Another chapter up. Please, please, please reply.
Chapter 7
As predicted, the Port Charles Police Department swarmed the docks fifteen minutes after the shots were heard. Mac Scorpio, the commissioner, approached the docks, looked at the people gathered and groaned loudly. It was one thing for Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan to be around the area, but were they really conversing with Lorenzo Alcazar? Luke and Laura Spencer stood off to the side, Luke seemingly trying to calm Laura. Mac caught sight of his brother and decided Robert may be the sanest approach in the situation.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" he asked in his quietest, most modulated voice.
Robert raised his eyebrows to Mac. "Hello there, Mac." Robert cast a glance around the dock and smiled at his little brother. "Well, it seems that Helena Cassadine has taken the Cassadines, Mikkos, Alexis, Nikolas and Spencer, as well as the District Attorney hostage out on Spoon Island. Some shots have been heard out there." He spread his arm, gesturing to the assembled people. "These folks here are all concerned family members."
Mac smirked at Robert. "I'm sure." Nodding his chin towards Sonny, he began to comment about the various family members. "Now Sonny, I can see, as Alexis and Spencer are there. But he could really give two licks about Lansing." Nodding towards Laura, he said, "She has her son and grandson over there, but Luke still has a hard time where Nikolas is concerned. Also, he has a long, sordid history with Mikkos Cassadine, as you well know." At the sight of Angela he said, "She has connection to everyone there, be it mother, grandfather or cousin." Looking back to Alcazar, he was puzzled. "Lorenzo Alcazar has no connection to the Cassadines. If anything, he would have a motive to be one of the perpetrators."
Lorenzo turned at the sound of his name. "Let me assure you, Commissioner, that I have laid aside any conflicts with Ms. Davis. I am here to offer support and assistance, should the need arise."
Now Mac smirked at Lorenzo. "I'm sure. Right now, stay here. Let's get the hostages free, then I would like to speak to you." He turned to Robert, who was now joined by Luke. "How do we even know if it is Helena Cassadine?"
Alfred appeared in the crowd. "I was on the island when I heard her in the Conservatory. I could make out about four or five masked men carrying automatic weapons. I left the house, made my way to the back dock and came across the river, stopping Miss Angela as she was about to board the launch. I warned her about what was taking place at the house."
Mac nodded at the explanation of events. "Angela, Alfred, why didn't you call us immediately?" he questioned.
Angela looked at Mac rather sheepishly. "In all honesty, Commissioner, the reputation of your department isn't, how should I put it, the greatest? I felt that this was an internal family matter that could be dealt with privately."
Mac's mouth dropped open. "The District Attorney is one of the hostages!" he exclaimed.
"My mother's divorce from him has not yet been finalized, therefore," she sighed as she went on, "he's still a member of the Cassadine family."
Mac could not believe Angela had just tried to justify withholding information on a crime. Yet, in the next thought, he could see how she was her mother's daughter. It was a clinical, if convoluted, reason befitting a lawyer- or the daughter of a lawyer who had grown up hearing her mother using similar logic to bail out the accused.
Mac continued to look around the docks. This was going to be a long day.
Ric was lying on the Persian rug for nearly forty-five minutes, the situation tenser, blood pouring out of a chest wound and a stomach wound. Alexis and Nikolas were trying to do anything to stop the blood loss. In the back of his consciousness, Ric was laughing. Here was his estranged wife, who he did still love, working to save him. Yet as he lay there he knew it wouldn't work. He grabbed Alexis' wrist. "Hey, I'm alright. It's alright."
Alexis' cheeks were stained with tears. "You'll be fine Ric. I promise you."
Ric shook his head weakly. "Just make sure Molly has what neither of us had...a mother."
"Ric hang on. She needs her father too," Nikolas told him.
Helena looked at the scene. "Now see what you've made me do, Mr. Lansing. I was perfectly ready to let you go so you could claim your child and you had to perform an act of false nobility."
Mikkos was now kneeling down next to Ric. "He's just doing what I would have done in his place. I would have sacrificed myself for my wife that night."
Alexis looked at him as he continued, his words directed towards his daughter. "We were celebrating your mother's birthday in the home outside of Paris. I drove with my parents back to the airport. When I returned, I found you next to her body. You were in shock, of course, but Victor assessed the situation. He received a call from my cousin Marina, informing us that they had Kristina. She had been left in the stables."
Alexis nodded, still trying to apply pressure to Ric's chest wound. "I brought her there when Mother alerted me that Helena had arrived. She told me to stay with her. I...I didn't listen to her and came back into the house. After it happened, I went back to the stables, but Kristina was gone. I must have gone back to the house."
"So...she never listened?" Ric asked as he coughed up blood.
"Actually she usually did listen. But that night she did not. But my aunt and her daughter found Kristina and realized something must have happened. They took her back to their home and kept her safe," Mikkos explained.
"See Alexis? You were a better older sibling to your sister than my brother ever was to me. Make...sure Kristina is that way with...Molly," Ric told her.
"You listen to me Ric Lansing. You will survive. That is an order from your Prince - and father-in-law," Mikkos commanded as tears slipped down his cheeks. He could see that the wounded man was getting weaker by the minute and there was little that could be done.
Ric smiled at Mikkos. "You...can't...command...command me to do anything," Lansing whispered.
"Yes I can. You are family and family must obey me," he returned. Nikolas had been holding Ric's wrist checking for a pulse.
"At least...I...did...something that was...right...for once," Ric replied. Then his head went limp in Alexis' hands. Nikolas looked for a pulse but could find none. Mikkos bowed his head and said a prayer. But it was Alexis who spoke.
"Once again, Helena, you have done it. You have taken a parent from a child and someone away from me. How much more will I endure? Will you go after my daughters next? What must this family do to be rid of you?" she asked.
"You, Natasha, you are insignificant, as are your daughters. You always have been and you always shall be. The Cassadine line runs through me," Helena stated.
In that moment Alexis had a recollection of her childhood in Greece, after her mother's murder...
Young Alexis was taken by one of the servants to the locked room. The door was opened and she was brought in. At the window overlooking the sea sat an elderly woman. The servant, though loyal to the woman, was afraid. She worried that Madame Cassadine may learn of this meeting and punish her for bringing the girl here. The servant whispered in Alexis' ear and she stepped closer to the elderly woman.
The woman smiled serenely at Alexis and beckoned her closer. Her white hair was gathered in a bun and she wore pearl earrings and a purple dress. On her fingers were four rings, two to each hand. Something about one of the rings was familiar. It was red and she knew there was a story behind it.
The woman held out her hand to Alexis and she took it. The woman smiled again and spoke. "My dear little heart, do you remember me?"
Alexis shook her head mutely. The old lady continued to smile, if not a little less bright. "Well, I remember you. And I love you, no matter what anyone may tell you. You have a proud heritage. One day you will reclaim it, I promise you. You will remember how much you were loved. You will remember the stories you were told about the great Princes and noble Princesses from where you come."
Alexis cocked her head at the woman. She was about to form a word, a sign that she DID know this woman. But the moment was fleeting and unspoken. The woman sighed. "If you remember nothing else about this conversation, remember this. You are the most significant of us. You are the fulfillment of a promise and I pray that you will continue to fulfill that promise, you and those who come after you." The woman then looked up at the servant and signaled her to take the child and leave. Alexis departed and the woman turned to her manservant who stood off to the side. "I feel that will be the last time I see that child," she told him.
"Princess Katerina, have faith that you will see her again," was the servant's only reply. Yet Katerina Olegovna Boshkina, the dowager Princess Cassadine, never was allowed to see her beloved Natasha Mikhailovna again.
"I remember the last thing my grandmother said to me," Alexis began as she removed Ric's lifeless body from her lap. She stood slowly, moving in an almost trancelike state. "She told me how significant I truly was and how it is my line that holds the future of this family. You are the one who is insignificant." Alexis stared at Helena and, for the first time in years, Mikkos was fearful for his daughter's safety.
Angela looked at her watch. It had been nearly three hours since Alfred had stopped her at the docks. Mac was having a hard time keeping a leash on all the people who had gathered at the docks. Angela was very quietly freaking out. She was worried nothing would calm her when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She looked up and saw Melanie standing two feet away. Though she didn't understand what her sister was doing there she grabbed her and hugged her fiercely.
As if to answer the unspoken question, Melanie said, "It was Lorenzo Alcazar who got me here. He told me that his associates would pick me up and get me to his jet. Diego met me at the airport and brought me here." She gave Angela a confused look. "Why would he do that?"
Angela was about to answer when she realized the explanation was too complicated to get into here and now. She simply answered, "It's a long story."
Melanie smirked at her big sister. "I forgot. We're Cassadines. Everything is a long story." She turned to the island. "Do we know what's going on over there?"
Angela shook her head. "It's been three hours. I'm really scared, Melanie."
Melanie took her hand. "Have you been to see the babies?" That expression was all-inclusive for both Kristina and Molly.
Angela shook her head. "Look, go over to Greystone and stay with them. I know Michael and Morgan are there and I'm certain that there's a whole retinue of Corinthos and Cassadine bodyguards there. They may be scared. Stay with them. I'll stay here and try to manage this."
Melanie was about to protest when she saw her sister's expression. It was the same haunted look Uncle Stefan would get when he feared he had let down their mother or them. She nodded, hugged Angela and left with Diego Alcazar. Angela seemed to draw strength from her sister's presence and turned to find Mickey. "We need a plan of action now. I'm not waiting another second to get to that island."
Mickey saw the look and nodded. He turned and nodded to his father as took her hand and the three of them slipped away from the chaos that was around, determined to find a boat, find some firepower and storm the castle. Little did either know that someone heard them and had his own plans about getting to Spoon Island.
