A/N: Some of the creativity for this chapter and the previous one was fueled by "Fresh Blood" by the Eels, if anyone is curious. I hope you enjoy the chapter.


Shaking breaths and a racing heartbeat pulled Vlad from the oblivion of a deathlike sleep. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw Robin staring down at him from beside his coffin. He didn't understand – why was Robin in his room? "Robin?" he asked in confusion.

The touch of metal against his skin drew his attention to his wrists, uncomfortably bound by handcuffs. Had Robin put them on him? He tried to break the restraints, but couldn't. They felt so heavy. "Argentallium," Robin told him.

Argentallium... the the metal that drained vampire strength and powers. He was helpless. "Release me."

Robin shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"You can't, or you won't?" Vlad growled, feeling the fury rising in him. He tried again to break free, but to no avail. Something weighed down his feet as well – probably more argentallium.

"You've bitten people, Vlad. You've killed."

"So what?" he snarled, letting his fangs show.

Robin revealed a stake he had been holding behind his back.

Watching him warily, Vlad asked, "What are you doing?"

"Someone has to stop you," Robin said, raising the stake.

Vlad tried desperately to make sense of the situation. If one of the Van Helsings or even Ingrid tried to slay him, he wouldn't have been surprised. This was something he never could have predicted. He was about to be killed by the one person he trusted most in the world, and there was only one thing he wanted to know. "Why you?"

"In this world a man is either a vampire or a slayer. You made the decision for me. I am not a vampire, so I am a slayer." With a savage cry, he brought the stake down towards Vlad's heart.


Vlad awoke with a start, safe in the dark confines of his coffin. He threw open the coffin lid and sat up to look around his room, but no one was there. No one except for Zoltan sniffing around in a corner for what Vlad guessed was one of the castle's rats. It had only been a nightmare.

The hands on his alarm clock showed eight thirty. It wasn't like him to sleep so late in the morning.

"Did you sleep well, Master Vladimir?" Zoltan asked, noticing that he had woken up. "Your father wanted me to tell you that he's going out hunting and will return later."

"What?" Vlad asked, instantly out of his coffin. He ran over to the window and opened the shutters just a little, ready to jump back from any rays of sunlight. Beyond the window stars were beginning to appear in a darkening sky. It was eight thirty at night. He had slept through the entire day.

The nightmare still haunted him as he got dressed. As unrealistic as the nightmare seemed, he had sensed Robin becoming more distant in the last few weeks. Ever since he accepted that Vlad wasn't going to make him a vampire, Robin hadn't been as enthusiastic as he used to be about Vlad being one.

Then Robin caught him with Anna in the woodwork room. Even though he didn't get to taste a single drop of Anna's blood, he knew it looked bad. By the way Robin reacted it must have been quite a shock for him. But Robin should have guessed it would happen sooner or later. After all, he knew that vampires bite people and drink their blood – what did he expect? For Vlad not to bite humans? To spend his life slowly starving to death on inferior animal blood?

He had to talk to Robin. Maybe then he would find out if Robin's revelation had affected him… and how to deal with any negative results.


When Robin got home he immediately brought the box full of slaying equipment up to his room before anyone could see it and ask about it. Clearing a space on his desk, Robin set it down without opening it. Guilt made him hesitate to investigate its contents. He had betrayed Vlad just by meeting with the Van Helsings.

Since he had the box he may as well find out what was inside. Robin started removing items from the box one at a time and setting them out on the desk… bulbs of garlic, vials of garlic juice, stakes of various sizes, a mallet, and a chain made of argentallium. He couldn't imagine ever using these things against Vlad, but a few weeks ago he couldn't have imagined feeling the need to defend himself against his best friend.

"Robin? I heard the door, are you up there? Where have you been?" Mrs. Branagh called from the bottom of the stairs, not sounding pleased.

"Vlad's!" he shouted back, giving his most common excuse for not coming home in time for meals.

"Well get down here already! Your dinner's gone cold!"

"Coming!" Robin left, closing the door behind him.


When Vlad arrived at number 22 Robin's window was open and a light was on inside. He couldn't simply fly in and startle Robin, so he landed just below the window. Grasping the outside of the sill with tiny claw-like thumbs, he poked his nose over the edge and peered inside. His weak bat vision made everything appear blurry, and the light hurt his eyes. He resisted the instinct to retreat to the darkness and crawled through the window. Once inside he shifted back to human.

Vlad's feet hit the carpet and he looked around. Robin wasn't there. His eyes fell upon Robin's desk, and Vlad saw something that made his unbeating heart clench in his chest. Amidst the usual clutter nearly covering the entire surface of the desk sat a complete set of slaying equipment. It looked a lot like the arsenal Van Helsing kept behind the chalkboard in the woodwork room. Vlad went over to the desk for a closer look.


"Ha, ha, very funny!" Robin drawled loudly enough for the twins to hear as he stomped back upstairs. Only Ian and Paul could get a laugh out of the old 'loosen the top of the salt shaker' trick. Robin opened the door to his room and slammed it loudly behind him. He quickly noticed he was not alone. "Vlad!" This was not good at all. Vlad stood by Robin's desk… his desk which had the slaying weapons on it. What if Vlad assumed the worst? It certainly didn't look good. "What a surprise," Robin said nervously.

"For both of us," Vlad replied dryly, looking from Robin to the weapons. He ran a finger along one of the stakes before picking it up. "Care to explain this?"

"How did those get there?" Robin tried his best to look astonished, but Vlad merely stared at him, obviously not fooled. He tried desperately to think of a plausible explanation. "Those are, uh, they're…" But Robin couldn't think of any innocent reason why he would have a box of stakes and garlic in his room. He sighed. "I went to the Van Helsings. They gave those to me."

Vlad's eyes narrowed upon hearing the name Van Helsing. "And you would use these? On me?"

"I'd never, you know that! They wanted me to take them…" He hesitated, trying to measure Vlad's reaction before adding, "…for protection."

"But I'm your friend. Why would you need protection from me?"

"I saw you bite Anna last night. You've been drinking human blood, haven't you?" he accused.

"You think you saw me bite Anna," Vlad said calmly. "Don't worry, I didn't feed from her."

"You didn't?"

"Of course not."

Robin flushed with embarrassment. "When I saw you with her… and the disappearances that started after your birthday… I'm sorry I assumed it was you, but you can't blame me for getting certain ideas."

Vlad nodded. "I understand. You were afraid. You don't know what it's like for me." Despite being accused of biting humans, Vlad's face didn't reveal even a hint of emotion. No sadness, anger, pain… nothing. It raised the hair on the back of Robin's neck.

"I'm really sorry. I should have been honest with you," Robin said earnestly, forcing himself to step forward.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I know you're not a slayer." For the first time, Vlad smiled – a predatory expression nothing like the ones Robin used to know. It lasted for only a moment but somehow it terrified him more than anything.

Vlad put the stake back on the desk carefully so as to avoid accidentally touching any of the garlic. "I'm afraid I haven't been a very good friend," he said seriously, meeting Robin's gaze. "I want to make it up to you."

He moved closer and Robin asked breathlessly, "How?"

"I'm going to help you understand," Vlad said, his eyes turning black.

Robin could see his fangs, and suddenly he knew exactly what Vlad was about to do. "Wait, no…"

Vlad appeared behind him, and he heard Vlad's voice at his ear, "No? How many times have you asked me to do it? Begged me?" He inhaled deeply, drawing in Robin's scent, then sighed. Vlad's cool breath on his neck sent a chill down Robin's spine. Robin didn't dare turn to face him. He wasn't sure he could move even if he wanted to.

"Don't you remember that day when you tried to make me to turn you? The way you willingly exposed your warm, tender throat to a vampire? You wanted me to drink your blood. You were ready to surrender yourself, your life to me without a thought."

Robin swallowed thickly as Vlad lightly stroked his neck with icy fingertips. "I… I changed my mind. I don't want to be bitten."

"But you still want to be a vampire, don't you? This is your chance. One bite and some of my blood is all it takes. I'll make it quick. Painless."

As Vlad spoke Robin slipped his left hand onto his desk. He kept staring straight ahead as his trembling fingers touched the papery skin of a garlic bulb. His heart raced. He was sure Vlad could hear it. Vlad coiled an arm around Robin almost protectively, holding him close. Robin's breath caught in his throat as Vlad gently placed the tips of his fangs against his skin, readying for the bite. In that moment Robin grabbed the garlic bulb and smashed it into Vlad's face. He heard a loud hiss as Vlad let go of him.

He lunged for a stake and whirled around to face Vlad, who was pressed back against the wardrobe. A burn marked his forehead where the garlic touched him, though it faded as Robin watched. Robin held the garlic out to keep Vlad away while pointing the stake at him, but was trembling uncontrollably and nearly dropped both. "Stay back," Robin warned. He felt something warm trickle down his neck. Not lowering the stake or taking his eyes off of Vlad, he brushed the back of his hand against his neck, and it came away red with blood. Vlad's fangs must have grazed him as he pulled away. "Oh…"

Vlad's eyes were no longer black as he stared at Robin with a look of horrified realization. "You really didn't want me to bite you?"

Robin shook his head.

A moment passed as they stared at each other in silence. Robin thought Vlad looked as though he might cry, but then as Vlad's gaze lowered to his wounded neck he wondered just how strong vampire instincts were. "Please don't make me use this," Robin motioned with the stake, not knowing what Vlad was thinking. All he knew was he didn't want to die. Then without warning Vlad turned into a bat and flapped past Robin and out through the window.

Robin hurriedly closed the window and latched it. Overcome by exhaustion, he sank down to sit on the floor, leaning back against the wall. He hugged his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead against them. He sat for several minutes with his eyes closed, drawing in deep breaths and trying to stop himself from shaking so badly. The wet feeling on his neck eventually reminded him that he was still bleeding.

He pulled himself up and went to the bathroom, and when he looked in the mirror he was shocked by the sight of himself. Blood smeared the right side of his neck and leached into his shirt. At least black didn't show stains. On his skin the crimson fluid was beginning to dry to a deeper red. The bite didn't seem to be bleeding all that much – he supposed it looked worse than it actually was. He ran a washcloth under the tap and dabbed at his neck until most of the blood was gone. When he finished he could see two shallow lines cut into his flesh. Those were going to leave a mark.