Chapter 5

"Observant as always," Severus stated, amusement lacing his voice. Removing his black travelling cloak, he laid it over the back of the sofa. Adjusting the form-fitting red brocade vest that covered his white dress shirt, he approached his familiar. "Charles, what do you think we should do with your wayward brother?" He laid a hand on the former dragon-keeper's shoulder.

"Destroy him," Charlie said in a menacing tone. "Slaughter him."

Snape patted his head affably. "There's a clever minion."

Ron became a whiter shade of pale. "What the fuck?" He tried kicking Charlie, but his brother caught his foot and twisted it until there was an audible sound of bones snapping, Ron's screams resounding throughout the flat.

"Confiscate his wand," Snape ordered.

Pulling his brother closer, Charlie studied him and then laughed. "He doesn't have it on him. Accio Ron's wand."

The stick banged against something and then slid from under a closed door, heading straight for the older Weasley, but Snape intercepted it. After examining it, he handed it to his minion then pulled out his own and aimed it at Ron.

"Silencio."

Walking around Charlie, Snape grabbed the shaggy locks of ginger hair on the youngest man, tugging them back until his neck was bent at an awkward angle. "One inch more, Mister Weasley, and any last words will have to wait until you reach Charon." He tightened his grip, delighting in the boy's soundless agony. "And even then, you will have to wander a hundred years due to your lack of tribute."

The pulse at Ron's neck was erratic, his skin covered in sweat, tears running down his cheeks. He mouthed the word 'please.'

"Please what?" Snape asked conversationally with a cruel twist to his lips. "Please kill you quickly?" He snorted. "Highly unlikely."

Charlie turned Ron's broken foot a little more until another bone was heard cracking. "I could do this all night long," he said, mad laughter in his voice. "I can't believe I fought this!"

Arching a brow and shaking his head, Snape drawled, "Now you like your job?" He rolled his eyes and tsk'd. "Typical."

"Can I break something else?"

Ron's eyes widened comically and he began his struggles anew.

Snape immediately put a stop to it. "Where is Miss Granger?" he whispered menacingly in Ron's ear. "Why did she not answer the door?"

Due to the spell, anything Ron said went unheard, including several expletives that were, nevertheless, clearly understood through the hushed tirade. "Odd," remarked Charlie, cocking his head and staring at his brother. "I never pegged him for the silent type."

Releasing the redhead's now damp hair, Snape was about to ask him another question when he sensed something, some smell or presence that indicated home and safety, making him hesitate to end the fool before him. "She's here," he murmured.

Charlie skimmed the area, frowning. "Where?"

Severus turned his gaze to his familiar. "Bind him."

Zeroing in on the closed bedroom door, Severus made his way there quickly and flung it open, aghast at the image before him. "Miss Granger?"

Lying prone on the sizable bed, Hermione was bound from shoulder to ankle with thin, wispy white cords preventing movement of any kind. She did not move her head, her eyes remaining open and frozen in a sightless stare. From this distance, he could feel the pull...the need to be near her almost as strong as his need to feed.

Slamming the door so hard it splintered at the edges, Snape crossed to her side, seating himself off to her left, in the spot Ron had occupied. Being this close caused his senses to go haywire, as if everything was amplified a thousand times, and it was a heady thing. Releasing the Binding Hex, and what he suspected was a Silencing Charm, he watched as she sagged onto the mattress, tears filling her eyes.

"Th-thank you." The words were whimpered. "I've been that way for hours."

He picked up her hand, noticing how graceful her fingers were, one smudged with black ink where she'd probably stained it while writing. Realising her skin was colder than his own, he suddenly became worried.

"You are unwell," he spoke quietly, stating the obvious.

She lifted the hand he wasn't holding and cupped his cheek. "Where have you been?"

Damn it! He wasn't supposed to lo...no, like... yes, like her touch; she was just his companion. His heart shaped-faced, mahogany brown-eyed, head-full-of-corkscrew-curls companion. Assessing her features, he realized that she'd grown into quite the beautiful woman, if a little on the scrawny side. But why was she wrinkling her pixy-like nose at him, like he'd offended her?

"Well?"

"Pardon?"

"Where. Have. You. Been?"

It was happening again, that overwhelming need keep her close and safe, to make a connection that would never be severed. Dear Morgana's lacy knickers! Was she meant to be this appealing, even when she was being a demanding little chit? He tried retreating from her caress, but the thought of backing away, even an inch, was like a dagger being thrust into his heart.

"Are you deaf?"

"I see you still have full use of your mouth," he groused with a sneer. "How unfortunate."

Her hand abruptly dropped from his face, and he felt its absence keenly.

Pushing herself slowly to a sitting position, she raised her pyjama-clad knees and wrapped her arms around them to keep from touching him again. "Thank you for releasing me," she mumbled in a detached tone, placing her chin on the top of her knee to keep it from wobbling. "You can go now."

"Go?" he asked incredulously. "Madam, you are seriously mistaken if you think after travelling in the lowest form imaginable for our species for nigh on two weeks that I will just 'go' once I have arrived."

"You haven't changed one bit."

He gave her a languid perusal. "You certainly have."

"Lecher!" she accused, scooting against the headboard.

Snorting, he folded his arms across his chest in an age-old gesture. "Exactly why did you wish to know my whereabouts, hmm?"

Rubbing her tired eyes, she replied, "Because I promised the vampire I would watch over you, and then you left before I could come back, and I've been searching for you for almost three years now, and..."

Placing his fingers on her chapped lips, he silenced her rambling. "You've just proven my point that you retain the inability to keep your mouth closed."

He should've known she was planning something by the way her eyes narrowed. What he didn't expect was to have a rather small, but ornate cross shoved in his face.

"Back off, Snape!" she hissed, feeling ridiculous for doing such a thing, but if it made him move, then she would suffer the indignity of her clichéd actions.

Giving her a look that was a combination of irritation and amusement, he reached out and firmly grasped the religious icon at the crossbeams, smirking somewhat at her incredulous reaction.

"You're not burning!"

"Sorry to disappoint you." He tugged on the crucifix until she let go. Slowly, he opened his mouth and placed the gold piece on his tongue, promptly closing his jaw once the whole thing was inside and giving her a wicked smile.

She sat there in a complete state of astonishment, gawping like a dying fish at his actions. "You're depraved," she finally muttered.

Retrieving the icon from his mouth, he flung it across the room. "I didn't take you for one to put your faith in such tripe."

"How did you get in here?" She licked her lips. "I mean, don't you need an invite to enter someone's house?"

"Superstitious nonsense," he corrected her. "I also cast a reflection in mirrors, have no aversion to garlic...other than it is rather pungent for my heightened sense of smell...and have no compulsion to stand by and idly count a multitude of things that may be thrown in my path."

"What about Holy Water or stakes?" Despite her current predicament, she was still curious about the man sitting on her bed.

"Absolute drivel concerning the Holy Water." Damnation! His skin felt like it was crawling if he didn't touch her. He casually placed his hand on her bare foot. "Anything that pierces through bone and sinew will suffice; it need not be a stake per se."

"Are you really a vampire?" She took note of his thumb stroking the instep of her foot, the caress sending a frisson of pleasure straight to her core.

Leaning close, he allowed her to see his usually black eyes flare indigo and his fangs descend. It had the desired effect.

"Shite!" She retreated further on the bed, nearly falling off the other side before he grabbed her ankle, dragging her back to her original position.

But he was much closer this time. In fact, he was such an invasion of her personal space that she tried to push him away, succeeding only in making him more irritated. In the recesses of her brain, she acknowledged the fact that his growls and snarls were heightening her response, but for the life of her, she couldn't stop her rocketing desire for him. He made her head spin, but it was wrong... wasn't it? She was only supposed to take care of him until he got on his feet and could function as a proper vampire, right? It wasn't like she actually put stock in all that 'nexus' stuff the creature had been spouting that night, and it had been so long ago that she'd almost completely forgotten everything.

Well, he seemed to be quite efficient in the ways of vampires now, at least to her reasoning, so he didn't need her anymore. She refused to admit the deep pang that thought caused her; she was determined to ignore it. To throw him off guard, she let her body sag completely, relaxing in hopes that he would take it as a sign of surrender. When he finally eased up, she gathered what remained of her strength and gave him a hearty shove, sending him over the edge and onto the hardwood floor.

Turning on her knees to swiftly crawl to the other side of the bed, she landed one foot on the opposite side of the floor before he grabbed the other leg, pulled her to his side and dropped her with a thud at his feet.

Her thrashing excited him. It aroused the predator within, causing the small amount of blood he had consumed before arriving at her flat to flow and enhance his senses. "You sought me, Miss Granger," he purred, bending low to look her in the eye. "Now that I am here, you wish me gone." He grasped her chin. "Why is that?"

"You're only here because you have to be!" She spat the accusation through clenched teeth. There. She'd finally said it.

Glaring, he let go of her chin and knelt in front of her. "Explain yourself."

"I don't have to explain anything to you," she retorted with a mutinous glare. "You're the one who left, not me!"

"You're making this more difficult than it has to be."

"Oh, so sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities!" she yelled.

"Everything all right in here?" Charlie asked from the doorway, glancing between his master and... and his whatever. "Need me to bind her, too?"

"What're you doing here?" Hermione squealed.

"Not now, Charles," Snape said in a pointed manner. "Attend to your plaything."

Charlie smirked. "You sure? I could tie her up, real tight. You could have fun all night long."

This caused Hermione to scoot away quickly, but Snape latched onto her foot, dragged her back and tucked her safely underneath his body. "I'm quite sure...Stop squirming, you hellcat!"

"If you say so." Charlie shrugged and closed the door, whistling a jaunty tune.

Once the door clicked shut, she arched her back to throw Severus off since she was face down on the floor, but he didn't budge. Instead, he climbed up her body, pinning her to the hard-wood surface. Hands free, she reached behind her to claw at his shoulder or hair, anything she could lay her fingers on. Then she noticed something that sent lust flooding through her. The more she struggled, the more he liked it, if the erection pressing into her arse was anything to go by.

He grabbed her wrists, trapping them between his large hands and the ground. "You'll be twenty-one in two days, Miss Granger," he snarled in her ear, nipping the shell in reprimand. "You can either die horribly, or join me in eternity."

She tried bucking her hips again, but it only caused them both to moan. "Personally, I don't see the difference," she said drily, trying to maintain some semblance of control over herself.

Burying his face in the crux of her neck, he growled, "Will you always be like this? Will you fight me at every step and heighten our need for one another?" He didn't want to need her this much, it left him too vulnerable, but the more physical contact he had with her, the more this mindset fell to the wayside and his vampiric nature to dominate took over. When she fought him like she did, it made her blood that much more appealing, and his lust overrode his sense of control. Shifting his hips, he pushed his painfully hard cock into the cleft of her arse, groaning at the exquisite feel of her firm cheeks. "I can't let you get away, Hermione. This has to happen, and much though I'd prefer you were willing, I'll take you even against your wishes."

"You'll rape me?" she whimpered, tears filling her eyes.

Laying his brow on the back of her head, he sighed heavily. "No, never that." He relaxed somewhat, but didn't release her. "I cannot harm you." He nuzzled her hair, delighting in the scent. "I only mean to save your life."

Sniffing, she turned away from his advances. "By doing something you were told to do."

"That's not true," he whispered. Tentatively, he darted out his tongue and traced a path on the exposed skin of her shoulder where her pyjama shirt had dropped, all the way to just under her ear. "I desire to turn you," he confessed. "Plus, I am a selfish man. I have no wish to be as lonely now as I was in life." He tightened his grip on her again. "I dismissed the idea of having you as a lifelong mate before I knew what it meant, but now that I am here, I feel how right you are, how your blood sings to me in a perfect melody."

His words and actions inflamed her, but she tried one last resistance. "Why did you leave, if I was so important to you?" she murmured, fearful of the answer.

She didn't see him close his eyes in sadness, but she felt him tense. "Extraneous circumstances prevented me from returning to you. I will tell you about them... after." He gentled somewhat, sensing her insecurities. "I do promise, however, that my reasons had nothing to do with you, unlike the reasons that brought me back."

Her mind still demanded a more satisfactory answer, but something inside her, the same thing that had insisted she not let go of him for so long, made her choice for her. It might be wrong, but she sensed the only way to stop feeling the void inside her would be to give in to what her body craved. She couldn't help herself; he'd broken her last line of defence. Arching sensually against his chest, she bared her neck to him, no longer fighting him.

He didn't plan on forcing himself on her, despite the fact he'd been hard since he had first sensed her presence, but the creamy expanse of her swan-like column was too much to refuse. His fangs had remained visible the entire time they struggled, so he scraped them over her pulsing jugular, pleased at the gooseflesh that prickled her skin. "Resistance makes the blood sweeter," he purred sensuously.

Lust ignited inside her anew. She felt more alive than she had in years, and she didn't recognize the animalistic growl that escaped her lips when she pushed her backside against him. She groaned softly as his tongue traced the shell of her ear, whimpering when he abandoned it to repeat the gesture on the other, his breathy pants making her hair flutter.

Needing more contact, he released his punishing grip and turned her over, moving the curls away from her face so he could properly see her. "The first time won't be gentle," he said in warning, his lips a hairsbreadth from hers. "We've avoided the bond too long for me to be tender."

Staring him straight in the eye, she smiled slowly and seductively. "Then I guess you'd better get on with it." She was proud at herself for sounding so certain of what she wanted.

Letting out a feral growl, he started ripping off her shirt...no bra to contend with since she was in her sleep clothes...stopping briefly to gaze at her breasts for the first time. Tracing the dusky skin around her nipple, he smirked at how the soft tissue puckered from his touch. The ruched peaks begged for his attention, and he dipped low to clasp his mouth around the succulent flesh, inhaling her aroma.

"You taste magnificent, like the finest vintage," Severus whispered around her pebbled bud.

Threading her fingers through his silky jet-black hair, she revelled in the sensations his teeth were creating. "I-I couldn't give myself to anyone... it felt wrong," she admitted breathlessly.

This made him pause. Slowly, he raised his head and fixed his gaze on her mouth. "No one has touched you?"

Shaking her head, she licked her bottom lip, secretly thrilling in the fact that his eyes dilated at the small peek of her tongue. "I told you I was looking for you."

He contemplated all that her actions revealed, but pushed the intense emotion to the side for now, concentrating on her instead. Rising to eye-level, he ground his thick shaft into the apex of her thighs. "Mine!" he snarled.

Swiftly, he captured her mouth, nudging her lips apart, feeding on the sweetness behind them. He felt her surrender with a massive shudder, relishing the euphoria coursing through his blood when she twined her arms around his neck to pull him closer. Darting his tongue, he mimicked the sexual act itself upon her mouth, his hips grinding in tandem against her damp heat.

Pushing a hand between them, she found his hard length and squeezed, giving it a tentative stroke.

It sent him into a frenzy.

Uncaring if she valued her clothes or not, he tore her cotton bottoms and sensible knickers from her lower half, pausing for only a moment to admire her body that was curvier than he remembered it being when she was his student, which seemed an eternity ago. He then shed the clothes he'd been fitted with in Romania, kicking aside the black linen trousers and insinuating himself between her thighs. Running his fingers through the nest of trimmed curls hiding her sex to ascertain she was wet enough, he groaned when he withdrew the digits to find them coated with a copious amount of fluid.

Grasping her hips, he pushed her thighs open, allowing himself a look at the glistening petals of her quim. Taking his cock in hand, he brushed her nether lips with the tip, his irises colouring to a mixture of indigo and blue. Without preamble, he thrust inside her, breeching the barrier that kept him from her womb.

The burning pain of his intrusion made her gasp and clutch onto his shoulders in a desperate attempt to resolve herself to the stinging ache that accompanied the presence of his thickness. She tried quelling the tears, hating herself just a little for reacting this way, even though it was completely normal. When he pinched her clit, however, it made her core clench involuntarily around his length and the soreness eased somewhat. As he continued his ministrations, he thrust slowly until her pain finally lessened to the point of being altogether pleasant. After letting him see her agonized expression diminish, he began delivering fierce, fast strokes to her dripping quim...hard, long, and deep. They tore through her, spiking pleasure throughout her body as she felt something building within. She had the fleeting thought that maybe the fact she liked the pain Snape was causing her was something to be ashamed of, but he rolled his hips, and she forgot to worry about it any longer.

"Oh God, Severus," she moaned against his neck, pressing kisses to his jaw.

It was the first time she'd said his name, and it sounded so right. Laving the delicate juncture of her shoulder, he began nuzzling the throbbing vein, nipping lightly in preparation for something more. "I will never let you go," he declared boldly, increasing his thrusts to her welcoming heat.

Fastening his lips to her neck, he pierced the tender flesh and began suckling. The moment he took the first gulp, he was lost to the lovely taste of her. It was as if all his regrets, misdeeds, and sins had been washed away in the forgiveness of her blood offering. He immediately felt deep sorrow for Radu, who had been denied this with his own mate, for it was the most wondrous feeling he'd ever experienced.

What was left of his human self immediately rebelled at the idea that he had to drain Hermione completely to turn her. It burned his soul, making him feel as though he was suffocating, though that wasn't possible. Letting his jaws relax, he made to pull away, but her fingers in his hair kept his head in place as she continued her sinuous movements, impaling herself on his rigid cock again and again.

"Don't you dare stop, Severus!"

Unsure if she meant the pounding thrusts of his hips or the pull of his mouth on her neck, he decided he was beyond caring. Driving inside her again and again, he felt her weaken beneath him. Breaking away momentarily, he gripped her chin, staring into her drowsy eyes. "Stay with me, Hermione."

Cupping his cheek, she smiled languidly. "Best way... to die."

Quickening his pace, he returned to her bloody neck, lapping up the crimson that had dribbled onto her collarbone along the way. When his balls began to tighten, he pulled harder on her blood, snarling and rutting mindlessly.

Sensing her heart slow, she found it funny that she couldn't bring herself to care. Death had nothing on her...it couldn't scare her any longer, not when she'd experienced something as glorious as having sex with the man she lo... No, she wouldn't say that word. Digging the nails of her free hand into the wood floor to keep from telling him of her true feelings, she idly realized a nail broke, even though she didn't register the pain.

Suddenly, an erotic surge filled her with sublime rapture, as her body exploded in the most intense orgasm she'd ever felt, his roar of completion and warm, sticky seed pulsing into her, heightening the effect. Finally, her hand relaxed, and the passionate look in his eyes was the last thing she recalled before her own lids closed in darkness.

Panting, he pressed a soft kiss to her sweaty brow, murmuring his humbled thanks for such a gift of her virgin blood. When she didn't respond, he grew anxious and confused. Brushing away several stray tendrils, he listened, quickly rallying when he heard the faintest of heartbeats.

Lifting his left wrist to his mouth, he bit down savagely, blood pooling immediately, and he brought the offering to her lips. He coaxed the first few drops of the precious fluid down by caressing her throat, but once it was ingested, the lust took over and compelled her to drink heavily despite her weakened state.

It was like climaxing all over again. Each swipe of her tongue, each nip of her teeth was euphoric, and he hardened once more while still embedded within her depths. Her whimpers drove him mad, and he began driving his now rigid shaft deep into her core, unable to stop his thrusts just as she was unable to stop her suckling. When he reached his orgasm once more, clutching her pliant body to his, she finally released his wrist and licked her lips.

"So tired," she whispered, pressing a bloody kiss to his cheek.

He smiled against her skin. "Sleep, love." He returned the kiss to her temple. "I'll be here when you wake."

She didn't want to read anything into his words, but his actions spoke for themselves. Using the last bit of energy she had left to trace his dark eyebrows, she gazed at him in apprehension. "Promise?"

Cupping her jaw, he pressed his lips to hers in a heated exchange. "You are mine! Nothing will take you from me," he whispered when they parted.

Closing her eyes wearily, she smiled and drifted off. "Love you, too."

Staring at his sleeping mate, Severus blinked several times before absorbing the information she'd left him with, wanting to wake her and have her explain. But as he studied the smattering of freckles across her adorable nose... Wait. Did he just think her nose was adorable? Damn it, he did. Pursing his lips, he returned to the perusal of his belov... Damn it! He did it again.

Rolling his eyes in exasperation at himself, he sat up and pulled her limp form with him, finally tucking them under the duvet on her bed for much needed rest. He ruminated over the state of his heart for a few moments more before following her into oblivion.

~*~

"If I have to be around that all the time, they'd better learn to use silencing charms tout de suite," Charlie grumbled, eyeing his brother's horrified expression.

Ron had given up struggling hours ago, knowing that, even in the worst of times, Charlie could beat the shit out of him without breaking a sweat. Currently, he was sporting several bruises on his rib area...one of them possibly having been cracked...a broken foot and ankle, a swollen eye, and a busted lip. All in all, he quickly gathered his brother had been holding back on his real strength.

Smirking, Charlie leaned in and studied Ron. "You were stupid."

The Silencing Charm was still in place, but Charlie could understand the words his brother mouthed. 'I love her.'

"Not yours to love, mate." He glanced over his shoulder at the bedroom door then returned his attention to Ron. "Not sure what they got planned, but you'd best be making yourself right with whichever deity you believe in before they come out of there."

'You're my brother!' Ron silently yelled. 'How could you?'

Leaning back in the chair facing his captive, Charlie lifted his arms behind his head and laced his fingers, arching a ginger brow. "Very easily, let me tell you. I fought it at first; you know... that whole 'blood is thicker than water' cliché and such." Scratching at the mark on the back of his neck, he then glanced at his brother. "The power I've been given can never be used against them. If I even think about harming Snape," he said, suddenly grimacing and holding his breath. "See? If I even come close to... well, I think you know what I'm talking about; if I do that, the most god-awful pain courses through my body. First time it happened, I guess my bowels didn't like it so much...I woke up in a pile of my own shite." He frowned darkly. "It's psychological conditioning, and eventually I'll feel nothing when I carry out my orders, but there'll be some things I'll enjoy." His lips curled into a smirk. "I saw what you did to Snape."

Turning away, Ron focused on the miniscule kitchen, ignoring his sibling until Charlie backhanded him for his offense. The audible crack in his cheek brought tears to his eyes.

"Dear dim-witted brother," the older Weasley snarled. "Haven't you realized that it's unwise to fuck with me?" He laughed mirthlessly. "Oh, that's right! You haven't quite grasped the concept, being obtuse as you are."

Blood welled on Ron's skin where he'd been struck, and Charlie eyed it with something akin to hunger. "I wonder what they find so appealing about this stuff," he mused out loud. He scraped a calloused finger across his brother's cheek and stuck it in his mouth, sucking on the liquid that he'd gathered. His lip curled in distaste as he withdrew the digit. "It's not all that."

The bedroom door opened at that moment to reveal a very naked vampire.

"Merlin, Snape!" Charlie shouted, covering his eyes. "I certainly didn't want to know what you wore beneath your robes!"

Severus smacked the back of his minion's head. "Get used to it." Several weeks after he'd been converted, the dour wizard had lost most, if not all, of his inhibitions in order to survive. He wasn't about to cover himself to keep from insulting his lackey. Pushing on Charlie's shoulder, he muttered, "Move."

The seat promptly vacated, Snape sat in front of Ron, enjoying the horrified and now rather green look still etched on the boy's face. "Where is the rest of your family?"

'Fuck you!'

Sneering, he shook his head. "No, I think not." He smirked. "I've had the most delectable time with my mate, you see, and you're just not my type."

Tears filled Ron's eyes. 'No!'

"Yes," Snape hissed. He stood and leaned over the bound man, grasping his hair, tugging his head back. "And you should consider yourself honoured."

'Why?'

Licking the remaining blood from the boy's bruised cheek, he whispered, "Because you'll be her first meal."