Chapter 1

Somewhere in her peripheral vision, Luke was tied up and struggling. Stavros's
bloody finger traced the inside of her lip.
Laura awoke with a start. It was always like that. Night after night the blood
would linger on her lips.
The small wounds, where he had pierced her skin, had healed. She began to doubt
whether they had ever been there. More than anything she wanted to put it all
behind her, to treat it all as a nightmare.
She was caught somewhere between happiness and despair. Every moment reminded
her of the other baby she had carried. And his fate.
It was a difficult pregnancy. Laura had severe symptoms, some of which the
doctor hadn't heard of, some of which she hadn't told her about. They were too
bizarre. They were like the nightmares. Laura denied them even to herself.
The latest was sleeplessness during the night, and sleepiness during the day.
The sun bothered her tired eyes even indoors. The blinds were closed and the
curtains drawn. The house was in perpetual twilight. Luke complained, but she
just couldn't abide the light. And she couldn't sleep.
She had horrible, bloody dreams. And Stavros's bloody finger dragged across her
lip forever.

Stavros had gone after his wife and disappeared. Helena knew what that meant.
They all did. For a short while, the Cassadine house was enveloped by a deathly
quiet. Not one of sadness or mourning. The household waited, trapped,
imprisoned by the sea. It was inevitable. Helena went into a terrifying rage.
Her cries of agony carried throughout the house. They were soon joined by other
cries.

Laura couldn't abide the mansion after what had happened. She and Luke had
gotten a small house.
All the curtains were drawn against the afternoon sun. Laura went into the
kitchen.
The dreams wouldn't let her sleep. They were full of blood. Bright red blood,
within her reach. She could almost taste it. It would cling to her fingers,
slightly sticky. But before her fingers reached her lips, she would wake up
shaking, afraid, and unsatisfied.
She was making dinner. Her belly was big enough now to get in her way.
L: "Watch your head, Mommy is clumsy today." She murmured to the baby.
It wasn't just today. She had nearly torn a cabinet door from its hinges a few
days ago. If she continued like this, she would tear apart the house and
everything in it. Physically and emotionally, she felt out of control.
As she handled the raw piece of meat for dinner, she washed with fascination as
the blood seeped through her fingers. She dropped the meat and looked at her
hands. The color wasn't right, it was pale. When she licked the palms of her
hands, it tasted wrong, it tasted dead. The blood wasn't fresh. The animal had
been dead too long.
Laura gasped and hurriedly washed her hands. What was she doing? Her cravings
were out of control. Her craving, she corrected herself. She only had one.
Light was still a problem. Sound too. She heard noises from the outside that
no one else could hear.
She heard footsteps before they reached the front door even though she shouldn't
have been able to. The knock on the door still made her jump.

Opening the door, Laura fell back a few steps in shock.
L: "Stefan!" She gasped his name, unsure if she was really seeing him.
For a moment he just stood there. Then he stepped into her darkened house.
S: "I came and see that you were all right." Stefan explained as he closed the
door behind him.
He noted her pregnancy and other things.
L: "Am I?"
She looked at him desperately.
L: "What is happening to me?"
S: "You know."
He had known the moment he saw her. And she should have known too. There was a
new glow about her. And it wasn't due to her pregnancy. It was almost a
luminescence. She was like him.
Laura could see the same thing. It was unmistakable to her now. They were the
same.
L: "Oh, Stefan." She sighed.
Then something irresistible drew her to him. She pressed her face to his, her
body to his. The feel of him giving her something she needed. Stefan was
reminded of her other pregnancy. Holding her then. He slipped his hand down to
her belly, feeling a slight stirring there. He was relieved. The child was
alive. For now.
S: "Laura." Stefan said mournfully.
Things were so much worse than he feared. But for the moment she was in his
arms and everything else would have to wait. Stefan smelled her with his newly
sharpened senses as she did him. She felt his beard against her cheek, moving
to get more of the wonderfully familiar sensation that was somehow new. Then
her lips found his and she couldn't stop, and she couldn't breathe feeling his
soft lips press into hers, drawing them apart, sliding over hers. A sudden
noise sent them apart far faster than any human lovers could have managed. But
it was nothing, a neighbor's car.
Laura put her hand on her stomach, where Stefan's hand had been.
L: "I have the strangest cravings." She said as she moved around the room
uncertainly, not looking at him.
S: "You cannot give in."
Laura didn't want to face it yet.
L: "What happened to you?"
S: "Helena."
Stefan stopped at that one word explanation and returned to more pressing
matters.
S: "Laura, your child..."
L: "Is fine." Laura said hurriedly.
S: "In a matter of speaking. You must realize that he or she is not human.
Your child is one of us. As are you."
Laura only looked at him. Her eyes were large and beautiful. More beautiful
than ever.
S: "You are one of us now, truly one of us." Stefan almost exulted then caught
himself.
But she didn't want to be. She didn't want this any more than he did. Stefan
sobered.
S: "Your fate and your child's depend on your ability to control your urges."
L: "Are you deliberately not saying it? Because I haven't admitted it?"
S: "You and I and your child are vampires. Nothing we can do will change
that."
Laura laughed harshly. She hadn't really wanted him to say it, knowing how it
would sound in her perfectly normal house. With its curtains always drawn and
things broken, where she dreamed about blood. Normal was a long way off.
L: "I didn't want to believe it. There was so little blood."

Stavros had cut himself. Looking at her, he had wiped the blood from the cut
with his finger. As she had tried to turn away, he had held her head steady
with his other hand.

S: "He drank from you first?"
L: "Yes."

First, she had felt the needle like points cut into her skin. Then his fangs
had extended into her neck. She didn't remember if she cried out. The pain had
been sharp and then she had felt a pull as he drew the blood from her.

S: "It is a blessing that the change was so gradual or the child would be
dead." Stefan said bluntly.
Laura gave him a sharp look.
L: "Maybe..."
S: "No, Laura. The child is alive, but changed, like you."
Laura sat down. The noises were intruding on her again. Traffic and children
fighting. She covered her ears. Now all she heard were their three hearts
beating.
L: "What am I going to do?"
S: "Minimize the damage. Resist your instinct to drink blood. You will be
saving you and your child."
L: "What about you?"
S: "The circumstances allowed me to master my condition."
L: "How?"
Stefan hesitated and then they both heard a car approaching. Not the neighbors
this time.
L: "You have to go." Laura said as she led him to the back door.
S: "We have things to discuss. Stavros..." Stefan whispered urgently as he
allowed her to lead him outside.
L: "I know. But now you have to leave." Laura said as she closed the door.
She could hear how fast her heart was beating. Luke came into the house and she
could tell that Stefan was still standing on her back porch. For a moment, she
felt as if she would be torn in two. Two lives, two Lauras. Then she could
hear Stefan's footsteps going away.

Laura spent the rest of the day in her bedroom. She had cried for the first
hour. Her child was cursed. She had passed on to him a terrible disease. She
was like Stavros now. He had won. Her child was his prize.
Then the tears had stopped and there were questions. Stefan was right. She
couldn't deny what she was any longer. But she was going to be a mother and her
child was going to be a vampire, like her. She couldn't lift the curse, but
there were things she could do. She needed Stefan. He knew things. She
regretted that she had no way of contacting him and would have to wait until he
came to her.

Stefan had not been indifferent to seeing her pregnant. There had been the
smallest hope but it had died when he saw the look on her face after they
kissed. He consoled himself. That child would never be Luke's. Nor would
Laura. Except she hadn't realized it yet.

Chapter 2

Helena had been standing still for a long time. Shadows moved around her. They
couldn't leave. It had been her last order that no one be allowed off the
island. A hard shell had covered her. Not all at once. Layer by layer, after
each day without any news, except that her son was missing. The shell kept
things out and kept things in. He wasn't really gone. She couldn't accept
that. Her grief kept building inside the shell. She could feel it pushing out.
She waited and it exploded. A terrible thirst that no amount of blood would
satisfy.

Stavros didn't show his true self to Luke. Laura was the only one who saw
Stavros's vampire teeth come down before he moved his mouth to her neck.
Luke saw his blood smeared on her lip, but he didn't know that he was seeing her
fate change.
Luke had somehow gotten loose. Stavros was confident, laughing at him. Luke
had no idea what he was dealing with. Stavros only toyed with him.
Laura saw that the bedpost had broken part way. She wrenched it lose. It had
splintered to a sharp point.
They were at the top of the stairs. Luke was fighting with all his strength
while Stavros was playing. Still laughing. Stavros looked up in time to see
Laura. She waited until Luke was shoved clear by Stavros. Rushing forward, she
drove the sharp end of the post into Stavros's chest. He fell backwards down
the stairs, the fall driving the post all the way trough. The sight was
grotesque. His body was twisted at the bottom of the stairway, blood pooled
around him.
Laura felt dizzy and almost fell. Luke took over. He pulled her away and said
he would take care of everything. She almost told him. But her mouth wouldn't
cooperate. It stayed shut. Blood covered the wounds on her neck. Two knife
pricks, that's all.

Months had passed and those events still haunted her. She dreamt them over and
over. Now, for the first time, she was telling her nightmare to someone.
L: "Should I pretend to be sorry that your brother is dead?" She seemed to be
really asking him if he needed that from her.
Stefan shook his head. He had arrived on her back doorstep early in the morning
almost as soon as Luke had left. Stefan had turned on the radio before he
started to ask about Stavros, just in case they were under surveillance.
S: "Don't pretend anything. I need to know what happened to Stavros
afterward." Stefan told her grimly.
L: "Luke took care of it."
S: "Laura!" Stefan said angrily.
L: "What do you want from me? Luke is my husband! This is his baby."
S: "Not any more."
L: "Shut up!" Laura snapped.
She stood up with her hands on her eyes. They had been hurting since sunrise.
She wanted to sleep.
S: "I don't mean to upset you."
Stefan went to her and pulled her hands away from her eyes.
S: "I know the light hurts you but you can't hide from it. The more you are
exposed to it, the more you will be able to tolerate it." He said, still
holding on to her hands.
L: "What else? What else do I need to know?" She asked suddenly focused on
the real problem.
Stefan wasn't sure where to start.
L: "Did you bring any of those vampire instruction manuals?" Laura said with a
wry smile.
S: "No."
L: "The vampire lessons."
Laura's face held a bitter smirk for a moment. She thought back. It had been
like a horror story except it surrounded her and she couldn't leave it. Pride
and fear wouldn't let her ask Stavros or anyone else. Then Stefan had arrived
on the island like a beacon of light.
L: "We pored over those old books, vampire histories, family histories,
journals. Mostly you. Not a one written in English. Go figure. And there is
still so much I don't know."
S: "We were looking for specific information, as outsiders. Now what we need
to know is about us."
L: "I was always so afraid that Stavros would do this to me."
S: "As long as he wanted an heir, he couldn't."
L: "Once he gave up on me, didn't care..."
S: "I am not sure what he intended."
L: "It wasn't an accident." Laura stated firmly.
Stefan shook his head. He hated to think of it, of what Stavros was thinking,
what he was trying to do.

Laura could hear Stefan's voice from the past, pompous with a tinge of
impatience. She had asked him to instruct her.
They had been in the library and it smelled faintly musty, dusty leather and old
paper.
S: "There are two kinds of vampires: born or true vampires, and made or half
vampires." Stefan had said as if reading from a book.
L: "Which kind are you?"
S: "Neither. I am as human as you."
There was a very human look of surprise on his face.
L: "You are a Cassadine. I would have sworn..."
Stefan frowned.
S: "What I am is a long story."
L: "No, I mean. I don't mean anything bad by that." Laura stammered.
S: "We should proceed with the lesson."
L: "Why are they called the undead? Are they?" Laura interrupted him before
he could start.
S: "No. It's part of the myth deriving from the practice of draining a great
deal of human blood before vampire blood is introduced. It speeds up the
process of conversion. The person comes very close to death, and in more
primitive times, the state was mistaken for death. As the vampire blood did its
work..."
L: "So it's true. A normal person can be turned into a vampire by drinking
vampire blood?"
S: "Yes. First the vampire drinks from the human. The vampire's blood must
contain a portion of that person's blood. The vampire then gives his blood to
the human to drink."
L: "Is that going to happen to me?"
The fear in her eyes was unmistakable. She was so young. Stefan had tried to
steel himself against too much sympathy for her. But what he felt went beyond
sympathy or anything else. And she was doomed.
It looked like Stefan didn't want to answer. Laura needed to know.
L: "Will he make me like him?" She asked him firmly.
S: "No. Not yet."
L: "Why? What do you mean?"
S: "He wants something from you first."
Again, Stefan seemed reluctant to say it.
L: "I need to know!"
S: "A child. If you became like him, you could not provide him with a child."
L: "He can have children?"
S: "Yes. But only with a human."
L: "So female vampires can't have children?" Laura asked as she struggled not
to think about what Stavros had planned for her.
S: "They can, but not with other vampires. There must be at least one human
being involved in the conception of a vampire child."
L: "Why not two vampires?"
S: "Vampires lack something to create a living child."
L: "What about your father? Does that mean that he wasn't a vampire?"
S: "My father wasn't a vampire. But if you mean Mikkos, he was born a vampire,
as are all Cassadine princes. So by necessity, his children would be vampires."
Laura could see that the subject made him uncomfortable, even though he tried to
hide it.
L: "Since you are human, then Helena couldn't be your mother either." Laura
pushed on, choosing his discomfort instead of her own.
At that moment, she didn't feel compassionate. She was at war with these people;
she had to know them.
S: "She wasn't always a vampire." Stefan said seeing the cold, steely look
come over her face.
L: "Hard to believe."

Chapter 3

S: "The most important thing you need to know is that Helena will be on her way
here."
Stefan's voice brought Laura back to the present.
L: "I've been wondering."
The news sent a jolt of fear through Laura. Without admitting it, she had been
waiting for her.
S: "Other matters have kept her occupied." Stefan said with a significant look
in his eyes.
Laura noticed how different he looked. He seemed stronger, harder. Some of his
old gentleness had been taken from him.
L: "Stefan, what happened? What did she do?"
Helena was a nightmare Stefan had lived with all of his life. A constant threat
that had finally realized itself.
S: "She was enraged and she lashed out." Stefan summed up, hurrying the words
out.
Laura could imagine it. On the island, she had been more afraid of Helena than
Stavros. It was as if she were the source of all the darkness that surrounded
them.

Laura had been eager to know all she could learn about her.
L: "So Stavros is a full vampire, like his father was. And Helena is part
vampire. Was she turned into a vampire when she got pregnant with Stavros?"
It was their second lesson. Laura had leaned her elbows on the library desk,
pushing old volumes out of the way. Stefan stacked the books neatly to one side
before he answered.
S: "No. The vampire child of a human mother does not share his blood with her,
only takes from her. There are accidents sometimes, when blood is exchanged,
and then the mother becomes a vampire as well and the child dies."
L: "Why?"
S: "I don't know. Vampires cannot have children who are of pure vampire
blood."
L: "So one vampire is just right two is too many."
S: "Yes. Would you like to make a rhyme of it?" He asked teasing her.
L: "I am not dumb." Laura said indignantly.
S: "You just like things explained to you in the simplest terms and you like to
interrupt." Stefan scolded.
L: "I can either interrupt or fall asleep. You sound like you're reading out
of one of these moldy books."
S: "Maybe I should put it all to music."
L: "Yes. And could you do a little dance?" Laura mocked.
S: "May I continue? So, for a vampire child to be conceived and born, at least
one of its parents must be human. And even then, they most often don't
survive."
L: "The children or..."
S: "Or both. If the child kills its mother before it has matured, it will not
survive. In a way, every child is a parasite to its mother. A vampire child
even more so."
L: "How can you say that?!"
S: "Was I indelicate?"
L: "You sounded like her, like Helena."
S: "How appalling. Nevertheless, you need to know this. A vampire child may
take too much blood from its mother and kill her. There is less danger if the
father is human and the mother is a vampire. Being human, this means that if
you should become pregnant with my brother's child, your life will be in
jeopardy."
L: "Stavros knows this."
S: "Of course. Did you think it would give him pause?"
The expression on his face was a mixture of regret and pain and pity.
L: "No. I just wanted to be clear. Isn't that why you're telling me this?
You think I'll get pregnant and die."
Stefan didn't answer her.
L: "I'll make sure that I don't get pregnant." Laura vowed.
S: "And he'll make sure that you do."
L: "I am not going to let this happen. I won't be used by him to breed little
monsters."

Remembering her words then, Laura looked down at her stomach. Everything she
was so afraid of was coming true. 'You aren't a monster,' she thought.
Stefan watched her closely and worried. Laura looked pale, but otherwise she
seemed all right.
S: "Have you seen a doctor?"
L: "I spoke to one. I was afraid to let her examine me. What would they
find?"
S: "In a medical test, vampirism would show as an unidentifiable blood
disorder. It isn't far from to truth."
L: "Don't tell me there is a scientific explanation." Laura asked, skeptical.
S: "Not as yet."
L: "So one day there might be a cure?"
Laura was hopeful this time.
S: "There might be. Until then, think of it as a disability, a condition that
cannot be cured, but it can be kept in check."
L: "But that's so unromantic." Laura complained sarcastically.
Stefan gave her an odd look.
L: "I know. It's not romantic. But it has certain advantages. We are
stronger. We'll live longer."
Laura saw that Stefan was still looking at her strangely.
L: "I'm just trying to see the positive side of this. My child is a vampire.
I have to see some good in it, otherwise I have to face what I've done to him."
Stefan watched Laura's fragile positive outlook fall away.
S: "You gave him life. A life with drawbacks and advantages, in many ways like
any other life. We can take full advantage of our gift without succumbing to
its drawbacks."
L: "I know what you mean. My senses are so much sharper. Too sharp.
Everything is a little better, and a lot worse."
It wasn't easy to think of the good things for long.
S: "If you want the 'bright side'. The child will be immune to illness."
L: "So I gave my baby a disease that will protect it from all other diseases."
S: "Once it is born, the baby will be able to withstand limited exposure to the
sun. Even more as it gets older and becomes accustomed to it."
L: "Why couldn't Stavros? He wouldn't go out into daylight even for a minute
without getting seriously burned."
S: "He was a full vampire in every way. He drank blood daily. With that, he
lost his ability to tolerate sunlight. Not that he cared. He had no interest
in remaining human."
L: "So blood makes all the difference." Laura said thoughtfully.
S: "Human blood has qualities necessary to a vampire. It's a fuel, food. But
more importantly, in concert with vampire blood, it makes the change possible."
L: "How do we live without it then?"
S: "We don't. Our own blood remains sufficiently human to supply our vampire
elements with what they need. If we drank blood the vampire elements in our
system would strengthen at the expense of our human elements. Those would
slowly be destroyed to the point where we would not be able to function without
drinking human blood."
L: "So, by not drinking we arrest the development of the vampire inside us?"
S: "Yes. We maintain an equilibrium."
L: "Can all vampires do this? Just give up blood."
S: "They aren't given a choice."
In that instant Stefan remembered vividly just how little choice he had been
given. He had been trying to keep the memory away since it happened, but
especially today. Laura had enough to contend with, she didn't need his
nightmares.

H: "Your whore killed him!"
Helena's shriek was loud enough to cause him pain. She stalked toward Stefan.
Her clothes were splattered. With every step, she tracked blood into the room.
Stefan thanked God that there was no one he cared about left on that island. He
was sure she would kill him, that she would finally end it, erase the long ago
mistake. But she stopped.
H: "You will take his place, however inadequately. You will make up for the
loss of him!" She exclaimed with her eyes gleaming.
Then, suddenly, she was at his throat, breaking the flesh with her fangs and
drinking. Holding him in place with her preternatural strength, she kept him
motionless. Stefan didn't think that she would stop until she had her fill.
But she did. As Helena pulled back with blood on her smiling lips, her eyes
still shining, he saw her plan. She slit her wrist with her own teeth. Stefan
fell to the floor, the loss of blood making him weak. She came toward him
again, with a sneering, satisfied expression, enjoying his fear and his pain.
She hooked one of her unnaturally strong fingers on his teeth, forcing his mouth
open. She made him drink, dripping the blood down his throat until he almost
choked.
Stefan felt sick. The taste of her blood still in his mouth. He thought he
would throw up, but it was too late. He could already feel the blood working in
him, changing him. Making him into what she was.
She stood over him watching him writhe, enjoying his pain, as she enjoyed the
pain of all her victims.
H: "You've merely whetted my appetite child."
She left to feed and her people dragged him away.

Laura watched as Stefan's face darkened. She was sure that he was thinking of
when he was changed. Touching him lightly on the arm, she brought him out of
the troubling memory. Stefan let out a breath and looked at her. Her eyes
commiserated with him. There was nothing of value in those memories. He
continued with his explanation dispassionately.
S: "Vampires are fed blood after they are made. I was starved by design and
your development was slowed by the unusually small amount of blood you ingested.
I doubt you would have been able to withstand a full onslaught of vampiric
hunger."
His own words were calling back the memories he wanted to suppress. The moment
would not leave him. Every sensation was seared into his mind.

How Helena ran her thumb over his carotid artery lovingly, appreciatively.
As she bit into him, he could feel her fangs sink deep into him, elongate, reach
seemingly to the bone. He couldn't get loose.
Then came that overwhelming need that made everything else fade. He had been
capable of anything. He had been on his way to becoming a monster.
The place he had been brought to was dark with no way out. He could see deep
into the shadows. Feeling like he was on fire, the stone walls felt icy against
his face. His skin stretched over his body, too tight, he wanted it off.
Stefan had never felt a thirst like it before. His whole body was dry,
beginning with his throat and never ending. He would die if he didn't drink and
the thirst maddened him. But he was trapped. He had nowhere to go. He tore at
the door, then at the walls. His fingers bled and he sucked on them, drawing in
the blood back into himself, a sick cycle that didn't satisfy.
Helena listened at the door and smiled. She wanted him to feel that torment, to
be at her mercy for every drop of blood he would be fed. But not yet. It
soothed her that someone else felt such pain.
Stefan forced himself not to drink and to let the wounds close.
Now he felt cold. He didn't shiver but he couldn't tell where the walls ended
and he began. He felt brittle, like his bones would break at the slightest
pressure. Movement was agony. His breathing was either very slow or
nonexistent.
Helena let weeks pass. No one else's suffering matched his. Now she could
torture him forever. Helena had him dragged out and she tried to give him
blood.
By then, it was too late. She had missed her chance.
His seeming weakness was his ally. Once he was left unguarded he escaped to
Alexis. She was his refuge while he made sure that he was strong enough to
resist. He needed Alexis in the same way she had once needed him.

Thoughts of Alexis reminded him of what else he had to tell Laura.
S: "Because of Helena's imminent arrival, I have called Alexis here."
Laura didn't look pleased.
L: "With you and me against Helena, it's two against one. Do we need her?"
Laura felt that twinge of jealousy she always had about the woman that wasn't
really Stefan's sister.
S: "You are pregnant and Helena has resources that we cannot match. She is a
vampire and she has the Cassadine estate behind her."
Laura nodded grudgingly.
S: "You look tired. You should sleep."
L: "I've been trying to sleep at night, like a normal person."
S: "Which you no longer are."
L: "I thought you wanted me to resist the vampire tendencies." Laura
complained.
S: "I do. But you need your strength."
L: "I don't want to become nocturnal."
S: "You need to sleep or you will be too weak to fight your instincts."
L: "Don't we have more things to discuss."
S: "There is always more. I will be back."
L: "Good. Because I need you."

Stefan stepped out of Laura's quaint house into the pre-noon day. His body
recoiled at the sunshine. It wanted to drive him back inside, where it was
dark. But he only paused for a moment before going on.
Laura's words had touched him more than they should have. It was only a
practical matter. She wasn't professing her love. Stefan almost laughed at
himself. His feelings made him susceptible to the slightest sign that she
cared. But he was just a means to an end.
There was a lot more that had to be dealt with but he didn't want to push her.
He would have to make sure he came tomorrow.

Chapter 4

The next time he came, Stefan stopped by the doorway instead of going further
inside. He had noticed how Laura had opened the door standing well away from
it.
S: "Laura, you do go outside, don't you?" Stefan asked, already suspecting the
answer.
L: "Not in the daytime." Laura admitted.
S: "You have to."
L: "I know. But when I try everything inside me says not to."
S: "It's like all the other instincts you must override. Let's go for a walk."
L: "Now?"
S: "Yes. Cover yourself well."
L: "Should I put on sunscreen?"
S: "You are not a tourist, you are a vampire. It wouldn't do any good."

Laura's eyes were closed under her sunglasses as Stefan lead her outside. When
she stumbled, Stefan realized it.
S: "Try and open your eyes a little."
L: "I swear my eyeballs are going to burst into flames."
S: "They won't."
Laura squinted then closed her eyes again. After a few more tries she could
keep her eyes partly open. There were clouds in the sky but it was still too
bright for Laura. In addition to the sunglasses, she wore a scarf and clothes
that covered her completely. She knew she looked ridiculous, but that was the
least of her problems.
L: "Are you sure I won't burst into flames?"
S: "You know you won't. If you drank blood, the sun could burn you, severely.
But it cannot kill you."
L: "Are you sure? Are you sure we aren't dead? Because I feel dead."
S: "No, we are just different."
L: "Oh, is that all?"
S: "Being outside in the sun saps your energy. But it will get better."
L: "Where are we?" Laura asked seeing that they were going through a gate into
a garden of a house she could hardly see from all the trees.
S: "This is where I am staying."
L: "Nice and gloomy."
S: "Plenty of shade." Stefan corrected her.
L: "Not enough shade for me. I am starting to get that coffin thing. The
darker the better."
S: "Trust me."
L: "Then tell me what happened to you." Laura asked suddenly.
They settled on the spot in the deepest shade. Stefan couldn't see Laura's eyes
behind the sunglasses.
S: "When Helena found out that Stavros was missing, she turned me into a
vampire in revenge."
L: "Then I am responsible." Laura said looking down.
She had known that in some way she was to blame. She brought him suffering.
S: "Not in the least. You were defending yourself."
And he absolved her.
Laura dropped it. There was no point. It was too late now to stay or to go
back, to fight for him. A sudden opportunity had arisen. Her escape had been
decided and executed so quickly she had only had a moment. Not even a kiss
goodbye. She just left him.
L: "You said you weren't given human blood to drink. She starved you." Laura
said, needing to hear what was done to him because of her.
S: "She give me an opportunity, without meaning to."
He sounded almost smug at his victory. His remembrance of drinking his own
blood made him stop. The reality was so ugly he didn't want Laura to know about
it. But she had to know.
S: "She had made me into this thing, an animal, craving sustenance above all
else, willing to do anything. In her depravity, in her malice, she kept me from
drinking blood. I would have if I had been free. I would have grabbed the first
person that fell under my hands. I would have become just like her. The longer
I went without, the weaker my body felt. Somehow my mind cleared and the
overwhelming need started to recede. I could think. I wouldn't let her make me
a monster, a killer. I didn't know if I was human any more, but I wouldn't be
what she wanted. I would deny her."
L: "What was she trying to do? Torture you?"
S: "Yes. She did feed me eventually. I was parched. The blood burned its way
down my throat. Then I threw it up. Mother chided me for wasting the blood."
There was a look of pain and satisfaction on Stefan's face as he remembered
Helena's anger and disappointment.
L: "Did you do it on purpose?"
S: "I don't know. It's possible that in my starved condition I couldn't
tolerate such a large dose. Mother was disgusted. But not discouraged. She
might have prevailed given time."
L: "How did you get away?"
S: "Thanks to an equal dose of Mother's carelessness and my desperation. I
swam. Or it might be more accurate to say, I drowned. I was rescued and I went
to Alexis."
Laura felt hurt. He hadn't come to her. She shook her head at the unreasonable
reaction. What did she expect? He had sent her to safety and she had abandoned
him to Helena.
S: "It took months before I trusted myself. I couldn't come here until I was
sure that I couldn't hurt you. Alexis kept watch on Mother to make sure that
she made no move against you."
L: "Oh." Laura said wondering if he had seen her disappointment.
Then she saw the events from another perspective.
L: "You went cold turkey." Laura said thinking of her baby.
S: "I believe that is the term."
L: "My baby will have to do that too."
S: "He will have you."
L: "Will that be enough?"
S: "I don't know. Our bodies changed with the infusion of vampire blood. Mine
in a matter of hours because of the greater quantity of blood. Yours over a
period of months because of the minute amount of vampire blood in your system.
But the changes are limited. Our human bodies cannot transform to the same
degree as a fetus. It is changed starting at conception. It's what makes the
born vampires different. The change is more drastic and the child is more
vampire and less human than we are."
L: "So it will be even harder for the baby."
S: "He or she doesn't know the taste of human blood. And it is crucial that we
keep it from knowing. It can prevail against its vampire nature, Alexis is
proof of this."
L: "You said she was coming. When I see her for myself, I might believe it."
Laura was curious about Alexis, but she didn't look forward to meeting her.
Helena had made it necessary.
What Stefan had told her about his mother was horrible. Laura wasn't surprised
that Helena was capable of something like that. Laura thought about all the
ugly things she and Stefan shared. Their past together was lived inside a
nightmare. The nightmare was now inside them and it was so much harder to
fight.
This had been her greatest fear from the first time she had seen Stavros's fangs
bared. The warning Stefan had given her during one of their lessons had been
almost unnecessary.

Chapter 5

This lesson was outdoors. A bright sunny day on the island, where the vampires
couldn't intrude, even if they were the main subject. Stefan seemed a tiny bit
more relaxed. Laura noticed his tan. How could she ever have thought he was a
vampire? He was golden. He looked at her and she blushed.
S: "A vampire can infect even with the smallest amount of his blood transferred
to a victim that is not drained entirely. So be careful."
Laura was startled.
L: "He hasn't bitten me." Laura informed Stefan defensively.
S: "Yet."
Laura shuddered.
S: "I am sorry. But self control is not his strong suit."
Laura changed the subject.
L: "Are there a lot of vampires? Are they everywhere among us?"
S: "No. Vampires are widespread but not numerous. Small enclaves dot the
world. For one, true vampires are rare. Not many are born, of those not many
survive."
L: "But if they can make new vampires by letting them drink vampire blood?"
S: "That is not encouraged. It taints the bloodlines. It is a matter of
philosophy, of exclusivity. Becoming a vampire is considered a gift, not for
everyone. If too many are created, the gift is cheapened. There is the desire
to keep the population a small and select group, thereby remaining unique."
L: "Snobs."
S: "It is also done out of fear. The more of them there are the more likely
they are to be discovered. And newly made vampires can't be trusted to remain
silent about their new condition. There are matters of control..."
L: "And competition." Laura added.
S: "True."
L: "And who likes competition."
S: "That is a part of it."
L: "Do vampires live forever?"
S: "Obviously not."
Laura realized he meant Mikkos.
L: "But I mean, if no one killed them."
S: "That is the promise. It's almost never fulfilled."
L: "Do they stay young?"
S: "A vampire grows older until, sometime in adulthood, an equilibrium is
reached between the human and vampire elements. Then the progress of aging is
arrested and the vampire stays unchanged."
L: "Eternal youth, eternal life."
S: "Does it sound attractive to you?"

Stefan looked at Laura now as she always would be. Wrapped and covered, her
beautiful eyes invisible to him. Her answer made no difference. She had
received a gift she hadn't wanted. She was standing in the shade of the trees,
the sun her enemy, rebelling against what she had been made. Her long ago
answer, irrelevant now, came back to him so clearly.

L: "I've seen it up close. It's not attractive." She had said, looking away.
L: "Who would want this?" She had asked under her breath, looking back at the
Cassadine house with all its curtains drawn.
S: "Helena did. Desperately." Stefan answered her.
Laura could tell that he was almost telling her things about himself again, but
backing down when she didn't push. By now, she knew that he would tell her
anything if she asked.
L: "You are not a Cassadine. How did you end up here?"
S: "Helena bore me into this family. And I can never leave."
He was looking far away, over the uneven landscape rising to block his view of
the sea.

Just like then, Laura felt closer to Stefan than to anyone else except for her
baby. He knew what she felt. No one else did. This had been forced on all of
them. The Cassadines got hold of them unwilling and had them in their grip
forever.
They were inside Stefan's garden on the path leading to the front door.
Stepping inside the gates had been like walking into a different world. They
were out of sight. The well shaded space was cool and Laura felt almost
comfortable. The shade seemed to welcome her. Stefan had chosen the perfect
house, unlike anything Laura would have considered, but right.
S: "I need to know what has become of Stavros." Stefan said bringing Laura out
of her reverie.
L: "If he is really dead?"
S: "Laura, you need to find out exactly what happened to the body, every detail
you can elicit."
L: "I haven't been eager to revisit that night. If I start asking questions
now Luke will be suspicious."
S: "Laura, we have to know."
Laura closed her eyes.

At Stavros's overwhelming strength, a feeling of panic had overcome her.
His finger traced her lip. There was blood. She could taste it, metallic,
heavy taste. She had closed her eyes wishing herself away from what was about
to happen, from both of them. Then there had been a struggle, a fall. Luke
covered it all up.
But she couldn't forget that taste.

Laura opened her eyes.
L: "How can I ask Luke? We haven't even talked about that. It's too hard. Am
I supposed to tell him about Stavros, about me?"
S: "No. But you know that if there was a body to hide. If it wasn't
destroyed..."
L: "I know. I remember."

It had been a beautiful day on the island. There was a brightness to
everything. The rocks and trees were bathed in an abundance of sunshine.
The sun was in Laura's eyes when she turned to follow Stefan's gaze.
L: "Are you going to think the worst if I ask you what kills them?"
Stefan didn't turn to look at her and he didn't seem surprised.
S: "If you need to know something all you need to do is ask. If I know, I will
tell you."
It was almost a pledge of loyalty. It frightened Laura almost as much as the
turn of their conversation. She looked down at the ground, at their long
shadows overlapping.
L: "The old reliable stake through the heart?"
S: "A stake through the heart, or anything that remains in the body, will
interfere with regeneration. It does not kill them. When it is removed, the
vampire can then regenerate. As long as there is a body a vampire can live."
L: "Then what about Mikkos? His body was intact. Couldn't he..."
S: "When the attempt was made to retrieve his body in order to thaw it and
revive him, it shattered."
L: "By accident?"
S: "Perhaps."
L: "But you don't believe it?"
S: "Things changed after he died."
Stefan turned to look at her but only for a second. There was something about
seeing her in the bright sunlight, the heat that emanated from her golden skin.
It was too much to take.
S: "My mother always had her own agendas, as Mikkos well knew. What power she
had, she took. It was not given to her. He was her obstacle."
There had been times when, as a child, he had watched his mother out in the
sunlight. She was beautiful but he still wondered why Mikkos had chosen her
among all the beautiful women he must have known.

Chapter 6

Mikkos rarely saw his wife in the sunlight. Those rare times when he would
watch her from the shade, her smile would seem to invite him out into the
burning sun. In darkness or light, she shone. A hard, cold light that could
not be extinguished. She was what he needed. He saw strength in her. She
would survive a vampire child and anything else. She would flourish with his
kind.
Helena was made of steel. Mikkos saw that when he first laid eyes on her. She
had qualities he wanted imparted to his offspring. Determination, an unyielding
will.
From the start Helena was one of them, unmistakably a Cassadine. What Mikkos
had not counted on was her overwhelming desire for power. Her drive to become
like him. She asked repeatedly to be changed. Then she got pregnant and her
requests lost their urgency.
Now Helena would have a vampire child and so much more. There was a powerful
being growing inside her. It weakened her, taking her strength to build its
own. There were days when she could hardly move. But that didn't matter. The
baby would be a vampire and he would be hers and he would not refuse her.
Mikkos saw something in her eyes. Something between her and the unborn child.
And he acted.

The hungry vampire child was not allowed to remain with his mother. Helena's
means of getting what she wanted was taken away. Mikkos looked at his son with
pride as Helena screams could be heard throughout the house. She had done it.
She had given him a vampire prince.

The baby having been snatched away before she could reach him, Helena saw her
best chance to become a vampire slip away. She could still feel the strong
hands of the attendants holding her down as she screamed. They took him still
bloody and crying.
Afterward Helena prowled the halls searching for him, but only finding Mikkos
and the guards in front of the child's room. She had been wild but she was
easily restrained. Mikkos informed her of the way things would be. He was
calm, making what he said almost sound reasonable. Helena summoned all her
self-control. It wouldn't do to be outmatched, to give him that advantage as
well. He had seen through her to her plan. Her son wouldn't be allowed to turn
her into one of them.

Helena didn't give up. But the longer she was kept away from her vampire child,
the more desperate she became. The boy was walking and she had not had a moment
alone with him. She awaited an opportunity, but it never came. He was too well
guarded. Mikkos anticipated her at every turn.
Helena watched the door to her son's room from the hallway. The guard stood in
her way. Impeccable, unbending, Alexei barred her way. But he was only a man.
Strong but where it counted weak.
Alexei resisted her, but he succumbed in the end. Her insistent touches, her
whispered words, her softest voice in his ear. Each whisper, each caress
reached deeper. Then he was hers. Afterwards, he lay in a heap of post-coital
stupor and guilt. Right where she wanted him. She was so close. Then Alexei
was dragged away, half dressed. He should have been screaming and fighting
considering what awaited him. But he was silent. He went to his horrible fate
meekly.
Mikkos glowered at her wordlessly. Helena sneered at him. It would have to do.
A small bit of revenge on them both.
Mikkos had the young guard killed horribly, unworthy of even being fed on. He
was disappointed that this young man would betray him, fall pray to Helena.
Once so upstanding, loyal. Now only an example to others who would be tempted
by Helena's charms. Mikkos stood over the corpse for a long time. He had
stopped them when they started to gouge out his eyes. He looked into them now,
green, expressionless, no trace of the pain that had gnawed them a moment
before, no trace of anything.
Because of the qualities that Mikkos praised so often and because Mikkos trusted
him, Helena had chosen Alexei in particular among all the guards that protected
her son from her. Helena despised the uptight young man and relished seducing
him. Making him a victim of his baser instincts. She also enjoyed proving her
husband wrong.
She hadn't foreseen the result.
Now the same mournful, hateful green eyes would always stare at her from that
child.

At first she was not certain whose baby she carried. Alternately, she feared
and she hoped. But there was no way to tell. Helena left the island until she
could make sure. If it was Mikkos's, she would have it in hiding and use it to
turn herself into a vampire. If it was not, she would abort it.
For a long time she didn't know. She had to wait and see if the baby would take
her blood. By then, Mikkos had found her. He brought her back and thwarted her
crude attempts to end the pregnancy. Toward the end she had to be tied to her
bed.
Helena had been desperate to rid herself of the useless, human baby before he
was born. Mikkos forced her to have him, then used him against her. From the
start, he could see that she had no affection for the child. So he could not
use him in that way.
But Helena's hatred for Stefan saved him. Since she wanted to end his life,
Mikkos insisted on preserving it. It galled him to watch his wife's belly grow
with another man's child. There were times when he wanted to kill them both.
But he had a taste of the finality of death so recently. The way a life that
had been in his hands could be snuffed out in an instant while the regret
lingered. And Helena would have welcomed the death of that child. That was all
the reason he needed to keep him alive.

Yet another baby with whom Mikkos wouldn't let her be alone. If it wasn't
enough that the child was used to remind her, he was the symbol of her
punishment, of all she was denied. How could she not hate him? He was less than
ordinary. He was nothing.
But Mikkos had made use of him as a weapon. Stefan was proof that Helena was
unworthy of Mikkos's trust, or of his blood. Such honor would be wasted on her.
There had been times when he had considered it. He would have a true partner,
and equal, forever. Now it was out of the question. It wasn't only her
betrayal. Mikkos was angry at her for wasting the opportunity to carry his
child by becoming pregnant with Stefan. Not letting her kill Stefan was
retribution for cheating him of a chance to have another vampire child. In
Helena's presence, Mikkos would hold the baby, even play with him, as if in a
mockery of fatherly affection.

Helena tried again to persuade Mikkos to make her a vampire. She tried to
entice him with the promise of a pure vampire child. Mikkos didn't believe in
that myth. Two vampires had not had a child as far as anyone could remember.
And the memories of his kind went back centuries. She would remain human until
she had given him another son.
All their attempts were unsuccessful. Helena never became pregnant again and
she cursed Stefan for it.
Mikkos's mistresses weren't so fortunate as to be barren. They were nothing
like Helena. With his mistresses he went another way. Soft, lowly, dear girls,
most of whom did not survive the children that joined them in death. Or
Helena's wrath. Helena feared that one of them would replace her, usurp her
rightful place, take the power that was hers by right. So she killed them when
their vampire babies did not.
But one survived and so did her child.
Mikkos flaunted their existence to Helena. All the justification he needed was
right in front of him. Stefan, the wasted chance, justified him. Helena
squandered her opportunity on a common guard.
Not that Mikkos really needed justification. He had centuries of tradition
allowing him as many mistresses as he liked. When he had first found Helena, he
had hoped that that would not be necessary. But she had turned out to be too
much of what he had wanted.
He enjoyed holding Alexis's existence over Helena. He finally had a child that
lived; though it was disappointingly a female.

Too late, Helena killed Kristen. Mikkos moved them so often and hid them so
well. But Helena was dogged. For years that was her only goal. Then it was
done and Helena broke out into peals of laughter, like song. Stefan covered his
ears when he heard her. He knew her. Only something terrible could make his
mother laugh like that.
Alexis came to live on the island. She was brought to a strange place,
traumatized. She responded to no one. Helena smirked innocently. Mikkos
glared at her.
Stefan took charge of little Alexis. Her small hands were cold. The little
face with the fangs extended in fear worried him. He held her face away from
his skin. When she snuggled against him he tensed at having her teeth so close
to his skin, knowing what they could do. But she was still, tranquil even. Her
mother having accustomed her to forgo blood, she made no attempt to bite him.
She slept for a long time. When she awoke, the cherubic face, then an uncertain
smile. The flash of her sharp vampire teeth startled him.
On Stavros the teeth seemed fitting. He was a fiend in every way.
Stefan rarely saw Mikkos like that. When he did it was a truly terrifying
sight.
Mikkos made sure to keep Helena separated from Alexis until he was certain that
the child's vampire instinct was under control. It was just what he had done
with Stavros.
Helena stalked Alexis around the house, to no avail. The girl could not be made
to drink. The child was inured to the temptation of blood while Stavros had
been taught to refuse only her. Helena suppressed her fury. So often hindered,
she still felt a certainty about her own destiny. She was meant to be one of
them, she was made for this life. Everything inside her told her so. Until she
had vampire blood coursing through her, she would not rest.
Alexis was young and vulnerable. But Helena saw her differently. She was a
vampire. One that could not be allowed to become powerful. She couldn't kill a
child of Mikkos. Instead she allowed Stefan's interference. Stefan continued
what Kristen had started with the girl: making her more human every day.
Kristen had kept blood from her, all but extinguishing the feeding instinct the
child was born with. Mikkos also allowed this. Since Alexis was a girl, he did
not see the importance of making her powerful. She was more of a symbol to him
than a child.
The ruse making Alexis a cousin allowed Helena to save face. Publicly she was
his wife; Mikkos could not allow her to be humiliated. Not that Helena would
have stood for it. The compromise kept the child alive. Mikkos knew that he
could not lord a dead child over her, there were too many of those to matter.
Anyway, it was a private torture and if he wanted the pleasure of it, he had to
restrain himself.
Stefan was publicly Mikkos's son for the same reason. He even had a small
measure of affection for the boy who reminded him of his father.
He had valued Alexei. He had been his favorite. Mikkos had kept him close,
having him act as his personal guard and then his son's. He gave Alexis that
name because of him. In part out of affection, the rest as a reminder to Helena.
"This child exists because you failed me."

While Stefan was timid and studious, Mikkos had found it necessary to curb
Stavros at every turn. The boy knew no bounds. The taboo against biting his
mother had been instilled in him successfully. But otherwise, his appetites ran
wild. As a boy, after a fight and a vicious struggle with Stefan, Stavros had
nearly drained him. After that, Mikkos specifically forbade him to bite his
brother. Stavros had been egged on by Helena, who wanted nothing more than her
bastard dead.
M: "Seeing as you cannot control yourself you may not touch him, if I see a
mark on him you will pay." As Mikkos said the last part, he held his son's gaze
then Helena's.

Mikkos hoped that his son would learn self-control. Without it, his life would
be filled with regret. Mikkos had allowed his considerable, and justified,
anger to hold sway when it came to Alexei's fate. He wished he had drained him
of his blood instead of letting it go to waste, spilled into the ground. Alexei
had been special to him. By drinking his blood, he would have become part of
him. Now he was lost forever.
Soon after the guard's death, he had extremely vivid dreams of drinking from
him. Now that desire would remain forever unfulfilled, that is, unless Stefan
came to displease him.
His regrets made Mikkos more cautious when it came to young Stefan. He did not
want the boy to slip away the way his father had. Mikkos was a little jealous
of the taste that Stavros had of Stefan before he angrily pulled him off.
Despite that, he found partaking in Stefan, whom he thought of as almost a son,
somewhat distasteful. Though there were no rules preventing it.

Helena became convinced that if Stefan was not there as a constant reminder of
her infidelity, Mikkos would forgive her or at least forget her indiscretion.
She also felt that too much of Mikkos's respect and affection was going to
Stefan. He seemed to have a peculiar fondness for the boy. Not a father's love
by far, but something more than there should have been. There was resentment
there but it was often softened by affection. There was even the possibility
that Mikkos might turn him into one of them.
Helena had tried to use Stavros as her instrument to get rid of Stefan. She
knew that Stavros was the only one who could have gotten away with it. He was
irreplaceable, he was the prince. But he had failed.
Helena hated to wait, but it was the only choice left to her.

Chapter 7

Mikkos's frozen body did not make it back to the island intact. The bad news
was delivered into silence. Stavros sat down heavily. Helena stood perfectly
still for a long time before she sent everyone out of the room. Stefan heard
all the doors lock and Stavros's voice asking a question.
This was her time. Helena's greatest obstacle had been removed. Partly, she
needed this now in order to retain her youth. With each passing year a new
wrinkle, and gravity taking its toll. Soon there would be nothing to preserve.
She made up her mind.
H: "It's time, my darling." She crooned.
Stavros didn't even hear her. Then he had refused.
H: "Do you want me to become old and repulsive?! Is that what you want for
your mother? Do you want me to decompose before your eyes?! Time cannot be
turned back! Soon it will be too late. Do this for me now!" Helena extorted
her son as Stefan listed through the door.
Stefan prayed and pleaded silently. She was terrible enough as a human. She
couldn't be made like them.
Then there was a long silence in the locked room. Stefan knew that the woman
that would leave that room would not be his mother.
He grabbed Alexis and they hid. They heard things. Stefan didn't want to think
about what the sounds meant, what it took to force them out of a human throat.
Helena loosed every vile desire. All the suppressed destructive tendencies were
unleashed. What had been a controlled undercurrent of terror on the Cassadine
island while Mikkos ruled, turned into a bloody spectacle of horrors as Helena
rampaged and Stavros did nothing.
The noises were getting closer.
S: "I won't let her hurt you." Stefan whispered.
Alexis looked at him strangely. She was too old to believe that her protector,
her only ally, could do anything against his mother now.
Helena was covered in blood when she found them. There was pure happiness on
her face. Alexis didn't wait for what would come next. Rushing at Helena with
a feral cry, Alexis knocked her to the ground. For a moment she stood over her
as if she wasn't done. Helena looked up at her and laughed as if drunk. Stefan
pulled Alexis away and they escaped to another hiding place.
In the morning, Stefan went to Stavros. He reminded him that he was prince.
That Helena's actions undermined him. Stavros took his point.

After that night, Stavros took his place as the prince and Helena was curbed.
She went from actively trying to kill both Alexis and Stefan, to more covert
methods.
By then, Alexis was too powerful to be killed easily. But she had never tasted
blood and it showed. In strength, she only matched Helena. As a born vampire,
she should have been able to defeat her. Stefan decided to send her away.
Alexis refused. She knew he needed an ally. She wanted to protect him. And he
was afraid for her. After promising to follow her soon, Stefan obtained her
agreement.
The murder plots and poisonings, these were all subtext. The Cassadines had
formal family diners during which Stavros only drank, blood and alcohol,
abandoning the custom of eating that Mikkos had enforced. It was in the midst of
one of these exercises in decorum that Stefan announced that he and Alexis were
going away to school.
Sv: "Good riddance!" Stavros retorted without hesitation.
Helena tried to oppose their leaving but Stavros had agreed. It was really a
thoughtless, offhand remark but he refused to let Helena contradict him. He had
taken Sefan's warning to heart.
H: "But you didn't mean it, my dear." She dared to suggest.
S: "I have spoken, Mother." He said harshly, showing his teeth.
Stavros regretted having made her a vampire. He did not want to share his power
with her, just as his father hadn't. He had to keep her in check. And it was
so much harder now.

Helena had counted on Stavros to abandon the old vampire code Mikkos had lived
by. But at times, even she saw its wisdom.
Stavros didn't remember Mikkos's words, expressing a sentiment shared by many
old vampire princes. It was a lesson even Mikkos hadn't taken to heart until
Helena.
M: "One does not make one's women into vampires unless one wants to wake up
with a stake through the heart. When one makes a vampire one makes a rival. A
man does not need a rival in his bed. If you want to bend a woman to your will,
use what we are. Hold it over her as a threat or as a promise, depending on the
woman. But never give into your thirst, unless you wish to finish her and lose
her."
Helena feared that through carelessness or impulse, Stavros would make one of
his numerous conquests a vampire. She need not have worried. Stavros had a
tendency to drain his victims of all their blood. He did not stop until they
were undeniably dead. And not out of a sense of vampire responsibility.
Vampire rules, which Mikkos adhered to so religiously, stated that in addition
to not making more vampires indiscriminately, one did not leave behind living
victims. Stavros did this out of gluttony, unrelenting appetite.
He seemed to have trouble siring offspring, but it was difficult to tell if the
fault was with him, since his paramours inhabited cemeteries not maternity
wards. The poor women did not live long enough to make a case either way.

Stefan had to visit home whenever he was called. Helena and Stavros liked to
yank his chain, to make him remember that they controlled him. On one of these
visits, he was summoned to meet his brother's new wife.
Stefan dreaded it. It would be like looking at a dead woman. One night Stavros
would be unable to control himself. Stefan knew that Stavros was not
sufficiently indoctrinated in Mikkos's philosophy. He would either turn her or
more likely kill her.
But when Stefan met her, he stayed longer, afraid for her.

Laura took in the history Stefan related to her. They had sat down on a bench
overlooking the sea. By the time he finished, it was dark. The wind that came
in from the water had picked up. The sea looked black. Stefan was exhausted.
As if he had been reliving all of it. Laura knew that there was more, things he
left out and only hinted at, the daily torments he hadn't gone into. And the
silence at the end, when the story stopped with her. As if that part, was too
tragic to tell.
L: "I don't want to go back in." Laura said closing her eyes.
The past held prophecies of her future. That house seemed worse than ever.
S: "It's dark, he can come out and get you."
L: "I know I can't afford to make him angry." Laura conceded.
S: "Perhaps I shouldn't have told you. I have troubled you..."
Laura laughed.
L: "You are all that's good here."
She looked at him and wondered if he knew that. Considering his past, she
wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't know his own worth.
L: "If one day he ... If I'm not here to tell you, you have to know..."
S: "We should go inside."
Stefan wasn't sure why he had interrupted her. Because he was afraid of what
she would say or what she wouldn't say. He had felt a tightening in his chest.
The thought of anything happening to her opened a door to a darkness he never
wanted to enter.
He stood over her with his hand extended. She didn't move. Her eyes seemed to
be asking him something but he couldn't dwell on them. They were too blue. And
it was dark.

Laura felt like crying thinking back on that evening. They had been gone almost
the whole day and Stavros was furious. But Laura had felt detached from his
anger. Her smiles appeased him as they always did.
Stefan had given her his whole life. She had wanted nothing more than to soothe
him. To take away all the pain he felt.
But that wasn't how things were between them. He always took her pain and held
on to his own. She didn't know how he could bear it.
They were standing under the trees in Stefan's garden. The leaves were an
intense green. Laura wondered if it was her vampire eyes. Looking down the
path to the house, all she could see of it was the dark wood door.
S: "Would you like to go inside?" Stefan asked following her gaze.
L: "I better not." Laura said in a breathy voice.
She looked at Stefan wondering if he knew what she meant. But he was
unreadable.
What she meant was "I can't go inside. If I do, I won't want to leave. I will
want to stay with you forever and I can't. I can't stay with you, Stefan." But
that was too much to say.

Chapter 8

It was so much harder to deny things with Stefan around. Laura had hoped that
Stavros was truly and finally gone, but she had to stop fooling herself and find
out.
Luke had looked at her with guilt and compassion after Stavros. The wounds on
her neck healed far too quickly. Laura kept the bandages on even after she no
longer needed them. Laura hid things and lied. But whatever Luke suspected, it
couldn't be the truth.
Now she had to bring it all back.
Laura turned on the radio and spoke only loudly enough for Luke to hear her.
L: "Luke, I want you to tell me what happened after Stavros fell."
Luke reacted to her choice of words. But didn't comment. He understood why she
had the radio on. Her experience with the Cassadines had made her nearly
paranoid.
Lk: "Why now? It waited all this time."
L: "I worry that someone will find him."
Lk: "They won't."
L: "Tell me what you did with him."
Luke studied her face for a minute. There was sharpness there. She was
determined to get her answers.
Lk: "Don't you trust me, angel?"
Laura couldn't tell how seriously he meant that question.
L: "I trust you. Tell me about it."
Lk: "I handled it." Luke said as if that should be enough.
L: "I know. I do trust you. I just need to know. I have nightmares."
Lk: "I know you do. You just don't talk to me about them." He said with a
hint of accusation.
L: "I feel stupid. They are horror movie stuff. Stavros coming back..."
Lk: "He's not coming back. I buried him."
L: "Please. I need to know the details."
Lk: "Details won't make your nightmares go away."
L: "Luke, I am not the lawyer for the prosecution. Just tell me what
happened." Laura said too harshly.
Lk: "After he 'fell'. I wrapped him and I dragged him to the car."
L: "The bedpost, did you take it out?"
Lk: "No, baby. I couldn't. It wouldn't budge."
Laura breathed a sigh of relief.
Lk: "If you are worried about fingerprints I wiped them. I took him to that
building site downtown. They were just laying foundation. I buried him under a
building, Laura. He ain't coming back."
That was the best she could have hoped for.
Lk: "I had the bed replaced. I cleaned up the blood. I got you the hell out
of there." Luke summed up.
L: "Thank you. I don't know..."
Lk: "I don't need the gratitude. I'd like some answers too."
L: "About what?"
Lk: "Let's start with him. Who are you asking about?"
L: "What do you mean?" Laura asked, honestly confused.
Lk: "Are you asking me what I did with the father of that baby?"
L: "Luke, no!" Laura exclaimed, shocked.
Lk: "I want to think it's mine. If I prayed, I'd pray for that. But it's not
adding up. The timing could go either way. That's not even the big problem.
It's you. The way you've been acting."
L: "How am I supposed to act with everything that's happened?" Laura asked
defensively.
Lk: "This isn't about you being scared. It's about you being secretive."
L: "Should I tell everyone what I did? How I killed him, how you buried the
body?"
Lk: "I'm not talking about everybody. I'm talking about me. You are secretive
with me. You hide things. And all I can figure is you are hiding that that
baby isn't mine."
L: "How can you say that?"
Lk: "Because you look tortured. You hide in this house like you have something
to be ashamed of. And it isn't killing that bastard. You haven't been to the
doctor."
L: "I have."
Lk: "For one 'consultation'."
L: "You've been spying on me!"
Lk: "It's not spying if it's my baby. Is it?"
L: "Yes, Luke."
Lk: "God, I wished I believed you. You are saying just what I want to hear.
But it's just not good enough."
Luke walked out before Laura could form a reply. What was she supposed to do?
Truth wasn't an option. And how could he believe it if he couldn't believe such
a simple thing as this was his baby. Laura turned down the radio angrily and
broke the knob.

She called Stefan. There had been a long moment when Laura had almost just gone
to him. That was such a temptation now that she knew where he lived. But she
waited for him instead. When she went to open the door, she was ready to go
out.
Being outdoors was almost a relief. They walked the same path they had followed
before and stopped in the garden at Stefan's house.
L: "Luke buried the body."
S: "There was a body to bury then."
L: "Yes."
S: "Stavros is not dead. If he had been killed there would have been only a
heap of decomposed organs, not a body, by any means."
L: "I know."
S: "Where is he?"
L: "There's good news about that. Luke buried him in the foundation of a
building downtown. You've probably seen it. It's still under construction."
S: "I have seen it. He will not be able to free himself."
L: "So we're safe?"
S: "Not by any means. Helena will not rest if she has any hint that Stavros is
still alive. And if she is convinced that he is dead, she will come after you
and yours."
L: "We lose either way. How am I going to deal with her? I don't think I have
a speck of energy left."
Laura felt exhausted after her conversation with Luke. She didn't know which
was the greater burden, the lies or the truth.
S: "Does your husband suspect anything?"
Laura jumped at the question.
L: "He suspects all the wrong things." She answered wearily.
She didn't want to share the particulars. It was humiliating.
S: "If he knew the truth, what would he do?"
L: "I don't know. What would anybody do?"
S: "Then you can't tell him."
L: "Like he would believe me." Laura said bitterly.
S: "Laura, the claim is easily proven."
L: "Yeah, I'll show him my vampire teeth and break a few things with my
unnatural strength." Laura said sarcastically.
S: "That would prove it."
L: "Well I've done the spying for you. Now what?" Laura said harshly.
S: "We wait."
L: "We aren't waiting for anything good." Laura said glumly.
Laura felt guilty and she knew it wasn't right to take it out on Stefan. Luke
was suspicious and even though he was wrong, he wasn't. She was having meetings
behind his back.
L: "I have to go."
S: "If you need me..."
Laura walked away. She didn't want to go back to her house, but she couldn't
stay with Stefan. Feeling her anger rise, she didn't want to make him her
target.
And the door of Stefan's house was inviting her again. The way it could be seen
at the end of the path. Like a natural destination. It was closed, but to her
it would open. This is where you're heading, Laura, it seemed to tell her.
This path leads there. Why did you come here if you didn't want to go inside?
Where is your husband?
She wondered if that was the way it was meant to be, always going up to that
door and never going in.
Walking by herself, without Stefan, was strange. Things looked and sounded
different. Her surroundings encroached on her. The space around her seemed
denser and more expansive, at the same time. She jumped at sounds that were too
far to matter. She almost didn't recognize her own house as she passed by it.
Inside that house her changed perceptions were easier to ignore. The indoor
environment had gradually become more vivid and she had gotten used to it. She
wasn't used to overhearing conversations of people she couldn't see. Hearing
their heartbeats. Being tempted.
She was going through the park. A woman sat on a bench looking through her
purse for something. The clinking of her keys mixed with the sound of her
heart. She got up and walked away. Laura had to force herself not to follow
her. Every part of her body wanted to chase down that heartbeat. Laura's teeth
dug into her lower lip and she could taste her own blood.
Not being sure where her legs would carry her, she was afraid to move.
Once there was no one around, she turned and walked back home hurriedly.
L: "I am not safe anywhere and no one is safe around me." Laura thought as she
went into her house.
She didn't feel safe there. She felt trapped. She looked at the door.
L: "I should be locked up."
Nothing was keeping her there. Her vampire half wanted out. The thing that
pushed her to go out there, was the same thing that forced her to stay inside.
Laura wondered the house aimlessly, restless.

Chapter 9

It was the middle of the night and she was wide-awake in her bed. Luke had not
come back. Then she had heard him come in, very late, and go to the couch. He
stayed there and only moved to lie down once he was ready to sleep. She could
smell alcohol and stale cigar smoke.
Laura got out of bed, listening to Luke's heartbeat and breathing slow as he
fell asleep. She heard nothing else as she walked to him. Leaning over him,
she didn't see his face. She looked trough his skin, to what was underneath, to
what mattered. Laura smiled and brushed her tongue over her teeth.
It was like waking from a terrible dream. Only Laura woke to find her fangs
poised over Luke's neck. His heartbeat was deafening, drowning out all other
sounds. It took all of her self-control not to rip into his veins.

A high, iron gate and a small structure hidden by trees. Laura hardly even saw
them as she rushed to the door. Stefan seemed to take forever to answer but
actually he was there almost instantly.
Laura was disheveled. A wild look was on her face. For a moment her eyes were
unfocused then they fastened on him in desperation.
L: "Help me." Laura threw herself into Stefan's arms.
L: "I almost... I could barely stop myself. He was sleeping. I couldn't... It
was like I could see the blood flowing under his skin."
Her eyes became clouded. Stefan could see the tips of her fangs beginning to
descend. The sight of her like this stirred him.
L: "I had to get out! Even now, I..."
S: "Laura."
Stefan took her into a dimly lit room that looked like a study.
There had been no thought. Something more powerful had taken her to him.
Through the garden and the door, into his house and into his arms.
She wasn't safe even there. She still felt it. Her teeth ached to bite, to
sink into something soft and yielding, to be flooded with warm, dark liquid.
Laura sobbed in desperation as she hid her face against Stefan. She had fooled
herself that she had prevailed over her vampire half. But it only lay dormant,
waiting to take control from her.
Laura could feel Stefan's powerful heartbeat through his chest. His shirt
collar was open and his neck was bared and so close.
Laura jumped back and put her hand to her mouth, feeling her sharp teeth in
their lowered position.
Stefan didn't appear alarmed.
S: "Try to retract them." He suggested calmly.
L: "I can't. They want blood!"
S: "It doesn't matter what 'they' want. They are your weapons. They are in
your service, not the other way around."
L: "I want blood!" Laura screamed frightening herself with the volume of her
voice and with her words.
L: "Help me."
S: "I am trying."
L: "Words won't help me. You can't talk me down from this. Lock me up
somewhere. Where I can't hurt anyone."
S: "I can't do that. I can't do that to you."
L: "I am ready to kill. Do you understand that?!"
S: "I understand it. I felt it."
L: "Stefan." Laura intoned desperately.
Every particle of her being yearned for blood. Her need was transparent to
Stefan.
S: "A single drink of blood will destroy you..."
L: "If I wanted blood above all else, I could have had Luke's!"
S: "You can have mine."
Laura backed away from him, her eyes wide in horror and desire. She pressed
herself against the closed door. But she didn't reach for the doorknob.
Stefan took a letter opener from his desk. He put it to the side of his neck.
L: "No!"
To Laura's horror, he made a small cut. To her delight, drops of blood made
their way down the skin of his neck. Laura was on him before she knew it. She
licked him in one swift motion, before the blood reached his collar, before she
knew what she was doing. She sucked at the wound. The taste of his blood,
sweet and smoky, and the scent of his skin overwhelmed her. She felt dizzy.
Suddenly, she stopped herself. This was Stefan.
L: "What am I doing?" She asked her eyes filling with tears.
She looked up at his face. She didn't find an expression of pain. It was more
like ecstasy.
There was blood on her lip and on her fangs, which were fully extended now.
Stefan looked at her with passion. She was so beautiful like this. Perfect.
S: "It's all right." He whispered in a thick voice.
L: "Did I hurt you?" Laura asked worriedly.
S: "No. Of course not."
L: "Oh my God. Why did you let me do that? You said that if I drank blood, I
would become addicted."
Laura pulled away from him.
S: "My blood can't hurt you. I am like you. My blood is like yours. Laura,
sometimes, in your condition, the urge must be heeded. Otherwise, it will
overpower you. When you must indulge yourself, blood from your own kind will do
the least harm."
As he spoke, Laura couldn't keep her eyes off the cut. The way the blood pooled
in the opening, then slid down, mesmerized her.
S: "Go ahead." Stefan's voice was husky.
He had trouble concentrating seeing how she looked just then. He wanted nothing
more than to satisfy her. She lunged at him revealing her newfound strength.
She drew out the incredibly sweet drops. They tasted so much of him. She felt
as if she were drinking from his soul. They held tightly to each other. Lost
in the moment, they swayed together.
Stefan started to feel the effect of what Laura was doing to him. The vampire
inside him protested the loss of blood and he pushed her away. For a moment,
they looked at each other as two predators. Both wanting the same thing. The
experience had awakened Stefan's own blood lust. He pushed it down, regaining
control with a struggle.
Laura was ready to go back for more, then her mind cleared.
This was a dangerous gambit. Stefan swore to himself never to risk it again.
L: "I feel strange."
S: "It's my blood inside you."
L: "Is it making me more of a vampire? Is that what I'm feeling?"
S: "No. It's not that. You are attuned to blood now. The effect it has on
you is euphoric. You are primed for it."
L: "I don't feel the thirst any more. So we did the right thing?"
S: "Yes. This is a very difficult thing you are going through. The closer you
come to the birth the more you will feel the hunger. The child is getting ready
to come out into the world. It wants blood in preparation. Once you give birth
it will subside."
L: "It's going to get worse?"
S: "There are things you can do. Laura, you have to eat more."
L: "I'm only hungry for what I can't have."
Laura looked at him forlornly.
S: "You feel the child's need in addition to your own. You have to make
yourself stronger than this, for the baby. If it tastes human blood, at this
stage of its development..."
L: "He will become a monster?"
S: "In a way. All that is human in him will die. It's already happening."
L: "What?"
S: "He is taking in human blood. Yours."
L: "Then he's doomed."
S: "No. Your blood is no longer entirely human. The process will arrest
itself just as it has in you."
L: "The way I can drink your blood he can drink mine."
Stefan nodded.
S: "Your blood will only take him to the same stage where you are. There is no
way around it. He must be nourished."
Laura walked back home slowly. She went in through the back door. Luke was
still asleep on the couch. Anesthetized by booze, he could have died without
ever waking.
Laura went to bed, knowing that she wouldn't sleep.

Chapter 10

On the island, they had the days to themselves. Stavros never went out in the
daytime. And the especially bright and sunny days, kept even Helena inside.
Laura liked to follow the edge where the ocean and the island met, and touched.
The line that moved with the waves and the tide. Sometimes she would insist on
climbing on the rocks. The gray ones to the south that the ocean had smoothed
down into primitive sculptures. The ones to the east, formed a barrier of black
porous rock, too sharp to climb.
She spread herself over the smoothed stone, looking up at the rock structure the
sea had made above her. Stefan stood over her looking down. He was breathless
from the climb. Her chest rose and fell with her breathing too. Her white
dress was wet from the sea spray.
S: "This isn't safe."
L: "Safe. That's funny. Look around. We live on an island full of vampires."
S: "Two vampires."
L: "I stand corrected. We are food waiting to happen. We might as well stick
straws in our necks." Laura said squinting up at him then closing her eyes
again.
S: "That doesn't mean that we should be careless."
L: "Who are you afraid for? Me? I am safer than I've been in a long time."
Laura said not bothering to open her eyes.
S: "No, you aren't."
L: "Should I be afraid of you?"
Stefan crouched down just as she sat up.
S: "I want you."
It was a warning, not a request. Laura didn't heed it.
She leaned over and pressed her lips to his lightly, holding onto the front of
his shirt so he wouldn't fall. He was returning her kiss, shifting position and
kneeling over her.
She was lying back against the rock again. His mouth wondered down encountering
salty, wet skin. The white cloth parted for him. His body moved against hers
and into it.
Laura muttered ecstatic incoherences, like music to their dance. He felt her
breath on his neck with every word she uttered. Everything stopped and they
joined in one rapturous moment.
It ended and they held on to each other. Their position on the rock precarious.
The sun beating down on them, blinding.

Chapter 11

It was evening and a little chilly. Helena looked about her languidly. It was
an area near the water, where she had disembarked. Her yacht stood out white
against the water. The most impressive vessel in the Port Charles harbor.
There were a few men about, then they left, taking loudly. Helena didn't like
to wait. She stood back, a little into the shadows. Not hidden, just
inconspicuous. Normally, it wouldn't be safe there for a woman like her.
Helena smiled at the thought, that some rough youth might happen upon her and
thinking her helpless, might try something. But there was nothing like that.
Only a young sailor coming off a boat alone. He walked by her, not even
noticing her.
H: "Excuse me."
Helena made him turn around so he could see her. He waited for her to say what
she wanted but she didn't. She only smiled and showed him her teeth.
Not letting him run or scream, Helena rushed at him, slamming him back toward
the wall. They were in the shadows now and anyone would mistake it for an
embrace. Pushing his head back and to the side, she held his mouth shut. His
strong neck corded tightly in fear and useless struggle.
Helena slid her fangs into the young flesh. She felt the man flail beneath
her in pain. She enjoyed his resistance. She held off the urge to draw out his
blood and his life too soon. She wanted to prolong his fear and desperation.
Finally, her thirst for human suffering satisfied, she drank her fill and let
the lifeless body drop to the ground. Helena walked on unconcerned. Her people
would take care of the body.
He had made her think of Stefan. Something about his stature and his eyes, but
not his taste. Her son had tasted strange, familiar. It was forbidden to feed
on one's own. Helena laughed at the idea of all the rules that would restrain
her. The lengths she had gone to become strong and immortal. Rules didn't
matter to her now. She wiped at her mouth with a lacey handkerchief.

Alexis waited in Stefan's study. She noted how close the house was to where she
knew Laura Spencer lived.
S: "She is here then?" Stefan said immediately upon seeing her sitting, with
her legs crossed, on the couch.
A: "That's quite a greeting. Hello, Stefan. How glad you are to see me. No,
no, don't tell me. I don't want it to go to my head." Alexis spoke quickly and
went over to give Stefan a kiss on the cheek.
S: "I would be very glad to see you under any other circumstances, but we both
know that your presence here means that Helena has arrived."
A: "And still no welcome for your sister. You are taking me out for dinner."
S: "Alexis."
Stefan took her by the shoulders and she could see how preoccupied he was.
A: "Don't take that tone with me, Mister." Alexis said lightly.
S: "Tell me about Helena." Stefan insisted a little more calmly.
A: "She sailed here from down the coast. You know how she likes the water."
S: "Do you have any indication of her plans?"
Alexis shrugged.
A: "Only what I told you. She stole the report Laura's doctor made after she
saw her. She had people in town, but you took care of them, right?"
S: "Yes. Nothing else?"
A: "She had some of them investigating Mr. Spencer's movements around the time
Stavros disappeared. Tell me he's dead."
S: "I'm afraid not."
A: "Now tell me this room isn't bugged."
S: "I had it checked." Stefan reassured her.
A: "Since I'm jetlagged, I'm going to take a nap. Then you're taking me out to
dinner. The nicest place this insignificant little town has."
S: "I suppose there is no point in trying to reason with you?"
A: "None whatsoever." Alexis hugged him on her way out the door.
The woman who was on her way up to his guestroom didn't look formidable. She
would fool any human into thinking she was one of them.
Stefan had called on Alexis in order to trump Helena. She was to distract her
from finding Stavros and from her plans for Laura and help deal with her when
Helena moved her plans into action.
But Alexis was a flawed weapon of war. He had done his best to defang her. To
defeat the violent instincts that guide a vampire. Now he was asking her to be
what he had taught her all of her life to deny, and resist within herself. It
was unfair and regrettable. And it was necessary.

Chapter 12

Alexis knew where Helena would be. It was evening and Helena's feeding time.
Alexis watched the yacht until the elegant figure of her stepmother stepped
toward her and Alexis revealed herself. She enjoyed the little hint of shock
that Helena masked almost immediately.
A: "Why, Helena, is that you? My, my, but Port Charles is becoming vampire
central." Alexis intoned imitating Helena a little.
H: "It is truly laughable that Stefan is so desperate he considers you an asset
in his fight."
A: "Fight? What fight? I thought we were all one big happy family. Mama
vampire, step vampire, bastard vampire. Yes, that's all. Didn't there used to
be more of us? I would swear. Did I forget someone?"
H: "If you are trying to tell me that Stavros is dead..."
A: "Oh, that's who I forgot. Drunken vampire."
H: "You are only making it clear to me that he is not dead." Helena stated
with a razor sharp edge in her tone.
A: "Yeah. I bet he's not. I bet he's just hiding from you." Alexis baited
her shamelessly.
H: "He is stronger than any of you. He cannot be killed." There was a hint of
desperation crumbling the blind faith as Helena said this.
A: "He's not invincible. He is a monster. And you envy him. You envy me."
Alexis's words were like stabs at Helena. They hit the mark, but Helena hid it.
H: "Never." Helena denied, looking at Alexis disdainfully.
A: "Oh, yes. Don't lie. I have what you've always wanted, true power."
H: "And you waste it. You are beneath my contempt."
A: "Did you forget the pecking order? Didn't anyone show you the chart? First
there are real vampires. That would be me, stepmother dearest. Then there are
half vampires. That would be you. Just one step away from ordinary humans."
H: "You are nothing, girl."
A: "I am a real vampire, a real Cassadine. That's who I am and you'll never
be. You wanted it so desperately, but that darned glass ceiling. Once a human,
always at least partly human. Who would have guessed that that tiny speck of
humanity you hide so well would be holding you back?"
H: "I am more a vampire and more a Cassadine than you will ever be."
A: "Face it. You were a vessel, a container for the next prince. After that
you were useless. You were a means for this cursed clan to perpetuate itself.
You are just the rat that carried the plague. A way for the death and depravity
to spread."
H: "You are talking about yourself, girl. And your wretched mother. She
carried a disease and gave birth to it. Until I put her out of her misery.""
Alexis seemed on the verge of attacking Helena when they both heard it.
Footsteps and a beating heart.
They turned to his hiding spot. He was too far to have overheard them. But
Helena went straight for him, anyway.
A: "Not so fast." Alexis said placing a hand on Helena's shoulder.
Helena had her teeth in place and she turned to glare at Alexis. Alexis only
smiled back coldly.
A: "You're not dressed for hand to hand combat. Why don't you and your
designer cloths get out of here." Alexis warned her, making plain her intention
to stop her in whatever way was necessary.
Helena considered calling Alexis's bluff. But she really wasn't dressed for a
scuffle on the street with her stepdaughter.
Alexis waited for her to leave before she went over to the corner where the man
still waited.
A: "You don't have the brains God gave a gerbil." She said to the blond man
whom she recognized as Luke Spencer.
Lk: "Can't a man mind his own business any more?" Luke said nonchalantly.
A: "You're minding Cassadine business and we both know it."
Lk: "And who are you? The Cassadine guard dog?"
A: "That doesn't sound flattering. But if you're calling me a bitch, let's
just say I don't hold a candle to the woman that just left."
Lk: "No one'd mistake her for a human. I know all about her."
A: "I doubt that." Alexis said emphatically, wondering if he really knew
something.
Lk: "She is a bitch from Hell. I want to know about you."
A: "Did I neglect to introduce myself, Mr. Spencer?"
Lk: "Why so formal, call me Luke. And you are?"
He actually extended his hand but Alexis only looked at it.
A: "Alexis Davis."
Lk: "Damn. And I would have sworn you were one of them."
A: "One of whom?"
Lk: "Who are we talking about? The Cassadines, babe."
A: "Only by blood. I am a cousin."
Lk: "Then there's no hope for you either."
A: "If I was betting, I would give you the worse odds."
Lk: "So what's your deal, lady? Why are you in my town?"
A: "That's right, you're the mayor of this quaint little burgh. Are you the
one to whom I should complain about the lack of street lights on this corner?"
Lk: "Not my department. But while you've got Helena's ear, give her a message
for me."
Alexis smiled indulgently.
A: "I'm not a messenger. Tell her yourself."
Then she stopped smiling.
A: "But make out your will first. You wouldn't want to leave your wife and kid
destitute."
Luke's face became hard at the mention of Laura and the baby. But all he was
left glaring at was Alexis's back as she walked away.

Chapter 13

S: "I wanted you two to meet." Stefan said as Alexis walked in the door to
find Stefan with Laura at his house.
The two women stood still and measured each other. Laura attempted a weak
smile.
S: "Laura this is my sister, Alexis Davis. Alexis..."
Alexis didn't let him finish as she breezed into the room.
A: "It's been quite a day for me. I had the pleasure of confirming that Helena
suspects Stavros is alive. I met your husband. Lurking, skulking, almost
getting himself drained dry by Helena. Now to top it off, I get to make the
acquaintance of the famous Laura...well, might as well be Cassadine now."
L: "What?" Laura asked indignantly.
A: "You're one of us." Alexis explained evenly.
L: "I haven't joined any vampire covens. I am my own person." Laura retorted
indignantly.
A: "You mean, your own vampire, right?"
L: "Now that the introductions are over, I'll be going." Laura said seething.
S: "I would like to speak with you." Stefan told Laura as he asked Alexis with
his eyes to give them some privacy.
Alexis rolled her eyes and left them alone.
L: "Your sister is just lovely. I guess while you were raising her not to be a
vampire you forgot to teach her ordinary human manners."
S: "She does not trust you. She believes that you are a liability."
Laura frowned wondering how much truth there was in that.
L: "So what did you want to talk about?"
S: "Since Helena suspects that Stavros is not dead. We have to keep her from
finding him."
L: "We can't even reach him under the foundation to make sure he is dead, or to
kill him if he isn't." Laura mused worriedly.
S: "If it wasn't for Helena, I would not hesitate to tear down the whole
building. But we're being watched."
L: "Wouldn't we know if someone was following us."
S: "It depends on the distance. And Helena would know to warn her people to
keep back. Unfortunately, we are still just as vulnerable to electronic
surveillance."
L: "But not in here?"
S: "The place is swept for bugs, that is why I had you meet me here."
L: "Is there something you want me to do?"
S: "You must keep Luke from revealing where he buried Stavros."
L: "He isn't going to do that."
S: "He is the weak link, Laura. If he should let it slip."
L: "He won't. He didn't even want to tell me."
S: "He doesn't know what is at stake."
L: "That's because I am lying to him." Laura said with a raised eyebrow.
S: "Truth is not an option."
L: "Easy for you to say. It's my marriage that's on the line."
Stefan was silent, but Laura read something in his look.
L: "You don't think my marriage has a future." Laura accused.
S: "I think that Stavros accomplished a great deal of what he set out to do."
Stefan said with a pained expression on his face.
L: "And what would that be, exactly?"
S: "I think he was trying to reclaim you in the surest way he knew."
L: "Make me a vampire. Tie me to him and drive Luke away at the same time."
Stefan only nodded but Laura saw more in it.
L: "You think that too. That this will separate me from Luke?!"
S: "It already has."
L: "We will get back what we had. Luke will come to terms with this." Laura
proclaimed trying to keep desperation and any hint of uncertainty out of her
voice.
S: "Once you tell him, you mean. We will see."
Stefan sounded smug.
L: "Is that what you're counting on?! That Luke won't want me like this and
you can finally have me all to yourself?"
S: "I am counting on you to come to your senses and realize that you don't
belong with him!"
L: "And when am I supposed to do this?! Before or after I have his baby?!"
S: "You are very stubborn, I expect it will be after." Stefan said in a matter
of fact tone.
L: "You're so cold blooded. It really suits you. You and your mother. You
may not have been born Cassadines or a vampires, it's the same thing after all,
but it's what you were meant to be. Stay the hell away from me!" With these
words Laura stormed out.
Her dismissal stung him. It hurt but Stefan knew that she needed him. It was
reprehensible to think like that. To see his entry in her misfortune. But she
wasn't something he could choose to give up. She was a necessity.
He was necessary to her in another way. He was all she had.
Stefan did feel cold, just as she had accused him. He considered all the angles
and calculated the maximum gain. It was how Helena thought. The process was
too useful to him now to be rejected for its origins. He had so much from her.
If he tried to get rid of it all there would be nothing left. He had no other
source.
Becoming a vampire had been inevitable for him. Stefan lived among them,
touching a life, an existence alien to most. His knowledge alone tied him to
the family. He was in their midst but as a lesser being, as far as they were
concerned. Now, he could have stood with them almost as an equal, if there were
any left that mattered.
Stefan knew the only one that mattered to him was Mikkos. Mikkos may not have
regarded him as a son, but Stefan couldn't help but think of him as his father.
He could not replace him in his mind with a faded image of a young guard stupid
enough to be seduced by Helena and then brutally killed.
Helena relished telling him his real father's fate. Her mostly fabricated
descriptions made their way into many of his nightmares. But the face was his
own. Stefan couldn't summon up the features from the photographs Mikkos had
showed him once.
Mikkos had introduced the subject, showed him two photographs that included
Alexei, told him a few stories, then never brought it up again. Stefan had been
silent. He didn't even smile at the appropriate places in the stories. He
didn't ask questions. He absorbed it silently, later wondering if it had all
been real. 'My father, my father, my father' Repeated in his brain, playing
over the words and the images.
It was all meaningless. That man had never touched him. He didn't know the
sound of his voice or how tall he was. His character was a faint impression
from Mikkos's scant remembrances and Helena's venomous slanders. No one else in
the household dared to speak of him just as Stefan never dared to ask.
After Mikkos died, Stefan surreptitiously searched for the old photographs he
had been shown. He never found them. One of them was of Alexie, in his guard's
uniform, holding baby Stavros. The irony was so sharp as to be almost
physically painful to Stefan.

Alexis had heard Laura leave in a huff. That woman made her furious.
Ungrateful bitch. Alexis came down the stairs silently. Just like she had so
many times when they were children. She loved to sneak up on him, catch him
unawares, and see his honest face, unprepared for her. It was there now. So
many complex emotions, like quickly turning pages of a book, just a glimpse, but
too fast to read. Alexis sat down on the stairs and just looked at him.

Chapter 14

L: "You knew that this would happen. It's not like I have anyone else. And
with Helena in town, I have no choice but to turn to you." These were the first
words out of Laura's mouth as she came toward Stefan, half way between their
houses.
She had called him. Bobbie had come by the house nagging her about prenatal
care, armed with pamphlets and questions.
It was all useless to Laura, but it did make her realize that there were
preparations to make.
Stefan stopped at her accusing tone and took a deep breath.
S: "I did not create this situation and I do not wish to profit from your
misfortune."
L: "Our misfortune." Laura corrected him mildly.
She took a deep breath too.
L: "I'm sorry. I just had an hour with my sister-in-law. She worked my last
nerve."
S: "I'm sorry." Stefan said only a little coldly.
L: "I know this isn't your fault. We are in the same boat. It just seems to
me that you're coping with it so much better. And you know so much more. And
you have Alexis."
S: "She is here to help both of us."
L: "No. She is here to help you."
S: "What has you worried?"
L: "You mean what did it take to override my pride. The visit from Bobbie.
I'm scared about the birth." Laura admitted.
S: "Your concerns about the birth are valid. With your heightened senses,
anything that was once painful will be even more so now. But only until you
become accustomed to your new senses."
L: "Oh my God! I didn't even think of that. I'll be in agony." Laura looked
down at her swollen belly.
S: "We will take measures."
L: "What measures? Drugs?"
S: "I have made arrangements for a hypnotist..."
L: "You are kidding!" Laura asked in disbelief.
S: "No. Drugs would be ineffective on your new system. The hypnotist is an
expert. With her help, you will be able to block some of the pain you will
experience."
L: "Oh my God."
S: "It will be all right. I promise you."
L: "Easy for you to say."
S: "No it is not."
L; "What are you going to say next? That you'd change places with me if you
could?"
S: "I won't be so banal."
L: "Good!"
S: "The child's condition will not be apparent upon birth. But yours will be.
Therefore, you cannot have this baby in a hospital. They cannot do anything for
you anyway."
L: "What if something goes wrong? That's what worries me."
S: "Laura. The usual complications won't matter to you or your baby."
L: "So nothing can go wrong?"
S: "I don't know. I have no experience with this. I have read books, that is
the extent of my expertise."
Stefan was visibly upset.
L: "And do these books mention any problems when the mother and child are both
vampires."
S: "No. The only danger is when the mother is human."
Laura looked at Stefan closely. The way he looked at her touched her.
L: "I know you worry. I am leaning on you so much."
S: "It's fine."
L: "It's only because you are equal to it. You are always there when I need
you most. I didn't even know you existed and then there you were just the one I
needed."

A powerful sense of anticipation had cursed through her ever since she had
formed her plan. It gave her steps an extra urgency as she walked to meet
Stefan in a secluded spot on the island.
L: "I have a way to prevent it." She told him as soon as he turned around at
her footsteps.
S: "What?"
L: "I know a sure way that I won't have to have Stavros's baby."
Laura didn't say anything more. She went and stood close to Stefan, holding him
with her eyes. She put her arms around him and leaned against him. Her lips
were to his ear.
L: "Give me a child." She whispered, her voice making it a demand.
Stefan stood back, away from her. A blush was on her face, then it was gone.
Her eyes told him how serious she was.
He couldn't believe it. What she was asking him. To give her a child. To kill
her as surely as any vampire.
S: "You don't know what you're saying."
L: "Don't I? Having a vampire child will kill me."
S: "Having any child other than a vampire one will also kill you."
L: "I don't want his child!"
S: "You don't want mine either." Stefan said with regret.
L: "You don't know everything."
She walked away.

Chapter 15

Stefan looked at her, wondering what she was thinking. For a moment she was
somewhere else, then her focus was on the present again.
L: "So, I'll have my baby at home."
S: "That would not be the best place. Luke or others might happen in and see
something they shouldn't."
L: "Where then?"
S: "My house, if you don't object. We can control who comes and goes. And it
is close to your own home."
L: "You said you arranged for a hypnotist?"
S: "Yes. She will have a session with you once labor starts. And there will
be a special midwife."
L: "Special?"
S: "She has experience with vampire births. She may be the only one in the
world who does."
L: "Does Helena know about her?"
S: "She was there when Stavros was born."
L: "And we can trust her?" Laura asked skeptically.
S: "She is loyal to the family, not to Helena."
L: "I don't want some strange midwife I don't trust while I'm giving birth.
Can't you help me?"
S: "I've told you I have no experience..."
L: "You do. I know. Not with a vampire baby. I'd still rather have you."
S: "She is not someone Helena can buy, and we need her."
Laura saw that they had arrived at Stefan's gate.
L: "I have more questions."
S: "Then we should go inside. I think you have had enough sun."

Stefan went into his study to make a phone call and Laura wandered into a
sitting room where she found Alexis. Laura turned to leave then changed her
mind. If Alexis was going to be around, she might as well make use of her.
L: "What do you think about this midwife idea? You know about it, right?"
A: "I know all about it. She was there at my birth and I'm still here. I
think that's proof that the woman is incorruptible." Alexis said arrogantly,
surprised that Laura would ask her opinion.
L: "Is she a vampire, too? She would be really old otherwise."
A: "She is a vampire but she is still an old woman. Very unusual."
L: "I thought vampires stayed young."
A: "They do, when they are made into vampires in time. She was already old
when she was changed. Mikkos did it after I was born. He wanted to preserve
her skill and her knowledge. She had an apprentice, but she died. Mikkos
thought he might have more kids, sons, and if she died all her knowledge would
be lost."
L: "I don't like this. What you know about her is decades old, before Mikkos
died and before she became a vampire." Laura said, agitated.
A: "It doesn't matter if you don't like it. You need her." Alexis said
dismissively.
L: "Like I need you."
Alexis only smiled. Laura did need her. And she wanted to get whatever
information she could out of her before the urge to strangle her became
overwhelming.
L: "You've been keeping tabs on Helena. Why did she wait so long?"
A: "She was waiting for you and that kid."
Alexis waved her hand in the general direction of Laura's belly.
L: "What do you mean?"
A: "She was wondering the same thing that everyone else is. If that baby might
not be Stavros's. She can be pretty sure now that it isn't, since you became a
vampire and your baby isn't dead."
L: "She can't be positive, though."
A: "You mean the myth? I don't think Helena believes in it. Anyway, whatever
her plans are, they probably still have to do with your child. It makes sense
doesn't it? A child for a child."
L: "God, no." Laura gasped.
A: "Didn't you realize this?"
L: "I didn't want to..."
A: "God, you're pathetic."
L: "Because I don't want to think about someone hurting my baby?!"
A: "Because you run and hide and pretend you don't know what's going on so you
can play the innocent while everyone else suffers!"
Alexis stood up in anger as she spoke.
L: "You mean Stefan."
A: "Yes, you bet I mean Stefan. I don't care that you lead your husband by the
nose. How is Stefan supposed to let go of you when you keep clinging to him?"
L: "What choice do I have? What would you do in my place?"
A: "I wouldn't be in your place. You being a vampire complicates everything."
L: "No kidding."

Stefan walked in on the two of them and Alexis excused herself.
L: "I was asking Alexis for her opinion."
S: "I am sure she didn't hesitate in giving it."
L: "And more. It seems that there is no choice about the midwife. We have to
have her. So, fine. But you can't leave my side."
S: "I wasn't planning to."
L: "Good. And afterwards. Once I get through this and I have my baby. What
then? How will I take care of the baby?"
S: "To start with, we can abide sunlight, but it weakens us, saps our energy.
But a newborn vampire has no tolerance for it. It would sear his skin,
prolonged exposure would do serious damage. He should be gradually exposed to
sunlight in ever increasing increments until he is accustomed to it."
L: "What would I do without you here? What would either one of us do." Laura
asked feeling overwhelmed.
S: "He is not to be given blood under any circumstances or he will become
dependant on it. You must be very careful not to allow him to bite you or
anyone else, as his instincts will lead him to do."
L: "You mean when he's older?"
S: "No. He will have his vampire teeth within days of being born. You should
train him to keep them retracted. It will take some time and patience."
L: "OK. Then how do I breastfeed?"
S: "Breastfeeding is out of the question. At first, he will refuse all normal
food. You must persevere and not give in. When he is hungry enough, he will
partake the food you offer."
L: "I have to let my newborn baby go hungry?"
S: "It is necessary if we are to minimize the effects of his vampirism. Just
as his instincts will lead him to crave blood, they will also keep him from
starving. He won't refuse food for long."
L: "That sounds so cruel."
S: "I know. But consider the alternative."

Alexis heard Laura leave with Stefan. Some time later Stefan came back by
himself.
A: "So, you're making plans for the little demon seed?"
S: "Alexis!"
A: "It only perpetuates things. It's never going to end this way."
S: "What would you have me do?"
A: "It's wrong. And no one can convince me differently."
S: "I know your views, Alexis."
A: "There shouldn't be any more of us. It's wrong for vampires to make any
more or to have children."
S: "Laura did not make a choice to have a vampire child. She didn't know..."
A: "That's it! She never knows. She walks around with blinders on, bumping
into things, breaking things. And it's willful. She isn't blind. She just
chooses not to know things so she doesn't have to deal with them. She makes me
sick."
S: "And I love her! And I do not wish to hear any more against her!"
A: "That's even worse."
Alexis took a breath.
A: "I'm done. I sorry you love her, because she doesn't deserve it. But it's
not like you chose to be in love with someone like that. I know it's not a
choice."
S: "Does that mean you forgive me?" Stefan asked sarcastically.
A: "All right. But the next time I mess up in some huge way, you owe me an
unconditional pardon."
S: "You're planning on 'messing up'?"
A: "No one plans those things. They just happen."

End Part One

Thirst

Part Two

Chapter 16

Laura had nearly passed out from the pain. Then it came again and again, more
frequently until Stefan came to get her. The hypnotist barely got trough to
her. After that, the pain seemed farther away, but not gone.
When the old woman, the vampire midwife, came into the room, Laura almost told
Stefan to make her leave. She was old, her skin was very white and every inch
of it was creased. Her eyes were dark, like black pebbles set in her head. But
it was her manner that put off Laura. There was no kindness there.
MW: "We should have met before, child." She said to Laura in a thick accent.
Her tight mouth did not seem to move when she spoke while standing imposingly
over Laura.
S: "Best not to mention that now." Stefan reprimanded her.
MW: "You must go, Master Cassadine. This is not your place. The young
Mistress will assist me."
The old woman nodded toward Alexis.
Alexis was hovering nearby, but not too close to the action. She looked at
Stefan for confirmation. She didn't want to be involved.
L: "He stays!" Laura growled at the old woman, showing her her teeth.
Since the pain had started Laura had found it impossible to keep them in.
S: "Laura, try to stay calm. I'm not going anywhere."
MW: "As you wish." The midwife acceded to their wishes with a little bow.
Alexis sat down relieved. She was already feeling queasy and the worst part
hadn't even started yet.

It took hours. A number of times Laura seemed on the verge of physically
attacking the midwife. The woman's words of encouragement only seem to enrage
Laura. Laura focused on Stefan.
When it was over, Laura was near exhaustion but she still smiled at the baby.
Alexis couldn't help herself. She went over to where Laura held the baby, while
Stefan held her. Laura cried and laughed at the same time. Alexis saw a messy
bundle, a little angry red face.
S: "Where did she go?"
A: "Who?" Alexis asked absently.
Stefan gave her a hard look, not wanting to alarm Laura. Alexis stopped peering
at the baby and looked around the room. The midwife wasn't there.
A: "I'll look."
Alexis tried to reassure herself that there was no cause to worry. There was a
good reason. But as she went from room to room she didn't find her.
Alexis smelled something. Gasoline. There was a noise outside. A sloshing,
then a sound that sent Alexis into near panic. A match being struck. Through
the window, Alexis saw a shadow, then flames leaping up.
Within moments the fire was everywhere, cutting her off from escape.

Stefan and Laura were surrounded by flames. The smoke choked Laura's words.
She tried to give the baby to Stefan. He didn't take him, instead taking both
Laura and the baby into his arms. But there was nowhere to go. Fire climbed
the walls and slithered across the ceiling.
Laura shielded the baby covering his face with a blanket. She was breathing
thick black smoke. She couldn't see. Everything was black.

S: "The truth cannot be hidden. Our child does not have a drop of vampire
blood in him. This will be evident to anyone who knows what to look for."
Stefan had been too worried to celebrate her news. They were outside on a cliff
facing the sea. It was midday and Laura shielded her eyes from the sun.
L: "I know it can be done." She said stubbornly.
S: "A vampire child feeds on his mother's blood."
L: "I feel nauseous. Do we have to do this lecture now?"
The thought of blood made her feel sick.
S: "You cannot let on that you are carrying a human child. There are things
you need to know." Stefan said sternly.
L: "Fine. But if I barf on your shoes, it's your own fault."
S: "Because of the blood loss, sometimes the mother does not survive.
Sometimes it is the baby that dies. Vampire births are rarely successful.
Helena barely survived bearing Stavros. And still father refused to make her
one of them. He feared what she might do to force the issue, so he kept her
away from Stavros. He thought she would use him to make herself a vampire
against his wishes."
L: "You're rambling." Laura interrupted with a frown.
S: "She'll know. Helena has had a vampire child and a human child. We cannot
fool her."
L: "Stop it! It's too late for that. It's done." Laura exclaimed
impatiently.
Stefan said nothing as he looked grim.
L: "I know. My doing."
S: "I was a willing participant. In any case, when Helena was in your
situation, she disappeared for a time."
L: "So she could hide. I can't do that."
S: "No. You will be under constant scrutiny."
L; "I don't think so. I'm about to be mother to the prince. Stavros is not
going to let anyone upset me." Laura stated confidently.
S: "Is that what you're counting on?"
L: "I have leverage. You said yourself having a vampire baby is tricky.
Helena can't be allowed to disturb my calm."
S: "You think you can make Stavros ask her to leave you alone."
L: "Tell her." Laura corrected him.
S: "No. It will be too obvious to Helena that you are concealing something."
L: "I'll be subtle. Maybe I can even get Stavros to banish her from the
island."

Helena wasn't exiled. But she was ordered in no uncertain terms to stay away
from Laura.
Laura and Stefan faked anemia so it would seem that the baby was feeding on her
blood. The drained blood made Laura weak, but it made her condition convincing.
S: "Since vampire births are problematic, it would not be unusual for either
the mother or the baby to die."
Laura understood.
L: "We fake the baby's death."
It was an awful thought. Too close to what she feared.
L: "How? There can't be a body."
S: "There wouldn't be, if he were a vampire."
L: "I hate this. Tell me."
S: "They fear fire, Laura. It would destroy the remains and it will keep them
away until the child is born and taken away to safety."
L: "Stavros will brave fire for his son."
S: "It is not a voluntary thing. Vampire bodies protect themselves. Stavros
has allowed himself to become too much of a vampire. It is almost impossible
for one like him to override the vampire self-preservation instinct. And he
will be too drunk."
L: "I don't like putting our baby in danger."
S: "It is already in danger. If you have a better plan...?"

Laura hid her first labor pains until she could find Stefan. They went to
separate part of the house. Laura gave birth and Stefan set a fire. The flames
cut them off from the rest of the household. No one could get to them. Stefan
had water ready to douse the flames that got too close. Laura held the baby
tightly as the fire grew around them.
They left through a hidden exit. The cool, night air seemed to cut into them.
Behind them, the fire burned out of control.
The old man waited for them. He was looking at the burning house. A fire so
that the baby's body would be presumed lost in the flames, turned to nothing as
a vampire's body would be expected to. Laura didn't look back. Her baby was
here and she didn't know how she would let him go.
There was noise and commotion getting nearer.
How could she bear to let him go?
S: "It's time." Stefan told her his voice rough from smoke.
Laura tried to give the baby to the man, but she couldn't. Her arms wouldn't
let go.
L: "I love you, I love you, I love you..." Laura kept repeating in a whisper
to the little face.
L: "Remember me. Remember your father. We love you."
S: "My precious one." Stefan whispered hoarsely and kissed the small forehead.
A tiny hand flew up and Stefan took it in his and kissed it.
S: "My Nikolas."
The man took the baby from them and with a curt nod he left. Laura knew there
was a small boat hidden somewhere, but she couldn't see it.
When they were no longer within sight, Laura sobbed convulsively. She made
herself stop.
S: "Laura, don't be afraid to cry. It's only natural for a mother to cry after
losing her child." Stefan's voice was flat.
L: "Oh God! How can you be so cold?" She accused him.
S: "Remember why we are doing this. Hold onto that, Laura, please." He begged
her.
Laura watched as tears filled his eyes then streamed down his face as his eyes
closed. It made Laura break down again.
Stavros found them at that moment. He looked bewildered. He didn't like what
he saw, but he didn't understand. Stefan told him about the child's death. For
a moment, Stavros took hold of Stefan and stared at him with rage and hatred.
Stefan thought that he might die then. Laura's distress drew Stavros's
attention away from Stefan. Loud keening sounds escaped her.
L: "He's dead! He's dead!" Laura screamed when Stavros put his arms around
her to comfort her.
She fought him and cried. Seeing her, Stefan knew that Stavros would be
convinced. The truth of her emotion was undeniable only its true reason was a
lie.

Stefan had smuggled the man onto the island in the days Laura was expected to
deliver. He hid until Laura gave birth. A sturdy old man, he lived in the
mountains on the mainland. Stefan had no doubt that he could survive on the
island and elude the guards for as long as it took.
The man would claim that the child was his son's bastard from the city. The son
had died and could not contradict the tale. The man owed Stefan, who knew his
son and had helped him. The old man was further persuaded by money that he
needed to marry his daughter properly. He was reticent and stern. No one would
dare question him about the baby. The villagers might gossip and speculate.
But not even the wildest speculation would hit on the truth.

Helena suspected. But she couldn't voice that suspicion. Without proof,
Stavros's wrath would turn toward her not his precious, grieving wife.

S: "Lies mixed with the truth are the most potent kind." Stefan said with
irony the next time they met.
Laura's eyes were filled with pain.
S: "If we want our son to live, we ca never speak of him while Helena is
alive."
L: "Then this is the last time."

Chapter 17

Laura found breathing painful and even through her closed eyelids the light was
too bright. Then it went out. It was only a lamp.
S: "The baby is all right." Stefan reassured her before she could ask.
L: "Where...?" Laura choked out from under the breathing mask.
S: "He is being brought here."
L: "How did we...?"
S: "Alexis brought down a wall."
L: "I owe her."
S: "Don't worry. She won't let you forget it."
L: "Tell me again that the baby is OK." Laura said hoarsely.
S: "He is fine. You'll see for yourself soon."
L: "Who did this?"
Stefan didn't answer her. His face became hard. Then the baby was brought in.
Laura saw all the quarantine procedures and looked at Stefan. The nurse
addressed him as Dr. Stephens.
L: "What's going on?" Laura asked once they were alone again.
Stefan explained that he was impersonating a doctor. He had arranged for a real
physician to take care of her and the baby and to say whatever was necessary to
cover for her condition. The doctor had put them in quarantine as a means of
keeping other medical personnel away from them.
Stefan picked up the baby from the carrier carefully, held him up.
S: "You are going to be all right." He promised him.
S: "He will." He added to Laura as he gave her her child.
Laura looked at him with gratitude, but she didn't say anything. What could she
say? No words could equal her feelings.
Stefan couldn't stay long without raising suspicions. He put a surgical mask
over his face and left.

Laura looked at the baby closely. He was beautiful beyond what Laura considered
possible. Laura looked at his mouth. He still had no teeth. Stefan had said
that he would, in a matter of days. Laura ran her fingertips over his face.
L: "You're perfect. Don't worry, don't worry."
She felt the tiny body rest in her hands. A warm weight, so small and trusting.
L: "I'm your Mommy." Laura said awed by the little being she held.

Luke watched as a doctor left Laura's room right after the baby was taken in.
He had just gotten there, ready to rush in. He was supposed to play the happy
father. His wife and kid nearly burned alive at a neighbor's house. Luke's
first thought was the Cassadines. He couldn't do any good here. He turned to
leave only to find himself facing Bobbie.
B: "My brother is a brand new father. Congratulations. Where are the cigars?"
Lk: "Am I?"
B: "I saw the baby, before those doctors came and took over."
Lk: "What doctors?"
B: "Some outside doctors came in. That's what I'm trying to tell you. You are
wrong about the baby. He's yours Luke and no one else's. But there is
something wrong. When they tested Laura and the baby they found something
strange. Both of them have some kind of exotic disease. That's why the other
doctors are taking care of them. Luke, she caught something while she was away
on that island. And she passed it on to the baby. That's what this has been
all about. The way she's been acting. She must have been so upset and
ashamed."
It made sense. It explained things. Some of them.
Lk: "I have to see her."
B: "They're both in quarantine. No one is allowed in except the special
doctors and nurses."
Lk: "I wanna see them. Let 'em try to keep me out."
Luke found that storming the quarantined area wasn't necessary. All it took was
word from Laura that she wanted to see him.
She was holding the baby and she looked beautiful. Luke wanted to believe.
Lk: "I got his name all picked out and everything." He said touching the
baby's blanket reticently.
L: "You do?"
Lk: "Lucky. What do you think of that? 'Cause he's one lucky little guy isn't
he?"
Luke reached over to the baby, his finger near his face.
Laura flinched. Then reminded herself that he didn't have teeth yet. Still, it
wasn't too early to establish her story. She pulled the baby away.
L: "Sorry."
Lk: "I know about the infection. I'm not worried."
L: "I'm sorry."
Lk: "It's not your fault, angel."
L: "I don't want you to catch it. It's bad enough..."
Lk: "I can wear gloves."
L: "I don't want to take any chances."
Laura lowered her eyes. It was a lie. And it would always be like that. She
didn't know how long she could keep the secret.
Lk: "And about what happened. Look, I can take care of everything."
L: "What do you mean?"
Lk: "That fire. That was no accident."
L: "No, Luke." Laura denied it.
Lk: "And who were those people that delivered our kid?"
L: "I don't know them. I went into labor while I was taking a walk. I
collapsed in front of their house."
Lk: "And they disappeared."
L: "Their house burned down, Luke. They probably went to stay somewhere.
Friends or family. They helped me and got me out. The fire was an accident."
More lies. But Laura couldn't risk giving Luke reason to go after the
Cassadines.
She had no doubt that Helena was responsible. This wasn't a fight Luke could
win.

Chapter 18

The doctors declared mother and child infected but contagious only when bodily
fluids were involved. They were sent home with orders to avoid the sun and
excessive physical contact.
Luke watched Laura with the baby. She never left Luke alone with his son for
more than a few minutes. She never let anyone touch him except for her. Even
Bobbie, a nurse, wasn't allowed to hold him.
That feeling that Luke was trying to push down was rising up again. Laura was
hiding something.
The baby cried constantly. At first he wouldn't eat. Not a thing. The doctor
said that was normal for his condition and that he would eat eventually.
The crying drove Luke crazy. He wanted to get the hell out. But there was the
threat. The one Laura wouldn't admit to.

Laura hadn't seen Stefan since the hospital. Luke was staying closer to home
since the fire. Stefan had called her. He reminded her of Lucky's special
needs, made sure they were all right, reassured her that Helena was being
watched and Laura and the baby were under guard.
L: "The midwife?"
S: "She failed, Laura. It's quite possible that Helena has killed her."
L: "You'll make sure?"
S: "Yes. I know I am the one who insisted on having her there."
L: "I don't blame you. You were only trying to make sure everything was done
right for me and the baby."
S: "My intentions aside, I almost got you and the baby killed."
L: "It turned out OK. But I don't want to think about that old witch being out
there. Just one more thing to add to my nightmares along with the fire and
Helena."
S: "If you ever need me know that I am only a phone call away."
L: "We're doing all right."

They weren't really. Laura felt exhausted from constantly keeping watch on
Lucky. And isolated. It was as if she were surrounded by enemies. It was like
before, when she was trying to keep her too human pregnancy hidden from the
Cassadines.
Not being human any more, she had to hide her and the baby's true nature. And
Luke was always around. He hovered and questioned her.
At least the baby was finally eating. The first time he took food, Laura cried.
Then he spit it up. It went better the next time.
The trouble was keeping his teeth hidden. They would come out and Laura would
push them back in with a tongue depressor. They were tiny and sharp. But they
had never tasted blood. And she was going to keep it that way.

Laura was asleep. The blinds kept out the noonday sun. She heard the baby coo
and awoke. Luke was taking him out of his crib. Laura wasn't sure she was
really seeing it. Maybe she wasn't awake. Then the baby started to cry, unused
to having anyone hold him but his mother.
Laura stood and took the baby from Luke.
Lk: "Is it a surprise that he cries. I'm like a stranger to him." Luke
groused.
L: "That's the way it has to be." Laura said curtly.
The baby still cried and Luke left the room, then the house.
Laura couldn't make the baby stop crying. His teeth wouldn't go back in. After
an hour, after she had tried everything, Laura called Stefan.
L: "I want you to come and look at him, just to make sure he's OK."
Laura questioned herself as soon as she hung up. Had it really been necessary?
Was she calling Stefan for the baby or for herself? She felt so alone.

Stefan had stayed away. Laura had all the instructions she needed. But Stefan
still worried. That child had been so small. And so hungry. He looked it him,
his fate to want what he couldn't have. Still, the child was not his. And
Laura.
The fire had brought back that night on the island. But they didn't dare speak
of it. Helena suspected the wrong thing. She suspected them of murdering a
child. Their own or Stavros's. The fire had been her message, her payback.
Keeping away from Laura had been so difficult for Stefan. Her proximity made it
a torture. She was hidden from view, locked away with Luke. He hated him. All
the violent instincts inside him awakened at the thought of that man. But they
couldn't be allowed free reign. It was as if he didn't have a feeling, a
thought, he didn't need to suppress or hide. His love and his hate were like a
poison, like his blood.

As soon as he arrived, Stefan heard the baby crying. He knocked lightly on the
back door. No one but a vampire would have been able to hear him.
L: "I think I'm overreacting." Laura said as she let him in.
Stefan went to the baby and held him.
S: "Did something trigger his hunger?" Stefan asked, speaking over the baby's
wail.
L: "Luke was holding him."
S: "Has he held him before?"
L: "No."
S: "You have to accustom the baby to human contact. Otherwise he will react
like this. He sees humans as food. You have to change that."
Lucky was quieting down a little.
L: "How? The teeth come out whenever..."
S: "It must be done with a human who is informed of the truth."
L: "Do you have someone like that? Because I don't."
S: "Considering the last person that I recommended to you, I don't know that
you should trust me."
L: "Well, I do. So who?"
S: "Mrs. Landsbury."
L: "I know her. OK. And it's not like I'll be leaving her alone with the
baby, right?"
S: "No. We can both be present if you like."
L: "Yes. We have to arrange some meetings then. It will give me a chance to
introduce the baby to sunshine."
The baby was already calming. Watching him with Stefan made Laura remember her
other baby. She knew that Stefan must have been remembering that too.
L: "When you're not here all I want to do is hide. When I look at you,
everything seems possible."
Stefan's look was too intense so Laura looked down at the baby.
S: "It's not me. I only bring you information."
L: "And courage."
Stefan's presence made her realize that to be a vampire was to be like him.
That wasn't so bad. For her or for her son.

When the door closed behind Stefan, Laura felt the familiar pang of regret.
With Luke, and everyone else, she felt like a freak. A thing too ugly to show
to anyone. A creature that belonged in darkness. With Stefan, she saw a
different version of what they were. Stricken, wounded beings, that didn't
fall. She was fighting urges that had defeated so many. And she was fighting
for two and she was winning.
L: "We're going to see Mister Sunshine."
The baby looked at the door through which Stefan had just left.
L: "No, silly. Not him. He's not Mister Sunshine. He's Mister Gloomy Gus.
Can you say Gloomy Gus?"
The baby smiled at her playfulness. Laura tickled him and the baby responded
with a gurgle and an even brighter smile.
L: "Who's my little vampire? Who's my little vampybaby? Is it you? Is it
you?"
The baby giggled.
L: "Maybe he is Mister Sunshine. What do you think?" Laura asked the baby
giving him a beaming smile.

Chapter 19

Luke had taken to prowling the docs. He was practically a regular now, along
with all the other seamy figures that hung around there looking for trouble or a
trick or a victim. He watched the Cassadine yacht, once Mikkos's, sway in the
wake of a passing boat. The vessel gleamed with the reflection of the setting
sun. Maybe it hypnotized him, because Helena was standing in front of his nose
and he hadn't seen her sneak up on him.
Lk: "You should be more careful, or you'll sneak up on the wrong person and..."
Luke made a cutting motion with his finger across his throat.
Helena followed the pantomime with a half smile, then she laughed.
H: "Mr. Spencer, it is not the sneak that has to worry, it is the person who is
so careless as to be sneaked upon."
He hadn't seen her up close before. Unmistakably dangerous, alluringly
beautiful, in that scary Cassadine way. That tight smile, controlled, precise,
cold. Her skin was very white and almost transparent. He could see the blue of
her veins underneath. But only a fool would think she was delicate. She was a
thin, sharp blade between the ribs. Why would a thing like that be beautiful?
It was a perversion, a cosmic joke.
Lk: "So you trolling for sailors, toots?"
H: "In a matter of speaking."
She was standing too close, breathing too much of his air.
Lk: "You can afford it." Luke sneered.
Helena looked offended and stepped back.
H: "So crude. I try not to think of what a boor you are. Because you are very
important to me."
Luke smirked.
H: "Did you know that our fates were entwined?"
Lk: "Yeah. Sure. And I've made it my mission to unentwine them."
H: "Are you sure you are willing to do what it takes? To sever the connection?
To remove the link?"
Lk: "One down, one to go."
H: "No. Think closer to home. Think of Laura. And that child. You must
suspect. You're not wrong. Look at them. Look at them closely. Who are they
to you really? Sever them." Helena hissed.
Darkness seemed to gather around her and take her out of his sight.

Maybe he was hypnotized, because he looked. It was nearly ten, and they were
both wide awake. Laura was playing with Lucky and she smiled at Luke when he
came in. She talked baby talk to the kid. Luke had no idea why she looked so
happy. He didn't want to ask and see her avert her eyes or look at him steadily
and say nothing. I can't read you, angel. Not any more.

The sessions with Mrs. Landsbury had gone well. So Laura allowed Luke to take
Lucky for ever increasing intervals.
Luke was happy about the change. The time he spent with his son revealed
something to him. The connection he felt with the child was tenuous. That
feeling, that he wasn't his, that he was part something else would crop up. The
pale little child had Laura's eyes. It should have been enough. But there was
a gulf between what he should feel and what he felt.

Laura was busy. Luke took the baby out. Just in front of the house. It was a
nice day. He wanted the boy to enjoy it. He wasn't sure if the kid had ever
been outside. Laura kept him cooped up all the time, wouldn't let him out of
her sight. It wasn't healthy. He knew it must be the guilt. That she made him
sick.
S: "What are you doing?"
Luke didn't recognize him right away, but he sure as hell didn't like his tone.
Then he remembered.
Lk: "You're one of the docs that took care of my kid and Laura."
S: "Yes. And your son should not be outside."
Stefan went over to the baby carriage. Luke watched with dismay as Stefan
picked up his son. He covered the baby well with his blanket.
S: "Is it too bright for you out here?" Stefan asked the baby in a soft voice.
He looked at him carefully as if examining him.
S: "You are all right. You are just fine." He assured the child.
Luke held himself back. What was it about his son that he didn't know?
Laura froze on the front step.
S: "Mrs. Spencer. I thought you understood the directions that Dr. Newman and
I gave to you prior to your release from the hospital?" Stefan spoke as he
brought the baby to Laura who took him just inside the doorway.
L: "I did. I do. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."
Laura watched Stefan leave. Luke watched her. Laura felt shaky. Her two lives
were colliding.
L: "He can't be outside for that long, Luke. His condition."
Lk: "It's only been a few minutes."
L: "OK. But check with me next time."
Lk: "Yeah, sure."
How could anyone say the baby was his? He was rationed out measly minutes with
him. And that doctor just grabbed him up.

Chapter 20

Helena glided in. The guards had been no problem. The shabby little house.
How pathetic. She had seen Laura's shadow through a window. Her people had
seen Luke leave. A doorbell and a delivery man occupied Laura away from her
baby. There he was, kicking in his crib.
H: "Hungry little vampire, your slutty mother has been neglecting you, hasn't
she?" Helena cooed.
Laura heard something. The delivery man tried to keep her, but this only made
her more suspicious. She pushed him out the door roughly ignoring the package
and the clipboard he thrust out at her. She ran to Lucky.
There was a dark figure bending over him. Laura grabbed it fiercely spinning it
around.
L: "You!"
Helena smiled at her evilly.
H: "My dear, I'd heard your happy news. You finally had one that survived."
Laura grabbed her around the neck but Helena easily dragged her hands away.
Laura then tried to hit her but Helena moved aside easily and laughed. Feeling
the difference in their strengths, Laura became more cautious. She moved so
that she stood between the baby and Helena. She reached over and touched him
without looking. He moved under her hand and made a contented sound. Expecting
an attack, she didn't dare move her eyes away from Helena.
A noise at the back door nearly made her jump out of her skin.
S: "Laura!"
L: "Here!" Laura answered.
Stefan looked relieved for a moment, then he caught sight of Helena.
H: "Does your husband know you get back door visits from a former lover?"
L: "I found her standing over Lucky."
Laura looked at the baby and saw no sign that anything was wrong.
S: "Is the child all right?"
L: "I think so."
Laura thought back. Something she saw.
L: "She was holding something in her hand."
Laura moved toward Helena who was between them now. Stefan took something sharp
out of his coat. Helena glanced at it and snickered. Stefan held a switchblade
in his hand.
H: "You threaten me with that thing?" Helena said in a bemused tone.
S: "It can slice your throat in a second. It will incapacitate you so we can
do the rest." Stefan explained coldly.
While Helena was distracted, Laura grabbed for her hand and snatched a bottle of
blood from her. Laura was horrified realizing what Helena was about to do. The
irreparable damage that might have been done to her child. Examining the bottle
closely, she saw it was still full.
L: "You bitch." Laura said in a threatening whisper.
H: "I was only doing what you, as that child's mother, should have done
yourself."
L: "I'll kill you." Laura promised.
H: "You are depriving that child. What kind of mother are you? Are you deaf to
his cries?"
Laura was silent. She could kill her. Laura eyed Stefan's knife. Just as she
reached for it, Luke came through the front door. Helena was gone in an instant
and Stefan followed after her.
Laura picked up the baby and cradled him. He had come so close to disaster.
Luke walked into the bedroom sensing something was wrong. Laura just shook her
head and forced a smile.

Laura arranged a meeting with Stefan for the next day. She went for a walk.
Stefan waited then fell into step with her.
L: "What happened to the damn guards?" Laura asked with understandable anger.
S: "Helena killed them. They were injected with poison. It paralyzed them
first. There was no struggle for you to overhear and no blood to alert you to
their fate. They did not check in, that's how I knew to come. I'm sorry. I've
failed you again." Stefan stated with minimal emotion.
L: "I know you're doing the best you can. I should have been more careful."
Laura tried to keep calm.
S: "I was afraid of this. That Helena had plans for your child. It was the
reason she waited."
L: "Alexis told me the same thing. She already tried to kill us. I guess this
is the next best thing. Make Lucky like her."
The baby was well covered, but Laura still walked quickly until they reached
shade. They were standing across from the burned remains of Stefan's house.
There was only a ruined black husk left. This was what Helena meant for her.
The aftermath of the island fire had been different. Stone walls were blackened
but still standing. Everything was charred, the windows stood gaping, giving a
glimpse of the darkness within.
The trees in Stefan's garden, which had once given them shade, had their
branches burned away. Stefan remembered how they flamed like torches. Smoke
had billowed high into the sky. With Alexis help, he had brought Laura and
Lucky out. They reached fresh air and collapsed. Sirens blared from far off
then got painfully close. The baby didn't breathe. The smoke and heat had
scorched his lungs. Laura seemed hardly alive. Stefan knew that it wasn't as
bad as it seemed. Their curse was their gift. They would recover, and be
called miracles.
Laura stared at the burned wreck of his house. She saw Helena's intent there.
L: "What are we going to do? She won't stop until she has done something
terrible. I want her gone, Stefan. She isn't that strong."
S: "At the moment, it isn't a matter of her strength. She has disappeared. I
lost her after we left your house. Alexis and our people are looking..."
L: "But she won't resurface until she is ready to strike again. It's fitting
that she isn't human any more. But it makes it harder to get to her, doesn't
it?"
S: "Yes. Mikkos saw how dangerous she would be as a vampire. That's why she
only got her way after he died. Stavros was afraid of him and refused to
disobey his order until after his death. Stavros almost killed her in the
process. He never had the requisite self-control. She waited all her life to
become this, to have this power." Stefan's face was grim.
L: "And now we're paying for it."
Laura knew that he was thinking as she was, of all the terrible ways Helena
could hurt them.
L: "There are two of us."
S: "Three." Stefan corrected her.
L: "Right. When she is found, we can finish her."
S: "Laura, she knows that. She won't let herself be found."

Chapter 21

Luke rushed trough traffic clogged by construction. Then he stopped, still in
view of the building.
The phone call had come minutes ago. Laura's voice, panicked.
L: "Luke?"
Lk: "Angel."
L: "They are about to find him."
Lk: "Who? How...?"
L: "We have to do something."
Lk: "How do you...?"
L: "I have to stop them. I'm going over there."
And she hung up.
It was Laura's voice that had sent him rushing to where he had hidden Stavros's
body. He looked for her but she wasn't there. And she wouldn't be. He was a
fool. A voice on the phone and he was about to give it away. Luke went over to
a phone booth and called home. There was no answer. But that didn't mean
anything. He turned around and walked home, his eyes watching for anyone that
might have followed him.

Helena received a phone call.
H: "An office building over my son's grave. Not what I would consider a
fitting monument."
It was so tawdry, just as she would expect from Laura and her husband.
H: "Arrange for a demolition immediately."
Helena let a self-satisfied expression creep over her face. She was only days
from having her precious Stavros back.

The house was empty when Luke got there. His heart sank a little when he
realized he had no idea where Laura and the baby could be.
She was drifting farther away from him all the time. He didn't know her and he
didn't know how to get her back.
He thought he had her back then. Until Stavros.

Disposing of the body, Luke had found that he could not remove the post that was
stuck into the Cassadine's chest. It just wouldn't budge. Like it had put down
roots. It made the body a hell of a lot harder to deal with. And he had no
time to waste. Laura was a mess.
She pulled away from him more and more after that. She wore a happy mask. But
she was quiet and he could startle her just by walking into the room.

Laura came in with the baby both of them all bundled up.
Lk: "I think I just made a big mistake."
L: "Hold on. I want to put Lucky down."
Lk: "This isn't the kind of thing that can wait." Luke said gravely.
L: "What?"
Laura held the baby tighter and waited.
Lk: "The bitch tricked me. Helena. You didn't make any phone calls to my
office?"
L: "Today? No."
Lk: "I led her right to where the body is hidden."
L: "What? No, Luke."
Lk: "Yeah. It's not like she didn't suspect. But we should get ready for some
legal trouble and get the hell out..."
Laura's mind reeled.
L: "No. You don't understand. And I can't leave."
Lk: "What?"
L: "I can't go."
Laura left the room hurriedly. She put the baby down, even though he was
fussing. She went to make a phone call but Luke stepped into the bedroom.
Lk: "Who were you going to call?"
Laura froze. Her mind was a blank. The idea that Stavros would be found had
sent her into a blind panic.
L: "I don't know. No one I guess."
Luke watched her with suspicion. She put the receiver down and looked straight
ahead, preoccupied.
He was again saying something about leaving. Laura shook her head absently.
This was too important. Stefan had to know. Luke too. But maybe it wasn't
that bad. Stavros might be dead, unrecoverable. And there was time. Helena
couldn't get to him.
Luke was saying something in a raised voice. Laura interrupted him heedlessly.
L: "Luke, can anyone get to the body? Can they reach it to get it out?"
Lk: "No. There's a building on top of it." Luke answered, irritated.
L: "Only if they tore down the building then. Helena has the money. She can
buy it and tear it down."
Lk: "Lets use that time to get out of town."
L: "No. I do want to make some phone calls."
Laura looked at Luke letting him know she wanted privacy. He stared her
incredulously. Then turned around and left. He wanted to storm out, but he
knew he couldn't under the circumstances.
L: "Stefan. Helena knows where Stavros is." Laura said in a voice Luke
couldn't overhear.
S: "Do I need to ask how she found out?"
L: "Does it matter now? Can you block the sale of that place?"
S: "It will be my first priority. Laura, you shouldn't stay. Jut in case."
L: "Run? I don't believe it. That's what Luke wants to do. No. I can't
leave and then spend sleepless nights, or days, waiting for him. We either stop
Helena form getting to him or we get to him first and we finish him off."
S: "I'll do my best."
Stefan hung up and Laura quieted Lucky. She could hear Luke pace and seethe.
She went to him.
L: "I called in a favor. To block the sale. I'm sorry, I can't tell you who.
It's kind of tricky."
Lk: "You're playing with our lives! You won't leave. The mysterious phone
calls."
Luke was furious.
L: "I explained that."
Lk: "But you didn't explain who. Are we on the same side any more?"
L: "Of course we are."

It was a clear night. The sky was a deep blue-black. A crisp wind moved the
leaves so they shooshed. The sound was soothing.
Laura sat on her back steps in her nightgown and a robe. Lucky slept on her
lap. Stefan was a few feet away. They spoke in very low whispers while Luke
slept inside.
L: "Maybe she won't find him or maybe he can't be revived or the blast might
kill him."
S: "Laura we can't count on that. You can't base your actions on wishful
thinking."
L: "All I have right now is either wishful thinking or blind panic." Laura
warned Stefan.
S: "We have to be prepared for the worst so we can deal with it."
L: "How do we deal with it exactly? Let's do the math. You, me, and let's not
forget, Alexis against Helena and Stavros. The three of us at half power,
hardly more than human. The two of them at full strength, gorging themselves on
blood, growing ever stronger. Is that the kind of thing you mean?"
S: "Your assessment is not wrong."
L: "What do we have on our side? Tell me something we have."
S: "If Stavros is alive, he will need time to recover."
L: "How much time?"
Stefan shook his head.
S: "It depends on his injuries."
L: "That's encouraging. Keep going."
S: "We can tolerate daylight."
L: "That's right. That's good. What else? Tell me there's something more,
because that's not so impressive."
S: "There is nothing impressive. We simply have to be smarter."
L: "We are. We're talking about Stavros. Helena isn't dumb, but he drags her
down. He isn't rational. That's what got him the first time. I don't mean to
boast, but I got him when I was still human. He isn't going to best me now. He
did this to me, and I'll use it to make him pay for it." Laura was energized.
Stefan got excited just looking at her. The tips of her fangs barely peaking
out, were shyly hidden in the next moment.
A far off noise startled them both. A low rumble, like thunder. They both
stood looking into the distance. It was too dark. There was a multitude of
sirens and alarms going off. Stefan and Laura looked at each other.

Chapter 22

The building came down and a cloud of gray dust rose into the dark sky. A
system of well placed explosions and a spectacular demolition brought the
structure down. There was a roar of the blast, as if a giant beast had received
a mortal wound. Its scaffolding, the skeletal beams, the unfinished walls
collapsed into dust.
It was nothing more than rubble. Hundreds of workers sifted trough it
searching. Helena's people among them.

Stefan raced to the site. Multicolored lights of emergency vehicles turned the
broken concrete garish. Jagged pieces of the structure rose up above the
debris. There was a search for survivors. And one particular survivor. Stefan
wished that he had learned more about Stavros's position. As it was, he didn't
know where to look. Instead of fruitlessly turning over the rubble, he waited
and watched. There would be a sign. A cry of the discoverers, or something
else.

He was pinned. Everything stopped. A terrible pain went through him and held
him in place. For a long time, nothing changed. For him, time stood still.
Then he was crushed under an enormous weight. Everything was broken, he
couldn't move. But he could hear them working above. Things were shifting.
The weight lessened. His body healed a little bit but in all the wrong ways.
He could move. Each movement tore what had only just started healing. He found
a space and waited. Hands and tools broke through and he reached for them. He
grasped living flesh and pulled them down. He drank their blood as they tried
to scream and fight. Making his way out into the light of early morning he felt
his skin burn and he ran.

Stefan heard the muffled cries of the workers. The terrain wouldn't allow for
speed. He saw a figure that no one would mistake for a human being climb out
and run in an ungainly stride of twisted limbs. Helena's people delayed him.
Stefan shoved them aside easily drawing the attention of the others there. He
could still see a grotesque shadow in the distance. He followed it futilely.
Even twisted and misshapen Stavros was too fast.

It was not in Stavros's nature to deny himself or to wait. He grabbed the first
person he saw and drained him. He tasted alcohol and laughed, hearing it come
out a mangled sound. He threw the body down in anger and kicked and kicked it.
When he was finished, he searched for his next meal and the next, more than
replenishing himself. The last two were simply indulgences, to hold off his
thirst until he could drink from her.
But he had to wait, rebreak his bones so they could heal the right way.

L: "Where is he now?"
S: "I don't know."
Laura tried to keep her fear and rage under control.
L: "How long do we have?"
S: "A few days for a full recovery. But that's only a guess, I didn't get a
good look."
L: "Then maybe it's not him."
S: "It was him."

Chapter 23

Two days had passed and Stefan was approaching Laura's house cautiously. It was
early evening. He could see her step out of her back door with Lucky in her
arms. When she saw him she waved the baby's hand in greeting. Stefan heard a
familiar noise and he froze. It was a chuckle.
Sv: "I see Mother has been busy." Stavros said stepping out from behind a
hedge.
Stavros's skin was bright red. Stefan could see blisters form as he stepped out
of the shade. Stavros didn't seem to mind.
Stavros could tell what Stefan was. It surprised him. Helena hadn't mentioned
it. It was so unlike her to turn him.
S: "She had to occupy herself in your absence." Stefan explained evenly.
Stavros hated that feeling that there were things, currents, that passed him by,
unnoticed. They took turns and he couldn't follow them. Stefan, like Helena,
could. He hadn't seen that thing between his brother and Laura. It was obvious
now. The way Stefan barred his way.
Sv: "The way you're standing. Does it mean something? Are you going to try to
stop me?" Stavros sneered.
S: "Hasn't Mother informed you of the way things are?"
Sv: "You know Mother, she never shuts up."
Helena had told him a great deal. Almost from the moment he returned, when she
rejoiced, she was telling him of things that happened while he was absent. He
could see for himself that some of them were indisputably true.
Laura was afraid to breathe. Stavros would glance at her between his words.
His skin was cracking and bleeding. The whites of his eyes were bright red.
Stavros tried to walk around Stefan, but Stefan blocked him again. Stavros
stopped then shoved Stefan away. Stefan hit the ground with a thud, skidding
part of the way. Stavros walked on without a glance in his direction. He
walked toward Laura who kept backing up.
Sv: "I just want to see him. Helena is so sure."
He stopped speaking and gave Laura a hard look. He then tried to look at the
baby but Laura was holding him too close to her for him to see. He saw a patch
of blond hair. The child was too human. That bit of hope left him.
Laura could smell Stavros's skin burning. Hardened pieces of it looked like
they would break off.
Stefan got up and came at Stavros who shoved him away again without even turning
to look.
Sv: "You robbed me of a son once. I'll take this one instead." Stavros told
Laura with a deadly look in his eyes, which then fell on the baby.
Laura backed away in horror.
But Stavros didn't take him, he turned and left.

Stefan stood up wincing. Stavros was too strong. Even out in daylight. Laura
held the baby and rocked him as if trying to soothe him and not herself. Stefan
wanted to apologize but thought better of it. He felt unequal to the task of
protecting her and the baby.
Laura looked at him for a moment then turned her attention back to her child.
L: "When he said he would take Lucky in exchange, I don't think he meant he
would adopt him." Laura said in a quiet voice, that held an even mixture of
anger and fear.
L: "He will kill him like he thinks we killed his son. And he won't feel any
better knowing we couldn't kill his son because he never had one."
Laura's voice was very low when she said it but Stefan still motioned for her
not to speak.
S: "He can never know that. If he knew, he would never stop looking."
L: "How long are we going to suffer and be terrorized by him?"
It had been too long. Laura couldn't see a future where that could be allowed
to continue.
S: "You saw what happened. Even our combined strengths would not match his.
And we have a child to think of."
L: "We have Alexis. Your secret weapon." Laura said with a trace of irony.
S: "Helena and Alexis are evenly matched at best. Remember Alexis is not, for
lack of a better term, a practicing vampire."
L: "But we can change that."
S: "We cannot. The full extent of our vampire strength lies dormant. And it
must stay that way. The source of a vampire's power is twofold, the physical
differences of the vampire body and the intake of blood. We must do with only
the first of those." Stefan stated emphatically, alarmed that she even
suggested it.
L: "If we drank blood we would be stronger."
S: "Laura, it is not an option. A victory bought at that price would be
pointless. We would be like him. Our thirst for blood would become
insatiable."
He could see that having Stavros so close to her baby and feeling helpless to
protect him had made her desperate.
L: "Alexis doesn't tip scales in our favor, I don't see what choice we have?"
S: "That is not a choice, Laura." Stefan said sternly, desperate to make her
understand.
L: "I won't leave my children at his mercy."
S: "You would become like Helena. You would not care what you do to your
children as long as you get what you wanted."
L: "How can you say that?"
S: "Because it is true. The desire for blood will overwhelm you. As long as
other sources were available you wouldn't dream of drinking from your child, but
should you have no other choice..."
L: "Stop it! How can you say these things?!"
S: "Because you have never been starved, out of control in your need to drink
blood!"
L: "I would never let myself..."
S: "You can't speak for your other self, the one you will become when you are
at the mercy of your thirst. Your vampire self will be vastly different from
the way you are now. Your humanity will fall away."
L: "Because I am weak. You fought it but I couldn't."
S: "I was fortunate. You've fought it so far, but if you drank deliberately
and in large quantities that would be required for additional strength, you
would cross a threshold and effect changes in your body and mind that you would
not be able to reverse. It is not a matter of will. You would physically
become something else. This is not an addiction, if we lose the battle for
control of ourselves there is no treatment, there is no help for us, we cannot
lapse."
L: "Then what do we do. You're right, I saw what just happened. He threw you
aside like you were nothing. If he had decided to take Lucky right then, I
wouldn't have been able to stop him."
S: "Stavros is only stronger if we attack him straight on. This is not
something we will do."
L: "What good is being a vampire if we can't even kick his ass to kingdom
come?"
S: "No matter what position one occupies in the scheme of things, there is
always somebody mightier."
L: "I can't let him hurt Lucky."
S: "If he was anyone else, I would say that there was a chance that he would
not harm him."
L: "Because he is a born vampire and they are so rare."
S: "Yes. But Stavros would never accept Luke's son as one of his own kind."
L: "Speaking of Luke..."
S: "What are you thinking?"
L: "He has to know."
S: "Laura, that will not help matters."
L: "One more person on our side..."
S: "Will he be on 'our side' once he knows the truth? Your husband is not an
asset in this situation, he is a liability at best and possibly an additional
threat."
L: "Luke wouldn't hurt me!"
S: "You're not you any more."
L: "Isn't that what I've been fighting for, to stay myself?"
S: "He won't see it that way."
L: "Don't speak for him. When he gets back, I am telling him."
S: "I want to be there."
L: "No. That will only make it worse."
S: "I won't leave you alone with him." Stefan insisted.
L: "I'm not giving you a choice!"
S: "Then I'll wait out here."
L: "Suit yourself."
Laura went inside and closed the door leaving Stefan to wait. She was shaking.
She couldn't put Lucky down. She sat down preparing herself for what she had to
do.

Chapter 24

Luke had decided to leave Laura and the baby alone for the first time in days.
He had some people he trusted watching the house. He had to find out why there
had been no word about a body found at the site of the collapsed building.
Plenty of talk about the unexplained disaster, speculation about the cause, but
nothing else. Not a peep from the cops or from Helena.
It was late evening, already dark. He got close to the barricaded site.
Climbing over, he avoided the guards posted to keep people away.
It was hard to tell where he had put the body. He knew he was close to the
right area, when he heard a noise from the perimeter. A human scream of fear
and pain. He looked back there and saw two figures struggle. Or was one of
them only flailing? Then he was gone. The man who had attacked him stood
there alone. There was something familiar about him and more so as he got
closer.
Lk: "Stavros!"
It couldn't be.
The thing that looked like Stavros was smiling. Then searchlights started
moving over the rubble. When they shone on him, he vanished.
Luke kept staring at the space where the figure had disappeared. Finally, he
walked over to the spot. No one was there. No one was hiding. Farther on,
Luke saw an arm lying across broken building material. One of the policemen
guarding the site was lying dead, blood was dripping from his neck wound. No,
Luke assured himself, he hadn't seen the other man bite him. That couldn't be.
But it was Stavros. Of that, Luke was sure.

Laura was sitting in a chair motionless when Luke came in.
Lk: "Have I gone nuts? Or has the world gone nuts? Because it's one or the
other."
Laura looked at him oddly then went and put the baby in his crib.
Lk: "Stavros is alive. And there is no way he could be. You ran him through
with a piece of wood as thick as my arm. I buried him under tons of concrete
and steel. And somewhere in there he took a dive down a flight of stairs and
landed a bloody, broken mess. And those tons of concrete and steel came
crashing down on him. No one could have survived all that. Hell, they
shouldn't even be able to identify the bastard without dental records. And I
saw him walking, fit as a fiddle, sort of. Hell, I saw him kill a guy without
breaking a sweat. What the hell is going on?" Luke ranted.
Laura only stared at him with that odd look. He would have called it shock if
he wanted to lie to himself. Then if he wanted to do that, he would call what
he saw a ghost.
Lk: "And you don't seem surprised. Why is that? Why am I even asking my wife
all about this? Because she knows?!"
Laura opened her mouth to answer. Luke could tell she was going to tell him
something. The answers he hadn't wanted to hear.
Lk: "I've been blind! I turned blind right around the time things stopped
making sense around here."
L: "And when was that?"
Lk: "After I buried Stavros and you had the weirdest pregnancy ever."
L: "No. It was before that. For you it was when I came back. For me it was
when I was taken. Your world made sense before I came back. I brought it with
me."
Lk: "What did you bring? That weird disease? The Cassadines?"
L: "Yes. Except it's not a disease and I should have told you. Now there is
no choice. He's coming after you and you don't even know what he is."
Lk: "He? Stavros. So I didn't imagine..."
L: "What? Teeth? Speed, strength, more than a human should have."
Lk: "Teeth? Spell it out for me. Today I'm feeling real stupid."
L: "Stavros is a vampire."
Luke had the impulse to laugh. But he choked on the sound. It was what he had
seen. The way Stavros held the man up while he leaned down to his neck. It fit.
Lk: "And the rest of them?"
L: "Yes. Now they are all vampires."
Lk: "You're saying they weren't before. So how does it work? Like in the
movies? Should I go watch Dracula for pointers?"
L: "It's mostly false. But there are things you need to know. Not that
they'll help you much. You can't beat him."
Lk: "We're leaving! We're getting the hell out of here!"
L: "It wouldn't do any good. He has to be dealt with."
Lk: "You just said it couldn't be done."
L: "I said you couldn't."
Lk: "Who then?"
L: "There is more I have to tell you. About me. And Lucky."
Lk: "No!"
Luke raised his hand blocking her from his sight. He felt sick. It was too
much.
L: "I'm so sorry."
Lk: "No! No, Laura!"
L: "I'm sorry."
Lk: "Stop saying that! They infected you with something. It's not..."
L: "It is like an infection. But there is no cure. We are stuck. That's why
our baby can't go outside without being covered. It's why you couldn't hold
him. He would have bitten you."
Lk: "No. This is all in your mind."
L: "And these?"
Laura showed him her teeth. Luke backed away from her. Those weren't plastic
novelty items. They were sharp and they curved a bit and lowered elegantly.
Laura looked around. She went over and picked up the TV. She balanced it on
the palm of her hand. Putting it back, she looked around again.
Lk: "Enough with the demonstration."
Laura stopped.
L: "That's nothing compared to what Stavros can do."
Luke was shaking his head. When she took a step in his direction he froze.
Lk: "Back off."
L: "It's OK. It's under control. I've never had human blood."
Lk: "And him."
Luke nodded his head in the direction of the baby.
L: "He hasn't either. He's going to be OK. Almost normal."
Lk: "Is he mine?"
L: "Yes." Laura said emphatically.
Luke could see him through the slats, turning his head to their voices, looking
like he might cry. Pale, different. Luke had a son and now he didn't.
Lk: "You hatched a little monster. You made my son into one of them!"
L: "Don't say that! Don't talk like that!" Laura screamed.
Lk: "What should I say, honey? What's the right response to this? You sure
waited long enough! Was that because you expected me to be happy?!"
L: "And what was I supposed to tell you? Oh, by the way, the Cassadines are
vampires!?"
Lk: "Yes. I may not have believed you, but at least I might have been a little
more ready."
L: "I wanted to deny it, to forget it. I wanted a normal life. Couldn't
we...? Can't you...?"
Lk: "What?!"
L: "Get past this, what I am, what we are?"
Lk: "You are a vampire, Laura! My son is a vampire!"
L: "Because of me."
Lk: What am I supposed to do with this?!"
L: "This?"
Lk: "Everything! All of this stuff you dumped on me. What the hell am I
supposed to think or feel?"
L: "You are supposed to love me and our son. No matter what. We can deal with
this."
Lk: "Don't talk like being a vampire is only a small problem, a slight
inconvenience. You didn't come back. You never came back."
He had been hypnotized into taking a fake for the real thing. A thing. This
wasn't Laura. It took her place. She was gone.
Stefan burst through the door to see Luke moving toward Laura.
Luke turned and recognized him and something in him, that otherness he couldn't
place before.
Lk: "Hi, doc."
Luke lunged at him but Stefan stepped to the side and slammed him against the
wall. He held him there as Luke struggled vainly.
L: "Stop it! Let him go!" Laura ordered Stefan, who did so reluctantly.
Lk: "I can see what he is. Like you." Luke panted out looking back and forth
between them.
Lk: "What is he to you? A protector? An ally?" Luke spit out the words
accusingly, not saying what he was really thinking.
L: "We have to stand together against Stavros."
Lk: "We?" Luke said, incredulous.
He looked at both of them again.
Lk: "Two against one, it should be a synch." Luke said, still feeling the
effects of Stefan's inhuman strength.
L: "It doesn't work like that. Stavros is too strong. He is different from
us."
Laura indicated her and Stefan. Luke glared at him.
Lk: "What, no introductions, angel?"
L: "This is Stefan. He is Stavros's half brother. Helena's younger son."
Lk: "The littler vampire."
L: "Luke, we need him."
Lk: "For what? Serve up some garlic, whip out some crosses."
L: "Luke, this is serious. Stavros threatened Lucky."
Lk: "Why? Isn't the kid one of them?"
L: "Luke!"
Lk: "Let him come. I'll kill him every way I can think of. Something's gotta
work."
S: "You have no say in this." Stefan stated firmly.
L: "Yes he does. It's his child."
S: "Not any more."
L: "I don't accept that."
Stefan looked at Luke, recognizing that he agreed with him.
L: "I want to talk to him alone." Laura said to Stefan firmly, but he didn't
move.
He did not trust Laura and the child alone with Luke. He steadfastly refused to
leave. Laura could see by his expression that it was useless to argue. His
face had gone all Cassadine and stern.
Though Laura was more than a match for Luke physically, Stefan did not trust her
to defend herself against Luke to the extent of her capabilities. She would
certainly defend the child with due rigor. But if Luke was any kind of
strategist, that would not be his initial point of attack.
Luke saw what he had seen before and denied. Something connecting them, making
them stand as one even as they disagreed. They were the same kind. But there
was more, a purely human connection. Stefan wasn't just defending one of his
own, he was defending his mate. There was a possessiveness in his stance, which
Laura did not deny, which she reciprocated. He was hers. Her power extended
over him just as she tried to extend it over Luke. But it didn't work like
that.
Lk: "Get the hell out of my house!" Luke shouted at Stefan.
Stefan didn't budge. Luke felt a frenzy coming over him. That smug face. That
thing in his house.
He went for his throat. Stefan hit him as he came sending him staggering. Luke
hardly regained his balanced when he came back at Stefan again.
S: "Enough!" Stefan said, his voice booming.
His fangs fully extended, he had Luke by the throat in an instant.
L: "Stop it!" Laura's voice was also preternaturally loud.
Luke could see the tips of her fangs. She couldn't take her eyes off Stefan.
None of them had noticed her. Bobbie walked through the door, which stood
nearly torn off its hinges. Seeing Luke being choked by someone, Bobbie pulled
out the gun that Luke had given her so recently and shot.
Laura screamed. Luke got loose and seeing Laura go to Stefan, he grabbed his
sister and left.
Laura opened Stefan's bloody shirt. He was gasping for breath.
S: "It hit a lung. It's nothing." Stefan explained in answer to Laura's
worried face.
Laura touched the bullet hole in his side.
L: "It stopped bleeding." She said in amazement.
S: "Yes. It will close completely in a few hours. In a few days there will
be no trace of it. If I were a born vampire it would happen even faster."
She kissed his chest impulsively, then she couldn't stop. Her mouth moved
upward to his. She was so relieved.

Chapter 25

Alexis walked in finding them like that.
A: "I heard a shot." Alexis explained, bewildered.
She saw the bullet hole in Stefan's side when Laura moved back.
A: "Who did this?" Alexis asked, her confusion replaced with fury.
L: "It was a misunderstanding."
A: "Your husband and his sister were seen leaving from here in a hurry."
Alexis accused.
S: "Luke's sister shot me in a misguided attempt to defend her brother."
Stefan explained while grimacing from the pain.
A: "Misguided. Yes. Like this whole thing. Why were you even here?"
L: "Because of me. It's my fault. Alright?"
A: "You got my bother shot! No, it's not alright!" She shouted at Laura.
S: "This isn't her fault, Alexis."
A: "Oh no? All of it is her fault. Everything! Stavros wouldn't be back if
she had handled things when he got staked. She dropped the ball. She screwed
up."
S: "Enough Alexis."
A: "Not even close."
And she was out the door.
L: "What is she going to do?" Laura asked worriedly.
S: "Are you concerned about Luke?"
Laura didn't answer.
S: "Alexis is not a killer."
L: "Are you sure about that."
Her look at least had been murderous.

Alexis stopped to breathe. She had been there looking for Stefan, to tell him
Helena was back. But she didn't want to go back inside and see Laura draped all
over him.
Her people told her where Luke and his sister had gone. Alexis waited outside
the place. Close to dawn, Luke came out.
A: "I'm not looking for a bullet." Alexis said seeing that he carried a gun.
Lk: "You are one of them."
A: "Spell it out." Alexis said with a tight smile.
Lk: "A vampire."
A: "There you go. That wasn't so hard. Now we're all on the same page. And on
the same side."
Lk: "Get out of here, lady, unless you want to end up like that other one."
A: "Like what? Perfectly fine and in the arms of your wife? No, thanks. At
first, I was going to rip your throat out for that. I've calmed down
considerably. And you should be very grateful. A bullet wouldn't stop me."
Lk: "I take it there are two sides in this war of the vampires. I'm guessing
you are on the side with Stefam."
A: "Stefan. Yes. The other side is stronger. That's why I'm here. We need
all the help we can get. And we don't need any extra problems." Alexis said
with an edge of warning to her voice.
Lk: "So, I guess you're not all you're cracked up to be."
A: "I am a little out of practice. I prefer the legal profession. 'Creature
of the night' just doesn't pay the way it used to in the old days."
Lk: "Lawyer. Then, I would think, you would be in top form for this kind of
thing. Bloodsucking should be right up your alley."
A: "Well, it's not. And you should be real grateful for that. Your sister
too. I'm giving you two choices. Get out of town, take your trigger-happy
sister. And Stefan and I will save your wife and kid from Stavros and Helena.
Or, do your part in protecting your family."
Lk: "Do I still have one of those?"
A: "You're not asking me, are you? You know what, you wait long enough, and
you won't have to make up your mind about that. They'll be dead."
Luke knew she was right. He didn't want Laura or his unlucky son to die.
Alexis was looking at him with her piercingly intelligent eyes. Luke felt the
power that emanated from her, like it did from Helena but more benignly. He had
no doubt that if she wanted to, she could break him in two. She just didn't
want to. Just as with Helena, he felt attracted to her but without the
aftertaste of repulsion. He saw vulnerability in Alexis, uncertainty, as if all
her considerable power wasn't enough, wasn't everything that she needed.
Beneath the assurance and the sharp intelligence, the dismissive attitude, and
especially underneath the cutting remarks, he saw defensiveness.

Chapter 26

Alexis smiled to herself as she approached Laura's house with Luke in tow. She
opened the door carefully so as not to dislodge the rickety thing.
Stefan was reclined on the couch. His shirt was still open. He stood up
quickly on seeing Luke, but didn't approach him because of Alexis. He looked at
her questioningly.
Lk: "He looks good as new. What does it take? A silver bullet?" Luke asked
insolently, truly sorry that Stefan didn't seem worse off.
A: "We can't afford to fight a war on two fronts. Especially when one of them
is Stavros and Helena." Alexis explained to Stefan.
Laura came out looking surprised to see both of them.
L: "I'm glad you're back." She said to Luke.
She wasn't glad that he was back with Alexis.
Lk: "Alexis made some good points."
And Laura wasn't glad that he was back because of her.
Luke saw the jealousy Laura didn't bother to hide. He smiled. She was so
beautiful, a young mother holding her baby.
Lk: "There must be a cure."
Laura shook her head sadly.
S: "No. Some have searched for it. But most of our kind choose not to fight
it. The conversion has some distinct advantages."
Stefan looked a Laura significantly.
Lk: "So you bastards did her a favor when you made her like this?" Luke asked
furiously.
L: "He didn't ask to be made a vampire any more than I did!" Laura
interjected.
Lk: "What about killing the head vampire?"
L: "Like in the movies?"
Laura looked at Stefan.
S: "That would not work. Heads of vampire families have died and it did not
cure any of those they made vampires."
Lk: "Garlic, holy water, crosses?"
S: "All myths. In fact vampires are often quite religious."
A: "And fond of garlic." Alexis quipped.
Lk: "Where are the weak spots? A stake through the heart doesn't do it. I saw
that for myself. What does?"
Stefan was reluctant to share the information on how to kill vampires with Luke.
L: "He needs to know." Laura asserted.
Stefan sighed.
S: "Anything that destroys the body beyond repair will kill a vampire.
Beheading, cutting the body in half, burning, acid."
Lk: "What about the sun?"
S: "It does not kill us. It weakens and damages, but it is not lethal."
Lk: "Let's take stock. What do they got? What do we got?"
S: "You are not in charge here."
The two men glared at each other while Alexis rolled her eyes. She then looked
at Laura with amusement.
L: "We don't have time for you two to do any head butting or measuring..."
A: "What about a spitting contest?"
Lk: "You mean a pissing contest."
L: "Our lives are in danger! Can we focus here?" Laura asked exasperated.
Lk: "What about explosives?"
A: "Mr. Subtlety. Where are you planning on setting off these explosives? In
the middle of town?"
Lk: "Helena did."
A: "And it was pure luck that no one was killed. I'm not saying we can't use
them. But they are not the answer to our problem."
Lk: "A big kaboom sounds good to me."
A: "It's too risky. We can't sneak up on them if they are alone. Their
hearing and sense of smell won't allow it. We can't risk anything in public."
Lk: "I can risk it. I've got nothing to hide. I'm just a regular Joe
American."
A: "Well your wife and child aren't. All you can do is get yourself killed.
Or serve as bait."
She looked at Stefan. Laura saw what she meant.
L: "All the targets are right here in this room."
A: "We should count our blessings they don't descend on us right now."
Lk: "Knock on wood."
L: "Me and Luke in one place. The right place."
Lk: "The mansion."
L: "Yes."
S: "No!"
Lk: "Not your decision, pal."
A: "Stefan it's a good idea."
L: "We can move back in. Stavros won't be able to resist."
S: "He'll know it's a trap. And if he doesn't, Helena will." Stefan
protested.
A: "And he won't listen and he won't care."
L: "Think of all that arrogance. They're Cassadines, they're vampires.
Nothing can stand against them. Can't you just hear them?"
S: "Laura."
L: "Stefan, it's perfect. He almost died there. He'll be like a moth to a
flame."
Lk: "Speaking of moths. You people don't fly or turn into bats or anything,
right?"
A: "No."
Lk: "Just checking."
L: "What about the baby? If I leave him, with anyone, there's no guarantee
that they won't come after him."
Laura had been afraid to let him out of her sight even for a second.
S: "He is safest with us."
A: "Not if we lose." Alexis pointed out.
L: "I can't make him a target."
S: "He is a target no matter where he is."
A: "Is there a safe at the Mayor's mansion?"
L: "What?" Laura asked, confused.
Lk: "Yeah. Why?"
A: "How big?"
Luke showed her, holding his hands a few feet apart.
A: "That will do."
S: "What are you thinking?"
A: "We lock Lucky in a safe." Alexis explained simply.
L: "You're insane!"
Lk: "You've got a screw lose, lady. Or don't vampire babies need to breathe?"
S: "He needs to breathe, but a lack of oxygen won't kill him."
L: "Don't tell me you're considering this?" Laura asked Luke, then she looked
at Stefan.
S: "He will be safe. It's unlikely that they will even know he is there."
L: "He'll suffocate!"
S: "Temporarily."
L: "No!"
A: "It's not that bad. My mother did it once. It wasn't a safe, it was an ice
box."
Lk: "I guess getting frozen runs in the family."
A: "It wasn't in use. It was like falling asleep. He don't even notice the
lack of air."
L: "And the dark and the small enclosed space?"
A: "It wasn't pleasant, but it probably saved my life. It will save Lucky's.
Even if we all die, he will survive."
L: "How long before someone finds him."
S: "We can leave word."
Laura couldn't believe she was even considering the idea. It seemed too cruel a
thing to do to her baby, but it was better than the alternative.

Stavros paced the yacht like a caged animal. Helena followed him with her eyes.
He had no patience. Helena was tired just watching him.
H: "My darling, calm yourself."
Sv: "They are all there."
H: "Very conveniently."
Sv: "I know what you're hinting about. Why do you all think me stupid?"
H: "I do not think anything of the kind. All, except the child, are there. He
was spirited away, but not to worry. We will have him too."
Sv: "It doesn't matter what they do. She's mine."
H: "What do you want with her? She is of no use to you now. She is a dead
end, my dear child. There is no future there. You need a human wife. We'll
feast..."
Sv: "Laura is mine to do with as I like." Stavros cut her off.
They were waiting for the night.

Chapter 27

Lk: "A spear. You're kidding me." Luke said, commenting on the weapon Alexis
picked out from the ones the Cassadines brought to the party.
A: "A gun. You're kidding me." Alexis mocked, indicating the weapon Luke had
in his belt.
Lk: "Welcome to the twentieth century."
A: "Yes, it worked so well on Stefan. It won't even slow them down. Unless
you want to attract attention, the gun is out."
Lk: "I have a silencer."
A: "I'll try not to faint from shock."
The other two ignored them. Laura was focused on what was next. Stefan was
focused on her.
The mansion was empty. There had been security guards, but Luke told them to
clear off. The grounds were still guarded. Not that it mattered.
They had pretended to smuggle the baby out of the mansion. The decoy was on his
way to a hiding place, while Laura held her son in her arms.
L: "I don't think I can go through with this."
The safe was open, but Laura's arms refused to place Lucky inside.
S: "It's best if we do it while he's still asleep."
L: "I can't."
S: "Laura..."
L: "Why are you always asking me to give up my babies?"
S: "Laura!" Stefan warned her.
Lk: "What are you saying?" Luke asked, unable to believe that there was still
more he didn't know.
A: "Not now." Alexis cut off any questioning.
Luke glared at her, at all of them. They all knew things. He was the odd man
out. That was his son being stuffed into a safe. Or so he was told.
S: "Because it's necessary." Stefan answered Laura's question.
Her face looked blank as she gently put the baby in the safe. Stefan closed the
door. Laura continued to stare at it. Then she went over and leaned the side
of her face against it. She listened and heard nothing.
L: "I can't hear anything."
A: "That's good. Neither will they. Once his heart stops, there will be
nothing to hear."
S: "We need to be away from this room when they arrive."
L: "You expect too much from me."
How was she supposed to leave him? She couldn't hear his heart beat. Soon it
would stop.
L: "Oh, God."
S: "We have to go." Stefan urged.

Hours passed, mostly in silence. There was a collection of weapons within
reach. A long, wide, old looking sword, a machete Luke had brought, the spear,
and a slightly smaller sword Stefan brought for Laura. Luke was pacing. Alexis
wanted to pace but Luke was already doing that. Stefan sat near Laura and
watched her.
Laura sat perfectly still. She couldn't wait for them to come. She wasn't
apprehensive, she was impatient. All the terror had left her. The sooner she
got rid of them, the sooner she could get Lucky out. He was all she thought of.
She heard their car. A scuffle, less than a struggle, broken bones, and no
screams from the guards. Laura smelled blood. She heard their steps and the
doors crashing open and their steps getting closer. She didn't even get up when
they came in.
Stavros came in first. He shoved the door aside even though it was already
open. It broke.
H: "I told you they would be waiting." Helena crowed coming in behind him.
There was already blood on their clothes and on their teeth.
Sv: "Does it matter? Our family has a simple motto: Cassadines take. Those
who stand in our way die." Stavros said looking at Laura, still seated, while
the others stood around her protectively, weapons already in hand.
A: "I thought our motto was in Russian, something about honor and duty and
nobility." Alexis quipped.
H: "You insolent, worthless thing. I'll enjoy draining the last drop out of
you, girl." Helena promised.
Her mouth twisted hungrily. It might have been a smile.
A: "When I kill you, I don't want to taste a drop of your vile blood."
They moved simultaneously meeting midway, clashing. Helena held off Alexis's
spear.
For a moment, Stavros attention was taken by their fight. Laura stood up
slowly. She raised her face to Stavros. There wasn't much there. But her
expression called to him. He stepped toward her.
Stefan held up the long sword. Stavros turned with incredible speed. Stefan's
thrust missed the mark, and only hit Stavros in the shoulder. A hard punch got
Stefan out of Stavros's way. He smashed into an armchair breaking it. Luke
fired his gun. The muffled noise foretold the muted effect of the bullet.
Stavros didn't even pause. Luke came at him with the machete, but he only
sliced through air. Stavros lifted him and threw him across the room.
Continuing to approach Laura, Stavros saw that she hadn't moved.
Sv: "You are more beautiful then ever. I did that. Your beauty is immortal."
Stavros boasted.
L: "Aren't you here to kill me?" Laura asked in a calm voice.
Sv: "No!" He answered as if the idea had never occurred to him.
Sv: "I made you like this. Not to kill you. So you could live forever, with
me."
Laura tilted her head.
Sv: "We can hunt together. We can drink our fill. We'll drink from one
another, drink the mingled blood, vampire and human..."
Laura could se that Stavros was becoming lost in his own fantasy.
Sv: "I know you are delicious, I've tasted you. Now you're mine. You have my
blood. I'll always be one with you."
Laura felt disgusted but she hid it. Stavros looked at her neck, exposed by her
head being to one side.

Alexis was pinned by Helena. She held her down with the handle of the spear,
pushing down hard. In a moment she would do serious damage. Stefan intervened.
Pulling Helena off roughly, he felt how insubstantial she seemed as he flung her
to the floor. Alexis was on her feet at the same time as Helena.
H: "Two useless bastards. You're nothing." She hissed.
Her head was lowered, her teeth exposed. In a fraction of a second, she was on
Alexis again. Helena hit Stefan with the back of her hand as he approached.
Alexis smashed her fist into Helena's face. All three were on their feet,
facing each other again. Helena licked her bleeding lip.
A: "That's the last taste of blood you're going to have, bitch."

Stavros turned his head to see the other three. Laura glanced at the still
unconscious Luke for a split second.
L: "Aren't you going to help her?" Laura asked, regaining his attention.
Stavros didn't answer. He wasn't listening. Laura was deliberately,
provocatively running her tongue over her teeth. Stavros stepped closer.
Grazing her lip against her teeth, her mouth turning noticeably red, Laura
pressed her lower lip to her teeth and blood pooled there.

Stefan and Alexis moved simultaneously. Helena tried to step out of their way,
but they caught her. Pulling her down, they tried to pin her arms and legs.
Helena kicked Stefan off her.

Stavros smeared the blood on Laura's lips. She looked right like that. The way
she should be. Stavros dragged his teeth across his lower lip. The sharp
incisors left a bloody gash. He pressed his lips to Laura's forcing the blood
into her mouth.
Laura tried not to gag or pull away.

Chapter 28

Alexis still had a grip on Helena. Keeping her down with her hands around her
neck, she didn't budge when Helena hit and kicked at her. She was blind to pain
or reason. All she saw was Helena's face. Somehow, Helena shifted her weight
and Alexis wasn't on top of her any more. Helena was on her feet. Stefan had
picked up the spear, but Helena knocked it out of his hands. She sent it flying
but Alexis was there in an instant and caught it.
A: "That's not what you meant to do is it?"
Helena shifted aside. She grabbed Stefan and pushed him toward Alexis's
threatening spear. Alexis pointed the spear away but not in time. She felt it
go in and heard Stefan cry out. Pulling the spear out of his leg she aimed it
at Helena again.
A: "I owe you."
The spear point was bloody. Alexis didn't look to see if Stefan was all right.
Helena had nowhere to go. Several thrusts missed their mark, but each one was
closer. Helena was backing away. Maneuvering herself into a tighter space.
She was trapped. She screamed for Stavros.
Stavros was kissing Laura. Luke was waking up. Stefan was getting up with
difficulty. The spear connected with Helena's side. Alexis felt ribs braking
but Helena wrenched herself free, tearing flesh. Alexis followed the movement
and drove the spear through her middle and into the wall, pinning her. Helena
writhed and screamed.

Luke saw what Stavros was doing. Again. It was a nightmare that would keep
repeating forever. Luke spotted the gun where he had dropped it. He aimed. It
was too close. Laura. He fired. It might have been an accident. He couldn't
think.
Stavros turned. A piece of his skull was blown off and he bled. Laura spat out
his blood. Stavros was already on Luke when Laura reached for her sword.
Stavros's teeth tore into him. Luke's neck gaped open, a jagged wound bleeding
into Stavros's mouth. Luke's eyes rolled back into his head. A few seconds and
he would be gone. He bled too much even for Stavros to drink. The blood ran
down to Luke's chest.

Alexis picked up Stefan's sword.
A: "I owe you." Alexis whispered to Helena.
Helena tried to speak, but nothing came out. Her hands were uselessly slipping
on the spear, trying to pull it out. Blood leaked from the sides of her mouth.
Alexis swung the heavy sword in a perfect line that went through Helena's neck,
severing it. The headless corpse hung where the spear held it in place. Blood
gushed then seeped down from the neck.
As Laura hacked at Stavros's back with the sword, he turned holding up Luke in
front of him and kicked her sword away. Laura launches herself at Stavros and
Luke. She pushed them both out the window going along, unable to stop her
momentum. Stefan grabbed her arm before she was taken down with them. The
other two landed on the pavement with a dull thud. Luke's body was broken. He
stared up at her lifelessly. He was gone.
Stavros seemed stunned but it wouldn't last. Alexis was already out the door,
Stefan's sword in hand. She flew down the stairs with the injured Stefan behind
her carrying Luke's machete. Laura grabbed her sword and followed.
They were too late, Stavros was already rising. His face was a gory mess but he
smirked through it. His shoulder was turned the wrong way but he was heedless
of his injuries.
Sv: "You three." He laughed, blood sputtered from his mouth.
They encircled him. Alexis tried to slice away at him but even in his condition
he moved out of the path of the blade easily. Stefan made a try for him but
only landed a glancing blow to his already injured arm. Stavros started to move
in for an attack.
L: "Aren't I the one you want?" Laura spoke.
He turned to her immediately. Laura held up her sword and slid her arm down its
edge. The blood dripped over the sharp metal. Stavros became mesmerized.
L: "Aren't we the same? Aren't we one now?" She spoke in a low, husky voice.
It wasn't deliberate. It was just the way it came out. She was hypnotic.
Stavros forgot that the other two even existed.
Sv: "That won't work again." He told her, his mind clearing for a moment.
But there was no truth in it. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Stavros read
his death in her eyes. Entranced by her inhuman beauty, he still came. Her
blood was like nothing else. He had to have it. Smelling it, he couldn't stand
to see it drip to the ground. It was precious. It was for him.
Stavros lifted her arm to his mouth. Laura still held a sword in her other
hand. Stavros ignored it. He drank, biting into her unnecessarily. Laura
stabbed his back.
Alexis cut at his leg, one was severed, the other only cut partway through.
Stavros howled in pain. He fell but still held on to Laura, so that he brought
her down with him. She stabbed him through the back over and over again but he
didn't let her go. Alexis couldn't cut him without hitting Laura. Stefan tried
to pull Laura away. Stavros's grip was too strong. Laura could feel her own
sword going into her as she stabbed Stavros. Alexis found a way to slice at his
good arm. It was cut off after two tries. Laura got free. Stefan aimed the
machete at his neck but Stavros rolled away. He tried to get up. Stefan had
another chance. But he stopped. Stavros couldn't get up. His useless stumps
slipped in their own blood. Laura stepped in front of Stefan. He tried to stop
her but she pushed him away.
Laura raised her sword and dropped it on Stavros neck. She watched as his head
came away from his body. Laura continued to watch the body. After a few
minutes, it was only a vague shape. Alexis held Stefan who was looking away.
There was a soft lump where Stavros had been. Laura touched it with her sword.
It broke. There was a thick red liquid inside and it spilled out along with
unrecognizable pieces of his insides. Laura backed away as it spread.
She dropped the sword and ran inside. She unlocked the safe and threw the door
open. Lucky was blue. He wasn't breathing. Laura breathed into him. He
gasped and coughed and started to cry.
L: "You're OK. See, I came back. You're OK." Laura said falling to the floor
with Lucky in her arms still wailing.
She curled herself around him. She could feel tears coming but she held them
back as she shook.
Stefan limped inside, helped by Alexis. They stopped before Helena's headless
corpse. This body didn't hold its shape either. It became pulpy. The liquid
that was once her organs, spilled out when her skin became too weak to keep it
in. The spear still stuck in the wall as Helena's remains fell away.

Stefan walked unassisted into the room with the safe. Alexis was arranging for
clean up of the mess, setting things so they could be explained.
Laura was rocking the baby. Her clothes were bloody. Some of it was her own.
S: "It's over."
L: "What am I?" Laura gasped out.
S: "You're a mother."
Laura shook her head. She couldn't be. That's not what mothers do.
S: "You have two living children, Laura. You have promises to keep to them."

Chapter 29

Stefan had taken another house. Laura had been brought there when she was in a
bad state. She had stayed. She didn't want to go back to the house she had
shared with Luke. He haunted her even here.
At first Laura wouldn't leave Lucky alone with anyone. Stefan came closest to
being entrusted with him. A few unavoidable minutes. Then she would take him
back.
Alexis was always around. She couldn't be bothered to feel sorry for Laura.
She was a basket case, so what. Alexis would sneak in and play with Lucky when
Laura turned away for just a minute. She pestered Laura until she relented.
Alexis looked at Lucky with fascination. He was like her. The way she had
been. Except she had a human mother. Once. The baby made her feel strange.
Not maternal, not that. She felt a responsibility and a curiosity. She felt a
connection. As if she was looking at the past and the future simultaneously.

It was finally time. Stefan and Laura left Lucky with Alexis.

Rough terrain, gravel road, rugged country, rocky, inhospitable. Sharp
outcroppings of rock jutted out of the ground, sometimes looming over the road
on both sides. But there were also small green fields. The landscape might
have been beautiful if either one of them could see it. They were blind to
anything but what awaited them at the end of the road.
The car couldn't take them any farther. A dirt path, the result of human and
animal footsteps following the same way for generations, led to the house. They
could make out the old man and a young woman holding a child in her arms.
The old man saw them too. Two of them, a man and a woman, dressed in too many
dark clothes and wearing sunglasses. Hiding from the sun. He knew what they
were.
The man seemed more leathery and forbidding than ever.
Man: "You are fiends." He stated when they got close.
He got between them and the woman with the child. Stefan took a deep breath.
S: "I left a child in your care. I have come back for him."
Man: "Not you. It was another. A man left this boy with me. I don't know
you." The man said, stone-faced.
S: "I am taking my son, now." Stefan intoned threateningly.
Man: "I won't give him to one of your kind."
The man motioned for the young woman to take the boy inside.
Laura stepped up.
L: "Look at me. I am his mother."
Man: "And you look like a beautiful young woman. But you are not. You cannot
have him. I know your kind."
L: "You don't know me. Not if you think you can keep me from my son."
Laura moved to go to Nikolas. The young woman was almost to the door of the
house. Nikolas, a willful child, had other ideas. He stopped at the threshold.
Stefan held onto the old man as Laura made her way to Nikolas. The boy looked
at the young woman, the man's daughter, uncertainly, as she tried to pull him
inside. Laura approached him slowly extending her hand. As he got free of the
hand that was holding him, he took Laura's hand nervously. Nikolas bit at his
lower lip and looked down shyly. Leading him to the crude bench, Laura never
took her eyes off of him. Stefan whispered a warning in the old man's ear. Then
he joined them trying to keep tears from his eyes. Laura's hand went to her
face to wipe away the tears that wouldn't stop flowing. Otherwise she appeared
calm, wanting the put the child at ease. Nikolas looked from one of them to the
other as he stood in front of the bench and they both sat. Finally, he chose to
climb between them. He did this with difficulty but let out a piercing scream
when they tried to help him.
Woman: "He likes to do it by himself." She explained sadly from the door.
Stefan translated her words for Laura. She smiled at the woman through tears
and nodded unable to speak. The gratitude she felt toward her was mixed with
resentment. The boy stood up between them on the bench and smiled at Stefan
with pride. Stefan smiled in return while he held out his arms to catch him
should he lose his balance. Next the boy turned to Laura and seeing how she
held her hand over her mouth so as not to cry, he got down and sat in her lap.
He leaned his head against her. Laura felt such joy at having him finally in
her arms.
L: "I am your mother. I love you." She whispered into his fine brown hair.
His head smelled of smoke from the open fire that warmed the house. The moments
of his birth came back to her again and she hugged him to her.
She saw Stefan's concern and shook her head.
L: "This is your father. You are coming home with us." She managed to choke
out.
Stefan put his arms around both of them. Laura leaned on his chest crying and
laughing at the same time.
L: "My baby. We're going home."

Chapter 30

Nikolas was home with them. Lucky was restless at first, but soon became
accustomed to his brother.
Laura couldn't believe it was really over. She still had nightmares. She would
get up several times a night to check on the children.
Stefan often joined her, hearing her get up from his room. He would came out
with a book in hand, so Laura knew he hadn't been sleeping.
L: "Why do we even bother pretending? We are nocturnal creatures. Why are we
in bed at eleven?"
S: "To set a good example for the children?"
L: "It's not really the night." Laura said sadly.
S: "I have nightmares too."
L: "I figured. I didn't want to pry. Try to remember, you didn't kill
anyone." Laura said kindly.
S: "I know the extent of my responsibility."
L: "I don't think you do. You always take on too much."
They settled in the living room.
L: "What do we worry about now? What about others, others like him?"
S: "Like Stavros? There are very few. There is Lucky..."
L: "I can't think of them as being the same. And Alexis of course. And who
knows how many others."
S: "Not many."
L: "I remember, low birth rate, high mortality rate, equals not a lot of true
vampires running around. And now there are even less."
S: "The others will not bother us. We are of no concern to them."
L: "I should feel safe, but I don't. Luke is dead. He paid for our safety
with his life."
S: "It was his choice." Stefan said evenly, not trying to conceal that he was
less than heartbroken.
The way he saw it, Luke had a lot to make up for. He repaid Laura with his
death only in a small part, considering how much he had owed her.
Luke was a bad memory. But his death meant that Laura never made a choice to be
with Stefan. It was enough that she was there. It had to be. Things were as
he had hoped, but less than he had hoped.
Laura looked down. Stefan had a look in his eyes. Hard, fierce, sad. It made
her feel uneasy. She shifted in her seat. The room was very small. Laura
found that Stefan was watching her.
S: "Your heart is racing." He accused.
Laura listened.
L: "Yours sounds like it's going to burst out of your chest." She retorted.
Stefan smiled. That grim look was still on his face, so it was strange. His
teeth were there. Sharp points dimpling his lower lip. And that same look.
Laura felt her skin heating up.
In an instant, she felt his teeth graze her neck. He just held her for a
moment, letting the urge to sink his teeth into her subside. She felt the same
thing. His skin was only a barrier to what she wanted. She had to stop.
Mustering all their control, their fangs retracted. They kissed. Laura's fangs
descended cutting Stefan's tongue.
L: "Sorry. How are we supposed to do this? These things are razor sharp."
S: "Carefully." Stefan replied.
They left their teeth down and proceeded with caution. Feather light touches
of their lips were followed by tentative forays of their tongues into each
other's mouths. They were driving each other crazy.
One thirst replaced another. The teeth were gone. Only soft, pliable flesh
joined. Slick, gliding motion that fed their desire. They landed on the floor.
L: "No one heard that." Laura hoped.
Stefan didn't bother to reassure her. He didn't care. He wanted her. Settling
on top of her he lowered his mouth onto hers. He gave her a deep hard kiss,
telling her where they were going.
Laura didn't want to breathe. If she didn't breathe, the kiss would never stop.
But a breath escaped her, it carried his name. It just came out. He was what
she wanted. She was asking for him.
L: "Stefan."
It was a gasp. The way she said his name told him so much.
He growled hers as he was kissing her neck. She could feel it vibrate along her
veins. He was speaking to her body.
His touch carried her up. His arms were underneath her lifting her to him.
He needed her closer. Closer than she could come. Inside. Inside him, around
him. Everywhere. He wanted to breathe her, to swallow her.
Laura felt it too. Their desire was driving them somewhere they had never been.
They were reaching for impossible heights.
Laura looked into Stefan's eyes. She could take him there. She had to. He was
telling her how much he wanted it.
Her mouth tuned his body, primed it. He ran his hands over her. Her skin was
alive under his touch. They lost sight of where they were headed. Each touch
was its own ecstasy. How could there be more? It caught them by surprise,
overwhelming them. They drowned in pure happiness. When it was gone, they
still vibrated with it, lying in each other's arms.
L: "Is it too late to tell you?"
S: "No."
L: "I love you."
S: "You told me."
L: "Did I? When?"
S: "Not two minutes ago."
L: "I didn't know. I could have said anything. It's never felt like that. Is
it because we are different?"
S: "I don't know."
L: "Tell me about it." Laura prompted him, seeing that he held something back.
She traced circles on his chest and waited.
S: "Our kind usually drink each others blood during love making. At the
pinnacle. It intensifies the experience."
L: "More intense than this?" Laura asked in disbelief.
She placed her hand flat on his chest. She felt his heart jump against her
palm. It was a constant companion to her. His heartbeat was music.
L: "Did you want to...?"
S: "No. It would not be wise to indulge, even in each other's blood." Stefan
answered tersely.
He took it so seriously.
He wanted her. In every way. He wanted all of her.
L: "I don't think I am ready to act like what I am now, anyway. I want to stay
as normal as I can." Laura reassured him.
It was true. They were always walking along the edge of an abyss. It stood
open, calling to them. There were times when all she wanted was to plunge in,
with him.
S: "I concur. It would not be wise to lose ourselves..." Stefan confirmed.
But Laura was remembering how it felt to taste his blood. To take a piece of
his life inside her. To take him.
L: "Not that drinking you wasn't glorious. How did it feel to you?"
She was dying to know.
S: "I don't know that I can describe the experience adequately." Stefan
evaded.
It was a beast that should never be allowed out. His blood spoke clearly. In
the moments when he didn't want to drink from her, he wanted her to drink from
him. It was no ordinary blood thirst. It was mixed with lust and love. The
need was always there, in the background. Never completely silent, only drowned
out, or dampened to a whisper.
L: "You are having trouble expressing yourself? Then I'll just have to see for
myself." She threatened.
She had the same desires and she didn't want to hide them from him.
S: "No."
L: "Yes. I want you to drink from me."
S: "Laura!"
L: "Not now. When you are ready. It's only fair." Laura said backing off.
Laura smiled mischievously, as if she had only been joking.
S: "If I put my mind to it, I am sure I can find the words equal to the
experience." Stefan said lightly, following her lead.
L: "I'll go get the thesaurus." Laura teased, and only snuggled up closer to
Stefan.
L: "And I feel really cheated that we can't fly." Laura mused.
S: "That's what airplanes are for."
L: "Are you determined to suck all the fun out of being a vampire?"
S: "It is not a matter for levity, Laura." He lectured.
L: "Of course it is. We are vampires, creatures of the night, the undead..."
S: "We are perfectly alive, merely differently so."
L: "Ugh. You are so infuriatingly rational. If I have to be a vampire, and
you tell me I have no choice, I'd like to get what I can out of it."
S: "It is not an uncommon attitude among our kind."
L: "You are not comparing me to them?"
S: "Certainly not. There is no comparison."
But there was. She was a vampire. Forever. She saw a future stretching out
and she wondered if it was real.
L: "Does it mean that we really will be together forever?"
S: "Only if we are very lucky and very careful."
L: "That doesn't sound like fun."
S: "Every moment with you is so precious. I feel greedy wishing for an
eternity."
L: "But you do."
S: "I do."

They moved away from Port Charles. Keeping ahead of the rumors. Nikolas still
had to be careful, but otherwise Lucky was progressing wonderfully. Their lives
were infused with strangeness, but they were happy.
They had been happy for years when Laura dreamed that she was pregnant again.
In her dream, with its sharp teeth and claws, this new kind of vampire child
tried to tear its way out of her.

The End