Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary

Helen Magnus sits in a chair next to Mary's bed, the soft firelight glinting on her golden hair. She is, in theory, practicing for a lecture she is due to give at the women's college the following week, but in truth, she finds that saying her words aloud to Mary makes them seem more reasonable, more real. She deviates often from her notes, telling old stories about the events that had led her to her conclusions, and laughing to herself at the memories.

Helen doesn't have a great many people to talk to anymore. Her father, gone for more than four decades now, has left her an excellent reputation and a house with all the space and privacy she required, but little in the way of social standing. James does not care to reminisce about the old days, finding even the fondest of her recollections too painful to endure. Nigel and Nikola are gone, off in the world wreaking havoc in their own separate ways, and only darkening her door step when they needed something.

Helen does not lack for companionship, but there are few people to whom she could tell the whole truth. Stories about whiskey addled dragons and overenthusiastic bishopfish are hardly proper dinner conversation, even with the details carefully edited. She finds she has few people with whom she could laugh.

Mary doesn't answer, of course. She sleeps on and on, as the days turned to weeks and months and years. Her physical condition does not change, much to the consternation of James, who purports that her muscles should be well atrophied by now. He has even gone so far as to take a blood sample, against Helen's wishes, in the hope of duplicating whatever keeps Mary hale for his own latest project, but so far his results have not been encouraging.

She merely waits, sleeping, as time dragged on. Helen doesn't change either, though she is more and more tempted to do something to her hair. They wait together, one sleeping and one waking, and the world changes slowly around them.

Someday, James thinks, Mary's mind will heal itself and she will wake. Helen doesn't know if she can wait in one place for that long. There are whispers of war on the continent again, and Helen knows that this time it will be worse, though she's not sure exactly how. She doesn't know how Mary read her thoughts that last day, but she doesn't doubt it happened. She can only hope that Mary understands why Helen has to leave.

She's not leaving just yet, though. She will see England, and her fledging Sanctuary Network, through the brewing war. And while she lays down stores against the inevitable, she will sit here, in this room. She will read lectures and tell stories, she will laugh and open her heart. She doesn't know if Mary hears her, but it does her good to speak.

Mary focused on the Big Guy's feet, doing her best not to trip as she reached out to see if the vampiric thoughts were getting any stronger. She had to admit that walking in trousers was less trouble than walking in skirts, but she was still pretty sure that closing her eyes to concentrate would result in falling over a rock, and probably firing the gun by accident as well. Splitting her concentration was easy enough, but moving forward at the same time was another matter.

"She's triumphant," Mary said.

"Magnus?" Declan asked, not turning to look at her. His training had reasserted itself, apparently, and he was completely focussed on the goal.

"No," said Mary. "The Vampire Queen."

"They have queens?" Kate asked. "Like bees?"

"No, unfortunately," Mary said. "Just like people. But at least I'm fairly sure that she's the only one who's awake in there, besides Helen and Nikola."

"You can sense them?" the Big Guy asked.

"More or less," Mary said. "They are a lot fainter. If you want me to see more deeply, we're going to have to stop moving."

"We're too exposed out here for that," Declan said. "It'll have to wait until we find cover."

"There!" said Kate, pointing ahead. Mary squinted, following her line of sight.

It was a cave, and would provide either cover or entrance. Declan altered course slightly, and the four of them came at the opening from the side, pressing against the rock wall. Very, very slowly, Declan looked around the corner. When his eyes were not enough to pierce the gloom, he reached for his flashlight. Mary held her breath. She couldn't sense anything close by, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be a surprise waiting for them.

"I think we're clear," Declan said. He didn't quite speak at a whisper, but it was a near thing. "Kate, follow me. We'll come back if it's clear."

The Big Guy grunted, and moved closer to Mary. He carried no weapon, but Mary didn't doubt the strength of his hands.

Declan and Kate went into the cave, and it felt like forever before they emerged again.

"We're good," Kate said, her posture slightly relaxed. "The cave is empty, and then there's a door."

They all walked into the cave. It wasn't natural, Mary could see now, though she could not have named the tool that had hewn the walls. The cuts weren't entirely smooth, as though someone had endeavoured to make the cave seem natural, but they were uniform in a way that nature couldn't have produced.

"Vampire work?" she asked.

"No," Kate said. "The Praxians built this place. When the vampires took it over, I don't imagine they made too many changes to the outside.

"It's the changes to the inside that I'm worried about," Declan said. "Those Egyptian tombs had traps and curses aplenty, and they were probably just cheap imitations of what the vampires could do. We will have to be careful."

"Got it," Kate said, a grin on her face. Mary didn't doubt for a moment that Kate was actually looking forward to this, mortal peril or no. Mary had to admit that Kate's bravado was making her feel better.

"Let's go," Declan said.

Again in single file, and staying close to the walls, they headed further into the cave. Before long, they came to a chamber door, carved with glyphs that Mary couldn't even begin to guess the meanings of.

"Look," said Kate, pointing at the ground in the middle of the cave, where a dusting of sand covered the rock.

"Footprints," Declan said.

"Those are the doc's," Kate said. "Only she would wear boots like that to a place like this."

"Here are more," Declan said. "Tesla?"

"I think it must be," Kate said. "No scuff marks, so they didn't force the door open."

"There's a humming noise," the Big Guy said. "If it's electromagnetic, he could have opened it that way."

"Do you smell anything?" Kate asked.

The Big Guy sniffed at the air, then turned to her. "No."

"Damn," said Declan.

"Can we get through this way?" Mary asked.

"Not without Tesla," Declan said. "Or some C4. Which I do have, but I am reluctant to blow things up in a cave unless I have to."

"Works for me," Kate said. She gestured with her flashlight. "The tunnel continues that way. I say we keep going and see if we find anything else."

"I don't see that we have much of a choice," Declan said. "I don't like going into enemy territory without a better idea of where the exits are."

"Just keep the C4 handy in case we need to make one," Kate said.

The Big Guy rolled his eyes and followed her, leaving Mary and Declan to bring up the rear. "Americans," Declan muttered.

"I heard that!" Kate said.

"Anything new from our hosts?" Declan said to Mary. She shook her head.

"No, there's no change," she said. "But wait a minute, Kate, stop."

Kate stopped walking forward and froze. "What is it?" she asked.

"Helen," Mary said. "And Nikola too. I can sense them. He's very happy about something, and very sad at the same time."

"Typical," Kate muttered.

"Is he on our side?" Declan pressed.

Mary closed her eyes. "Yes," she said, letting her breath out. "At least he is completely loyal to Helen, for whatever that is worth."

"And they're together?" the Big Buy asked.

"So far as I can tell," Mary said. "They're back in that room we couldn't get into."

"Declan," Kate started.

"No," Declan interrupted. "We're not blowing anything up until we have another exit, Freelander. It's a bad idea and you know it."

"Fine," Kate grumbled. "Then let's go find one."

Kate turned around and found herself face to face with a vampire.

"I've been thinking," said Nikola in a calm voice that grated on Helen's nerves. Afina had just casually announced that her people were about to be eaten, and he was still theorizing about God knew what.

"Now is not the time, Nikola," she said. Her wrist was healed, more or less, which meant she could get up and pace again. It didn't accomplish much, but it did make her feel better.

"Oh, I think it is," Nikola said. "I've been thinking about Bhalasaam, and how the vampires there were killed."

"James told me," Helen said. "French, Russian and Spanish troops and cannon."

"Oh come on, Helen!" Nikola said. "Do you really think that was enough? To take on the greatest species that ever lived? Even if they were diminished, they would have been able to handle a few cannon embankments."

Helen paused in her pacing and considered it. Damn the man, he was right. There had to have been something else.

"Fortunately for you," Nikola continued, "while I was engaged in my efforts to resurrect my race, I did quite a bit of research into that battle."

"Which you neglected to share," Helen said.

"Inform you how to destroy my people before I'd even finished bringing them back?" She could just imagine what he looked like, even though he was still separated from her in the dark. She sort of wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. "I can't imagine why I forgot to tell you."

"Nikola," she said. "Spill."

"Fine," he said, only perfunctorily disgruntled. "It wasn't the French or Spanish that did them in. It was the Indian militia, the troops on the ground. Most of them were related, you see, all members of the same clan, and they shared a certain trait that the vampires found most…unappetizing."

"Their blood?" Helen said. "There was something in their blood?"

"I wondered, you know, how mere humans could take down my ancestors." It never ceased to amaze Helen that Nikola could speak fondly of things that tried to kill him. It had been annoying during World War II, when Nikola professed a quiet admiration for the determined resolution of the Cabal, and it was infuriating now. "It couldn't have been just the conviction of faith. I mean, that's enough to get you started, but it helps to have something you can back it up with. And it would have to be everywhere at once. Or at least in enough places to make a difference."

"What are you talking about, Nikola?" Helen asked.

"Cast your mind back, if you will, to the fourth century BC," Nikola said in an expansive tone.

She was going to kill him, right as soon as she got him out of the pit. She began shredding the backpack Afina had tossed into the tomb. If nothing else, it prevented her from trying to strangle him from across the room. When she had done as much as she could, she took off her coat and began to shred that as well.

"Alexander the Great was dead, yes, but he left behind him a legacy unlike anything the world had ever seen before," Nikola continued. Helen began to tie knots. "Macedonian DNA spread across the world. Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Indian, all with same potential locked inside their genes."

"What is that?" Helen asked, losing patience.

"I have no idea," Nikola said. "I got distracted by a thing. But that's not really the point. The point is that the gene spelled the beginning of the end for the vampires. By the time the Romans came around, and that conviction I was talking about earlier, the gene had spread far enough that the vampires couldn`t control it any more, particularly in India, where clan and caste are held in such high regard."

"How does any of this help us, Nikola?" Helen said. She tested the strength of the knots she'd tied, and decided that they might hold, if they were lucky. "Catch this."

She threw the makeshift rope over the side of the chute and wrapped as little of it as she could manage around her waist. She felt Nikola test the weight.

"This is never going to hold, Helen," he said.

"Do you have a better idea?" she asked.

"No," he said, and she had just enough time to brace herself before he began to climb.

It took only moments, and then he was beside her, the flashlight held between human teeth. He was looking at her bandaged wrist, but it was human concern and not vampiric hunger that was written on his face.

"I'm fine, Nikola," she said. It was a relief to speak at normal volume again, to not have to shout at him down the chute. And, of course, it was nice to have him back at ground level.

"You are," he said, but he took her hand anyway and pressed a light kiss to the bandage.

"You were saying something about Alexander the Great," she prompted him, determined to keep her voice level despite the butterflies that were suddenly threatening to unsettle her stomach.

"Oh yes, that," he said, dropping her hand and smiling at her in a way that would have been devastating in proper lighting but looked demonic when lit only by the flashlight. "Long story short, the gene did not do well in Europe against the plague, but it seemed to do all right in India."

"Nikola," she said. She took both his shoulders without thinking about it, and felt the old, familiar strength coiled there, the vampire's strength. "How does that help us?"

"Well, Helen," Nikola said. He shone the flashlight on his own face, lighting the picture of innocence he was affecting for her benefit. She was definitely going to kill him. "It's an Indian gene. Aren't we about to be rescued by your token Indian?"

Will had not meant to fall asleep. In fact, under the circumstances, sleep was a pretty bad idea. But it had been 18 hours, one teleport, one gang infiltration and a hostile take-down since he'd had any rest, and once the boat was out to sea, it was only a matter of time before the rocking of the waves and the fact that he was sitting down resulted in an inadvertent nap.

The boat, which was a ship by real standards, in that it had a captain and a crew, was packed to the gunwales with heroin. Under normal circumstances, this would have made Will very nervous, if only because he didn't fancy trying to explain to any authorities that might find them that he wasn't actually a drug dealer. This time, though, he was nervous for entirely different reasons, and it took only a soft noise to wake him from his unplanned rest.

Abby was laughing. Giggling, actually. With the drug lord. Deliberately, Will reached out and pinched his own arm as hard as he could. It hurt. So he wasn't hallucinating or still asleep.

"Oh, Will!" said Abby, seeing he was awake from where she sat at the small table. "You're awake! Saalman was just telling me about the time he escaped from some Somali pirates. It sounded like it was exciting."

"I'm sure it was," Will said. He did his very best to develop telepathy so that he could ask her what the hell she was doing without being overheard, but of course nothing happened. He sighed. "Are we catching up?"

"As far as I can tell, yes," Abby said. "Though I haven't been to the bridge."

"I have to have some secrets," Saalman said. "And if you'll excuse me, I have a few things to check on."

He exited through the door, and Will heard the unmistakable sound of a deadbolt being closed.

"Well, this is just perfect," he said. "I don't suppose you have a plan to get us out of here?"

"Not exactly," Abby said. "I figured you should do something to contribute."

"Thanks," he said. "Did I miss anything? Besides pirates?"

"I've pretty much got Saalman convinced that he doesn't need to take on the vampires face to face," Abby said. "He was determined to extract his revenge by hand, but I told him that the rocket launcher they have jury rigged on top of the bridge is more than suitable to establish his street cred."

"What if that's not enough?" Will said. "I mean, what if they survive?"

"Then we hope for sharks," Abby said, spreading her hands. "Will, I have no idea. Don't you have ocean abnormals you can call on?"

"Not without back-up dancers," Will said under his breath.

"Well then," Abby said, "I think we should worry about catching them first. And then maybe worry about getting out afterwards."

"We still have the sat phone," Will pointed out. "So at least I could theoretically call someone and tell them where we are. If I knew. Which I don't."

"Are you always this grumpy on missions?"

"When they involve the ocean, yes, I am," Will said. "I have a bad track record."

"At least we have a window," Abby said. "I can see oil drilling platforms, but no logos. Still, it can't be that hard to find someone if you know they're near an oil rig, right?"

Will resisted the urge to bash his head against the table. Not even Henry was this optimistic.

The door creaked a warning, and Will heard the latch get thrown back. Saalman came in and offered his arm to Abby rather politely.

"We've sighted them," he said. "Come with me, both of you."

Will followed Saalman and Abby on deck, squinting as the sunlight glinting off the ocean momentarily blinded him. They walked along a narrow walkway, and then climbed a ladder to the bridge. There was a man at the wheel, but Will didn't see anyone else. He didn't for a moment think that that made them any safer.

"There," said Saalman, passing the telescope to Abby and pointing.

The boat the vampires had commandeered was a much smaller craft than the ship Will and Abby had ended up on. It was faster, but had a smaller range. The vampires might be smart, but they still needed fuel.

"They're making for that rig over there," said the helmsman, his English remarkably free of an accent. He probably had some education, which was reassuring given that he was navigating the ship.

"You have to fire on them before they reach it," Will said.

"Do I?" said Saalman.

"Will!" Abby said. She turned to Saalman. "It would be really, really good, if you could, is what my colleague is trying to say. You would be saving lives."

Saalman looked at her for a while, and then spoke rapidly in Swahili into his radio. Above them, Will heard the mounted rocket launcher fire up and spin to face the rig. He looked up instinctively, and in the time he was distracted, Saalman raised his own weapon and pointed it at Abby.

"And now I think it's time you left," he said. "There's a boat my men have prepared for you. They may have even remembered to include water. Particularly if you remain cooperative."

Abby didn't even flinch, just looked at Will, and reminded him with a nod that they weren't that far off shore and still had the sat phone. There was no point in making a scene, and they wanted off the ship anyway.

"Easy," Will said, raising his hands above his head. "Easy, we don't want to be any trouble."

"After you." Saalman gestured with his gun, and Will preceded him out of the bridge and back down the ladder to where the lifeboat sat waiting.

Once he climbed in, Saalman pushed Abby after him, and then raised the boat off the deck and over the side.

"Thank you for your help in tracking them down," Saalman said. Then he kicked the winch, and the lifeboat plummeted down to the ocean below.

Will coughed as the air rushed out of him, forced out by the impact, and grabbed on to Abby more tightly. Both of them, and the water bottle, stayed in the boat.

"You good?" she said, once they were settled.

"Yeah, this is perfect," Will said. "Exactly my plan."

He looked towards the boat the vampires had taken. It was nearly at the rig.

"I wish we'd got to talk to them, even if only for a bit," he said contemplatively. "It would be interesting to psychoanalyze the greatest abnormal species that's ever lived."

"They're ancient vampires with Nazi complexes that would put actual Nazis to shame, Will," Abby said, a note of incredulity in her voice. "I'm pretty sure they're all narcissists."

"Fair enough," Will said. He turned back towards the ship. "They're about to fire."

On the ship, the rocket launcher was prepped and sat waiting for the target lock. Will could see the gunner from where they sat on the ocean below, and he hoped the man was up to the task. The gun fired, and the rocket arced through the sky, a perfect half-circle between the ship and its target. The explosion wasn't too impressive from this distance and vantage point, but the stolen boat was reduced to reassuringly small pieces upon impact, and Will took a moment to close his eyes and breathe.

"There's something moving in the water," Abby said, and Will sighed before opening his eyes again. Nothing was ever easy. "I think there are vampires in the water."

"That's not a vampire," Will said. A giant tentacle broke the surface and wrapped itself around one of the larger pieces of wreckage. It plucked a vampire off the questionable safety of the flotsam, and dragged it below the waves. Will swore: "Bloody hell!"

One by one, the surviving vampires were pulled beneath the water until only the flaming wreckage remained. Men came from the rig in a rescue boat, thankfully not launched quickly enough to interfere, but by the time they arrived, the tentacles were gone back under the water. The ship behind them didn't linger, and Will heard its engines fire full throttle as it headed for open water.

"Will!" said Abby, finally alarmed. The vampire squid was a familiar dark shape beneath the ocean, and it was coming straight for them.

There was a soft impact against the side of the hull, and then the boat began to move, pulled gently towards the rig by the tentacles that wrapped carefully around the bow.

"Don't worry," Will said. "I have no idea how it got here, but it's an old friend."

Kate had the gun raised and opened fire before she paused to think. Declan flanked her and began to shoot as well, the sharp staccato of firing pin to bullet casing echoing off the walls of the cave. Mary had the presence of mind to maintain her hold on the flashlight, and illuminated their targets. The Big Guy hovered impatiently behind. With this much crossfire, he couldn't join the fray and fight barehanded as he preferred, but Kate knew she'd have to reload eventually, and the Big Guy was more than welcome to join the dance at that point.

One of the vampires got past Declan's guard and sliced for his face with its claws. Instinctively, Kate set her shoulder against his, pushing him over. He didn't fall, though he did stop firing for a moment, but it did get him out of the way, and the claw scraped across her face instead. Kate bit back a cry of pain and felt the blood on her cheek. She hoped that vampires didn't react to blood like sharks did. The last thing they needed was a feeding frenzy.

Instead, the vampire whose claw had cut her drew back from the fray and started screaming. It was an absolutely terrible noise, worse than nails on a chalkboard or any other cliché Kate had heard used to describe uncomfortable sounds. A fraction of a second later, the other vampires withdrew as well, looking at their comrade in horror. It sounded almost like the vampire was on fire, except the only marks on him were made in Kate's blood.

Just when Kate was starting to fear for the safety of her eardrums, the vampire finally stopped screaming and dropped, motionless, to the ground. The others fled back down into the blackness of the tunnel as though they were pursued by the devil.

"What the hell just happened?" Declan asked. He turned to look at Kate, who was still pointing her gun after the retreating vampires. "Put it down, Freelander. They're gone."

"Let me see your face," the Big Guy said, and took her chin in his hands. She was always surprised at how gentle his touch could be, given that he typically reserved touch for a cuff to the back of the head.

"I'm fine," Kate said. "It's just a scratch."

"It's bleeding a lot for a scratch," Declan pointed out. He turned to Mary. "What about you?"

"I'm fine," Mary said. "Bit of a headache. Apparently I should never stand next to a dying vampire."

"Words to live by," Kate agreed. She tried to look over, but the Big Guy held her face still. "It is dead, right?"

"Oh, it's dead," Declan said, poking it with his boot. "I'm just not sure how."

"It's the blood," Mary said. "He was thinking about unclean blood when he died, and so were the others when they ran away."

"My blood is unclean?" Kate said.

"To vampires, it would seem so," Mary said.

"That seems promising." Kate looked down at the clip of bullets in her hand, her expression speculative.

"That is not a good idea," Declan said. "You only have so much blood. And besides, between the heat of actually firing a bullet and the airspeed, there probably wouldn't be much left by the time it reached the vampire."

"You saw how that vamp reacted," Kate protested "It wouldn't take that much!"

"They are very, very scared of her, Declan," Mary said. "Whatever we do, it's going to have to be done soon. They're planning to wake more of them to take her out."

Kate winced as the Big Guy finished disinfecting her wound and pressed a piece of gauze against the cut to stem the blood flow. "Hold that," he said, and Kate raised her hand to comply.

"We'll go back, and get Magnus and Tesla," Declan said. "I still don't like using the C4 before we've secured a second exit, but it appears we're even more pressed for time than we were, and I, for one, will feel much better when Helen Magnus is the one giving orders."

"Cool," said Kate, her voice slightly muffled by the gauze. "Let's go blow something up."

Helen was standing next to the door, pressing randomly against the chyrons and hoping for the best, while Nikola paced around the room, trying to extract current from reluctant panels. He stopped abruptly, his head cocked to the side, as though he were listening to something she couldn't hear.

And that, of course, was exactly what he was doing. He couldn't match Afina, but his hearing was better than a human's. Helen paused to watch him as he strained to hear.

"Helen move away from the door!" he said, alarmed, and grabbed her hand to pull her back.

Moving with vampire speed, he brought her around behind the pillar that was farthest from the door. He pressed her against it, back to stone, and braced his arms on either side of her shoulders. He was, in all likelihood, standing a little bit closer to her than he needed to be. She shivered, not from cold or blood loss, and he moved closer, and then his mouth was on hers.

"Nikola," she started, trying to speak around his lips, and then stopped. She kissed him back, let his hands wander down to her waist. He caught her wrists, lifting the one Afina had bitten, and kissed it as well. "Nikola," she said again, and he grinned, that lightning smile that took her breath away. "Dammit," she said, and took his face between her hands to kiss him again, but before she could give any thought to admonishing him for taking liberties, and encouraging her to respond in kind, there was a rather loud explosion, and Nikola took advantage of the blast to press even closer to her.

"I'd hate for us to have gotten so far only to have you get nicked by shrapnel when the cavalry arrives," he whispered in her ear. "At least I'll heal."

"You may wish you hadn't," she said, but when he pulled back and she saw the bits of shrapnel that had hit him in the blast, her touch to remove them was gentle, and not exactly professional.

"Magnus?"

"Oh thank God," Helen said and pushed Nikola back. He went easily, but she knew from the expression on his face that they would probably be finishing this conversation later. She raised her voice. "Over here, Kate! Both of us."

Helen walked out from behind the pillar, and smiled when she saw that Kate was accompanied by Declan and her old friend. Then a fourth person entered the tomb, and Helen stopped in surprise.

"Hello, Helen," said Mary Kelly. "It's good to see you."

Afina raged.

There was little point in rage, generally speaking, but she had not come so far to be brought down by mere humans, regardless of what poison they had managed to put into their blood. Helen Magnus was proving more trouble than she was worth, eternal blood supply or no. If Afina ruled the world, she would hardly want for blood donors. It would have been nice to have someone as tasty as Helen, but it was not a requirement.

She sent her warriors back up to face the humans, reminding them of their superiority even if one of the humans posed a small danger to them. Then she went back below, to where her court lay sleeping. It was time to wake them and take them above. It was time to end this world, and begin anew.

Nikola placed his hands firmly behind his back and looked closely at Kate. He grinned at her and she glared at him.

"You know, that's really annoying," she said.

"I've been told, yes," he replied. "So you've got it then? The Blight?"

"That's what it's called?" Kate said. "That's not really flattering."

"But you do have it?" Helen pressed.

"If it results in screaming and then dead vampires, yes I do," Kate said. "We should have packed ear plugs."

"That's what happens when Henry doesn't pack," the Big Guy said.

"I will be curtailing his vacation time, believe me," Helen said. "But in the meantime, I have other questions for you."

"Such as why I'm here?" Mary said.

"That did cross my mind, yes," Helen said. "Though I am glad to see you up and about."

"It's Source Blood related, Magnus," Declan said. "We can get into the details later, but she's basically been our early warning system."

"You don't need to touch them?" Helen said.

"Not any more than I need to touch you, when you're emotional enough," Mary said.

"What's going on?" Nikola said. "What are they doing?"

Mary closed her eyes.

"They're on the move," she said. "Most of them are on their way back up here, to deal with Kate. But one, the strong one, is moving down."

"That will be Afina," Nikola said. "We have to stop her."

"Do you have the map?" the Big Guy asked.

"It's down there with her," Helen said. "If we can activate it, it will detect her presence and explode."

"Helen, we've barely downloaded a fraction of that database!" Nikola protested. "You can't just blow it up."

"Oh yes I can," Helen said. "And if you're not going to help me, you can stay here and fight with them."

Electricity crackled around Nikola's fingers, and everyone took a step back.

"Oh, I have a score to settle with her," Nikola said, his voice dark and inhuman.

"What the – " Kate started, surprised, but then changed her mind. "You know, we can talk about it later. You had better get going."

"Good luck!" Helen said. Then she grabbed Nikola by the sleeve and pulled him down to where the sleeping vampires lay waiting for their Queen.

"I have an idea," Mary whispered to Kate. "Declan is going to hate it."

The two of them were crouched on one side of the exploded doorway, taking refuge in the rubble they'd created. Declan and the Big Guy had gone into the corridor to draw fire, which had taken them out of earshot if Mary spoke quietly enough.

"What is it?" Kate whispered back.

"I can tell where they are," Mary said. "They've separated from one another in the hope of taking us in waves. If I can get to them, one at a time, I can surprise them with your blood."

"That will be dangerous," Kate pointed out.

"And hiding in a tomb waiting for them to attack is safe as houses," Mary said. "Besides, Nikola handed me this."

Kate looked down at the object in Mary's hands. It was clearly some sort of blood bag, and it had clearly been used.

"Just tell me that Tesla didn't use the needle himself," Kate said.

"He didn't," Mary assured her. "Helen did. He just used his teeth. He made sure I read it in his mind."

"Well, that's better than nothing," Kate said. "I suppose Magnus should be clean enough."

Before she could think the better of it, she inserted the needle and watched with a kind of morbid fascination as her blood began to fill the bag. It filled before she started to feel lightheaded though, and she removed the needle carefully while Mary tied off the bag. Nikola's teeth had torn it, so she had to hold it awkwardly, and blood seeped out and began to cover her hands.

"Sorry," Kate said, pressing her hand against the puncture mark.

"It would have happened eventually anyway," Mary said. "Wish me luck!"

"To both of us," Kate said, and then Mary was gone.

There was little point in stealth. Speed was the most important thing now, so Helen didn't complain when Nikola raced past her once he was sure of the direction. By the time she reached the tomb, Nikola and Afina were exchanging blows, both of them all but ricocheting off the walls under the force of the other's attack.

"Helen, the panel!" Nikola shouted, and she saw that Afina had already begun the sequence that would wake the other vampires.

She ran for it, and began to press the buttons she hoped would stop the sequence Afina had initiated. Afina roared in anger, and shifted the focus of her attack. Instead of trying to disable Nikola, she was trying to go through him, to get to Helen and stop her. Nikola shifted too, but his more defensive actions weren't as strong, and he started losing ground.

"Any time now, Helen," he said, his tone deceptively light. Helen didn't look up from what she was doing, though she knew that Nikola was probably suffering to buy her time.

She pressed the last few buttons in the sequence, and the panel stopped moving, the door to the massive tomb sliding shut as well. Afina roared again, pinning Nikola to the ground, and raised her clawed hand for the blow that would surely have killed him if she let it fall.

"Wait!" Helen said. "Stop! Don't kill him. I have a proposal."

"Now you want to negotiate?" Afina said, though she did pull back from Nikola's chest. "Make it fast."

Helen crossed to where Afina had thrown the packs those endless hours ago, and quickly retrieved the map from within it.

"The Praxians," she said, her breath coming fast. "Your enemies. They left you the surface while they retreated into the depths of Hollow Earth."

She had Afina's attention now, and Nikola had enough space to raise his head.

"Helen," he said, and she could tell he still didn't like this plan. "No."

"They're still there," Helen said, the crystal in her hand. She doubted that her father had ever considered this end for her birthday gifts, but if she'd learned nothing else this year, it's that Gregory Magnus was terrible at predicting the future. "In a thriving city. More advanced than anything you had in your kingdom."

Afina abandoned Nikola altogether, moving towards Helen with an eager expression on her face.

"Don't do this," Nikola said, and Helen couldn't tell if he was acting or if he genuinely would rather the world ended than Helen blow up the map.

"Quiet," Afina snapped, stepping over him. "Tell me more," she demanded of Helen.

Helen put the pieces together on top of the paper, and the map hummed to life, projecting the familiar buildings of Praxis on to the floor.

"Unbelievable," Afina said, her voice awed.

Nikola was on his feet now, which was good, because if this went according to plan, he and Helen were going to have to run very fast very soon.

"Leave the surface alone," said Helen. "You can have Hollow Earth. Take revenge on your old enemies. That's my offer."

"Dammit, no," Nikola said, and Helen decided that he wasn't acting. He was just being annoying in a productive way.

"How do I find it?" Afina asked.

"Second level activates on a Praxian voice command," Helen said. "You tell us how to leave, and I'll tell you how to talk to the map."

Helen tossed Afina a walkie-talkie, and the Vampire Queen smiled.

"Humans," she said. She walkd towards Helen and walked all the way around her, as though deciding if she were telling the truth. When Helen met her gaze with a smile and without flinching, Afina nodded. "I'll honour your deal. But it won't last. Once we've conquered the world down there, we'll be back."

"I don't doubt it," Helen said. "We'll be waiting."

"I would have so liked to have had you for my court," Afina said. "You'd better go. I'm not eternally patient."

Helen grabbed Nikola and pulled him back up the corridor. She could tell he wanted to yell at her, insist that there had to be another way, but he was mindful of Afina's hearing and didn't dare to speak the words. Helen had bought them some time. Now she just had to hope it was enough.

Mary Kelly was covered in blood that wasn't hers, and the vampires fled from her as though she were Death herself. Mary had seen Death before, had met him in a dark alley a long time ago, and escaped him twice thanks to luck and her own wits. Others had not been so lucky, but Mary had survived.

One by one, she stalked the vampires and brought them down. She could hear gunfire behind her, which meant that a few of them had gotten through her guard, but she knew that Declan, Kate and the Big Guy could handle them. She focused on the thoughts of those she sought and tried not to be too concerned about the growing sense of utter glee she felt emanating from beneath her.

By the time the screaming stopped, the bag was empty and Mary's mind was full.

Helen and Nikola raced up the tunnel towards the tomb. There was gunfire ahead of them, sporadic and choppy, and soon there was silence. Helen tried not to imagine the scene that lay ahead of them, hoping for the best. When they burst into the tomb, Helen took a moment to be glad. There were Kate and Declan and her old friend, and all of them were whole, though Kate was a bit pale. Helen knew that she had used her blood to stem the tide, and was proud of her.

"Where is Mary?" Nikola asked, and Helen cursed herself for not noticing.

"She took matters into her own hands," Declan said. Helen guessed from his tone that he wasn't exactly pleased.

"It was a solid idea, boss," Kate said. "And it probably just saved our asses."

"We need to go," said Nikola. "Now."

"We can't just leave her!" Kate protested.

"Think," said the Big Guy, looking at Helen and Nikola. "Think as hard as you can. Tell her she has to get out."

Helen bent her thoughts to the task, and could tell by the way Nikola straightened beside her that he was doing the same thing. The seconds seemed endless and quiet, and then there was a noise in the corridor.

Mary Kelly was covered in blood, but she was whole and sound.

"So we need to run?" she said. Helen smiled.

"That would be a very good idea," Nikola said.

Afina waited with the map. She examined the buildings carefully, trying to determine function from form and admiring the architecture she would soon call home. The minutes ticked by, and she began to wonder if Helen and Nikola had been killed by her warriors. If that was the case, Afina would simply take the world above first and crack the map once she was finished.

Before she could plan her domination too far, though, the walkie-talkie in her hand crackled to life.

"Hello Afina," said Helen.

"Password," said Afina. "Do not make the mistake of thinking that you are beyond my reach."

"Kaharaag," said Helen, her voice clear in spite of the static, and the map changed at her word.

They made it to the surface just in time to see the explosion rip through what was left of the Praxian outpost.

"That was close," Nikola said. His voice was euphoric, and Helen could only guess at what was going on inside his head, though she was pretty sure it had less to do with saving the world and more to do with being a vampire again.

"I think we had at least three more seconds," Declan said.

The Big Guy grunted. The sat phone rang, and Kate pulled it out of her pocket.

"Will!" she said "Good news, I hope!"

Helen couldn't hear what Will said in return, but she couldn't help but smile as Kate's expression turned quizzical.

"You're where?"

Epilogue

"No, no, no!" Abby protested, reclining next to Will on the sofa in Helen's office. "The best part was definitely when we got rescued by a giant squid that was already friends with Will!"

"Dude," said Kate. "What is it with you and the Indian Ocean?"

"I'm trying not to think about it," Will said, but he was smiling.

"I had no idea that the vampire squid would be enemies with Sanguine vampiris," Helen said. She was sorting through the mail that had accumulated on her desk in her absence and didn't look up when she spoke. "I think it's fascinating."

"Next time you decide to crash with one, maybe you should take Tesla instead of Will," Kate said.

It had taken them a few days to get home, since they needed to be airlifted out of Tanzania and then Nikola managed to disappear once they arrived in London, while Helen and Declan reported their adventure to the other Heads of Sanctuary. In spite of the time, there hadn't been a lot of time for questions or answers, so they were filling each other in as best they could. Declan had remained in London, of course, but Mary had come along to fill Helen in on what she and Declan had done, and to catch up on other matters before deciding what to do next.

"I suppose making Tesla a vampire again was inevitable?" Will said.

"It was either that or let him die," Helen said. She looked at Mary, and knew the other woman would read the apology that lay under her words. "I wasn't ready for him to die."

"It would be kind of boring without him around," Kate admitted. "I mean, who knows what sort of scheme we'll have to save him from next?"

The Big Guy arrived with a tray of sandwiches, and Sophie trailing behind him.

"All well?" Will asked.

Sophie nodded and took a seat. "Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Sally and I managed well enough while you were gone."

"I'm glad to hear it," Helen said. "Thank you."

"Hey, I figure this makes us almost even," Sophie said. "And it was fun. Sally is a blast."

There was another sound from the corridor, and then Henry walked in, his weekend bag slung over his shoulder and his tablet already in his hands.

"You guys will not believe the time I've had," he said. "I might be a werewolf, but I was not meant to spend that much time away from technology. I nearly went crazy which, if you can imagine, does not help a guy trying to find his inner wolf."

"Henry," Helen said sharply, and he looked up.

"So," he said slowly, taking everything in. "What did I miss?"

finis

Acknowledgements: I didn't know this when I started, but it takes a VILLAGE to write a Big Bang. So thank you to lanna_kitty and mylittleredgirl, my KKBB groupies; to shadadukal and oparu, for the beta and for never saying "God, Kate! Stop adding characters!"; to rj_anderson and holdouttrout for making me do this for real; to world_of_blade and Cole, for the cheerleading; to everyone else who was nice to me; and of course to irony_rocks, for running this thing in the first place.

Notes: I played pretty free with mixing canon, fanon and my own fic writing this. Most of it comes from other people, but the Mary Kelly parts are mine, and come particularly from "The Monster and Mary Kelly", but also from the other parts of the Blood Will Out series.

Gravity_Not_Included, August 17, 2011