A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

At the moment I don't know how long its going to be, I have a number of threads to include in this that will build up to the big picture…

Chapter 3: Contents

Erin's hands trembled as she reread the letter to make sure she hadn't misinterpreted it. She hoped she had but there was no such luck.

Erin looked up at Vlad, a forced smile across her face, trying to desperately pretend that everything was all right.

"Nothing." She told him, her voice quavering as she spoke.

"Erin…" He drew out slowly looking at her. He could see the letter had scared her; Erin didn't usually get scare easily. Vlad was sure Erin looked as if she was about to be sick; she'd changed to a slightly green colour.

Erin seemed to suddenly snap to attention, she turned abruptly to face Vlad. "Nothing's wrong Vlad." She tried again. Vlad tried to look at the letter, he wouldn't normally but he wanted to see what had shaken her. Erin saw what he was doing and screwed the letter up, stuffing it into her pocket.

"Erin I know when something's bothering you, don't lie to me." His words were slightly begging, he couldn't be lied to again.

"I'm not!" She snapped at him, seeing the hurt in his eyes instantly appear. She'd told him too many lies in the past. "I just…have to deal with this on my own." She whispered.

With that she pushed past him and down the corridors.

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It took all of her strength not to slam the door shut. As soon as it snapped shut Erin hit the wall hard with her fist, she couldn't believe what the letter said.

She was supposed to have escaped. This was her first chance at doing what she wanted to do and she wasn't going to let them take it away from her.

She clutched her stomach as she fought the urge to retch. This was what happened when she got herself worked up, she always felt sick. Erin closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down.

She slid down the wall and rested her head against the damp wall. A few tears made their way down her cheeks, she didn't want this. She was happy where she was, why did they always have to ruin it for her?

Erin didn't want to think about what would happen to Vlad when they arrived.

There was only one thing she could do to protect him.

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Ingrid flipped over the page of fang magazine; she could hear the thumping of shoes down the corridor without using her sensitive hearing. No one else in the room seemed to be notice.

"Aww has poor Vladdy lost his breather pet?" Ingrid snarked as soon as she saw her brother – completely alone.

Vlad's answer was instant. "Don't push me Ingrid!" Ingrid immediately quietened seeing the harshness in his eyes, they darkened but didn't go completely black.

Ingrid nodded and gulped slightly, Vlad had only been that harsh once and she wasn't keen to relive it again. She still had nightmares about burning in the sunlight.

"What was in the letter Renfield?" Vlad asked his father's manservant. He felt guilty about prying into Erin's personal business but he wanted to help her and the only way that he could is if he knew what was in that letter.

The Count and Renfield looked too innocent for their own good, they seemed to look everywhere else and the Count's eyes were glowing a faint yellow. Renfield continued his cobweb angling at a more frantic pace wanting to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

"I don't know what you mean Master Vlad."

"Renfield you've never resisted steaming open a letter. What was the letter about?"

"The Master read it…OWWW!" Renfield's head snapped forwards as the Count hit him hard across the back of it.

Vlad slowly folded his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the right. He rolled his tongue in his mouth as stared down the Count. "So…" Vlad began quietly, leaving the question hanging in mid air.

The Count looked slightly sheepish inbetween throwing harsh glares at Renfield. "I think you'd better ask Erin."

For the Count not to tell him meant that for once the Count was showing some signs of conscience. Vlad ran a hand through his hair before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.

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Vlad knocked on the door to Erin's room lightly, he didn't get an answer but he could hear her inside. Cautiously he pushed the door open and poked his head around the door.

Erin was darting around the room in a hurry, she didn't seem to have heard his knocks. She jumped slightly as she saw him for the first time but she didn't ask him to leave.

Erin stuffed another jumper into her rucksack. He was shocked to see her packing her things, this wasn't the way to deal with anything – he should know.

Her eyes flickered to his for a moment before focusing on folding the blue scarf before giving up and creasing it as she forced it into the bag.

"You're leaving again." His voice was resigned.

"I'm doing this to protect you." She told him quietly, "I don't want to but I have to. If I stay you'll be turned to ash." She couldn't let that happen, she'd rather know that Vlad was still alive and be apart from him than be the cause of his death.

"Erin what was in the letter?" Vlad grabbed her arm as she tried to continue her packing; Vlad gently but forcefully brought her to stand in front of him.

Erin shakily drew her hand into her pocket, straightening out the creased the letter and handing it to him. Vlad looked at it curiously as he took it from her fingers.

It was short and unsigned; Vlad didn't have a clue who it was from. The neat cursive script was easy to read, nothing like his own quick scribble.

He began to read the contents of the letter.

'Erin,

We have heard what has happened to your license; we can't say how disappointed we are in you.

This disgrace is greater than the two our family already has to bear.

We have heard nothing but rumours about you since you decided to hide from us. Rumours that we have had to deal with every day and aren't easy to be ignored.

Your destiny isn't as easy to escape as you think. You were born a slayer, act like one.

Both of us have decided to come to you and sort this mess out.

Expect us *soon*.'

Vlad folded the letter back along its creased before handing it back to her. He could see why it had upset her. He'd been told he was a disappointment often enough by ever vampire in his clan and Bertrand, however having it written down gave it a sense of permanency that words didn't have. Words would fade over time, writing didn't.

"They can't come here and see you." Erin told him quietly, taking the letter away from his fingers.

"Are you ashamed of me?" He asked quietly, looking away from her, desperately trying to ignore the stinging sensation in his eyes. He wondered in that moment whether she did actually mind him being a vampire.

Erin cupped his cheek, "Never." She stroked his cheek with her thumb, "I just don't want you getting hurt." She pulled away and turned to her packing once more. "You don't know what they're like."

"I'm assuming this letter is from…" He whispered to her, but he didn't want to finish.

"My parents." She confirmed, she looked away. They never signed their letters, an old slayer habit in case it fell into the wrong hands and considering they probably knew the rumours (although not how true they were) they didn't want to risk it. She didn't want him to ever meet them, not because she was ashamed of him but because what they could do to him.

Understanding dawned on Vlad's face, "And they're…"

Erin nodded confirming his fears, "Slayers."

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Vlad always knew deep down that Erin came from a slayer family, there was no way you could just 'become' a slayer without having some kind of connections. Slayers were just as secretive as vampires were. They didn't reveal themselves for fear of being classed as insane.

"The truce is still in place." Vlad told her slowly, "They won't risk slaying my family."

Erin needed to remind him of one thing, "The truce isn't wanted by everyone Vlad." She took a breath. "My parents consider Ryan dead and buried because of what happened to him," That was one of thee disgraces, if Ryan was a true slayer he should have died when he'd been bitten not turned into a half fang. "They'll do worse to me when they realise that I have a vampire boyfriend."

"I'm not after their daughter's blood," He answered, although he'd be lying if he said he wasn't tempted every now and again when that ugly part of himself pushed against his tight control.

"I know, but they won't take your word for it. They won't even take mine."

Vlad tenderly stroked her neck, "Then I'll have to prove it." Erin leaned into his touch. She wasn't afraid; he hadn't been able to drink it when he was evil so she knew he couldn't drink it now. Anyway she trusted him, he'd never failed her before.

"Vlad they won't care, the Chosen One was the top of every hit list. They'll come in fully prepared to stake you."

Vlad held her shoulders gently, "I can handle them."

"I don't want them to slay you."

"They won't." He could protect himself but he had hopes that they could sort it out before it came down to actual self-defence. He didn't want anyone getting hurt but sometimes it couldn't be helped.

"They have more experience than me, don't trust them." Vlad was too trusting in his nature, which was his one main flaw.

"I won't." He promised her. A thought crossed his head. "How did they find out where you were?" Vlad asked her quietly, "Only your brother knew where you were. Did Ryan tell them?"

Erin shook her head; they'd disowned Ryan straight after his biting. Ryan was too proud to contact them after that. Her father had said he'd rather see Ryan dust than a vampire.

"I wrote to them but I never told them were I was staying. They probably were told by the Guild." She explained quietly. "When a slayer is punished their family's are told if they're under eighteen."

"Why do they have to be involved if you've graduated?" Surely if she'd graduated she could make her own decisions.

"We finish training at sixteen to match your kind becoming full vampires, the quicker slayers are trained the better. Jonno was still training because he never went to the Academy, but like you we're not allowed to make our own decisions until eighteen."

"Same as vampire culture."

"Pretty much."

"What do they know about us?"

"Nothing, they only know that I was somewhere safe." Vlad scoffed at that one, being safe in the Dracula house was like saying ice cream was safe in a sun bed. "With someone I trusted."

"So they don't know that you're living with vampires?" He asked her quietly. Erin looked down.

"There were rumours but nothing was ever confirmed, only Jonno, Mina and the tribunal know for certain." Erin paused preparing to answer Vlad's next question before he even spoke. "They can't tell them because they're bound in confidentiality as it was one of the charges against me." She had a slight smile at that although she knew that they'd try every trick in the book to get it out of her.

"So as long as they don't find out I'm a vampire we're fine." He summarised.

"Vlad they'd spot you were a vampire a mile off, it's not like you and your family are normal." Erin told him, quickly regretting it as she watched the glimmer appear in his eyes and the small half smile crossed his face. "Vlad…" She warned slowly, trying to get him to reconsider what he was planning.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.