AN: Chapter 3 and I have to admit, I don't think I've managed to capture the same tone for these last two as in the first chapter. Please, tell me what you think.

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CHAPTER 3

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"We have nothing to confirm that this is Afina. It does seem unlikely that she would survive a blast designed by Hollow Earth scientists specifically for vampires. No, I think there's a very good chance we're dealing with the remnants of her army."

"If Magnus's right, we don't know anything about their leader, if they have one." Will says.

"Agreed. Gerard, your suggestion of a political approach does lend itself to both situations. I'll talk to Tesla later."

We leave Gerard and I head to the lab.

"Now?" Will asks as I enter. "Right, yes, it helps you think." He taps his temple and starts to turn. "I'm going to find Mal. Night Magnus."

"Night Will."

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The sun is rising, I can see it through the window.

"Please tell me you haven't been here all night." Will stands at the door.

I smile and breathe a laugh gently.

"I hadn't realised the time." I lie, I had.

"Always working."

I laugh again. "That's my motto." I say with another smile.

"You're nervous." He tells me. "I've known you long enough I can tell."

I drop my false expression, hesitate, just for a moment.

"You're right. It's this whole thing." I raise my hands as if to indicate the room and beyond. "I thought I'd left this."

"Magnus this is what you do. You're good at this."

"Because I had to be, Will. I," I pause, think what I want to say. "I just didn't expect to be thrown back in so soon."

"I'm alright." I say as an afterthought.

"Get some sleep." Will orders.

He hands me my jacket from the chair I'd dumped it on last night.

I take in the room.

"I have things to do." It sounds pathetic even to me.

"Sleep. Even you need it Magnus."

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The clouds are rolling passed my window. The suite Gerard arranged is lovely. It reminds me of my room at the sanctuary. I smile to myself, old times.

There's a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opens slowly. I'm still lying on the bed, on top of the covers, staring out the window.

I feel a weight beside me.

Suddenly a flower brushes my nose.

"Nikola stop that." I say knocking it away and turning to face the vampire.

"You've looked better." I say cheekily.

He's holding a tulip, I absently wonder where he got it from before more important matters make themself known to my rested mind.

I sit up.

"I need to talk to you."

"Missed me?"

The months apart had served to make me forget what it was like to hold a conversation with the man.

"Yes." I admit.

His face lights up with surprise and joy.

"I hope you've grown up since we've last met."

He looks at me mock offended. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Did Gerard mention anything to you?" I ask, cutting through our usual banter. In the back of my mind I know time should be a precious commodity now.

Tesla's brow furrows. "About what? Afina?"

"We don't think it's her." I tell him. "It still might be but at first glance it doesn't seem likely."

"I may have over-stated things a little." He admits reluctantly.

"It was a fair guess considering."

"So what's the plan?" He asks suddenly.

It catches me off guard and I have to take a moment to rebalance myself.

"Gerard suggested a different approach, last night, that I wanted to talk to you about."

I can tell I have him hooked. It crosses my mind he already knows and I wonder if he and Gerard were plotting before I arrived.

He reads my mind. "Gerard did put forward a suggestion of me becoming a politician a few days ago." He says.

"Oh did he?" I answer. "What did you think? I must admit, the idea of you with official power worries me."

"Oh thank you. I did a good job in SCIU didn't I?"

"You used them." I remind him. "Stole huge amounts of money to fund your newest science project."

He's wearing an offended expression again. He's about to speak but I cut him off. "I will say you did seem to be doing a good job otherwise."

"Thank you." He says in an 'I've won' manner.

I smile at him.

"You're genuinely thinking of using his plan, aren't you?" He asks.

"It's not much of a plan, but yes. But I want to know what you think of it, Nikola. You'd be in the middle of everything after all."

He doesn't answer.

I think I've actually succeeded in making him speechless.

"So?" I prompt.

"You want me to find the vampires, the ones who attacked me, and try to talk them into doing what I say despite the fact that I'm significantly younger than all of them and, to use Afina's words, a 'mongrel'?" He asks.

I see his point. "Yes." I admit.

"No biggy then."

I laugh. I can't help it.

"Nikola, if anyone can do it, I'm sure you can." I say. That cheers him up.

His ego makes me smile. Too easy. What's worse, I know he knows it.

"I can but try." He concedes highly.

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"Should I be worried?" I ask. I'm back in Gerard's suite. "Nikola mentioned he'd been here a few days. Has there not been any activity from the vampires since?"

Gerard sighs and looks directly at me before turning towards the door in a follow me gesture.

"We've been monitoring the area," he says as we walk through the ship, "but it seems, no, there hasn't. We think it's a case of us disturbing them otherwise we wouldn't have even known."

Will joins us as we enter what seems to be Gerard's control room for not only his ship but everything else as well. Once we enter, I see Tesla has already made himself at home, claimed territory possibly.

Gerard walks up to an empty console.

"I've had my people send satellites over the area of the caves and the dig. Look." The images flash up on the wall screen beside us. "Nothing to indicate inhabitants. We believe they've already moved on, perhaps even last year, we don't know."

I stare at the various views.

"And this is recent?"

"Yes. We have, however, dug up a few older shots, nothing as sophisticated of course, they didn't know to look at the time."

New images appear on the screen, the old ones shrunken in the background.

"These indicate perhaps a few hundred vampires, we can't be sure."

I nod and study the shots. Yes possibly. "When we're these taken?"

"Various times. But these," he points, "are from four months ago." He points again. "And these, from eleven months ago."

I see the difference.

"Obviously comparing the two images directly is unwise due to their different natures but I think we can say that not all of the vampires suspended in the stronghold survived the blast or were awoken."

"I agree." I say. I point at the four month old image. "Is this the best we have from this time?"

"Unfortunately yes. As you can see, the mass we assume to be the vampires have disappeared entirely since then." He brings the relevant newer image to the front beside its sibling. "I've asked my people to isolate a unique signature for vampires from these shots so that we can, in theory, scan the globe for likewise signs."

I nod. A good idea.

"Can you do that?" Will asks.

"Easily. It's just a matter of finding a difference."

Will shakes his head. "I meant the scan the globe part. Isn't there some kind of law against it, won't there be governments trying to stop you?"

Gerard looks away guiltily for a second.

"I admit, in order to successfully search for these signs, I plan to bring SCIU on board."

"Really?" Will. Eyebrows raised.

"A little bit risky isn't it?" I ask.

Tesla has joined us now.

"A necessary risk." Gerard answers.

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AN: Okay, maybe significantly more than 4 chapters. They keep talking. I can't make them stop. Once I start one thing they go on and on until I've got to the end and think 'oh! That's that chapter then.' The plan said 4 chapters. Bye bye plan.