Chapter 11 – A Little Mystery
~~~~Old City Sanctuary~~~~
Sparky lay snuggled on his bed in Nikola's lab, he had snuggled in his paws a seat cushion, someone must've spilt wine on it at one time, and it reminded Sparky of his friend.
He lightly chewed on it in his sleep, his leg twitching occasionally.
He must've been dreaming about chasing something through a field, or maybe a dream about Nikola taking him for a walk, either way he was sleeping happily and contentedly.
Suddenly his ear twitched instead of his legs and he sprung up growling. Something was wrong and he could sense it.
~~~~La Notte~~~~
Helen couldn't think of a time when she had been more relaxed, more content, than she was right now, except, maybe the day after she had given birth to Ashley and she was watching her little body sleep in the incubator.
But even that was different than this.
She was exhausted, but the good kind. Her body felt light and heavy at the same time, and her heart was beating slow and fast.
This is what Nikola did to her.
He lied, equally as exhausted in front of her, his head rested on her stomach, and his arms splayed by her sides.
After making wild and passionate love to her, he tried to kiss a trail down her body…he ended up stuck there, where he was, with no energy to move, except to lightly kiss the soft skin of her abdomen and stomach occasionally.
She breathed out a laugh at him when he managed to groan out "I've fallen and I can't get up…"
She was half sure he'd fall asleep there. She didn't mind it really, it was rather comfortable, and he wasn't complaining, so she moved the sheet half around him and half around her so that she didn't feel completely exposed. She ruffled his hair lightly with her hands.
"I wish you wouldn't strain yourself so much Nikola, your lifespan is already shortened enough as it is," she giggled lightly, still running her hands through his hair.
He murmured something in response, but it was barely coherent so Helen let it go.
"There was something weird about one of the guests at the Gala," Helen thought out loud changing the subject randomly.
"Helen, must I remind you of the redundancy of that statement?" Nikola groaned tiredly.
"Not that kind of weird, the something-doesn't-fit kind of weird, he was too, too…knowledgeable, for his standing, he said he was from the government, and I am aware that they send down an overseer to this conference, but this guy, this Gregory Dorian, there is something off about him," she sighed and pondered and Nikola chuckled weakly.
"Of course the one person at the whole Gala who wasn't spitting acid, eating out of his ear, and sporting a pair of gills is the one who is off," he scoffed.
"I mean it, I work with abnormals, there's a difference between there's something non-human and there's something off, and he was definitely off, but human…I can't explain it," Nikola lifted his head slightly and rested his chin on her abdomen.
"Maybe it was his cologne, nervous men sweat, sweaty men are self-conscious, self-conscious men drench themselves in smelly pee to hide their odor so they aren't self-conscious about their sweat so they're not nervous…he looked nervous to me," Nikola shrugged… sort of.
"It wasn't his smell, it was him, he was off, everything about him was off," Helen sat up making Nikola have to roll over.
"Well what did he talk to you about?" Nikola muttered, unhappy that he had to move from his super comfortable spot between Helens legs.
"You, actually, he asked if you were still a vampire, but how did he know, I've never brought you up before, I've kept your name out of the reports, I'm still trying to convince the world that you died-"
"A severely impoverished old man, yes I know, I sent flowers to my gravesight," Nikola groaned, the thought of death not appealing at that moment.
"Well then how did he know? Who let it slip, one of the other Heads? Did you insult someone too loudly and use your name?"
"I was on my best behavior, I barely spoke to anyone, let alone use my name," Nikola sat up slowly and leaned against the headboard.
"It's just…it's driving me mad!" Helen stood up taking the sheet with her, leaving Nikola exposed.
He flopped over the bed to reach for his clothing, realizing she wasn't going to let this little mystery go.
Helen grabbed her nightgown and threw it on before dropping the sheet back on the bed and pulling out her tablet.
"It's time to do a little research," Helen turned on the tablet and typed in the name GREGORY DORIAN into the search field.
"Oh Helen, you are a serious workaholic, I'm starting to understand why you don't take many vacations," Nikola got up and picked up the bottle of wine and the glasses he had abandoned earlier, pouring a glass for himself.
He sprawled out on to the couch, clad in only his boxers and sipped the elegant wine.
Helen moved to sit on the same couch.
"Hey if you're going to work and sit there at least have the decency to cuddle me."
Nikola gave her a 'come hither' look and she sighed, but obliged him, lying along him, her back leaning on his chest and her legs draped overtop his.
"No groping," she said immediately, and Nikola frowned.
"Aww no fun," he pouted and continued to sip his wine, but still happy to have her close to him, working or not.
Helen couldn't deny that she was comfortable as well, he was warm, and surprisingly not handsy.
He rested one hand gently on her knee and the other held his wine glass.
He let her work, she let him cuddle, a surprisingly simple compromise.
"Oh my," she muttered shortly after.
"What?" Nikola responded, not really caring, but willing to indulge her and her OCD.
"The database has no record of a Gregory Dorian, save for an old man who owned a bakery in Sussex back in 1892, but I doubt he's who we're looking for," Helen bit her lip in concentration.
"Not necessarily, according to that thing, Nikola Tesla was a Croatian recluse who claimed to invent the radio and the AC generator and talked to pigeons, and died because no one believed him."
"Well you are a Croatian recluse who claimed to invent the radio and AC generator, and you did in fact talk to pigeons," Helen re-searched the name.
"Hey, I didn't claim, I did, in fact, invent the radio and the AC generator, and as for the pigeons, well, they were the only thing that didn't try to bite me when I fed them."
Helen laughed.
"And what a special relationship it was."
Nikola frowned.
"Just check it, he could be an abnormal in disguise, or maybe his name is Dorian Gregory, and he was trying to be James Bond but he forgot the last part of the line, you know, Gregory, Dorian Gregory," Nikola mad a bad impersonation of Sean Connery.
"Now that's just…"
Helen trailed off.
"I need to get a call through to Henry," she said quickly and quickly opened up Skype on her tablet and called Henry.
"Hey Doc," mumbled a sleepy Henry.
"Good morning Henry, sorry, did I wake you?" Helen looked at her watch, what was Henry doing sleeping at 9:00 am in the morning, of course it was the middle of the night here, but still.
"Not really, I haven't been sleeping much anyways, what's up?" Henry rubbed his eyes.
"I have something I want you to run through the database, get as much information on this person as you can," Helen sent Henry the file, "As quick as possible!"
"Sure Doc," mumbled Henry. "Wait, isn't it like 1 in the morning over there?"
"Not the point Henry."
He nodded and accepted the file.
"Ok I'll run this through the databases, see what I can dig up..."
Nikola listened tentatively to their conversation as he poured himself more wine. He bumped his elbow and the wine missed the glass and poured allover the coffee table.
"AH! Son of a bitch!" yelped Nikola.
"Who the heck was that Doc?" asked Henry.
Helen looked over at Nikola and glared.
"It's just Nikola, he's here with me," Helen turned back to Henry.
"Hey, nice bed head, is that the new look?" joked Nikola waving at Henry.
"Not like yours is any better cockatoo," mumbled Henry. "Wait, why are you in Helen's room at 1 in the morning…wearing that!"
Henry gestured to the black briefs Nikola wore.
"We were all dragged out of bed for this, Tiny Tim," Nikola grabbed the towel he had left on the floor and used it to soak up the wine before it stained the carpet.
Helen resisted the urge to smack his cheeky ass, and not in the fun way.
"Get back to me when you have something."
"K Doc."
Henry signed off and Helen turned to Nikola.
"Could you have been anymore obnoxious?" she glared at him.
"Yes, I could've made out with you and have done a strip tease, but then everyone would know," Nikola smirked.
Helen slapped him.
"Ow!" Nikola held his cheek.
"You are incorrigible!" she stated.
"Yes, incorrigibly sexy," he grinned.
"Oh go to bed!"
Helen stood up and walked over to the rumpled bed and threw the blanket over top of her and shut off the light.
Nikola still smirked and silently sneaked his way to the other side of the bed and crawled in with her cuddling up close.
"Do you ever stop?" Helen mumbled.
"Only when I'm dead."
"Well then get it over with and let me sleep!" she bit cruelly.
"Now I know you don't mean that," he nuzzled into the crook of her neck.
Helen let out a light chuckle and eventually relaxed.
"I hate you," she mumbled.
"And I love you too."