A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Chapter 21: Permanent Truce

Everyone in the room stared at Jonno, they were waiting for him to tell them his idea.

Jonno looked around the room, "Is there somewhere we can talk privately?" He asked Vlad. What he was about to suggest had never been done before and he wasn't sure how Vlad would react. Chloe and Robin in the room wouldn't help matters at all.

Ingrid seemed to understand what Jonno was asking immediately. "The training room." She suggested looking across at Bertrand, realising that she hadn't asked him before offering his private domain.

"I'll keep an eye on these two." He offered, he'd enjoy this a little too much watching as Robin gulped and Chloe shook.

Chloe stepped towards Vlad instinctively and he moved further away from her, "I'm coming with Vlad, I'll be his Queen so I need to know…"

Chloe still hadn't got the message that the Council would never permit her to become Vlad's Queen.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!" The Count roared at Chloe, Chloe jumped back before "Before I drain you breather."

Vlad didn't contest it; he didn't even look at his father once to tell him off with a glance.

"Vlad…" Chloe began again, this time Vlad reacted. He lowered his fangs as he turned to face her, he wished he'd never undone her mind wipe. Unfortunately it was clear her feelings had grown even with the wipe in place – it was possible as she remembered him but not the vampiric part of him.

"Shut up Chloe." Her eyes widened and she was truly terrified of Vlad in this state.

Vlad nodded to Jonno and fled from the room as fast as he could. Ingrid followed him a split second later with the Count and the two Council members.

Jonno and Mina looked at each other rolling their eyes; the vampires would have to wait as they couldn't speed. They set off at a brisk jog towards the training room.

Chloe went to follow them but Bertrand blocked the doorway with a smile, he wasn't going to let her follow them at any cost.

Chloe turned away from him, he had no right to do this to her as Vlad's 'fiancée', regardless of what the Council had said. Vlad would make them see sense before long.

She sat herself down on the floor with a thump. Ignoring the disappointed glances her brother was sending her every ten seconds.

"What?" She eventually asked Robin.

He didn't hesitate in confronting her, "You tried to blackmail Vlad into taking you as Queen?"

"I made Vlad realise that he's using her as a substitute me." She told him defiantly. He used to like me. She looked down at her hands, she wasn't going to let Robin's words affect her.

"As a friend Chloe, he hypnotised you. He doesn't love you."

"You like the idea of him being your brother in law." She pointed out.

Yes he had liked the idea, until he realised that Vlad would be unhappy with Chloe. He couldn't believe he'd been so blind as to actually believe Chloe when she told him that Vlad had admitted he loved her. "Until I was told that you blackmailed him." He growled at her, he couldn't believe his little sister would do this to Vlad. "He deserves to be happy with Erin, not you Chloe. He's a full vampire now Chloe, I wouldn't push him too far." Robin was unsure what Vlad's temper was like now.

"Vlad won't hurt me, he won't use his powers on me." Chloe was sure of that. Robin wasn't as sure, they didn't know the seventeen-year-old Vlad, he knew the fourteen-year-old version and Chloe knew the thirteen-year-old version.

"His family will." Robin knew the Count and Ingrid would. He glanced up at Bertrand, this vampire seemed more fearsome than the others. He looked the kind to bite first ask questions later. Not to mention the fact Vlad hadn't contradicted the Count when he threatened to drain Chloe. He used to say 'friends aren't food', not this time though.

Robin closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the chair he was sitting in. This chair wasn't as damp as the once the castle used to have, it was also far more comfortable.

Chloe watched as Bertrand paced the room slowly. She slowly reached into the back pocket of her jeans pulling something out.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Once everyone was settled in the training room Jonno began to speak, he was still nervous about suggesting this idea.

"There is a way that might make the Truce more permanent."

"I thought this was supposed to help Erin?" Vlad interrupted quickly.

"I'm getting there." Jonno immediately defended himself. "The only way that we *might* be able to undo the contract is make a new one." Jonno told him gently. "We make a new contract to make the Truce more permanent."

Ingrid was now confused. "You want a contract between Vlad and a slayer so he doesn't have to have Chloe as Queen?"

"That girl is never being Queen!" Atilla snapped, she'd never bow to someone who was terrified of their kind and only wanted Vlad, there was no way she'd take the vampires' best interests to heart.

If Vlad married her he'd lose the loyalty of his remaining supporters on the Council. She would never allow it, they'd make sure Chloe was out of the picture before she even came close to marrying Vlad.

"No we make the contract between you and Erin." Jonno told her, this way he could say that the Truce was permanent – a slayer and a vampire. He gestured to his mum and Atilla. "They just said that whoever Vlad picks must be agreed on by both cultures."

"As Vlad's already chosen his mate, without the Council's consideration, it'd have to be Erin." Atilla spoke, she still wasn't amused at Vlad's choice but she knew nothing would sway him. "She'd be far more suitable for him if he *has* to have a half fang because of what she did to the slayers."

Vlad bristled slightly at his gran's words.

"And if we agree that Erin can be the only bride for Vlad that we'll allow because she won't let him drain us and she'll preserve the peace, we can draw up a marriage contract making it official and effective immediately. Erin wouldn't have to marry Andrew, she would marry Vlad."

They all looked at Vlad as he walked across the room, he braced his hands on the training horse. He didn't comment at all.

"This would make their contract useless, this would override it as it would become important in securing the peace between our two kinds. You're the only person who can guarantee peace so of course you'll be the vampire in the contract and Erin could…"

The Count moved forward, "Doing that would make it a morganatic marriage." This wasn't the best answer to Vlad's situation.

Jonno was confused, "So?"

"Vlad's a ruler, Erin isn't." The Count decided to point out a problem with that, "Any children they had wouldn't have a claim to Vlad's throne, or the clan throne." If Vlad didn't have an heir their kind would be sucked into a power vacuum should he ever be slain. It would be a disaster for their kind.

"I don't care about the clan throne." Vlad whispered quietly, one throne was bad enough.

"But you need to think about the future of our kind. You need an heir." The Count told his son firmly. Vlad needed someone to take over from him at some point.

"Why can't it be a dynastic marriage?"

"Still the same problem Erin isn't nobility but Vlad is." Vlad snorted at that, he wasn't 'nobility' it was a fluke that he was the Chosen One.

"He's not the ruler yet…"

Ingrid raised a hand gingerly into the air. "But you know Vlad has to be eighteen to marry or mate, on his birthday he automatically becomes the ruler."

"We can sort out the details later. If this stops that girl being Queen then that's what's important." Atilla snapped. Everyone in the room nodded, as long as the type of marriage wasn't specified in the contract then they had a loophole. Atilla moved forwards, closer to Jonno. "There will be conditions, for a start Erin will have to be a half fang." She'd never met the girl but she'd heard a lot about her and she'd be more trustworthy to them if she had betrayed the slayers for Vlad, her loyalty was already clear which couldn't be said about other vampire females. Vlad needed someone he could trust, if he'd fallen in love she knew Vlad trusted Erin.

Jonno let out a breath he had been hoping they'd been bluffing when they'd said that. He looked at Mina and she nodded, if Erin was to spend her life with Vlad it was only fair that their lifespans matched.

Jonno looked at them, they needed a concession as well. "You need to remember that Erin will have to have her license back automatically for her to be classed as a slayer for the contract."

"No." Vlad interrupted them from where he was standing. Everyone turned to face him, confusion across their faces. He should want this. "The answer is no."

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Vlad looked up at them, it was a solution but it wasn't the one he wanted. He wasn't going to do this to her.

"You've got no right to decide this behind our backs." He told them shaking his head, they couldn't solve one arranged marriage with another. "You can't decide our lives."

"Vlad you can be together this way…"

Vlad shook his head frantically, this made him feel sick. "If I force Erin to marry me I'm no better than her parents."

Jonno shook his head, "You're not forcing her to marry you. Your presenting her with another option, you know Erin would rather marry you than Andrew."

"So it'll be me or him." Vlad ground out angrily, "Either way she ends up married. Neither of us are eighteen, this isn't fair on her."

"Are you saying you'd never want to marry her?" Ingrid asked him softly.

Vlad's eyes flashed dangerously, "It won't be a marriage remember, it'll be a mating." He looked around the room; no one could meet his eyes. "I'm not going to have her hate me for this." That was his fear that Erin would hate the decision, she'd be bound to him permanently with a mating.

"You're right." Ingrid spoke, looking around the room.

"What?" Five voices shouted looking at her. The only person who didn't seem as confused was the Count, instead he looked – proud. For the first time Ingrid felt her eyes begin to water, her father was proud for taking her brother's feelings into consideration.

"We can't decide for her. Vlad has to ask her." Ingrid told them all quietly, Vlad's honour wouldn't demand anything less. Erin needed to have the option. This decision affected her whole life, being transformed would mean centuries to be considered not the next fifty years or so. "It'll be her choice then, then Vlad will give an answer."

Mina shook her head, they hadn't got the time to draw up the contract, get it signed and get it pushed through before her parents found out. "We haven't got the time…"

"You can start to draw it up but that doesn't mean we'll both agree to it." The Council and Regent nodded it was better than nothing, at lest something would be done. "If Erin agrees then the date of the marriage will be after she's twenty one." Vlad told them seeing Jonno and Mina nod in agreement. He wasn't just saying that for their laws though. "And any heirs would inherit." He spoke quietly.

Mina was scribbling it all down quickly so that nothing was forgotten. "Anything else?"

"If she agrees to do this, I'll be the one to transform her." Vlad spoke quietly; he didn't want anyone else doing it. He knew the loyalty wouldn't take effect because she was already loyal and a bite couldn't override that – love was the ultimate form of loyalty.

Vlad didn't have to bite anyone to transform them; the Grand High Vampire could delegate the task to someone else. Augustus began, "You don't drink…"

Vlad's eyes blackened immediately, "I'll do it, no one else." If it was to happen to Erin, he'd rather he was the one to do it. He knew he'd be careful if he had to do it. Biting to transform was intimate and usually only done between lovers, he didn't want anyone else doing such an intimate thing to her.

Jonno raised his arm finding a flaw in the plan, "How are you going to ask her? You'll need to get her out of the academy even quicker than before to ask her…" He saw the gleam in Vlad's eye. "Vlad, its too dangerous…"

Vlad looked at them, "Two people will still be going, but not Chloe."

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.