A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

This chapter's shorter than my others.

I've updated Dividing Magnets.

Is there anything people would like to see in the sequel?

Please let me know what you think

Chapter 25: Only Card Left

Jonno closed the door behind him breathing out a sigh; he was the last one out of the room. Ver was on him in an instant, fear clouding her face as she watched senior members of the Guild walk down the corridor.

"Is it over?!" She asked softly, praying that her eyes were deceiving her. She'd gotten through to Erin but she felt fear building in her that it had been too late.

Jonno looked at them, "They're taking a break to get coffee."

"If Alex's blood and DNA ends up on the system…"

"I know." Jonno told her quietly. Weapons to use against Vlad could be created from it. There were some good intentions involved in this but most of them were bad.

"JONNO!" A cry came down the corridor, a split second three figures appeared in front of him and Ver. The young slayers jumped back with a cry.

Before either the vampire or his mate could answer the youngest spoke. "Look Uncle Jonno I broke my arm at Dad's." He showed the slayer as if it were a mark of pride. Erin and Vlad winced. Jonno plastered a smile on his face and inspected Alex's arm.

"How did you do that then?" He couldn't imagine it happening in Vlad's home. Alex looked up to Vlad, biting his lip.

Vlad decided to explain, "He tripped over some branches on the school grounds."

"You know why Ver called you?" He asked Erin quietly. The young slayer nodded, "How much did you tell Vlad?"

"She didn't have chance. I grabbed them and flew them back here." Vlad had known how important it was for them to get back when she said but he didn't know why. Still he trusted her to know when he needed to act.

Jonno nodded, "They want your DNA and blood refreshed on the system." Jonno told her softly, the DNA samples were always updated with the blood samples; it was easier that way – to scrap the system and start afresh. "We've managed to bluff our way through it Erin but we can't anymore. Someone overeager slayer has noticed that the blood we submit that's yours was from the supplies you gave years ago for Vlad's kind."

Erin shook her head, her blood couldn't be given and analysed. "The blood would be different." Vlad interjected, "The freezing process damages some of the blood, it's not 'living' blood. It's why vampires crave blood from the source, we can taste the difference. Under a microscope they should see the difference." They looked at him as if he'd gone mad. He wondered if he needed to remind them that he himself was a vampire.

Erin raised an eyebrow, "Have you ever had any of this 'frozen' blood?" She held a serious look in her eye as she stared him down.

Vlad actually gulped and Ver tried not to chuckle, she'd never seen the most feared vampire in existence ever squirm under someone's gaze before. "No." He managed, "You know me better than that."

A smile broke across her face, "Just checking." He relaxed immediately, pressing a kiss to her hair.

Vlad looked at them in confusion, "Why is it so important that this doesn't happen?" He didn't understand what could happen.

Jonno rolled his eyes, how Vlad could have ever evaded being slain was beyond him. "He has half of your DNA." His eyes showed that understanding had dawned on him.

"They can't do it without my consent." Erin told him firmly. Vlad technically didn't have any consent until his parental status was made common knowledge.

Jonno shook his head, "They've found a loophole." He took a breath seeing Vlad and Erin tip their head with matching expressions. It was creepy when they did that, "Your minds are connected again aren't they?" He muttered. Their expressions deepened simultaneously and he shuddered.

This was news to Ver, she knew Erin had a bond with Alex and Vlad would have that same bond but when Jonno talked about being in each other's heads she thought it was a figure of speech. "What do you mean connected?"

"Vampires can have a bond." Vlad explained quietly, "Usually it's forced through a bite but ours developed naturally." He pulled Erin closer to him, wrapping an arm around her. "It's like our telepathy, or mine at least is always turned on to Erin. She can send me thoughts and feelings through it, even more so now her DNA has altered slightly."

"I thought it was just sharing powers?" She looked between them, watching as they shared a look. She wondered if they were communicating with each other right then and there but neither seemed to want to say anything.

He nodded and affirmative before tipping his head side to side as if reconsidering or weighing her comment. "It's all part of being the partner of a vampire, or mate in my culture, love changes things. Love works against evil and causes a few problems for vampires along the way." He knew how sappy that sounded and wished a few moments later that the words hadn't come from his lips.

Erin was more fixed on Jonno's comment, she went through her mind trying her hardest to consider what they could actually use as a loophole but she couldn't think of anything. "What loophole?"

Jonno's face took on a soft expression, he looked to Vlad and then down to Alex who was clutched at Vlad's side. "You didn't tell anyone who the father was Erin, they're acting on that. They've always assumed it was a slayer; they're taking parental responsibility for him in the absence of his father." Jonno chanced a look down at his watch; he'd only managed to convince them to be gone for a short while. "They're coming back in five minutes."

Erin looked at Alex who was staring at them all in complete boredom. She reached around Vlad to stroke his hair gently, he started to yawn. Renfield's potion was starting to take effect again on his small body.

"We need someone to look after Alex." Erin murmured, they couldn't take Alex into the meeting in case he blurted out what he was. He wouldn't understand not to say it yet. They needed it to come out on their own terms not the Guild's.

A big smile crossed Vlad's face. "I know just the person."

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Erin saw Mina in the corner of the room, she gave her a small apologetic smile. Mina had tried her hardest to stop this from happening and failed, she hoped Erin had something up her sleeve. On her right was a man – Julian – he was balding with a goatee of dark hair. He was taller than Mina, and bulkier. On Mina's left was Balbir – a middle aged woman of Asian descent. She had a hard face but she listened to reason, if they could convince her that Alex didn't need his DNA on the system then they would have won.

Vlad's presence was immediately remarked on the moment he entered the room. He wasn't too bothered by it though. He stared at them as they shivered at his presence, almost as if his being there lowered the temperature in the room. He could lower the temperature and make them shiver for real but he decided not to lower himself to fulfilling that childish whim.

"Vampires aren't welcome in slayer meetings. Especially not Grand High Vampires."

"I asked Vlad to be here." Jonno told them, lying through his teeth. He'd grown quite adept at that during the early stages of the Truce and covering up Alex's true lineage. "He needs to know why this is so important to us."

"This has nothing to do with him…"

"I have heat sensors in my home that pinpoint where every vampire in my house is for you." Vlad snapped, "Now show me the courtesy of giving me some leeway and this is a jointly operated base. There aren't vampires on the committee. Think of me as fulfilling that role." He snapped at them, immediately singling out their weaknesses.

Erin looked at him, she'd never seen Vlad address anyone like that. How cold and hard had he become in her absence to speak at meetings like this?

Erin decided to get on with the 'crime' if it could be called that that they'd tried to enact against her and her son. They didn't like to be called on anything. "You acted without my knowledge or consent…"

"You left the base without informing us." Balbir began.

Erin immediately had an answer to that. "I was off duty! I'm allowed to leave the base when I'm not on duty." There were no clocking on and off cards.

Their gazes fixed on Vlad before they even said the word, "With a vampire?" They'd tried to get a rise out of him by not using either his given name or correct title. He was used to tactics like that.

Jonno leapt to their defence, "They're friends!" The Guild was turning dictator now.

Everyone knew the history between Vlad and Erin, or some of it. "They were more than that!"

They were distracting them, successfully, from the main issue at hand here. Erin brought them back to it with a bump. "I don't want his birth certificate or DNA on the system." Erin told them fiercely. Vlad rubbed her shoulder lightly out of their view.

Julian gave a tell-tale smirk that worried Mina, she gave them a nervous glance. He was going to say something that would get their back up and it did. "Just because Alex was the result of a one night stand…"

Julian however only thought to upset Erin, he didn't realise the affect his words had on the vampire in the room as well.

Vlad lashed out then, his power ripping through the room creating a gust of wind that spiralled and tore through the carpet. Papers were flung around the room as the two slayers and vampire stood in the eye of the hurricane.

"Vlad." Erin whispered gently, he didn't calm.

"Vlad mate stop." Jonno grew concerned when Vlad didn't listen. "Erin stop him."

"Why me?"

Jonno stepped closer, lowering his voice so none of them would hear. "You're his partner." He didn't want to use the vampire equivalent – mate- in front of them. "You know he can't hurt you."

Erin shook her head, when had Vlad ever listened to her concerning his powers and family? "He won't do as I ask."

"Try." Jonno implored her.

Erin let out a sigh, "Vladimir stop." Erin asked again using his full name. It caught his attention when she used that. Erin rarely used his full given name.

"They said…"

"I know." She told him, rubbing his arm gently. "Don't risk breaking the Truce because of one comment, you know your kind will say the same."

"My kind know its treason to talk about any son of mine…" She knew he could dust anyone without any explanation, his laws allowed it.

"My world is different. You know that Vlad. They've said worse about me than that. Just stop." She waited agonising seconds before he nodded, dropping his hand downwards. She laced their fingers briefly squeezing his hand.

The senior members of the Guild dove for the papers that had been blown about, smoothing down their hair. They looked at the young vampire in fear but Vlad didn't look remorseful in the least.

"Alex wasn't the result of a one night stand." She told the senior members fiercely. "I was in a relationship with his father that had to end."

They looked at her accusingly. "A married man?" They always assumed that. There never were any promised between Vlad and Adze when Alex was conceived, it was only after when she had no choice that she'd come to regard them as having a doomed relationship.

"Something like that." She whispered under her breath, her heart panged at knowing what they thought of her in that moment. Vlad tensed next to her seeing the glares of the women on her, they saw her as a mistress capable of stealing any man. Erin would never do that, even if they were technically having an 'affair' but he could argue that his 'affair' was being engaged to Adze.

Julian looked at her, "He's still not here to answer for Alex though is he? The Guild will take the place of Alex's father concerning he's a slayer. Alex isn't old enough to make the decision. Alex's data will be entered onto our system, his DNA and birth certificate for public access."

Vlad shot forward, anger filling him at Erin being dismissed so easily. In his kind parental rights were still important up to the age of eighteen. "You have no right!"

"We overrule Miss Noble concerning Guild matters anyway and her son is a Guild matter."

Vlad played the only card he knew they had left although it was defeating the object of them putting his birth certificate on the system but not in the terms of his DNA. "What about his father?" Vlad asked suddenly, startling the senior Guild members. "Doesn't he get a say?"

The looks they gave him answered that question. They weren't willing to adjourn to wait for the 'arrival' of Alex's father.

Jonno grabbed Vlad's arm, "Don't do anything stupid." He whispered fiercely, looking around at the senior members of the Guild. There was a reason his parentage was secret.

"Alex doesn't have a father." The lead official spoke loudly, a smirk crossing his lips. Julian looked at Erin directly, confused by the way she didn't flinch. "At least not one she's named."

Erin was used to that 'holier than thou' tone. She'd heard it since Alex was born and while she was carrying him. "His name's on the birth certificate!" Erin snapped angrily, "And his parentage is none of your business."

"It is our business when we harbour him here, he can be a threat without his details being on the system. We needed to keep the security of this base tight and considering his mother's 'dalliances' with vampires in the past her loyalty can't exactly be set in stone." He pointed at Vlad directly, Erin looked away in anger. She'd betrayed the Guild intentionally once and that once had probably saved them all. "Your kind can't be trusted and a child…"

Vlad thought they might have a chance with that, he'd become skilled in a battle of words with Adze and his Council members. "Exactly he's a child. It's his choice if he wants to be a slayer or…" He paused before he said the 'v' word. "He isn't a slayer yet and the database is only for slayers."

Julian smirked at him, "But he lives on a slayer base. That makes him a security risk. This is for all of our safety vampire." Jonno expected a reaction of some kind, even if it was just a muscle twitch, on Vlad's part at being addressed as 'vampire' but to his credit he remained calm.

"How is a four and a half year old a security risk?" Vlad demanded. He couldn't understand unless he used his powers, which he could tap into when he became emotional.

"He is a child! He can overhear and repeat things…" That really was clutching at straws, still they'd made a point and they'd gone too far to back down now.

Vlad shook his head frantically, that still didn't explain what they were after. "How does his DNA come into it?!"

"We need to rule him out if anything happens on base."

"And you think a child will be there…"

"He's been there when your fiancée has been on the base! He's been there when one of our slayers was attacked! He was there when you visited us! He gets everywhere!" They actually sounded inconvenienced.

"Then give him and his mother somewhere else to live, give her the chance to give him proper day care for Alex if you think he's such a 'burden'." Erin understood what he was saying; he was telling her he'd have them with him. He'd look after Alex and her like he used to with her. He wouldn't expect anything from her, he never had – perhaps with the exception of honesty.

"He isn't a burden." They answered but with hesitation. There had never been a child on any of the slayer bases, Alex was the first. The entire reason he was there was because Jonno and Mina had wanted Erin safe from members of Vlad's kind who might want to harm her and her son.

"If it's that much of a problem Alex and Erin can stay with me. Erin can continue her role as a slayer from there like she used to." Their eyes widened at what Vlad was saying.

Julian let out a stream of splutters, he wasn't going to allow that. "You have no right to take him from this place. His data will be entered into the system."

"I have every right; it's up to Erin where she and Alex want to live. This place is more like a prison than a base if you demand to keep their DNA and blood types on the system. Why do you even need to refresh them?"

Vlad knew it was to keep an eye on who might be a vampire or slowly turning into one. Refreshed systems kept them informed but it was more of a ritual now than actually serving any purpose.

Julian stood up sharply, his chair tipping over as it overbalanced on its back legs. "Who do you think you are?!"

Vlad looked at him, coldness taking over as he stared at him.

A pin could be heard to drop before chaos exploded with Vlad's words.

"Alex's father."

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Is there anything people would like to see in the sequel?

Thanks for reading.