Hunt
Title: Hunt
Author: pinkhairedauror
Rating & Warnings: R to be on the safe side. It may be a bit high, but there's disturbing imagery...
Prompts: Day of Trembling; Blood replentishing potion; genre Horror or Gen; Location protmp: 4 (sunset forest)
Word Count: 1 729, says Word
Summary: Remus assured Tonks he'd found someplace to get the potion, and she could stay with her mum after (DH spoiler event) for another week. He didn't expect the quality to be that much lower though.
Author’s Notes: OK, this is my first post here, and, more importantly, first try at horror. Please don't be too angry with me if it's not horrible enough... And any feedback is much appreciated.
And thanks to r_moony for betaing. And for everything.
She knew something was wrong as soon as she opened the door, called out his name, and was only answered by the clank of a window against a wall in the wind. He always needed rest on the day after a transformation so he might've been asleep, but he'd never leave a window open like that.
And, as she shortly found out, he wasn't in the bedroom.
Nor in the spare room where he would sleep the full moon night away. It was there that the window was open.
Broken.
I should have returned sooner.
But he had insisted he was fine, and had found someplace to buy the potion, and that she could - should - stay with her mother a week longer. And both Andromeda and herself had needed that extra time together.
Dad...
Her next stop was the kitchen, hoping that maybe she could find some of the potion to confirm - or, possibly, reject - her suspicion.
The baby kicked inside her, and she put her palm on her growing belly, breathed deeper, and tried to suppress the... anxiety.
Yes, the last dose was still visible on the table. Remus must've been tired indeed, not to dispose of it the day before. She sniffed at it. The smell seemed... as nauseating as always almost right. But a taste...
Too much yarrow. Not enough cat's nail.
Brewed too shortly.
The first two remarks - those could have resulted in an almost rightly working potion, although she always thought it just had to be done right.
But the last thing...
He transformed fully, last night.
Oi.
She cast a quick Reparo on the window and closed it with shaking fingers, then walked out and circled the cottage. He seemed to have run directly for the forest. She followed his tracks to the woods, then gave up when she lost them in a thicket just as her belly fairly lurched.
"All right, all right. Home, food, and rest for us, love." She voiced it out loud, both for the baby's sake and for her own... and, should Remus be nearby, as a chance for him to answer. Her eyes still searched the thicket with worry before she finally turned and walked back.
~~~
Remus knew the Wolfsbane, if just as foul, had a slightly odd taste, but he had to trust it was all right. Of course, having always been rather inept at potions, even this brew that he so depended on wasn't so familiar as to make him alarmed.
He didn't know how wrong he was until the transformation started and, instead of tucking the wolf away and curling to sleep, he was overpowered as the beast leaped through the window and vanished in the night.
There was some awareness. Just enough to observe, nowhere near to being able to try for control over his - the wolf's - body.
He ran to the forest swiftly, the movement relieving after the days of increasing immobility as fatigue had forced him to rest more and more extensively. The wind ruffled his fur... unlike the human who always fought, the wolf enjoyed running.
Hunting.
And tonight, there was something in the forest, something that smelled strong and dark and strange. And so the wolf had to catch it.
The first time he came upon it, the wolf leapt immediately. The fangs dug into the shoulder (Man-shape. Easy prey!) and started to tear at the flesh, when suddenly the arm threw him off with unexpected strength. A bit of too-long tooth caught the moonlight in a way that made Remus' awareness shout 'vampire!!!', but the wolf didn't care. Two more times he attacked and was thrown off, until the look in the creature's eyes made him realise suddenly that he wasn't the hunter anymore. He was the prey.
~~~
By early afternoon, her hope that he was just lying somewhere exhausted - but safe - and gathering his strength to return home had faded into a full-blown fear.
She put a loose-ended tracking spell on herself, then flooed to her mum, under the pretext of something forgotten (hah, surprise! There was so much that she had forgotten, it was almost a trouble to decide on what exactly to use as pretext...). She attached the loose end of the spell to Andromeda's house, with a set-up, should she fail to release it by nightfall, that it would make itself known to her mum - insistently known.
Then she returned home and set off for the woods.
~~~
So he ran. He ran across a moon-lit clearing, then through a thicker-undergrowth section, then he stopped to listen in the slight mist gathering among the trees. He heard the hunter after him for a moment, then the woods became quiet suddenly. Too quiet.
The wind had died down, leaving the smells of the forest to settle down, and now they assaulted his nose - late-winter decay, layer upon layer of dead leaves decomposing in the dampness since forever. Small animals scampering away from him, away from the hunt of the stronger predators.
And the other smell, faint but growing stronger. The Other seemed to wind his way towards the place where the wolf lay, making him unsure just where he was at any time. Only that he was drawing closer.
Then suddenly there was the noise of a branch snapping and the wolf bolted, only to be caught by two strong, clawed hands and to feel teeth digging into his throat, and unbearable pain.
The wolf clawed against his captor until one of his hind legs somehow caught and tore at his neck, making the vampire let him go in surprise.
Slightly dazed, the wolf whined, but then the other creature made to grab for him again, and he ran.
~~~
She finally found him as the sun was starting to set. He was lying on his side, curled around himself, unconscious. Alive, she quickly verified, but very, very cold. There were some bruises, but small twin bite marks under her fingers at his neck quickly let her know - not what had happened, but what she needed to do. They sent a chill down her spine, and only increased the shivering inside. She wrapped her arms about him to give off a bit of warmth, and apparated them directly to their bedroom.
There she levitated him on the bed, tucked him in and piled as many blankets as she could find on top. She would have joined him for more heat shared, but she had a potion to brew - this one would be done properly too!
DAMN the time I lost before going to find him! she thought as she released her end of the tracking spell that linked her to her mum's house, and headed down to the kitchen.
~~~
Deep inside the wolf's mind, Remus was panicking. And the wolf ran and ran.
If he died like this, what would happen with the war? With his baby? With ... Dora? He had to find a way to escape, to outwit the vampire, but the wolf wouldn't listen.
Merlin! I thought werewolves wouldn't die easily...
Not ever had he felt so helpless as when the wolf got himself cornered against three trees... and his consciousness was there, intact, just... not in control. Fool! I cannot fight a vampire! But the wolf was making a stand.
Forced to witness each smell that his transformed body caught of the approaching dark creature (other dark creature, he corrected himself); to hear every sound that the wolf's head turned after; to see every flickering shadow that might be the vampire, Remus felt like a man condemned. He couldn't run. He couldn't fight with the slightest chance of winning.
Now the vampire was playing. He knew the wolf wouldn't run anymore; he probably could smell some of the fear. And he probably knew that the bite already in would have weakened his prey. So he took his time.
Slowly, the circle of smell and motion narrowed. And suddenly the human-like shape swam out of the mist again. This time, the wolf leapt in self-defense, rather than attack; and was thrown off once more. Yet again he tried, and this time the slam against the tree stunned him for a moment, long enough for the vampire to reach him on his own terms. The wolf's teeth sank deep into the hand that grabbed for him, but the delay was only short and the creature laughed.
Then there was the pain again.
The vampire drank in long, slow, agonising draughts. Each of them seemed to tear at the wolf's limbs, at his insides, to drain him. Time and again came the pull, and the pain, and wolf howled helpless, then whined, then whimpered.
But it wasn't the vampire taking mercy that saved him.
The hunt had taken up most of the night, and the other dark creature became suddenly aware of the approaching sun. Between two pulls... possibly just a step away from finally finishing him off, the vampire dropped the wolf and ran, ran fast, for whatever cover he needed from the sun.
The wolf fell to his side and lay there, powerless to move, dazed from the loss of blood.
Then with the break of dawn came the transformation, and he screamed. It was a wolf's howl that turned into a human cry, and there was nobody to hear him.
HELP, he thought when he stopped screaming; his throat felt sore as did the rest of his body. And he could not utter another sound - no voice, no strength.
Dora...
He was cold, so cold he couldn't believe it. He couldn't move much, his limbs were too heavy to lift. He could still curl into himself, though even that was too much and he lost consciousness with the effort.
~~~
The blood-replenishing potion was a trifle rushed, but still done right. She fed it to him slowly, and semi-conscious as he was still, he clung to her as he sometimes did when he slept. Within minutes, the colour started returning to his cheeks; later, his breathing eased.
It wasn't till he opened his eyes and focused on her and whispered "Dora" in the night, that the trembling that had only grown since she saw him missing in the morning - finally started to subside.
Author: pinkhairedauror
Rating & Warnings: R to be on the safe side. It may be a bit high, but there's disturbing imagery...
Prompts: Day of Trembling; Blood replentishing potion; genre Horror or Gen; Location protmp: 4 (sunset forest)
Word Count: 1 729, says Word
Summary: Remus assured Tonks he'd found someplace to get the potion, and she could stay with her mum after (DH spoiler event) for another week. He didn't expect the quality to be that much lower though.
Author’s Notes: OK, this is my first post here, and, more importantly, first try at horror. Please don't be too angry with me if it's not horrible enough... And any feedback is much appreciated.
And thanks to r_moony for betaing. And for everything.
She knew something was wrong as soon as she opened the door, called out his name, and was only answered by the clank of a window against a wall in the wind. He always needed rest on the day after a transformation so he might've been asleep, but he'd never leave a window open like that.
And, as she shortly found out, he wasn't in the bedroom.
Nor in the spare room where he would sleep the full moon night away. It was there that the window was open.
Broken.
I should have returned sooner.
But he had insisted he was fine, and had found someplace to buy the potion, and that she could - should - stay with her mother a week longer. And both Andromeda and herself had needed that extra time together.
Dad...
Her next stop was the kitchen, hoping that maybe she could find some of the potion to confirm - or, possibly, reject - her suspicion.
The baby kicked inside her, and she put her palm on her growing belly, breathed deeper, and tried to suppress the... anxiety.
Yes, the last dose was still visible on the table. Remus must've been tired indeed, not to dispose of it the day before. She sniffed at it. The smell seemed... as nauseating as always almost right. But a taste...
Too much yarrow. Not enough cat's nail.
Brewed too shortly.
The first two remarks - those could have resulted in an almost rightly working potion, although she always thought it just had to be done right.
But the last thing...
He transformed fully, last night.
Oi.
She cast a quick Reparo on the window and closed it with shaking fingers, then walked out and circled the cottage. He seemed to have run directly for the forest. She followed his tracks to the woods, then gave up when she lost them in a thicket just as her belly fairly lurched.
"All right, all right. Home, food, and rest for us, love." She voiced it out loud, both for the baby's sake and for her own... and, should Remus be nearby, as a chance for him to answer. Her eyes still searched the thicket with worry before she finally turned and walked back.
~~~
Remus knew the Wolfsbane, if just as foul, had a slightly odd taste, but he had to trust it was all right. Of course, having always been rather inept at potions, even this brew that he so depended on wasn't so familiar as to make him alarmed.
He didn't know how wrong he was until the transformation started and, instead of tucking the wolf away and curling to sleep, he was overpowered as the beast leaped through the window and vanished in the night.
There was some awareness. Just enough to observe, nowhere near to being able to try for control over his - the wolf's - body.
He ran to the forest swiftly, the movement relieving after the days of increasing immobility as fatigue had forced him to rest more and more extensively. The wind ruffled his fur... unlike the human who always fought, the wolf enjoyed running.
Hunting.
And tonight, there was something in the forest, something that smelled strong and dark and strange. And so the wolf had to catch it.
The first time he came upon it, the wolf leapt immediately. The fangs dug into the shoulder (Man-shape. Easy prey!) and started to tear at the flesh, when suddenly the arm threw him off with unexpected strength. A bit of too-long tooth caught the moonlight in a way that made Remus' awareness shout 'vampire!!!', but the wolf didn't care. Two more times he attacked and was thrown off, until the look in the creature's eyes made him realise suddenly that he wasn't the hunter anymore. He was the prey.
~~~
By early afternoon, her hope that he was just lying somewhere exhausted - but safe - and gathering his strength to return home had faded into a full-blown fear.
She put a loose-ended tracking spell on herself, then flooed to her mum, under the pretext of something forgotten (hah, surprise! There was so much that she had forgotten, it was almost a trouble to decide on what exactly to use as pretext...). She attached the loose end of the spell to Andromeda's house, with a set-up, should she fail to release it by nightfall, that it would make itself known to her mum - insistently known.
Then she returned home and set off for the woods.
~~~
So he ran. He ran across a moon-lit clearing, then through a thicker-undergrowth section, then he stopped to listen in the slight mist gathering among the trees. He heard the hunter after him for a moment, then the woods became quiet suddenly. Too quiet.
The wind had died down, leaving the smells of the forest to settle down, and now they assaulted his nose - late-winter decay, layer upon layer of dead leaves decomposing in the dampness since forever. Small animals scampering away from him, away from the hunt of the stronger predators.
And the other smell, faint but growing stronger. The Other seemed to wind his way towards the place where the wolf lay, making him unsure just where he was at any time. Only that he was drawing closer.
Then suddenly there was the noise of a branch snapping and the wolf bolted, only to be caught by two strong, clawed hands and to feel teeth digging into his throat, and unbearable pain.
The wolf clawed against his captor until one of his hind legs somehow caught and tore at his neck, making the vampire let him go in surprise.
Slightly dazed, the wolf whined, but then the other creature made to grab for him again, and he ran.
~~~
She finally found him as the sun was starting to set. He was lying on his side, curled around himself, unconscious. Alive, she quickly verified, but very, very cold. There were some bruises, but small twin bite marks under her fingers at his neck quickly let her know - not what had happened, but what she needed to do. They sent a chill down her spine, and only increased the shivering inside. She wrapped her arms about him to give off a bit of warmth, and apparated them directly to their bedroom.
There she levitated him on the bed, tucked him in and piled as many blankets as she could find on top. She would have joined him for more heat shared, but she had a potion to brew - this one would be done properly too!
DAMN the time I lost before going to find him! she thought as she released her end of the tracking spell that linked her to her mum's house, and headed down to the kitchen.
~~~
Deep inside the wolf's mind, Remus was panicking. And the wolf ran and ran.
If he died like this, what would happen with the war? With his baby? With ... Dora? He had to find a way to escape, to outwit the vampire, but the wolf wouldn't listen.
Merlin! I thought werewolves wouldn't die easily...
Not ever had he felt so helpless as when the wolf got himself cornered against three trees... and his consciousness was there, intact, just... not in control. Fool! I cannot fight a vampire! But the wolf was making a stand.
Forced to witness each smell that his transformed body caught of the approaching dark creature (other dark creature, he corrected himself); to hear every sound that the wolf's head turned after; to see every flickering shadow that might be the vampire, Remus felt like a man condemned. He couldn't run. He couldn't fight with the slightest chance of winning.
Now the vampire was playing. He knew the wolf wouldn't run anymore; he probably could smell some of the fear. And he probably knew that the bite already in would have weakened his prey. So he took his time.
Slowly, the circle of smell and motion narrowed. And suddenly the human-like shape swam out of the mist again. This time, the wolf leapt in self-defense, rather than attack; and was thrown off once more. Yet again he tried, and this time the slam against the tree stunned him for a moment, long enough for the vampire to reach him on his own terms. The wolf's teeth sank deep into the hand that grabbed for him, but the delay was only short and the creature laughed.
Then there was the pain again.
The vampire drank in long, slow, agonising draughts. Each of them seemed to tear at the wolf's limbs, at his insides, to drain him. Time and again came the pull, and the pain, and wolf howled helpless, then whined, then whimpered.
But it wasn't the vampire taking mercy that saved him.
The hunt had taken up most of the night, and the other dark creature became suddenly aware of the approaching sun. Between two pulls... possibly just a step away from finally finishing him off, the vampire dropped the wolf and ran, ran fast, for whatever cover he needed from the sun.
The wolf fell to his side and lay there, powerless to move, dazed from the loss of blood.
Then with the break of dawn came the transformation, and he screamed. It was a wolf's howl that turned into a human cry, and there was nobody to hear him.
HELP, he thought when he stopped screaming; his throat felt sore as did the rest of his body. And he could not utter another sound - no voice, no strength.
Dora...
He was cold, so cold he couldn't believe it. He couldn't move much, his limbs were too heavy to lift. He could still curl into himself, though even that was too much and he lost consciousness with the effort.
~~~
The blood-replenishing potion was a trifle rushed, but still done right. She fed it to him slowly, and semi-conscious as he was still, he clung to her as he sometimes did when he slept. Within minutes, the colour started returning to his cheeks; later, his breathing eased.
It wasn't till he opened his eyes and focused on her and whispered "Dora" in the night, that the trembling that had only grown since she saw him missing in the morning - finally started to subside.