Fan Fiction ❯ Letting Go of Humanity ❯ A Fateful Night ( Prologue )

Prologue

The young chestnut-haired vampyre looked around the empty streets. It was nearly dark, and she should get home soon, but not without something to eat first. Thanking whatever god gave her the gift to fly, she felt her feet leave the ground. She flew to the roof of one of the houses nearby, and crouched on it, waiting for any living being to be foolish enough to come outside.

She was only seventeen, but she had been hunting mortals since she was old enough to walk. In a few weeks she would be going back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore had seen it as no problem at all to get her fresh blood every other day. But now it was summer, and she had to fend for herself. She sighed as she looked up at the full moon. Then her attention was jerked down to one of the houses.

She saw a door open, and a man let a cat outside. That was no good. Cat blood wasn't very filling; she would be hungry again before morning. Then, in the other direction, another door opened, and a woman stepped outside, closing and locking the door behind her. Perfect.

She hopped from one rooftop to the next, making no noise. As she neared her victim, she licked her lips, and prepared to pounce. She jumped down off the roof, and wrapped one hand around her victim's mouth, muffling her cries. "If you don't scream, I might let you live," she whispered. The woman in her grasp stilled, and the vampyre smiled, baring her fangs before driving them into her jugular vein. As the sweet, warm, coppery taste filled her mouth, the vampyre heard the woman's heartbeat, matching her own. She drank in ecstasy as she listened to her heart, followed by the woman's weaker one.

THUMPthump.

THUMPthump.

THUMPthump.

THUMPthump.

As the woman's heart stilled into death, the vampyre lifted her mouth from her food, lest she be dragged into death with her victim. She wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her robes, and watched as the body of the woman withered away and dissolved into dust. A convenient way to dispose of the bodies. The vampyre stood, and looked around. She felt something else, some living thing still lurking nearby. She walked over to one of the bushes, and pulled back a branch...

It was the cat that she had decided not to eat. It was hissing at her. She wasn't really surprised; most animals didn't like her. Her own cat didn't really like her, just put up with her presence. She let the branch go, and turned to walk home. Then she heard something running towards her at full speed. She whipped her wand out of her robes and spun around.

The first thing she noticed was that darkness had fallen while she fed. The second thing was that there was a rather large wolf-like creature standing three meters away from her. "Werewolf," she hissed. She pointed her wand at it. The werewolf studied her with one yellow eye, crouched down, then leaped at her with all his strength. She shot a spell at him, to stun him, but missed. She felt fangs digging into her side. "Dammit!" she cried, throwing another spell at him. This time it hit. The werewolf collapsed onto its side, where it would remain until he became human again.

She fell to her knees, looking at the wound in her side. It would be fine; her advanced healing would see to that. She looked at the werewolf, and couldn't help think that she had seen him somewhere before. Pushing the thought out of her head, she realized how incredibly tired she was. She would need to sleep before she could fly home. Thanking her lucky stars that tomorrow was Saturday and no one would see her before she left, she laid down right where she was, in the front lawn of one of the houses.

~*@*~

Remus Lupin scrunched his eyes together, blocking out the sun trying to peek through. He had the worst crick in his neck. He finally opened his eyes. He wasn't in his bed, where he should be, but on the side of the road in a muggle subdivision. He shook his head, trying to remember what happened. He had forgotten to take his wolfsbane potion, then he ran into a woman...

He looked around, searching for any sign of what happened. He saw the sleeping form of the woman he remembered. As Remus rolled her onto her back, his face fell. "Oh, Hermione..."

He looked down at his former pupil's face. Then without warning, he stood and walked away. She would be okay. Her vampyre blood would probably cancel out his bite from the night before. Probably.