A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

I hope this isn't disappointing. I've been completely thrown out this week with the reports. I'm glad I have everything mind mapped.

I'm sorry if anyone thought I had writers block or I'd just given up. I've been itching to type.

Chapter 32: Sending and Receiving

Vlad was in and out of consciousness for the next week, he found himself tiring easily thanks to the exertion his body had been put through. Erin refused to leave his side, his hand was tightly clasped in hers, and she didn't want to let go. Octa had been supplying her with all the soy blood she needed for her and their child to survive – she couldn't be more grateful.

Erin had intended to learn more about his culture while he was in and out of it, she'd looked at a few books but couldn't get more than three pages in before she couldn't bear not being beside him and focussing her attention on hi. She was terrified that if she looked away he'd turn to a pile of ash.

A weight had been lifted from her chest, he was immortal and that meant they'd be a family for centuries to come and at the moment that was the only thing that mattered to her.

Vlad stood slowly, testing his weight first. His leg buckled but he grabbed the wall, to support his weight. He was growing increasingly frustrated at being held in this small shack waiting for his leg to heal. It wouldn't heal for a while without his reflection to help boost his healing ability.

Erin dove towards him but he waved her off. Erin nodded and stepped back, Vlad needed to do this. He hobbled along the wall a few steps

"I'm not going to get back." He whispered, pressing his forehead against hers.

"I can get you back." Erin confirmed. She was determined that she could get him back to their home. Ingrid and the others must be worried about them. She was surprised that they hadn't come to look for them yet.

"You'd never make it in your condition." Vlad whispered to her.

"Its not permanent."

"It is for the next five months."

Erin blinked at him, his maths wasn't right. "Are you taking a month off?"

"I'm using eight months." He shrugged with a smile, it was better to be safe than sorry. "You're showing already." He whispered, his breath brushing her ear. Erin looked down, she hadn't noticed at all. Vlad gently lifted her shirt up and Erin noticed for the first time that her stomach was becoming more rounded.

Vlad had noticed that Erin had already begun showing far earlier than she should and that's what made him think her pregnancy was going to be only eight months long. His hand gently came around to cup her slightly rounded stomach. He stroked her the scar that the Hartleighs had given her years ago.

Erin's eyes slowly slid shut as she leaned in towards him. "Your hands are warm." She muttered,

"Sorry." He told her.

"I like it." She answered before he could feel hurt, she didn't miss the way his face fell for a fraction of a beat. "Its only for a few months." She smiled at him, "Then you'll be a vampire again."

"A half fang." He muttered.

"You won't be a half fang you'll be a gene fang." Vlad nodded, it was worse than a half fang though in his society he would be considered a coward. If nothing else gave Olga the edge that would, regardless of the facts stating he'd faced the mirror. Vlad had learned about gene fangs shortly after Ingrid's avoidance of the mirror, it was made clear to him that his fate was always set in stone and there was no way to ever get out of becoming what was encoded deep into his DNA.

"Vlad?" Erin whispered.

He opened his eyes and smiled at her, "Yeah?" He pressed the softest of kisses to her neck making her shudder.

"Are you sure your reflection couldn't have survived that?"

Vlad nuzzled her neck, brushing his nose against the scars making her sigh, "Yeah." He pulled back slightly, offering her a curious look. "Why?"

"I was just thinking about the baby." Vlad's hands tightened on her stomach.

"What about the baby?" His voice was nervous as if thinking there was something wrong. She stroked the back of his hands smiling at him protective nature.

"I'm only part of your Blood Mirror through you, your reflection is your link to it. The baby's link will be through you too."

He really didn't know where this was headed, "So?"

"You told me that you're reflection started to play tricks on you before you even faced it." Vlad grimaced he remembered all too clearly his reflection winking at him. "You don't have a link to the mirror now so the baby doesn't have a link."

"Erin…"

"Octa said that the baby still senses a link between us…" She trailed off, realising that everything she had said made no sense what so ever in justifying the fact she wasn't entirely convinced that his reflection had been destroyed. "Hang on." She twisted in his arms, Vlad let her move. "If you're mortal and you're transforming slowly, you can't be telepathic yet."

Vlad wanted to correct that. "Only when my heart stops beating can I send telepathic thoughts and feelings, until then I can only receive them. Why?"

"Then how can the baby be receiving telepathic messages from you?"

Vlad didn't have an answer to that – at first. "Something else is sending out the thoughts."

Erin nodded, a wide smile crossing her face. "Exactly."

There was only one thing powerful enough to do that.

His reflection.

It wasn't destroyed.

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It was at times like this Erin felt like a bigamist. She was mated to both sides of him and it was disconcerting that both sides had a personality and unlife of their own.

"We need to find your reflection." Erin told him firmly. Vlad nodded mutely.

He didn't know what to think, he hadn't dared hoped that his reflection had survived. He thought it had been destroyed when the mirror had. He needed his powers to protect his family and defeat Olga. He wasn't sure Olga even knew that his reflection had survived.

"It went into that mirror…"

"Aren't all mirrors connected?" She asked, she'd never bothered to before, there hadn't seemed much point.

Vlad snorted, "No, Blood Mirrors only contain the reflections of specific clans. They're not connected. It's a safety measure so that if one mirror is destroyed then the rest of our kind don't turn to ash – or our mortal states if we're under one hundred."

Erin ran a hand across her eyes, feeling suddenly tired. "You're reflection wasn't destroyed but it is more powerful than any other."

Vlad felt a chill run through him, "Where is it then?"

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Octa had her ear pressed against the sharp splinters that covered the wooden door. Things weren't going as she'd planned.

Octa heard them speaking on the other side of the door, Erin wasn't supposed to be that bright. She wasn't supposed to notice her slip.

She couldn't let it continue, Vlad wasn't supposed to find out about his reflection yet, at least not until… She shook her head, she didn't have time to dwell on that.

Octa straightened herself up and plastered a fake smile onto her face. With the bottom of her foot she kicked the door open, making sure it was loud enough to distract them from the conversation they were having, ensuring that it banged against the wall and vibrated loudly. Even though she knew they wouldn't want to talk about it in front of her.

Former humans and vampires were like that.

Erin spun quickly towards Octa, standing up at the same time. She was fully prepared to defend Vlad from an attack. She relaxed when she saw it was Octa, suddenly she lost all of her senses. Her entire body felt like it was filled with pins and needles.

Erin swayed on her feet, Vlad pulled her towards him to let her rest against him on the bed. She leaned her head back against his shoulders as he pulled her shirt down.

"Get the soy blood." Vlad snapped at Octa. He gently rubbed his wife's arm up and down, Erin closed her eyes. "You're getting thirsty quicker." He whispered, she was drinking for two but he was starting to worry something wasn't right. "You shouldn't be getting like this."

He pressed a hand to her forehead she felt fine – that was one good thing.

Octa returned to the room, she was shaking slightly as she carried the bottle that Vlad had asked for.

Octa handed him the bottle of soy blood. Before Vlad had even tightened his grip on the bottle, Octa let go of it. The bottle dropped to the floor, bouncing upwards slightly before it smashed into small pieces, soy blood pouring all over the floor.

The blood seeped into the cracks of the tiled floor, Vlad looked down at it in panic.

"I'm sorry…" Octa protested diving quickly to the floor.

Vlad looked at the soy blood, there wasn't something right about it. The blood was more burgundy than it was crimson. With effort he leaned down and ran his fingers through the soy blood. He lifted it up and sniffed before yanking his fingers back quickly. There was something in the soy blood that tainted is scent.

His eyes blazed with fury and his breath coming in shorter and sharper bursts. He hated breathing when he was angry, it made him cough. "What have you been giving her?" Octa remained quiet, focussing on cleaning up the mess. "This isn't just soy blood, this is something else mixed in with it." He looked at Erin in complete fear, his eyes darting down to her stomach involuntarily. "WHAT HAVE YOU GIVEN HER?" He shouted angrily. This was the highest-level Vlad's temper could reach.

Octa didn't look at him. "Nothing."

Vlad gripped her throat, adrenalin taking over, he squeezed it firmly – strong enough to leave a bruise.

"You kill me and you find out nothing." Octa gasped out. Vlad ignored her and closed his grip even further. Octa clawed at the back of his hands finding it harder and harder to breathe.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. GIVE. HER?" He ground out again between clenched teeth. She scrabbled around on the floor behind her, looking for something to free herself but Vlad only saw red. This woman had tried to hurt Erin and their child. He didn't know how long she'd been giving this to Erin, probably since the moment he'd passed out.

Octa was terrified now, he wasn't going to stop. She needed to save her life, "There's… something you… need to… know." She wanted to bargain with him.

"Answer me first!" He snarled, he wanted his answer before he considered anything else she said.

Octa felt something in her fingertips, gripping it tightly she brought it forward. Octa ran it across the back of his hand. Vlad let go of her and let out a hiss as the back of his hand was torn open by the glass fragment she held. Octa grabbed her throat and scrambled across the floor, trying to get as far away from him as possible. He pulled it to his mouth and tried to remove as much of the blood as he could.

It had no effect.

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The scent wafted across to Erin and she arched towards him. Her stomach growling instantly. Her eyes closed in pure bliss.

Erin's fangs snapped down sharply, for the first time she felt pain as it happened.

"Vlad…" She whispered, warning him. She couldn't retract them and that terrified her.

Vlad knew what was coming before she did. She spun quickly towards him, her eyes black. His Erin wasn't in control, her darkness that had been created the moment he'd transformed her had returned.

Vlad took a step back as he watched her face cloud, she wouldn't have a clue what she was doing until it was too late.

He hobbled backwards, nearly falling over as he slipped on the still wet floor.

Whatever Octa had mixed in with her soy blood had sparked this reaction. She was starving.

Erin was going by instinct and not her mind – she needed to protect their child, make sure it survived. The only way she could do that was provide it with the nutrition it so desperately craved.

She gripped his arms forcing him against the wall. Her strength was greater than hers at the moment and that was terrifying.

Vlad tried to pull away but he couldn't. His legs were pinned as Erin stepped closer to him until they were pressed up against each other. He winced as his wound/burn was pressed into. She grabbed his wrists and lifted his injured left hand to her nose, inhaling the scent of his blood deeply.

Erin looked him up and down and Vlad seriously doubted that in her current state she knew who he was.

She grabbed his head and forcefully yanked it to the side, bending it awkwardly.

Vlad bit his lip to stop a cry escaping.

She lowered her fangs to his neck.

Desperate for something to drink.

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Thanks for reading.