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DARKNESS FALLS
A General Hospital-Highlander-Forever Knight crossover.
by James Spencer
Fifth in the Forever series.
Previously:
Robin and Jason announced their engagment to their friends and a stunned
Mac;
Sonny was framed by Taggert for drug possession and arrested;
Taggert recieved
word that Jerry Jax has come to Port Charles to confer with him about
their
business; News of Robin and Jason's upcoming wedding worried
Carly, but Nikolas
assured her that it does not alter their plan to break the lovers up;
Laura was
severly injured and may never walk again; Stefan and Sarah's relationship
continued to grow, to the dismay of Nikolas; The marriage of
Jax and V
surprised everyone, especially Jerry; Lucky and Liz's love affair
fell into a
comfortable routine; Derek was warned by an old friend that his
love for Emily
could jeopardize his position in the Community; Alexis found
a new friend in
Mariah; Methos, the oldest living Immortal, paid a visit to his
friend Stefan
and fell in love with Dr Eve Lambert; and an Immortal Anna Scorpio
turned up
alive in Toronto where she made the acquintance of fellow Immortal
Natalie
Lambert and her husband Nick Knight.
CHAPTER 1
Port Charles county courthouse,
one week after Sonny's arrest.
Outside the courtroom in the hallway reporters were milling around the
door
trying to hear what was being said inside the closed courtroom.
A few tried to get comment from a dark haired woman and her male friend.
An
intense glare from the man drove most of them off, but a few were feeling
adventurous and persisted. A couple of rather intimidating bodyguards
quickly
delt with them.
"It'll be okay Brenda." Jason had his hands on her shoulders.
Brenda leaned back against him and let some of his strength flow into
her. "I
hope so. I just wish I knew what was going on in there."
"It is also the people's position...." Dara Jensen finished.
"That Mr C
orinthos' ties to organized crime makes him a substansial flight risk.
We
therefore ask again that the defendant be held without bail."
Dara resumed her seat and Justus rose. "Your honor, Ms Jensen
knows full well
that Mr Corinthos has never been convicted of any crime. The
DA is only using
the stigma of organized crime to justify the harsh treatment of this
defendant."
Dana rose up angry. "Harsh treatment? Your client was arrested
with ten kilos
of cocaine in the trunk of his limo."
"Enough!" The Judge raised his hand. "Ms Jensen, while I'm
sympathetic to the
prosecution's concerns, I must also agree with the defense's position
as well.
It is not the duty of this court to punish defendants for suspected
criminal
acts. If you have proof of your allegations by all means brings
charges. Until
you have proof I am setting bail at the amount of $500,000 cash or
bond." Dara
rose again to object. "Your objection is noted." A loud
bang from the Judge's
gavel ended the morning's proceedings.
As the Judge left the courtroom Sonny extended his hand to Justus.
"Thanks
Justus."
"Don't thank me yet. This case has barely started." A second
later the
courtroom doors burst open and a sea of reporters flooded in.
Justus stood
between them and Sonny. "Ladies and gentlemen, my client has
no statement at
this time."
Sonny signaled one of his bodyguards to make path out into the hall.
Once
outside Brenda rushed into his arms. Photographers snapped pictures
of the
reunion before being gently pushed away.
Port Charles Hotel, Jerry's suite.
Jerry sighed. "I know it changes things.... Will you listen for
a moment....
Jax's marriage to Venus could also help us.... I know she's not Brenda
Barrett.... Yes alright, I'll let you know when we can proceed....
Goodbye."
Jerry sighed again as he hung up the phone.
Kelly's.
Lucky and Emily were sitting at table eating breakfast,while Lulu sat
at the bar
and spun around on one of the stools.
"How's your mom doing?" Emily asked as she bit into a bagel.
"Dad said she's okay. The doctors at the hospital they went to
in Rochester
said there's a good chance they could repair the damage."
"That's wonderful." Emily said genuinely pleased to hear that
Lucky's mother
might regain the use of her legs. As she looked at her best friend,
Emily
noticed bags under his eyes. "You look tired. Are you getting
any sleep?"
Lucky ran a weary hand through hids hair. "A little. Lulu's
been a handful
since mom and dad left." Lucky smiled. "The only she'll
listen to now is Liz."
"Where is Liz anyway?" Emily asked as she pushed a stray strand
of brown hair
out of her eyes.
A deserted area of the docks,
about the same time.
"You wouldn't want to call this a draw, would you?" Liz asked
gasping for
breath. A swordstroke aimed at her head was the answer.
She ducked just before
the blade hit and sparks exploded as it made contact with the metal
railing she
was leaning against. "I'll take that as a no."
Her oppenent comes on strong again. As the battle progressed Liz
noticed her
foe falling into predictible pattern, suddenly she sees her opening
and steps in
drives her blade into the man's stomach up to the hilt.
"What was your name again?" Liz asked as she held her sword to
his throat. "Oh
yeah, I remember...." Liz brought her blade around and neatly
severed the man's
head from his shoudlers. "Loser."
Swirling mists rose from the headless corpse enveloping her. She
reaches
heavenward with her sword with a cry of agony as electricity arcs around
her
body and explodes above her head. After a minute or so the enegry
dissipates
and the spasms subside.
Liz is on the ground breathing hard. "What a rush."
A townhouse, about 20 miles outside London.
"I don't care!" The man shouted in the telephone. "I've
paid you and your
associates a great deal of money to find her. Now.... FIND HER!!!"
A middle-aged woman with dark hair watched as he slammed the phone down
in
frustration. She downed her drink and walked over to him.
"Something wrong
darling?"
He stiffened at her touch. "They lost her again." He turned
and started to
caress her cheek. "Five years. I've been chasing her for
over five years and
she still eludes me."
His female companion smiled. "She is the best." She wraps
her arms around his
neck. "How goes our other problem?"
"The marriage has been an unexpected complication." Held her tight
against him
with one arm and ran his other hand up and down her back. "I
was counting on
those two men being distracted by their mutal animosity toward each
other
concerning the Barrett woman."
"Does it cha.... change anything?" She asked as he began to kiss her neck.
"It may require a few minor alterations, but our friends in Port Charles
are
confidant. In fact, I think it may help us." He removed
his lips from her neck
and looked into her deep brown eyes. "Veronica my dear, do not
worry."
Veronica slowly ran her tongue over her crimson shaded lips. "I
never worry
Cesar, not when you're involved." She then kissed him forcfully
on the lips.
As their passion increased Ceaser moved her neck, causing her to moan
his name.
"Anna." He whispered back to her.
The courthouse.
"The judge granted him bail.... He'll be back on the street in an hour....
Don't
you think I know that...." Taggert said into his cell phone,
trying not to be
overheard. "Look, I can't really talk here I'll have to call
you back.... I'll
deal with it.... No one will find him." Taggert closed his phone
and turned to
see Dara Jensen. He eyes her cautiously unsure if she heard any
of his
conversation.
"Detective." Dara said. "I take it you heard."
Taggert slipped his phone into his pocket. "Yeah well what'd you
expect. Judge
Wilkes was bought and paid for years ago." He put his arm around
the attorney.
"What do you say I buy ya some lunch." They just started to walk
off when a
uniformed officer came and whispered something into the detective's
ear.
"Sorry, I'm afraid lunch is off."
Dara smiled. "That okay. Go do your job. Serve and
protect." Dara watched
him leave with the officer wondering what that phone call was about
and who
would never be found.
Toronto,
earlier that morning.
Nick Knight watched Terry pace the floor of his and Natalie's loft.
"I still
can't understand why this couldn't have waited until tonight.
I would've liked
to spend the day at the house seeing it's been so long since we were
home."
Natalie Lambert touched her friends hand. "I know Terry.
Trust me when you
meet her you'll know why."
"Meet who, Nat?"
The question had barely left Aaron's lips before the presence of another
Immortal hit both him and Natalie. A beautiful woman stepped
off the elevator.
She was around Natalie's height, maybe a little taller, with shoulder
length
brown hair.
"Come on in." Natalie said to her. "I want you meet some
friends. "This is
Aaron Grey and his wife Terry." They shook hands. "Aaron,
Terry, this is Anna.
Anna Scorpio."
Terry's hand lingered in Anna's. "Scorpio?" She looked over
at her husband and
back at Anna.
Anna smiled faintly. "Yes. I'm Robin's mother."
CHAPTER 2
Carly's apartment.
"When's the nanny due back?" Nikolas asked as he slowly sipped his drink.
"Not for a few hours. I sent her on some errands." Carly
sat down next to him.
"I hope your little visit here is to tell me that we're finally going
to get
started."
Nikolas smiled. "Yes. With Sonny about to stand trial Jason
and Brenda are
going to be distracted, and with Mac Scorpio vehemently opposed to
the wedding,
Robin will need someone to talk to."
"That someone being you."
"Of course, I am her friend after all."
A cough caused Carly looked over at the playpen where Michael was napping.
"It's going to take a lot to convince Jason that Robin is betraying
him."
"Not as much as you think." Nikolas drained his glass. "We
both know that the
one thing Jason cannot stand is lies. All you have to do Carly
is plant the
seed."
"He's not going to believe a word I say, especially if its about Robin."
"It doesn't matter if he believes you or not. Just as long as
it's there."
"Good morning family." Emily said as she strode into the Quartermaine
living
room. She stopped and gave Lila a kiss on the cheek. "Good
morning
grandmother."
"Good morning dear."
"It hasn't been morning for almost an hour."
Emily turned at Edward's voice. "Well good afternoon then."
She poured herself
a glass of orange juice. "Now what exactly is the big emergancy
grandfather."
"I was just about to get to that, now that were all here."
Emily stood next to Lila, while Moica sat on the couch next to AJ and
Alan
hovered in the background.
"As you know Sonny Corinthos is about to go on trial for drug trafficing."
Edward began. Emily felt her stomach start to churn. "I
think this is the
opportunity we've all been waiting for."
"For what father?" Alan said from the back.
"Why to bring Michael home where he belongs, of course."
Monica and Emily both groaned loudly.
"You can't be serious." Monica said standing up.
"You are unbelievable." Emily said at the same time.
Edward held up his hand. "Now here me out. With all of this
drug business
there isn't a judge around that wouldn't grant us custody of that little
boy."
Monica rolled her eyes. "Emily's right Edward, you are unbelievable."
"Yeah, and it's funny that you waited until Ned and Lois left for New
York call
this family powwow." Emily added.
"Wait a minute you two." AJ moved next to Edward. "I think
grandfather's
right."
"Big surprise." Emily muttered.
AJ didn't hear her. "I would've thought this latest episode would've
convinced
how much of a danger Jason's business is to Michael, now that Sonny
has started
dealing drugs."
"Sonny doesn't deal drugs AJ."
"God forbid I should come to the defense of Sonny Corinthos, but I agree
with
Emily. You know Jason AJ, do you really believe that he would
be involved in
drugs after seeing what happened to Emily."
Emily smiled a little as Monica put her arm around her shoudler.
"And I know
Sonny. Granted he has his hands in just about every shady deal
going on, but
the one thing he would never touch, no matter how much money there
was to be
made, is drugs."
"I don't believe it, now you're defending him."
"I'm not defending him AJ."
"Can we please get back to the matter at hand." Edward interrupted.
"No we can't." Emily responded. "Because I'm putting you
on notice gran
dfather. If you even try to take Michael from Carly, I promise you,
you never
see him, Jason, Ned, Lois, Brooke or ME again." She poked him
in the chest.
"Do I make myself clear."
"Now you see here young lady....." Edward blustered as Emily left the room.
"Put a sock in it Edward!" Monica yelled at him while following
daughter.
Kelly's,
later that afternoon.
"So how's life in the castle?" Liz asks as she bit into a burger.
"It's good." Sarah told her staring down at her plate.
"I can tell. If you don't settle down I'm going to have to club
you over the
head."
"I'm sorry. It's just Nik."
Liz's eyes widened. "Oh, and just was has the dark prince done now?"
"He's ignoring me." Sarah finally pushed her plate away from her,
not having
eaten a single bite. "Before, everytime he saw me, there would
be an
accusation. Now it's nothing, just silence."
"Well in all fairness, how do you really expect your ex-boyfriend to
handle your
sleeping with his father."
Sarah looked tired. "I didn't expect him to jump for joy, if that's
what you
mean. I'm just worried that Nik's going to do something."
"Like tell you that he still loves you."
"No!" Sarah stared at Liz. "I am not love with Nik.
How could you even
think...."
Seeing Sarah's reaction, Liz instantly regretted her comment. "I'm sorry."
Sarah tried to smile. "It's okay. I can understand why you
would think that.
But believe me Liz, I don't love him anymore. I don't think I
ever really did.
Nikolas was just.... hell I don't know what he was, but it wasn't love."
Outside a man watches the two siblings talk through the window.
"What about Stefan? Are you in love with him?" Liz asked bluntly.
"Yes." For the first time since they sat down, Sarah's face showed
some kind of
emotion. "He's sweet and kind and gentle. Now I know that
some people in this
town think he's the devil in a two thousand dollar suit. But
that's not the
Stefan I know." Sarah practically glowed as she spoke of him.
"I'm telling you
Liz, if you got to know him like I have, you'd fall in love with him
to."
Liz laughed. "No thanks. I've already got my man."
The Spencer home.
"Lu I'm not telling you again!" Lucky said his voice rising.
"Get upstairs and
get in the tub!"
"NO!" A very dirty Lesley Lu shouted back. "I don't wanna! I want Lizzie!"
An exasperated Lucky tried to corner the fleeing girl. "She'll
be by later on.
Now you don't want to see her all dirty do you?"
"YES!" Lu shouted and darted past her brother and out the front
door followed
by Foster.
Lucky placed his hands behind his head and looked heavenward for guidance.
The
phone rang. "Hello, Belleview Mental Hospital.... Oh, hi Dad."
The penthouse.
Sonny, Brenda and Jason sat around and listened as Justus explained
how he
wanted to handle Sonny's defense. The prosecution has a pretty
open and shut
case he tells them.
"Isn't there some way we can prove Taggert set Sonny up?" Brenda inquired.
"Not that I can see." Justus answered. "And I think it will
be a mistake to
try without some kind of evidence."
"He's right." Sonny stood up. "Without proof all we'll end
up doing is
alienating the jury by going after him. I mean who would believe
that a cop
would plant over a half a million dollars worth of cocaine just to
frame
someone."
"Okay." Brenda said. "Taggert did set you up. Now how could he do it?"
"He would have to some very powerful friends, probably on your side
of the
street." Justus said looking his over open briefcase at a pacing
Sonny. "So
where do we start looking?"
Sonny stopped next to Justus. "You start by trying to find some
way to get me
out of this on the legal side. While the rest of us start to
dig a little
deeper into Taggert's past."
Justus closed his briefcase and started for the door. "I'll talk
to Dara about
my suspicions. She may want you behind bars, but she won't break
the law to do
it."
A moment later Jason followed him out. "I'll get with Benny and
start going
over Taggert's life with a fine tooth comb. If there's something
there we'll
find it."
Sonny shut the door behind Jason and joined Brenda on the couch.
He put his arm
around her and she snuggled up to him. "Bren, I know you don't
want to think
about this, but we should probably prepare ourselves for the fact that
I'll
probably be convicted."
Brenda moved from him. "No. That is not going to happen."
"It might." Sonny pulled her back near him. "Listen to me.
Even if that
happens, I am not going to spend one day in jail." He kissed
her forehead, then
got up and removed a metal box from the safe behind one the pictures
on the
wall.
He opened the box and showed it to Brenda. Inside were documents,
a birth
certificate, driver's license, social security card, even a few credit
cards.
Everything an Immortal needed to start over.
"What is all this?" Brenda asked as she examined them.
"That's me." Sonny sat down next to her again. "This is
my new identity.
Conner helped me set it up a few years ago in case I had to move on
in a hurry."
"You're leaving?"
Sonny took the box from her and closed it. "Not if I don't have to."
Brenda clasped one of his hands tightly. "You won't have to."
The Raven, Toronto,
evening.
As usual, the Raven was packed and Nick, along with Anna, had to push
his way
through the crowd. The vampires that patronize the club mingled
easily with
humans, who were unaware of the others' existence. It always
troubled Nick a
little to see so many of them partying together, knowing that things
could turn
unpleasant quickly and some of them could be dead before the night
was over.
He was almost to the bar, Anna hanging on to his arm, when he bumped
into Javier
Vachon. His rumpled grunge-like made him blend in perfectly with
the natives of
the neighborhood.
"Hey Knight, don't tell me, strange homicide with interesting bite marks
and
you're making inquires?"
Nick shook his head, his eyes darting to his companion, giving Vachon
the signal
that he's said a little too much in front of an innocent. He
got the message
and stopped talking.
"Not tonight, we just dropped by to see LaCroix."
"He's in back finishing his show." Vachon smiled at Nick's companion
who
regarded him strangely. "I'll let you go then, I've got a late
date with that
adorable partner of yours." He shook Nick's hand. "Later."
Anna watched him leave. "Friend of yours I take it?" Nick just smiled.
He led Anna through the crowd until they reached the door LaCroix's
office.
Seeing that LaCroix has yet to finish his radio show, Nick and Anna
took a seat
at nearby table.
"Good evening, Nicholas." Came a voice a few minutes later.
Anna turned at the cool, almost icy tone of the voice coming from behind
her.
LaCroix was dressed in black (as usual) that accented his pale skin.
A rare
smile formed on his lips.
"And who is this lovely creature, I do hope you're not dishonoring the
good
Doctor Lambert."
Nick let the insinuation go. "LaCroix this is Anna Scorpio."
LaCroix took
Anna's extended hand and squeezed it slightly. She was surprised
at the
coolness of his skin. "She's a friend of Aaron and Terry's as
well."
LaCroix raised his eyebrows. "Is she indeed. If I may inquire?"
"Yes, she's one of them."
Anna couldn't believe that Nick just gave away her secret. Nick
noticed the
look on her face. "It's alright Anna, LaCroix and Aaron have
been friends for a
long time."
Anna stared at Nick's odd friend as he sat down. "So you know about us."
"Intimately." LaCroix raised his hand and a few seconds later
Urs placed a wine
glass in front of him. "Now tell me Nicholas, what can I do for
you and your
lovely friend?"
"I need to find Aristotle."
LaCroix slowly sipped from his glass. "I'm afraid that won't be
possible, he is
rather busy on a.... *special* project."
"I know that, but this is important."
LaCroix regarded his *son* and his companion. "I take it this
is for the lady?"
Nick nodded. "And time is a factor." Nick nodded again.
"Very well. Leave
the relevant information with me and I'll see that Aristotle gets it."
Nick passed him an envelope. "Thank you LaCroix."
"Not at all Nicholas. As you know I'm always one to help ladies in distress."
Anna felt increasingly uncomfortable as LaCroix stared at her.
Even as Nick led
her away, she could feel his eyes upon her until they reached the outside.
"You have some very strange friends here." Anna said as she got
into Nick's
caddie.
Nick started the engine. "You have no idea." He said as the car sped away.