Oh, doctor. Please be careful.


- Well, what do you mean?


- Well, from what I've heard,

a very dangerous man

is interested in what you're trying to do.


- So it would seem.


- I was told that the man who broke into your office

is of tremendous strength.


- If man is the proper term one should use to describe him.


- Oh, and what term would you suggest?


- [sighing] I don't know.

Beast, maybe...

although a beast would never do the things that are being done.

No, it's the peculiar magnificence of the human spirit

that's required to provide the potential for such corruption.


- Yes, I know what you mean.

Whoever he is, he must certainly be, at one and the same time,

more than a man and less than a man.


- You seem almost sorry for him.


- Sorry? No, I'm not sorry.

The truth is, I loathe him.

I loathe him very, very deeply.

♪♪

[wind whistling]

[bell clanging]


- Are you sure you don't want to dance?


- Thanks, but can't we just sit here?


- We have the whole dance floor to ourselves.


- Yes.
- Thank you.


- These days, nobody's going out at night if they can help it.


- And I want you to do the same thing.

Unless, of course, you're with me.


- This whole town seems to have barricaded itself inside.

It's as though we're in some sort of a siege.


- Maybe we are.

There's a madman on the loose.


- Burke, I just can't forget that night

that I was with Maggie and I heard the dogs howling

and went to call you and then when I tried to get back
-
-


- Okay, okay. Let's just try to forget about it.


- Well, I just can't forget those gashes on her neck and
-
-


- Vicky, stop it!

Now, come on, we agreed...

to forget about it for a change.


- You're right.

Maybe we should dance.


- Good idea.

♪♪

Hey, relax, will ya?


- I'm sorry, I just can't.


- Well, try.

♪♪


- Burke, maybe you should just take me home.

It
-
- it's late and I have to get up early.


- Well, the doctor said he would
-
-

he would drop by with some news.

He said he'd be here later on.


- Will it make that much difference

if Willie's blood sample corresponds to Maggie's?

Will that find her?


- This may be a link to Maggie,

even if we don't know exactly what it is.


- I wish I could see it that way.


- What is it?


- Listen.


- What?
- Didn't you hear anything?

No?
- What is it?


- Why, it's probably nothing.


- Well, you must have heard something.


- In the distance, far away.

Oh, Burke, every time I hear it, it frightens me so much.


- What?


- A dog howling.


- I didn't hear anything.


- I probably didn't either.


- And even if you did, what difference does it make?


- You didn't hear it the night that Maggie was attacked.


- Vicky, there are always some dogs raising a ruckus

on the farms outside of town.
- I know.


- And there's no need to get upset

every time you hear a dog barking down the road.


- I guess I was just being very silly.


- No, of course you weren't.

I guess we all are a little scared about something or other.


- Why don't you play some more music?


- Sure thing.


- Something good and loud.


- Oh, no, not a chance.

This is gonna be, uh, soft and soothing.

[coin clanking]

♪♪

And you're gonna listen to it,

and you're not gonna hear anything.

You're gonna dance with me,

and you're not gonna think about anything but that.

Come on.

♪♪

[dog howling]

Oh, come on.

It's just a
-
- an old mutt, howling.

Come on, relax.

[howling continues]

[dramatic music]

♪♪

[dog howling]

♪♪


- Barnabas, please.

Let me go away
-
- far away. Please.


- But I need you here.

You know that.


- They're gonna find me.


- Find you? Are you lost?


- That doctor, he's gonna look at that slide.


- Yes, I think he probably will.


- And you know what he's gonna see.


- Yes, indeed I do.


- And they're gonna come and get me.


- And if they do come and get you,

and if they do ask you several questions,

what are you going to tell them?


- Nothing.


- Are you sure?


- I won't tell them anything.


- They may appeal to your sympathy for the girl.


- I have no sympathy.


- They might hurt you,

and you know you can't stand physical pain.


- I still wouldn't tell them anything.


- You would. You know you would.


- No, I swear.


- But you betrayed me before,

and you probably would again.


- Never, never.


- Are you absolutely sure?


- Yes, absolutely sure.

I don't understand.

If you're so worried I'll betray you,

why did you let him take my blood?

Why?


- Oh, Willie, you have so little faith in me, don't you?


- Faith?
- Did you really think

that I would betray you?


- What?


- Did you think that I would be more unloyal to you

than you are to me?


- I am loyal.


- And you think that I am not.


- I only know you let him take my blood.


- Yes, I let him take the blood.


- What's that?


- A delicate flower painted on glass.


- You switched the slides. You changed them.


- You forgot that I paid a visit a few days ago

to a doctor's office.

Any number of innocuous blood slides

were made available to me at that time.


- And the doctor, he won't find anything?


- Let's say, he won't find anything very important.


- And they won't come after me?


- Did you think that I would let them come after you?


- Oh, no.

No, I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to me.


- You knew nothing of the kind.


- Yes, I did. I knew you'd protect me.


- No, you didn't.

You didn't know it then and you don't know it now.


- What?


- I protected you then. I may again.

And then again, I may not.


- Oh, no, you will. I know you will.


- We shall see. We shall see.


- You didn't see anything?


- Nothing unusual.


- No trace of what you found in Maggie's blood?


- Vicky, Willie's blood is type A, RH+,

without even a trace of a common cold.


- Another dead end.


- That's what it looks like.

I'll probably never know now

what it was that I saw in Maggie's blood.


- You said what you saw was terrifying.


- Terrifying?


- Yes.


- What did you mean by that?


- Oh, I'm so unsure of what I saw,

I don't even want to talk about it.


- Well, you must have seen something

or else you wouldn't have said it was terrifying.


- I did see something.

That's what made me say that it was terrifying.

It was a substance they had
-
-

a substance that should have been rejected,

but Maggie's blood wasn't rejecting it.

I had a feeling that I was watching some unholy union

going on in Maggie's veins.


- Unholy union?


- This substance
-
- do you have, uh,

any idea what it was?


- No. That's what I wanted to find out.


- Don't you have any idea at all?


- Well, yes.


- What is it?


- Vicky, all I can tell you

is that it was something completely foreign.

It was as if Maggie

were accepting into her blood something
-
-

oh
-
- inhuman.

What it is, we'll never know now.

[dog howling]

[howling continues]

[eerie music]

[eerie music]

♪♪

[announcer]
- "Dark Shadows" is a Dan Curtis production.