As The others scattered to get their things in order, Nikola followed Helen. "Are we going to talk about it?"
"The plane trip?" Helen bluffed packing a small suitcase.
"No." Nikola placed his hands on his hips." The library"
"I don't know much about the leethe. We will have to do more research on the plane-"
Nikola slammed his fist on the table. "Damn it Helen!" She jumped a foot and looked at him reproachfully. "Does it mean anything to you that we nearly kissed?"
"Don't be absurd Nikola." Helen breathed and went back to packing.
"That's not an answer." Nikola growled.
"It's the best answer you will get from me."
Nikola hissed and with vampire speed, blocked her path. "It meant something to me!"
"Nikola. Don't do this, the moment is gone." Helen sighed and tried to walk around him.
"Have I really put up with this for 100 years?" Nikola asked. Helen sighed and pushed her bangs back.
"It 's complicated, Nikola. If you remembered our history, you would understand."
"But I don't remember and I don't understand. All I know is I'm head over heels in love with you and I must have been before. My brain can't remember but my heart can't forget!" His voice grew steadily more gravelly as his fangs slid out. He was pale not only from rage and Helen sighed as his eyes grew black.
"Nikola this was not my own choosing. Trust me, I would love to forget... But our past is what makes us who we are. I have shared things with you no one else will ever know. and I have secrets I will never tell anyone, not even you. You are the only one who has ever fully appreciated that. Accept it now, on faith. This is how it has to be."
Nikola return to his normal pallor as tears fell from Helen's eyes. He wrapped his recently declawed hands around her and let her cry into his shoulder
They had done this before, he realized. She had come to him in anguish and he had held her and let her cry. The memory tried to bubble up, but he forced it to back down.
Helen needed him.
