Two days had passed since Ivan left and one morning when it was very early and still dark out, Erza awoke to the sound of footsteps and doors creaking open. Somehow she knew that it wasn't Natsu and Gray moving around at the moment and suspected danger. She heard the footsteps coming toward her room, thinking fast she hid.

The door to her room were opened by two men she did not recognize. They searched the bedroom for her but she was clever enough not to hide somewhere obvious like in her closet or under her bed. She hid in the air vent of her room. She stayed there quietly without making a single noise and praying that they wouldn't think she was smart enough to hide up there.

They didn't and when they left she followed them by crawling around in the ventilation. When she was a little younger she, her friend Jellal, and Laxus would often play hide and seek in the ventilation together so she had memorized the whole system perfectly. She even had her own secret passage way that she made herself though not to the knowledge of anyone else in the house.

The two men were going to Makarov's office, she quietly crawled through the passage way leading there and spied on what was happening through the vent. Ivan was in the office and so were a group of men she was unfamiliar with. She listened carefully to their conversation.

"What do you mean you couldn't find her?!" Ivan
shouted from the top of his lungs.

"We've searched the whole perimeter sir." One of the men replied. "And there's no sign of the girl anywhere. We suspect that she ran off."

"No she's still in this house." Ivan said. "I can feel it! It is imperative that you find her and eliminate her!"

"Eliminate?" Erza thought with great fear.

"I don't care what my father wanted! I refuse to let what's rightfully mine be stolen by some damn brat! He should have made me the head of this organization, not her! But once she's dead that will be corrected."

"With all due respect sir." Another man said. "I read the will and it says that should something happen to the child, the organization will not be turned over to you. It will be turned over to your son."

"Yes. With Erza dead, Laxus will control both bureaus. And who controls Laxus? The boy will merely be my puppet, he's so desperate to please me that he'll do whatever I say. The English bureau is already as good as mine. Erza just needs to be disposed of and I'll have the American bureau as well."

Erza held her breath as she listened.

"I was almost close to succeeding when I left her to drown in that lake but apparently she's much more resourceful than I thought. Which is why I hired all of you. You assassins are highly trained and should not fail me."

"And you will remember to pay us for our services, yes?"

"Yes of course! But the deed must be done first!"

"But what if you're discovered by the police?" Another one of the men asked. "You won't be able to pay us in jail."

"I will handle the police. All you need to do is find the brat and kill her! Have your guns ready and shoot on sight!"

Erza was horrified, so Ivan was trying to kill her after all. He really was insane. She needed to get out of here and somewhere safe until Makarov returned. She climbed out of the vents, grabbed an emergency pistol that she kept in her sock drawer, and quietly headed for the door. Suddenly gun shots went off from behind. She looked to see Ivan and his goons aiming their guns at her.

"There you are you little pest!" Ivan said venomously. "And here I was worried that searching for you would be a challenge."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." She said.

Thinking fast, she shot her pistol up toward the ceiling which killed the lights. Guns went off but no one hit their targets due to not being able to see anything. Erza used touch to navigate her way through the darkness and when she felt the glass of a window she quickly lifted the latch and jumped out.

It was quite a distance down. Not enough to cause any fatal damage but enough to hurt her arm and side when she hit the ground. She could still walk but it hurt to move. Nevertheless she ignored her pain and began to run. If she could just make it to her neighbor's house then she would be safe. But in her haste to get away she tripped over a rock and fell.

Before she could even react she felt Ivan roughly grab her injured arm and throw her across the ground, slamming her into a tree. She looked up into his mad and evil eyes. She knew right then and there that underneath his human flesh and blood this man was a monster from Hell. She wondered how a man as kind and good as Makarov could have fathered such a demonic son.

"I must say Erza you're a lot tougher than I gave you credit for. I congratulate you for lasting this long but you've lasted long enough."

"Bastard!" She spat. "How can you do this?!"

"Don't take it personally Erza. It's for the good of the organization."

"Bull! You don't care about Makarov's cause! You just want control and power! That's all you've ever cared about! Getting what you want no matter what you do or who you hurt! Even your own son is just a means to an end to you!"

"Tougher and smarter than I thought. Bravo Miss Scarlet. But I'm afraid it's the end of the line for you."

He cocked his gun and aimed it at her. Poor Erza had dropped her pistol when the lights had gone out back at the house so she had no way to defend herself. Truly it looked like she was a goner. But just before Ivan could pull the trigger he was interrupted by a sudden and harsh wind that blew against him. A wind that carried a mixture of howling and shrieks the chilled his and her bones to the core.

Out of nowhere a canine beast appeared and stood between him and the red haired girl. It resembled either a wolf or a large dog but it certainly wasn't the average canine. There was something about it's eyes that seemed completely not of this world. Looking into them, Ivan felt as if he was looking into the depths of hell. He fired several shots and they hit the beast but the bullets did nothing. They didn't even scratch the skin or cut the fur.

Ivan still kept shooting but the unholy wolf or dog would not move from it's position. It stood there, snarling and growling at Ivan with it's teeth bared. Daring him to even attempt to harm Erza. When he made a move toward her it bit down on his hand so hard and tore off his arm with it's supernatural strength. Ivan screeched in pain and his pain was even furthered when something came down from the skies and snatched him into the air.

It was a bat but definitely not one Erza had ever seen before. It was enormous, about the same size as a full grown man or even bigger. A hideous creature with a large snout, a mouth full of fangs, and wings almost as wide as an airplane's. It lifted Ivan higher into the air then it dropped him and pinned him to the ground with it's talons.

The next part Erza did not see for in an instant, the hound changed into Gray who threw his arms around her and adverted her eyes. She heard the sound of the bat's shrieks and gluttonous chugging along with Ivan's screams of terror and agony. Those noises alone were enough to petrify her. She would have been traumatized had she witnessed the horrible acts taking place.

Everything had become quiet when Gray finally allowed Erza to see again. The monstrous bat was gone and so was Ivan but in their places stood Natsu with blood dripping from his mouth. The three of them were completely silent and after for what seemed to be an hour, she asked Natsu:

"You killed him, didn't you?"

"Yes." He answered. "I killed him and I drank him dry."

"You...You weren't supposed to do that. I ordered you not to-"

"I'm allowed to break an order you give me if it ensures your safety and survival. He was going to kill you Erza. I had to stop him."

"But you didn't have to kill him."

"Yes he did." Gray said. "When he looked me in the eyes, he allowed me to see into his soul. That man was bound and determined to see you dead by any means necessary. If he had been spared he would have just kept trying and trying to kill you. Nothing would stop him, except death."

"But...But...But he was Makarov's son. Laxus's father."

"He had no love for his family." Natsu said. "He didn't love anything or anyone but himself."

Erza knew their words to be true but all she could think about at the moment was how heartbroken Makarov and Laxus would be by these news. As awful as Ivan was he was still family to two people she loved so much. She felt guilty and responsible for his death, she feared Makarov and Laxus would hate her forever because of this.

But surprisingly, when Makarov heard the news upon his return he showed no anger. He was heartbroken by his son's death but completely understood that he had to be destroyed.

"You're certain he would have never stopped trying to kill Erza?" Makarov asked Natsu and Gray.

"No sir." Gray answered. "He was too insane. There was no other option. For Erza's protection he had to die. I am so sorry that we had to resort to that."

"I'm not." Natsu said.

"Show some compassion will you?"

"I will but I won't lie. I have no regrets about killing him. He was an evil man without any remorse or desire for redemption and if left alive he would have spent his entire life hunting an innocent child. I had no qualms about killing him."

"Natsu shut up!"

"It's alright Gray." Makarov said. "I understand what kind of man Ivan really was and I suspected it for years but chose to live in denial because I couldn't face the truth. Terrified that my own son could be so evil."

"If he wasn't so determined to kill Erza we would have just contained him or something." Gray said.

"Speak for yourself." Natsu said.

"But men like him don't listen to reason or their conscience." Gray said ignoring Natsu.

"What did you two do with his body?" Makarov asked.

"I chopped off his head and burned it." Natsu answered. "He won't come back as a vampire I promise you."

"I am not sure what has broken my heart more. His betrayal or his death." Makarov said doing a very good job of holding back his tears. "But I thank you both for protecting Erza. Now I have to ask two favors of you."

"Which is?" Natsu said.

"Number one don't ever tell Laxus about this. He loved Ivan as much as I did but he's too young to fully comprehend the evil that was in his father. He would hate Erza and blame her if he knew the truth."

"We'll carry the secret to our graves." Gray said.

"Now number two, keep protecting Erza. She's very capable but not indestructible and I know she has you bound by a contract but she won't abuse you. She only wants to protect mankind."

"You didn't need to ask." Natsu said. "She's a good kid and we've really gotten to like her."

"So we'll keep her safe however we can." Gray added.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Makarov said with relief.