Summary: A freak violent storms kicks up and brings a new face to Storybrooke

Disclaimer: I own nothing of OUAT

Rating: M

Pairing: Rumplestiltskin and Belle

A VAMPIRE IN STORYBROOKE:

Victor managed to make it down the stairs before Mina as she was human and no longer possessed vampiric speed. He braced the door with his body and let her glare him down without so much as a flinch. "You're not leaving this house." Victor stated. It was true that he had no love for Rumplestiltskin or for Belle, but he knew Mina. If she went after Belle in a fit of anger it would come back to haunt her later. That h would not see. She was his sister. Victor had to spare her when she would not spare herself.

Mina snarled, "Get out of my way!" Still Victor did not budge. She put her hands on the door knob beside his hip and pulled. The door opened but Victor fell back against it closing it again. "MOVE!" Mina shouted dropping her hands and stomping her foot. "I want out of this house."

"If you go after Belle now as angry as you are, you will regret it," Victor spoke gently. "You adore that young girl, don't destroy her." He pleaded and hoped that some of what he was saying permeated that anger addled brain of hers. "Don't do this. She doesn't deserve your anger."

Mina fisted her hands in Victors shirt trying to use the strength she no longer had to make him move. "She DID this to me." Mina shrieked. "She MADE me HUMAN!" She shouted putting her face close to his and adding emphasis to two of the words. Her resolve left her and she crumpled to the floor. Victor sank down gathering her close to let her cry. She was human. She was truly human. She was weak and frail. Mina was dying each day all over again. "I'm not meant to be human." She sobbed into Victor shoulder.

Dracula watched, helpless to comfort the woman he loved, as she cried against the shoulder of a man she took to her heart and called brother. It should be him holding Mina. It should be him soothing away her tears. It should be him. Dracula made a move to do just that when he froze again. No, it was better that it was Victor holding her. He was alive after all. If Dracula was to go to her, then he would remind her of all that she lost. She was no longer the woman she had been for centuries. At his sides, Dracula clenched his hands into fists.

"Why?!" Mina shouted, sobbing over and over again. She didn't want to be human. Humans were frail creatures that were nothing more than prey. She was a hunter, the top of the food chain. She was the wife and Queen to Dracula. "I don't want to be human. I can't be human." She buried her face in Victor's shoulder. "Make it stop, Victor…" Mina sobbed shaking from the force of her tears. "Make it stop."

Victor tightened his hold on his beloved sister. "I'm sorry, I can't." He lowered his head giving her all the brotherly comfort that he could. "If I could take this from you then I would. I would make you a vampire again, but that power does not lie with me." He looked up at Dracula, "That alone is the power of your loving husband." Victor looked up at Dracula and for the first time he saw shame reflected in the man's eyes.

Dracula took that moment to take his leave. It broke his heart to see Mina so sad and knowing that he could not do anything to change her fate. This was the time he should go and visit Jefferson. He wanted a word with the Mad Hatter about the first night Mina had come to this land. Dracula was assaulted with images of Mina feeding from Jefferson in the most intimate way. He could see the Hatter's hands cupping his wife's breasts. A deep rage burned through him hot and explosive. Slipping quietly out of the back door to Victor's house, Dracula went in search of the Hatter.

Back inside the house Victor managed to get Mina to stand. She had been asleep for hours and hours without food or water. Now that she was human her body would demand food. "Come on, you need to eat something." He said in a whisper. There would be no way in this life or in the next that he would allow Mina's life to be forfeit while he could do something about it. He wouldn't see her die of starvation.

"I want blood." Mina walked with the aid of Victor. Her legs were weak to the point she couldn't support herself. "I want to be a vampire again." She whined. There was nothing in the human world, the human life that held sway over her heart, over her mind anymore. She couldn't be human. She couldn't be limited. "Give me blood." Mina demanded.

"No." Victor stated forcefully.

"I want blood." Mina growled.

"I don't care." Victor dropped her on one of the bar stools so he could have his hands free to make her something light. "You're going to eat some toast so you have food on your stomach." He told her with an edge of a snarl.

"I don't want toast." Mina crossed her arms over her chest.

Victor turned back to her, "I don't care. You're going to eat." She fell silent allowing him to get back to making her two slices of toast. It wouldn't overwhelm her system in such a manner that she would get sick from food. Two minutes later the toast had popped out of the toaster lightly golden brown. He added butter, put them on a small plate, and set the plate in front of Mina.

Mina glared at the plate pushing it away from her. The smell alone turned her stomach. "I don't want it." Victor pushed the plate back in front of her with an imposing male glare. Toeing the line of her luck, Mina shoved the plate away. "Read my lips, I do not want that." She stated.

"You have to eat or you'll starve." Victor pointed out picking up the plate and setting it in front of her with a loud thud. "Now eat damnit!"

Mina, out of defiance, picked up a slice of toast and threw it at Victor. It went down the open gap of his button up shirt. He reacted bending back and letting the toast fall out of the bottom of his shirt. She was too enraged to laugh even though the sight before her was funny.

"Fine… starve." Victor growled picking up the toast to put in the trash can. He walked out of the kitchen and back up to his bedroom to change shirts. Anger rode him, but he could hardly blame Mina.

Mina glared at the toast suddenly feeling the intense need to eat. Her stomach clenched in pain. She ran her tongue over her teeth out of habit wishing for her fangs to appear to give credence to the thought that this was all a terrible dream, but her teeth remained normal. Reaching out, Mina took the other slice of toast in her hand and brought it to her lips. Quickly she took bite before putting the bread back on the plate. Slowly she closed her jaws starting to chew. The crunching sound was so loud in her mind but the food tasted good. Mina swallowed.

Victor came back down stairs to try and get Mina to eat again, but when he stood in the kitchen doorway he saw her deflated, eating the piece of toast. Guilt took him for how cruel he had been to her. "Mina?" He stepped into view. "I'm sorry." She was his sister after all, his adopted family.

Mina swallowed the last bit of toast she had eaten. "I'm sorry too." She slid down off the bar stool and went to him. Like a sister, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pillowed her head on his shoulder hugging. "I'm really sorry."

Victor hugged her in return, "It's not your fault." He kissed the top of her head. "Now, if you promise to behave, I'll take you to see Belle."

JEFFERSON'S HOUSE:

Dracula stood on the wide porch looking at the door that Mina had gone through the night she had come to Storybrooke. If he closed his eyes he could see Mina walking up the stairs, entering Jefferson's bedroom, and he could see her taking off her vest, her shirt. He could see Jefferson's hands cupping Mina's breasts, his fingers playing with her hardened nipples. Dracula could even recall the sensual way in which Mina had fed on Jefferson due the scar that went around his neck. Some of his anger cooled knowing that the Hatter had lost his head.

Jefferson was gathering his considerable courage to open his front door to the Count standing out in the sun. He knew why the undead man was here. It was about Mina. Dracula had finally come to collect his head or maybe his heart. Jefferson opened the door asking, "Are you here to kill me?" A 'Hi, how are you?' would have been more polite, but when you deal with vampires normalcy was not to be expected.

"I thought about it," Dracula mimicked a sigh, "But, no, I am not here to kill you." He looked beyond Jefferson to the stairs leading to the second floor. Even as it was days ago he could still smell the faint traces of his wife within the walls of the house. "I only wanted to see the house my wife visited so she may feed on its owner." Immediately his eyes rested on the scarf Jefferson wore. "I know what happened to you and why you did not want her dark kiss to mar your already scarred neck."

"You wouldn't be on your own," Jefferson pointed out. "Something has happened, hasn't it?" Stepping out to the porch Jefferson closed the front door, "What's wrong with Mina?"

"Somehow, through a twist of fate or cruelty, Mina was made human when she fed from Belle" Dracula answered looking Jefferson in the eyes. "She'll need a friend like you to get her through these next couple of days." Turning away without giving the Hatter time to reply, he left the porch and followed his dwindling link to the woman he loved. He would have thought to still feel her at Victor's house, but no, they were in town. "What now?" Dracula grumbled racing off for town.

GRANNY'S DINER:

Mina had seen through the window that Belle was in a booth with Rumplestiltskin resting her head on his shoulder. She could tell that the innocent young woman had been crying. Maybe it was true what they were all saying. Belle really didn't know what her blood could do. She had made a move to go through the door but Victor held tight to her hand. "Let go of my hand." Mina whispered.

"Behave." Victor warned. "Your venom is last thing that girl needs. She's already torn up enough about what happened between you." He kissed Mina on the top of her head. "I would suggest that you that you school your features into a mask of repentance and contriteness."

"Can't I just feel bad?" Mina asked letting the pain of her own show. "Cause, I already feel retched inside." Through the window she saw Belle being comforted by Rumplestiltskin and it made her heart ache for knowing that she made the young woman feel the need to seek such public comfort. Had she truly been that horrible to her when she had been turning into a human? All Mina could hope for was that Belle didn't loathe her. Her heart felt heavy with sorrow for all that she had done in such a short time.

Victor sucked in a deep breath, "As long as you make it show on your face." He moved away from her, opening the door so Mina could go through but he made sure to remain by the door to let things play out. Victor knew his sister she was rational, she was caring, and she would not hurt Belle out of vengeance.

Mina bowed her head, let the normally teasing smile fall from her lips as she walked into Granny's, towards Belle. Even without her vampiric powers, Mina could taste the sorrow, the remorse on the air between her and Belle. Tears came to her eyes as she stood at the table where Belle sat. Mina's shoulders shook, "Belle…" Tears fell again. "I'm sorry, please forgive me."

Belle looked at Rumple and then slid out of the booth placing her hands on Mina's cheeks. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who should be sorry." Belle breathed in and then said, "It is I who should ask for your forgiveness. I did this to you and I…" She was cut off by Mina pulling her into a tight, human, embrace.

Mina spoke low, "You have nothing to apologize for," The former vampire hugged her friend as tight as she could, "You didn't know and I was wrong to lash out at you." It had never been her intention for Belle to bear the brunt of her anger, of the fear welling inside of her, as she endured deep pain. "All you did was to try and help me." Mina pulled back and plastered a smile on her face.

Belle had imagined a wave of rage and words of venom coming from the now human vampire. She hadn't expected Mina to be forgiving, but she had hoped for it. "You forgive me?"

"Always and completely," Mina answered without hesitation. "Do you forgive me?" She would understand if Belle couldn't bring herself to bestow forgiveness upon her. After all she had been rather cruel in blaming Belle, in claiming that it was her fault. Those words she never have touched her tongue and spilled from her lips.

Belle smiled, wiped away the tears on Mina's face and answered, "Always and completely," She knew the situation was far from resolved; Mina had yet to become a vampire again. "I wish there was something I could do to undo this."

Mina shook her head, "No," she sighed, "I get to remember what it's like to be human." A strange feel fell over her for the first time in centuries. "Human?" The word held new meaning to her, a new sense of life; a doom. "I'm human and…" Mina looked at Belle who just hugged her again. She looked at Rumplestiltskin, who breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone around them seemed to ease. Then sensing him, Mina pulled back from Belle to see her loving, immortal, husband standing with Victor. He too eased. In her native tongue she asked, "Did you think I would hurt her?"

Dracula replied, "I know you are capable of such fury and violence." It was blanket statement. He knew that she was capable of killing, but he knew that she wouldn't, just as he knew that Mina would never harm Belle intentionally. Dracula had to be here to make sure of it. Mina was human and humans were prone to many things.

Mina stepped away from Belle to go to Dracula. She hadn't been angry before, but now she was. Standing in front of him she whispered, "You want violence?" Mina raised her hand and slapped him hard across the cheek. Dracula's head snapped to the side. "There, you have violence." She moved past him and out into the sunlight not fearing the scorching waves of pain that normally would have torn through her. Mina looked to her hands not seeing the day light marks upon her skin. The palm of her hand stung with the force she had exerted slapping her husband. She had the feeling that when it came time to make her a vampire again, Mina felt that he wouldn't turn her again.

Inside, Rumplesiltskin kissed Belle on the cheek before going over to Dracula. "I assume whatever that was that it was directed at you and not because of Belle." He didn't want to resume being tense around two people he was calling his friends. They had come to an astonishing friendship in such a short amount of time without thinking of what could happen. Rumple couldn't have foreseen Mina turning human.

Dracula nodded trying not to feel the sting to his skin. "Yes, I was worried that she would… cause harm… to your young flower." He inclined his head to Belle feeling wave after wave of guilt come upon him. Then, Dracula did the one thing he did not think he could do, "May I ask…" He bit his tongue and then berated himself for being foolish. "I need… advice…"

Rumple reached out placing his hand on the other immortal's shoulder, "I don't know how much help I could be, but I'll try." He knew people were watching him, holding their breath as to what he would do. But he was tired of being swayed by the Rumpelstiltskin people expected him to be. "Let's go somewhere to talk." He offered looking out to door to see if Mina still lingered. She was gone. "I do know the pain of having the woman you love angry at you."

"How did you and Belle get through it?" Dracula asked as they stepped out into the light. Unlike the woman he loved more than his undead life he did not need the marks to keep the sun at bay. He was the first, the progenitor of the Vampire Race.

"In some ways we haven't yet, but in others we are learning how to be together again." Rumple headed towards his shop. "When I got Belle back after having thought her dead I was too shocked," he sighed. "She had been taken from me as a pawn to be used at a later date. When I realized who had taken her I wanted to lash out, to claim vengeance, and I would have done so had Belle not caught on to what I was doing. She threatened to leave me, and she did for a while, but then," Rumple shook his head still amazed that she had come back, "Belle came back to me."

"That does not make you happy though," Dracula noticed hearing the note of sadness in his friend's voice. There were times he had searched and searched for ways to make Mina human, but in their land, to do so would have made her little more than prey. Mina hated the feeling of being weak.

"I've tried to release her from me, but she…" Rumple smiled, chuckling, and looking to the sky. "That woman of mine, she still see's the good in me even though I can't see it in myself." He stopped looking to Dracula, "You and Mina have something that I have not see in three hundred years and I never would have dreamt of having what you two have until I laid eyes upon my darling Belle."

"How do you keep from wanting to set her free?" Dracula asked. He had been giving serious thought to drinking from Belle, to making himself human so he could have a real life with Mina. In time, maybe she would come to see this as a good thing. He hoped, at least. When Mina was used to something, getting her to change her way of life was difficult. Though, he had an easy time, well, relatively easy time, of getting her to be a vampire. How would she react to his choice of wanting to be human with her?

"I look into her eyes and see all the love she has for me." Rumpelstiltskin answered. Though, he could see that his words were having the opposite effect on his friend. "Whatever you do, think carefully." He said. Dracula had a certain look in his eye that Rumple knew from his own reflection. His vampiric friend was set on a course that could mean trouble for him.

THAT NIGHT:

Victor sat on the front porch of his house listening to things being thrown, to shouts, to curses in Romanian that he tried not to understand but it was hard due to the fact that Mina had taught him the language years ago. Earlier in the evening Dracula had come wanting to offer Mina a solution to the current obstacle in front of them. Unfortunately it wasn't the solution she wanted to here and a volatile fight had ensued which led to Victor sitting out here enjoying the night air listening to his house be torn apart by a very angry wife. World War III was happening in his house and he as marginally safe outside listening to it. All Victor would have to do would be to remain outside and he wouldn't lose any vital limbs. Unlike last time. Just that thought alone made him shudder.

Inside Mina threw heavy text book at her husband. "How can you think this is the right course to take?!" She shrieked. "We have been together for nearly 200 years and now you want to be human?!" Mina threw another text book at him where it connected with his left shoulder. "You never once hinted that you were unhappy!" That had to be what hurt Mina the most. Dracula wanted to be human, now, all of a sudden because of one accident in drinking Belle's blood. If she had known that he had been so deeply unhappy Mina would have done more.

"I only want to be with you as a man, not a monster who lives of the blood of others." Dracula spoke calmly even though a storm was raging inside of him demanding that he fight back with Mina. "I want to have a family with you, grow old, and…" He stopped there seeing the look of horror in his wife's eyes at the mention of implication of death. Shame took him then. Dracula hadn't given voice to his dark desires for the true death since being married to Mina, since he went through the trouble to turn her. Now he saw a way to end their pain, the cycle of death, and Mina wasn't happy with him. "I only want to be with you." He muttered.

"You want me to be weak, to be prey, and you want to condemn yourself to the same fate." Mina snarled. When she had been a lowly school mistress she had longed for better things, a better life. She knew her life was meant for more than just a simple life with an un-ambitious husband and children. She was meant for immortality with a man who could love her for all of time. Mina had him, she had her dark prince, and now he wanted to give that life up for humanity. "I'm not meant to be human."

"Do you think I wanted to renounce God? Do you think I wished to become this vile demon who feeds on blood? NO! I did not want this. I only wanted you and a life that we could share." Dracula said his heart lifting after giving voice to the truth that had been locked away for so long. Out of rage he pounded his fist against the wall leaving a hole. "You are all I care about whether we are human or vampire."

"Then be my No Life King, by my Husband, and be my Sire. I love you…. God forgive me… but I do love you." Mina pleaded. She hated to see him so conflicted. All she wanted was her life back; the life she had lived for so long by his side under the moon. He was taking away all that she had loved for so long under the assumption that this was the best course of action for them. It wasn't. They were both meant for more than a mere human existence.

Dracula shook his head looking down at the floor. "No," He said with a deep sigh of regret. "In the morning I go to Belle to ask for her blood so I can cure myself." He headed to the front door and in English he said, "Mina, I love you more than life and more than blood. I only want to know you as a man should; a living breathing man." The words had been weighing his chest down for months as if some part of him knew that they would end up in a situation like this.

"How dare you!" Mina raged. "You want to be human after you did this to me!" She came to him and did as she had that night he came to turn her. Mina pounded her fists feebly on his back running out of enraged energy. "You took my best friend from me. You kept Jonathon captive while you came to London to seduce me. You made me love you so I would want to spend eternity with you. Now you want to take that away." Mina started to cry. "What have I done to make you hate me so much?"

Dracula turned to Mina cupping her face, looking deeply into her eyes, "I could never hate you." He choked out past the emotion swelling in his throat. "You are my most precious life." He kissed her forehead lovingly. "I want to be human with you, to have a life and a family. Is that so terrible?" He asked knowing that he was now crying bloody tears. "You are all I think about. You are all I breathe. You are all I see. If my heart could beat, it would beat only for you"

"Then let's live our life as we always have; together." Mina hoped that she was getting through to him, past his desire for mortality, but he stepped back from her shaking his head. "Don't…" She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't do this… please…. Don't…" Mina backed away. "Please, please, please…" her shoulders were shaking as he stepped out the front door. That left her with no other choice. It was something she hadn't wanted to resort to. It had been a full day since Mina had taken Belle's blood. She knew her husband would smell blood; her blood. Going to the kitchen Mina got a paring knife from the block, took a deep breath, and sliced the side of her neck open. With a yelp she dropped to the floor.

Outside Dracula had just set foot on the first step, intentions being to leave the house to cool is raging emotions but the smell of blood, Mina's blood, called him back inside. He saw her on the floor. Her blood was pouring from her neck. "Mina!" Dracula shouted. To the open door he called, "Victor!" He went to his wife pulling her into his arms. "What have you done?" Mina always won in the end. "Oh, Mina, my love…" He could hear her heart beating but he knew not for how much longer.

"Make me yours." She coughed out knowing that when he took her blood, her memories would be carried with it. They alone would remind him of their life, of the happiness they shared. He would see the love they had through her eyes. He would know how much being with him through eternity meant to her. "I want… to know the world…as you know it. I want… to see what you see. I want to love… what… you love…" She repeated.

Dracula sobbed, "Mina… No…" Of all the things he hadn't wanted, he didn't want her to die in his arms. Cradling her neck, he brought her closer to him, "Then… I give you life eternal, everlasting love, power of the storm, and… the beasts of the Earth." Tears fell freely from his eyes. "Walk with me, to be my… loving… wife…" Emotions were thick in his chest. "For all eternity." Knowing that Victor was there, watching, Dracula sank his fangs into Mina's neck in the exact same spot as before. Her blood flowed into his mouth being absorbed through his body and bringing with it her precious memories of their life together, her happiness, her love, and the point of view he had lacked. Dracula saw himself as Mina saw him; the man she was in love with despite being a vampire. She loved him like she could never love anyone else.

Mina could feel his happiness fill the room as her blood flowed into him. He no knew how she truly felt, how she truly saw him. It was worth cutting her neck open. For years she had kept those emotions hidden when he would take her blood, but now she hadn't needed to. He needed to see how she saw him, how she loved him. "Dra…cu…la…" She couldn't breathe. She was dying. "Save… me…" She gasped out. "Take me away from all this death…."

Dracula pulled back, made his shirt vanish. He took the knife she had used cutting a gash over his heart. "Mina, feed from me, and be my eternal wife once more." Guiding her mouth to the blood, Dracula felt Mina's lips close weakly over the wound, and she began to drink his immortal blood once more. As before, he wrapped his arms around her, bowing his head closer to hers. Dracula swayed from side to side as Mina continued to drink deeply. "My most precious life…." He mumbled. Dracula wanted nothing more than to make his wife happy. Being with him for all eternity made her happy. If he could have her by his side forever, then Dracula could begin to make this life his own again. When all was said and done, they would find another realm to live in where there were no expectations, no need to be a brutal man to keep his power. When all was said and done Dracula and Mina would stay in this world; their real home.