Henry and Will had little trouble finding the back door but once out of the main house they stopped. There was a maze of paths and buildings in front of them and they weren't sure where to go. Henry let his face elongate and used the superior scenting ability of his alternate form to find the right direction.

A young-looking female vampire walked down the path toward them, but barely glanced their way and continued past. The two Sanctuary men just looked at each other and shrugged; this was going to be easier than they thought.

The HAP led them to a structure the size of a small barn. The main door was wider than usual, but the only windows were high up in the walls; not even a tall vampire would be able to see in easily.

"You're sure this is the place?" Will asked.

"Yep, there are definitely HAPs in there" Henry assured him. They entered cautiously, but found themselves in the front quarter of the building amid stored boxes and crates. A wall separated them from the rest of the building and there was another normal-sized door directly in front of them.

"You first" Will said, gesturing toward the door.

Henry had no objection and walked forward and opened the door. They both stopped just inside.

The rest of the building was one large, open space with pillows, comforters, and blankets strewn across the floor. To their right was a half-wall with a toileting and shower area beyond, and to the left were several troughs, one with water and dippers, the others partially filled with various types of edible fungi.

The back wall held platforms at various heights, and lounging on them and on the bedding on the floor were four females and two males. An adult male sat on one of the platforms, while three adult females and a teenage female lounged on the floor; a naked two-year-old boy played nearby. The females all wore loose slip-on dresses, while the adult male wore a sarong around his hips. All of them turned to look at the two men in the doorway, but no one seemed more than mildly interested in them.

"Hi" Henry said, and Will raised a hand in greeting. "We've come to rescue you."

The residents of the room looked at each other; no one seemed to understand. Will held up his "freedom" symbol and tried "Freedom. You understand freedom? We'll get you out of here to the surface. Hungary? Romania?"

The HAPs started to lose interest and turned back to each other. Henry partially transformed and snarled loudly. That brought everyone's attention back to him. He went back to being fully human and said "See? I'm one of you. Come with me." He waved his arm, gesturing them to him, but no one got up.

But the male HAP jumped down off his platform, removed his sarong in one quick gesture, and fully transformed. He strutted forward snarling aggressively, stopping between Henry and the females. The females got up and moved to the side so they could watch the two males face each other. Several of them spoke, but in a language neither of the men from the Sanctuary knew. But they seemed to be urging their male on.

"Oops, I think he thinks you're challenging him" Will said quietly to Henry. The transformed male growled and bared his fangs.

"Yeah, but I'm not. At least I think I'm not." At Will's disbelieving look, Henry added "I was raised at the Sanctuary, I don't know HAP etiquette."

"Great, so instead of rescuing them we get to fight them?" The male raised his claws and took two steps forward. The watching females seemed to approve the move and called out excitedly.

Henry raised his hands in a '"stop" gesture toward the posturing male and said "No, no, no . . . let's just back out slowly." Will and Henry pushed each other out the door and closed it. But there was no lock or bar, so they hurried across to the outer door. But the male HAP didn't pursue them.

Henry said "Now what? Do we have to go get Tesla to translate for us?"

"We can try, but I think we'd have better luck coming back with Magnus; she speaks the vampire lingo too." They left the building and hurried back toward the main house. Two young male vampires gave them curious looks as they walked past, but other than that Henry and Will were ignored.

Back in the main house they took several wrong turns until finally stumbling on the long hallway to Queen Ana's rooms. They found Nikola pacing outside the gate room; he peered down the hall past them when they arrived and gave them a questioning look.

Henry said "We found them, one male, four females and a child, but they didn't understand what we were trying to do. We need you to come back with us and talk to them."

Nikola shook his head. "Not going to happen, Heinrich. I'm going home now, and since my gate controller works here and yours' doesn't, well, suit yourself."

Will protested "Hey, wait a minute. I'm supposed to meet Queen Ana."

"Believe me, William, this is not the time."

Nikola turned and went to the gate room, followed reluctantly by Will and Henry. The vampire locked the door from the inside, activated the gate, and they all went through.

It wasn't very late yet, but after learning from Henry details about what happened with the HAPs, Nikola headed for his suite. Will and Henry searched for Helen and found her still in her office.

"Back so soon? Is Nikola with you?" she asked.

Will answered angrily "Yeah he's back too. We didn't stay very long and accomplished absolutely nothing."

Henry amended "Well not exactly nothing. High Lord Dramelin is supposed to draft a law to free any intelligent beings down there except the human slaves that were there when you and Tesla went before, and we found his HAPs."

Helen looked back and forth between them. "But you didn't bring them back?"

"They didn't understand a word we said, and Tesla wouldn't help" Will ranted.

Henry nodded. "Yeah, and I think the male HAP thought I was challenging him, so that didn't work out so well."

Will added "I didn't even get to meet Queen Ana, just that Dramelin guy, and with his attitude I wouldn't expect anything useful to come out of it."

"Perhaps it's better to postpone your introduction to the queen to a less contentious time." Helen turned to Henry. "I'll speak to Nikola, but if nothing else you and I can go and talk to the HAPs together."

"Great. I wish I could learn languages instantly like you. I'm going to go see Erica and Angelina. Call me and let me know when you want to go." Henry left and Will followed, commenting "I'd better go check my E-Mail."

Helen went to her suite and knocked on Nikola's door. He called out "Come" and she went in to find him pacing. "How did it go?" she asked in a neutral voice.

"It didn't. Rene of course opposes any legislation that would lose him his pets, and I think he was right when he said Ana wouldn't support it either."

"So what can we do?"

Nikola kept pacing. "I don't know. As king I could just take away the HAPs unilaterally, but that would likely upset enough people to get me challenged." He stopped and faced her. "And I don't want to be that kind of king, to just take something away, not even because I want it but because I don't want the other guy to have it."

"I understand and I agree; everything you do needs to be legal and above board. And you would have to be extremely powerful to get away with something like that."

"Yeah, I'm a weak king, thanks for reminding me, as if I forgot."

"I didn't mean . . ."

"I know, I know, I'm just a little on edge. Things have not been going my way lately."

"Henry and I could fetch out Dramelin's HAPs."

Nikola considered it, but then shook his head. "There are two problems with that. One, everyone knows you're my . . . well, female, so any action you take would reflect directly on me. In fact, most vampires would assume I put you up to it and would despise me for using you to get what I want and being obvious about it. Two, it could be dangerous. What if the HAPs don't want to leave or the male decides it's all a plot to take away his harem? Five grown HAPs against you and Henry . . . Henry's a good fighter but he's not that good. And if you stun them all, the two of you can't carry six of them back here."

"Why wouldn't they want to leave?"

"I had Henry describe what they found. The HAPs are not locked in. They're given comfortable quarters, food, clothes, and who knows what all, our boys didn't exactly take inventory. They don't have to work, pay bills or taxes, or do much of anything. While you and I would go nuts with boredom, we can't assume they're not happy."

Helen looked thoughtful. "With perhaps the addition of a second male, although the male already there might not like that."

"Maybe, but if his owner says he has to share, he won't have any choice; the girls would probably be happier."

Helen acknowledged the truth of that with a smile. "What can we do?"

"Well I'm going to bed; my subconscious will come up with a brilliant plan by morning."

"Company?"

Nikola reluctantly shook his head. "Not tonight. I need to be sure you'll be safe and if we fall asleep . . . let's give it a couple of nights, okay?"

"Okay. But don't turn me down for too long, I might find another male myself."

"Hah, as if there's anyone else that could pleasure you half as well as I can." He gave Helen a kiss and escorted her to the door; she heard him lock it behind her.

But in the middle of the night Helen suddenly awoke and sat up; she had heard something, but she wasn't sure what. Then she heard a scream, and recognized the voice- Nikola. Then there was a loud crash; she felt the vibration through the wall.

Helen grabbed her robe, slippers, gun, and a flashlight; she didn't know what she was going to encounter. She started for Nikolas' suite, but turned back and extracted a key from her nightstand; the Sanctuary was hers, and she could get into any locked door, even the one Nikola had installed himself.

The locked interconnecting door only slowed her momentarily. There were no lights on in Nikolas' rooms at all, so she used her flashlight to find a lamp to turn on in the sitting room. Helen had her gun in the other hand; it might be just another nightmare, but the crashing and banging might mean Nikola was being attacked or something else was happening too.

She approached the bedroom carefully. It suddenly got quiet and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. In the doorway by the light of her flashlight she could see furniture strewn around; the headboard of the bed was halfway up the wall, the entire bed canted up at an angle, and the floor was littered with wreckage.

Suddenly a figure leapt from the darkness, knocking the gun out of her hand and then charging into her and knocking her down. The flashlight fell from her hand, but stayed lit. It was Nikola on top of her, and she could see the black of his eyes and gleaming fangs in the dim light.

Nikola raised a clawed hand to bring down on her; Helen couldn't even raise an arm to block the blow, he had them trapped against her body with his knees. But the vampire froze.

Helen whispered "Nikola." A little louder "It's me, Helen. Nikola?"

She saw the blackness recede in his eyes, the fangs withdraw. He noticed his arm was raised above his head and looked at it like it was a foreign thing operating on its own.

Helen said "Nikola, could you get off me please?"

He slowly rolled to the side and she got up and retrieved the flashlight, using it to find a lamp that had been knocked askew but was still functional. She stood it up and turned it on.

Besides the bed being partly up the wall, the dresser was flat on the floor and the nightstand and lamp on the other side of the bed were simply smashed. Helen located her gun and retrieved it, glad she had her slippers on to protect her feet from the debris on the floor.

Nikola still sat on the floor looking around him at the mess.

"I think this was a little more than just a nightmare, Nikola."

"I was dreaming . . . Ginger . . . everything I touched was like a restraint trying to pin me down and hold me . . ."

"Come on, I'll help you get the bed down."

Nikola stood up. "I don't need help and it can stay where it is for now. Believe me, I'm not going back to sleep tonight . . . or maybe ever."

"You can't give up sleeping, that will only make things worse. I'll give you a sedative."

Nikola just shook his head and said "I'm done for tonight. Helen, I could have hurt you or worse. I'm so sorry, but you shouldn't have come in here."

Helen looked around the bedroom and decided they needed to go elsewhere. She took him by the hand, helped him up and led him into the sitting room and pointed to the couch. He obediently sat down and ran a hand through his hair; she sat next to him.

"Nikola, you can't go on this way, having nightmares every night. This one was particularly violent and not only will you not get a decent night's rest, but eventually you'll hurt someone. I'm not going to lock you in a padded room every night; we need to find a viable solution."

The vampire flopped back and rested his head on the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling. "I could go to Bhalasaam overnight. I can be as crazy as I want there, there's no one to hurt."

"You're not crazy and that's not a long term solution."

"Neither is drugging me every night."

"That's true. We could try desensitization. How do you feel about going to the infirmary?"

"I'm not sick."

"I didn't say you were. But there's an OR there that might remind you of Ginger's."

"I'm not going to an OR here or anywhere else."

"Why not?"

Nikola sat up. "Because I don't want to. Helen, go back to bed and go to sleep. We can talk tomorrow."

"I'm not sure I should leave you alone."

"I'm awake now, I'm fine. I can spend some time putting my bedroom back together."

Helen just stared at him for a few seconds, but then agreed. "All right, but be in my office at eight, and I'll have Will sit in too." Nikola made a displeased face but didn't argue. Helen took his hand and said "We'll get through this, together." Nikola gave it a gentle squeeze and she went back to her suite, leaving the adjoining door open.

As she got into bed, she heard the thump of Nikola getting the bed back on the floor. She drifted off to sleep wondering how he had got it up there in the first place.

In the morning Nikola arrived at Helen's office fifteen minutes late, and seemed disappointed Will was still there. Will didn't comment but jumped up from his chair and closed the office door as the vampire sat down.

Helen began. "Nikola, Will is going to ask you some questions; please answer honestly."

Tesla crossed his legs and his arms and began jiggling his foot. Will smiled at him while thinking closed off and passive aggressive too, oh goody.

Will said "Look, I saw what happened to you. That was more than anyone should ever have to endure and I don't know anyone else that would have survived it. Frankly I would be more concerned if you weren't having nightmares, that sort of thing has to have an effect."

Nikola stopped jiggling and bristled. "Are you trying to tell me you think I'm average?"

"I . . . no, I think you're unique both before and after you became a vampire. How do you feel right now?"

"Like the two of you are trying to gang up on me."

Helen interjected "Nikola, we're not ganging up on you, we're trying to help you."

"Well you're not succeeding. Can I go now?"

"No, we've barely started. Will, please continue."

Will sighed and tried again. "Let me try being more specific. Do you feel dazed or detached from reality?"

"No, absolutely not."

"Do you remember what happened to you- not just in general, but specifically moment by moment?"

"My memory has always been excellent. This is a waste of time."

Helen stopped Will from continuing. "Nikola, you didn't answer the question. How much of what happened to you do you remember?"

"Every damned second of it. Happy?"

Will asked "Had any trouble falling asleep?"

"No, it's more what happens after I'm asleep that's the problem."

"You said you don't feel safe outside the Sanctuary" Will said quietly.

Nikola remained silent. Helen prompted him "Nikola?"

He said "What? That wasn't a question."

Very patiently Helen asked "Are you afraid to leave here?"

"No."

"Nikola" she said warningly, "We can't help you if you don't tell us the truth."

"I am telling the truth. I'm not afraid of visiting Ana or going to Bhalasaam, so no, I'm not afraid to leave."

Helen asked "How do you feel about going to the surface?"

"I don't need to go there."

"Nikola, that's not what I asked."

Nikola looked away and stared at the wall. Helen thought he wasn't going to reply when he said "Okay, the thought of going up there makes me very nervous, especially by myself."

Will opened his mouth to ask another question but closed it again at a gesture from Helen. She said "Last night when I asked how you felt about going to the infirmary you resisted the idea. How does the thought of being in an OR make you feel?"

Nikola was back to jiggling his foot again. His breathing had deepened and it was obvious he was under stress. "Okay, okay, the truth is it terrifies the hell out of me. But I'm a vampire; I heal myself so there's no reason for me to ever have to go into an operating room."

Helen said "You know better than that. You can't know what will be needed in the future, and you have a long future ahead of you. You don't want to go through it crippled by fear, do you?"

"Aaaah. You're going to make me go into your operating room aren't you."

"No, you're going to make yourself do it because you know you have to."

"I knew I should have just skipped this meeting" Nikola grumbled.

Helen turned to Will. "Thoughts?"

Will replied "Anti-anxiety meds if they'll work on him, and desensitization."

"Agreed. And since we have a good stock of diazepam in the infirmary . . . there's no time like the present. Nikola, shall we take a walk?"

Nikola looked back and forth between Helen and Will as they stood up and waited for him to join them. Rolling his eyes, he did.

They walked together through the halls, rode the elevator down, and approached the infirmary. Nikola began to lag behind. About three meters from the door he stopped.

Helen and Will stopped too and looked back at him. He was flushed, breathing hard, and staring at the infirmary door. Nikola pointed at the door with a trembling hand and said "I'm not going in there and you can't make me. Bring the medication out here."

Helen kept her eyes on Nikola but said to Will "He's having a panic attack. Please go fetch the diazepam; I'll stay here with him."

Nikola turned to her. "What's wrong with me? This is crazy; I know nothing bad will happen to me in there. Have I lost my mind, or have I suddenly turned into a coward?"

"You're not crazy and you're the bravest man I know. It's a psychological condition that can happen after something terrible happens to a person. It's not something you can control or choose to have or not have. What happened to you was awful, Nikola, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some residual effect. Let's go down the hall a little way."

Helen turned him around and walked him a few paces away from the infirmary. "Better here or do you want to go further?"

"No this is fine." He'd stopped shaking and his breathing had returned to normal, the flush slowly receding. "What's happened to me? I'm nearly invulnerable and I'm scared to walk into an ordinary room I've been in a dozen times before? It's psychological all right, I've lost my mind."

"No, you haven't. The diazepam will help reduce your level of anxiety and we'll come here every day and just get a little closer until you can come and go with no problem."

"That will work?"

"Most likely. We'll go to the surface too, with as many bodyguards as you need to feel comfortable until you can go by yourself. It will just take time to give your mind enough pleasant experiences to counteract the bad one. It will work, you'll see."

Nikola didn't look very convinced. Will came back with a bottle of pills and handed them to Helen who checked the label and nodded. She gave the bottle to Nikola and said "Directions are on the label. As long as we're down here, let's stop at the wine cellar and have a pleasant experience, shall we?"

That got a quick grin. Helen took his arm and felt him relax; wine cellars had only good associations for him. She let him into her private cellar; not that he couldn't get into it, but he generally respected the locked door. "Take any two you want, but I get to share" she told him.

They took the bottles back to his suite, but it was really too early to open them. Nikola took out his medication and took a pill while she watched. "I'll meet you back here at six, Nikola. I know that's early, but the wine needs to be mostly out of your system before you take your medication at bedtime."

"Come on, you know alcohol doesn't affect me."

"We have yet to see how the diazepam affects you, much less in combination with wine. One step at a time, all right?"

"Whatever you say, Doctor Magnus. Now if it's all right with you, I'm going to go work on neutralizing SCIU's version of my dog fence."

"Have fun." They kissed lightly and Nikola went to his lab. Helen called Henry on his cell phone. "Henry, Nikola will be working in his lab all day. He's taken some diazepam, could you keep an eye on him in case he has some sort of unusual reaction?"

"Sure. That's good stuff; at least it helped me for a while. But I'm not a doctor, maybe you should watch him; I mean, what do I do if he starts acting weirder than usual?"

"I think he'd feel self-conscious if I stood there watching him, while your presence would be more natural. If he starts 'acting weird' as you put it, just stay out of his way and call me."

"Okay Doc, you got it."

But the day in the lab was uneventful. Henry tinkered in one corner while Nikola alternated between taking apart and reconstructing one of his units and typing furiously on his computer. Eventually the HAP went over and peered over Tesla's shoulder at the program he was writing, found it fascinating and ended up sitting next to him watching and trying to make helpful suggestions which Nikola mostly ignored but occasionally followed.

When Nikola wrapped up for the day Henry went to have dinner with his family. It wasn't quite six, so Tesla decided to go by the infirmary, just to see if he could. He approached it as he had before, but found it less stressful either because of the diazepam or because there was no one watching him, he didn't know which. Or maybe it was just he was aware he had a problem now and was focused on overcoming it. But he was able to get within a pace of the door; he just couldn't quite force his arm up to turn the knob.

He was pleased with his progress but walked away much more quickly than he had approached. He told himself it was because he was heading toward Helen and two excellent bottles of wine, although he did suspect it had something to do with getting further away from Helen's operating room. Just thinking that made him recall Ginger's OR . . . he banished that image from his mind and concentrated on being safe in his suite with Helen.

He was a little early, but so was she; he was pleased Helen was waiting for him. He liked that she was as eager to be with him as he was to be with her. She greeted him with a kiss and "How do you feel?"

Nikola said "Fine, but please don't ask me that every time you see me, okay?"

"Sorry, I'm just a little worried about you. Which do you want first, the Chablis or the Malbec?"

"Chablis for the main course, Malbec for dessert."

They sipped in amiable silence for a while, broken only by small noises of appreciation for the wine. Then Helen asked "Have you had any thoughts about Rene's HAPs?"

"Not really. My poor addled brain has been occupied with other things. I suppose we could buy his pack, but that wouldn't stop him from getting more."

"No, it wouldn't. We really should talk to the HAPs first and find out what they want; otherwise we're treating them like merchandise just like the vampires do."

"I suppose Dramelin wouldn't mind too much if we just asked to talk to them. I imagine he likes showing them off. Helen, pass the other bottle, would you?"

By the time they had finished both bottles Helen was feeling very relaxed and somewhat light-headed- in fact, a little drunk. She had moved down the couch as the evening went on, and finally climbed into Nikola's lap. He leaned back to make it more comfortable for her to snuggle up with her head on his shoulder.

They kissed a little, but Helen was getting sleepy before they got farther than that. Nikola easily picked her up and took her to her own bed, removing her shoes and clothes before tucking her under the covers. She roused a little while he was doing that, and he told her "Stay in bed tonight Helen, no matter what you hear from my room. I'll be fine, you just stay safe."

She murmured something that sounded like agreement, but he wasn't sure she'd heard what he said. He went around the bed and got her master key out of her drawer and took it with him. He locked the door between their suites again and left the master key in the drawer of a table in his sitting room. He didn't want to have ready access to it either if he had another bad night.

He sat up and read for several hours, took his medication, and went to bed. The night was quiet.

A/N: Thanks to epichlexi and Lorienleaf for their reviews.