Helen's search of the downloaded Continental Medical Research database told her two things of interest. First, while Doctor Petrocelli detailed her treatments of Nikola, she never identified three of the main chemical formulas she used on him, calling them simply Serums 1, 2, and 3. She listed amounts used and results, and tweaks to the formulas, but she apparently was so familiar with them she had no need to write them down. That meant anything Helen devised to counter their effects would be purely guess-work. She could only hope that as the drugs wore off, Nikola would return and be his old self without her intervention.

The second thing Helen discovered was the names and personnel data of the woman's associates. Bobby and Molly Allen, brother and sister Illyuatts, were undoubtedly the two people who had fired at them on the second floor and subsequently escaped. Helen couldn't do anything about them except put out an alert to all Sanctuary personnel.

The data on Jenna made it clear she had been used and had no idea of the purpose or intent of the Petrocelli organization. Helen annotated Jenna's file with a need for security training and a broader level of knowledge about threats to the Sanctuary. Henry usually ran a class twice a year for newcomers, and one should be coming up soon.

Or perhaps not quite so soon. Helen was willing to let some of his extra duties slide for a while. As beautiful and sweet as baby Angelina could be, she just did not want to sleep through the night yet.

The name in the database that disturbed Helen the most was Querina. Reena had been rescued, taken in and given a home, and in return she had actively and knowingly betrayed them to Petrocelli. Helen didn't understand that, and wanted to know why.

She called Will in to her office and showed him the file on Reena. He was as surprised as she had been. Helen and Will went to Reena's quarters, but the Brieman was nowhere to be found and a most of her personal possessions were gone as well. But there was an envelope on the bed with "Helen Magnus" written on it. Helen opened it and read:

By now you know the truth. I have been an agent in the fight against you. You act as if you are the queen of the Abnormals and you are hardly even one of us. You imprison us to protect weak humans; the strong should live and prosper, not the weak. Humans are overrunning the planet and damaging it. They need to be culled and taught to serve us, the strong. In the end, Helen Magnus, we will win and you will be destroyed along with the thoughtless destructive sheep you protect.

Helen passed it to Will. "Put out an all-Sanctuary alert on her as well; I already sent one out on the Allens. And try to explain it to Jenna, please. I've listed her for training, but she needs to understand how she was used and what she contributed to."

Will finished reading the note and shook his head. "I don't get people like Reena. Why would anyone want all-out war between humans and Abnormals? I'll tell Jenna, but I'm not going to be able to explain it very well when I don't understand it myself."

"As long as she understands the threat so she can guard against it."

"That I can do. What about you? How are you doing?"

"I'm fine; really. I'll have Biggie clean out this room."

They left Reena's room and started walking back toward their offices. Will didn't believe Helen was fine. Nothing was likely to happen on the Tesla situation for a while; it was time to open what he was sure was a festering wound.

"I saw the anti-vampire gun charging in the armory."

"Nikola will show up here eventually; we may need it."

"When he shows up, if he's violent, could you use it?"

Helen stopped walking. "I don't know Will. It would be a last resort of course. I would try everything else in my power first."

"Maybe you should let me handle the gun."

Helen immediately shook her head. "If anyone has to do it, I will."

Will hated saying this, but it needed to be said. "Like you did against Ashley?"

"Yes, exactly like Ashley. I have to be the one to make the decision Will, no one else. If anyone else used that gun on Nikola, I would hate them for it."

"If you can't pull the trigger, and he kills you, where does that leave the rest of us? He could kill us all, and without that gun we couldn't stop him."

"When the time comes, if it comes, I'll keep that in mind."

Will replied angrily "That's not good enough. Maybe Reena had a point about you acting like the queen. I don't want to die because you have to be in control all the time. When Tesla shows up you're going to be in an emotionally compromised state, and you're going to be holding the only weapon that we know to be effective against him."

"Will, that's not true, I'm almost sure. Nothing in the data we retrieved indicates Nikola was physically changed at all. Likely any gun will work on him; the vampire gun is just a precaution."

"There's no way for any of us to be sure. He's been in the same hands that turned Ashley into a killing machine. And he's nothing like Ashley; she loved you, and we were family to her. He doesn't even like anyone but you; he'd kill me or Henry, or even Angelina in a heartbeat and never look back."

"He won't harm me Will, no matter what they did to him, and Nikola has never been a violent man. You know he escaped before they finished their process; chances are he's just confused."

Will looked at her in disbelief. "You don't really believe that; if you did you wouldn't be charging the gun. This is real life, not a fairy tale; everybody doesn't always live happily ever after. They had him for weeks, longer than they had Ashley. They pumped drugs into him; you have absolutely no way of predicting if there's any part left of him that's still Nikola Tesla or whether or not he's violent."

"Neither do you Will. I know Nikola to his core. He escaped them, there's some part of him at least that's still Nikola, and when he comes here we're going to help him."

Will threw up his hands. "And if you're wrong, we all die? You can be wrong you know, you're not . . ."

"Enough! When Nikola comes, I will meet him with the gun. He built it, he'll recognize it, and I will not have to use it. If necessary I will use an ordinary gun to stop him, as I have before. And I won't hear another word on the subject." Helen turned and strode away.

Will watched her leave. He had just made a big mistake. By insisting Tesla would be dangerous and might have to be killed, he had pushed her into taking the opposite position. If there had been any chance before that she would use the gun, there wasn't much now. He would have to drop the subject for a couple of days and try again later when Helen had cooled off. Or find a way to get control of the gun himself. She couldn't handle the big heavy vampire gun and a regular gun at the same time, her plan was just impossible.

/

Nick was glad he had finally made it out of the suburbs and into the country. There were animals he could feed from and a lot fewer people. True, he was progressing very slowly by walking down back roads, but there wasn't any rush, was there?

He saw a farmhouse ahead, not too far back from the road. And there were chickens in the yard. He loved chickens. As a boy he used to hug and pet the ones on his family's farm, especially the rooster. He remembered the rooster, it had liked him.

He hopped over the ditch along the side of the road and walked up to the rail fence around the yard, and leaned on it, watching the chickens going about their business. He hoped one would come over to the fence, but none did. After a few minutes an old man opened the door of the house and came out on the porch, and watched him watching the chickens.

"You there, what are you doing?" the old man called to him.

"I'm just looking at the chickens. I like chickens. You have a really pretty rooster."

"Move along, buster. That's my rooster and my chickens, and if I find you in my yard you'll regret it."

Nick stepped back from the fence and shrugged. He hopped back over the ditch and started walking down the road again. The man didn't have to be so mean, Nick wasn't going to hurt his chickens.

He found a long stick near the road and picked it up. He hit weeds with it as he walked along, and occasionally a loose stone. He thought about the farm, and the chickens. And then he remembered the gander that had attacked him as a boy. He and that big bird had never gotten along, but he had still admired the graceful way it swam with two lady geese, and their precise flying formation.

He walked past another farm. There was a big orange cat sitting on the porch steps and he stopped to look at it. He remembered his family cat, Macak. He and Macak had been best friends, rolling around in the grass, and play fighting. Macak would grab his pants and pretend to bite, but never hurt him.

It was a good day. Memories of animals from his childhood weren't very useful, but at least he remembered something. It made him hope that all his memories were still in his head, and eventually they would come back to him.

It was late afternoon when a yellow bus came down the road, and stopped by some mailboxes. Two boys about ten years old got off, and the bus went on its way. One boy grabbed the mail from a box and sprinted across the road and up a long dirt drive. The other walked toward Nick.

Nick realized he hadn't eaten yet today. The sight of the lone child made his hunger surge. The other boy was gone; the two of them were alone on the road walking toward each other. Nick passed the drive to a house set back in the trees. The boy was going to walk right to him.

No I'm not, no I'm not was all he could think. He looked away from the boy, focusing his eyes on some distant trees. The boy said "Hi" as he drew level with Nick, but Nick didn't dare answer. He had to look at the trees, not at the boy, and just pretend he was alone on the road.

Nick was a step or two past and thought he was safe when he heard the boy behind him mutter "Prick". In sudden anger Nick's fangs budded, his step faltered, and he stopped but he didn't turn. He took a deep breath and walked on, shaking his head once to fully retract his fangs. That stupid boy would never know how close he had come to not making it home.

Nick broke into a trot. Farther away was better, much better. And he should eat as soon as possible. He had wanted to be out in the country because there were animals besides humans to feed on, and he'd gotten so involved in remembering his childhood, he hadn't eaten. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

He found cows before he found any other animal. Not surprising, there were a lot of both dairy and beef cattle in the area, but he didn't like cow blood. That didn't matter, he had to eat before he hurt someone. He eased himself into a small herd of dairy cows out of sight of any houses and drank deeply. It lessened his hunger, but not the craving he felt for human blood.

He moved on quickly. Maybe wandering slowly through the countryside wasn't such a great idea after all. But a city would be worse. And if he was riding in a car next to someone, how would he stop himself if the urge to feed came on him?

The thought that he didn't have to stop himself came into his mind, but he pushed it aside. But people were mean, that boy had been mean, why shouldn't he drink their blood if he wanted to? He didn't know the answer to that, and not knowing scared him. It was just a feeling he had that he shouldn't attack people, but if there wasn't any reason not to, then maybe he should just ignore the feeling and do what his body was telling him to do.

He could imagine his razor sharp claws slicing through weak human flesh, his teeth buried in a neck, warm wonderful tasting blood flooding his mouth. Wasn't that what he was supposed to do? Isn't that why he had claws and fangs? He didn't know the answer to that, either.

He stopped walking. This wasn't working; he did need to get to that big old building, that Sanctuary place, as soon as he could. Perhaps Helen could help him, or at least tell him what he was supposed to do, what he was supposed to be. Or maybe she would be mean, like Suzy. There was only one way to find out.

Going there on a plane would be the fastest, but he didn't remember anything about how to get on one, especially without money. And he winced away from the thought of jumping on a train. So he would have to get a car, by himself, with no other people.

That decided, he started walking again, but now he was checking up the driveways looking for a car. The first was empty, the second had a battered old truck and a boat on a trailer. But people would see him trying to take a car from in front of a house, and he wasn't sure how to open or start one without a key, so he would be slow at it. He had fed, but even so, if there was a fight . . .

He jogged down the little road until it intersected with a larger road, and he turned north and kept going. He saw a sign for a town seven miles ahead, and picked up his pace. It was early evening by the time he reached the town, and it was mostly closed. The gas station was open, but there was just one car leaving as he arrived.

The only place where there were very many cars was near a bar. Maybe he could take one without being seen. He walked down the street past the line of cars, and finally decided on a recent model sedan that looked comfortable.

There was no one nearby. He put his hand on the door near the lock, but nothing happened. That wasn't right, he should be able to open the lock, and he should be able to start the car too, if he could only remember how he used to do things like that.

"Hey you! What are you doing there? That's my car." Nick turned to see a short, fat, bearded man barreling toward him. He just waited, it was too late now to get a car without anyone noticing. Taking the car would be a lot easier with the keys, but he would have to control himself.

There were a couple of people by the tavern door, but no one close except the oncoming car owner. Nick changed himself as the fat man puffed to a halt in front of him and then Nick hooked his claws through the man's shirt front and pulled him close to his bared fangs.

"Give me the keys right now, or I'll kill you" Nick said softly. The man just made a gurgling sound, his eyes bulging, and reached into his pocket and took out a key ring. Nick took it and said "Stand there, don't move and don't make a sound until I'm gone. If you do as you're told you'll lose your car for a day; if you make this difficult, you'll lose your life."

The man stood frozen as Nick unlocked the car and got in. Nick changed again; handling the keys was easier without claws. He started the car, looked once at the man who was still standing very still, shifted into gear and drove away. So he did know how to drive, how nice.

Behind him he heard yelling, but he ran a stop sign and turned on to a larger road heading north, and floored it. Someone would probably come after him, but his reflexes were better than human, they would have a hard time catching him and end up being very sorry if they did.

He roared along at the car's top speed, and noted he had three quarters of a tank of gas. It didn't take too long to find an east-west highway, and he turned left and slowed down. He came up on some traffic, slowed more and settled in to the group of vehicles and drove along with them.

As it got darker, he looked for the headlight controls but the lights came on automatically. Nick started trying to figure out how to make the electric windows go up and down without touching the controls. He knew he could do it, and eventually he did.

It was early morning when he pulled into a gas station and parked by a pump. He unlocked the door electronically before touching it, got out and looked around. A young woman finished filling her car, and went inside to pay. Nick strolled over, found the car unlocked and got in. It took only a moment for him to figure out the ignition, and he pulled away sedately in her cute little compact.

He knew he wouldn't be able to get away with taking cars for very long. The woman would call the police, and they would look for him on this road. He turned off on the next north-south road he came to and went north again. He passed a half dozen cross streets, then turned back to the west. Unless they chased him with a helicopter or he drove right past a police car, he was going to use the whole tank of gas even if he had to take back roads again. It would take him a long way and was still much faster than walking.

It was late afternoon when the car started running low on gas. He was tired anyway, and hungry again too. He drove into a small town, and parked the car in a little lot with some other cars, and got out.

He could see some mountains ahead, and he thought he should recognize them, but he didn't remember what they were called. His instinct was to keep going west, and a little north, so the names of the places along the way didn't matter. There were empty buildings in the town. He walked around until he found a house with a "for sale" sign out front. He peered in the back windows and saw no furniture, so he magnetically unlocked the back door and went in.

He was pleased to find the utilities on. He showered and drank some water, then lay down on a carpeted bedroom floor and went to sleep.

When he awoke, it was dark out. He let himself out the back door and locked it after himself. It wasn't hard to find the local bar; it was where all the cars were parked. But what he wanted was the bank. Having money would make traveling much simpler, and the bank was where the money was kept.

He found it a couple of blocks away. The street around the bank was deserted and he had no trouble opening the front door. He was getting good at using electricity and magnetism; it made him mad that Suzy had taken those abilities away from him for so long. He changed himself so he could see better and he wouldn't have to turn on a light.

Getting into the vault was easy. He overloaded the alarm system; it might have sent out one signal, he wasn't sure, so he counted out money quickly; thirty each of 100's, 50's, and 20's. That was enough. He closed the vault and picked up a blank deposit slip and carefully folded it and put it in his pocket, so he had the name and address of the bank. He'd repay the money anonymously as soon as he could. Nick relocked the outer door as he left, and changed himself back.

He strolled over toward the bar, picked out an ordinary-looking gray car, and drove away in it. He drove until he hit a larger town with a W-Mart, and parked in the lot. It was open 24 hours, so he went in and shopped. Nick bought some personal care products, some nicer clothes, and a large duffle to carry everything in. Of course they didn't carry suits but he was able to get slacks and shirts and grown-up shoes at least.

He also found out where the nearest airport was. He couldn't get away with stealing cars forever; sooner or later the police would see he was in a stolen car and try to stop him. He could take wild chances in a car chase and survive a car wreck, but humans attempting to keep up might be killed. The worst thing that would happen is that they would actually catch him. Face to face with a policeman or two trying to arrest him . . . if they grabbed him he would fight and feed on them, and he couldn't be sure they would survive it.

He went back to "his" car, got in and drove to the local airport out in the middle of a big field. He parked in long-term parking; someone would find the car eventually, but it would take a while. If anyone was after him, he would be long gone by then.

It was a small airport, only two little airlines used it, but he was able to get a ticket to take him where he thought he should go. The difficult part was his lack of identification. He told the agent his wallet had been stolen, but he had packed money in his suitcase and he was just trying to get home. The false information he gave didn't raise any red flags, so eventually the agent sold him a ticket in the name of Nick Williams. Nick wished he knew his real last name, but for now Williams would do.

He wasn't sure if he picked the right city to fly to, but it was on the west coast and north, so it would be at least close. He had to wait six hours for the flight, so he bought some books and read to pass the time. The hard part was going to be ignoring all the fresh human blood around him during the flight.

For Nick, the only important thing was that he was able to fly First Class and sip wine the whole time. It tasted good, and it took the edge off of his hunger. Fortunately half the seats were empty so there was no one seated next to him. He stuck his nose in a book; he could still hear and smell the other people, but not looking at anyone else helped his control. The steward probably thought he was weird, ordering wine without ever looking at him, but Nick didn't care.

When they landed, Nick took his bag and exited the large city airport as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. He couldn't rent a car without a driver's license, so he took a taxicab. He was running low on cash, but it didn't matter, he had enough for the taxi ride. He recognized the city, and he knew he was almost there. But the thirty minute ride ended with the cab pulling up in front of an empty lot.

"Sorry, the address you gave me would be here" the cabbie said. "Are you sure you gave me the right address?"

Nick looked around. The view across the river was as he remembered it, as well as the other buildings in the area. But where was the big old building he remembered? He just said "This will do", paid the cabbie, took his bag and got out.

He walked around the big lot. There were deep tread marks from heavy equipment and blocks of stone embedded in the ground in one area, some of them showing scorch marks. This was the right place, but the building was gone; the only thing he had remembered from his adult life wasn't there anymore.

Nick felt lost; he didn't know what to do. He wandered around the lot, remembering what part of the building had been where, but found the memories only increased his distress. What had happened, and why couldn't he remember it? Maybe he hadn't been here when the building had been destroyed. But where had all the people gone, and how was he going to find them?

He walked over to the river and sat slumped on a large roughly cubical block of stone and just stared out at the moving water and the city on the other side. He had no other place to go. But he was hungry, and would need to find food soon, or he would lose control. But what did it matter, he was in a city and there was only one animal he could feed on here anyway. He tossed pebbles into the water while he tried to remember the city; he needed to figure out where he could go to feed.

In the Security Center at the Sanctuary, Henry got a beep from one of the sensors set up at the old Sanctuary building site. Helen had expected that some Abnormals would go there looking for the old Sanctuary, not knowing where the new one was, and she had gotten Henry to set up sensors and cameras in the area. Henry turned on the cameras, expecting it was just kids playing in the empty lot again. It wasn't.

"It's him! It's Nikola, the Doc is going to go nuts." Henry grinned and grabbed his phone to called Helen.

"Doc, Nikola's back! No, not here, there. I mean at the old Sanctuary, I have him on camera."

"Is he all right?" Helen asked, "How does he look?"

"Uh, underdressed, but okay I guess."

"What is he doing?"

"Just hanging around; looks like he forgot we moved."

"Right. Have Will meet me at the Sphere, we'll go collect him."

Will was angry at himself as he raced to meet Magnus; he hadn't followed up on his talk with her, and now it was too late. So he was surprised when she met him lugging the vampire gun, and handed it to him.

"You were right, Will. I could never use this on Nikola. But we should have it as a precaution, although I don't expect you to use it either, is that clear?"

Will nodded, relieved that she was being sensible. "Only as a last resort, I promise."

They got in a sphere and rode a long distance to an entry to the surface across the street from the now empty lot. The Sanctuary had purchased the building there and converted it to apartments for short term housing for Sanctuary agents, and to use it as a convenient location for an entrance to the underground world of the new Sanctuary. It made it easy to bring lost Abnormals from the old location to the new Sanctuary.

It was a tension-filled ride, but once they arrived they had only to trot up some stairs to the entrance hidden in the basement of the apartment building, then up to the outer door. Helen crossed the street with Will right behind her to the empty lot. At first she didn't see Nikola, but then she spotted him sitting down by the river.

Helen smiled and called "Nikola! Over here."

He didn't respond at first, but when she called again, he turned his head and stood up. Helen and Will walked quickly across the lot, but Nick just stayed where he was. When they drew close, they slowed and then stopped a few feet from him, sensing something was wrong.

Will held the vampire gun ready as Helen took a few steps closer.

"Nikola? Is everything all right?"

"It's Nick, actually. Do I know you?" She looked like the woman with the different colored hair he had remembered, but he wasn't sure if it was really her or not.

Helen's face fell. "Of course you do. Helen Magnus; we've known each other a very long time."

Nick backed up a step. This was the woman Suzy had warned him about, the one he had come to find. He gestured at Will. "Why is he pointing that thing at me?"

"It's just a precaution. We mean you no harm, we want to help you; we're your friends."

That set off alarm bells for Nick; Suzy had kept saying she wanted to be his friend too. But that's not what she had really wanted at all. "Are you friends with Suzy?"

Helen looked at Will, confused, and he shook his head back. "I don't think we know Suzy, who is she?"

Nick knew that was a lie. Suzy knew them, they must know Suzy too, but why lie about it? Nick dropped his duffle bag to free both his hands and changed. "If you're my friends, then tell me my name" he said warily. Maybe he could find out something useful from them, even if they might mean him harm.

Helen was getting more and more worried. Something was definitely wrong with Nikola, and she had to find a way to convince him to trust them. She said "Your name is Nikola Tesla. You're Serbian, and a naturalized American citizen. Is any of that familiar?"

It was, at least a little. Nick thought he had heard of Nikola Tesla, but he was just some old-time inventor who must have been dead for decades. Helen was telling another lie; why did she keep lying to him? Nick shook his head. "You're lying to me. I may not remember very much, but I'm not stupid." He started walking forward. "You and Suzy may hate each other, but you're not my friends; friends wouldn't lie to me."

Helen reached behind her and pulled out a large caliber pistol. "Stop right there. I don't want to hurt you Nikola, but I won't let you hurt us either. I'm not lying, please let us help you."

Nick turned toward Will, snarling. "Liar! That gun is meant to kill me."

Will said "That's right, it is; so stay where you are, don't come any closer. I don't want to use it, don't force me to."

But Nick was still advancing.

Helen tried one more time. "Nikola . . . Nick, please, we want to help you. Try to remember who we are."

"I know everything I need to know about you. And I'm hungry." Nick moved faster than any human could, launching himself at Will and the threatening gun. Will pulled the trigger.

The vampire gun didn't fire, but Helen did, shooting Nikola in mid-air from the side under his raised arm, into his chest. The force of the bullet knocked him sideways and he fell to the ground next to Will. Helen quickly walked forward as Nikola was trying to rise, and deliberately put a bullet into his head.

A/N: Thank you AnthropologistGirlInTheMaking for you review. But you know Nikola isn't out of trouble yet, even now that he's gotten back to Helen.