August 2010 in Bern, Switzerland

Church of St. Peter and Paul

Victor Cassadine smiled as he walked towards the altar of the church, finding great amusement in the sight of the woman dressed from head to toe in unrelieved black with a lace veil covering her face.

“I’m always surprised that you can step foot in a place like this,” he drawled. The woman turned away from the altar where she had been lighting candles. “I thought it might be you asking for this meeting when I received the message.” He glanced around the empty chapel, then lifted a brow at her. “You always did have a flair for the dramatic.”

She lit the last candle, then stepped down to meet Victor. “And you came anyway?”

“It’s never boring,” Victor told her. He sat in the front pew, stretching his arm across the back of the wooden pew. “Why a Catholic church, darling? We’re Orthodox.”

“We’re practical,” she murmured as she sat next to him and lifted the veil on her hat. “You’ve heard the good news?”

“Of course. You’re a great-grandmother again. A little boy born to Nikolas.” Victor narrowed his eyes as the woman’s lips curved. “For someone who has been cast out of his life more than once, I don’t see why you’re so happy.”

“I had a thought, my dear Victor,” she said, “that Mikkos would be disappointed in the children he sired. None of them have taken up the reins the way they ought to.” She tilted her head. “What about Liesl’s brats? Wasn’t one of them yours?”

“Possibly,” Victor said with a light shrug. “They might also be Cesar’s. With Liesl, one never knows. You shouldn’t look for the Cassadine line to continue through me. No, Nikolas and his boys — they’re your best bet.”

“Perhaps,” she purred. “If only there were two of them.”

Victor felt the corner of his mouth tug up. “Darling, what are you up to?”

“Reviving the Cassadine line,” she replied. She straightened the cuffs of her long black sleeves. “It’s not always in the blood, but in the breeding. I have a plan, Victor, but I’m afraid I cannot do it alone.”

“And what can I do for you?”

“You have some old friends that I might want to speak with. And now that you’re at the WSB—” Her smile deepened. “You have so many resources. I thought we might find it amusing to revive some old experiments.”

“You’ll have to be more specific, dear.” Victor shifted. “What experiments?”

“Controlling the mind, manipulating memory—” she sighed dreamily. “I came close with my beloved Lucky. So close to finally cracking it all and getting my revenge on Luke and Laura but I was stopped.”

“And you can’t abide while a Spencer lives?”

“The Spencers remain on my list, but they are not the only ones who have wronged me. My grandson who lied to me—” Her lips trembled before she pressed them together as the fury in her eyes grew. “He deceived me, led me to believe he had finally come to my side—and he might have. But she always stopped him.”

“She?”

“Elizabeth Webber. The mother of Nikolas’s new son.” She laughed then, a dark chilling laugh. “So many fathers for her children, what’s one more lie for her to live?”

“My dear—” Victor squinted. He didn’t quite understand her delight.

“If Nikolas had killed Elizabeth Webber when he was supposed to, I would have the grandson I deserve. She made him weak, and she keeps him tied to the light. With the death of that insipid girl Emily, he should have been ripe to fall—” She calmed herself, her breathing rapid. “When I have broken Elizabeth, I will have my grandson back.”

“And the experiments,” Victor said slowly. “They’ll help you do that?”

“Oh, I couldn’t destroy her without them. This little lie about Aiden—” She examined her nails. “It’s just the first of the tortures I have planned. And when she is gone, when Nikolas has fallen—then it will be time to finish Luke and Laura—”

“Then how will you revive the Cassadines?” Victor asked, as the woman rose to her feet and reset her veil. “Without Nikolas, there’s just his sons—”

Helena lifted a brow. “I would not put much stock in the elder boy. His mother was weak and easily broken. As for the other—” She turned her gaze towards the altar, at the candles she had recently lit. “Well, that remains to be seen.” She waited. “I have made my request, Victor. What is your answer?”

Victor mused on this for a long moment, then nodded. “I have been thinking about getting into that line of inquiry,” he admitted. “And, interestingly enough, I have some research going on in the labs now that might be useful.” He stood as well. “But that does not answer my question, darling. Without Nikolas or his progeny, how do you plan to revive the Cassadines? And for whom?”

“It’s time to look to a new branch.” Helena Cassadine lifted her face into the light for a brief moment and her smile would have sent chills down a lesser man’s spine.

“Mine.”