Helen woke to a pain in her . . . was that a contraction? No, just a tiny foot trying to push its way through her skin, or at least that was what it felt like. It was very early morning and she looked over at the empty bed beside her. It was still a week before her due date and she'd sent Nikola on a mission.

She rested her hand on her distended abdomen and felt the baby move again. The baby had been very active the last couple of weeks and Helen wondered if she had just decided not to wait any longer. But after a while when the baby quieted and nothing else happened, Helen went back to sleep.

She woke later in the morning and ponderously got out of bed, washed and dressed. She stopped by the kitchen to make some tea and toast with marmalade and took it to her office. She had a couple of new messages from Will; he and Nikola had reached the local area, joined up with the Sanctuary personnel that were meeting them there and were headed for the old mine. Will reminded her she probably wouldn't hear from them for some hours since there wouldn't be much to report while they explored the extensive underground area.

Nikola, Will and Darwin Lundstrom went down in a creaky old elevator. Lundstrom was a short blond man who had worked for the Sanctuary for several years. They left dark-haired Becky Delacourt up top as a liaison. She was a flying Abnormal, one of the orphans that Bruno had adopted who was now a young adult. But flyers hated going underground and one of the group needed to be up top and available in an emergency. She was the logical choice since she could fly down the shaft and back out again if anything happened. They had only barely been able to start the ancient generator and didn't know how long it would last. If it died and Nikola wasn't available to energize the elevator, Becky could send for help as well as fly supplies to them.

And they had to plan for worst case. The mine had recently been purchased and the new owners wanted to open it again, but its reputation was terrible. There had been the usual occasional accidents, but there were also decades of records of apparently healthy men dying with no explanation other than heart attacks and there had been an awful lot of them. There was just no obvious cause of death in case after case other than a few minor burns that couldn't possibly have killed anyone.

Miners had reported feeling "creepy" and seeing flashes of light where there wasn't any source that they attributed to monsters in the dark for years and eventually even premium wages hadn't convinced anyone with experience to take the chance of working down in it. So the Sanctuary team had been called in to either capture what was down there or certify there was nothing to fear.

Unfortunately that meant that no one had gone down in a long time and the mine was badly in need of new shoring as well as new pumps; the old ones were chugging away sending a little fresh air into the deepest portions of the mine but one of Becky's jobs was to keep them running or warn the party below on special phones that Nikola had adapted from the vampire society communications devices just for the purpose.

Once at the bottom, Nikola forced the dim lights strung down the side of the tunnels to brighten and they began exploring. They had maps that showed where people had died, and they were almost all on the lowest level in the west tunnel complex but there were a few scattered throughout the maze of shafts and tunnels. The three men headed toward the greatest concentration of marks on their maps.

Will and Darwin were in overalls with utility belts, miner's helmets, packs and both lethal and non-lethal weapons. Nikola was in a suit and if he carried any equipment it fit in his pockets. After all, this wasn't the wilderness it was just an underground human work site.

They went deeper, checking side passages as they went. If there was something in the mine, it had to have come from somewhere and Will's theory was that the miners must have broken into some natural caves or something, but passage after passage they found no entrance into anything not made by man.

They walked for some distance, occasional drifts of dirt falling from the ceiling which Will and Darwin ignored but Nikola either dodged or brushed off. When they had been completely through the area where the most deaths had occurred, they stopped in a larger area at the end of the main tunnel in the west complex and looked at each other.

"I don't see anything" Will said. "If there was something here it's not here now."

Darwin replied "But where could it have gone, or how could have something gotten into the mine in the first place?"

Nikola was looking at the light bulbs. "Does the light look different in this area?"

Darwin shook his head but Will shrugged and said "They might be a little brighter. What difference does it make?"

"The current is stronger here, and there's no natural explanation for it" Nikola replied. He walked cautiously toward the wire strung down one side of the tunnel that supported the bulbs. As he reached his hand out toward it a blue-white sizzling bolt of electricity leapt from the wire to his hand.

Will was startled when Nikola backed away and vamped instead of embracing the energy. Nikola began waving his arms and yelled "Get it off of me!" as the electrical charge danced over his body and seemed to follow him across the room. Will pulled out a gun but what was there to shoot? Finally the vampire produced a charge of his own that separated the wire's electricity from his flesh and suddenly everything went black, the bulbs all going out.

The smell of singed cloth, skin, and burnt plastic hung in the air as Will and Darwin both snapped on their headlamps. Nikola seemed to be all right, but there were tendrils of smoke coming off of him. He gingerly reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a melted lump of plastic that had once been a phone.

"Are you all right Mr. Tesla?" Darwin asked.

Nikola gave a curt nod and said "Now we know where the burns on the corpses came from. Gentlemen, we have found the creature."

"That was a creature?" Will asked. "It looked more like a really bad wiring job. Everything down here is old and worn it could have just been . . ."

"Don't contradict me Junior. I could feel the malevolent intent behind the attack. Just be grateful it was me it attacked, it would have killed either of you."

"Yeah well I thought you liked electricity" Will retorted. "What was with all the waving and yelling?"

"It was attempting to suck all the electricity out of my body; I just have a lot more than it bargained for and was able to give it a nice feed to distract it and a jolt to disengage it. I don't think it's very smart."

Darwin asked "So if it's been fed, can we get past it? I mean some of these tunnels are pretty narrow and we'll have to get within a couple of feet of that wire to get out."

Nikola commented thoughtfully "I wonder why it didn't attack us on the way in? If it deliberately waited until we were all the way in, maybe it's not quite so dumb."

Will said "We're not here to get out, we're here to capture or kill it. I don't see any way to capture it though. Tesla?"

"Far too dangerous. It's in a closed system here; if it ever got out into the electrical grid that thing could feed and grow enormously and become a danger to every civilized country. Imagine if going near anything electrical, even battery powered like my phone, put a person in danger."

"Okay so we destroy it" said Will. Darwin added "But how do we do that?"

"That's an excellent question Mr. Lundstrom" Nikola replied, "Unfortunately I don't know, at least not yet."

Will suggested "What if we just turn off the generator and leave it here? Would it run out of energy eventually and just die?"

Nikola shook his head. "Doubtful. The generator has been off for years and it has survived. Note the rocks around you. There's lodestone but with a peculiar red vein in it. I think we should take a sample back with us, but not a great amount; I'm not sure what the critical mass might be."

Darwin looked at the rocks and asked "You think something might explode?"

"No, I think enough of this rock in proximity to a source of electricity could produce a very odd lifeform that is capable of at least rudimentary thought. Enough to recognize hunger and set a trap for a source of food: human electrical production. Admittedly a very small charge but possibly exceptionally tasty as opposed to what the generator puts out which is also used by the lightbulbs."

Will said thoughtfully "And when the generator isn't running it can live off of the lodestone somehow?"

"Possibly, but it would be at a very low level of consciousness. We'll let Helen figure it out; she loves little puzzles like this. That's enough Mr. Lundstrom" Nikola directed at Darwin who had chipped off a few bits of the stone with a hammer from the wall farthest from the lightbulbs. Darwin used gloves to put the stones in a bag and seal it.

"So how do we kill it?" Will asked.

"I haven't formulated a plan since Mr. Lundstrom asked the same question less than a minute ago. Let me think."

Nikola stood with one arm crossed over his body, his other elbow resting on it and his chin on his hand, tapping one foot while the two younger men fidgeted. After a few minutes Nikola put his hands on his hips and said "There's only one thing I can think of, and that's to disorganize it."

"That doesn't exactly sound like a death sentence" Will protested.

Nikola ignored him and continued "Thought is nothing but organized electricity. Have Miss Delacourt turn off the generator. Don't be fooled by the bulbs being off, the wire is still live. Go down the tunnel until you don't see this particular type of rock anymore and then cut the wire and remove it from the rest of the tunnel. We'll have to survey to see if the mine has struck any other deposits and close off those areas too."

"And what will you be doing?" Darwin asked.

"I will be attempting to render it unable to think by using its own energy to literally drive it crazy. Then we will seal off this tunnel."

Darwin started off but stopped when Will didn't follow but instead asked "Nikola, this creature- could it be anything like the one inside Druitt? It couldn't take you over, could it?"

"Astute. Yes, there are similarities but John has . . . had no control over electricity and simply had no way to fight it. I do."

"And if it takes you over what the hell do we do then?"

The vampire shrugged and said "One problem at a time William; although so nice of you to pretend to care."

"I care that you would be extremely dangerous with that thing inside of you and if anything happens to you Helen will kill me even if you don't."

Nikola smiled a little and replied "I would think by now you would realize that risk is part of the job, but delaying won't change the outcome."

"Fine" Will said and pulled out his phone to call Becky. In a few moments the background whoosh of air ceased as the generator stopped and the pumps died. Darwin said worriedly "We have enough air for a while, don't we?"

Nikola replied "We have plenty of air for what we have to do. Ready?"

At Will and Darwin's nods he advanced toward the wire again. Little fingers of electricity began to dance around it as Nikola approached. He raised his clawed hands and electricity began wiggling around at the ends of his fingers too. Suddenly the two charges arced toward each other and met in a dazzling, crackling display. Will and Darwin ran.

The creature tried to pull Nikola's power into itself and the vampire pulled back increasing the tension until he suddenly let go, letting his power drive into the electrical center of the creature and attempting to drive a wedge through it. It seemed to hiss and spit at him and then sent bolts out at him in retaliation.

They went back and forth, Nikola trying to disrupt it and the creature alternating between sucking in Nikola's energy to drain him and tossing bolts at him to try to kill him. It showed no interest in leaving the wires and entering him until Nikola heard a loud crack from down the tunnel; the wire was cut.

The creature reacted; Nikola felt it withdraw and head down the wire to the break; he hoped the two men were already far enough away to be out of range but he raced after. He could see Will and Darwin down the tunnel by their headlamps, but he couldn't see the near end of the wire. The two men were yanking wire off the wall, bulbs were bouncing and shattering as they hit the floor, and suddenly electricity discharged toward them. Nikola threw himself in between.

Now the electrical energy being surged toward him, looking for an opening. It was minimally aware it was being isolated and Nikola repelled its energy, trying to control it in a backlash into the creature. He could feel the creature losing focus and becoming more random in its attacks; the amount of electricity flickering in the air mounted until it started discharging off uncontrolled in all directions.

Some of it hit the wooden shoring, splintering the wood. Nikola saw an overhead beam sag and drop out of his peripheral vision, but didn't have time to do anything about it.

He heard Will call "Nikola, come on, it's going to go!" but he couldn't disengage, not when he was winning and the creature was starting to come apart. One more, strong bolt of electricity . . .

The ceiling fell on him, literally.

Nikola came awake choking, lying on his stomach. The air was full of dust and even his vampire vision couldn't find any light. He wanted to make some but most of him wouldn't move, just his left arm seemed to be working. He let a little electricity dance on his fingertips but couldn't see it directly, just a faint glow behind something in the way. Then it sputtered out. He was just too tired to try again. He concentrated on breathing; oh, and restarting his heart. It wasn't easy, his body seemed to be somewhat squished down but he managed.

He could hear dirt and pebbles shifting and settling so he hadn't been out long. He felt around with his left hand. There was a rock in front of his face and he pushed it away, but it didn't go far; the space around his head seemed small. There was a great deal of weight on his body and legs and he wasn't sure where his right arm was. He reached his left hand toward his head and felt rough wood; there was a beam lying across the top portion of the side of his head. He lifted and shoved at it; it moved a little so he tried again, ducking his head to get out from under it. It scraped skin and hair off but he got his head out.

The dust was settling and breathing was a little easier, but he was fairly certain the amount of air would be limited unless the tunnel wasn't complete blocked. The weight on his back kept him from drawing any but the shallowest of breaths. But there wasn't even the tiniest bit of light and no way to know for sure until he could free himself.

He tried wiggling the fingers on his right hand and felt some sort of response. He used his left hand to reach his right shoulder and trace his arm to where it disappeared under a large chunk of rock; the arm was undoubtedly severely damaged, at the very least the blood supply was cut off. But he could fix it if he could get it out.

Nikola dragged and pushed the rock that had been near his face over past his head. He had a fulcrum, but he needed a lever. He felt around randomly but just felt dirt and rock. He needed light again and he managed to produce just a tiny amount of electricity. His heart stopped again and he let the electricity from his hand die so he could restart it. He hadn't seen anything he could use anyway.

But some of the rock on top of him could be lodestone, with or without the red veins. Nikola engaged his magnetic capabilities and sensed quite a lot of magnetic rock around him. Excellent, now if he could repel it . . .

He managed to generate enough repulsion to alleviate most of the weight on him and wiggled out, moaning at the pain in his right arm, legs, and back. Once clear he released his magnetic field and let everything drop. He just huddled in the small available space, pulling together broken bones and getting his blood flowing properly again.

Once all the major repairs were done, Nikola sat up and listened. Where were the kids? They should have been far enough down to be clear of the cave in, but maybe they hadn't been. He called out "William! Darwin? Can either of you hear me?" but got no response.

Blast; if he only had a working phone. But the only thing in his pockets besides the melted blob was his gate controller, and while it wasn't melted he was pretty sure the circuits were fried. He thought carefully about what he had seen the two times he'd produced a little fleeting light. There was something . . . oh yes. Nikola moved carefully, searching gently with his hands and found it- an unbroken light bulb. He shook it gently, and when there was no rattle he held the base, put a finger on the center knob and . . . it lit!

He felt quite pleased with himself, and a little grateful to whatever fate had preserved this delicate object amid a mass of falling rock and timbers. But as he looked around, his gratitude faded. There were mounds of dirt, rock and splintered wood around him. Two large timbers had jammed against each other and several big rocks to create the small space he was sitting in. But there was no way out.

So he'd have to make a way out. He could start digging, but where? He had no idea which way the tunnel ran, much less which end went to the elevator. His normal magnetic senses were jumbled by all the lodestone around him. Dirt sifted down on him from above the timbers. Well whichever way he went, it would be better than sitting here waiting for the rest of the ceiling to fall on him- once was enough, thank you very much.

He let the bulb go out, wrapped in his handkerchief and put it in his pocket; it probably wouldn't survive long, but it might. He'd picked his spot while the light was on and he moved to it and started to dig; retractable claws were such handy things, he wondered how people got along without them.

It was slow work; he dug carefully, but even so his tunnel collapsed a couple of times and he had to back out and redirect it under beams or large rocks. Being slender he could push himself through relatively small unfilled openings he found here and there. Until he came up to what he initially thought was a big flat rock.

He attempted to go around it, but it continued on to the side and he realized it was a tunnel wall. Excellent, he could use it to orient himself. But he had to go up to find out which tunnel wall it was; the one that had had the wire strung down it or the one across from it. Once he knew that he would know which way to dig.

The only fly in the ointment was that digging upwards meant there would be nothing above him to prevent tons of dirt and rock from coming down on him; a collapse could trap him for a long, long time. There might be another air pocket up there somewhere, or it might be solid, he had no way of knowing. All he could tell was that there were still traces of lodestone in the wall he was next to and very little right above him.

Nikola took a couple of big breaths; it might be the last air he would get for a while, perhaps a very long while. He closed his eyes and dug up as quickly as he could, feeling very much like an overly-intelligent mole.

In one way he was lucky; he broke through into another open space after only a couple of feet. Unfortunately, when he reached into his pocket for the lightbulb he could feel it had shattered. He took out his handkerchief and shook it out gently off to the side and behind him. He ran it through his hands to make sure all the glass was out of it and wiped a little of the dirt off of his face and re-stowed the square of linen.

Well he knew what he was looking for; he didn't really need the light. Nikola ran his fingertips lightly across the wall, back and forth and up and down until when he was almost convinced he was at the wireless wall he found a small round hole. He moved slowly, not knowing what he would run into in the blackness, but a few feet over he found another hole. It was definitely the wall that had had brackets holding up the wire. The boys had ripped the brackets out with the wire, that's all.

Nikola's hands were still pressed against the wall when he suddenly felt a jolt of electricity. He'd been totally unprepared for it and it ran through his arms and into his body before he could react.

Dammit, he'd told William to go down past the lodestone before cutting the wire. Had he purposely cut it too soon? Probably not, he'd had no way to predict the cave-in and infecting Nikola with an energy creature wouldn't be of any benefit to the younger man, would it? Nikola wasn't sure; he knew his own thought processes were no longer very similar to the kid's. Well maybe the lodestone hadn't been visible in the dim light from his helmet or something, and William and Darwin had been in the process of pulling out a long section of the wire to make sure.

The vampire couldn't really feel much of anything from the creature; if he was getting any sensation at all it was one of increased energy. The thing would want its host to survive so it might be beneficial, at least for a little while. But he would have to be very careful around other people; he didn't want to turn into what John had been, a raging murdering red-handed monster. Surely once he'd had the chance to feed and rest he'd be able to dispel the thing inside him.

Nikola moved very carefully down the wall, shortly feeling the ground rise beneath his feet and become unsteady. Groping with his hands he determined there was another blockage between him and the way out. But he was starting to get a little worried about William and Darwin; his job on these missions was to keep them safe, and it wasn't only Will's hide that was at risk from Helen's tongue lashings and death glare. Shouldn't they be digging from the other side?

He called out again. This time he heard a faint response that sounded like William. He yelled "William, are you out of the cave-in area?"

He heard a faint "No! Darwin is injured, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm working my way to you; turn your light this way." He heard back a "Done" from somewhere on the other side of the pile of rubble in front of him; twenty feet maybe?

Nikola couldn't see anything; none of the light had penetrated. He decided to stay close to the wall. There could still be upright timbers along the side even if the center of the tunnel had collapsed. He climbed up the slanting pile in front of him and started to dig, pushing dirt and rocks behind him. He uncovered a broken piece of beam slanting down and slid through the empty space beneath it and kept digging.

He saw a flicker of light off to his right and froze; had he imagined it? It was easy to do in absolute darkness. No, there it was again and Nikola could see the silhouette of a jumble of beams and rocks between him and the light. He carefully worked his way through it, just a little afraid he would cause another cave-in when he was so close to rejoining his . . . well not exactly friends, but teammates anyway.

The vampire slid out of a dark recess like a giant gray snake into a good-sized open pocket. Will had never seen anyone quite so filthy, and it was so incongruous to see the normally fastidious Tesla like that it made him smile and shake his head.

"Looks like you've been having an interesting time" the younger man commented as Nikola got up and made a futile attempt to brush himself off.

Tesla looked around and replied "And it looks like you've been doing nothing."

"Hey, I called Becky and she's getting together a rescue party" Will protested.

Darwin, seated on a large rock, added "And he set my arm." He was wearing a makeshift splint and sling. The men's packs were sitting on the floor near Darwin, and one was open.

Nikola muttered "Rescue party . . . organize, get maps, survey the situation, get equipment, bring it down here, setup, excavation . . . " More loudly he said "I'd estimate at least 48 hours to get us out that way, and that's too long. We can't wait to be rescued."

"We'll run out of air?" Darwin asked.

Nikola replied "No, I promised Helen I'd be back in 48 hours max, and we've already been gone almost a day and it will take half a day to get back to a gate once we're out of the mine."

Will shook his head. "You're crazy. If we start messing around we could cause another collapse. It's safer to just sit here and wait for the experts to get us out. Under the circumstances I don't think Helen is going to get mad if we're a little late."

Nikola felt a surge of anger and said sharply "Really? I was crushed under tons of rock and had to do a lot of healing. I'm going to need to feed soon. Are you volunteering?"

"Uh, well, uh . . ."

"Do you think Helen will be fine with it if I miss the birth of our child?"

"Ah, probably not" Will agreed.

"I'm glad you agree with me. Now turn your light this way, William, and I'll select a spot to start. I'll dig since I can withstand more punishment and I have the right equipment" Nikola said, wiggling his claws. "And you can pull the dirt and rocks back out of the way. Mr. Lundstrom . . . try not to breathe too much, okay?"

The blond man looked even paler at Tesla's words, but Will just shook his head. They had plenty of air, at least for now. After associating with the vampire for years Will couldn't usually tell when he was lying, but he'd mostly caught on to when he was teasing.

Nikola reached out his hand toward the injured man and wiggled his fingers. "Helmet. I need to see what I'm doing, you don't."

Reluctantly Lundstrom slipped off his hard hat with his good hand and gave it to the vampire. Nikola stuck it on his head, adjusted the chin strap and turned to the wall of jumbled rock, timbers, and dirt. He spent a moment looking at it then moved to his right away from the wall that had had the lights strung down it and started digging.

Will did the best he could, moving whatever Nikola pushed behind him out of the way. A few of the rocks were too big for him to lift so he shoved them aside as much as he could and followed Tesla into the hole he was making.

It was slow going and Nikola occasionally had to back up and change his route when the tunnel caved in on him. After one such collapse he backed out entirely and just sat down and rested for a few minutes.

As he sat there he felt a growing urge to feed. Zimmerman was nearly as filthy as he was, but Lundstrom hadn't been crawling around in the dirt so much and should still have clean spots under his clothes. Nikola pictured tearing the man's clothes and plunging his fangs into him and drinking and drinking and . . .

Nikola jerked himself back to reality and found he'd stood up and taken a couple of steps toward the injured man who was staring up at him fearfully. Will had moved in next to Tesla and said tentatively "Nikola? What are you doing?"

Nikola stretched his back and arms and said "Just stretching a little William, you needn't be alarmed every time I blink." Nikola himself was alarmed but he didn't want the others to see that. They were in a very small space and if they realized he wasn't entirely in control of himself things could get ugly fast. If he frightened them and they pitted themselves against him, he would have a perfectly good excuse to . . . no, no, no. The creature inside him was making itself felt more than he thought it could, he was going to have to be more vigilant.

Nikola went back into his hole and resumed digging. He lucked out and found a good-sized air pocket and slithered through it. A few minutes more and he broke through and to his relief saw clear tunnel with only a little bit of fallen dirt and rock here and there. Will came through behind him.

Will said "One of us will have to go back and help Darwin."

Nikola nodded but hesitated. He had the two men separated; he could eviscerate Will here and then take care of Darwin on the other side . . . but he didn't want to do that. The hot, spurting blood would be so delicious . . . no, he wanted the three of them to get safely out of the mine. He turned back to his tunnel and dived in, quickly traversing the tunnel blockage and emerging back with Lundstrom who was sitting patiently in the dark.

"Okay, we're out on the other side" Nikola said. "The easiest way for me to take you through is on our backs, I think. You lay on top of me and I'll put an arm under your good arm, I'll use my other arm to pull and guide us and we both push with our feet. Ready?"

Darwin got into position. Nikola felt another surge of hunger and a desire for violence that he knew wasn't his own. His respect for John was climbing; if his creature was this insistent and insidious, maybe he had some reason for becoming a homicidal maniac. He cradled the small man as best he could and they started through.

It was slow, but they made it and Will was waiting to help Darwin up off of Nikola. Once all three were standing, Will said "I called Becky and cancelled the rescue party."

Nikola said "Good, you two go to the elevator. I'm going to do a quick survey of neighboring tunnels for that peculiar type of rock and I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

It took less time than Nikola expected to check the other tunnels. He could feel the creature inside him being repelled by empty, dark tunnels with no flowing electricity or lodestone; he didn't actually have to go down to the end of each one. He soon joined the other men at the elevator and used his own electrical energy to move the elevator to the top. Well actually he used some of his creature's energy more than his own, but it didn't fight him; it wanted out into the world of power grids as well.

Once at the top, Becky agreed to take Darwin to a hospital while Nikola and Will returned to the Sanctuary. Will went to get cleaned up, and as much as Nikola wanted to do the same, he wanted to check on Helen more. But she wasn't in their apartment nor was she in her office. Not knowing where to look next, he used the intercom.

"Honey, I'm home. Where are you?" he sent through the building.

But it wasn't Helen who answered him. Instead Big Guy's gruff voice said "Infirmary. Get your butt down here."

Nikola replied "What? What's going on?" He didn't get a reply so he tore through the halls, bursting in through the infirmary door and dashing deeper into the medical complex following the sound of voices.

He arrived in a doorway to find Helen looking fine and sitting up in bed; no, not a bed, padded table. She gave him an astonished look and asked "Nikola, what have you been doing? You look like you've been rolling in mud."

"Close- digging out of a cave-in. Are you . . . is it . . ."

"Yes, I'm having the baby; at least I will be shortly. Is every one all right?" At his nod she added "I think if you hurry you've time for a shower."

Nikola gave another brief nod and raced for their rooms. Back in the delivery room Big Guy chuckled. "You know you're only dilated five centimeters and not going to deliver for at least two or three hours."

"Oh, I know. But I want him here for every moment of the fun."

Nikola stripped off his filthy clothes in the shower, dried himself hurriedly and grabbed whatever came to hand to dress in. He ended up in black and white checked pants, blue shirt and camel striped vest; sartorially gruesome, but he didn't care. He raced back to the infirmary buttoning the shirt and vest as he went, his damp hair going every which way.

Helen was thumbing through a magazine when he arrived out of breath; Big Guy wasn't even in the room. Helen looked up and told him "Pull up a chair, right here next to the bed."

Nikola did as he was told, complaining "I thought you were having the baby."

"I am I'm between contractions. Sit right down and give me your hand. I want you to have the opportunity to feel a little of my pain."

Nikola sat down and gave her his hand; she could squeeze it as hard as she wanted, he didn't care. "My mother used to say something like 'It's like pooping out a pumpkin', only that's not exactly the translation from Serbian."

Helen put down the magazine and laughed a little. "Your mother knew what she was talking about. Did you find the problem in the mine?"

This wasn't the time to cause her worry. Nikola said "Yes, it was some sort of energy creature sucking electrical energy out of the miners. I think it was created from a combination of electricity and an odd lodestone we found. We sealed off that part of the mine although a little more suddenly than we had planned, hence the extreme level of filth. Will has some samples of the rock."

"So we can tell the new owners the mine is safe as long as they don't open that area?"

"Yes, Will will take care of it. Now stop being Head of the Sanctuary and start concentrating on Mommyhood."

Helen didn't reply. She had a contraction and squeezed Nikola's hand as hard as she could, but he just held on to her, not returning the pressure. When it was over he said "You just tell me what to do and I'll do it, okay? I've never done this before and you have so anything you need, just say."

Big Guy came back in carrying a cup of ice chips but Nikola intercepted him and took it from him to give to Helen. "I'll take care of this end" he said nodding toward her head, "And you take care of the baby end."

Big Guy just shrugged and checked Helen's heart rate and that of the fetus. He gave an encouraging nod and left again. Nikola looked down at the cup of ice in his hand and asked Helen "What exactly am I supposed to do with this?"

"Just set it on the table here where I can reach it. I can't have anything to eat or drink just in case I vomit so it's all I get for dinner."

"Oh. Are you likely to vomit?" Nikola asked, hanging back.

"I didn't the first time, so no. But if I do, I expect you to hold the pan and help me sit forward so I don't breathe it in."

"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" Nikola muttered. "And messy?"

"Well as I recall, this is your fault, so I don't want to hear any complaints. By the way, did you dress in the dark?"

"Ha, ha, I was in a hurry. I don't think my son will care if I'm color coordinated or not."

"Daughter, and you're right, and I don't really care either. Hand, here comes another contraction."

"Aren't you supposed to be pushing or something?"

"No, it's too early; I'm not fully dilated yet."

"Oh. Well when will you be fully dilated?"

"Whenever. It just happens as it happens, although the second time is usually faster than the first."

After an hour on one of Biggie's heart rate checks he announced "Seven centimeters." He stayed in the room then, and twenty minutes later said "Okay, you're ten centimeters. On the next contraction, start pushing."

Nikola was getting worried. He could see the level of pain Helen was in with each contraction, and now she was going to have to "poop the pumpkin". He'd heard his mother scream during the birth of his younger sister and knew it wasn't a fun experience for her. But his mother had been a tough woman; he told himself Helen was tough too, and women did this every day and had been for thousands of years.

By this time he'd abandoned the chair and was perched on the side of the bed with his arm around Helen's shoulders, holding her left hand in his. He watched the mound of her belly under the sheet and had the strangest compulsion to extend his claws, slice her open, and take the baby out. Babies could be injured during birth, couldn't they, and that way the baby would be safe. Some part of him inside was say But no, Helen . . .

Nikola suddenly realized he'd started extending his claws and quickly retracted them again. No one had seen. He really should have fed before coming in; he should have regained his strength and divested himself of the creature, and would have if he'd known how much time he had. Too late now, but as soon as he could he would take care of it.

He started feeling some resentment toward Big Guy. Why was that mound of hair- a male mound of hair- down there looking at Helen's naked . . . the resentment turned suddenly to fury and he started to let go of Helen to get up and do something about it, but she gripped him more strongly and he gave in to her. He could turn it into a rug later.

It? No, that wasn't an it, he was Helen's friend and medically trained and experienced and they needed Biggie right now. Concentrate, Nikola. Your child is being born, think about that and only that.

The contractions were coming more quickly and Biggie announced "The head is crowning."

Helen panted "All right young lady, out you come" and pushed hard on the next contraction. "One more time" instructed Biggie and she bore down on the next contraction, gripping Nikola's hand so tight he suspected she might have broken something if he wasn't a vampire.

Big Guy cradled the newborn, looked up at Magnus and said "You have a perfect little baby . . . boy."

He turned away with the child to clean it and said over his shoulder "Does the father want to cut the cord?"

Nikola looked a little panicked but Helen nodded at him and he went over to where the Sasquatch was tending to his son. Biggie showed him where to cut and offered surgical scissors but Nikola just said "Hold it on either side" and used a razor-sharp claw instead on the taut cord. He thought it both fitting and symbolic since their son undoubtedly had some measure of vampire blood in him, although only time would tell how much.

Biggie swaddled the baby and handed it to Nikola. "Support the head, that's right, and take him to his mother. And the two of you, decide on a name." He busied himself cleaning up while Nikola walked cautiously to Helen. He wasn't going to drop the baby, he'd had plenty of practice handling babies . . . but he had to admit to himself he was glad to set his son in Helen's arms. He was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

He perched on the bed and asked "What's wrong, are you in pain?"

Helen blinked and sniffed and said "Just the usual, but these are happy tears, Nikola. Last time, with Ashley, it was just me and her and no father. Now this is a proper family, parents and child all together; it's so very right."

Nikola just nodded. Making sure his claws were completely withdrawn, he reached out and gently touched the dark fuzz on his son's head. Yeah, he definitely was not going to tell her he had the same infection as John. Anyway, the creature was quiet for the moment.

"Helen? Do you know who he looks like?"

"Both of us, I think."

"A little, but mostly with that triangular face and dark hair he looks a lot like Dane."

"Does he? I've never even seen a picture of your brother."

"You know how hard it was for me, when Papa blamed me for his death and was always disappointed in me no matter what I did. He so much wanted the Tesla name to go on, and I never gave him any children, until now when it's too late."

"Nikola your father has been dead for decades; you need to let it go."

"I know, but this feels like I'm finally fulfilling the last thing my father wanted. He wanted the Tesla name to be famous and I achieved that during his lifetime, at least to some extent even though it wasn't as a cleric. And I loved my brother, and I love my tiny little son. Could we name him Dane Tesla?"

Helen considered. Nikola hadn't mentioned his family history for a long time. Their arguments over the baby's gender and name had been more banter and teasing than any real disagreement, but now she could tell his words were heart-felt. He'd had a deep emotional wound as a boy and if this would finally heal it . . .

"All right, but no one will know how to pronounce Dane correctly; they'll make him sound like someone from Denmark."

"So we'll Anglicize it- you're English and I'm American, so we'll call him Daniel. Would that do?"

"I think so. I'll agree to Daniel Tesla but I have naming rights on our second child, assuming there is one."

"Absolutely" Nikola agreed, grinning broadly. He leaned over the child cuddled in her arms and crooned "Danny Tesla, you are the most wonderful child ever born."

Helen said nothing; she couldn't quite agree but neither could she disagree. There'd been Ashley, of course.

Nikola stood up and said "I need to leave you for a little while if that's all right." At Helen's questioning look he added "I had to do a lot of healing and I really need to feed." And I'm possibly dangerous until I do.

Helen nodded "Go. Take what time you need, but come back and bond with your son."

"As soon as I can." Nikola went out of the room and went to the refrigerator where his blood was stored and heated and downed two units. It made him feel much better physically and he took a walk outside the building to a secluded area where no one could see him if they casually looked out a window.

He looked inside himself. The creature was there, lurking in his brain, spinal cord, his entire nervous system, sucking little bits of energy. It wanted more, that's why it kept trying to make him angry and violent; his electrical production went up when he was that excited.

The vampire concentrated on sending more energy out to his hands, hoping the creature would follow and it seemed to. Then he held his hands apart and arced power between them, letting the thing extend itself to the center of the arc and suddenly cut the power. But the energy being hadn't been all the way out, it was still anchored in him and snapped back.

Frustrated, Nikola tried expelling energy from all over himself, and the thing went out to his skin to feed, but didn't let go of his nervous system. The vampire emptied as much electricity as he could into the ground; the creature became unhappy and Nikola discovered that he had vamped without meaning to, and was looking around for an object of sudden, unreasoning anger.

He suppressed his vampire characteristics and took hold of his emotions. Dammit, this wasn't going to be as easy as he'd thought. He needed to get back to Helen and Danny, but did he dare? He let his energy slowly rebuild; tossing all that electricity around should have given it a good feed, if he got his energy level back to normal it should be quiet, at least for a while.

Nikola went back into the building and down to the basement. He found an electrical conduit, put his hand on it and bled off some of the energy until his levels were back to normal. The energy creature inside him seemed pleased; maybe he could keep it in check that way until he could figure out how to get rid of it.

If he could get his electrical energy level down to zero . . . well, he'd be dead, but that wasn't necessarily permanent. Maybe it could be lured out of him into a trap. But Nikola would need help with that, which meant waiting until Helen was up and around and back to her usual self. Of course he'd have to tell her, not a pleasant prospect. Well he would just have to deal with it later.