Chapter 10
Nikola groaned, cracking his eyes open, or at least attempting to. He hadn't felt like this on a long time. Heavy, sluggish, a little sick to his stomach, there was no way to put it, he was hung over, or some type of equivalent. Damn nightcap.
He grunted slightly as he pushed himself up, blinking his eyes to get them to focus.
What had he done while under the influence? Or, he gulped, what had that strange woman make him do.
He was still full clothed in the garments they had dressed him in, minus the cape that was draped over the back of a chair across the room. His boots had been removed and placed on the floor next to the foot of the bed, and his jacket had been unbuttoned, but other than that he was in no different shape than he was before he was drugged
He looked down and saw he was lying on a bed; he could feel the sheets were silk under his fingertips, but it was still made, so obviously no funny business happened here.
He shrugged. Maybe drugging him was for some far less sinister motivation then he was led to believe; possibly to make him and Parrish sleep instead of attempt to escape.
Nikola sat up and scrubbed a hand over his face.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and inhaled deeply, trying to awaken his senses. His legs were a bit shaky as he gingerly moved to a stand but he soon found his footing and stumbled around the darkly lit room, searching for a light.
Nikola groaned as he was hit with a wave of nausea. He'd always hated getting drunk, it's why he never drank a lot back in Oxford…not until he became a vampire and alcohol didn't affect him.
He'd gotten drunk with Helen once and had woken up with her hair in his face, and her head using his arm as a pillow. Unfortunately, they were both fully clothed as well. She had looked so beautiful lying next to him, her own arm draped over his chest. For a moment he thought he had awoken in heaven, but then he felt that all too familiar hammer and bongo drums playing in his head. He didn't move but watched her through squinted eyes, wanting to remember this moment for eternity.
Therein lies the only pleasant hangover experience he ever had. This didn't even come close to that.
He stubbed his foot on something and that added to the stress of the pain in his head.
He sighed, it was hopeless to find any semblance of a light in this room, they probably only had candles and torches. Nikola sighed and lifted up a finger, generating a ball of light around the tip.
He winced as it hit his eyes.
"Oww," he groaned, holding it away from his face.
He lifted up a hand to shield his eyes from the painful light.
He found some sort of basin with a pitcher of water next to it. He sighed and poured the water into the basin. With one hand he pulled off his jacket and rested on the ledge of the surface that held the basin.
He scooped up the water with his hands and splashed on his face. It made him feel a bit better, but not by much, an aspirin would be preferred.
He put on the jacket again and sighed. He hoped Parrish was all right as well, he couldn't see the poor man taking being drugged all too well.
At that moment he heard the door creak open and he jumped around, shining the light at the intruder. He froze when he was met with sparkling blue eyes and a big smile.
"Helen?" he looked at her with confusion.
She wordlessly moved towards him and grasped the sides of his head, her fingers just on the fringe of his hairline. Nikola watched in wide-eyed fascination at her.
"Helen, what are you doing here?" he couldn't even begin to explain it.
She just smiled and leant up to capture his lips in a soft kiss. In a moment the hangover was forgotten and all he could fathom was the woman of his dreams kissing him. His hands grasped her waist and he hugged her close to him as the kiss deepened. Something about this whole situation seemed off, his over-working mind couldn't help but ponder why she was here, or even how she got here; he didn't even know that! Then there were the small giggles that escaped her lips ever now and again as her teeth nipped at her bottom lip.
Nikola tried to shut his brain off for one moment so he could enjoy the prospect of having Helen in his arms, her lips against his, but the more he resisted the more persistent she became.
She fisted the fabric of his jacket into her neatly manicured nails and tugged him harshly over to the bed; he landed with a grunt.
"Helen, I never thought you were the type to skip the foreplay," he looked up at her but she just smiled, climbing over top to straddle him. Her knee peeked out from the long garment she wore; it was like a robe or a nightgown, another piece to this perplexing mystery. He eyed her knee both hungrily and warily, his brain fighting either to reach out and touch it, or to push it away.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and crushed their lips together again, the force of her body crashing into him causing him to fall against the bed, his back firmly pressed into the soft material of the blankets. It took him a moment before he realized her hands were pushing up the material of his shirt and undershirt, the perfect nails grazing the sensitive skin of his abdomen and stomach. He flinched slight as they ran over a particularly acute spot.
She let out another one of her curious giggles.
"Helen, wait," Nikola's hands grasped her wrists to pull her prying fingers away from him before he lost the ability to speak. "This doesn't make any sense, why are you here?"
She didn't respond just leaned down to kiss him again, but he moved quickly, rolling them over. Using his strength he pinned her hands above her head and away from his body, hopefully long enough to get why she was here and suddenly interested in him.
She didn't complain.
"Helen, I know you, you don't jump people in the middle of the night, especially not me, there has to be a reason, did they drug you, like they did me and Parrish, is so, I'm very flattered, but death is not my idea of a good time, and when you sober up you will definitely kill me," he sighed, growing frustrated with her lack of answers.
She raised her hips against his instead of answering his questions and for a moment he had almost forgotten them.
"No, Helen," he croaked, using one hand to hold her down. "If you're drugged we can't do this! Or if I'm drugged…"
Suddenly the headache was back and his vision blurred and Helen shifted into the princess.
In shock, Nikola released the young woman and backed off of her.
"You?" he cried.
"The idea is to relax and enjoy yourself Nikola," she said, and dangerously flirty tone to her voice.
"What about the ceremony? Or your father, or is this another one of your initiation procedures?" Nikola clenched his fists to keep his anger in check. He was starting to really despise that Galidriel woman and her damn tests.
"Damn the Choosing Ceremony, I know which of the two I want, what does it matter if we wait four days or two?" she stood up off the bed and moved towards him.
"So you tricked me?" he looked at her incredulously, backing away from her oncoming advances.
"Tricked is such a dirty word, I merely persuaded you, but I knew you were intelligent, you saw straight through my ruse," she smiled deviously.
"A ruse is a trick, same thing, Princess, and I doubt your father would condone such behavior," Nikola said confidently.
"What does my father care, either way he will be getting a son-in-law, and I will be getting a husband, and we will have our own daughter," Ailenna kept moving towards him. "I want you Nikola Tesla, and you will be mine whether you like it or not."
Nikola's back hit the wall and she descended on him quickly. He managed to push her off him and squirm out of her embrace.
"You clearly underestimate my will power, I have waited my entire life for the woman I love and she is certainly not you," Nikola grabbed his boots quickly form the side of his bed, pulling them on as he hopped towards the door.
"Opinions can be changed, my love," Ailenna said confidently, grabbing his hand.
"I'm sure they can, but not in this circumstance," Nikola tried to yank his hand out of her grip but she held on tightly.
"Aren't I beautiful? Am I not to your standards?" she pulled him into a tight embrace.
"You are, but there is much more to love than looks and…this! What have they been teaching you all your life?" Nikola pulled out of her arms, trying to make another escape for the door.
His hands grasped the doorknob but she trapped him between herself and the door, grabbing tightly to his jacket and crushing her lips to his.
For the first time his life he tried to squirm away from a kiss, stretching his lips and twisting his head to get away.
Nikola turned the knob in his hand and the door cracked open and the support behind him fell away and him and the young princess fell to the floor.
Nikola took the opportunity of her disorientation to squirm from under her and book it down the hall. He had to find Parrish and get them out of here before they were at the center of a drugged out lovefest.
Now all he had to do was find his double.
They were going to find the stone of rama-whatever and they were going to get back to the real world; he wasn't going to be stuck here and he sure wasn't going to let that poor creature that looked like him be stuck here either.
Nikola entered into a chamber, the one he and Parrish were put in before they had been drugged.
Across the room was a door that he assumed led to an adjoining hallway that led to the bedroom where Parrish was.
Nikola used his finger to light his way as he made his way down the hall to the doors at the end, he only hoped he wasn't too late.
He carefully opened the door, happy to find a quiet and relatively desolate room except for the one soul he needed to find.
Parrish laid face down, snoring into the pillows. He looked like he had been dumped on to the bed and abandoned. One foot dangled off the edge, nearly touching the floor. His boots were tossed carelessly beside the bed; Nikola assumed they just yanked it off as his sock looked pulled down his foot and toe hung limply off the front of his foot.
Nikola rolled his eyes.
Oh plantboy.
He moved over and rolled the man to lie on his back.
"Parrish!" Nikola shook the man's shoulder. "Parrish! Wake up!"
The guy mumbled something incoherent, but kept sleeping.
Nikola groaned and brought his hand back and smacked Parrish across the face.
The man's eyes snapped open with the shockwave of the smack.
"Wake up!" growled Nikola once more.
The man's glazed eyes boggled slightly before slowly rolling up to meet his and smiling in a slightly drugged manner.
Nikola rolled his eyes and grabbed the drugged man by the lapel of his jacket and dragging him to his feet. He didn't have enough time to wait for him to sober up enough to explain the situation to him. Nikola, being impatient and fast-acting, shoved the boots onto Parrish's feet, taking the pitcher of water next to his own basin and dumping a quarter of it on Parrish's head. Parrish sputtered like a broken fountain, blinking in confusion.
Nikola used Parrish's abandoned cape and used it as a towel on Parrish's head.
His hair stuck out all angles, and Parrish stumbled slightly as if he just walked off a Twirl-A-Whirl, even though he was sitting down.
Nikola grabbed him and hoisted him to his feet.
"Ohhh noo," mumbled Parrish, not liking the sudden shift in altitude. `
Nikola was more forceful than the drugged out man.
Supporting him with his body, Nikola dragged Parrish out of the room as fast as he could, pulling him back into the small hallway.
The door at the end of the hallway creaked and Nikola quickly pulled the two of them into a crevice, hiding them in shadow.
A young woman entered into the hallway, heading straight to Parrish's room, and older women following behind her.
Nikola watched them reach the door and the young girl halted. He recognized her as Lilia, Princess Ailenna's cousin who had her eyes on Parrish all through the party.
The older woman he recognized as Galidriel, he knew she was behind this.
"I don't think I can do this, Mistress," said the young girl.
"You can, you are ready, Ailenna has already made her choice of the two, you are next for the Choosing, you need to keep in practice," said Galidriel.
"It doesn't feel right, Parrish is a very sweet man, maybe Caspar will let me keep him?" said Lilia.
"It doesn't work like that, and you know it, but this will make your first time very enjoyable," Galidriel opened the door.
Nikola resisted the urge to growl, he detested that woman more than any woman he had ever met, more than that stuck up bitch Afina. She was running her own little brothel right under Caspar's nose, tainting these young girl's minds. It went against everything he believed in. He would never let any child of his be put into her care, even if he did decide to marry the princess, which he wouldn't.
Though he did feel for the young woman, Lilia, she seemed to genuinely like Parrish, but she had a dark shadow hanging over her, and that shadow was Galidriel.
"Go in, and use the skills that I taught you, he will be completely willing to your advances," Galidriel pushed the girl into the room. "Don't lose confidence."
It took the girl all of five minutes to realize her victim was not where he was supposed to be and she re-emerged soon after, wide-eyed and fearful.
"He's gone!" she gasped.
"What?" Galidriel cried.
"He's not there! I looked!" said Lilia.
Galidriel hit the poor girl.
"What have you done?" she growled angrily.
"I-I…"
"Foolish child!" she snarled.
The door across the hall opened and Ailenna marched in.
"Galidriel! This is a disaster! You said he'd be mine and he saw through the Clouderum! He ran out on the room! This is all your fault! You promised!" fumed the spoiled princess.
"Tesla is missing?" asked Galidriel. "Parrish has gone missing as well."
"You don't think that the selecting device has taken them back again?" asked Lilia.
"No, idiot girl, I think the obvious culprit is clear, Nikola has stolen his double, they can't be far, get the girls, they will bend to our will, or pay the consequences."
The two girls nodded.
They marched out of the hallway and Nikola waited a few minutes in case they came back.
Once he was sure they were safe he pulled Parrish out of the crevice.
"We're in deep, my friend," mumbled Nikola.
Parrish lifted his head up, his eyes still glazed over; he smiled at Nikola, his arm draped over his shoulder.
"Kaaaate," he mumbled happily and leaned over and kissed Nikola.
Nikola squeaked with surprise, and smacked his double away. He spat, using his free hand to wipe his mouth, glaring at the man leaning into him.
"I am not a short little wise-ass from Chicago!" he growled. Parrish laughed and rested his head on Nikola's shoulder.
"You're so pretty…" sighed Parrish.
"I'll be sure to tell her that next time I see her, but first you have to snap out of it," Nikola tapped his chin.
"Mmmm…five more minutes mom," groaned Parrish, his eyes drooping slightly as he attempted to fall asleep on Nikola's shoulder.
Nikola rolled his eyes.
"I am also not a cot," he growled. Nikola tugged Parrish out of the hallway. Now all he had to do was find the stone…and then figure out how it works…tile keeping himself and Parrish out of sight from the teenage mafia…and their relative godmother…something told him that it would've been easier if he had stayed out of it.
~~~~Daedalus~~~~
Dr. Hayley Kiang paced behind McKay nervously, she hadn't been able to sit for the last hour, only being able to stand it for a few seconds before springing back to her feet and pacing again. She bit the nail of her thumb as her mind raced over all the possibilities that could have befalled her colleague and his mischievous double.
McKay was growing annoyed with her constant pacing and bit his lips as he continued to examine the device.
She stopped, he prayed she'd finally worn herself out, but soon she continued to pace.
He finally had enough and let out a loud groan.
"If you're going to pace aimlessly do it outside, some of us are trying to concentrate!" he barked.
Hayley sat down.
"What if it transported them to the bottom of the ocean, or worse, disintegrated completely," she grabbed his arm and clenched tightly.
McKay winced and pried her claw-like hands off his arm.
"Then this examination would've been a complete waste of time," he sighed.
"I'm serious, McKay! What if it's like that time when you and that captain were stuck in the same body, what if they become a relative Jekyll and Hyde!"
"They look exactly the same, they probably won't even notice," McKay shrugged.
"I mean it! How can you just sit there while David…I mean Dr. Parrish is in probably agonizing danger!" she jumped to her feet and began to pace again.
McKay let out long sigh.
"Because I don't have a big and largely obvious crush on the man," he sighed.
"Really? Am I that obvious that even you see it," she sat back down, looking at him.
"Yes…and what do you mean that even I see it?" he looked up at her, but she ignored him.
"If it's that obvious most of Atlantis must see it," she bit her nail again.
"Everyone except Dr. Parrish that is," he shrugged. "Parrish doesn't see much past the flower bed."
"You're beginning to sound like Carl," Hayley rolled her eyes.
"Who?" McKay looked up from the device for a minute.
She had already moved on.
"Can't this ship move any faster!" she cried, smacking the side of the wall with a balled fist.
McKay jumped slightly at the sound.
"We're pushing the engines as hard as they'll go, you do realize we are going faster than the speed of light through a dimension of subspace?" McKay gave her a weird expression.
"Not fast enough! Come on McKay! You're a genius, can't you kick you a few more miles per hours out of this thing?" she punched him in the shoulder in a buddy-like matter.
McKay winced and rubbed his shoulder.
"It doesn't work that way," he rolled his eyes.
"Ugh! I know! I just…it's driving me crazy!" she sighed and crossed her arms, her eyes gazing out to the blue haze of hyperspace.
"Tesla is a genius, if they are still alive I'm sure he'll find a way to get back," McKay tried to be encouraging.
She spun to him wildly.
"IF?" she cried.
"Oh geez," he groaned and stood up from his chair.
"What do you mean by if?" she admonished him.
"Ok, I can't work with this, you want me to help save your boyfriend, go and get a jello at the cafeteria and stay out of my lab," McKay pushed her out of the room and shut the door behind her.
"McKay!" she cried as the door shut behind him, locking her out.
McKay let out a long sigh.
"Finally," he groaned, scrubbing his hand over his face. "She's worse than Zelenka."
~~~~Fervarra Castle Grounds~~~~
Nikola dragged his botanist counterpart into the fresh air of the courtyard of the castle.
He was growing quite tired of this, literally. Parrish had gone completely slack, laying all his weight onto Nikola, and Nikola, despite his vampire strength, was growing weary, and found it hard to carry him. Obviously his vampiric tendencies neutralized the drug quickly, like it did with most sedatives. Unfortunately, Parrish did not have the same immunities as he did.
Nikola found a small alcove behind a thick patch of bushes near the court wall and tucked himself and Parrish into the security of the nook.
Nikola sighed leaning against the wall, he'd never usually be tired, but there was something about this place. He always did find women exhausting, especially when they fawned over him like so.
It was the main reason he claimed celibacy back in the early 20th century. He didn't need this, all he ever needed was Helen.
Parrish laid in the ground, snoring into the dirt and Nikola rolled his eyes.
They could take a rest for awhile, then they would continue the search for the magical stone that wasn't actually a stone, as Caspar put it.
Nikola closed his eyes and began to drift off, his mind tracing to his usual dreams. Unlike what Helen normally accused him of, they were not filled with scantilly-clad images of her, as she would think. Nothing ever so lewd. He dreamt of his favorite thing, her smile, all the memories stored in his eidetic memory of the times her beautiful smile had been directed at him.
Ok, sometimes there was the occasional fantasy, but still not as many as she claimed there was.
Before long he had fallen asleep alongside his comrade, just before the search party past them.
"They have to around here somewhere," muttered Galidriel at the head of the mob.
"This is a disaster Galidriel!" fumed Princess Ailenna. "You didn't give him enough of the liquid, he shouldn't have been that alert!"
"He had an entire mouthful, I saw it with my own two eyes," barked Galidriel.
"Then how come he got away, it should've rendered him mindless to my beauty, he saw right through the disguise, escaped, stole his double, and now the two of them have gone missing. You have lost your touch old mistress."
Galidriel growled.
"I have not lost anything, dear princess, remember who you're talking to, I taught you all you know, as I have your sisters before you. Tesla is a strong man, stronger than the usual fodder we're offered. I underestimated him, but I won't do it again. Once we find him and Parrish, we will convince them it was a dream by giving them this," she held out a small vial. "It will cloud their memories of tonight, giving us the opportunity to try again."
Ailenna nodded and shot a glance at Lilia. They all moved out of the courtyard and back into the castle, never seeing the two of them hidden in the bushes.