When Vlad returned to his chambers after the hunt that he had gone on with his animals in an effort to exhaust the rage inside him, he expected a confrontation with his wife, perhaps some resentment and a couple of accusations. What he had not foreseen was to find her packing.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, his voice coming out sharper than he had meant to.

She did not seem surprised by his presence and did not even look up as she usually did when he entered a room. The brush off rubbed him the wrong way.

"Packing." No anger or even disappointment in her voice. Come to think of it, there was no emotion in it at all. It chilled him more than her wrath would have done.

"That's obvious, angel. Why are you packing? Where are you going?"

This time she finally looked up at him, still holding a nightgown she had been folding.

"You made your decision." She shrugged. "Now, I'm making mine."

Now that he could see her face, it was surprisingly clear of tears and void of all emotions, just like her voice. It was so unlike his temperamental and tempestuous wife that for a moment he hesitated, unsure on how to proceed. The last time that Erinna had looked at him with this coldness and blankness of expression was when he had toyed with the lives of her maids to try and control her. It hadn't ended well then and he had a feeling it wouldn't end well now either.

But for all their arguments and disagreements, she had never left him. That she would do so because he had let his anger get the better of him where Alexander was concerned annoyed him.

"You're leaving me?" He asked, the fury that he had managed to bury struggled to rise to the surface again, slipping free of his control.

"No, I'm not leaving you Vlad and yes, before you ask, I still love you. But right now it's difficult for me to be civil to you so it's better if sleep in the guest wing."

The reply should have placated him but it only enraged him more, taunting the beast within him. It might have taken him three hours to see that he might have gotten a little overzealous with his punishment for Alexander but clearly violence was the only language the man understood. Now he would think twice before going against Vlad's instructions. For Erinna to go and sleep alone because of what had been a rational movement on his part...

"You care about him that much?"

Erinna's mouth opened and closed multiple times.

"You are going to be so blind as to think, even for a moment that this is about Alexander?" She finally managed to say, getting over her speechlessness.

Vlad did not fancy being called stupid, even if it was in so many words.

"Then who else?"

Last time he had checked, there was only one vampire that he had disemboweled that night. One vampire who his wife was willing to leave him in order to avenge.

"This is about you, Vlad. I have tried being your moral campus in the past and I see now that that was ignorant and even arrogant of me. The choice of who you become is in your hands. You made one of those choices tonight."

It should have filled him with relief that to know that he was no longer being held to a higher standard of morality but it just seemed like she was giving up on him. And he didn't want that damn it, he could be a better vampire. He did not need allowances or free passes. But he could not seem to be able to set aside his anger and say it.

"And your choice is to leave? To run away from me?"

A sour expression came on her face.

"I'd like to believe if I truly wanted to run away from you, I'd do a much better job than going to the next wing."

"Why not just go to Alexander since you care about his feelings so much? You certainly obey him more than me."

"Continue to do that. Cast blame to keep from taking a look in the mirror."

"I'm casting blame? Erinna, you betrayed me. By all rights I should-" He cut himself off, releasing he was wading into the dangerous waters of saying things he would regret the moment they left his mouth. But she was his wife for a reason, reading him was what she did best.

She narrowed her eyes at him, irritation sparking in their depths. Finally some emotion.

"You should what? Disembowel me too? Punish me too? I am not your puppet. I have never forced you to do anything and I expect the same courtesy from you. When I told you I would not give up on freeing you, I meant just that."

"And I told you I don't want you meddling, it's my life." He swiped the glass of water on her bedside table to the floor telekinetically but it did not soothe his temper.

"No, Vlad, it's my life. You'll be dead. I'm the one who will have to live with the knowledge that I killed you. I will have to tell you child why their father is not around."

And if he lived, he would just end up turning into a monster who ate his own mate. How would he explain that to their child? If he didn't kill the child too. From Damian's last letter, the man had succumbed to a madness that had seemed to not be able to distinguish lover from enemy. There was no way he could risk that. Better their child be left with Erinna who was the better parent out of both of them.

Vlad strode to the bed, grabbed the nightgown she held in her hands and thrust it in the case.

"Vlad what are you doing?"

He picked the closed case and returned it to the topmost shelf in the closet and locked it there. With the threat of her desertion gone, he turned to face his wife, his hands folded over his chest and his expression calm.

"You're not going anywhere. If you're going to be angry, you can do it right there in our bed, next to me."

This time all the anger that he had been seeking in his wife came out. Her eyes blazed with ire, making them glow as if they had been lit within. Her hair crackled, gaining a life of its own as it blew behind and around her face. Combined with her flashed cheeks and the glare of ages that she was giving him, Vlad found it hard to be terrified by her anger.

No, he was not terrified. He was aroused.

"Didn't you hear a word I said? I don't want to be around you. The only thing I see when I look at your hands is the blood of a man we both consider a close friend, someone who was only trying to help you."

Alexander was the last thing on his mind now. His predatory instincts had locked on a target and would not be distracted until he had conquered.

"Then maybe I should give you a reminder of what else these hands can do."

His eyes turned sinister with primitive pleasure as he stalked her. Her glare changed and worry came onto her expression but she stood her ground and did not take a step back as he encroached on her personal space.

"Vlad what are you-"

He wrapped a hand around her waist, tugged her into his chest. Erinna tumbled into arms with a gasp and he took the chance to slip his tongue into her mouth. Nothing could have described the feeling of finally tasting her again, of having her at his mercy. Well, maybe not the latter but soon. The adrenaline driven by his anger woke up his bloodlust and he all but devoured her, ravaging her lips with a focused intensity that blurred everything else.

Sweet heavens, she was delectable.

He walked her backwards, making her tumble onto the bed. He followed her, not breaking the kiss. His blood roared with the desire to possess and conquer. He wanted to mark her again, drench her in his scent and leave his marks all over her for all to see, for her to know who she belonged to and understand that she could not leave him. Not ever and not for a minute.

His hands were good at more than just violence and he was going to show her.

Vlad's body shook with the force of his desire. His hands went to his wife's dress, rending it in half and exposing her chest to his hands. So beautiful, all of her. He just needed to remind her how much she wanted him, how good they were together and then she would stop looking at him like he was a killer of puppies. So he had gone too far with Alexander but so what? It had been provoked and well justified.

Vlad was so focused on kissing his wife that he did not notice something was horribly wrong until scalding pain burned through the haze of his desire. Every part of him that was in contact with her was scorched and parts of his clothes melted again his skin. He drew back with a hiss, leaping from the bed.

"What the hell?" He roared between gritted teeth, quickly getting rid of his clothes before they solidified against him.

A glance at the bed got rid of the cloud of desire that had been enveloping him and he winced. It was like being doused with a bucket of cold water. As if this situation was not bad enough already. He just had to go there.

Angry could not begin to describe his wife then. Gone was the cute, harmless irritation that had aroused him. In its place was a dark, potent fury that stained her face with black veins and lit her eyes with flames. Her anger spilled into their surroundings, knocking things over and sending rumbling thunder across the sky.

"Erinna..."

Would she even understand the expression 'calm down' when she was like this?

Her voice when it came was not as angry as he had expected. It was actually really quiet. The only clue to her true feelings were her eyes which looked as if they were doing their best to give him a one way ticket to his sister's realm.

"Five minutes ago, the only thing between us was your poor treatment of your friend and your stubborn desire to die. Now you would touch me against my will?"

She hadn't resisted. He would never have touched her against her will. Vlad liked to think he was more honorable than that, at least where she was concerned. But you tried to manipulate her using her body, his mind inserted unhelpfully.

He closed his eyes and raked his ran through his hair. This was quickly spinning out of control and if he didn't act quickly, there would be nothing to salvage out of this night. He should let her leave. But everything in him fought against them parting like this. He would go out of his mind with worry if Erinna was out there angry with him.

"I can't let you go knowing that you're angry at me."

Clearly that was the wrong thing to say. Her words were sharp and acerbic when they came and were followed by a spark of lightning across the sky.

"Despite the precedence that you have set Vlad, not everything is about you. You kidnapped me from my father's house, forced me to live here against my will, beat me when I did something you didn't like, used the lives of other to force my submission and took my blood without asking. You did all that because it pleased you, because you loved me and because you could not live without me." The last statement was spoken with derision that cut through Vlad's chest, piercing his heart in a way that made him clutch his chest.

"Somehow, despite all that I found a man beneath all that who I could fall in love with. And I do love you, Vlad. More than I thought one person could love another. But you hurt me tonight and I need it to be about me for once. I don't want to sleep next to you tonight and you can force it if you want because you're good at that but I would rather you didn't. Can you not be Count Dracula tonight and be the man I love and honor that?"

If Vlad had been eviscerated, it would have hurt less. Why would Erinna mention that? Why go back to their dark and tumultuous beginnings when he had done his best to put them behind them?

But there was nothing he could do so he nodded his head and left her.

🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰

Alone, Vlad did not know how to deal with his pain. He could not hurt or take it out someone else, not after the way Erinna had looked at him. Like he was the most repulsive thing she had ever seen. And after what he had done to her, how could he even argue? Hurting Alexander had been justified but touching Erinna like that...

The shame, anger and regret inside him built up and stroked the fires of bloodlust inside him. It roared and raged inside his skin until staying still was no longer an option. His eyes burned painfully as they bled over to red, the urge to tear into something, strong and undeniable. Sweet universe, he needed her. She was the only person who could have kept this sort of darkness at bay.

Standing alone at the pinnacle of the highest watchtower of his castle where no one could have seen him, Vlad bent over and dug his claws into his thighs, guttural sounds he could have neither understood nor interpreted, leaving his throat. The pain did nothing to distract him or exonerate him from the catastrophe he had set into motion. He could still see images of what he had done and feel the weight of that knowledge.

One last growl left his throat and he jumped off the turret in the darkest minutes before dawn. The fall was long and would have been fatal for a mortal but he hit the ground running. He took off at vampire speed, running rounds around his central province .Just as the day was breaking; he got to the ocean, his skin already burning and sizzling, adding burns to the ones he had received from his wife.

Quickly, he jumped into the salty, icy cold waters, working against the tide that sort to wash him ashore. He swam out into the ocean, using his vampire speed, strength and endurance to streamline his body. Unlike most creatures, he did not need to breathe and could survive underwater for as long as he liked.

When he was so far into the ocean that all he could see was water around him, Vlad dove deep, using what remained of his waning powers in the light of the day to get to the bottom of the ocean. The pressure was brutal and the cold unforgiving. Debris cut into his skin and he bumped into several shoals of fish that tore into him but the pain never registered.

As the sun crested in the sky, every beast in the deep followed the scent of blood he left behind until they had him well and truly surrounded. He welcomed them, reveling in every fight they gave him. Here they were no rules. Just monster versus monster. Predator against predator. This was where he belonged, not with decent people like Erinna.

As his powers fully drained with the rising sun, he became more ferocious, his survival instincts fueling desperation he had not known in a long time. The water around him turned red with his blood and that of his adversaries. He fought with the sea creatures surrounding him, all of which wanted a piece of him. With no weapon, his body was his only defense and he stretched it to its maximum capacity, every claw and fang wrecking damage where it went.

He fought them until he could fight no more. Until there was little of him to fight with. They tore into him ruthlessly and every gash felt like relief. For that little moment, there was no space for guilt or shame, just the urgency of his impending doom.

He gave himself up to them, chunks of hi flesh drifting into the sea, some becoming dinner to those who had fought so valiantly for the honor. They decimated his body until there was nothing left, neither bone nor flesh. Suddenly, a strange peace and calm settled over him. With the violent death of his body, everything became quiet and his guilt became inconsequential.

All he could do was float.

At sunset like he knew it would, his body began coming together again. Unlike a magical death like the one he had been dealt with by Lierian, a physical death did not take long to heal. The immortality curse that he had gained from Enai's death demanded that he not die but wake up every sunset to face the monster that he was.

Like so many times over the countless years of his life, the curse called every piece of his flesh from the belly and teeth of every animal that had partaken of him. His bones were summoned from the depths of the ocean and his blood sucked back into the sack of his flesh. Every hair, nail and tooth was restored. Back together again like nothing had ever happened. What a joke.

Vlad rose from the water and let the tide wash him onto the beach. With his body reserves depleted so heavily, he knew he would not be able to go far without becoming a danger to all those he came across so he summoned his familiar. It didn't take long for Alex to come.

"Not interested," he said to the lion who was giving him a disapproving look. Despite their hatred for each other, his familiar and his right hand man seemed to share a desire to lecture him.

He beckoned for Alex to come closer then grabbed the lion's mane and fed. Although Alex's blood was very powerful and always restored his strength on account of them being familiars, Vlad avoided taking it at all costs. He preferred not to still be picking lion hairs from his teeth a week after feeding. But with Alexander out of commission and probably still pouting about his impromptu surgery and Erinna angry at him, there were not many options left.

When he set aside his familiar, Vlad stretched up. He felt better and his head was clearer. He opened his bond with his wife to gauge her emotions. No anger, no resentment, just resignation and acceptance. Acceptance that he had been right or acceptance that she was married to a madman? Whatever the answer, he would find out and they would solve this once and for all.

****************

Well, things did not go quite as well as Vlad had planned. His wife didn't talk to him that night. Or the night after. Whenever he got in the room, she would leave, her eyes refusing to give him even a hint of where her head was at. But she did not see Alexander either, rather spending her time with Lierian or Tristan so at least one thing had been achieved by their...disagreement. After four days, Vlad decided he had given her enough time to torture him with her silence.

On the fourth night of her silent treatment, Vlad decided he was done being ignored by her. He went to their chambers where he knew she was. The moment he came through the door, she rose from the bed and tried to stride past him to the door but Vlad caught her arm.

"We need to talk."

"Did you make things right with Alexander?" She asked.

Vlad suppressed the annoyance the question stirred inside him. He might have gone about his right hand man's punishment the wrong way but he had been justified in what he had done. Alexander had blatantly disobeyed his command.

Vlad turned her to face him, cupping her jaw in his hands and forcing her to look into his eyes.

"I'm not here about, Alexander."

Erinna turned her head away but used his grip on her jaw to turn it back, making her look into his eyes so that she could see he meant what he said.

"What happened four nights ago... it will never happen again. I was wrong."

He let his feelings flow through the bond, to let her see how much it was tearing up inside to know that he had been the one to touch her in a way that he would have killed other men for.

Erinna looked down and was silent for a long time. Uncertainty and fear that he might have ruined things forever made Vlad want to flee but he stood and waited for her verdict. Finally she nodded.

"I'm sorry for bringing up the past."

Memory of the pain in her eyes when she had brought up everything he had done to her brought back the raw agony he had done everything to shed in the last week.

"You said nothing but the truth."