Chapter 7

Luke stepped back in shock. “Cassidine? You’re joking, right?”

Lucien shook his head and smiled. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“You mean, there’s more of you out there?” he asked incredulously.

Lucien chuckled. “I guess you could say that. I’m surprised you didn’t know. I thought you kept close tabs on my family.”

“I do...wait, did you say before that Helena was your grandmother? You’re not another one of Stefan’s spawn are you?” he asked suspiciously, wondering if Laura had lied to him yet again.

He shook his head. “No, Stefan is my uncle. My father was Stavros. I believe you knew him. In fact, from what I’ve been told, you were the one who killed him.” He glared at Luke, daring him to deny it.

Luke was taken aback for a moment. The look of pure hatred in Lucien’s eyes had shocked him, yet saddened him as well. It was a look he had become very familiar with after he had told Lucky about raping Laura. The resemblance between his son and this man was uncanny, and he began to fear the worst: that Laura had more than one Cassidine child. When would the lies stop?

He cleared his throat before asking the question he feared most. “Do you know who your mother is?”

Lucien hadn’t expected that question, and was startled for a second. “My mother is dead. Her name was Anna. Why do you care, anyway?”

Luke breathed a sigh of relief, but was still confused. Why did he look so much like Lucky if he wasn’t Laura’s son? And who was Anna? He had never heard of Stavros being married to anyone but Laura. Something strange was going on here.

“Luke!” a voice called out behind him. He turned around and saw Mac walking towards them.

“Hey, Bubba,” he muttered, turning back to Lucien. If he was really a Cassidine, it was a bad idea to turn his back on him for very long.

Mac approached them, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Lucien. “My God,” he whispered. Luke heard him and nodded. “I know. Spooky, isn’t it?” he said softly.

Lucien looked from one man to the other, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Luke looked at Mac and smiled sarcastically. “Allow me to introduce you to my new friend here. Bubba, this is Lucien Cassidine. It seems they snuck one past me.”

Mac was shocked. Robin had said there was a resemblance, but he hadn’t expected it to be so strong. He looked a lot older, and had more hair, but his eyes... He regained his composure and offered his hand to him. “Nice to meet you Lucien. I’m Mac Scorpio.”

“Scorpio?” he said quietly. This must be Robin’s uncle. Suddenly realizing he didn’t want to be there any longer, he quickly shook his hand and excused himself. “It was nice to meet you, but I really must be going.” He rushed out of the club.

Luke turned to Mac. “What spooked him all of a sudden?”

Mac smiled. “He probably recognized my name. He met Robin at the Sorbonne the other day. She called me today to warn me about him, because she had a feeling he was going to come here soon. I came here to warn you, but it seems I was too late.”

“Warn me? Why, because he’s a Cassidine?” Luke asked.

“No, because she mentioned that he resembled Lucky. I didn’t want you to freak out on him.”

Luke sat down at one of the tables. “Too late for that,” he mumbled. He looked up at Mac. “Am I nuts, or did he really look like him?”

Mac nodded. “Yeah, he did. I’m sure this isn’t a topic you want to think about, but is it possible that Laura had another kid before?”

Luke shook his head. “I thought of that, too, but he said his mother’s name was Anna, and that she was dead. This just doesn’t make any sense. How could I not know that there was another one of them out there? How could Helena keep him a secret for so long. I mean, he looked like he had to be at least 20! And he’s Stavros’s son, so that means he’s the heir. Why would she go through all that trouble trying to get Nikolas over to her side, if she had the real heir in her pocket the whole time?”

Mac shrugged. “You’re guess is as good as mine. I already have some people looking into his background, just in case he turns out to be a threat. I’ll let you know what we turn up.”

Luke smiled and shook his hand. “Thanks, Bubba. Hey - don’t mention this to anyone yet, okay? I don’t want everyone knowing that my son’s clone is walking around out there as a Cassidine. I just hope he doesn’t run into Laura. She’s had a hard enough time dealing with everything. I’m afraid seeing him could cause her to have another breakdown...”

Mac squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t worry, no one will hear it from me, but I have a feeling he’s going to be here for a while, and he’s bound to run into people.”

~*~

Lucien got back to the hotel and took another shower. Meeting Luke Spencer had disturbed him, but not in the way he had expected. He wasn’t afraid of the man at all, and he couldn’t help enjoying the look on his face when he introduced himself as a Cassidine. It had been priceless. But, on the other hand, there had been something very familiar about him. Figuring it was just a result of being told about him all of his life, he went over and sat down on the bed, reaching for the phone. If he didn’t check in with his grandmother soon, they would start to wonder where he was.

“Hello?” one of the servants answered.

“It’s Lucien. May I speak to my grandmother?” he asked formally.

A few minutes later, she came to the phone. “Hello, dear, we were starting to wonder about you. Did you get your uncle’s messages?”

‘Uh-oh. How am I going to do this without making her suspicious?’ he thought. “I just got home, actually. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, we’re fine. We were just worried about you. Have you seen that Scorpio girl again?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“Um..no, I haven’t. Why do you ask?” He didn’t like to lie to his grandmother, but she didn’t usually grill him like this. Something must be up with them.

“Oh, no reason. I was just curious, that’s all. So how is Paris?”

“Beautiful, as always. I don’t mean to cut this short, but I’m exhausted. I really must get some sleep. Early classes, you know?” he said, yawning. If he had been in Paris, it would be after midnight, so it was a believable excuse.

“Of course, dear. I won’t keep you any longer. You get some sleep now. We’ll talk to you later.” she said warmly, pleased that he was still in Paris after all.

They said good-bye and hung up. He sat back and smiled, thinking that he may get away with this trip after all. He fell asleep thinking about the people he had met there, especially Luke Spencer.

He began to dream. It was a dream he had often. He was standing in the middle of a large room, and there was a girl standing a few feet in front of him, facing away from him. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and was very petite. He walked towards her, but no matter how much he walked, she was always just out of his reach. Wanting to see her face, he reached out to touch her shoulder, but she disappeared. He knew this girl, he could feel it, but he was never able to get her to turn around. After she disappeared, instead of waking up like he usually did, the dream continued. This time he was in the park from that afternoon, by the fountain. It was dark and cold, and there was snow on the ground. He heard a rustling noise coming from the bushes, and saw a girl crawling out from them. She was all scratched up, and her red dress was torn. Just as she started to raise her head, he woke up.

He sat up in bed, shaking, drenched with sweat. Who was that girl, and why couldn’t he ever see her face? Did she have something to do with that strange feeling he got in the park that day? If he had never been to Port Charles before, why did everything feel so familiar, and why did everyone look at him like they’d just seen a ghost? Something strange was going on, and he vowed to find out what it was. Maybe it was time he paid a visit to his uncle.

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