A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

There is a reason as to why I haven't posted, I've put the reason in the next chapter as I wanted to resolve the cliffhanger first.

Chapter 39: Blur

The dagger plunged lower and lower, Erin closed her eyes tightly and waited for the end to come. There was nothing that Vlad could do to stop it, he didn't have the ability to do so anymore.

Vlad couldn't tear his eyes away from the dagger. The firelight was reflected in the blade, glittering and shimmering.

Igor's face had a manic grin as he looked across at Vlad then down at his kill. He'd never seen affection between vampires and this made it all that much more delicious as vampires didn't care about ripping their loved ones from them.

The dagger suddenly stopped as a question was asked, "What about the child?"

Every head snapped towards the woman, Vlad shuffled closer and closer to Erin, grimacing as his leg was strained as he scuffled along the floor.

"What about *it*?" Clearly the word 'it' was a substitute for another word, a word that Vlad didn't want to even consider thinking about.

Erin's eyes snapped open, she looked upwards. "Its not to blame for its mother's actions."

"What do you think we should do then?"

"Take the baby from her, it's an innocent. It can be brought up and turned against them." Erin frantically shook her head, she wouldn't let their child be taken from her. The baby was inside her; she didn't want it to be hurt.

Another voice decided to pipe up, "How about giving it to their leader, use it as a bargaining chip?" Erin's eyes snapped to Vlad, they wouldn't believe them that Vlad was in fact the person they were talking about. "They haven't attacked for three years, they've only just started again, maybe if we give him it then…"

Igor cut them off, his eyes narrowing at the person. They shrunk back clearly afraid of his authority. "I'm not waiting for that baby to be born. It dies when she dies."

The words make Erin's temper flare and around them lightning flashed. The peasants jumped back in complete fear, glancing around them frantically before looking upwards then down at Erin.

The cuffs weren't effective against her temper.

Rain slowly began to pour before picking up in speed until it pelted down around them. The flames flickered and spat before eventually dieing out.

The nightgown quickly became soaked through, moulding itself to Erin, making her pregnancy even more obvious. More lightning bolts and thunder echoed around the clearing.

Vlad looked at Erin, he could see the unadulterated fury on her face. The way it was twisted to mar her beauty, he knew his face must be the same.

Erin yanked harder at the cuffs; this time she felt them bend slightly but not enough to free her. This failure only seemed to increase her anger and a larger clap of thunder was let out. This time the sky clouded over, turning pitch black completely blocking out the moonlight.

As the thunder rumbled the peasants cowered down in fear, terrified that the sky was about to fall on their heads. Their hands covered their heads as if they were trying to protect them, their eyes glancing up every now and again before curling up once more as the lightning and thunder clapped and roared directly above them.

Igor looked at Erin. "Stop it!" He shouted at her, fearing the way his people were acting.

Erin's fangs were lowered by this point. Her mouth opened to reveal them glistening and shining as the lightning flashed, her answer was simple. "No." Erin didn't follow the orders of anyone that wasn't her sovereign and then that was rare when she actually had taken his 'advice'.

"I order you by the power of…"

That wouldn't work, her transformation may have originated from evil but it didn't mean she was. The same as Vlad. "Let my mate go." Erin snarled at him, "Then you can do what you want to me." Her eyes were sincere.

"Erin no!" Vlad shouted across to her.

Erin's head snapped around to face Vlad, "You're the only one who can stop Olga…"

"I don't care about Olga, I care about you." Vlad told her. Erin and the vamptot were far more important to him than dealing with Olga. They would deal with his cousin just as they had dealt with everything before – together.

Erin shook her head, accidentally hitting her temple against the stone of the altar. "You are the most powerful vampire, Olga can't…"

"I'm not anymore!" He answered, shouting at her. The peasants were looking at them now, regarding their conversation with interest.

"Vlad please, our child can't grow up in a world like this…"

"BE QUIET!" Igor yelled as loud as he could, anger at their ignoring him finally overflowing and pouring from every cell in his body.

Erin and Vlad looked him, the dagger was shaking in his hand and Vlad knew he was going to kill her, Igor wouldn't wait another moment.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Erin twisted her head and locked her gaze with Igor. He raised his hands up above his head this time but she didn't close her eyes again she continued to look up at him. It seemed to make him feel nervous and uncomfortable as he faltered with the dagger his grip loosening and tightening on the knife, that's when his arms weren't shaking and raising and lowering a few inches each time.

Finally he seemed to make up his mind on what he'd planned to do.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Igor dropped the dagger again, faster than before so no one could stop him. This time his expression was carefully blank, there wasn't a hint of malice on it at all. He was trying not to show any emotion towards the couple.

It arched through the air on a direct path to her heart, there was no way he could stop himself this time the force was too great that he used on the knife.

Just before the knife sliced into her skin it seemed to hit an invisible barrier.

The blade vibrated and the tip bent before snapping off.

Igor dropped the dagger with a cry, clutching at his wrist as pain shot through it from the force of the impact. He looked across at Vlad who mirrored his expression of complete confusion.

The dagger bounced onto the altar, clinking as it hit the stone. Vlad's eyebrow's furrowed, he hadn't done anything so he had no idea why Erin hadn't been slain.

Igor reached for it but it moved of its own accord, flying towards Vlad. Vlad dodged it sideways but it landed harmlessly in front of him. The peasant behind him went to grab it but Vlad managed to spin on the floor and knock him to the ground.

Suddenly blurs filled their vision, moving backwards and forwards. They darted in and out of the trees. Vlad couldn't tell how many blurs there were without his vision being as sharp as it had once been.

The peasants began to scream and run at the sight in front of them. They darted backwards and forwards but were always cut off by one of the blurs and ended up running around in circles.

Vlad's cuffs were yanked from him, snapping in half. He brought his hands around in front of him and rubbed at the angry, red, chaff marks on his wrists. He reached down and grabbed the dagger tucking it into the back of his waistband.

Igor grabbed Erin's cuffs and quickly began to undo them, hoping to use her as a hostage. He undid her feet first before her hands. As soon as she was free, Erin placed a foot squarely into the centre of his chest before kicking him back as hard as she could.

Igor stumbled backwards, his face a mixture of shock and horror. He tripped over the leg of one of the torches, landing firmly on his backside.

Erin jumped down from the altar grumbling as her legs became tangled in the dress. She kicked her legs out again trying to poke them out of the base of the dress but only succeeding in ripping a hole into it.

Meanwhile Igor had clambered to his feet and was running back towards her, Erin dodged him easily. He wasn't a trained fighter.

He made a lunge for her again but the blur stopped behind him and gripped his shoulder tightly before he was launched through the air.

Igor was thrown back, his back slamming into the tree. He let out a cry of pain before sliding down it. He climbed to his feet and ran, this time away from them not towards them.

He was the last of the peasants to vanish from the clearing.

A voice called from the darkness as the blurs finally came to a halt. "How stupid can you be?"

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.