A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

In my next fic is there anything you might like to see (or rather not see)?

It'll be slightly more grown up, it's something people have been asking me to write for some time and I finally found a way with a comment that my mom said while we watched YD. It will be Vlad/Erin of course.

I'm actually looking forward to writing it. I'm convinced this saga has been cursed from the second instalment.

Chapter 48: Trying To Stop

The flight was quiet and the landing soft as the Draculas set down. Bertrand carefully let go of Erin and she smiled up at him in thanks.

Ingrid pushed her brother away from her and he glared as he stumbled from her. She regretted it but the habits of a lifetime were hard to ignore.

Vlad shook his legs back and forth as he hoped to get feeling back into them. Erin looked at him, she'd never seen Vlad with cramp or pins and needles of course he'd seen her with them back in her days of being a breather but it was strange seeing things reversed. Vlad coughed as he tried to get the air back into his lungs for some reason he felt winded, it had never happened before – perhaps it had been the way he'd breathed on the journey from their manor.

They cautiously approached the 'palace' unsure exactly of whether or not Olga still used it as a stronghold for herself and her followers.

Vlad froze as he saw something. In on of the top windows.

Bertrand noticed his former student's actions and stopped behind him. Ingrid didn't and carried on walking only for him to have to grab her wrist and yank her back towards him. If it was a trap he didn't want his almost-fiancée walking right into it. "What is it?"

Vlad shook his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the square window. Perhaps he was wrong, maybe he hadn't seen…

There it was again.

A shadow was being cast in the dim candlelight that shone throughout the palace. It was a typical vampire thing to have all the candles in the castle lit rather than just the ones that were necessary.

Bertrand followed his gaze and saw the movement at exactly the same time as Vlad. Bertrand spoke softly, "There's someone in there." Erin looked at Vlad, hearing the way his heart raced. It was enough to get anyone's heart racing. They couldn't confront Olga, not like this.

Tilting her head to one side, Ingrid could hear people milling about inside, she nodded to Bertrand who shot forward. It might not have been her greatest idea considering the fact that if it was Olga inside then Bertrand would be facing a difficult decision at the moment.

Ingrid seemed to realise it a fraction too late as she darted forward to stop Bertrand but he'd vanished.

"What?" She whispered seeing the eyes of her brother on her; Vlad just shook his head in a way that said 'think next time'. Luckily for her Bertrand returned quickly filling her with relief. It was Erin's look this time that told her she was lucky.

"So?" Erin asked quietly. Bertrand looked at them, there was good news but there was also bad news.

"Its not Olga." He told her quietly.

"Then who's in there?" They knew it couldn't be Racalud, Olga had killed him. There was no one else that it could possibly be.

"Reporters."

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Everyone stared at Bertrand in a mixture of panic and relief. They should have known that their Grand High Vampire becoming mortal would be a press frenzy; it was surprising that no one had tried to contact them directly but they may have and they'd just not noticed.

The press being around would cause more problems than it would solve, they tended to report things incorrectly to sensationalise it and ensure they milked it for every drop of blood they could get.

"What do we do?" Erin asked, she knew that they wouldn't leave unless they were commanded to and she doubted they'd listen to her.

Ingrid reached into the drawstring bag she'd brought with her. She was glad she'd had the foresight to pack this. She cursed softly as the item snagged on the bag, pulling at it and tearing it slightly from its many sharp edges.

Vlad narrowed his eyes at his sister as the off white item was slowly revealed.

Ingrid tried to hand Erin the crown, Erin shook her head she wasn't going to wear it. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach in fear for the child inside.

"Erin…"

Erin took a large step back, impacting with Vlad's chest. He didn't let out a sound instead Vlad placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them lightly trying to comfort her. He felt her muscles relax under his touch.

Ingrid didn't stop there she moved closer to Erin. "If you wear the crown you show your authority." Erin just stared at the crown that had hurt her in the beginning, it only seemed to hurt people. The thing was constantly hurting Vlad by picking him as the Chosen One and now it had hurt her.

"Leave her alone Ingrid." He looked down at his wife, "If Erin doesn't want to wear it then she doesn't have to." Vlad knew how she felt about the crown, he'd felt the same in the beginning.

"Vlad they won't listen to us if Erin's there and you know for a fact they won't even look at you. We need to make sure they know that she's the one in charge. If we want to get your reflection back we can't do it with a palace full of reporters sniffing around." Ingrid moved her eyes from her brother to look at Erin, "There's no other choice. I'm sorry Erin."

Erin nodded; she knew Ingrid wouldn't suggest this if they had another choice, not when the crown could harm her and the baby. "I know." With a sigh she bravely stepped forward, her legs shaking as they screamed for her to run in the opposite direction and towards the safety of their manor.

Erin reluctantly took it from Ingrid. "You don't have to wear it." Vlad reminded her.

"Ingrid's right." She mumbled, she hated that her sister-in-law was right. "There are only two vampires that can wear the crown Vlad, I need to show them that I'm rightfully Grand High Vampire in your place."

Vlad saw the determination in her eyes as she handed it to him asking him to place it on her head. He knew that she had no idea which way around it went on herself, she could place it on him but putting it on herself was a completely different matter.

He took it from her before giving her hands a light squeeze. Erin tensed bracing herself. "Its better if you relax." Vlad warned her. If anything happened tensing only caused more pain – he knew that more than anybody else.

Vlad lowered it slowly onto her head, Erin gasped as she arched towards him as it was fully seated on her head. Vlad panicked for a moment, his heart rate speeding up before she seemed to relax but he couldn't seem to calm his racing heart.

"Erin?" He whispered, hoping for an answer. She hadn't passed out like last time, which was a good sign.

Her eyes snapped open turning black before returning to their normal colour. Vlad trailed his hand down to her cheek, Erin leaned into his touch. "It itches." She muttered making him snort, "And it scratches." She reached up to adjust it slightly. Vlad gently swatted her hand away, if she moved it the sensations would only get much worse.

"Its only for a short while." He promised her.

Erin nodded, they needed to get this over and done with quickly.

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The large door flew off its hinges, landing on the floor with the loudest of clatters and greeting the occupants with the chilliest of winds. The vampires shivered, not from the cold but from the acknowledgement of the power that was now in the room. They turned towards the door slowly, looking down before looking at the fierce vampire in their midst.

Immediately half of the reporters dropped to their knees seeing the crown on Erin's head. It had been rumoured that the crown accepted her as Queen but now it was confirmed.

"What are you doing here?" Erin asked, her voice booming around the room making the reporters flinch and jump.

The reporters looked at Erin, a sly smile fixed on their faces. "This is where your husband became mortal. It deserves some investigation."

"I'm investigating now, so I want you to leave before you damage anything." They couldn't risk anything being damaged especially anything containing Vlad's reflection.

"You can't…"

"I'M GRAND HIGH VAMPIRE!" Erin roared at them, she wasn't as angry as she could be, she was fighting to keep her emotions in check.

"Your husband…"

Erin had enough of talking she launched a fireball just like Vlad did when he wanted to stress his authority. The vampire's ducked and covered. Their arms protecting their fancy hairstyles. Half of them looked up at her with wide eyes as the fireball sizzled out of existence before bowing and vanishing but a handful of them remained. They were challenging her, seeing what she was made of.

"I WANT YOU GONE!" Her voice deepened

"In exchange for a story then we might…" Vlad wanted to step closer to Erin but he knew he couldn't until he shared the power again.

"I don't negotiate." Erin snapped. She hoped she looked stronger than she felt, inside she was quivering. Vlad's confidence in her kept her going though, she could do this if Vlad could. "If you still want your jobs than I suggest you GO NOW!"

"You'll regret this." The reporter hissed at Erin, "Half fangs aren't meant to be Queen." Clearly the reporter a. wasn't on their side and b. didn't like being foiled. He looked at her with a sly smile on his face, studying her closely. Erin resisted the urge to shudder.

"I know I will," She answered firmly; a bad report could do more damage for her than anything else.

With that the remaining reporters vanished from the room. It was easier than she'd thought – too easy and that worried her.

She turned to Vlad, an apology clear in her eyes. "I've just lost you support."

"We'll deal with it when it happens." Vlad told her, kissing her forehead lightly. "Lets just deal with one problem at a time." He stepped back, "Right now we have a reflection to find."

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The searching of the palace hadn't really taken long, which was a worry in itself. There simply wasn't much there to look through. Racalud clearly hadn't been one for furniture, he'd mainly focused on clothes. They'd found multiple wardrobes stashed with the most expensive and finest of vampire linens and silks. The rooms were sparse, only the furniture that he needed was contained in each room – nothing more, nothing less.

There was nothing reflective in the 'palace', no suits of armour, no mirrors, no trophies, nothing. Ingrid suppressed a groan at the revelation, she was hoping for something to be there.

"It happened in here." Vlad whispered, there was no need to explain what 'it' was. He gingerly pushed open the door and gestured for them to enter.

Ingrid gasped as she looked around the room, in the centre was a pool of dried blood, clearly it was where Vlad had been stabbed. There were signs of a fight all around the edges of the room, dust piles rested clearly from where Olga had lost her temper.

The room was bare, the mirror shards were still there but nothing large enough to hold a reflection. There was no way anything could have survived that. The entire floor was littered with splinters and Erin was glad that Vlad wasn't wearing his favourite pair of converse otherwise they'd have been ripped to shreds.

Bertrand bent down and began searching just in case there were larger chunks of mirror underneath the shards. He found a small item, lying there in the middle of the glittering shards of glass. "Ingrid." He called, he couldn't trust himself with it.

Ingrid turned as something was thrown to her, she caught the small object in her hands. She turned it over, studying it closely, although it was now black and charred there was no denying that this was the bone of Sethius. Seeing Vlad and Erin's eyes on her she held up the bone watching as they winced and recoiled. She knew that it was too dangerous to leave out for Olga, so she stuffed it back in her pocket and continued to look around the room. Hoping for some sort of clue.

It didn't make sense, if there was nothing reflective and the shards hadn't survived then where could his reflections have gone. Erin and Vlad clearly said they'd seen his reflection being absorbed into the mirror on the floor.

A thought came to Ingrid, there was one thing they hadn't considered. "What about the shard that was in Vlad's leg? Maybe his reflection is in there."

Erin shook her head; "The mirror was smashed when I brought it home." Erin mumbled quietly, ashamed of herself for allowing herself to drop it but if Vlad's reflection had been in it then she would have lost the baby when the mirror was smashed because the connection would have been severed.

"So it has to be here some…" Vlad trailed off, feeling as if he was about to faint.

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Vlad suddenly dropped to the floor, Erin crowded over him immediately. He clutched at his chest as a searing pain ripped through it. He wanted to tear the pain out, but his fingers couldn't break through his skin no matter how much he clawed at it.

Erin grabbed his wrists and held them away from him, he would only hurt himself more.

"What's wrong?" Erin asked him panicking. Vlad shook his head back and forth. He felt as if his chest was being squeezed tighter and tighter, like someone had wrapped a belt around it and was slowly tightening it.

Erin placed a hand on his heart, she could feel and hear it skipping and racing alternately. He hit his chest as if he was trying to get something to work.

Erin turned to Bertrand, "What's happening?" She whispered, unable to take her eyes from the way her mate's face contorted in complete agony. Vlad kept arching upwards as he tried to breath, as if it somehow helped him breathe more air into his lungs.

"His heart is trying to stop. He's trying to become a gene fang right now."

Erin shook her head, it was too soon. There had been signs but not enough to show that it was going to happen right now. "He can't." Vlad couldn't become a gene fang, not when they were so close. "He's Grand High Vampire, he needs to be a full vampire…"

Bertrand lowered himself down and touched her shoulder tenderly, showing more warmth than he had since he was bitten. "We haven't got his reflection, we can't stop it." She needed to get him out of here as quickly as she could but on the other hand this was the only place his reflection could be. It couldn't have survived without the reflective surface of a mirror.

The candles suddenly snuffed out, plunging the room into complete blackness.

Before any of them managed to turn they heard the clicking of heels on the stone floor. Erin pulled Vlad tighter to her, her arms wrapping around his upper torso as she clutched him to her. Her left arm was stretched across him to grasp his right shoulder while her right was holding his left. His head was propped against her chest, rolling from side to side. She could see the faint traces of perspiration on his brow from the way he was frantically moving from side to side. She tried to block out the sounds of his struggled breathing coming in wheezes and gasps.

Ingrid heard a strange strangled sound coming from Bertrand, that sound told her all she needed to know before the voice of their visitor filled the air.

"I think its time for you to take that crown off …"

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

In my next fic is there anything you might like to see (or rather not see)?

Thanks for reading.