Dick shook his head at her, the tears falling from his eyes.

'Please, please don't do this.' Desperation showed in his voice. How could she do this to him? It had felt like a hole had been punched through his heart when his parents died. Now it felt like he was losing them all over again. 'Please don't do this to me.'

'I'm so sorry Dickie.' Christine had never felt so guilty. She could feel the emotions of betrayal, sadness and confusion rolling off the boy. How could she blame him? She had given him up to John and Mary, now she was tearing him away from them. Dick pushed away from her, standing and backing away.

'I don't understand. My parents...no, I don't believe you.' Shakes racked his body.

Christine stood slowly, taking a careful step forward. 'Dick, I know this is a lot to take in. But please listen to me.'

Dick's eyes were suddenly on her, sharp and suspicious. 'Why are you telling me this? Why now?'

'Because you are 16, your abilities will only become stronger from this point on. They make you faster, stronger more durable than a normal human. And without your parents to hide you, the rogues will be able to find you. That's what led those two rogues to Jump. ' Christine looked as though her world was shattering as her son paled in shock. 'Your fledgling blood protects you from other vampires until you mature at 18, that is why they could not touch you.'

'So...I'm not human?'

'Yes, my darling. You are as human as your Father was.'

Dick had a disgusted look on his face like he was struggling to swallow a large pill. 'But if I die, out in the field, I'll be like you, a vampire?' He let out a humourless laugh, folding in on himself and lowering himself down to the floor.

'Dick.' She reached out to him, but he flinched away.

'No, get away from me. Leave me alone.' His face softened slightly when he saw Christine's hurt expression. 'Please.'

'Of course.' Christine left, her Father following behind her. The room was silent for several minutes until the sound of moving fabric came from the centre of the room. Dick flinched slightly when he saw the man move from the corner of his eye. He had forgotten about Bruce.

'Dick?' The older man approached him cautiously. Kneeling down in front of the boy and placing a comforting hand on his knee.

'Did you know?' Dick didn't look at him, didn't remove his eyes from the floor.

'No. I had no idea until today.' Seeing that Dick would allow him close, Bruce sat next to him, his back resting against the wall. 'I can't imagine what you're going through right now.'

'Everything I've ever known has been a lie.' Dick said through gritted teeth. His eyes flicked up to meet Bruce's. Bruce held back his shocked expression at seeing the purple hue in his son's eyes. Christine was right, the immortal genes in him were starting to become more prominent. Christine's eyes turned purple when her emotions were unchecked. He imagined a similar thing was happening to the boy before him.

'It may never happen. Christine said that many...fledgelings, live full human lives and die human as well.'

Dick laughed a sad, hollow laugh. 'Most fledgelings aren't vigilantes. I've almost been killed once before.'

'That's your choice, Dick. I tried once before to tell you what to do and I ended up losing you. If you want to stop being Robin then I will support you. But it is a choice you need to make yourself.' Bruce sighed, knowing that Dick's life was falling apart and there was nothing he could do to help. Nothing but offer his advice. 'As for Christine, I can imagine what you're currently thinking is that your parents are being taken away from you all over again.'

The look of Dick's face confirmed this theory.

'John and Mary Grayson raised you into a wonderful kid Dick. They will always be your parents. So instead of thinking of this situation as losing parents; why don't you think of it as getting a second chance at having a family.'

Dick looked up at him, eyes slowly fading back to blue. 'She did it to protect me. How much do you think it hurt her to give me away?'

'Well it almost killed me when you left, and I'm only your guardian.'

'You've always been more than that.' Wiping away the tears from his face, he gave Bruce a watery half-smile. 'Maybe I should hear her out?'

'Maybe you should.' There was a moment of comfortable silence between them. This was the first time they had been in the same room without shouting at each other since before Dick had left for Jump city.

'How creepy was the other guy.' said Dick. Bruce laughed, a full honest laugh.

'I'm glad it wasn't just me. I thought I was serious, but he's got me beat.' They laughed together. Dick could feel some of the pieces of his shattered life glueing themselves back together.

oOoOoOoOoOo

'They're going to come after him. You've managed to hide him this long, but you're not going to be enough anymore.' Alexander eyed his daughter as she paced. 'Those creatures today were only the beginning and it won't take long before they know exactly what scent they are being drawn too.'

'And what exactly do you propose.'

'Under my care, he would be protected. He could come back home, you both could.'

Christine shook her head. 'No, this is his home. I won't have him passed around like a parcel. He's been through enough.'

'We've all been through trials Christiana. That is a burden our family must bear. Once he turns 18 he will be at risk of becoming immortal, is that really what you want for him?'

The door beside them opened and Batman entered, still looking slightly shaken. He nodded silently towards Alexander, still not comfortable in his presence.

'Dick's gone back to Titan's Tower. It's daylight so I presumed he would be safe from...them.' Batman looked at her for confirmation. Christine could see how hard it had been for him to let Dick go. But he had finally learned that holding on tighter would only make their son run faster. She nodded, telling him that he would be fine for a few hours. He needed space to process everything.

'So what are we going to do? From what you've told me, those monsters are going to be drawn to him, especially now he doesn't live with us.'

'There's only one thing we can do. He can't live with the Titans any longer, he has to come back to the cave.' Christine ran her hands through her hair in desperation, 'He's going to hate me for it.'

'I think he's pretty shaken up. He might welcome the chance to come home. But that doesn't solve the problem completely. Why are these creature coming after him?' Bruce was an inch away from losing the remnants of his composure. Twelve years, twelves years Bruce had known this woman, the majority spent in close proximity to each other, caring for a child together; never in all those years did she feel it important to disclose this information. Now as Bruce looked at her he realised there were so many secrets she had never revealed to him; in truth, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear most of them.

'All of my direct descendants have been girls,' Alexander began to explain, 'all though many of my daughters had male children, none of them were fledgelings.' Alexander sighed at Bruce's confused expression. 'My wife and I were very protective of our girls; only one ever put herself in a position to be turned.' He flashed a someone frustrated glance in Christine's direction. The young woman shrugged, clearly having heard this line of conversation many times before.

'So because Christine was a vampire, Dick was a fledgeling. That doesn't explain why killer vampires are after him!' Bruce allowed Christine to stand before him, ignoring his growing need to turn away from her.

'My Father has only ever had daughters. As strong as I am, a female vampire does not inherit the full power of Dracula. Dick is the only male heir to Dracula if he turns then he will be stronger by far than any vampire. That kind of power in the wrong hands could be the end of the Grayson rule.'

Bruce suddenly understood the dark expression on the immortals faces. The extinction of the Grayson's would mean there would be nothing stopping the rogue vampires from descending on the planet. There would be nothing that could control them, especially if they had the kind of power Christine had described.

'For the moment, they don't know what scent they are being drawn too. All they know if that Dick's blood smells sweeter than any humans; which is why those two parasites tried to kill him. But it won't be long before a smarter creature comes across him.' Dracula emitted a quite snarl, his teeth slightly bared.

'So what do we do?'

'We're his parents, we do the only thing we can do,' said Christine, 'we keep him safe.'

A/N Sorry for the delay. In honest I had such a clear idea of where I was going with this story, but now I'm not so sure, so I keep re working each chapter multiple times. If you guys have any ideas where you would like this story to go, let me know as either a review, or a PM if you wanna keep it covert. Until then, Karin xx