Vlad and Erinna both turned to look at the person who had spoken and saw a dusty Eric who looked twice his age. The sounds of war were loud outside the castle and the room they were in would probably be bombarded if Vlad had not put men outside the door with the instructions to kill anyone who tried to enter.

"More permanent? You want me to kill her?" Erinna asked her father in surprise.

She hated the woman but killing her in cold blood... too many lives had already been lost on her account. She lifted the soul and placed it in the Eternity Box on the table.

"Not you. Me. I'll do it," Eric said.

Erinna wanted to get Diana out of their lives more than anything but something in her refused to permanently and irreversibly annihilate the woman from the world.

She looked at the dark, frumpy physical representation of Diana's soul again and was surprised to see silver bands like the ones in her vision, circling it like a form of campus.

"What is that?" She asked the others, sure the bands meant something.

They had led her before to the bamboo forest. Could their presence mean that her work with Diana wasn't over?

"What is what?" Vlad asked from the ground where he was sitting with his elbows resting on his raised knees and a defiant glare set on his father.

"Those bands," she pointed at the rope-like strings which kept thickening the more she stared at them.

"What bands?" Her father asked.

"Those___" Her sentence died as it finally dawned on her that she was the only one who could see them.

"Where is Mara, father?"

"She is trying to get our people to retreat."

"I think there's something I must do," she told them, putting the feeling in her heart into words.

Vlad groaned and tried to stand up but she used her power to glue him to the ground and nullify his efforts.

"Erinna what the hell?" Not used to being bullied, the Count complained. Eric's grin showed that he wouldn't mind if Vlad was the one who got locked in the Eternity Box.

"Sit down, you need to heal."

"I am fine," he growled.

"Vlad, I'm not sure what I'm doing right now and I don't need to worry about you too," she said, using his favorite words against him.

"I won't be wounded forever you know, be rest assured I'll take my revenge Countess," he promised darkly.

"Do that and you'll answer to me," Eric who could only see the grave serious look on the Count's face and not the hint of dark humor in his eyes, threatened.

"Father, he is only joking," Erinna assured Eric.

She had lived so long with Vlad and gotten to know him so well that she cold now tell when he was being serious or not but she knew most people could not since his smile was rarer than unicorns.

"Am I?" The Count queried, cocking his head to the side.

She narrowed her eyes at him and he bit his bottom lip to hide any hint of a smile. She had never met a man who put so much effort in hiding his smiles. If he was a human, his face would be wrinkled from all the scowling and frowning he did.

"Grow up," she mouthed to him.

"Can we just decide what to do with the witch now? I haven't eaten anything for hours, if I throw up from watching you two, I'll be throwing up my kidneys," Eric said, looking at them in disgust. His face was green and he indeed looked sick.

Erinna immediately felt remorseful. She hardy ever thought of her decisions when she was with Vlad but she should have remembered how sickening it would be to an elf to see another elf being friendly with a vampire. Her father was not prejudiced, it was just in their blood.

"So we are supposed to pretend we would not be mating already if not for your interference?" Vlad said, not mincing words.

Her father had made unfortunate decisions that had led them there and obviously Vlad still held a grudge. Erinna hoped they would find their peace with each other one day and that the event had been a lesson for Eric. As a king with thousands of people's lives in his hands, it was imperative that he thought before he acted.

'Vlad, you are four thousand years, father is only four hundred. Are you really going to have these immature arguments with him?' She spoke to him in her mind for privacy because she did not know what was going to come out of his mouth but he replied out loud anyway, wanting Eric to hear every word.

"Why not? He's a brainless, interfering...."

She didn't hear the rest of his sentence because he broke off into Romanian. Eric who had studied the language, recognized the slurs and withdrew his sword, charging towards Vlad. Erinna put herself in front of her mate but Vlad moved at lightning speed, pushed her aside and took her place. There was a sickening, squelching sound as the sword sank into his guts.

Erinna gasped and Eric himself looked shocked as if he did not believe what he had done. Vlad put his hand on top of Eric and pushed the sword deeper into his intestines. His jaw was clenched hard and his face was taut with pain.

"You have wanted to do that ever since you knew I'd be marrying your daughter, haven't you?"

Eric looked like he wanted to deny it but he hardened his eyes and bared his teeth, "Yes."

"Father!" Erinna gasped.

"I'm not saying this again so why don't you make sure it sticks in that thick skull this time around? Erinna is my mate and as long as she will have me, we are going to be together. Your insignificant opinion is not going to change that. But you must already know that, so I'll chalk this down to one more of your stupid mistakes and not break your pathetic fingers. If there is anything else on your 'things-to-do-to-Count-Dracula' list, you better do it now because I won't be so forgiving next time."

"You disgust me," Eric curled his lip and pushed the vampire away, withdrawing his sword.

Erinna rushed to Vlad and placed her hand over the wound.

"Are you okay?"

"Don't insult me Erinna please. This coward cannot even call me out unless you're there so he can hide under your skirts," he scowled.

'He's not always like this. I think he knows he's losing me and it is makes him afraid.'

'Don't cover for him. Your race hates me, I know that. There's no need for you to sugarcoat things for me.'

'It's because of the curse. History makes it impossible for them to accept there is anything good about vampires,' she explained.

'You can stand us,' he shot back.

'It is different for me. I don't know why but it is. Maybe it's because I'm a Pure Being....was.'

She tried to keep the sadness out of her tone but he heard it. Erinna tried to shield her eyes from him but he took her chin and lifted it so her eyes had no choice but to meet his.

'Angel, you're one of the goodest people I know.'

'That's not a word,' she said, managing a weak smile.

'It should be with you. Everything you've ever done, it's always been to help someone. Don't let Mara or anybody else tell you otherwise. Being good is in your blood, no one is going to take that from you.'

It was something she'd already tried to tell herself, but coming from Vlad's lips, it sounded true, believable even. It was a testament of how much faith she had in him and how far they'd come.

'You're going to make me kiss you in front of my father,' she smiled, suddenly feeling so much lighter and happier than she'd been in ages. It was like someone had taken a load off her shoulders.

'Do it then.'

'Vlad!' she gasped.

'What? You don't think he knows we kiss? It's what makes him want to disfigure me every time he sees me. Maybe actually seeing it will make him see there's nothing he can do.'

'Keep that in your bizarre fantasies, I'm not getting intimate with you in front of my father.'

'Even when I'm wounded and need a get well soon kiss?'

She rolled her eyes, 'You seemed fine a few moments ago.'

'You think that idiot would have let me live it down if I'd collapsed after a wound brought on by his hand?'

'You are childish and irrational, both of you. Here, take some blood,' she said tilting her head to the side.

'Are you strong enough?'

'After all that, I feel stronger than I've ever been.'

'You looked beautiful,' he told her, tracing her bottom lip with his thumb.

'Was that before or after Diana turned me into... into that monster?' She laughed drily, the sound melancholic and haunted, a clear echo of her feelings on the incident.

'Both. Having a darker side does not make you a monster. Your bad side of you and your good side are both parts of what makes Erinna. Hating either is hating yourself,' he told her.

'But I don't want to be that other person. I hurt people and I don't want to be like that. I wish she had just taken all her powers away.'

'Is that what she tried to do?'

'Yes, before you came."

'Then it's a good thing she didn't. Doing that would not only have killed her but you as well.'

'What victory is that when I am her puppet to do with as she pleases for the rest of my life?'

'You remember what I told you about power?' Vlad asked her.

Erinna remained silent.

'What makes it dangerous?'

'The inability to control it,' she answered.

'And that is the key to everything. Diana put those powers in you but they are in you, they are yours. The only way she can control them is if you allow her.'

'How do I control them then?'

'Same as before. We will do exercises to help you learn control. Mastery of magic is not in the ability to move mountains or bringing about any catastrophic events. It is in observing the fine patterns in the knitting of energy and seeing how you can move or add a stitch to influence the future. It is a subtle art.'

'You never seem to think that much when you use your power,' she frowned.

'Because I have been doing it for years. Didn't they tell you angel? Experience counts. Now I believe you offered me something?'

'Really? I don't remember,' she teased him.

'Coy prey? That will not discourage me, Countess. I do like my chase.'

'He withdrew his fangs and put one hand on her shoulder and the other on her neck, further tilting her neck and exposing the vein he wanted. His fangs descended on her neck but before they could make contact, Erinna was wrenched from his arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Eric fumed, holding his daughter.

"Watering the garden. What does it look like?" Vlad snapped, fangs still bared. Having smelt Erinna's blood and eagerness at such close range then not getting to taste it was making him cranky.

"You will not make my daughter a blood who_"

Before he could finish the word, Vlad had him in a choke-hold his feet dangling from the ground.

"I dare you to finish that sentence," he hissed, eyes red and fangs fully extended.

'Vlad-' Erinna began in his mind.

'No, Erinna. No one is going to call you out of your name as long as I live.'

"You know what I meant," Eric tried to smooth things over with an awkward laugh.

"Actually I don't," Vlad replied coldly.

"It was a figure of speech."

"You're becoming more of a nuisance with each passing minute and I'm running out of reasons to keep you alive. I do a lot of things for Erinna but I'm only a vampire and at some point I'm not going to forget why you need to be alive. Don't keep trying me," he said and released his hold on the king so that the man tumbled to the ground with a groan from pulled tendons.

"You're not going to take my daughter's blood whilst I'm here," Eric said stubbornly.

Erinna saw that Vlad was about to say something rude so she jumped in.

"Father I asked him to. He's hurt."

"Then he can take mine."

Erinna's eyes widened. Being an elf, she knew just how much of a sacrifice Eric was making by offering to take her place in an act considered so vile and shameful by their people. It was a profession of his unfailing love for her despite the countless misguided mistakes.

"Father, you don't have to."

"Yes I do, what kind of a father would it make me if I stood by and watched this leech suck your blood? He can drain mine if he is so eager to take life from another to sustain his cursed one."

Vlad called his hands. "That's settled then," he said and moved at vampire speed. Eric only had time to gasp before Vlad had his hands on him, open mouth and exposed fangs over his neck.

"Vlad!" Erinna screamed in alarm.

"Relax Erinna, I'm not going to eat him." A relieved sigh escaped her but he quickly added, "Even I have taste. It's a wonder you're related to this guy. I wouldn't have his blood if I was dying."

"No blood for you then, clearly you're well enough to make jokes," she said, leaving him grumbling as she walked towards Diana's soul.The silver cords around it had grown thicker and brighter.

There was a strong urge to do something, almost a compulsion she could not shake She lifted the dark glob of Diana's soul and closed her eyes in hopes of getting answers for what she needed to do but she got so distracted. Out of her own will, memories of her and her father began flooding her mind.

She saw the first time he had brought her an astronomy book, her birthdays and a lot of other happy memories. After that came the memories with Vlad and those were the happiest. She tried to bring her mind back to the present but the memories kept coming. The joy, the happiness, the contentment, the love just kept pouring out of her. Wave after wave, they kept coming.

Finally it was over, her mind became blank and the urge disappeared.

"Something's wrong, I can't feel anything anymore,"she said opening her eyes.

Both Vlad and Eric were looking at her strangely.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Look down," Vlad said, extending his hand.

Erinna looked down and gasped. In place of the black globe that had been in her hands, was a white one, purer than winter clouds.

"But how? What happened? I didn't do anything. I was trying to focus, but all I could think of was you and Vlad....you think that's what caused it?"

"It's rare but some people have had someone earn redemption for them. I think that's what you did for her," Eric told her.

"But that can only happen if she's__" Vlad began but was quickly cut off by Eric.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about elves, Count."

"If I'm what?" Erinna asked, wanting to know what Vlad had been about to say.

"Are we going to focus on his theories when there is a war going out there? There was a lot of white light. I think when you were having the positive thoughts, you somehow managed to heal her soul. It can only be done by someone who sees the best in everyone and everything, someone who sees the positive side even in times of havoc and chaos. You took away the hatred, the bitterness and the anger. She can fully pass on now with nothing tying her to earth."

"Really?" Erinna asked, love and joy filling her heart and lighting up her face.

'You're amazing, you know that?' Vlad said in her mind.

She blushed but said, 'You would be too if you stopped trying to mindspeak me as if my father is not in the same room as us.'

'Is it my fault he is so annoying?'

'Didn't some of that healing energy heal your rudeness too?' She laughed.

'Not a chance.'

"Just like your mother," Eric who was oblivious to their silent conversation, said out loud, looking at her with tears in his eyes.

It made Erinna happy and joyous that she had been able to save someone, to heal someone from a hatred so deep it had nearly destroyed them. It was the first thing she had ever done as a Pure Being that was truly satisfying. How ironic that it should happen after she had been stripped of her powers. But how she had done what she had done after Diana had forced her powers back was another territory she did not want to venture into yet.

She was still basking in the glory of the moment when there was a deep rumble followed by falling things and cracking walls. Vlad grabbed her and shifted her to the corner of the room where he shielded her with his body. She did not have much experience with volcanoes but even she knew what was about to happen.

"It's really going to blow?" She asked.

"Congratulations Countess, you just might have managed to bring down the volcano down on us," he said with a dark smile even though she could see the pride in his eyes. Another confirmation that he needed to have his mental processes assessed.

"It wasn't me," she said defensively.

"Keep telling yourself that. We need to get you out of here."

He picked her up and moved towards the door, Alex behind them.

"Vlad, I can walk," she kicked her legs.

"Am I not allowed to carry my own mate?"

She rolled her eyes and rested her head against his defined chest but raised it when something caught her eye. It was the same silver strings that had led her to heal Diana. They were appearing before her eyes then, extending from her own chest to where the box she had put Diana lay.

"Vlad, wait."

"If we don't go now we're never getting out."

"One more thing."

Alex whined in impatience as she got down from Vlad's arms and went to the table. The others could not hear it, but she could; the soft cries and pleas of a love sick heart. Diana had kept herself on earth by using spells and enchantments and as long as those existed, she could not move on and be with her mate.

Erinna took her heart and followed her instincts. She drew from deep inside her and gathered as much power and energy as she could. She molded it, magnified it and then focused it on Diana's soul and the bands that tethered it to the earth. The last thing she saw was blinding white light before the white blob of jelly went supernova. All energy left her, making her and everything else in the room tumble to the ground.

Vlad looked around him, still trying to piece together what in Hades had just happened. He tried to move but found that he was effectively trapped. When Erinna had blasted the witch, it had caused whatever had been remaining of the cave to come down on them.

He was the only conscious person in the room yet the only thing he could move were his fingers. A large boulder was crushing his spine. On a normal day this might not have been a major issue but the witch had bled him when it had already been so long since his last feeding.

At least Erinna was safe. No rock had touched her. It would have killed him if she'd survived all this only to be crushed to death by a stray rock. His mind wouldn't be eased though until she was conscious and he had her in his arms to truly make sure she was fine.