A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

Sorry about not posting, this week has been a nightmare. I've had to write sixty reports, go through learning profiles and input levelling data. I'm seeing reports in my sleep at the moment. It takes about an hour to write a report so I've been up until three nearly every night after work for the past two weeks but this week really took its toll.

Chapter 31: DNA

Erin Dracula had experience with staring matches; it had been a game she'd played with her brother when she was younger. Ryan had never been able to match her in her stubbornness, not even Vlad could beat her in one (although most of the time it was a draw) so she doubted that Octa could.

Erin tapped her foot waiting for an answer. The only other sounds were the wind whistling through the trees and the sounds of flapping wings of the natural bats.

Octa looked defiant but didn't say anything… at least not at first.

"I don't think…" She faltered.

"I am your Queen and you will give me an answer." Erin tried not to flinch as she said those words and didn't quite manage it; she hated using her power as leverage. Pulling rank was something she swore to do rarely.

"I'm no longer a vampire." Octa answered, Erin couldn't force her to do anything as she wasn't one of her subjects.

Erin's throat clenched. "Neither is my husband." Erin still wanted an answer and she wasn't going to be distracted by Octa. Erin wanted to know exactly what she meant. "What do you mean by Vlad isn't mortal?"

Octa looked down, "If he was mortal you wouldn't be pregnant." Her voice was quiet as she spoke, almost being masked by the trees.

"You don't know that, its never been proved before."

"Vampire children need a telepathic connection to their parents to survive. He's still connected to you and the baby. The baby is still alive because it senses a connection to him. There's a reason there's never been a half vampire, half human child – humans aren't telepathic. Its why love is so important in half fang pregnancies, the baby can sense all emotions."

Octa's face changed suddenly, something flickered across it but it happened too quickly for Erin to notice.

Erin didn't dare hope, she didn't want to misinterpret anything – she needed a yes or no answer. "So just because Vlad's telepathic he's not mortal?"

Octa smiled at her, "Vlad is a vampire, nothing can change that. His body recognises that he's a vampire and is fighting becoming normal." Octa told her softly, "Vlad's body wants to change."

Erin shook her head, Octa didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Octa had only been a half fang herself. There was no way she could know this much knowledge. "He hasn't got a reflection now, he can't change."

"He can't become a full vampire the normal way again but his body has already started to change. He's becoming something similar to a half fang. His body needs to upgrade, if it doesn't he'll die. "

Erin thought his body could only upgrade with his reflection merging with him. "His reflection…"

Octa shook her head, vampires weren't always created by having their reflections merge with them or had she forgotten that. "When a human becomes a half fang their reflection is taken from them…"

"So?" Erin didn't see the logic behind this, she couldn't understand a word of what she was saying.

"Vlad's had his reflection taken from him but his body naturally is changing…"

Erin's eyes widened. "He's becoming a half fang?" Hope flickered through his eyes; if he became a half fang then he wouldn't be mortal. Although she thought that he had to be bitten to become one.

Octa shook her head, "He's becoming a gene fang." Erin's brows furrowed in confusion, "He's transforming because of his DNA nothing else." It was the reason some vampires transformed early and why they had cravings for blood, their body was preparing them. Taking in a reflection only sped up the process of the transformation and gave them the power the reflection held.

"How long will it take?" Presumably he'd be mortal until it took, so the quicker it happened the safer he'd be. Erin wasn't an idiot though she knew that he wouldn't be as powerful as before.

"It depends on his blood type." Different blood types fought the transformation process at different rates. Octa looked at her. "What blood type is Vlad?"

Erin looked at her blankly it wasn't something that she would think of. His heart used to beat so he must have had a blood type.

"I'd have to ask someone to check it."

There was only one person she trusted enough to do that.

Getting back was now more important than ever.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Vlad leaned back against the wall. He'd managed to push himself up, every movement hurt him. His skin felt like it was on fire.

All of his life he'd wanted to be normal but in the last few years he hadn't thought about it. The last time he'd actually thought about it was when they were trying to save Ryan. As a full vampire he could protect Erin, that had always been on his mind now he had the baby and that was something else he wanted to protect.

For the first time in his life he felt like he was settled. He had everything he never know he wanted, a wife, a child, a family he didn't want anything else.

It was true, you didn't know what you had until it was gone.

He felt an idiot for trying to get out of it for all those years, what he'd actually been trying to get out of was the evil nature but he'd assumed that it was the whole package, not part of it. Vlad lived – had lived – with his evil without consequences for nearly four years. Being a vampire wasn't as bad as it used to seem.

The door burst open and Vlad looked up at them. His eyes fluttering slightly as he felt a wave of tiredness washing over him.

"We need to get back, find out your blood type." Erin told him firmly, gently taking his arm. Vlad pulled back he wasn't going to let Erin carry him. Erin went to grab him again but Vlad resisted , shoving his hands under his back so she couldn't grasp his arms without hurting him.

"I'm B+ with a few vampire things thrown in." Vlad answered, nonchalantly from the bed. Erin spun around staring at him, how on earth did Vlad know that? He shrugged his shoulders and smirked at her surprise, it seemed that he'd never run out of things to surprise her with. "I spent time in hospital when I was thirteen."

Erin bet the Count loved that, she wasn't sure if that thought should be as sarcastic as she intended it to be. Even more so she loved her husband for knowing something so obscure for him.

His brow furrowed as it finally dawned on him the question she'd asked of him. "Why do you want to know that?"

Erin felt tears running down her cheeks – she really did love him. Vlad's heart lurched at the sight; he yanked his hand out from behind him fighting the grimace that threatened to cross his face at the way his entire body jolted forwards at his actions. He lifted her hand to her cheeks, wiping away the tears that were falling.

"You're not mortal." He gave her a confused look, Erin jumped towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. She was happier than she'd been since this whole mess with his reflection had begun. "Gene fang." She felt him stiffen in her arms for a fraction before hugging her back just as tightly. Erin threw over her shoulder, "What does being B+…"

Vlad wanted to cut in: "With a few vampire bits thrown in." He wasn't going to let her get away with it.

Erin glared at him, scolding him for interrupting her but he didn't seem to care. "…Mean for Vlad?"

"He'll fight it slowly." Octa told her, " A month or two but he'll become a gene fang. He'll be immortal once more." Only Vlad could fight becoming a vampire with literally ever fibre of his being. B+ has the slowest rate of transformation out of all the blood types that existed.

All they had to do was protect him until then; he was vulnerable until he was a vampire once again. He couldn't complain then that he was letting her put the baby in harms way for long.

Erin leaned forward and kissed him softly, understanding how he'd known she was human from the feast. His lips were warm and it was a strange sensation but he still tasted the same.

Octa smiled to herself as she watched them embrace.

There was one important thing that Octa wasn't telling them…

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.