Nikola sat on a leather couch in the drawing room, toying with a glass of wine and watching the fire crackle in the hearth. The Sanctuary was uncommonly quiet tonight – aside from the many residents, he was the only one left. Helen and Will had gone off hunting some new creature, Biggie had gone out to visit a friend (Nikola hadn't realized the walking carpet actually had friends outside the Sanctuary, but you learn new things every day) and Kate was also out doing… whatever she was doing. Not that he cared. He preferred the silence to their obnoxious babbling and constant watching him to see how he was coping with his return to being human.
Human. It disgusted him that the word now applied to him. He'd had the perfect plan to bring the vampires back into existence and to return the empire to its former glory, and those little twerps had to go and ruin all his plans. And, if destroying his work wasn't bad enough, they had also managed to destroy him in the process. He grimaced at the memory and sipped his wine, willing the memory away. As if it wasn't bad enough just to have his powers stripped away, now he was a mere mortal, doomed to grow old and die. After over 100 years of living life with the knowledge that he was immortal, that was a tough pill to swallow. He raised the wineglass to his lips and was surprised to find that it was empty again. He looked at the empty bottle sitting on the low coffee table and slowly got to his feet. One bottle just wasn't enough on a night like this.
It's just like Helen to run off and abandon me when I'm in a mood like this, he groused to himself as he rummaged through the wine cellar for another bottle. Of course, she had asked him if he wanted to go along to investigate the reports of a highly rare species of abnormal that had been spotted near the edge of the city, but creature hunting with Helen had a tendency to be dangerous and without his vampiric regenerative abilities, he wasn't terribly keen on the idea of risking his neck to help her catch some exotic abnormal lurking on the fringes. A particularly dusty bottle in one corner caught his attention, momentarily distracting him from his little pity-party.
"1889 vintage Chianti, nice!" he murmured as he examined the bottle. Helen would probably have his head for opening this bottle, but he didn't much care at the moment. He headed back to the drawing room, bottle in hand. Nikola flopped back down on the couch and opened the bottle, pouring himself a rather generous glass. He leaned back, savoring the smoky flavors and delicate overtones.
"I suppose I probably shouldn't complain too much," he said out loud. "I have lived far longer than a mere human would and I've made accomplishments that will live on for all eternity…" The words hung in the air, mocking him. What comfort is it to know that one will be remembered in death after holding dreams of ruling the world at the head of the resurrected race of vampires and being so close to seeing those dreams achieved, only to have them snatched away and shattered by a group of children?
Nikola reached for his wine glass again.
Nikola was lounging on the couch, contemplating the almost-empty bottle of Chianti when he heard footsteps in the hall and the door opened. He sat up, apparently a little too quickly, because the room started spinning. He gripped the back of the couch and waiting for things to settle down again. When the world finally came back into focus, Henry was standing in front of him.
"Heya Nik, I'm back. Did you get a chance to look over the designs for that new stunner that I've been working on?"
"First of all," he growled, "My name is Nikola. Not "Nik," not "Niko." Nikola. If you want my help on any of your pathetic little projects, you had better get that straight." Was it his imagination, or did that actually come out sounding more like "firsht offfallll"? Ah, hell, he thought. It's the wine. Not only does being human mean I'm mortal, it also means I'm affected by alcohol. He shook his head slightly to clear it and continued. "Second of all, your designs suck. If you want to use a modified shock wave to disable any creatures who wouldn't be affected by the energy stunners, fine, but your design is so crude that you are more likely to blow your target to bits than you are to stun it." He reached to the coffee table and picked up a stack of papers and nearly fell off the sofa as the world lurched violently around him. Damn, I hope he didn't notice that. "I've made a few suggestions that will help but, frankly, I think it's a hopeless case unless you go back to the beginning and redesign your whole wave-focusing system."
Henry snatched the papers from his slightly unsteady hand and studied them. "Dude, you got wine stains all over my work!" he protested.
"Yeah, well, Junior, your work is so shoddy that I needed something to make looking at it tolerable," Nikola said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
Henry stared at him. "You're a real piece of work, you know that? At least I don't get drunk while working on projects. How many of these things have you had tonight?" He asked, picking up the nearly empty bottle of Chianti. "Oh, man, the doc is gonna kill you for opening this one." He shook his head and turned and stormed out of the door.
"Good riddance," Nikola muttered, glaring at the empty space where Henry had been standing. So what if he liked to have a little wine while working? It clearly hadn't affected his work in the past, when he single-handedly perfected the use of radio waves and electricity. Well, okay, so that was when he had still been a vampire and maybe it would be a good idea to cut back a bit now that he was human again. Surely, though, he was entitled to a few nights of having too much, given the living hell he was going through. It had all been within his grasp: the rebirth of the empire and its restoration to the glory days of old with him at its head. Then Chad had to go and get himself killed in a ridiculous car accident and start the spiral of events that had ruined his life's work.
He had just poured himself another glass of wine, emptying the bottle, when Kate entered a few minutes later, interrupting his dark thoughts about the bitter events of the last week.
"Hey, Nikola, what did you say to Henry? He looked pretty mad when I walked by his lab." She asked, coming around to stand in front of him and planting her hands on her hips.
"All I did was tell him that his designs for that new stunner of his are seriously and fatally flawed. It's not my fault if he can't take a little criticism of his work," he said defensively, taking another sip of his wine.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe the problem isn't that he can't take criticism? It's more of a problem of you and your ridiculously conceited attitude and the way you deliver your criticism."
He shook his head, which turned out to be a bad idea as it sent the world spinning around him again. "Children these days. No one ever bothers to teach them manners or how to respect their elders."
"Well, you know, maybe if you acted a bit more like someone who deserved respect, I would give it to you. Just because you've been a pain in the butt for over a hundred years doesn't mean that I should automatically respect you," she retorted.
"Then maybe you should respect me for being one of the most important and influential inventors in all of history!" He pointed out. "I'd like to see you do something as impressive as single-handedly invent the communications device that allowed the Allies win the second war."
"Whatever. Just because you made some fancy toys does not mean I am going to bow down and worship you. You're still an arrogant, obnoxious man." She turned and flounced out of the room, shooting one last glare at him over her shoulder.
He was nearing the end of his glass when the door opened yet again. Now who? He growled inwardly to himself. He turned his head slowly to see who it was this time, trying not to send the world spinning again. Will walked in and dropped casually onto the chair across from him.
"You know, drinking yourself silly isn't going to help things. Alcohol just makes you more depressed and makes things worse in the long run," Will said without preamble. "What would really help would be if you talked about it. I'm sure it's hard to grasp the concept of being mortal again-"
"Don't psychoanalyze me, Huggybear," Nikola snapped, pointing a finger at the obnoxious Dr. Zimmerman and trying to hold it steady. "I can handle myself just fine. And I'm not going to stop drinking just because I'm not-" he broke off, unable to bring himself to say the words "not a vampire anymore" out loud. Will looked a bit defensive at the use of Clara's pet name for him, but Nikola didn't really care about hurting the doctor's precious feelings. He took another drink of his wine and glared at Will over the rim of the glass. "Why can't you and everyone else in this damn place just leave me alone?"
"We're just trying to help," Will pointed out. "But you apparently don't want it and are too busy wallowing in your own self-pity to notice that there are people here who actually care about you and who are worried about you."
"Well, it's not necessary, Dr. Expendable, so you can all just go about your business. Don't you have same papers to be pushing for Magnus?"
"Okay. You want to sit in here and become an alcoholic and throw a little pity party, you go ahead. Don't say I didn't try." Just as Will stood to go, the door opened yet again. Nikola groaned inwardly. "Magnus, good to see you. Did you have a productive meeting?" Will asked. At the mention of Helen's name, Nikola straightened up a bit and tugged at his blazer, straightening it. Will didn't even wait for Helen to answer, but strode across the room and paused briefly at the door. "I'm sure you two have plenty to talk about, so I'll leave you to it." With that, he vanished.
Finally, Nikola though, taking another sip of his wine. He turned to see Helen come around to sit next to him.
"Nikola, my staff tells me that you have been rather difficult and insulting tonight. I know that this has been hard on you, but you cannot continue to take out your frustrations on my staff. I will not allow it," she chastised.
"But-" he protested.
"No 'buts,' Nikola," Helen cut in firmly. "I am quite serious. You are welcome to stay here as long as you like, but you cannot behave in this childish manner."
"Surely, after all that I've been through, I'm entitled to at least a little sulking," he pointed out, raising his wine glass to his lips again. His S's were definitely developing a marked lisp, making it sound more like he had said 'shurely' and 'shulking.' Helen glanced at him sharply, then looked at the two empty bottles sitting on the coffee table.
"Nikola!" she said in exasperation, picking up the empty bottle of Chianti. "I was saving that! How much have you- Oh, give me that!" She reached for his mostly-empty glass of wine. He pulled it away, nearly sloshing the wine on himself. The motion set the room spinning again, though, and he gripped the back of the couch with one hand while trying not to let Helen pry the fingers of his other hand off the glass. Somehow, she succeeded in wresting it from his grasp. He grabbed at her wrist, trying to reclaim his stolen glass. She managed to set it down just as he gave a sharp tug. Apparently, he pulled a bit harder than he had meant to, because she lost her balance and had to catch herself against his chest. Never one to miss an opportunity, Nikola quickly slid his hand up to grip her bicep and pulled her closer. His world narrowed as the edges of his vision dimmed with the sudden movement, but he shook his head, not wanting to give her the chance to get away.
"Helen, if you wanted to be near me, you could have just asked," he said, nuzzling her hair as he pressed her closer. He closed his eyes against the tunnel vision that he had developed and tried to ignore the sudden pounding in his head. He clung to her more tightly as the world lurched crazily around him.
"Nikola, let me go." Helen warned, her tone gone cold as she tried to extricate herself.
"But, Helen, it would make me feel so much better…" he trailed off, trying to ward off a wave of dizziness that swept over him.
"Absolutely not! Now let go this instant or-" She stopped in amazement when he actually complied and released her. She pulled away and discovered the reason – Nikola Tesla, genius, inventor, and former vampire, was passed out on her couch.
The next morning, Nikola woke up in his own bed with no real memory of what had happened the night before. All he know was, when he went to open a bottle of wine to go with breakfast, the wine cellar had been locked up tight.