Nikola Tesla closed his eyes and released a long, slow breath, silently willing his mind to clear and for sleep to descend upon him.
It didn't.
It wasn't the first time insomnia had taken sleep away from him. Now every time he closed his eyes he felt heat on his back, flames dancing above his head as the Sanctuary exploded around him. The memory was plaguing him, clawing at the back of his mind like a wild animal. He wondered how many years it would be before he finally shook off the aftermath of the Sanctuary's destruction. Of her death.
No, he reminded himself. She was alive; alive and sleeping just a few doors down in her new quarters.
He flicked the heavy bed-covers off his legs and slid out of the large, ornate bed that dominated the bedroom. It was odd, thinking of the room as his, but Helen had insisted he take possession of it whenever he visited and had even had it decorate to perfectly suite his tastes. She knew him so well.
He crossed over to the other side of the room where Helen had been thoughtful enough to provide his own personal wine stash. He pulled out a bottle of red wine of a vintage old enough that he wouldn't have been surprised if she had secured it during her 113 years of seclusion specially for him given it was one of his favourite that had become particularly hard to come by. He gently removed the cork and lifted the bottle closer, talking a deep breath to inhale the sweet aroma of the wine inside.
He momentarily toyed with the idea of fetching a wine glass before discarding the idea; why dirty a glass when the bottle would do just fine? It wouldn't be the first time he had decided to forgo the use of a glass. He set the bottle of wine to the side to air and moved to the old bookcase that sat in the corner of the room beside a large, overstuffed armchair.
He perused the spines of the books, searching for something to occupy his time until a socially acceptable time for him to head down into the Sanctuary proper and goad the protégé until he was given something resembling breakfast. Nikola frowned at the familiar, well-read books that filled the shelves, the majority of them being books he had read many times before; books of legends and mythology concerning vampires, all books he had removed from the Old City Sanctuary library many times over the years while he researched his fallen vampire ancestors and their fallen empire. These books should have been comforting in their familiarity, and yet he could not bring himself to read the familiar passages.
Instead he made his way out of the room and began to traverse the halls of the new Sanctuary in search of the new library. He walked slowly, focussing intently on his path. He liked the new Sanctuary, yet it was missing the old-worldy atmosphere that had made the previous establishment so appealing to him. The décor was modern and fit well with the slightly futuristic design of the building, no doubt inspired by Praxis, and yet everywhere he looked there were small details that reminded him of Helen and her attachment to their old roots.
He reached the library without encountering a soul; unsurprising given the time, though he knew that the Abnormals who would be awake in the wee hours of the morning could mostly be found in the Sanctuary grounds, a luxury they didn't have back in Old City.
The doors slid open as he approached, another feature he had yet to become accustomed to, and he stepped through the opening, crossing the invisible security scanner that he knew was cataloguing his presence. The library had quickly become his favourite location in the Sanctuary, with few of the Abnormals visiting it was largely occupied by himself, Helen, and the protégé. As such, the library remained a place of quiet solitude and the carefully organised and catalogued rows of books were comforting to him.
Tonight however, the library was not so unoccupied.
The quiet turning of pages caught his attention and Nikola for the first time that there was a faint glow emanating from the far corner of the room, the light creeping through and around the bookshelves that blocked his view of the other occupant of the room. He wandered over to the corner in question and leaned against the corner of one of the bookshelves.
"Burning the midnight oil again?" he asked casually, not even remotely surprised to find Helen curled up in one of the comfy armchairs with books piled precariously on a small corner table beside her. She was thumbing through the pages of one book in her lap with one hand while the other held a cup of what was unquestionably tea. Helen made a soft humming noise and turned another page of her book, keeping her eyes fixed on the words before her.
"Just reminding myself of a few things for a meeting I have with a patient in the morning." She answered before lifting the cup to her lips and taking a small sip.
Nikola smiled and moved forward, taking the book from Helen's knee, "You realise it's 3am?" he queried, examining the cover of the book before flicking it back open and running his fingers down the pages reverently.
"I had no idea." Helen replied in a tone that told him she was perfectly aware of the late hour. She held her hand out for the book. Nikola grinned and handed it over without resistance and watched as Helen set the book on top of the pile beside her and took another sip of her tea.
"I'm surprised to see you down here at this time of night, Nikola." She adjusted the cup in her hands and made a small gesture for him to take a seat in one of the empty chairs beside her. Nikola sank heavily into one of the chairs and took the cup from her. He took a sip and grimaced at the unsweetened taste of the tea.
At Helen's raised eyebrow he handed the tea back, "I left my wine in my room. This still tastes awful."
Helen scoffed elegantly and set the tea aside as well, "I'm sorry my choice of beverage does not meet with your esteemed tastes." Nikola chuckled and her his hand up as a peace offering though they both knew she had said it in humour. The humour didn't last long, however, as Helen's face turned serious once more and she turned her azure eyes to him. "So tell me why you're here, Nikola." she implored softly.
Nikola sighed to himself, of course she would know that something was bothering him. They had known each other for over a century, two in her case, and she had always been able to read him like a book. He averted his eyes from her.
"Oh you know me, Helen, I haven't need much sleep since the whole" he gestured vaguely at himself, "vampire thing."
"I do know you." Helen ghosted a smile and nodded.
Nikola ducked his head and smiled sheepishly, "Which is why you know I'm full of crap."
"Absolutely!" Helen replied enthusiastically making the pair chuckle amicably. Helen leant forward in her chair and rested her elbows on her thighs as the humour faded. "And it's also why you can tell me anything, Nikola." She threw him a soft smile.
Nikola nodded absently and reached for the cup of tea that sat on the table between them. He drained the cup, ignoring Helen's noise of protest in the process.
"We've been through a lot together, haven't we?" he said wistfully, twisting the cup in his hands. Helen frowned but hummed in agreement. "Things most people could never even imagine."
Helen tipped her head and looked at him curiously, "Most 'people'? Not most 'humans' or most 'insignificant mortals'?" she folded her arms across her chest and settled further into her chair. "It's not like you to talk about them with such tolerance."
Surprise covered Helen's features when Nikola chuckled dryly and scratched at his chin, "I've not exactly been feeling like a superior immortal lately."
"Nikola -" Helen started before being cut off by a wave from the Serbian.
"No, no, Helen let me finish, you know I don't having these emotional talks, it's disgusting." He pulled a face. "We've never been so close to dying as we did when Old City exploded."
Helen shook her head, "We've some rather close calls before, I seem to recall. The Cabal, a rowdy group of teenage vampires, Adam Worth -" she counted the events off on her fingers as she spoke.
Nikola growled and dropped Helen's cup back onto it's saucer on the table, the delicate china pieces clinking against each other as he did so. "None of those ended in your death!" He blurted, his eyes flashing vampiric black before returning to their usual steel blue.
Helen stood with a speed that Nikola was not expecting and crossed the small space between them in less time than he had to process what he had just said. She gently laid her hand on his as she lowered herself in front of his chair so she was at eye level with him.
"I'm right here, Nikola." She squeezed his hand to punctuate her words. He turned his hand so his palm was facing upwards and carefully folded her fingertips into his.
"When that explosion went off, and I knew you were still in there -" he paused and gripped her hand a little tighter, "I had never been so afraid to lose something in my life. It felt like my life was over." He glanced up at her and watched her closely. "Have you ever been afraid like that?"
Helen swallowed thickly and gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"When Ashley died, I didn't want to keep living." she smiled sadly and inhaled a shaky breath. "The Sanctuary, my work, it was all the kept me going, until one day it was easier. You helped with that, Nikola. You all did."
"Even if I was an insufferable, power-hungry, immortal tyrant?" He grinned at her, drawing a smile from her in return.
"Even then." She laughed and brought her free hand up to rest against his cheek, feeling the beginnings of stubble against her palm. "I didn't feel that afraid again until Colombia, or East Africa for that matter."
Nikola frowned as he tried to remember the specifics of the events she was referring to. "Colombia? You mean those creepy little vampire-hunting centipedes?" He turned his face away from her hand. "We blew up the laboratory."
"And almost you along with it, if you recall."
Nikola nodded and looked back at Helen. "But East Africa? Afina was more intent on repopulating the earth with vampires," he smirked, "which I myself have tried on more than one occasion."
Helen shook her head chewed on her lower lip. "I wasn't referring to Afina."
"You weren't?" Nikola tilted his head in confusion.
"Before that, before she awoke." She prompted.
"I mocked you." He spoke quietly, attempting to piece together his memory of the event two years previously. "I nearly died and I was mocking you for being afraid of losing me like the ass I was."
"Are." Helen supplied, grinning. "Like the arse you are." Nikola sputtered at her retort, "So in answer to your question, yes, I have been afraid like that. Of losing you." Nikola stared at her reverently as she spoke, "If I'm completely honest I didn't think I was going to make it out of the Sanctuary either, that I wasn't going to see yo-"
She was cut off at the feeling of Nikola roughly pulling her closer and kissing her soundly. He felt her smile into it as she moved her free hand to gently grip the hair at the back of his head. He released her other hand and let his caress the side of her face, weaving through the thick tousle of dark, silky hair that hung over her shoulder.
When he pulled away she found herself breathless, the smile still present on her lips. He grinned wolfishly at her and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Well, seeing Helen Magnus speechless is a noteworthy occasion." He laughed softly, leaning into the feeling of her fingertips on his scalp, and noting she was practically draped across his body in the armchair.
Helen gave him a glowing smile and leaned closer to press a softer, single kiss to his lips.
"Maybe I just needed the proper incentive."