A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.
I hope no one's disappointed by this chapter. Can I just say I couldn't help myself with this plot line? I know its caused some irritation and taken me forever to get this far…
I hope I'm forgiven…
Chapter 50: Merge
Vlad hated it when he saw that smile on her face; he knew she was holding something back from him. His heart began to race.
"What?" He didn't like that smile, it always took Erin a few minutes to offer an explanation.
"Ingrid had to face her reflection in something for it to escape in the first place, so what if Vlad has to do the same?"
Ingrid looked at Erin, "Erin we don't know where his reflection is…" She trailed off as she saw the gleam in her eyes.
She pointed down, "Look down." Although before he did Erin pulled the ring from Vlad, dropping it do the ground before forcing him to look down at the broken shards on the floor. As she expected there was no reflection for him. Even though he was mortal his reflection wasn't linked to him in any way through their clan's blood mirror.
She placed the ring around her neck and looked downwards watching as Vlad followed her gaze. A smile crossed her face as she saw her 'reflection'. It was the exact copy of Vlad standing with his arms crossed looking at her not exactly amused. It was distorted because of all the broken shards but it was still clear enough to see.
She smirked as she yanked the signet ring from around her neck and fastened it back around Vlad's. She gave a sigh of relief as she saw his reflection in front of him.
"About time." The reflection spoke, before looking at his flesh counterpart. Erin gestured towards the ring around Vlad's neck. Vlad looked down at it not understanding its significance.
"You're reflection is inside that ring." She told him with a smile, Vlad lifted up the ring and his reflection mimicked his actions but waved it mockingly at him. Vlad let out a low growl. The ring was silver, highly polished silver, which meant it was reflective. Erin looked down at the ring she'd placed back around Vlad's neck. "When I touched the ring and the shard at the same time I felt a shock. Your reflection must have used me to transfer into the ring. A conduit of sorts."
"Its safer than the shard considering you dropped it." Ingrid pointed out.
Erin narrowed her eyes at her, shuddering at the thought of what might have happened if she had dropped it and his reflection hadn't transferred out of it. "Thanks for that Ingrid." Erin muttered sarcastically.
"We need to get his reflection out of it."
"How do we do that?" She asked.
"We need a blank mirror, one without any clan loyalties."
Erin didn't understand why they needed a clean mirror. "Why can't Vlad confront his reflection in the ring?" She couldn't see why he couldn't face it using the ring.
"Its too small, to draw out his whole reflection it needs to be a whole body thing. The Dracula crest isn't just a symbol of power it *is* power. The crest will hold the reflection inside just like the Blood Mirror does."
Erin gave a shrug. "So use the Dracula Blood Mirror."
Ingrid spoke next, understanding dawning on her face. "The clan crests will react with each other, they'll bounce the power between them. His reflection will still be trapped."
"So where will we find a clean mirror?" Erin asked him, they didn't have any mirrors at their home, they had screens with digital cameras to show their 'reflections'.
"There's always a shop." Ingrid spoke with a large, patronising smile.
"And how do we get to one?" Erin knew no shops were open late at night in Transylvania like there were in England.
Ingrid smirked, "Isn't that what Vlad's breather friend is for?"
Vlad looked between them, "We're going back to the manor?" What was the point of this whole trip if they were going to end up back at the manor.
One of them could contact Robin and get him to buy a mirror for when they returned. Robin would eagerly do it if it linked to vampires and getting his friend back to normal.
"It's the safest place to release your reflection and the safest place for you." Erin told him quietly, "At home I can keep an eye on you in case your heart tries to stop again and it's the most defended place at the moment."
Vlad nodded slowly, "Fine."
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Robin gestured proudly to the mirror, he'd listened to them on the phone. The mirror was plain and in an ordinary frame.
"It's ready for Vlad to use." He leaned closer towards Erin, "I can't believe he's getting his reflection back."
Erin didn't want to say anything but she was just as eager as Robin was. She rubbed her stomach trying to calm the butterflies she felt building in there.
He'd done this twice before, there was nothing to be afraid of. At least he knew this time he wasn't going to be thrown in. He felt confidence flowing through him and he looked at Erin, gently caressing her stomach. She gave him an encouraging smile as he took a deep breath.
Vlad looked around at all of them before standing in front of the mirror, looking at it carefully. He nodded to Erin as she draped the ring and its chain over the edge, a flash of pure purple power ran across the surface of the glass before his reflection shimmered into existence, it was now transferred to the clean mirror. His reflection stretched as if he'd been cramped up in the ring, making use of the additional space it now found itself in.
"Did it work?" Ingrid asked, looking at the blank (in her eyes) mirror, Vlad and Erin nodded seeing his reflection.
"Ready?" Vlad nodded looking at his reflection. The reflection nodded, Vlad needed to face it but he could only draw it out of the mirror, he needed space to absorb his reflection that's why they were in this room.
His reflection pushed his hands against the glass. The surface of the glass seemed to stretch like cling film. Vlad knew his reflection could get out much easier than that – he was testing the barrier of glass.
The reflection looked at him before gesturing for Vlad to take a step back. With a fierce punch, his arm was pushed out of the mirror, the left followed it along with his head, before his legs and then his whole body. A tearing sound filled the room as the process continued. The barrier wasn't enough to hold him unlike normal reflections.
"Is he out?" Bertrand asked, trying to sense Vlad's reflection but he couldn't sense anything.
Erin nodded, but kept her eyes fixed on one particular spot in front of the mirror. "He's out."
Vlad stepped back from the mirror. "Its about time, I thought that shard would never get your attention." He muttered, rubbing his arms and straightening his shirt. Erin wasn't a great fan of that vain part of him but she'd learned to live with it.
His eyes softened as he saw her before reaching behind him and grabbing the ring from the edge of the glass. He walked over to his wife and Erin didn't move, she knew he had no intention of harming her this time. He kissed her lightly before gently looping it around her neck before returning to the place he once stood.
Erin seemed to pick up on his meaning, realising that he knew she'd pick up on it and that's why he'd moved. If he thought that would save him he had another thing coming, "You stabbed Vlad? Just to make sure we took the shard with us?"
He gave a cold shrug, "How else was I supposed to get out of there?"
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As soon as the words were out of his reflection's mouth, Erin slapped him hard. His face snapping to one side. He looked at her shocked, cradling his cheek as pain flared throughout it he rubbed it hoping the pain would dissipate quickly but he knew Erin really could slap.
"You could have killed him!" She gestured from one half of her mate to the other. She wanted him to realise how much of an idiot he was. Nothing would have been achieved if Vlad had been killed.
"I didn't though!" He protested. Vlad cradled his own cheek knowing full well when they merged he would feel that slap. "It's the only way I could think of to get out of there, I needed to get into the ring in case the shard broke. You always play with the signet ring while thinking, I knew it was my best chance."
Erin growled, her habits weren't the issue at the moment. She gestured to Vlad's leg, "He bled, that shard was in his leg, buried deeply." His reflection fought not to look guilty, almost succeeding but Erin could make anyone feel guilty even a saint. "You could have aimed it at me…"
Vlad and Vlad stepped forward immediately protesting at her ridiculous suggestion.
"You're pregnant, I wasn't going to put our baby at risk!" The reflection snapped at her, Erin was smaller than Vlad, the shard could have pierced her stomach instead and he wasn't willing to take that risk. Her Vlad folded his arms over his chest and nodded frantically agreeing with the other half of him.
Erin shook her head, she was tired of Vlad using her pregnancy as an excuse she wasn't ready for his reflection to as well. "I wasn't putting anything at risk, you were the one who was separated from Vlad!"
"Are you sure they're not going mad?" Robin whispered seeing the one sided conversation Erin was having with thin air.
"A vampire thing." Vlad muttered, looking back at his friend. Robin blushed realising Vlad had heard him.
"It wasn't something I wanted." His reflection protested, he never wanted to be separated from her.
Vlad decided to intervene, "I need you so we can become Grand High Vampire…"
The reflection looked at Vlad, a smug half smile covering his face, as he spoke he laughed into his words. "You can't do anything without me…"
"You can't be Grand High Vampire on your own either. The stress is getting to Erin, Augustus has already arranged a marriage for our child…"
"You've arranged a marriage for our child?" The reflection snapped at Vlad, his fists balling at his sides. He'd never have allowed it if he was merged with him.
Vlad was going to defend himself, "I didn't, Augustus did! It nearly triggered a miscarriage…"
The reflection's eyes swept to Erin immediately, concern filling them, "The baby…"
"Is fine." Vlad snapped back at him,
"No thanks to you…"
Erin really wasn't in the mood to argue over this. She cut in with a thunderclap drawing their attention back to her, "You shut up and sit over there!" Erin snapped at Vlad's reflection.
He wasn't finished with his flesh counterpart. "I'm not…"
Her next tone made Bertrand and Ingrid jump, they weren't prepared for her words not hearing half of the conversation. "NOW!" She roared at him.
Surprisingly the reflection looked at Vlad nervously who shook his head, he wasn't going to help him against their wife who was just as hormonal as the dragon their name originated from. He didn't even bear his fangs as he might have done.
Sulking slightly he marched across the room and sat down against the wall, leaning his head back against it, his eyes rising up towards the ceiling.
"Thanks Erin…"
"You too!" She shouted at her flesh and blood mate. Vlad nodded and crossed the room to do exactly the same thing. "Lets get one thing clear," She began staring the both of them down. "*YOU*," She pointed to the reflection, before her head shot the other way as if she was watching a tennis match. "Are going to go back into Vlad." The reflection glared at her, he wasn't going to be told what to do whether she was his wife or not – regardless of the fact he wanted to be back inside Vlad himself. "And *YOU* are going to let him." Vlad looked like he wanted to protest but nodded, he was just as indignant at her ordering him around. "Then you can sort out whatever issues you have with each other where you can't put any stress on me? Understand?"
Vlad nodded, still in the state of mind that it was better to agree with her.
"She's really the one in charge of you isn't she?" His reflection quipped, a grin covering his face as he allowed his fangs to drop slightly to intimidate his flesh and blood counterpart.
She pointed a finger at him, seeing his actions and misinterpreting them. "Don't even go there. You've bitten me twice, a third time won't make much difference."
"I wasn't going to bite you…"
Erin cut him off with a wave of her hand. "You have a choice either you become a gene fang and your trapped forever or you merge."
Both sides of Vlad looked at each other before letting out a resigned sigh, "We'll merge." There really was no say in it, they both wanted to be the person that they had been for the last four years.
Erin relaxed, she knew what Vlad wanted – he wanted to be a vampire again. She was proud of him for finally accepting who he was.
"I don't want either of you fighting for control this time either, you will share like you've done for the last four years." She was laying down some ground rules. "Merging isn't one of you in control its both of you working together."
Both Vlad's nodded, looking like scolded schoolboys. It had never crossed their minds to fight each other. They'd worked well together. The evil side of Vlad gave him the confidence to do things he would never have normally done, sometimes he had to be reined in but since he'd accepted who he was.
Vlad pushed himself to his feet and positioned himself in the centre of the room. "Lets get this over with." His reflection nodded, the quicker they did this the better for everyone involved.
Vlad opened up his arms, if it hurt anything like last time… He forced himself to open his eyes and fix on his reflection. His reflection didn't wait he thought it would be better just to charge and hope for the best.
He lined himself up and ran towards Vlad.
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Vlad and his reflection collided in the centre of the room. Vlad was thrown backwards hitting the wall and crying out in pain, the exact same reaction came from his reflection, although his reflection had extended his fangs instinctively upon the impact. It had hurt but not in the same way and the pain would linger for longer unfortunately.
They looked at each other in confusion before looking at Erin who was shaking her head in disbelief. "No…" She whispered frantically. Vlad wasn't a gene fang yet, she could still hear his heart beating although that could change at any moment.
Ingrid looked at the devastation on Erin's face. "What's wrong?"
Erin took her eyes from the two Vlad's. Her voice breathless. "They can't merge."
TBC
A/N: What do you think?
A mixture of 'Sweet Sixteen' and 'Bad Vlad' inspired this part of the plot.
Sorry couldn't resist, I found his reflection like people asked but no one said anything about merging straight away.
Thanks for reading.
