A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Sorry, last night it seems there were some problems with chapters 13 and 14 registering for people to read. I've reuploaded them and it seems to have done the trick (I hope).

Chapter 15: Searching

The doors open to reveal a sight Vlad hadn't expected to see.

There were a number of vampires in the hall when they looked around the room. About one hundred vampires turned towards him, he glanced towards Augustus who smirked at him. That smirk unsettled Vlad, there was something about it that he didn't like but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

These were all of Vlad's supporters.

Vlad led Erin into the room, wishing more than ever that he hadn't destroyed his throne, Erin could have sat down on it. He didn't let go of Erin's hand once, he wanted her close this was nerve-wracking enough, he'd never given a speech like this before and he had hoped never to. Unfortunately you couldn't always have what you wanted.

Their eyes were fixed on the circlet Erin wore to mark her position as Queen. She hesitated slightly, they had to treat her differently now and that was nerve wracking. She was no longer the Grand High Vampire's life mate she was now his equal.

"Thank you for coming." Vlad addressed them all to begin his speech.

A movement out of the corner of Vlad's eye caught his attention. He should have expected this.

He was thankful he had quick reflexes.

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It was almost missed. The quick removal of a hood, a flash of blonde had Vlad reacting instinctively.

Vlad only just managed to push Erin out of the way. There had been no time to warn her. She hit the floor with a thump, rolling slightly to avoid landing on her stomach, where she'd been standing a stake had embedded itself four inches deep in the wood behind.

Vlad gave her a look she took to mean 'Are you okay?'. Erin nodded in reply, rolling again until she was a safe distance away from Vlad, the circlet flying from her head and vanishing under a nearby table. She pushed herself up from the floor. Vlad grabbed her wrists helping her up and swiftly pushed her behind him in a protective gesture.

"She moved." A female voice cut through the crowd, drawing laughter from some of them. Vlad knew it was too good to be true to have that many supporters in the room.

Ingrid and the Count immediately flew towards the stage protecting Vlad and Erin, Vlad pushed them to one side showing that he wasn't going to hide behind anyone.

"Olga." He snapped angrily.

"Hello Vlad." She smiled at him, clearly she wasn't in the mood to talk – judging from the fireball that was sent his way.

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A third of the vampires in the room disappeared in a flash. The Draculas moved into action, they weren't going to be sitting targets. There were about fifteen followers of Olga's – all youngish vampires not one over three hundred.

Vlad went for the vampire who was responsible for all this. He didn't utter a word, he needed to concentrate. Olga was far too smug.

Olga grinned at Vlad, she lunged for him but he managed to dive out of the way, rolling along the floor.

She seemed surprised that he would engage in a vulnerable manoeuvre but understood why when he rolled backwards and knocked her to the floor in an easy move. She hit her head on the floor, knocking the smile form her face. Vlad gripped her neck and hoisted her upwards, slamming her against the wall.

Vlad hated what she'd turned him into, he hated to fight but Olga was forcing him to.

Olga struggled against him, before kicking her leg out catching his hip in a sensitive place. Vlad gasped and dropped her to the floor. Olga saw her change and swung her palm out aiming for Vlad's nose trying to break it. She only succeeded in getting his chin, snapping his head backwards. Vlad growled as his head lowered, that didn't hurt as much as he thought it did.

She fell to the ground, she'd been using her levitation to hold in place after Vlad had hoisted her but she wasn't strong enough for her powers to work for long.

She hooked her legs around the back of Vlad's right knee and yanked trying to dislocate it only managing to knock him down instead. She scrambled to stand up but he grabbed the back of her trousers as she tried to clamber past him and pulled her backwards towards him. Her nails dug into the floor as she tried to resist but failed miserably.

Olga was shocked but didn't have time to recover as Vlad hit her in the chest sending her backwards and up in the air. Her back impacted against the rafters and she let out a scream as gravity took control of her.

A crack was heard and she grasped her ribs in agony. Vlad didn't show any remorse on his face although he felt sickened by what he'd done. His humanity was showing through.

Olga's eyes widened and she took a step back from Vlad while she tried to recover. It felt like two of her ribs had been broken.

She clutched at her ribs and threw a fireball at him. Vlad deflected the weak burst right back at her with very little effort. Olga screamed diving out of the way, landing on her broken ribs. She tried again, missing her cousin completely.

Unfortunately things were about to turn against Vlad.

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Erin stood back to back with Ingrid, they face their opponents warily. The Count threw something towards them – two banner poles. Ingrid grabbed them both and handed one to Erin, twirling it around in her fingers expertly.

"Bertrand taught you how to handle a stick?" Ingrid checked, snapping the end off to create a jagged point, Erin copied her actions. They'd just made spear stakes – they didn't enjoy it but they would protect them. Bertrand had taught Ingrid how to do this, it had been just after he'd given up on teaching her how to handle a fireball.

Erin glanced over her shoulder at Ingrid. "No but Vlad did." Ingrid groaned. "I heard that."

"Vlad's couldn't teach a mirror how to reflect."

Erin smirked over her shoulder at Ingrid, "You've never had lessons with him, Vlad is a good teacher in more ways than you can think."

Ingrid screwed up her face in disgust, barely stopping her eyes from closing as she did so. "I don't want to know."

Erin pushed her elbow backwards, hitting Ingrid in the square of her back. "I didn't mean it like that." Erin hadn't meant it to be suggestive. Vlad knew how to be patient with her and teach her concerning her strengths and weaknesses.

"Ready?" Ingrid asked quietly.

Erin nodded, "Ready."

Ingrid and Erin took a step outwards, facing the vampires surrounding them.

The vampires lunged for them but the women swung around their sticks, hitting them in the jaws forcing them back a few feet.

Erin found herself facing a vampire that was vaguely familiar to her, she was sure he'd been one of the guests at the Carpathian Feast.

Erin twirled underneath the vampire who lunged for her, trying to wrap his arms around her waist. She wouldn't allow her waist to be touched by anyone other than her husband. She spun her stick around and hit him squarely in the stomach. She heard a faint grind as his teeth shot down in anger at her actions.

He looked her up and down, eyeing up the stick carefully. He understood she'd deliberately not used the pointed end then, she'd given him a choice but he wasn't going to take it.

He tried for her neck, Erin wasn't going to let him bite her though. Her neck was what bound her to Vlad for the world to see, she leaned on the stick and used it to jump up into the air, kicking her legs out. Her vampire senses kicked in and she levitated as she hit him square in the stomach so the stick didn't break.

He stumbled backwards, he reached for her ankle to hold him steady only pulling her down with him. Erin cried out as she landed on her back with a thump, if anything it made her anger spike. She jumped up and twirled the pole around, the vampire looked at her jumping jump as well producing a stake from seemingly nowhere.

He thrust it towards her and Erin knew it was either going to be him or her that ended up as dust.

She ducked kicking again knocking him off his balance. She took her chance and hit his forehead with the pole sending him backwards once more. He landed on the floor and she raised the spear stake above him.

Erin slammed the stake down into the vampire's stomach, hating the feeling of weightlessness that followed and the way gravity took the stick fully to the floor as the vampire turned to dust. She brushed the hair from her eyes as she looked up only to see something that made her turn cold.

"VLAD!" Erin screamed watching as her husband was pulled down to the floor in one of the most brutal ways possible.

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Olga was distracted for a moment as Ivan appeared in view, Vlad hadn't realised he was hear, now he knew why he was searching the manor for something while they were all distracted. Clearly he hadn't found it. "Its not in his room, or Bertrand's."

"That means he must have it on him." Olga spat advancing on her cousin once more. "Where is it Vlad?"

Vlad had a good idea what she was searching for but he didn't want her to see he knew what she meant. He pulled his best confused look, completely scrunching up his face. "Where's what?"

Olga smirked, Vlad really could be stubborn. "You know exactly what."

Vlad went to punch Olga but he was suddenly jerked back as something metal wrapped around his throat. His hands went instinctively to his throat, trying to pry the thick, metal from his neck. Judging by the feel of it, it was a thick, steel chain. He tried to snap it but it was doubled and wound entirely around his neck like a lasso.

He tried to pull whoever it was forwards but he had to be careful in case his neck was broken. It was his most vulnerable spot. His back was arched painfully and he couldn't hold out against whoever was holding him for much loner.

Vlad was thrown back down against the floor, his arms and legs pinned to the ground. It became clear to see why he couldn't fight the chain, there had been four of them holding it around his neck. It hadn't occurred to him to use his powers to tear them off.

Olga smirked before moving towards his waist, nodding gratefully to his restrainers. She reached into his left pocket first, trying to find what she was looking for. She couldn't find anything so she went for his other pocket.

Vlad felt Olga rummage around in his pocket. He squirmed trying to get out of her way but didn't have any luck. From his squirming Olga knew this was the place her prize was hidden.

With a triumphant cry her fingers latched onto something small, drawing her hand out slowly she gripped her prize tighter enjoying the horrified look on her cousin's face.

She twirled it around in her fingers, gloating to Vlad that she had what she was looking for.

"Where is my pet?" She asked Vlad with a smirk, "He's the one who told me about this little thing." Vlad's nose wrinkled in disgust. He knew Bertrand would never have told her in his right mind. At least he'd known about the bone in advance.

He made an effort to snatch it from her but failed as Olga simply laughed and flew backwards out of his reach.

Vlad's voice came out hoarse from the chains being tightly wound around his vocal chords, "Bertrand's somewhere you can't get to him." Or so Vlad hoped, he didn't need Olga ordering Bertrand around at the moment.

Vlad suddenly felt the chains around his neck go slack, giving him the edge he needed but before he could do anything Olga vanished upwards leaving him alone on the floor.

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Erin stumbled forwards as she'd expected her hand to come into contact with someone's jaw but instead only met the air.

As soon as she recovered she ran towards Vlad, he was now sitting up but struggling with the chains around his neck. Erin slid along the floor on her knees, quickly and gently unwinding the chains.

The chains were heavy in her grip, as she pulled them away it became clear that the impression of the links were evident in his neck. They looked vivid and angry, Erin gently stroked them.

Vlad rubbed his neck, suddenly feeling the air hitting his neck now it was free. He could feel the bobbles and bumps that the chains had created.

"What was she after?" Erin asked, there was nothing of value in the place as far as she knew. Other than the crown which Olga blatantly refused to wear.

"The bone." He gasped out.

Ingrid was by his side with her hands on her hips glaring at her brother angrily. "It was supposed to be safe with you."

"It was, I couldn't stop her from taking it." He protested, he hadn't expected that. It wouldn't have helped to hide it anywhere as it was clear that Ivan had been searching for it. He'd kept it on him ever since Ingrid had given it to him, he didn't expect her to physically search him to try and find it.

"What do we do now?"

"She's got followers, I don't know how many more she'll have."

"You've got some too." Erin gestured around the hall towards the remaining fifty or so vampires that had fought the few and helped the injured from the battle. Vlad nodded, she was right he could let them slip through his fingers.

"Ingrid take the clan names of the ones who stayed, its time I formed an army." He never though he'd utter those words.

Ingrid seemed surprised even though she knew it was something he had to do. "What are you going to do?"

Vlad placed his hand on Erin's stomach, she'd exerted herself during that fight. "Make sure Erin is thoroughly checked over."

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.