A/N: I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update. I was directing a musical and unfortunately it stole all of my focus and creative energies. Now that's it's over, I will be getting back to my writing. Updates may be a little slower than usual as I get back into the swing of writing and with the upcoming holidays, but I have not abandoned any of my stories and will finish them all.

Thank you all for your support and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 22

As soon as Snow stepped onto the stage a hush fell over the gathering crowd. I heard her take a deep breath before she started speaking, but her flowery overly simplistic words were quickly cut off by scared, angry questions. The townspeople weren't interested in being pacified. They were terrified and wanted retribution. I sighed and hoped that Rumple would make his move soon. None of them would listen until they saw that I wasn't the enemy with their own eyes.

"Please listen!" Snow pleaded. "You don't need to be afraid of Regina. She won't hurt anyone."

Dr. Whale's voice called out angrily, "Why are you defending the Evil Queen? Have you forgotten everything she's done?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten," Snow scoffed, obviously offended. "But Regina has changed. True Love is the most powerful magic there is and it saved her. The Evil Queen is her past."

Whale scoffed and incredulously said, "Do you really believe that? She is a murderer and is the reason we were torn from our homes and stuck here in this town. And now she is a monster and should be put down before she turns anyone else."

The crowd started to murmur and grew even more uneasy and I sighed when Snow's only response sounded like that of a petulant child. And then a new voice cut through the crowd and it took everything I had not to tear Neal Cassidy apart. "It's true. The Evil Queen turned Emma into a vampire and they are holding my son hostage. We have to stop them before they take anyone else and save Henry before it's too late," he stated, managing to make his voice sound like the perfect combination of valiant hero and worried father.

Emma growled angrily beside me and I reached out to put a restraining hand on her arm. We just needed to make sure that Rumple was also in the room before we revealed ourselves. She shot me a glare, but quieted down. She wasn't happy, but she would follow the plan. From the other side of the curtain, I heard the crowd become restless at the news that Henry's father had entered the picture. It seemed that at least some of them hadn't forgotten how intense the battle between Emma and I had gotten over Henry and what it had done to the town. Some of the townsfolk obviously didn't like the thought of another small war over our son.

"This is ridiculous," Snow cried out indignantly. "You didn't even know you had a son before yesterday."

"That's true, Your Highness, but whose fault is that?" Rumple asked snidely, finally announcing his presence.

I smirked and pulled back the curtain, so Emma and I could step out onto the stage together, causing the amassed audience to startle and cry out in shock and fear. "Actually, it's your fault, imp," I stated blandly, ignoring the townsfolk.

As soon as he saw us, the Dark One's eyes darkened in anger, but his voice remained soft and slightly curious as he asked, "And how could I possibly have been at fault in this case, dearie?"

Not having the patience for a sly verbal battle, Emma snarled, "Because it was your curse that brought us here, you who convinced my parents to give me up and you who procured Henry for Regina. Your greasy fingerprints are all over everything that has happened from the moment Regina saved Snow White when they were both children. It's just too bad that your jackass of a son hasn't seen the truth about you and left your sorry ass, the way Belle has."

I smirked watching Rumple's rage build at Emma's crass words. The plan had been to provoke him into attacking, but I hadn't expected her to use Belle's desertion to do so. "Careful, dearie, you don't want to turn me into your enemy," the imp hissed.

Emma snorted, "You're already my enemy, Gold. You cursed my True Love and are trying to take away my son in a pathetic attempt to win back Neal's love. And that's not to mention the fact that you tried to get Regina to kill me when you twisted that curse so she couldn't feed of anyone but me. Maybe it was you who should have been more careful to not make yourself my enemy."

From the corner of my eye I saw Neal shift forward as he quietly said, "Emma, don't do this you don't know how dangerous he can be."

I stepped between them and growled, "Emma doesn't need your protection and you have no right to tell her what to do. You betrayed her and left her with nothing but a stolen car and a baby she couldn't hope to take care of. Now, be a good little boy and shut up. No one wants or needs to hear your opinion." He glowered at me, pulling a pistol from behind his back and aiming it at me. I laughed and mockingly said, "Go ahead little boy. That toy can't hurt me."

His expression darkened and his hand swung around to point the gun towards Ruby. I noticed Rumple smirk and I clenched my jaw as he said, "Maybe not, but it's loaded with silver, it'll definitely hurt your pet wolf."

Ruby and Belle shot to their feet. The wolf snarled in warning while Belle turned to her former lover and pleaded, "Don't let him do this, Rumple."

The imp didn't even glance in her direction, instead he conjured two fireballs and stared at Emma and I, daring us to move and protect the wolf and librarian. I conjured my own fireball and reveled in the slight shock that the imp hurried to hide. "What's it going to be Rumple? Are you going to risk your son and attack us? Or risk having the town turn on you for once?"

"They don't frighten me," he said coldly.

"We should!" one of the idiotic dwarves yelled, lurching to his feet and swinging a fist towards Neal. Pandemonium erupted as most of the town tried to flee while Rumple launched his fireballs towards me and Emma.

I met the imp's attack, while Emma leaped from the stage and went for Neal. I was somewhat surprised to discover that I was much more evenly matched with my mentor now that I had faster reflexes and he soon grew frustrated and turned on the Sherriff who was trying to wrestle the gun out of his son's hand. A panicking townsperson fell into him and his next fireball flew off target. I saw it head straight towards the group of people clustered at the door. Completely forgetting our plan and pushing myself to the limits, I managed to race across the room in time to get between the spell and the would-be victims, but I was not fast enough to deflect it.

Emma roared in fear and rage as the inferno crashed against my back. I screamed and fell to the floor, my fangs sliding down in response to the pain. As I tried to ignore the agony of my burned back, I heard a man's pained cry and the sharp rapport of the gun firing. A second later, a terrified scream sounded from the other side of the room. I managed to force myself to my feet and quickly took in the scene. An unconscious and bleeding Neal lay at Emma's feet on one side of the room. On the other side, Ruby was cradling Belle who was bleeding from a bullet wound in her chest. Belle was gasping for breath, and staring up at her lover fearfully while Rumple was looking between both crumpled bodies and seemed more lost than I had ever seen him.

I noticed everything in a split-second and immediately rushed to my Belle's side. The pain of my injury slowed me considerably and Emma reached Bella and Ruby before I did. I didn't need the blood bond to tell me how close we were to losing the petit brunette. I'd seen that look in the eyes of all of my victims just before they died. In her panic over Belle's injury, Emma started putting pressure on the wound, obviously forgetting she had other means to save the girl now. I knelt next to the librarian and leaned over to catch her gaze.

"Belle, I'm sorry but you're going to die if I don't give you my blood," I said softly. I caught the understanding in her eyes and she gave me the slightest of nods. I didn't hesitate and bit my wrist, offering it to her. She closed her lips over my wrist and I let out a little sigh of relief when I saw her swallow. The normal arousal that I felt from sharing blood was absent as I was totally focused on saving my human.

Her skin slowly closed around the wound, pushing the bullet back out as it did so. I didn't pull my wrist away until Belle's breathing evened out and her now unmarred skin flushed with a healthy glow. I knew she would be alright and I sat back, swaying unsteadily as a wave of dizziness washed over me. Black spots danced in my vision and I shook my head to clear them away and pushed myself onto unsteady feet. This fight wasn't over and I couldn't afford any weaknesses. Carefully masking the pain of my burned back and the woozy feeling trying to pull me back down, I lifted my chin and glowered at Rumplestiltskin.

He ignored me for a moment, watching Belle sit up and tearfully embrace Ruby before he moved to his son, completely ignoring me. "Your son is not in any danger of dying, for now. His heart is beating steadily, I can hear it from here," I stated flatly, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned to study me cautiously and asked, "What do you want, Regina?"

I smirked and summoned Jefferson's hat from where we had left it behind the stage curtains. Ignoring the fresh wave of weakness that spread through me, I coldly said, "I want to make a deal with you Rumplestiltskin." As I waited for his response, I absently noticed that the townspeople who hadn't made it out the door yet, had stopped to watch this turn of events.

He eyed the hat warily, obviously recognizing it for what it was. "Why would I make a deal with you, when I can just kill you?" he asked, failing to sound intimidating in any way.

I grinned, knowing I had the upper hand for once. "Because if you don't, I'll shove you through a portal and enthrall your son before you can slither back here to save him," I replied deviously.

He gritted his teeth and snarled, "If you do that, then I will kill every last person you care about, starting with the Savior." He nodded towards Emma who had moved to stand at my side.

I lifted an eyebrow and mockingly asked, "Even Belle?"

His eyes unwillingly flicked towards the woman he loved and he spat out, "You don't care about Belle. If you did, you would have never kept her locked away for so many years."

I chuckled and said, "You made a mistake when you cursed me, Rumple. You were too rash in turning me into a vampire. Did you even bother to consider the advantages you gave me when you decided to change me? Belle's life was just saved from the brink of death by my blood. Vampires can be very territorial around their humans, and Belle belongs to me now. If you really love her, why would you take her protector and savior away from her?"

He shot another glance at the librarian who was now entirely focused on him. After another moment's hesitation, he asked, "What is this deal?"

"It's simple really. You even get a choice. You and your son either use the hat to go back to the Enchanted Forest, or you swear to leave me, Emma, and every person who is bound to us to live without your interference and in turn, we will allow you to remain in the safety of our town and Neal may get to know his son," I explained.

"Your town?" he sneered, obviously buying time as he tried to use his visions to see the possible outcomes of this deal.

"Yes, I created this town. As long as I continue to breathe, the town is mine and my True Love's," I said mildly. "Do we have a deal?"

"We do," he said reluctantly.

"Shall we shake on it?" I asked, holding out my hand.

He slowly took my hand. Once the bargain was sealed, Rumple hurried to his son, checking him over before they vanished in a cloud of red smoke. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and all of the stubborn determination that had been fueling me vanished. My knees gave out and Emma barely caught me before I slumped to the floor. I couldn't hold back a scream as her grip put pressure on my ruined back.

"Fuck!" She rolled me onto my stomach and sucked in a sharp breath as she saw the extent of the damage done by Rumple's fireball. "Why hasn't this healed yet?" she asked in panic.

Trying to calm her down, I forced my voice to be level as I said, "I'll be fine, my love. I just need to feed; saving Belle took a lot of my energy."

"Right, I'm an idiot," Emma muttered and all but shoved her wrist in my face. "Take what you need to heal, baby."

Just before I could sink my fangs into her waiting vein, a voice called out, "Wait!"

Emma and I both turned to see a woman who I vaguely recognized as one of the nurses from the hospital, step forward with a hand up to stop us. "Why?" Emma snarled viciously.

Surprisingly, the woman didn't back down, instead she offered Emma a slight smile of apology and looked down to meet my wary gaze. "I was one of the people you protected by stepping in the way of the Dark One's fireball. Please let me help you as a way to express my thanks for saving me."

I studied her for a moment and only saw sincerity in her eyes. Quickly glancing around, I noticed that everyone else in the room was completely focused on this interaction. I turned back to the nurse and forced myself up to a sitting position and asked, "Are you offering me your blood, of your own free will?"

"I am, Your Majesty," she replied without hesitation.

"Very well, I accept," I stated, offering her a small smile of appreciation. She quickly moved to kneel in front of me, holding out her wrist. I could smell her nerves, but she gave no outward sign to indicate them to anyone else in the room. I gently grasped her hand and brought it to my mouth to softly kiss her knuckles. "Thank you," I whispered so that only she and Emma could hear as I turned her hand over and carefully slid my fangs into a delicate vein.

She flinched and I reached for her mind before she could panic. "It's alright, dear. I won't hurt you," I mentally soothed.

She relaxed slightly and thought, "How is this possible?"

"We are connected while I feed," I replied. "What is your name, dear?"

"It's Sarah, Your Majesty," she mentally answered.

"Well, Sarah. I appreciate the gift you are giving me. There will be people who don't understand why you are doing this. You do realize that, don't you?" I asked, curious to know her answer.

"I know, but I would be dead if you hadn't stepped in front of that fireball. I owe you my life, Your Majesty," she thought.

"You don't owe me anything, Sarah. I'm no hero and I'm not a queen anymore. After today, I probably won't even be the Mayor anymore."

"I think you're wrong. We all saw what you did for Belle and you stopped Rumplestiltskin," she replied insistently.

"We shall see," I stated, unsure how I felt about the confidence she seemed to have in me now. I ignored it and focused on my healing back, and her thrumming pulse. I didn't think she would ever offer to feed me again, so I took more than I normally would. I stopped and sealed the wound when I felt her pulse slow.

I lifted my head and met her slightly dazed eyes. "You may feel a little lightheaded, but you will be alright, my dear," I said softly.

She nodded and replied, "Thank you for saving my life, Your Majesty."

I sighed inwardly, but lifted my chin and regally stated, "I was merely protecting the people of my town. I do not need your thanks." I carefully stood and met the eyes of each of the lingering townspeople. "There will be much to discuss in the coming days. Your questions will be answered in time. I will not attack unprovoked and will not harm anyone who leaves me and my people in peace. If there is anyone who doesn't wish to remain in my town, I will find a way to safely help them leave."

My audience looked thoughtful as they reluctantly filed out of the room. Sarah was the last townsperson to leave and I met her searching gaze evenly before I offered her a small smile and bowed my head in acknowledgement of her. She grinned and hurried out of the room. Once Emma and I were alone with the people bound to us, I let out a long sigh and sank into the nearest chair, wincing slightly when my still tender back hit the unforgiving wood.

"Are you alright, Regina?" Emma asked, immediately moving to my side.

"I'll be fine, darling. Just healing a little slowly," I replied, cupping her cheek affectionately.

Worry clouded her eyes, "Why is it taking so long?"

I leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I need to feed more, Emma. I just want to wait until we get home so I can make you scream my name while I feed."

Her breath hitched and I smirked. "Um, yeah, alright," she mumbled, sitting back and blushing slightly.

"Wow, is that all you two ever think about?" Ruby teased from behind Emma.

I glanced up and smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know wolf?" She grinned wolfishly and I shook my head at her before turning to Belle. "How are you doing, dear?"

"I'm fine, Regina. Thank you for saving me," she answered, smiling shyly.

I stood and moved to wrap her into my arms. "I promised I would protect you, dear. I'm just glad you're alright now."

Snow's voice broke the sweet moment as she asked, "What's going on? I thought you hated Regina."

I sighed and released the petit brunette. Belle gave Snow an incredulous look and said, "She just saved my life. What happened in our past doesn't matter anymore. Isn't that what you said to the town?"

My former enemy had the grace to blush and look away. I lifted an eyebrow, faintly amused by the woman. "Snow, I would do the same for you now that you're blood bound to me."

"Really?" she asked, obviously not believing me.

"Yeah, Mary-Margaret. It's part of a vampire's instincts to protect their humans. You're all stuck with us now. Welcome to the Family," Emma said, half-serious and half-teasing.

I chuckled, "Really, darling? You are making us sound like the mob."

She grinned and looked at me. "Well, it's way better sounding than Coven. That just makes me think of ugly old hags dancing around a cauldron."

I lifted an eyebrow and dryly said, "There's nothing wrong with dancing around a cauldron, dear. It can actually be quite productive." Emma's stunned expression was met by giggles from Belle and Snow, chuckling from Charming, and a bark of laughter from Ruby.

The wolf's laughter quickly cut off in a grimace. "As much fun as this is, I should probably get to the hospital," she grunted. Everyone immediately sobered and turned to Ruby. She was pale and I silently cursed that I'd forgotten that she had been shot too.