***Prologue***
Nothing is perfect.
The images of perfection are but a distant dream.
The thoughts of what perfection really is, is nothing but an illusion.
***Chapter 1***
The moon hung high on the sky that night. Stars grinned from their places in the sky, looking insignificant and small.
Danger!
A rustle of leaves. A hooded person looked around wildly and fled.
Danger! Run! Danger!
Panting was audible; the person was greatly exhausted, yet it continued to run as quick as it did.
Run! Run! Get to safety!
A scream. It had tripped over a tree root. It got up quickly, but was intercepted. Large, brutish arms grouped around it. It opened its mouth, revealing sharpened, white canines. They sank into a hand. Blood. A yell of pain. Arms loosened, and the figure thrashed around wildly. Claw-like hands digging into assailant's flesh. He let go and it ran, albeit the smallest pace slower.
Runrunrunrunrunrunrunrun!
"Leave me alone!"
The figure kept running, leaping through the foliage like a blind man to the sun.
When it was far enough from its assailant, it quickly climbed a tree and tried to get its breath back.
Are they gone? Am I safe?
Eyes scanned the forest. Nothing. It unhooded itself, showing a heart-shaped face with almond shaped eyes that held rosy red irises. Impossibly pale skin, as if she had never seen a day of sun, small lips, slightly opened, her breath going in and out on a panicked manner.
"Where the hell is that brat?" distantly muffled voices asked gruffly. The girl stiffened and held her breath.
"Damn wench bit me. She got away!"
"Bloody hell...what's the boss going to say now?"
"She can't have gotten far...we should split in teams of two. Send red sparks to sky to mark where you found her. Go!"
Vampire hunters, she thought, replacing her dirty cowl and climbing higher up the tree. Need...to get away...where to go...need to hide!
When she reached a branch that was too high for her liking, she settled there, waiting with bated breath. She looked down. Had they passed yet?
She waited.
A...castle?
She was tired...so tired...
Am I...dreaming?
She swayed on her feet dangerously. Her shoulders were slumped, as if she was ready to drop at any second. Her clothes were ruined and muddy and her traveling boots worn out. Black hair lay limp on her shoulders, looking as though they had been washed with dirt and twigs and leaves. Her ragged breathing could be heard from about ten feet away.
"There she is!"
She looked back to the forest and saw the hunters coming after her. They were no worse than her; better in fact. After all, every night after they chased her, they had food, water and provisions.
Instinct kicked in and she started running once more.
"You can't run forever, vampire!" one of them sneered, as they chased her. Spells shot out from their wands and almost hit her. Her legs were begging to give out from underneath her, but she kept pushing forward.
Run! Get away...
A Tripping Jinx caught her and she fell to the grass roughly.
A flick of a wand and she was bound in thick ropes. She struggled against them, the only action she could do. "Got her!" one of them yelled triumphantly.
"N-n-n-no!" she stuttered fearfully, crying for her freedom. "N-n-n-no!"
One of the men picked her up roughly, tilting her chin upwards so she was facing him. "Heh. Not like the others...red eyes," he said. "Good enough, I guess. Bet she's one of 'em special ones..."
"Tough luck," another scoffed, conjuring up shot-glasses and handing them out. "Probably a rogue one...that's why it was running from us. Maybe the little girlie wants to keep drinking?" he mocked.
The girl gritted her teeth; their bitter and sour breaths smelled even worse up close...
At another bid for freedom, she sucked in a breath while the men were drinking whiskey to celebrate their victory over the 'she-devil'.
Mustering up as much courage as she had left, she opened her mouth and screamed.
The men looked up, panicking. They were obviously weren't anticipating that. Usually when they caught a vampire, they would be so tired that they wouldn't even move. Apparently she was a bit smarter than they'd originally thought.
She screamed and screamed, as if she was hit by fifteen Cruciatus Curses all at the same time. They tried to think of ways to silence her; magic or otherwise. Nothing would work. Everything would either wear off or she would tear whatever gag they used to bits using her inhumanely sharp teeth.
"Let her scream," their leader finally decided. "She'll be tired soon, and we can leave."
The girl was hit by his words. He was right; and soon enough, she would be dead.
Please...someone hear me...
Help...
Help!
Hours.
She felt as if she was waiting for forever...
Where...where are we going?...
She shivered as they walked; her cloak was lost in the forest, and her shoes were discarded of. There was nothing to shield her from the harsh night.
...Why...am I still...alive?
She thought at first they would kill her quickly after they had caught her, but apparently, they had other plans for her. One time, she overheard from them that they were planning to give her to their 'boss' since he was going to kill her himself.
She didn't want to think anymore. Thinking only made things worse. Every minute, she tried to keep her thoughts at bay...thoughts only made things harder for her to continue.
She never wanted to be dead so much before in her life.
"Oh, so the ickle demon stopped screaming now, eh?" one of the hunters snickered. Crimson slid eerily over to the men who were sneering at her behind her back.
"Aye," another man said. "Thank Merlin. If not, she would have alerted the groundskeeper, the villagers and the dead."
The first one shuddered. "That noise...it makes banshees' screaming sound like singing," he said.
"You'd know, eh?" the second chuckled.
"It wasn't funny!"
"Hey."
The two looked up; the girl averted her eyes. She knew, however, who the person that arrived was. The man who always gave her some water and food.
She hated him the most.
Feeding the lamb until it is sacrificed on the altar...
She glared at him as he approached cautiously. "Be careful Jon!" the second one hissed. "It looks pretty mad..."
Jon waved his friend off. "She always does that," he sighed and turned to me. "I tried to get some more from Gawain since you've been looking pretty sick, but..."
She flashed him an even sharper look but he disregarded that. "Here you go," he said, holding up a cup. He held it up to her lips and tipping the fresh water through her chapped lips. When she was done, Jon looked at the cup and sighed. "It's as much as we could find in this place... 'course we could have gone back to that stream and refilled our rations, but the others don't think it's a good idea."
Why do you insist...on keeping me alive?
"Jon...are you talking to it?" one of the men asked. Jon shrugged. "Figured she could use some company."
"...you're damn mental, you are."
He sighed. "It's no use, actually," he admitted. "She keeps glaring at me."
The first one laughed a wheezy sort of laugh. "That's because it wants to eat you, Jon," he said.
"I..."
The three looked up, looking astonished.
She was looking at them head on, no emotion in her expression. Her eyes seemed lifeless now; like a corpse with its eyes open. Still, they were mesmerizing...so childlike...
They all abruptly looked away.
"I...want.."
"Do you think we should call Gawain?" the second one asked fearfully.
She stared at them for what seemed like an eternity and opened her mouth again.
"I want to go home."
A few weeks later, the hunters refused to even look at her; choosing to set up their sleeping places as far as possible from the vampire. Apparently her little talk had created an impact on them; that she was capable of intelligent speech. That she was flesh and bone once.
That she was still a child.
Not that she minded, though; she preferred it, in fact. Jon still came by, though to his credit, he wasn't trying to make small talk to her anymore.
She wondered briefly, if their reasons were justified...
That day, they were still trekking through the seemingly endless forest when she noticed something. The scenery is repeating itself, she thought looking around the familiar foliage.
"This can't be right."
They've found out as well, she thought and rubbed against her bonds, staring around the area all the while. Maybe we're near the castle...
She'd been dreaming about that castle ever since she'd seen it from the distance. And since then, she had been wondering about its inhabitants, and if they could shelter someone like her.
The vampire looked around the area then furrowed her brows in frustration. I can't see high enough, she thought and tried craning her neck. Where...?
She smelled anxiety from the hunters' palms suddenly, heard their pulses beat faster. She looked up as well. What is it? she thought.
Then she heard it. Barking. An animal's scent, and another one's...she couldn't identify. It seemed to be a breed of some sort...human was mixed in it, that much she was certain of. She looked in its direction and her red eyes widened in realization. The men who had captured her were holding out their wands in front of them like weapons. If they found out they were going to come across another half-breed...well, they were clearly prejudiced men.
They're not paying any attention to me...! she thought and struggled with her bonds. They scratched at her skin but she paid it no heed.
I've handled worse than charmed rope.
She tensed her arms and prepared to tear it apart. Then, she pulled. She felt the smallest of threads breaking on her skin. Not enough, she thought and kept pulling.
"Halberd, Llewellynn!" the Leader barked. "Scout ahead! See what's happening!"
"Aye!"
"Sure thing."
Two men walked out of the group and went in the direction of the barking. She kept pulling frantically at her bonds and glanced at the men. They were readying their wands...
More threads snapped on her skin and she was slowly feeling her exhaustion winning over her adrenaline. She wanted to cry out the venom flowing through her veins.
I must warn-!
"Ah, Hagrid!" the men said from a distance. "Fancy meeting you here!"
A grunt. "I don'," 'Hagrid' said. "What're yeh doin ' 'round 'ere Llewellynn? Ain't seen yeh round these parts since yeh were a kid."
"Oh, well, my friend and I were camping out in the woods nearby," the man said. "We got lost and are looking for a way out."
"Not like yeh ter get lost," 'Hagrid' remarked. "Yeh didn' even bring a map?"
"I'm afraid not."
"...well, I guess I could help yeh an' yer friend. Got anyone else in yer group?"
"Yes. We've been trying to get out over the past week...some trip this became."
"Tha's unfortunate."
"Hal, could you get the others?"
"Sure," she heard the other man say and heard footsteps across the wild ground. Halberd came into view and met up with Gawain. "Someone's willing to help us out of this damn maze," he said. "Name's Hagrid. Half-giant."
"If he's half, then we're going to cover it up," Gawain said, jerking his chin to the back of the group. 'It' being her.
"Gawain, he's got a dog with him."
"Pah! Are you a wizard or not?" the leader sneered. Halberd recoiled but nodded. The others grabbed her arms and conjured a sack. She struggled against their sweaty palms.
The sack was brought over her head and they tied it up when it went past her ankles. She worked on her bonds a little more.
Snip...snip...snipsnipsnipsnip!
The Strengthening charm worked, oh yes, but it was slowly weakening. Her arms and wrists hurt but all she could think of was to get out, get out, getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout!
She didn't know what was happening now. They had placed her in the sack and had slung her over one of their shoulders. She could only listen and pull at her bonds.
Her head was fuzzy from the lack of blood; she couldn't think well. I can do something, she thought with some effort. But what?
She wanted to yell from her pain...her throat was burning!
The sack dropped, and the final thought running through her mind before passing out was the feeling that her skull had been cracked wide open.
Madam Pomfrey had seen many oddities in her professional medical career, most of them being the result of Weasley Twins' pranking whomever they wished. She'd re-grown an arm, made a successful skin transplant, undid nasty Wart jinxes, and many other things.
Hagrid rushing into the infirmary was not something she thought she would see very soon.
Yes, the old nurse had seen the half-giant several times over the year - most of them forced visits; Merlin knew how stubborn the man was - but never rushing in. And with someone else, no less!
It was a small child. She looked about eleven to twelve, based on her height, and was a terrible sickly color that almost made her cry out. Almost. But that wasn't what made her gasp in fright.
It was the injuries the girl sported.
Cuts, bruises and gashes of different sizes and different depths. It was frightening enough to see on a fully grown man, but for a girl this young?
"Oh!" she gasped. "Oh dear, what in the world happened?"
"Vampire hunters," Hagrid grunted. "They were tryin' ter get this 'un fer a bit o' gold; lucky tha' Fang got 'er before I led 'em to the castle."
Th nurse nodded and readied a bed for her new patient. She would have laughed; it was still early in the summer, and something interesting was happening in Hogwarts. And, for once, it wasn't connected to those infernal twins!
She quickly applied Essence of Dittany and closed up the girl's wounds. "I'll admit that vampires are people I'd rather stay away from, but doing this to one so young..." The nurse gripped her wand. "It's barbaric."
Hagrid nodded in agreement and after getting his own cuts healed, he left the Hospital Wing, not wanting to leave his duties as gamekeeper unattended.
Soon after, when Madame Pomfrey was done fixing up the girl's wounds, she left as well.
The light soon died, making way for darkness.