He hadn't heard from her in days, and this didn't surprise him. He could feel that she was fine, well, as fine as she could have been, under those circumstances, but this didn't change the fact that she had almost died because of him. The most sensitive thing to do under those circumstances was to go back to Paris and forget her, but he couldn't do that, not without saying goodbye, not without apologizing for everything he had done to her.

Finding her was a lot easier than he had expected. She was in the lab, looking at a blood sample under the microscope, and for one moment he wanted to tell her the truth, to tell her that she was his soulmate and that all he ever wanted was to make her happy, to be there for her every time she might need him...

"Hello, Nikola." she greeted him with a smile, interrupting his thoughts. "I am glad you finally decided to come look for me."

"I should have come earlier, but I wasn't sure you wanted to see me. I had no idea what effect the serum had on you."

"That's what I've been trying to figure out myself." Helen sighed. "Here, take a look." She stepped back from the microscope, allowing him to look too.

"What is this?" he asked surprised.

"That's the weird part. It's my blood, and the way my blood cells look... I should feel different, feel anything for that matter, but I don't. Maybe it was only a physiologic change."

"It wasn't. You changed. I can feel it." Nikola said, taking her hand into his. "I don't know what the serum did to you, but you're not you anymore. You're... better in a way, but I can't quite place it."

"And how would you know that?" Helen asked, smiling. "Can you read minds or something?"

"I'm not sure you would want to know that." Nikola sighed, making her roll her eyes. "Come on, Nikola, I thought we were past holding secrets from each other the moment you officially became part of the Five. Or do you think I can't handle the truth? Because I've had enough patronizing from John to be quite honest. He got a little better since we got engaged, but I'm not sure this is going to hold for too long."

"You're getting married?" Nikola almost coughed on his words. He couldn't have heard well, he hoped he didn't.

"We are." Helen smiled. "After all the craziness going around us in the last months, I like to think we deserve at least that. But you haven't answered me. How do you know I am different?"

This was it. He could tell her everything, confess his feelings to her, and be done with it, whether this meant she was going to figure out that he had only entered their group to be near her and get creeped out, or that she was going to jump in his arms. But he couldn't do that. He could feel she was happy about this, if a bit unsure. As much of a bastard Druitt was, she seemed to love him, and if she was going to get married... Don't marry him, I'm your soulmate sounded like a terrible sales pitch.

"Call it intuition, if you want." He smiled back at her. "I'll get back to Paris in a few days. You don't seem to need me anymore."

"Actually, I do. If you could spare a bit more of your time... I want to see all of you tonight. We're not done with the blood, I mean we may not be sure what it did to me, but if any of you is willing to try it too..."

"You want to do more tests?"

"I would never force any of you to do it, you know that. But I have a feeling that we can't stop here, that we are only at the beginning of discovering something marvelous."

"You can always count on me, you know that." He said with a sigh. What was he getting into, this time?

"I still think we need to destroy the damn thing." John argued. Helen had just told them about her plans of carrying on the experiment and he clearly wasn't happy about it. "It didn't work on you, I don't see why we should bother with it anymore."

"Except it did change me, John. Can't you see? My blood cells were completely transformed."

"Into what?" James intervened. "You don't seem changed at all, not yet, anyway."

"You are right." Helen said. "And I think there is only one way to find out. We need to repeat the experiment. Use someone else, maybe it will have a different effect on them, maybe if it meets different DNA it will react differently."

"And you want one of us to do it?" John asked.

"Of course she does." James smiled. "And I hate saying this, but this time I agree with her."

"What?" John almost yelled at him. "You have no idea what this damn thing will do to you. I am not taking the chance with anyone else, risking her was enough."

"You don't need to be afraid, John. I thought you trusted her. You are marrying her after all. Congratulations for that, by the way."

"I am not afraid. And how do you know we're getting married?"

"I was always able to tell when you were afraid, John." James sighed. "No matter what was the thing that caused you to be afraid... as I can always tell when you want to run from things you are afraid of. But let us not dwell on that. Helen, if you need another one to try your little serum on, I am right here."

"Thank you." Helen smiled at him. "Nikola?"

"I already voiced my opinion on the matter. I am not backing off now."

"Nigel?" Helen asked.

"I say we all have to do it. We are The Five, after all, not the Crazy Three and The Two Chickens. And I, for one, refuse to be less braver than a girl and someone who is not even British. And don't even get me started on you, James."

"I agree." John said with a sigh. "The sooner we do this the sooner you'll see this has no effect and we can get on with our lives."

With this, everything was settled. Nikola watched John, James and Nigel as they injected themselves with the blood, their bodies starting to convulse soon after. But after a little while, they were back to normal, or at least so it seemed. This couldn't be good. If nothing happened to them, John would have the proof that the whole thing was useless and she would stop everything... and end up really not needing him. But if this was really goodbye, he was at least going to do it properly. He dipped the needle into the test tube, filling it with blood, but he didn't inject himself with the serum. Instead, he walked to Helen and handed her the syringe.

"It's only fair, after all." He smiled at her, trying to hide how nervous he was. "I injected you, so if anyone has the right to inject me and change my life forever, it is you."

"What's the matter, Nicky, you're too afraid to do it yourself?" John mocked him, but he chose not to answer to that. Instead, he extended his arm to Helen, relishing the way her fingers ran over it, searching for his vein. She was warm to the touch, her hands a bit shaky, and he couldn't help being happy that she was a bit worried for him. Not nearly enough, of course, she didn't love him after all, but it was better than nothing. He dug his fingers into his palm, revealing his veins to her and soon after he felt the needle pierce his skin.

He had expected the pain, after all he had felt it before with her, but receiving it first hand was a lot worse than anything he could have imagined. The blood started spreading through his body, burning everything in its path, and when it got to his heart he feared it could explode because of the pain. He grabbed her hand tight, trying to keep a composed face, but it soon proved to be an impossible task. The voices that had whispered to him a few days ago, those that had been in her blood, were now talking to him, as if something deep inside him had been awoken by the serum, something ancient, made of darkness and hunger. He felt his teeth grow and pierce his lower lip, the taste of his own blood invading his mouth, and he opened his mouth to scream, but the sounds that got out of his throat were not his voice. He looked into her eyes and saw the horror on her face seconds before feeling it, before sensing that she was terrified of what he had just become. What that was, he didn't know, but he was too mesmerized of how deep he was feeling her to care. It seemed like the serum had amplified the bond he shared with her so much that he could feel her heart rate, feel the way her chest heaved every time she breathed, but most of all he could feel the blood pumping through her veins. Oh God, her blood... For a moment he wanted nothing more than to rip her throat open and feast on her. It didn't even have to hurt, he could just kiss her and then allow himself to melt into her, to get lost into that irresistible scent of hers and to let her taste invade his mouth... He had longed to become one with her the moment he had lay his eyes on her and now he could actually have that. His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain in his left arm, like something very sharp had pierced his skin, and it took him only a fraction of a second to realize that had actually been Helen's pain and not his. He let go of her hand, shocked at what he had done, and she backed off, horror on her face. He lifted his palm, watching what once used to be his nails. But now talons had taken their place, talons that were now dripping with blood, with her blood. Dear God, what had he done?