You are allowed to shoot me for the delay! [If anyone actually cares, that is xD] I've got a base storyline planned out for this story now, which is exciting! Hopefully next chapter will be updated quicker!
Things are starting to heat up!

Enjoy and review =]

Chapter 4-

Time Lapse- The Night Before: Castle Dracula.

"WHERE IS HE!?" The Count's voice boomed across the castles stone walls, and echoed down every corridor. He was clearly livid, but there was also a strange note of worry mingled in with it.
"If I may master…" Renfield interrupted the Count's bellowing of profanities and curses to attempt to soothe his master's worrying.
"Perhaps young Vladimir has gone to visit master Robin and simply forgotten the time?" he suggested. "You know how young boys are these days-"

The Count's hand slammed onto the table, stopping Renfield in his tracks. "Do you think I haven't looked there!? It's the first place I flew to when I realised he was gone! That infernal breather -what's her name- Mrs Branaugh," He emphasised in disgust. "She said Robin had gone camping. Of all the… Well it doesn't matter. Robin's camping so I don't know where to look for Vladdie now; he could have gone anywhere! Do you think maybe he's got himself a nice vampire girlfriend and they're off canoodling somewhere behind my back? That sly dog…" Renfield looked wary but said nothing.

As if on cue, the stone archway to the living room overshadowed, revealing an incredulous looking Ingrid.
"Did I hear you correctly? Breather boy's actually run away? Wow, he's acting like somewhat of a rebel for once in his life." She picked up an cockroach from the bowl and inspected it carefully, mostly to avoid her father's gaze, which would give her away instantly.
Of course she knew where Vlad was; but this was her chance to get what she wanted and it wasn't about to be taken away from her by her snivelling brother yet again.

"He HASN'T run away! We think he's just with his girlfriend and forgot the time; he'll be home any minute now!" The Count looked as though he were trying to convince himself rather than his daughter.
"Vlad? A girlfriend? Don't make me laugh. The only girlfriend he has is Robin, and according to you he's camping." She paused. This was the only chance.
"But seeing as little goody two shoes has run away, I think it's time for a punishment don't you?" She continued without hesitation, ignoring the Counts second glance.

"How about a room swap? These bedroom allocations are positively ridiculous, and I am older, better looking, and have more right to the throne than he does, so it's only fair that I get the larger room." She put her best pleading face that she only reserved for times like these.
"I'm even willing to move all Vlad's things for him, free of charge. It's the least I can do." She smirked to herself. Her version of moving things was to throw all his possessions out the tower window and onto the hard ground below. No use packing them into boxes; it was more amusing this way.

It was the Count's turn to smirk this time, which for a moment, confused Ingrid.
"Ingrid, Ingrid, Ingrid. How many times does it have to be drummed into your non-existent brain? You are a girl. You don't get a say in the running of this house hold or have any right to the throne. Vladdie will always be my son and heir." Ingrid scowled.

"And besides, I'm proud of him! I didn't start defying my parents until I was 16; bit of a late bloomer. It's excellent to see my boy finally acting like the true vampire he is. I just want him home now, god only knows what could happen to a young and inexperienced vampire in this day and age."

Ingrid's face flew up with rage, which she (somehow) managed to keep under control. This was no time to be flying at her father when she could very well get her revenge on Vlad himself.

She feigned beginning to walk away, and just as she reached the stairs, turned to her father.
"If you're really looking for him, try the Moonspell forest a few hours from here. That's where his stupid friends will be camping."
The Count looked victorious. "Of course! Vlad would be in the forest camping with his breather friend! What a silly pastime. But never mind that, we shall go and track him down. Renfield, get my coat and umbrella. Oh the cleverness of I!"
Ingrid looked at him in disgust.
"Sit on a stake." Were her parting words as she stormed upstairs and into her bedroom.

"Here we are master." Renfield had returned with the Count's long leather jacket, large black umbrella and dark sunglasses.
"To the hearse!" His master shouted fiercely, leading the way out the door and into the family's 'car'.
As the Renfield drove the hearse down the steep path toward the centre of Stokely, the Count's voice rang strong.
"I will find you Vladimir, even if it's the last thing I do in my very existence."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Normal Time.

"Bite you!?" Vlad's voice came out shakily and his eyes bugged out at Robin in the semi dark. He could see his breath drifting out like smoke wisps through the torch lit air; it had gotten a lot colder very quickly. He snuggled underneath the blanket he was using and tried to keep warm.

Chloe sighed. "Robin, once again, don't be ridiculous. Firstly, Vlad hasn't got his full fangs yet. Secondly, it's too dangerous. He could end up killing you or changing you because you really don't know what could happen regardless of the fact he hasn't got his full fangs. And that wouldn't be good for anyone."
He was about to argue when she interrupted him again, with a stern look. "Do you think dad won't notice you burning in the sun the entire time we're hiking or knot tying or eating breakfast?"
"Or the fact that you're suddenly ten shades paler and have developed a preference for raw steaks?" Vlad added, trying to assist Chloe in persuading Robin against his suggestion. He wasn't sure whether he liked the idea, or was completely against it, and that scared him the most.
Robin's shoulders slumped. He'd thought maybe something good would have come out of inviting Vlad along on their family's escapade.

Vlad sighed. "Robin, we've been over this before. I'm not going to try and change you. One, as Chloe said, it's too dangerous. Two, even if for some crazy reason it did work, you don't want to be a vampire. Believe me."
Chloe gave a half smile. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Robin said nothing, merely tried to hide his disappointment. He knew it could never happen. What was he thinking even bothering to ask?

Seeing the awkward tension building in the tent, Chloe offered round some lolly snakes, and asked if anyone had any truths for her, seeing as the dares were obviously going to be dangerous or just plain stupid.

By the end of the game two hours later, the trio had ascertained that when Mr Van Helsing and his son had first come to Stokely Grammar, Chloe had had a little bit of a crush on Jonathan, that Vlad was secretly afraid of the dark and still slept with Mr. Cuddles, [which Robin already knew, but like a loyal friend pretended he didn't] and that Robin, even though he put up his 'dark and morbid' persona, still listened to old Hanson tapes occasionally when nobody else was home.

Once everyone had been sufficiently embarrassed, Chloe announced it was time for her to go to bed. After a long game, she was sleepy and realised it would be another tiresome day in the morning. The boys bade her a quick goodnight, and she left them for her tent with Graham, who they could hear snoring loudly across the campsite.

With Chloe went the torch, and so the pair were plunged into complete darkness inside the tent. From where they sat, each under their blankets on either side of the two man tent, they could hear the snoring of Robin's father, and the shuffling of blankets as Chloe got settled into her bed also. No other sounds except for an owl hooting in the distance could be heard.

The silence was starting to creep Vlad out just a little. He snuggled right down into his blankets, and turned to Robin, who he knew was in arms length of him.
"So… know any scary stories?" He tried, wanting to hear another voice other than his own in the gloom.
Robin snorted and spoke in a surprisingly irritated way. "I don't know sorry Vlad, I'm just Robin the weird kid who everybody just laughs at, why would I know any scary stories?" His voice sounded muffled, as though he was facing the other way and had his face buried in the pillow.
Vlad was confused.

"What? No you're not Robin! Where's all this coming from?" He leaned up on one elbow and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He was right; he was facing the other way and his face was mashed into his black and red pillow fiercely. Vlad couldn't understand what had gotten into him.
He saw Robin lift his head, and noticed how he rubbed at his eyes before he spoke.

"It's just… everyone's got their place. Everyone has their thing. You've got being a vampire, Chloe's a child prodigy and can do basically whatever she wants, Ian and Paul have their sports, hell, even dad's a plumber. Jonno and Van Helsing, well their slayers, but it's still their thing, you know? I don't feel like I'm apart of anything, and everybody is just going to slip me by and move on with their lives with their things and I'll just be the freak who wears a cape." His voice was cracking, Vlad could tell.

Vlad saw his breath flow from his mouth as he spoke, mingling with the air of the tent; it really was cold that night.
"My thing? Being a vampire isn't my thing. It's a huge inconvenience that will probably ruin a lot of my experiences later in life. It's a hassle everyday just knowing I'll become a vampire, the fact that my father and sister are already is also a huge problem. Trust me when I tell you, I would never leave you Robin, you're my best mate. Besides, I have nothing to move onto except eternal darkness, and I don't see the benefits in that, even if your-"

He was going to say warped mind but thought that could offend Robin even further. "-you think it sounds cool. As for your dad, spending your working hours with your head stuck down a toilet or crawling amongst the sewers doesn't sound very appealing to me." He tried to laugh, to lighten the mood. It worked, and Robin gave a small chuckle from the depths of the pillows fibres.

"Chloe will always be Chloe. She'll probably just go to University and get some boring scientific job like everyone else with an above average IQ. But not everyone does that. Not everyone has to go to Uni or unblock toilets or throw a ball around a patch of grass to be special. You're talented in your own way. What about your art? You can draw brilliantly! And I have never seen a better chess player than you. Not even my dad, and he was one of the champions back in the day."

This was one of the longest and more 'emotional' speeches Vlad had ever given. And to anyone other than Robin, he would have felt embarrassed. Instead, he realised how humbling it was to have a friend like Robin. He was always there for him, and genuinely didn't care about how freaky his life was. He was interested. He always stuck up for him, was fun, and a great mate. He was beginning to also realise just how much he liked him.

Something he'd never let himself even linger on for longer than a second came creeping back into the front of Vlad's mind. Those niggling feelings that never seemed to leave him. He knew they were wrong. He knew they weren't reciprocated, however they were there, whether he liked it or not.
Usually he was good at covering up his emotions, but the sadness that had just poured out of Robin had had an effect on him he couldn't explain.
A deep compassion that, when combined with these mildly homosexual feelings, produced a tingle down Vlad's spine.

What was happeningto him? All of a sudden he felt as though he wanted to kiss him. He shuddered and attempted to push these thoughts from his mind. Robin was his friend. He wasn't about to destroy that with unnecessary feelings that would probably just be stupid vampire hormones. He'd read enough Anne Rice books and known countless vampires back in Transylvania that were evidence enough of the "vampires are sexual beings" rule being a fact.

Vlad heard Robin shift around in his bed and saw him pull his head up from his pillow to look at him. The evidence of his crying was all over his face. This really must get to him.
"Thanks mate, that... means a lot." Robin appeared embarrassed, and hurriedly wiped the tears from his glowing face.

"Did this all come from me not wanting to bite you?" Vlad asked tentively, not wanting to upset Robin further.
"Well yeah... it just reminded me of the power everyone around me seems to have over things. The fact that I'm in the middle of it with nothing to contribute just makes me feel like crap sometimes. This sounds so emo." He laughed it off, using the stupid insult the kids at school had taken to using on him when the word had become popular a few years back.

"No, it doesn't. But if it makes you feel any better..." Vlad felt himself go bright red.

"I know that I don't have enough of my powers yet to actually change you... probably just leave a little mark. I don't even really have fangs properly yet." Well that was half a lie, he could feel his fangs getting longer and more pronounced by the day, however he was willing to risk everything if he could make Robin happy again.

Robin was beside himself with excitement, and before Vlad could actually even say what he was offering, he literally jumped up in bed, a huge grin on his pale face.
"Would you really Vlad?! It'd just be like getting bitten by a full vampire, without the changing bit!" He even yanked down the top of his pyjama shirt, to show the bare skin on his neck so pale that it seemed to taunt Vlad in the moonlight.

Vlad suddenly grew nervous. Was this the right thing to do? Should he be risking his friends, and possibly his own life to make Robin feel better about himself?
Or was the niggling feeling making its way down to his stomach more of a reason than anything to freak out? He didn't know what to think.

"Uh- sure. I mean, nothings going to happen. It'll be over really quick and then nobody will have to know. It may even be fun."
Robin grinned. "Of course it will be fun! Now where do you want me?" He shuffled over towards Vlad side of the tent, and the close proximity in which the pair were in, along with Robin's evident enthusiasm only made Vlad all the more nervous.
"Um... here is fine." His voice shook. He could feel Robin on his mattress now, his body pressed lightly to his own. Was he imagining it, or did Robin appear to be breathing heavier?

"Go on then! Go ahead. Bite me." Vlad might have laughed if this was any other situation, but he was busy worrying about how his breath smelt and if he was wearing deodorant and just how was he going to bite him without hurting him?
It felt almost like first date jitters (he imagined so anyway), minus the biting.

Vlad took it slow, trying to find a good place to rest his hands on Robin to get a good grip without hurting the boy or making it feel too sexual. This is not supposed to be sexual he reminded himself firmly.

He lay his hands on Robin's shoulders, one slightly more on his chest, and turned his best friends keen face and penetrating stare away from his own with his mouth, which was now slightly outstretched to loosen the jaw and release what little 'fangs' he did have.

Prior to sinking his fangs into the soft flesh before him, Vlad felt a wave of nausea, so nervous was he that his hands shook on Robin's body.
"T-tell me if I'm hurting you okay? I'll stop straight away if I am."
Robin snorted. "'kay fine, the safe word is 'poodle'." He taunted. "Hurry up Vlad, if you don't bite soon it'll be morning!"

Vlad ignored his comments and, if possible, stretched his mouth even wider, and felt his mouth come into contact with Robin's pale neck. A shudder from beneath his arms signalled the contact was just as real for Robin, who clutched Vlad with a tightening grip, as he continued to 'bite'. He could feel the veins protruding the skin, and had the overwhelming urge to break the skin and feed. He was disgusted with himself in the back of his mind, and had enough strength to fight it off, but it was definitely there.

Robin however, was feeling nothing of disgust or remorse, only excitement and pleasure. He'd often wondered what it would feel like to be bitten by a vampire, a thought mainly kept to himself and his many diary entries. He thought this must be pretty close to the full experience, but could tell Vlad was holding out on him. It felt amazing though, as if he was being touched sexually, yet on his neck. He'd never admit that to Vlad however, he knew it wasn't a good thing to say to his best mate.
A soft whimper escaped his lips as the final and most fierce contraction of the vampires mouth wrapped around his neck ceased, and Vlad's hands loosened their grip on the other boy, before sitting back.

An awkward silence ensued, as the pair couldn't look at each other whilst quietly returning to their own sleeping bags. It was only until Robin couldn't fight off the urge to cough any longer that they finally spoke.

"So uh... how was it for you?" Vlad asked anxiously, worrying if that final whimper was in pain or annoyance.

Robin stared across the tent at his friend, making Vlad feel all the more apprehensive about his biting abilities. Because sure, he was a vampire, but a vampires bite usually wasn't meant for merely an example of what it feels like to be bitten, but to kill and feed and move on. What it feels like to a breather is absolutely out of the question in vampire lore, as long as it causes them as much pain as possible.

There was another elongated pause, and Vlad's impatient and tense "Well?!" Before Robin broke out into a grin.
"Oh it was great Vlad! Just like the real thing too I bet, did you break the skin or what? I wish you'd actually change me." He bought his hand up to his neck and began feeling for a bite mark, of which there was none, as Vlad hadn't actually broken the skin.

Vlad didn't want to let on how he almost had changed him, so he altered the line of conversation slightly. "Well now you know what it feels like, you won't need to ask me to bite you anymore." He tried to ignore the pained expression that crossed Robin's face at his words.

"You know I'll never stop asking, Vlad." Robins' voice whispered softly across the tent, "When you're finally sixteen and become a full vampire, I'll still be here, waiting. You know I will."

Vlad winced. He wanted so much to give Robin what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He wished it was easy to just go "Hey presto!" and change Robin into the bloodsucking monster he so longed to be. But things in life were never that simple, and he knew the consequences of said action. He knew it could never be.

Instead he replied with. "Well, that's what you get for now, mate. But right now, I want to focus on being a normal kid while I still can. So I think we should get some sleep; we probably have another hike tomorrow."
He wasn't tired, but needed the topic of conversation to cease immediately before things got out of hand; he hated talking about the future.

To aide his contentment, Robin was already yawning, and looking as though he was about to nod off at any moment. "Yeah... you're probably right..." He mumbled.
"Thanks for everything Vlad...."
A procession of snores quickly followed suit.

Vlad sighed. At least Robin was asleep now, and he could keep to his confused thoughts in peace. He turned over in his sleeping bag to try and drown out the noises that would make a vacuum cleaner proud. He wondered whether he'd done the right thing, giving into Robin like that. He wondered why he was making such a big deal out of it; technically he'd only really kissed his neck after all. The thought made his cheeks burn.

I did it to make my best mate happy, that's all. Nothing bad will come from it, and there was nothing in it for me.If only his body were able to agree.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Waking the next morning was a good thing, Vlad told himself as he hurriedly dressed whilst Graham called them out for breakfast.
He'd had a horrible night's sleep; if you could call it sleep.
After a few very long hours of lying wide awake next to Captain Snooze, contemplating what he'd just done and imagining all sorts of crazy things, he'd fallen into an uneasy sleep where his dreams continued to be just as crazy and taunting.

They'd been at school, in the boys toilets that were that awful shade of green. Robin was sitting on the sinks, crying out to him that he didn't belong anywhere, that he was alone.
Vlad had been trying to tell him he wasn't, and that he'd always be here for him. But Robin would have none of that.

"No you won't! As soon as you're sixteen you'll change, you wont want to see me anymore, I'll be an annoying breather that you don't want to turn, that you wont want to see." Before Vlad had had a chance to reply, Robin had proceeded to try and drown himself in a sink full of water, and then turn into a bat and fly out of the bathroom window. That was his dad's trick, Vlad had thought. What was going on?
He'd just put it down to a messed up nightmare resulting from a stressful night before, but upon awakening, he'd noticed Robin seemed on edge while still half asleep also. He said nothing.

"Morning there lads! Have a nice sleep did we? All refreshed for the new day?" Mr Branaugh sounded just too enthusiastic as usual as he loaded up the boys' plates with fried eggs and bacon, toast, and a brown looking sloppy liquid that suspiciously enough didn't smell quite like soup at all.
He pottered around the campsite, just as Chloe came back from an early morning walk. She'd already eaten about two hours earlier.

"You two really need to get used to the outdoors a bit more you know, look at you both."
She was talking about the palpable grogginess of the pair, who sat still half asleep attempting to eat eggs with the right ends of their forks. Neither had spoken to the other since last night; Vlad hoped Robin wasn't having second thoughts.

When neither answered, Chloe smirked ever so slightly.
"You also better cover that up before dad notices; it's really quite obvious." She sat down to retie her shoe lace just as the boy's heads both shot up in unison at her words.

Robin looked like he was about to be sick.
"What're you talking about? Cover what?" He said, speaking for the first time that morning. He pretended to be oblivious to what she was talking about, however both she and Vlad could see through it. Especially when he raised his hand to his neck self consciously and played with his collar.

Chloe smiled.
"Just what did you two get up after I left last night?" She asked in her calm voice. Waiting until her father was back inside his tent and out of earshot, she looked straight at Vlad who was gaping in horror at the bright red hickey like mark on Robin's neck and said: "You did it didn't you? You tried to bite him." She was appalled.

Vlad was on the defensive straight away. "No! I told you I wouldn't! It must just be an... ant bite... or something like that." He blushed furiously and looked away.

Robin gave up, he knew when his sister saw right through their lies, and this was one of those times.
"'kay, he did. Vlad bit me, you happy? Nothing awful happened, so put a sock in it Chloe. It was a one off, and it was perfectly safe."

His sister looked at Vlad in annoyance.
"No I'm not happy! I thought we agreed it was best not to? Do you know what could have happened Vlad? Do you know what kind of danger you put yourselves in? All for a hickey?!" Both boys cringed at her choice of wording.
Neither dared speak as she began to compose herself again. It wasn't like Chloe to blow up like that, especially at Vlad and Robin.
"Right, that's over with now, so I guess we better get it cleaned up and covered until it heals or we'll have dad asking some very gauche questions."

The three waited for Graham to return from the depths of his tent and announce he was just 'popping to the loo' before they made a mad dash to Chloe's part of the tent. It was there she rubbed a large amount of a tinted sunscreen onto the section of Robin's neck, and successfully covered up most of the redness.

"Just remember," she reinforced to Vlad and Robin as they left the tent when they heard Graham's whistling return, "if he asks what's wrong with your neck, you got bitten by an ant, that's all."

"Remembered." The two chorused, meeting each others eyes with a nervous gaze.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Miles away at the edge of the forest, a figure was hovering at the side door of a large dark hearse, carrying a black umbrella in hand. He opened the door to the hearse, and out stepped an angry father, concealed within a long, dark leather jacket, tight leather pants, a broad brimmed black hat, and a pair of sunglasses upon his pale and pointed face. He immediately adjusted his position so that he was completely covered by the umbrella, and gave a forbidding smile.

"I'm here to get you Vladdy," The Count whispered in his dramatic voice, "whether you like it or not."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile at the opposite end of the forest, two dark figures armed with wooden stakes exited a car and made their way into the dense undergrowth...