Two - maybe three part story that could best be described as useless (um - suggestive?) fun. Nubbins are to blame.
"I'll admit it – this was a bad idea. From start to epic finish, probably the most unhelpful suggestion ever made by a member of humankind. Still, it's hardly my fault that the suggestion was taken seriously. I lay the blame purely where it deserves to lie – with her."
"Nikola!"
Nikola jumped, nearly dropping the small silver recording device cradled in his hands. He had been muttering into it for the better part of the morning, sneaking around the campsite. Now, he narrowed his eyes at the intrusion, glancing suspiciously at Helen Magnus as she approached from the tree line.
"How many times do I have to repeat myself," she continued, with a displeased look. "That recording device is not a toy. It's on loan from James's Sanctuary so that you can properly document your research here. Your research on this case," she stopped him from interrupting. "It is not for your personal thoughts, plots or opinions."
He remained silent, turning the object over and over between his slender fingers.
"Why aren't you giving me any indication that you understand me?" she prompted, taking another step toward him.
"Because," he snarled slowly, raising an eyebrow at her intrusion into his personal space, "it is beneath me."
Helen held up four fingers, indicating the number of days he had left before this expedition ran out of funds, and walked off.
"As I was saying," he hissed back into the recorder, pacing over to the far side of the camp where an endless screech was drowned by the encroaching forest, "capturing these creatures, whilst being a necessity for their productive study, is not good for our general welfare. Two of the three have attempted to dislodge my hand from my wrist and all of them have made significant progress in their attempts to chew through the cage bars and escape back into their godawful wilderness. Helen says that –"
"I can still hear you," said a voice behind several layers of leaves.
"Fine..." Nikola slipped the recorder back into his silk-lined pocket. "How are we all today?" he grinned at the three furry creatures scampering about the cage on the large table in front of him. They looked innocent enough – mostly fur and ears, but Nikola knew that they head sharp sets of serrated teeth. "Positively sinister."
Nikola procured a pair of leather gloves, making sure they fit snugly before he dared open the cage and extract one of his test subjects. The thing – wait – Nikola held the struggling creature in one hand as he located his recorder and clicked it on.
"Have decided to name species, 'Magnussius' after a similarly tempered woman."
Nikola was not aware that the species already boasted a pet name, designated by Ashley. It had been Helen's idea for her and Nikola to capture Nubbins in their native habitat for study. His speed and resilience to injury meant that so far they had succeeded where her many other expeditions had failed. She also didn't inform him of her previous dealings with Nubbins – or their special ability to interfere with human (and she presumed, Vampire) body chemistry. It was better that he didn't know, reasoned Helen, as the last thing Nikola needed was an excuse to cause trouble.
"Damnable creature bit me today," went Nikola's next instalment. "Sunk its teeth in and left several rows of puncture marks. Suspect venom of some kind is present. Horrible thing got away – haven't told Helen yet."
Nikola kept his sleeved pulled down over the bandage as he returned to the other two. Chromatphores had always entertained him – Nigel Griffin especially whenever he vanished into thin air. These things didn't just mimic their background, they trained incoming light waves around them. Understanding this phenomenon required a genius – him, in particular.
With no choice, Nikola returned to the cage and captured another Nubbin, continuing his examination. He couldn't believe it when the second Nubbin wriggled free from his grasp and promptly vanished.
He felt woozy and concluded the source of his condition to be the bite on his arm.
"I have begun to worry about the potency of the venom. Contemplating seeking a second opinion though this would require alerting Helen to the absence of two test subjects. Not sure how that will go down. She seems to be adamant that these creatures are a vital part of her research so I can only assume that losing one of them would expose me to the less pleasant side of her personality. Losing two... well, I guess I've done worse things over the years... Many years. All those lost ambitions – I wonder what ever happened to that black lace dress of Helen's that she –" Nikola stopped himself with a deservedly confused frown. "What on Earth am I talking about?" he shook his head and deposited the recorder on the experiment table. "That's quite enough of that."
Oh, this was bad, he couldn't help but think, as Helen folded her arms firmly across her chest, reclining awkwardly against the communications table later on in the evening. Nikola sighed, wishing he'd never come into the tent in the first place. Up until this point he'd done a good job of avoiding her.
"Nikola," she started, in a tone he knew all too well.
"Evening..." he averted his eyes, heading straight for the coffee machine, hoping to spend as little time as possible in her presence – but she had other ideas.
The little silver tape recorder was still in his pocket, only just visible where it glinted in the low light of the tent. He was starving but had decided to replace food with caffeine.
"I really am going to have to confiscate it," she began, straightening the closely woven jumper over her body. It was not cold of a night in the jungle, but the insects were fierce. Short of a blood transfusion, this was the easiest way to survive the night. Nikola though – well, he was always in that damn suit of his no matter what he was up to or into. She was beginning to suspect it was grown onto him.
"Really, Helen," Nikola muttered in reply, carefully aiming the steaming liquid into his cup before adding two rather gracious teaspoons of sugar to the mix. "It's not very polite to invite," read 'drag', "me here, halfway across the world for my professional opinion and then tell me that I can't express it."
"Oh, no-" she pushed off the table, "your professional opinion interests me greatly," there was only the slightest hint of mockery in her voice, "but the students at the sanctuary needn't be subjected to your long, detailed opinion of my preference of hair colour."
Nikola gulped. He hadn't remembered saying that at all. Then again, his mind was a bit fuzzy of late, and it seemed to get worse whenever he was around those damn creatures. More than once he'd caught himself droning on with useless chatter into the voice recorder but Helen's hair? He certainly could not recall discussing that.
Why oh WHY, he thought to himself, did the recorder have to be a live-feed back to the sanctuary? Couldn't she have just given him a normal one? Was that too much to ask?
"Will that – be all?" he finally brought his eyes up to hers with a pause. Nikola flinched at their sharpness as they burrowed into him.
She was cross, very cross and ever so slightly amused.
"For now..." she said, strolling out of the tent and back into the night. Maybe she should tell him about the known effects of the creatures on human? Then again, Nikola was not a creature that needed excuses to act – well... behave in such a manner.
Before Nikola knew what he was doing, the recorder was back in his hand and he was muttering into it:
"So far the most interesting wildlife has been the imposing figure of our project director. One is tempted to conduct a more detailed study of her except a general desire to live outweighs the risk of Magnus's dark smile."
Back at James Watson's sanctuary, many thousands of miles away, a small group of students huddled around a speaker groaned. It was yet another useless entry by Tesla – seriously, ever since he recorded being bitten by one of the test subjects his documenting skills had slipped from their already low standard. Three more days – that was all they had to survive.