The first ball Nikola threw went in the gutter, and he almost fell over after releasing it. He looked across the alleys and saw men, women, and even children smoothly sending their bowling balls at the pins. He looked back at Sarah and saw she was laughing. He shrugged and grinned.
"I thought you were so good at everything, Niko" she teased.
"I am; when it counts."
"Let me show you." Sarah got up and explained the timing of the arm swing and foot movements. She used a five-step approach which Nikola immediately realized wouldn't work for him with his longer stride, but he easily converted it to a four-step mentally. She explained how the way the ball was released determined its spin and the amount of curve, and how the arrows and dots on the lane were aiming points that would help making strikes and spares.
Then she said "And if you are completely consistent, release the ball the exact same way and hit the exact same board each time, the ball still won't do exactly the same thing because the amount of oil on the lane will change as we bowl."
"What? Then how does anyone ever master the game?"
"No one does. No one bowls 300 every time. That's why it's a challenge."
"Oh." Nikola preferred to become an expert at whatever he tried, but Sarah liked bowling, so he was just going to have to do as well as he could.
Sarah beat him three games running. His score improved drastically over the three games, but he knew he still wasn't really bowling well. Sarah's score dropped in the third game and he realized she was tiring, so they called it quits.
On the way out she elbowed him and said with a grin "I beat you, Dr. Macak the great athlete."
"Yes you did, but I'm still winning."
Sarah was surprised. What game was he playing? "Winning what?"
"Winning what's important."
Sarah gave him a curious look, but Nikola declined to elaborate. Apparently he was enjoying being cryptic, so she let it go. Outside the bowling alley, the night was unseasonably warm and the sky was clear. Nikola steered her away from their cars.
"Let's go for a walk" he suggested.
"All right, but not a long one, it's getting late and Mom will worry."
When they were out of the parking lot and away from the lights, the velvety darkness of the sky deepened and they could really see the stars. They just ambled for a while.
Sarah asked "Niko, why haven't you ever married?"
"Because of my work. When I was younger it consumed me. Nearly every waking moment was spent in my lab or with my mind on my . . . experiments. It wouldn't have been fair to marry and have children, to have a family that I could spend no time with. What about you Sarah? Why isn't a beautiful intelligent woman like you married?"
"I nearly was. I was engaged to a young man. His name was Roger and he taught mathematics. But when the war came, he went. He said he had to, it was the right thing to do, and I couldn't deny that as much as I wanted to. I wanted to marry him before he left, but he said no, things could change so much by the time he returned that it wouldn't be fair. We would be strangers by the time the war was over."
"And were you?"
"He didn't come back. He was shot down somewhere over Europe, that's all his parents ever found out. There isn't even a grave."
"I'm sorry, sort of." Sarah looked up at him. "I'm sorry you lost someone you loved, but I'm not sorry you're still single."
Sarah gave him a sad smile, but asked "Are you still too busy to have a family, or have you just gotten too used to being a bachelor?"
Nikola had to think about that. His former life was over for now. No more war crisis and he wasn't allowed to invent anything, at least nothing much. Here and now he did have time for a family. Did he want one? He'd always loved children; he'd just doted on his sisters' kids. And as far as a wife- well, he would have married Helen in a hot minute if she had ever so much as crooked her little finger at him, but she never had.
He stopped walking and turned to Sarah. "I'm not too busy, and I can't say I enjoy being alone that much. This is a date, right?" At Sarah's nod, he bent his head down to kiss her, but she held up her hand and stopped him.
"Niko, this is only our first date. What do you think you're doing?"
"It's called kissing. Don't you have that in Wisconsin?"
"Of course we do, but nice girls don't kiss on the first date."
"I don't know the social convention. Perhaps you'd better explain it to me."
"The first date is a handshake goodnight. The second is a handshake and perhaps a little kiss on the cheek if you really like the boy. The first real kiss comes on the third date; a simple, sweet, short kiss, Niko."
"That seems remarkably retarded. We're both intelligent adults, why don't we skip the baby steps designed for teenagers and skip ahead to . . . what's date six?"
"Well there's not anything specific that far out, it depends on how the earlier dates have gone . . ."
"I'm skipping ahead." Nikola took her in his arms and kissed her soundly and thoroughly, and to his pleasure she responded. He was very pleased with himself; he'd always thought she was a quick study.
After, she dropped her head so her nose was almost touching his chest. Sarah said quietly "That was nice, Niko."
Nikola put a finger under her chin and lifted her face up to his. "I thought so too. How about we just jump ahead to date nine?" There was a momentary hesitation in her eyes, but then she reached up and pulled him to her, initiating a passionate kiss.
When they broke apart (she needed to breathe after all) Nikola said "I like date nine. I think we should just go ahead from there, don't you?"
Sarah sighed deeply. "Niko, you're just not like anyone else, are you?"
"It's the other way around; no one else can hold a candle to me."
"Well I did beat you at bowling."
"Yes, but I think we're tied at kissing. And jumping to date nine is a definite win for me." He leaned in for another kiss but Sarah backed up a step.
"I need to go home now; I don't want to worry Mom."
"Is that the only reason?" Nikola asked, looking deep into her eyes.
Sarah's voice was breathy. "No. No, if I stay I'm going to do something I'll regret." She turned and walked quickly back to the parking lot, Nikola following and then catching up. He took her hand and walked with her to her car.
At her car he said "I think we need to stop taking separate cars on our dates."
She nodded and said "For date ten, you can pick me up."
"I'll see you at church tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"And we can go on date ten in the afternoon?"
Yes, I suppose. What are we going to do on date ten?"
"I don't know, you can teach me something else."
"All right, I'll think about it." Nikola gave her a "date three" kiss, since they were in a lighted area and there were other people in the parking lot. Sarah got in her car and drove home and he did the same.
Early Sunday Nikola put out his first bird feeders, hoping that by the time he got home from church the birds would have found them. One feeder was a low platform with a peaked roof for the ground feeders, the second a detailed miniature barn with open sides that he hung up in a tree. He spread seed and cracked corn in both, looked at them with satisfaction, and went to get ready for church.
When he got home, he was pleased to see a few birds were feeding, but there were also large gray squirrels shoving seeds and corn into their mouths as fast as they could at both feeders. He went out and chased everything away, thinking the birds would come back more quickly than the squirrels. He was right in that, but he realized he needed some way of keeping the squirrels out of the feeders while allowing the birds in. He didn't like squirrels; they were just short-faced rats with fluffy tails as far as he was concerned, and they were stealing from the birds.
He picked Sarah up and she directed him to a large building that said "Roller Rink" on it. Nikola wasn't sure what that was, but he found out when they went in. He stared half in horror and half in amazement at people careening around with wheels on their shoes. Apparently Wisconsin had more insane people than he realized.
What was really crazy, though, was the fact they had to rent skates. "Sarah" he asked, "Don't you know any activities that don't require rented clothing?"
"Just put your skates on, Niko."
Nikola sat down and contemplated the weird, dangerous shoes she expected him to wear. They didn't look too horrible but they were obviously used. They were undoubtedly laden with germs and foot fungi from their previous wearers. But his vampire physiology would protect him, wouldn't it? And he could always throw his socks away later. He gave in and donned the skates.
He stood up carefully. Sarah said "Come on" and clumped across the rough floor to a gate in the low wall around the skating rink. Nikola carefully followed her, finding walking wasn't all that difficult. He was becoming confident when they reached the smooth wooden rink.
He stepped carefully out, keeping his weight over the skates. Everything was fine, until Sarah took his hand and tried to get him to move forward. Nikola balked, grabbing the rail along the wall with his other hand.
"Come on, you can do it. You have to let go of the rail, and just glide. Niko, you said you wanted to learn something new, you're not learning anything just standing there."
"I'm learning how to not fall down. No, you're right, but maybe you shouldn't hold my hand so I don't drag you down if I fall."
"I'll risk it."
Together they slowly began navigating the rink, staying on the outside by the wall while people passed them. Nikola faltered a couple of times, but Sarah helped him stay on his feet and he was soon skating smoothly, picking up his pace a little.
Only he had no idea how to stop. When Sarah stopped, he kept going, her hand pulling him in a circle. He lost his balance and fell, but managed not to pull on her when he did. She helped him up again and showed him how to stop, but Nikola decided he'd done enough "learning new things" for one day. He carefully brushed off his suit and they left the rink to change shoes.
"I'm getting hungry, why don't we stop for a bite to eat?" Sarah asked out in the parking lot.
"My condition, you know, I can't really . . ."
"We could go to your house, and I'll just have what you have."
Nikola stopped walking toward his car and gave her a "deer in the headlights" look. "No, you can't . . . I mean I really don't have anything in the house."
"We could go shopping first."
"No, I told you my diet is very restricted."
"Yes, I know, but you do eat food, don't you?"
"Not exactly."
"What are you talking about? Niko, what is your condition called?" Nikola failed to answer, having no idea what he should say. Did he dare tell her the truth?
"Niko, if we're up to date ten, then I think you'd better tell me. Date ten is pretty serious and I need to know."
Nikola looked around the parking lot. There was no one nearby, but there was also no way to escape her question. "Sanguine Vampiris."
Sarah frowned. "Sanguine means cheerful. You're a happy vampire? This is a joke isn't it."
"It also means bloodthirsty, and not really."
"You're not a vampire. We're standing in sunlight and you haven't turned to dust."
"Legends like vampires and werewolves are based on real medical conditions. Bram Stoker was an idiot; he didn't know what he was talking about."
"So you have the medical condition that underlies the vampire legend? Maybe a parking lot isn't the best place to talk about this. Why don't we go to your house and you can explain it to me."
Nikola was very much afraid that Sarah would turn away from him when he showed her what he ate, explained what he was and what he could do. And he realized he didn't want that to happen. He liked being with her, he didn't want their relationship to end, he wanted it to continue and go forward. To marriage? Maybe so.
They drove in silence to Nikola's house and went in. He walked around straightening pictures on the walls that were already straight, just stalling and nervous. Sarah waited until he ran out of pictures and stopped, still facing the wall.
"So what do you eat, Niko?"
"You know what I am, you know what I eat." He turned and looked at her. "Are you afraid to be alone with me?"
"Of course not. You're a gentleman. So show me."
Nikola sighed and led the way to the basement. He opened the refrigerator and showed her his blood and plasma stocks.
"You inject yourself?" Sarah asked uncertainly.
Nikola just shook his head, not looking at her. Sarah went to him and made him look at her. "It's all right, Niko, you're exactly the same person you were an hour ago. Nothing has changed."
"You're wrong, something has changed. You'd better see it all." Nikola vamped, pulling his lips back and raising his hands so she would see his fangs and claws.
Sarah looked at him wide-eyed, but she didn't back away. "That's amazing. How do you do that?" She took his hand and examined his claws.
That was the last reaction Nikola had expected. She wasn't the least afraid of him, she was examining him scientifically. Well, that's what happens when you date a biology teacher he thought. He let her look at his claws, fangs, eyes, and feel his throat to see if she could detect how he had changed his voice.
"You're really not afraid of me" he said, a little awed.
"Of course not, but I am fascinated. Why, are you planning on putting me under your hypnotic sway, or ravaging my throat?"
"I don't have a hypnotic sway." Nikola gave himself a little shake and retracted his vampire characteristics. "And if there's any ravaging to be done, well your throat is attractive, but I certainly wouldn't stop there" he said with a little leer.
Sarah smiled. "You are such a 'bad boy' aren't you?" She checked his eyes, mouth and hands again. "That is really amazing how you do that."
"There's something else you should know."
"There's more?"
"The U.S. Government is hiding me here under a false name. It's a secret, you can't tell anyone, but my real name is Nikola Tesla; the original Nikola Tesla. I'm eighty-nine years old, and there's no limit to my lifespan."
"I think . . . no, I know I really should sit down now." They went upstairs to the living room and sat next to each other on the couch.
Sarah looked at him carefully. "Nikola Tesla was a famous inventor. I've seen a picture of him somewhere, and I guess you do look something like him."
"My hair is different now."
"I suppose it is; styles have changed."
"Do you believe I'm Nikola Tesla?"
"Honestly, I don't know. This is all so odd; I'm not sure what to believe." She took his hand and examined it. "You're really that old? Your face and even your hands look more like you're in your early thirties. How did you get this way, were you born like this?"
"No, well, sort of. There was an experiment at Oxford a long time ago that activated the latent DNA of five people using something called Source Blood. We were all changed, but in different ways. For me, I had recessive vampire DNA and I became what I am now."
"But you're still human, too."
"Yes, I'm still half human."
"You're eighty-nine years old and you've never married or had children?"
"No, no wife or children. Like I said, I was busy."
"Can you have children, with a human woman?"
"I don't know. I don't see why not. My . . . well down there . . . that part doesn't . . ."
"I see. Well I have to say date ten has really been a milestone."
"Yeah, you could say that. Sarah, is there going to be a date eleven?"
"I need some time to think. This has all been rather a lot to absorb. I'll let you know, all right?"
"By the end of the week?"
Sarah hesitated, but then nodded. "By the end of the week. Take me home now please. Unless there's something else?"
"No, that's it." And it's more than enough. He took her home.
A/N: Lorienleaf, thank you for the review. I'm always encouraged when people let me know they are enjoying my story.
