The night receptionist's eyes widened in horror as Nikola burst into the foyer with Helen in his arms.
"Mr. Tesla, what happened?"
"Call a doctor. My room. Now!" Nikola shut him up with firm orders that would not take no for an answer, and rushed past him to the lift.
"But… Mr. Tesla," the receptionist asked timidly, following him, "wouldn't it be wiser to take the lady to a hospital?"
"She'd bleed out before we'd get her there," Nikola pointed out impatiently. Not the best time to be arguing with idiots. "Now get to the phone, you moron, and call the goddamn doctor!" he snapped, and the receptionist finally ran off.
"Hang on, Helen, we're almost there," Nikola whispered to the unconscious woman in his arms as he entered the lift and the pressed the top button before the shocked porter could do it.
"How did that happen, Mr. Tesla?" the porter asked in horror.
"Well, she did what she always does – tried to save someone's life. Still believe there's a God above?" he couldn't help himself and saw the porter cross himself mentally, but he seemed to understand the sniding comments came from Nikola's fear of losing his friend.
"Are you all right, Mr. Tesla? Your shirt is all bloody," the porter noticed.
"That's hers," Nikola lied.
The cabin of the lift stopped on the attic floor and the porter quickly opened the door for him and helped him get Helen onto Nikola's bed in the apartment.
"Thank you," Nikola nodded at him, and added: "I am sorry if I am too harsh, it's just…"
"Please, don't worry about it, sir," the porter dismissed it and got up. "I'll go see if the doctor's here yet."
"Thank you," Nikola nodded again, and turned his attention to Helen, whom they had placed in a half sitting position on the bed to lower the blood flow to the wound. He didn't want to leave her side for a single second, but there were things to be done. He dashed into the bathroom, pulled the bloodstained shirt that betrayed the gunshot over his head, threw it in the corner and quickly put on a clean one. He did not need those kinds of questions right now. Next he washed his hands as best as he could and returned to the alcove where the bed was standing to inspect the wound.
He pulled the left sleeve of her dress down gently, and was relieved to find the shot did not go through the heart. Instead, the bullet lodged itself between the collar bone and her breast where he could see it shattered at least one rib. This, and the extensive bleeding, would be the worst of their trouble; they would have to take care of the tiny bone fragments. He was confident he could do all this himself, but not without proper equipment, which was why he needed the doctor.
A knock on the door. Nikola shot up and went to answer it, to find the porter and a man who must have been the doctor in his company. He nodded in appreciation to the porter, who then left, and led the doctor to Helen, filling him in on what he had found out before the doctor's arrival.
The physician, thankfully, seemed like a good professional who knew exactly what he was doing. He inspected the wound briefly, coming to the same conclusion as Nikola, and said: "She will need a transfusion, Mr. Tesla. Are you willing to help her with that?"
"Anything to save her, Doctor," Nikola assured him. Besides, he thought to himself, maybe my vampire blood will facilitate the healing…?
"Very well. I took the liberty of sending a porter to the hospital to get equipment for the transfusion, since I do not possess it myself. He should be back by the time I extract the bullet and the bone fragments and close the wound; then we'll take care of it."
His composure was an immense help for Nikola. He appreciated that no annoying questions were asked, that his actions were not scrutinised and simply accepted as the way things were.
"Let me help," he requested and the doctor agreed immediately.
They did not utter a single word until the wound was completely cleaned and stitched. The transfusion equipment arrived shortly after, as the doctor had predicted, together with a nurse who would assist with the procedure.
"I expect the police will want to hear how this happened," the doctor spoke in a matter-of-fact tone while Nikola's blood flowed through the tubes into Helen's body.
"We tried to save a girl's life, that's what happened," Nikola shrugged, much calmer now that the operation seemed to have gone successfully and Helen's vitals were stronger.
"And what of the girl?"
Oh, thought Nikola, remembering. Annabelle. They would have to find her soon.
"She is missing," he sighed. The story was already complicated, at least for someone with the unfortunate job of turning it into a police-friendly account. But the police wasn't there yet.
Nikola ignored the doctor's warnings to stay put at least for a short while after the transfusion, and trusting Helen into the doctor and the nurse's care, he left to look for certain creatures of the night he was confident would help him find the missing girl.
He was less worried about Helen now that it seemed she was going to pull through without complications, but Annabelle was a different story. He suddenly wished he had ripped the men's hearts out instead of letting them live, nevertheless with any luck they should still be out cold in the backstreet, or too scared to try looking for Annabelle again. Besides, killing someone to protect or revenge Helen Magnus was out of the question. He couldn't bear the thought of her hating him. They would stand on opposite sides – she the preserver of life and he the destroyer. There was no way he was assuming that role.
"Nice work earlier, Nikola," a shadow of a voice said behind him suddenly. He had braced himself for the sudden encounter, so he managed not to jump out at the sound of it.
"Hello, Alaric. I expect you'll know what I need from you then…?"
"Looking for the siren girl?" the black figure guessed. It was definitely masculine, albeit not tall, and very slender; giving the impression of a menacing creature risen from the sewers and evoking the idea of pain and thousands of sharp teeth. However, it seemed to be in a pleasant disposition as it was making conversation with Nikola at that particular moment.
"Yes," Nikola confirmed.
"Not an easy prey to catch, this siren girl. She doesn't give herself away if you know what I mean. She's practically untraceable."
"No energy signature or a special scent, is that what you're saying?"
Alaric nodded.
"Where would she go in a situation like this?"
"This is a big city, Nikola. She could be anywhere."
"All right, let me put it this way: she knows we are friends and that we are looking for her. She had asked for Helen's help. Now where would she go in that case?"
"Ah, Tesla. Why couldn't you simply arrange an emergency meeting place instead of bothering fellow creatures of the night…?" Alaric sighed.
"Yes, I agree that would have been the most logical course of action," Nikola admitted. "But the assault gave us no chance to do that."
Alaric rolled his eyes. "Try any place with deep shadows, is my best guess," he said then with a shrug. "How is Magnus, by the way?"
"She should live."
"Very well, then. Successful hunt, my friend," Alaric gave Nikola a curt bow, and disappeared as suddenly as he had materialised.
"Fat lot of good you were," Nikola remarked sourly when his friend had dematerialised. Then he turned away and this time the sudden apparition did startle him.
"Hello, Nikola," said Annabelle. "I am very glad you are keeping your promise."
She was different now that they stood in the deserted street all alone. She wore a long cape and had replaced her ballet dress for an aesthetic one. She still looked completely otherworldly somehow. There was nothing human about her at that moment, no frightened teenage girl he had seen fleeing from the stage at the Opera, she seemed centuries old and the daily grind of the world was happening outside the scope of her reality; it did not concern her.
"I am simply helping Helen," he replied. He had a strange feeling of affiliation. This girl was somehow from the same environment as he was. Maybe her kind has walked the planet together with his thousands of years ago. Either way, he liked her instantly.
"It is very lucky for her you are a vampire, wouldn't you say?" she smiled slightly. "I hope she isn't seriously wounded…?"
"We are hoping she will make a full recovery."
"I am sorry to have caused trouble," she apologised.
"But you don't need Helen's protection, Annabelle, do you?" he guessed. Such a being as he had just seen didn't need anyone's protection.
"Not particularly, no. But I want Sanctuary protection. You will understand me, won't you? Some humans are so presumptuous; they think my kind is just animals whose power can be harvested. It is all rather exhausting. Working for the Sanctuary will spare me all that," she explained. "I am just sorry that Helen and you had to suffer for me to get where I need to be."
"Oh, I won't hold it against you if she recovers completely," he promised her with a hint of a smile.
"How gracious of you," she winked at him.