All my author notes are important, that's why I write them. If you like this story, you'll probably be glad you read them. So please just bear with me and read them! The important one is AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER.

ON YOUR KNEES

Chapter One, Ghost Hunting

Nikola Tesla was trouble enough, without adding the words 'in her Sanctuary' and 'asking to see her'. Nonetheless, it was bound to be interesting if nothing else. Helen pursed her lips and shuffled the paperwork into an orderly stack of black lines. She could leave that for later, she decided. Perhaps she could save her wine cellar a costly blast if she got down there quickly enough.

She clicked down the polished gray stairs in her high heels, a slight feeling of apprehension rising as she approached where he was standing.

He spun around, waggling a finger at her as he did so. "Ah, Helen!"

Henry stepped up next to him, slightly frowning at Nikola. "Doc, he says he has some important news about Iffy-na or someone-or-rather.

Helen stopped short. "Afina?" she asked, a wild suspicion coming to mind.

"Oh yeah, that was it." Henry frowned one last time at Nikola, and then walked off, messing with his tablet computer as he did so.

"What's going on?" she asked, swallowing. "I thought Afina was dead!"

"Well, she is." Nikola bit his lip.

Helen surveyed the black suit he was wearing. Did his wardrobe consist entirely of suits and leather jackets? At least it was one and not the other, she supposed lightly. "What exactly do you mean?" she pushed the silly thoughts of suits and leather jackets out of her mind. It was unnecessary and certainly not important.

"Well," he began. "You remember the words we found on her tomb, the ones that said she would rise in the aftertime?"

"Yes..." Helen waited for him to elaborate. Knowing Nikola, it was better to just wait.

"That meant that she would reclaim the throne after her brother's turn was over, but it also meant something else." Here he swallowed, flicking his fingers around a lot. He must be nervous, she thought to herself.

"What does it mean?" she prompted, the feeling of dread increasing as the wait did.

"The ruling class of vampires never changed, really. Some were assassinated but they were assassinated not to kill them, but to put them out of power."

"What do you mean?" she asked, putting a finger to her lips.

"When a vampire of that level of power died, they had the ability to possess another vampire. However there was a lag period in between in which the 'dead' vampire's essence could be captured, put back in their body, and put in stasis. Afina went into stasis willingly." He told her, now his dark eyes fixed on hers.

"What are you saying, Nikola?" she asked nervously, unable to leave his eyes.

"I'm saying Afina's essence could possess anyone with vampire blood left at the soonest in a couple of hours." He told her flatly.

*.*

"Remind me why we're going back to Columbia again?" she asked him. She was sitting in a private jet, resting her feet on the tan carpet and looking to Nikola for a response.

"Well, I think she's most likely to possess someone close to where her essence dies. Which means, if we go in with precautions we stand a better chance than simply waiting for her to possess one of us." He said, and then added, "Or John, which we have no idea where he is."

"Indeed," she said, gritting her teeth. Something about this felt wrong. "What precautions did we bring?"

"We have sedatives to be used as a last resort, stunners, tranks, normal guns in case it's me and I beg you to shoot me..." he trailed off. "Also we have radios to contact the Sanctuary in case anything goes wrong."

She frowned. "This had better work, 'Mr. Tesla'. I really hope the outfit doesn't come with it," she added.

He laughed. "Helen my dear, if it did and you were possessed, I wouldn't be complaining."

"And if you were possessed and it did?" she teased lightly.

"You have a point," he conceded.

*.*

"So we're going in the other side, as it were?" she asked skeptically.

"This underground city was huge. There are some other tunnels which weren't blown up by the vampire detectors - Afina's essence might have fled there." He told her matter-of-factly.

"Then it's time to hunt down a ghost." She said.

The dark tunnels stood in front of them, as if whispering to them.

Come to me.

If you like it, leave a little review with that cute little button. Also this is probably confusing, but I'm really fed up with being told my work is confusing (even when it actually isn't, and I'm not referring to this story), so if you think it's confusing maybe you could help me out a little with how to make it less confusing in the future. Thank you everyone.

~Iceshadow~