Erinna jumped away from Vlad as if he had suddenly caught flames. Scarlett fire touched her face.

"Father," she gasped.

Vlad came behind her and put his hands around her waist possessively, resting them on her stomach. In reaction, a muscle ticked in Eric's jaw and the vein at his temple looked ready to pop.

"Kind of you to join us Edward," Vlad said.

Erinna elbowed him in the ribs; he knew perfectly well what her father's name was.

"I am not joining you for anything. I'm here to get my daughter."

Erinna turned to Vlad before he said something and made the situation worse.

"I'll talk to you at midnight?" She smiled.

He didn't answer but took her hand and kissed the knuckles, his cold breath feathering her skin. Erinna's pulse staggered at the tender gesture.

She took a deep breath and did the single most painful thing she'd ever to do in her life: she walked away from her mate. Because she did not want to make a scene before the three other elves her father had brought with him, she forced herself to move forward without dragging her feet.

Her heart felt like it was shattering with each step she took. She looked back and saw that Vlad was no longer looking at her. He was standing with his back to her and the claws of his left hand embedded in the trunk of a poplar tree.

His right hand was clenched so hard and Erinna could see the rivulets of blood from where his claws were digging into his palm. His whole body vibrated with tension, she felt it through the bond and saw it in his posture. The corded muscles in his neck were taut and she knew if she were to see his eyes, they would be red with the force of trying to restrain himself.

She wanted to abort the journey and run back into his arms. For him she would forsake all else without a single thought.

"Aranel (Princess)," her father called softly.

Erinna jerked and wiped the tears she hadn't seen were falling.

"Lle nanwenuva (You will come back)," he said to her in a rare moment of sympathy.

She looked at him, her eyes full of anguish and despair that she could not mask. Heavens she didn't want to leave him. What kind of a princess did that make her?

"Antaamin sinta he lúmë (Give me a minute)," she said and ran back to where she had left Vlad.

He must have felt her coming because he met her halfway and hoisted her into the air. Her mouth clashed with his and she held tightly onto him as she kissed him like she had never kissed him before. Tears ran down her cheeks the whole time but she didn't care. She poured her everything into that kiss.

This kiss was not as tame as their last one, it was wild and out of control. It was not just about physical satisfaction but also about a spiritual hunger she knew nothing to do with. The fallen leaves around them were lifted into the air by the force of the energy pulsing between them and they began swirling in the air but neither noticed. She devoured her mate and allowed herself to be devoured by him.

Nothing else existed and no else mattered in that moment. It was just Vlad and Erinna and she wanted it to remain like that.

'Don't leave me,' she kept saying to him even though she was the one who was going.

It was so painful. Her whole chest felt splintered, like someone had taken a hammer to it.

'Don't cry,' he said, moving his mouth from her to kiss away her tears away but she couldn't stop crying.

"Don't go. Come with me," she begged, not caring that she sounded hysterical.

"No tears Erinna please," he groaned sounding pained.

She knew how he hated to see her cry. He had described it to her like a physical pain but she could not stop.

"I'm sorry, I cannot stop."

She got down from his arms and wiped her tears. He put his arms around her waist and drew her back to him.

"I already hate this and I swear if you continue to cry I'm going to tell your father to go to hell and carry you home right now."

She nodded and wiped the tears away.

He cupped her chin and used it to raise her head.

"You'll be fine. Alright?"

"Will you visit?" She asked, needing confirmation. The last time she had asked the question, he had avoided it.

He closed his eyes once and then opened them again. She knew he was debating whether to give her an honest answer or not.

"You should get going."

****

Erinna was not interested in taking the scenery or looking at the land of her people as they travelled in the illustrious chariot her father had brought. It was an ostentatious monstrosity that did nothing for her tastes but at least it was comfortable.

She was quiet and somber most of the journey and her father must have felt her need to be alone because he did not bother her.

"Ro ila sui um sui illa idhora ro a ( He's not as bad as you think he is)," she said to him after almost an hour of silent travelling.

"I know," Eric replied.

Erinna turned to her father, positively surprised by his words. Since when was Eric on team Dracula?

"You do?"

"The fact that you love him as much as you do means there must be something there to salvage."

That was a step forward and Erinna was satisfied with the answer so she left it at that. They travelled in silence for a long time, the only sound being that of the carriage. Her thoughts were already back to Vlad. Was it too soon to try and contact him already?

Before long they were in the heart of Ellingsdale. If she had expected palm leaves, welcoming arms and warm smiles, she would have been grievously disappointed but as it was, the elf princess had already prepared herself for the worst such that her people's hostility neither shocked nor surprised her.

Their pale faces and frightened eyes showed that they were only there at the command of the king and would bolt at the first chance given. They were supposed to be lining the road as was the custom of welcoming the aristocracy from a long journey but they were leaning so far away from it that anymore and they would be standing in the bushes.

They looked like they would die before having the very shadow or dust of the carriage touch them. Erinna had been treated like an infectious disease before but coming from her people, the hurt was all that much more magnified. She didn't know them personally for she had never had any contact with them but nevertheless, her love for them was as potent as that of a mother for her first born child.

The air was reeking of fear and rejection, the acid-like feeling of it making her want to wretch. Her stomach became tied in knots and her eyes itched with unshed tears for lost chances. Even when she had been trouble with Vlad's people accepting her, it had never been this bad. This hurt because these were her own and they were shutting her out.

Hushed whispers followed them and instead of bows or waves, everyone shied away from the carriage as it passed. No one met her gaze, as if making eye contact with her would instantly doom them. When she couldn't watch anymore, Erinna let go of the curtain of the carriage and let it shut away the world that wanted to shut her out.

She clasped her hands together in her lap to make them stop shaking and blinked her eyes to keep them dry. Had she made a mistake in coming? She remembered Vlad's words. He had said it all to keep her from coming but she knew there had been an underlying need to protect her.

With nothing else except his memory and the representation of their love on her neck and on her hand, Erinna drew upon their memories like a lifeline. They represented a different world, one where no one would give a leg just to not be in her presence.

Taking a deep breath and sitting up straight, Erinna made an effort to get rid of the dark cloud of negativity tying to swallow her whole. She had mended her relationship with Vlad's people, there was no reason she couldn't do it with her own. No matter how much she might repulse them.

"It'll get better," her father said quietly.

Would it?

"I wish I shared your faith father."

"No pessimism. They'll get used to you; no one can hate you forever."

The way he looked at her lent a deeper meaning to the words and Erinna realized he was talking about himself. Eric had proclaimed over and over again that he would denounce her as his daughter if she shamed him by marrying the very creature that their race was born to hate but in the end he had relented and was slowly coming to accept the situation even if he didn't like it.

"How much do they know?" She asked.

There were a number of reasons why her people abhorred her the way they did. Erinna wanted to know how much they knew if she was to exonerate herself. She had broken so many laws and taboos that she didn't even know if there was any coming back from it. Whilst engaging in a vampire-elf union was one of the worst, it certainly wasn't her only transgression. She had a lot to answer for.

Most likely giving the breath of life to non-elves, associating with vampires and merging her aura with Vlad would not go unnoticed. Not forgetting how she had also cheated death by unconventional methods when Aurora had brought her back. She had also given away her visions, a great asset for her people in exchange for her bond with Vlad.

The most horrifying one had to be the hundreds of people she had killed at Silvercrest. Elves were strictly forbidden from any passion killings and she had engaged in that without a second thought and would do it all over again to save Vlad. That she had killed to protect the very person she was supposed to kill would not go so well with the elves at all.

"Most of it, but you'll still have to come before the council and explain. They are the ones who'll decide your fate," her father answered.

Erinna was not blind to what sort of a position the situation left her father in. To support her, he'd have to go against his own people and turn his back on all his standards and values.

"I should never have come here."

"On the contrary, you did the right thing. Besides the kingdom needing you, there is so much that you don't know about your heritage. Staying with the vampire would have been a bad move, particularly because of this," he said taking her hand and caressing the dark mark that had appeared on her upper forearm whilst she had been in Silvercrest.

At first she had thought it a blood clot and had waited for it to fade away but it had only seemed to get darker. She remembered Mara being quite curious about it but her father had shut down any questions on the mark. Erinna had not thought much of it at the moment but now she opened herself to the possibility that her bruise might not just be a bruise alone.

"I had thought it only a bruise," she frowned.

"Nothing is ever as it seems."

"What are you not telling me?"

She did not like being kept in the dark. If there was something that affected her and possibly Vlad's future, she wanted to know.

"All in good time princess. You have just arrived, give your father a moment to celebrate your homecoming," he smiled softly.

It had been so long since she'd last seen him smiling that Erinna couldn't help but let go of the subject. The days had been so dark and gloomy and at times it had felt like they'd been fighting on opposite sides. It had been hard to remember her father as the man who loved her and had given most of his life to keeping her safe and not as the man who wanted to keep her from her mate.

But in that moment she was reminded of what a wonderful, gracious and kind man the man who had sired her was. Her love for him blossomed all over again and warmed her heart, the atmosphere around them and their general surroundings. She felt some of the negative energy hanging over the kingdom slip away.

"Forgive me, I'm nervous. Do you really think the council will accept me back into the kingdom?"

She didn't see it happening.

"You shortchange yourself."

"And you exaggerate my appeal," she laughed then sobered up. "I did a lot of terrible things. I don't know if there is any way of coming back from that."

"You are the one who is always telling me of second chances. If you found forgiveness for the creature Dracula, why can you not find it for yourself?"

Because it's not mine to give, she wanted to say but knew her father would not understand.

"Is there any hope?" She asked instead.

"The council can be swayed. Just be you and everything will work out perfectly."

Erinna was about to tell her father her charms were nothing to write home about but the carriage came to a stop and one of the footmen came and opened the door for her. She could see what a sacrifice it had been on his part because he was leaning away from her so hard that she feared he would injure his vertebral column in efforts to avoid physical contact with her.

"Thank you," she smiled and stepped out on her own. The footman's body language stated clear as day that there wouldn't be any hand offered.

As she stood on the ground, Erinna turned her eyes up to really look at the castle she had spent 17 years in but had never gotten the chance to take in like this.

Besides the round walls of her tower, the rest of the castle was as unfamiliar to Erinna as any old house in a foreign land would be. She knew Vlad's castle way more than she knew her father's,

Ellington House, as it was known, was very big but less daunting than Castello Dracula. Dracula's castle looked like something out of the most haunting of nightmares and horror novels.

Other than being exaggeratedly big and forbidding, it had a foul air of danger and menace to it that was not helped by its master. Just by looking at it you'd be able to tell the horrors it had seen.

The elven castle on the other hand was so different. In contrast to the grey walls of Castello Dracula, its own were painted an enchanting white that glistened in the light of approaching dawn.

It had several fairytale-like turrets stretching from different towers of the castle into the retreating darkness of the early morning. Just peaking from the back, Erinna could see her tower; beautiful, bold and unapproachable.

Due to her father's work, Erinna guessed, the castle was giving off welcoming vibes of joy, peace and healing but it all couldn't hide the underlying loss, heartbreak and the rawest anger that were a constant state of the castle.

She could see that lately, fear, depression and loathing had been added to the mix. She did not know who was responsible for the new emotions, her father or the servants but either way, she'd see it was all cleansed before she left.

"Ready?" Eric asked.

Erinna smiled and took her father's arm.

"I missed you... and this place."

"What you knew of it, you mean." The king said and Erinna detected guilt and regret in her father's voice. There was no need for it. She bore no grudge and held no resentment for him keeping her locked and bolted away from the world. He had had his reasons.

Despite her lonely memories of the place, she loved it; it was home. Besides, she had a more selfish reason for wanting to be in Ellingsdale rather than learning her heritage, seeking penance, understanding her powers and getting to know her people altogether. Her people being the keepers of the universe, guarded some of the oldest and most powerful secrets of the world.

They held in their archives, knowledge that could make or break civilization as it was known. Erinna was hoping to draw on that store of knowledge and information to find out what she could about Vlad's curse which had ultimately become her curse as well upon the consummation of their bond. Diana was gone but that did not mean the bonds of her curse were gone.

Erinna wanted to be sure that one day she would not wake up and willingly or unwillingly kill the man who had come to mean the world to her just because some curse said so. Diana had cursed Vlad to die at her hand and Erinna was going to break that curse if it was the last thing she would do.

Another curse that haunted their marriage was the curse of the union. It had not been at the forefront of her mind before because they had not been married but now they were and they had consummated the bond which ultimately meant they had triggered the dormant curse. They were now living on borrowed time, waiting for the disaster to start unfolding.

She had heard whispers of couples before her and Vlad who had broken the curse but had never heard anything concrete about what fate had befallen them. She wanted all that information so she could know what they were dealing with and what to expect.

"Princess!" A loud voice cried out and before Erinna could look up, she was engulfed in the warm chubby arms of her governess.

Memories of one of the people who had shaped her childhood brought tears to her eyes and she hugged Melissa tightly, enjoying the familiar feel of her scent and arms. Subconsciously, she sent healing and renewal to the woman.

"Melissa, it's so good to see you," she sniffed, drawing back to look at the woman.

She did not look much different but age was beginning to have its effects. Melissa was not an elf but rather a human so whilst living amongst elves could prolong her life, it could not immortalize her.

"My dear girl, look at you. You have grown up so much," Melissa said with the pride of a mother.

"It has hardly been a year Mellie," she laughed in efforts to disguise her blush.

Melissa would die if she knew just how much Erinna had 'grown'. Erinna was grateful for this one connection; the whole village had rejected her and she did not know what she would have done if Melissa had done the same also.

"It matters not, I missed you and was contemplating coming to rescue you myself."

Melissa amongst vampires? Now that was a thought. She was not repulsed by them like elves but she had inherited the resentment.

"My maid in shining armor, huh?" Erinna laughed.

"Oh yes, the king was going to lend me a steed."

They were still laughing when a ball of white feathers launched itself at Erinna.

"Hope!" She squealed, hugging the dove and breaking into a series of chirping without realizing.

It had been so long since she had seen the dove that had been her single childhood friend. The last time had been at Dracula's castle when the bird had come to give her a message so the reunion made her ecstatic. It was only when the whole room had gone silent that Erinna realized everyone was staring at her.

She quickly clamped her mouth shut, willing the crimson in her cheeks to go away and take her embarrassment with it. Her people already thought she was the very devil's spawn, she did not need them thinking she was a cretin as well. Imagine the talk: The crazy, short-of-a-few-marbles princess who talked to birds. Yeah that would go so well in restoring her place in the kingdom.

"We're not stopping you," her father said with an amused smile.

She tried to maintain her silence but she had a lot of questions for Hope.

"Why didn't you come back to see me?" she asked.

Her first days in Castello Dracula had been lonely and awful, it would have helped to have a familiar face.

Hope made a whistling sound and three little birds and a grey dove came flying in through the window. Erinna's throat dried and her eyes widened in disbelief.

"You have a family now?"