A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

I really hope this isn't a disappointment… I wanted to try something I touched on in other fics but didn't really incorporate until this one…

Chapter 6: Confide

Ingrid sat herself down on the floor opposite Bertrand, she waited for him to open his eyes and acknowledge her. She knew she'd have to wait a short while but she was prepared to wait.

Her dress fanned out around her as she sat, creating a black pool of satin.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him quietly.

He answered her question with one of his own. "How do you think I feel?" He gestured around at the shining cage. The argentalium bars did a good job of keeping him contained, he knew that a vein of liquefied garlic ran although he did wonder who's idea it was to mix argentalium into the cement folding the flagstones firmly in place.

Ingrid reached behind her and passed something gingerly to him through the bars. Bertrand looked at her in confusion before inspecting the small package.

He let out a small snort as the contents were revealed to him – a shirt and a clean pair of black tracksuit bottoms. His training clothes.

Ingrid cautiously turned herself around to give him privacy. Baylor and Mikhail had long since drifted off to sleep and Ryan was confined somewhere else in the manor.

Bertrand gladly yanked the shirt over his head, feeling the air hit his torso. The shirt had been caked in dirt and grime from being taken by Olga, the new shirt felt wonderful against his skin. He quickly pulled on his trousers as well.

Ingrid turned around after a small noise from Bertrand. She held her hands out expectantly, he knew what she was asking and he handed her his soiled clothes. She couldn't trust him not to somehow use his clothes to escape or as a weapon. He smirked at the fact she'd remembered that part of her lessons from him.

"So why are you keeping me in here?" Bertrand asked her, sitting down once more.

"You attacked Erin, Vlad won't hesitate to slay you if you do it again." She didn't blame Vlad though, she understood how he felt.

"So this is to protect me?" He scoffed slightly.

Ingrid smirked at him slightly, he wanted honesty she was going to give it to him. "And us."

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

It felt strange staring at him through the bars of the cell. Ingrid clenched her fists as she was overcome with the urge to touch him.

"Erin and Vlad aren't talking." Ingrid confided in him, she wasn't sure it was the best thing to do but she needed someone to talk to. She missed being able to talk to Bertrand about everything.

Bertrand tipped his head, he looked at her softly. "Why?" He knew he had to be there for her to support her.

"The Council demanded that if Erin is to be Queen and as she's been recognised by the crown then any future heirs have an equal before they assume the throne."

"Arranged matings." Bertrand summed up. Ingrid nodded. "Who's angrier?" He asked her quietly.

Ingrid weighed it up in her mind, there was one glaring answer. "At the moment Erin but Vlad's good at hiding things." Vlad was a master at hiding his emotions in particular his negative ones, but over the last day the light had gone from his eyes. He was expressionless.

"Does he know how to undo it?" Ingrid shook her head in response, this was the Bertrand she remembered emerging. "They'll deal with it together, they always have…"

"They won't." She cut him off, this time it was more serious than any argument the mated Draculas had ever had. "They've said things that can't be taken back. Erin told him they were forced to mate, she didn't mean it that way but…"

"Vlad took it to mean that she didn't really want to mate with him." Bertrand rubbed a hand over his face, it would be typical of Vlad to do that.

Ingrid winced as she spoke the next part, "And Vlad said she had chance to slay him then she could have married a slayer like she was supposed to."

It was the clip notes version but it held the main points of the argument.

"Erin and Vlad can forgive each other for almost anything." Bertrand knew that, they could get through something small like this.

"I hope you're right, but I really don't think they'll get past this, this time."

Ingrid could hope but some things had been said that Ingrid wasn't too sure about.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Ingrid shakily reached through the bars, reaching out for his fingers. She grasped the tips of them and squeezed. Bertrand shifted his hand so he could lace their fingers together.

A tear made its way down her face, "I will undo what Olga did to you." She promised that with all of her soul.

"It can't be done." He answered, he shuffled closer to her in the cage, taking his hand from hers and trailing it up her arm.

"Staking Olga might…"

For once Bertrand didn't feel any loyalty to Olga as he spoke. "It won't undo it Ingrid." It was the same as trying to slay the vampire that had turned you – nothing would happen.

"I'll find a way." She promised him. She moved towards him, hesitating slightly. Bertrand mimicked her actions, their lips met softly before she pulled back with a slight chortle. The contact had been brief but it had told them all they needed to know.

"What?"

"Just thinking that this is probably how Vlad and Erin first kissed." Ingrid couldn't help but smirk at that although Vlad was furious at her manipulating his emotions still, she knew he would never have got the courage to ask Erin out without her forcing him to kiss her. Erin would have been trapped with the slayer.

"Probably." Bertrand agreed with a slight smile.

"I'm sorry." Ingrid spoke, she was apologising for everything: Olga, his prison, the argument, everything and anything that came into her mind.

Bertrand nodded, he was sorry too but he couldn't say the words. A mixture of his bite and the pride within him. "You'd better go before Vlad stakes you himself." Bertrand whispered softly.

Ingrid nodded, pushing herself to her feet, catching her shoes in the material of her dress. "I'll come back." She promised him.

Bertrand nodded as he watched her disappear, there was something he had to tell her but he couldn't get it past the bite yet. Her presence made it easier to try and tell her, perhaps if she stayed longer he could find it easier to tell her.

It was about Olga and one of her plans.

Unfortunately it was also about his involvement in its creation.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Ingrid entered the room to a frosty reception from both her brother and sister in law. It seemed like for the first time in a day they were both finally agreeing on something. Ingrid only wished it wasn't over her. The air was cold and the tension could be cut with a knife. Vlad and Erin seemed to be reading judging from the books on their laps although it clearly wasn't their usual choice of books.

"You went to see Bertrand." Vlad summarised, Ingrid stumbled in her step before continuing towards the bottled blood. She didn't see any point in denying it and acknowledging it would have been pointless so she just prepared herself from the scolding that was going to follow.

Erin decided to take over. "He could have hurt you on your own."

Ingrid knew her answer, it was ingrained in her mind. "He won't hurt me, he hasn't before."

"He didn't listen to you though last time, he still attacked Erin." Vlad told his sister sharply shaking his head. Bertrand had been lucky that time, Ingrid had intervened before Vlad had the chance to.

"I know Bertrand."

Erin gave her a soft look, the first softness she'd shown in twenty four hours. "You didn't know him after Olga took him, you can't be sure he's the same person."

"I don't want you getting hurt Ingrid…"

"What about your wife?" Ingrid retaliated, it was a low blow. Vlad instinctively drew a breath. "You're hurting her right now." She turned to Erin, "And you're hurting him." They looked at each other before comically looking away. As if one entity they both looked down at their feet. "You're stronger together, it was a mistake that was made." Ingrid shook her head angrily at them both. "Sort this out before I stake one of you. Don't say anything else you'll regret. I've been there, I lost someone I loved, I could lose Bertrand too. Don't lose each other you don't want to go through that. If this war takes one of you, you'll only remember this and regret it. We need to work together not against each other if we're going to win."

Ingrid set down the bottle and lifted her goblet. She wasn't going to drink it in here, they needed time alone – besides it would distract them from what she did.

With a whoosh she'd vanished from the room, leaving Vlad and Erin sneaking cautious glances at each other.

"She's right." Erin's head snapped up at Vlad's words.

Vlad couldn't lose her he loved her too much. Erin was the only thing he cared passionately about in the entire vampire world, she was the one who saw him for Vlad nothing more nothing less. Erin was the only one who made him see that the vampire world wasn't the nightmare he'd told her it was.

Vlad gently took Erin's face in his hands, he searched her eyes. "I'll fix this Erin, our children won't be forced into a mating."

Erin spun away from her husband, tearing herself from his grip. He just didn't understand. "Its too late for it to be fixed, it can never be fixed."

Fear welled inside Vlad's stomach building up. Twisting and turning like a knife had been thrust into it.

Vlad felt his own throat clenching with unshed tears as Erin turned to face him. The sight of her made his heart drop to the floor.

Vlad watched as tears escaped her eyes, trickling down her cheek. She didn't brush them away she just let them fall from her soft flesh to the floor.

He spoke slowly, trying to force the words out only succeeding in a strangled cry. Tears forcing themselves forward. "What does that mean for us?"

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Thanks for reading.