A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Chapter 10: Request

"Kiss me." She repeated slowly.

Vlad shook his head, "Erin…"

"Please Vlad." She wanted to know how she felt deep down; she didn't want to hurt him anymore. If she did love him somewhere inside she'd feel something when she kissed him.

"I'm not going to take advantage of you." He told her fiercely.

Erin shook her head at his honour; she'd never met anyone like him. "You won't be taking advantage, I asked you to do it."

"Are you sure?" Vlad asked, he wouldn't do this if she wasn't sure that it was what she wanted.

"Yeah." She was certain that she wanted it. If she couldn't handle a vampire kissing her then she couldn't do this.

Vlad nodded slowly, agreeing to do it. He lifted a hand to cup her cheek but stopped himself. He didn't want to make her feel more uncomfortable; he knew her request took courage.

Vlad leaned forward, Erin pulled back slightly unsure whether she'd made the right choice after all, asking him to kiss her.

Vlad pulled away seeing her hesitation, Erin caught his face and gently pulled him back to her. He gave her a quick, very nervous smile. Erin nodded slowly to him.

This felt like their first kiss all over again.

Vlad shuffled forward slightly and gently brushed his lips against hers. Erin tensed and Vlad began to pull back. Erin moved her hand to the back of his neck and held her to him firmly. She slowly opened her mouth allowing him to kiss her fully.

The moment the kiss was deepened Erin felt a spark rush through her, her whole body tingled at the sensations he was causing inside her.

Erin knew she should be repulsed by the thought of him touching her, let alone kissing her but at the moment it didn't matter.

Vlad drew back slowly, touching his forehead to hers before pulling away completely. His eyes snapped open and he looked at Erin fully.

"So?" He asked her quietly. Erin pressed a hand to her lips.

Erin eventually dragged her eyes back up to his, "I don't know."

She felt something and it scared her.

Ingrid sped into the room shooting Vlad and Erin a curious look at their closeness they moved apart slightly, both immediately looking uncomfortable.

"Guess who's finally arrived."

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Jonno bent down to the level of the small girl. "Hey Addy." He greeted, Addy smiled up at him widely. He held out a small stuffed toy to her, he'd promised to bring it back to her last time but he'd forgotten. Adria grabbed the small stuffed rabbit and clutched it to herself, she'd missed this since leaving it at the Slayer's Guild after the last meeting Vlad had with them.

Vlad wouldn't have usually taken her but it was just after Erin's miscarriage and he didn't want her to be disturbed, so he'd taken her to give her some peace.

Jonno glanced over to Ingrid who was still shooting him daggers after ten years; the sight of the rabbit (while not the same) seemed to stir up irritated memories. Adria didn't understand the past history between her father and the slayers.

"What do you say?" Vlad prompted the almost five year old who was hugging the toy fiercely.

Adria glanced upwards at Jonno, "Thank you."

Jonno hadn't changed much although he had grown older; he'd lost the moustache years ago. He was currently engaged to be married to another slayer, a slayer that could talk sense into him when he needed it.

Ingrid sauntered up to Jonno, accusation in her eyes, "I thought you were arriving yesterday, when you were contacted you said you'd be a few hours."

Jonno usually arrived when he said he was and for him not to there was something big that had gone down to stop him.

"I know but something came up." Jonno told her, the look in his eyes meant that he and Vlad needed to talk alone. Vlad nodded briefly at him and glanced at Ingrid. Ingrid took Addy's hand and led her away from Vlad and Jonno. She settled her at the table with Erin.

Vlad jerked his head towards the doors and Jonno nodded, following him outside.

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As soon as the door was closed the slayer spoke. "There have been attacks." Jonno began quietly. Vlad leaned against the door. "Nothing major yet – a few drained bodies." Jonno hated saying that they were nothing major but they agreed that until it developed into mass slaughter they wouldn't start an outbreak of war.

"How many?" Vlad asked quietly.

"About five." Jonno confirmed, double figures meant a problem. "We haven't slain anyone yet but there's talk about it. And I'm not talking about self defence."

"When did it start?"

"Forty eight hours ago." Jonno told him and Vlad groaned, he ran a hand across his face. Five casualties in forty-eight hours it would triple in the next to days regardless. The timing fit.

Jonno decided to ask why he'd been summoned while he had the chance. "Anyway what's the emergency?" Looking around he couldn't see there was anything wrong.

"We were attacked forty eight hours ago."

"So you think it's linked." It was an easy conclusion to draw.

"I know it is." Vlad answered, "In the attack they wiped Erin's mind and…"

Jonno understood, "You were thinking because mum and me beat ours we could undo Erin's." Vlad nodded slowly, "They knew you couldn't survive without her." Erin was Vlad's weakness and strength, to attack her would mean Vlad's mercy would be erased completely.

"Do you think you could?"

"I'd need to talk to mum, it's been a while. Mum knows more about this than me." It was Mina's field of expertise. Jonno looked at his watch, "She's in a strategy meeting," A strategy meeting was usually to identify where the attacks had taken place and identify any chances to avoid more attacks. "I can send a message for her to get back to me."

Vlad felt a weight being lifted from his chest. "Thanks."

"I'm not promising it can be done." Jonno felt Vlad deserved to know everything.

"I know."

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Jonno noticed that Vlad's eyes were slowly turning darker starting from the irises and moving towards the pupils.

"You need to drink." Jonno noted, he knew Vlad was sticking to his beliefs and not drinking blood (no matter that it was soy) in front of them.

"I'm fine." Vlad assured him.

"He gets irritated when he doesn't drink." Ingrid supplied.

"I won't get irritated." Vlad spoke calmly and deliberately.

"Just drink Vlad." Jonno told him seriously, he wasn't standing for any nonsense now. "It's a one off and you need it."

Vlad sighed and walked across to the table, uncorking a bottle of soy blood and pouring it into the goblet that was waiting there. He gingerly lifted it to his lips taking care to lower his fangs discretely so the slayers wouldn't see them.

Vlad closed his eyes as he felt the benefits of the soy blood filling his system. He hadn't realised how much he'd needed it, he missed the days when he didn't have to rely on it to survive. He could live off breather food for a while but he needed to soy blood to survive.

A phone went off and Jonno answered it, it was the call they were waiting for.

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"Ree," Erin warned lowly as she saw her daughter aim for Vlad's goblet, a fierce maternal instinct rushing through her. Adria moved away from the cup with a pout on her face.

"I think you should let her drink it, she obviously wants to try it." The Count interrupted completely unhelpfully. If the young vampire wanted to try it then Vlad should let her.

"Ree is too young to drink it. She's just curious." Vlad answered automatically, Vlad knew Ree didn't have a clue what it was she just wanted to try it. Her reaction was exactly the same as any other child's when they saw their parents had a different drink.

The soy blood wouldn't hurt her in the same way human blood would, it would make her stomach sore but it wouldn't make her sick. Her stomach wouldn't be able to handle it until just before she turned sixteen.

Vlad looked at Erin, "There's some juice in the cupboard for her." Erin nodded slowly and walked over to the cabinet, inside there was no sight of blood vegetarian or otherwise just fruit juice for their daughter.

Adria ran over to her mother as soon as she saw Erin pouring the orange juice into a cup for her. Addy grabbed the cup from her mother and greedily drank from it all thoughts of the soy blood gone from her mind.

The Count let off a disappointed hiss at Vlad and Erin's parenting skills.

"Fog off!" Vlad muttered to his father. He wasn't going to have Adria turn into Ingrid. He was going to give his daughter the love and respect that she deserved and Ingrid had never had.

"VLAD!" Five echoes sounded around the room at Vlad's swearing. He immediately pulled a sheepish grin, he was just frustrated with everything that was happening.

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The door slowly creaked open and immediately everyone's eyes were drawn to Jonno. He slipped the phone away into his pocket. His eyes immediately met Vlad's.

Vlad looked at Jonno, pleading and desperation in his eyes. "You undid your wipe. Can you undo the mind wipe?"

Before Jonno had a chance to answer dark figures rushed in and pushed the slayer from in front of Vlad.

Vlad's eyes turned the darkest black as his power surged through him at the sight of the Council appearing uninvited into his home and even more so at them interrupting an important conversation.

"You need a new Queen." Obviously no time for pleasantries either.

Vlad ignored them, pushing them out of the way. This time he needed an answer from Jonno.

Vlad's tone was imploring and he didn't care what the Council made of it, "Can you undo what they did to her?"

Jonno considered it carefully before giving his answer.

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Thanks for reading.