AN: This was supposed to be 2000 words long. And then Mary Kelly decided she would like to be a hero, and here we are.

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: Not mine, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it a lot!

Spoilers: At least as far as "For King and Country".

Characters: Helen Magnus, James Watson, Nikola Tesla, Nigel Griffin, John Druitt and Mary Kelly (historical).

Summary: There are always whispers of murder in the streets of London, and Helen is determined to follow them.

Whispers on the Edge of Dark

Chapter 1

There are always whispers of murder on the streets of London. Never too loudly on her streets, of course, for those are well lit by gaslights and often patrolled by Scotland Yard, and the whispers are chased away to streets emptier and more dark. In Helen's neighbourhood, the whispers occur in clubs, where the men of society gather to discuss the topic with each other to spare their wives the anguish of having to hear about it from a person instead of the newspaper. Helen has no desire to break into that particular arena. The information she fought to hard for the right to glean at Oxford was useful, and she has little need to hear the casual conversations of men. She hears enough from James and John to suspect it would drive her mad anyway.

But these murders, these murders are different. She knows that James has all but abandoned their medical practice to consult with the Yard. Nikola and Nigel help him where they can, their skill sets being particularly suited to reconnaissance and the work of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee now that they have mastered control of them. John, who is much absent on business, remains aloof from the entire proceeding, save at the club where he cannot help but be drawn into idle chatter about it. And they have quite effectively shut her out.

It infuriates her, because she had thought they had all moved beyond that. Beyond thinking she was weaker, inferior, and accepting her as an equal on account of her intellect, and yet their conversation stills when she enters the lab, and every time she tries to broach the subject, to tease out a theory with James so that he will stop looking so haggard and possibly smile again, they refuse to let her.

She is reminded uncomfortably of the fear she felt in those initial days after they had taken the blood, that they would hate and shun her for what she had convinced them to do. That they would regard her as Eve, and drive her forth for all they had been her willing accomplices.

Those fears proved unfounded of course, muffled in no small part by the initial desperation of the days that followed Nikola's transformation. She and James had spent nearly all their time in the laboratory, desperately trying to come up with some sort of medication that would suffice to dull his unearthly cravings.

After the relative calmness of his turning, Nikola had fallen into a terrible fever, crying out in his native tongue which none of them spoke, and completely losing his reason. Mercifully, their relative isolation protected them from uncomfortable questions, but by the second day of his torture, Helen somewhat desperately and certainly without James's knowledge, had gone so far as to give him her own blood, which calmed his madness long enough for James to finish his work on the treatment.

It was she who pinpointed the change the blood had wrought in James, and she who reassured Nigel when he began to fear he was fading from the very earth. And of course it was she who had seen to John when, shortly after his power manifested, he fell victim to an unknown ailment. Again, her blood had been the cure, though this time with James's full knowledge and participation, and John's return to strength seemed to put to rest the final doubts she had about her place within the group she'd fought so hard to build. With the advent of the murders, however, Helen found herself squarely back where she began, and the idea of breaking into a circle she helped construct seems ridiculous and far to demeaning to consider seriously.

So she ignores them all, even John who calls as often as a fortune seeking fiancé might, and more so when one accounts for the part where he is not always limited to the propriety of using the front door. She is determined to wait them out, wait until they cannot possibly manage without her, and request her return. She is not unaware of how petty this makes her, but if they expect her to act like any other "mere woman", then they will find themselves fired upon with every weapon in her arsenal.

She does not lack for things to do. Her father is abroad more than he is at home lately, and the management of his Sanctuary falls more and more to her, particularly given James's distraction. She is learning more about the abnormal world than she thought possible, and is keen to take her studies in a direction her father has not yet gone. Gregory has spent most of his time helping those abnormals that humans would consider to be monsters of a sort. Helen is hoping to delve more into the lives of those abnormals that pass for human, like herself and the others of the Five, in the hope that when her father's crowded Sanctuary becomes completely over-occupied, she will have people in places where they are able to aid her.

It is not something she has mentioned to her father, however. Gregory was distinctly disapproving of her actions with the blood and she is reluctant to bring new ideas to him at the moment lest he attempt to forbid her from continuing at all. She is very, very close to complete independence from him, as much as she loves him, and she is not willing to compromise her initiative before she is able to strike out on her own.

Thus it is that she is home alone and otherwise unoccupied when Mary Kelly comes to the Sanctuary seeking aid of the fabled Dr. Gregory Magnus. Helen thinks immediately that it's just as well. Her father has a very limited interest in abnormals that don't look like something out of Greek Mythology, and given Mary's very obvious profession, it is entirely likely that he would have turned her away before Helen had the opportunity to meet her. As it is, Helen receives the woman in the kitchens. The cook staff is long gone for the night but Helen can manage a pot of tea well enough, and she thinks they'll both be a bit more at ease in so informal a setting.

"Thank you, Miss Magnus," Mary says, clutching the warm tea in both hands. The last days of September have been chill and so far October is no better. Helen does not envy Mary's many cold nights out of doors.

"Of course," Helen replies, unsure of what to say next. Oxford has prepared her for many things, but entertaining a prostitute is not one of them.

"I've heard that you offer help to people." Mary says the words all at once, Welsh vowels twisting softly, as though she's afraid she'll lose her nerve. "Special people."

"I do," Helen says, stirring her tea even though she hasn't added any sugar. "Might I inquire as to what makes you special?"

"When I touch a man's skin, I can hear what he's thinking, plain as if he were saying it." It's not the strangest thing Helen has ever heard, but it's close to. "So when I've a gentleman and we're – " she pauses and even colours a bit, though Helen suspects that's mostly because she's not used to talking shop with a lady. "Well, I hear what he's thinking."

"That must be useful," Helen says with blushing at all. She can think of half a dozen times when she would have liked to know what John was thinking.

"At times, yes." Mary sets the empty teacup down and twists her hands in her apron.

"Have you heard something you were not supposed to, then?" Helen asks. "Is there someone you need to hide from?"

"Oh, no, Miss Magnus," Mary says quickly. "It's nothing like that."

"Would you like another?" Helen asks, already lifting the teapot to pour. It seems that Miss Kelly is most comfortable when she has a reason to hold her cup.

"Thank you," the girl smiles. "You see, the pay isn't exactly good for what I do. And it's not something I want to be doing the rest of my life. So I've been using my abilities to set up a sort of retirement."

"You steal from them," Helen says, not sure whether she should be appalled or impressed at Miss Kelly's initiative.

"Only the ones what can afford it," Mary says. "There'd be no point in lifting anything from someone on the same level as me."

"What do you want, Miss Kelly?" Helen asks.

"I've got the money squirreled away in a few different places," Mary says. "No banks, of course. And with all the – troubles – I'd been hoping to put it all in one place, in case I needed to leave."

Helen's mind is working quickly now, as she sees several ends that could come from this particular line of thinking. She has been looking for a way to acquire the funds to finance her goals. If she could arrange for the safe-keeping of abnormal money, in return for being able to invest some of it of course, she would get a good start on it. In addition, Miss Kelly was in a unique position down in Whitechapel, and one that might go towards solving Helen's other problems. Of course, the first trick would be convincing Miss Kelly. Helen sets her teacup down, and look solemnly at the girl.

"There would be a few conditions," Helen says, in her sternest voice. "To begin with, no more stealing. I cannot condone such actions, and I will not launder money for you."

"Very well, Miss Magnus," Mary says, and Helen wonders if she has that much laid away of if she's just that scared.

"Second, I would like to invest the money and I would keep the profits from it."

"I don't know how that works, Miss, but so long as I get back what I paid you, it doesn't matter what you do with it in the meantime," Mary says.

"Last," Helen says, taking a deep breath and hoping this doesn't scare the girl off entirely. "I want you to return to Whitechapel for the time being and keep an ear out for news on the Ripper."

Mary hesitates, and Helen is concerned immediately that she has pushed too far. The girl sets down her teacup with resolve and looks up to meet her gaze.

"I will do it, Miss Magnus," she says, hands twisting in her apron again. "I didn't know Lizzie or Cat, but I've plenty of friends down there, and no desire to see them end up like they did, or the others before them."

Helen reaches out and takes Mary's hands without thinking about it. Belatedly, she remembers the girl's power, but screws up her courage and doesn't so much as flinch.

"It only works on men," Mary says, leaning forward. "And thank goodness, or I'd never have a moment to myself!"

Helen smiles, and begins the most unorthodox partnership of her life so far.

To be continued...