You are all so cute with your belief in me. I honestly expected bricks to be thrown. I like to think it means I've trained you all well.

Sorry that this took the whole week but, after this week I should have more writing time. Also sorry if this chapter confuses. I don't know if it's overly clear.

Thank you to all those who showed faith in both Nikola's actions and myself. The reviews were kinda nice too :P

xx

The first thing Helen realised when his teeth sunk into her flesh was that it didn't hurt, not one bit. Instead tendrils of white hot arousal flowed through her body, igniting parts that had no business being ignited when one of her oldest friends was essentially killing her.

She tried to fight his hold on her, thrashing around as much as she could.

Hold still Helen, he won't drink from you properly.

And now she was well and truly confused.

Play along please, Rose asked calmly though when Helen looked over at her she saw nothing but fear in the other woman's face.

But then all she could focus on was Nikola's lips on her neck, his tongue swirling over her skin, sucking gently as his teeth retracted. She could feel the tiniest pull of blood but the tiny marks he left were healing quickly, meaning that he was essentially just giving her one hell of a hicky. Suddenly Nikola pulled away, pressing a tiny kiss against her pulse point before letting her fall the floor. Aside from the strange bolt of lust she hadn't been expecting, Helen felt perfectly fine and, as such couldn't figure out why she was having such trouble standing up. Her limbs felt heavy and, try as she might she couldn't quite move.

Hold still, Rosie hissed. If you start moving you'll destroy this and then we'll be totally screwed.

Trusting her words, Helen let herself fall limp. She knew her hair was covering the mark on her neck but the light breeze that managed to hit it was making it hard to hold still. She heard Rosie scoff in her head but also heard the sob she let out for the rest of the group to hear. Suddenly Helen was being rolled over slowly, gentle hands holding her carefully. An unspoken threat echoed in her head and Helen decided to keep her eyes shut.

"She's breathing, just," Rose whispered with a sob before Helen was lowered back to the ground. Another set of hands flew to her wrist as someone else carefully propped her up before dragging her backwards.

"Now then," she heard Pellex say from somewhere across the room. "I will give you all one last chance. Join us or die by our hand."

"How about I kill you and then we go on our merry way," Rose snapped. "You're no warrior Pellex, you won't stand a chance. I could destroy you and your army in a heartbeat."

"But you're forgetting that I know your style," Nikola drawled and Helen opened her eyes a crack just in time to see Nikola slink over to the blonde haired woman, wrapping an arm around her waist before nuzzling her hair. "I'll kill you before you can think twice about it." The blonde chuckled, leaning into his embrace and Nikola smiled as Rose growled.

When I say go, you grab a gun and keep these bloody things from your team, Rose said firmly. Understand?

Helen sent back a quick yes, her attention still trained on Nikola.

"Oh please Nikki," she spat. "You've never even come close to besting me. You're bluffing and you're terrible at it."

"You know what," he said sarcastically. "I think you're right."

"You'd better give it up then," Rose replied evenly.

The next thing Helen heard was a loud scream and the sickening crack of bone.

"Traitor!" Pellex roared.

Now!

In an instant Helen was up, rolling away from Kate and Will much to their surprise, grabbing a gun as she stood directly in front of them.

"That was dangerous," John rumbled from close by and she shot him a quick look, noting that he wasn't surprised by her 'recovery'. He cocked his head and she realised he must have been in on the whole thing.

"It wasn't my first choice," he said, eyes darkening as he glanced to her neck but Helen shook him off, she needed to focus on the quickly unfolding fight. Nikola, it seemed, had broken the female's neck before being over-run by six of the younger vampires. Rose was deflecting punches with a cruel smile on her face, sending several vampires sprawling with a solid kick to the gut. In the mean time, John joined the fray, his hands wrapped around a young man's neck, a menacing glint in his eye as he strangled him. Then a shot rang out from beside her. Turning, Helen realised they were slowly being surrounded.

Setting her jaw she began to shoot. The bullets made the young vampires flinch but the continued to move, closing in with black eyes and menacing teeth.

"John!" Rose yelled over the commotion and he spun on his heel. She nodded towards were Helen, Will and Kate were surrounded.

"The shield," he yelled back but she shook her head, swiping out with claws to slash at the nearest vampire.

Henry took it down.

And that was all it took. In a second the three of them were standing beside Rosie as she continued to vent her anger on the vampires.

"Grab Helen and Nikola," she called to John once more. "Take them to the Sanctuary and wait thirty minutes before coming back."

"And leave you here?" he replied sceptically, teleporting his fist through the gut of the nearest vampire.

"Trust me," she yelled over the sound of bullets, giving him an imploring look. They both paused for a second in their destruction, a wave of silent communication passing between them.

"Thirty minutes?" he yelled and she nodded before gritting her teeth and landing a solid blow on another vampire's head.

"No less," she said firmly, her eyes clouding over as he nodded at her, disappearing in a flash of red light, reappearing by Helen's side and then Nikola's before leaving completely.

"No!" Helen screamed, fighting John's embrace the second they landed in her office. "Take us back! Take us back now!"

"I can't-," he started, Nikola cutting him off with a low growl.

"Take us back now!" he roared, stepping closer to John with an evil glint in his eye.

"You've just condemned them to death," she yelled, hands balled by her sides. "Their blood is on your hands!"

"Helen please," John tried, reaching out to her but she jerked away, nothing but cold hatred in her eyes.

"No," she said, voice shaky as she stared at him with wide eyes. "There are more important things at stake than our lives John. How could you do this?"

"Take us back," Nikola repeated, a snarl forming in the back of his throat as his inner vampire came to the surface.

"It was Rose," he almost yelled, glaring at Helen, imploring her to understand. "She told me to, she made me promise."

"Take us back," Helen ordered, her voice dropping to a near whisper that sent chills up John's spine.

"I can't," he said, trying to soothe her. He stepped towards her once more, stopping only when she flinched. "Not for a half hour."

Helen said nothing but she didn't need to, her seething contempt for him was clear in her gaze. After glaring at him for a tense moment she turned on her heel, hurrying from the room.

"Helen!" he called, trying to follow her but Nikola was too quick, stepping in front of him before he'd even taken a step.

"You've done enough damage," he ground out, glaring up at the taller man without a hint of fear in his eye. "Just leave her alone."

"It wasn't me," John insisted angrily. "Rose-."

"It doesn't matter now," he spat, cutting him off. "They're all dead. Because of you."

"She ordered me to trust her," he bellowed at Nikola but he didn't flinch. "She ordered me to get you both out of there."

"Because she didn't want us to die to. She was trying to be noble. If those damned vampires escape the caves then none of us stand a chance."

And with that, Nikola turned on his heel, stalking out the door, leaving John all but trembling. The beast within him roared its approval for she was dead but the human part, the part still able to cry felt sick.

Breathing heavily he turned to face the window, silently counting out the next twenty seven minutes in his head.

"Get in close," Rose ordered to Will and Kate. "Keep firing, no matter what just keep firing," she growled at them before stepping away. Out of the corner of their eyes both saw Rose mutter something, closing her eyes before taking a steadying breath and screwing her face up in concentration.

A low rumble emanated through the cavern, shaking a few rocks from the ceiling as a guttural groan was ripped from Rose's chest, her transformation taking over as she arched, wings bursting forth as her entire body from fingertips to toes tensed. Her groan grew in volume until it was the only thing that could be heard before rising abruptly in pitch to an ear splitting wail. The shaking around them came to an abrupt stop, a silence falling over them that was completely unnatural before bright blue light enveloped the entire cavern, washing over everything, temporarily clouding Kate and Will's vision.

And then there was silence.