Yeah, I know!

But this was worked on whenever I had a spare minute, but at the same time I didn't want to rush it, because, well...

yeah.

-YD-

Vlad glanced around in the few seconds he had, mind declaring the room was so very Ingrid before her cool mouth chased those things out, leaving only a pleasant sort of white noise in his head as she pulled him toward her bed. It threw him a little, her softness with him. Vlad was very much used to being tossed down, bitten, those softer kisses in his bedroom seeming more of an afterthought than these deliberate, searching, tasting sweeps of her mouth over his. He wondered how her lipstick didn't smudge, didn't even seem to smear onto his lips.

Her bedsheets were a crimson satin, cool and smooth to the touch as Ingrid nudged and pushed him toward her bed. Not unlike her. The residual warmth on her skin from the sunlight was fading, leaving the lower temperature of someone fast approaching living-dead status.

Vlad was not the slightest bit surprised by the fact Ingrid was a 'girl on top' type. Nor was he inclined in any way to complain about that fact. Though he was slightly confused as Ingrid rolled to her side, ceasing kisses meaning they were now looking at each other, her breath cool and sweet across his face as both sought to regain control of themselves. The idea he tested Ingrid's control in any way made him dizzy, to say the least.

"What will happen to me if I turn sixteen and still don't know who my father is?"

He frowned.

"You'll get all the downsides and none of the... well, my father would call them perks. You'll be allergic to sunlight and garlic, your pulse and breathing and body temperature would drop to a point any medical professional for breathers would call incompatible with life. You'll be able to live on breather food, but you'll probably always feel hungry even though blood would make you sick" Vlad wondered if soya blood was a compromise they could try there - nutritionally sound and non-toxic to breathers "and you won't have super senses, fly... you might have underdeveloped fangs, you might not. No speed. No transforming. No hypnosis."

Ingrid blinked, processing. Her eyes were so very pretty, wide and with that unique shade of silvery-blue that was hypnotic all by itself, even without powers.

"Wow. Ok. That was... honest. And vaguely terrifying to contemplate."

She sat up, hair falling over her face until she brushed it aside. Vlad rolled on to his back, thinking.

"You could probably pass as developing acute porphyria. It's happened a couple of times before. And treatments include haem transfusions, which your body would accept, and you'd be expected to avoid the sun, be repulsed by strong smells like garlic. But I don't think it will necessarily come to that."

Ingrid turned around, face a mix of distrust and desperation. He didn't blame her - finding out she was a vampire only to possibly be trapped in that halfway state forever?

"Why?"

"Because to conceive you, a vampire will have had to have been somewhere with breathers. Most of our kind is scattered in small, secluded clans now. If you can get that information from your mother, it would narrow the whole prospective list down considerably because by and large, the only interaction vampires have with humans is as lunch."

Vlad was determined to change that, laughable as most found the idea. But he had all of eternity looming. He'd need a hobby.

"Right."

"So calculating back from your date of birth, you can get a when. If your mother can give you an exact where, it shouldn't be impossible to find out who was around then. Vampires feud so much that it's not unusual for one to have a three century tantrum in one country, so we mostly know where everybody is. It would be worse if it was a nomadic biter, but those are monitored by the Slayers Guild, so worst case scenario, I hypnotise Mr Van Helsing for that information."

The idea Vlad had plans to ensure they had a half-decent shot at finding who Ingrid's father was seemed to soothe her, though she frowned again after a moments thought.

"And what happens when we find out? From what you've told me, the instinctual response is going to be to kill me, hide the secret. And what if they are in another country?"

"I don't know yet, but I will figure something out. You're not alone in this Ingrid."

He reached for her on instinct, feeling foolish right up until Ingrid let him, fingers sliding through hers as they held hands.

"If you ever tell anyone I said this, I'll deny it. I don't need full powers to kill you in your sleep. But... thank you."

Vlad nodded, unsure how to describe the next kiss she gave him other than it really felt like Ingrid meant it. Like the others had been practice, leading up to this kiss, one that seemed to dig under his skin and sink through to his bones. More physical, with her hand in his and the other curling loosely in his jumper. Slower, deliberate in the way Ingrid pulled away in time to leave him gasping, wanting her mouth back against his own.

"I know you don't have a word for... whatever this is, and that's ok. I won't pressure you, here or outside. But... can you at least try to stay open like this with me when we're alone? It makes figuring this out a lot easier if I don't have to spend all my time figuring you out too."

Ingrid's mouth twisted in thought, and Vlad got the impression nobody had ever challenged her on how reserved and closed her emotions were. It was clear as day she loved her mother, that she'd rip the throat out of of anyone who threatened her baby brother even before she knew her DNA would tell her to. He didn't know enough about the man she'd called 'dad', but the shadow in her face when Ingrid realised her father wasn't her father told Vlad plenty. Ingrid didn't do feelings, and he knew the effort it cost her to open up, even a little. Vlad wouldn't demand more, but there and then? He'd settle for that as the baseline. She sighed deeply, looking at Vlad as though searching for answers to a question she hadn't even asked herself yet...

and nodded.

-YD-

Simultaenously juggling a slow burn and the two months to her birthday time limit I put in when I started this is hard, but I think it's sort of all coming together. I know these chapters are short, but they'll start jumping up when I can put more in without it being a big messy rush, promise!