CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

HELENA POURED NED a glass of champagne and handed it to him. “So you got Olivia Jerome to do your dirty work for you.” Helena cooed. “Very good move. I applaud your ingenuity. And in future we may even be able to put Ms. Jerome...or should I say, Mrs. Smith...to work for us.”

“So I’ve proved myself to you.” Ned didn’t expect an answer. “You told me to stop my mother and Faison and I did.”

“Now you want to reap your reward.” Helena correct surmised.

“Of course.” Ned replied. “After all, it’s why I did it for.” He added. “I carried through with my end of the bargain, now it’s time for you to live up to yours. It’s time for you to teach me all you know.”

“Not so fast.” Ned was about to find out that with Helena there was always strings attached to everything she did. “You passed my first test, but there’s one more thing I need you to do for me before I agree to make you my apprentice.”

“Like what?” It took an effort not to tell Helena what she could do with her tests but Ned managed to by keeping his eye on the prize.

“You’re aware of the importance Sonny and Carly play in the scheme of things?” She asked.

“Of course.” Ned answered. “You want their child to mate with mine and Alexis’.”

“Well, you may not be aware of this.” She informed him. “But our vampires have flown the coop and nobody knows where they are. If you can track them down for me, then I’ll make you my apprentice and teach you all I know.”

“How do I know that after I do this for you, you won’t come up with another test for me to pass?” Ned threw back at her.

“I suppose if I gave you my word that wouldn’t be enough for you.” Helena responded.

“No, it wouldn’t.” Ned answered. “I thought I had your word before that all I had to do was stop my mother and Faison from releasing the demons from the pit.” He reminded her. “Yet now you’ve come up with another test for me to accomplish before you’ll deliver on the goods.” He added. “How do I know that after I do this you won’t come up with another test for me to prove myself to you.”

“You don’t.” Helena retorted. “It appears we’re at an impasse. Just what can I do to assure you that this time will be different. That this time, I’ll as you say deliver the goods.”

“Have you ever heard of the custom of paying half in advance on good faith.” Ned asked.

“And how would I do that.” Helena inquired. “What I’m supposed to deliver doesn’t have a monetary value.”

“How about we do this.” Ned suggested. “You make me your apprentice, and while you’re teaching me all your little trade secrets, I can be hunting down Sonny and Carly for you.”

“What if you don’t find them.” Helena wanted to know. “Won’t it be like I’m giving something away for free.”

“I’ll find them.” Ned assured her. “Besides, by doing what I ask, you’ll be living up to the terms of our original bargain.”

“I suppose when you put it that way.” Helena sighed. “I’m losing nothing in the bargain. Still, what if you don’t deliver the goods to me...that being Sonny and Carly’s whereabouts... I’ll have paid you for nothing.” She suddenly smiled which gave Ned the distinct feeling she was going to get the better of him in this bargain. “I’ve got a better idea, Mr. Ashton. Why don’t we go on a pay-as-you-go system. You were successful in stopping Faison and your mother from freeing the demons from the pit, so I’ll teach you one of my tricks of the trade and if you deliver to me the whereabouts of Sonny and Carly, then I’ll teach you another.” She added. “I think that’s most fair, don’t you.”

CARLY WAS LAYING in Sonny’s arms in front of a fire raging in the fireplace of their hideout. She settled herself more comfortably against his back. “This is nice, isn’t it?“ She asked.

“Yeah, it is.“ He sighed in contentment as he traced little patterns with the tips of his index fingers over her stomach that was getting larger by the day. “It’s almost like were just an ordinary couple enjoying some cuddle time in front of the fireplace.”

“I’m glad you finally got over your little snit of what I did at Wyndemere. I missed being close to you like this.” She told him as she snuggled even closer to him. “I don’t like it when you try to keep me at a distance. It almost felt like part of me was missing when you were giving me the cold treatment and holding me away from you.” She added. “You were really acting like a spoiled brat over the whole thing, you know.”

Talk about killing a mood. “Excuse me, but I don’t like you trying to control me.” He told her, moving away from her a bit as his hackles began to raise over the reminder of what she did and how she tried to control him. “I said this before, I won’t let anyone control me. Not even you.”

Carly could have kicked herself for bringing the subject up. It was time to backtrack a little. now that things were finally back to the way they were before that night at Wyndemere when she’d tried to protect him, she wasn‘t going to have Sonny playing the Ice Prince with her, again. “I was only trying to protect you.” She reminded him as she lean back against him and rubbed her butt against his crotch.

Sonny gasped in reaction to her most provocative attack against him and his senses.. “Carly, stop that!” He demanded.

“Only if you promise to stop getting in a snit about it all over again.” She retorted with another little rub against him.

“You know if you keep doing that what’s going to happen.” He told her.

“Yes, I do.” She smiled him over her shoulder like a cat just itching to get into the cream. “You’ll be too busy making love to me to get in a snit again because I seduced you to save your life.”

“Carly, I’m a big boy.” He told her. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself without you doing it for me.”

“Yes, you are.” Carly said with a siren’s smile as she continued to rub herself against him. “And the more I do this, the bigger you get.”

“Carly.” He said in a warning voice.

She turned around and straddled his lap. “Shut up and kiss me, Sonny.” She demanded before pulling his head down to hers and kissing him hungrily as she pulled his shirt out of his pants and move her hands up underneath it. “I want you, but that’s no big surprise to either of us since I always want you, is it?” She shoved him on his back. “And you want me.”

“You made sure of that.” He stared up at her with stormy smoldering eyes as his chest rose and fell rapidly as his breathing became labored due to sexual excitement. “I know why you’re doing this. You‘re doing this to get my mind off of what you did.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” She asked as she ripped open her blouse, her breathing just as labored as his as she ran her hands down over her breasts while she stared deeply into his eyes.

“Give you exactly what you’re asking for.” He pulled her down to him as they tried to devour each other as their passion for each other raged completely out of control. “Give you exactly what we both want.”

“SO, HOW DID it go.” Alexis asked when Ned entered their suite in the Quartermaine Mansion. “Did Helena live up to her end of the bargain.”

“You knew she wouldn’t, didn’t you.” He accused as he yanked off his jacket and threw it on the floor in a temper.

“I had a feeling she wouldn’t, but I didn’t want to burst your bubble. You were so excited that you‘d passed the test for Helena to make you her apprentice” Alexis sighed. “So, exactly what did happen with Helena.”

“She managed to weasel out of making me her apprentice, entirely.” Ned snarled. “And I helped her do it.” He added. “The new deal is I’m on a pay-for-pay deal. Every time I do something for Helena, she’ll repay me by teaching me one of her tricks.”

“I should have warned you she might try to pull this.” Alexis commiserated with him. “Helena revels in knowing she knows something someone else doesn’t. It makes her feel powerful. And she won’t give that up easily.”

“Then I guess I’m going to just have to play this game by her rules.” Ned declared. “I’ll just have to keep doing things for Helena until I know all her trade secrets.”

“That could take a lot longer than we planned.” Alexis fretted.

“We could still be ready to take Edward and Helena down before the baby is born.” He reassured her. “Besides, Helena still needs our child. If I threaten to join forces with Grandfather unless she delivers what she originally promised me, I might be able to get her to deliver on her promises to me.”

“So she mentioned nothing about helping you dethrone Edward so you can become King of the Warlocks?” Alexis asked.

“No, it never came up.” He told her. “I was having problems enough getting her to agree to make me her apprentice.” He added. “If she won’t make me her apprentice, then maybe she has no plans in helping me become King of the Warlocks, either.”

“Helena may have some plan to trick you into giving her our child.” Alexis suggested.

“Well, it’s not going to work.” He retorted. “I’ll just play along with her for as long as I have to and when I feel I’ve learned enough from her, then I’ll toss her down into the Pit so she can join Faison and my mother for all eternity.”

“Just what does she want you to do, this time.” Alexis almost dreaded finding out.

“Sonny and Carly have disappeared.” Ned told her. “Helena wants me to find where they’ve gone.”

“Why?” Alexis wanted to know.

“Helena didn’t decide to share that with me.” He sighed. “Who cares? Let the vampires take care of themselves and we’ll take care of ourselves.” He added. “Tomorrow, Helena is supposed to teach me one of her tricks in payment for stopping mother and Faison and when I tell her where Sonny and Carly is she’ll tell me another.” He pulled Alexis into his arms. “With each trick Helena teaches me, that makes me one step closer to taking her out.”

SONNY CARESSED CARLY’S belly as they reveled in the afterglow. “Is the baby all right?” He asked in concern. “Now that you’re further along in your pregnancy, we really shouldn’t go at it like that.”

Carly placed her hand over his on her stomach. “Don’t worry, Sonny, our baby is just fine. There is nothing more natural than what we just did.” She smiled at him. “It’s how we made our baby.” She added as she cuddled up next to him. “The baby always feels close to me, but the only time he feels close to you is when you’re making love to me. I think the more intense the love making, the more loved the baby will feel.”

“Only you would find a way to make what we just did somehow an expression of love for the baby.” He laughed.

“Well, it is when you think about it.” She insisted. “The baby can feel how you’re making me feel and he can feel you inside of me. So why wouldn’t the baby feel loved by what were doing.”

“Still.” Sonny insisted. “From now and until the baby is born when we make love I think we should take it slow and easy.”

“I can agree to that.” Carly told him. “Just as long as you don’t suggest we be celibate for the baby’s sake until I give birth.”

“Don’t worry, I’d never suggest that.” Sonny assured her. “As horny as you and I are, we’d never make that long without being together.” He declared. “No, I think if we just take it slow and easy there’s no reason we can’t continue to be together until the baby is born.”

STEFAN WATCHED FROM afar as a sexually sated Sorel entered the Brownstone. He’d spent the night watching Sorel bedding one man after another. It sickened him to think what Sorel had put Bobbie’s body through the night before. It was watching Sorel using Bobbie’s body to commit his debauchery that finally made up Stefan’s mind. He had to free Bobbie from Sorel’s control. And there was only one way to do it. He was going to have to revive the romantic spark that once existed between him and Bobbie as Lila Quartermaine had advised him to do. But just how he was going to do it without arousing Sorel’s suspicion he had yet to figure out.