A/N: This chapter and I had several violent disagreements, but it finally all got out of me. I do hope you enjoy it. Thank you to all my lovely reviewers. Seeing your notes always makes me smile delightedly and, I swear, helps the writing process.

And, as always, my eternal gratitude to killer-elephants for being my beta.

...

IX: I'll Give You What You Need to Be

"This isn't possible..." Regina was murmuring, every breath and word coming out a forced, choking gasp. Emma had seen this behavior before from people huddled in their safe houses, rocking themselves back and forth as darkness swept over the land. She'd never thought to see it in a vampire. Regina was terrified. Great. So not what was needed right now.

She could understand, and any other time she might well be sympathetic to Regina's feelings. But not when her son was missing and fear would get them nowhere. She had to pull Regina out of it. Kneeling before the Queen, she took a deep breath and lightly pulled the woman's hands away from her own shoulders. "Regina?" she tried to begin as gently as possible. "Who is Cora? She's not just some other, older Queen, is she?"

"Does it matter?" Regina all but whimpered, her body continuing to wrack with tiny sobs. Her voice was like a child's- small and weak. Hands normally so strong hung limply in Emma's, as if her body was physically incapable of movement. "...Henry. She has Henry."

Growling, Emma's gentility failed, her fingers digging into Regina's and making her wince in pain. Good. Pain was good; anything but debilitating fear was good. "Snap out of it!" she snarled, shaking the Queen. "Yeah, she has Henry, and we are going to get him back! So you need to stand up and pull yourself together." Regina cried out in pain, and Emma watched as her eyes sharpened, the cloudiness departing as her mind slowly returned to itself. The Hunter nodded. "Good. Now we are going to find our son, and kill this bitch who took him. Okay?"

The Queen gave a slow nod of understanding acquiescence, but said nothing. Emma wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Whoever this Cora was, she obviously had enough of an effect on Regina to reduce the normally unflappable woman to an almost child-like state of powerlessness. There was definitely a long history between the two vampire Queens. But she couldn't worry about that now.

Pausing to resettle herself, Emma closed her eyes and took a breath. She needed that moment before she turned back to the Queen, to pull her to her feet and smack her, if it took that, for Regina to whoosh them to the school. "Regina-" She honestly wasn't expecting it when Regina stood of her own volition, wrapping an arm around the blonde and hoisting her up to rush off towards the school.

Gasping at the suddenness, Emma's eyes squeezed shut and she wrapped her arms around the vampire Queen's neck, holding on tightly before relaxing just a little. She would never get used to this. "So," she began, "tell me about Cora." She wasn't sure if this was really the best time for conversation, with trees and houses and shops blurring by while Regina ran. But talking helped her to forget just how fast they were really going, and she really didn't want to throw up when they stopped again.

"She wants to rip apart everything I love," she said, her voice a little quieter than normal but lacking the shaky, childish terror of earlier. "And now that she knows where Storybrooke is, she will stop at nothing until she does so."

"Why? Why does she hate you so much?"

"...In her twisted mind, she probably thinks she's doing me a favor."

…

Somewhere outside of Storybrooke

Henry struggled as he was practically thrown into a sort of throne room, a single light source illuminating only the center of the floor, casting the rest into shadow. The two overdressed vampire guards- covered completely from head to toe- were quite eager to be rid of their squirming, kicking, biting charge. Perhaps a little overzealous, they tossed him into the center of that light source. Like a cat, the boy landed on all fours, quickly getting to his feet and whirling to leap back at the guards as fast as his little body could.

From the shadowed wall, a dark chuckle filled the room. "My, he's certainly full of energy for someone supposedly poisoned."

Both guards were fighting off attacks from the boy, one trying to pin his arms to his sides while the other clasped his large hand over fangs desperate to snap. "He's been like this the whole way, majesty," said one. "Your ...informant must have lied, my Queen," offered the other.

Henry paid little attention to the exchange, continuing to bite and claw at the two older vamps as much as he could. Snapping his teeth under the hand, he lunged forward and bit, and the guard howled in pain, dropping him. The boy fell back to the ground in a scramble of scrawny limbs.

"Enough of this!" commanded the voice from the shadows, "Leave him." The guards fell back.

Stilling, Henry felt that voice tugging at his arms and legs, whispering in his head to stop fighting. He did, but only after giving one last pointed kick to the shin of the nearest guard, glaring in the direction of the voice and making it abundantly clear that he did not need to obey it. Taking a moment to adjust his clothes and smooth down the wrinkles as he had seen his mother do countless times, he slowly stepped a little closer to the shadowy area, eyes quickly adjusting. He choked back a gasp. A figure was seated on a throne, resplendently dressed in reds and creams- a gown fit for another era. On her head was an elaborate mask, hiding all of her face from view but her eyes, which glittered in the low light.

"...Who are you?"

The masked head tilted a bit to the side. "My name is Cora. I'm your grandmother, dear."

"I don't have a grandmother."

"Of course you do, dear boy. Your mother," and the word was practically spat out as a curse. "Has simply never told you about me. But family always finds one another, dear. And I won't be letting you go, now. So if you keep fighting, you're only going to end up getting hurt."

Henry raised his chin, his eyes defiant as he glared at the woman on the throne. "...I'm not afraid of you. You can try to kill me, but my moms're gonna come for me and then you'll be dead."

Cora seemed a bit too involved in laughing to quite catch his use of the plural. She clapped gloved hands, delighted. "So brave! But I have no plans on killing you, dear. Not yet. I know she's coming for you; I'm counting on it. I won't rip your little heart from your chest until your mother comes bursting in that door and can watch me do it herself."

His mouth dropped open, words of bravado attempting to come, but failing. He swallowed, unable to face even her mask, and looked down at the marble floor, determined not to let the tears burning in his eyes fall down his face.

"But until then, dear boy, you need to keep up your strength. Here," she snapped her fingers, and from outside the room, Henry could hear signs of a struggle. Frantic, pleading cries filled the air, drawing nearer, until finally the door opened and two guards appeared, half-dragging a bucking, crying little girl between them. She looked no older than Henry himself. With wide eyes, his head snapped up, looking to the masked Queen in confusion and no small amount of horror.

She merely chuckled, "I thought you'd prefer a young one." Eyes glittering behind her mask, Cora snapped her fingers again, and the girl was forced down onto her knees before Henry. "Drink from her."

"She's... for me?" Henry gulped, his eyes darting back to the girl.

"Drink from her," Cora repeated, a layer of icy threat dripping into her voice and her eyes. "Or I will."

Forcefully, one of the guards swept away mussed and uncombed hair, exposing the girl's neck. Growling, the boy glared at him, snapping forward to slap his hand away. "Don't touch her!" he snarled. "Leave her alone!"

Baring his fangs in anger, the guard turned his attention to the boy, fist raised to strike.

"Stop!" Cora ordered, raising her hand. The guard froze, pulling back and looking at his Queen. "Let him," she ordered. "I want to see what he does."

Henry had barely even batted an eye at the implied violence to himself. His sole attention was on the girl. Trembling and whimpering, tears were pouring down her face, and Henry couldn't help but lean forward and brush them away. This close, he could see her pulse beating rapidly beneath her skin, could practically smell her blood. He closed his eyes for a moment, fighting down the urge to sink his teeth into her. It is our choices, he told himself, echoing words his mother had told him time and time again, that define us as people and not monsters. "It's okay," he whispered, so honestly and earnestly that she actually looked up at him. He smiled, letting her tears fall on his hand and stopping to smooth her matted hair. His mother did it often, whenever he was upset. "I won't let them hurt you. I'm Henry. What's your name?"

"...Grace," she breathed, eyes flickering wildly over his face. "...Are you going to bite me now?"

Henry's glanced to Cora, and she looked back at him behind her mask, tilting her head and making his answer abundantly clear. This was some sort of test for him, he knew. And if he failed, he knew she'd likely kill Grace.

"Yeah," he offered with an apologetic little smile. "But don't worry. It's not going to hurt." He locked his eyes with Grace's, slowly leaning forward and giving her time to get used to the idea of his closeness. With another little smile, Henry reached for her wrist only, lightly taking it in his hand. Her breathing hitched, her chest rising and falling rapidly. He brought her wrist to his lips, closing his eyes as he remembered what his mother had taught him the evening before. Taking his time, he sunk his fangs into her flesh, gently, and drank from her.

She tasted different than Emma- lighter, somehow. And there was less of that feeling of euphoria for him than there had been before, or perhaps it was simply that he wasn't near death. Still, the memory of his mother's voice rang in his ears, and as he took from Grace, he also gave back, allowing the best parts and memories he had to shine through into her. Her eyes closed, her lips parting to release a contented sigh. Henry liked the way she looked when she wasn't scared- her face relaxed and carefree the way a child's should be. He focused on her, making sure he was careful to observe her pulse. When it slowed, he pulled away, giving a last lingering sweep of his tongue over her skin.

Grace was smiling, her face practically glowing as she gave another satisfied little groan and leaned forward against him. "I didn't think it would feel like that," she murmured, giving him a hug. "I thought it would be scary."

"It doesn't have to be," he told her, hugging her back. He looked beyond her, over at Cora, and his face suddenly grew very hard for such a young boy. "Vampires don't have to be monsters."

The mask fell away, allowing Henry to look on the true face of the woman who called herself his grandmother for the first time. To his credit, he didn't flinch, though was honestly surprised that the mask wasn't actually hiding some kind of physical deformity. Regally, Cora rose from her throne, descending down the single step of her dais and coming within a few feet of the two children. On instinct, Henry twisted himself, putting Grace behind him. Cora raised an eyebrow. "As I thought," she shook her head, sighing reproachfully. "My daughter's filled your head with nonsensical ideas like love and understanding and 'taking blood, not life.'" She laughed at the ridiculousness of it, and then there was only a blur of motion, and Grace was pulled away from his grasp before he could blink. "This?" Cora laughed, clutching the now standing girl in front of her like she was some sort of doll. One arm wrapped around her front while the other cruelly tangled in her hair, caring nothing for the scream of pain the girl emitted. "This is food, and nothing more." To punctuate her statement, Grace's head was jerked to one side by her hair, and Cora sank her teeth into her neck.

"Grace!" Henry lunged, blurring himself to try to wrench the girl away from the Queen, but the guards were instantly at his sides, gripping his arms painfully back. He fought- kicking and screaming out the girl's name- even turning his head to sink his teeth into one of the hands at his shoulders, but he could not get free. The hand he had bit jerked away, instead grasping the back of his head and preventing him from looking away. Forcing him to watch the girl's face contort in pain, her body spasming as dark blood leaked out from around Cora's lips, soaking into the blue of Grace's dress.

"Hen-nry..." she wheezed, hands clutching the air in front of her as she tried to reach for him. They fell to her sides a moment later. Her skin began to pale, her screams growing soft and strangled as Cora's fangs dug ever-deeper, head bobbing as she bit again and again to drag as much blood as she could to the surface. When she was finally satisfied, the Queen simply dropped the girl like so much dead weight, and Grace fell with a sickeningly wet thud, a small pool of her own blood dribbling out on the marble floor.

Tongue darting out, Cora flicked at the edges of her red lips, reaching out into the air with one hand until another vampire rushed forward to place a starkly white handkerchief into it. Dabbing at the edges of her lips, the Queen looked down at her dress, pleased to see that it had avoided any splatters, and then returned to her throne, heels clacking on the floor as she barked an order over her shoulder. "Release him."

Henry fell to his knees, tears stinging his eyes as he reached out to touch the girl on the floor. Her skin was already cooling, her eyes glazing over in death. With a howl, he clutched her to him, cradling her head in his arms and sobbing out her name.

Cora let him cry for a moment, then snapped her fingers again. The guards pulled the dead girl out of his arms, one of them tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of flour while the other held Henry back.

"You're a monster!" he spat at the Queen, his eyes alight with fire and pain.

She only shook her head and sighed. "Don't fall in love with your food, dear. It only ends in pain."

…

So far, her search of the school grounds had been pretty useless. When they'd arrived, she and Regina had split up, the Queen heading to find Mary Margaret and question David while Emma and Granny did a perimeter search and looked for any sign of Henry. They'd found nothing, but Granny was still looking. Emma headed inside to catch up with Regina and see if there was anything of importance to be found. When she could see nothing in the entryway, she headed to the hallway where Mary Margaret had been found. Walking over to the still form of the vampire, the Hunter sunk down, crouching near David to where was holding Mary Margaret's hand. "How's she doing?" the blonde asked.

"She's still unconscious, but she'll probably pull through." He shook his head, his voice nearly robotic. "Regina said there was a massive amount of blood lost around her chest, like someone had tried to pull her heart out."

A flash of memory burned behind Emma's eyes, and she relived the battle outside the gates of the town, watching Regina do that very thing to the dozen or so rogues she'd dispatched. She shook her head to chase away the memory, clearing her throat. "...Tried?" she echoed.

David shrugged, taking a deep breath and not allowing his eyes to veer from the unconscious vampire's face. "Apparently it didn't take."

Emma nodded, confused at that, but glad for the sake of her friends that it seemed whoever had attempted the heart-ripping was not as skilled at it as Regina was. "Where's Regina?" she asked automatically, looking around as if to spot her.

"Questioning Sidney now, I think. Just... follow the shouting."

It proved to be sound advice, for Regina was only a few hallways away, her hand pressing the other vampire into a row of lockers. "What the hell do you mean 'he was just gone'?!" Regina snapped, shaking Sidney like a ragdoll as she gripped his shirt, the fabric bunching in her fingers. From the sidelines, a few of the other teachers gaped in silence, watching as the Queen disciplined her chief adviser- the one she'd tasked with guarding Henry while he was at school. "How could he just be gone?! Weren't you watching?!"

"Of course I was, my Queen!" Sidney hissed, his eyes wide with terror and panic. "I was only gone a for a moment- I heard something in the next corridor and when I returned, he was gone! I don't know how! He was just gone!"

"You keep saying that, Sidney!" she snarled, fangs bared in her irritation as she shook the little toady.

Breaking into a run, Emma quickly darted up. "Regina!" she shouted, grasping the Queen around the wrist and staring at her intently. "Let him go. This isn't helping."

Snarling, the Queen glared at Emma for daring to interrupt, but after a second or two, the red seemed to slowly fade from her eyes, and she released her grip. Sidney fell back, a hand moving to rub at his throat. Regina turned away, and Emma gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She kept her voice low, knowing Regina probably wouldn't want anyone else to hear this, but feeling that it most definitely needed saying. "Look, Regina. I know you want to find him. I do, too. But getting this mad won't accomplish anything."

Dark eyes were near brimming with unshed tears, and Regina crossed her arms in front of her chest, gripping herself tightly as she slowly turned back to face the blonde. "No, it won't."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know." Shaking her head in uncertainty, Regina looked up at the ceiling, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples.

"Okay. Let's think about this a different way. How could Cora have gotten into town? Or hell, the school?"

"She couldn't. I doubt she did. She probably only had an agent do it for her." Then, suddenly, her eyes snapped back open. "Sidney!" she hissed.

"My Queen?" Sidney jumped, his eyes wide. "I never-"

Regina waved him off, another goal in mind. "David said there was a note. Where is it?"

"Oh!" Sighed the other vampire, giving a small smile of relief as he dug into the breast pocket of his jacket, pulling out a bag with a small slip of paper inside. . "It's... um... here."

Taking the paper without a second glance, Regina took a moment to re-center herself, before finally opening the bag and removing its contents. The handwriting alone gave her pause, throwing her back in time as she stared at it, the faint curling of the letter C so incredibly, terribly familiar. "I thought so," she murmured, closing her eyes to scrub the image of that taunting letter out of her mind. She turned back to Sidney. "Get Eugenia," she commanded, and he rushed to obey.

"What is it?" Emma asked, once again placing a calming hand on Regina's shoulder, saying nothing when the other woman leaned slightly into the gesture. "What are you doing?" she glanced down at the note, the rust-colored words written in stark contrast to the crisp whiteness of the paper. "How can Granny help?"

"It's written in blood."

Green eyes widened in comprehension. That seemed like an amateur mistake for a vampire to make, especially one who so frightened Regina. "So... we can find her by tracking it. That seems too good to be true."

"It undoubtedly is. Cora..." and Regina hesitated, her eyes drifting down to the note and then back up again to meet Emma's eyes. "...She won't have made this too hard. She wants me to find him."

Nodding, Emma swallowed, the implications all too clear. "That's what the note means; she wants to exchange Henry's blood for someone else's..." Emma sighed, running a hand through her hair as she put two and two together. "Yours."

Nodding, Regina's eyes were locked on the note in her hands, not even bothering to look up to see Emma have her revelation. "If that's what she wants in exchange for Henry, she'll get it."

"...How do you figure that?" Emma nearly growled, a hand instinctively moving to her nearest gun at the thought of anyone draining blood away from her son. Or from Regina.

The Queen just offered her a small, tired smile, noting the gesture and oddly finding it a little endearing, if misplaced. "Because I'll give it to her, Miss Swan."

…

Eyes burning with fury and pain, Henry finally just snarled, unable to take the unfairness of it all, and rushed at the Queen on her throne.

"Oh, honestly..." Cora rolled her eyes, raising her hand with an authoritative: "Stop!"

He did not. He felt the compunction of her voice pulling at his limbs, but he paid it no mind, rushing forward. Her eyes widened in shock just in time to watch him slam into her with enough force to send her throne toppling off its dais. They went flying to the ground, Henry above the Queen and slamming his fists against her chest, digging his fingernails into her skin, biting and kicking and doing anything to make her hurt the way he was hurting.

Unaccustomed to any actual physical confrontation, Cora was sluggish in her attempts to pry him off, and the boy actually managed to get a few decent hits in before the guards intervened and she had the presence of mind to scream "Sun him!" Raising her mask to her face just in time for the ultraviolet lamp overhead to be turned on, the room was briefly plunged into a blinding, burning haven of pain.

Henry didn't even notice, continuing to struggle as the guards latched on, not betraying so much as a hiss as UV light seared over his unprotected body, leaving absolutely no damage. The same could not be said for Cora, who screamed as the light hit her as well, the mask not protecting her anywhere near as much as the full body suits of her guards did them. They managed to pry Henry off their Queen, one of them smacking the flat of his hand against the base of the boy's skull. Henry gave a yelp of pain and then fell limp.

"Turn it off!" Cora screamed again, and the lamp was extinguished. Panting and scorched to the point that her skin was crisping, Cora nevertheless forced a smile as she rose back to her feet. The few bones broken by the boy were already healing, but the welts from the sun lamp would take longer. She didn't seem to care, staring at her grandson thoughtfully.

Her gloved hand trailed over the boy's cheek, caressing over unconscious flesh with an utterly delighted grin. "Oh, this... this is wonderful! My daughter found herself a baby Sunwalker to raise..." Her voice trailed off, mind whirling with the implications. She turned to her guards, a dangerously pleased twinkle in her eyes.

"Ready the equipment for exsanguination. We might be beginning ahead of schedule."