Chapter One: It was Magnus in the Library with the Magnetic Mad Man...
Helen and Tesla had been spending far too much time together, but they had no choice putting their brains together as one mega brain would be the only way to solve the mystery of the Hollow Map. The long day was nearly over and then finally progress.
"It's been six days of this, my wine cellar's depleted and frankly, you need a shower."
"Where would science be today if I constantly stopped to bathe?"
"We'd all be sitting in the dark holding our noses, I'd imagine." This time he was the one rolling his eyes then went back to eying the magnificent structured buildings. "This is quite the puzzle, I dare not give up nothing gets the best of Nikola Tesla."
"Except for trust fund vampires, hybrid insects, and Me of course." She grinned.
"Of course."
Helen matched the symbols on several of the buildings to the ones in the book, they were sun symbols.
Tesla found one turned it and up flashed a hologram of three rings with different patterns. "I think this might be our way in."
"Of course after all this, you'd catch on to it first."
Smirking. "You know they breed better genius where I come from."
"I guess I dozed off during that part of history class."
"Which class would that be Helen? We wrote the text"
She shook her head. "Touche!"
"This is like where's waldo for the technically gormless." He sighed dramatically.
"Don't insult yourself like that, You know we'd get twice as much ground covered if you weren't so busy getting a thrill from the sound of your own voice."
"That's what you are here for m'lady."
Helen reached out and swatted his arm with the book in her hand.
"Ow, my pride!"
"There must be some young trollop willing to throw herself at your giant ego, I am not still not interested."
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much, and we're never too old to play cat and mouse my dear. You could cut the sexual tension between us with a knife."
She eyed him over sharply. "Careful now, some of these books are heavy enough to seriously bludgeon a man."
"Well we have one bottle of wine left, come share a glass with me, I think we deserve a little break." He retreats to the desk and pours two glasses.
"I suppose a small drop wouldn't hurt." she takes the chair next to him. By the look on his face she knew something was coming and she was afraid to know what.
"You know Helen, there is one puzzle I do give up on. So tell me what do a sociopath and a stuffy detective each posses, that I lack? I've been trying to figure this out for years, it's the only outstanding conundrum I have yet to solve. Care to enlighten me?"
"Oh here we go. You never give up do you? I won't have you speak of James in that manner, we may have had our problems, but in the end
he was a true gentlemen. Also we've had the John conversation a million times. As for you? How about being a charlatan perhaps? And oh, then there's the fact that everything comes down to your own personal agenda, if it doesn't benefit you in some way then you can not possibly be bothered. not exactly a turn on, neither were the fangs." She lied.
"Are they not the very things that make me deliciously interesting in the first place? I think there's some part of me that appeals to you or you wouldn't be so driven every time I'm on the brink of demise. Even with you holding the gun to my chest. Why is that?" She went quite peering into her glass. "I don't know, nostalgia maybe?" She snapped. For her that was a low blow, she tried not to sink to his level but there was more truth behind it then not.
"Please, don't insult me, Helen. What happened to the friendship we once had? We are the only two who know the secret of Stonehenge, We spent your 100 birthday chasing ab-normals who doubled as mob bosses, We were always a good team, How can you say I mean nothing, yet you still have bedroom eyes for Jack The Ripper!"
There were only a few men in Helen's life that she could really confided in, she could count them on one hand, there were even less that she truly loved. Nikola had been one of them. "I've always considered the four of you as family, now it looks like it's just you and I. You've been there through the thick of it, the only ones who can relate to the idea that immortality isn't always a gift, Watching everyone you love peg out one by one isn't exactly a garden party." She didn't catch his eyes but looked toward the bookshelf, she wondered what exactly was in the wine. They did have a past together, even a rocky one, maybe he should get a few answers, just this once.
"I do have a new family here in the Sanctuary but once again I'll have to watch them all parish, then here I am, ever the coffin dodger. So what of it if I do keep people out?"
Tesla was shocked to hear this from her now, it had been a long time since she had confided in him. Thad spent a lot of time together over the
last few months but something had been missing between them and had been replaced with tension. Why now? "I've always loved you." He slid off the table taking the chair next to her he reached for her hand for a light squeeze
and she let him.
"This isn't all a nightmare, Helen, besides the more you lose the stronger your ability to cope with life becomes. There are ways to make life
livable and cutting yourself off from everyone else is not the way to do it. Look what it's done to me? You think I'm an unbearable arse." He knew by the far off look in her eyes that there was more she had to say. She turned to him at last squeezing his hand in return.
"Nikola, I've never meant to make you feel like you haven't mattered, we did spend a lot of good years together. I do miss the other aspects of our relationship, your taste for global domination is a bit of an issue I'm afraid. "
"Well be-still my heart you do care. You know it's not just that I believe we could write a symphony together without a pen, mind you. It's a lot more simple really, History. You understand me when most have mocked, even the most diabolical of men get lonely sometimes. We've been playing this game for a very long time, Helen I don't ever actually expect different results, not anymore, but it's the sheer thrill of it. You need to let loose now and again
or you'd go mad. I may not be human, but I'm not without a heart."
They decide to leave the room and go somewhere a little more comfortable, the library was ooking like a prison after all this time. They sat on
the couch in her office. Despite the conversation she hadn't felt this relaxed in a very long time.
"Oh Nikola, you sing me such sweet pleasures at times, then turn around and say the most horrid thing in the world with the same breath, it drives me mad, but that is part of your agenda. You know me though and you know I'm dreadfully old fashion. Sure I once dreamed of a prince with a carriage, I had him too, two of them actually. But those dreams have long since been dashed. The other side of the coin is that I don't need anyone to fall into bed with. I am simply fine on my own, have been for a very long time..."
"But alas no happily ever after, a Shakespearean tragedy. I've hated seeing what it's done to you he's not going to return, Helen, not that John at least. He keeps showing up which makes it harder for you to keep him out, you keep moving backward. You've always been better, deserved better.
But you have to let go. We are brilliant together, you once said so yourself, a very long time ago. Yet it's me you resist the most?"
It was hard to hear the truth, especially coming from Nikola, but when he chose to be honest she could take him at his word. A good chuck of
the time before they plotted his demise was spent together.
"I know he's not...I don't know what happens when I'm 'round him. I'm in a daze. It gets tiresome being pulled this way and that
It's just easy to latch it all up. As for us? It just couldn't work."
"You've been living with a ghost, Helen. Is that really what you want? Why needlessly punish yourself? It's not your fault he became what he did. And we did so work."
"Oh yes it is, it was my research and insistence in getting all of you involved that lead to his change, yours as well."
"We all knew what we were getting into Helen, to blame yourself alone, is rash. Some part of him was already a killer, the source blood simply roused it, the same way it activated my dormant vampire gene. What's done is done though. I think you should invest in a new happily ever after." She set her wine glass on the coffee table, she hadn't even noticed the bottle they'd carried with them was empty until then. She slipped of her heels, then tucked her feet under herself. She sunk down and rested her head on his thigh as a much younger Helen once had, seeking the comfort of her friend, she once had known. "You are a good friend Nikola, I haven't said that in...oh 60 years? I've made a lot of mistakes..." She trailed off.
He was quick send a hand to play in her hair. "You don't need to say more just know you can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders,
look at what how it's served you thus far? You've curled into me for gods sake." They shared a laugh.
"Don't make a fuss or I will move." He was enjoying this far too much he'd dare not take advantage, and there was probably a gun under the table or between the cushions, most likely both. He loved her, loved her for a century.