A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

A few people have PMed me about a sequel to this story already…

I'm not sure at this stage. If more people want me to write one I'll seriously consider writing it.

Please let me know what you think so far.

Chapter 38: Thrown

Guilt had been nagging at Ingrid ever since Bertrand had lost his temper with her. He hadn't lost it in an obvious way but she knew when he was furious with her. He wasn't like Vlad; Vlad displayed his anger in his words and in his powers if pushed too far. Bertrand was far more controlled.

She hadn't thought, she liked having power over her little brother. He'd given her the means to control him and Erin and it had been too good an opportunity to miss. She hadn't thought of it at the time as blackmail nor the effect it would have on Bertrand. She'd hurt him by resorting to it, especially given the fact he'd actually told her about his family. She knew something that no one else did.

She gingerly entered the throne room, casting a glance across to the table seeing the large A2 paper spread across it and the arrangement of breather objects in front of it. Her brother seemed content drawing the range of forks, knives, remote control, figurines and ornamental crockery. He actually emitted a peaceful aura.

If he'd heard her he was deliberately pretending that she wasn't there. She shivered at the thought of how he was acting. "Vlad I need to talk to you."

"I don't think we'll have anything else to talk about." He snapped at Ingrid before throwing his charcoal pencil down so hard that it shattered into nothing more than dust. His back was still stinging – from the cream this time – making him more irritable than before

He really didn't want to talk, least of all to Ingrid. He just wanted to get on with his art work – his concession for missing the afternoon thanks to his sudden 'feeling ill'. He had to draw the selection of household objects in front of him for Miss McCauley.

Ingrid winced at the strength her brother held and he hadn't even tried it hard. "I think we do." Ingrid protested.

He sent her a red eyed scathing look, she drew her eyes away from him as if to stop the feeling she felt as he looked at her with hatred. She shuddered as she felt the chill of his expression cut through her like a knife. She hesitantly brought her eyes back to him.

"I don't want to hear it."

She tipped her head and looked at him with a sly smile. "Then I'll tell Dad. If that's what it takes for you to listen to me."

Vlad stopped, turning around. The entire room began to shake and Ingrid reached out for something to grab as her feet were forced around as she tried to regain her balance.

"You can't blackmail me forever Ingrid." He snarled at her, his fangs showing. "And you really shouldn't have tried to." He flicked his hand towards the fire and immediately the flames stretched out towards them. Ingrid darted out of the way before the flames could touch her.

"Vlad!" Ingrid cried, surprised at the lack of remorse in her brother's eyes. He was clearly trying to make a point.

Vlad wasn't listening though.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Erin cautiously opened the door hearing the commotion on the inside, the first thing that surprised her was the fact Vlad had lost his temper. He was angrier than she'd ever seen him. Ingrid was practically cowering in the corner. Erin knew she had to intervene.

"BERTRAND!" She yelled loudly hoping Vlad's mentor would hear her. She couldn't believe she was asking for his help. It would be beneficial for Ingrid to have someone who knew how to handle Vlad on her side should she be unable to calm him down.

Erin darted towards Vlad and grabbed his arm tightly spinning him around to face her successfully drawing his attention away from his sister. He gnashed his teeth before he froze realising who it was. He seemed to relax as if all the tension melted away from his muscles.

"Violence in never the answer." She reminded him of his own words. Vlad nodded and she watched as his fangs slid back up into his mouth. She traced a finger over his lips before closing her eyes and stepping into his waiting embrace. He ran his hands up and down her back as she rested her cheek on his shoulder. She could feel him taking comfort in their embrace which was the desired outcome that she'd hoped for.

Erin opened her eyes in time to see Bertrand appear in front of Ingrid and hoist her to her feet. She saw a glimmer of regret in Vlad's eyes at what he'd tried to do to his sister minutes before.

"What me and Erin do at night has nothing to do with you Ingrid. You and Will shared a room, you wouldn't have had to sneak around like we have to." He spat at her, his sister had had far more freedom than he did. He was a prisoner inside his own home. She wasn't.

"Will wasn't a slayer Vlad." She pointed out.

"Erin isn't a slayer…" He didn't know how else to say it, she wasn't one in the truest sense of the word.

"She killed the vampire I sent to slay you!" Ingrid shouted at him, admitting it out loud for the first time.

"Then she saved my unlife." Vlad snapped at her. "Maybe I should tell Dad that?" He snarled at her. Ingrid would be punished severely if the Count found out that Erin had saved Vlad from the vampire Ingrid had sent to slay Vlad – he knew about the attempts but not that particular one. He didn't like blackmailing her back but perhaps it would be the only way his sister would leave him alone.

Ingrid couldn't help retorting, no matter how much she should've thought her words through first. "You don't have a future with her, you must see that. She can never have your children or be your wife as long as she's mortal. She doesn't want to be changed and you'll never bite her."

"Did Will want to be bitten?" Vlad asked outright. Ingrid froze, "Or didn't you bother to ask him before taking what you wanted?"

"At least one of us has the guts to." She smiled at him, although it was painfully fake in an attempt not to show him how much his words had affected her

Vlad was more concerned about the sacrifices they'd made for the ones they loved. To him a sacrifice showed how much more they loved them than taking what they wanted. "I gave Dad half of my power to keep Erin protected." Ingrid opened her mouth to speak but Vlad cut his sister off, "I didn't want to but I told you I will do whatever it takes to keep Erin safe." He looked deliberately at Bertrand as he said that last line and Bertrand nodded, he remembered when Vlad had first said those words.

Ingrid looked down, she hadn't realised that Vlad had sacrificed that much for Erin already. He wouldn't have anything to bargain with their father if she revealed that the couple were sleeping together to the Count. "Vlad just listen to me." Ingrid began quietly.

"Why should I?" Vlad asked her outright, "I can't trust anything you say to me." He pointed out, he'd given his sister too many chances in that past and he simply wasn't prepared to give her anymore.

Ingrid needed to tell him, it was important that she did. She needed Vlad to understand everything without the forced help that blackmail would have brought. She looked up to Bertrand who gave her an encouraging nod. "There's a reason that I was trying to slay Dad,"

Two familiar intimidating figures appeared in the room before Ingrid could say anymore. Cutting her off completely when she finally had the guts to tell Vlad everything.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Erin was suddenly ripped from Vlad and thrown across the room by one of the figures. She let out a cry as she was thrown backwards with a power that meant she wasn't able to find anything to stop herself. She could only close her eyes and wait for the impact.

Vlad went to grab her but he was a second too slow. His fingers grasped thin air. Bertrand was too far away from Erin as was Ingrid to stop her from her current trajectory.

It was as if Erin had been yanked back by a wire, it was clean and smooth.

Vlad could only watch with wide eyes as the girl he loved was torn from him in a brutal way. He swung out his hand throwing the two figures up against the rafters and pinning them there in a painfully uncomfortable way. For what they'd just done they didn't deserve mercy from him. Vlad didn't know how they'd managed to get back in the daylight but he wasn't going to question them now.

A deafening crack was heard as her temple hit the sharp corner of the limestone fireplace, jerking her head around to the left forcefully.

The impact seemed to slow her body down although she still hit the wall, but instead of her back hitting the wall her side did – something that could cause even more injury to her.

Her whole body jolted as she hit it, her right leg being forced at an unnatural angle – a snapping sound filled the air as a result – he heard Ingrid's faint gag at the sound behind him. He didn't notice only watched helplessly as gravity took over and she collapsed to the floor in a heap of limbs. She lay face down on the floor her right arm by her side pressed against the wall and her left stretching out in front of her. She didn't move.

Vlad raced to her side, cupping her head. "Come on Erin." He whispered to her unconscious form, praying that she'd open her eyes. He couldn't see any eye movement and that worried him more than he could express. Then he felt something slick on his fingers and he noticed that her hair was turning a darker shade rapidly but it could have been a trick of the light as his shadow covered her.

She didn't move, she remained motionless. He felt Ingrid behind him, he heard her heels click on the floor and the rustle of her dress as she crouched down behind him. He breathed in deeply, trying to block everything out to hear her heartbeat. He struggled to hear it.

An all too familiar smell overcame him as he lifted the hand that was cradled under her head towards his face to examine it, at the same time he turned her head gently to look at the area she'd hit against the fire surround.

His hand began to shake as he realised what was on it. It was covered in a sticky, scarlet substance.

Blood.

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Do any more people want me to write a sequel?

Thanks for reading.