Prisca now had herself in hand and smiled crookedly at the two scientists. "I'm sorry; I was just so…overwhelmed." She turned to Nikola. "I promise I won't attack you again…or keep your picture in my wallet to show to strangers or send you checks for twelve dollars on your birthday." She smirked at him, raising her brows coolly.

Helen nearly laughed out loud. The thing had been bothering her before was suddenly now perfectly clear. Prisca's slim, languid grace and facial expressions were comically identical to Nikola's.

Nikola huffed out a laugh and relaxed visibly but still remained a safe distance from Prisca. "I want explanations." He ordered, recovering his aplomb. He pointed at Helen. "First you." He pointed at Prisca. "Then you."

Helen gave him an exasperated look but began. "I thought the mutations and the surges of energy were linked. After I saw Prisca's genes I remembered a difference in your episode from last night. There was no rage - it was only a power surge. You grabbed my arm, but you weren't attacking me."

"Ah!" Nikola said, his face lighting. "The mutation was causing the rages, which allowed the power surges to happen."

"And I did cure you of the mutation, but the surges continued." Helen nodded. Prisca listened, only partially understanding. "If I synthesized Prisca's cell proteins for your medication, you would still be able to take it because of your close relationship, but it would also neutralize power overloads. Look." Helen scooted back to the desk and typed rapidly on the keyboard of her computer. Lines of data appeared. Nikola smiled, immediately understanding.

"Brilliant, brilliant girl." He said, echoing himself. His eyes gleamed at Helen with deep interest. She blushed and her cheeks dimpled.

"I don't understand." Prisca said with a frown. "Explain it again?"

"Of course." Helen said. "You see, your gift is latent. You absorb energy even if you aren't trying to. Because you are so genetically compatible with Nikola, I can make a serum from your cell proteins and it will adhere to Nikola's cells, preventing the rage mutation. As a bonus, I believe the serum made from your protein will dampen Nikola's excess energy if he starts to have an overload."

"Amazing! You're both so…smart." The girl said. She looked proudly at Nikola. Then she asked. "Will he still be able to use his power?"

"Yes, I believe so. He's able to control it most of the time now. It only becomes dangerous when the energy builds inside of him. Your proteins will be like the surge protector on a power strip. The power strip still gives out as much energy as is needed, but won't overload. At any rate, the medication breaks down over time, so we can experiment with the dose." Helen explained. "Does that help?"

"I understand." Prisca nodded. Her eyes kept sliding back to Tesla and she finally blurted. "I'm sorry, but you look so like…I can't believe I didn't see it before. I just never thought…" Her eyes shone with the beginnings of happy tears.

"Stop that!" Tesla said sharply, pointing at her with one artistic finger and a scowl. "Now, you explain." He briskly dragged another rolling chair over next to Helen and sat, pulling one of Helen's hands over to clasp between his in his lap.

Prisca steadied herself with a deep breath, opened her mouth then looked perplexed. "I don't know where to begin."

"Begin at the beginning." Helen encouraged.

Prisca began at the beginning.

"I was born in the village of Drauus, in Hungary, during the Thirty Years War. I grew up there and, when I was fifteen, I met my husband. He was a stranger, a merchant, and I barely knew him before we married. He was very…" She smirked and met Helen's eyes. Prisca's eyes gleamed in uncanny resemblance to Nikola's.

"Oh." Helen said, her eyes twinkling. "Very?"

"Very." Prisca confirmed as they shared a secret feminine smile. "We loved each other. His name was Bela Ferko and, well it's hard to believe, but he was a vampire."

"Actually, that's rather easy to believe." Helen replied drily with a sidelong glance at Nikola, who was looking smug.

"We were married quickly and moved to his estate in Budapest. Such luxury!" Her eyes grew vague as the memories played in her mind. "I had a child, a boy, who we also called Bela. He was so weak, he lived only four months." Prisca swallowed hard and took another deep breath. "But very soon I found I was pregnant again and this time the child, our daughter Beata, was strong. I was about seventeen then and shortly after Beata's birth the change came to my body. I could no longer become pregnant, I was no longer mortal, I was unchanging. You say it was a mutation?"

"Very likely just like any other abnormal. Symptoms and indicators of abnormality can set in at any time." Helen nodded. "It can be difficult to learn to live with a new and unexpected change."

"Well, Bela didn't mind, in fact, I think he was thrilled." Prisca laughed. "We had our daughter and now his wife wouldn't grow old and die, which he had worried about. We were so happy for five years. Then the church…the zealots started hunting the vampires. They found us. They took Bela away and…and I never saw him again."

Tesla made a sound like a growl.

"They said Beata was an abomination before God. They took her away from me. They called me a whore of Satan." Prisca's voice was no more than a monotone recitation, her eyes dry. "I was sent to a convent. It didn't take many years before my…abnormality…became apparent. I didn't know it, but I was killing the elderly nuns when I tried to care for them. I was called a murderess, a witch. I was imprisoned, convicted and…I was burned."

Helen's swift gasp of horror filled the room. Tesla slid an arm around her shoulders.

"They thought I was dead. Ithought I was dead. I was thrown onto the refuse pile of the prison. I lay there for…perhaps days, I'm not sure." Prisca shrugged. "I didn't die. But I had no reason to live. They had taken Bela and Beata from me. I tried to find out what had happened to my daughter. I hoped she could still be alive. But I found nothing. Nothing. It was just as if she had never been born. They erased my daughter."

Helen laid her head and wept softly on Nikola's shoulder, the girl's story of loss too close to her own heart for her to bear. Having been subjected to an onslaught of feminine tears in the last twenty minutes and having very little experience on the matter, Nikola patted her hair and cleared his throat before awkwardly saying. "There, there." He turned to Prisca and pushed her to the conclusion. "Can I assume then, that you didn't locate your child but that she must have lived to produce her own children, et cetera ad nauseum, culminating in my own birth?"

Prisca nodded, her face lighting up. "It must mean that, mustn't it? Twenty lifetimes I've wondered and, suddenly, here you are. "

"I suppose so." Tesla admitted grudgingly. He looked down at Helen, who was composing herself. "I think we've had quite enough catching up with old relations for today." He announced decisively.

Prisca looked between the two scientists and said. "I agree. Look, I have to go to work. Can I come back tomorrow?"

Helen cleared her throat, smiled at the girl, and nodded. "Yes, please do. I suspect we still have a lot to discuss which will help us understand Nikola's gifts. I'll walk you out." All three stood up.

"Thank you.' Prisca turned to Nikola and frowned. "May I hug you? I've waited a very long time to hold my child."

Nikola sighed, looking put out. "Make it quick." He said. He held his arms out and submitted to Prisca's fierce embrace with a martyred expression on his face.

When the girl stepped back she said. "Thank you."

"I live to serve." Nikola said with a dry expression. "And I have it on excellent authority that I'm quite cuddly."

Prisca gave him a long look of disbelief. Helen chuckled and gave Nikola a censuring look. "This way, dear." Helen said and guided Nikola's ancestress out of the lab.