A/N: Set S3 of BH but roughly a few months before the start of YD S4

Mitchell hated having to be so cagey with Annie about where he was going. It wasn't as though she could actually tell anyone but, and this was a big but, it was better not to risk the Old Ones getting any sort of whiff of this before the time was right. He had heard rumours of one of them already being over here in the United Kingdom, and if the rumours were true about who it was... Mitchell didn't want to get into that line of thinking. The visit had to be paid though, he'd been putting it off for 4 years now, and now he had left it too late. Getting to the place wasn't too hard, at least he'd been given pretty clear directions on that front.

He knocked on the large front door, and smiled at the young face that appeared behind it on opening. "Alright, Vlad?"

Vlad managed a smile in return "Alright, Mitchell?"

"I'm sorry I didn't get round before your 16th," Mitchell sipped warily at the coffee Renfield had made him with an irritated sniff. So far, no cockroaches, and Mitchell was grateful for that small mercy. He looked at Vlad, the kid was paler than he'd ever seen him, but that would be the case now, wouldn't it? He couldn't exactly go for a stroll in the sun. Born vampires were unlucky like that. "So," he placed the cup down on the table, and leant forward, rubbing his gloved hands together, "how's it been?"

Vlad nibbled his bottom lip with a fang absent mindedly. "Blood free's been harder than I thought," he said. "Especially after I merged, it was like all I wanted to do was find the nearest warm source and sink my fangs until there was nothing left." Mitchell gave a noise of concern. "There's some soy blood makers online, I ordered some," Vlad added with a shrug. "Figured it had to be easier than going cold turkey all at once."

"Yeah, it is hard," Mitchell agreed, "but for some it's the only way."

"Like you?" Vlad asked. There was something in his tone that made Mitchell look up, staring hard at the young boy who in two short years would lead them all. It seemed like only yesterday to the elder of the two that they had first met. Herrick had taken Mitchell to meet the Count, proud of all he had 'accomplished' in such a short span of time for a vampire who showed as much promise as Mitchell did. The Count was regal, but struck Mitchell as a Hammer Horror movie made real. What had surprised him were the two children playing around the throne. The elder, a girl about five, was proudly showing off a picture to her father, who gave a rare indulgent chuckle at the image. The younger, a boy, sat playing with a wooden wolf, making soft growling noises to himself.

Sometimes it was easier for Mitchell to remember that three year old than see the 16 year old sitting in front of him. "What do you mean, Vlad?" Vlad reached behind a cushion on the seat he was sitting on and unfolded a newspaper on the table in front of them. The headline? About the Box 20 massacre. "...Oh," was all Mitchell could say.

"How could you?" Vlad sounded betrayed. "You were my hero, Mitchell. Everything I wanted to be. You really made me think that blood free was possible and then..."

"Vlad, it's not that simple," Mitchell tried to explain. Vlad glared at hiom, and he found himself being flung backwards, pinned against the wall.

"I don't want to hear it." Vlad stood, making to leave the room. "You can see yourself out."

Mitchell slid to the floor.

When he got the phone call from Annie a few months later, Vlad cried for the first time in years.