Robin silently stole back into the Titans tower. Right now he needed to be alone, he needed to think about everything Christine had said.

Christine. His mother.

As he made his way through the corridors of the building he heard his friends talking in the main room; they were obviously waiting for him to return. Robin found himself wondering what Batman had told them, or if he had told them anything. Guilt filled him as he thought of that. Everything had happened so fast, what if no one had informed his team that he was alright? Was he alright? His guilt at this thought brought him to the doorway of the main room. Starfire was the first to notice his presence.

'Robin! You are safe!' She flew over to him, wrapping her arms around him. Robin felt himself tensing despite himself. If Star noticed his body language, she didn't let on.

'Dude, are you ok?' Beast Boy was suddenly before him, eyes wide with concern.

'I'm not hurt.' That was the only way Robin could answer that question honestly without worrying them.

'Batman notified us that he was taking you back to the Justice League headquarters.' said Raven, keeping a comfortable distance away. Out of all of them, she had noticed Robin tense when Star had hugged him. She understood that he did not wish to be crowded.

'Yeh, Dude what happened? I didn't think you and the big man were talking.' Cyborg, like Raven, decided to keep a small distance between them.

At this point, Robin had two choices: lie to them and pretend everything was fine or tell them the truth. He sighed deeply, he was so tired of all the lies.

'Those two men caught me.' he admitted. 'I called for help as soon as I started running but they caught up to me. Help arrived before they could do any real damage but I was knocked out at some point. Batman took me back.'

'Who were those men?' asked Star. 'You told us to run. I do not understand why?'

'They were vampires Star, they would have killed us in seconds if we had fought them.' He watched the fear creep onto his friend's faces. Although secret from the rest of the world, the hero community was well aware of the existence of vampires.

'Vampires! You mean like that Lady in the Justice League?' Beast Boy, ever the fan-girl of the superheroes, started going over in his mind the images he had seen of the Leagues resident vampire. The woman was beautiful, that was for certain, her long silver hair and glowing purple eyes made her look so extraterrestrial. The men from last night, however, had been the creatures of nightmares, with their red eyes and dangerous teeth. He didn't understand the comparison.

'Christine is a royal vampire. They've evolved to be Superior, they no longer need humans in order to survive.' Robin explained plainly, as though he had explained this fact many times before.

'But don't the royals have some sort of control over the others?' asked Raven, it seemed to her a reasonable question so she was surprised when Robin let out a, somewhat disturbing, chuckle.

'Apparently so.' he said quietly, then he made his way to the couch. Resting his head in his hands bit his lip. He would not loose his cool here, he would not!

'Robin?' A hand came to rest on his back, from the weight of it, he could tell it was Raven. Through their bond, she could probably sense his turmoil. Dick could feel his emotions coming to the surface. He should have gone straight to his room. And what? Cried alone? There was a very strong possibility that he would be spending eternity alone, watching everyone he loved age and die. Did he really want to be alone now?

'I have to leave the Titans.' he said slowly. He and Bruce had talked about him coming back to the manner for a few days so they could sort the truth from this web of lies Christine had been spinning all his life. But Dick couldn't see an end to it. For some reason the rogue vampires wanted him, and they were going to keep coming. By staying with the Titans, he was putting them in danger. At least if he was around Christine, she would stand a chance against them.

The Titans stared at him, dumbstruck with shock. Then they all began speaking at once, all of them questioning him why.

'Those things are going to come after me again. Christine is the only one who can stand against them.' Apart from Dracula, but Dick decided to leave his Grandfather out of the conversation.

'But why you? Surely they would go after a royal if they were going to go after anyone?' Raven paused when Robin's posture changed. He straightened slightly, as though he had just realised something.

'She's my Mother.' he said quietly

'But I thought you were...?'

'I am adopted, Batman adopted me when I was 8. Christine signed the papers as well, what she didn't enclose to me until today was that she is actually my birth mother.' He spat the last sentence out and then rolled his hands into fists. There, he had said it and in front of witnesses no less. So it was real, the Grayson's hadn't been his real parents. Christine Grayson, the Princess of the vampires was his birth mother. He was a fledgeling, if he died while on the job, he too would become one of these royal immortals. He clenched his hands so tight he began to draw blood, it seeped out from between his fingers.

'Robin!' Star took his hands in hers and tried to force his fingers apart. She was surprised at just how strong he was but she managed to open his hand and examine the deep welts his fingernails had made into his palms. Holding his hand in her own, she could feel him shaking. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask him about what he had just said, but she could also see that he was struggling. 'We understand your decision. You are our friend Robin, you will always be welcome here, should you wish to return.'

'Thank you, Star. I will talk to Batman about giving you passes to my old teams base so you can visit.' he said, then quietly added, 'I'm not trying to push you guys out. This isn't goodbye. I just can't put you in that kind of danger by staying here.'

The Titans nodded in understanding. They could see their leader was in pain, they didn't wish to push the issue. So they let him rise from the couch and head to his room.

Once in the safe darkness of his room Dick removed his mask and rested his head against the door. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before speaking into the darkness: 'I know you're there.'

'I'm impressed, you're hearing is very acute, even for a fledgeling as young as yourself.' Alexander came to the centre of the room to stand a little away from the boy.

'I've been taught to listen most of my life.'

'A useful trait taught to you by your adopted father I suppose. Your mother was never the best at listening.' He didn't fail to notice Dick's slight flinch at the mention of his mother. 'She did listen to me in one respect, though.' he continued, his shining eyes fixed on Dick. 'She gave you a chance at life, even though it meant she would not be in it.'

Dick really didn't want to hear this again. He had forgiven Christine the moment she had left the room. She had given him to John and Mary to protect him. Dick could only imagine how hard that must have been for her. What he was struggling to forgive her for, was the lies she had told every day since then.

'What do you want?'

'Your mother wants you to return to live with her. She will no longer be able to mask you from the others but she may be able to offer low-level protection. I, however, am going to offer you another way out. Come back to England with me. There I will be able to protect you, as I protected all of my daughters. Your mother was the only one of my children to make the change and that was due to her disobedience. In my care, you will be completely safe.'

Dick thought about it for a moment. If he went to England he would stand a better chance of dying human. But it would mean leaving everything he knew, everyone he loved. After everything that had happened to him, especially in the last 24 hours, he couldn't bear the thought of ripping anything else from his life; no matter what it cost him.

'Thank you for the offer, but I'm staying in Gotham.'

'Your mother said you would say that. I guess she knows you better than you give her credit for. But you're making a mistake, just like your mother did.' his voice was stern but it was not cruel or angry, he sounded almost disappointed.

'Well I am her son.' the words fell from his mouth with ease and for the first time, they sounded right.

'Yes, that you are.' Within the next second the man was gone, leaving Dick in the darkness.

A/N So recently I got a new laptop, not an upgrade or anything, my old one died so I brought a cheap one to see my through to the end of University. It didn't have word on it, which was fine, the notepad documents were compatible with this site and wordpress so I was grand. What I didn't realise until 3 this morning, when I received an email from the head of my uni, was that the documents were not compatible with the uni computers! So in the last week, when I handed in 5 assignments, i was basically sending them blank documents. The Dean of my Uni asked. 'Was this by accident?' NOOOOOOO I purposefully sent you all blank pages because who needs a degree right! Long story short, the situation is now sorted, but I'm still mad: at myself and at the level of sassy sarcasm in that email. :P Ok, rant over! Here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy, please review (So that i get some happy emails :D ) Karin xx