A/N: Dedicated to a very dear friend. She will likely recognize the timeliness of this piece…for I am not good with updating.

As a side note: I met Alan Rickman not too long ago. Eep!

Enjoy. Any reviews will prompt me to update faster.

"How does this feel Severus?"

The loss of blood dulled my senses. Anything said came to my ears muddled and distorted.

Dissatisfied by my lack of reaction, Desmond grasped my hair and growled in my ear,

"Do you feel dead yet?"

I reached towards the puncture wounds in my neck and dipped my fingers in the pool of crimson gathering at my throat. Slowly and while never taking my eyes from Desmond's, I wrote on his forearm, smattering it with ruby droplets.

He looked down, surprised at the gesture.

Gleaming up at him was the word, NO.

"Funny…as you become more agitated, that heart of yours beats faster, pumping more blood through your veins as it seeps out of those lovely little marks I made not a while ago."

With some difficulty I managed a rough reply, "Death, death has always been at my doorstep. It's just been a matter of how I die."

Desmond released my hair, shoving me to the ground none to gently as he rose to his feet. From his pocket he retrieved a handkerchief and delicately dabbed his lips of the blood that lay crusting at the corner of his mouth.

"This war Severus-"

"Don't call me that!"

"Snape. This war asks a lot of you does it not?"

As the minutes ticked by I felt increasingly more faint. Any more questions and my life force would deplete itself entirely.

"Yes"

I weakly tried to tear a piece of fabric off my traveling cloak to fashion a bandage. Fumbling hands and skewed vision made my mission too clear to Desmond's acute hearing. He resumed his seat next to my side and grasped my chin.

"Do you realize the gravity of your position? Without a spy in this war what little order remains would turn to chaos."

Silence

"Of course, you deem yourself replaceable."

"I… I am not wrong in that statement."

"Dumbledore seems to think so."

My tongue tasted copper as blood started to fill my mouth. The end was indeed, very near.

"Leave me to die in peace."

"You haven't earned yourself that right."

Blood now spilled out the side of my mouth as it became impossible to talk. Any effort at words would result in a hideous gargling and despite my readiness to die I had no desire to suffocate on my own blood.

"Dear me. You are very close. It's a pity you have yet to avenge Lilly's death."

My eyes grew wide. He couldn't possibly know- that was for Dumbledore's ears only.

"Oh yes, I know! You can't forget that when vampires feed it is a very intimate process. I have seen the thoughts you shelter from everyone, the feelings you sequester deep within. And I know you have yet to secure young Harry Potter from the coming storm. In short, your death most assuredly means that Lilly will not greet you in the afterlife- not that you've had enough redemption to go there."

"Stop it." I muttered weakly, my eyes fluttering shut, before snapping them open in pure desperation.

"There is one thing you can do." Desmond's emphasis on the "one" did not go unnoted.

" I can siphon every last ounce of blood from your body, suck you dry, and toss your hollow corpse on the steps' of Hogwarts or… you and I can strike a deal."

"A deal with the Devil," I smiled grimly, "that pact has already been made."

"You can't escape this Snape. Dumbledore depends on you. Would you really let him down?"

"To evade this? Yes!"

"Your thoughtfulness is overwhelming."

Inch, by inch, my surroundings slipped away, as my black clouded my vision. All that I could see was Desmond's ghastly face sneering at my foolishness.

A fool. I would die a fool. A fool for not having done all that I could to make sure the war ended.

In that moment, I made up my mind to sacrifice all that I owned- mind, body, and soul.

Gasping I pronounced, "I surrender to you."