The rain was both relentless and furious when at five in the afternoon, Cheyenne hammered on the door of Garside Grange School. Her breath came in sharp rasps and one hand was pressed firmly to her side in an attempt to combat the stitch that cropped up. Golden blonde hair clung to a round face and tawny brown eyes were set in a determined frown.

"Fuck," She adjusted the large backpack with a curse, it had been a rush to figure out what she needed and speed out the door along with catching about a billion buses to get to Lancashire. When she got inside she would give Mir a good slap. Hmm... Cheyenne gave the school a glance, if this was the right place.

When no one answered the door she gave another violent hammer for good measure. Eventually a dark haired woman with a sour expression and pale skin opened it. "What?"

Mir skidded down the stairs, "Cheyenne!" Her heart jumped, looking past the woman with cold eyes, keeping her expression as calm as she could make it. She darted into the lobby dropping her hefty pack to the side as she moved to meet her lover at the middle. He stopped just in front of her with a relieved smile. "I-"

Cheyenne slapped him. "You!" And again. "Left!" And again. "Me!" And again. "Alone!"

After the forth backhand she dropped her stinging palm. Mir's face was impassive, he'd moved his head a centimetre to the left and tightened his jaw but her sharp slaps could make no mark on his iron skin. He took her hand in his and absently began fiddling with her fingers. "I said I was sorry Chey,"

"And I didn't accept it. C'mon Mir!" She snatched her hand back. "You can't just expect me to be fine when you run off with another woman!" The human glanced up at the ceiling to where she knew Erin probably was. "Especially that one. She's trouble and..." She sighed, slumping and losing her fire. "Please don't leave me like that."

Mir took her hand again but he wasn't looking at her; he was looking at the other person in the lobby.

The woman had a strange tilt to her lips, almost as if she was smiling but her eyes were ice cold. Cheyenne looked at Mir for understanding. He also had a strange expression. A taut jaw and rigid spine, a look she had only ever seen him sport in the presence of Snake.

She pinched his arm. "Uhm Mir..." A small puddle of rainwater had formed around her boots. "Can I get a towel or something?"

Her voice startled him out of whatever revere he'd been slipping into. "Yeah." His hand twitched around hers and he gently led her away.

At the top of the stairs, through a door and out of earshot Cheyenne asked about the woman in the lobby. "Who was that?"

"My sister..." There was bitterness in his voice, and she immediately knew Mir hadn't got what he wanted out of this visit.

"That's why she was so pretty then... You and her do kinda look related."

He didn't say anything. For a few seconds, human and vampire walked in silence until Mir abruptly stopped. His brow was furrowed, a little pout on his lips that made Cheyenne want to kiss it away. "I don't remember what I look like."

There was nothing she could say, so Cheyenne just squeezed his hand encouragingly and let him lead her down a corridor.

As the décor transitioned, from the rosy school setting to something darker and different, and the eerie linger began too tangible for her to ignore the woman's confidence stuttered. She gave the gothic panelling an uneasy look and muttered to Mir. "Do you remember any of this place?"

"Not really." The vampire qualified. "I remember bits like feelings and stuff but I don't remember much physical things at all." He smirked. "It's kinda creepy, isn't it?"

"What do you remember?"

Mir's eyes were unreadable. "To be honest, I don't really know."

Erin Noble was a rogue vampire slayer.

Erin Noble was the first love and the first bite of the Chosen One.

Erin Noble was the one who defied her creator.

Erin Noble was strong.

She didn't feel strong.

Breathing deeply, back in the garage, she pressed herself against the wall. What was she? A victim of circumstance – one accident, one disaster after another that decided the direction her life would take. She'd thought dying would change that. It turned out she was just as much a victim of her own heart as she was the world around her. She hated Vladimir Dracula, there was no other way about it. The kindest thing she could wish upon him was death and the only thing she could possibly do to him was hate him.

But she hadn't. "Ngh!" In a fit of rage she kicked the panelling in front of her, watching dust fly up and the flecks of rust crumble off the metal.

It was as if she didn't have a choice. As if every single action of herself was predestined. Because she knew what she'd wanted to say to Mir. Even if she was weak and breakable next to him she knew exactly what she'd wanted to say to her the statue in her ex-lover's skin.

She was Erin Noble and she couldn't even win against fate. "Kismet." The word flew from her in a hysterical laugh. Flapping Vladimir Dracula and his stupid kismet. She didn't even love him. As long as she remained tethered to the earth she would hate what he did to her. The bricks she was pressed against dug into her back. It cut through the haze she'd managed to encase herself in. Being here, being near him was like drowning, like dying all over again.

She remembered dying.

It was standing next to him,

Why had she said it. Why had she flapping said it. She knew what she wanted from him. She wanted to hold his ice cold heart in her hand and she wanted to crush it.

So why had she said that she wanted him?

Erin had told her not to talk to Vlad. The vampire had pulled her aside and ordered, with real fear in her eyes, to avoid the man wearing Vlad's face. A cold man called Mir with eyes like icicles. And for the best part of things Alex had. She'd housed her curiosity and remained safely away from the amnesiac vampire.

But interest could only be held back for so long and when Mir hurried down the hall, clutching the hand of a soaked blond she couldn't help but look. Almost immediately he noticed her attention and turned to her.

"I don't know you." There was something penetrating in his look that made her feel unbelievably small. He gestured at the sofa in the throne room. "Let's hear your story." It reminded her of his suspension a year previous – indubitable danger lingering in his gaze.

The drenched blond woman poked her head out of the bathroom. For Alex, looking into her warm brown eyes was an escape from Vlad's frozen pools. Her voice was surprisingly gentle. "Don't be so scary, Mir."

"I'm a vampire, Chey. It's in the job description."

At Vlad's indicative nod the teacher reluctantly slipped into the thrown room and perched on the furthest edge of the couch. He sat calmly opposite her, a reassuring distance away. Not in her space but definitely not far enough for her to feel like he didn't have some expectation on her.

Alex stayed silent and looked at into the hall, watching the door of the bathroom. She wished that 'Chey', whoever she was had stayed and she wasn't left alone with… whoever the man sitting opposite her was.

"Chey's my girlfriend." He said, as if he'd read her mind. "And as for who I am..." He gave a bitter chuckle causing her to shiver. "I was hoping you could tell me." His eyes stared into her, forcing her to return his gaze. "Who am I?"

So she told him. Mostly.

She stopped when she reached the point where she was let in on the secret; not only because she wasn't sure what he knew but she wasn't really sure she knew enough to be useful anyway. "I don't know why this happened to you." Her lips felt dry from speaking. "I'm sorry."

Vlad almost looked like the boy she knew, but there was a hawkish element to his eyes that unsettled the teacher. He shifted. "So I was a good boy? Did my homework? Didn't engage in murder or anything that vampires do?" A sour smile tugged at his lips. "Then why did they kill me?"

"I don't know..."

"You can answer this one though." His hand closed creasing the fabric caught in his fingers. "Why do they want me to trust them?"

"Because..." Alex glanced out into the hall, hoping for someone to walk around the corner. She wouldn't even mind if it was Erin back to argue with her. But no one did and Vlad's eyes remained on her, threatening her with their coldness. "Because you're powerful." She swallowed, she hadn't truly considered Vlad any different to the boy who'd been her student up until this point but sitting here with him… It finally made her understand just how powerful Vlad could be. "You can do things they can't… and..." She shrugged helplessly. "You're special somehow."

The vampire stared at her for a moment. A moment that trailed into a minute, long enough for his eyes to soften and for Alex to find her confidence. He sighed. "You seem to be the only real person here." Suddenly Vlad had stopped being a stranger to her and she realised this was a shell Vlad had worn before. Maybe this was harsher and far more dangerous but this wasn't a stranger. This was Vlad when he was hurt. "I don't remember you. But you're not lying with the truth and you don't want anything from me." A weak smile graced his lips. "I kind of wish I did remember."

"What have you remembered so far?"

Vlad looked guarded again. "Not enough."