"Nice digs. A little formal. If you need the name of a decorator, I know a fabulous firm in L.A. Just did James Cameron's Aspen estate."

Nikola was brought back to reality at the arrogant, unfamiliar voice he heard coming from a few floors down. He had been deep in thought, looking for ways to reinvent wireless electricity. There were so many new possibilities with the new technology of the past century!

Nikola chuckled and the stranger's comment. He knew it had been said to Helen because he could hear her specific breathing pattern coming from the same location. It was obvious this man was not well acquainted with Helen. Not even Nikola could get away scot-free with criticizing her sense of interior design.

"Did you come here to name-drop?"

That was young William, pragmatic and loyal to Helen as always.

"With Helen Magnus? Come on, Sport, I'd lose."

Well, at least this guy knew whom he was addressing.

He continued, "No, I'm here to make the call on whether or not the Sanctuary continues to receive funding and support from the people who hired me. You know, the ones running the world."

So he's a government lackey, and he's already begun the verbal barbing. Nikola smirked.

I doubt he realizes how in over his head he is here. This should be entertaining.

"That's quite a team you've brought with you. Are they completely necessary?"

Ah, the sweet, sweet voice of an irritated Helen Magnus! At least, it was sweet when he wasn't the receiver of said irritation.

"Well, if it helps, think of me as Elliot Ness, and these guys behind me, The Untouchables."

"If it helps, Magnus knew the real Elliot Ness, and, just going out on a limb here, that's not you."

"Congratulations, Sport, you win round one of 'Who Knows Who.'

Nikola laughed out loud.

"I've arranged secure terminals at one of our labs. My people will be available for any debriefing you may need."

Nikola hoped that Helen hadn't included him as one of her 'people'.

"I love it… This is Cassidy Turner, my senior technical consultant. Cass, take the team and get started."

"Absolutely." Cassidy's voice was nondescript compared to Helen's.

"Help her set up, will you, Sport? I'm going to take the menagerie tour with Dr. Magnus."

And there goes any remaining respect Helen could have had for him. No one responded immediately. The Fed had referred to Helen's life's work as a zoo. Nikola heard both Will's and Helen's pulses zoom up for the third time in the past few minutes. He wondered how long the man could keep this up while still leaving in one piece.

"…Will, could you please take Ms. Turner and her team to the research lab?"

"If you call me 'Sport' once more, I'm going to knock your teeth in. Welcome to the Sanctuary. Follow me, everyone." All but Helen's pulse plus one followed Will's up the nearest flight of stairs.

It's about time Wilhelm stood up for himself. He won't even give them the privilege of using the elevators.

Now Helen and the mystery man were alone. Nikola couldn't help but feel protective over Helen.

"This is not a menagerie, Mr. Addison."

Addison? As in Gregory Addison with the UN Security Council?

"What else do you call the place where they keep the monsters and the freaks?"

Now even Nikola was becoming fed up. The creatures here were not monsters! Nikola knew what it was like to be wrongly viewed as such; Druitt, a real monster, had siphoned suspicion for the Ripper murders onto Nikola to keep himself out of the spotlight. And they had so easily believed him, especially Helen. Sure, he had been the logical choice, a newborn vampire, but that hadn't made it any easier to bear.

"You're fooling no one with this tactic: come in as obnoxious as possible, put us all on the defensive."

Nikola had recognized this earlier. Helen was familiar with it mainly because she saw Nikola use it often.

"Ah, you got me… You know what I love about really great tactics? They work even when the other guy sees them coming."

Nikola heard them step off the carpet and into the elevator. He heard it move down and away from him. He had to strain a little more to hear Helen and Addison.

"I think you've gotten very used to having Carte Blanche around the world because you helped Interpol take down a three-headed madman, or covered up the squid-blood origins of some President's wife."

"Ah... So this is about my ego."

"Doctor, we have hit and run attacks by rogue abnormal groups on Lotus Defense training camps as well as civilian casualties that someone has to explain to the press."

Helen ignored this. "There's over a hundred years of history here, Mr. Addison."

"Hmm… Any chance you'll call me Greg?"

"None whatsoever…'Monsters'?" she offered when the elevator stopped.

Nikola smiled at the confidence in her voice. That was his Helen: always with a behind-the-scenes plan.

More interested in the newcomers than his research, Nikola listened for their voices, footsteps and heartbeats. He took a few seconds to determine what lab they were in.

Why would Willhelm choose that lab? It was to lab furthest from the front door…he grinned.

Wow. He must really hate the new nickname. I'll have to try it out sometime.

"Sorry, it'll just be another couple of minutes."

"It's okay, Henry. Everyone knows this was last minute."

"We've got all day."

Nikola recognized the third voice as a slightly irritated Cassidy Turner as he approached the lab now occupied by Heinrich, William, Erika and Cassidy's group.

"…Okay, that should do it." Henry finished typing at the terminal as Nikola entered. They were all facing away from him, but he was sure the HAPs had already heard or smelled him.

Time to have some fun.

"Hello, kiddies! How's the field trip going?" He grinned as everyone but Erika and Henry jumped at the sound of his voice.

All but one of Addison's people looked ruffled at his entrance. She addressed him, "Do I look like a 'kiddie' to you?"

He knew the voice. "Do you really want me to answer that, Cassie?" He towered over her. Her heartbeat rose slightly at both his informal use of her name and the fact that he already knew it, but her discomfort didn't show.

"I'll be twenty-seven next month. You can't be that much older than me."

"When I was your age, I was doing experiments in Oxford at the turn of the century."

"So you were almost thirty in 1999 or 2000. A forty-year-old can't call us children."

"Wrong century, dear."

She was speechless. How he'd missed pressing the Feds' buttons!

Will took this opportunity. "Everyone, this is Nikola Tesla—"

"Genius, inventor, vampire," Nikola finished. Will and Henry rolled their eyes.

"Stop insulting my intelligence," Cassidy retorted, "Everyone knows vampires have been extinct for centuries. They don't exist anymore."

Nikola let his irises turn bright red but kept his eyes from changing completely. His nails itched to surface but he kept them at bay. He wanted to show her who was boss, not traumatize her. "Would you like to bet your life on that?"

Now all the newcomers were completely unnerved, even Cassidy. Nikola could even smell some fear coming from someone in the back.

"Tesla!" Will looked annoyed, He knew what Nikola's game was; in fact, he was a little jealous that he couldn't do it. "Stop acting like you're all that."

Nikola returned his eyes to normal and feigned innocence, "But I am all that."

"Why are you here?"

"When I heard 'Elliot Ness' had arrived, I came out to play."

Henry didn't get the reference and looked at Will, who shook his head.

Nikola raised his voice so he could be heard by Addison and Helen, who were approaching from down the hall, "You know, despite his achievements, Elliot knew his place and gave credit where it was due, unlike your boss here." By now, Helen and Addison were close enough that even the humans could hear their approach.

"Oh great, more people." This was the first time Henry had spoken since Nikola made his presence known.

Helen entered, beautiful and proprietary as always, followed by Addison. He had no hair anywhere on his head, was shorter than Cassidy, and looked as cool and confident as she had been before Nikola arrived. He seemed unaffected by Nikola's earlier statement.

Will introduced them, "Meet Greg Addison, U.N. Security Council liaison, and all round nice guy."

Addison extended his hand toward Henry. "Henry Foss, right? I love your work."

"Aw, thanks…I mean, whatever." Henry tried, unsuccessfully, to hide how much he enjoyed the compliment as they shook hands, but Nikola knew Addison wasn't sincere.

"And this would be..?" Addison moved to Erika.

"Erika Myers," she responded as she moved to stand by Henry, "and I already don't like you."

"Yeah, we're, uh, together," Henry said, as if that would explain her discomfort.

"Well, aren't you the lucky guy?" Addison's voice was dripping with cynicism.

He ignored Nikola entirely.

Helen looked uncomfortable. "I trust everything is to your liking?"

Addison faced his assistant. "Cass?"

Cassidy seemed to regain some confidence with Addison in the room, but eyed Nikola warily. "Uh, well, the system is a bit…archaic, but I think we can find our way around."

Henry was nervous. "Um, are you sure? Because she can be a little delicate if you don't understand her mods— did you say 'archaic'?"

Will became worried as he watched Addison's crew unpack equipment of their own. "Whoa, ho-ho...what is all this stuff?"

"Just a few adaptive peripherals, since we're required to do the work on-site without our customized workstations."

Henry quickly became unhappy. "Doc, this is so uncool!"

Helen stepped in. "I agreed to allow your investigators short-term access to our system using our facilities, not to set up an entirely foreign network. I won't have you compromise our security, even unintentionally."

Addison relented. "Make do with what they give you." Then he turned back towards Henry and Erika and smiled. "Given the things they keep in the building, what choice do we have?"

"What do you mean by that? 'Things we keep in the building?'" Erika obviously meant business.

Henry tried to calm her. "It's cool, Erika."

But Addison continued to goad her. "Oh, you didn't get the tour? The place is crawling with monsters. Freaks." He widened his eyes at the last word for effect.

Nikola heard Erika's bones shuffle as her nose and mouth broadened into a muzzle, her skin darkened and her voice dropped several octaves midsentence as she shoved Addison against the wall. "We're not monsters!" Her partial transformation kept going back and forth. She was fighting the beast for control. Nikola's vampire side also begged for release, but he held it back.

Henry rushed to her side. "Whoa! Erika, Erika. Just relax. Just relax." He gradually drew her away from Addison. William came to stand by her.

Addison straightened up and smoothed his suit. "I can see why she's your girlfriend."

Henry gave him a look. "Watch yourself, dude."

Addison ignored him. "I take it she's a..." He looked at Helen.

"Hyper-accelerated Protean," she finished, "like Henry. One of only a few left in the world."

"And she's not usually like this." Protégé looked ready to punch him.

"I'm flattered."

"Don't be," Erika almost changed again, "the way you judge us!"

"Okay sweetheart…" Henry pulled her away, "What's wrong?"

She was on the verge of tears. "I-I couldn't...I can't..." Her body threatened to transform again.

"Okay, what is the deal with her?" Addison seemed only a little fazed by the entire ordeal, but Nikola heard his pulse betray him.

Will was irritated enough to admonish him. "Just give her a minute."

"Doc, something's not right."

"I agree. Let's get her to isolation. Come on."

"Well," Addison's mask of confidence had never left him, "I couldn't feel safer right now."

"Don't worry Erika. I'll finish him off," Nikola leered at Addison as he strode towards him. This was the first time Nikola spoke since Addison had entered. Erika nodded at Nikola, not sure what to think as Henry led her out. Upon hearing this, Helen stayed behind and watched Nikola cautiously.

Addison eyed him. "Who are you?"

He smirked. Let the games begin!

He glanced at Addison's subordinates. "Well, that does seem to be the question of the hour, doesn't it?"

This time, Helen introduced him. "This is Nikola Tesla."

Addison smiled craftily, "Ah. Nikola Tesla, the scientist who couldn't stay in any school long enough to graduate."

"Yes, even Oxford was full of dimwits. I had a most enjoyable time disproving them left, right and center. Don't you remember, Helen?"

He saw Helen smile at the memories.

He continued with a sarcastic remark of his own, "It's such a shame that I have no petty school to attribute my genius to."

"Yes, so you went bipolar, then insane, not to mention falling in love with a bird."

Nikola's blood pressure exploded. He was at a loss for just a moment, but Addison continued before Nikola could speak.

"I bet even sweet little Helen here has wanted you dead on numerous occasions."

Everything happened too fast: Helen's embarrassed flush, Nikola's sudden rage. How easy it was to give in to his other side, despite taking his medicine this morning as always. It delighted in the feel of his nails becoming claws and his teeth extending into sharp daggers. He hissed at the slight pain as his facial bones migrated, making his face angular and sharp; his eyes faded to midnight-black, tunneling his vision. He was clutching the hairless fool's neck against the wall, its toes barely touching the ground; an intense pleasure came as the cretin's fear-scent filled the room in waves with each beat of its trembling heart.

All this happened within the time it took for Addison to blink.

"I guarantee, boy, that when the HAP said we weren't monsters, she hadn't thought of me." Nikola growled in a voice that wasn't his own.

Addison barely managed to keep his confident look. "You wouldn't dare," he sneered at the creature before him, "especially not in front of Helen. What would she say? Good men like you have too many rules." Everyone else was still too stunned to move.

In this moment, Nikola didn't care what the others would think of him after this. For all it had done, this simpleton in front of him still did not deserve the oxygen it used in a single breath. The pulse in its neck threatened to overwhelm his senses.

"Good men don't need rules," he snarled, "Now is not a good time to find out why I have so many." The head that was attached to the neck in his hand finally lost its façade and paled, making its blood even more visible and tempting to the vampire, its smell more intoxicating. He was no longer aware of the other beating hearts in the room.

"Nikola!" He heard a voice push its way into his brain, desperate to be heard. Nikola realized it was Helen's, realized what he was about to do. But he wasn't in control anymore.

"Nikola, fight it!"

He tried to fight, to get away from the man he was about to kill. But with each beat of Addison's heart, Nikola lost what little ground he'd gained. He couldn't move away, only closer. He heard Helen say something else but couldn't tell what it was. The sound of the worm's blood running through him drowned out all other sounds. His face was so close to Addison's that they were almost touching.

No! I don't want to do this! I refuse to become a monster! I refuse to be like Druitt!

But there was nothing he could do.