Life After Dark: Book Two of the Dark Series

Chapter 132

~ Timoria: In Dreams ~

Greece.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Dara smiled in reply to Alex's warm voice. She hadn't intended to voice her thoughts, but the word had slipped out without her permission. Like Alex, she saw the beauty in their surroundings, but she also noted the mystery, too. Some of it was scary, but mostly it was sad. Very sad.

Alex's large sun-browned hand closed over Dara's much smaller one. With their fingers linked, they walked down the beaten path towards the secluded gardens. His voice was soft as he said, "You're quiet this morning. What's going on?"

She shrugged. "Not much. Just thinking and hoping...the same as always." A frown creased Alex's brow, and she brought his hand to her lips, giving him a soft kiss. "I'm as okay as I can be. Did you and Stefan find out anything new?"

"Not really," Alex told her. "Our suspicions were proven correct. Nothing earth shattering, just that Spiros is a liar."

"Come again?" She tugged on his hand, stopping him as he moved deeper inside the maze of shrubbery and fragrant blossoms. "What is this about Spiros? I didn't know you and Stefan doubted him."

Alex changed course. Taking the lead, he led them out of the maze and towards the opposite end of the garden. A stone bench awaited them and there they sat. Once settled and with his arm around her, he said, "When that last lead didn't pan out, we became suspicious. We didn't say anything because... Well, you and Carrie can be quite vocal, and Nikolas and Tommy... Well, they can be lethal..."

"Vocal, huh?" Dara rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll give you that and I second the sentiment for the guys. So, what happened? Is he working with that witch?"

"Yeah, and it's worse than that. He's bedding her, too."

"Eww." Dara turned up her nose in disgust.

"That goes double for me. Anyway, our trip to Karpathos proved informative. A few of the locals, who consider Stefan as the 'good' Cassadine, finally broke their silence. Yargo, an old fisherman, told us that he saw Spiros and Helena together. And even though Helena and Stefan's relationship is legendary around here, he didn't make much of her spending time with Stefan's pal until he heard about Dawn's disappearance. He didn't really put it together until Valeria mentioned that Spiros was working really hard to find Nikolas' wife."

"How did Stefan take it?" Dara asked softly.

Alex looked at her in surprise. She cared. He didn't comment on her changing feelings about Stefan, but he did answer her question. "If he was surprised or hurt by it, I didn't notice. He didn't really give anything away until Nikolas and Tommy nearly ran us down."

"When did this happen?" she questioned. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Alex released a deep sigh. "It happened last night in Athens-"

"You went to Athens? One of you could have called and let us know-"

"Mi vida, there was no time," Alex said, placating her with the warmth in his voice and eyes. "We came back here to confront him and when he came tearing out of the HQ on the second floor, we thought the guys had figured him out, too. When they didn't go after him, we decided to follow him. He jumped around a lot and he led us to Athens-"

"What about Nikolas and Tommy? Where do they come in?"

Alex raised an eyebrow. "I'm getting to that. The guys became suspicious of him, too, and followed us as we followed him. We sensed them, and because we thought Spiros was on to us, we set them up. Those two were a hare's breath away from receiving some serious bodily harm."