Chapter 1
Helen gazed out the window at the world passing by her as their carriage maneuvered around the long narrow mountain roads. They curved low and high; to the right was pure cliff face, jagged rock formed by water and weathered by time; to the left was pure open country. Tall, untouched trees bursting out of the earth like fingers reaching for the sky. No mark of civilization for miles aside from the dirt road beneath them.
The carriage jostled the group inside and Helen had to put a hand up to prevent herself from hitting the window.
"Must've hit a rock," mumbled James beside her.
"Quite astute, Dr. Watson, Scotland Yard should have a field day detaining the criminal," muttered Nikola. He sat with his arms folded in the seat across from Helen.
Nigel sat beside him completely asleep, his arms folded and his head bent, not even stirred by the jiggling of the carriage or Nikola's sarcasm.
"Nikola," Helen warned,"Be nice, we still have a few miles to go before you irritate everybody."
She meant it teasingly but he sneered at her anyway.
This was the first "vacation" the Five had ever taken together. Helen thought it would be a marvelous treat to spend a fortnight in a beautiful, old rustic cabin that belonged to a colleague of her fathers. They hadn't really done anything as friends since they started working on the blood and Helen was eager for the chance for the five of them to work in private without any disruptions.
Nikola, however, was not so eager, he was not really the "rustic" type. Helen hadn't thought about his aversion to dirt, and peculiar hygiene regime when she had chosen their vacation spot. So, it was kind of her fault for his sour mood, but she was glad he was there anyways. He was her closest friend, out of the four men she considered her dearest friends.
"He'll perk up once we get there," James said optimistically.
"Yes, Nikola is just putting on a show for attention. After a fortnight he won't want to leave," John joined in the teasing beside James.
Nikola sneered at them both.
"Ah ha ha, your humor astounds me," Nikola scowled and crossed his leg over the other and turned to face completely out the window, as close to sulking in a corner as he could achieve in the tiny space.
He felt a soft, dainty hand on his knee and he turned to meet Helen's eyes.
"Please Nikola, try to enjoy this week...for me?" Helen whispered to him.
He sighed.
"I will not enjoy it...but I won't sulk about it...for you," Nikola uncrossed his arms and smoothed out his suit. "It's only 2 weeks, I can handle that."
He said that to encourage himself, not so much to ease Helen's doubts.
Helen smiled softly and patted his knee then lent back in her seat to watch out the window again.
Nikola kept his eyes on her a few seconds longer, something indescribable flashing in front of his eyes before he sniffed dismissively and leant back in his seat, crossing his legs and looking out the window as well.
The valley seemed endless below them, and the trees seemed to want to swallow the entire mountainside up. It was breath-taking.
The road seemed endless. Endless bumps, swerves, hills and trees. Nikola was about sick of nature when they came up to an old rickety wooden bridge.
"How deep in the woods is this cabin?" asked Nikola.
"Should be just over this bridge and a little further," said Helen.
"Well, we certainly won't be disturbed," commented John with a smirk.
"That's the idea," Helen looked at John, a strange moment passing between them.
James was otherwise occupied trying to gently prod Nigel awake, so he didn't see it, but Nikola did, and he tried not to look as loathsome as he felt, so he directed it out the window once again.
Soon enough the carriage came to a slow halt in front of the much-anticipated cabin in the woods.
Nigel started awake a moment afterwards as if a tiny alarm had set off in his head for that specific time.
Helen was all too eager to hop out of the carriage into the forest clearing.
"Oh! Isn't it marvelous!"
Nikola was the second to disembark and looked up to the source of her awe: a dingy little wood shack.
He sneered. "Marvelous is not the word, dear Helen," he muttered.
Helen scoffed and smacked him playfully across his chest with the back of her hand.
James got out of the carriage and his expression upon seeing the cabin nearly matched Helen's.
"Oh my!" he came up to Helen and they shared excited smiles.
John came out of the carriage next, his look not one of awe as his eyes met with the house.
"How quaint," his mouth curled into a small smile.
"It's absolutely marvelous!" Helen jittered on the spot.
Nigel came out last, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
"Are we there yet?" he asked.
"Yes," Nikola sighed. "Wherever here is."
Helen laughed and shoved Nikola playfully.
"Alright, grumpy gills, if you're going to be such a toad this entire trip you can bring in our bags," she commanded with a fiery look in her eyes.
Nikola's scowl deepened but he did what he was told. The driver was already on the roof unbuckling the straps holding their bags securely.
The other four went happily inside the cabin as Nikola growled to himself, catching the first bag that was thrown down to him.
"Oh, and Nikola, don't drop anything," John called back to him from the front porch of the cabin.
Nikola sneered at him once again and John entered into the house with a hearty snicker.
The driver tossed another bag down and Nikola immediately recognized it as John's. Without much thought he pulled his hands away and carelessly let the bag fall to the dusty ground into a nice stagnant puddle.
"Whoops," he shrugged, still holding the first bag in his arms.
Soon, he had all five bags in his arms and had paid off the driver. The carriage was turning around to leave them stranded here in the middle of nowhere.
Nikola let out a heavy sigh as he watched the carriage ride away, then turned to the dusty old cabin before him.
This was going to be fun...not.
He took in the building in amongst the tall, never-ending trees.
It looked...ancient...and dirty...and unsanitary in every respect.
It looked like it had an old chimney coming out the roof and a full load of chopped firewood stacked against the side of the wrap-around porch that surrounded the front entrance. It was the kind of place that looked small from the outside but on the inside it had spectacularly more room; a backwoods getaway complete with creaky floorboards, worn furniture and stuffed animal heads. There was even a little workshed behind it.
Nikola felt like it was more sanitary to sleep in the dirt outside than be host to the whole wealth of infection lying inside that house.
He heard Helen laughing from inside though, and he bucked up his courage and swallowed his distaste. She wanted him here, so he was going to make the best of it.
With that he strolled as confidently as he could towards the house.
Helen and the rest of the Five were sitting in the living room, sharing a laugh over something, not ceasing even as Nikola walked into the room and unceremoniously dropped all the bags on the floor, except for Helen's. He strode up to her and curtly handed it off to her.
"Thank you, Nikola," Helen smiled brightly at him.
"I have done what you have asked, we are here, now, what do you want me to do?" he said through his tight jaw.
"Enjoy yourself," Helen put a hand on his shoulder and he relaxed slightly.
"It would be easier to make a time machine," he joked snidely.
"Aw, come on, Nikola! Look, this place isn't even all that filthy!" cried Nigel.
"Yes, it is very well-maintained, despite appearances," James concurred.
"What's a few dust bunnies?" John added with a coy smile.
Helen tried to contain her laughter by throwing a hand over her mouth, but it didn't work.
Nikola scowled at all four of them.
"Now, now, lets not make fun, or he will be like this for the whole two weeks," Helen snickered. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Nikola, I couldn't help myself. I...we're done. Right?"
The other three men nodded.
Somehow Nikola didn't believe them.
"Where am I sleeping?" asked Nikola with an impatient gleam in his eye. They were mocking him and his eccentricities, they always had, and he was damned if he would sit there and take it pleasantly. He was miserable here, with them, and he wanted everybody to know.
It wasn't just the dirt, or the dust, or the paltry bathing facilities, or the lack of heating he loathed so much, his dislike for being here was very simple actually, he just hid it underneath all that because, strangely enough, it was easier to explain.
"You and Nigel will share the room down the hall, James and John will share the room across from it and I will take the room down here," she pointed to the opposite side of the cabin.
Nikola was slightly uncomfortable with that but suppressed voicing his concern. She would undeniably hit him if he mentioned he'd rather have her safely nearby, to protect her. Helen was strong-willed, and hated the idea of being defenseless and meek, she could wield a weapon just like (and sometimes better than) any of the boys could.
He bit his cheek and nodded, picking up his case and immediately retreating to the safety and seclusion of his bedroom.
Helen shared a look with the rest of the group before sighing and following after him.
Nigel, too, picked up his bag from the floor, as well as handing James' bag to him. John stalked over and picked up his suitcase, noticing it was dripping water from one corner.
He growled.
"Petty bastard," he stood up and clenched his teeth. Nikola was being a brat as usual, and as usual Helen was bending over backwards to appease him, because if she didn't he would endeavor to make the entire vacation a misery. Couldn't he just bite his tongue and be happy, for Helen?
Nikola plopped his case down on an old wood trunk and huffed at the state of the room. He barely wanted to touch anything let alone sleep in it.
He hated this place; he hated that he had to be here; he hated everyone and everything!
He heard a soft rapping at the door and Helen entered.
"Nikola, may I?" she asked sweetly.
He sighed heavily.
"If you must," he began rifling through his bag to distract himself.
"You're miserable here, I know," Helen came up around him, her head just by his ear, as she put her hands on his shoulders.
"It's not just that..."
"I know," Helen's arms slid around his waist in an affectionate hug. She always liked to hug him like this because it instantly relaxed him. She slightly rocked him side to side as she held him. Like this she could convince him to do anything.
"I just don't appreciate being mocked for it," he sighed, leaning back into her.
"I know, Nikki, I understand," she said soothingly.
"I'll never like it here Helen, I barely like my childhood home, and its cleaner than this place is," he complained, Helen continued rocking him.
"Please, try to have a good time, Nikola, please, aside from all the dirt, can you at least try to enjoy being with us?" Her voice was honeyed and softly pleading and he sucked in a deep contemptible breath before letting it out through his nose, flaring his nostrils.
"All right! All right! I will try - hear me, try - to be a good sport," he sighed.
"I brought you a gift," Helen tried to ply him further. "Something that will make all of this worthwhile."
"What year?"
"82 Merlot," she said slyly.
"The good stuff?" he perked up like a hound catching the scent of a fox.
"The great stuff that my father wouldn't let you touch in a million years," she said with a smile.
"For me?" he turned around to look at her, unfortunately breaking the embrace.
"All for you, sparing maybe one or two sips for me," she grinned.
"In exchange for..."
"For improving your attitude, yes," Helen nodded.
Nikola had to mull it over, really good wine just to pretend he was happy. He could do that.
"I guess that could improve my spirits ever-so-slightly," he shrugged.
Helen smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek.
"Thank you, now go out there and apologize for earlier and then we can get to work!"
"Apologize!" Nikola cried. "If anything they should apologize to me, they have done nothing but tease me since we embarked on our journey here!"
"Nikola," Helen groaned, her eyes rolling in her skull. "Just do it or I'll give the wine to Nigel."
"Nigel! The little weasel couldn't even..." he sucked in a calming breath. "Fine, fine, whatever you wish."
He walked past her and marched to the living room with precise and insurmountable speed.
"I'm sorry for being such a crab apple, I will endeavor to be...less so," he said curtly, to the stunned confusion of the group.
Nikola turned to Helen.
"There, happy?" he asked.
Helen smiled at him.
"It will do for now," she looked at the rest of the group with a bright smile. She had tamed the beast.
~~~~Author's Note~~~~
Hey all. So I started writing this a while back and have a few chapters of it written down. I wasn't sure if i was going to post it but I decided hey what the hell. Anyone family with cult classic horror films will probably recognize the inspiration for this fic. It was a silly thought that came to me and just had to be explored, the results aren't as ridiculous (so far) as you would think, due to my incessant propensity to have everything make sense in the canon universe. So yes, this is a big old bout of Tesla-whumping because I'm cruel and I can.
Hope you enjoy.
I have a few other fics that I have written so far that I might be throwing up in the next few weeks, these are just some works that I have played with over the course of my fanship with Sanctuary. Some I like...some not so much. I would like your feedback to know if they are worth continuing. Some of my unfinished fics that are already up here might be getting there last chapters written, but I make no promises, my writer's brain is a strange and fickle beast and is stubborn as a mule when it wants to be. I will definitely be finishing Old Souls Young Eyes, a new chapter will be posted soon. Here We Meet Again is...pissing me off...but I might be able to at least give it an ending, albeit a shoddy one (at least in my mind) but an ending none-the-less...either that or I will overhaul it completely to be better or scrap it so I don't have to think about it anymore...see fickle. Cowards...I don't want to talk about that one...I'll come to it when I come to it. That is the update on the writing situation. Sit back and relax in the comfort of knowing I have ten chapters of this story already written and waiting.
Thanks my loves!
~Geek