Helen tossed and turned all night, worried about Nikola. Was he resolving his fear by becoming extremely aggressive and attacking before there was even any reason for him to be afraid? Unfortunately, it could be as simple as allowing his vampire side to take him over; and Ana was encouraging him.

She rose early since she wasn't likely going to get any more sleep, dressed, and went to see him. But when she reached the containment cell it was empty. Helen stared at the open door, aghast. She'd known all along that an electronic lock wouldn't hold him if he chose to use his EM abilities, but he'd been so cooperative. And he had to be able to focus to unlock the door; he wouldn't have been able to do it during a nightmare, so this was deliberate.

The most important thing was everyone's safety. Helen had no idea where he might be, but she hoped he hadn't gone too far. She went to the nearest intercom and announced to the entire building "This is a lockdown. Nikola Tesla is at large and must be considered dangerous. If anyone has seen him or knows where he is, respond immediately."

The intercom crackled back and Nikola's voice responded "C'mon Helen, I'm in m' lab, y'don't haveta scare ev'rybody."

Henry's voice responded "Do you need help Doc?"

Helen said sharply "You stay right where you are Henry, a concussion is nothing to shrug off lightly. I can handle Nikola. Nikola, stay right where you are too."

She strode quickly down the halls hoping she was right and she could handle him, whichever Nikola she was facing this morning. He'd sounded odd over the intercom, slurring his words. Was he ill, was he luring her in, or was he beginning to evince a second personality? She fervently hoped he wasn't turning into another Adam Worth. Adam had started out a bright young man, and ended up dominated by a twisted, bitter, evil second personality and she'd had to kill him, several times at that.

Barreling into the lab, she thought she was ready for anything. But the configuration of tubing and glass equipment on the table where Nikola was working looked familiar. She noticed the suitcase she'd packed in the corner, so whatever he was doing wasn't on impulse. She turned to him and saw he was still in yesterday's clothes, unshaven, his hair sticking up in various directions. His tie had gone missing and the top button of his shirt was open. He gave her a grin and raised a flask with a small amount of amber liquid to his mouth and sipped.

"Yum" he said. "Nothin' like my speshul tequila for breakfast."

"You're drunk!"

"Yep, plastered, high 's a kite, shnockered."

Helen relaxed and walked toward him, quite sure he wasn't dangerous in his condition, especially since he seemed happy and relaxed, although he apparently needed to lean on something to keep from falling down.

The three feet high mass of tubing and retorts on the table steadily dripped amber fluid into a flask much like the one Nikola was holding and sipping from. Helen also noticed his bottle of pills sitting nearby, the top off and empty.

"Nikola, you're not mixing medication and alcohol, are you?"

"Course I am, gives it a kick."

"That's dangerous!"

"Naw, pamvire . . . um, vim . . . vam . . . oh you know."

"Nikola, why? We can work out your problems."

"Already did. See? Can't vimber . . . vamp. Nah goin' to hurt an'body." Nikola hiccupped.

"You can't stay drunk forever."

"Can 'til you figger out how t' fix me." He started singing "Fix me, fix me" then stopped and said "Bu' not lika doggy, right?"

"Right. How much have you had?"

Nikola made an exaggerated motion for her to come closer. He opened the bottom cabinets below the table and she could see glass bottles and jugs of the amber fluid filling the space. "Been workin' all night, had t' shample din' I?"

"You're drunk as a lord."

"Thass insultin', I'm drunk ash a king, 'cause I'm a king." The hand he was using to support himself on the table slipped and he almost fell, but he staggered a little and caught himself.

"Fine, have it your way. What am I going to do with you?"

He weaved over to her and draped his forearms on her shoulders. "Ya love me, right?"

"I must, considering what I put up with."

He leaned in to kiss her but their lips had barely met when Helen had to pull her head back; the fumes were incredible. His "special" tequila with the inverted nitrogen molecule made her eyes water just from the smell. She made a mental note to warn everyone else not to touch it, heaven only knew what it would do to a non-vampire.

He drew back, unperturbed and asked "Hey, I'm outta drugs, c'n ya gimme s'more?"

A thought occurred to Helen and she asked "Nikola, would you like to try a little experiment?"

"We gonna make more shpecial t'quila?"

"No, I think you have a sufficient supply for the moment. Let's take a walk to the infirmary, shall we? That's where the drugs are."

"'Kay, jus' lemme get a flas'." He noticed he had one in his hand and said "Oh" in a delighted way and took another drink.

"No, you won't need that; we'll only be gone a few minutes. Come with me." Helen removed the flask from his fingers and set it down. Nikola looked at it longingly for a moment but he was easily distracted back to her.

She started leading him by the hand. He went willingly, but weaved alarmingly so she ended up with his arm across her shoulders to steady him. At the infirmary door, she asked him to open it for her.

"Shuurr" he said, and did without hesitation. They went in and she asked him "What do you think of the infirmary, Nikola?"

He let go over her and lurched around in a circle so he could see all of it. "Iss nice" he said. "Nice 'firmary."

"Would you like to see the operating room?"

"'Kay." He noticed his hands were empty and said "Where's my flas'?"

"It's in your lab. We'll go back there after you've seen the operating room."

"'Kay, 'sit spesh'l?"

"It's very nice; this way." She led him out a door, down a hall and through another door. Helen's own stomach lurched a little at the sight of the cold metal fixtures. All operating rooms looked somewhat the same with mostly the same equipment, and hers was small, almost the exact same size as Ginger's. She glanced at Nikola, worried.

But he didn't seem to care. "Lossa metal" he murmured, and went over and leaned on the operating table. "'Snice 'n cool" Nikola said and clumsily climbed on it and lay down.

"Well that appears to be one problem solved, at least while you're drunk." Helen contemplated his still form. She got a syringe and took a blood sample which he didn't notice at all. She put his blood in the analyzer; perhaps she could figure out what was going on inside him chemically at least. And she was a little curious about how he managed to get drunk since alcohol didn't affect him.

"Come on, Nikola, you can't sleep here." Helen left him for a moment to get more of his medication for his anxiety and a baggie of animal plasma. When she came back he hadn't moved so she put the supplies in his pockets and got him off the table, although he seemed reluctant to get up.

"Okay, back to the lab where your flask is."

That made him move more willingly and she soon had him back in his lab. He lurched over and got his flask and took a long drink. Then he looked around and asked "Whar's my li'l 'brella?"

"Is it that pink one again?" Helen asked, looking around.

"Nah, 'sgreen. Purty green."

She found it for him and got him settled in a chair with his flask and his little green decoration. "Stay right there. I'm going to have a cot brought in and you can just stay in here for a while, all right?"

"Kay." He twirled the little umbrella and started singing something in a Slavic language; at least he seemed happy, and the only thing dangerous about him was the odor of the stuff he was brewing.

She took the plasma from his pocket and put it in the refrigerator door next to a couple of bottles of water and one bottle of wine; the other things in the unit weren't remotely edible and she knew that's where he put anything that was. Helen replaced his empty medication bottle with the full one and then found paper and a marker and wrote out a "Do not disturb" sign and taped it to the outside of the lab door as she left.

Her tap on Will's office door was answered with a "Come" and she went in to find him behind his desk, no neck brace.

"How are you feeling this morning Will?"

"Like someone tried to take my head off yesterday, but the muscle relaxers are working. What about you? It wouldn't hurt to talk about what Tesla did to you."

"He didn't do anything that I didn't allow. I was armed; I chose to accept his advances."

"Did you? I couldn't turn my head to watch- not that I would have- but I heard everything that went on between you."

"Will, everything is fine between Nikola and me; just drop it."

" Okay, I heard your announcement over the intercom; what's Tesla up to this morning?"

Helen seated herself in a chair by his desk. "He's in his lab extremely drunk and he plans to stay that way."

"Celebrating his victory?"

"Trying to not repeat it. Can you get a cot in there for him? He's slept in his lab before so it would be a familiar environment for him and between the pills and the modified tequila I think he'll be willing to stay there."

"Sure. How about you, are you all right? He didn't try to repeat yesterday with you?"

"No, he didn't, and it really isn't any of your business."

"I'm just trying to help."

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just that the only privacy we have living here with a lot of other people is what they choose to grant us or what we insist on."

"Noted. But prying into other people's business is sort of what I do and sometimes I can't wait for an invitation. I'm worried about you. You were Ginger's captive too and you haven't said much of anything about what happened to you there."

"Will, I haven't talked about it because there really wasn't much to it. For the most part I was treated well; it was just confusing for me. I had a comfortable cell but at seemingly random times they would take me out, strap me to a chair and put me on TV. They were using my well-being to control Nikola, but it was a long time before I knew that. I'm over it completely, except for what they did to Nikola. That, I'm not sure I'll ever get over; I doubt I'll ever forget the sight of him pinned to that table" she added in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, me either. I'll get a cot down to the lab for him; anything else he might need?"

"He has his own bathroom and he has a little animal plasma in his refrigerator so I think he'll be fine for a while. I put a 'do not disturb' sign on the door, but it might be a good idea to put something more emphatic across it so no one wanders in; I doubt there's anything we could do to it to stop Nikola leaving if he chooses."

"I could get Erica to rig up an alarm of some sort on the door; something that could be turned off from the outside but that would notify us if the door is opened from the inside."

"Good idea. I plan to check on him periodically but I can't babysit 24 hours a day."

"That should do for now, but long term . . ."

"I don't know what to do for him Will. I had one thought . . ." At Will's raised eyebrows she added "I'm not ready to discuss it yet."

"Okay, I'll get the cot down there and contact Erica."

"Thank you Will" Helen said as she stood. "Have her let me know when she's done so she can give me the instructions for the alarm."

Helen considered going to her office but changed her mind and went to the wine cellar. She spent an hour looking carefully through the bottles but came away empty-handed. She went back to Nikola's lab and found Erica just finishing putting the alarm on the door. The female HAP showed Helen how it worked and said "I don't understand why we're just putting a sensor here instead of locking him in. He hurt Henry and frankly I think he should be locked up."

"Confining a vampire with electromagnetic abilities isn't easy; it becomes rather extreme very quickly."

"How would you feel if it was Henry who injured Nikola badly enough to put him in bed for days?" Erica challenged.

Helen nodded somberly. "I understand your concerns Erica. But if it was Henry who was out of control I would try to help him, just like I'm trying to help Nikola. I love Henry like a son and I hate seeing him hurt just like you do."

Erica nodded and said "I know, it's just . . . Henry doesn't blame anyone, but he's frightened Nikola will hurt me or Angelina while he's incapacitated so he doesn't want to stay in bed and rest like he should. Let me be clear, Dr. Magnus: if Tesla comes anywhere near any of us I won't hesitate to use every HAP ability I have to defend my family. Henry may be restrained by his friendship with the vampire, but I'm not."

"I fully understand; if you're in danger you have the right to defend yourself, but please be sure first that you are actually in danger. Nikola is normally quite harmless as you well know from the times he's watched Angelina for you."

"Normally, but he's not normal now, is he?"

"Not at the moment, no. That's why you put an alarm on the door, so we know where he is. This corridor is covered by security cameras, isn't it?"

"It is, and if the alarm goes off I'll be watching and tracking his movements, and of course I'll contact you. I don't want to fight him or anyone else if I don't have to; I sincerely hope you can help him, Dr. Magnus."

"So do I. Thank you for getting the alarm on the door so quickly." They parted with an understanding look, two women sharing concern for the ones they loved, Helen murmuring "It will be all right, I promise." She hoped it was one she could keep.

Helen deactivated the alarm and went into the lab. Nikola had taken off his jacket and vest and had his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows, and was sitting on the floor with a bottle in his hand. He looked even scruffier than he had earlier.

Helen didn't care much what he looked like at the moment. She needed to talk to him and hoped he was still reasonably coherent; at least he was conscious.

She sat down in the empty chair. He watched her with blank blue eyes and a vacant smile, sipping occasionally from his bottle.

"Perhaps you should slow down on that a little" Helen suggested.

Nikola concentrated and said "Five ounces 'n hour, one pill ev'ry four hours. I calcluat . . . caltucated . . . figgered it out."

"I see. I came to talk to you about a permanent solution."

"Oh goodie."

"Wait until you hear it. What if we used the devamper on you? If you were no longer a vampire, you wouldn't be the Vampire King, wouldn't fall into the mode of acting like one, and couldn't do much damage even if you did."

"No."

"Nikola, we could re-vamp you later after you're better. There are thousands of vampires I'm sure we could obtain a little blood and . . ."

"NO! Might nah wor' a s'cond time. An' can't, an'way."

"Why not? I checked the wine cellar but didn't find the devamper. All you have to do is tell me where you hid it."

"Din' hide it. S'gone, din' need it, all th' li'l vampires 're gone."

"You destroyed it?"

Nikola took a long drink and sighed. "Yep. Us'd th' parts, toss'd out the res'." He made an awkward throwing motion with his empty hand.

"But you could recreate it."

The vampire on the floor started laughing. He put a finger to his temple and said "No brains. You seen m' brains, Hel'n?" He started singing "If I only had a brain" from the Wizard of Oz, mangling the words.

Helen could only say "Oh dear." Nikola was simply not going to be any help at all. Well eventually he would pass out or go to sleep, and when he woke he would be . . . not completely sober perhaps, but much less drunk than he was at the moment.

Helen left him, reset the alarm on the lab door and went to her office. She needed more information on what had happened to Nikola. She understood part of it, the fact that Ana was pleased at Nikola's transformation told her two things: one, that Nikola's changed behavior was expected and standard for vampire royalty, which meant there must be some sort of trigger for it; just having someone say "you're king" wouldn't do it, and hadn't done it for Nikola for months. Knowing what that was might point at a way to undo it. And two, neither Ana nor Rene would be of any help. Who else could she ask? Who else would know?

Probably the High Lords would know, at least some of them, but she wasn't on particularly friendly terms with any of them and they would obey Queen Ana, so they weren't likely to tell her any vampire secrets. Well she had a number of ancient texts in the library, time for some research.

Most of her references were recent copies so they could be handled without being damaged. Helen went through those first. She found a reference to Kallif, who had come to the kingship very young, barely 270 years old. According to the text he hadn't taken on the "mantle" of the king until two years later. Helen was sure that was figurative; there wasn't a cloak thousands of years old being handed down. But she couldn't find anything else about that period of his life.

She discovered reference to a Queen Emira who was at the other end of the spectrum. The vampire had been over a thousand when she had become queen. Her father had hung on to the top spot for centuries when he suddenly died . . . no, the word was more like "ended", whatever that meant. But from the text it seemed he had some help with his exit.

Whoever had written about her hadn't liked her much. She was described as short, haughty, and not as smart as she could have been. However, even the writer had to accord her some respect for the speed with which she took on the "true aspect of a queen". Helen remembered she had a four-hundred-year-old scroll that mentioned Emira, and fetched it out of a locked case. It was narrow but long, and she had had it professionally unrolled and encased in glass shortly after she'd acquired it. The scroll had suffered some damage before she had bought it and bits were missing here and there. Still, it was mostly legible.

Helen read doggedly, wishing she had Nikola here to help her. The language of the scroll was a little different, a version of High Vampire than Helen had few samples of. It appeared to have been written by Emira herself.

The first portion was about her father and what a poor king he had been; a justification for murder perhaps? But there were personal complaints as well, about how he had mistreated her, embarrassing her with criticism in public, even having her publically flogged for some minor infraction. So she had been seething with anger inside while pretending to be an aging, obedient daughter. Anger had to be part of the change too; it had played a big part in Nikola's change, and perhaps fear had as well. If Emira had murdered her father, she must have been terrified what would happen if the attempt failed.

Still, an emotional state by itself wouldn't be enough; but it might be a necessary condition for whatever it was to take over and effect the change. Helen thought about that for a bit.

She read various books and manuscripts for hours. By the time she had finished anything that might be helpful she was certain that whatever happened to a vampire to make them king or queen was entirely internal. The change occurred at various times, but it never happened when the person was relaxed and happy, but rather often in the middle of a battle, during an assassination attempt, or something similar.

When Nikola first became a vampire he had had a difficult time controlling his vampire side, but they'd found a chemical compound that helped him do that. Helen didn't know if he'd been taking his medication lately, it was worthwhile asking him. But the kingship was more than just being a vampire, so there was something else going on and unfortunately there was only one way to find out.

Helen picked up another syringe in the infirmary and went back to Nikola's lab. She found the cot set up along the wall, but Nikola was passed out on the floor. She put his empty flask up on a table where he wouldn't accidently break it and cut himself, and put the pillow from the cot under his head and the blanket over him.

She would need another blood sample when he woke up to track and eliminate the changing levels of drink and drugs in his system from her analysis, but it was clearly too soon now. Then she would need a third sample when he was angry; that one was going to be tricky.

She came back a few hours later with Will and Big Guy and was pleased to see him still on the floor. She didn't want him to start drinking again before she got her sample, and what they were going to do would be easier with him still unconscious.

But he opened his eyes as they approached and then scrunched up his face in pain.

"Hangover?" Helen asked, motioning Will and Biggie to hang back.

"Mmm." The groan was all the vampire could manage.

"I need a blood sample from you at least sort of sober, so I'm going to take it now. Have you been taking your usual medication?"

"Yesterday, I think" he said while she extracted blood from his arm. "Where's my flask?"

"You'll not need it for a little bit." Will brought over a bottle of water from the refrigerator and handed it to Helen; he'd had enough hangovers to know the main cause was dehydration. She opened the water and helped Nikola sit up. He made a face at the water but chugged half the bottle.

"You could have brought me a decent libation" he complained. "Where are my pills?"

"Not just yet. Nikola, I'm going to need a blood sample from you while you're in "king" mode as well for comparison."

Nikola shook his head carefully. "Not a good idea; you don't want me like that, believe me."

"I do, but I also don't want anyone hurt. We're going to have to tie you into a chair with titanium straps and then . . . I don't know, insult you?" she asked.

"Is that why the reinforcements are here?"

"I hope they won't be necessary."

Nikola sat slumped, contemplating the floor. "Okay, where's the chair?"

"In the infirmary."

He looked at her sharply. "You really are pushing it, aren't you?"

"I need to know what's going on inside your head, Nikola."

"Well when you figure it out, let me know." He got up and walked surprisingly normally to the lab door with Helen hovering beside him and the men following.

They made it all the way through the infirmary door, but Nikola stopped in the middle of the room. "So where's the chair?"

Helen emptied the syringe into the blood analyzer and turned it on; she would compare the results with the first sample. She said "We need to go down the hall. Do you remember going to the operating room earlier?"

"Sort of, but I don't want to go there right now." Helen could see he was tense, his breathing rate had increased, and just the tips of his claws were showing. The modified alcohol and the drugs really had worn off.

She stood close to him and said soothingly "We won't go as far as the operating room. The chair is in the second room down; can you make it that far?"

"This is dangerous. I need to go back to the lab and get very, very drunk again."

Will commented "It doesn't look like we're going to have to insult him" earning a glare from Helen.

She spoke only to her vampire. "Nikola, I've read everything I can about how ordinary vampires take on the characteristics of royalty. There's no external trigger, no magic object. As far as I can tell it's all internal based on anger and fear. I can't help you unless I can get a blood sample while you're the Vampire King."

Nikola groaned theatrically but gave one sharp nod and started walking toward the door to the hallway that led to the operating room. Helen took his arm and walked with him at his own pace, which was quite slow. Sober he was still reluctant to even get close to an operating room.

It was easier for him to turn into the room with the heavy chair bolted to the floor than continue down the hall. Nikola sat down; his eyes were black, and his fangs and claws were starting to extend.

Helen got the straps from a drawer and handed some to Will and they began to wrap them around Nikola's arms and legs, tying him to the thick steel of the chair.

"Hurry up" Nikola muttered. "Tighter!" he growled more loudly. He wasn't sitting still anymore; his fangs and claws were completely out and he was starting to test his bonds as the last strap tightened around his chest.

Helen grabbed a syringe and quickly poked Nikola's arm, withdrawing blood. She could see his muscles starting to bulge under his skin and was afraid he would break the needle so she hurried. Finally the syringe was full, the minimum she felt she needed for a decent analysis.

Nikola suddenly stopped struggling. He looked at them and said "You stupid little insects, do you really think you can restrain me? ME?"

The bands holding his arms exploded off the chair and he turned his attention to the ones around his legs and body. Will yelled "Run!" and followed his own advice. Big Guy hesitated, looking to Helen for instructions. She said "Go!" and followed him at a quick walk, capping the syringe and stopping in the infirmary to put it in a drawer where she hoped it would be safe. She could hear loud banging behind her and urged Biggie out of the room with a jerk of her head. Alone she turned facing the hallway, waiting for Nikola.

A/N: Thank you epichlexi, Lorienleaf, :Kotah, Lilliant, Zirf, Simlead, JBB, and guest for the reviews.