The second one-shot in this little series, although technically it's the third I'm publishing the second separately. This one's set anytime before Sleepers. I still don't own, still unbeta'd. I hope you enjoy.

The Monster

It should have been a simple operation. All they had to do was collect an already secured rare abnormal, from the address provided. Simple, right?

Wrong.

Helen and Will had arrived at the scene to find one very uncontained rare abnormal going on a rampage through the back streets. They'd managed to get it cornered when it started spitting acid.

"Shit!" said Will. "Your contact didn't mention that!"

"No, he most certainly did not."

And then things had gone from bad to worse when it turned out they weren't the only ones interested in 'George'.

They'd been surrounded by the Cabal in a matter of minutes, and the evil gun-wielding men had kindly shot Will in the leg to show they meant business.

After being hauled off to a sinister looking compound, they'd been questioned, and it soon became apparent that these people had no idea who they were. And while that was partially a relief, it also made them much more likely to kill them quickly.

When professing that they had no idea what an abnormal was and that they were just concerned passersby who happened to be carrying guns, they were shoved in a small room and told to 'enjoy being eaten alive.'

***

The room smelt of blood and urine – a ghastly combination wherever you are, let alone locked in a cramped space with no air-freshener.

Helen went immediately over to Will, who had pulled himself over to one wall and was desperately trying to staunch the blow flowing from his leg. He looked up as she came over.

"Oh god it hurts!"

Helen sighed and sat down next to him. "You've just been shot Will; I'd be more worried if it didn't."

Will turned to face her. "So, how are we getting out of this one?"

"Well..." Helen began, but she was cut off by a growl. They both froze.

In the short time since their arrival, neither had thought much of their captor's departing words, nor bothered to look around the cell.

They looked up. There was only one strip light in the room, but it was enough to illuminate a humanoid creature, one arm loosely chained to the ceiling, crouched in the corner. It growled again.

"Oh shit." Will said. Their predicament suddenly seemed to have grown lot worse. "Being eaten alive is really not the way I want to go."

Helen shushed him, and slowly got up. "Hello?" she called out. There was no answer. "Can you understand me?" There was another growl.

Will reached out and grabbed Helen's sleeve as she went to move forward again. "Magnus, what are you doing?"

Helen turned back to Will, and carefully disengaged his arm. "It may be frightened, and frightened abnormals are much more likely to attack. If I can show it that we're not a threat, it may be inclined not to kill us."

"Oh really?" Will whispered, their voices seemed too loud in the space. "And what if it just happens to like eating people for breakfast, and the only reason it hasn't attacked yet is because it's not hungry!"

"Then we really are screwed."

"Brilliant!"

Will watched as Helen moved forward once again.

"Magnus?"

She turned back around to face him again, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips.

"Yes Will?"

"Just..be careful okay?"

Helen smiled. "Aren't I always?" It had been a rhetorical question, but Will replied anyway.

"Nope."

Helen smiled again, and then turned back to the figure, edging slowly forward once more.

As she got closer, it soon became clear that the chain wasn't a chain at all, but more like some kind of material. Helen wondered for a minute why it looked vaguely familiar.

The creature was most certainly male, and actually looked human, although very malnourished.

"Hello, my name's Helen, and that there is Will." She gestured randomly behind her. There was no reply, but she continued anyway. "We're not here to hurt you, we're prisoners. We're not a threat."

A pair of sharp teeth revealed themselves at her last statement. "No." The teeth said. "I am."

"So you can understand me." She hadn't registered the words he had spoken, just that he had.

Will however, had. "Magnus!"

"Not now Will, he's talking!"

"Magnus, I need you to back away! Now!"

Helen turned around to face him. "What? Why?"

"He's go-shit! Look out!"

Helen turned back around just in time to see the man pounce before she was knocked to the floor, pinned underneath him, the man's tether straining.

"Magnus! Get off her you bastard!" Will looked terrified. He tried to get up, but the gunshot wound wasn't cooperating. He settled for throwing his shoe instead.

The man froze.

He took little notice of the flying thing that had just hit him in the head; instead he seemed to gag for a couple of seconds, before abruptly pulling himself off of Helen and threw himself back into his corner.

Helen stayed on the floor for a couple of minutes in shock, panting heavily from the struggle.

"Magnus?" Will's worried voice carried across to her. The man groaned.

"I'm fine Will. How's the leg?"

"I'm more worried about my heart at the moment – that gave me quite a scare! Bloody hell Magnus."

The creature groaned again, but this time its pitiful vowels could be distinguished as words. "No....no....no....no...."

Helen slowly raised herself to her haunches; Will watched nervously from the sidelines.

Now that Helen could see the man more clearly, she could discern more of his features; the claws that extended from his fingernails, the pointed teeth, the shoulder length, dark, shaggy hair on his bowed head; and as he looked up, she saw the eyes: pits of endless darkness staring right into her.

"Nikola..." she whispered his name, almost afraid of the reaction.

"Hello again Helen..." the man who used to be Nikola Tesla replied, his voice weaker than Helen could ever remember it.

"Oh Nikola." Helen moved forward as if to go to him, but he shrank back.

Will called out to her.

"Magnus! Are you insane?!"

She ignored him, and Will went back to applying pressure onto his wound.

"No young man," Nikola replied for her. "But I think I may be."

"God Nikola, what happened?"

"You really don't want to know." The Vampire smiled grimly. "Suffice to say I haven't had my medication for a while." He seemed to struggle for a bit, but then his eyes cleared and his teeth started looking like human teeth.

Helen was silent for a minute. Will was sulking. Nikola coughed.

"Why can't you get out?" she asked at length.

Nikola tugged on his tether in answer.

Will scoffed. "You seriously can't break through that?"

Nikola growled. "Of course I can! I was just waiting here in a damp gloomy cell for my own pleasure!" he sighed, and then explained. "It seems to be resilient to my strength, and my claws can't cut it. Evil bastards must have planned this."

"Well then," said Helen, digging around in her pockets. "Problem solved."

She brought out a penknife and brandished it to the room.

The men raised their eyebrows.

Helen sighed, and swiftly crossed the room to Nikola's cell. Taking the tether in her free hand, she lifted the penknife to it and promptly cut it in half.

"Ta da." The boy's jaws dropped. "Now come along and we'll still be back in time for tea."

~Fin