Will, Nikola and Helen all exchanged a shocked glance and then Will said,

"Well this is bad."

"Once again so glad you're here to point out the obvious Dr. Expendable." Nikola snarked.

"We need to get back to the Sanctuary immediately." Helen said, "Let them go Nikola."

With a sigh of faked regret Nikola dropped the knives to the floor and got to his feet following Helen out of the room. As Will went to follow Laura said,

"Wait just a second. You get to come in here, threaten us and then just leave?!"

"Yeah, cops can't do anything. Like I told you we're sanctioned monster hunters, technically we don't even exist."

Will replied in a mysterious tone he hoped they would buy and then jogged after Helen and Nikola who were already out the main door of the apartment and waiting at the elevator in silence. Nobody spoke until they reached the car, when Helen said to Will,

"I'll drive. You call Henry and tell him to go to high security alert and be waiting with Kate in my office when we get back."

Will took his phone out but said,

"Sure thing, but uh, what's going on?"

"Helen you could have picked a more astute protégé…" Nikola sighed.

"And she could have picked somebody who was less of an ass to be best friends with." Will retorted.

"Gentlemen that is quite enough of that." Helen interjected.

Nikola settled into his seat in the back, wishing he could see the look on Helen's face at the fact Will called him Helen's best friends since he was personally thrilled with assessment. Helen, up front, was glad Nikola could not see her face as a slight blush had arisen at Will's choice of words, even if the statement had been correct.

Ten minutes later they all strode into Helen's office to find Henry and Kate seated side by side on the couch, waiting for them. Will took a seat opposite Henry and Kate while Nikola walked over and stood to the left of Helens desk. As Helen elected to perch herself on the edge of her desk Henry asked,

"What's going on Will? You're call was a little cryptic…"

"Yeah well, these two," he gestured to Helen and Nikola, "know something and didn't share it with me."

"Only because we had to be sure we were somewhere safe before we started this discussion," Nikola stated.

"Somewhere safe?" Kate repeated, "Are the trust-fund brats up to something?"

"Oh no, we could only be so lucky." Nikola said.

"Be so lucky?"

"Did I start speaking in Serbian," Nikola asked looking to Helen.

"Dude! Just tell us!"

"The Cabal are not quite as dead as we thought." Nikola announced.

"WHAT?!" Three voices rang out.

"Yes it appears the Ripper was extra sloppy this time around."

"Seriously, that's who bought his blood?" Will turned to Helen.

"There's no other logical explanation as to who could have made such a statement." Helen confirmed, "It has to be the Cabal."

"So what are we going to do?" Henry asked her.

"We reach out to all our contacts and we find them."

"Are they really a threat?" Kate asked.

"They are now with my blood." Nikola told her.

"How can that be…?"

"Because they used all the Source Blood on Ashley and look what happened. Now my blood may not have been pure sanguine vampiris but look what I was able to do with it and even though the Cabal aren't quite as smart as me I wouldn't put it past them to come up with some way of utilizing my blood."

As Helen watched Nikola speak she couldn't quite make out the expression in his eyes, whether it was hurt, anger, regret, fear, or a combination of all of those. When he finished speaking she said,

"Right. So, let's reach out to the community and see what we can find out. Report back in three hours."

The others nodded and trudged off to see what they could dig up. Nikola made as if to go but a hand on his upper arm stopped him.

"Nikola, are you quite alright?" Helen queried.

Even though he had been looking into them for over a century now Nikola still found himself getting lost in the depth that were Helen's eyes. A moment passed before he was able to free himself from her gaze and mutter,

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Helen, who had found herself a little lost in Nikola's piercing gaze, was not convinced by his word and persisted.

"Mhmm. And look me in the eye and tell me you weren't seriously thinking of hurting those brats for selling your blood…"

Nikola turned his gaze from where it had wandered to the door back to Helens face and replied,

"They are not worth the effort."

"I suppose not," She smiled gently but then said again seriously, "Are you sure you're alright."

A tiny grin played on Nikola's face as he said softly,

"You know, for a best friend, you aren't very good at knowing when to drop a subject."

"Its part of my nature as a scientist, always wanting to know the truth," Helen answered playfully.

There was a silence in which Nikola's gaze wandered down to the hand she had wrapped tightly around his arm. Taking her hand in one of his Nikola gracefully lifted it to his lips and brushed a soft kiss against her silken skin. Lowering her hand to her side Nikola murmured,

"As much as it warms my heart to know you are worried for me, you should not be. You said it yourself Helen, I am my real self again."

And with that he swept out of her office. Helen watched him go and whispered under her breath,

"I don't know how to stop worrying about you, I've been doing it all my life."