“What do you think about the request of the elves Zane?” Master Alpha Zachary asked his son.

“Does it matter, father?”

“Would I have asked if it didn’t?”

“My opinion or anyone else’s is of no consequence because in the end you will do as you please.”

Zane did not like pointless conversations and he could see this one was on its way to becoming one. Any conversation with his father was like that.

“That’s because there can be only one Alpha, you tend to forget that at times.”

Zane sighed, he wanted to go oversee the training of the new army recruits and his father was delaying him with one of his usual power plays.

“Is there anything in particular you wanted to discuss?”

“My time is coming to an end. I have a decade if not less. I need to secure your position in the pack before I die. I want to make you the master alpha.”

“That’s impossible father, Cole is the oldest and he is a Dark Wolf.”

Werewolf bloodlines had been watered down over the years due to cross breeding with humans.

When Dracula had hunted their race to near extinction, they’d had no choice but to mate with humans to restore their numbers, as a result, a lot of distinct abilities and powers had been lost over the years and most of all, the Dark Wolves had been wiped out.

Dark Wolves were werewolves who could turn any time, with no restrictions of the full moon like the others. They were gifted with powers beyond comprehension, easily making them the strongest in the tribe. Due to their importance to the race, it had been agreed that anytime a Dark Wolf emerged, he would become the Master Alpha automatically.

Zane did not mind becoming second to his half brother, it was the right thing to do for the pack anyway; Cole could protect them in ways he couldn’t.

He had thought even though his father hated his illegitimate son, he would come around when the time was right and give Cole his rightful position as Master Alpha of the packs but clearly the old man had other ideas.

“That’s where the elf princess comes in, this is the opportunity we have been waiting for. With her by your side, no one will question your position as Master Alpha, not even Collen. I’ll be damned before I let that bastard take my throne.”

“Has it occurred to you that she might not even want to marry me? I doubt anyone has even asked her opinion on all this.”

“Even a leper will be better than Dracula, the princess will be grateful for you. You heard them, she’s a Pure Being, Zane, she will bring success to our land such as never been and strengthen your position on the throne. Are you going to deny your people the chance to be fruitful?”

“No father, I’m denying our people the chance to be slaughtered. Everyone knows Dracula is obsessed with his new Countess, I heard he has even killed some of his own, over her. You are waking up a centuries old war, he won’t rest until he gets her back. Do you realise where that’ll leave our people?” Zane asked.

“You’re forgetting something Zane. The Princess is also our only chance of killing the creature, you heard the prophecy. With her on our side, Dracula is as good as dead."

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Erinna didn’t want to; she had been ignoring and avoiding him for days but now knew this could not go on for any longer. It was time for the inevitable discussion. So with a sigh of resignation, she picked up her pace, not wanting to miss him before he left the castle as he tended to do often those days.

The visit to the village had exhausted her like always, but it was worth it to see the smile on everyone’s face. The humans didn’t like her by any means but even they could not suppress the joy at having their lifelong illnesses healed. Even the two boys who she had brought back from death the previous week after the accident with her powers, were recovering nicely.

When Erinna stepped into the bedchambers she shared with Vlad, he was sitting on the bed, apparently waiting for her. His elbows were on his knees and his head bowed. Erinna used the precious moments he couldn’t see her to fully appreciate the exquisite masterpiece that was her mate...or had been anyway.

There was nothing unusual about his appearance, he had the least varied wardrobe she had ever come across. He was in his usual black leather, nothing new yet like every time she saw him, he managed to take her breath away.

His exposed forearms showcased defined biceps with zero ounce of fat. Even without his vampire abilities, he could have held his own against the strongest beings out there. His body was taut with muscle and some tension that seemed to be radiating off him. Something was bothering him.

His long dark curls spilled over his bent head, silky as ever. She didn’t have to stretch her imagination to remember their unique texture as she ran her fingers through them.

Dracula’s attraction went beyond the physical. It wasn’t confined to his dark, mysterious looks but extended to his presence. He had an air of command and confidence bordering on arrogance that seemed to make everyone else around him to shrink to shadows and as she stood there she felt it all to the tips of her fingers.

There was something about him that forced you to stop and take notice. Erinna wasn’t sure if it was the natural allure of the dark and forbidden but whatever it was it left her weak and desperately hungry every time, awakening new desires and urges.

“You’re staring, angel.”

It was the elven composure ingrained into her from birth that kept her from leaping five feet into the air and shrieking like a banshee. The bastard, he had known she was there all along. She just hoped he kept his hair bowed long enough for the blush to sink back into her skin.

She schooled her face until it was neutral but whilst controlling her expression was not difficult; her heart rate was another issue.

The pet name had brought back particularly decadent memories from their past since he happened to use it mostly when they were being intimate. Desire uncoiled in her, firing up her veins like a thick elixir. Lord, it had been too long.

Erinna get your mind on track or you will never be able to say what you came for.

There was a time when she had looked at Dracula’s body and felt special, felt like it was all hers, but now she knew better. It pained her to think just an hour after she had told him she loved him, Ingrid had had her hands all over him.

Had she traced the intricately designed tribal tattoo that covered his chest and wrapped around his right bicep like a dark vine, or kissed the scars on his back from the whipping the way Erinna herself liked to do?

She closed the door and fully stepped into the room but the moment she moved closer to him, Dracula moved to the corner of the room in a blur of colours that made her know he had used his vampire speed.

He was breathing heavily and his nails had elongated to claws that were digging into the palms of his hands. She glimpsed a feral look in his eyes before he closed them, straining for control.

“Vlad are you alr__” she asked moving towards him but he moved to the other side of the room again.

“Don’t, Erinna. Stay there.”

Erinna frowned, concern quickly turning to annoyance. If there was anyone with the right to be disgusted in the other, it was her. Why the hell was he behaving like she had a disease? She hadn’t even been going to touch him.

He saw her expression and quickly explained, “I didn’t mean it like that but you can't come close to me right now."

She frowned as she tried to decipher his meaning.

"Do you think I'll hurt you like I did at the ball again? Because I won't. I was wrong to retaliate in anger," she told him.

She regretted what she had done but she was not going to apologize when her loss of control had been brought about by his actions.

"Not you, angel. Me. I'm the one who is not in control. I don’t trust myself.”

“Then why were you waiting for me?”

“I need to talk to you.”

It was awkward having to talk to him whilst he was halfway across the room looking like he expected her to attack him any second.

“So do I.”

Hope shone in his eyes as he came to where she was and she knew that that hope would be shattered as soon as she opened her mouth.

“I’m going to be leaving soon.” She could see his mouth already opening to protest but she didn’t give him a chance, “I’m not telling you to ask for your permission. I just thought you should know.”

He seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking, a rarity for him.

“Where do you want to go?”

That had been the last thing she had been expecting. A temper tantrum at best and threats at worst but not something that made it seem like he actually understood the consequences of his actions and was ready to shoulder them.

“I don’t know yet, but I can’t stay here.”

Not when everyone around her was singing praises about him and talking of him like some kind of hero. Plus the headaches were making it difficult to reside around vampires. Who knew what would happen if one day she just snapped and did the one thing she feared most?

“Your people won’t take you back.”

And just like that the old Dracula was back.

“I know that but thank you for highlighting that to me," she said, her eyes glaring at him.

He finally moved closer to her and took her hands in his. Her fingers shook as she became reacquainted with the feeling of his flesh on hers. It was a heady feeling that made her want to suddenly forget all that was wrong between them and just jump into his arms and the heat of his body.

“This is your home Erinna, not with the elves, here with me. You don’t have to leave, not because of what happened.”

Feeling the influence of the bond, Erinna took back her hands and took a deep breath to organise her scattered thoughts.

“It’s not just because of that.”

He frowned, “I don’t understand.”

“I told you I want to take a different path from my ancestors. I want to travel and explore my powers to see how I can use them to help people. I don’t know yet just how much I can do but at least I can heal.”

Her face burned and she waited for him to laugh right in her face but amazingly it didn’t happen.

“Then I’ll come with you.”

“What?”

“I’ll come with you.”

"I heard you the first time, Vlad. Have you lost your mind? You have a kingdom to run.”

She didn’t like how they were talking like there was nothing wrong between them, almost like it was the old days when she had believed every line he had fed her like the naive fool she was.

“They’ll be fine; they survived two thousand years without me.”

“Not with the wolves attacking. Plus you must understand the reason I’m doing this is because I can’t stand to be around you anymore.” She saw his eyes flash in hurt but she forced herself to soldier on, he had to hear it all. “I can’t do it. Not while I know what you did with her. It’s all I see when I close my eyes.”

He closed his eyes and looked like he’d rather be someone else doing something else and she knew instantly whatever he had to say would leave another mark on her.

“I have to tell you something.” His voice cracked, something it had never done in all the time she’d known him and Erinna try as she did, could not fully brace herself for the impact his words would undoubtedly make.

Maybe it was intuition, maybe it was her new powers but something in her knew whatever was going to come out of his mouth was going to hurt her even more than the Ingrid business already had.

“When we last talked, I told you I didn’t do it but yesterday_”

Her heart beat faster as those words left his mouth and danced around tauntingly between them. Her lips suddenly felt dry and cracked, the headache coming back stronger.

“Just say it Vlad,” she growled, knowing her voice was not hers. She felt her eyes changing colour and the powers inside her igniting in her defence.

“I got flashes yesterday. Flashes of what happened. Of me and her.”

Her mind began swirling in a flood of thoughts that she couldn’t even begin to process let alone decipher. She wasn’t aware of any change until Vlad gasped her name. She came back to the present to find his leg twisted completely in the wrong direction.

“Just do it...”

She closed her eyes, trying to keep away the voices but not having much luck.

“You know you want to...”

Yes she did, after all, he had just annihilated whatever shred of trust that might have been left after he had annihilated the rest the other night. This doubt, this maybe-he-didn’t-do-it thought was all she had had left and ruthless bastard he was, he had selfishly taken that away too.

“Erinna.”

She head him gasp but the sound strangely empowered her and filled her veins with toxic exhilaration.

He deserved to die after everything he’d done to her. What loyalty did she owe him when he had gone out of his path to destroy her in every possible way a person could be destroyed?

“Erinna,” he tried to gasp again but his voice just irritated her and suddenly she wanted to shut him up. With a flicker of her hand, water began bubbling out of his mouth, choking him every time he tried to speak.

She felt the darkness that accompanied her new powers seize her, strengthening her and wiping away any sense of right and wrong. Right then all she cared about was getting even.

Her mind and thought processes became simplified when she was in the prime of her powers. There were no feelings or morals to complicate things, the only urge she had was to bring forth justice. And Dracula had been allowed to tread over people for a long enough time; he needed to pay, to answer for his actions.

'Erinna you have to stop, you'll hurt yourself,' she felt his voice in her head and the intimate action spoke to something in her, something that remembered that voice. This was Vlad, not Dracula.

With a flash she realised what she was doing and tried to withdraw her powers and influence but she was far too gone, it was the powers controlling her now and not the other way around.

'Vlad?'

'I'm here love, talk to me.'

‘I c-an’t, I can't stop.’

Something much larger than herself was in control.

‘Yes you can, focus on me.’

He lied to you, a disembodied voice penetrated her mind or was it her own voice? She was not sure.

‘You lied to me,’ she said to him telepathically.

‘When Erinna? I’ve never lied to you, angel you know that. Don't let them do this to you. I love you.'

She didn’t want to say it but it seemed some part of her was in control.

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Now listen to me, we’re going to try to do it like last time alright? I’ll try to help you release the negative energy. These powers are consuming you, you will kill yourself. You have to let the anger go.’

‘No.’

‘You can kill me if you want, but not like this, not without knowing you’re doing it. It’s her Erinna; she’s doing it all over again, trying to use you.’

‘What should I do?’

'Come back to me.'

She was about to tell him she did not know how to do that when she was hauled from inside her head to the present where Vlad was....kissing her? She pushed him off her because how dare he?

"I know you hate me right now angel but this connection is the only thing anchoring you right now. Hit me later if you want but don't fight me on this."

"So you think I'll just let you-"

The angry statement did not leave her lips because Vlad was kissing her again. She lifted her knee to emasculate him but he picked her knee and shoved her back into the wall, showing none of his usual finesse.

The fight for dominance was long and brutal and she would she would have liked to say she was strong but nearly one week of deprivation had her on the brink of combustion and the bond just multiplied the fire. But if this was going to happen, it was at least going to happen on her terms.

Using her newfound powers, Erinna clumsily teleported them across the room and shoved him into a painting against the wall, quickly following and picking up where they’d left off.

Her body was throbbing and thrumming with desperate need. Using her claws, she rent her dress apart, giving him more access to her burning flesh. Vlad was no fool, he took the hint.

He moved at vampire speed, throwing her roughly on the bed and following. His body between her legs, he began kissing her, his fangs teasing her neck and making her shiver but this was taking too long for her. She was impatient and ravenous for the satisfaction that came with his touch.

He didn’t flinch when she raked her claws over his back, ripping both cloth and skin. He only seemed to get even more excited, kissing her harder and more wildly. She shifted them and switched their positions until he was beneath her. She ripped off his tunic and attacked his neck.

“Erinna...”

The sight of her with black veins and that blood red hair should have scared him but it only turned him on watching her with every part of her alive like that. It was a rare brand of wine he could not resist even if he had tried. The flames were not on her skin this time, but he knew if he made tge slightest wrong move, they would be back.

“Did she ever make you feel this good?”

“Erinna don't. ”

He didn't want to talk to Ingrid when he was this close to Erinna. There was something almost blasphemous about it.

She moved against him and sucked the skin at his neck in alternating painful and pleasurable nips.

“Was it ever this good with her?”

He didn’t answer, instead trying to kiss her mouth but that only made her angrier.

“Answer me,” she said darkly, eyes glowing, the words accompanied but a rumble of thunder outside even though the sky had been clear earlier.

“No.”

“I’m the only one who can ever make you feel this way, Vlad.”

Beneath the anger was pain and self-doubt and he hated that he had been the one to put it there.

“I know,” he groaned.

Knowing of the restless energy that was moving through her veins, Vlad did his best in the next couple of hours to help settle her but it was not easy when everything was a power struggle. Each one of them was trying to exhert his/her will on the other and by the time the energy burned out of her, Erinna was exhausted.

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I'm sorry, this was a poor representation of what actually happened but I didn't know how to express it in a pg13 manner so my young readers you're going to have to bear with me on this one.

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