Wow, you guys were so awesome with the reviews! They had me smiling all day. :)
I'm glad you all like the story so far. This chapter is a tiny bit shorter than the last one, but it's a bit of a filler.
Enjoy. :)
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Helen. Helen. Helen. Helen. Helen.
She was going to kill him; she was actually certifiably irrefutably going to kill him. She was going to kill him, and then bury him and plant with cloves of garlic just because she knew it would bug him to follow the ridiculous made-up vampire rumour. She looked over at him and he grinned impishly. He was too damned cute when he grinned at her like that, all endearing and childlike – almost like back at Oxford.
Helen.
Maybe she wouldn't kill him. Not just yet anyway.
They'd been bound telepathically for a whole of three hours and Nikola – as expected – was beyond amused with this notion. His wildest dreams, well some of them, were coming true. He was connected to her mind. The thought alone both scared and thrilled her.
She and her team had spent that time searching the cavern and surrounding smaller caves for anything else – that might be of use in removing the bracelets, or indicate what they worked for. Not coming up with much else, Helen had decided it was time to head back to the Sanctuary. Nikola, of course, had spent most of those three hours making the most of their telepathic bond.
She'd figure out a way to get the bracelets off soon enough. They were obviously held on by some vampire technology – they'd tried everything they could think of at hand. The labs at the Sanctuary had much more equipment for such tasks; she just had to hold on – and not give Nikola any more ammunition – until then.
Helen.
Nikola... she said in a warning tone.
It was quite remarkable how one could convey tone in one's own mind. She'd been experimentally trying it with Nikola – and receiving his own responsive metal pouts – for a while. It was one of the most bizarre sensations, well aside from the whole telepathic thing to begin with, having a sense of feeling from someone else.
Helen, Nikola and 'the children' as Nikola had so fondly (not that he would admit to that, though maybe she could get him to in his mind) dubbed them reconvened to pack up their things. Henry and the others kept eyeing the pair with a mixture of wariness and amusement.
"This is so weird, Doc," Henry said, slinging his pack onto his back, "I mean, he can hear your thoughts...and you can hear his."
"That is what telepathy means, Wolf-boy," Nikola snapped, irately. He could be doing much better things right now than explaining this to Helen's insufferable children. He was linked telepathically to Helen Magnus! He shouldn't be talking it through; he should be delving into that delicious mind of hers to see what sinful little snippets he could find.
"Right, but, he can hear your thoughts, Doc?" Henry said, wide-eyed. Helen chuckled softly.
"It's alright, Henry," she assured, "Not every thought." She hoped. Nikola shot her a grin and she wondered if he could hear her every thought. Now she was just getting paranoid, she couldn't hear his every thought.
"That doesn't comfort me much, Doc," Henry said.
"Yeah, this is Tesla in your mind that we're talking about here, Magnus," Will agreed as he eyed Nikola suspiciously. The vampire himself wasn't helping matters much as he paced slowly around Helen, like a lion circling his prey.
"I'm in his mind too," Helen pointed out.
"For some reason, that doesn't do much to comfort either," Will commented.
Oh Helen my dear, you should know that you've always been in my mind. It was a strange feeling, but she could have sworn she could almost feel the leer in his voice. She wondered just how much these bracelets allowed the wearers to convey.
If you could keep your mind to the task at hand for a moment? She mentally scolded.
"It's kind of cool," Kate grinned. Helen's eyes snapped to the younger woman. It was easy for her to say, shedidn't have a vampire whose main form of entertainment when they weren't joined telepathically was showering her with innuendo laden comments.
It's not my main form of entertainment. Came his mental-voice. Damn, she had to remember to pay attention in not freely sharing her thoughts with him.
Helen narrowed her eyes at him and sighed. Henry was looking between the two like a lost puppy as Kate smirked.
I wonder if I can slap you in my mind... Helen mused.
Nikola's eyes lit up wickedly and Helen got a nervous feeling, not only that he liked the idea of her slapping him – in a completely different context, she was sure – but also that he was about to do something undoubtedly infuriating.
"My, Helen," he said, almost purring, and capturing the attention of her employees. "What dirty thoughts you have... though I always suspected."
"Nikola..." she growled in warning.
"Handcuffs, my dear?" he continued to the wide-eyed looks of shock from Will, Kate and Henry. "What's that? A whip too? Well, I suppose I could indulge your twisted little fantasies..."
Henry's jaw physically dropped then. Helen growled in frustration. She was going to kill him.
How did he know about the whip anyway?
Well I was making it up to see that alluring flustered redness on your cheeks darling but now I am quite intrigued.
Oh. Dear. God.
Practising for what you'll be screaming later?
Trying to filter her thoughts between what she shared with Nikola and what she didn't was confusing, and she hadn't quite got a handle on it yet. She couldn't stop the redness from spreading on her cheeks. . She was not usually one to be so shy about matters such as this – she was far too old for that – but there was something so flustering about Nikola.
I'd like to use that whip on him...
She had no idea where that thought had come from but she hadn't been able to stop it.
That can be arranged. She heard his reply in her mind. Had she said – thought – that out loud too? Oh this was getting too mortifying.
Nikola, please do try and keep your mind out of the gutter.
You're the one whose mind is playing in the gutter, Helen. She could feel his smirk. What was more frustrating was that he was a little bit right, and she couldn't deny it, not with him lurking around in her head. He merely continued to grin like the cat who got the milk. Dear Lord she had to stop, or at least figure out how to better filter her thoughts.
"Um, Doc," Henry said, shuffling nervously from foot to foot, "If you two have finished can we maybe get out of here?"
Helen simply nodded.
Helen.
Nikola prompted as they began to walk to the tunnel that would lead them out of there. She ignored him for a moment. She was walking ahead of him, just behind Will, but she could still feel his smirk.
Stop grinning or I'll wipe that smirk off your face.
Getting all dominatrix already, my dear? And we're still in the presence of the children!
Dear Lord she was going to kill him.
