La Bella Noche: Voices of the Past

Chapter II: Learning

It's been two weeks since I last fed. At first I thought that such a sudden lack of blood would have a negative effect on my body but the opposite seems to be occurring. I've become even more alert if you can believe it, my powers have been strengthened by their sudden lack of blood and the best part is I've stopped having dreams and I sleep through the night. I even feel more in control when I'm around other humans. Maybe, its going away, maybe I can be normal again.

One week later…

It seems that I have spoken too soon. Apparently my heightened senses, and dreamless nights were all a hoax, an expertly crafted plan, courtesy of the beast within. Apparently when my kind goes without blood for short periods of time, the loss is almost undetectable, one experiences a heightened sense of awareness, you feel as though you have kicked the habit, you almost feel… human again.

Almost.

But the feelings of well-being and freedom do not last, and the longer we go without, the more restless the beast becomes, it sharpens our senses in order to ensure a successful hunt. Being a conceited and self-centered little disease, vampirism automatically assumes that if its host isn't imbibing blood on a regular basis that they have just gotten a little lax in their vampiric practices and need a little pick me up, accompanied by a small reminder of the power that they can have so long as they feed the hunger.

Vampirism, arrogant virus that it is, is quickly finding out that I am not so easily swayed.

I mean it would never stop to think that maybe we (vampires that is) may not want to live this… this half life, avoiding all that is good and light with the world in exchange for eternity. For what good is eternity if one must spend it alone to protect the ones that they love?

Suddenly eternity isn't looking so bright, and blood doesn't seem so appetizing.

I tried to resist the urge. I ignored the warning signs, and have begun to spurn my heightened powers.

I'm quickly discovering that vampirism has a right to be conceited

Why?

Because, it's good. It knows exactly what to do to force me to cave.

In a desperate attempt to force me into submission it has upped my sexual urges and pushed my hunger almost to the breaking point, It has gotten so, that I can't walk past a male without feeling the intense urge to feed, out of both nourishment and desire.

So I have come to a decision. I will separate myself completely from all of my triggers. It won't be easy but with the aid of a few cloaking spells and my "amazing" powers of concealment I should be able to go to classes unperturbed, sneaking gracefully beneath the radar of my friends, teachers, and peers.

I made it exactly two more weeks.

That's a full month without blood and a week into another! Do you realize how significant that is? I was doing so well, I was avoiding everyone successfully; I even managed to keep my distance from everyone during quidditch practice

(Granted they may have been avoiding me just a little bit due to my frequent mood swings, which I attribute to the stress of being team captain), I was doing so well, mood swings asideI truly felt as though I had beaten it.

It took exactly one word to destabilize my plan.

Detention

How exactly did I merit such a miraculously wonderful waste of time? Well let's just say that it was professor Snape's time of the month and that caused him to lash out at me in a completely inappropriate manner, and not the fact that due to my lack of blood I had become so unfocused during potions that I almost added raw Artemisia Absinthia (wormwood) instead of Artemisia Abrotanum (southernwood) to a solution of anise, rosemary, chopped angelica root and vodka. So what's wrong with that you say? Well, instead of making a proper disillusionment drought like I was supposed to be doing, I was two seconds away from basically making crude absinthe. And since hard liquors and the hallucinogenic drug THC (which just so happens to be the mind altering component of Absinthe and second most prominent element found in wormwood) aren't allowed on school grounds, I got detention, for attempting to make an illegal substance.

I love this school. I can walk up stairs suck down thirty pints of AB negative and no one bats an eyelash but if I accidentally almost make liquor, and everyone gets bent out of shape.

I was fuming as I stomped down to the dungeons at seven o'clock for detention. I was about ready to bite someone's head off (no pun intended) by the time I got to Snape's classroom. What I found when I got there left me both shocked and annoyed. Taped upon the half opened door was a note, hastily scribbled in Snape's trademark masculine calligraphy…

" Detention Detainee,

For your punishment you will take inventory of the current herbs and fresh cuttings that we have at this moment, taking special care to denote which ingredients we're running low on or are approaching their magical expiration date. Professor sprout is getting ready for the fall harvesting of the green houses and would like to know what she needs to set a aside for herbology and potions classes. Your detention will begin promptly at seven ten and will end when you have completed the assigned task. Have I made myself clear? Good. Oh and Ms. Johnson, do try your best not to let any tricky herb names confuse you tonight, I'd hate for you to harm that tiny brain of yours. I imagine any damage incurred would cause considerable problems seeing as there's so little of it to begin with. You will be expected to inventory the northernmost wall of the potions storeroom"

- Prof. S. Snape

"Its amazing how, even in a letter he manages to be both, fiercely insulting and patronizing, with every word oozing hatred and dripping with disdain. Tis' a gift not many of us possess." I said, ripping the note off the door and stalking into the classroom dropping the now crumpled note in the nearest garbage bin. " I wonder if that man could even begin to fathom just how much I loathe him? I swear if I didn't need him to make my sunlight draught I might up and off him myself." I mused as I walked over to Snape's desk to pick up the inventory sheets that had magically appeared.

Four and a half hours later…

Let me just say one thing. I never and I mean never, want to see another stick, leaf, sapling, cutting, sprout, or fungus whether its whole, ground, shredded, powdered, crushed, sliced, chopped, or julienned for as long as I walk this earth, and seeing as that may well be for eternity you can tell that I have formed quite a abhorrence for the plant kingdom

I took a moment to mutter a quick cleansing spell on myself to remove the dust and debris that had gathered on my clothing since the start of my detention some four hours ago, the tingling sensation only lasted a moment but the results left me feeling worlds better, I looked, felt, and smelled fresh and clean, which trust me is significantly better than smelling like a compost heap.

I was just about to put the completed inventory sheets on Snape's desk when …

My senses peaked and zeroed in on something…

No, not something.

Someone.

He hadn't even reached the door yet but I could smell him. From ten feet away from the door I could hear his heartbeat on the other side, I could feel his warmth radiating forth in a subconscious attempt to warm the dark, drafty main hallway of the dungeon

He walked in silently; he was the vision of teenage boydom. Standing there gracefully unaffected, his bland uniform failing miserably at hiding the powerful body beneath. His body was the perfect ratio, broad shoulders and a sleek, cut waist, his school tie was draped around his neck, shirt untucked with the first two buttons undone, ginger hair cut short and gently spiked, lightly sunkissed skin covered in an endearing but sexy sprinkling of light brown freckles, bright mischievous hazel eyes scanning the darkened room for any signs of life…

I stood there reveling in his presence for a moment cloaked in the shadows behind Snape's desk, watching, waiting for him to make a move.

"Professor Sn…" he started to say, but something on the desk had caught his eye "Lina?" Fred said a little surprised

Damn, I thought. I knew I shouldn't have brought my backpack with me

"Lina, are you in here?" he said walking dangerously close to my hiding spot

"Is anyone in here?" he questioned the dimly lit chamber, stopping with back turned towards me, directly in front of my hiding place

If there were one gift I wish I could have been blessed with it would have been prudence. I knew that I should have kept silent, I knew I should have waited for him to assume that no one was in the room and waited for him to leave and gracefully made my exit, but I couldn't make my self ignore him any longer.

I blame blood lust.

"Hello Fred" I greeted easing slowly out of the shadows and into the light

"Bloody Merlin!" Fred said whipping around to face me "Oh Lina, wow you sacred the crap out of me, so your serving your detention now too?" he asked stepping closer to me

"Uh, Yeah." I answered eloquently "What did you do?" I said, backing away from Fred towards the desk, breathing a little easier once I'd put a row of desks between us

"Oh, nothing really" he said nonchalantly " I just happened to flood the Slytherin boys locker room while they were at practice, it was bloody brilliant! I put a stasis spell on the water so it wouldn't run out, Lina it was beautiful, clothes and what not floating around, George offered to transfigure a practice quaffle into a canoe but in the end we both decided to much, is indeed too much. I'd have gotten away with it too, but I forgot to cover my tracks on the way back to Gryffindor tower. We left separately so George got off scott free" he chuckled at the thought "I on the other hand was a little distracted and well I forgot to place a drying spell on my clothes, needless to say I left a very evident trail, and halfway to the fat lady's portrait he descended upon me with bat like grace and gave me detention, I've been in the greenhouses harvesting ever since." He smiled, stretching and giving me an absolutely glorious view of his lower abdomen Merlin Bless, un-tucked shirts.

"Oh well, how long do you have to serve detention?" I said mesmerized by his undulating muscles

"Only tonight." He said sounding puzzled " I just don't understand it, I mean usually when one goes about defacing, damaging, and defiling another house's equipment, especially when that house is Slytherin, one earns about three to four nights detention, but this afternoon was different Snape seemed distracted, and only gave me tonight, and get this he didn't even yell he just waved it off. But far be it from me to complain I have no problem with short detention, gives me time to get back to more important things like planning the destruction of Slytherin house." He concluded smiling even more brightly

"Oh, that's interesting he wasn't here to proctor my detention either, he just left me a nasty little note taped to the door. Anyway, not that I'm not thrilled to see you or anything but what brings you down to these drab and dreary walls if your detention is already over?" I asked inching my way out from behind the desk to lean on its hardwood frame

"Oh I came to get my backpack I left it in here somewhere. You know in the rush to get out of the last class of the day I up and forgot it." He said looking equal parts cute and abashed

"Oh, can I ask you something else?" I said arms crossed and worry written across my face

"Sure Lina." He said searching the floor for his misplaced bag

"What's made you so absent minded lately? I mean you're usually right on top of things? I mean, the backpack is one thing, but to forget to cover your tracks after a prank? Darling that's not like you, you're too experienced for that. Wasn't it you that always told me that to be a great prankster it takes more than just being clever, and cheeky, that you've got to be a meticulous planner and very sneaky?" I stood completely still watching his reaction

"Yeah" he said weakly "Yeah that was me, and I meant it too, in fact truer words have never been spoken when it comes to the art of pranking. You have to plan ahead, and I did that I mean we had all the bases covered its just when it came down to the execution I let my mind wonder for a split second and got caught for something that was blatantly obvious." He said, the bag forgotten for the time being

"What were you thinking about?" I asked, fighting against my desire to wrap my arms around him and comfort him, something was seriously bothering him; and I could feel his pain as though it was washing over me, but I promised myself that I wouldn't allow myself to breech the rules of my plan any further, so I kept my distance.

He hesitated for a moment then let his hazel orbs meet mine, in his distress the green was fighting a losing battle and his eyes were becoming an anxious shade of darkened amber then he spoke…

"You." He sounded so scared, so broken, so vulnerable, so… sad.

It took exactly one word to completely destroy my plan.

In that one word I knew the reason he'd been acting so out of character, was because of my virtual dismissal of him from my life. Our relationship was suffering I knew, but when I looked into his eyes I saw fear, raw and real. He was scared that he was going to lose me, or that somehow without his realizing it he already had, he was terrified that I had found something about him or in him that had deemed him worthless in my eyes, and most of all he was scared that my recent ignorance of him was precursor to not only the coming end of our relationship as friends but any possibility of becoming lovers.

Before I knew it I had closed the distance between us.

I wrapped my arms around him, as he pulled me in as close as our clothes would allow nuzzling my neck with his nose and soft warm kisses. I closed my eyes, and drank him in. Literally. I drank in his warmth, and recorded the sound of his heartbeat to memory, I could feel the sunlight that had buried its self in his skin during his time in the green house, and I took a deep shuddering breath trying to take in as much of that wonderfully intoxicating scent that is Fred into my lungs as possible, a delightful blend of muggle cologne, natural musk, spring water, forest mint, and was that a hint of… blood?

Oh sweet Merlin, help me. Oh Merlin, help him.

Suddenly all of the feelings of warmth and safety I felt in Fred's strong embrace started to dissipate and were replaced by a desire so strong it rocked me to the core.

I wanted to taste Fred. And yes I mean that in everyway that, that sentence can be taken. Never before had the will to take, from a human been this strong.

It was coming from a sizeable cut on his right pointer finger, he must've cut it on something when he was searching for his bag or maybe earlier in the greenhouse and our ministrations must have reopened the laceration.

I wanted to pull away, I wanted to scream, I wanted to warn him, I wanted his warmth, his light… him, all of him. And in realizing that I stopped listening to the logical side of my mind that told me to get the hell out of the classroom before I did something I would regret.

Goddess forgive me for my moment of weakness…

I grasped his wrist with my right hand, looked him in the eye for a moment, and stared at the blood pooling at the end of his finger. It formed a sizeable red bead on the tip, and just as the surface tension on the pool was about to burst I bent my head to the wound and enveloped his fingertip in my mouth. I heard Fred's gasp of mingled confusion and disbelief, and then as I began to tease his fingertip, I heard his sounds of protest meld into deep guttural groans of pleasure.

I could taste his passion, his lust, his dedication and his fear, fear that he was enjoying this as much as I was.

I got the courage to draw on the wound coaxing out even more of the crimson liquid while simultaneously letting my left hand meet the now growing bulge in Fred's pants. From his current position he was leaning against the desk supporting himself with his left arm gaining leverage from his legs, which were now open on each side of me.

I could have drawn from him for an eternity, but as I stoked his prominence and it began to thrust against my hand I felt it as his need reached a fever pitch and before I knew it Fred had drawn me up flush against him and his swollen member and had taken my mouth and claimed it as his own. There was love and adoration in his kiss but there was an underlying force there one with a more primal reasoning behind it a possessiveness that was frightening, endearing, and erotic all at the same time, Fred's kiss was passionate and demanding, as though he wanted to mark me and caress me all in the same move. When he moved his kissed down my neck towards my cleavage, and began to grind his member against my heat I couldn't help respond in kind. Just as my traitorous breasts thrust themselves into his awaiting palms I felt my fangs descend.

They do that when I get hot and bothered. In a startling moment of clarity I pulled away from him in a panic

Fred, still drunk on our passion moaned out a protest and reached for me, but I stepped even farther back fear consuming me.

I was afraid of so many things. My greatest fear was that he would retract all of his feelings for me if he knew my true form but now after seeing what my feelings for him could do if let loose I had a new fear more chilling that the first, that in the midst of our passion I might bite him, drain him and lose him forever either to the night or to death. I couldn't decide which was worse.

I ran out of that classroom like a bat out of hell.

Somehow I don't think a cold shower is gonna do it tonight.

A/N: So could I have a few reviews? They make me very happy.