The grip Nikola had on her hand tightened and Helen watched in horror what the blood was putting him through, strapped down and helpless. His jaw clenched in agony, trying to hold it all in. She bit her lip to hold in her pained cry as Nikola's grip became painful and Marko moved to gently pry her hand out of his, recognizing Nikola becoming too far gone in the painful transformation to realize he was hurting her.
Their attention snapped back to Nikola as he suddenly arched up against the band keeping him down. His eyes were tightly shut and his teeth were gritted. "Ni -" Helen began only to see the veins bulge in his throat as Nikola let out a pained yell through clenched teeth.
"Helen, you shouldn't be too close," Marko cautioned, placing a hand on her elbow and pulled her away. "He might hurt you without knowing."
Helen watched apprehensively as Nikola twisted and writhed, fighting against his restraints as wanting to curl into a fetal position, trying to block out the pain surging inside.
The blood was doing exactly what it was supposed to; it was changing him. Dimly, beneath the pain, some part of Nikola clinically noted the slight differences in the process. The pain was so much more, since this was no serum, but there was none of the frightful panic he had felt the first time. He was becoming a vampire once more and Nikola let out another stifled yell.
He fought against the restraints, struggling. It was contradictory, really. A chill swept through him as the blood raced through his system, filling every vein and crevice, while at the same time, following along, a fiery pain savaged his insides. Surging through him, it was too much to block out and Nikola could do nothing to escape it.
He was changing.
Blue eyes fearfully flitted from Nikola's heart monitor to the man himself and as his vitals spiked, so did Helen's, in fear.
"Come Helen, Nikola will most likely be like this for a while now," Marko bade her.
Helen had no intention of leaving. "I am not leaving." She hadn't been aware of Nikola's suffering the first time, and she would not make the same mistake.
By this time, Nikola's struggles were becoming more violent, thrashing in the small bed so much that it shook and threatened to overturn. The pain was making him mindless and Helen couldn't stop the upsetting cringes at his tortured shout.
Danel slipped into the room, pausing at the sight of Nikola, looking as if he were being subjected to a most gruesome torture at the hands of an invisible, sadistic foe. He tapped Helen hesitantly on the shoulder, calling her name softly when that failed to break her out of her riveted stare on her paramour. "I discovered something you should see."
Nikola jerked, arching his back as much as possible, letting out a cry. Helen took an instinctive step forward, arm outstretched as if wanting to comfort him.
"Helen..." Danel gently tried to draw the resisting woman away to show her his laptop. He set it down on one of Marko's many metal tables and tried to draw Helen's fixated eyes to the screen. "I hacked into the Sanctuary's system."
Tearing her eyes off Nikola, writhing in continued agony, Helen arched an eyebrow at the vampire. "My Sanctuary's system?" When she returned to Old City, Helen would have to introduce Danel to Henry and put a stop to all this hacking.
"Well, no." Danel looked sheepish. "The New York Sanctuary, not Old City; the firewalls there are a bit more complicated. That's where the originating message came from, after all. I tapped into the system and retrieved a copy of the message." The vampire angled the laptop to face the screen in Helen's direction. "I have a feeling that you're not going to like it."
What else was this week going to throw at her? Helen felt heavy and tired under all these surprises. Was it really only last week that she and Nikola had been enjoying themselves? It was simply becoming too much. Dealing with Ashley's death, mercenaries after her life, the Cabal, the re-emergence of vampires, flinching at Nikola's sporadic shouts of pain...
Helen was near her breaking point.
The familiar-gilled face of Terrence Wexford popped up on the screen and Helen cringed at the sight. She had a feeling things were about to get worse.
"Fellow heads, as the head of house for the New York Sanctuary, it is within my right to call to order a council meeting to take place within the next few days. Some of you have already heard the topic I wish to discuss, but for those of you who don't, I wish to call an order of abdication of Old City House Head, Helen Magnus, from control over the Sanctuary Network."
Helen's eyes widened. In shock, in outrage.
"Some of you may not be aware of Dr. Magnus' sudden abandonment of her Sanctuary nearly three weeks ago. No attempt at communication has been heard from her or her staff, and one must assume," Wexford spread his hands, "that her Sanctuary is running unsupervised and amok. This is simply unacceptable for those in charge of watching over the Abnormals in our care. Dr. Magnus has placed the lives of her staff and indeed that of the entire city in danger with her reckless abandonment.
"These actions, along with past mistakes, must be discussed. Dr. Magnus' behavior and her frame of mind is becoming an endangerment to both Abnormals and humans, the ones we are supposed to protect. Each of you are obligated to attend this meeting, or your votes will count in favor."
"What!" Helen's blue eyes flashed. "That arrogant, back-stabbing, pompous...How - " Struggling to rein in her anger, Victorian upbringing demanded controlled composure at all times, but her fingers unconsciously gripped a pen on the table like a knife.
Danel blinked at her.
"Reckless! My frame of mind!" Helen looked ready to kill. That little son-of-a- When Helen had first met Wexford, he had been a shabby, dirty homeless man, digging up insects to eat in a park!
Fury coursed through her, leaving her slightly shaking. What she wouldn't give for a loaded gun and five minutes alone with Terrence Wexford trussed up like a turkey.
"There's more." Danel, at that point, had to stifle a smile. Judging by look of ire in her face, Helen Magnus was a dangerous woman. She'd probably make an even more dangerous vampire.
He minimized the window that held the face Helen would like nothing more than to eviscerate and called up a series of emails sent within the network to Wexford. Danel thought the man had a death wish.
Moscow, Russia - Luka Ivanov was dead, murdered. The prime suspect was his assistant who had mysteriously vanished. In Rio de Janeiro, it was the same. Paulo Mendoza's son had discovered his father murdered in his office. That Sanctuary had suffered a mysterious security breach.
Two heads were dead. More than that, they had been assassinated. In the safety of their Sanctuaries.
It made sense to her now. The Cabal was all about contingency plans. Infiltrate and assassinate from within and Helen realized that she had stymied the plans for her own demise when she had upped and vanished from Old City. The Cabal must've hired independent hit men to find her and kill her. The man in the villa, at the train station, in the alley before Alain saved them.
And Wexford was using this as more fodder with which to show how unfit she was to run the network. Back-stabbing, manipulative son-of-a-...
Helen liked to think that she could trust those around her to do a good job, to have a passion in protecting all abnormals as she did. Clearly, for some, political maneuvering held more interest. Her eyes narrowed. While she preferred to take a passive approach in dealing with her staff, Helen didn't get to where she was without being shrewd. She glanced down at the laptop. It was about time for Wexford and everyone else to learn that.
Stepping outside, and seeing just the man she was looking for, Helen waved Alain over. "Can you do me a favor?" Alain tilted his head questioningly. "I've been thinking..." He listened as Helen explained what she needed him to do and why before he smiled. Bowing his head, Alain said, "I'll see to it now. We should have a response in a few days." He peered at her thoughtfully. "You are a good woman, Ms. Magnus. Perhaps too good?"
Helen sighed, turning back to the door. "You would think that after so long I would not be, but I am what I am."
Laying a fleeting hand on her shoulder, Alain left.
Helen turned back to the room, passing Danel and Marko as they left and focusing back on the most important thing right now. Nikola's life. Looking at his feverish body, he truly was more important to her than her Sanctuaries. Of course, she would never tell him that; he'd be even more unbearable than ever.
The rest of the day passed along with the night with no changes. Helen took to wiping the perspiration off Nikola's forehead that dampened his hair between soft kisses pressed to his clammy skin. His struggles had lessened and his vitals remained steady, but Nikola still twitched violently and Helen could only hope that the man she so recently admitted to loving would wake soon. To have him send that smile of his that got her shivering, to look at her with those eyes that made her smile...
Morning approached, finding Helen with her head drooping in exhaustion, seated up close to Nikola's bed. The door opened and she sluggishly turned to see Alain and Marko entering.
"You should rest, Helen," Alain admonished lightly. "If you are to follow in Nikola's footsteps, you will need much energy and strength."
Helen gave a tired smile, standing to stretch and letting Marko examine Nikola. She was too drained. "I need to see if he's all right."
"Your love for each other is commendable."
"It wasn't always that way." Helen tenderly cradled Nikola's hand between her own. "I didn't even know he loved me until last year, and I hadn't even thought of him like that." Her thumb caressed his sweaty skin, still feeling Nikola's unconscious body trembles. "We're complicated."
Alain smiled gently. "But well worth it."
Helen returned his smile, happiness shining through her exhaustion. "Definitely."
"You should rest," Marko repeated Alain's words, finishing his examination of Nikola and looking quite satisfied.
"I'm...well, not fine, but I can last a little longer." Helen re-took her seat, glancing up at the two. "I've gone without sleep for a few days. My maximum was a week, I timed it."
"Will you at least have something to eat?" Alain asked while Marko looked unimpressed.
Helen gave a tired smile. "I can definitely do that...provided I can eat in here."
Marko looked exasperated while Alain chuckled.
"I don't mean to be difficult, but Nikola and I have been apart for many years. Of course, that is his fault and when we did see each other, something always went wrong. Also always his fault."
A groan that sounded like a weak protest filtered through the air and Helen felt the barest squeeze on her hand. She spun around, hair flying.
"Nikola!" Helen pushed Marko aside and cupped his sweaty face. Searching his glazed eyes desperately, Helen murmured breathlessly, "Nikola? Are...are you alright?" She waited, holding her breath and feeling her heart pounding. His eyelids fluttered, the eyes that she loved so much, flitted in disorientation. Helen noted how his body still shook with occasional tremors and his clothes were soaked with sweat. She lifted a trembling hand and brushed back his damp hair and lightly kissed his forehead. "Nikola," she whispered desperately. "I love you."
Nikola groaned again and his head flopped lightly from side to side on the pillow. But her heart lifted to hear his raspy whisper, barely audible, "You have no idea," his throat was raw, and Helen gasped, jerking to look at him, "how long..." His eyes were barely focused on her, drugged and weak, they rolled before sliding shut.
Marko was checking his vitals while Alain looked proud. Their small number had gained another; provided all went well with Helen's injection, their race stood a chance.
"He's sleeping, exhausted," Marko reported, wearing a satisfied expression. "It was to be expected. His body and mind just underwent an exhausting ordeal. I believe he's out of danger now." He looked pointedly at Helen.
"I'm not leaving." Helen looked obstinate.
Sighing exasperatingly, while Alain looked on with indulgence, Marko said to Helen, "If I bring another bed in here, will you at least sleep on that?" He shook his head and walked off even as Helen agreed.
"Complicated, but definitely well worth it," Alain repeated, squeezing Helen's shoulder. "We're one step closer, Helen." He stepped out of the room, presumably to tell the others the good news.
Marko soon returned and pointed a stern finger at the bed with a tray of food on top of it. "Eat. Sleep."
"Is it okay to remove the restraints now?" Helen knew Nikola would hate waking up to them. He disliked being confined longer than necessary. "I would also like to change his clothes."
Nodding after a moment, Marko said, "That should be fine. He'll be too weak to do much of anything. I'll leave you to that then." Marko smirked at Helen, who shot him a cheeky smile, before he left.
Helen caught snippets of sleep, but her ears were sharply attuned to even the slightest rustle coming from Nikola's bed. His restraints had been removed and Helen had exchanged Nikola's sweat-soaked clothes for clean, dry ones, forcing herself not to blush. She was over one hundred and fifty and a medical professional! Still, the sight of Nikola's bare torso brought a schoolgirl feeling over her. Helen laughed wryly. It was safe to say that she would never tire of living with Nikola in her life. The man was a constant whirlwind of surprises.
The day passed with no movement or sound from Nikola and it was this that kept Helen's heart spiked with fear. Only the sight of Nikola awake, stable, and coherent would calm her, would calm that anxious tingling thrumming through her.
A groan in the dawning hours of the next day had Helen popping up in her bed like a jack-in-the-box. Swinging her legs over, she hurried over to Nikola's side as he slowly awoke. "Nikola?" Helen's whisper was hopeful.
His face scrunched as he fought for wakefulness before Nikola's eyes blinked groggily open. The familiar blue-gray pupils staring up at her. "Beautiful," he croaked before letting out a soft groan and struggling to get up. Helen wanted to protest, but knew she'd just be waved off, instead she watched Nikola's fumbled attempts. He swore under his breath a couple of times, feeling his muscles object, unable to believe how weak he felt.
"We'll have to get you checked out and then straight onto your medication," Helen said.
Nikola gingerly sat up, wincing as he slowly moved his joints. He looked pale and wan, a far cry from his usual put-together self. His hair was disheveled and matted in some places while his battered body gave irregular shakes. He looked vulnerable and fragile.
"Back to the medication," Nikola sighed melodramatically in a scratchy voice. "I have to admit, I'm going to miss the food." He tugged Helen closer to stand in between his legs and Nikola wrapped his arms around her.
Laying his forehead against her shoulder, Nikola allowed himself to lean on her. He was more wrung out than he was trying to let on and he knew that Helen could feel his body giving off occasional trembles. This had happened the first time too, and Nikola knew he'd be back to his usual arrogant self within a few hours. For now, he was content to find strength and warmth in Helen's soothing embrace.
"I should go alert the others."
"Not just yet," Nikola mumbled, inhaling her sweet scent. "Not just yet."