A/N

On the housekeeping front, this story insisted on being written and is a nice break from The Three series (though that is in no way abandoned and is actually insisting on a third installment), so both will be updated intermittently. Somewhat of a departure from the majority of my SFA fics, concentrating on dreams, characters and relationships. Stand-alone.

Inter Somnium roughly translates from Latin to "In Dreams"

INTER SOMNIUM

ONE

"Nikola, don't push."

"Well move faster, I'm about to slip."

Helen pushed off from the lip of the rock face and held gamely onto the guide rope as she patiently found a new foothold. Nikola was busily muttering under his breath about how she always picked the worst destinations for expeditions, having more trouble descending into the caverns than she was.

"You know, Nikola, you could fall from this height down to the cave floor and you'd be all right. Vampire?"

He chanced a quick peek downwards to what seemed like a gaping abyss below them and quickly looked forward again, fighting down a sudden spell of vertigo. While she was right, there were still certain fear instincts he was beholden to.

"I don't want to ruin my jacket."

Another fifteen minutes of steady climbing, and steady whining from his end, and Helen's feet touched the bottom. Nikola slid the last few feet, dropping down beside her with an irritated huff.

"Remind me again why I'm in the middle of nowhere with you?"

Helen clicked on her flashlight and scanned their surroundings. "Because you needed some fresh air, and Will threatened to quit if I left him alone with you."

"Will?" Nikola pretended to be offended. "Will loves me. Good old Willy Z and Doctor Tesla."

Helen smirked. "I think you calling him 'Willy Z' is the main reason he hates you, Nikola."

Nikola shrugged, uncaring, and followed Helen as they journeyed deeper into the caverns. The rock walls glistened with moisture and lichen, and she marveled at the blossoming signs of life they found down in the depths of the Earth.

"These erosion patterns must be hundreds of years old…" Helen whispered in awe.

Nikola pulled a face. "You aren't going to coo and stop for every speck of dirt in here, are you?"

"What did I say you had to do if you wanted any of the Chilean Shepherd frog venom we collect today?"

Nikola opened his mouth as if to protest, but then snapped it shut and looked down sulkily at his shoes. "That I had to behave…"

"That's right," Helen said with relish. She lead them through a passage cut in the rock by years of erosion and earthquakes until they found a massive chamber with a ceiling that reached several feet above their heads.

"There," She whispered as she pointed to large pools of water and recesses in the rock. Nikola stopped complaining immediately, just as entranced by the intricate networks and organic material that had formed a vast warren of nests. They heard a series of low croaking that reverberated in the rocky chamber.

Helen smiled in wonder. "They're singing."

They stepped carefully around the gooey lines and puddles until Helen found a newly formed nest. They crouched in front of it, and Helen gently pulled away the slimy film to reveal dozens of little frogs. The small creatures croaked excitedly, bright orange and giving off a faint glow.

"You could use one as a night light," Nikola remarked dryly as Helen noted the presence of bioluminescence in her notebook. She tucked away the slim volume into her pack, pulled on a pair of latex gloves and then gently guided on into her hand. It was no bigger than her pinky finger.

It croaked curiously at her. Nikola had pulled on a pair of gloves as well, and then took out a sample swab and collected some of the gooey film from the creatures back.

"You think they like getting their shots?" He asked as she pulled out a small syringe.

"It might be a little startled, but this shouldn't hurt it." Helen gently pinched the back of the frog's head and belly with her index finger and thumb. It squirmed slightly as she gingerly injected the syringe just beside its throat bladder and withdrew a clear fluid. Once the extraction was complete and she let the frog go, it croaked belligerently at her and furiously hopped away.

"There, easy as pie. We just need three more extractions and we'll have a large enough sample to start creating a serum."

Nikola threw his hands in the air. "Hurrah, more slimy things." His mouth was twisted with disgust as she hunted for another frog to gently coax into her hands.

"You know, Helen, most men wouldn't put up with your perverted ideas of fun. Wine, dancing, a night stroll … why can't you ever be interested in something normal?"

Helen quickly grasped onto a frog that was trying to escape and held it up in a cage of her interlocked fingers. "Nikola, your idea of a good time is just as strange. It involves feeding pigeons, writing harassing letters to the Edison society and wandering around in a thunderstorm."

"Naked in a thunderstorm."

Helen shuddered and ignored the smirk on his face. "Perish the thought."

"You came close to joining me once. Naughty girl…"

Helen looked up scandalized by the obscene purr in his voice at the last remark. Her jaw had fallen open and he had to stop himself from laughing himself sick at the sight. She hissed, "You tried to push me off the roof of Oxford! It wasn't my fault I actually slipped and tore my dress on the weather vane!"

Nikola merely shrugged, unapologetic. "I would have caught you. I wouldn't have let you fall."

They bickered more as they gathered more venom samples, chattering away happily in the lonely cavern underneath the Earth. Despite his barbaric sense of humour, Helen couldn't remember the last time she had so enjoyed herself out on a mission. Just the right level of excitement, no danger, and when he wasn't making impudent remarks, Nikola was the only one she could enthuse over the different properties of the Shepherd's frog venom with.

She had first learned of the full potential of the frogs when Bigfoot had fallen almost to the brink of death and an injection of the venom had brought him back to life. From then she had found myths and legends that had sprung up around the creatures in localized regions of Chile.

There was a myth that there had once been a poor farmer whose entire family had died save for his young son. A plague had swept through the village, killing crops and taking lives, and his son fell ill and was consumed by the disease. He had traveled to the lonely mountains, went deep below the Earth and prayed to the gods to spare his last child. They had shown him to a pool of water where the presence of Death guarded the orange frogs that lived there, once thought to be small spirit children of the sun, and he had collected some of the water. When his son drank of it, he was miraculously revived.

"One sip for waking… second sip to help sleep…" Helen chanted quietly to herself as they packed away the samples.

"Third sip from a good Chilean vintage?" Nikola asked wryly.

Helen rolled her eyes at him as she shouldered her pack and brushed the dirt from her pants legs. "No, it's third sip for soul's-"

The cavern suddenly rumbled, the walls shaking. The frogs stopped croaking immediately, and Helen grasped Nikola's arm. They looked at each other in alarm.

"How far away is the exit?" Nikola whispered.

The cavern rumbled again ominously, dust falling from the ceiling, before it settled again just as suddenly. Helen flicked her flashlight around the cavern, alighting upon a dark crack that she hadn't noticed buried within the shadows before. She tugged on Nikola's arm, slowly backing away.

"I don't think that was a natural quake."

Nikola saw the dark crevice she was looking at, similarly backing away. "Do you think the Shepherd frogs have a shepherd?"

They were just a few feet away from the passage they had taken into the chamber. Helen reached for her stunner, forcing herself to continue to move back slowly despite wanting to run. They had to make no sudden movements… "It makes sense… the frogs are weak on their own, it's perfectly logical for them to create a symbiotic relationship with a stronger abnormal that could protect them from any natural competition."

"Helen? If we're about to get gnawed on by some hairy South American mountain man, please stop being so damned logical and scientific. I'd rather you just kiss me."

Despite the imminent danger they were in, Helen couldn't help roll her eyes at him and swat his arm. "Do you never stop thinking of how to seduce me?"

"Never." He flashed her a smirk that was so full of ebullient audacity, infuriating but hopelessly charming at the same time. She felt the edge of the passage press against her back and found his hand, grasping it.

"Okay, we're going to duck our heads and move into the passage. Halfway through, we run."

She felt him squeeze back suddenly, fear making him tense up. "I see eyes in the shadow."

"Bugger, just run then!"

They turned on their heels and made their way as quickly through the passage as they could. The rocky tunnel was only large enough for person to fit through at a time, and Helen swore she could feel the hot gushes of Nikola breathing hit the back of her neck. The Shepherd frogs suddenly began croaking together in an incredibly loud, eerie chorus. Though she could only hear the frogs and the walls rumbling, she swore something was running after them.

Scrambling through the rocky footing, Helen suddenly felt Nikola collide into her back and slip away. She chanced a quick glance behind her and saw Nikola fallen to the ground, being dragged away from her.

"Nikola!" Helen grabbed her stunner and fired. Curiously she still couldn't see whatever it was that had hold of him. Dust falling obscured her vision, but she swore the shadows cast by the rocks had lengthened and followed them somehow. Perhaps the abnormal was photosensitive?

The stunner's beamed bounced harmlessly off the rock, and she tossed it aside. Crouching down, she grabbed Nikola's arm. He was unconscious, bleeding from a gash on his forehead. The shadows seemed to darken, inching closer to where they were, and Helen tugged his sleeve urgently. "Wake up … wake up, Nikola, come on."

No amount of pleading stirred him. Desperate, Helen pulled on his arms and lifted him enough so that she could support his weight on her shoulder and gamely struggled to get them out of the cavern.

The shadows inched ever closer, and then began to pick up in speed, racing towards them. The croaking of the frogs was deafening and served to shake the very foundations of the rock. Chunks of the ceiling began to fall, and the passageway began to collapse.

With a desperate cry, Helen finally managed to pull them out of the passageway before it collapsed fully on top of them. She saw that they were still far away from the point they had rappelled into the cavern. She wasn't sure if she could get them away fast enough before they were buried by rock.

Nikola looked pale, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, a small smear of blood streaking from the corner of his mouth. Alarmed, Helen pulled them against the wall of the cavern where there was a bit of a recess in the surface. She pressed her fingers to his neck and felt no pulse.

"No, no, Nikola – wake up." She gently shook him and his head fell to his shoulder, lifeless.

Desperately, Helen fumbled through her bag and found one of the small vials of venom. She looked for a syringe when the cavern shook violently again and she was thrown against the wall, her hand slammed into the rock and the vial shattered, glass shards buried cruelly into her hand.

She fell onto Nikola's shoulder, and clung to him, inwardly weeping as the earth tore itself apart around her. Down in the Earth where the pool of water lay … guarded by the presence of Death itself. The first sip for waking, second to help sleep…

Why did she always have to go chasing after fantastical stories and myths? She curled up against her dearest friend who always followed her on any adventure, feeling scared and so alone.

Third sip for soul's dreaming…

Rocks fell about her, the rumbling tossing her around again. Helen felt her head strike against something with a sickening crack and was consumed by blackness before she had even finished falling.