"Where's the amazing lost city; the temples, the archives, a decent restroom?" Clara asked as we entered the city ruins.
"It's gone, destroyed long ago," Helen said as we looked around.
"By the age of this vegetation, I'd say, 50, 60 years?" Will guessed.
"One hundred years, if the growth pattern of this Hedera is any indication," James corrected.
"Destroyed how?" John asked.
"It looks like some sort of massive bombing. It couldn't have been from the air though; there were no planes that could carry that ordnance 100 years ago," Will said.
"But they did have cannons," I reminded him.
"Four days of constant bombardment, hundreds of men, and heaviest weaponry. Cannon placements there and there, long and short range; likely a combined effort with Russian, French and Spanish forces," James told us
"I thought by that point in history all the vampires were wiped out," Will stated.
"They were," Helen explained to him. "They retreated here to preserve what was left of their culture. They'd been culled to within a hairsbreadth of extinction. They weren't a threat to anyone. This was a slaughter."
"The church feared them," I reminded her. "The stories hadn't died down by then, just dismissed by most as folklore. But those who remembered passed their stories down the generations. That's what killed these people."
"I thought you hated them," Will said and I shook my head.
"No, Will. I may have killed my fair share of them, but I didn't hate them."
"Gregory's instructions mentioned a hall of records as a starting point," Will told them.
"They also mentioned a city, fully intact. For all we know, the caverns below have been destroyed as well," John pointed out.
"Vampires made things to last," I reminded him. "The caverns will be there."
"So then John, are you suggesting we just give up?" Watson asked him.
"Oh, don't bait me. I'm not in the mood," John warned slowly moving towards him.
"Perhaps if we were looking for some nubile lady of the night for you to slaughter, then you'd suddenly perk up and become incredibly helpful!" Watson continued to bait.
"Gentlemen, enough!" Helen shouted at the pair.
"Good work ole boy, another test of my loyalty," John said.
"Just checking," Watson informed before they parted and we started looking for a way in.
Helen, Clara, Will, James and I were all looking through the ruins as John teleported around the mountain to try and find another way in.
"Anything?" Helen asked John as he teleported in.
"Nothing for miles. No other entrances to the mountain," he informed us.
"There has to be a way in," I sighed.
"It'll be dark soon. We should head back and start fresh tomorrow," Helen suggested.
"No, no, no, you go," James told her.
"Yeah, I'm staying too," Will said.
"Something has to set a sense of..."
"…Scale. Yeah, exactly." The two profilers studied the site carefully, seeing what none of us could see. "There." Will pointed to something while holding the map in his hands.
"What?" Helen asked him.
"Well, I know it's from a distance but the location of this central ziggurat should be that area there," Will explained while showing the map to James.
"Assuming the city was built around it, absolutely," James agreed.
"So the hall of records is located..."
"…Twenty-seven meters southeast of our current position," James finished Will's sentence. "This is the main thoroughfare, the central meeting hall, that's the wall defenses and the hall of records. Ach! It took me a while to locate the right markers."
"Wow, you totally got that. You saw everything," Will said amazed at James' abilities.
"Oh very clearly Will, very clearly."
"Well, then. Let's have at it." At John's words, we collected our packs and moved to where James and Will had pointed.
Once we reached the hall of records John and Will started removing a pile of rocks blocking what we believed to be an entrance to the caverns.
"Are you certain?" Helen asked Will.
"Yeah, should be the main foyer for the hall for records," Will told him.
"My father's instructions mentioned a passageway leading to subterranean caverns below," Helen explained.
"We have no idea what the original interior of this building looked like, let alone where an access point may be," John reminded her before pushing in on the rocks. They gave way to create a small entrance which pushed air out onto us. The air was stale with the time it'd been closed up. Helen retrieved a flashlight from her pack and moved forward to look into the hole.
"Well done."
"I'm seriously geeking out right now," Will said.
"As am I," James admitted before we walked inside. We quickly found the stairs leading down to the caverns.
"Why would the vampires build a cavern beneath a hidden city? Seems kind of redundant, don't you think?" Will asked.
"Well even though they were the rulers, the overlords? They advanced civilization by centuries," Helen reminded him. "Their knowledge, their technology, was far more advanced than anyone could've imagined back then."
"So they kept their secrets well hidden," John said.
"Well, they knew the world would turn against them, John," Watson reminded him before coughing. "They would have calculated for the possibility that Bhalasaam might one day be found and pillaged."
"So they built this labyrinth to guard their greatest secrets..."
"…Lest their wealth of knowledge fall into the wrong hands." We watched Nikola step out from behind a pillar before smirking at us. "Miss me?" John advanced on Nikola and I grabbed his arm to stop him. He slowly turned to look at me.
"John!" Helen warned.
"Oh, I know he's difficult to kill but I'm sure there are ways," John said.
"Is that before or after you retrieve the blood?" Nikola asked him. "Because, frankly, good luck with that if I'm dead. You know, you can't do it without me. Nice move last time we met, Johnny." Nikola cracked his neck. "Mm…took me a while to get over it."
"Not long enough, old boy. Care for another helping?" John asked him.
"What are you doing here, Nikola?" Helen asked and he sighed before touching one of the lanterns with his powers over electricity.
"Isn't it obvious? The Cabal want to turn the world into a war zone, only the ancient blood can stop it. Yes, I do keep abreast of current events thank you," Nikola told her.
"Yet you didn't answer our communiqués," James said.
"My dear James, you're looking older. Feeling your age?" Nikola asked him.
"Ever the gentleman, I see," James avoided the question.
"And what have we here?" Nikola asked looking at the youngest of our party. "I'm guessing that one of you must be a blood relative of Nigel Griffin otherwise why would you even be brought along. I hope you're up to the task."
"Damn straight I am, skinny," Clara told him.
"You, I like. You, I don't know," Nikola said looking at Will.
"I'm Dr. Zimmerman, I work with Dr. Magnus and Elizabeth."
"Protégé, well the mission's necessary disposable item," Nikola said.
"He's not disposable, Nikola," I said and he turned to smirk and eyes to me.
"You know what we're facing, why not make contact?" Helen asked him and his smirk in my direction turned to me.
"I contacted him," I told them. "But I didn't know he was going to show up."
"Firstly, I prefer to work alone," Nikola told us. "Secondly, I don't trust any of you any more than you trust me. That's why I skipped the orientation."
"How did you get down here?" Watson asked him.
"There's another entrance far side of the mountain; just have to know where to look for it, which I do. Now, follow me," he ordered and we did as he said. "Ah! Magnificent, isn't it? All that remains of my ancestors, their work. Ten thousand years of knowledge and power hidden from the world."
"You've been coming here for decades, haven't you?" Helen asked him. "This is where you got the idea to revive vampires as a race." Nikola stopped walking and turned to face us.
"Your father, he did his job well. Despite my best efforts, we can only retrieve the blood as one. None of us can do it alone," Nikola told s.
"Tell me, Nikola, if we do succeed, will you allow us to take it away?" John asked him. "We know you have wonderful designs for it, an army of new-born vampires being just the start."
"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. OK?" Nikola asked him. "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, lives are at stake," Helen had to remind the pair.
"This way." Nikola turned and we followed after him.
"This place goes on forever," Will stated as we continued to follow Nikola.
"It's a labyrinth. It's designed to keep valuable secrets from those who would steal them," Helen reminded him.
"Was that aimed at me?" Nikola asked turning to look at her.
"Yes."
"Not that you can blame her," I said as I passed him for a large room with a pedestal in the center. We approached the pedestal to see a star pentagon and roman numerals on it with six indentions on it. One on each point of the star and one in the center.
"Some sort of a numeric code?" Will suggested.
"My mother's birthday," Helen said as she started entering the numbers. "My father's favorite password." When she finished the password, the center of the pedestal rose up to reveal a scroll inside it. Helen took the scroll and opened it. "It's his handwriting."
"Latin?" Will asked.
"His favorite language."
"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," James read.
"…And only for altruistic reasons," Helen finished giving Nikola a look.
"Well, saving civilization from chaos and war seems worthy but he's your father and your friend," Nikola said sarcastically.
"Nikola," I warned. He turned his charming smirk on me and I gave him a look.
"It's a map of the labyrinth," Helen told us.
"Look, there's six notations here," Will said pointing them out.
"Six tests, each has one of our names beside it," James told us.
"What kind of tests?" Clara asked curiously.
"They designed specifically for each of our gifts, impenetrable to anyone else," Nikola told her.
"My father knew that in order to prevent any one of us from trying to access the blood alone, he had to use the technology the vampires left behind to safeguard their secrets," Helen explained to her.
"Which is why we chose here to hide the blood," I said.
"Well, if you helped hide it couldn't you just tell us the answers to these tests?" she asked me and I shook my head.
"I just helped with the local, not the tests inside."
"And even you couldn't find a way around them," Will said looking up at Nikola.
"I know, nervous yet?" he asked the boy.
"At the end of each test there,'s a key. Once we have the six keys..."
"We can access the vial," Helen finished. "My father loved the metaphor of keys he saw them as symbols for the unlocking of secrets."
"We can assume none of these tasks will be simple and easy," John said.
"Knowing my father, absolutely," Helen told him before looking at James. "May I?"
"Oh, yes." He handed the map over and she turned to look at it easier.
"Will, you and I will take Clara to Griffin's test, that's here," Helen told him pointing to a passageway. "Mine's not too far from it. "Watson, yours and John's markers are close together. I know, work as a team. We'll meet back here with our keys.
"That leaves Elizabeth and Nikola; your tests are marked for the same area?" John asked and I nodded.
"I guess your father liked us as a couple," Nikola said and I gave him a look.
"Gregory didn't hide the blood until after you'd tried to kill me," I told him. "I don't think that's why our tests are close together."
"Liz, if you'd like to wait I'd-"
"I'll be fine," I interrupted Helen's words.
"You always are," Nikola chimed in and I gave him another look.
"If any harm comes to her, accidental or otherwise..." John started to warn. John and I had been close before he'd been given the source blood. Even though I hadn't needed it, he'd been a protector in a way.
"I have no reason to do her any harm but you; I'm finding more reasons by the minute," Nikola told him.
"Honestly! I'm surrounded by adolescents!" Helen shouted at them.
"I'm getting more toddler age," I said. The pair glared at each other before Nikola moved off. He and I separated from the group and off towards our tests.
We walked through the passages before coming to a long corridor with a pedestal at the end of it.
"This would be your test?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he sighed.
"Wait, you tried to steal the blood before; that means you've done the test," I told him. "So why is the key still over there?"
"I tried to steal it," he corrected me. "I never succeeded in getting the key."
"You're afraid," I said looking him over.
"Your friend managed to rig this tunnel here with a massive geomagnetic current, voltage derived directly from the earth. Do you have any idea who much electricity that is?" He asked me, his voice filling with the fear I'd seen before.
"Good thing you're hard to kill," I said offering him a smile.
"Well, this might just do it," he told me and I took a deep breath before Nikola took a few steps back and then quickly walked forward into the tunnel. Nikola screamed as the electricity shot towards him making him struggle to the end of the corridor. Nikola collapsed to his knees holding onto the pedestal and removed the key. He forced himself to his feet and showed me the key. I smiled at him before motioning to return. He pocketed the key before starting down the corridor only to be electrocuted again.
"Gregory really didn't like me, did he?" Nikola asked me.
"You tried to kill me," I reminded him. "Gregory didn't really like you after that."
"Uh-huh." Nikola struggled his way back to me before having to lean on the wall for support. He stared at me and I stared back. "You felt genuine concern for me. Admit it."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I told him.
"Oh. You still love me, it's so obvious," Nikola said with a smirk.
"You tried to kill me," I reminded him. "Twice now."
"I also stayed by your side at your request when you're people tried to kill you," he reminded me. "Your turn."
We walked up to a wall that had a handprint recognition plate on it. I shared a confused look with Nikola before placing my hand on it. The door next to it opened.
"This isn't a test," I stated before walking into the room.
"Such a spoiled girl," Nikola sighed before I heard the door start to close behind me, separating Nikola and me.
"Eliza!"
"Nikola!" I tried to stop the door from closing between us, but we weren't able. In front of me were five doors, each with a different symbol. "What are you thinking Gregory?" The symbols were a sun, a moon, an hourglass, a star, and a sword. "Day, night, time, death, and... no. This is my life, isn't it?" I asked with a smile. "Birth under the sun. An hourglass for my immortality. A sword for my time as a soldier. A star and a moon?" I stared at the two symbols in confusion before I understood it. "A star to symbolize rebirth and a moon for hiding in the shadow yet seeing the light of what we do. The answer is..." I placed my hand on the pad next to one of the doors. "Rebirth." The door opened and a key sat on a slab. I smiled before grabbing it making the door behind me open. Nikola rushed in and stared at me.
"Nice doors." I laughed before walking to him. I was about to say something before we heard rumbling above our heads. "I think somebody must've screwed up." We ran out of the room and back towards the main room. I was running behind Nikola when I heard something large above my head. Nikola grabbed my arm and pulled me to him before a large rock landed where I was standing.
"Thank you," I whispered staring up at him. He kept hold of my hand as we continued to run back to the others.
When we entered the room, I saw Will getting dressed and gave him a confused look. He shrugged his shoulders and I shook my head. Helen held up her key and the rest of us did the same.
"Well done. Shall we?" We moved to the pedestal and placed our key in the appropriate places.
"Where is it?" James asked. A section of the wall opened and we turned to see the container inside.
"Finally," John sighed. Helen retrieved the blood and looked between the two of us.
"I haven't seen this in a while."
"Is that it? That's the blood?" Clara asked.
"The power in that vial...it could change history and create any kind of future we choose," Nikola told her breathly.
"We?" John asked him.
"Don't worry. I'll see this through; antivirus and all," Nikola assured us.
"Oh!"
"Watson!"
"Oh. Oh." We rushed to James' side as he collapsed to the floor looking much older than he had a moment before.
"Oh, my God. What happened?" Helen asked him.
"Oh, the inevitable, I'm afraid," James told her.
"The suit, it's stopped working," Helen stated.
"It's been failing for some time. It hasn't really worked since we left the Sanctuary," James told us. "I knew that this was a mission I would not return from. It was worth one last challenge, Helen. Oh!" James grimaced in pain before looking between all of us. He pointed at Helen then me. "You two, I shall miss." Helen, with tears in her eyes, tried her best to comfort him. "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 him.
"Find it." James slowly died. Helen shared a look with each of us as Nikola wrapped an arm around my waist.
Later that night, we finally got the call from Ashley to get them. Helen traced the call and John went to get them.
"Ashley!" Helen rushed over and hugged Ashley close to her.
"Hey." Ashley hugged her back as tightly as she could.
"That was good timing," John told us. Helen and Ashley let go of each other and the younger turned to John.
"Thank you." I moved in front of Ashley and hugged her.
"Welcome home," I told her with a smile. We parted and she stumbled back, making my smile fall.
"Crap."
"Ashley." Ashley passed out and fell in John's arms. "Get her to the infirmary." John teleported out with Ashley and Helen turned to Henry. "What the hell happened to her?"
"I don't know. We were separated a long time," Henry told us.
I was pacing the library when Helen rushed in the room and held a gun on John who was sitting in a chair.
"What's wrong?" I asked her confused.
"Isn't this just like you? Steal what we need the most then stick around to gloat," Helen nearly shouted at John.
"I have been here the whole time," John told her standing and staring at Helen.
"Helen he's not lying," I told her. "What happened?" She lowered the gun and her face fell.
"Ashley." She went to the computer and called up the security feed from the medical room. Ashley's bed was empty.
"Magnus! Magnus!" Will called out as he and Clara rushed into the room. "The whole thing was a set-up. Something else is going on."
"We're too late."
