I enjoyed writing chapter 1 and I've been doing constant research on things to keep this story flowing smoothly. So please enjoy this next chapter.
I do NOT own Harry Potter/Vampire - The Requiem.
Chapter 2 - The Sire
Harry tossed on his small bed, a vain attempt at getting comfortable. Silently he cursed his uncle for not getting him a decent mattress, petty bastard. Again he turned, only this time he reached for his worn blanket, though it was not there. In frustration he flung his arm back, but the momentum caused him to go tumbling from his place of resting and crashing to the concrete floor. "Wait," he mumbled and rubbed his head, "concrete? There's no bloody concrete inside the house."
"In my house there is kid," came a female voice from above him. As Harry looked up he saw an attractive woman leaning over a balcony and smiling at him with pearly whites, "Welcome to the Blackbox, though it is a bit after hours."
"The Blackbox?" He questioned. A quick glance around showed several tables with matching chairs upended on their tops. A large oval shaped bar counter in the dead center of the room, and about thirty meters from that was a huge dance floor with a stage and dark cherry stained floors. After a thorough scanning he looked back up to the woman, "And what, if I might assk, am I doing here? Lassst I remember I got tackled by sssome homelesss woman." That was wierd, something was making him talk funny, like his teeth were too big.
The girl began to make her way down the steel grated staircase, distracting his thoughts, "Short term memory loss is normal," she paused and took a pensive look, "though I am a bit surprised you remember so close to your embrace. Bit odd really." Finally she made it to the black stained, concrete, floor, "Well, let's take a look at you." She grabbed his chin and turned his head from side to side, sized him up with a quick walk around, and then angled his head up, "Alright open wide love."
Harry quickly jerked his head away from her grip, which was surprisingly strong, "Get the bloody hell off me! And what do you mean my 'Embrace'? And where the hell is Mehket?" He fired question after question in rapid succession, this woman was unnerving, not like Marge or Snape, but like Dumbledore, she was being intentionally vague.
"Mehket?" she questioned and stood back to her full height, "OH! You mean Knox? Oh he's just getting a reaming for what happened last night."
The black-haired young man shook his head, "No, the girl in the alley called him Mehket. That's who I'm talking about." Suddenly his throat went dry and his voice became a wheeze. He spyed a small glass of water on the counter and made a dash for it, despite the woman's warnings for him to stop. As his first gulp hit his stomach he immediately wreched, spewing blood and water all over the floor, he turned and looked at the blonde in panic. His eyes dialated and he began to growl, he needed something now! His mind went on auto pilot, his brain was killing all his rational thought to stop and figure this out. Finally he charged the young woman, not knowing why
Before he could get his hands on her, he was staring down the buisness end of a glock nine-millimeter, "I tried to warn you kid, that won't hold you anymore." When Harry's eyes went back to their regular dialation she lowered her pistol, "Good, your still pretty fresh so when the beast gets a hold of you, you get control back pretty quick." She made her way to the bar and reached over and under the counter, when her hand came into view again it was holding a dark wine bottle, "This's do , pretty old so it's got a rough taste to it, but right now you're on empty and I'd hate to have to send you into a torpor on your first night."
As she offered the bottle he snatched it from her mid reach, ripped out the cork, and without a second thought upturned the container in his mouth. As the warm liquid flowed down his throat he faintly remembered feeling this sensation before, the feeling of quenching a thirst after walking in the desert for days without water. "Thanks," he muttered while wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, as he did so he felt something slice his hand open. Instantly he searched his face for the cause, immediately he felt his elongated canines, he dropped the wine bottle and reached up with his other hand, "Oh god." Looking down at the broken glass, he saw that it wasn't wine he was drinking, but a deep red liquid...Blood.
"Not the way I wanted you to find out kid," came a voice from the 'Employees Only' door. Knox ran his hand through his hair, "I believe I have some explaining to do then."
Harry rounded on the familiar man, "YOU!" he shouted, his magic and anger welling up, "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?" He paniced when Knox started walking towards him, "STAY BACK!" As he shouted a shard of glass from the broken wine bottle flew at the vampire and cut his face.
Immediately the brunette stopped in his tracks, what the hell was that? Blood Magic? He looked over to the blonde club owner and she too was confused, save that she was now reaching for her gun again, "Anna, stop."
"He's dangerous Knox!" she shouted and leveled her weapon at Harry's head, "best to put him down, no childe has that kind of power at turning. It's not safe." Then she heard the hammer of Knox's gun slide back, "What are you doing?" she hissed, staring down the barrel of his Smith & Wesson .50 revolver.
The male vampire merely glared at her, "You know the rules Anna, he's an equal, and if he does become a threat then as MY childe I will administer 'Final Death'." When the woman didn't lower her weapon, Knox's glare intensified, "Please don't make me shoot you Annie."
The blonde woman glared from a petrified, and pissed looking Harry. To a determined and, in no way, bluffing Knox, "Alright," she sighed and holstered her weapon, "I'm going to hold you to that Knox, that and the two-thousand dollar bottle he just guzzled." She reached down and picked up a piece of glass and licked it, then sauntered to the back door, "Sorry bout that kiddo, you're going to learn real quick to not trust anyone, you don't know." Before entering she looked back at Knox and gave a seductive lick to the blood covered glass, "As if you would've really shot me," then she was gone.
"Damn Deava," muttered the young man as he holstered his gun, "Alright mate, I bet you're confused as hell."
Harry merely glared, "Start explaining, I might not have my wand, but I can do a fair bit of damage if I have to."
Knox looked bewildered, "Your wand? Like abracadabra wand? Seriously?" He crouched down to eye level with the kneeling boy, "You some kind of nutter or something?"
The teenager glared, "I'm not a nutter, I'm a wizard." Knox began laughing uncontrolably, falling off his balence and landing square on his butt, "I'm serious! Then explain that piece of glass that cut your face!"
"Blood Magic," replied the young man with a shrug, "we can all do it, your's is just different. Maybe a mutation, they tend to jump up like that, or possibly a natural defense. It's not really my place to diagnose things like that, I'm an information gatherer and fighter, or as the Carthians call it: A Boot Squad Member." He then stood and flipped over two stools, sitting on one, then offering the other to Harry, "Sit, we've got some things to go over." As his new apprentice complied he waited patiently, finally Harry looked ready to converse, "I think it's best if we start out with you asking questions and I'll go into detail."
The black haired teen gave a hesitant nod, "Alright, why did that lady call you Mehket if your name is Knox?" It sounded better in his head, though Knox was already answering, so he felt it best to tune in.
"Mehket is my clan, Knox is my name," his answer seemed to only confuse Harry more, "There are five vampiric clans: Deava, which is Anna's clan. They tend to be the stereotypical vampires, beautiful, seductive, and very manipulative. They have powers that make even the most powerful vampires give in, never piss one off either, it's not pretty. And never trust one, unless you know them." He reached over the counter and grabbed two glasses and another bottle, this one quite a bit newer looking than the one Harry had previously destroyed, and poured both containers full, "the second clan is mine, and now yours, Mehket. We're information specialists, whether through espionage or interogation, our powers tend to lend themselves to our ability to 'Know Things'. As a Mehket I'll give you a piece of advice, in general you're going to know more than anyone else in the room about a situation, save another clan member. If you're asked a question directly, then let them know enough to show your intelligence, but keep them baited, keeps up the air of superiority." After taking a swing of blood he continued, "Next are the Gangrel. They're the most in touch with the inner beast, acting more like animals than vampires really, but there are some that are really good blokes, but just like the Deava, don't trust'em unless you know'em." He watched amusedly as his protege took a meager swig of his warm beverage, "Next are the Nosferatu. These guys are, for lack of a better word, fucking scary. They look like the monsters we all are, and they are the masters of terror. If you ever get on the bad side of one then either put them down or run, if you don't you're dead. They're blood powers allow them to control fear in every form, best allies, worst enemies. Finally there are the Ventrue, these guys embody the typical "Dracula" style vampire: Power hungry, and as time rolls on, crazy as hell. They're powers are all about forceful control, unlike the Deava who use seduction, Ventrue beat your willpower down till it doesn't exist anymore. The really powerful ones can control anything with a heartbeat really, and they also tend to a bit tough."
When he noticed knox wasn't going to continue he asked another question, "You shot that man in the alley...I remember now, does that mean we can die that easily?"
"Enough bullets can kill us," replied the vampire, "we have all the normal human organs, but only two really work: The brain and the Heart. And unless it's a hell of a blow then even those, if hit, aren't fatal. Crusifixes, Holy water, and churches in general don't do squat. The things you need to fear are: Sunlight, Fire, and taking more damage than your body can heal, which will put you in Torpor. If someone comes along and puts a bullet in your brain while you're in a torpor, then you suffer 'Final Death' which means..?"
"I turn into ash?" responded Harry in more of a question form. So far being a vampire had about zero perks, and whole lot of drawbacks, including how the hell he was going to go to school. "What about getting my arm or leg cut off."
Knox set his glass down, "You'll generally survive an amputation and the limb will grow back in a few weeks. If you're head gets taken off though, then you're going home in an urn. No growing your brains back." he looked over at Harry and noticed the boys sad expression, "I told you, you'd hate me soon."
"I don't hate you," replied the onyx haired teen, "I just, I can't go back to school, and what about my friends?"
The elder vampires undead heart went out to him, "Part of the Masquerade kid. No going back, that's why I asked you if you still wanted to live, because this...this can be more like a curse some times. No more friends, no more school, pretty soon we'll take you downstairs and you'll get a run down of the Carthiens, then decide if you want to be one of us or go join another group. If you stay with us I'll teach you to fight, to use your powers, and how to be a vampire without being a monster." He set down his now empty glass, "I'll tell you one more thing kiddo, whenever you start feeling that itch in the back of your mind. The one that tells you to go for the jugular, to suck the life out of a person, fight it. That's the beast, it's inside all of us and there's not much we can do to stop it, save hold on to our humanity for as long as we can and pray that we're strong enough." As he slid off his stool and made towards the back door he sighed, "listen, you've just become a combatent in a war that has been going on since before anyone can remember. Political games, flat out fighting, and overall hell is what your life is going to be on some days. On others its going to be parties, beautiful people, great friends, and nights you'll never forget. And if after your first hundred years, you don't have a break down and kill someone out of pure frustration, then you're going to be just fine."
Harry could only glare at the swinging door that the vampire had just disappeared behind. He had his own bloody war to fight, what about Voldemort? And why did Knox and Anna find it so wierd that his powers flared up. Then again his powers had never flared up in such a focused way, like they knew he was angry and afraid of Knox, lashing out at him to protect himself. He took a sip of his blood, savoring the sweet taste, this was his life now, a vampire. No more sunrises, no more quidditch, no more Hogwarts, no more diagon alley, no more Weasleys, no more friends. Just war, as Knox had said. He drained his glass and flung it against the wall, letting out an anguished wail into the empty club. After several moments of silent sobs, and bloody tears he removed himself from the stool and made his way to the back door. He wouldn't back down, not now, and not ever. Even though he may never see his friends again, he would keep them safe, he would find Tom and bury him under the ground as soon as he could, and with any luck he could get Knox to help.
As Harry pushed the door open he noticed Knox look at him with a pained expression, "I'm so sorry Harry." To which he only recieved a half-hearted shrug, "Alright then..Let's go meet your new family."
End Chapter 2 - The Sire
A/N - More will be explained in the next chapter, this was merely basic information to alleviate some confusion. Thanks for reading.