Pain.

For a long time, that was all that Vlad could register or feel. It was around him, it was inside him and it was him. Days seemed to fade in and out but there was no urgency, for time seemed to be the only thing he had. When his mind finally came together, during the remodeling of his body, that was when his consciousness returned and he suddenly remembered there was something he needed to do.

Erinna.

He tried to jerk up but the infinitesimal parts of his body protested at the action.

"Don't, give yourself time." A familiar voice that he would have recognized as Alexander had he been in the best condition, cautioned.

He tried to voice out his worries, to communicate to his right hand man that he needed to get his wife but the strength and words eluded him. Pain, so much pain and darkness. He had no concept of time but finally, a day came when he could finally open his eyes and see what was around him.

A stark fear gripped him as he realized he was in the same tomb that he had been trapped for two thousand years.

No.

He mentally recoiled as images flashed inside his head: Diana, the curse, the hunger, the debilitating pain, the nothingness, existing in a world that did not see him.

"Hey, I'm here," a calm voice said.

Alexander put a calming hand on his chest. Some calm returned to The Count as he noticed a familiar face. He had never been that glad to see his right hand man before but in that moment, he could have kissed Alexander.

He tried to speak but choked.

"I'm going to give you my blood now. Don't try to talk yet."

Alexander let down his fangs and cut open his wrists but when he brought it to The Count's lips, Dracula turned his head away. The scent of the fresh blood after hours if not days of fading in and out of consciousness called him with a strength that could not be diluted. His veins stood out in protest and his fangs descended but he dared not take the offering given to him.

"You need to feed," Alexander said softly.

"Erinna--"

"Will understand. If you don't feed, I swear I will hack you to pieces myself."

Vlad cut the artery on his own wrist because he knew at that point, nothing would come out of the veins. A pathetic amount of blood that would by no means nourish him but rather help him clear his dry throat, oozed out. He sucked it, heavily disliking the taste because for all intents and purposes it felt like eating regurgitated food.

"Two days and you already feel like you are in charge," he said to Alexander when he could talk.

"Not two days. Two weeks."

"Two weeks?" The Count shot up from the bed...or not.

Narrowed, red eyes settled on an unaffected Alexander.

"You put me in a coffin?" He glared.

"It was convenient, okay? Your parts were...all over the place," Alexander said uncomfortably.

"Where is Erinna?"

"Where she was three months ago, one week ago and where she is today," Alexander said bitterly.

He understood Alexander's anger but it was misdirected and they did not have the time to pout until Erinna was next to him where he could be assured she was safe.

"I need to bring her home."

"Not in this condition." His right hand man shook his head.

His insolence spiked up Dracula's anger.

"Tell me what to do again and that will be the last thing you ever say."

"I'll let that threat scare me when you can actually move more than your lips."

Vlad tried to move to prove him wrong but all his organs refused to cooperate and unrealistic pain shot through him from head to toe. He gritted his teeth in frustration and settled back into his coffin, keeping his face expressionless. He was an invalid but he was not going to be a whiny one either.

"I have ways, Alexander," he said calmly.

"Let us skip the routine. You have threatened me, it failed to work and now I will do what I want. You need blood and I'm going to see that you drink it. I will tie you down, shove an opener into your mouth and slash wrists over it if I have to."

It was few times that Alexander got bossy with him but Vlad also knew nothing could dissuade him on those times. If Alexander decided he would have his way, he would have it, no matter how lad punished him in the future for it. But in this instance, his right hand man was right. He needed to feed if he was going to rise from his deathbed.

"Alright. I'll drink but only from you and Alex."

He thought this would have placated the younger vampire but Alexander seemed to get even angrier, stopping shot and drawing his head back in disbelief.

"Do you even know what happened to you? Alex and I will not be enough to get you on your feet even if you drained us dry!"

Vlad sighed, getting tired of the conversation. He just wanted to rest.

"Fine then. What do you suggest?"

"I have gathered people of power. We have three witches, a woodland nymph, Armando and his brothers, thirteen shifters and thirty of our strongest vampires. I scratched off the dogs we have in custody because I knew you would not be interested."

He had been right about that.

"The witches agreed to this?" Vlad asked in surprise. Except for Miya, no witch had ever wanted to associate with him.

At the thought of that, another vortex of pain, this time not physical. Miya. She was gone and last to him forever. She was one of the few people who had been his campus in dark times when even he, had not known who he was. She had continued having faith in him when he had deserved none of her sympathies and now he would never see her again.

He would never get to tell her how much he appreciated her, how much he loved her. During her lifetime, he had thought she was one of those people he tolerated because she could do something for him but he was realized that was not the case. Lord, he hoped she knew. She had to know that she was the only mother he had ever known.

Regret settled within him as he wished for the impossible. If only he could get a second chance... he would lay down the world right at her feet. Hell, if she asked for the sun, he would die getting it for her. How had he taken her for granted like that? Vlad closed his eyes and shut out the feelings before the agony consumed him.

Miya had once said he felt things more than other people and in that moment he realized it was true. The pain of loss lacerated at his insides, clawing him raw until he wanted to retch all over the ground. Only Alexander's voice as he spoke brought him back, recentering him again and making him remember that other than the dead, he had the living to worry about.

"Only the dark ones. I bribed them," Alexander said.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not. Just don't kill them please, aside from you getting another two thousand year old curse; Barbecue Princess will give me the tan of the ages."

"Don't call her that."

"I am joking. I miss her," Alexander sighed with longing.

"So do I. We will go get her tonight."

"After you feed right?" Alexander asked as if what he had planned was a normal feeding session. It was a blood fest and even though he would rather have had a very specific neck with a very specific taste, Vlad found himself looking forward to it. He was tired of being weak.

"Bring them in," the Count said wearily.

"Alright. Do you have a preference? Who do you want to start with?"

"Elf."

"Very funny. I will bring the witches because at least if you kill them, they will not be a great loss to society."

"I thought you did not want to get cursed," Vlad lifted an amused eyebrow.

"I don't but I don't think anyone particularly care for these ones. I found them hiding in the forest."

"Cast out by their own," Vlad concluded.

"Yes. So I will bring them in first and then the shifters. We will progress to humans when you are more in control."

Vlad tried to nod his head but the action hurt so much that he ended up closing his eyes. To his credit, Alexander did not mock him for his weakness but instead turned to leave. He was almost at the end of the opening of the tomb when Vlad recalled something.

"Alexander," he called.

His right hand man stopped.

"Yes?"

"These donors of yours...are they male?"

Alexander turned to look at his with a confused expression.

"You don't drink from men."

It was true, he had never liked it. Blood drinking was closely tied to sexual intimacy and whilst Vlad was not adverse to male lovers, his experiences as a human made him shy away from those of his sex. Being in close proximity to anyone he did not like brought back negative memories, but especially if the person was male.

It took him back to the days when he was a toy to be traded to all his father's friends for their pleasure. There had been women too but at least the women had pretended to be kind, flirting with their eyelashes in hopes to get more than the cursory touches that his father's whip demanded he give them. With the men there had been no kindness, genuine or otherwise. It had just been torture and cruelty.

When he had become a vampire, he had realized that drinking from a man awakened the same feelings of disgust, pain and fear and he had dropped the practice as quickly as he had picked it. He could take someone's blood to read their thoughts but not more than that. Alexander knew of his aversion to feeding on men but did not know the reason for it.

"I told Erinna if I fed from someone who was not her, it would be a man."

"You two and your vows, I will never understand. But stop torturing yourself, you are hurt, she will understand. Even humans get their favorite food when they are sick."

Vlad opened his mouth but Alexander cut him off, "Do not say little tiger is your favorite food. Her and her delectable veins are not here so you will have to make do with this humble meal that I'm presenting to you."

And so the night began.

Vlad steadily fed on all the donors Alexander brought him until mid-day the next day. He took some time to rest because honestly, if he took any more blood, he would just become a tick.

By sundown the following day, his strength was back and he felt like he could stand. His body was breaking down the blood quickly, channeling it into healing so they resumed the feeding again. He was in the middle of casting away the nymph he had been feeding on when Alexander burst into the tomb. Vlad was glad for the interruption.

The woman had been reacting in ways that had made him uncomfortable. He had not released endorphins into her body when he had taken her blood to curb her sexual stimulation but because he also had not wanted to hurt any of his donors that day, he had taken care not to ravage any of their necks. Somehow this message translated to her as a seduction.

"We have a problem," Alexander said, catching the swaying woman who Vlad had cast away by reflex. "What's wrong with her?"

The woman was dizzy with lust and her eyes heavy-lidded with desire. Full lips were parted in invitation and smooth cheeks tinted with the flush of desire. Her blood was flowing close to the surface in her state of excitement. Like any woman in the prime of her arousal, she looked delectable but all her desire made him, was uncomfortable and Vlad looked aside, not that it did any good.

Her scent hung thick on the air, the pungent smell mixing with that of her blood. It was fairly intoxicating and Alexander's nose flared as he took notice. Obviously, the man had never been near Erinna, Vlad thought. The nymph was good but simply nothing could compare to her who was his.

"Take her away," Vlad declared because he knew if she continued to look at him like her past, future and present, he would snap her neck even though his intentions had started well.

"Later," Alexander said, sitting the woman down and turning back to the Count. "We have a problem," he repeated.

"You have already said that, what you haven't actually done is state what the problem is."

"Little tiger is here."

Dracula froze. Excitement warred with joy together with dread. His body which had been so close at the brink of death came to life again. Erinna was coming back to him, of her own free will, without any begging or pushing from his part. The business with Miya tainted his excitement to see her but ultimately, his better feelings won. God, he had missed her.

"Where is she?"

"She went to the stables to leave her horse there but she should be walking into the castle right about now."

Vlad did not wait to hear the rest; he was out of the tomb like an arrow. He ran so fast that like a whirlwind, he was inside the castle, waiting for her at the bottom of the steps in the foyer. He straightened his wind ruffled hair and hoped he did not smell like something that had been stashed in a coffin for too long- which he had been. Damn Alexander.

The doors opened and his heart lurched, that once in a while beat that he got when Erinna was around. It was like she channeled life into him, revived him from any state of lifelessness until he just breathed and lived for her.

When the guards opened the doors for her and she saw him, she froze in the doorway and Vlad took her moment of distraction to fully take her in. Her hair was messy from her journey, it was wild, tangled and all over the place but even in her disheveled state, she was still the most beautiful person her had ever seen. She looked wild and untamed. That hidden passion that he loved was shining from the depths of her eyes.

Something was different, he could not quite grasp it yet but it was almost like she was... more alive? The idea was stupid but she seemed to be so engorged and full of life and light, it was pouring out of her and he basked in the glory. Her skin always emitted a translucent light but this time she was glowing. She was so beautiful and all his. How had he become so lucky?

She began moving towards him and he was glad because heavens, he could not have lifted a finger. Caught and transfixed in the web of her beauty and general goodness, Vlad was at her mercy. He was so afraid to touch her. After so long without her, he hungered for her touch, for her skin, her voice, her body, her presence.

He was going to crush her, he just knew it. Either that or he would rip her into shreds and burrow under her skin so he could never be separated from her again. The intensity of his emotions frightened him, and clenched his fists, hoping his fangs stayed in control. He could not ruin this. He was a civilized vampire and civilized vampires did not think of shredding into their wives.

"Hey," she smiled when she reached him.

Vlad's heart soared and his veins thrummed with life. That smile... he would sell all he held dear to see it every day of his life.

He was about to say 'Hey yourself' when he caught it. She had been around elves he knew, and it was to be expected that she would smell like them. But there was that one distinct scent, the one Vlad had caught at the dinner table in Elvis' castle, it now taunted him from every pore Erinna possessed.

He probably would have endured it if it had just been her hands but the man's scent, his very essence and spiritual signature was imprinted on her waist, her back, her shoulders and heavens help him, her lips. Vlad reared back, crashing onto the banister behind him.

Confusion, betrayal and pain swam hit him from all angles. Thoughts that did not make sense swam through his head, making him feel dizzy and weak. Nightmares that he fought every day to keep at bay descended on him until he was no longer sure if he was even awake or still sleeping. He tried to breathe but he had not needed to breathe ever since he had turned so the sound that came out of his mouth was a pathetic gasp that resembled the final cry of a dying whale.

There was an explanation, he told himself. There had to be. But he also knew what it took to leave that kind of imprint on someone. No friendly touch could mark someone like that. Only the strongest of emotions- pain, love, lust and anger could leave someone's essence on another and Demon because that was what Vlad was calling him now, had left himself on his wife.

"Vlad?" Erinna called him, stepping closer to him.

He gritted his teeth and fought not to recoil as her hand landed on his chest in what was supposed to be a soothing touth but felt like burning coils on his skin. Her new happiness no longer seemed that much shocking if this was what had been keeping her in Ellingsdale.

A part of Vlad wanted to lash out, forget that, every part of him wanted to lash out. He wanted to rail at her and yell until her ears bled but driving her into the arms of his rival was the last thing that he wanted. He had meant it when he had said he would wait on the last crumbs of her table if that was all she had for him. But God, it hurt. It hurt so much.

His chest burned with the betrayal, betrayal that was all on his head. He had made fun of the elf when he had met him but really, it was a no brainer when they were put together. Demon had it all. He was brave, he was kind, a good leader, he listened to Erinna, he did not harbor her friends in the dungeons and torture them at all kinds of hours and he certainly had never been anyone's whore.

"I uhm..."

He closed his eyes and prayed for guidance because he suddenly did not know what to say.

Why did you betray us like this?

"You have blood," Erinna said and wiped the corner of his mouth with her thumb.

He trembled from her touch and finally forced himself to open his eyes.

"Welcome home," he finally managed to smile.

"Thank you."

They were quiet, none of them saying anything for a while. When Vlad had pictured their reunion, it had been nothing like this. A few missing clothes perhaps, a lot of touching and probably a little biting if he was lucky but not awkward silence.

"Vlad there is something I need to talk to you about," Erinna said and Vlad just knew what she wanted to talk about.

This was it. She was going to leave him for Deacon or maybe confess her feelings.

"Later," he swallowed.

"I'd rather-"

"Not now, angel. Please."

Call him a masochist but he was going to prolong the torture of not knowing if that was what it would take for him not to get the confirmation from her own lips.

"Okay," Erinna agreed but there was a confused frown on her face.

He forced himself to lean down and kiss her cheek, "Go take a bath. I will meet you in the kitchen for supper."

🛀🛀🛀🛀🛀🛀

Vlad was gone before Erinna could convince him to stay.

He knew.

She did not know how he knew but he did. She had seen it in his eyes the moment he had made the connection. In his unawareness, he had transferred the pain back to her. A part of her was glad because this was the first time she had felt their bond ever since the night of her transformation and another part of her was hurt because of the pain he was going through. If only he had let her explain. But it had been almost like he didn't want to hear it, like he dreaded getting the confirmation of something calamitous.

She made a move to follow him but then stopped as she realized what must have chased him away. The night Cole had touched her; Vlad had washed her to remove his scent from her skin, same with Derek. That was why he had told her to take a bath.