Let it be known that I am not a fan of this chapter and I admit it could have been written better, but I wanted to get it out before I went on Spring Break. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews I've been getting so far!
Time had seemed to slow down as Helen watched her life pass before her eyes. Whether it was some dream or she had already died and was seeing it play out before her she wasn't certain. But as she watched her life events unfold before her, through the eras, something struck her during the beginning, near the time they had been fiddling with the source blood. The briefest flash of a letter, an inquiry, but then it was gone and Helen was swarmed with more memories of the Five and beyond. The onslaught was almost painful to witness, reliving the deaths of those around her, seeing them fall as she continued on, forever immortal.
As the memories began to fade and soon only flashes of faces clouded her mind, she became aware of a dull pain enveloping her entire body and a few vague sounds that again clued her in that she was in a hospital. She was very aware that it wasn't her own infirmary at the sanctuary, and Helen remembered why when the most recent memories flashed forward and the presence of an ambulance, sirens, and everything else appeared in her mind's eye. Panic suddenly engulfed her, but she found that her body was unresponsive to any of the actions her mind was telling it to do. Hell, her eyes weren't even opening. More panic seized her. She couldn't be dead. It wasn't possible.
Suddenly it felt like a damn broke and she could feel her limbs moving, perhaps not erratically as she had intended in her panicked, state, but enough. Feeling other than the dull pain filtered through including the familiar tightness of bandages wrapped in various places on her body. Her eye lids snapped open and she nearly shut them again as they were assaulted by the viciously bright light. Hands were on her then, not familiar hands, but the cold, unyielding hands of doctors and nurses who were telling her to calm down. She heard her own heart rate reflected in the beeping of the machine to her left, telling her that it was increasing with every second she fought back against the nurses. For a fleeting moment, rage flooded through her and her strength against them increased; she lashed out, attempting to shove all of them away and get the hell out of the hospital. She'd never liked them, never taken too kindly to the strange doctors.
But she remembered. The writing. She knew it. The name was on the tip of her tongue. Why couldn't she say it? Her eyes snapped open again, this time prepared for the light, and she became aware that one of them was injecting a drug into her IV line, the others holding her hands down so she couldn't fight it off. Helen continued to struggle against them. They didn't understand. She needed out. She needed to speak to Nikola, to Will, to Henry, anyone who was going to listen. She knew.
However, as the sedative began to filter through her blood stream and her movements became sluggish, the nurses lowered her back onto the bed. They were saying soothing words to her but everything sounded as if she were submerged in water. Helen attempted to fight off the sedative in her blood, but it was far too powerful and she was forced to succumb to sleep once more, launching herself back into a swirling mess of memories.
When she awoke next, it was in a much calmer manner and it was far less bright. If she had to guess, it was the early hours of the morning, far before the sun was due to rise. But as she took in her surroundings, Helen realized it was not quite a hospital room. It looked like one, yes, but things were simply . . . off, about it. It wasn't the sanctuary infirmary, either. Her brow furrowed and she attempted to sit up, but the dull pain briefly increased and inflamed across her body, forcing her back down again. Confusion marred her face. What on earth?
And then, she remembered being sedated. Before that, the name that had been lingering on the tip of her tongue. Panic flared in her chest once more but it didn't send her into a frenzy as it had last time – she had to remember to keep it together, otherwise the baby got upset and made everything far worse. She rested a hand across her abdomen, feeling it move briefly, but otherwise settle as Helen tried to control her emotions for a long moment.
The writing. It all made sense now that she remembered the sleek cursive that had turned into an erratic chicken-scratch in a letter she had once received. A hate letter, one from the only man who could hate her more than anything else in the entire world.
And as the door to the room swung open and Adam Worth stepped in, Helen's knowledge was confirmed. She glowered at him, unable to do much else since she was hooked up to hindering machines and her wrists had been shackled to the bed. He wore one of those eerie grins of his.
"Let me go, Adam. Now."
"Right to the point, are we?" He chuckled, nearing her bed. "I think not, Helen. After all, you owe me something." He reached over and pressed a rough hand against her abdomen through the hospital gown she had been dressed in and Helen attempted to jerk away from him. He smirked, and then his look turned cold as his hand drifted up to close around her neck, pressing her back into the pillows.
"You took my daughter from me, Helen, so I'll be taking your child instead. A child for a child, a life for a life." Adam grinned in an absolutely devilish way as Helen struggled to draw air into her lungs. She flailed as best as she could, pulling against her restraints. Adam pulled away a moment later.
"You gave my doctors quite a scare. Eyes all black and scary. Interesting what a vampire pregnancy does, isn't it?" He tilted his head at her.
"I've already lost a daughter, Adam. Haven't you tortured me enough with her death?"
"You deserved that. You deserve this." He snarled, nearing her face again. A harsh look overcame Helen's features as she pressed herself back to the bed away from him. "I was so afraid the car had hit you much too hard, you know." He switched subjects. "You almost died for a bit there. I was worried."
So he'd intentionally caused her to crash. He'd been the one behind everything – she saw it now, and understood why. He was the type who could easily hack the sanctuary systems in order to bypass them. He was capable of building such a bomb like the one that had destroyed her office. He was capable of this, all of this, and now he was quite capable of stealing her child away from her. Helen wouldn't have it.
As he circled her bed, she twisted and lashed out with the leg that wasn't completely bandaged, ignoring the protest half of her body gave. She nailed Adam in the gut with a glower and he stumbled back, doubled over a long moment before he launched himself back at her, removing a syringe from his pocket.
"I think it's time you went back to sleep, Helen." He snarled her name, face inches from her own as he grabbed her by the throat again. With one hand he plunged the needle into her restrained arm, to hell with the IV, and pushed the plunger down with a wicked smirk.
"Sweet dreams, mommy." He hissed as the sedative began to take effect and her eyes rolled back, sleep claiming her again.
For only God knew how long, Helen swam in an endless sleep with strange dreams and memories cropping up to play in her mind like movies. Every once in a while she would almost pull from it at the sound of voices, but they made sure to keep her unconscious for as long as possible. Helen had lost track of days in her drug induced sleep, and could only worry in her mind about the fate of her baby. Every once in a while she would feel a movement, even a strong kick, and she worried it was getting stronger. Were they doing something to the baby? Helen wanted nothing more than to wake up, jerk free, and go home, but the drugs would barely allow her to think straight let alone move at all. Not to mention fighting your way out of a place that housed someone like Adam Worth was a bit harder when you were sporting a pregnant belly.
She could do nothing for the time being as she hovered in her sleeping state, slumbering on. The dreams were becoming less, replaced by nothing but pitch blackness that felt more suffocating than anything. Helen continually attempted to fight it until she was too mentally exhausted to fight it any longer. At least she felt no pain in this state, but she was left with an overwhelming sense of dread. They were going to take her child. Adam was, at least. Rage fueled her then, the more she thought about it. Like hell they were taking her baby, her demon spawn, not if she had anything to say about it.
Helen was surprised when it finally began to wear off, and she felt herself coming from the throes of sleep. Hazily she blinked her eyes open, aware that it was the middle of the night, judging by lamp being on beside her and the darkness outside. She shifted and furrowed her brow when she felt something off, something new, something different, and noticed the swell of her abdomen was much more prominent. She could feel the baby moving; it was far more active now. Impatient thing Adam was, he'd given her something so the baby would develop much quicker. Helen bet it was why she'd been asleep all this time. A frown ghosted across her face as she sat up, glad to see at least some of her injuries had healed in the few days she'd been out.
An overwhelming sense of . . . . everything swirled across her mind and nearly made her ill. She felt rushed and a new panic about being a mother again flooded her senses. She'd had more time, but clearly not now. As her first order of business in preparing for the arrival of her child, however, she intended to get the hell out of whatever place they had her kept in. She blinked, fighting off the last bits of sleep. She needed to get to Nikola. She tried to keep her emotions in control as best as she could, well aware her child could likely feel every bit of panic that she felt, which likely explained why it was far more active. Her entire body felt weak, but she assumed Adam had been giving her some sort of medication that prevented the baby from stealing her own blood to survive. Now, it felt like demon spawn was indeed drawing on her own blood; perhaps the doctors hadn't been to see her in quite some time. Helen wondered why.
Sitting up a bit more, she began to pull herself free from wires and the IV line, disabling the machines so they wouldn't go off or hopefully set off any sort of alarms like they would in any other hospital. A dull throb had inhabited her limbs where they had been bandaged, a throb that matched her current heartbeat. She pushed it to the back of her mind for the time being and instead climbed out of bed, on her own two feet. The hospital gown fell awkwardly around her legs because of her new weight, and Helen found it slightly alarming how different it suddenly felt. She'd carried the weight before, but it was still new. Again, she felt as if she had more time. But clearly that wasn't an option now.
She crept to the door, one hand resting on said abdomen as she pressed her head to the door, listening for any signs of movement. She heard nothing on the other side and took the chance, twisting the knob, and was surprised to find it unlocked. This was far too easy, her mind instantly blared, but she didn't question it at the time being. If she could get out, she was going to get out while she could. She stuck her head out the door, glancing up and down a long, deserted hallway that did remind her of a hospital. She tried to think of any location in Old City that might be set up in such a way. Nothing came to mind and she shook her head, finding that most of her thinking was being impaired by the drugs still in her system and the distraction of demon spawn.
Barefoot and slightly chilled, Helen stepped into the hallway, then quickly began to make her way toward the left. She kept herself near the wall as she took a steady pace toward the end of the hall. It curved around a corner that she had her hopes on.
She was forced to pause, however, as she became aware of a sharp pain radiating down her spine and across her abdomen. It was a horrific pain, one that nearly sent her almost instantly to her knees. The second one that hit her only moment later did, and Helen found herself leaning against the wall, sliding to the floor in pain. Her hands splayed across her stomach as she became acutely aware that she had been sent into premature labor – well, not so premature since the baby had been forced to develop much faster than normal. A sheen of sweat appeared along her skin and panic engulfed her once more, especially when she became aware of the footsteps along the hall. Helen's hands shot out along the wall, looking for something, anything to defend herself with, but her hands found nothing. She was alone and very unarmed, and now suffering the contractions from hell. It literally felt as if her body was being ripped apart, split in two, and for a moment she wasn't aware of the world past her own skin.
She curled her hands into tight fists, prepared to defend herself in any way she could for the time being. Another contraction ripped through her body.
"Not now, sweetie. Please not now. Mommy needs to get a few things done first." She breathed, praying her child would listen to her, however doubtful it seemed. She pressed herself back against the wall, leaning her head back slightly, listening. The footfalls were growing faster, louder, coming from around the corner. Helen scowled, pushing past the pain a moment as she pushed off the wall and used it to climb to her feet.
"Magnus!" There was a shout she distinctly recognized as Will. Confusion marred her face, as she'd been expecting Adam. Instead, it was Will, Nikola, and Kate that rounded the corner and came skidding toward her, all of them looking a bit worse for wear. Helen sat there, stunned a moment, until another pain swept through her and she sunk back to the floor, face contorted in pain.
"Nikola!" She cried, reaching for him, vulnerable as the pain nearly overtook her. Her fingers closed around the fabric of his shirt as he neared her. Will and Kate were saying things, but Helen was withdrawing in on herself again.
"We're going to get you out of here, Helen. Hang on." He murmured softly and she twisted unwillingly in his arms as he lifted her up with ease.
"Niko . . . " She hissed between clenched teeth. Even saying his name completely was now hurting. Everything hurt. Her body was falling apart. Her spine was crumbling and the world was ending and she was positive that she was dying.
"Adam . . ." She tried again and he shushed her as he carried her at a quick pace through the halls, Will and Kate running ahead.
"We know. He's long gone. We'll find him." Nikola spoke in quick, short sentences, the muscle in his jaw jumping. He was clearly worried, if not slightly panicked over Helen's certain state. Another pain sent Helen's body twisting in his again and she clung tight to him, unable to do much else besides biting back cries of pain. The color of the wall and the way Nikola's hands splayed across her back were starting to annoy her because of reasons, and the way the sweat was rolling off her skin positively infuriated her.
"And we haven't even picked out a name yet." Helen ground out, flinching at the bright sunlight as they broke out of the building. Nikola gave a forced little laugh.
"Doesn't look like we have much time. We're about to be parents whether we're ready or not."
"We've got this, Nikola. I have faith." She managed and then her back arched as the sharp pain raked down the inside of her abdomen. Oh, yes, the baby was quite ready to come into the world, clearly.
"I'm glad one of us does."