Episode 46: Slideshow
Raxl: “In the great house on Maljardin, evil
lives; even amongst the dead! And
the poisonest evil spreads threatening Erica Desmond, who lies frozen in the
cryo capsule until the day a scientific miracle returns her to the living, and
back into the arms of her husband, Jean Paul Desmond, who has defied powers,
real and imagined to assure his wife’s return from beyond the veiled curtain of
death. Strange happenings are
forcing a decision that could doom Erica Desmond,
forever.”
Jean Paul walks between the capsule and the gauges as he tries to
come to a decision. He turns around. "No, I can't do it!" he shouts, "No!" Raxl is behind him listening. "If that
capsule is opened the cold and the life preserving gasses flow out. Before my
very eyes the flawless beauty of Erica withers, her skin blisters and cracks and
peels. The flesh turns sour and falls from the bones. I can't do it!" "But if something has already happened
to the Little Mistress perhaps she has been murdered. You owe it to her to find
out so her death can be avenged." Raxl tells Jean Paul as she walks up to
him. Jean Paul shakes his head no.
"If I open her capsule needlessly, I will be the murderer." Jean Paul says then
walks away.
Alison is working in the lab. Vangie stands next to her startling
her. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." Vangie tells Alison. "It's all right. I'm just a little jumpy
I guess." Alison says with a smile.
"We all are. There are so many emanations from the world of the dead,
good and bad. You don't mind my coming here do you? I'm not spoiling your
concentration or anything." Vangie asks as she walks around the lab table. "It doesn't inquire concentration just
patience, a lot of it." Alison says as she looks through the microscope. "What's on that slide? It has a bad
feeling." asks Vangie. "The blood
from Erica's locket." Alison says sitting up straight to look at Vangie. "If it is her
locket."
Jean Paul enters his bedroom. He stands and leans on his dresser
looking in the mirror. Turning he takes off his jacket, then throws it on his
bed. Raxl and Quito walk in,
"Is there anything Quito and I can do?" Raxl asks. "Raxl you are the daughter of the
Priestess of the Great Serpent. How would you advise me?" Raxl walks over to Jean Paul. "Trust no
one." she says. "Not even
you?" "Not even yourself." says
Raxl as she turns to leave. Seeing the basket with the black rabbit she puts her
hand on the edge of the basket. "And if you would alter the balance of the evil
forces in this house you would kill this accursed rabbit." Quito opens the door
for Raxl and they both leave the room.
Jean Paul walks over and picks up the rabbit. Looking at it he is still
unsure.
In the lab Alison is testing the blood sample. "This blood is so
deteriorated and structured that it's almost impossible to make out the cell
pattern. Only one thing is certain, it's not from the rabbit it's human blood."
she tells Vangie.
In the Great hall Matt is sitting in a chair. Elizabeth paces
behind his chair. "I didn't try to kill Holly you know." "I didn't say you did." "No, no one has actually said it. But I
know what you are all thinking. I know Holly and I never get along to well,
perhaps it's as much my fault as hers. I know I had a good enough motive for
doing it. Her inheritance might seem to be a very good temptation. Especially
for someone like myself who isn't , at least on the surface sentimental." "Please Mrs. Marshal, calm yourself."
Matt says. Raxl walks out of the
crypt. She stands next to the staircase and listens. :Holly is going to get well. That's all
that matters now." says Matt.
Alison leans back on the stool then stands. "It was touch and go there
for a moment. Thank the lord she's young and has a strong heart." she says to
Vangie as she looks through the file cabinet. "She has a good doctor on hand. We all
thought she was dead and that it was the cyanide." Alison walks back over to the table. "If
it had been cyanide she would have been. But what was in that glass? It's very
strange, I've never seen anything like it. Or even heard of it." Alison says
then looks bending she looks in the microscope. "It's some kind of vegetable
poisoning as far as I can guess. Where it came from is another thing. That's it!
It's AB negative!" "What?"
asks Vangie. "It's AB, that's the
blood type. It's a very rare type. And that proves one thing, the blood on the
locket was definitely my sister Erica’s. Or mine!" Alison and Vangie look at
each other. Jean Paul, Raxl and
Quito join Alison and Vangie in the lab. Jean Paul looks through the microscope.
"It's impossible. I wont believe it ." Jean Paul says. "AB negative, one of the rarest blood
groups.. Erica had it and so do I." Alison says. "Then it was your blood on the locket.
That's all there is to it." "Are
you suggesting I put my own blood on my sister's locket?" "No, I mean some of your blood could
have gotten by someone." "Like a
vampire in the night you mean?"
Raxl glances at Quito. "So
we are back to where we started." says Jean Paul. "No Master, we are not back where we
started. Blood on that locket did belong to my Little Mistress." Jean Paul stands. "Well maybe I put the
necklace on her neck without realizing it. Perhaps I didn't put it on her in the
capsule. It could have happened that way very easily. You see I had thought I
had. You didn't see me do it Raxl?" Jean Paul asks turning towards her. "No." "Quito did you?" Quito shakes his head .
"Well there you are, she could have cut her finger a while before she died and
it got on the locket. And maybe I put the locket in the dresser drawer. And it
was left there. And in my grief I didn't know what I was doing so I gave her
another piece of jewelry that I put around her neck. That is probably what has
happened." Jean Paul turns towards Vangie.
"No that's not the feeling of it at all. The feeling is that it's
something strange and dark, not simple and light." "There's evil in this house, like slimy
like a snake. Ugly like a black rabbit. Evil and you are all becoming it's
servants." Raxl says to them. Jean
Paul rushes over to Raxl and Quito. "You think I killed my darling is that what
you think?" Jean Paul shouts. Quito pulls back from Jean Paul in fear. "All I know is that there is evil here
and it will not be wiped out by the telling of fairy tales!" Raxl yells at
him. Jean Paul rushes over to
Vangie. "You think it was me don't you?" he shouts. "I do not have that feeling about you."
Vangie says. "Jean Paul please,
your shocked and overwrought. Now you should rest." Alison says holding his
arm. "Rest! Rest while my Erica
lies in a capsule perhaps murdered!" Jean Paul says pulling away from Alison.
"And the rest of you think either I killed her or perhaps I am mad!" Jean Paul
says as he picks up the microscope and throws it to the ground. "AB negative!
Erica sometimes I think it is you who mock." he says then leaves the room
pushing past Raxl and Quito. Alison
looks at Vangie. "Perhaps you should talk to him." Vangie shakes her head no. "I've tried,
it didn't do any good. How about you?"
"I'd like to but now that I have identified the blood perhaps Jean Paul
will let me get back to my own work." Alison says as she picks up the pieces of
the microscope. Raxl and Quito look
at each other listening. "If I can
only identify the poison that was given to Holly, perhaps I could help her to
recover quicker. Right now I'm more concerned with helping the living than the
dead." says Alison. "But you're
helping Jean Paul, he's not dead."
"Not yet, not in the body at all events." says Alison. Raxl and Vangie look upset from Alison’s
words.
In his bedroom Jean Paul paces the floor. "Could I have killed my
Erica? Could I have slain my love? That's not possible. Oh you would like it
Jacques Eloi Des Mondes my bloody murdering ancestor if it were so. How you
would rejoice." Jean Paul walks over to his bed and sits down. "But then if I
didn't put the locket in the cryo capsule with Erica as I thought, what other
things that I believe as fact, things that are part of my life and experience
may be no more then creeping malicious lying fancies. Perhaps I didn't love my
Erica at all, perhaps I hated her!"
Raxl and Quito are in the crypt next to Erica's capsule. "There
are none here that can be trusted Little Mistress. None at all." She looks at
Quito. "Quito I am losing patience with you! Your mind seems to be elsewhere,
you're dreaming. You're more interested in that foolish bird of yours than the
perils that surround us. The Master is the Master, I will not deny that but he
can not be trusted. And do you know why he can not be trusted? Because he can
not trust himself. There is only one here Quito who's heart is strong. Who will
not let the forces of evil stride with their dirty boots through this Island.
The daughter of the Priestess of the Great Serpent. I am the only one here whose
heart is strong Little Mistress and pure." Raxl walks to Erica's capsule. "Your
love is not lost forever. I am sure of that. But until I have been able to clean
the evil from Maljardin he will not be again the man you
loved."
Thunder crashes outside. Jean Paul is laying upon his bed. "I
loved her, I remember how I loved her. There was no world but the world outside,
then there was another world and that was us. Oh how I loved her. It was so
good, so beautiful. But what happened at the end? Was the necklace with Erica
when she was sealed in the capsule?" He lays the back of his hand against his
forehead. "I can't remember."
Matt and Elizabeth are in the Dining Room when Vangie joins them.
"How is Doctor Carr getting on? " Elizabeth asks. "She's trying to discover what the
poison is." Vangie says as she takes her seat. "Oh her little bottles, test tubes and
steel gadgets for dissecting things make me quite sick." Elizabeth tells
them "In that sickening place Mrs.
Marshal, Doctor Carr is working very hard to try to save your daughter.." says
Vangie. "Miss Abbott, I know you
have no reason to feel that I bear any great love for Holly. But I tell you that
things are not always what they appear to be on the surface." Elizabeth says as
she leaves the room, running up the staircase very upset. Matt stands. "The funny thing is I
believe her. And even funnier is I can't make her believe I believe her.” Her
motives is the strongest." says Vangie pouring herself tea. "The fortune Holly will inherit from he
father. I know a very obvious motive. But there are other people in this house
with other motives. And those motives though less obvious may be even more
compelling." Matt tells her.
Raxl and Vangie stand next to the gauges for the cryonics capsule.
"Conjure doll and silver pin. I can not find them. Each time I search they elude
me." Raxl says. They turn away from the chamber after searching around it. "I am
thwarted at every turn. The poison of evil is growing even stronger. In the mind
and eyes of Jean Paul, the one we could always turn to for strength and
guidance. He even keeps that black rabbit in his room protecting it when it
should be crushed." Quito
starts walking towards the stairs. Raxl stops him. "No Quito, we can not use
force, Jean Paul is still the Master. And even in the service of the Serpent I
will not harm him." Raxl steps forward. "But there are other ways instead of
force. Jean Paul can not always stay in his room. The very next time, the next
time he leaves it I will go in and get that black rabbit. And you Quito will do
to it what should be done to all evil demons from the pit. Kill it!" Raxl
shouts. Quito extends his hands, he makes fists and placing his hands over each
other he twist them imitating strangling.
With thunder crashing Jean Paul
walks down the staircase to the Great hall. He glances at Jacques portrait, he
crosses over to it. Then he turns away.
"So you think you may be a murderer do you?" Jacques says. "Well I knew your absence was to good to
last." says Jean Paul turning towards Jacques portrait. "I was just giving you a little rest
bit. What's the fun in struggling with an opponent who is all tuckered
out?" "Your words make no sense,
you're not an opponent you're a deadly enemy. A vicious one. When I find the
strength I'll make sure that you fry in those fires forever." Jacques laughs. "Excellent.
Spoken like a true descendant of Jacques Eloi Des Mondes." "I want no kinship with a murderer like you." Jean
Paul turns away. "Our kinship is a
fact of history not a choice. So your having little pangs of conscience." "What do you mean." Jean Paul asks
turning back towards Jacques portrait.
"Think there's a chance you have murdered your sweet Erica? That blood
was very interesting wasn't it?"
Angrily Jean Paul walks to Jacques portrait. "How do you know about
that?" "How do I know about
anything? Perhaps as I've often said, I'm a part of you. Perhaps there's no way
of hiding from me at any time or in any place." Jacques tells him. Jean Paul
looks at the portrait in anger.
Alison is working in the lab when Elizabeth walks in. Elizabeth glances
around then picks up a paper and looks at it. Alison jumps. "And what do you
want?" Alison asks. "I'm sorry I
just wanted to know how you are getting on. Finding out about Holly's poison I
mean." "You didn't exactly rush to
find out at the first opportunity, did you?" Alison says to her. "I know that, I was beginning to
feel badly about it. The truth is I just can't stand places like this."
Elizabeth says walking around.
"Doctors offices, hospitals and laboratories. I guess it's a kind of a
phobia. Can't you find out what the poison is?" "It seems to define analysis. There is a factor in it that doesn't
answer any of the description of any of the poisons in all these books." "Does it concern Holly? Tell me, I want
to know." "There are some poisons
that as strong at first, this one has done that with Holly. Then fade away, but
the recovery is only temporary. I'm frightened for Holly." Alison tells her.
Elizabeth looks away worriedly.
Jean Paul has his back to Jacques portrait. He is standing across
the room from the portrait. "So
maybe you killed your little love before you put her in that tin coffin hmm.
Maybe there is no pristine, pure heart to revive. That's what has been on your
mind all day hasn't it?" "Even if
it has been I certainly wouldn't tell you." "You can have no secrets from me anyhow.
You know if you ever are thinking of murdering again." Jean Paul turns angrily to Jacques
portrait. "I did not kill her!" he yells.
"All right." Jacques laughs. "Whether you did or not you might want to
kill someone else one of these days."
"Goodnight." Jean Paul tells him in anger, he turns to leave. "All right, run away but you might find
an example of my skill nearer than you know and sooner than you think." Jean Paul turns and looks back at
Jacques, then turning he leaves the room.
Raxl and Quito sneak down the staircase, Quito carries the black
rabbit from Jean Paul's room. Entering the Great Hall they stop. "Now that we
have the devil, you know what to do. Kill him and this time make no mistakes!"
Raxl orders Quito. As Quito turns
the rabbit jumps out of Quito's arms.
"No, you fool! Get it! Get it!" Raxl yells at Quito. As Quito chases the
rabbit he trips and bumps the wall knocking down a portrait. Behind it is a
small hidden door in the wall. "A secret compartment. The conjure doll, the
silver pin! They may be in there!" Raxl shouts. She rushes over to the wall,
sliding the panel she screams. Inside is a skull. Jean Paul rushes over to Raxl, he stands
and stares at the skull.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summaries written by Debby
Graham . The slide
presentation is the work of Ron Janick.
~Ron/Bella~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
