Sanctuary: All's Fae in Love and War (Helen/Nikola) PG
Title: All's Fae In Love and War
Author: Shealynn88
Characters: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1900 words
Spoilers: None. For timeline, takes place after 4X5, vague spoilers for 3X16.
Summary: When dealing with Fae, your best bet is to make a trade...
For the insmallpackages holiday exchange.
“Please, you have to help us! My daughter and I, we're in terrible danger... She wants us dead, and she'll do anything to get us back...” She paused, long hair dripping rain water, her child making soft, happy gurgles. “Please, I was told you help people like us.”
Helen opened the door to let the small woman in, looking her up and down quickly. “Well, I can't say I've seen anyone quite like you before, but please, come in. Would you care for some tea?”
In the end, the explanation was minimal, but the fear was real, so they built the enclosure to Jules' specifications, iron and steel and silver-studded rowan wood. It was to keep 'her' out. Jules wouldn't name her, but Helen was beginning to have suspicions.
She hoped she was wrong.
“Helen Magnus, is it?” The woman's laugh sounds like tiny bells, chiming in a warm breeze. “Dear child, don't you know that names have power?”
“So do guns,” Helen says grimly, keeping hers leveled at the woman's head.
The laugh again, one that makes everyone in the room want to laugh, too. “All I want is what's mine. Give me the child and we can just...forget all this.” She waves one elegant hand to encompass the carnage. Biggie is crumpled up, unconscious, and Will is sleeping, curled up comfortably and hovering just behind the woman in some sort of suspended animation. “There's no need for violence.”
Henry's voice is low and urgent behind Helen. “Magnus, she smells weird. Like...like Biggie's fridge. Fruity.”
The woman smiles, her thin face lighting up. “What a lovely, acute sense of smell you have, Henry.” She tips her head, eyeing him intensely. “What is that inside you?”
Her eyes narrow slightly in concentration, and the air around her hums. Without changing at all, she becomes dark and fierce, like a force of nature. Helen gets the sense of great power rising to the surface, and takes two steps forward, menacing. “Leave him alone,” she says flatly. She hears the snap of bone behind her, and the low growling of Henry's other form, and she squeezes off a warning shot before she turns back to be sure Henry's in control.
His eyes are still human, but the rest of him is fully transformed - far too fast to be safe. It's still hard for him to maintain control in this form and she can see the battle for power there as he roars in her face, speckling her with saliva. “Call Declan,” she says quietly, and she watches his eyes to be sure he understands. It takes a few moments, but finally he bounds away, leaving her alone with one very pissed off and powerful fae queen.
She turns back. “Jules came here for Sanctuary. For both of them. I gave her my word. You understand I can't go back on that, don't you? Mab?”
The woman looks delighted. “Oh,” she purrs. “You figured it out, clever girl. But that doesn't change why I'm here. I want them back.” Her eyes narrow, analyzing. “Perhaps, since you gave your word...” She runs thin fingers through Will's hair. “We may be able to arrange a deal. A trade? But they are worth far more to me than this.” She pats Will's head like he's a pet. “You, on the other hand... Dr. Magnus, you would be quite an addition. And it would only cost you...a century or so. What is that, really, to someone like yourself? To buy them time. A fighting chance, if you will.”
Helen lowers her gun slightly. “What would the terms be?” she asks suspiciously. She knows perfectly well it won't save Jules and the baby, but at this point, all she needs is time to find a more permanent solution.
Helen hears the doors behind her slam open, and she spins around to see Nikola stride through. He always has known how to make an entrance.
Henry trails behind him, pale, but back in human form. Helen sighs in relief.
“Mab,” Nikola breathes, looking completely taken - and Helen smiles because it isn't an act at all. He simply can't help himself when it comes to power - no matter the form.
He bows simply. “Don't you look delicious,” he says, and Helen can see his eyes starting to bleed into black with excitement.
“Reinforcements, I presume,” Mab asks, ignoring Nikola and talking to Helen.
“Hardly,” Helen says with a smile.
Nikola looks back at her, hand over his heart, hurt written all over his face. “You wound me, Helen. Of course I came to help, as soon as I heard what was happening.”
“Oh, I'm sure you did. Intercepted Henry's message, did you?”
He shrugs. “Does it really matter how I found out? I believe the words you're looking for are, 'thank you, Nikola, for pausing your important research in order to come to my aid.'”
Helen snorts. “Is that what you're doing, then?”
He shakes his head, looking wounded again. Then he turns to Mab, who is watching the whole exchange with one beautifully groomed eyebrow raised. “Dear lady, I would like to offer myself in place of Helen.” He glances back. “Though she is beautiful, and immortal, and powerful...” He looks down for one long moment and Helen can see that he's showing off black eyes and the beginning of fangs. “I am all that and more.”
Mab narrows her eyes to look at him carefully. “Vamphir?” she asks. It sounded foreign and ancient on her tongue and the intonation makes Helen shiver.
“And so much more,” he tells her, his voice low and urgent. “We could learn from each other, you and I.”
“Nikola, a word?” Helen asks, keeping her voice firm.
He turns his back on Mab, too easily for Helen's liking, and walks over slowly. “Helen, please,” he says softly, ducking his head to keep the conversation private. “I've heard this speech before. 'Be careful, she's evil, we don't know what she's capable of...blah, blah.'”
“Yes, and I was right, before. Do you recall?”
He grins. “Of course I do. You brought me back to this." He closes his eyes, looking blissful, then opens them and lowers his face to hers, his voice softening. "Resurrection, Helen. You don't forget something like that. Oh, don't you think I see through the smokescreen?” He runs his hands up her arms. “You don't want me to go because you want me here. You love me, Helen, and one day you'll say it.”
She shakes him off impatiently. “Nikola, you idiot,” she hisses, “If you make a deal with her, you'd best be sure you read the fine print and iron out all the details, or you're likely to come back missing something vital, or not to come back at all.”
He pats her shoulder absently. “Your concern is touching, Helen, but I'll be fine.” He leans in, close enough that his breath warms her ear as he whispers, “I'll miss you, too.”
“Nikola, don't do this,” she says, “Don't be stupid.”
He smiles down at her. “Oh, Helen, do you realize that you generally insult me right before I save your life? You really do need to work on your manners.”
He turns before she can respond, and walks back to Mab. “My lady? Do we have a deal? You get me, your very own vamphir, as part of your personal menagerie for a century of our time, in exchange for your word - you'll stay out of this plane forever.”
She laughs. “Forever? You value yourself very highly.” She purses her lips in thought. “How about, as long as I have you? As long as you and I are in the Court together, I will stay out of this little world.”
Nikola raises an eyebrow, looking downright eager. “That could be a very long time.”
“Oh, I count on it,” she says. “What is your name, vamphir?”
“Nikola Tesla,” he tells her proudly, and Helen sighs. Sometimes he is just impossible.
Mab sniffs, then narrows her eyes. Helen feels the power rising again; it makes the hair on her arms stand on end.
Nikola falls to his knees with a gasp as Mab forces him to change violently - ripping the vampire out of it's human packaging just as she'd ripped the lycanthrope up out of Henry. Helen swears softly under her breath, forcing herself not to shoot. It won't do any good anyhow.
“Deal,” Mab says, and her voice shakes the walls. Will falls to the floor behind her and then she and Nikola blink of of existence.
Everyone is still for a long moment, and then Helen strides forward. “Will, are you all right? Henry, check on the big guy. Did you contact Declan?”
“Yeah, they should be here in eight hours or so.”
“Good. Get the new security system up and check for electricity signatures at the site of the portal. Nikola should be sending us information soon. I'm going to go talk to Jules. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“Wait, what?” Henry looks back at her. “Was this...is this the plan?”
Helen nods grimly. “We have a man inside, an informant here, and trained forces on their way. I'd say we're off to a good start.” It has all gone exactly the way they'd wanted it to, but she still hates that he's there and she isn't. She remembers their last conversation.
“Come now, you wouldn't leave your team without a leader, would you?” Nikola jibed. “They'll be like lost little lambs.”
Helen glared at him. “Nikola, stop it. It's the only way. I'll be inside, gathering intel, while you and the team work on an offense.”
He tsked at her. “Helen, you can't possibly believe that I'll let you have all the fun. My God, the things that she must have - the things I could learn there! Anyhow, there's no way your kiddies will follow me into the fray.”
“And how do I know that you won't just forget about us while you're chatting up the Queen? No, Nikola. It's got to be me.”
“How do you plan to get information back to your team, exactly? And if you can't trust me there, how can you trust me here, without you here to...persuade me?”
She ignored the pointed look he gave her. “Once I'm back, I'll give you everything I've got and we can build something to close the portal back up. Keep her from coming through again.”
“But she'll already be on the offensive if you disappear before your time is up. Better idea,” he said, waving his hand at her in dismissal. “I go. I send electrical impulses through the portal to communicate everything I see.” He wiggled his fingers and they crackled with blue light, then spread his hands magnanimously. “But please, tell me if you have a better idea.”
She sighed. She hated the idea of trusting him there. Trusting him not to get distracted or power hungry or killed. But he was right. He had a chance of communicating information back, and she didn't. And she knew that as soon as the captive got away - either Nikola or herself - all Hell was going to break loose.
She hated it when he was right. “Fine. You go. But, Nikola...be careful. We don't know nearly enough about these beings.”
He grinned like he'd won something. “Your concern is touching, Helen.”
“We'll get him back,” she says quietly.
“That smug bastard is lucky to have you, Magnus,” Henry says, helping the big guy up.
Helen smiles. “Yes, he is.” And, though she'll never say so, she knows she's lucky to have him, too.
Author: Shealynn88
Characters: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1900 words
Spoilers: None. For timeline, takes place after 4X5, vague spoilers for 3X16.
Summary: When dealing with Fae, your best bet is to make a trade...
For the insmallpackages holiday exchange.
“Please, you have to help us! My daughter and I, we're in terrible danger... She wants us dead, and she'll do anything to get us back...” She paused, long hair dripping rain water, her child making soft, happy gurgles. “Please, I was told you help people like us.”
Helen opened the door to let the small woman in, looking her up and down quickly. “Well, I can't say I've seen anyone quite like you before, but please, come in. Would you care for some tea?”
In the end, the explanation was minimal, but the fear was real, so they built the enclosure to Jules' specifications, iron and steel and silver-studded rowan wood. It was to keep 'her' out. Jules wouldn't name her, but Helen was beginning to have suspicions.
She hoped she was wrong.
“Helen Magnus, is it?” The woman's laugh sounds like tiny bells, chiming in a warm breeze. “Dear child, don't you know that names have power?”
“So do guns,” Helen says grimly, keeping hers leveled at the woman's head.
The laugh again, one that makes everyone in the room want to laugh, too. “All I want is what's mine. Give me the child and we can just...forget all this.” She waves one elegant hand to encompass the carnage. Biggie is crumpled up, unconscious, and Will is sleeping, curled up comfortably and hovering just behind the woman in some sort of suspended animation. “There's no need for violence.”
Henry's voice is low and urgent behind Helen. “Magnus, she smells weird. Like...like Biggie's fridge. Fruity.”
The woman smiles, her thin face lighting up. “What a lovely, acute sense of smell you have, Henry.” She tips her head, eyeing him intensely. “What is that inside you?”
Her eyes narrow slightly in concentration, and the air around her hums. Without changing at all, she becomes dark and fierce, like a force of nature. Helen gets the sense of great power rising to the surface, and takes two steps forward, menacing. “Leave him alone,” she says flatly. She hears the snap of bone behind her, and the low growling of Henry's other form, and she squeezes off a warning shot before she turns back to be sure Henry's in control.
His eyes are still human, but the rest of him is fully transformed - far too fast to be safe. It's still hard for him to maintain control in this form and she can see the battle for power there as he roars in her face, speckling her with saliva. “Call Declan,” she says quietly, and she watches his eyes to be sure he understands. It takes a few moments, but finally he bounds away, leaving her alone with one very pissed off and powerful fae queen.
She turns back. “Jules came here for Sanctuary. For both of them. I gave her my word. You understand I can't go back on that, don't you? Mab?”
The woman looks delighted. “Oh,” she purrs. “You figured it out, clever girl. But that doesn't change why I'm here. I want them back.” Her eyes narrow, analyzing. “Perhaps, since you gave your word...” She runs thin fingers through Will's hair. “We may be able to arrange a deal. A trade? But they are worth far more to me than this.” She pats Will's head like he's a pet. “You, on the other hand... Dr. Magnus, you would be quite an addition. And it would only cost you...a century or so. What is that, really, to someone like yourself? To buy them time. A fighting chance, if you will.”
Helen lowers her gun slightly. “What would the terms be?” she asks suspiciously. She knows perfectly well it won't save Jules and the baby, but at this point, all she needs is time to find a more permanent solution.
Helen hears the doors behind her slam open, and she spins around to see Nikola stride through. He always has known how to make an entrance.
Henry trails behind him, pale, but back in human form. Helen sighs in relief.
“Mab,” Nikola breathes, looking completely taken - and Helen smiles because it isn't an act at all. He simply can't help himself when it comes to power - no matter the form.
He bows simply. “Don't you look delicious,” he says, and Helen can see his eyes starting to bleed into black with excitement.
“Reinforcements, I presume,” Mab asks, ignoring Nikola and talking to Helen.
“Hardly,” Helen says with a smile.
Nikola looks back at her, hand over his heart, hurt written all over his face. “You wound me, Helen. Of course I came to help, as soon as I heard what was happening.”
“Oh, I'm sure you did. Intercepted Henry's message, did you?”
He shrugs. “Does it really matter how I found out? I believe the words you're looking for are, 'thank you, Nikola, for pausing your important research in order to come to my aid.'”
Helen snorts. “Is that what you're doing, then?”
He shakes his head, looking wounded again. Then he turns to Mab, who is watching the whole exchange with one beautifully groomed eyebrow raised. “Dear lady, I would like to offer myself in place of Helen.” He glances back. “Though she is beautiful, and immortal, and powerful...” He looks down for one long moment and Helen can see that he's showing off black eyes and the beginning of fangs. “I am all that and more.”
Mab narrows her eyes to look at him carefully. “Vamphir?” she asks. It sounded foreign and ancient on her tongue and the intonation makes Helen shiver.
“And so much more,” he tells her, his voice low and urgent. “We could learn from each other, you and I.”
“Nikola, a word?” Helen asks, keeping her voice firm.
He turns his back on Mab, too easily for Helen's liking, and walks over slowly. “Helen, please,” he says softly, ducking his head to keep the conversation private. “I've heard this speech before. 'Be careful, she's evil, we don't know what she's capable of...blah, blah.'”
“Yes, and I was right, before. Do you recall?”
He grins. “Of course I do. You brought me back to this." He closes his eyes, looking blissful, then opens them and lowers his face to hers, his voice softening. "Resurrection, Helen. You don't forget something like that. Oh, don't you think I see through the smokescreen?” He runs his hands up her arms. “You don't want me to go because you want me here. You love me, Helen, and one day you'll say it.”
She shakes him off impatiently. “Nikola, you idiot,” she hisses, “If you make a deal with her, you'd best be sure you read the fine print and iron out all the details, or you're likely to come back missing something vital, or not to come back at all.”
He pats her shoulder absently. “Your concern is touching, Helen, but I'll be fine.” He leans in, close enough that his breath warms her ear as he whispers, “I'll miss you, too.”
“Nikola, don't do this,” she says, “Don't be stupid.”
He smiles down at her. “Oh, Helen, do you realize that you generally insult me right before I save your life? You really do need to work on your manners.”
He turns before she can respond, and walks back to Mab. “My lady? Do we have a deal? You get me, your very own vamphir, as part of your personal menagerie for a century of our time, in exchange for your word - you'll stay out of this plane forever.”
She laughs. “Forever? You value yourself very highly.” She purses her lips in thought. “How about, as long as I have you? As long as you and I are in the Court together, I will stay out of this little world.”
Nikola raises an eyebrow, looking downright eager. “That could be a very long time.”
“Oh, I count on it,” she says. “What is your name, vamphir?”
“Nikola Tesla,” he tells her proudly, and Helen sighs. Sometimes he is just impossible.
Mab sniffs, then narrows her eyes. Helen feels the power rising again; it makes the hair on her arms stand on end.
Nikola falls to his knees with a gasp as Mab forces him to change violently - ripping the vampire out of it's human packaging just as she'd ripped the lycanthrope up out of Henry. Helen swears softly under her breath, forcing herself not to shoot. It won't do any good anyhow.
“Deal,” Mab says, and her voice shakes the walls. Will falls to the floor behind her and then she and Nikola blink of of existence.
Everyone is still for a long moment, and then Helen strides forward. “Will, are you all right? Henry, check on the big guy. Did you contact Declan?”
“Yeah, they should be here in eight hours or so.”
“Good. Get the new security system up and check for electricity signatures at the site of the portal. Nikola should be sending us information soon. I'm going to go talk to Jules. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“Wait, what?” Henry looks back at her. “Was this...is this the plan?”
Helen nods grimly. “We have a man inside, an informant here, and trained forces on their way. I'd say we're off to a good start.” It has all gone exactly the way they'd wanted it to, but she still hates that he's there and she isn't. She remembers their last conversation.
“Come now, you wouldn't leave your team without a leader, would you?” Nikola jibed. “They'll be like lost little lambs.”
Helen glared at him. “Nikola, stop it. It's the only way. I'll be inside, gathering intel, while you and the team work on an offense.”
He tsked at her. “Helen, you can't possibly believe that I'll let you have all the fun. My God, the things that she must have - the things I could learn there! Anyhow, there's no way your kiddies will follow me into the fray.”
“And how do I know that you won't just forget about us while you're chatting up the Queen? No, Nikola. It's got to be me.”
“How do you plan to get information back to your team, exactly? And if you can't trust me there, how can you trust me here, without you here to...persuade me?”
She ignored the pointed look he gave her. “Once I'm back, I'll give you everything I've got and we can build something to close the portal back up. Keep her from coming through again.”
“But she'll already be on the offensive if you disappear before your time is up. Better idea,” he said, waving his hand at her in dismissal. “I go. I send electrical impulses through the portal to communicate everything I see.” He wiggled his fingers and they crackled with blue light, then spread his hands magnanimously. “But please, tell me if you have a better idea.”
She sighed. She hated the idea of trusting him there. Trusting him not to get distracted or power hungry or killed. But he was right. He had a chance of communicating information back, and she didn't. And she knew that as soon as the captive got away - either Nikola or herself - all Hell was going to break loose.
She hated it when he was right. “Fine. You go. But, Nikola...be careful. We don't know nearly enough about these beings.”
He grinned like he'd won something. “Your concern is touching, Helen.”
“We'll get him back,” she says quietly.
“That smug bastard is lucky to have you, Magnus,” Henry says, helping the big guy up.
Helen smiles. “Yes, he is.” And, though she'll never say so, she knows she's lucky to have him, too.