February 1, 2012

"Tayla!"

The whisper came somewhere from my right side, but I couldn't tell where. I was sitting in the conference room by myself, in a plush red armchair that never got used because, I quote Magnus, "it's too distracting." Apparently not too distracting from reading a book, which I was doing just fine.

"Tayla!"

"Nikola?" I asked incredulously.

"In the flesh." He zoomed to stand beside me in less than a second.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I came by to drop off some SCIU information that didn't make it onto Henry's tablet. Boorish wolf that he is, he only brought with him his 32GB iPad and all this was left." He handed me a black and red flash drive.

"Why are you here at…" I checked the time, "eleven o'clock at night?"

"SCIU is keeping a closer watch on me. I'm pretending to have retired early," he shrugged. "Where are Magnus and the rest of the gang?"

"Mission."

"Then I have a proposition for you."

"Yes?"

"Well, you see, the rift nodes weren't the only Praxian technology I was working with. In short, I think I have a cure."

"Cure for what, exactly?"

"Your issues with titanium."

"Meaning?"

"It wouldn't affect you anymore."

Now, that did sound alluring. "You have titanium issues as well, right? Did you test this formula on yourself?"

"No," he paused. "Your newly unique Sanguine Vampirisa branch of vampire does, while giving you superabnormal powers, give you a higher susceptibility to titanium. Though I cannot break through it, it doesn't affect my changing as it does you."

"Okay," I said.

"Okay?"

"Okay, let's try it."

He looked surprised at my compliance. "I believe there's still a room with a vampire proof chair from when you held my creation Laura?" he asked.

"Yes."

"It would be a good place to test my procedure."

Once I was settled in the chair, I started to have doubts, and it seemed Nikola did too. "Get on with it," I told him. The beep, beep of the machines around us counted out my heartbeat, which was steady and mostly normal, only slightly elevated from nervousness.

"You remember this has never been tested before," Nikola said, holding the ready syringe filled with a dark red liquid. "We have no idea what—"

I gestured to myself as well as I could while held with titanium webbing to a restraint chair. "Sanguine Vampirisa. What's the worst that could happen?"

"It could De-Vamp you," he suggested.

"Ah, I see your evil plan now," I said, "You are going to purposely De-Vamp me so you can be the only vampire in the world." I said it jokingly, but I watched him closely for a reaction. He only smiled, showing his vampire fangs.

"Well, that would reduce our future fun," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Just get on with it. We only have so long before Magnus gets back. She'd flip if she found you experimenting on her daughter." He flicked the needle and inserted it into my skin, pressing the plunger down with an expert hand. For a moment, nothing happened. "Well, that's—" My breath caught in my chest. A closing pressure compacted in on it; my lungs were on fire for air. The beep, beep of the machines sped up to critical levels. I thrashed against the restraints. It felt like my entire body was radiating heat. My vision went increasingly fuzzy and I lost track of Nikola. Then my eyes rolled back into my head.

My eyes blinked open, but everything was fuzzy. They closed again, but I hung onto this piece, if blurry, of reality. Nikola was at the counter I noticed as I blinked again and my vision improved. I looked around. The machine beeped beside my bed, but I wasn't in the restraining chair anymore. I was lying slightly propped up on a bed in the infirmary. My hair rustled against the pillow as I turned my head to see if anyone else besides Nikola was here. No one else was. At the sound Nikola turned around. He came toward me and sat on the stool next to my bed. "Welcome back," he said.

"What happened?" I asked, blinking.

"Oh, nothing to worry about," he said.

"Nikola..."

"All right, all right! Your heart...just...stopped...a little."

"Nikola! I died?"

"I brought you back!" he protested in his defense. I glanced at the empty gurney on the left side of the room. "Those paddles really work," he said, smiling slightly. I glanced down at myself. The manila covers were pulled up to my chest. I was dressed in blue silk hospital clothing—wait a minute, blue silk hospital clothing? That was not what I'd been wearing before the experimental Praxian-Tesla cure. He didn't... I looked up at him. He grinned. I threw my head back against the pillow and crossed my arms. I glared at him.

"Tell me you didn't, Nikola."

"I'll leave you to rest," he said. Ever the gentleman.

"No, stay where I can see you," I said, "Magnus, Henry, and Will are off on that mission until two in the morning and Big Guy's off negotiating with some of his abnormal friends, which leaves me in charge. Unfortunately, that also requires a close eye on you, seeing as you're here." He pulled his rolling stool up to the small table by my bed that had one of the Sanctuary laptops on it. He was running on battery power, but he didn't seem to care. "How long was I out?" I asked. He looked over at me and glanced at his watch.

"Not too long. It's around midnight."

"Midnight? Magnus is getting back at two!"

"More like 12:30, actually," he said.

"All right, that's it, I'm getting out of here," I said as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and threw the covers off.

"I'll see you to your room?" he offered.

"No, I'm good," I said as my bare feet hit the cold marble floor.

"I wouldn't do that if I were—" he began. Too late. I stood up—and promptly fell over in exhaustion. In a split second he caught me, his arm looping around my waist, hugging me sort of to his chest.

"Told you," he said, "I'll see you to your room." I sighed, knowing I really couldn't refuse this time, or I'd never make it. We got to the door before I gave up.

"How about you just get me some animal plasma?" I asked.

"I thought I wasn't allowed out of your sight?" he said innocently.

"Just go."

I was on my knees before he even rounded the corner. It seemed I was climbing a mountain to reach the doorknob. The door sprung open for me, Aeya sitting on the other side. She eyed me with an inscrutable expression before morphing before my eyes. She sat back on her hind legs as her body gently elongated and her fur faded away, leaving a young bare girl standing in front of me. She gently pulled me to my feet and half-led, half-dragged me onto the bed. By the time Nikola came back, however, Aeya was once more seated at the door in cat form. Werecat.

With his superior strength, he lifted me up and tucked me into the covers. His eyes met mine before handing me a full glass of scarlet liquid. I drained it in a few gulps, but my eyes were already closing.

"Get out of here," I mumbled. "Go back before SCIU realizes where you've gone."

When I woke up to late morning sunlight streaming in through my window, he was nowhere to be found. The flash drive was sitting on my dresser, but it was the only sign of his presence last night. I took a deep breath and went down to meet Magnus.

Magnus and I stepped into the elevator together. It glided slowly down, coming to a stop on the infirmary level. We had both managed to get away because Henry and Will had spontaneously decided to take Anjali on a short trip to the local theme park. We'd all been invited to come along, but Magnus and I declined, saying that we would keep an eye on things here.

Magnus punched in the code and the door opened to Ashley's infirmary room. Ashley remained stationary as ever as her mother changed the IV bags, murmuring to her all the while. After we left, Magnus asked for the status of the New Sanctuary.

"It's coming along well," I answered. "The western habitats are finally finished. The money set aside for the book scanning that we repurposed to the geothermal power means that only a fourth of the library's books' contents have been scanned into the computer, but geothermal is at its maximum production and our power storage capabilities have gotten a huge upgrade. I believe with only the most essential systems running we will have enough to sustain the facility for a year."

"A year?" Magnus asked. "Impressive. That's three times the team's original estimate. What exactly does the 'power save mode' entail?"

"All the habitats are sustained but there's minimal lighting everywhere else, the rooms motion sensors will activate and the lights will only go on when someone walks into the area. The computer systems will automatically go into standby at all times, but they're fast enough booting that it doesn't really matter. The elevators will cease to work without a Level Three passcode, but the infirmary is the one area that will not be affected. Lights, computers, equipment—all the same."

"What about security during this time?"

"Security cameras, EM shield, perimeter sensors—all of that will work normally."

"Good. How progresses the tunnel to Hollow Earth?"

"The team tells me it is as far as we can go without being discovered by anyone down there. It won't be completed until the Old Sanctuary is gone and Kate is informed about this place."

"Speaking of which," Magnus pondered as we arrived back on our own front door, "we should start dealing with the removal of personal items."

"Okay, but won't Henry or Will notice they are missing?"

"Anything that is an object that cannot be bought again will have to be moved in the final stages with the abnormals. During the final stages, I am sure Will and Henry will be so engrossed in their own work that they won't notice a few missing belongings."

"What about their stuff?"

"Same idea, but for paper items, scanning them and putting the original in the New Sanctuary and the copy here is a good idea."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll start in my room and then do Kate's. If they notice anything missing, we can just say that she requested it shipped down to Hollow Earth."

We parted ways and I turned the corner and slipped into my room. Aeya sat on the bed, watching me with slitted eyes.

The time has almost come.

Soon, I replied.