Author's Note: The final chapter FINALLY! Thank ya'll for your patience, reading, and please review! As always, I don't own anything of Sanctuary or its characters. My words, however, are my own. The song belongs to Disney :) Peace. NCS

The Cult of Kukulkan
Chapter 5: The Bargain
(Copyright 2011, NoCleverSig)

Helen Magnus awoke, the early morning light streaming into her chamber bathing her naked body with its warm, yellow rays. She closed her eyes, breathed deep, and sighed, stretching her arms above her head and tugging her toes toward the end of the bed, feeling positively…delicious.

Yes, that was the word for it.

She and John had been apart for…what? Three months? Maybe longer? And last night their reunion had been…

Delicious.

She smiled to herself, laughing at her inability to arrive at a more appropriate term for their numerous nocturnal encounters.

And she a doctor, too!

Somehow delicious summed it up quite nicely. Although scrumptious, luscious, mouth-watering, delectable, and yummy all came to mind, as did a number of other, more crass terms, which weren't appropriate for a lady, or a gentleman, to repeat.

Regardless, it had been awhile since Magnus had exercised…certain muscles. The pleasant soreness and unusual languidness she felt made her positively hum with life. Something that had been desperately lacking in her since Druitt had left her. Any thought she had fleetingly given to remaining here in this city with Kukulkan had vaporized during the evening, although she hoped the chance to visit, study, and perhaps even befriend the ancient vampire, to learn from his knowledge, experience, and culture, would still stand. But then John had returned.

John….

She had thought he was dead. Been told as much. …That was something she would have to rectify with the Mayan king and soon.

It's an age-old adage, she thought, one she knew well given her many years, but it still held true: One didn't truly appreciate something until it was lost to you.

When Tesla had rid John of the energy creature and Druitt had returned to her a cleansed man nearly a year ago, everything had changed. It had taken time, months in fact, for them to reconnect, to discover if it was even possible for them to love again, given everything that had transpired between them over their century and a half of living.

But forgiveness, it seemed, was a magical thing.

Then, of course, John's past had resurrected itself, come back to life to haunt them and exact its revenge upon Helen, nearly killing her. Afterwards, Druitt had left, determined not to cause her any more pain. But what he'd failed to recognize, and only now understood, was that, for Helen, the pain of losing him was far worse than the pain of loving him had ever been.

So here they lay united again, in a city that shouldn't exist, with a man, an immortal, whose race had died out eons ago, forgiveness weaving its magical spell over them once more. Of all of her father's or her discoveries, even the Source Blood, this surely must be the grandest of them all.

Magnus rolled over onto her stomach, anxious to start the day, to show John the city, to introduce him to Amitesh/Kukulkan, and to instill in him half the excitement she felt as to the knowledge they were sure to discover here.

But John wasn't there. The sheets where he'd lain during the night were cold, the blanket pulled back. His clothes were gone.

Helen sat up, pulling the soft woven blanket up around her chest to cover her naked form. Nothing in the stone room looked amiss. No sign of forced entry, a scuffle. Had he teleported away for some reason? A sudden wave of panic washed over her. Had Druitt left her again? She shook her head. No. He wouldn't. Not after last night. Not after the hours they'd spent talking and making love, sorting out their feelings, recommitting themselves to one another.

If John left of his own accord, he'd done so for good reason. But somehow, Helen suspected it hadn't been of his own volition. Everything about the situation felt…wrong. Her panic started to rise again, this time for an entirely new reason.

Magnus looked around the bed until she spotted the light cotton gown she'd worn last night, slipped it on, and made her way across the cold stone tiles to the window to look out at the city below. She pulled back the soft, sheer curtain to find two guards posted on the walkway below her.

They hadn't been there before.

Heat rose in her face. Her muscles tensed, her senses tingled, and her entire body braced for a fight. She moved quickly to the door, gently jiggling the handle. As she'd anticipated, it was locked.

She might have been a guest before, but she was most definitely a prisoner now.

Just then the lock was drawn back and the door flew open, nearly knocking Helen over. Four Mayan guards stood outside. One of them, a short, stocky man with a grim expression and a feathered headdress, entered and spoke to her in his native tongue, ordering her to get dressed.

"Where are we going?" she asked in Mayan, already certain of the answer.

"You've been summoned by Kukulkan," he replied sternly, and said nothing more.

The four guards escorted Helen through the hallways of the palace to the king's chambers, two taking point, two following behind. This was nothing like the reception she'd received last night as she'd been led to dinner, dressed and ready for seduction.

The more Magnus thought about it, the more she recognized that's exactly what had taken place. The wine she'd drank had been drugged. She realized that now as she recalled the headache that plagued her after she'd awoke in Kukulkan's bed. He'd explained it away as blood loss, and in her hazy state she hadn't questioned it, but it was more likely due to the after effects of a heavy sedative of some kind. The drink itself simply wasn't strong enough to have that kind of effect on her, feeding her melancholy and making her more easily amenable to the king's request to "taste her."

She shook her head, angry at herself for her momentary weakness and for letting John's death, or what she believed to be John's death, cloud her judgment. She wondered now if Kukulkan had orchestrated that as well, knowing it would put her at an emotional disadvantage, making her more vulnerable and open to suggestion.

Helen suspected the king had planned or anticipated almost everything that had happened except for one: Druitt being alive. If her locked door, guards, and escorts were any indication, the realization that John was alive and well and sleeping in her chambers had been an unexpected and unwelcomed turn of events for the Mayan king.

What Kukulkan/Amitesh's real agenda was, however, remained a mystery. What he'd told her last night, companionship for his loneliness, had been a cheap ploy, and Magnus felt foolish for falling for the ruse so easily. Nevertheless, Amitesh did want something from her. That was undeniable, and he'd gone to great lengths to get it.

What that something was she was certainly about to find out.

Magnus entered the king's chamber with the guards still surrounding her. She had dressed in her own khaki pants and shirt today, the ones she'd been wearing the night she was taken, the ones the king's servants had washed and returned to her. She wanted to put some psychological distance between her and Kukulkan, to remind him that she was not of his world, and the clothing she chose was a foundation upon which to start that separation.

Amitesh/Kukulkan stood outside on the veranda, sunlight streaming into his chambers, bathing his pale face in an eerie, reddish light. His slender, elegant hands were clasped behind his back. He faced the jungle, surveying his city, his long, silver hair cascading down his white, feathered robe. It hung loosely across his shoulders, bound only by a metal chain.

He turned as Helen entered and smiled at her, his face young and handsome and shadowed in the reddish hue.

"Come," he gestured with his hand, inviting her to enter.

Anger welled up inside Magnus, and she had to fight the urge to fly forward and smack the serene smile from his face. He knew where John was, she was certain of it. But she held her tongue, choosing instead to let Amitesh make the first move.

With a deep, cleansing breath, Helen moved forward to greet Kukulkan, the guards dropping back. Suddenly she caught movement out of the corner of her right eye. She turned toward it and saw a figure dressed in modern clothes; dark slacks and a light shirt, sitting on the king's couch in shadow. He stood to greet her. Magnus' heart skipped a beat, thinking at first it might be John, but as the man moved toward the light she noted he was too short, too scrawny, his dark hair too spiky to be Druitt. Her jaw dropped in shock and recognition.

"Nikola!" she cried out.

"Helen! So good to see you. You're looking well. I'm happy you found the serpent king safely." Tesla gestured toward Kukulkan. "I knew you would. You're good like that," he winked, smiling his toothy grin at her.

Kukulkan crossed the veranda back into his chambers, silently observing the conversation.

Magnus turned from Tesla to Kukulkan and back again, her mind racing. "What the hell is going on? What are you doing here, Nikola?"

Tesla put his hands up in mock surrender at her angry tone. "Helen, I can explain everything," he answered walking up to her, casually dropping his arms to his side and taking a deep breath.

"I met his lordship a few months ago. Stumbled upon him and this miraculous place," Tesla said, gesturing around him, "quite accidentally while I was doing research, you might call it, in Columbia. Anyway, we got to talking. I told him about me, you, some of our friends, and he asked to meet you. I said I would arrange an introduction, that's all."

"An introduction?" Magnus asked suspiciously, glancing at Kukulkan who stood still as a statue, watching her. "Really? Then why didn't you simply invite me here? Why send me on a wild goose chase through the Guatemalan jungle for a mythological Mayan god?"

Tesla grinned sheepishly. "I was always so transparent to you, wasn't I, Helen?"

"Always," she agreed, crossing her arms and bracing herself for the other shoe to drop.

"Okay," Tesla responded, thrusting his hands into his pockets and looking up in the air, avoiding Helen's angry gaze. "I made a deal. One I was fairly certain you wouldn't agree to. I introduce you to Kukulkan, and he gives me the one thing I want the most in return."

Helen cocked her head and stared at him. "And that is?" She stopped, closed her eyes, and nodded. "He makes you a vampire."

Tesla looked back at her and grinned. "Sweet, huh?"

"How?" she demanded.

Nikola paused and turned to the king, his eyes coursing up and down Amitesh's tall, handsome frame. "Just look at him, Helen," he said gesturing toward the ancient ruler. "He is the Source Blood!"

Helen glanced from Tesla to Kukulkan and back again. Nikola had a point. Amitesh, Kukulkan, whoever he was, was a living, breathing vampire, with the Source Blood running through his veins. The possibilities of that…

"So you arrange an introduction between the king and I, he provides you with a vial of his blood, and he gets what in return, Nikola?" She was tired of playing games. Something was going on here. The king wanted something from her, and Nikola knew precisely what it was.

The room fell eerily silent. Tesla frowned and raised a hand to scratch the back of his head. "Well…you see….," he hesitated.

"I need your help, Helen," Amitesh stepped forward, his soft, lilting voice interrupting them. He held his hands, motionless, behind his back, regarding her appreciatively. "If my race is to be reborn, I need you…your immortality."

Helen searched Amitesh's grey eyes, understanding finally dawning upon her, and spun on her heels to face Tesla, her own blue eyes spitting fire. "Nikola, tell me what you agreed to. Now!"

Tesla took a deep breath. "Well, you see, I may have, sort of….," he hesitated again.

"Spill it!" Magnus shouted.

"…suggested that you might be able to bear his children and start a new race of immortal vampires that could reconquer the world," he mumbled in one incredibly fast breath.

"What?" Helen shouted, shocked.

"See, I knew you wouldn't appreciate the long-term view here. That's why I thought a simple invitation to come visit and mate with an ancient Mayan vampire king just wasn't going to fly…" Tesla began, taking a quick step back just in case Magnus took a swing at him. He sighed. "I had to get you here somehow, Helen. I certainly couldn't ask you to simply loan me your eggs. I know you, you'd say no." He added, his finger pointing at her.

"So your plan was what, Nikola?" Magnus asked, flabbergasted. "Have me trek through the Guatemalan jungle, stumble upon Kukulkan, sleep with him, become pregnant, and bare a new race of immortals?"

Tesla nodded at her sheepishly again, biting his nails. "More or less, yeah."

Part of Helen Magnus, no, all of her, if she were honest, wanted to kill Nikola Tesla. Unfortunately, for the first time in a very long time, all she could manage to do was to stand there speechless.

"Look at him, Helen," Tesla finally said, pointing at Kukulkan. "He's a sexy guy. I thought, you know, in your depression over Johnny leaving maybe a little one-night stand would do you good."

"You're insane!"

"Just a simple wham, bam, thank you…."

"NIKOLA!"

"And if it didn't take, well, there's always the old fashion method of harvesting your eggs and fertilizing them in a test tube, but where's the fun in that really? I was only thinking of your well being….," Tesla said, tilting his head, holding his hand out to Magnus, a puppy dog look in his eyes.

"Enough!" Kukulkan bellowed, his voice booming through the hall.

Tesla leaned over and whispered in Helen's ear. "What I didn't anticipate was that the blood sucker would actually fall for you and decide he wanted you permanently, and not just the use of your ovaries." He shook his head. "I should have seen that one coming. Sorry."

Magnus didn't have time to respond.

"Helen," Kukulkan walked up to her, his tall, handsome form towering over her. "I am the last of my kind, you know this. I have attempted for centuries to have children with humans, but it is impossible. But you….," he reached a hand up to stroke her cheek. Magnus flinched from his touch. He dropped it back down to his side and sighed. "When Tesla told me of your existence, your immortality, and then after I tasted you …." He nodded. "I knew that you were like me, that together we could create a new generation of immortals just like us," he finished, his face beaming with anticipation and pride.

Helen glared at him. "And I would want to do this why?"

He took a step closer to her, inches from her face. "Because you are as lonely as I am and have lost just as much."

Helen looked at him searching his eyes, then turned her head and stared at Nikola.

"You told him about Ashley," she said softly, frowning.

For the first time since this bizarre scene had started, Tesla looked remorseful. "He asked me if you were fertile. Helen, I'm sorry, I had to…"

She turned away from Nikola, closing her eyes again, not able to face him. Not now.

Luring her here with a lie, promising her body, her reproductive abilities to Kukulkan so that the ancient king could rebuild the vampire race so that he, Tesla, could take away a drop of his blood…all of that in some sordid, maniacal way was understandable. But telling this stranger, this vampire king about Ashley, her dead daughter? Somehow that had crossed the line.

"You could have forced yourself on me. I wasn't in a position to fight back," Magnus finally responded to Kukulkan, staring him straight in the eye. She glanced at the guards behind her. "I'm still not."

He met her gaze. "I considered it," he admitted. "But I don't want you that way, Helen. Despite what you may think of me, I am not a monster. I want you to stay with me, to be part of the rebirth of a great race, a great civilization, because it is what you want as well." He looked at her softly. "Last night, I thought perhaps you did."

Helen took a breath. Kukulkan hadn't lied. Not about his loneliness at least. That they did share in common. In that he had told the truth.

"And if it's not what I want?" she asked curious as to his reply.

Kukulkan/Amitesh took a deep breath and stiffened. "That would be most unfortunate."

Magnus nodded. So he'd prefer she volunteer to be the mother of the vampire nation, but if free will didn't suffice, brute force was an obvious option.

"And what of John? Where is he? What have you done with him?" Her anger was growing by the minute, at Tesla, at Amitesh, at the whole incredible incredulity of the situation.

Kulkulkan's face fell. "Nothing."

"You're lying," Magnus accused him through gritted teeth.

Kukulkan's eyes flashed from grey to black. It was the first real sign of anger she'd seen from the Mayan king.

"I have no need for lies," he snarled, his voice changing from the smooth lilt to a deep, guttural growl, a hint of his true vampire nature revealed. He breathed deep, closed his eyes, and they changed again, returning to their soft grey hues.

"I don't know where your lover is," he replied, his lips slightly sneering at the word.

"You told me he was dead once," Helen countered, just as angry. "Why should I believe you now?"

He smiled. "You concluded he was dead. As I said, I have no need for lies. "

Magnus shook her head. "And I have no desire to argue semantics."

"You know, John," Tesla interrupted, breaking the tension. "He probably went out for a quick kill, a little light snack before breakfast after a long, arduous night. I'm sure he'll be back soon," he winked at Helen.

Something in Nikola's expression, his voice, caught Magnus' attention. I'm sure he'll be back soon….Nikola knew where John was, she was sure of it.

Just then a flash of light, a spark of electricity filled the room. John materialized behind her, grabbing the two guards closest to the door and smashing their heads together, knocking them unconscious. Helen seized the guard next to her, yanked his head down, and slammed his face into her knee, crushing his nose and sending him reeling to the ground in pain. John lunged toward Helen and Kukulkan, but the fourth guard raised his spear, blocking the way. Helen bent low and swung her leg straight out, hitting the guard in the back of the knees, making him tumble forward. John finished him off with a hard kick to the side of the head with his boot. But before Druitt could reach Helen, Kukulkan roared up, throwing his feathered, white robe back behind his shoulders, his muscles rippling, his grey eyes darkening to jet black, fangs erupting from his mouth, his hands turning to claws and grabbing Helen from behind.

"I'll kill her before you can reach her," he growled, grasping one clawed arm around Helen's waist, the other on top of her head tilting her head back, Kukulkan's fangs a breath away from her neck. "I'll rip her head off!"

John froze, and panic washed over him. He was quick, but the vampire king was certainly quicker. Any moment now a hundred Mayan guards would invade this chamber, and any hope he had of rescuing Helen would vanish.

"Sorry, not so fast your lordship," a slightly Serbian voice said from behind them.

Nikola Tesla flicked his hand in the air, and the metal chain clasping Kukulkan's feathered robe flew back tight against the king's neck, choking him. The vampire snapped his head up in shock, his fangs leaving Helen's throat just long enough for John to grab Magnus' hand and teleport them away.

They materialized at their original campsite. Kate and Will were sitting on the ground, planning their next reconnaissance of the area, still searching for Magnus and Druitt when the two appeared not 10 feet from them.

"Magnus!" Will shouted, jumping up in shock and relief.

"Doc! Johnny! What the hell?" Kate immediately started running toward them.

"Hold on!" Magnus turned toward Kate, stopping her with a hand in the air. Helen turned back to Druitt. "You have to go back for him, John. You can't just leave him there. He'll kill him."

Druitt rolled his eyes, his hands still clinging tight to Helen's arms.

"John…" she pleaded.

"Fine," he said through gritted teeth and disappeared, off to save the one man who had put them all at risk. Again.

Epilogue:

"So, Tesla arranged the whole thing so you would meet Kukulkan and become, what? A vampire baby factory?" Kate asked, arms folded across her white t-shirt, her jean-clad legs crossed as she leaned against Magnus' office wall.

Helen nodded. "Yes, in exchange for a sample of Amitesh's blood."

"Wow, the guy really doesn't have any boundaries, does he?" Kate quipped.

"Man, how totally Aliens," Henry mumbled, sitting on the couch staring off into space, trying to absorb what had happened.

Will Zimmerman scratched his head, still looking uncertain. "One thing I still don't get," he started.

"Only one, William?" John said sarcastically, sipping a glass of Merlot as he sat in the side chair, dressed in his usual black attire, his face and head now cleanly shaven. The fire crackled gently behind him. "I have about a thousand questions remaining."

Will looked at John, unfazed by his wry humor. "Where were you? When you disappeared from Magnus' room, where did you go?"

John nodded and leaned forward. "I was knocked unconscious and captured during the night by Kukulkan's guards and imprisoned. Tesla must have told him of my…unique abilities… because they used an EM shield to keep me from escaping my cell. No doubt the same technology they use to mask the existence of their city."

"So how did you escape?" Kate asked.

John shook his head, the red wine gently sloshing in his stem-less glass. "I'm not sure. Suddenly the EM shield was gone, and I was able to teleport again. I went back to Helen's chamber. When I couldn't find her, I began searching the rest of the palace."

"It must have been Nikola who freed you, John," Helen remarked, leaning back against her desk, arms folded across her dark, blue dress. "There was a look in his eyes….like he was trying to tell me something when we were talking with Kukulkan."

John huffed and took a large swig of wine.

"It's possible," Henry said, thinking out loud. "He's Mr. Magneto after all, and we are talking about an EM shield. Makes some sense he'd able to control that."

Helen gazed at Will who still had a puzzled look on his face.

"More questions, Will?" she asked.

The young psychiatrist shook his head. "Something still bothers me," he leaned forward looking straight at Magnus. "I get, however twisted it may be, why Tesla needed you. But why send Druitt there with you?" Will turned to John. "What you thought was some sort of corporation sending you on a consult to go find proof of a mythological creature turned out to be Nikola Tesla. He not only sent Magnus to look for Kukulkan, he sent you too. Why? I just don't get it." Will trailed off.

"Bloody good question, William. I wish I could answer for that myself. Helen?" John looked at her eagerly

Helen took a deep breath then folded her hands across her lap, thinking.

"Plan B, I imagine," she said.

"What?" Kate asked, her nose wrinkling in confusion.

"While Nikola might not bat an eye at harvesting and fertilizing my eggs so that he could regain his vampiric abilities and conquer the world, he wouldn't seriously harm me. So he arranged for John to be there as back up, just in case things went wrong with his plan. John was Plan B."

"And go wrong they certainly did, what with Amitesh, Kukulkan, whatever the fiend's name was, taking a fancy to you and wanting you to remain with him permanently. What a surprise. You've always had a way with men, my dear," John said grinning, taking another sip of wine.

Helen sent John a quick glance that promised she would demonstrate that particular skill later, when they were alone. John acknowledged it with an almost imperceptible tilt of his head.

"Are you going to go back? To Kukulkan? To the City of the Sun?" Will asked in a quiet voice. He looked up at Helen expectantly. John looked too. The room fell silent.

"Someday, perhaps….Someday," Magnus answered softly, not adding anything more.

"Where is Tesla anyway?" Henry asked suddenly, looking over at John.

"Oh, he's safe. Don't worry," John smiled, finishing off his Merlot.

"John….," Helen said warningly.

The shrill, child-like voices pierced Nikola Tesla's brain, causing another spasm to rock his body as the horrendous sounds continued to grind ceaselessly into his ears. He shut his eyes, trying to block out the noise, the music, the colored lights, the giant eyes, the smiling faces of a thousand tiny dolls singing in endless unison, but it was impossible. He screamed in agony, his body tied tight to the Imagineers-made totem pole, hoping someone in a passing boat would hear his pleas for help, but his cries were drowned out by the cacophony of that endless, bloody melody.

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world!

When he got out of here, and he would get out of here, he would kill John Druitt.

No one trapped Nikola Tesla in the,"It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland and lived to tell about it. No one.

END