Thank you so much for the reviews! They really do encourage me to keep writing. I am trying to write the one shot with Bertrand at the moment – bit tricky as I don't want to give away too much but fingers crossed I'll be able to put it up tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading! xo

Chapter 24

The Guild's logo in shades of grey was cast against a stark white background. The name Jonathan Van Helsing along with contact details was emblazoned in burgundy red at the bottom. Father James threw the card onto the table, his face full of disgust.

Professor Teverson leant forward to retrieve the card. Father James caught her wrist in a grip of steel. "We cannot involve the Guild." His eyes were harder than she had ever seen them before.

"They are our natural allies," Professor Teverson hissed in annoyance. "They want to protect us from those blood sucking fiends."

Father James' hand tightened on her wrist making her wince in pain. "Killers are not our natural allies." He released her hand and picked up the card again. "The Order places great value on life whether it is human or supernatural."

Professor Teverson glared at him as she clutched her wrist. "The vampires are the killers. The whole point of this is to make sure Dracula doesn't take over the world and destroy humanity. We are at a loss. The research has come to a dead end. There are vampires in my college. Dracula consorts with my students every night. By doing nothing I am placing them in mortal danger. The Guild could help us," she said eagerly. "Don't you see Father, if they stake Dracula then there is no Chosen One and the vampires can't rise again."

A look of contempt settled on Father James' face. "The Guild are incapable of slaying the Chosen One." He dipped the card into the wavering flame of the candle on the table.

"What are you doing?" Professor Teverson cried in horror.

Father James held the burning card away from Professor Teverson's desperately grasping hands. "Dracula can't die." He dropped the card onto the table as it rapidly burst into flames and then pounded the smouldering embers with his fist. "You do not contact the Guild." His words were a furious command causing Professor Teverson to cower backwards in her chair. "Ever."

"So, we need to talk." Vlad's voice in the darkness caused Scarlett to jump and nearly drop her books. She turned in the direction of his voice to find him lounging against a bookcase in an unlit enclave.

Scarlett set her books down on the library desk with an annoyed thump. "You nearly scared me to death!" She pointedly flicked on the light switch. "Creeping up on me in the dark is not cool. Just remember you are already in my bad books for lying." She placed her hands on her hips. Last night, she had been distracted first by his sudden vulnerability and then by his passionate kisses but she was determined to have it out with him tonight. Just because he reciprocated her feelings, didn't mean that it was ok for him to lie to her for weeks. Or worse, in her opinion, place her best friends in a position where they had to lie to her as well.

"In that case." Vlad's voice now came from behind her. He had moved from one location to another before she even had time to blink. "I probably couldn't interest you in a flight."

Scarlett turned to face him. "A flight?" She couldn't keep the intrigue out of her voice.

Vlad flung back his cloak. "Yes. With me." He held out his hand.

Scarlett met his intense blue eyes and a thrill raced through her. "But I can't fly." She placed her hand in his.

He wrapped his fingers firmly around hers. "You can with me," he promised as he pulled her closer. Scarlett breathed in the sensual scent of his aftershave as her face pressed against his leather jacket. Vlad placed a strong arm around her waist. "Hold on tight."

As one of the oldest wine bars in the world, Gordon's was one of the few London locations that Bertrand truly relished the prospect of visiting. If vampires were to create a wine bar then Gordon's provided the perfect template. Stepping into the underground candlelit cavern with its rusting metal gates and exposed wooden beams brought back memories of a bygone age. An era where London was dirtier, rougher and an exciting place to be for a young vampire. Pity that the red liquid sloshing around in his glass was wine rather than vintage blood. Bertrand had pretended to sip the toxic liquid whilst waiting for his companion to arrive. He was aware of the speculative glances thrown his way by the breathers. For some reason they found his appearance either attractive or intriguing; whatever the reason, it would enable him to separate one from the crowd later for dinner. However, at the moment he was very much focused on controlling his temper as a fellow Blood Brother, Edwin, updated him on the latest vampire news.

"You sent Esmeralda Dubois to perform my task?" Bertrand concentrated on swirling the red wine in a clockwise direction. "The Brotherhood's lack of faith in me is disappointing."

Edwin thumped the wooden table in frustration. "Do you not understand what I just told you?" He snorted with derision. "You're clearly not as clever as they say. Dracula survived a staking! No vampire has ever done that." Forgetting that the red liquid was wine, Edwin gulped it down in his distress before gagging slightly.

Bertrand allowed the smallest curl of his lips to indicate his scorn at Edwin's actions. "Dracula is the Chosen One. It is unsurprising that he has abilities beyond that of a normal vampire." Bertrand changed the direction of the wine in his glass to anti-clockwise.

Edwin swiped his mouth with a grimace. "The thing is," he leant forward and lowered his voice, "There are factions within the Blood Brotherhood who now say we should abandon our mission. If Dracula is truly immortal then there is no prospect of success. All we are doing is risking our unlives for a fool's mission."

Bertrand leant forward a couple of inches so that he could whisper into Edwin's ear. "I could have told you that a year ago." He met Edwin's startled glance with a horribly smug smile, "But then the Blood Brotherhood wouldn't have saved me." Edwin had enough time to gasp in surprise before shattering into dust.

Bertrand returned the stake to a hidden pocket in his cape. Gently he blew the remnants of Edwin off the table and onto the floor for the breathers to trample upon. At a snap of his fingers, the wine bar sprang to life again. Bertrand hungrily cast his eyes over the crowds in the bar. Which one should he have for dinner?

The city of London glittered below, the twinkling lights obscuring the dirt and overcrowding, glass buildings ugly by daylight became sparkling diamonds in the darkness of night. The black waters of the Thames reflected the dazzling array of lights cast upon the waves. The sight was truly breathtaking and Scarlett drank in every detail as they sat in silence upon the rooftop of one of Canary Wharf's tallest buildings. Scarlett sighed heavily almost in awe at the man-made beauty before her. She remembered reading somewhere once that every city, no matter how ugly in the day, could be beautiful at night.

Prompted by her heavy sigh, Vlad cautiously asked, "Are you OK?"

Scarlett nodded decisively. Snugly warm under Vlad's heavy cloak, she rested her head against his shoulder and continued to gaze greedily at the view before her. Tower Bridge and the Tower of London glowed with warm golden light. The tip of St Paul's Cathedral was shimmering with ghostly whiteness. The bright blue of the London Eye's lights was dramatic against the dark clouds of the night sky. "It's just so beautiful." She sighed deeply again.

Vlad covered her hand almost shyly with his. "I guess I wanted you to see that having a vampire for a boyfriend may have its advantages." He didn't dare glance at her. Instead he kept his gaze focused ahead on the glittering sea of lights.

Scarlett laced her fingers with his. "You're still in trouble for lying."

"Technically I never lied, I simply withheld information. You never asked if I was a vampire. You just assumed I was a breather." He tightened his grasp on her hand. She didn't pull away but she didn't answer him either. After a few more minutes of silence, he spoke again. "I didn't want to lose you."

The raw pain in his voice tugged at Scarlett's heart. It sounded like he was finally being honest with her. "Why would you lose me?" she asked him softly, lifting her head from his shoulder so that she could look up at him.

Vlad shrugged causally. A tiny movement which gave away his defensiveness. "Because I am a vampire. A monster in most people's eyes and perhaps they are right." He glanced down at her, his eyes dark with remembered pain, "I've lost friends and lovers because of what I am. Something I never wanted to be. Something I had no choice in." He looked away again. His eyes focusing on something in the distance. "I've been happy in Oxford. You're a part of that."

Scarlett pressed her lips against his shoulder in an affectionate kiss. "You don't think much of me," she said quietly. "Vlad, I like you for you. The person that you are and the person that sometimes I think you can be."

Vlad turned his head to meet her gaze. "So you're not going to leave me?" he asked softly. Perhaps it was the mixture of shadow and brash light from the surrounding buildings but his face suddenly resembled that of a frightened and lonely little boy.

Scarlett reached up to stroke his face. Her fingers following a path she very much hoped would become familiar to her, the sweep of his dark hair across his forehead, the curve of his face, the sharpness of his cheekbones and the lush fullness of his mouth. "No Vlad, I am not," she said firmly, her gaze never wavering or breaking from his. "But you have to start being honest with me."

Vlad smiled as he nodded in reply. He leant into her touch savouring the velvet warmth of her skin against his. "Where do you want me to start?" he asked his voice husky with relief.

"Oh I don't know!" Scarlett bit her lip for a second, slightly daunted by the vastness of information and supernatural possibilities that until last night she had only vaguely been aware of. "OK, let's start simple. I know your real name so how about your real age?"

Vlad smirked knowingly at her question. "I am actually nineteen years old. No nasty shocks regarding my time on this earth."

Scarlett gave him a puzzled look. "So when did you become a vampire?"

"There are two kinds of vampire. Some of us, myself for example, are naturally born vampires, during childhood we appear similar to breathers in that we don't have powers, we have heartbeats, reflections, we can eat garlic and go out in the sun. Upon our sixteenth birthday we transform into fully fanged vampires. It's irreversible and apparently unavoidable. Then there are breathers who are converted into vampires by a bite and a mutual exchange of blood. In the vampire world they are known as half-fangs. A half fang can in theory be created at any stage in the breather lifecycle but of course the very young and the very old are considerably less likely to survive." Vlad watched her face with vigilance as he spoke, checking for any signs of disgust or fear. He could only see intrigue and intellectual interest so he continued his explanation. "I am what you jokingly referred to as a traditional vampire. We definitely wear capes!" He paused to carefully check that his cape was securely tucked around her so that she was protected from the night air. "Most vampires like gothic clothing. I don't. There are the usual powers such as flying, shape shifting into bats or wolves, creating fire and hypnosis. Depending on the vampire there are other abilities such as telepathy, the ability to become smoke, control thunder and lightning. I suppose it's like swimming or singing with breathers. However, we all have the same weaknesses. You can slay us with garlic or stakes. We burn in the sunlight. Depending on the purity, silver can harm us. And yes vampires do bite breathers and they most certainly drink their blood." He stopped at this point because this was perhaps where the romantic illusions of vampires ended. His kind were killers. Some, including his father, were infamous for their cruelty and bloodlust. It would be futile of him to try and pretend otherwise.

Scarlett had maintained eye contact with him the entire time. Now she raised her eyebrows questioningly. "They?" she repeated softly.

Still scared that she would suddenly reject him, Vlad forced himself to take the risk of reaching over to caress her neck. "I don't," he said simply. He waited for her to pull away or flinch from his touch. He desperately tried to squash the wave of hopefulness that rose inside him when she stayed still.

"Show me your fangs," Scarlett whispered, her hand still lingering on his cheek.

Vlad violently shook his head in an adamant rejection of her request. He couldn't understand why she would even ask him.

Scarlett's voice was emphatic as she repeated her request. "Show me your fangs." She gazed deeply into his mistrustful eyes.

Vlad cast his eyes downwards and away from her as he half hissed to reveal his incredibly sharp incisors. He didn't want to see the fear in her eyes. He felt the warmth of her hand move towards his mouth as if she was actually going to touch them. He quickly grabbed her hand to halt its progress. "Don't! They're sharp!" he warned her. As echoes of the shared dream resonated around them, he found the courage to meet her eyes again. Scarlett's face was full of wonder not fear. Mystified by the emotions in her eyes, Vlad's hand slipped from hers just for a moment but it was long enough for Scarlett to touch his fangs shyly with her fingertips.

His damn vulnerability would be her undoing. He looked terrified, it should have been laughable that the most powerful vampire in the world was scared of her, an ordinary nobody of a breather but the haunted look in his eyes simply tore at her heart, fierce and protective love ripped through her leaving any prospect of caution or common sense in shreds. Moving forward, she moved her lips delicately across his, irrationally worried that she would hurt him not the other way around. "I'm still here," she spoke softly against his mouth, her lips caressing him with every syllable. "I'm not scared of you Vladimir Dracula. I still want to be with you."

Staring into the amber tones of his whiskey, Father James contemplated his next course of action. Professor Teverson was right in only one respect; the research had reached a dead end. The source was in this city somewhere. Pages and pages of various drawings, planning permission notices and applications for renovations littered his desk. It may be possible to eventually track down the location but time was running out. The Grand High Vampire and the Guild were now both in Oxford searching for the source at this very moment.

Sighing deeply, Father James rubbed the glass against his forehead as if to erase his frown. Should he call in more members of the Order to protect Scarlett? If he did then would their presence alert Dracula or the Guild to her uniqueness? If he didn't then was he once again placing his niece at risk? There was no easy answer to this dilemma and yet at the present time this was only the simplest question he had to address.

The black leather of the cape slithered over dead autumn leaves on the path. It was much too long for Scarlett but Vlad had insisted that she wear it in case she felt too cold. Holding her hand in his, they strolled along Greenwich Park in the darkness with only the distant lights of Canary Wharf to guide them. Scarlett appreciated the cool breeze of the night on her face as they walked in comfortable silence. She felt a little like her head was going to implode with all the information that she suddenly had to process.

"How did you know I was the Chosen One?" Vlad asked as he suddenly came to a halt. He tugged her closer to him so that they were inches apart, almost embracing.

Scarlett felt the sting of embarrassment warm her cheeks further. "What? You mean after I missed you being a vampire? For months?" She grimaced in self-disgust at her stupidity. Talk about giving blondes a bad name! Vlad's look of gentle reprove encouraged her to continue. "After I realised you are a vampire, I made an educated guess. You are here to research the source – a myth about the destruction of vampire kind. You had already told me that you were the leader of your people. The Chosen One was mentioned in the literature as the leader of vampires. I put it all together. You didn't even blink when we discussed the Chosen One," she shook her head slightly in disbelief at his composure. "Oh and did you know if you put Vladimir Dracula and Chosen One into Google, there's a website by some organisation called the Blood Brotherhood? That seemed like just too much of a coincidence. They don't like you very much." She was slightly surprised at the hard angry look that passed over Vlad's features. "I guess that's not particularly discrete on their behalf."

"They want to assassinate me and they don't care who gets hurt or killed in the process." Vlad's voice was grim. "They object to the idea of living in peace with breathers." He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her shoulders pulling her against his body in a possessive hug. "That's why I need your help." His voice was muffled slightly as he buried his face in her hair.

Scarlett felt the first stirrings of suspicion in her mind. She pulled back slightly. "What do you mean?" she asked trying to moderate the sharpness of her voice in case he picked up on her mistrust.

Vlad's sapphire eyes were unreadable in the darkness. "To find the source," he answered eagerly. "Before the slayers or any other vampire can get their hands on it."

Chapter 25 teaser

'It will be just like a Bloody Mary – only with actual blood!'