Forbidden
by LexiCass

chapter 1

Alexis sat in the cold dark cellar watching the prisoner sleep. It wasn’t a regular cellar. It was more like a prison. There were four cells on both sides of a long hallway. Each cell had four metal walls with a barred door. There was a cot in each cell, as well as a make-shift bathroom with running water.

Her knees were drawn up to her chest and her chin rested on top as she watched him. She wondered why he was still alive. After killing several members of her family, Alexis couldn’t figure out why Mikkos hadn’t ordered him dead. She had witnessed the slaughter. Some were shot, some were stabbed, and he had thrown Anthony from a parapet. As scary as that thought and the memory of the bloodshed was, he was the only person who hated her family as much as she did.

The twenty-one year old was lying on the floor, face down. She saw his blonde head move first. Alexis had been watching him for several minutes before he woke. “What do you want?” he asked as he sat up abruptly.

She was taken aback by his tone. But after a few moments she decided it should have been expected. “I brought you something to eat.” Alexis pushed the plate under the door towards him.

“Are you a servant? You look to young to be a servant.”

“I’m sixteen, and I’m a Cassadine.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Helena send you down here to poison me? Make me feel even worse?” He looked around the dank cellar. “Come out, you old bat. You want to hurt me, do it yourself.”

Alexis grinned at him. “Helena’s not here. I brought this up for you because I thought you might be hungry. I’ll be in a lot of trouble if that old bat finds out I fed you.”

Luke laughed. He actually laughed. “You must really hate her.”

“Let’s just say, I envy Cinderella.”

Luke inspected her carefully. Her big brown eyes were familiar. He had seen them before but was unsure of where. It took him only a few moments to remember. She had been hiding in the corner when he killed many of her family. “I’m sorry you had to witness that.”

She shrugged. “They never paid any attention to me, and when they did, it was never a good thing. Eat,” she instructed pushing the plate towards him.

“Thank you.”

As he ate the meal she had brought him, he looked around his new home. It wasn’t as dungeon like, as he had originally imagined. “I really appreciate this,” he said when finished. “That was much better than the water and stale bread I was given earlier.”

“It was no problem. Stefan does the same for me.”

“What do you mean?”

Alexis wiped the stray tear from her eye. “Like you said, I hate Helena, and she hates me. I don’t have to do or say anything. She’ll lock me up here sometimes just to keep me out of her way.” She tried, unsuccessfully, to pretend it didn’t matter.

“Bitch,” he said almost to himself.

“Excuse me!”

“Helena, not you,” he answered quickly. “By the way, what’s you’re name?”

“I’m Alexis, and you’re Luke right?”

Luke nodded as he continued to chow on his food. “Alexis… that’s a pretty name.”

She looked down as she blushed at his words. “I should get going. If Helena finds me here, she’ll lock me up, too. Then who’ll bring you food.”

Luke smiled at her, and she smiled back. “Thanks, Alexis.”

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

And with that, Alexis left. She went back to her room. As she lay down to go to sleep, her thoughts hung on the prisoner. He was cute… cuter than any of the other young men she had met. She shook her head trying to get him out of her mind. He’d probably be dead after a month or two of some kind of torture at the Cassadine’s hands. She knew she shouldn’t have gone down to see him, but she also knew she’d not be able to stay away.

****

The next morning Alexis made her way to the kitchen and made a large breakfast. The cook had looked at her funny, but didn’t say anything. She took a secret passageway down to the hall outside of the cellar. Alexis heard Helena’s cackle as she left the room where prisoners were held. When Alexis was sure Helena was gone, she snuck into the cellar and Luke beamed up at her.

“Good mornin’, darlin’.”

“Good morning,” Alexis answered. “I brought waffles and syrup.”

She sat the tray down and uncovered a stack of eight waffles. “I can’t eat all of that.”

Alexis smiled and pulled out two empty plates and deposited two waffles on each plate. “I thought I’d eat with you.”

The two had breakfast and dinner together each day. Alexis also left a small something with him for lunch. Days passed, and then weeks, since Luke had first been locked up. Alexis never failed to visit him for meals. So when Alexis failed to show up one evening, he worried. It had been three weeks since Alexis introduced herself, while offering him a meal, and he had seen her twice a day, everyday since.

Luke tossed and turned for hours, unable to sleep. When morning came, and Alexis didn’t show up yet again, he knew something was wrong. Helena came by bringing him bread and water. His stomach grumbled for something more, but he barely noticed over his worry for her. Helena smiled more than usual. She seemed more cheery.

“What’s with you?” Luke asked.

“Nothing,” she answered. “I had a marvelous evening.”

Luke wanted to ask what she had done with Alexis, knowing the old bat knew something about why Alexis hadn’t shown. But there was a chance Helena didn’t know about their meetings, and didn’t want Alexis in any more trouble. A few more days passed before he saw Alexis again.

“Oh, thank God,” Luke said when Alexis entered the room.

“I’m sorry about not being able to bring you your meals. I’m sure you’re probably starving. I’d have asked someone else to do it, but I knew they wouldn’t risk incurring Helena’s wrath.”

“Alexis… what happened?” Luke reached out through the bars and lightly brushed the back of his hand over her bruised cheek.

“It’s nothing,” she lied.

“Who touched you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Tears filled her eyes, and she brushed them away furiously.

“Like hell it does.”

“What are you going to do if I tell you?”

Luke backed down. She was right. He couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t hurt the bastard who hurt her. He couldn’t stop it from happening again. “Please tell me,” he begged.

“I fought with Stavros again.” She smiled at Luke. “But I gave him a black eye.”

Luke smiled. “He’ll pay. Maybe not now… maybe not for a while, but he’ll pay. I will make sure of it.”

“I brought you a rather large breakfast. I figured you’d be starving.” She pushed the container underneath the barred door as per usual. Trying to get her emotions under control, she watched him eat.

“I really missed you,” Luke said honestly.

“I missed you, too.” She really had missed him and spent many hours worrying about him while she was recovering in her bed. Stavros had noticed her happiness, which was very uncharacteristic. Stavros accused her of having a dalliance with one of the servants, and when she denied it, he went off like a time bomb.

“You belong to me,” he said. “No one else has the right to touch you.” He ran his hand through her hair and cupped the back of her head pulling her in for a kiss. She brought her left hand up and punched him, leaving him with a black eye. He smacked her hard and she fell to the ground. He sat on top of her, straddling her hips. Holding two of her wrists in his left hand, he unbuttoned her top. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. And you know I love a challenge.”

It hadn’t been the first time he had raped her. She fought him back as usual. There had been times when she let him have his way with her. It had been less physically painful, but she always hated herself afterwards.

“Where’d you go?” Luke asked.

Alexis blinked her eyes a few times quickly bringing her back to the present. “Nowhere. I’m fine.”

He knew she had remembered something bad, but he chose not to push it. Luke quickly finished up and stored the sandwich for his lunch. He pushed the container back to her.

“I’ll see you tonight,” Alexis said as she started away.

“Wait,” Luke said grabbing her wrist.

“No!” Alexis yelled as she yanked away from his grasp. Luke jumped back, startled. “I’m s-sorry,” she stuttered. Her breathing was heavy, and he gave her a few minutes to get everything back under control.

“I didn’t mean to upset or startle you, I just wanted to…” Luke held his hand out to her and drew her closer, making sure to keep his grasp on her light. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He kissed her palm, and then smiled at her. “I’ll see you soon.”

Alexis blushed slightly, as she let go of his hand. She quickly made her way back to her room, taking a longer route so she could stay in secret passageways. Anything to avoid Stavros, she thought. When she entered the room, she locked the door and flopped on the bed. This time was worse than the others. Every time she got close to him, she began feeling tingly. Perhaps it had been worse because she had been separated from him for four days. She felt foolish… it had only been four days.

He had kissed her hand that morning. It was the way knights did to the princesses they saved and whisked away from the castle (or compound) and the dragon (or evil witch) guarding it… or at least close to it. this kiss was more intimate. Her stomach felt like it had dropped to the floor. And just a few seconds before, she had flashed on Stavros when he grabbed her arm. It was then that Alexis felt angry at herself for thinking about Stavros while she was with him. Luke wasn’t horrible like Stavros. Even though they hadn’t know each other long, and the total amount of hours spent together probably didn’t even reach six, she could tell he was the man of her dreams… the man who would rescue her from the Cassadines.

She laid back on the bed and pulled out the book she was reading: Wuthering Heights. It was her favorite novel, and she borrowed it from her uncle’s library often. Helena had thrown her in a cell once because she caught her sneaking in. Alexis wasn’t allowed to be happy. She wasn’t supposed to be educated. But her uncle thought different. He knew of her love for books, so he showed her a secret passageway to get in and out.

Waiting was so much harder when there was nothing to occupy the time with. She wasn’t a real Cassadine, so she was left out of the Cassadine Industries. But she wasn’t a servant, so she had no tasks to finish. She was just there… taking up space. She read for awhile longer, before deciding on having lunch with Luke.

She made her long detoured journey up to where all prisoners were kept. She snuck in to find him napping. Sitting down in front of him, she pulled two sandwiches out of a bag. After watching him for several minutes, he began to stir. When Luke finally sat up, he saw Alexis beaming at him.

“I had nothing to do, so I thought I’d join you for lunch.”

“Well, I am certainly happy about your lack of plans,” Luke said accepting the sandwich from her. He wanted to apologize again for this morning, but he decided against it. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her.

Alexis took a bite watching him. He was watching her. It made her uneasy as she wondered what he was thinking about… afraid he was going to ask her about the bruises.

“So, about this morning…”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Alexis interrupted.

“Actually, it was about the kiss.” Luke felt like the same stupid teenager that had asked Laura out. “I want to kiss you again, but I was thinking… maybe…”

“I would like very much to kiss you.”

Alexis moved closer to the bars and got up on her knees. Luke mimicked her actions. Her brushed his hand through her hair and cupped the back of her head pulling her towards him. She tried desperately to keep Stavros out of her mind. This action was one that she was accustomed to with him. But this time was different. She wanted to be kissed.

Their lips brushed together, just barely touching. Alexis leaned in further, pressing her lips against his. When the kiss ended, they both pulled back and locked eyes. Her heart was beating rapidly. He brushed his thumb over her lower lip when they heard a clanking sound from the other side of the main door.

“Oh, no,” Alexis said frightened. She looked around to see if there was anywhere she could hide. All of the cell doors were locked, and unless she could hide in the straight hallway, in plain sight, she would be caught.

Luke panicked. He loved having Alexis come to see him, but he didn’t want her to get in trouble. He knew the Cassadines mistreated her, and if she was caught here, she’d probably be in the cell beside him. “Can you fit through the bars? It looks like you might.”

Alexis looked at the bars on Luke’s cell, and then back at the cell she was usually in. The bars on Luke’s door were set wider apart. “I don’t know. I’ll try.”

It was a tight squeeze, but Alexis managed to force her body through two metal bars. She slid under the cot, and Luke pulled the blanket down so that its hem rested on the floor. Only moments later, Helena entered.

“I trust you are still enjoying your stay here.”

Luke accepted the piece of hardened bread she handed him. His recent kiss with Alexis made him want to shout, “Yes!” but simply ignored her as always.

“Don’t worry, my dear, your time will be here soon. You’ll be free.” She smiled wickedly. “Well… some people consider death a type of freedom.”

She walked through the doorway and slammed the metal door shut without another look. Luke released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. “It’s safe now,” he announced as he got onto his knees, lifted the blanket, and looked at Alexis.

She smiled at him and allowed him to help her up. He sat down on the cot pulling her with him. Alexis continued to allow him to hold her hand within his. “That was too close for comfort.”

“Tell me about it,” he replied.

“I better get going,” she said standing. Luke watched her squeeze back out through the bars. “I’ll see you tonight.”

The one month anniversary of his capture came. It truthfully hadn’t felt like that long. He had a small room. Sure it was cold and there were bars on the door, but he had a bed, a pillow, blankets, and a makeshift bathroom with running water. Clean clothes were brought to him every couple of days. And it’s not like he stunk. He bathed himself, and it was too cold to work up a sweat. The stale bread was gross, but he had to let Helena think it was all the nourishment he was getting.

Alexis’ visits became more frequent and lasted longer. She had squeezed through the bars of his door a few times so they could be closer. She was the main reason his time as a captive had passed so quickly. They grew closer everyday. Though the days seemed to pass quicker, the hours seemed longer. He would pace back and forth waiting for her to come in through the main door.

Helena had recently left after giving him a stale biscuit and a glass of water. The door opened and his hands flew to the bars as he tried to get a look at the person entering. It was her. Luke smiled wide and held his hands out to her. She squeezed through the bars and wrapped her arms around Luke’s neck hugging him tight.

Though she had only been away from him for a few hours, she was still happy to be in his arms. She tilted her head up and kissed him on the lips. Luke moved them back and sat on the cot. He pulled her down so that she straddled his hips. She smiled at him.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I want to be with you,” she answered, “Now.”

EDITED FOR CONTENT

“I really need to be going.”

“I wish you could stay.”

“I can’t get caught,” she said through tears.

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. At first, he was afraid he had hurt her, but it was soon obvious that she just didn’t want to leave him. “I love you, Alexis.”

The tears only came faster. No one had ever spoken those words to her… at least not since her memory loss around the age of nine. One begins to feel unlovable when they live without it for nearly half of their life. “I love you, too, Luke.” Alexis stood slowly and began redressing. She handed his dinner to him and gave him a quick kiss. After sliding back through the bars, she kissed him again, this time a little longer.

“You better come early tomorrow.”

“I will,” she promised.

chapter 2