Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Bloody Skies	By : TokiMirage Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Slash - Male/Male Views: 44832 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: JKRowling owns Harry Potter. Everything else is mine. I do not make any money writing this fic.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Bloody Skies
oOo
Chapter Six:
oOo
“Your classes sound very… interesting.”
Cyrus suppressed a sound that could have been a laugh, and just as easily a choke. Either Remus was a master of understatements, or he really didn’t know what to say. Cyrus was betting on the latter. He’d been both looking forward to coming ‘home’ at the end of September and positively dreading it. For the past month he’d somehow managed to survive Shikaan (he couldn’t go to Spinner’s End because his past self was still there learning Occlumency), and now that he had the opportunity to ditch, he wasn’t entirely sure that it even registered as an option in his mind anymore. Shikaan was… well. It wasn’t something he could easily describe. Halfway between hell and the Hermione-playground of the century.
“Do you like it there?”
Loaded question.
“Well… The teachers are amazing. I mean, some of them are real hard, but they all know what they’re talking about and can teach – which is more than I can say for most of the DADA teachers at Hogwarts.” He paused, thinking for a moment. “A lot of it is very hands-on, which I like. I never particularly liked essay writing… I love the course material, too. Aside from the core classes, we get to choose whatever direction – magically – that we want to go.” Cyrus stared down into his half-empty cup of tea.
He nearly jumped when Remus put a hand on his shoulder. “We can always find you another school, Cyrus. Don’t think that this is the only option available to you.” His brow furrowed, liquid amber eyes swirling with mixed emotion. “Do you like it there?”
Cyrus stared back down at his teacup. “It’s not that I don’t like it, or that I like it. It’s necessary if I’m going to survive this war. That ‘choice’ you’re talking about is an illusion. I never had a choice.”
“How very morbid, Obsidian.”
Cyrus suppressed a jump and looked towards the source of the voice. Damn that vampire stillness. He needed to find a way to detect these blood-suckers unless he wanted to get mauled in the toilet. “Hello, Snape.”
The vampire raised an eyebrow. “I take it Remus is trying persuade your education in sheltered directions?”
Said werewolf actually growled at Snape, who was entirely unaffected.
Cyrus turned back to his tea. He was here on a weekend, but it didn’t really feel like one. With the amount of homework he had to do, he’d be lucky to get in extra time for private study. Second year Runes class was taking up what felt like all of his time. He was grateful and despondent about the class change at the same time because he had nine bloody months of the course to learn, not including the month he’d missed of September. Every time he had a stupid answer in class, or nearly flunked one of the tests he would feel the eyes of the senior students. Assessing. Taking notice. Exactly what he didn’t want to happen. It was only a matter of time before another vampire decided that he’d make an excellent snack. And even though that Asteras guy couldn’t drink his blood because of Rivehn, that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to get revenge. Ugh. What a clusterfuck.
“Cyrus?”
He blinked and his eyes focused on the tea in his hands, which was currently imitating a tornado a foot above his glass. He wandlessly banished the cold tea and poured himself another cup.
“I’m going to be eaten alive before Christmas, Remus. Does that answer your bloody question?” He stirred the sugar into his tea with a spoon, wanting to give his hands something to do. The two adults were silent. He blew and took a sip.
“Are you going to give up so easily, Obsidian?”
Cyrus ignored the caustic remark. He wasn’t giving up. It was just an eventuality.
Snape sat down in an adjacent armchair. “If I didn’t believe you could survive it, I would never have enrolled you in Shikaan, Cyrus. And if you ever need a safe haven for a couple hours, or days, you are always welcome here. Shikaan doesn’t allow its students to live off campus permanently, but you are free to visit any time.”
Cyrus nodded, and glared at his shaking hands for betraying him.
“You were attacked, were you not?”
Remus sucked in a breath across from him. Cyrus debated answering for a moment, before nodding his head slightly.
“You have a couple options before you, Cyrus. It will be impossible for you to fight off all the senior students at this level in your education, and as you have a penchant for trouble it is impossible for you to hide in the shadows. One, you can let the vampires feed from you. Most will not be out to kill you, as you are a food supply and not a threat at this point. Only fight off the ones who want more than just a bite.”
Cyrus gripped the cup in his hand tightly. “I don’t want them to feed on me. If I let it happen, then it’ll set a precedent, and they’ll never stop coming after me!”
“You must pick your battles, Cyrus. You can’t fight them all. After you fight one vampire, and you are weakened, another will take their place.”
Cyrus watched his tea swirling in his cup. He managed to reign in his magic, but just barely. He loathed feeling helpless. “You said ‘one’. Are there other options?”
Snape raised an eyebrow at him. “If you had refrained from your burst of irrationality, I would have continued.” Cyrus wisely kept his mouth shut. “Two, you can become a donor to a vampire high on the food chain. If they accept you as a donor, you will be their territory and they will fight off other vampires trying to feed from you. However, you must keep in mind that enticing a higher vampire to accept you as a donor is not easy – and it comes with a price. It is a burden for a high ranking vampire to stake and retain a donor’s claim on a human, and unless you manage to convince the vampire that it is worth the trouble, whether it be by bribing or some other method of payment, he or she will reject your request.”
And how exactly was he supposed to bribe a vampire?! They already got blood out of the agreement, what else was there to give?
“Remember, Cyrus. We can always transfer you to another school,” Remus pitched in hopefully.
The human ran a frustrated hand through his dirty blond hair and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t want to leave his classes, but he wanted to leave the student population. Until he could actually fight, he was at the mercy of others. The whole point of going to Shikaan was to feel more in control of his ‘destiny’, but he was just feeling more depressed.
“I know that the Wizarding World has forced the responsibility of defeating Voldemort on you, Cyrus, but I want you to know that we’re here for you whenever you need us.” Remus smiled.
Cyrus closed his eyes. But Remus didn’t know about the prophecy. He looked up at Snape, and found neither pity nor spite, just a blank, neutral expression. Suppressing a sigh, he decided to just enjoy the peace while he could. He doubted whether he had a choice in fighting Voldemort or not, but he did have every intention of surviving the coming war. Moldywarts would come knocking eventually. Until then, he would prepare himself the best he could.
oOo
“Please send your homework assignment to the front, and we will begin class.” Rivehn’s voice lilted through the classroom.
Cyrus wandlessly floated his over, like everyone else. One of the first things that made it obvious what kind of year difference he was experiencing was the level of sheer expectation. Rivehn expected, if you’d made it this far, that you were in the course because you were going to do the work. Cyrus, of course, had no problems with doing the work, but doing it perfectly was out of the question. The gaps in his knowledge tripped him up on every assignment, on every question asked of him in class. Rivehn didn’t draw any unwarranted attention to Cyrus – he didn’t play favourites – but somehow half the class managed to hate him. The other half just didn’t give a rat’s ass.
“To begin today’s class, I’d like to draw your attention to the homework assignment from last class that I asked you to correct. I found the majority of the class got the second question wrong. Has anyone figured out their mistake since last class?”
There was a shuffling of papers as students searched for their homework and pulled it out. Cyrus found his quickly and frowned down at the sheet. He’d gotten something wrong with every question except that one. He’d managed to figure out most of the mistakes (they’d been stupid things: like forgetting the energy regulation rune in the nexus that controlled the spell execution, or making ‘spelling’ mistakes), but a few of the structural ones still confused him. He’d found the second question the easiest.
“When creating or fixing other spells you must remember that logic will always overrule the textbook. The books I have provided for you are merely there to give you the tools you need to understand why the spells work, not to be the unbroken rule. If spell creators always followed the rules, there wouldn’t be new spells. Often it is a mistake that leads to something unexpected, but more often than success it leads to your death. Or somebody else’s.” He eyed the classroom. “Has anybody solved their mistake?”
The class was, once again, stubbornly silent. Rivehn waved a hand at the black board and a map of equations appeared. “This is the mistake 88% of the class made that would have vaporized the user in less than a second.” Finally, this got a reaction. “Three students got this question right. You know who you are. Can a volunteer please explain to the rest of the class the intended purpose of the equation and what is glaringly wrong with this one.” He gestured emphatically at the board. When no one immediately volunteered, his eyes narrowed. “Very well. Hetrianus, would you do the honours?” It wasn’t a question.
A nervous student close to the front stood up. “Umm… Well, the spell was intended to be a warming charm used most often in the kitchen, sir.” He paused, uncertain. “I’m afraid I don’t know what is wrong with the equation.” When Rivehn nodded, accepting the answer, the student quickly sat down.
“Thank you. Marclair? Obsidian? Care to answer the rest of the question?”
When Marclair appeared reticent, Cyrus slowly stood. Rivehn stared at him expectantly. “The… there’s no limiter, sir.” Rivehn’s lips twitched. “Also, the execution runes are faulty for this kind of spell. This particular variation should only be used with spells that require a slight feedback of energy into the spell in order to execute. With the feedback loop of energy, as well as the lack of a limiter, it wouldn’t take very long for the spell to burn out and explode. The more powerful the user, the more spectacular the explosion. Sir.” Cyrus quickly sat down, ignoring the looks he received from some of the students.
“Well done, Mr. Obsidian. You are correct. For those who failed this question, I want 500 words on execution segments and the subtle variances in type, along with the completed corrections for next class. Now, on with today’s lesson…”
It was another grueling 40 minutes in Runes class before they were finally released for the day. Cyrus had managed to make a fool of himself when they’d been divided into teams to decode harder questions than the previous homework assignment. How was he supposed to know what a vocarian link was? The demon he’d been paired with hadn’t needed to be such a fucking bitch about it, too. Cyrus had been inches away from casting a skin-peeling curse at her.
“Psst.”
Cyrus blinked and glanced around. A hand tapped his shoulder, and he spun around with a blasting curse broiling beneath his skin. At the sight of such a sheepish, hopeless expression, however, he couldn’t let the curse loose and reabsorbed it into his magic channels.
“Yes?”
A nervous hand scratched at the back of a vibrant orange head. “Ah, well, I uh… I was wondering… ifyoucouldhelpmewiththeruneshomework.”
Cyrus stared at him, uncomprehending. “Excuse me?”
The student did a full body twitch. “I, uh, was wondering if you could help me with the Runes homework. Everyone knows that you're the best runes-logic guy, and I’m really just trying to get by in this class so I can go into ward testing.”
Green eyes blinked. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t even know what a fucking vocarian link is. How am I supposed to help you with your Runes homework?”
Amber eyes narrowed, and the student let out a nervous laugh. “Well, I thought that, since I suck so much at the logic of runes, and you don’t know what we’ve already covered in the course, I could help you out. I may suck at understanding the crap, but I make up for it with good note taking.” He grinned, showing off pointy canines. “Whaddya say?”
Cyrus stared. He’d never expected this. I scratch your back you scratch mine? He’d been under the impression no one particularly liked him. But then again, you didn’t need to like someone in order to work with them. And who was he to turn down a perfectly good offer at someone helping him catch up all the stuff he’d missed? Often they didn’t work through the textbook in order, so it was hard to know what he was already supposed to know.
“You’re serious? You actually want to help each other out?”
The orange-haired werewolf (Cyrus assumed that he was one) grinned and held out a hand. “You betcha. Deal?”
Cyrus actually smiled a bit. He shook the proffered hand. “Deal.”
“Great! I only have one other course today, and it’s this next period. Are you free after that?”
“Er, no. I have Necromancy and then Animagus after. I’m free after that, though. Do you want to meet in the library?” The library was pretty neutral ground. The TA wouldn’t have it any other way. Cyrus suppressed his amusement at that thought.
“Sure thing! I’ll make sure to bring all my notes.” Grinning like a lunatic, the ball of orange hair bounced out of the room. Cyrus just stared after him, bewildered.
oOo
“Hey, human.”
Cyrus’s lip twitched. “Hey, vampire.”
The TA smirked, flashing fang. “Anything in particular you’re looking for today?”
Cyrus shook his head. “No. Just meeting somebody.”
A black eyebrow rose in surprise. “Really now. Do I know this person?”
Opening his mouth to answer, Cyrus pulled up short. He didn’t even know the werewolf’s name. “Um, really orange hair?”
Dark red eyes lit up in amusement. “Ooooh, Xanthir? That guy’s a total riot. If you wanna spar, or you’re looking for the best human world night club to crash, he’s the Were! He sucks at academics, though. More of a doer than a thinker. Don’t let him rope you into doing all his homework! Mutual assistance is good and all, but don’t let him get the sweeter side of the pie. He’ll push till he knows the boundaries. A lot of werewolves are like that, actually…”
Cyrus smiled. “Thanks for the advice. He’s going to help me get caught up in Runes class. Supposedly he takes good notes.”
The vampire grinned. “Oh yeah. He’s well aware of his ineptitudes. He takes notes to try and compensate. It works some of the time, but if you just don’t get a concept, no matter how long you stare at a sheet of paper it doesn’t make any more sense to you, ya know?”
Cyrus grinned. “Sounds like Potions.”
She laughed.
“Hope you aren’t saying bad things about me, Tara!” a familiar voice called from the entrance to the library.
“Xanthir! What have I said about being quiet in the library!” Cyrus noticed many shakes of the head from students studying at various tables around the room. After all, the librarian, Tara apparently, had just shouted louder than Xanthir.
“Tara, my love! You wound me!” The werewolf gripped his chest, eyes closed in agony as he continued walking towards them.
“Keep your filthy paws to yourself, you dog.”
Xanthir just grinned and sprawled against the counter. “Yo, Obsidian. Ready to start some learnin’?”
Cyrus raised an eyebrow. He didn’t even have time to answer before Tara was on the Were’s case again.
“Really, Xanth, the poor addled human didn’t even know your name. What the hell kinda manners you got, anyway?” She whapped him over the side of the head, and Cyrus would bet his family fortune that the same hit would have snapped his own neck. He also found it amusing that she was berating Xanthir about manners, when she’d never told Cyrus her name.
“Ruff ruff.” Xanthir batted amber eyes at Tara in a pathetic parody of flirtation. “Sorry, hun.” He turned to Cyrus with a grin, now completely ignoring Tara. He stuck out his hand, again. “The name’s Xanthir Adelphos. Call me Xanthir, or you’ll find out why I’m the best in second year W&B.”
Cyrus grinned and shook the hand. “Cyrus Obsidian, though it seems you already knew my name. You can call me Cyrus or Obsidian, doesn’t really matter to me.”
“Cool. Cyrus it is then.” He held out his fist, and Cyrus just stared. “C’mon, man. Ya gotta pound it.” He moved the fist forward slightly in a mock punch movement. “Love tap.” Cyrus gently touched a fist to Xanthir’s and got a million watt smile. “Alright! Let’s get some learnin’ done!”
Cyrus’s lips quirked in amusement as Xanthir led them to a far corner of the library. The werewolf dropped his book bag down on the table without a care for the loud ‘thump’ it produced. Luckily, there were no disturbed students around to glare at them. When the Were started pulling down seemingly random books from the shelves, Cyrus raised an eyebrow.
“All the good Runes books are hidden with the not so great ones. I don’t know why Rivehn lets the Librarian keep ‘em here, but some of the titles he’s actually told us never to touch cuz they suck that bad.” Sharp canines flashed through a wide grin. “Since I wanna go into ward testin’, I usually look at the most useful ones durin’ my free time.”
Cyrus picked up a random book and started rifling through it. His eyebrows rose in surprise. Some of the stuff in here was pretty good. This particular book was about the analysis of spell structure. It went into depth discussing the differences between structures (groupings of runes that could be independent of the overall system, or function, of a spell) and systems (the skeleton of a spell that determined its function and execution). Why did the spell work the way it did, and how you could tweak it to either add extensions to its execution or make it blow up in your face. From what the book was telling him, you could add an extension like a heating structure to a stasis spell meant to freeze potions by stopping the ingredient’s chemical reactions with one another and voila: instant dinner stasis charm, for when your guests are late by an hour and you want the food to stay fresh.
“What’s ward testing?” Cyrus asked when he came back to the real world.
“’Xactly what is sounds like. There’re a bunch of people out there that specialize in tearin’ down wards instead of buildin’ ‘em. There’s ward craftin’, and then ward testin’ goes side ‘long with it.” He cheerfully plonked himself down in the seat across from Cyrus. “I like blowin’ shit up, so this’d be a pretty cool job for me. Since you seem to be a natural at it, I figured you must have some kinda insight that I don’t.”
Cyrus hid a smile. Oh yeah, he definitely had insight.
“The hardest part o’ ward stuff is that we can’t actually see the rune chains once they’re complete. From what I’ve read about crafting, you build each rune by hand, string ‘em together, and when you’re done the ward vanishes and becomes invisible to our eyesight. Ward testers have to get a real good sense of the wards after they’ve already vanished. From what I’ve read, it’s kinda like how a blind person reads brail with their fingers. Some people are good at doin’ it real fast, and others take a long time.” He grinned. “I seen Rivehn map out a large spell system like an animatin’ transfiguration in less than two seconds. My Uncle woulda taken an hour, at least!
“So, in some ways it’s harder to be a tester than a crafter, but at the same time, craftin’ takes so much knowledge. With testin’, you just need to get a feel for poking holes, and hope that the crafter wasn’t smart enough to build traps into the wards.”
Blond eyebrows rose. “Really? You can do that? Is that kind of like the extensions that this book talks about?”
Xanthir grinned. “Totally! That’s Midna Danver’s book. It’s a little complicated for our year, but she’s never wrong, man! Like she talks about in that book, some of the top ward crafters out there build the nastiest curses into the things. I saw a man get flayed alive, once. He was my Uncle’s ‘prentice. He wouldn’t listen to the old man, so… That’s why I’m studyin’ wards here. I wanna ‘prentice under my Uncle when I graduate.”
“Really? How good is your uncle?”
“Well, he’s never joined the Ward Testers’ Guild, doesn’t believe in that shit, he says. But he’s been in the business for a long time, and he’s still alive, so… S’pretty impressive. I could learn a lot from him.” The werewolf nervously ran a hand through is spikey hair. “’Nough ‘bout me, what about you? What do you wanna do once you graduate?”
Cyrus blinked, then frowned. All he’d been focusing on was staying alive. He’d never really thought of what kind of job he wanted to go into. “I dunno really. I’m trying to expand my abilities for now.”
Xanthir raised an incredulous eyebrow. “C’mon, man. There’s gotta be something you got dreams about? You’re really good at runes! Why not go into that?”
Cyrus shrugged. “We’ll see. How about getting started? How about I read and copy your notes and we trade questions whenever we get stuck?”
The Were grinned. “Sure thing, man.” He reached into his bag, pulled out a huge binder, and dropped it onto the desk. The bang echoed in the library. “How ‘bout we start with October’s notes?”
Cyrus stared.
oOo
Two hours later, Cyrus tiredly leaned back in his chair, two months worth of runes notes crammed into his cranium, and all of his Runes homework finished for the day. The October and November notes from last year had already helped him immensely, filling in the gaps of the stuff he had already studied. Because of the review, he was pretty sure he aced two questions that he would have nearly flunked two hours earlier. Xanthir had pouted when he’d finished the homework in a third of the time it took the werewolf.
“Hey, man, whaddya say to gettin’ a bite to eat?”
Cyrus blinked in surprise, then smiled. The werewolf actually wanted to hang out with him? “Sure thing.”
Amber eyes closed in a happy grin. “Sweet! I hope they have steak tonight, I’m sick of eatin’ all that friggin’ chicken. I hate chicken.”
Cyrus was about to agree with a grin when a snide voice interrupted.
“Wow, Xanthir. I had no idea you would actually sink this low.”
The werewolf’s eyes brightened to gold, and his mouth pulled down at the corners as he turned to look behind them. “Dalesh.”
Cyrus turned around too, eyeing the possible threat warily, a stupefy already swirling beneath his skin.
‘Dalesh’ smirked darkly, black eyes beginning to glow a midnight blue. “Really, Xanthir. I know you suck at Runes, but to ask a human? You must be desperate.”
Golden eyes narrowed angrily. “You’re just jealous that he’s better at Runes than you. Besides, aren’t you the one that suggested it? You wouldn’t help, so I asked the smartest in our class instead.” He smirked derisively. “I guess I just have higher standards than you.”
Midnight blue eyes narrowed, and a growl echoed through the quiet hallway. It was empty except for Dalesh and the two girls behind him. The black-haired beauty stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Dalesh’s left arm. “C’mon, Desh, darling,” she simpered, “These two ruffians are hardly worth taunting, no?” She stood on her toes and nuzzled his neck, running a tongue along his carotid artery.
He pulled away from her, not paying any attention to her ministrations. She turned a harsh glare on Cyrus, as if blaming him for distracting her ‘Desh’. He scowled right back at her.
“He’s hardly the smartest in our class, Xanthir. He’s so far behind he’ll never catch up.” Dalesh sneered.
Xanthir smirked. “He learned two months worth of material in an hour and a half, ‘Desh’,” he mocked. Cyrus glanced at him when the werewolf failed to mention that Cyrus had already learned half the material just from his extra-curricular studying during September.
Dalesh raised an eyebrow, but the twitch of his eye belied his anger. “Really, now? I doubt that.”
The red-haired woman on Dalesh’s other side slithered up behind him and slid her hands under his shirt. “Come on, Desh. I’m hungry. Can’t you taunt the pathetic wolf another time?”
Midnight eyes flickered to hers for a second before turning on Cyrus. A slow smirk spread across the student’s face. “Why don’t we eat right here?” Before Cyrus could even twitch, Dalesh had him pinned to the wall. He tried to let loose the stupefy still burning below his skin, but some sort of energy wrapped around him and stifled his magic, just like Tara had when she’d healed Asteras’s first bite. Panic stirred his magic into a frenzy, but it couldn’t push past the thick molasses that was suffocating him. Green eyes met midnight blue for a moment before fangs sank into his neck.
Dalesh was certainly more skilled than Asteras. Cyrus gasped as blood rushed to his groin, leaving very little left to supply both his brain and Dalesh’s hunger. His vision began to blur, and adrenaline and fear tried to push the pleasurable haze out of his mind so he could defend himself. His heart, beating faster and faster, vainly ended up pushing more blood into Dalesh’s mouth than Cyrus’s brain, and slowly the world began to darken around him until he passed out.
oOo
“...rus?”
Cyrus came out of his haze to feel a vial put to his lips, but he stubbornly kept his mouth shut.
“C’mon, man. It’s just a blood replenisher. Drink it before you pass out again.”
Green eyes opened grudgingly, and he hissed at the bright light that sent reverberations of pain through his skull, quickly closing his lids again. The vial was stuck in his mouth, and before he could do anything, a nasty potion spread across his tongue. A hand pinched his nose, so he had to swallow if he wanted to breath. He considered not breathing, but ended up just swallowing the damn potion. He instantly felt better, and reconciled with himself that he had probably not just been poisoned.
“That better?”
Cyrus grumbled and brought a hand to his forehead to massage his temples. “Did anyone catch the name of the guy that sicced a hippogriff on me?”
A familiar voice laughed, and Cyrus finally opened his eyes again, relieved that it didn’t hurt as much as last time. Xanthir was kneeling on the ground next to him, an empty vial in his hand. “Dalesh.”
“Who?”
Xanthir wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Dalesh. He drank too much blood, that’s why you needed a potion. You’ve been unconscious for about ten minutes.”
Cyrus’s eyes snapped wide. “What?! He- that- fucking vampires!” Angrily, he pushed himself off the floor and brought a hand to his neck. It was a little tender, but there were no teeth marks or blood. “And what were you doing while he nearly sucked me dry?!”
Xanthir still wouldn’t look at him. “His whores held me back. Prevented me from helping.” He growled softly under his breath, eyes burning gold. “I wouldn’t have been able to stop him, anyway. He may be in our class, but he’s a fourth year. He’s planning on staying for the full six years allowed, too, so we won’t be rid of him for a while. He was the best in Runes until you came along. He’s quite irritated that someone else managed to garner Rivehn’s attention. He’s planning on asking Rivehn to take him on as an apprentice once he graduates with full honours.”
Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like an insufferable git, if you ask me.”
Xanthir met his eyes in surprise for a second before he burst into laughter. It was an odd mixture of what Cyrus would imagine a canine’s laugh would sound like and a human’s. Cyrus caught himself relaxing. “I completely agree, man. He’s way too full of himself.” He grinned, flashing sharp canines. “Wanna go get that bite to eat now?” He stood and held out a hand.
Cyrus gripped it, and the werewolf pulled him up with ease. “Sounds good. I need some time to plot the demise of this vampire.”
Xanthir grinned even wider. “Oooh, can I help?”
Cyrus smirked, rubbing at his neck. “Sure.”
oOo
“You wanna WHAT?!”
Cyrus cringed and resisted the urge to cover his ears. Apparently Xanthir and Tara were childhood friends or something, because before they even went to dinner the werewolf had dragged him back to the library to share their budding plot with the vampire. Cyrus would have stupefied him if he’d know the Were’s intentions. He was bloody hungry.
Xanthir covered his ears with both hands. Cyrus cast a wandless silencing charm around them when he noticed all the evil looks from studying students. “Aaaw, c’mooon, Tara. I know you’ve been wantin’ to wipe the floor with him for months, he just hasn’t given you a good enough excuse yet.”
She raised a dubious eyebrow. “Yeah, I hate the little fucker’s attitude, but I ain’t gonna pick a fight with him if there’s nothing in it for me!”
Xanthir bit his pouting lip for a second before his eyes brightened with some ingenious idea. Cyrus was wondering if it wouldn’t be better to just stun the werewolf and be done with it, before something… unfortunate occurred. “Well, why don’t you claim donors rights on Cyrus?! That way Cyrus won’t get fed on anymore, and you’ll have an excuse to kick Dalesh’s ass!”
Cyrus stared at the wolf. When he’d brought Xanthir in on his plans concerning Dalesh’s demise, he certainly hadn’t intended for the conversation to go in this direction. The Were hadn’t even asked Cyrus for his thoughts on the matter! What if he didn’t want to be Tara’s bitch?
Tara glared at him. “You’re not that smart, dog. Why would I even want to help you? Besides, I’ve been letting this little bugger skive off paying for my services for a while now. I could just make him pay up if blood was what I wanted.”
Cyrus’s mind flashed back to his conversation with Snape earlier that week. The vampire had mentioned that becoming a donor could be useful. He’d also mentioned that a powerful one would want something else in exchange. He’d been completely serious. He wanted to smack Xanthir over the head for not asking Cyrus first, but being Tara’s donor could solve some of his problems.
Xanthir blinked at her dubiously. “Why wouldn’t you want blood?”
She rolled her eyes. “I already have a network of donors set up, you moron. Why would I need to take on such a troublesome human? Everyone’s been clamoring about getting a nip of the guy. Apparently he doesn’t have many friends. Easy pickings.”
Xanthir flashed puppy dog eyes at her. “Cuz it would hurt my feelings if you don’t?”
She bashed him over the head, sending him crashing right into the ground. “That was for being stupid.” Since Xanthir was on the ground, he didn’t see her small, affectionate smile.
“What would sweeten the deal?” Cyrus asked, deciding to take control of the situation.
She stared at him thoughtfully, running her eyes up and down his form. “Virgins aren’t really all that good in bed,” was the first thing to come out of her mouth. Cyrus felt his cheeks burn. She smirked evilly at him. “You’re blood is tasty, but not tasty enough for all the shit I’d get from everyone else on campus. You’ll have to sweeten the pot.” She raised an eyebrow. “What else do you have to offer in exchange for the honor and protection of being my donor?”
Cyrus ruthlessly bit his lip. His mind flashed back to the conversation he’d had with Snape earlier that week. The vampire had said there were only two ways to not get eaten alive at Shikaan. Become a donor to a powerful, ass-kicking vampire, or become powerful enough to kick everyone’s ass himself. He opened his mouth to say he had nothing to offer when he stopped himself short. What did every librarian love? Books. What did every librarian want more of? Books. That was something he had to offer. He was pretty sure among all the dusty tomes he had taken from the Potter Family Vaults, there was something she hadn’t read before. Quite a few of them had been very old. “Unlimited access to my personal library during the time I am your donor.”
Her eyes narrowed derisively. “Really? And what books do you have that I haven’t read?”
Cyrus smirked. “They’re from the collection of a very old and powerful wizarding family. I seriously doubt you’ve read them all.”
Her dark red eyes flashed in curiosity. She mulled over this for almost a complete minute before finally coming to a decision. “One condition. I wanna see the library before I agree to anything.”
Cyrus nodded. “No problem.”
Tara hopped over the counter and walked up to a seemingly random student studying at a table. “Jamis. I’m leaving for a little while, and I want you to fill in for me.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Fine. But you owe me three hours with that copy of Darkest Devils of the Age you’ve been taunting me with.”
“Deal. I’ll see you in a bit.” She turned to Cyrus and sharply motioned with her hand for him and Xanthir to follow. Cyrus obeyed, amused. Did she know where his room was? Or did she just like being in front?
It didn’t take them long to get to his rooms. He unlocked his pitiful wards as they entered, and locked them again behind them. Walking over to the trunk at the foot of his bed, he placed a hand on it and commanded it to open. The square lid flipped open, revealing a ladder and a dark pit.
Cyrus began climbing down the ladder, grinning at the look of awe on Xanthir’s face. Tara ran her hands along the trunk. “Your family must have been pretty old and powerful. This trunk could sell for 20,000 galleons on the black market, if you could get it to open for anybody outside the family. The enchantments on it are unreal. It won’t let anything be removed unless it’s by the owner.”
Cyrus smiled and wandlessly formed balls of light to follow him down into his library. He had known that the trunk was pretty neat, but he hadn’t know that it was that cool. It made him feel better to know that someone couldn’t just come and steal all his books.
When Tara jumped down after him, he stumbled back to avoid being hit. Xanthir followed quickly after. He watched nervously as she stared around, her eyes slowly lighting up with delight. “Oh my god!!” she squealed, running to the closest bookshelf. “You have an original, signed copy of Darkest Be Thy Pleasures!! Do you have any idea how much you could sell that book on the black market for?! There are only four left in existence, five now, with this one!” She reverently pulled the book off the shelf and let it fall open. “No deterioration, no dust. Whoever maintained this library was serious about keeping the charms on the books in good condition. I’d say they’ve been recast by a very powerful witch or wizard in the last twenty years, and they’ll last for another good hundred.”
Cyrus blinked to clear his eyes. It had probably been his mother who had recharmed all the books. He’d been told she could have been a Charms Mistress.
Before he could let the dreary thoughts drag him down, Tara was in his face with a huge grin on her face, petite fangs extended in her excitement. “You have a deal, Obsidian! I get full access to this library for as long as you’re my donor! And in return, I’ll keep all the other vampires less powerful than me off your back. Generally the older vampires respect donor rights, but not always.” She grinned ruthlessly. “And I’ll make an example out of anyone who touches my donor again. We have an agreement?”
Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “What about how often you’re going to drink my blood? I don’t wanna be anemic.”
She smirked at him. “Anemia is actually a deficiency of red blood cells in the blood, and has nothing to do with how much blood I drink, but I get your point.” She put a thoughtful hand to her chin, glancing around the rather large stone room filled with bookcases. “Thrice a week, and I promise not to drink enough that you’ll feel it.”
Cyrus raised an eyebrow at her. How safe should he play this one? “Once every two weeks.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Twice a week.”
“Once every two weeks.”
Xanthir whistled appreciatively, probably at Cyrus’s sheer nerve. Tara started growling under her breath, but her eyes weren’t on Cyrus. They were on all the books. “Once a week, and that’s my final offer you cheapskate!”
Cyrus grinned. “Deal.” He held out a hand to shake, and she used a little more pressure than was strictly required. He suppressed his grimace.
“I work in the library from four till closing at midnight. I will require full use of your library while you are in classes. If that means you have to come and open the trunk for me every time, you will, capiche?”
Cyrus nodded. It was reasonable enough. “As long as you don’t pull me out in the middle of classes to come open it for you, that’s fine.”
She nodded. “Alright. I’ll be taking my weekly feeding now.” She smirked evilly, stepping towards him. Cyrus tensed. “So, I usually ask if my donor wants to get all the benefits of a drinking. Do you?” When Cyrus looked confused, she smirked. “The hard-on, Cyrus.” When his cheeks turned pink, she laughed. “It makes some of my other donors uncomfortable, too.”
“I thought all vampires had an aphrodisiac as well as an anti-clotting agent in their saliva?”
Tara smirked. “It’s not really in our saliva. Well, the anti-clotting is, but the aphrodisiac is more like a poison that gets stored in sacks attached to our fangs. Kinda like a snake.” When Xanthir made mocking hissing noises, she raised a fist threateningly at him. He shut up and blinked innocently.
Cyrus ended up choking down his laughter, because Xanthir had just butchered what could have been 'mating season' in parselmouth. When Tara turned her colossal glare on him, he cleared his throat and tried to look innocent. He figured by her death glare that he was unsuccessful.
“Like I was saying, the more powerful vampires learn how to prevent the sacs from releasing the chemicals. We just have to milk them once in a while, otherwise our fangs start hurting like a bitch from the pressure. It usually takes a vampire until they’re 20 or 30 to learn this. Of course, there’re always exceptions. Some never learn it, and some are born with it. And then there’s a couple that are born defective and don’t have sacks at all. They usually don’t survive long. It’s hard to hunt when you’re that young and your prey actually wants to get away.”
Cyrus’s lips formed a small ‘o’. “Does it hurt if you don’t use the aphrodisiac?”
She nodded. “Yep. Like someone was stabbing a pencil into your arm. But if you want, I can use just enough to numb the pain?”
Cyrus nodded. “I’d prefer that, actually. Thanks.”
She nodded and motioned for him to lean over. She was even shorter than him. Five feet, at the most. When he obeyed, she gently cupped the opposite side of his neck and let her rather slender fangs sink into his flesh. There was a sharp sting before a warm haze settled over his mind, numbing the pain. He didn’t get aroused, however, which was rather nice. It made him wonder, though. When Rivehn closed his bite, he probably hadn’t needed to make Cyrus cream his pants. Why had he, then? Was he born defective or did the sonofabitch do it on purpose?!
The haze began to fade as Tara pulled away and ran her tongue along the wound, mixing her saliva and a bit of magic to gently close the wound. He knew from past experience that there would be no scar.
When he met her eyes, he was alarmed to see the dark red glowing crimson. She smirked at him, flashing fang. “Ya gotta bitta Zest t’ya, kid.” She whistled, and almost stumbled drunkenly into a bookshelf. “I had a taste a’ ya b’fore, when I healed Asssters’ bite, but th’real thing? Mmmm…” She closed her eyes, as if to savor the memory.
Cyrus was sufficiently creeped out.
“C’mon, Tara,” Xanthir said softly, holding her up and waving a hand in front of her eyes. When she opened her eyes to stare at him, he smiled. “Your lookin’ a little washed up there, Tara. C’mon, rejoin us lesser mortals in the real world.”
She shook her head and blinked blearily at him. “Hey, wolfie. D’you know where that Daleesh, um… Darlish… uh… that vampire… M’gonna kick ‘is asssss. Where’s ‘e?”
Xanthir just started laughing. His genuine amusement seemed to bring Tara out of her haze, because soon she was bashing him over the head and into the ground.
“Stop makin’ fun a’ me! He tastes good! So what! You moan and groan over a fresh buck, you dick!”
Xanthir just rolled away from her flailing limbs and kept laughing.
Tara pouted and ran a hand through long black hair. “Bitch.”
Xanthir grinned from the floor. “Princess.”
“Shit-eater.”
“Drama queen.”
“Piss-marker.”
“Lady.”
“Crotch-sniffer.”
“Fairy.”
“I AIN’T no FUCKING FAIRY!” She kicked him into a bookshelf, but he just kept laughing.
Cyrus had a feeling there was some reference he was missing to the ‘fairy’ reaction.
She growled at him and jumped out of the trunk. When she tried to slam the lid in her anger, it slammed back open again. Cyrus choked on a laugh as she let out a frustrated noise.
He was considering staying in the trunk until she left.
Xanthir grinned, a feral glint in his eyes. “Hey Tara! Can I watch you beat the shit out of Dalesh? Or were you just drunk on blood?”
She stuck her head in the trunk. “You fucking mutt! You ask me this after you piss me off?!”
He stuck out his lower lip, eyes large and watering. Cyrus wondered if it was an honest expression or a glamour. He sniffled.
A tick developed in her jaw.
He whimpered.
“FINE! Stupid fucking mutt! But that’s only if he makes a move, like I said before!” She tore away from the opening and slammed the lid again. It, of course, slammed back open.
Cyrus coughed to hide his laugh. Xanthir enthusiastically climbed up the ladder after her. “Why’s that?” he asked, sticking his head out of the trunk.
“Because I hadn’t staked a claim on him already, you idiot!”
Xanthir made a canine whine.
“Go get your fix somewhere else, mutt!”
Cyrus grinned and started climbing.
oOo
They decided to go to a late supper together since the negotiating had taken nearly an hour and Cyrus was still starving. There was a small crowd in the Main Hall either hanging out or doing homework at the tables. Cyrus found himself relieved at the lack of bodies. When the other two looked at him instead of picking a place to sit, he pointed to a table out of the way with a questioning look. The two immediately started walking over, leaving Cyrus to trail behind slightly confused.
Tara dropped into a seat, leaned back on the legs, and put her feet up on the table after snatching up a menu. “I feel like lamb’s blood tonight, how ‘bout you boys?” She smirked at them, flashing fangs.
Cyrus smiled, amused. “I think I’ll settle for a steak. Well done.”
She shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She tapped the menu and a wine glass appeared in front of her.
“Aren’t you already full?” Xanthir asked.
Tara raised an eyebrow. “Are you insinuating that I should leave, mutt?”
He shook his head, wild orange hair puffing up. “N-no, jus’ curious.” He wisely shut his mouth and ordered a bloody steak.
Cyrus made a face at the smell of blood, glad it wasn’t much stronger than a tickle to his nose. If he had a werewolf’s nose, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand it. He dug into his decidedly cooked meal with gusto, hungry and just a little bit dizzy.
When Tara placed a glass of orange juice in front of him, he looked up from his food questioningly. “You’ve fed two vampires today, and even though I didn’t take much, you need to get some sugar into your system so you don’t pass out. You’ll probably be lethargic for a couple days, too.”
Cyrus smiled. “Thanks.”
Tara shrugged, sipping from her wine glass and staring at something across the room.
“Hey wait, I gave him a blood replensher. Shouldn’t he be better?”
Tara gave Xanthir an insufferable look. “A blood replenishing potion can only do so much, mutt. Although it replaces the blood cells, it doesn’t replace the nutrients and sugar from the blood that was taken.”
The werewolf’s lips formed into a small ‘o’.
“Well looky here. Awake already, human? The way you passed out there I thought you might be out for a couple hours, at least.”
Cyrus tensed, angry with himself for not feeling the presence behind him. He looked at Tara, and she looked remarkably unsurprised. She must have known he was there. He was safe with Tara now though… right?
Xanthir growled, fist clenching on the table. “I’ll kick yer ass, fang-face.”
Dalesh chuckled lowly, running a finger from Cyrus’s cheek down to his carotid artery. Cyrus felt the same wave of molasses as before, preventing his magic from responding. The energy boiled under his skin. The vampire behind him just laughed at his anger. He leaned down and licked Cyrus’s neck.
“You do taste delicious, little human. I’ve been eager for a second sampling.” Just as his fangs made contact with Cyrus’s neck, there was a loud smack and crash and Cyrus stood and spun around to see Tara standing next to him, fist clenched and a wild grin on her face.
The entire hall was quiet, all eyes trained on the spectacle before them. Since it was late supper, only one teacher sat at the head table, and she didn’t look like she gave two shits.
Dalesh had flown through two tables and multiple chairs, smashing most of them to tinder. They could easily be fixed with magic, but that knowledge didn’t detract from the destruction. The vampire straightened from where he’d connected with the wall, having left a sizable dent. Cyrus just stared at the sight. It was one thing to know how physically difficult it was to kill a vampire, but another thing entirely to witness it. He knew if he had been the one Tara hit, he’d be a burst balloon of blood, bone, and brain matter. He needed to do something about that.
Tara made a tsking noise, stepping forward and away from Cyrus. “Careful who you fuck with, Desh.”
The vampire was staring at her in surprise. “Tara? What the hell?”
Said vampire smirked. “I’ll have you know that this human, Cyrus Obsidian, is my donor now.”
Midnight blue eyes widened.
“So ask yourself, Desh. Do you wanna fuck with me? Or are you going to never touch my human again?”
The vampire’s eyes narrowed, his hand reaching for the sword strapped to his waist.
“Don’t draw it unless you mean it.”
Dalesh smirked, pulling it from the sheath with vampire speed.
Tara sighed mockingly in disappointment, but the charade was dropped quickly when she smirked viciously. “I’ve been meanin’ to kick yer ass fer a long time, Deshy.” They collided with a crash, Tara having pulled a longsword covered in runes out of thin air. Cyrus found that as he watched the two battle, his eyes began to pick up more than just blurs of motion, and he could see when Tara almost landed a hit and would have cut off Dalesh’s arm if the vampire hadn’t caught the blade with his bare hand. He had to quickly let go when the runes flared to life and lit his skin on fire. Some wandless magic put it out, but not before Tara had him pinned to the wall with her sword under his neck, almost touching and lighting that skin on fire.
“You yield?”
Dalesh growled. Cyrus couldn’t see Tara’s expression, but he saw as her opponent’s face crumpled and looked down and to the side.
“Say it, fucktard. So I don’t have to teach this lesson again.”
“I yield,” he grated out, holding his charred hand to his chest. She let him go and he glared at her, sheathing his sword and vanishing into the shadows.
Xanthir was nearly bouncing with joy beside Cyrus, eliciting a bizarre look from the human.
Tara came back to them and collapsed back into her chair as if nothing had happened, her longsword disappearing to she only knew where. She picked up her wine glass and sipped, raising an eyebrow at Xanthir.
“Thanks, Tara.” She just hummed and ordered another glass of blood. Cyrus sat, figuring that if she was going to be nonchalant, there wasn’t really much else to say. He waved a hand over his food, casting a warming charm. He was shoving some food in his mouth when Tara spoke.
“Y’know, you’ve got to be the only wizard I’ve ever seen use so much bloody wandless magic. Do you ever use your wand?”
Cyrus looked up in surprise, mouth full of steak and potatoes.
She gave him an amused look. He quickly washed down the food with his orange juice. “Yeah, why? Doesn’t everybody?”
She stared at him incredulously. “Most people only practice enough to be proficient and do well in the class. They don’t do everything without a wand.”
Cyrus gave her a funny look. “And how would you know if I never use my wand?”
“Rumors. They say that since a certain human has started taking Wandless Magic, they’ve never seen you use that incredibly long wand of yours once.” She raised an eyebrow. “There is some speculation as to the reason.”
Cyrus shrugged. “It’s easy for me. Not like it helps me with you vampires, though. And that thing you do.”
She grinned. “The aura thing? I can teach you how to shuck it. For a price.”
Cyrus groaned. “What else do you want from me?”
“You’ll owe me a favor.” He looked at her incredulously. “For the future, when I need your expertise.”
“Deal. But it has to be reasonable.”
She smirked. “Of course. Though, I wonder… If wandless casting doesn’t wear you out, how powerful would a spell have to be for you to need your wand.” She raised an eyebrow at him.
Cyrus frowned. “What else have people been saying about me?”
Tara smirked. “Like I’m going to share all my secrets now that you’re my donor. Tough luck, kid.” She laughed as she stood up and left the room.
Cyrus stared after her, suddenly wondering the answer to her question himself.
-Toki Mirage-
Yo peoples!! I hope you liked the new chapter. My muse (who has returned to me!! (glomps)) and I picked over this chapter for a week about two weeks ago. The ending to the chapter’s been kickin my ass though, so that’s why it’s taken an extra two weeks to get it out since I posted the word count on my profile. Lots of schoolwork. It’s reading week now, though! I get to read my history textbook! Yaaay.
I’d also like to thank pichu10176 for finding a loophole. I have to admit I totally forgot about his stupid bottle cap glasses. (grins) Eheh. So thank you! And I decided to just go back and fix it in chapter four instead of making up some witty way of plunking it into this chapter.
BS PODFIC UPDATE:
Chapter two has been updated. For the link, please check my profile.
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Bloody Skies