A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

I was locked out of my account again last night so I couldn't post. I had a feeling I was going to be reported.

This time I was accused of spinning off from 'Predetermined' without the author's permission and copying from my saga (AGAIN). I think they're really beginning to run out of excuses.

Unfortunately they show no signs of stopping… and I'm really beginning to lose my temper with them…

Chapter 43: Temporary

Silence filled the room as they waited for the words to sink in. It was something Vlad had known but hadn't even considered.

Erin was Vlad's equal making her Grand High Vampire in his temporary 'problem'. Erin was the highest authority left. Ingrid was still number two. Erin was the only thing standing between Olga and the throne now.

That realisation hit Erin like a tone of bricks.

Erin took more than one pace backwards. Her eyes darting around as she tried to make a decision.

It wasn't Ingrid Erin was angry with; it was Vlad she was angry with instead.

Erin glared at her husband, her eyes turning the darkest black. Part of her wanted to murder him, the other part wanted to murder Olga and she really wasn't sure which part was winning at the moment.

Erin felt her fangs begin to tingle as they wanted to lower themselves and show them exactly how she felt towards this plan of action.

Her first instinct was to confront him before her concern for his life kicked in. If he wanted to remain alive then the best thing was for her to leave the room.

She always knew that agreeing to be his equal would backfire somehow.

She spun on her heel and walked towards the door. Vlad reached out and grabbed her hand pulling her back to him so she couldn't go anywhere.

"Let go of me Vladimir…" She warned lowly, her voice deepening and coming out as little more than a growl.

"Erin I'm so sorry…"

Erin snapped around to face Vlad; she wasn't going to hide anything from him. He was going to face her full hormonal anger. "It took me three years to agree to sharing your power Vlad, now I have it all! I told you I never wanted any of it." She didn't want even the slightest fraction of his power.

"I never thought this would happen to you." Vlad whispered to her softly, "We were supposed to rule together." He wanted to have her advice and support legally, without the Council interfering all the time. Erin kept him grounded and that's what made her so valuable to him, he knew she could be a sounding board for him, he trusted her and her judgements. The most important thing was that if she actually challenged him it was often for a valid reason unlike the Council.

"That really doesn't make me feel any better Vlad." Erin snapped sharply back at him. She stood frantically and paced back and forth in front of him.

Vlad needed to continue, to make her understand why this was a good thing. "You're the only person I've ever wanted to have it…"

"But I didn't want it! I told you it was too much to give me. Do you honestly think I can keep our kind together? A half fang Queen with an impure child growing inside her?" She yelled at him, her arms flailing around before folding them across her chest. "I'm useless Vlad, I was a hopeless slayer, I'm a terrible vampire so I know that I won't be any good as Grand High Vampire."

Vlad's face fell, "You're not useless."

Erin's vision began to grow glassy, "I just never wanted you to find out how useless I am. Now you will and you'll hate me for it; just like mum, dad and Ryan…"

"Erin making your own choices doesn't make you useless. You saved me and my family, you didn't slay us because you realised we weren't like other vampires."

"I let my feelings…"

"I always let my feelings get in the way." Vlad smirked at her, "Or have you forgotten a certain Carpathian Feast." Erin looked down and snorted. "Erin what do you think of me as Grand High Vampire?" Vlad asked her, "Honest answer."

"No one else can keep your people alive." She admitted softly, "So there's no way I can do that…"

Vlad pressed a finger to her lips cutting her off; he felt her top lip protruding slightly as he did so. A sure sign that her fangs were still extended. "I told you Dad was always disappointed in me, he told me I'd make a hopeless vampire. I don't let it bother me…"

"But your Dad never tried to marry you off to deal with the consequences of your actions." Those memories still haunted her and Vlad knew that.

Vlad didn't want to consider that, "Mainly because I was already engaged to you. Anyway I had the tutors from well… hell," He leaned closer. "Although Bertrand was from somewhere much worse."

"He is persistent." Ingrid commented, hearing every word Vlad said. Her brother turned his head slowly surprised at his sister agreeing with him. "You're not the only one who finds it annoying." She gave the smallest of shrugs, Bertrand had annoyed her when he'd chased her but now she wanted that Bertrand back more than anything.

Thinking of Bertrand, there was a role he played in this as well – something that had benefited Vlad. "Vlad I've never been trained for this, you have. What exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Follow your instincts." Vlad always followed his and they'd never served him wrong.

Erin was more terrified of something else, "The stress on the baby…" She couldn't lose their child; she couldn't put either of them through that fine.

Vlad caught her chin and forced her to look at him. Erin's eyes remained downwards, "Look at me Erin." Erin's gaze briefly flickered to him before looking away sharply. "Look at me." He demanded firmly. This time her eyes met his and held his gaze. "The baby will be fine. Its stubborn already, it won't let itself be hurt."

Erin didn't want to be too optimistic. "How do you know that?"

"You're just as stubborn as I am, it has to come from at least one of us." Erin let out a short muffled laugh. Vlad stroked her cheeks lightly with his thumbs. "Erin we can still make all of the decisions together. All you'll be doing is signing your name on the papers and speaking instead of me. Like we used to do before you were Queen."

"Promise?" She asked him softly, feeling as if a weight had been taken from her shoulders.

"Promise." He told her with a smile before pulling her into a tight embrace. His arms wrapped around her shoulders as she looped hers around his waist. "It won't be for long." She closed her eyes listening to his heartbeat allowing the sound to soothe her.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNDOELTTIL

They stood together in silence for a few minutes before Erin dared to voice the threat that had been building in her for at least the last couple of weeks. "Your reflection better want to get back inside you." She muttered into his shoulder making him snort. She pulled back, "And you'd better merge with him."

Vlad nodded vehemently, "I will." He wasn't afraid of it anymore. It was part of him now and without it he felt empty somehow. His mind was far too quiet for a start.

Erin relaxed against him with his words, a faint smile playing around the edges of her mouth. "I swear the moment I see your reflection I'm going to hit him for being taken from you."

Vlad froze in her arms, all of his muscles suddenly tensing. "You are joking, right?" Erin didn't answer, making him worry. If she did hit his reflection then he'd feel it when he merged, although it was comforting to know that she was just as irritated with the other half of him as she was at this half for losing his reflection.

Erin hugged him tighter, taking care not to hurt him with her stronger grip. "You know the deadline will be when I'm five months?" The deadline for his transformation that was. She'd reduced the time by half a month, he was transforming faster than anyone else that she'd known. "Will you need to stand in front of the Blood Mirror?"

Vlad shook his head, she felt his actions. "No, the mirror won't recognise me because there's no reflection in there." They didn't know where it was for a start. "That's what makes me a Dracula – the Blood Mirror housed my reflection. We need to find it before we think about that."

"Maybe it forced its way out of the mirror like mine did." Ingrid suggested to him, Vlad nodded slowly it made sense.

"But it won't survive for long away from a mirror. There was no where it could go when the mirror was shattered and I didn't see it trying to escape." Erin nodded, she hadn't seen it either. His biting her had allowed her to see it for herself.

"It has to be somewhere." Ingrid muttered.

"We might have to go back." Erin whispered quietly, it wasn't something she voiced lightly. "Maybe it's trapped in somewhere in Racalud's palace?"

"Can't you sense it?" Ingrid asked her softly. She knew Erin could always sense when Vlad was near and vice versa so perhaps it was the same for his reflection.

"Not 'it', *him*." Erin corrected defensively, "I can but it's always strong. I feel the same no matter where Vlad is." She always sensed him clearly, even when argentalium was involved she could sense him. Erin laced her fingers with Vlad's, "I know he's alive because the baby is alive."

"The most likely place is the palace, it couldn't have survived being in the open for long. A day, two tops. We were there over a week so it had to have taken shelter there somewhere."

"Maybe a large enough piece of the mirror survived."

Erin shook her head sadly, "It was all destroyed, nothing survived."

Vlad decided to interrupt their conversation. "Let's focus on getting Erin used to being Grand High Vampire. The sooner we do that the sooner we can look for my reflection."

Ingrid and Erin nodded slowly, he had a point.

The longer they were without a power structure the more of a chance Olga had to destroy their culture.

After all Erin was the only thing that stood in her way now.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.