This chapter was so hard to turn into a kids version lol. Some parts will probably still be too adult. If you see some mature content I missed when I was cutting, just grab your prayer beads or something.

****

Midday was silent as it usually was in Castello Dracula. The masters of the castle lay in their respective beds whilst the humans who served them traipsed around, quietly cleaning and ensuring everything would be awake and ready for when they finally woke up.

All but one vampire was sleeping. Dracula had spent the two nights following their return from Egypt ruminating on Toro's disrespect. The beginnings of a plan were beginning to form in his mind on how he would deal with the wizard who had seen it fit to double cross him. It was a plan that required patience which was inconvenient because he was itching for a confrontation, to have Toro at the end of his claws, even for just a minute.

A slight change in his wife's breathing drew him from his thoughts. He had left her with Alexander in their bed after he had failed to find sleep. With the sun high up in the sky, there weren't many places he could go to clear his head but even if there had been, he would still have stayed close. Her presence was essential for his sanity.

The sound of covers moving aside let him know she was leaving the bed. He turned his head to watch her approach. He was sitting on a chair parallel to one of the windows in their room, the heavy curtains shielding him from the sun. Some days, he liked dancing with the danger, sitting so close to the sun with only the barrier of a curtain between him and what could have been certain death, had he been a normal vampire.

Peace and contentment filled him as his wife approached him. She pulled her nightdress up and sat astride him on the chair. He wrapped his arms tight around her to bring her closer, the intimacy of the position bringing warmth to his undead body.

"What's wrong?" She asked, resting her head on his chest.

"Nothing. Just restless."

She drew back, her hand coming up to touch his face. The look of gentle concern that was on her face was not one he had seen on many people when they looked at him. He leaned down and kissed her nose.

"Can I help?" She asked eagerly.

He shrugged. There was not much she could do short of delivering Toro to him bound and gagged but her presence certainly helped.

"Try and sound less excited," she admonished before moving her hand to cup his jaw and kissing him.

His body awakened, anticipation making the blood in his veins flow faster than usual. When their lips met, he found solace, where there had only been turmoil. His demons vacated the room and the only important thing was that moment and not the past or the future.

***********

(Details are in the adult book for those old enough)

"That was amazing," Vlad said when he could finally think.

His wife had collapsed against his chest, her skin sleek with sweat and her pulse still beating hard. Affection for her filled him and he kissed her, holding her tighter.

"Do you feel better?" She asked.

"Much. You always know how to get to me."

She purred and burrowed deeper into his chest, sounding happy with herself.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to spend time with you ever since..." She trailed off but Vlad was able to fill in the blanks. Their trip to Egypt had freed Vlad of his shackles but had left Alexander with a burden that would crush him if they didn't handle him well.

It made Vlad glad that Erinna was there because he wouldn't have known where to start with Alexander. Coddling was not in his blood and Alexander turned into such a big baby when he was hurt. It made him absolutely useless for all his other duties.

"You're doing for him what I can't. I want to be there for him but it's not something that comes naturally to me."

Erinna drew back to look at him, giving him a small smile. "You do it pretty well with me."

Vlad kissed her cheek'. "Because you're you. Everything is different with you."

She sighed and lay her head on his chest again. "I don't mind taking care of Alexander, he's my friend too. I just don't want you to think it's more than what it is."

Vlad could understand her concerns given his reactions in the past but with where their relationship was, he could not even summon the littlest bit of jealousy. He had imprinted himself on Erinna every way there was, she was going nowhere.

"He's no fun to beat up when he's already on the brink of death," he said with a smirk. "It's like kicking a puppy. I'll have a go at him when he has enough strength to mouth back."

Erinna pinched his side. He kissed her to let her know he was joking before looking at her seriously, all humour forgotten.

"Alexander is mine by blood. My child. What you do for him, you do for me. So thank you for taking care of him."

"You're welcome."

They were silent for over twenty minutes, just savoring each other's presence and listening to the sounds of the day. When he was sitting close to the curtain like this, Vlad could almost imagine what the sun felt like, what it looked like. It had been so long since he had been human that most of his memories were not accurate.

"We should probably take a shower before your tail finds out you're gone and comes searching."

Erinna stilled in his arms. "My tail? Oh Alexander, I put him to sleep," she said, relaxing again.

Ah, that explained her lack of inhibitions. Eric had managed to infect his wife with his puritan ways. It would be a while before she felt comfortable with the needs of her body.

"With magic?"

He remembered the time she had put him to sleep in the forest so that she could go and confront her father. Vlad had not been pleased at the time but Alexander probably needed it.

"Yes. He needed the rest and I needed to be with you."

Those words left with such a strong, visceral yearning that he knew he had to have her again. Hopefully the magic that had put Alexander to sleep was going to hold.

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

Vlad had no interest in leaving his wife when the sun set but he was given little choice in the matter since Alexander had attached himself to her like a leech ever since waking up. It did not help that she also encouraged his antics.

When Vlad had suggested that perhaps it was time his moping right hand man returned to his own chambers, Erinna had given him a look that spoke more than words. Since he didn't want to end up being the one kicked out and he actually felt sorry for the poor bastard, he had allowed Alexander to stay longer in their chambers.

But Alexander being out of commission also meant that Vlad had to show his face around so that people would do their jobs. It made him want to go and kill Toro despite all the reasons that he knew he couldn't.

The three men that Alexander had suggested to pick up his slack had gotten on Vlad's nerves in the first half-hour. He had tossed the other one out of the window and told the other two to never come within two hundred feet of him again. Lloyd volunteered but Vlad did not even like him on a normal day, working closely with him would be a nightmare.

When he could take his aggravating employees no more, Vlad teleported back to his chambers. How did Alexander deal with them every night? He would depopulate the castle in one night if he had to engage such foolishness regularly.

"When will you be fine?" He asked, his arms crossed and not bothering to mask the annoyance on his face.

Alexander was lying down on the bed with Erinna reading him some story. Vlad was surprised Erinna had even managed to get him up long enough for the maids to make the bed. When he had left them, Alexander had been frozen in one spot, looking like he would never move again.

Erinna's face lit up when she saw him and she held out her arms for him, crawling to the edge of the bed. It made it hard to hold onto his irritation when she was acting like his presence was a visit similar of the sun gods. Vlad moved to her, kissing her.

"I missed you," she said, her eyes reflecting such love in them. It made Vlad's heart stir in his chest.

"You could have left this fool and come keep your husband company," he said, glancing at Alexander. He looked better than the previous night so Erinna must have worked her magic on him. He looked back to her, seeing the strain on her face.

"You look tired." He did not like her exerting herself so much when she was pregnant.

"It's been a long day. What do you need Alexander for? You finally realised you can't function without him?"

"Let us not exaggerate. I can function without him."

Erinna laughed. "Right," she laughed before turning serious. "If it's about running the castle, can't the others handle it? He needs to rest."

"I don't need him for the castle. I need him to brainstorm, and those fools spend all their brain cells on trying not to run away from me to actually help me with ideas."

"I can help," she offered, making Vlad smile.

"I am talking of heinous torture and pain. Are you sure you want to volunteer?" He asked, leaning his forehead on hers.

"Okay, take Alexander. But not tonight," she said, pushing him back.

She stood up from the bed, straightening her clothes.

"It needs to be soon, otherwise Toro will start thinking he got away with this."

No one made a fool out of Vlad or came after his own.

"Don't go after him," Alexander spoke for the first time from the bed.

So he could still talk. Vlad had begun worrying that Toro had taken his voice along with his gonads with the way the man was moping around. One would think three nights would have been enough for him come to terms with his loss.

"May you please stay with him whilst I go greet everyone? I haven't been going down for breakfast ever since we came back, so I didn't get a chance to," Erinna said, her hand on Vlad's stomach.

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to be rubbing his back."

A pillow hit him from the bed. "Like I would want your hands on me."

"Play nice," Erinna said to the both of them before kissing Vlad goodbye. She leaned over on the bed and rubbed Alexander's arm in a soothing gesture before leaving. Curiously Vlad's mark did not burn him. Maybe it worked only when they were away from each other.

Vlad turned his eyes from the door back to Alexander who was now sitting up against the headboard.

"You should be glad you have no woman. If she saw you like this, she would leave you," Vlad said, sitting on a chair and stretching his legs.

"Erinna was rubbing my back, giving me food, and telling me nice stories but ten minutes in the room and you're already insulting me. Man, go back where you came from. Your pep talk sucks."

Vlad rolled his eyes. "I allowed you to sleep in my bed, didn't I?"

"Only because Erinna would have left you to be with me."

Well, he did have a point there. He loved and hated his wife's compassion.

"I want ideas on how to kill Toro. He didn't give you an expiry date or out-clause when he gave you that mark by any chance, did he?" Vlad asked.

"Other than his death?" Alexander said sarcastically.

Toro's death would unbind them and free Alexander but since that freedom came at the expense of Alexander's life too, they were in quite the predicament. He could not kill Toro without killing Alexander which made Toro the most protected warlock in the world. Vlad could not let any fatal accident befall him. But he also needed to teach him a lesson whilst they tried to find their way around this bond.

"Other people get marked by their mates and you let a warlock mark you," Vlad said, earning himself another pillow from Alexander.

And people said his pep talk didn't work. A whole night and day of Erinna's coddling and the man had been on his way to becoming a pampered, spoiled lapdog feeling sorry for himself, but three minutes with Vlad and he was already talking.

"Get out, I want Erinna back."

"Tough luck, you have me. Or Alex. Your pick."

Xander clicked his many legs on the ceiling noisily. "Or him I suppose."

Alexander crossed his arms and looked away. Ah, he was pouting again. Nothing said healed like a healthy tantrum. Maybe they should put a 'doctor' before his name.

"Now that you are not feeling sorry for yourself anymore, work with me here. You were with the man longer than me. How do we get him? Remember you were the one who made me promise to make him know what holding his intestines in his hands feels like if he touched you?"

Alexander sighed and ran his right hand over his face wearily.

"I know but I don't want revenge," Alexander said, his eyes back to looking dull now that he was not arguing with Vlad.

"I'm not going to let him get away with it," Vlad frowned.

An insult to one of his own was an insult to him. Not to mention that Alexander was not just any vampire but Vlad's child. The closest thing that he had to a best friend. What sort of message would it send to his enemies if people could trick and use his right-hand man without consequences?

"Just let it go. The last time you tried to get even with a witch, you ended up bound to a coffin for two thousand years," Alexander reminded him.

He had a point, Vlad thought. But letting go of things was not in his blood. He had not gotten where he was by letting other people walk all over him. Toro had declared war by making Alexander do something he did not want to do and if Vlad knew one thing, it was taking up a challenge. He would send that bastard to the underworld if it was the last thing that he did.

"I'll take precautions."

Diana had caught him off guard, this time he would go in fully prepared.

"It doesn't matter. You have a child on the way now, you cannot be starting beef with the dark witches."

"Beef?" Vlad queried, wondering what meat had to do with their conversation. Perhaps Toro had done more damage to his right-hand man than he had initially thought.

"You should socialize with people more, catch up on the language," Alexander said, sounding exasperated.

Right. If anything, language was deteriorating and becoming unoriginal. He would rather be stuck in the old ages than be caught dead saying beef in anything that didn't relate to meat.

"But as I was saying, it's not just you anymore. It's the baby and it's Erinna, stop having disputes with everyone. You don't know what the future holds, despite how despicable Toro's actions were, we might still need his magical expertise in the future."

Vlad did not always like hearing what Alexander had to say but the man did make some valid points from time to time.

"You saw the letter from Mara." He said, not without accusation in his eyes.

Alexander nodded. "It wasn't my secret to tell."

"And if Erinna hadn't told me?"

"Obviously I would have told you. I just wanted her to break the news to you in her own words."

Well, that was noble, Vlad supposed but it still irritated him.

"I've never had to deal with secrets from you. Desist from this behavior." He kept his eyes on Alexander to make it clear how serious he was.

But like the fool with a death wish that he was, Alexander was not even slightly intimidated.

"I'm your right-hand. I'm allowed to make judgment calls." He shrugged.

"One day your judgment calls will get you killed."

"That threat started to lose its value on the thirty-sixth time that you killed me. We are on sixty-nine now so forgive me if I'm not phased. Did you manage to get more information about Mara's predictions?"

"I conferred with Horus. He said a lot of gibberish but the gist of it was that someone would give me a solution so I suppose whatever it is, this sickness will not be fatal to the baby or Erinna."

"Okay that's good."

"But I need you on your toes. This moping around will not do. How long do you need to get over your issues?"

"Get over my issues?" Alexander laughed loudly and annoyingly. "You are a bastard."

"We have all killed before," Vlad pointed out.

"Not like that. It wasn't a war. They hadn't done anything wrong. Toro wanted them dead simply because he wanted no restrictions on his magic and now no one can control him."

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked the issue that had been niggling him. Alexander had been there for him numerous times, had he deemed Vlad incapable for doing the same for him in his time of need? That Vlad would not have dropped everything to save him.

"Because you would have stopped me or done it yourself. I didn't want to jeopardise your freedom or give you more nightmares when you are doing better already."

And now the guilt that Vlad had pushed away was chipping at his conscience again. Damn Alexander.

"You are a fool. But you are a fool who saved my life. Take a week. After that, I want you back on duty. No more moping or using your depression to feel up my wife."

"She's comforting me."

As if.

"You go to your own chambers at dawn. No negotiations"

********

Vlad had just finished his meeting with Dukalis when there was a knock on his study door. He wondered if it was Dukalis again. The warlock was barely tolerable as it was, and he didn't need more meetings with him than necessary. But despite his overinflated self, Dukalis had actually caught his interest. He did not quack in his boots at the sight of Vlad and was not afraid to say his opinion, a valuable asset. Obedience was good and all but it got old fast.

"Come in."

He had been wrong that Dukalis was the last person that he wanted to see.

"Hi."

The greeting was stilted, and her eyes glittered with banked anger that Vlad supposed was directed at him. The only thing he wanted to know was what gave Ingrid the nerve to come into his office when his pregnant wife could come at any time and see her.

"I want to know when we are going to kill Toro," Ingrid said, as if she had the right to demand anything of him, when he did not acknowledge her greeting.

Vlad bit the inside of his bottom lip in thought. Why would she care about exacting revenge on Toro? It was not like she and Alexander were best friends after he had volunteered to use a breast ripper on her.

"We are not going," he said tonelessly, watching her reaction.

Impatience and aggravation flew into her eyes. Interesting.

"I know the timing is not right with The Awakening, but we could be in and out in one night."

Was this what Erinna and Alexander had been keeping from him? He wanted to laugh since Alexander's foolishness apparently knew no bounds but he returned his attention to the letter that he had been reading.

"You don't mean to go at all, do you?" Ingrid asked.

"That's what I said to you forty-five seconds ago."

"But why?"

"I have my reasons," he shrugged, finally looking up and leaning back in his chair to give her his attention.

Ingrid's eyes turned red with fury and her lips trembled. Vlad's eyes dropped to her hands which were balled into small fists to hide her unleashed claws.

"It's funny how your good vampire act comes out when it's convenient."