Thank you all for the positive reviews, especially joan of arc, who has indeed been a loyal reviewer ;)
I hope you enjoy this chapter, which is probably going to be the final one... I should leave at this while it's still credible...
Nikola sighed as he finished yet another one of Helen's expensive wine bottles.
He was sitting there for hours on end and the wine wasn't easing his heartache what so ever and it frustrated him, he threw the empty bottle across the damp wine cellar.
This terrible feeling he had inside was tearing him apart and he had no idea how to deal with this.
If he couldn't even deal with this himself, how on earth was he supposed to be there for Helen, the woman he loved more than life itself.
"I thought I might find you here" a beautiful feminine voice sounded through the darkness of the cellar.
Nikola startled, immediately following the sound to where Helen stood on the bottom step of the basement stairs.
She looked a bit better, she had some more blush on her cheeks, bruises however still very evident.
She had a large vest on protecting her from the cold, and she wrapped it even tighter around her as she slowly descended the last step and approached the startled vampire.
"Helen!". "What are you doing down here?, shouldn't you be in bed?" Nikola quickly asked her while standing up and offering her an arm for support.
"I'm quite alright Nikola", she replied as she denied his gesture.
Nikola seemed very uncomfortable in her presence now and for once he had nothing to say, no smart remarks, no flirtatious attempts, nothing.
Helen noticed Nikola's change in behavior and sighed as she slowly sat down in on of a the lounge chairs present in the wine cellar. The pain between her legs was still unbearable, she managed however to not make any sounds when sitting down.
Nikola joined her and took a seat next to her, remaining ever silent and not even making eye contact.
Helen sighed, not being sure herself of how to start the conversation.
As she contemplated this Nikola suddenly spoke, "Helen, I'm so sorry about… everything".
His voice sounded ever so soft and sincere, it was unfamiliar to Helen and she looked at him slightly shocked.
There was a moment of silence before Helen spoke, "None of this is your fault Nikola, please know this."
"I should have been there, I should've done something, I should've tried harder".
Nikola sounded really distraught and he had trouble keeping his emotions in check.
Helen swallowed, blinking fresh tears away as she noticed Nikola's emotional unbalance.
"Nikola, please…" she started as she took his hands in hers. "Don't blame yourself".
Nikola looked into her eyes for the first time and noticed the unshed tears in them making him cringe.
There was another moment of silence when Nikola gently rubbed Helen's hands and continued to look in each other's eyes.
He couldn't help but notice the bruises and swelling in her face, and the feeling of the cuts on her hands as he gently rubbed them.
He shortly wondered what Adam exactly did to her that would cause this much damage, disgusting images suddenly entered his mind and he quickly shook them away, afraid that he would otherwise lose control of his anger.
He sighed as he finally spoke "I don't know what to do Helen, I so much want to help you, take it all away, but I don't know how".
"You can't Nikola" she softly answered breaking eye contact.
"This is something I'll deal with on my own" she continued sounding a bit like her stoic self again.
"Whatever happened, happened, we'll just leave it behind us and move on".
"What?, how can you say that... Helen, you were raped!" Nikola shockingly answered her.
The word 'rape' sounded disgusting to Helen and it made her skin crawl.
"Nikola please!" she quickly interrupted him, not wanting to hear anymore.
"This is not your call to make alright?" she angrily glared at him.
"Helen, you can't pretend none of this ever happened" he continued.
"Dear god, you sound just like Will" she shot at him.
"Well then for once the boy wonder is right" Nikola loudly said not backing down.
Helen stood, anger and frustration evident in her posture.
Nikola also stood wanting to meet her gaze.
"Helen please just listen to me…" he started.
"Listen? To you?" she interrupted him loudly.
"As if you would possibly know what I'm going through!, you yourself wanted nothing more than to have me in your bed for years!, and now I should listen to you?".
The words coming from her were hard and it ripped his soul in half.
Helen immediately realized what she had said and regretted it instantly, she never meant to say anything like this.
She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, knowing how much her words would hurt her dear friend.
The way he felt about her maybe wasn't always appropriate but he was always true about his feelings, and Helen knew that he would never intentionally hurt her.
For a moment they both stood frozen and Helen wondered what to do next, leave or apologize, both sounded horrible in her mind.
"Nikola, I…." Helen softly started, but stopped not knowing what to say further.
He said nothing, he just remained standing there.
Helen decided to leave for now, she figured he would probably be too angry to talk to her.
Helen turned around and was about to take the first step back up the stairs when she suddenly felt a strong hand grab her upper arm and pull her back down.
She was whirled back around to face Nikola once again.
The moment Helen felt the hand grab her she froze, memories from before flooding back to her, and she started trembling uncontrollably.
Her breathing became loud and heavy, her body became frozen to the spot, not daring to move.
Nikola noticed her traumatic reaction to his touch and realized that maybe grabbing her wasn't such a good idea.
But his grab contained hurt and anger from her harsh words and he didn't really have any control over it.
As she faced him once more he immediately released her, hoping she would calm down again.
"Oh god, Helen I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" he apologized to her.
Helen still stood there trembling, lost in the horrible flashbacks, Adam throwing her across the room, the hands keeping her down, and the tearing of clothes.
Then she heard her own screams in the back of her mind and she shivered.
That sound was something she was never going to forget ever again.
All of a sudden she softly heard Nikola's voice calling to her, it was calling her back to reality.
"Helen please, look at me!" he said to her holding both her arms softly shaking her, trying to get her back to him.
Suddenly Helen's breathing slowly returned to normal and she then searched his eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked when she regained her composure again.
He continued looking into those ever beautiful blue eyes that he had fallen so in love with when she softly answered him, "Maybe I do need help".
Tears welled up in her eyes and Nikola quickly took her in his arms, holding her tightly.
He held her close to his body wanting her to feel save, as she cried into his comforting chest.
They continued to stand there for a long while, neither one of them having the need to let go.
A knock came softly on Will's door and he lifted his weary head from his desk.
He had fallen asleep on his desk, so it took him a moment to realize where he was.
"Yes?" he answered to the person outside the door.
The door slowly opened and Helen walked inside, closing the door behind her.
Will was slightly surprised to see her in his office, he was half expecting her to still be asleep.
Helen took the seat across from Will, and folded her hands neatly across her lap.
She sighed deeply before making eye contact with her protégée.
"I need help" Helen securely said.