Nikola Tesla woke the next morning. He immediately felt the rush of anxious happiness he had been feeling every morning for the past several days because Helen Magus was curled around him in his bed. Soft, warm, trusting, and clinging to him in her sleep with one arm twined around his waist and her head pillowed on his chest. He swallowed hard against the swell of emotion he felt and gave a shuddering sigh, closing one arm around her and stroking her back. She purred and burrowed closer in her sleep. He tilted his head up and gazed at her. She had a small frown on her face, like she was trying to solve the world's problems even in her sleep. As if sensing his gaze, she opened her eyes, blinked, and smiled sleepily. "Hello." She said in a scratchy, sleep roughened voice.
"Good morning." Nikola whispered, his own voice hoarse from sleep. He cleared his throat. Helen moved to sit up, but he stayed her with one arm wrapped around her. He rolled to his side and drew her against him, holding her tight. She melted into him.
"Who knew that Nikola Tesla would be so cuddly?" She said in an amused and muffled voice against his chest.
"I would've been happy to demonstrate at any point during the last hundred-odd years. I thought I'd made myself clear on that point." Nikola replied. He sighed. "It's a good thing you're so pretty because you aren't very bright."
Helen burst into laughter. "You're right. I take full responsibility." Helen said. She tilted her face away from his chest and looked up at him. "How do you feel this morning?"
"Frustratingly normal." Nikola sighed, frowning. "I can't say there are any after effects of these attacks at all."
"The tests we ran last night after our return were all normal as well. That is to say, normal for you anyway. The drug seems to be working, but you still had an episode." Helen pulled away and sat up to look down at him. He looked elegant, slimly muscled and pale, bare-chested with wild hair and sleepy eyes. She smiled at him, thinking him beautiful. He grinned as if he were reading her mind again.
"Make up your mind, Helen. Talk business and stop looking at me like you'd like to eat me or...stop talking business." He said, his voice low and silky. "I'd be happy to weigh in on the decision if it will help you." He offered.
"I'll bet you would." She chuckled, leaned forward and pecked him on the lips pertly. His hand shot up to cup the back of her head and he dragged her back down to him. She sprawled across his body and he quickly reversed their positions, pinning her beneath him.
"Have you made a decision yet?" He said breathlessly kissing her on the tender spot under her ear, his skillful hands moving over her in a way that made her mind go blank.
"What?" She said vaguely.
"Hmm, I agree." He said with satisfaction thick in his voice. He reached for the hem of her nightgown and then swore vilely in Croatian. Helen blinked with surprise before she too heard the knocking on the bedroom door. "Go away." Nikola snapped.
"Uh, Magnus?" Henry's voice, an agony of embarrassment, came through the door. "Is she in there? I, uh, checked her room and the lab but…"
"I'm here." Helen said on a sigh. "What is it?"
"The Big Guy said there's a girl here to see you. Prisca Ferko?" Henry said, his voice still betraying the excruciating awkwardness he was feeling.
"I'll be down in fifteen minutes. Will you ask him to set her up in my office and ask if tea and breakfast can be sent up, please?" Helen said.
"Sure thing. Uh, sorry about…"
"Nevermind, Henry. Thank you for finding me." Helen cut him off. She sighed then looked up at Nikola's face. "Sorry, Niko."
Nikola bent and kissed her thoroughly. "You can make it up to me later." His eyes gleamed. He let her get up.
"Hmm, maybe I'll do that." Helen smiled. She found her robe and put it on. She went into Nikola's en suite bathroom, splashed water on her face and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Do you mind if I join you and the sommelier? I'd like to know what she did to me last night." Nikola asked with uncharacteristic politeness. Helen glanced up to find that he was somehow already wearing most of a three piece suit.
"Not at all. I think that's a good idea." She replied. Nikola was now completely dressed and standing by the bedroom door. "Go on ahead and see if she would like breakfast, I'll be there as soon as I dress."
"I need you to let me out." Nikola said in a grudging tone.
"Oh!" Helen went to the door and typed a code into a keypad. The lock clicked and Nikola smoothly exited the room.
Helen left to her rooms and hurriedly dressed. She entered her office ten minutes later to find Nikola Tesla playing charming host. The young sommelier, Prisca Ferko, was laughing at something he was saying and both looked up with smiles when Helen entered. Nikola's smile looked considerably more mischievous than the girl's. They were both drinking tea and eating English muffins. The girl was quite lovely now that she was not wearing the severe black and tight hairstyle she wore at the restaurant. She had very thick and wavy dark blonde hair and light brown eyes. She was slim as a reed and quite graceful in spite of being casually dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt with a battered-looking black leather jacket. She was also wearing thin silk gloves the color of peaches.
"Helen, marvelous news!" Nikola said with enthusiasm. "I only destroyed inferior wine last night. It really would've pricked my conscience if I had shattered any superior bottles. Like destroying a Van Gogh."
"It would've pricked your wallet too." Helen said wryly. The sommelier laughed. Nikola scowled at both of them.
Prisca dug into her purse and retrieved a thick cream colored envelope. "Speaking of that, I've itemized the damage here. I only accounted for replacement costs of the lost stock and various glassware items you shattered in the dining room. It is all wholesale, which helps a great deal." She handed the envelope to Tesla, who opened it and scanned the pages. His eyebrows rose and he laughed.
"My dear child, your wine merchant has betrayed you. Remind me to get you a card for my source before you go." He glided toward the door, still perusing the papers. "I'll just retrieve my wallet." He said and disappeared into the corridor.
"Ice wouldn't melt on him, would it?" The young woman asked Helen frankly, watching him go. "That's a bill for over ten thousand dollars."
"Nikola is a rather wealthy man." Helen said simply. "I apologize for not introducing myself last night. I'm Helen Magnus. I'm so glad you came to visit us, Miss Ferko."
"Prisca, please. Yes, what is this place? Some kind of group hospital?" She asked.
"The Sanctuary has many purposes. We do have medical facilities here, yes." Helen replied as she poured herself some tea and took a toasted English muffin from the tray on the table. "We specialize in abnormals, people like you and Nikola…and me."
"What can you do?" Prisca asked.
"Nothing like what you and Niko can do." Helen laughed.
"Yes, he said his name is Nikola Tesla. I had no idea..." Prisca said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes, he is the Nikola Tesla. I'm sure he will be more than happy to tell you all about it, he is rather proud of himself." Helen said with a laugh.
"I can't believe I didn't recognize him." Prisca said. "I met him at a party. He made a bit of a display of himself."
"I can imagine." Helen sighed.
"But I had no idea that he…well it explains why he was so unconcerned about offending such heavily armed people. It was during the War, you see. The first one."
"Ah, so you are older than you look." Helen smiled.
"Considerably." Prisca grinned. "I was born during the Thirty Years War."
"Good heavens! You're older than either of us!" Magnus said with wide eyes. "That was…"
"About 1565, give or take. Hungarian peasants weren't great at keeping track of birthdays." Prisca said. "You said 'either of us'. Are you also…?"
"She's one hundred and fifty seven years old, but she doesn't look a day over one forty, wouldn't you say?" Nikola said, returning at that moment and handing an envelope containing a check to Prisca. He perched on the arm of the chair Helen was sitting in and grinned. "Well, I find myself in the unusual position of being the youngest person in the room. I'm a mere hundred and fifty-five. Practically a child. I did always like older women." He said with a gleaming look down at Helen. She rolled her eyes.
"Child, indeed." She said with a smile.
Prisca was taking all this in with great interest. "How is it that you're…adults? I stopped maturing immediately after puberty. Perpetually seventeen." She sighed.
"I suspect your gift was a result of natural genetic mutation, whereas Nikola and I have a different story." Helen replied. "Tell me, what did you do to him last night when you put your hands on his face?"
"Oh, I just absorbed the currents he was creating." Prisca shrugged. "With him, it just siphoned off some of the excess energy. But, if I were to touch someone with a bad heart, for example, I'd suck the electricity right out of them and kill them. Normally there isn't a problem, although I can weaken a healthy person with prolonged contact – say more than fifteen minutes or so."
"Fascinating." Helen and Nikola breathed in unison.
"It started about the same time I stopped aging. I sort of…absorb electricity…even if it's someone's life energy. I think that's why I don't grow old or die." The girl looked embarrassed and unhappy. "That sounds horrible, but I don't do it on purpose. It just happens automatically. I try to keep from directly contacting people so I can minimize the effect." She held up her gloved hands.
"Of course you aren't doing anything wrong." Helen said reassuringly. "May I ask you a favor?"
"Of course." Prisca said.
"May I run some tests and take some blood samples from you? You see, we're trying to find a permanent solution to Nikola's…" Helen paused trying to find the right word.
"Overload problem?" The young woman provided. "I don't mind at all."
Nikola had been listening intently to Prisca's story and spoke up. "I'll do the tests and draw the blood." He said firmly. "I have energy to spare so being in contact with her won't hurt me."
Helen hesitated, considering this, then nodded. "I'll observe." She said.
Prisca rose fluidly from her seat and moved lightly to the door. "Well? Shall we?" She said. "I've got to be at work at three."
Helen frowned, something about the girl was nagging her mind, but the meaning eluded her. She rose and led Prisca and Nikola to her laboratory.