"Perhaps I should just leave you," Vlad said to Erinna.

They had stayed in the bedroom they had been given where there was a mirror so that if Aurora tried to reach them, they would not miss her. Alexander and the others had gone exploring the sand dunes and the River Nile so it was just them.

"There is no need to worry, Aurora wants to see you as much as you do," she assured him, putting her hand on his.

"It's been four thousand years. I don't know what to say to her." He admitted.

They were seated in the circular bath that was sunk in the middle of their bedroom. It had the best healing salts that Erinna found soothing on her aching muscles. Vlad was leaning against the wall and she was sitting astride him, her arms around his neck as they enjoyed the serene night.

The servants had brought lamps and candles to their room since their energy had disrupted Horus' system of wireless power. Erinna felt guilty for it but was secretly glad to return to what was familiar. The dancing flames of the lamps casting eerie shadows on the wall comforted her and made her feel at home.

"On that note, I should probably warn you that she is pregnant."

Vlad's eyes flashed red. "She's what?"

"Pregnant. You're going to be an uncle." She teased him with a smile.

"I'm going to kill that bastard, thinking he can just take advantage because I can't reach him."

"You do realize our souls will probably end up under Hakim's care when we die? Are you sure you want to antagonize him?" She said mildly, amused by his protectiveness.

"I don't care, he should not have touched my sister."

"She's happy, be happy for her as she is for us."

He still looked disgruntled so Erinna sought to distract him. She moved to kiss him but just before their lips touched, he turned his head away with a pained groan.

"Ginger, angel."

"But I really want to kiss you."

"Then go and wash your mouth first."

The first time that he had refused to kiss her after she had eaten ginger cookies; she had thought he was doing it to get back at her for refusing to kiss him soon after he fed. But after the next four times, she now knew he was serious in his conviction to never get anything ginger flavored near his tongue. The way he went on though, you would think it was toxic to him.

"It doesn't even harm you, Vlad."

"The taste is vile." He maintained.

"How come you never complain about it in my blood?"

"Your circulatory system and digestive systems are two very different things. What you eat has little effect on how you taste, at least blood wise." He turned his head to the side to nip her wrist.

"So everyone tastes the same?"

He frowned. "Humans taste the same, especially if they are getting adequate nutrients. What sets someone apart is this..."

His hand went to the bottom of her stomach where it felt like all the most potent energy in her body rested, be it power or arousal. He trailed his fingertips from the dark, prominent vertical line under her navel, up her distended stomach to her sternum. The liquid fire of her provoked power followed the path of his fingers, coming to settle around her chest, close to the surface.

"Power?" Erinna finished for him, her throat dry and skin feverish with the need to press closer to him. His red eyes reflected the hunger that she felt inside her body from his seemingly innocent touch.

"And spirit." He dipped his head and kissed her jaw, teasing the skin between his teeth. Erinna gasped and held him tighter, feeling hot even as they were in cold water. "You, my queen, have plenty of both and it drives me insane half the time. Couldn't have it any other way."

His lips joined hers in a kiss that was tantalizing, erotic and dripping with the passion that they both felt for each other.

Yes, this was what she had wanted.

Erinna kissed him back hungrily, crawling closer to him until there was absolutely no space between them. Her fingers moved to his hair, loving how the strands felt between his fingers. She shivered as she felt Vlad's touch on her thighs. She moved against him, drawing a half-agonized groan from her mate. The bond thrummed with desire, both hers and Vlad's.

"I thought you hated ginger." She teased him when the need to breathe forced to finally break the kiss.

"I was trying to ignore it," he grumbled.

Erinna laughed and brought her hands to his chest where the defined muscles glistened with water then up to loop them around his neck.

"I love you, Vlad."

"And I love you."

"Enough to kiss me after I've had ginger cookies?"

"Clearly. Now we both need to brush our teeth."

Before they could stand up, the water surface shimmered then settled, revealing a face that Erinna was getting familiar with. Vlad froze beneath her and she could feel his shock and longing as he saw his sister for the first time in thousands of yours.

"Ew. Naked people. Get dressed, get dressed!" Aurora gasped, covering her eyes with her hands.

"Rory?" Vlad shifted to get a closer look at his sister.

"Clothes! I'm not talking to you until you get dressed."

"How do you know I'm naked? You have your sight back?"

"Yes, I did." Aurora said, her hands still covering her eyes.

"You can truly see?" Vlad asked with wonder.

"Yes I can and right now I'm wishing I couldn't. Clothes!"

Erinna laughed as Vlad sighed in exasperation. "Still annoying."

Vlad teleported them to the bathroom, Aurora's image following them to the bathroom mirror. He wiped her down with a towel and helped her into a dressing gown. He shrugged on a gown himself but did not bother wiping, his attention mostly on talking to his sister.

"Is it safe yet?" Aurora asked.

"For you, yes. For that demon behind you, no." Vlad said, glaring at Hakim who had come to stand with Aurora.

Aurora mock-glared at Erinna. "You were supposed to prepare him."

"I tried." She raised her hands in surrender, trying to look innocent but her laughter gave her away.

"Oh well." Aurora sighed. "Sweetheart, this is my brother. Vlad, this is Hakim, my mate."

"I would say it's a pleasure but you look like you're trying to incinerate me through the glass." Hakim grimaced.

"Or you could save me the trouble and just jump in that pit of fire you spend eternity stroking."

"That's Lucifer, not me. People tend to get used to it after a couple of centuries. So it's not the most effective punishment, I'm afraid."

After that sentence, Vlad looked more interested in what Hakim had to say. Erinna had the urge to run away with her husband before he got corrupted.

"Don't you dare. I will gut you both if you start exchanging torture tactics when we're trying to get you out of this mess." Aurora glared at him.

"A 'how are you, Vlad?' would have been sufficient. I do have a wife to boss me around now, you know." Vlad said to his sister but by the indulgent look on his face, it was clear he was not mad.

"I know how you have been, every soul that descends here is cursing your name."

"He does half my work for me," Hakim laughed.

When Vlad seemed satisfied that Hakim was not torturing his sister and holding her as a child-bearing prisoner for his demon spawn, he asked Aurora how she had been. They caught up and it was awkward to stand beside Vlad as his sister grilled him about her.

"You have to name the baby after me," Aurora said to Vlad.

"The baby is not going to be named after anything that begins with an 'a'." Vlad shook his head.

"Vlad, you scamp. We named our first born after you."

"Your children are demons, Rory so it's not much of a compliment."

The offended look on Aurora's face was so sweet and comical that Erinna had to give her something. "If the baby is a girl, we will name it after you."

As a third, fourth name maybe?

"I did not agree to such," Vlad denied immediately.

"That's why your opinion doesn't count."

They eventually got to the business of the day. As much as Erinna had been anxiously waiting the whole night, she was now apprehensive to hear what Hakim and Aurora had to say.

"The curse should have been broken, you were right. What we didn't realize was that Diana sold her curse to a demon, not one of our sons, I'm glad to say," Aurora told them.

"What do you mean sold?" Erinna asked.

It was Hakim who answered.

"It's a loophole that some truly vengeful people use. A curse generally can only remain if the spirit that cast it lingers. If the spirit moves on, the curse is broken. So people who want to ensure someone suffers for eternity, sell the curse to a demon to guard it. That will keep the curse alive although the demon will not be able to actively torture the cursed person or add new clauses to the existing curse."

Erinna's mouth opened in shock. "This is what Diana did?"

How could someone hate someone that much?

Aurora nodded. "It was not in her original plan but when you gave her her redemption, she realized that meant she would be forever separated from her husband. The demon who was left with the curse promised her that the curse would be alive as long as her husband's soul was kept in the underworld and did not find peace along with her."

Well, that sort of made sense.

"You have Daniel's soul?" Vlad asked, tensed beside her.

"Believe, brother. He has gotten all that he deserved. Not a day passes that he does not regret the day that he ever met you." Aurora said fiercely.

Erinna entwined his fingers with hers to give him her silent support. Even though Vlad had killed Daniel, what the wizard had done to him was much much worse.

"Good." Was his clipped reply, his fingers squeezing Erinna's once.

"Is there a way to take the curse from the demon and destroy it?" Erinna asked.

Hakim shook his head. "The demon is bound by his word. The only way to break the curse is to fulfill the terms."

Vlad growled beside her, his vampire persona coming forward in a flash of red eyes and elongated fangs.

"I'm done dancing to that woman's tune."

Erinna turned to him, understanding his anger. "The only way we will ever be done with her is when she is truly gone from our lives. This will be the last attachment, right?" She asked Hakim.

"Yes, once her mate joins her, the curse will be gone as well."

It seemed simpler than Erinna had thought. At least they didn't have to sacrifice any lives.

"Can you release her husband?" She asked Aurora.

The other woman shook her head. "Only the judges can make the decision to let anyone find peace. Or you apparently."

"You mean if I do what I did for Diana to Daniel, he will be able to move on?" Erinna asked.

Aurora nodded, looking at her strangely but Erinna did not understand nor share her apprehension.

"That's alright, I can do it."

She just didn't know if her powers would work long-distance.

"You do know that when you redeem people, their sins do not just magically go away, right?" Aurora asked her carefully.

"What do you mean?" Erinna asked.

"Their sins become yours. Whenever you cleanse someone and allow them to find peace, you trade your freedom for theirs."

Erinna stilled as the words seeped in. She had redeemed precisely eight people. Vlad's brothers plus Diana. That meant if there had ever been any hope of finding peace for her, it was gone. But did she want peace when it would probably mean being separated from Vlad in their afterlife? With the way the universe hated him, he would be condemned to eternity in Phostos. At least this way, they would be together.

"You're wrong," Vlad hissed at Hakim.

"Am I? The oldest law of the universe, brother. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Hakim answered.

Erinna wrapped her hand around Vlad's arm, pulling her attention to her.

"It's okay, Vlad. I still want to do it."

"And I don't want you to. You will not be sacrificing yourself for me."

"There is nothing to sacrifice anymore. I am already damned. Nothing I do now will change where my soul goes should I die."

The pain and guilt in his eyes gutted her.

"I don't like this. We'll find another way."

"This is the only way, angel. Let me do this for us."

She took his hand and placed it on her belly. It was playing dirty but a person could only use what they had.

"Can't you sway the judges?" Vlad asked Hakim, his eyes piercing daggers at the man as if everything was his fault.

"In my realm, I am the lord of every brick and soul that resides there but the judges are above me. They are powered by the universe so I cannot touch them. They can neither be defeated nor corrupted. If it was releasing him onto earth or limbo then I could but peace and Calliopa are beyond my sphere of influence."

Erinna had to give Diana credit. The woman had known that Erinna was the only way she would be able to end up in the same place as her husband.

"Can you do it from there? The best way would be for you to be killed and be returned by the breath of life before your soul gets judged but I don't want to risk that when you are carrying a baby," Aurora said, her hand going to her own stomach.

Erinna nodded. "You are right, let me try."

"Did the messenger tell you the price of helping us?" Vlad asked Aurora.

Aurora nodded her head but Hakim looked like this was the first time he was hearing of such news.

"We are to release Yven back to earth." Aurora told him.

Extreme displeasure came across Hakim's face. "I can't do that, Rory. The woman has not even served half her sentence."

"Free, not release, Keeper." Vlad said to Hakim, stressing the first word as if it meant all the difference in the world.

An intrigued look came across Hakim's face. "Free. That was the exact word he used?"

Vlad inclined his head in a nod. Hakim regarded Vlad silently and a wordless conversation seemed to pass between them. In the end, Hakim laughed, "I like how your mind works, brother. Let the games begin."

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

"I'm not sure how to do this." Erinna admitted to Vlad.

They were sitting on the center of the bed, facing each other with their hands joined. She was in control of her magic in a way she had never been but she did not know how to jumpstart the process.

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever I have redeemed someone, there have been magic strands to guide me."

All she had had to do was follow those and direct her power in their direction. Even with the flowers and Silvercrest.

"Maybe it's a sign," Vlad said.

His laconic reply was exactly what she had expected. He was not thrilled about her carrying Daniel's misdemeanors on her head. But the way Erinna saw it, she was already damned because of the other people she had saved. What was one more?

"No, I can do this. Let me just concentrate."

Erinna drew up her magic and concentrated on the thought of redeeming Daniel. After half an hour, she still couldn't see a way forward.

"Erinna, don't force this. If it's not happening, it's for a good reason. You know how the gifts of your people work."

"Wait, there's something..."

She held her breath and indeed the purple and silver guiding strands appeared. They began to unravel but then stopped abruptly. They had only extended for maybe six feet then became invisible without connecting to anything on the other end. Was it because Daniel was essentially dead and had no corporeal form?

Erinna directed the power that bubbled inside her in response to the task. The strings glowed brighter as they consumed the power but as the power got to the end, it just fizzled out. That was not supposed to happen.

"Anything yet?" Vlad asked, squeezing her hands.

"Yes, but the guiding threads are not truly connecting and my power is not going further than a few feet." She explained to him since he could not see what she was seeing.

She continued trying but by dawn, her efforts still had not yielded anything. It frustrated her no end because Vlad's freedom was so close that she could almost taste it. The only thing stopping it was her. Why couldn't she figure this out?

"Time for a break," Vlad said dragging her from the bed by her hand.

"But I-"

"It wasn't a question, angel."

She sighed and allowed herself to be manhandled. Truthfully she was tired. It was dawn and she felt like she had burnt all the energy reserves that she had. They walked through the hallways and into Horus' throne room. He was in the pool that was sunk in the middle of the room with Kissa. No less than a dozen maids were catering to them with one of them straddling Horus, doing more than washing his hair.

Erinna blushed and cast her eyes away to give them privacy but Vlad didn't even blink.

"Do you need the sun today?"

"Why? Do you wish to join us?" Horus asked, giving Erinna an appreciative glance.

"You are a god and I can't kill you but if you look at my wife like that again, I will forget that." Vlad said softly, the only sign of his anger being a slight narrowing of his eyes.

Horus threw his head back and laughed.

"You used to be more fun than this, vampire. Now you're just suicidal."

"Don't tease him, Horus." Kissa admonished although her smile showed that she was enjoying the display. "We don't need the sun," she said to Vlad.

Vlad nodded then walked them to the door.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought you wanted to see some dead pharaohs?" He grinned rakishly.

"But the sun...oh, right."

Erinna used her power to change the weather. She obscured the sky with clouds so thick that the sun's rays would not be able to penetrate when it rose.

"Horses, my lord?" One of the men guarding the entrance asked them as they walked out.

"Probably not a good idea. Chariot, please."

Erinna's jaw dropped at the 'please'. "You truly are in a good mood."

"I'm a few hours from being a free vampire, angel; of course I'm in a good mood."

Erinna winced. She had wanted him to have hope for such a long time and now that he had it, she feared she would be the one to shatter it.

But she forced a smile on her face, not wanting him to see her uncertainty. She would figure this out even if it killed her. When Vlad put his hands on her waist and drew her up for a kiss, she kissed him back, tasting his happiness. Let me never ruin this please.

The chariot came. It was a bit ostentatious and had too much gold like everything that Horus owned.

"Couldn't we just teleport?" She asked Vlad.

"What's the fun in that? You wanted a true Egyptian experience and you'll be getting it."

His high spirits were infectious and Erinna found her anxiety fading away the further they rode away from the temple and the crushing weight of her responsibilities. For a few hours, she would just be the woman Vlad loved, not the one who held his life in her hands.

The chariot dropped them where the road ended. They were able to get a camel. Erinna was a bit apprehensive about getting on an animal so huge but the fact that she could talk to the camel and she seemed a bit friendly helped.

"What's her temperament like?" Vlad asked Erinna even though the animal's handler had already assured them his camels had all been broken in.

"She's very friendly."