CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

SONNY DRAGGED A kicking and screaming Bobbie into her bedroom. “How can you betray one of your own kind.” She spat. “What kind of monsters are you two, anyway.”

Sonny dragged her over to the bed. “Find something we can tie her up with.” He ordered Carly.

Carly came back with a couple of bathrobe belts. “Sonny, she wasn’t like this before.” Carly replied. “What’s wrong with her?”

Sonny held a struggling Bobbie down on the bed. “You tie her ankles and wrists while I hold her down.” He directed. “Sorel wasn’t near before. She can feel his nearness and she’s reacting to it.”

“How long is she going to be like this?” Carly asked.

“Until Sorel is dead.” He told her. “Then she’ll be free of him and this control he has over her.”

Bobbie reached up and spit in Sonny’s face. “I’ll make you pay for this, vampire. If Joseph dies, so shall you.” She declared in her utter devotion to Sorel.

“Sonny, shouldn’t Sorel be dead by now?” Carly asked. “We saw Cassadine shoot him point blank.”

“There was something strange about the whole thing.” He said thoughtfully. “And he was in a hurry to get rid of the both of us. I think after we’ve got your mother secured I’m going to sneak back down there and see what’s going on.”

“I’m going with you.” She declared.

“Fine.” He tested the strength of the knots securing Bobbie’s arms and legs and seemed satisfied that they would be enough to hold her. “Let’s go.”

Carly gave her mother one last look as she walked out the door. This would probably be the last time she’d ever see her, again. “Goodbye, Mama.”

“This isn’t goodbye, bitch.” She spat in response. “Wherever you go, I’ll find you. I’ll track you down. And when I do I’ll make you watch as I return the favor and kill your lover before your very eyes and make you feel what I’m feeling right now.”

Carly felt a chill go through her bones at her mother’s words, but she shook them off. Bobbie didn’t know what she was saying. Once Sorel was dead, she’d be free of his influence and wouldn’t give her or Sonny a second thought when they were gone. Let alone chase after them to wreak revenge on them for her vampire lover’s death. She turned her back on the venom Bobbie continued to spew her way and caught up with Sonny as he was heading out the front door.

They arrived at the clearing they’d left Stefan and Sorel in and peered at the two men through the bushes. Sorel was stacked out on the ground while Stefan stood over him glaring down at the vampire.

“What’s he going to do to Sorel?” Carly hissed to Sonny. “Why does he have him staked to the ground like that.”

“He’s going to stake him out in the sun.” Sonny realized. “That’s how he intends to kill Sorel.” He added. “It’s the absolute worse way to destroy a vampire. You and I just got a little taste of the sun that time on the plane and you know how painful that was.”

“It’s horrible.” Carly felt sick as she imagined the agonizing death Sorel would have. “Even Sorel doesn’t deserve that.”

“Let’s get out of here.” Sonny took her hand and lead her away. “I don’t trust Cassadine not to try and stake us next to Sorel on the ground.”

Sonny and Carly got Michael and Leticia and left Spoon Island as quickly as they could. Having no choice with the sun about to rise soon, they headed back to the catacombs. Tomorrow, they would make their way out of Port Charles and hopefully leave all their enemies behind.

STEFAN WATCHED AS Sorel opened his eyes. The tranquilizer he’d shot into him had finally worn off. “Ah, he finally awakes.” Stefan smirked down at Sorel. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want you to miss the main event.”

Sorel looked around and discovered he was staked to the ground. “What happened to me?”

“I shot you with a tranquilizer pellet.” Stefan explained. “I was afraid you’d sleep through the whole thing and I wanted you awake for every excruciating moment of your death.”

“What are you talking about?” He hadn’t fully realized what Stefan planned to do to him yet.

“Look to the east, Sorel.” Stefan directed him.

The night sky was already beginning to grow light in that direction. Dawn was fast approaching and with it would come the sun. “My God!” He gasped in horror. “The sun!”

“Exactly.” Stefan’s smile grew wider. “You know what that will mean to you.” He added. “I told you Barbara Spencer was under my protection and to leave her alone, but you wouldn’t listen. I told you I’d make you live to regret it. That I’d make you pay.”

“Not this way.” He pleaded. “Anyway but this way. It’s inhuman. A bullet to the head. A stake to the heart. Anything but this.”

“Why should I show you any mercy?” Stefan asked him coldly. “Would you have shown any mercy to Barbara? What I’m doing to you is the equivalent to what you were planning to do to Barbara.”

Realizing he’d find no mercy in that quarter, he started making threats. “There are things you don’t know about me, Cassadine.” He declared. “If you’re smart, you’ll put a bullet in my head right this minute. If you don’t, you’ll live to regret it. I’ll make sure of it.”

“And what will you do if I don’t?” Stefan laughed.

“Oh, you’ll find out.” Sorel warned him. “You’ll find out.” Sorel wasn’t making false claims to Stefan. There were things about him Stefan didn’t know. Sorel had mastered the art of out of projecting himself out of his body. If he did that at the moment of his death, he’d be forever trapped in this world as a spirit aimlessly wandering the Earth, but it would be worth it if he could get his revenge on Cassadine. Especially, if he could manage to possess some hapless mortal’s body and force them to do his bidding.

Stefan was surprised at the serenity with which Sorel was approaching his death. He expected him to be a coward. To be crying and writhing on the ground begging for one more chance. It bothered Stefan that he had misjudged Sorel so badly. He was sure that deep down Sorel was a gutless little coward. He began to worry about what else he might have misjudged Sorel about. Sorel’s warning echoed in his mind. Maybe he should take Sorel’s advice and find another way to destroy him. But it was already too late for second thoughts as the sun rose and Sorel shrieked in agony as it’s deadly rays began to shine upon him.

With his last dying breath Sorel looked Stefan straight in the eye. “You should have shown me mercy when you had the chance, witch.” He said with deadly menace. “Now I’ll return the favor by showing you none in return.” Then his body disintegrated before Stefan’s eyes and became nothing but a pile of ashes which an early morning wind scattered to the four corners of the earth.

He walked back up to the house. In Bobbie’s bedroom he found her sleeping peacefully even though her hands and feet were tied to the bedposts. He untied Bobbie and placed a nightgown on her. Then sat down by her bed and waited for her to wake-up. Of the two vampires there was no evidence. Mrs. Lansbury informed him they had left shortly before daylight and she didn’t expect them to return.

TRACY RECEIVED ANOTHER note from Faison. This time he asked her to meet him down in the catacombs. Little did either know that less than two feet from where they were meeting Sonny and Carly were slumbering. “Why did you ask me to meet you here?” Tracy asked as she arrived at the meeting place.

“Have you heard about the rogue demons?” Faison asked her. “Damian had them all rounded up and thrown down the pit.”

“Well, that sort of ruins your plans.” She replied. “You were hoping to join forces with them against.”

“It could still happen.” Faison told her. “With your help that is?”

“How?” Tracy asked. “They’ve been sentenced to the Pit. No one comes back from there.”

“They could.” Faison answered. “If we were to rescue them from it.” He added. “Just imagine how grateful they’d be to us. They’d agree to do anything we wanted them to do.”

“Are you mad?” She exploded. “To rescue them from the Pit, we would have to go down in the Pit ourselves. We could get trapped down their ourselves. Forget it.” She started to walk away, but he grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

“It can work, Tracy.” He assured her. “If there’s a way into the Pit, there’s a way out of it, as well. And just imagine the rewards for us if we succeed. We’d be backed up by an army of demons. No one could stop us. Victory would be ours.”

Against her better judgment Tracy actually gave Faison’s idea some serious thought. What if it was possible to free the demons from the Pit? “I’m not saying I agree with you.” She told him. “But your idea warrants some investigation. And if it’s at all possible, I might be willing to help you.” She added. “By I’m making you no promises.”

“You don’t have to.” He hugged her. “You’ll see, Tracy. It’s possible. It’s more than possible. It’s doable.”

STEFAN WAS STILL sitting by Bobbie’s bed when she opened her eyes. She felt sore and stiff and had very little memory of what happened the night before. “Stefan, what happened?” She asked.

“You don’t remember?” He asked.

“Remember what?” She asked back. “This is Wyndemere, isn’t it? Why am I here?”

“What’s the last thing that you remember?” He wanted to know.

She thought about it for a second. “The last thing I remember is being kidnapped by that awful Joseph Sorel.” Bobbie told him. “Just how did I get from there to here?”

Stefan realized that Bobbie’s mortal mind had blocked out everything that had happened after Sorel had kidnapped her. She had no memory of him revealing he was a witch or that Carly was their daughter and she was a vampire. Like all mortals, what she couldn’t explain, she completely blocked out of her mind. Now she could go back to believing that things were the way she thought they were instead of the way they really were. And who was he to take that away from her? Obviously, everything she’d learned was too much for her to handle and she sought to go back to a time when the world was a much simpler place to her.

“I rescued you from Sorel.” Stefan revealed, which was the truth. “Then I brought you here and you’ve been out of it ever since.”

“You rescued me?” Bobbie repeated in shock. “Why? I thought you hated me? Why would you rescue me.”

“We were once married, Barbara.” He explained. “Because of that tie, I felt duty-bound to do something when I’d heard you’d been taken.”

“Well, thanks.” She said uneasily. “Just how did you manage to do it, anyway? I mean Sorel is a gangster and you’re not.”

“Never mind.” He avoided answering her. “In fact, I think you should just put the whole thing from your mind. It’s over now and your life can go back to the way it was before this whole thing happened.”

There was a knock at the door followed by Mrs. Lansbury entering. “Mr. Cassadine, there’s someone waiting downstairs to see you.” She informed him.

“Tell them I’ll be right there.” He looked down at Bobbie. “I’ll leave you to your privacy now. You must want to take a bath or something. When you’re ready to go him just come downstairs and I’ll arrange for a launch to take you back to the mainland.”

“Thank you, Stefan.” Bobbie smiled back. “For everything.”

Stefan nodded then left her room. Out in the hall he hissed to Mrs. Lansbury. “Who is it?”

“It’s Damian Smith, sir.” She told him. “And he’s in a foul mood.”

“Smith?” He repeated. “What could he want.” He bounded down the stairs and found Damian lounging in the chair behind his desk. “Smith, what do you want. Barbara Spencer is upstairs. What would she think if she saw you.”

“I could care less.” Damian took a puff on his cigar. “I’m not leaving here until I get some answers. I want to know where my demon is.”

“Silvers and Dorman?” Stefan asked. “How would I know.”

“No.” Damian spat. “I mean Sorel. He was supposed to arrive in hell, but he never got there. So I want to know where he is and since you’re the one who killed him, I figured you should know. So where is he?”

“I haven’t got the slightest idea.” He told Damian. “His ashes have scattered to the four winds so he should be in Hell.”

“Then it looks like you may have a problem.” Damian sighed. “He isn’t in Hell. And I know there’s no way he’s up in Heaven. So that just leaves here.”

“What do you mean I have a problem?” Stefan repeated.

“You’re the one who killed him.” Damian answered. “So his spirit must be hanging around here somewhere waiting to wreak vengeance on you for what you did to him.” He added. “You’d better find out where he is and fast before he turns the tables on you.”

UP IN HER bedroom Bobbie finally found the energy to get out of bed. It was time for her to get dressed and head on home. She went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Then she came back out and got dressed. Running her fingers through the tangles in her hair, she took some time brushing all the snarls out of her hair. Picking up her purse, she searched in it for make-up and sat in front of the dressing table mirror to apply it. However, when she stared into the looking glass the face that stared back at her was Joseph Sorel.

“I think I did a very good job of fooling the, witch.” Although Bobbie’s mouth was moving it was Sorel’s voice that was speaking. “He hasn’t a clue it’s me.” He used a tissue to blot the lipstick that he just applied to his mouth. “I warned you I’d make you pay for what you did to me. You really should have listened to me. Now you’re going to have to learn it the hard way.” He stood up and took a few minutes to feel Bobbie’s body up. “Oh, yes, Bobbie. You and I are going to have a lot of fun together. A whole lot of fun.”