A/N: yay! finally updated. Read and Review soon please!

Chapter 10

Nikola and Alice led the band through the corridors, Nikola running his mouth as usual.

"Ah! Magnificent, isn't it? All that remains of my ancestors, their work. Ten thousand years of knowledge and power hidden from the world," Nikola said as though a tour guide.

"Nikki, they didn't come for the guided tour, get on with it," Alice said. "Nikki?" John asked from behind them. Nikola rolled his eyes at Alice for using that name in front of John.

"You've been coming here for decades, haven't you," Magnus said, "This is where you got the idea to revive vampires as a race." Nikola stopped, stopping Alice with him forcing both of them to turn and face the party. He reached up above her touching the light fixture, causing it and the others around it to sputter to life.

"Your father, he did his job well. Despite me best efforts, we can only retrieve the blood as one. None of us can do it alone," he said sternly ignoring Alice's stunned expression. John smirked as he saw the young woman blanch as Nikola's words.

"Tell me, Nikola, if we do succeed, will you allow us to take it away? We know you have wonderful designs for it, an army of new-born vampires being just the start," John teased. Alice glared at Nikola hard, red seeping into her eyes for the second time in an hour. "Vampires, Nikola," she said folding her arms across chest.

"I may want to see my ancestors reborn but that can't happen if the abnormals become a global threat to humans. None of us could withstand the chaos that that would bring," Nikola said defending himself, "OK? But tell me, John, are the rest of us to trust you once all is said and done? You, who once put your own daughter in harm's way for just a drop of Helen's blood. Oh, yes having that vial all to your self would solve your health problems for a long time, wouldn't it?"

"Gentlemen, we are here for a reason. Nikola, live are at stake," Magnus interjected. Nikola sighed, "this way;" before leading the group along another tunnel. Alice held back not wanting to be so close to her arrogant vampire friend.

"He never told you the real plan did he," Watson asked as John helped him along. Alice looked over at her mentor a sad smile on her face.

"Since when does Nikola share his secrets with anyone," she asked offering her shoulder for extra support. "I could fix this if you like," Alice said not looking at her mentor's face. When Watson did not respone Alice took it as a silent no.

Ahead of them Alice could see the new girl and Will chatting amongst themselves, until the girl spoke up. "Think place goes on forever," she said constantly turning her head to take it all in.

"It's a labyrinth. It's designed to keep valuable secrets from those who would steal them," Magnus explained.

"Was that aimed at me," Nikola asked from ahead of everyone else.

"Of course it was Nikki," Alice called from the back of the group. The two Johns snickered as they continued forward.

Eventually they came to a cavernous room with a pedestal in the exact center. Alice had been in this room before. It was the exact center of the labyrinth, or so Nikola said . The pedestal was decorated with a pentagram design with slots for keys in each. Around the rim roman numerals sat forming the outer triangles of the pentagram. Everyone gathered around it and stared for a moment. Then Will spoke up. "Is it some sort of a numeric code?"

Magnus' eyes light up in recognition. "My mother's birthday," she said pressing the numbers, "my father's favorite password." Alice tried really hard to keep her comment about passwords to herself. The center of the pedestal began to move revealing a scroll. Magnus grabbed it, unrolling it so everyone could see it.

"It's his handwriting," she said, her eyes getting brighter by the second.

"Latin," Will asked from over her shoulder.

"His favorite language," Magnus replied. Alice rolled her eyes from behind Watson.

"It's a caveat addressed to all five of us. It's a warning; the blood should only be sought by all of us or not at all," Watson said, as he was the fastest translator in the bunch.

"And only for altruistic reasons," Magnus added.

"Well, saving civilization from chaos and war seems worthy, but he's your father," Nikola said. Alice moved behind him smacking him upside the head. He whipped around and glared at her.

"What did I do to deserve that," he asked. "What did I say about those kinds of comments back in Italy," she asked folding her arms across her chest. "To not make them," Nikola said rubbing the back of his head. "Good boy," Alice said patting his head. The others gave the pair a strange look before turning back to Helen.

"It's a map of the labyrinth," Helen said. Alice groaned. "If you wanted a bloody map, I made one weeks ago," she said pulling a map out of her pocket. Watson and John looked at her, almost giving her looks of approval.

"Look there are five notations here," Will said. Alice groaned again, her map didn't have the makings that one did.

"Five tests, each has one of our names beside it," Waston said. Alice waved her hand over her map whispering a copy-me spell, so her map would have those markings also.

"What kind of tests," the extra girl asked.

"They're designed specifically for each of our gifts, impenetrable to anyone else," Magnus said, "My father knew that in order to prevent anyone of us from trying to access the blood alone, he had to use the technology the vampires left behind to safeguard their secrets."

"and even you couldn't find a way around that," Will said looking over at Nikola.

"I know, nervous yet?" Nikola asked. Alice rolled her eyes. She knew when each task was, what they entailed. There had to be ways around at least some of them, it all hinged on what spell she picked.

"At the end of each test there's a key. Once we have the five keys…." Waston started.

"We can access the vial. My father loved the metaphor of keys he saw them as symbols for the unlocking of secrets." Magnus finished.

"We can assume none of these tasks will be simple and easy," John said looking slightly nervous.

"Knowing my father, absolutely. May I?" Magnus asked Watson for the map.

"Of course," Waston said handing it over. Behind her Alice was making copies of her map so everyone could have one. They're incinerate once they left the labyrinth. Well, all except her own. "Here," She said once the spell was finished holding out a map to both Watson and Will.

"Will, take Clara to Griffin's test, that's here," Magnus said indicating to a passage in the Northern area of the labyrinth.

"Waston, yours and John's markers are close together. I know, work as a team. We'll meet back here with our keys," she continued looking at the groups.

"That leave you and Nikola; your tests are marked for the same area," John grumbled looking at the map in Waston's hand.

"I guess your father liked us best as a couple," Nikola said smirking. He flinched slightly as he saw Alice move from Watson's side.

"Helen, if you can wait I'll…" John started.

"I'll be fine," Magnus countered not even letting him finish.

"Such chivalry," Nikola teased trying to get a reaction from John.

"If any harm comes to her, accidental or otherwise," John said menacingly.

"I have no reason to do her any harm but you, I'm finding more reasons by the minute," Nikola countered.

"Honestly! I'm surrounded by adolescents!" Magnus yelled frustrated.

"Join the club," Alice said, "Maybe we can have t-shirts."

The two women looked between John and Nikola, who were glaring at each other.

"Come on Nikki. The world isn't going to save itself," Alice said pulling the vampire by his ear.

"Lets go," Will said from the other side of the room. Heads nodded in agreement as the group broke in to two pairs and a triplet heading in opposing directions.

Alice, who'd initially started off with Nikola paused a second before turning and running to help John with Watson. "Alice," Nikola called after her.

"Let her go Nikola, she'll be back." Magnus said forcing Nikola to remember the goal at hand.

Alice reached John and Watson before they'd gotten all that far. She took her spot under Watson's left arm helping him hobble along the corridor.

"I'm surprised you didn't go with Tesla," John said from across Watson. Alice said nothing, opting instead to use a little wandless magic to smack John.

"Ow," the tall man said stopping the trio as he dealt with the pain. Watson looked down at the girl helping him. She feigned a sly smile hinting at guilt, but not at the same time.

As the trio reached John and Watson's task, Alice relinquished her place beside Watson before moving away from them picturing Nikola in her head. "Catch you on the flipside," she said before disappearing with a pop. On the other end of the labyrinth she reappeared. She rematerialized before screaming in pain, as what felt like a million volts surged through her body.

"Alice," Nikola cried as he walked through the tunnel roaring in pain himself. He stopped and picked her up tossing her out of the tunnel toward Magnus. He kept waking as Magnus looked the girl over. As he reached the key he turned back to look at the pair of women waiting at the other end.

"She has a pulse, but her breathing is almost nonexistent. She needs a hospital Nikola," Magnus yelled.

"You're father really didn't like me did he," Nikola asked looking at the girl at Magnus's feet.

"You're an acquired taste," she said looking at the girl once again.

Nikola started the journey back, walking faster this time, desperate to reach Alice. He collapsed as he exited the tunnel, holding up his key to Magnus, before crawling to where Alice lay. "mmmm, you felt genuine concern for me. Admit it," he said cradling Alice to him.

"Nonsense," Magnus said, "I'm much more worried about Alice, than I am about you."

"Oh, You still like me, it's so obvious," Nikola said trying to choke out a laugh.

"You tried to kill me," Magnus said a look of disbelief on his face.

"Yeah, but you now, we all hurt the ones we love," he said looking down at Alice. He could hear her heart getting slower, "your turn." The pair stood up, Nikola carrying Alice like a sleeping child, and began making their way down the corridor. At a turn in the corridor the pair came to a stop. Helen walked toward the spyglass looking object pushing a button underneath it that extended the object allowing it to extend farther. She put her eye to the device. Something clicked in the wall behind it allowing a doorway to open.

"Not much of a test," Magnus said stepping into the room.
"You always were a daddy's girl," Telsa said, "just hurry up."

He watched helplessly at the door closed in front of him.

"Helen!" he called pounding on the door. He stopped when he remembered that Alice was lying on her death bed just beside him.

Nikola stood holding Alice for only a few minutes when the door opened to reveal Helen, key in hand.

"Nice, but I think somebody must've screwed up," he said as the pair took off running toward the main room.

As they arrived so did the others. They looked around the room holding up their keys.

"Well done. Shall we?" Magnus asked. Watson looked over at Alice, who was still held in Nikola's arms. He smiled at the two, as The Five moved forward to place their keys into the slots on the pedestal.

"Where is it," Watson asked once all the keys were in place. It took a few seconds, but soon the sound of stone against stone had the group turning their heads. As the vial was revealed Nikola inhaled smelling the life blood of his ancestors. Then something clicked that hadn't clicked after months of pondering.

"Magnus, do you have a syringe?" Nikola asked as she moved to retrieve the blood. "I have an epipen, and some morphine syringes," she said as the rest eyed the blood.

"Get one out," Nikola said ripping the sleeve of Alice's shirt.

"Wait, is that it? That's the blood," Clara exclaimed as Will dug through his pack for a syringe.

"What is going on Nikola," John asked stepping forward to block Magnus' path.

"Alice is dying. She got caught in my test," Nikola said grabbing the sterile syringe from Will and empting it of the morphine.

"How is the ancient blood going to help," Will asked as Nikola stuck the syringe into the vial taking 500 cc of blood. Watson's eyes widened in realization.

"She has the vampire gene," he said. The three other members of the five turned to look at him. Nikola did not flinch as the needle sank into the soft skin of Alice's inner arm. He silently prayed that this would work.

"How would you know that Nikola," Watson asked at everyone watched the small brunette's body.

"She wanted me to turn her," Nikola said, his gaze not leaving Alice. "She sliced her hand open right in front of me to get me to do it," he continued, "I smelled it that night, its just been so long since I smell another like me." Watson walked forward placing a hand on his shoulder. Nikola closed his eyes for a moment, a hand coming to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Don't worry. I'll see this through; antivirus and all," Nikola assured Magnus.
The group looked at each other as John began to teleport them all away. He teleported Alice and Nikola last, dropping them in one of the bedrooms in the Sanctuary.

Nikola carried Alice to the infirmary, before heading to the lab to work. Watson sat by her bedside willing her to wake.

A small pop echoed through the Sanctuary, causing everyone to rush toward the infirmary. There in the chair beside Alice's bed sat Watson looking his real age.

"Oh my god, what happened," Magnus asked trying to help him.

"The inevitable, I'm afraid," Watson answered.

"The suit, it's stopped working," Helen said.

"It's been failing for some time. It hasn't really worked since we left for India. I knew that this was a mission I would not return from. It was worth one last challenge, Helen," Watson answered.

"You, I shall miss," Watson said pointing at Helen, "Tell her I tried." He pointed this time to Alice. "She's the best," he said trying to ignore Helen's crying.
"William, William...there... There is something that we are not seeing. This was too easy. There is something else happening, something going on that we're not seeing. You must find the missing piece,""

What? What is it? What's the missing piece?" Will asked.

"Find it," Watson said, closing his eyes.

John moved Watson's body to the mortuary, while Clara took up the post at Alice's bedside. She looked at Nikola who seemed reluctant to leave. "Go, I'm not going to let anything happen to her," Clara said. Will pulled up another chair sitting beside the two pondering what Watson had told him.

As Magnus left the room her phone started to ring.

"So you're supposed to say, "Hey, Clara, you did great. Way to conquer your fears." Clara said looking over at Will.

"I'm sorry, I'm just...thinking about stuff. You did do great," Will said looking back at her. Neither noticed Alice's finger twitch.

"Thanks for taking off your pants." Clara laughed.

"You never have to thank me for that," Will joked. Beside him, Alice's fingers were now tapping out a rhythm.

"Wow. I can't believe this place. I...I thought I was a one-off, a freak," Clara said.

"Clara, why don't you stay here? Just for a while, just to see what it's like to be part of something?" Will suggested.

"Yeah, I... I don't know. Being connected to places and people, it's not really my style," Clara said glancing at the video camera.

"Well, that's because neither was accepting of who you are. I think that's going to change," Will said leaning over to kiss Clara.

As they broke apart Will froze. "What is it, Will?" Clara asked.

"Something Watson said before he died, about it all being too easy, that we'd missed something," Will said.

"We got the blood. Seems like a win to me." Clara answered.

"Yeah but I can't just shake the feeling that he's right, that there's something else going on that we just can't see," Will said pinching the bridge of his nose hard.

"I have to talk to Magnus. ," Will said rushing out of the room.

Up in the lab, Magnus and Nikola were busy working on the anti-virus, until something flashed in Magnus's periphery, stopping her work. She turned around, "Nikola."

The source blood was gone as if someone has swiped it from the table when their backs were turned.

One of the monitors behind the pair beeped to life, Henry's face appeared. "Doc, the drive we brought back it's all ghost data. There's no codes, no input, nothing we can use. Doc?"

Helen rushed out looking for the only person she knew who could do what she'd seen. She entered the library looking for John. "Isn't this just like you? Steal what we need the most then stick around to gloat." She accused pointing a gun at him.

"I have been here the whole time," John said sipping from the glass of brandy in his hand.

"Magnus! Magnus," Will said out of breath. "The whole thing was a set-up."

"We're too late," Magnus cried.

Down in the infirmary Alice opened her eyes. When Clara's back was fully turned she thought of Nikola and apperated to him. As she appeared in front of him she smirked, "Miss me honey?" Nikola gaped at the woman in front of him. The blood had not changed her appearance all that much, although her hair now held a more noticeable red tint to it. Nikola reached forward crashing his lips to hers. They stayed like that until Magnus returned from the lab.