A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.
I hope my twist really didn't disappoint anyone.
I wanted to try something different; I hope it's paying off.
Chapter 28: Consequence
Erin landed sharply on the ground. Vlad immediately stumbled, landing in the dirt. Erin doubled over as she felt her strength leave her she slid to the ground in pain.
She'd never appreciated how much strength was involved in carrying a passenger when flying. The young half fang had only made it as far as the woods that covered the base of the hill on which the former Dracula residence stood.
Erin was impressed that she'd managed to get so far in one go though.
Vlad dug his hands in the dirt and shuffled across the mud-covered ground to the tree, grunting and hissing each time his leg was jolted as he moved. He perched himself against it, physically manoeuvring his leg so it was stretched out in front of him.
"You shouldn't have done that." Vlad told her fiercely, he wasn't impressed with her actions and the stress it would cause for their child.
"I had to get you out of there." Erin argued back to him. Olga was going to kill them; she wasn't going to hang around until she'd succeeded. Olga had already done enough damage to him.
Vlad shook his head, "Flying makes you sick."
"I'm only feeling a little sick." She answered; she wasn't going to tell him that she felt as if the world was about to end thanks to that short impromptu flight.
Erin sat down next to him; the trunk of the large chestnut tree was large enough for both of them to lean against. Vlad closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down and not bite his wife's head off for doing something so foolish.
Erin squeezed his hand, bringing it up to her lips and kissing his knuckles lightly. "Vlad, Olga was about to kill us, I did the only thing I could."
Vlad didn't accept that, "There could have been another way." Every situation had two choices.
"How far could you have gotten running on that leg? Whether you like it or not now without your reflections you can't fly anywhere and you can't speed anywhere." She hated that she made him wince as she said those words but she needed him to understand the truth.
Vlad looked away from her, "You're my wife, I'm supposed to protect you. Not the other way around." He growled at her. "Especially not now." He couldn't change his habits, he'd been protecting her from the day they'd met. Erin had protected him before but not on a scale like this.
Erin grasped his chin lightly, turning his face back towards her. "Vlad you've looked after me for four years, let me look after you this time."
"You're pregnant!"
Erin wasn't going to accept that as an excuse. "It doesn't mean I'm to be wrapped in cotton wool for the next seven months."
Vlad needed to put it bluntly. "I can't lose this baby Erin, and I know you can't either. We can't go through that." If they lost this baby it would be because of the war. He placed his hand on her stomach, he caressed the skin though the material of her t-shirt with the pads of his fingers.
He was just thankful that nothing had happened tonight.
"We won't lose the baby…" She told him with a smile, they were much tougher than people gave them credit for.
"Erin, the Council are waiting for you to fail. No half fang has carried a child to full term. We have love but if something happens they'll demand you be destroyed and I chose a wife to continue the lineage." If a mate was killed then there was no new mating, there was only marriage. "There will be more pressure now I don't have any reflections." His last part was even quieter.
Erin shook her head, "They don't even know I'm pregnant." As far as she was concerned they could find out on their child's first day of school or transformation.
"They've wanted you to fail from the start. Don't give them a reason to be happy. Think about what your brother said." He snapped at her, he watched as her face fell before her eyes flashed violently at his words. Ryan's words about miscarrying being the best thing she could do, years ago, were burned into her mind forever more.
Erin made to stand up but Vlad held her down next to him. "What was I supposed to do Vlad? You don't have a single reflection left inside – you can't fly anymore – I can. It was the only thing that got us out of there."
He nodded slowly, Erin was right. "Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." He muttered to her.
"No you shouldn't." She snapped at him seconds before her face and voice softened, he was right and she couldn't be angry with him for that. "You're right though."
She pressed her forehead against Vlad's, feeling the sweat that had gathered on his brow. "We need to get inside." She looked up at the castle, it seemed even further now.
Typically Vlad wanted to dispute it, "We need to fight Olga, you're all that stands between her and the throne and without powers I can't…"
Erin leaned forward and kissed him lightly cutting him off. She licked her lips lightly as they parted, savouring the taste of him on them. "Do you remember what you told me when we thought Bertrand knew that I was human?"
Vlad remembered the words clearly, he'd been so scared of what might happen to her. "'Sometimes its better to hide, to fight another day'."
"We're hiding until we get your reflections back."
"They're gone Erin, they were destroyed when she smashed the mirror. No reflection could survive that." He couldn't see how it could. The reflection would have nowhere to go.
Erin looked down seeing the shard still in his leg. "I need to get that out of you so you can heal."
Vlad nodded and gritted his teeth. Erin positioned herself on her knees at his side. She untangled her fingers from his using her right hand to hold his leg down.
Erin gripped the piece of mirror between her fingers on her left hand, she could feel the razor sharpness of the glass digging into her fingers, they were trembling making it shudder and jerk. Vlad gasped in pain as the shard moved inside his leg backwards and forwards, making the wound wider and deeper.
"Sorry," she whispered, leaning down and kissing his leg lightly.
"Let me, you're shaking." He wasn't too sure that his own hands would be faring much better.
Erin lifted her hands away and she noticed that she actually was trembling. She was terrified of what was happening even though she knew he couldn't be injured in the same way a mortal could – he was a full vampire.
Erin wiped her hands on the material of her shirt, grabbing the hems and wringing her hands in it. She didn't want to watch this but he needed her support.
"Hold my leg." He whispered, this was going to hurt. There would be no denying that. Erin braced her hands on either side of his thigh, on close to his knee, the other near his hip. "Ready?" He asked her and Erin nodded.
Vlad gripped the shard in his hand, feeling the glass slicing into his fingers and palm. He mentally counted down three… two… one…
Vlad yanked the shard of mirror from his leg, his teeth gritted as he resisted crying out in complete agony. It hadn't hurt nearly as much going in as taking it out had.
He shook as his muscles relaxed, hating the way they had strained so he wouldn't collapse.
Erin cupped his cheeks, holding his gaze firmly. She wouldn't let him look anywhere else. She took the shard from him and stuffed it into her pocket, she didn't want it left lying on the ground.
Erin handed him the sports bottle with soy blood inside. Vlad drank from it deeply; he leaned back against the tree before his stomach began to reject the soy blood.
He shifted his weight to his right and brought it back up immediately.
Erin looked at him in concern, drinking soy blood was supposed to speed up the healing process. It had worked for her – but then again she had been newly bitten at the time.
"Probably shock." He told her. Erin nodded, it would make sense. His body would reject anything being eaten or drank orally after what he'd been through – she just though vampires would be different. Clearly they weren't.
Vlad dropped his head onto Erin's shoulder and she smiled softly, "Rest for a few minutes then we'll go up." She whispered. He needed time for his body to recover from what had just happened. Vlad nodded slowly in full agreement with her – he felt so tired.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
Erin listened to the natural bats and owls in the trees above them, she'd felt Vlad relax. He couldn't rest for long but he needed strength to get up that hill. She turned her head and kissed his hair lightly.
"I love you." She whispered, she was scared with the power Olga now had. It was strange she hadn't gained any more but by simply taking Vlad's she'd made herself the more powerful.
The only thing that stood inbetween her and the throne was Erin. Erin was now the most powerful vampire taking into account her training with Bertrand.
Erin felt wetness against her leg. She looked down, she couldn't tell what it was in the darkness. Slowly she lifted her hand up in front of her eyes, using the moon for light.
What she saw made her feel faint. She hadn't considered this as a consequence of his reflection being taken from him, she hadn't even thought it was possible.
Her left hand was coated in a sticky, red substance. Erin looked down; the red substance was constantly seeping into her jeans, flowing like a river.
She pressed her index and middle fingers of her right hand to his neck and found her worst fears confirmed.
She pressed her hand firmly against the source – desperate for the smell not to affect her.
Vlad was bleeding.
Taking away his reflections had made him mortal.
TBC
A/N: What do you think?
Like I said I really hope this twist hasn't disappointed anyone.
Thanks for reading.
