CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

SOREL ENTERED THE bedroom where he had Tony tied up. “Well, Dr. Jones.” He addressed Tony as he removed the gag from his mouth. “Thanks to you I’m now a very rich...woman.” He opened up Bobbie’s purse and dumped the contents on top of Tony. “Everything was right where you said it was. I cashed in all your stocks and bonds and now there’s only one thing left to do.”

“Let me go.” Tony suggested.

“I’m afraid not, Dr. Jones.” He took out the insurance policy and waved it in front of Tony’s face. “You see I found this when I was going through all your financial papers. It’s an insurance policy. If you die an accidental death, why I collect double the amount.”

“You said you’d let me go if I told you where I kept all my money.” Tony reminded him in a bit of a whiney voice.

“I lied.” Sorel replied. “It’s one of the things we evil spirits do when we possess a mortal’s body.”

“What are you going to do to me?” Tony asked in terror. The only answer he got the evil smile that spread across Bobbie’s face.

MRS. LANSBURY ENTERED Stefan’s study to inform him he had a visitor waiting to see him. “Who is it?” Stefan asked.

“It’s Lila Quartermaine.” She informed him. “She says it’s about Joseph Sorel.”

“Send her in.” Stefan ordered. A few moment later Lila’s motorized wheelchair rolled into the room. “Mrs. Quartermaine, I was surprised you wanted to see me. You told my servant it was about Joseph Sorel?”

“Yes,” Lila replied. “I saw him today. He was at the hospital. Or should I say the body he’s currently possessing was at the hospital. I wouldn’t come here and tell you this, but the man has designs on my life. He wants to dispose of me and marry Edward, so he can then kill Edward and get his hands on all of Edward’s power and money. Since it is your fault for disposing of him in a manner that allowed him to escape being sent down to hell where he belongs, I feel you should have to deal with him.”

“Of course, Mrs. Quartermaine.” Stefan replied. “From what you’ve said he’s taken over the body of a female.”

“One you happen to be intimately acquainted with.” She replied. “Bobbie Spencer.”

“Barbara?” Stefan repeated in shock. “But that’s impossible.”

“I assure you it isn’t.” She informed him. “I saw Bobbie Spencer at the hospital and let me tell you that wasn’t Bobbie Spencer.” She added. “I have the ability to read people’s thoughts. I could hear what she...or should I say he was thinking. And those were definitely not the thoughts of Bobbie Spencer. I tell you, Mr. Cassadine, Joseph Sorel is possessing Bobbie Spencer’s body.”

Stefan thought about it for a moment and it suddenly all made a sick sort of sense. Barbara had been on the island when he’d executed Sorel. She’d also still been under his control. Faison said a mortal would have to be willing to let a spirit possess them and Barbara would have been willing to do anything for Sorel at that point in time. He was in mental contact with her, so it would have been no trouble for him to travel out of his body and into Barbara’s while he’d been staked out in the sun.

“All right,” Stefan sighed. “I believe you, Mrs. Quartermaine.” He asked. “What do you suggest I do? What should my approach be.”

“That’s entirely up to you.” She responded. “I told you what I came to say, and now I’m leaving the rest up to you.” With that she turned her motorized wheelchair around and whizzed out of the room.

Stefan hated angels. Unless they were assigned to you as your guardian angel, they wouldn’t lift a finger to help you if they didn’t have to. So Sorel was possessing Barbara’s body. Just what was he going to do about that?

SOREL DROVE TONY’S car on to the railroad tracks, then he got out of it and listened. No train approaching yet. Before leaving the Brownstone he had chloroformed Tony so he wouldn’t give him any trouble. At the moment Tony way laying unconscious on the passenger side of the car. Sorel tugged at Tony until he was sitting behind the wheel. Then he took out a bottle of vodka and poured some down Tony’s throat. Next he poured the rest of the contents over Tony and the car seat.

He took a step back to admire his handy work. “Doctor drinks too much and drives his car on to the railroad tracks.” He smiled. “It works for me. Death by drunken misadventure.”

In the distant he could hear the sound of a train approaching. He hurried up and ran behind some bushes so he could have a front row seat for the crash. It was a spectacular explosion. As Sorel made his way back to the Brownstone he was already counting the money the insurance company would pay him.

ALEXIS AND NED followed Tracy as she made her way through the headstones in the Port Charles Cemetery. They hoped she was finally meeting up with Faison. They’d been keeping an eye on her for days following her around and so far they’d come up empty-handed. Ned was running out of time. Helena was getting impatient and she wanted results. If they didn’t hit pay dirt tonight there was no telling what Helena might do to him.

“She must be meeting Faison.” Alexis hissed to Ned as they continued to trail Tracy. “Why else would she be lurking around a cemetery in the middle of the night.”

“With my mother.” Ned replied. “There’s no telling.”

As it turned out Tracy was meeting up with Faison. His latest hideout was a mausoleum in the cemetery. He figured that would be the last place anyone would think to look for him. The fact that Stefan had been able to track him down so easily had really rattled Faison’s cage. He was more paranoid than usual.

Tracy pushed open the creaky gate on the mausoleum that housed the ancestral remains of the Barrington family and entered. “Faison?” She called. “Are you here?”

Faison was suddenly behind Tracy. “Did you come alone.” He whispered into her ear.

She nearly jumped out of her skin. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?” She exploded. “Don’t sneak up on me like that in a place like this.”

“Were you followed?” He asked.

“No,” She snapped. “I wasn’t. Who would follow me to a graveyard in the middle of the night. Most normal people don’t even want to come to a place like this in the daylight hours. least of all at night.” She added. “Just why did you want to see me, tonight.”

“I wanted to tell you the time has come. “ He announced. “It’s time for us to break the demons out of the pit.”

“So soon?” Tracy asked in displeasure. “I thought it wouldn’t be happening for quite some time now.”

“You’re not getting cold feet, are you?” Faison asked in displeasure.

“No.” Tracy retorted. “Of course not. I’m just concerned that we might be looking before we leap.” She added. “What were about to attempt is very dangerous. Anything could go wrong. We should take our time to plan this to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“It’s better if we strike when Smith will least expect it.” Faison countered. “The longer we wait, the more chance there is he’ll figure out what we’re planning to do.” He added. “So are you in or out.”

“I’m in.” Tracy declared if somewhat reluctantly. “So what’s the plan.”

“The entrance to the Pit is in Damian Smith’s chambers.” He replied. “To get to the Pit I’m going to need you to distract him for me.”

‘Isn’t Smith going to realize what I did after you break the demons out.” She asked. “He could try to seek retribution against me.”

“He won’t be in the position to do anything.” Faison assured her. “You see after we break all the demons out, we’re going to throw Damian down into the Pit. He’ll be powerless to seek retribution against anyone. He’ll be trapped down in the sewer he sentenced all the demons to.”

Outside the mausoleum Ned hissed to Alexis. “Did you hear that?” He asked. “It’s finally going down.”

“Yes.” She sighed worriedly. “But just how are we going to stop them.”

SONNY AND CARLY headed into a small town located not far from where the lighthouse they were staying at. They were in the wharf area looking for food. Sonny couldn’t help being amused over the snit Carly was in at present. She had been so sure he wouldn’t be able to control himself if they were sharing the same bed together and he knew neither of them was wearing any clothes. It was hard. He’ll admit that. It taxed all the self-control he possessed. But he did it. He didn’t lay a finger on him. He was feeling very proud of himself for that accomplishment. And as a result Carly was in quite a snit as she continued to give him the cold shoulder.

Why couldn’t he stay mad at her for longer than a couple of days, he wondered. It was a struggle to keep acting cold and distant around her. He didn’t know what it was about her, but more times than not she just made him want to smile and laugh. What was this nebulous feeling he had for her? Was it love or merely indigestion? If he wasn’t so stubborn he would just end the cold war between them that he started. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep up the Siberia act much longer. Besides, Carly had a good point. They were all each other had, so it was just stupid for them to be at odds like this.

Had Carly at least learned her lesson that she couldn’t control him with sex? Probably not. If she had the whole thing to do all over again, she would probably just do the same thing. She had been trying to protect him and as far as she was concerned that justified all her actions. Then ends justified the means was Carly’s credo.

Suddenly he spotted what looked like possible prey. “See that drunk over there laying in the gutter?” He directed Carly to a man laying next to a dumpster behind a waterfront dive.

“Sonny.” Carly asked in concern. “If we feed off too many of the townspeople won’t people become suspicious. This isn’t Port Charles. This is just a tiny fishing village. People are going to start to notice if a lot of their citizens suddenly bear the marks of fangs on their necks.”

“That’s the great thing about mortals.” Sonny replied. “They only believe in what they can see with their own eyes. They thinks vampires are just some made up yarn from a horror movie. Even if people start to grow suspicious. they’ll never suspect it’s the work of a vampire.” He added. “Besides, we won’t drink enough to drain our victims or to make them suspicious of what really happened to them. We’ll just drink enough so in the morning he’ll just think he’s feeling the effects of a hangover.”

“You’re the expert.” She sighed. “I’ll take your word for it.” She added. “Let’s get to it. The sooner we feed, the sooner we can go back home and enjoy the rest of our evening.”

After they took turns feeding off the drunk, they headed back to the lighthouse. They were both feeling a little bit tipsy as they stumbled through the front door. Sonny fell back on the couch laughing. “God, just how high was that guy’s blood alcohol level anyway?” He narrowed his eyes as he tried to focus. “I think I’m seeing double.”

Carly flopped in his lap.” Watch out, here I come.” She warned.

“Ooof!” Sonny groaned. “Carly, you’re no light-weight any longer. Watch where you’re landing. You might have damaged something.”

She ran her hands over the zipper of his pants. “No,” She smiled drunkenly. “Nothing’s damaged. In fact, it’s in perfect working order.”

“You really shouldn’t do that.” His eyes began to smolder with passion. “If you keep that up something is going to happen that we both may not want to happen.”

“I’ve wanted it to happen ever since that night we left Spoon Island.” She told him as she turned around in his lap and began to unbutton his shirt. “You’re the one whose been playing hard to get.”

Sonny threw back his arms in surrender. “Not anymore, sweetheart.” He assured her. “You’ve got me. Take me, I’m yours.”

“You may regret saying that in the morning.” She retorted as she trailed kisses down his chest.

“I don’t think so.” He laughed. “You forget. I don’t do mornings. I only do evenings.” He put his face close to hers. “I’ve got a little secret to tell you. I was planning for us to end our little dry spell in my bed together tonight anyway. Besides, I don’t think I have the strength to sleep next to you all night long for another night and not do anything about it. It about killed me to do it, last night.” He added. “The only way I was able to stop myself from giving into you was my knowing you were so sure I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

“I was so sure you wouldn’t be able to resist me.” She replied. “That before the ending was over you’d be making mad passionate love to me. I was really disappointed when you didn‘t.” She added. “When you didn‘t, it made me mad and I wanted to pay you back.”

“I could tell.” He leaned even closer to her. “You almost gave me a case of frost bite, Ice Princess. You really know how to freeze someone out when you want to”

“I learned from the best.” She told him as she caressed his face. “You’re my own private little Ice Prince.” She added. “I love it when all that fire inside you melts all the ice.”

He got to his feet somewhat shakily and picked her up in his arms. “Let’s go to bed, Ice Princess. Let’s take turns melting the ice together.” He added. “No more ice between you and me from now on, Princess, only fire.”

“Are you sure you can manage it?” She asked as he made his way to their bedroom on wobbly legs.

“I’m stronger than I look.” He added. “Especially when I’m motivated. And believe me, at the moment, I’m really motivated.”

SOREL WAS ON top of the world as he entered the Brownstone. Now that he’d gotten rid of the doctor and made himself a little pocket change, it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Namely disposing of the old woman and making his move on Edward Quartermaine. He’d never killed an angel before and that old biddy really irked him. He was going to enjoy disposing of her. Once that was accomplished he’d kill the old man, then he’d move on to his other enemies: Sonny Corinthos and Stefan Cassadine.

The lights in the living room suddenly came on and he spun around to see who was waiting for him there. Stefan was sitting on the couch. His hand was still on the lamp switch. “Hello, Barbara.” He replied calmly. “I’ve been waiting for you.”