Work Text:
_____
Men such as Nikola Tesla did not dream of working in a bar. Men like him, with his high intelligence and obvious genius, were supposed to be doing things.
However, reality was a cruel mistress indeed, for him to be stuck behind the bar now, just like he had been for the past two years. It wasn't a bad job, not really. He made very decent tips. But it wasn't what he wanted to be doing. He wanted to be creating inventions that would do wonderful things for the world.
But bartending could be fun. He was good at it, he met pletny of interesting people, and he was allowed to flirt with the customers if he wanted. To a point. It was still fun.
It was a busy, busy night and Nikola was pouring drinks, talking, flirting, and smiling his way through his shift. He had to do that with the rude customers too, which was something that he hated. Nikola hated rude people and sometimes would much prefer to throw the drink in their face than place it politely on the bar in front of them.
One thing he did enjoy was judging people for their drinks. Beer was horrible and oh-so-boring. Wine, Nikola could approve of, though it was rather low on the list of what the customers prefered. He could respect scotch and whisky, though his opinion lowered when they wanted it watered down or anything like that. Nikola held respect for certain drinks, after all.
As a vampire, he had watched it evolve and had tasted them all. Wine was the best, as long as it wasn't cheap and acidic.
That being said, he handed over a trio of beers to a woman with a smile. She returned it and headed towards a table with her friends.
A woman sat down in the empty stool in front of Nikola. He was immediately captivated.
She was beauitful, with blue eyes framed by smoky makeup, brown hair tumbling in careless curls around her shoulders. Nikola's eye was also drawn to the fact that her shirt showed off a generous swell of cleavage.
The way she looked at him told him that she noticed and that she didn't give a damn. He liked that. She was clearly not impressed with him and that made her all the more intriguing to him.
"What will you have?" he asked, hoping that she wouldn't ask for a beer. His opinion of her would lower immensely if she did.
"Whisky. Neat. Make it a double."
Not what Nikola had been expecting. He would have been more impressed with her if she had ordered one of the fine wines they had on offer.
"As the lady wishes." he said.
He poured her drink and set it in front of her. She knocked it back immediately. Nikola arched an eyebrow, a little impressed as she put the glass back down.
"Another." she said.
She arched an eyebrow at him expectantly, throwing her hair over her shoulder. Nikola was entranced. He poured her another, making a mental note to keep an eye on her drinking, because too many of those would lead to him either cleaning up a mess or dumping her into a cab. That would be disappointing.
He had to busy himself around the bar after this, but he walked by her a little more foten than he really needed to, just to see if she needed something. He breathed in as he passed her, noting her scent. He wasn't a dog or like that, but he did have heightened senses as a vampire.
Her smell was....odd, he decided. He had never smelled anything like it before. There was something beneath her perfume that made him frown.
The bar started to empty after a bit, but she stayed in her seat, nursing her drink and generally looking unhappy. In a lull, Nikola leaned on the bar, arching an eyebrow at her.
"So. What did your man do?" he asked her.
Her eyes snapped up to him. She glared at him.
"Why must men always assume that if a woman wants to drink alone while she is unhappy, it is because of another man?" she asked, voice biting, her accent gentling the words.
"A bartender assumes it when a woman comes in in a foul mood and knocks back her first drink like it's water." Nikola corrected, smirking.
Her lips curved down in a frown and Nikola kept his gaze trained on her face.
"I'm not going to talk about it." she said flatly, running her fingernail around the rim of her glass.
"Fine by me. Are you going to have another or are you just here to look at me?" Nikola asked, smirking at her.
Her glare made him smirk even more. She nudged her glass back towards him in answer. Nikola took it and refilled it, but he didn't make it a double this time. He didn't know how well this woman could hold her alcohol, after all.
She was looking at him with a smoldering gaze and Nikola felt himself swallow. There was something different about this woman and he was finding himself drawn to her. She sipped her drink slowly and watched him the whole time. She knew the effect she was having on him and she was clearly enjoying it.
Nikola decided to ignore her for a bit like this.
He came back to her when she tapped her glass on the bar. She did that just to annoy him, he could tell. But he was the fool that immediately obeyed the summons. And not because it was his job.
The only patrons in the bar now were a few people scattered in booths and tables, one old man at the end of the bar, and Nikola's mystery woman. He leaned on the bar in front of her again as she sipped her drink.
"What are you?" he asked her. Not the smoothness that he had intended, but her scent was invading his nostrils and it was bothering him.
"What?"
"What are you?" he repeated.
"A woman who wants to forget tonight." she said, with just enough of a smirk that told Nikola she knew that wasn't what he was asking.
He growled a little in the back of his throat at her. That elicited a broad, smirking grin from her. She stood on the rungs of her stool, elbows on the bar, leaning forward. She put her mouth right next to his ear.
Nikola shuddered at the warmth of her breath.
"Why don't you figure it out, Mr. Tesla?" she whispered.
Nikola stiffened at this. How did she know his name?
He pulled back from her. Her smirk had faded and a small, satisfied smile had replaced it, her expression expectant. He could smell the whisky on her breath, but he realized she wasn't drunk at all. Just like he was never effected by alcohol when he drank.
She sat back down on the stool, clearly waiting.
He glanced around to make certain that no one was close enough to hear him.
"Are you a vampire?"
She laughed. Nikola found that he liked the sound, but he scowled at her.
"Hardly. Care to guess again?"
He studied her. She rested her chin in her hand. There was an air to her that was familiar, that suggested she was old. Like he was. They stared each other down. A few moments later, the blue of her eyes slid into red.
Nikola gaped.
His eyes went black when he fully turned into his vampire state, but he had never seen this before. The red of her eyes sent a thrill through him and he found himself even more attracted to her.
Her smile grew enough to display teeth that had sharpened just a touch.
The pure power of that smile made Nikola convinced of what she was. Only one creature besides vampires could have pulled that off.
"Demon." he whispered, smiling.
Her eyes returned to blue and she looked pleased.
"Very good." she placed her empty glass on the bar in front of her and folded her hands on the polished wood, straightening her spine.
"You didn't come here for a drink, did you?" he asked her, starting to wipe the bar to look busy as they talked.
Her eyes glimmered a little red behind the blue as she stared him down. Nikola stared right back. If she thought for a moment that a vampire was going to be phased by a demon walking into the bar where he worked, she was sadly mistaken.
"What do you think, Mr. Tesla?" she asked.
Nikola smiled a little at her, pausing in what he was doing.
"I think you need to tell me your name if we're going to keep talking, milady."
"Fair enough." she said, not extending her hand to him. "Magnus. Helen Magnus."
"Helen Magnus." Nikola let the name roll off his tongue.
It seemed familiar. But he couldn't remember why.
"All right. Helen. What brings you in here to find little old me?"
Nikola couldn't fathom what a demon might want with him, even though it was very intriguing that she had sought him out in the first place. He had never imagined a demon to look the way she did. He certainly appreciated how she looked. But he hadn't gotten to be a vampire that had survived the Victorian era by blindly diving into things.
"I wanted to meet someone who has lived as long as I have." she said simply.
That was not what he had been expecting either. He ran the cloth over the bar one more time, though it really was just for show at this point.
Nikola tilted his head at her thoughtfully, really taking in this woman. A beautiful demon that practically exuded power and claimed to have lived at least as long as he had. She had come in here to specifically find him. He doubted that she would tell him how she had found out about him, but he found himself okay with that. He certainly had his own secrets. He could be generous enough to allow her to keep hers.
"What are you going to do now that you've found me, Ms. Magnus?" he asked. "Kill me? Buy me a drink? Ravish me?"
The last one didn't sound too bad, but Nikola wasn't going to let her in on that.
"I could offer you a deal."
That was disappointing.
"Sorry to break it you, but I don't think my soul is available to be making deals with. Vampire, remember?"
She rolled her eyes and that made Nikola grin.
"Not that sort of deal, Mr. Tesla. And I do not believe I would want your soul. Too much hassle."
She returned his grin.
Nikola got down to the business.
"What sort of deal?"
"You're an inventor, are you not?"
"Of course I am."
"I need someone to construct a rather....unusual item for me." Helen said, tapping her fingernails against the polished surface of the bar.
Now that was quite intriguing to Nikola. He moved closer to her again, searching her face. She was acting very non-chalant, but there was something in her eyes that told him that this was something that was very important. Her second and perhaps main reason for seeking him out. He was curious and the not-so-good part of him thought maybe he could use it against her if he wanted.
"What sort of 'item'?" he asked.
"An EM shield."
"For what reason?" Nikola asked, intrigued.
Helen frowned at him, her eyebrows lowering severely over her eyes, accentuating their color.
"I'll only tell you if you take the job, Mr. Tesla."
"What would I get out of it?"
"An unlimited budget on the project, for starters. The rest.....may be negotiated."
Nikola liked the sound of that. He looked her up and down. Considered his current circumstances.
"I believe I would be....willing to negotiate." he said slyly.
Her smile oozed more slyness than his voice ever could. Nikola found himself ridiculously attracted to this for some reason.
"I thought you would be. May I buy you a drink, Mr. Tesla?"
"You may. We have a lot to discuss."
Nikola gave her a somewhat feral smile, letting his teeth change while no one else could see. Her eyes turned red in response.
This, Nikola decide, was going to be very interesting.