The sun was pushing against the curtains of the room, the oppressing heat spoiling for a taste of his skin. Reluctantly, Vlad untangled himself from his bride.

It was his wedding night dammit, the night he'd dreamed and fantasized about for as long as he could remember. He was not supposed to be thinking of anything except pleasing his mate in every which way possible.

Four times.

Four times he had awoken her to lose himself in her and free himself of his demons yet like everything bad in his life, they clung relentlessly.

"Vlad?" Her voice, angelic and calming as always was like a balm to his raw emotions.

He sighed.

"Go to sleep Erinna."

She didn't deserve to be burdened with his baggage on their very first night together. Being Erinna of course, she completely ignored everything he said and tiptoed to where he was sitting on an armchair behind the heavy duty curtains.

With the sheet around her, she came and sat on his lap. His arm immediately and instinctively went around her stomach, pulling her closer to him such that her back and his chest were mashed.

He had thought that the allure of her scent came from the innocence of her virginity but even with her now fully and completely claimed as his, it still managed to over whelm him.

How he hadn't drained her already in the time they'd been together was a testament of his feelings for her. Unable to resist, he bent his and kissed the red welt marks of his fangs now marking her skin.

"You're mine now," he said and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath.

She sighed and leaned further back into him then picked his hand and kissed his knuckles. The gesture was tender and gentle yet devastating like everything that came from Erinna.

"And you're mine," she whispered against his lips.

"Always been."

He held her closer and tighter, needing to be able to hold onto something so he could ignore how everything in his world was spiraling out of control.

In the few weeks that Erinna had lived with Vlad, she had become attuned to the state of his emotions and the inner battles that went on inside his mind.

It was why she didn't say anything in that moment but just leaned further back into his arms, giving him time to put order to his thoughts. She would be there when he was ready.

"You're going to hate me for this," he finally said, his arms squeezing her tighter.

His scent was all around her, filling her nostrils and making her want to inhale all of him. The bolts of fire he sent through her body were in contrast to the general chill of his skin.

She took his hand and kissed the knuckles, "Tell me."

"I made a very bad choice last night. I'm trying to forget it...to not care but I can't get it out of mind. It's all I can think about and that's not right because tonight should be about you. About me. About us."

"It is about us Vlad."

"No Erinna, you don't understand. You don't know what I did."

She could hear the pain, anger self-loathing and frustration in his voice. It made her heart ache because it was clear whatever was troubling him was soul-deep.

It was wrenching him apart and she wanted to do everything possible to hold the parts of his heart together and save him the pain. But how could she help him when she didn't understand?

She shifted her position such that rather than sitting against his chest, she was facing him, her legs astride him and her arms around his neck.

The wantonness of the position and how much it let her feel exposed would have affected her any other time but all she cared about in that moment was making sure he was fine.

"Then tell me, make me understand," she told him, her hand framing his jaw.

She had sensed his restless in the way he'd made love to her earlier, on the many times he'd woken her up after their initial mating. There had been something frantic and almost demonic in the way his lovemaking, as if he was trying to immerse and lose himself in her. It had been like he'd been drowning and she'd been his only haven.

She had searched her mind but found nothing to explain his turbulent emotions, not that it had been possible when she had been so lost herself, drowning in a sea of sensations and ecstasy. There was just something about her mate that made all her senses desert her body.

General thoughts were not an option when he was around. But she had to be stronger than that she knew, if not for herself then for him. His past made him liable to the most volatile of moods and if she was to have any hope of helping him, she needed to be more sensitive to those shifts.

"No," he finally said.

"No?"

Vlad had never outright refused to tell her anything, no matter how unpalatable or humiliating for him. He would squeeze it out through his teeth if he had to.

"No."

She put both of her hands on the sides of his face and looked deep into his eyes, the pain there making her stomach drop to her feet. How had she ever thought that he was incapable of feelings?

Even if she raced her mind, she could not find anyone who felt as much as he did; be it pain, be it love, be it anger. He felt everything soul-deep. It explained why his reactions to disappointment and betrayal were more drastic than other people's.

"I will give you your space if that's what you want but it's obvious whatever this is, it's eating you up."

He was silent for a moment, steadily holding her gaze until he looked aside, making her hands fall from his face.

Pushing him anymore would be unwise and would only make him more defensive. She moved to get off his lap and give him space but his hand gripped her thigh, making any movement impossible.

"I want to tell you but I know once I tell you you'll be upset and I am done making you angry."

She wanted to tell him she could never be angry at something that was obviously distressing him but decided not to make any assumptions. She no longer underestimated all the forces that were constantly at work, trying to tear them apart.

"You don't know that unless you tell me," she said instead.

"I killed the only family I had left."

The only family he had left? Erinna was confused.

"When I killed your ancestor and received the curse that made me what I am, it did not just end with me. It spread to all my father's children within my generation. Aurora was spared for we are not related by blood but everyone else..."

A chill danced up her spine.

"Vlad what are you saying?"

If what he was suggesting was true then...

"My brothers were all turned into vampires and like me they cannot be killed. They are not as strong as me for they did not get the full blast of the curse and because unlike me they did not embrace their new nature."

"So what you're saying is they've been alive all this time?" She asked in shock.

"I had Miya put them under a deep slumber to spare them the predatory effects of being a vampire. I was not to awaken them unless I'd found a way to reverse they curse but last night....we were outnumbered and losing the battle and we needed help fast. I couldn't let the wolves win, not when they had you..."

"So you awakened them?"

"Yes."

He did not talk much about his life as a human and Erinna could not imagine the prospect of meeting those who shared blood with him. It was both exciting and unnerving.

"And they're angry? Surely they must understand?"

"They were angry...at first. Then they got grateful."

"What do you mean?" she frowned.

"They have tried to take their own lives with every method under the sun but nature would not have it so. The curse was meant to be permanent and binding. But last night when they saw the volcano erupting, they saw another chance and it's my fault."

Horror made Erinna's eyes pop out and her blood to curdle within her veins.

"So you see? I did kill them."

What would she tell him? That maybe they'd survived? Pity, empathy and shared pain made her own eyes well up with unshed tears. She cupped his strong jaw with her right hand.

"Vlad it's not your fault. Your brothers made their own choice. I know it hurts but you can't begrudge them that. The only thing you can do is be happy they're in a better place. You said it yourself: they wanted to pass on."

Now she understood the single-mindedness that had been driving him earlier. He had been trying to forget, to free himself from the pain and the guilt.

Her heart echoed with the pain he was feeling. It was everywhere around them, filling the room and suffocating the bond. She wanted to weep for his loss but knew that would only hurt him more. Vlad did not like it when she cried.

"They said goodbye to me, told me what they were going to do and I did not even stop them. I should have stopped them. I should have."

"And then what? Force them to live a life they hate? You did the right thing. If you'll believe anything, believe that. This was not your choice."

He looked into her eyes for a long time before closing his own and kissing her forehead. She slid her arms around his defined torso and hugged him tight, her head resting on his chest. Time became immemorial as they sat in that chair, sharing the loss that they could both feel.

"What if they're not dead? What if they're still stuck in that lava and crying for help?" He asked.

So that was what was troubling him.

"There can only be one way to find out," she said to him.

"How?"

"Do you trust me?" she asked the question he always asked her.

"With my life."

"Then remain as you are, don't move and don't say anything."

"Erinna w-"

"Shhh, go to sleep," she whispered and pressed her lips to his. It was not a kiss of passion but one of sleep. It would send him into a deep slumber for an hour at least.

He struggled against the power but eventually, his hold on her waist slackened, his breaths deepened and his eyes closed.

For what she was about to do, she needed him asleep and not fighting her. She wanted to see every part of what had occurred at the mountain, in hopes that a solution would open itself to her.

The bond they had just sealed had connected them body, mind and soul. It was why she had felt his pain even though he had not been projecting.

She was counting on their bond to let her into his mind without him being aware of it. Vlad was not used to having people in his mind so any wrong movement on her part could be fatal if he reacted on reflex.

She was deciding what her next step should be when it suddenly struck her: love. The best way to approach his mind was through love for that was where her actions stemmed from.

She would not attack his mind or force it to open up for her; all she needed to do was project loving and healing energy towards it. Well that was easy. A smile suddenly lit up her face as she gathered all her happy thoughts, their shared moments, their hopes and dreams into the bond and to her mate.

At first nothing seemed to be working then gradually he seemed to relax his hold on his mind and his thoughts flowed into hers the way they should. The experience was heartbreaking, awe-inducing and incredibly intimate at the same time.

His mind was dark, really dark but unlike the one other time he had forced her into his mind, the single candle that had been there no longer seemed in danger of being extinguished by the shadows.

In fact, it seemed to burn brighter, pushing back the shadows and fighting against all the tumultuous waves of darkness. It warmed her heart that even though he denied it, there was hope for him.

She did not know what the candle represented but whatever it was, she hoped it would never go out; he needed that littlest bit of light in his life.

She sharpened her inner vision and urged herself to look deeper, past the representative features of his mind to the tiny details, at the same time keeping the flow of loving energy into the bond constant.

Erinna did not want this inspection to be invasive so she did not look deep into his mind but only at the surface where whatever would be troubling him would be found. She did not believe there were any secrets her husband was still keeping from her but if there were, then he would tell her in due time.

She was about to zone in on the issue that was making his whole mind throb and his soul ache when she saw something unpleasant. There were deep cracks, fractures and rifts that were not supposed to be there on his mind.

His mind was already a mess of nature as it was but this was new and fairly recent. It was like someone had launched a hostile takeover on his mind, or attempted to anyway.

The raptures on the surface showed the struggled that had taken place as he had tried to maintain control of his own mind. Only someone very powerful could have even managed to touch his mind.

Diana.

Anger swept through Erinna and she felt her control slipping. The loving energy flowing into the bond like a drug to keep the beast sleeping ceased and she felt Dracula stir beside her.

In a millisecond, she was thrust out of his head and the gates looked and barricaded heavier than before. She knew it was not a conscious action, but a reflex action his mind had picked up along the years as an adaptation.

Her head spinned and it felt like she had been hit over the head by a steel hammer. She groaned softly but managed to dissipate the pain and spread it out across her body until it finally left her. Talk about being caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

After the physical pain had left her, she took deep breaths to calm herself. In her heart she had forgiven Diana but it seemed the fact was taking a long time to register to her mind; especially when she kept seeing the physical evidence of the havoc she had wrecked upon their lives.

When she had forced herself to let go of her anger, Erinna regained control of her emotions and managed to resume the flow of positive energy into the bond.

It took longer than before but eventually, Vlad relaxed and let her into his mind again. She gathered up as much healing energy as she could within her and directed it to the rifts Diana had left in his mind when she and Ingrid had made a team effort of trying to alter his memories.

One by one, the cracks closed, the larger ones coming together and sealing. In ten minutes, he was good as new; well not exactly but close. Her father would go into comatose if he found out Elven powers had been used to heal a vampire, she thought with a defiant smile.

With that done, Erinna moved to the reason of her travel into his mind: the issue that about his brothers. She looked closer, trying to see the individual images of what had happened at Silvercrest and what she saw broke her heart; no wonder he could not sleep.

No one else would sleep either if they thought they had left their brothers to die; or rather to eternally suffer in the heat of molten lava since the likelihood of them dying was zero to nil.

She replayed the conversation he had had with his brothers and tried to read their feelings but that was an Alexander specialty and he had yet to teach her the trick. So using her very amateur skills, she analyzed their reactions, words and auras.

What she got was a group of men who were by no means perfect but loving all the same. They had committed a lot of wrongs, a lot in their defense of their brother and many more in a state of awareness they had been in the few months after their transformation.

More important than their wrongs however was the punishment they had given themselves, the price they had made themselves pay in a desperate attempt to right their wrongs.

Of course there would never be enough penance for the blood they had thoughtlessly spilled and the lives they had recklessly taken in the months following their chain curse but what touched Erinna was their attempt to make up for the wrong they had done.

She was no judge but in her eyes, everyone deserved a second chance, especially those who showed remorse. They had vowed to never to go on any other blood baths since unlike Vlad; they had failed to control their wilder urges.

Vlad could be cruel and waste life when he wanted but that would be deliberate, the truth was he could control his feeding, hence why she was his only source of blood. His brothers however had not managed to attain that level of control and instead chose to stay away from it all just to be safe.

She saw what Vlad had talked about, how they had asked him to lock them up until he had found a way to let release them from their curse and let them rest. He had however been forced to wake them up before finding a solution when the battle at Silvercrest had turned against them.

Most of them had understood and even been grateful, thinking that the fiery lava of the volcano might be their answer to finally being able to destroy their physical bodies but how wrong they were.

As soon as Erinna had seen the breadth and width of the problem eating at Vlad's psyche, the purple and silver cords that had been appearing a lot frequently lately became visible.

She now knew what they meant, they directed her to the task she needed to be doing. So not wasting time, she grabbed onto them and found herself being whipped across several miles until she found herself facing the ruins of what had been Silvercrest.

Everything else and everyone else had been shielded from her except the seven souls she'd come for. Pain, hopelessness and surrender wafted off them in despairing waves.

Her heart clutched and she knew what she had to do. Focusing hard, she did for them what she had done for Diana. She sent wave after wave of white, loving pure energy their wave. She sent forgiveness, she sent understanding and above all she sent peace.

Their spirits were tentative at first, but bit by bit they welcomed her energy until they were hungrily grabbing it like their lives depended on it. With their reception of the pure energy she was sending their way, they were able to let go of all their own negative emotions that bound them to this plane and refused them to cross over like they wished.

With her healing energy, they were able to finally be released into the rest they had longed for so long. One by one their spirits escaped their indestructible bodies in the lava and flew up into the air.

They hovered over the mountain, circling it until they finally came to surround her.

"Wow," one of them said.

"I can see why he chose you now. Little Drac ulla might not be such a fool after all."

"Show some respect Draco. Forgive us princess, my brother has not known civilization for years," the one who seemed the leader of the group said. Erinna searched his mind for his name and found it: Jonathan.

She smiled in her spirit form to show she bore no grudges because for all his insults, she could see into Draco's aura. He did not hate Vlad; all the negative energy towards his brother was only jealousy, jealousy coming from the knowledge that he could never be better. There had been strong competition between the two of them whilst growing up but she knew if driven to it, one would give up his life for the other.