Mmm…Ello, it's been a bit since a chapter on this story but anyhow, it's here.

I need some feedback for this chapter. There are several scene transitions that I'm not quite sure if it's clear. You'll know where it is as you'll either be horribly confused or so fantastically amazed by my awesomeness.

"Sorry, love." Malik exploded into a cloud of dust and the stake clattered from Erin's hand. Vlad blinked ash from his eyes as he looked at his ex-lover in disbelief.

Erin pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Do I repel you now?" She offered a hand to the vampire on the floor. Vlad took the extended palm hesitantly.

"Well that's sorted then!" The Count exclaimed as if the previous few minutes were a distant memory rather than fresh in their minds. "That miscreant child is dead and I can open a bottle of the finest!" The Dracula head bounded to the door and yelled. "Renfield!"

Erin shrugged. "He probably won't answer." At the Count's irritated glare she responded "I found him unconscious on the way up here."

Vlad was still staring at her with a searching look. He was looking for an ulterior motive. Erin was sure he could somehow sense it, the hatred curling off her like the fresh skin from a snake. He knew she was a snake, crouched low in the grass, waiting for her victim. She just needed to convince him she wasn't. She curved her head to the right, meeting his sapphire eyes dead on. He held her stare, not falling into a deer-in-headlights expression and Erin curled her lips inwards gifting him with a regretful half-smile. Her gaze dropped to the floor in an obvious relinquishment of dominance; the Chosen One's stare had begun to burn.

Vlad's eyes scanned her carefully once again. Erin wondered if perhaps he could see right into her thoughts, behind the manic rage and confused love and see right what is at her core. She certainly couldn't. His eyes lost their x-raying qualities and drifted away back to his father who was hurrying off to find his sleeping servant. Erin allowed herself to relax. He couldn't see what she intended to do to him. But in a few years, she wondered, what would his psychic abilities reach?

Vlad left the room a moment later and Erin followed, an expression belonging to the Erin of old rearranging her features, softening the harsh shadows created by her bold, dark makeup. He turned to her half way through the corridor. Electricity flowed through Erin's veins as his eyes, which had been deadened and darkened from hurt, hidden behind a defensive layer cleared. They shone their true glittering azure, lit by a half light that was Vlad's lifeline. Pain had taken half of him and protected his heart behind a wall of shade while he left half on display. A light that was half dead, half happy, half compassionate-

-and half hoping.

To destroy him completely, Erin had to take it all.

She would reach his core and rip out that dried-up raisin of a heart.

Vlad looked away; maybe he'd seen something that scared him.

Erin looked up at him, drawing his eyes to hers. "Maybe one day you'll forgive me."

She slipped past him, her icy fingertips brushing his porcelain knuckles. She reached the end of the hall when she heard his voice.

"Maybe I have."

She smiled and opened the door to her room stepping inside.

The door slammed shut with a loud waft of air.

Vlad suddenly sat up from his position of rest from chair, shaking sleep from his eyes and immediately focussing on Adele who'd just entered the room.

She glanced at the door behind her with a slight smile then looked back at Vlad, her puzzled smile widening. "You seem more relaxed."

Vlad shrugged, still a little dazed from his rude awakening. "Maybe."

After that they got straight down to business. Adele was a lot less irritating this session than the last few times in Vlad's opinion. She asked questions as usual about his school work and whatnot then moved on to his apparent change in mood.

"So what's got you in such a good mood?" Adele had been delighted throughout their session and now wanted to know the source of his newfound happiness. Vlad began to raise his shoulders in a shrug. "Don't deny it! I know something's changed!"

Vlad shrugged, the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. "An old friend's come back."

Adele's cheeks wrinkled as her lips widened. "It's nice to see you feeling happier," She looked at the clip board sat on her lap; her smile drooped fractionally but nonetheless Vlad's keen eyes caught the movement.

"What?" Vlad's stomach knotted as his eyes burned into the therapist. Adele looked up and flinched at the vampire's penetrating stare. "Oh, it's nothing really but you're in such a good mood today and I just think we might touch on a difficult subject in this session."

Vlad's stomach unknotted. He doubted anything this woman could say would really hurt him, or break down a single wall he'd built.

Then she contradicted everything he'd just told himself.

"Let's talk about Erin."

Erin, the girl in question was sitting in a dull coffin in her room. She hadn't unpacked anything; she didn't have anything to unpack due to her impromptu entrance but she didn't bother to imprint her personality on the room either. It had changed very little since her living there, probably due to the fact that the Dracula's had no use for it. Everything she'd left in the room was still there aside from Mr Cuddles, who she knew for a fact had found its way into Vlad's room.

The coffin she'd slept in was still there even though she hadn't fallen asleep in it since her transformation. On becoming a monster she'd ascended to the attics where she could be away from the others with Malik. That was probably out of the question now.

She toyed with a miniature stake between her fingers; even her old slayer's kit was still there, it had been sitting in her coffin just waiting for her. It was almost as if fate urged her to kill Vlad before Jonno had the chance to enact whatever the hell he had cooking up for Vlad. She ran her finger along the sharp tip before depositing the wood in a tear in the coffin's satin. Vlad was going to die but she wasn't going to save him from whatever Jonno had planned; he didn't deserve that mercy. Scarlet images rimmed her vision in red and she smiled nastily at the thought of Vlad's suffering.

Then there was a knock at the door and she washed away her blood-stained day dreams to answer "come in!" She was slightly surprised by her visitor.

Instantly she crossed the room to block her coffin from view. Miss McCauley smiled at her kindly from the doorway. "It's good to see you Erin," the vampire in question responded with a slightly strained smile.

"You too." She said with little enthusiasm then asked casually "how did you know I was back?" She'd hoped she wouldn't have to talk to anyone who wasn't in the know due to the fact she would have to come up with a good lie.

Miss McCauley smiled, a habit Erin was beginning to loathe in other people and shook her head blissfully. "I haven't seen Vlad this happy in months; I knew it had to be something to do with you,"

Erin's lips wobbled, the urge to turn her expression sour almost overpowering her desire for vengeance. She puckered her lips. "Why would you think that?"

"Because I know you're also the reason he was miserable for months." The teacher's expression was stern and Erin felt as if she'd perhaps underestimated Miss McCauley due to her friendly exterior. It was starkly obviously now that the teacher could read between the lines. Erin's hackles twitched as she opened her mouth to formulate a human Erin-like reply.

The teacher didn't give her time to respond. "I know you're probably offended by this remark but you haven't been here to see the fruits of your labour." The teacher looked vaguely in the direction of Vlad's room sympathetically. "Vlad really cares for you and I don't want to see you hurt him again."

'He can't take it…' Was the teacher's silent message.

Erin's face hardened at Miss McCauley's audacity. "I don't intend to hurt him again," She answered coldly. "And I didn't hurt Vlad. He hurt me."

She pushed past the teacher more roughly than necessary. How dare she accuse Erin of being the instigator of the distress! Erin's teeth sharpened as her thoughts eddied faster and faster like a rabid tornado. Yes, she didn't intend to hurt him.

She intended to destroy him.

Vlad gaped.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

Vlad blinked, trying to work out how the teacher knew. He suspected psychic abilities. "That Erin is back!"

Adele frowned. "Erin has come back…?" Vlad nodded insistently as he realised that the counsellor hadn't actually known. Adele brushed a stray lock of chocolate behind her ear. "Are you sure it's the best thing for you and Erin to be back together?"

"We're not together," Vlad frowned. "Why did you want to talk about Erin anyway?"

The therapist glanced down at her clipboard, wanting to approach the topic softly. "The depression you've been in the last few months. Do you remember when it started?"

Vlad scowled. "I haven't been depressed!"

Adele responded in kind and Vlad was shocked to see the therapist looking angry for the first time. "Vlad, please don't try and rebuff me." She sighed and looked at Vlad with an expression he loathed. Pity. "In comparison to this morning you can't say you haven't felt miserable or at least unhappy!"

Vlad thought about it, he really did. He thought about the colourless months he'd been stuck in, the shades of grey that had dulled his entire life to nothing but a fight to keep hope, a hard fight.

He shrugged. "So I may not have been enjoying things that much… But what does this all have to do with Erin?"

Adele gave him that extreme expression of pity. "Do you remember when it started?"

Vlad gave another nonchalant shrug. "A couple of months back and it really wasn't that bad!"

The therapist managed to find another sentence to break down all Vlad's walls that he'd being trying so hard to rebuild. "When did Erin leave?"

Vlad's keen mind made the link quickly but he shook his head as if it would make the thought disappear. "No, it's nothing to do with Erin."

Adele's hand brushed his but he jerked away. "Vlad…"

He got to his feet and spread his palms. "And even if my dark period was something to do with Erin isn't it good that she's back?"

"It's not that simple." Vlad wished it was. Adele tried to explain. "If we don't resolve the feelings that left you miserable the first time then what's to say it's not going to happen again, worse if Erin leaves?"

"Erin might not leave! We don't need to discuss her."

"But she might." Adele looked at him imploringly. "Vlad, I don't want you to fall back into to depression and it seems that Erin might hold the keys to that."

He started pacing. "She won't make me depressed."

"Vlad." He didn't look at her and continued pacing. "I don't want to take the chance and I don't want see you withdraw."

Vlad scowled and stopped pacing. "Then don't watch."

He stormed out slamming the door behind him with more force than necessary. The wood splintered.

This is a very important author's note that I need people to read.

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

NO SCROLLING!

So Young Dracula ended yesterday night with a very impressive finale. It ended. Do you know what that means? It means any Fanfiction author with more than a couple of chapters left doesn't know whether to continue writing or stop and I'm among them so I need your input.

Is it worth me following this story to the end or will it not be read?

Let me make this clear: I am at a turning point. No response will result in certain death for this story.