Henry wasn't at all sure what he was supposed to do. Magnus had just told him to bring the vampire up to date on technology, but explaining a century of progress to someone from the steam age seemed an impossible task.

Especially when that someone was a certain arrogant, sarcastic vampire. But there was an upside too. Tesla had been imperious and condescending to Henry, but now the HAP had the upper hand and was looking forward to giving back a little of what he'd gotten.

Henry walked down the hall in a good mood. And why not? He had the most beautiful wife and daughter anywhere, he'd made level thirty-two in Robot Killer Platoon last night, and this morning he was going to be explaining the ABC's of technology to memory-deficient Tesla; all was right with his world.

Until he walked into Tesla's lab.

The usually neat, well-ordered workplace was in a state he'd never seen before. There were mounds of pieces of equipment and machinery everywhere. Was that the remains of an automobile engine on the floor?

Henry spotted Tesla finally amid the clutter. The vampire noticed him when he looked up, put down the inner workings of- something- and picked up a Supercola and chugged it. Henry could only stare.

"You must be Henry," Nikola said. He waved his hand negligently at a corner of the lab. "You can start over there."

"Start over there doing what? What are you doing? What is all this?" What Henry really wanted to ask was why Tesla was drinking soda, but first things first.

"I remember you, at least a little. You are Henry, my lab assistant. So start assisting. Put these things back together and get them out of my way."

"Dude, what are you doing? The Doc sent me here to bring you up to speed on tech, and I'm not your lab assistant." Henry spied the remains of a cell phone. "Oh, no, no, no." He checked his pocket, and with relief pulled out his own. "Where did you get that? In fact, where did you get all this stuff?"

Tesla glanced at where Henry was pointing and just shrugged and said, "I found it. And if you have been assigned to me, then you are my assistant so please begin removing these things I am done with. If you cannot reassemble them quickly, then box each item and work on them later."

Henry approached Nikola. "Just wait a minute. What is going on with you? You're acting weird. You never make a mess out of your lab and why are you drinking that stuff? In all the years I've known you I've never seen you drink soda. And you called me Henry."

"But that's your name, right?"

"Well yeah, but you always say it in a foreign language or just call me something insulting like 'wolf boy'."

Nikola put down the handful of wiring he'd been looking at. "You are aware of what happened to me with the electrical creatures?"

Henry nodded and Nikola went on "Helen explained what occurred, and I think when my memories were reloaded into my mind I was not present to insure everything went back properly. The memories went in haphazardly, overlaying and intersplicing with my original memories. My mind is full of discontinuities. A tiny bit of one memory suddenly jumps to a flash of something else entirely that merges with a third memory. My understanding hasn't changed. I still speak twelve languages and I comprehend mathematical and scientific principles, but all the applications are a confused jumble in my head."

"So you sort of recognize me, but don't have any real memory of doing stuff together?"

"Yes, I have your image in my head, but I do not know you. You seem to catch on quickly. Now get to work."

"Okay, but I'm going to need help with the slant six over there."

"Then get someone to help you, Heinrich."

Henry twitched a little, realizing telling Tesla about his name had been a mistake but went to get some boxes and some help, although not with the engine. Tesla could disassemble things faster than anyone could rebuild them, he needed Magnus.

But she wasn't in her office. Henry found her in her suite with her son.

"Morning, Doc. I need a little help with Tesla."

"Is he having difficulty understanding your instruction?"

"No, that's not it. He's kind of instructing himself."

"Oh. Well, then I'm sure you have other things you can do."

"Yeah, about that. He's sort of taking apart every piece of tech he can get his hands on and expects me to put Humpty back together again."

"Well I'm sure that if he takes a few things apart . . ."

"It's not a few things it's everything he can get his hands on. He's 'finding' things and I don't know what all he has, he could have disassembled our EM shield or perimeter monitoring system by now. And he's drinking cola."

Alarmed, Helen said "Nikola is . . . are you sure it's not a mixed drink?"

"Nope, straight out of the can."

Helen seemed at a loss for words so Henry went on to tell her the vampire's explanation of his memory problems.

Helen considered for a moment and then said, "All right, I'll talk to him. Check our security first, and if you find any deficiencies let me know immediately. Perhaps Erica can assist reassembling the most critical objects he's taken apart."

"Great idea; she misses getting her hands into tech when she spends so much time with the babies, and I can bring her boxes of the stuff."

Helen left Danny with Erica and explained what was going on. Erica was pleased at the prospect of having physical work she could do in her suite. While she often worked on the computer assisting with security monitoring, reassembling electronic and mechanical systems would be a new challenge.

Magnus knew what to expect when she went to Nikola's lab, but it was still something of a shock to see the state it was in. Even more shocking, the vampire was not only drinking cola, he was eating a sandwich.

"Nikola, are you sure you should be consuming that?" she asked, concerned.

"Why not? I got hungry. The caffeine keeps me going, but eventually I have to eat, don't I?"

Helen just shook her head a little. His vampire digestion really couldn't handle solid food, but apparently he was going to have to relearn that the hard way.

"I believe I mentioned that you are a vampire. Your normal fare is blood, and your preferred beverage is wine although you do occasionally have a cup of coffee or tea. But that's not what I've come to talk to you about."

Nikola took another bite of sandwich and just chewed and waited.

"You cannot simply go around taking things and disassembling them. We have some critical pieces of equipment that could put us all at risk if they are not functioning properly."

Nikola nodded, and between bites said, "Yeah, I checked out the systems on the computer. Don't worry, I just played around a bit with the back-ups for a while and then put them back in place."

Helen brightened a bit. "So you remember your computer skills?"

The vampire shrugged. "Not much, but computers are logical so they're not difficult to figure out. If I didn't know what key to hit I just tried different things until it did what I wanted. Programming looks a little more complicated, I'll need to spend some time on that."

"Why don't you? It will take some time to clean up this," she said, indicating the mounds of materials. "So if you could find something else to do for a few days it would be helpful."

Nikola didn't look too thrilled with the idea, but he'd finished his sandwich and was starting to look a little green anyway. He put a hand on his abdomen and said "I don't feel so good."

"The bathroom is that way."

Nikola nodded and then suddenly ran for it. Helen heard him vomiting, the toilet flush, and then water running. He came out looking a little pale.

He asked, "You think wine would settle my stomach?"

"Quite sure of it. Come with me."

She showed him the wine cellar and selected a dry wine for him. Then she led him to the library, got him settled with a stack of physics books, and left him sipping and reading. That should keep him out of trouble for a little while, she thought.

But when she went back in late afternoon, he wasn't there. The empty wine bottle and dirty glass sat making rings on a table, and all the books had been re-shelved. Helen hurried back to Nikola's lab but he wasn't there either. Henry looked up from amid a stack of boxes and parts and said, "Hey, Doc."

"How are you coming?"

"Good; not getting anything else done, but I've already shipped a dozen boxes up to Erica."

"Have you seen Nikola?"

"Nope, and I can't say I'm sorry. Why, did you lose him?"

"Sort of, but I'm sure he hasn't gone far." Helen went back to her search. Usually Nikola was easy to find, he had his favorite haunts and rarely wandered, but now he was unpredictable.

She finally found him on the roof, surrounded by his pigeons. He'd taken off his jacket and vest and draped them over a chair, and scattered feed for his birds. He was sitting cross-legged on the roof itself, his eyes closed, his hands resting palm up on his knees with his middle fingers and thumbs touching. Pigeons strutted and pecked around him, occasionally perching on him as if he were a statue.

Nikola's breathing was slow and even, but Helen doubted he had missed hearing her approach. "Nikola?" she said quietly.

His eyes opened and he turned his head and smiled at her. Then he got up and brushed himself off before saying "Good afternoon, Helen."

"Good afternoon. I was concerned when I didn't find you in the library."

Nikola dressed as he said, "It seems I've read all those books before. Skimming them helped me recall them. Then I remembered my feathered friends up here, although I wasn't sure they would still be here."

"I wouldn't let them starve. Speaking of which, how are you feeling?"

Nikola looked troubled. "Hungry. I've been attempting to process your statement that I am a vampire, but there's no objective proof."

"You can't keep solid food down, that seems to have been proven earlier today."

"An upset stomach doesn't make me a blood-drinking monster."

"You're not a monster, Nikola. You've never been a monster; out of control on occasion, but your intentions have always been good."

"So I'm a nice vampire? That seems contradictory."

"Well if it helps, I'm a teeny bit vampire too. When we injected the Source Blood serum I got the vampiric extended life span. You got the whole package I'm afraid."

He shook his head. "I know I'm not exactly human. My lifespan proves that, assuming what I've seen on the computer about the civilization on the surface isn't some big hoax. But I can't be a vampire; I haven't any fangs to drink blood with. I would have starved to death a long time ago."

"Your fangs are retractable, as are your claws."

"Oh, I have claws too? How nice. Really Helen, what kind of fool do you take me for? Yes, I have some memory problems but you don't expect me to believe all this nonsense, do you?"

"It's not nonsense, Nikola, and somewhere inside you you know that. Don't you remember anything about the Source Blood, John, James, and Nigel?"

Nikola shrugged. "I have brief images of a lot of people, but that doesn't tell me who they are or my relationship with them. I don't remember anything about drinking blood, although I have gotten a few flashes of you firing a gun at me."

"Our relationship has had its ups and downs. As a vampire you heal very quickly, shooting you doesn't do any significant harm. And as far as memories of drinking blood, well you've been doing it for a very long time, the memories must be there."

"So you say, but so far food hasn't been significant enough to surface in my mind. One thing I can't figure out is what you gain by convincing me of this fantasy. Is it just to keep me here so you can profit by my inventions? I may not remember everything I've done but several of the objects I disassembled were very, very familiar. I suppose some of my creations could be valuable."

"Nikola, I'm a wealthy woman, I don't need to trap you here for any monetary reason. In fact, I pay you quite well."

"Then what's the point? Am I just some sort of Abnormal creature in your collection?"

"You are not a creature in my collection! You are my friend and my lover. And this isn't a collection, it's a Sanctuary."

Nikola shook his head. "Call it whatever you want, I'm not a vampire. I may have some sort of medical issue, but for that I need to see a doctor."

"I am a doctor."

"Ah, yes, but if you don't mind I would prefer someone more objective."

"Very well. I can make an appointment for you with . . ."

"I'll choose my own doctor, thank you anyway."

"Nikola, that may seem to be the appropriate action to you, and I certainly won't stop you if you want to seek medical advice, but be careful. The surface world is not prepared to accept a vampire, you would be in danger if your condition were known. But remember that you are safe and accepted here and that I love you and will always welcome you."

"I'll be leaving in the morning."

Helen pleaded with him. "Then at least let me give you a blood transfusion before you go. It's not the ideal way for you to take in sustenance, but it will stave off the worst of your hunger and give you time to learn the truth."

"I do intend to learn the truth. Sorry, Helen but I won't give you the opportunity to drug me or something."

"And what of your son? Are you just going to abandon him?"

"I don't even know if he is my son. I remember some moments with you but not all of them were pleasant and I have no memories of him. It would take a DNA test to convince me, and only if I could run it myself, which at the moment isn't possible."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't remember how to do it! Satisfied?"

"No, not in the least. What about all the photos I showed you? Don't they mean anything?"

"I don't know what they mean. Maybe I was babysitting and bored. Or maybe they're not real. I found this program called Fotofix that you could have used to create them."

"I didn't create those pictures, Nikola, and I'm worried about you. I don't want you to lose control of your vampire side when you're among people who can't protect themselves. You wouldn't want that either. Please stay, at least until you understand yourself better."

"You're still insisting I'm a vampire?"

"It's the truth."

Nikola just shook his head. "Goodbye, Doctor Magnus. I'll be leaving very early tomorrow so we won't see each other." He walked off the roof to the stairway down.

Helen just stood, stunned and watched him go. How had everything gone sideways like that? Would she ever see him again? Surely someday he had to regain his memory, surely he would be back, wouldn't he?

A/N: Irish-Coffee, :Kotah, and epichlexi, thank you for the reviews.