Red Passion - HP - Draco/Hermione - 11/31
Title: Red Passion
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: Mature (R)
Links: Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 + Chapter 10
Summary: Post HBP. A vampire saves Draco from death and introduces him to a dark world. With Hermione Granger on the menu, can Draco save his enemy and his own soul? Eventual DM/HG.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Written for profitless entertainment.
Warning: Blood, violence, and eventually scenes of a sexual nature.
Author's Note: Story goes AU after the events of Half Blood Prince.
Wordcount for Total Story: ~65,900 words (varied by chapter)
Chapter 11
The door was narrow, next to a spare bath on the floor level of the manor. It was much too narrow to belong to a bedroom. It looked like it led to a linen closet. Yet that was the door he opened.
"Downstairs, Dragon."
And it was the right door.
Draco took the stairs slowly, one shoulder hugging the tight wall. He didn't want to hurry. He didn't want to go down into the dark at all, but, more so, he wanted to be rid of the voice. That meant obeying. That meant traveling into the mock night. That meant meeting the vampire.
"Come inside."
The young wizard nodded to himself as he reached the bottom of the stairs. There was only one door to choose from. Light flickered through the space at the bottom of the entry. Draco touched a hand to the knob, and it turned of its own accord, as if in recognition.
The light came from globed torches, their fire safely kept inside glass that never blackened. They were on either side of the entrance but there was no more light deep within. In fact, the room was barely bright enough for Draco to make out Darien's form lying atop a wide, high bed, dressed in the same rich clothing he'd worn to meet Sanguini. The vampire's eyes were closed.
"See how I trust you, my Dragon?"
Draco took a step forward. The voice had been too loud that time and his head was beginning to throb. He pushed to block his thoughts, as well as those which threatened to invade his mind, Darien's voice. This much the wizard had picked up from a certain aunt-mind tricks were nothing to be feared.
When Draco did not hear another response from the vampire, he glanced around the room, looking back at the globed fire. Fire. That could prove useful. He could very well...No, he couldn't. Darien would have him in a minute. "Trust," he had said. But the vampire knew that Draco could make no move against him, at least not one that would cause his downfall.
When he turned back, the vampire was sitting up, his feet planted on the floor, staring ahead.
"What do you want?" Draco said, not liking the silence.
"Your wound is healing nicely," Darien stated, his slicing gaze on the young man's swollen face. "Pity. It was a beautiful scar. At least you will be able to keep the ones upon your neck. Our bites never fully heal, you know. It is the magic within us which sustains them, gives them a glimpse of eternity."
"Lucky me," Draco snapped. He suddenly remembered the pitiful look Hermione had given his wounds. Did they truly look that hideous? Then his flesh would be torn that way forever...but his face would heal. Not an ugly dragon, as Sanguini had said.
"Come closer," Darien commanded.
"I thought vampires couldn't get about in the daytime," Draco said, crossing his arms.
"Note the lack of windows." Darien wore a small, stiff grin, as if to comfort the boy. "Now. Come and sit. We have things to discuss."
Draco resisted the sneer itching at his nose and stepped forward, sitting on the edge of the mattress. His eyes shifted cautiously over at his 'master.' "Couldn't wait then till evening then? I haven't had breakfast yet, you know."
"Neither have I," Darien commented. His smile faded when Draco didn't meet his eyes. "Perhaps you don't understand yet, Dragon: you do as I say, when I say. Day, night, I am still your master. And if you dare make that disgusting little expression again, I will be forced to rid your face of the ability to do so. Do you understand?"
Draco's eyes widened-he hadn't expected the vampire's severity.
When the wizard didn't answer, Darien continued, "You must trust my commands. If you do so, you will lead an enjoyable existence. I have already had to save your life twice because of your own mistakes. You are not, I am told, worth such trouble. But I have invested much in you, and you will please me. You will not make me regret my decision to keep you alive. You will trust me, you will obey me, and I will reward you. Answer, do you understand?"
Draco opened his mouth, closing it again, his eyes narrow. "No. I don't understand. You wouldn't have had to save me the second time if you hadn't put me in that bloody situation in the first place. And what the hell do you mean by reward? Are you going to let me go play with the other slaves once a week or something? You don't plan on giving me my freedom-that much is obvious."
"Power is freedom, and that is exactly what I plan on giving you," Darien answered. "Once you're one of us, you'll have the power to be independent, at least as independent as any of our kind can be."
"What do you mean 'one of us'? Your kind?" Draco stood, but Darien's hand shot out, keeping him from retreating. "Let go of me! I'm not going to die for you."
"It's not death, Draco. Not true death. Death is lack of self. It's not death if you remain." Darien's gray eyes were not speckled with blood but glistening with sadness that his voice didn't carry. It was his softening expression kept Draco from struggling. The vampire's fingers loosened. "It is a rebirth," he added. "You were willing to give all to your last master, were you not? All for power? The power I will give you will be greater than petty wizard standing. Yours will be a power over life."
Draco's face paled. He didn't want to speak, didn't want to say it again. He knew it was weak. "I don't want to die. I can't..."
"You can. And will," Darien answered, "either after many years or a few days, you will die. But, if it is sooner..."
"I'd rather it be later, thank you!"
The fingers tightened and pain shot through Draco's arm. The wizard yelped and his knees collapsed to accommodate the strained angle of Darien's grip. Draco stared up at the vampire in fear.
"Your life is mine," Darien said.
Draco remembered what Granger had told him and a chill ran down his back. This. This was his fate.
"I bought it," the vampire continued, "and I will do as I will with it. One day, when your power is as great as mine, in a few centuries perhaps, you will be glad to have such a gift as rebirth. You will be glad to have me as your father."
Draco sat still on the floor, his body tense, expecting pain. "Even if I don't want..."
"It's not your choice. Your wants don't matter to me," Darien snapped. "This is for your own good-after all, haven't you always wanted power? I've heard about your family-I've heard the same stories throughout the years, from many families, muggle, magic. You are as I was, Draco. I know what you desire, and I will force my gift upon you, if I must."
"Why? Why haven't you killed me yet? Why haven't you already done it then?"
Darien threw up his arm, swinging Draco against the bed, slamming the wizard's head down onto the mattress and arching over him like a wolf ready to tear out his prey's throat. The slightest slip of his weight would crush the wizard.
"I could kill you now. In an instant," Darien hissed. "I could turn you. But you're not ready yet. You don't understand what we are. You don't understand your place. But you're almost there. The girl will speed the process along."
Draco could barely force his words out, his throat pinned by the icy fingers of the vampire above him. "Girl?" he coughed. "Granger?"
A fleck of red entered the vampire's gaze. "A decent gift for my son, I think. She'll be your first, Dragon. We always remember our first taste of eternity."
"I won't." The wizard struggled, jaw tight as he pushed himself down into the bed. "I won't be an animal!"
"You will feed."
"I'm not going to bloody murder her," Draco choked, clawing at the vampire's clutching paw.
Darien smiled. "But you will. And, by the time I am done with her, she will want you to take her-your resistant heroism is charming, Dragon, but are you even sure that it was you who asked me to give her safe haven from Sanguini? You don't remember it, I know, and I can speak to you, influence you-how do you know that your defense of her was not me, speaking through you? After all, you hate her. A mudblood."
The vampire leaned close, the copper scent of his lips close to Draco's face. The bed groaned expectantly. "Remember that hate now-you'll forget it when you're lapping at that dirty blood."
Draco tried to respond, but his words came out as a wheeze. In a blur, Darien disappeared from his line of sight. The wizard could suddenly breathe again. He felt the vampire lift off of him and heard another voice in the room.
"Am I interrupting something?"
His legs were jell, but Draco found his way up quickly, glancing back at the bed to see Darien reclined onto his elbows.
"Say hello," Darien commanded .
Draco blinked, turning to see their guest. Her name floated in his mind a moment before escaping his lips. "Annalisa?" Draco asked.
The female vampire gave a toothy smile in confirmation. "Hello, sweet boy, my delightful host."
The wizard rubbed his throat hesitantly. "How did you get here?"
It was only after he asked that Draco noticed that the garments the woman wore were not elegant robes but a satin bath covering and that her dark hair was dripping onto the diving collar.
"I see you haven't taught him manners as of yet," Annalisa noted, glancing at the other vampire.
"Draco," Darien said, his voice soft. "Look at me, my dragon."
The wizard glanced back at his master, confusion written on his face, his body tense. His position between the vampires wore on his nerves.
"Go to your room," Darien continued, "and do not leave until I tell you to, for any reason. If flames lick your walls, you'll prove good kindle. If you hunger, eat the paint. You will not leave."
Draco opened his mouth, but the vampire cut him off, sitting up.
"The moment you leave," Darien explained, "I will kill you."
"A bit rough on him, weren't you?"
Darien glared up at the woman's statement, hearing the door upstairs slam shut as his son escaped his sight. A few moments later he could hear the wizard bitterly pacing the confines of this second-floor bedroom. "You taught me what I know, mistress. How many years did I spend in your dungeon again?"
Annalisa's laugh was hollow and as quiet as a whisper. She crossed the room. "You would know better than I."
"Why did you wake me this morning?"
The female vampire didn't look at him or give answer. She reached his wardrobe, flinging open its heavy oak doors. Without pause, she untied her thin robe and let it slide from her pale shoulders. Darien watched her naked body with little interest, frowning as the vampire pulled out a set of black velvet robes he had never worn and worked her way into the oversized sleeves.
Annalisa straightened the belt, glancing down in frustration at her right hand. It was web of welted red skin, but even as she watched, the flesh was paling, healing. She had barely escaped the morning sun.
"The Dark Lord is angry with you," she finally said.
"Again?" Darien asked.
Annalisa's eyes were severe, showing none of the seductive ease she gifted the rest of the world. "I am not amused," she hissed. "That girl you're keeping here is going to cause you trouble. You'll have to speed things along with your new child."
"She's unimportant," Darien stated.
"She is close to Voldemort's bothersome enemy-don't pretend as if you don't recall the Potter boy. Voldemort would prefer to have the girl as leverage. There is also the concern with the girl's friends-there are many powerful wizards looking for her."
Darien stood. "They won't find her. And I do not plan to be rid of her yet. She will be perfect as Draco's first-I've seen it in my boy's thoughts, the complication, the number of emotions floating about his young mind. He truly hated her, you know. And you know hate's cousin well, do you not, mistress?"
"That doesn't matter," Annalisa bit. "It's not safe to keep her here, not for you or your dragon. Sanguini has gained Voldemort's permission to get rid of you. He's planning an attack. It will take place within a week, if that. Death Eaters will come for you, as will a select number of vampires."
Darien didn't reply, staring at the empty space in front of him.
Annalisa circled the bed. She bent down to kiss his neck, at the old scar she had left on his skin so long ago. Do you want me to be amongst them?
Darien did not fight her. "As you will, but I will not change my plans. I will only speed things along."
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