A/N In which Nikola can't help himself and conducts some clandestine experiments that will only end in trouble. John Druitt makes an appearance.

FOUR

A couple weeks had passed and the two abnormals, for lack of anything better the Sanctuary team called them the "pale pair" behind their backs, had started to acquaint themselves with the rest of the old house. Helen had procured very light, linen garments for them that were loose enough that they did not feel disturbed by them.

Their behaviour was fascinating. While stimuli that was too intense or aggressive made them highly uncomfortable and they avoided ("turn down your music, Henry!"), they still actively sought out sensation. From her tests, the brain scans most telling, Helen had discovered that compared to a humans', the pale pair's sensory channels were blasted right open. They had no psychic abilities, so her guess of a complex facial language was correct. The parts of their brain that processed pain and pleasure were also drastically enlarged. For all of their somber manners, it sometimes made for comical moments to find them gravely rubbing their faces on her curtains, humming quietly on the floor in her library to hear the acoustics, or fleeing quickly through her garden to escape the assault of various floral perfumes.

Tesla had taken over deciphering the scrolls for her, as she rarely had any free time to devote to them, and annoyingly he had set up camp in her office. She was too busy to make the effort to eject him, however, and gave in and ordered large shipments of wine to restock her cellar again. She knew that he was up to something, that mind of his never stopped plotting… but so far he was so engrossed with the scripts that she decided he'd be distracted enough to stay out of trouble for a little while.

He was making one of his regular trips to the wine cellar when he ran into one of the pale pair. The woman had been attracted to the smell of dust and musk that emanated from the cellar, and was engrossed in running her fingers lightly over the glass bottles. He crept in quietly, applauded himself mentally when he realized even her heightened senses hadn't heard him enter, and observed her quietly for a moment.

Something must have given him away however, as her head sharply turned to face him. He caught a flash of fear on her face, but her expression cooled just as suddenly, and he graced her with a smirk. "I can hear your heart beat."

Her fingertips were still dancing over the cool glass bottles, but she gazed at him interestedly now. "As I yours… though faintly, I admit."

He strode over towards her, noting her slight apprehension as he drew closer. "I wonder why that is… you seem to perceive everyone else here with such acuity."

She gave him a half-smirk now, wary of some betrayal. "You are of the Family."

"The pair of you seem to like saying that a lot. But what does it mean exactly?"

She just smiled back humouringly and fell silent. Nikola shamelessly admired the discreet view of her breasts through the thin material of her clothing, and then turned his attention to the wine bottles. He pointed dismissively to a shelf above her. "Here, bring down two glasses."

He picked out a nicely aged Montrachet as she brought over two glasses. He quickly blew the dust away from their rims, and uncorked the bottle with his teeth. As he poured a generous measure in their glasses he asked her, "Have you ever had wine?" She shook her head, her eyes lighting up at the colour of the wine, entranced. He carefully handed her a glass and held his up in a toast. "To your health."

He sipped at his glass, eyes closing for a second in bliss at the warm flavour on his tongue, and then nodded encouragingly towards her. She carefully brought the glass to her lips, the tip of her tongue snaking out first to catch a drop of the wine. The look of her surprise that registered on her face was comical, but he kept himself from laughing, not wanting to spook her. She sipped more generously, the wine staining her lips.

"Tell me… what does it taste like to you?"

She took a long time to answer, reveling in the new tastes. "Warm… sour and sweet. Fruit. A tang. A prickle in my throat. A warm feeling settling in my stomach."

"Lightweight," He laughed, but she ignored him and drank more, eager for the novelty. Her eyelids flickered as she took in the wine, its scent, its flavour, and its texture. The look of pleasure and curiosity on her face was so naked it was almost shameless.

Tesla laughed again, "Sybarite."

Although in Helen's opinion, the term was a bit crass, the name had stuck. The pale pair were being referred to more and more frequently as the Sybarites by the Sanctuary team, and she had finally given in and started noting them as such in her documents. It wasn't too bad a fit, they were sensory creatures with their communications and expressions intricately connected to sensation and pleasure. After their introduction to wine, Will had successfully navigated them through various different types of foodstuffs, which they both marveled at. It seemed they had finally found a way in which to entice them to eat regularly.

Further translation of the temple scrolls revealed a bit more of their identity. No indigenous human culture proved to be the bearer of the language, but there were close enough resemblances to Aztec glyphs. It did emphasize the point, however, that the city and the temple were obviously constructed by a civilization of Abnormals, somehow untouched and isolated from humans by the depths of the jungle.

What their true connection to vampires was still uncertain… there was no mention of them in any of the ancient sanguine texts, but considering the geographical location they hadn't even known vampires had existed in South America that long ago. And they remained tight-lipped on the subject merely repeating that if she were worthy, she would come to know.

Tesla was becoming obnoxiously satisfied with himself as the weeks passed, performing little clandestine experiments of his own and beginning to view them as his pet project. She had tried to discourage him but he was insufferable, and with something so capturing his fascination right there in the Sanctuary, it was also impossible to get him to leave.

"Doc." It was Helen's radio. "It's Kate, I need two hundred thousand dollars."

Helen picked up her radio. "Do I need to bail you out of prison?" She heard the static laugh on the other line. "Nope, but I found someone selling some information that might help you crack those temple scrolls." Helen's ears perked up and she said, "I'm listening."

"I tracked down someone who has the journal of a Spanish explorer from the 1600's who apparently ran into this ancient vamp city and kept records. I've checked it out and it's not a fake. The seller's incredibly paranoid though, so I have to go pick it up in person."

Helen could feel her heart pound in excitement. "I'm in. I'd like to meet this person. I'll bring the car round in ten minutes." She could hear Kate whoop victoriously over the line, and quickly gathered her things. This was not an opportunity to be missed.

If Helen knew all the things that could, and were to go horribly wrong in her absence, she would have never left.

Nikola had been slowly trying to win the female Sybarite over to his side for a few weeks. Her fear and animosity intrigued him, especially as it seemed as if she could not openly oppose him. He was sure that it had something to do with their linked ancestry, but he still couldn't fathom what. So there she was, a very beautiful, intellectual puzzle.

And she was beautiful. He could tell that he wasn't the only admirer of her charms. While Will was able to maintain a friendly professionalism, the wolf mutt always dropped three things in her presence and sweated enough hormones to choke a rat. Their perky little gunslinger seemed quite taken with the male Sybarite too, taking care to be his personal tour guide to everything Sanctuary in the lowest-cut tops they sold at Hot Topic.

Nikola was very forward in his manner towards them, a part of him reveling in the way they shrank away from him, but was more than content to sit back and play observer when they exhibited behavior completely native to themselves. He often found them stroking themselves, occasionally each other, in very sensitive areas that would make Helen blush, but not exclusive to just the usual erogenous zones. They were fascinated by every inch of their skin, and while their touch was sometimes sexual, all of it for pleasure certainly, there was still something oddly sex-less and passion-less about it.

Still, it made for a hell of a free show. If Helen knew the sordid enjoyment he was getting discreetly from her guests she would probably shoot him until he fell over.

But ever that question remained most fervent in his mind as to their shared origins. And it was that persistent question tickling his mind that night as he watched the female Sybarite brushing her hair. She was enjoying the texture and the way it made her scalp prickle, seated by the mirror in her room, and he sipped his wine patiently seated at the couch by the door. Helen had left with Kate to pick up an important artifact, Henry was busy with the weekly defragmenting of the system's mainframes, the Sasquatch was occupying himself somewhere and Will was out with a friend. And Nikola Tesla was never the man to let an opportunity slip by.

"Come here," He intoned softly. She gazed up at him, out of curiosity more than anything, and approached slowly. He motioned genially for her to sit in the couch beside him and observed her intensely behind hooded eyes.

"What does my heart beat sound like to you?" She was surprised by the question, but obediently closed her eyes and listened. Slowly she said, "It is slow. It is almost impossible to hear. It is like you are dead."

The tip of his tongue skimmed over his bottom lip, his own heightened senses picking up certain nuances from her only a vampire could appreciate. She intoned softly at last, "It is beating quicker."

He leaned towards her, his lips almost brushing against her hair. "Can you smell my blood?" She shook her head slowly, he was surprised but mentally catalogued it for later. His breath was a warm whisper against her skin. "I can smell yours… it is sweet… warm… alive."

She shivered with anticipation, his body was tense as a spring. He wondered if he was pushing too far… but he had to know. "I want to know what your blood tastes like."

She looked at him, as if not surprised at his request. It caught him off guard, but the shiver of excitement took over. She placed a finger in her mouth and bit down sharply with one of her pointed canines and then offered the glistening, crimson tip to him. His nose was immediately bathed in the aroma of it, so much lighter than a human's… Scarcely believing she was actually acquiescing, he slowly drew forward, maintaining eye contact, but seeing no rejection, he let his tongue snake out and delicately press against the fingertip.

What he tasted was a heady explosion he had never experienced from drinking human blood, the few times he had intentionally or unwittingly. It sang fire through his veins and made his back curl in exquisite novelty. And yes, there was a familiarity to the taste too.

Something passed over her eyes, and from her body language he could tell she was feeling bolder. He forced himself back to lucidity from the sudden drunken rush, and she looked at her finger. "I'd like to taste it too."

Instead of pressing it to her own lips as he had imagined, she delicately smeared the blood onto his, for once shocking him into stillness. She then pulled him in closer and kissed him slowly, lingering over the blood on his bottom lip. Nikola thought there were few things better than good sex, scientific success or an electrical storm, but this came close. Arousal peaked through his body, but from what he had seen, he was unsure if this was an invitation on her part or merely clinical experimentation.

She finally drew away, her eyes glazed with pleasure. "I would like to taste you." Nikola felt a throaty laugh somewhere deep in his chest and said, "You can go in for more. I don't care if you bite." But she shook her head, not wanting to taste his blood, but instead pushed his head back lightly, his throat exposed. He could feel hot air gushing from her nose as she examined him, traveling upwards, and then her mouth hovered over his parted lips. Instead of kissing him again, he suddenly realized there was something escaping from his mouth. It looked like thin, silvery fog, the same that had come out of Kate the first night the Sybarite had shown up. His curiosity instantly took over his otherwise base urgings. This was an ability… this was something they had never seen before. What was it? A way to communicate? A way to feed?

He watched her drink it in inquisitively, and slowly started to feel as if someone were squeezing his windpipe. His eyes widened in alarm, unsure of how much she would take, and how to make her stop. Just as he was about to panic, she drew away and the mist faded. He felt his chest relaxing and breathing becoming easier again.

"What were you tasting?"

She smiled demurely, still enjoying whatever heady sensation she was experiencing. "Your breath."

"What did it taste like?"

She laughed. "Wine."

"Some more tea?" Helen asked, holding up an elegant china teapot. "Why thank you, doctor." Kate held out her cup, amused at playing dower English ladies. Although the so called polite ladies had come armed to the teeth and with two hundred thousand dollars in international bonds stowed away in a protective case.

"Forgive my tardiness."

Helen looked up and froze at the tall man who seated himself at their table. A long scar seamed the right side of his face and distracted from the rather pleasant smile he had.

"John," Helen said tensely. Kate was far from amused. She leant over the table and hissed, "Right now is not the time for a chocolate and flowers reunion, buddy. We're here on a business trip."

"And I'm the business," Druitt said unfazed, and pulled a battered leather-bound journal from his inner coat pocket. He placed it on the table and slid it towards Helen. She snatched it up quickly, trying not to let her eagerness show. "How did you get this?"

"I persuaded the seller to part with it."

Helen looked up sharply. "John…" He chuckled and said, "No, it's not what you think. Look, no blood on my hands." He held them up for inspection with a gentle, mocking grin.

"How much?" Kate asked, still distrusting. John shook his head. "A gift, no charge." Kate rolled her eyes and grunted in exasperation. "I do not like the grief of carrying around so much heat for nothing."

"Calm down there, killer." John's voice rose slightly. He was beginning to feel offended by the less than welcoming reception.

"Stop it, the both of you." Helen sighed at the hot-tempered pair as she dug around for her chirping mobile phone. "Magnus." Her face suddenly dropped and she quickly hung up. Her look of alarm startled Kate and Druitt to stop their bickering.

"We have to go back to the Sanctuary."

"What is it?" John asked, concerned.

"Tesla."