Seek and Hide
Sanctuary_Bingo Prompt - The Five (episode)
The knock on her door is a surprise. Helen didn't hear anyone drive up, and yet driving was the only way to reach her remote home. The tiny unimproved one lane road was long and winds for miles in dense forest. She doesn't get visitors, or stranded tourists, here.
If a hunter ventures into her domain, Helen finds a way to make certain this is one area they won't want to hunt again. The first time, she spoke with the man and his son, asked them politely to move on. She made it clear that her land was private property and she didn't want them on it. The man called her a 'stupid uppity bitch' and refused to leave. He threatened her with his hunting rifle, so she broke his arm and his nose.
After the first time, she found creative ways to scare the hunters away. It was a battle of wits, a challenge to keep her mind sharp after more than fifty years of keeping herself hidden away, and she loved it.
The knock repeated itself, and Helen went to the door. The face in the window made her breath catch in her throat. For a moment, she worried that she might actually faint, it was so good to see the familiar, roguishly smiling face.
Nikola Tesla.
"You shouldn't be here…" Helen said, through the door. "Go away, Nikola."
"Shall I huff and puff and blow your house down?" Nikola chided, not deterred in the least by her icy reception. "It took me decades to learn of your existence, and still more to get James stoned enough to give me a hint of your location. I've found you now, and I'm not giving up. Open the door and let's have a nice chat by the fire." The vampire changed his tone to the whine Helen had never been able to find a defense against, "Pretty please…" Nikola said. "Can't I at least have a look at you?"
"No. Go away."
"Aren't you're the least bit curious why I came here today? James says you're dark and moody and completely without a moral compass. We'd be perfect for each other…" Nikola flashed his best smile at the small window in the door. "He also said you're even more beautiful and desirable because of the razor's edge temper you've developed."
"Why are you here, Nikola?"
"Let me come in and I'll tell you."
Helen slid the bolt back on the door and opened it, albeit reluctantly.
Nikola smiled charmingly at her. He took her hand and kissed the back of it, as was the custom in the era when they'd grown up together. She was going to pull her hand away, but Nikola tightened his grip and pulled her closer. The passionate kiss Nikola gave her was altogether unexpected.
Once the initial shock passed, Helen opened to him. Her hands moved to rest against his chest. She let his tongue slip between her lips to tangle with hers. He tasted of very expensive wine, with notes of smoke and spice.
Nikola pulled back to look at her, "You 're even more beautiful than James said." His fingertips brushed the dark brown curls at her cheek, tenderly. He touched her as if afraid contact with her skin would make her pop like a soap bubble, or vanish into mist like a ghost. "A darker version of sweet blonde Helen. It's fascinating."
It was in that moment that Helen knew, without a doubt, he hadn't been lying about loving her when he'd called her out of her lecture to run through the catacombs with him. The look on his face was a love letter Nikola would never write, and Helen would never find tucked away somewhere at an unexpected time and place.
"Oh Nikola," Helen whispered. "Why now?" Soon, Nikola Tesla would 'die', her dear friend would disappear for sixty long years, and both Helens' would grieve the loss of his companionship, his sharp wit and nefarious schemes. How many times did she have to say goodbye to this man, her brilliant, ageless, vampire companion.
A tear slipped down her cheek and Nikola caught the errant drop on the tip of his finger and studied it. "What's this for?"
"I've missed you, Nikola." Helen admitted.
"So, James is right, you are quite mad."
Helen let out a surprised laugh, "God, Nikola. I'm not mad, not quite yet, anyway." The carefully built walls Helen used to keep the past and future at bay wavered under his frown of concern and started to come apart. "I'm so very… alone." Her voice cracked on the final word and fifty years of homesickness and isolation threatened to leak out through all the cracks.
Helen hugged herself, as if she could hold herself together by sheer force of will and her own touch.
Nikola pulled her into his arms and rested her dark head on his shoulder. "Let go, Helen." It was all the permission Helen needed to do just that. Strong arms held her as she cried, really cried. For the first time in countless years, Helen wept for John and Ashley, for Nikola and Nigel and James, for her father and the smoldering remains of Praxis, for her team and the peril they were currently facing without her, and finally for herself, banished to a wild stretch of land without so much as a single friend to converse with.
When the storm passed, Helen found herself on her couch, curled up in Nikola's lap as he stroked her back and hair, whispered gentle words of comfort to her. She closed her eyes and let him soothe her. At some point, Helen must have slept because she woke in her own bed, to the smell of food cooking. It was enough to make her stomach growl, so she pulled back the blankets and slid her legs off the side of the bed.
Helen looked down at herself and smiled. She was still completely clothed, except for the house slippers and those met her feet as they touched the floor. It was a gentle reminder that this Nikola was younger and more reserved than his older self. He would've used the opportunity to expose as much of her as possible, wouldn't he?
"I was just coming to wake you." Nikola said softly, from the doorway.
Helen smiled at him. "Smells wonderful."
"That's quite the garden you have out back." The vampire stepped back and let her exit her bedroom, and trailed after her to the modest kitchen. "I was able to find everything I needed."
"I'm not likely to starve, come winter." Her pride in her own accomplishments didn't go unnoticed.
"So, am I to assume you have a basement full of neat labeled jars, of God knows what, prepared for any occasion?"
Helen chuckled. "Of course."
"That is so like you, Helen," Nikola huffed. "Hand you a big pile of steaming horse shite and you use it to fertilize crops. Then, sell the crops and become the first female millionaire."
"I've not achieved millionaire status, Nikola, I'm just happy to be nearly self sufficient out here in this wilderness."
Nikola filled plates and carried them to the table, setting one before each of them and then making another trip to pour wine into their empty glasses. Helen sat before her plate and waited for Nikola to join her before taking her first bite. She chewed the first bite, savoring the perfect harmony of flavors and spice, aware that she was being studied. "This is excellent, Nikola. Where did you learn to cook?"
The vampire smiled, and it was the enigmatic smile Helen knew so well. "Here and there."
They ate for a time in companionable silence. It was always the case with them, neither required inane chatter to fill the air. When the meal was finished, Helen gathered the plates, and washed them while Nikola dried. Then, she poured more of her homemade currant wine into their glasses and led Nikola into the living room. Nikola stoked the fire and then sat down beside Helen on the couch.
"Isn't this cozy?" Nikola smirked.
"Are you going to tell me what brought you are here, Nikola?"
Nikola sighed, "I want to die."
"What?" Helen gasped.
"Oh, don't get all in a tizzy, I don't mean to really off myself, but I feel I need to fake my death and disappear. I don't know how one goes about that sort of thing, so I've come to throw myself on your mercy and ask you to give me lessons on how to live without attracting unwanted attention."
Helen considered that. "I could teach you what I've learned," she decided. "Then, you could modify it to suit the place you decide to live." She felt a twinge of sadness at being the cause behind Nikola staying away so long from her younger self, but she could very well be the key to his plan working. He was even less likely to stay under the radar than she was.
"It's already happened, hasn't it? How long was I gone?"
Helen gave him a small smile and bit her lower lip to keep from answering with the true number. "Long enough for the world and too long for me."
Nikola nodded. "I never stood a chance with you, first there was John and later James. Would I stand a chance with you, here and now?"
"You deserve better than who I am now. I've killed people, Nikola. I killed Adam Worth in cold blood. James is right about my moral compass. It's completely gone."
"Adam Worth got what he deserved. I don't believe for a moment you are in the same class as Adam or John, for that matter. If you kill, I'm sure you have a very well thought out and justified reason for it."
"You can't know that!"
Nikola picked up her hand and kissed it, again. "I know you, Helen. Past, present, future. Leopards have the same spots, and yours are do-gooder spots."
Helen's jaw worked for a second, but nothing intelligent came to mind. She conceded his point with a muttered, "Cheeky bastard."