CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

SONNY WOKE-UP to find himself in a strange room he’d never seen before. Carly was laying next to him, but she was still unconscious. As the drugs he’d been given finally began to wear-off, he remembered everything that happened. As soon as Helena and Ned had entered their hideout, he’d grabbed Carly’s hand and tried to make a run for it. But Helena hadn’t come alone. Her men had surrounded them as they tried to make their escape. The last thing he remembered was two of Helena’s men holding him while another jabbed a needle into his arm. Then he’d sunk into oblivion.

He looked over at Carly. Had they injected her with the same thing that they had him. If they had, had they done any damage to their baby. He leaned over Carly and gently picked her limp body up into his arms. “Carly, can you hear me.” He lightly slapped her face trying to bring her around. “Sweetheart, can you hear me?”

He breathed a sigh of relief as she began to come around. He helped her sit up and she looked groggily around. “Sonny, what happened? Where are we?”

“With the help of Ned and Alexis.” Sonny glared around the room. “Helena Cassadine managed to capture us. Where we are is anybody’s guess.”

“Sonny, what are they going to do to us?” Carly asked in fear.

“Nothing for the moment.” He assured her. “Until the baby is born they’ll want to keep us both in good shape. You, so you can deliver the baby safely and me so you won’t get upset by my death and put the baby’s life in danger.”

“What about after the baby’s born.” Carly rubbed her stomach, already knowing the answer.

“If the baby is born healthy.” Sonny replied. “They’ll have no further use for either of us.” He looked her straight in the eyes. “Then they’ll kill us.”

SOREL LOOKED OVER at Stefan with a lascivious grin on his face. “Well, I sure wore you out, didn’t I, Cassadine.” He took Stefan’s chin in his hand and turned his face towards him. “If someone didn’t know better they’d think you were dead. Time to get up and finish you off.” He threw back the covers and put Stefan’s silk robe on. Then he looked around the room for something to tie Stefan up with.

He found a couple of silk ties in the dresser drawer. Then he proceeded to tie Stefan’s wrists and ankles to the bedposts. “How does it feel, Cassadine, to be staked out? This is exactly what you did to me when you staked me to the ground and waited for the sun to come up and destroy me.”

“Being a witch.” He continued. “You don’t have the weakness to the sun that a vampire does. But you do have another weakness. Fire!” He leaned close to Stefan and whispered in his ear. “That’s right, Cassadine. Come the crack of dawn, I’m going to set this bed on fire and burn you at the stake!”

NED POURED ALEXIS a glass of champagne then handed it to her. “Let’s propose a toast.” He suggested as he turned to her. “To our success, tonight.” He clinked his glass against hers.

Alexis put her glass down. “I think I’ll pass on the celebration.” She told him and she set her glass down. “I didn’t like what we did to Sonny and Carly, tonight. Just because they’re vampires and inferior to us doesn’t give us a right to do what we did.“ She added. “And if Sonny and Carly ever get free they’re going to kill the both of us. Before you and Helena arrived I thought Sonny was going to kill me. Next time he will.”

“They’ll get over it once this thing is over.” Ned assured her. “Alexis, we’re moving into the home stretch here. When Helena goes to hell to present Sonny and Carly’s baby to Damian and when Edward does likewise with our child, we’ll shove them and Damian both into The Pit and this whole mess will be over.”

“but what about Sonny and Carly.” Alexis asked. “As soon as their child is born Helena will want to dispose of the both of them. How are we going to stop that from happening.”

“I’ll offer to kill them for Helena.” Ned answered. “But I’ll only pretend to kill them and trick her into believing that they’re dead.” He added. “Once I explain our plan to Sonny and Carly, I’m sure they’ll see it’s the only way for them to be free of the threat the witches pose to both them and their child.”

“Somehow, Ned,” Alexis sighed. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy as you think it is.”

“Nothing in life worth having is ever easy.” Ned retorted. “But we’ve made it this far and we’ll make it all the way. Trust me.”

“You’re the only one I do trust.” She replied. “Everyone else is the enemy.”

SONNY CAME AND sat back down on the bed with Carly. He’d searched every inch of the room for some way to escape, but there was none. “It’s like we’re in some hermetically sealed room.” He looked around the room once more. “I’m sure there’s a way in or out, but it must be from the outside.”

“So you’re saying there’s no way out?” She asked. “That this situation is hopeless and this time we’re not going to escape.”

“It doesn’t look good.” He patted her leg. “I’d be lying if I said anything else. But as long as we’re alive there’s still hope.” He added under his breath. “But even if I had some ideas, I wouldn’t say anything here because the walls have eyes and ears.”

“What are you talking about?” Carly began looking round the room frantically.

“While I was searching for a way out.” He told her. “I found a hidden camera. And where there’s hidden camera, it’s likely there’s also hidden microphones.”

“So we’re being listened to and watched?” Carly exploded.

“That we are.” Sonny answered. He fingered the curtains of the canopied bed they were sitting on. “But at least with these, we can pull them shut at night and get a little privacy from prying eyes.”

“Sonny, I don’t think I can stand this.” Carly began to freak out. “It’s like were animals in a zoo on display.”

He squeezed her hand tightly. “Carly.” He ordered. “You can stand this and you will stand this. You will not give Helena Cassadine the satisfaction of watching you freak out. Do you hear me!”

“Sonny, what are we going to do.” She threw herself in his arms and hugged him tightly. “How are we going to get out of this mess.”

“I don’t know.” Sonny hugged her back. “But as long as we’re together we can’t give up hope. We can’t give up trying to escape and we’ve got to keep fighting them while there’s a breath left in our bodies.”

SOREL BEGAN TO douse Stefan and the bed in one hundred year old brandy. Stefan still hadn’t move a muscle or shown any signs of waking up. Sorel finally began to get a bit suspicious about it. “Come on, Cassadine.” He tried to shake Stefan awake. “I’m good, but I’m not that good. You should have woken up by now.”

When he got no response, he began shaking Stefan roughly. Stefan’s head bobbed back and forth and his body remained limp. “Wake up. Cassadine! Wake up!” But still Stefan didn’t respond. “God, maybe he is dead. Maybe I killed him when we were having sex.” He took Stefan’s hand in his and checked for a pulse. There was one, so he wasn’t dead. But why wasn’t he waking up.

“I don’t understand this.” Sorel spoke aloud to himself. “Why isn’t he waking up?” It was then he happened to glance up and caught his reflection in the mirror and was horrified by what he saw.

Sorel walked over to the mirror in shock. “No, it can’t be.” He touched the reflection in the glass. “I must be seeing things.” Instead of seeing himself staring back at him as he normally did since taking possession of Bobbie’s body, this time he saw a smirking Stefan staring back at him, instead.

“You’re not seeing things, Sorel.” Stefan smirked. “I’m inside here, too.”

“NOOOOOOOOO!” Sorel exploded. “This can’t be! It’s impossible.”

“You of all people should know, Sorel.” Stefan replied smugly. “Nothing is impossible.”

“This isn’t possible.” Sorel repeated. “Two people can possess the same body. It just isn’t possible.”

“You’re right.” Stefan agreed. “Two of us can’t possess Barbara’s body. One of us is going to have to go and it isn’t going to be me!”

“Get out of me!” Sorel exploded.

“I’m not leaving until you do.” Stefan retorted.

“I’m not leaving.” Sorel declared. “This body is mine.”

“We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we.” Stefan answered. “But it’s going to get really crowded in here with the three of us inside of here.”

“It won’t bother me a bit.” Sorel spat. “I’m the one in control.”

“Well just have to see about that.” Stefan challenged. “Won’t we.” Then Stefan’s face suddenly disappeared from the mirror to be replaced by Sorel’s.

“Where did he go?” Sorel asked in a panic. “Cassadine, where are you?” He looked over at Stefan’s inert body and is still laid unmoving. Then it suddenly occurred to him what Stefan was up to. He was trying to get to Bobbie and there was nothing Sorel could do to stop him. If Stefan succeeded in reaching Bobbie, the two of them would fight together to get him out of Bobbie’s body. And if they succeeded what would become of him?

It suddenly became obvious to Sorel that Stefan had set him up. All this time he’d known he was possessing Bobbie’s body and he’d been plotting against him. Trying to find some way to get him out of Bobbie Spencer’s body. It wasn’t enough he’d staked him to the ground out in the sun, now he wanted to destroy him completely. There had to be something he could do to stop Cassadine. There had to be.