A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Only six chapters to go after this…

Is there anything you want me to add into the final part or reintroduce before my mind map is completed tomorrow?

Chapter 24: Beating Ingrid

Olga pulled back from Bertrand, watching as he slumped over, she had enjoyed that much more than she'd anticipated.

The Hunters let go of him like hot coals; they just let him fall to the ground. Bertrand's head bounced off the concrete, a THUMP resounding around the room. His whole body became limp; he landed sprawled out along the dust covered stone floor.

"IDIOTS!" She roared at them, he would certainly be out for a longer time now. Hat she'd done should have only knocked him out for a few moments now he'd be out for hours.

The lame excuse began, "He slipped…" Olga's eyes narrowed and she shot her arm out, a pathetic fireball falling short of the Hunter she had fully intended to destroy.

The Hunter let out a chuckle, "That's the best you can do?"

Olga hissed through her fangs trying to appear intimidating. "Wait until he's trained me Then I wouldn't be so confident." She would show him exactly what she meant; she made a promise to herself to do just that.

"*If* he decides to train you." She bristled, it was clear that none of them had any faith in her. They were with her because she had the power they craved. She'd already shown the Council exactly what she thought of them, a smile crossed her face at that no one double crossed a Dracula and got away with it even if it had been her cousin they'd double crossed.

"With what I've just done, he'll have no choice but to train me and unless you want me to do it to you I suggest you *never* question me again."

The Hunter gulped, nodding frantically as he realised the line he'd crossed, she was still technically his ruler for the time being. Her wishes had to be obeyed.

"We've got things to do while we wait for him to wake." She pointed towards the door for the Hunter to leave first. The Hunter looked at the pile on the floor, then her outstretched arm, then the pile again before moving slowly towards the door. Olga bent down until she was hovering just beside his head, she leaned down so her lips ghosted over his ear, "You'll be training me very soon Bertrand de Fortunessa."

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The youngest vampire stormed into the room, she wanted to deal with something. The Hunter that had gone missing had been bumped up to the top of her list of things to deal with at the moment. She counted the Hunters again, there were definitely only eight out of the nine that she'd had previously, she'd hoped they'd only left to go hunting or to the blood cellar but it was no use. She had to consider the possibility they were either a spy or they'd been captured by the Draculas. Hunters never ran away from a challenge.

"Have they returned?" It was futile to ask but she wanted to know for certain.

"No." Was the short and sharp answer she received. She hit the table as hard as she could, a minute crack appeared in the oak but apart from that there was no other major damage to the furniture.

"How did they manage to get out without anyone noticing?" Her question was only met with stony silence, no one wanted to answer her at all. She clearly wasn't going to get anywhere with these idiots to answer her questions. She needed to tackle this another way.

Hunters didn't have personal belongings as they might be recognised and their true identities revealed to those around them but there was another way she might be able to figure out who they were. "Where is their coffin?"

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The Hunters all crowded around the standard coffin, nothing fancy or elaborate just a plain, red velvet upholstered coffin. It was the only luxury the Hunters insisted on for themselves.

The coffin the missing Hunter had slept in hadn't been touched or reallocate to anyone else, which gave her something to work with.

"Smell it." She pointed to the upholstery, the lead Hunter didn't want to lean into the coffin so he gripped the velvet firmly between his fingers and yanked at it. It came away easily in his hand, dust shaking free from the red cloth making the colour brighter. He looked down at it before sniffing at it.

He couldn't distinguish anything from it, there was a scent there but it was all clogged up with dust. He shook his head.

"You call yourselves Hunters?" Over the last week she really hadn't been impressed with this so-called elite. The only thing they seemed to be able to do was fight with superior skill. Olga snatched the piece of cloth from the lead Hunter, she inhaled it deeply. "That scent is familiar."

She was smelling things that didn't exist now. "I don't recognise it."

"It's a little slayer with something else." She inhaled it again, deeper this time. She froze as the scent tickled her nostrils as the dust flew into her disused lungs. She fought the urge not to cough at the sensation. She recovered to process the scent, she racked her brain to try and work out where she'd smelt it before. "It smells like Erin Noble."

"Dracula." One of the Hunters corrected automatically. The female growled, how dare they correct her? The Hunter continued ignoring her anger, "She was never a true slayer, Vladimir made that clear. She can't have the scent of a slayer if she's never slain a vampire." The fact that Erin had killed one accidentally was a closely guarded secret. Erin's scent had never changed anyway.

Olga had an answer to that. "She had a brother, didn't she?" Olga snarled at them. The Hunters looked between them, they'd never been concerned with the Draculas bride's family. "Her parents are slayers, she had a brother didn't she, Ingrid bit him." There was still no answer to her question. So she sniffed the piece of upholstery again. "I can smell a similar scent to his bride! More masculine but its there! He's a half fang, how could you let a half fang amongst you?"

The Hunters didn't like the jab at their pride, a half fang would never have been allowed amongst their ranks if they'd realised. Half fangs were scum; they were lower than women in their society. Vlad's bride was different but generally half fangs were scorned and cast to one side. They created them but usually only to have a loyal following. "We didn't know…"

"Because you wear those stupid masks to keep yourselves hidden." She glanced around at them, their masks were more of a hindrance. If she could see their faces she'd make their entire clans pay for being the morons they were.

They weren't idiots they had other means of checking that out. "We saw his neck, there wasn't a mark."

"Then he concealed it some how. If a slayer can use make up to mimic a vampire then a former slayer slash half fang can do the same!"

Silence reigned again as they realised how stupid they had been. They needed to correct that in the future but the damage had already been done. Ryan would have overriding loyalty to Ingrid, he would stop at nothing to make sure she was safe, he'd do anything including telling her exactly what their plans were.

"What does he know?" She spat at the nearest Hunter.

The Hunter trembled under her gaze, "I don't know."

Olga needed to know two things, "Does he know what the weapon is and why we need him?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know much do you!" She screamed before tearing the handle from her chair. A crack echoing around the room as she did so. She aimed it directly at the vampire in front of her, she didn't take much care in the aim. Her aim wasn't perfect, it nearly missed him only just managing to imbed itself in his chest, another inch and the makeshift weapon would have flown straight past him.

The Hunter looked at it in startled amazement before crumbling into shimmering dust that fell to the floor in sparkling grains soon followed by the muffled THUNK of the wood landing on top of the pile now there was nothing to keep it suspended in mid air anymore. Everyone in the room looked at the pile, Olga tutted disgustedly at it.

"Why did you do that?" Ivan gasped out, surprised at his daughter's outburst, she'd never slain anyone before.

"He was useless to me. Just like the rest of you are." The Hunters turned and looked at her with those words. Olga had to be careful if she opened her mouth too often before she was even trained then there was a chance they'd turn against her. Olga couldn't carry on this way. She glared at them all, their idiocy could cost her the status of Grand High Vampire, she couldn't allow that to happen.

Ivan was the one who spoke gently, he wasn't going to lose his power either, "What do you want us to do?"

"Bring the weapon, training starts now."

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The sound of heavy footfalls accompanied the Hunters as they walked into the room with their prisoner in tow. Everyone's gaze rested on the doors as they waited for the Hunters to appear.

Olga pushed herself from her chair. She glanced towards her father who had a cautious look on his face telling her to be careful of him. Bertrand de Fortunessa was still more skilled than anyone in the room.

She ignored her father's warning marching towards Bertrand, she wasn't as tall as Vlad. She was barely Erin's height.

In the unnatural light of the room (what there was of it that was) Bertrand's tunic had become torn, the stitching that held the sleeve to the torso was mostly torn, exposing the bare bicep to everyone's gaze. The front of his body was caked in thick grey dust and grime, very little blue remained of his tunic.

His hair had flecks of masonry in it from where his head had met the floor. The curls that had laced his hair no longer apparent in the tangled dark locks, although over the recent years they had been growing more and more straight only leaving waves in their place.

Olga could see why Ingrid was so taken with him, the broad chest, the strong muscles and the air of mystery. It was such a 'shame' she'd now put an end to that relationship. She couldn't help but be proud of herself, she'd been waiting years to get her own back on Ingrid and now she had the perfect chance – taking the one thing she cared about most from her.

All this was an added bonus to her plan to get her revenge on the one cousin who always seemed to inherit everything and didn't even want it.

She placed a hand on his chest, the Hunters and Ivan moved forwards to protect her but she shot them a look. Bertrand didn't move a muscle as she performed this gesture. She looked up at him shyly through her eyelashes, her voice lowering seductively but sounding more like a caged hen. "Will you train me?"

Olga watched as his eyes seemed to flicker with uncertainty at her words, her face began to fall perhaps it was too soon to ask that question. She could see him fighting it internally, wanting to say no but also wanting to say yes. A flicker of panic filled her, if the battle waged for much longer it could do him serious physical and mental damage. He would be useless to her if that happened.

Eventually he came to a decision.

"Yes Your Highness." A lazy smile spread across her face at his change in heart. Bertrand bowed lowly, clicking his heels together as he did so. His eyes were completely dead, nothing glimmered in them at all.

Olga reached up to stroke his neck affectionately before feeling her eyes been drawn to her latest achievement.

She'd beaten Ingrid again. Bertrand was now hers.

That unmistakable mark on his neck ensured it.

The mark she'd created with her bite.

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Is there anything you want me to add into the final part or reintroduce before my mind map is completed tomorrow?

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Sorry reality slayed the dreamer, I like Bertrand too but trust me its in aid of the plot…