The Willful Slaughter of Hope
(Copyright 2011, NoCleverSig)

Author's Note: Inspired by my love of John and Helen, what drew me to Sanctuary in the first place, and their tragic, dysfunctional relationship. Takes place in Season 4 sometime after Episode 2. The title and the subsequent quote by Tesla are from Steven Dietz, American playwright. Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks as always to the world's best beta, MajorSam. Peace. NCS

Chapter 1:

"Impossible…" Nikola Tesla mumbled, staring slack-jawed at the image of Helen Magnus on the computer screen. The video log he'd stumbled upon... fine, hacked into… had left the vampire speechless, an uncommon occurrence. Tesla leaned back in the swivel desk chair, his left arm bracing his right, and held his fist in his chin, pondering, his eyes riveted to the screen.

He'd known Dr. Helen Magnus longer than any other living being except perhaps for John Druitt. Did he really think her capable of doing what her log implied? Or, as the case may be, not doing?

He stood up; slipping his hands into his pockets and pacing the lab Helen had assembled for him to salvage what was left of Praxian technology. A small personal note in one of her research logs had caught Tesla's eye and sent him down an interesting path, a path which he'd followed like the scent of human blood. It'd taken time to hack into Magnus' personal journals, but he'd eventually succeeded. Most of it was as boring as her public logs. The woman had no life outside her work yet was relentless in documenting it. But this…this was something extraordinary.

It wasn't explicit enough to confront or convict her, but it was...curious. Some might call it a potential "smoking gun." He needed proof though; he thought absently running his hands through his hair. If he could find the formulas she used, her thesis, her research notes…

Tesla turned back toward the computer, sat down, and began to dig.

John Druitt lay in a pool of his own sweat and urine, bottles of rice wine and empty needles scattered on the floor beside him. The hot, Indonesian sun beat down on the jungle hut, exacerbating the stillness in the air and driving the humidity to new heights, so much so he could barely breathe.

He didn't want to. Breathe, that is. Dying had always been preferable, with the exception of one or two episodes of rare lucidity. But the energy creature inside him was nothing if not a master of self-preservation, and therefore suicide had been impossible. So Druitt had spent his days following the explosion of Hollow Earth, which he'd narrowly escaped, and the disappearance of Adam Worth and Helen into God knows where as he had spent so many others, drowning the din of his reinvigorated rage, the creature's rage, in a potent cocktail of alcohol and drugs.

He'd only wanted to make things right, he thought hazily, his mind swimming with images. Go back before they'd ingested the cursed source blood, before he'd become infested with evil. For so long his heart had been full of anger and hate, while Helen's heart was hardened by it. Was it so wrong to want what they had once had? To recapture their lost love? To finally attain the life they had planned? A career, a home, children? Helen by his side and in his bed, truly, finally, his?

His cracked lips curved upward in an awkward smile. All debts paid in full, he thought. That's what he'd intended. No Ripper, no bloodshed, no darkness, no evil to harden their hearts. Only light and love and…Helen.

She'd berated him for it. Accused his motives of being impure, of not loving the woman she was now, of only wanting to bed the woman she once was, swearing she'd never wanted to see him again when his current task for her was through.

The beast inside him howled at the memory of her words, spat at him in anger. Not loving her? The bloody little whore! What did he have to do to prove himself to the woman? Split his veins so she could watch him bleed out and lick him clean when it was done? Would that demonstrate his devotion?

He wished he could. He'd have done it ages ago if that's all it took. But the creature inside him wouldn't allow it. So he lay on the mat instead, slipping back into unconsciousness, wondering if she still lived, and if she did, could she ever forgive him.

"John?"

Druitt's eyes fluttered. He was dreaming. Someone was calling his name. It was a voice he recognized, someone from his past. Someone he disliked, he thought vaguely with a slight wrinkle of his nose.

"C'mon, Johnny boy. Wakey, wakey. I have a surprise for you, and you're not going to want to miss it."

Druitt felt a prick against his skin, the splash of cold water on his face. He shook his head and swore, leaping up from the floor only to crash back down again, his body too weak, his head spinning. He opened his eyes and saw the toothy grin of Nikola Tesla staring down at him, needle in hand.

"Nikola? How..."

"Did I find you?" Tesla snorted. "I'm a vampire, Johnny. It tends to give one an edge in persuading people to share information. Besides, your choice of accommodations is miserably predictable," he said, sniffing the rancid air and making a face. "Always some sweat-filled hovel in a heavily opiate-driven economy. Really, John, if you want to hide, try the Ritz Carlton next time. I'd never suspect that," Nikola grinned.

"What…."

"Do I want from you?" the vampire looked down and smiled at Druitt, almost but not quite kindly. "That's the great part," he said, wrapping a cuff around Druitt's upper arm, slipping on a stethoscope and pumping, checking John's blood pressure. "Nothing," he leaned in whispering in John's ear. "Just the joy of seeing you well again, old friend, and the look on Helen Magnus' face when I do it."

Druitt started at that. "Helen? She's alive?"

"Shh…shh…don't get too excited," Tesla scolded him, removing the cuff and checking his pulse. "She's fine," Nikola added, as he finished. "Got an amazing story to tell. You're not going to believe it, trust me."

"And Worth?"

"Dead. Finally, the little bastard."

John breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"You see, I'm actually here to help you, John."

For the first time in months Druitt laughed.

"No, I'm completely serious," Tesla responded, acting offended.

"How could you possibly help me?" Druitt mumbled, the nausea setting in.

Tesla leaned over, his warm breath on Druitt's cheek.

"'And the angel of the lord said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people'…or in this case…to John Druitt."

Druitt squinted. "What in bloody hell are you going on about?" he mumbled. He was so tired.

"Redemption, John. Pure and simple. I know how to cure you, and I'm going to do it."

Druitt stared at him in disbelief.

"Welcome back to your life, Johnny."

Unreliable, irresponsible, egomaniacal bastard!

These and a few other choice words coursed through Helen Magnus' mind as she pounded her frustration out on her keyboard, typing her latest report. She'd given Nikola Tesla free reign of the lab. Access to all, well, almost all, she inwardly corrected herself, of the Sanctuary's systems and databases. He'd promised to document and repair as much of the Praxian technology as he could so that they could salvage something from the destruction of the city. And now? He was gone. Vanished. No explanation. No goodbye. Her lab left in disarray, as though he had dropped everything to run off and do…God knows what.

If it hadn't had been Tesla, she might have thought the man kidnapped. But he was a bloody vampire, for God's sake! The possibility of foul play, at the Sanctuary no less, was…. Well, it was quite impossible. No, he'd left of his own accord with not a word to the wiser, having no doubt acquired some hair-brained notion that involved world domination inspired by the work he'd been conducting.. It was never far from the man's mind.

She was a fool to have let him near the Praxian technology. Every time she thought she could trust him he ended up disappointing.

The knock at her office door interrupted her mental tirade. She mumbled a terse, "Come in," confident that it was Will, who was late. Again.

"Miss me?"

Nikola Tesla waltzed confidently through the door with his boyish grin and neatly pressed grey suit.

"Unbelievable," Magnus managed, her eyes widening, rising in her chair so fast she knocked it backwards and onto the floor. "Where the hell have you been, Nikola?"

He cocked his head and grinned. "Ah, you DID miss me!"

The glare in Magnus' eyes indicated otherwise.

"You've been gone for nearly three weeks. Three weeks!" she said, voice raised, hand hovering in pointed gesticulation. "Absolutely no word! What kind of rubbish are you playing at? Where the hell have you…."

Druitt followed through the door behind him, and they both turned.

"I brought you a present," Tesla grinned, extending his arm at the taller man.

Magnus looked up to see John Druitt, jeans, white shirt, boots, a short growth of dark brown hair, and bright blue eyes staring back at her. Instinctively she stepped back.

"John!"

He smiled a familiar smile at her, one that made her stomach knot in recognition. He looked…well?

"Hello, Helen," he said meekly, his deep, chocolate voice calm, peaceful even. "I'm so happy to see you well."

Something was off about him. For one thing, he was alive. A fact she hadn't considered after the explosion of Hollow Earth. And for another, he was…

"I am myself," he said quietly, tears filling his eyes. "It's me, Helen!"

Magnus stared at him, taking in his voice, his expression, his demeanor, even the way he stood. It was all…different, yet somehow achingly familiar. It was as though…

"Dear God, the energy creature! It's gone, isn't it?"

Druitt's lips creased into a full smile then nodded. "I'm free!" he said holding the palms of his hands up in a gesture of submission.

Helen's eyes darted to Tesla. "You did this?"

"Amazing, aren't I? But I can't take all the credit," he said, folding his hands behind his back and strolling through Magnus' office, pretending to peruse her bookshelves. "I had a little help…."

He let the sentence lie there, waited a beat, and then cast a surreptitious glance back toward Helen. Her eyes flashed and the muscles in her face tensed, just for a moment, but it was enough. He turned back to the shelves and grinned.

"I know you said that you didn't want to see me again, Helen, but that was…before, and I thought, perhaps…"

"Ok, now this is getting personal," Tesla interrupted. "Perhaps I should leave and let you two work out your issues. I'll come back in say, oh, 2050?"

"Not yet, Nikola," Helen commanded, her voice clipped. She turned to Druitt. "I'll get my manservant to prepare you a room, John. I need to speak to Nikola for a few moments, alone, take care of a few loose ends he left. Why don't you relax in the study? I'll come find you in a little while and then we'll…talk."

Druitt searched her eyes, trying to find some evidence of what she was thinking, how she was feeling. He discovered none. Would she even give him a chance now that Nikola had cured him, or would she simply ask him to leave her be as she'd promised? Was he past the point of redemption? Had he always been?

"As you wish," he said, forcing a nervous smile, nodded at Nikola, and left.

Helen returned to her desk, standing behind it, her hands resting on the hard surface. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. She needed to steady herself.

"How did you do it, Nikola? How did you cure John?"

Nikola was thumbing through the pages of a book, his eyes in mock absorption. When Helen spoke he turned and looked at her from across the room, tucked the book under his arm, and walked toward her. His playful grin vanished.

"Oh, I think you know the answer to that question, Helen."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Nikola" she started, but her voice wavered.

He walked up to her desk and slammed the book down, causing her to jump.

"Don't patronize me, Helen. It's beneath you."

Her eyes flashed in anger, her nostrils flared, but she didn't say a word.

"I cured John Druitt because you showed me how! I found your notes, Helen. All of them."

"You hacked into my personal files!" she shouted.

"I stumbled upon a note you made in a public file that made me wonder…And when I traced it to its logical conclusion I found the most remarkable thing. You'd figured out how to expel the energy creature from Druitt, safely I might add, months ago, Helen. MONTHS AGO! You even tested your theory and PROVED it would work. Yet you did nothing."

"I was sure he was dead!"

"And when he wasn't?" Nikola flung at her accusingly. "When you found him in Cambodia and brought him back here to help you deal with Worth? Locate a way into Praxis? What?" he said, opening his arms wide and grinning. "It slipped your mind?"

"I had more important things to deal with at that moment," she said through gritted teeth, fists clenched.

Tesla walked up to her and leaned over her desk, his face inches from hers. "Really? Was that it, Helen? Or has John been right all along? You needed him to help get you into Praxis and deal with Adam Worth."

"I…" she started, but Tesla raised a hand to silence her, shaking his head.

"Dr. Helen Magnus," Tesla continued. "Protector of Abnormals, offering Sanctuary to all…except one."

A shiver shot through Helen's spine. "I had my reasons."

Tesla nodded and started to leave. "Oh, I'm sure you did…."

Helen moved quickly around the table, her hand grabbing his arm.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, breathlessly.

Nikola glanced down at her hand wrapped tight around his forearm. It was rare to see her so desperate. "Do you mean am I going to tell John that the love of his life had the tools and information to make him whole again but for reasons unfathomable chose not to?"

She blinked.

"I honestly don't know yet. But it would make for an exciting scene, wouldn't it? To watch John's face when he found out what his 'beloved' had done? There's no deceit in death, Helen. It delivers precisely what it has promised. But betrayal? That's the willful slaughter of hope."

He shook off her arm and walked to the door, turning one more time before he left.

"Who do you think is more evil, Helen? The murderer? Or the person who purposefully lets him kill?"

Tesla walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him. Helen shut her eyes, letting the shaking begin.

(to be continued)