CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“WELL...WILL YOU marry me?“ Carly anxiously waited for Sonny’s answer.

“What do you think?” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Of course, I’ll marry you.” He added. “So when do you want to do it?”

“Right now.” She jumped up and began to pull on her clothes. “Tonight.” As Sonny kept laying where he was just watching her. “Come on, Sonny. Get dressed. We’ve got a wedding to get ready for.”

“I really don’t think we can manage it, tonight.” He told her. “We’ll need to get a license...”

“No we won’t.” She told him. “I brought our marriage license with us when we left Port Charles. And I noticed while we were out hunting for food that there‘s a justice of the peace down in the little village near where we pillage.” She added as she tugged him to his feet. “If we hurry there’s no reason why we can’t get married tonight.”

“Are you sure you really want to do this?” Sonny asked. “This isn’t the way either of us planned to get married. While you wanted us to do the vampire marriage ceremony, I wanted us to marry in a church.”

“Sonny, none of that matters to me, now.” She held his face in her hands. “All that matters to me is becoming your wife.”

“All right, let’s do.” He picked her up and swung her around the room. “Let’s get married, tonight.”

“SO HOW DID things go with Grandfather?” Ned asked as Alexis entered their suite. “Is he on to us? Just what did he want?”

“The same thing Helena does.” Alexis told him. “He wants me to use my connections as Sonny’s attorney to find out where Sonny and Carly are.” She added. “I think we may have to forget out plans and do what Sonny and Carly have and just make a run for it.”

“Why?” Ned asked.

“Ned.” Alexis replied. “Has it occurred to you what will happen to Sonny and Carly if we do find out where they are and tell Edward or Helena. They’re not going to be satisfied just knowing where they are. They’re going to do something to them.” She added. “If we tell them where Sonny and Carly are it’ll be like we handed them over to them on a silver platter.”

“Alexis, we don’t have a choice.” Ned replied coldly. “Running away will do us no good. The only thing that will is staying and stopping both Helena and my grandfather.”

“Ned, just what are you saying?” She asked in horror. “That we give them Sonny and Carly just to make our plan work.”

“We don’t have a choice.” Ned insisted. “It’s the only way we can take down Helena and Edward. To do that we’re going to have to make sacrifices.”

“Ned, sometimes sacrifices are too great to make.” Alexis countered. “How are we going to live with ourselves if because of us something happens to Sonny and Carly.”

“Alexis, they’re vampires.” Ned replied. “What’s one or two less of them in the grand scheme of things. They prey on mortals. If they’re survival depended on sucking a mortal dry of all his lifeblood, they’d do it without a second thought. Just like our survival and that of our child depends on serving up Sonny and Carly to Edward and Helena on a silver platter and we have to do it without a second thought.”

“So the end justifies the means?” Alexis asked. “I’m sorry, Ned, but I just don’t believe that. How can we live with ourselves if we sacrifice Sonny and Carly for the greater good.”

“Because we have no choice but to do it.” Ned answered. “Just like a vampire has no choice in sacrificing a mortal for it’s continued survival.” He added trying to put a good face on it. “Besides, it may not be as bad as all that. We may be able to take down Helena and Edward before any real harm comes to either Sonny or Carly. Just what does Edward have in mind for them if he gets his hands on them.”

“He wants to keep them alive.” She told him. “He intends to have them incarcerated in Ferncliffe for the rest of their lives. He wants to use them as breeding stock, basically, to help him create an army of full-blooded vampire/witch children. I suppose as soon as Carly births one vampire child he‘ll have Sonny and Carly mate again so she can give birth to another one.”

“Why would he want to do that?” Ned asked in shock.

“Your grandfather thinks if one child born from a full-blooded vampire and full-blooded witch will be powerful enough to reign over the underworld, then wouldn’t one or two more be just as powerful.” She added. “I’m sure you can guess who he intends to supply the full-blooded witch half of this vampire-witch child.”

“Us?” Ned asked aghast. “Alexis, after hearing something like this how can you even think we should give up our plans all for Sonny and Carly.”

“Because we’re not like Edward and Helena.” She retorted. “If we offer up Sonny and Carly as sacrifices we’ll be no better than Edward or Helena.”

“Alexis.” He tried to get her to see his side. “If we don’t do this, it’s going to happen anyway. Unless we do everything we have to do to stop Helena and Edward, they’ll succeed after everything they’re plotting to do.”

“All right,” Alexis sighed. “Suppose we do use Sonny and Carly as sacrificial lambs to get what we want. What are we going to do about Helena and Edward. They both want the same thing. So who do we sacrifice Sonny and Carly up to. Edward or Helena?”

“I think it should be Helena.” Ned decided. “I’m not doing that well with her, but you are with Grandfather. Besides, if it were me, I’d much rather prefer whatever Helena would have in store for me, then be treated as nothing better but an animal that’s being kept in a cage expected to mate with my mate on command.”

“When you put it that way.” Alexis said with distaste. “I feel the same way.”

“Then Helena it is.” Ned nodded. “Now all we have to do is find out where Sonny and Carly are.”

“And all I can hope is that we don’t.” Alexis replied. “I hope where ever they are, they’ve found a place where no one can find them.”

STEFAN CARRIED SOREL’S luggage into the bedroom Stefan had kept Bobbie when he was trying to help her battle Sorel’s possession of her. Strangely enough, Stefan found himself in the same position again. “I’m glad you decided to see reason, Barbara, and agreed to move back in with me.”

“I’m not stupid, Stefan.” Sorel replied as he fluttered Bobbie’s eyelashes at him. “I know when to back down and accept help when I need it.” He moved close to Stefan and slipped his hand inside of Stefan’s shirt and gave his chest a little rub, which utterly repelled Stefan since he knew exactly who was doing the rubbing. “I’ll really have to find some way of thanking you for all that you’ve done for me.”

“Nonsense, Barbara.” Stefan wanted to yank Sorel’s hand away from him, but he knew he had better get used to Sorel’s touch since they’d both have to be doing a lot more touching before this whole thing was over. “You’re the mother of my child. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work I need to do down in my study.”

“Of course.” Sorel removed his hand from Stefan’s shirt. “Then I’ll see you at dinner, tonight.” He added under his breath as Stefan made a hasty exit. “And maybe if I play my cards right you’ll tell me why Corinthos’ is so important to your mother.”

Once alone, Sorel took stock of his room. Well, these were sure better surroundings than that drab Brownstone. But satin sheets and silk curtains didn’t make up for the fact that this was the place he’d died an agonizing death. If it was the last thing he did, for that, Cassadine would pay. He felt drawn perversely to the window as he tried to see the exact spot Cassadine had staked him to the ground to wait for the sun to rise and to destroy him, but from his present vantage point he couldn’t see it. Feeling a perverse need to visit the spot of his destruction he grabbed his coat and headed outside.

It didn’t take him long to find the exact spot. The stakes were still pounded into the ground and the ropes that had tied his wrists and ankles were still there. He wondered what Cassadine had done with his body after the sun had done his work. Was it possible to find the remains of his body and resurrect himself? As much as he enjoyed being inside Bobbie Spencer’s body and having fun with her, he missed his own body. Then it suddenly occurred to him. Of course, that’s exactly why Cassadine had staked him out in the sun. The sun had turned his body to ashes so there was no possible way his body could be resurrected. Damn, Stefan Cassadine, he would pay for this!

AFTER LEAVING ALEXIS, Ned rushed over to Helena’s yacht. While they still hadn’t discovered Sonny and Carly whereabouts and while Alexis went through Sonny’s personal papers for some clue as to their whereabouts, he decided to use the information Alexis had given him about Edward’s plans for Sonny and Carly to score points with Helena.

“Have you learned of their whereabouts?” Helena asked anxiously when Ned entered.

“No, not yet.” Ned told her. “But I’m working on it.”

“Then why are you here.” Helena snapped. “If you haven’t come here to tell me what I want to hear.”

“Because I’ve learned something that I thought you’d want to know about.” Ned answered. “And I came immediately to you to tell you.”

“Just what have you found out?” Helena asked, her curiosity suddenly piqued.

“My grandfather has plans to create some vampire-witch army.” Ned told her. “He wants to find Sonny and Carly and force them to breed vampire children for him that he can mate with the children Alexis and I have. He figures that if one child will be powerful, then so will a whole new race of them.”

“The crafty old buzzard.” Helena smiled. “While I’ve been obsessing over bringing into the world one vampire-witch child, he’s been making plans to bring a whole army of them into the world.”

“Then this was something you wanted to know?” Ned asked eagerly.

“Oh, definitely, dear boy, definitely.” Helena began to look at Ned with new eyes. “You may actually be of more use to me then I ever anticipated. Just how did you find this out, anyway.”

“Alexis told me.” He revealed. “You may not know this, but Alexis has managed to get my grandfather to agree to make her his apprentice. She thinks aligning herself with my grandfather is the only way to protect our child from you. It’s actually what lead me to seek you out.” He added. “Unlike what Alexis thinks, I think you’re the lesser of two evils. And you‘re right, I could be of very good use to you. Alexis tells me everything that goes on between her and my grandfather, and I in turn can tell you. Maybe you should rethink making me your apprentice.”

“All right, Mr. Ashton.” Helena replied. “You win. If you bring me the whereabouts of Sonny and Carly, I’ll make you my apprentice.” She added. “By betraying Alexis as you just have to me, you’ve proven to me that I can trust you.”

SONNY AND CARLY entered the house of the justice of the peace which was located on the edge of town. The house was actually a quaint country inn. For a spur-of-the-moment ceremony it was actually rather nice. Sonny and Carly had dressed in their best clothes: Sonny was wearing a nice blue suit while Carly was wearing a long white evening gown. Before arriving at the justice of the peace’s house Sonny and Carly had hunted together and fed on one of the homeless villagers. They had wanted their stamina to be up to par for the lusty wedding night they were planning to have after the ceremony was over. And ten minutes after they’d entered the JOP’s house, they were exiting as husband and wife.

As they stood on the porch waiting to head home Sonny turned to her, “So, how do you feel?”

“Not any different then when we entered.” She said, feeling a bit disappointed. “I thought once we were married I’d suddenly feel different. I’d feel even closer to you then I feel now. I’d feel like we were one person joined together in holy matrimony. Mortals do when they get married.”

“But were not mortals.” Sonny reminded her. “I have to admit I feel a bit disappointed myself. It was different when I was with a mortal. The mortal marriage ceremony meant more to me then. But with you it’s different.” He added. “With you I’ve attained a closeness I’ve never felt with anyone else. There’s the mental telepathy we share when we make love. When it first happened between us it made me uncomfortable, but now it’s become part of making love for me. I don’t think I’d ever find making love with a mortal sexually satisfying again. There’s also the drinking of each other. After all that the mortal marriage ceremony seems kind of anti-climatic in comparison.”

“That’s exactly what I feel.” Carly was pleased Sonny felt the same way she did. “I mean, we’re already joined together more deeply and in more different ways then the mortal marriage ceremony binds two people together.” She smiled hopefully. “Does that mean you want us to go through with the vampire wedding ceremony then?”

“I don’t know.” Sonny sighed. “While I don’t feel the mortal wedding ceremony was enough for me now that I’ve totally embraced my vampire self, I don’t know if I’m ready to go through with it. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to go through with it.” He added. “It isn’t that I don’t love you...”

“Are you saying that you love me?” She interrupted. “Are you, Sonny?” He looked around in discomfort not wanting to answer that question, but Carly was having none of it. She hit him in the arm to grab his attention. “Well, are you saying you love me? Yes or no?”

“Yes, I love you.” He said bad naturedly. “Let’s not make a big deal out of it, okay.”

“Since when have you loved me?” She demanded to know. “When I told you I loved you you tried to pass it off as a by-product of you drinking of me.”

“I don’t know.” He replied feeling very harassed. “I just do. I probably loved you even before that night we had sex together and made our baby. I think I fell in love with you that night you stayed with me in the penthouse when I was in such bad shape. In fact, I think I would have made love to you that night if Jason had returned when he did.”

“So you lied to me that night when you said you only had sex with me to prove I was a tramp to Jason?” She wasn’t going to give up until she heard it all.

“Yes.” He admitted. “Both to you and myself. I’d wanted you from the moment I returned to Port Charles and first laid eyes on you, but the only way I could let myself have you was to lie to myself about why I was doing it.”

“Baby, you’ve just made me the happiest vampire on the planet.” She jumped into his arms and kissed him passionately. “You just made me feel what I thought the mortal marriage ceremony would.” She sighed happily. “You love me. Do you know how long I’ve waited to hear those words slips off your lips?”

“I love you.” He cradled her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. “I love you more than I thought I could ever love somebody. But as much as I love you, I don’t know if I’ll ever reach the point where I’ll be ready to go through the vampire marriage ceremony with you. It involves me trusting you totally, and I’ve never been able to completely trust anyone. Not even myself.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She gave him a quick kiss. “All that matters is that you love me. I have faith in you. I know one day you’ll be ready to do it and I can wait for that day knowing now that you love me.” She sighed happily. “Do you realize how far we’ve come, Sonny. We just have a little farther still to go and I know we’ll make it. “ She reached up on her tip toes and kissed him passionately again. A kiss which he returned in full.

Alexis suddenly appeared out of nowhere and interrupted them before they got too carried away by their passion for each other. “Thank goodness I finally found you.”

Sonny and Carly were immediately on guard. After all, Alexis was a witch. “Alexis, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come here to warn you.” She told them. “You both are in extreme danger.”