Yay, another chapter. Once again, this turned out to be dramatically differently than what I'd originally planned. But oh well, I still like it. More at the bottom. Enjoy.

Disclaimer

Ten minutes later, Nikola had been laid out in his bed with Kiri seated next to him. The others had locked the door from the outside at Kiri's insistence, and everyone else had agreed. They had no idea what the effects of Nikola's transformation were, or how violent he would become. However, they had also agreed that he couldn't be left on his own, and so Kiri stayed in the room with him. They had rigged a hole into the door which allowed them to pass through food. Nikola was unconscious and he had a high fever, which Kiri was working to keep down using wet cloths. There were a couple of times when he seemed to wake up slightly, though his eyes never opened past slits and the few times he spoke he made little sense, mostly whispering about how he could hear the blood.

Nikola himself had little memory of the few days he spent convalescing on the bed. He had a few flashes of moments in which Kiri was leaning over him, wiping his face with cool water, or checking his pulse. He had a foggy memory of waking up once and Kiri was nowhere to be found. Instead, Minku was leaning against the side of his bed, her arms crossed as she stared out the window silently. She had been singing softly, and Nikola had recognized the song as an old Serbian lullaby his mother had sung to him and his brother.

After almost three days, Nikola woke up enough to be aware of his surroundings, and to sit up slightly. As soon as he moved, Kiri bounced in from the attached bathroom.

"Nika, you're awake!" she exclaimed, grinning. Nikola smiled tiredly at her, wiping his face with one hand.

"I'm starving," he remarked, glancing around. Kiri sat down on the bed in front of him, handing him a bowl of warm broth. Nikola ate silently for several minutes until the bowl was empty, before reaching out a grabbing another bowl. Once he was done with that, he looked around to find a third. Kiri moved so she was kneeling, placing one hand over his own hands, which were sitting limply on his lap, while her other hand went up to feel his forehead. As her wrist pressed against his cheek, he felt his heart rate quicken. Blackness flooded his eyes and his claws and fangs extended. He reached up and grabbed Kiri's arm, pulling it down to stare at the veins hiding just under the skin. Kiri watched him silently, cocking her head. Nikola sniffed, closing his eyes in pleasure.

"N-Nika?" Kiri questioned, furrowing her brow.

"I am so hungry, sestrice." Nikola's voice was several octaves deeper than normal. He drew Kiri's wrist to his mouth, sinking his teeth in. Kiri gasped at the momentary pain before the area went numb. Nikola sucked in her blood, drinking so fast that some dribbled onto his chin. She sat still, watching him with wide eyes. Suddenly his eyes returned to their normal grey and he pulled away, a horrified look on his face.

"Bože, šta sam uradio?" He ripped a piece of cloth off the blanked covering his legs and wrapped it around the bite mark, pressing down. Through all this, he refused to meet her gaze. Finally, she sighed and cupped his face, lifting his gaze to meet hers. They locked eyes for a few seconds.

"Nika, I'm okay, really. Don't worry about it." Kiri kissed Nikola's forehead comfortingly, and when she pulled away she held up her arm. "See, it's already turned into a scar. Vampires release a hormone into the bloodstreams of their victims which aid in the healing process of the bite."

"How did you know?" Nikola pulled back so he could look his sister in the eyes, his brow furrowed.

"Helen let me read the translations of the texts that were found with the source blood." Kiri turned around and leaned back against her brother's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"How long have we been in here?"

"About three days."

"And you've been with me this whole time?" Nikola tightened his hold slightly.

"Yup." Kiri snuggled closer to Nikola, and soon she was falling asleep.

While Kiri and Nikola had been locked in Nikola's room, John, James, and Nigel had been studying and practicing with their new abilities. John was able to teleport within a hundred-yard area at will, and Nigel was becoming more and more proficient at turning invisible. James had discovered new depths to his mind, and was in the library reading almost constantly.

Helen, however, had yet to figure out what the blood had done to her. She had shown absolutely no physical changes, and so far she had noticed no physiological changes either. She was trying hard not to be envious of the others, but the experiment had been her idea, and she was the only one who hadn't benefited in some way. She particularly wanted to talk to Nikola about it, but the last time she had spoken to Kiri, the younger woman had told her that he wasn't ready to see anyone else yet.

Nikola and Kiri left their room five days after first going in. Gregory invited the whole group to dinner. Gregory sat at one end of the table, with Helen sitting at the other end. John sat on Helen's right, with Nigel next to him. Kiri sat on Helen's other side, with Nikola in the middle and James on the other side.

"I…have something to tell all of you," Nikola announced as they were finishing up dessert.

"What is it, Niko?" Helen inquired, leaning forward.

"I am moving to Budapest in a week. I have accepted a job with a company there."

Bože, šta sam uradio? – God, what have I done?

So, originally Nikola was going to be all angsty about biting Kiri, and that was why he was leaving. He probably still will be, a little bit, but not as much as originally planned. But I realized Kiri wouldn't allow anyone to angst that much, so this happened. Also, there was supposed to be a major reveal when Kiri was bitten, but I changed my mind about that as well. The reveal will be next chapter.