A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Sorry for not posting, I've been very ill with stomach flu. I'm on antibiotics at the moment and anti nausea pills (not that they've worked so far). I've been confined to bed for the past few days and I haven't been well enough to do any typing at all let alone sit at my laptop.

I'd like to apologise if these chapters aren't up to my usual standard, the stomach flu is making me feel very muddled at the moment.

Thank you for all your concern and thank you for the offers to continue this for me but I'd rather continue this myself as I know the exact direction this saga is going in.

Chapter 19: Training Skills

The alarms sounding meant that there were more than four vampires in the manor. The main sensor was computerised, Jonno had tweaked it to ignore four or less vampire unlifesigns. Any more than that and the alarms were to go off. It was the easiest way than to place chips under their skin that the sensors would recognise, not to mention the quickest way as well. At a later point they could do that.

Ingrid looked at Erin a completely panicked expression on her face. They needed to find the men, they knew something was wrong.

"If he's hurt again…" Erin began to threaten under her breath as she began to prepare herself to speed off in the direction the men had vanished. Vlad had a track record of injuring himself recently.

Erin found her way blocked as she tried to move down the corridor towards where Vlad and Jonno had gone. There was a Hunter standing directly in her path, emphasis on *a* Hunter. They usually fought in packs and not on their own.

The Hunter forced her backwards a few paces, using long strides. As he moved out of the radius of the door he used his hand and slammed the door backwards, jamming it in the frame cutting them off from the men.

"What do you want?" Ingrid asked, barely containing her irritation. As expected the Hunter didn't speak, he lowered his head towards them but that was the only gesture he or she made.

The Hunter was taller than them both, closer to the height of Bertrand. He was about the same size as him as well. There was something familiar about the Hunter but Erin couldn't place her finger on it.

The Hunter tried to grab Ingrid but Erin stopped him, twisting their arm away before they could make any form of contact. She twisted it around his back like Vlad and Bertrand had shown her how to do many times. Well Bertrand had, Vlad struggled with that move.

The Hunter cried out before elbowing her in the stomach forcing Erin backwards and crashing into the panelling.

Her fangs tingled and she was content to let them reveal themselves, she wanted to show them she was a vampire and she was proud of being one.

She threw a fireball towards her attacker but they managed to dodge it – barely.

'Look at the eyes, look at the eyes…' Erin chanted to herself as she looked at her opponent, it was the one thing Bertrand had drilled into her. She'd received many a bruised bone thanks to looking at Vlad and Bertrand's hands instead of their eyes over the last few years.

The Hunter lashed out then, her chanting distracting her to an extent. They swiped their arm out and successfully catching her face with their gloved hand. She felt something sharp in the glove and it made deep grooves into her skin. She didn't cry out and this seemed to irritate her opponent. If she still had blood pumping through her veins her whole cheek would be covered in blood being a vampire it only stung. It was painful but tolerable he wasn't going to defeat her that easily.

Ingrid moved to help her but Erin shook her head, "Get the alarm!" It was too distracting for them and before long it would affect their hearing severely. If their ears were affected then their balance would be too, something that wasn't a good idea for them in the middle of a fight.

The Hunter lunged for her, deliberately aiming for her stomach once more. Erin kicked her leg upwards hitting them squarely in the chest and knocking them sideways.

This Hunter wasn't as skilled as the others. They were skilled yes but they weren't anything near the level Bertrand had trained her to be. The Hunters were bred to protect the Grand High Vampire, this Hunter should be far more skilled than her, he or she should have been trained since the day they were born.

The Hunter fell to the ground and Erin seized her chance she straddled them, reaching over them for something heavy, she gripped the blood cooler in her hand, feeling the cold metal. The Hunter noticed what she was doing, she saw their eyes widen in panic – the first emotion she'd seen from them. They rolled quickly pinning her underneath them, their hands trying to tug the cooler form hers. She brought her knee up like she used to do with her brother, she didn't even know if it would work on this Hunter. She missed their groin area what she was aiming for and her knee connected with their stomach instead.

It worked though, they immediately doubled over, freeing her hands and she swung her arm back before sending it careening for their head with a force that would have killed a breather.

The cooler connected with the side of their head with a loud THUNK, the side caving in completely to form a dent. The cooler couldn't be used again.

The figure above her slumped over, completely unconscious on top of her. She grimaced and kicked and pushed at the heavy body until it rolled off her.

As soon as she was free she wiped herself down, shuddering at the prolonged contact with a vampire she didn't know and wasn't her husband.

She glanced over her shoulder, her hands cupping her ears as the pitch of the alarm rose higher and higher.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

The alarm was growing really irritating the longer it was switched on. The sound was beginning to deafen them, Ingrid could already hear her ears buzzing and whistling as she tried to focus on something else but with very little success.

She looked across to see Mina kicking it as hard as he could in an effort to shut it up completely it didn't do anything to stop the alarm it only made the pitch higher almost reaching sonic range. Mina couldn't' risk shutting it off by throwing the main switch, if she did they would loose all the lights in the manor, at this point it was too dangerous to do that.

Ingrid had finally had enough of the sound. Ingrid let out a ferocious, fury filled growl and sent a fireball careening towards the sensor. Erin saw what was happening and tensed fully preparing to dive out of the way of the fireball, as Ingrid's track record with fireballs wasn't good. It was the one and only thing Bertrand had ever given up on completely – training Ingrid to throw fireballs correctly.

The fireball was surprisingly accurate and hit the alarm, immediately causing a shower of sparks to rain down on them. They all covered their eyes as a means to protect them from the small burning sparks.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Vlad sped into the room at that moment, looking around at them. Fear and panic crossed his face, softening a fraction as he saw them all unharmed. He saw the dishevelled look of his wife and immediately pulled her close into a tight embrace.

Erin knew something was wrong, he rarely acted that way when everything was alright. She knew him better than anyone else because that's what being in love was about. Knowing someone better than they knew themselves. "What happened?" Erin asked quickly.

Vlad pulled back rubbing his thumbs in small circles on her biceps, Erin relaxed under his gentle ministrations.

"The Council they…" Vlad muttered angrily, then he noticed the scratches across Erin's cheek. He cupped it tenderly, his information could wait. He rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "How did you get this?" Before Erin could speak Vlad, asked another question, "Are you okay?" Erin nodded and pressed her forehead against Vlad's, he closed his eyes in relief dropping a quick kiss to her lips.

"That's it, only care about your wife." An angry mutter came from the left of Vlad. Vlad let out a groan and rolled his eyes, pulling away from Erin.

"Are you okay Ingrid?" His voice was a pleasant as he could make it. Ingrid smirked at forcing her brother to ask.

"Fine thanks Vladimir." Vlad winced at his full first name, Ingrid smirked at Erin who stifled a laugh before wincing as the movement tugged at her fresh scratches, "How did you get these?" He asked again, his voice soft and filled with concern as he kissed her cheek lightly trying to soothe the marks.

"A Hunter." She told him with a shrug, it would heal. She rubbed his injured shoulder tenderly in return for his gentle ministrations on her face. She could feel the bumps of the stitches underneath his shirt, they would be out in the next few hours leaving him with two scars.

Vlad's eyebrows rose at her comment, if the Council was here why would Olga send a Hunter as well. Surely she'd pick one or the other, not both. "A Hunter?"

"Yeah," She gestured to the limp form over the corner of the room. "I used to be a slayer remember." She teased, making him smile, although her slayer training had had very little to do with taking them down. "He or she was easy enough to take down." Vlad immediately tensed, his anger showing through, fangs dropping in the blink of an eye, Jonno jumped as he always did when he saw Vlad's fangs. His friend's fangs were still a sight seldom seen in public.

Vlad cautiously approached the figure, the information he had was definitely pushed to the back of his mind at the moment. The important thing was securing this vampire so he or she couldn't escape. He extended his hands silently asking for something, they all knew what he wanted.

Mina handed fang cuffs to Vlad, he opened them before pausing and turning back to her. The chain between the fang cuffs dangled in two parts, one part handing to each cuff. The link had been stretched open – not snapped – causing the two cuffs to completely separate. It must have happened when the confronted the Hunters before.

Jonno shook his head in disapproval with his mother before handing his own set of cuffs to Vlad, they hadn't realised he'd entered the room. Mina caught Jonno's action and sent him a warning look that he was in for it later, no matter if he was twenty one now he still wasn't old enough to get out of a roasting from his mother.

Ingrid grabbed the Hunter's arms firmly, before sliding her arms down them to grasp their wrists. She felt a sense of déjà vu as she gripped the biceps almost as if she'd done it before somehow. Her brother quickly snapped the cuffs onto their assailant's wrists.

Vlad took as step backwards and Erin moved to stand beside him, her feet squeaking on the floor. Vlad nodded to her, this was her honour to reveal them. She'd won the fight, no one else could do this. Ancient Vampire Law again, the winner had the right to reveal their opponent if they were masked.

Erin reached out a trembling hand, she was nervous and terrified that whoever it was would wake up and try to attack her again. She closed her eyes in an effort to calm down, reminding herself that her husband was right beside her. She continued her hand's journey, reaching with her right to grasp Vlad's hand securely, he squeezed it giving her the encouragement she needed to do this.

Erin grasped the cotton head cloth firmly in her hands, it was course and nothing like she'd expected from a vampire. The usual costume was made from satin, silk or leather this was sharp and rough almost like a sugar sack.

Shaking her head she pushed her observation back in her mind, it was about time to reveal who'd attacked her. Vlad could use the information from this Hunter to track down Olga, if they caved that is. She doubted they would tell them. It was still worth the effort though.

"What's did you want to tell us?" Ingrid pressed Vlad, she was desperate to know what it was. Something in the pit of her stomach churned and twisted, she was terrified of what his answer would be.

Erin yanked the cloth upwards as Ingrid began talking to Vlad, as the cloth slipped free of the Hunter's face, completely exposing them to the Draculas and Van Helsings. Erin dropped the cloth to the floor where it landed with a dull thump.

"They've taken…"

Erin let out a gasp stopping Vlad in his tracks, Vlad blinked furiously and his jaw dropped.

This was the last person they'd expected it to be…

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.