Post Awakenings
Nikola and Helen began the long trip back to the Sanctuary. He had been revamped, thanks to her. Nikola reflected on how Helen had exhibited grace in actually apologizing to him about destroying Afina and for the loss of the once mighty Sanguine vampiris race. Helen had grown weary of listening to his almost deification of vampires, but she nevertheless admired that he had found a way to accept and even embrace what he had become; a lesser man might have retreated into self-loathing or gone over to the darkness completely. Nikola had experimented with the latter, Helen reminded herself, remembering his vampire ghouls. She knew though what it was like to be alone and, she thought she understood his motives for trying to create others like him.
Helen was pleased that Nikola had been revamped, to some extent selfishly, as he was now immortal, and should not die before her; she really did not want to be the last of the Five. Well, John was out there, but he was even more difficult and dangerous than Nikola given the abnormal entity against which he waged a constant internal struggle. Helen thought of how Nikola had fought against his own queen for her, choosing to accept annihilation of his kind for her and for humanity. He could have stopped Helen by warning Afina, and yet he had passed that crucible. That he had done so resonated deeply with her.
Nikola for his part reflected on how Helen had not given up. Nikola himself was resigned to die. Whilst Helen was trying to modify the blast gun, he had quipped about Henry's lack of proper insulation around the gun's plasma coil and told her to find another date to the prom. It made for good drama, Nikola thought, but Helen was not sidetracked by it and she proved herself, once again, to be most resourceful.
"My god, but she did whack at that amber to break through," Nikola chuckled to himself.
"Will I be able to thank her properly; can I get beyond my sarcasm and flippant responses?" Nikola wondered. "She saved me even knowing that I would once again be a vampire."
"Ultimately," thought Nikola with a grim set to his face, "can I forgive Helen for not loving me enough, for choosing first John and then James?"
Helen was saddened to see the distant look on Nikola's face. It was a long flight back to the Sanctuary and Nikola was brooding. She wondered whether he was hatching some new scheme for world domination. "Did he learn nothing from his experience with Afina to show him how dark that path was?" She knew he was upset about the loss of the Praxian map, as was she.
"Does he further blame me for the probable loss of the last of the vampires?" Helen sighed and began to write her report for the Sanctuary files.