Dracula rolled his eyes, unwilling to deal with his bride's attitude. Everything had been going well until damned Derek's name had cropped into the conversation.

He stood up and teleported them in their current state such that he was naked and she had a sheet around her when they materialized in their chambers.

He walked into his closet and changed. Erinna was at the balcony when he got out. He grabbed her arm, turning her around with little finesse so that she slammed into his chest.

"Vlad what's wrong with yo-"

"I told you I don't like that attitude, if you don't lose it before I return we're going to have real problems."

"What will you do? Hit me again?" She thrust her chin up, green eyes blazing defiantly.

Her fury excited him and reawakened his desire but it also sparked the predatory instincts within him, making him want to strike out and lash at her for challenging him.

"It certainly seems to get a reaction from you," he growled.

His eyes had bled over and were boring into hers in all their dark red glory.

Erinna's heart beat in her throat but not from fear. It was hard to hold onto her anger when all she could see was a face that mesmerized her beyond belief and all she could feel were his rippling muscles where his hand gripped her arm. But he was going too far.

"Let. Go. Of. Me."

"Not until you tell me what's going on. Are you on your period?"

She flushed. How dare he ask her something as personal as that? She knew he had little to no personal boundaries but this was too much, even for him.

"That's none of your business. Why are you even asking ?"

Vlad liked to think himself more evolved than the stereotypical male who assumed that the biological difference women had from men made them any less rational but he was also educated enough that the monthly affliction brought with it mood swings and irritability.

A sniff in the air told him he was wrong in his deductions. His bride was not shedding her uterine constituents. So what aggravated her so?

"I'm not seeking to offend you."

"Well you are."

"I just want to know where everything went wrong because we had a great time today but if it's about Derek you can stop sulking. I'm not changing my mind."

"You cannot just torture someone for eternity!"

"It's nothing you didn't already know about me. I torture people and I like it; at times it gets me results and information I need but mostly it's because it's a part of me I cannot deny .

Causing pain is what I like, what keeps me sane; don't let a few confessionals about my human life from thousands of years ago on my part fool you. I am what I am and if that makes you uncomfortable then you should have thought about that before opening your legs for me."

"You self-centred, selfish bastard!" She screamed at him, her hand flying up to slap the arrogance off his face but he caught it in midair.

"Don't put your hands on me Erinna, you won't like how I'll react."

He glared, eyes flickering between red and black. The cords in his neck were pulled tightly with the effort of restraining himself.

Erinna knew she should tread lightly but part of her wanted to push him anyway. The night had been too good to be true. She had known he'd return to his usual self.

"Do I look like I care? You've already hit me before and I'm still walking so spare me the threats," she said icily.

He should just hit her if that was what he wanted.

"Nothing is going to come out of this discussion. I'm leaving; I'll come back when you're ready to be rational."

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Vlad was met by Miya in the hallway as he was heading to the dungeons.

"Shouldn't you be all coped up with the fiancee instead of wasting your time on those goons you have in the cells?" She asked.

If he had stayed, one of them would have ended up removing the other's teeth off. That was what he got for falling in love with a woman thousands of years younger than him. It was his punishment.

"She is unwilling to see reason."

"Can you two go two days without all this drama?"

"I am trying to make sure she will always be safe but she is under some misguided notion that Derek deserves some form of mercy. If I let him go, everyone will think they can get away with attacking her."

"It's her nature Dracula, you can't fault her for that. She is not built like you and I. They do not even torture people where she comes from."

"Well she is going to have to adapt. I grow weary of constantly excusing myself when everything I'm doing is to ensure her safety."

Miya pursed her lips.

"What?"

"You are too worked up for such a minor argument. You do know the blood moon is close, right?"

"How can I forget with both you and Alexander barking it at my back every other hour?"

"And do you know what it means?"

"If you have a point Miya, get to it. I am working on a clock."

He did not have time to play guessing games with her.

"Towards the mating ritual, feelings are heightened; both emotionally and sexually. You cannot afford to do anything stupid. Your situation is already precarious. We don't know what will happen if you two do things prematurely," she warned him as if he did not know already.

Even if it was damn near killing him, this was one thing he intended to do right by Erinna. Sure, they had already crossed a lot of lines but in his justification he had been preparing her for the night when she would become utterly, completely and absolutely his.

Apart from being from a different race, his bride was a virgin. Initiating the physical side of their relationship had been necessary for ensuring physical compatibility as well as preparing her body.

"I know what I'm doing Miya."

She gave him an I-don't-believe-you look but he did not care.

"If you say so. But going around getting angry at each other is not going to help, you cannot let your emotions get the best of you both, it is the bond seeking consummation."

"Do you realize how awkward it is discussing my sex life with you?"

"We are talking about your silly bickering not sex, that is too disturbing, I don't even want to know."

"Yes, whatever. Go talk to her because if I come back you know I won't be doing any talking."

"You hit that girl again and you'll have me to deal with."

"Like that's a problem."

"I am serious Vlad, if you both keep on giving in to volatile emotions, you are going to end up doing something you hadn't planned on. Anything that raises your blood pressure is dangerous at this point."

Vlad ran his hand through his long hair in resignation.

"How long will this last?" He asked, praying he would have the strength.

"Until you have consummated the bond."

"Great."

Miya opened her mouth to reply him but something caught her attention.

"Your eyes," she said putting a hand on his cheek to inspect his face.

"Don't touch me Miya," he bristled, taking her hand away from him by the wrist.

He had no intention of being rude but something in him could not stand the touch of a woman who was not Erinna. Luckily, Miya understood and did not ask questions or take offense.

"You have been sleeping more."

A statement rather than a question.

"Surprisingly."

"No more nightmares?"

His nightmares were still there but something about Erinna's presence in his bed calmed him and chased away the shadows that stalked him.

"Not when she's there."

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The Count quickly went to the dungeons but felt someone following him; how utterly stupid.

He moved at superhuman speed and had his stalker by the throat in less than a second, slamming the person against a wall with so much force that had the person not been a vampire, a couple of bones would have broken.

"Ouch."

"Ingrid?"

What the hell?

"You better have a very good reason for following me because I am precisely one second away from snapping your neck."

"You are so attractive when you are angry," she licked her lips, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Why are you following me?"

"I miss you papi, is that a crime? You no longer have any time for me," she pouted.

That stuff only looked cute on a grown woman when it was Erinna.

"I am not having this discussion with you. You know very well my mate is here."

"So? There is a lot of you to go around. Besides, she can't possibly handle you like I do. All of you. "

Actually she can, Dracula wanted to tell Ingrid but did not want to encourage her.

"Our time together is over, I made that clear seventeen years ago. Don't ruin the memories."

"We make a good team you and I, you know that. Three thousand years, that's how long I've been faithful to you and you're just going to cast me aside for that elf whore?"

Ingrid must have known what reaction that insult would incite because she didn't even attempt to escape when he drew back and used telekinesis to slam her across the hallway and then down the staircase leading into the entrance to the dungeons which was disguised as an art gallery.

He was livid. He let a lot of things go where Ingrid was concerned because apart from Alexander, she was the only person who had served him unerringly for thousands of years, but she was going too far.

He followed her down and put both hands on her collar, hauling her up.

"Don't test my patience Ingrid, sawing off your head will not take five seconds out of my day."

"I like it when you're rough," she smiled seductively, licking a trail of blood flowing down her chin from her mouth.

"Why don't I strap you to the cradle in Death Town and see just how rough you like it?" He glared at her in both anger and disgust.

His Recognition Mark was burning him and he loathed being in her presence.

"Just once Vl__"

He gripped her jaw between his thumb and index, in a bone cracking grip that would leave bruises even on her bones.

"Count Dracula."

"What?" She blinked.

"That is how you are to address me. If my name ever slips from your lips again, you will wish you were not immortal."

"But she uses your name," Ingrid pouted.

"I gave her my permission."

"You once gave me too."

"Once being the keyword in that sentence. I am rescinding the privilege."

"What do you want me to do then? I'm hungry, I'm angry, I'm frustrated and you're not giving me any attention!"

"There are thousands of vampires in this castle, take your pick."

"Perhaps I will start with Alexander," she taunted as if there was a part of him that was supposed to care.

"Be my guest."

"Argh!" She screamed, pushing him back in frustration. "What does she have that I don't have hmm? What is her body made of that mine is not made of?"

The Count slapped her again then yanked her into the dungeons by her hair. He thrust her in a cell and instructed Keith, one of the junior assistants in the dungeons to see to her punishment.

"If I hear you speak about her in those terms ever again, you will not be seeing the next century. I'm not joking Ingrid, stay away from her."

"You're going to regret this."

"No chance of that. The only thing I'm regretting is allowing you to live this long. "

"You won't kill me, " she boasted.

"Is that a bet you are willing to make?"

She withered quickly under his intense gaze.

"I never go down without a fight."

"Erinna is my mate, and I actually love her. Save yourself the embarrassment and give up this madness whilst you still have your dignity."

"You're mine! She's interfering. We belong together."

No longer sure if the rightful place for Ingrid was a cell or an asylum, Dracula left and proceeded into the depths of the dungeons to where his most priced prisoner was.

Derek was still on The Seat From Hell, bloody and bruised. Terrence was throwing what looked like...leeches at him.

"Anything yet?" He asked.

"He keeps saying he did it for you."

So the piece of scum was ready to talk.

"How is him trying to rape my bride supposed to benefit me?"

Terrence shrugged. "He won't say more than that."

"We'll see about that."

He went to get one of his deadliest whips but then stopped, "On second thoughts get me Ingrid. She's in the upper cells."

This was one of the times that Ingrid being a fire fairy came in handy.

He wished he could drink from Derek and just read his mind but he couldn't, given that the other vampire's power was mental blockage. No one could manipulate him mentally; at least no one Dracula had ever met.

Terrence nodded and left and coming back with Ingrid.

"Changed your mind?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Shut up and make him talk."

She nodded with an eager smile. This was her favorite place, working beside him; that is the times she wasn't under him.

"Get me that," she instructed Terrence and he nodded bringing her the hose connected to a vinegar tank.

Knowing she was fully capable of handling herself here, Vlad left her for a couple of minutes, going to deal with his other prisoners. When he came back, Derek was damn near fried.

"Ingrid I said make him talk not burn him to death," he frowned in displeasure.

"He's not dead papi, just a little... barbecued."

Dracula wasn't sure about that since Derek was not moving.

"You better be right or else you'll be replacing him. And stop with the ridiculous names."

"You never found them ridiculous before but alright, I'll show you the coward is alive."

She took the hose from Terrence and turned the full spray on Derek, causing the man to bawl and scream like a banshee as the acidic liquid made contact with his wounds.

He was alive alright.

She projected flames from her fingertips, aiming at his forehead. The smell of burnt flesh and hair filled the room and The Count cursed his heightened senses.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" The man bawled, tears falling from his eyes in buckets.

"You better or next time I'm going for your crotch, stud."

"I did it for him. She's ruining him! Our whole kingdom, ever since she arrived bad things have been happening! And if we allow her to live, bad things will continue happening."

"While I completely agree, you don't see me trying to rape the bitch do you?"

Vlad grabbed her hair violently, making her arch her neck up. He look down into her strained face.

"Mind repeating that statement for me?"

She just grinned at him, relishing in the pain. Vlad thrust her away in disgust. Pain was never the punishment to use on Ingrid, for her the two were one with pleasure. By giving in to her goads and reacting in anger, he would just be playing into her hands.

"Finish what I called you here for and return to your cell."

"You aren't even going to whip me? She's making you soft."

"Let me discipline this one for you, Count," Terrence offered, appalled by Ingrid's blatant disrespect.

"I would if I believed it'd work," Vlad muttered and gestured for Ingrid to continue.

"What was the master plan? Were you going to just kill her?" Ingrid asked Derek.

"We have to, before she kills him. I'm sorry mistress but my duty is to The Count, forever and always. I will always protect The Count, even from himself."

"You dumb fool," Dracula muttered. "You think you're doing me a favour?"

"We can't let you die. She will kill you, that's what prophecy said. She has to die."

Vlad used his telekinesis to unscrew four nails from the roof and sent them into the man's skull causing him to holler like a dog.

"I will wipe out the whole lot of you if I have to until you get it into your thick skulls that she's here to stay and won't be going anywhere. Stop doing these favours for me, I don't need them," he growled.

"Should I continue papi?" Ingrid asked eagerly.

Vlad snarled at the nickname.

"Ask him if he knows anything about the attack in the gardens then put him on the rack again. Make it painful."

"Can I leave when I'm done?"

He raised his eyebrow. "I still haven't punished you."

"Will you take me over your knee?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter," Terrence rolled his eyes.

Ingrid glared at the young vampire then turned to Count Dracula with a winning smile.

"You know I like it when you're rough."

He nodded.

"It's good to like things Ingrid," he said and walked away, leaving her high and dry.

The Count made rounds in the dungeons, getting his anger out the only way he knew how. By the time he was done, he was surprised the walls were still standing. Resonance should have brought them down due to the screams the dungeon suffered that day.

There were a few things he needed to do before he giving in to his crippling, desperate need to see Erinna which had not only become a craving but a necessity.

"Gather me your comrades Terrence," he instructed. The man nodded and left.

While Derek's confession was inconvenient, it was hardly surprising; he had expected something of the sort which was why he did not joke about Erinna's safety.

No one was foolish enough to make a move against him or try to cross him; not unless it was for him and they believed it would help him in the long run, which made Derek's attack some misplaced sense of loyalty mixed with heroic stupidity and a need for approval.

The need to please and protect him was as strong as it was instinctive in new born vampires like Derek. He was only a couple of decades old and therefore a mere child; zealous and stupid.

Unluckily for him, Dracula suffered no fools and had little patience for traitors no matter how pure their cause.

He guessed part of it was his fault. From the moment they were recruited, it was ingrained into the Tepes warriors' brains that their sole duty and reason for living was to serve and protect him.

While Derek had failed to make the standards and perfection that Dracula required, demanded and expected of all his warriors, the young man had been recruited as a guard so the instincts to protect Vlad still ran through him. An unfortunate circumstance as it often led to stupid decisions. To him it didn't matter the means, as long as the end goal was that Dracula was protected. That was all that mattered to him.

Derek was going to get what was coming for him but someone else was going to answer for his actions; someone who should have seen all this coming and prevented it from a mile away. Two people in fact.

Firstly, the man who Derek had been serving under, Captain Kane and then Commander Lotche who had approved Derek's recruitment as a castle guard.

Captain Kane was not the chief guard but Jasper the head of the castle guards had been on another mission for the Count during that week and this imbecile had been left in charge, resulting in this catastrophe. It was time for him to answer for his crimes.

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Kane backed up from the table the moment The Count appeared in his house together with that unnatural pet of his. He quickly scrambled away, toppling the chair over in his frightened haste to put some distance between him and the man he both feared and revered.

"M-m-m my lord?" he stammered.