A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Sorry for the late post last night, and the one tonight. Tomorrow should be back to normal time 9:30 at the latest, been out helping to fit a washing machine most of the day.

Chapter 25: Sample

Vlad shook his head; it was completely out of the question.

There was no way that they were going to get a cure they way they were suggesting.

Erin was speechless; she didn't expect Mina to publicly suggest it.

"You need to do it Vlad." Robin urged.

"You don't even know what Mina's asking." Vlad snapped at him. It was true Robin didn't understand what Mina needed for the cure but this was his sister they were talking about.

"Vlad, this is about saving Chloe."

Vlad's head lowered slightly so he was looking at Robin through his eyelids. "This is about taking DNA and blood from my daughter!"

Robin immediately froze, he didn't realise it stemmed from Nicola.

"She's like Chloe until she's 16 Vlad, blood pumping through her veins the way yours used to. The only difference between vampire children and us is the body temperature. There's a higher chance that the serum will work to remove the argentalium."

"She is two weeks old!" Vlad hissed his fangs lowering,

"Her DNA has the same properties as yours, we can introduce argentalium to the sample to see how she neutralises it."

While his mind was on it he clicked his fingers and immediately the samples smashed and the files burst into flames. The entire room jumped, he concentrated and the data on the computer also erased.

There were a few groans from the slayers working on the cure at Vlad's actions. If it didn't work with his DNA then there was no point in letting them keep it.

Mina turned to Erin, "Erin…"

Erin shook her head. "No." She was as firm in this as Vlad; there was no way Nicola was going to be used. She wasn't going to make that choice for her.

"So you're going to all condemn them to death?" Robin cried, angry at Erin and Vlad's attitudes.

Vlad's head snapped to Robin, his anger plain for all of them to see, he no longer bothered to mask it. Erin knew Vlad had lost control of his temper when he decided to destroy the samples. Erin placed a hand on his cheek; maybe he shouldn't be in here.

He nodded before kissing the palm of her hand that rested on his cheek and leaving the room quickly.

Jonno looked at Erin, silently asking if Vlad was growing dangerous. She nodded.

Robin began to follow after Vlad, "If he thinks that's the end of it…"

"Leave him Robin!" Erin told Vlad's best friend firmly. Vlad needed to cool down, if he confronted him Vlad wouldn't be able to control himself fully around a breather.

"I'm going to get him to see reason."

"ROBIN!" Yelled Erin in an effort to make him stop. Whatever happened now was Robin's own fault.

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Robin slammed the chair under the throne room table. Vlad didn't jump as he'd expected him to, instead he just stared him down.

After a few moments of staring at each other Vlad still hadn't spoken. Robin didn't realise it was taking all of Vlad's self control not to tear into his friend's neck just to get him to leave him alone.

Robin finally lost his patience with Vlad, "Vlad it's my sister!"

Vlad struggled with himself, only just managing to lock his vampiric instincts away. "I know that!" Vlad yelled back at him. "But Nicola is my daughter. She and Erin come first. Then my kind."

"You've known Chloe for longer than Erin…" Vlad couldn't believe it had come down to this. The old 'I've known so and so for so many years longer'. Robin as forgetting one thing though – he loved Erin and Nicola.

"Erin is my wife! I knew Chloe for a year! After that she cut all ties. She's tried to slay us all. She isn't the same Chloe."

Robin laughed, "Erin's parents were the ones who did this to her!"

"Chloe was being turned before I even met Erin, or have you forgotten that?"

Then Robin said something he really shouldn't have said. "They were still Erin's parents, how much did she know about it?"

Vlad's fangs lowered for the first time against Robin. "Take that back Robin!"

"What are you going to do bite me?" He asked.

"No, I'm not going to giving you what you want." Vlad didn't want Robin to become a vampire at all, he never wanted him to become one. "Last chance, take what you said about Erin back or else…" His voice boomed around the room, Robin gulped but held his ground.

"I won't, all you care about is yourself Vlad. You only ever wanted me when you wanted something!"

The old argument was flaring itself back up again, he wondered when it would surface. It was always the same – if Vlad's attention was somewhere else Robin would use this argument.

"That's right Robin," Vlad began sarcastically, before becoming serious, "After all, you only cared about becoming a vampire and always being around my family!" Back in Stokely Robin had always been around because he wanted to be a vampire, Vlad just wanted to be normal and with Robin always reminding him he wasn't was something that he hated.

Fire circled around Robin as Vlad gave his friend what for; this had been building for seven years now.

Robin looked around truly terrified of Vlad for the first time, it was strange looking at Vlad from the opposite side. "Chloe's right, you're a monster."

Vlad's lips curled up into a sad smile, his friend had won in a way. "You always wanted me to be Robin, deal with it!"

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Robin was playing with the rubber bat in the room he was staying in at the school. He lay back in the coffin throwing it up and down casually.

The creaky door flew back, banging against the wall, creating a foot long crack in the plasterwork.

"ROBIN BRANAUGH!" Erin snarled, she was furious with Robin. "You told Vlad he's a monster?" She didn't care about entering his private domain, as far as she was concerned she was going to take him down a peg of two.

Robin looked her in the eye, "He is."

Erin pointed at him, "I told you to leave him alone."

"Someone needed to talk to him, you weren't going to."

Erin shook her head, "No because I agree with Vlad." She took a breath, "Besides Vlad is unreasonable for the first hour of any of his tantrums. After that you can approach him."

Robin's eyes widened, he'd never known that. "I didn't know that."

"No but I did and I told you to leave him."

As far as Robin was concerned that wasn't the main issue. The main issue was Vlad's reluctance to help a friend, "If Vlad was a true friend he'd do it."

Erin couldn't believe Robin's tone, "Didn't you tell Vlad 'vampires don't have friends'?" Robin paled at Erin's words, he remembered using them. He didn't think Erin would have known about that. A true friend wouldn't have done what you did to him. You knew Vlad was the heir but you still had to take his place just so you could be a vampire. What do you honestly think would have happened on your 16th Birthday? Do you think the Blood Mirror would have accepted you?"

"I was 13."

Erin scoffed, she didn't fall for that excuse. "But you didn't care that you'd just made your best friend homeless and rejected by the only parent who ever loved him."

"It isn't any of your business anyway."

If Vlad wasn't ever going to tell Robin how it had affected him she certainly was. "When Vlad wakes up in the middle of the night, his mind full of nightmares because of what you did to him, it becomes my business."

"Vlad has nightmares about it?"

Erin nodded, her expression softening slightly, "He thinks I don't know, but I sometimes have the echoes in my mind. Vlad is terrified of being alone and what you did to him plagues him."

Robin shook his head, "He's a vampire, he's supposed to be alone."

Robin really was being difficult. It called into question exactly who was being the selfish one, "I don't know whether you've noticed but Vlad isn't a normal vampire. If he was he would have drained you dry when you upset him. His mother abandoned him, Ingrid never showed him any love, only his father cared. That day when his father rejected him because of *you* is the cause of his nightmares. He gave everything to them and he was rejected – anyone would feel the same."

"I didn't know." He whispered, he always wanted to be a vampire. He'd always known it wasn't true but it was an opportunity and he'd taken it, he hadn't cared about the consequences for anyone else at the time.

"Vlad won't tell you, but I will Robin." Erin didn't feel any guilt or conscience pricking at her as she confronted Robin, he needed to know and he needed to grow up. "I've known the bitter and evil Vlad, this Vlad isn't a monster. A monster doesn't protect the ones he loves."

"What about Chloe?" He asked quietly.

"Nicola is our daughter, we have to make the decision. It's not something that can be done lightly. Vlad could make his own decision she can't. It's one thing to willingly give the slayer's information on Vlad's DNA but not Nicola's."

"Chloe…"

"Is one person, our kind is thousands." It was time to think of the many instead of the few. "Don't expect either of us to make a decision before thinking it through."

With that Erin sped from the room, leaving Robin to think his actions through carefully.

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Erin leaned against the door, Vlad was staring out into the sunlit courtyard. Standing in the protective shade of the curtain. She slowly came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You okay?" She asked softly, resting her cheek against his back.

He ignored her question, "The worst part is the more I think about it the more I realise it's the only way." He told her softly. "I don't want the slayers having her DNA." Vlad told Erin softly, "There's no telling what they'll do to it 'unofficially'." They both had the same concerns.

"I think we can trust Jonno,"

Vlad shook his head, he was thinking nearly two months ahead. "The treaty was only a year long one, its due for renewal. If it fails then it becomes a weapon."

Erin didn't know what to say, he was completely right. There was another choice though, "Renfield." Erin whispered to him softly. "If Renfield just gave them what they needed from her DNA, then they can't recreate it because it's not complete."

Vlad turned slowly, wrapping his arms around her. "Are you saying yes?" This decision would have to be made together, if either of them disagreed it wouldn't happen.

Erin shuddered slightly at the topic of their discussion. "I don't want them to do it, Vlad, I don't want them to use her. To turn her into part of their experiment but…"

Vlad finished her thought, "It might be the only way to win the war."

Erin leaned forward, turning so her head rested on his chest. Vlad wrapped his arms around her.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.