17

PLAYING WITH SILVER

"Subject stable... pupils, sluggish but okay. Will?"

Dr Will Zimmerman, entirely human, was laid on the bed. He stared blankly at the ceiling, focused on the infirmary lights which leered at him with neon claws. Helen hovered, carefully monitoring his vitals. He could sense her now... distinguish her from the others. She had a name and fragments of memories. Helen Magnus, yes, he remembered her now. Remembered her hitting him with a damn car.

"Will, can you hear me?"

Slowly, his head tilted to the side. Will nodded at her in recognition, blinking slowly as if to say something. His wrists strained against the leather restraints causing their buckles to creak.

"For a while there, we thought we lost you," she added quietly, laying her hand on his arm in soft assurance.

Nine hours later he was sitting up, flicking through Sunday's paper in his own room. His skin itched but aside from a few nasty scratches and bruises, he was unharmed from his adventures as a sand creature.

"Quite the trail of destruction, eh?" Henry said.

Henry was perched on the end of Will's bed, playing with one of his half-built experiments. Beams of sunlight fell over the Gothic room, warming it as the afternoon started to fade. Tesla's stolen research towered in several looming piles of paper, some arching alarmingly toward the edge of the bedside table.

"It's not exactly a badge of honour," Will sighed, setting the newspaper down.

"Yeah, but you go to be a vampire," Henry insisted.

"Can you try to be less excited by this?" Will managed a grin though, nudging Henry with his foot. "Besides, I was even less of a vampire than Tesla."

"Don't let him hear you say that, he takes his vamp-ness very seriously. He's having a hard enough time now that we've got a full blood in the basement."

"A what?" Will's eyes went wide.

"Picked up a vamp in South America. They're real ugly," Henry added. "Trust me, Tesla's the plushie version."

"That must have hurt his feelings..."

"Yeah, he's sulking in my lab," Henry looked down at the gadget in his hands. "Made you this, though. It's a hand-light – better than a torch. Long as you're holding it, it'll keep shining."

Will took it and laid it in his palm. A few minutes later the silver ball started to glow. "That's quite cool. I'll put it in my 'tomb raiding' kit for the next time Helen decides to go on holiday."

"You know what else we picked up in South America... A Magoi – fully grown pain in the ass."

Will's face fell, a deep frown folding across his forehead. "Man, I hate those things. It's not still here..."

"Turned the SHU into a comfy nest," Henry cut in. "Full house. Seriously dude, we need to start having words with the boss about the type of creature she brings home. Vampires are okay but I draw the line at creepy telepathic ice creatures."

"Me too."

Will scratched his arm until it hurt.

Nikola had grown bored of picking through Henry's lab. Truthfully, there were only so many items he could break or sabotage before he got bored or felt guilty – which wasn't a familiar. Empathy – urgh, that was for humans not semi-immortal geniuses.

He wasn't allowed near either the vampire or the Magoi so he sulked his way back through the lofty corridors of the Sanctuary and inevitably ended up in Helen's office. He retired to her desk, strutting around to sit in her leather chair with a glass of scotch nested in one hand.

Sometimes he regretted signing this house over to Helen to settle a few bills. He was sure that he knew its secrets better than her – even down to the compartment hidden in the wall behind the desk. Nikola had his most treasured possessions five feet from Helen and yet she'd never even noticed.

"What were you doing in Old City?"

Nikola jumped at Helen's voice, spilling his scotch. "I – what?" She may not have adopted the claws or fangs, but Helen could sneak like the best of them.

Helen sat on her desk, eyeing Nkola suspiciously. "The night the sand creature attacked you in the subway... You said you didn't organise this situation but why were you in town? Last I heard you were in Moscow digging around in some old Cabal base. Strange co-incidence that you should be found lurking at my back door the very night a sand creature appears. Were you following me?"

Nikola set the scotch down. "No. I was following Ashley."

"Nikola!"

"Though you may not believe me, it was for her own good. When I heard where she was going I knew she was in trouble."

Helen's eyes were nearly as black as a vampire. She leaned forwards, curling her hands over Nikola's side of the desk, furious. "You knew that there were vampires sleeping in the desert?"

"One vampire and a den of diseased humans. Yes. I knew."

"And you didn't wake them? After all your crazy plots to revive your precious species..."

"Are you crazy? If you had spent even a moment on your history Helen, you would know the tale of the brothers."

"...Brothers?" she whispered, pulling back a fraction.

"Both destined to be Pharaoh, one conspired with humanity to take over the throne by dealing in Abnormals. The other led the last of the vampires out of Egypt towards the untamed North but he never made it. The vampires were slaughtered and he was entombed by his own brother for thousands of years. If released, his anger would set a rage upon the world. I want to rule the earth Helen – not tear it apart despite what you may think."

"How very noble of you."

"Whatever my intentions were," Nikola ignored the slight. "You've got a pissed off ancient vampire on the loose. I'd bet your entire wine cellar that he's headed here."

"Here?" Helen whispered.

"You have his brother and I for one don't want to be around when this ancient shit hits the fan."

Helen hung her head, her beautiful long hair falling over her face. "Bloody hell..." she whispered.

"Have you been following the reports out of the African Sanctuaries? There's something out there, in the desert. The locals call it, 'voices on the wind'. The vampire has hundreds of sand creatures. He's smart, arrogant and has nothing to lose. It's only a matter of time until he finds us."

"Dammit, Nikola... You saw how hard it was to take on the other vampire – and he was starving and weak."

"His brother will be feeding on every human he comes across. He'll be stronger than you can imagine."

Nikola stood suddenly, placing his hands gently over hers. Without warning he kissed her – only for a moment but it was soft and loving. His head tilting a fraction to push her gently backwards.

"N-Nikola..." Helen stammered, looking up at him from under thick lashes when he pulled back. He'd tasted of scotch and wine, with something of the storm in his lips.

"Don't say anything," he insisted, lingering for another moment – letting his cool lips tease hers. Then he walked away, leaving her in possession of the office.

"...no, no more reports since Thursday. The locals say the voices are gone and the sands have stilled. I'd bet they've made it as far as Europe by now..."

"Thank you," Helen replied, and set the phone down.

She brought up a map of Africa and marked the vampire's progress on the screen. If her reports were accurate, they were covering ground fast. It would only be so long before the ancient king worked out how to drive and fly. Helen rested her fingers over her lips. Her eyes closed.

"'Sup boss?" Henry wove through the piles of books and paper littering Helen's office, extending his electronic tablet to her. "Fresh off the wire, one of the Parisian Sanctuary scouts has returned. It's not good news..." he added, seeing her face fall as she started to read. "They've stumbled across a blood-bath in one of the illegal factories. Early reports indicate at least eighty workers with their throats torn out."

"God..." Helen trembled, handing it back to Henry. "Nikola was right about the bloodshed."

"We need to wake our vampire up."

"You honestly think he'll help us? We kidnapped him, if you remember. Vampires didn't rule the world because they had long fangs and a decent set of claws. They're smart, Henry."

"I don't think we have a choice. We just want to talk to him. If you think everything's going south, we'll knock him out again."

Helen shifted uncomfortably.

"This is the worst idea you've ever had..." Henry muttered to Helen.

They were both sitting above the interview room, hidden behind heavily tinted, one-way glass. The ancient vampire was tied to a chair with yards of silver chain that clinked softly every time he breathed.

The creature shifted uncomfortably against his restraints, looking at his chains with dark eyes. A few minutes later he glanced up and Henry's stomach turned with realisation that it already knew how to break free.

Nikola sat on the opposite side of the narrow table looking tense. He'd dreamed of questioning an ancient vampire for so long, asking it the secretes of the world – this was not what he had in mind. His eyes flicked to the silver chains. They looked little better than a rope around a tiger's neck.

"Welcome to the the 21ist century," Nikola purred, in an Ancient dialect of Egyptian. "Apologies for the chains."

The vampire took another strained breath. His frail physique was more obvious under the harsh light. Bone protruded from his skin, cutting dark shadows over his angular form. Ivory fangs rested against his jaw, one of them chipped badly at the edge. His complexion wasn't quite so ashen now Helen had been drip feeding him for several days. "There is no need, I speak your language fluently. You are not skilled in mine."

Nikola flinched.

"Helen..." Henry whispered warily.

"He'll be all right," Helen replied quickly. She hoped.

"Very well," Nikola answered evenly. "We know your history and your past relationship with humanity," he continued. "Your work establishing a sanctuary for abnormal and human creatures was noble."

"It did not end well..." the vampire cut in darkly.

"That was not your fault. Magoi are very powerful creatures, more ancient than you. Causing the destruction of others is how they exist. Your sanctuary died because you were unlucky enough to stumble across one."

That tempered the ancient vampire somewhat. "Am I to understand that you intend to let me go?"

"I would like to," Nikola replied, honestly. "We have our own Sanctuary networks indeed, this building is one of them. Your thousands of years of experience dealing with abnormals would be invaluable to us."

"You would have me a consort," the vampire eyed his distant descendent. "In return I presume I am not to feed from the residents."

"About that," Nikola set a crystal glass on the table and then started to pour silken, red wine into it. He nudged it toward the vampire – who was still chained and unable to accept the gift. "You have something to thank the humans for, they invented wine. I find it quite useful in curbing other cravings."

Above them, Helen rested her hand over her chest. It was tight and painful, the heartbeats in her head crashing against each other. She'd been taking light muscle relaxants to calm herself down but it wasn't enough.

The vampire was smiling.

"Why don't you ask me what you really want to know Nikola..."

Nikola sat back, alarmed by the red pits burning in the heart of the vampire's eyes. "I..."

"There's an army of half-lings on their way here with my brother at their bow."

"Can you stop them?"

The vampire shook his head. "No – but I can teach you how to find them."