"A man's desire for a son is usually nothing but the

wish to duplicate himself in order that such

a remarkable pattern may not be lost to the world."

"Takamaru, you must listen to me. If you do not, I cannot help you!" came an urgent cry from the figure before Takamaru. He was lying on the ground, he could feel it. It was in him, moving around. He could feel it flowing through his veins, trying to get out; trying to feed. Tak clutched his ribs, his fingers pressing so hard that his finger nails were causing the blood beneath his skin to flow easily. He could feel it trying to relieve itself; drawing him into the darkness.

"Get away from me Makarios!" he screamed, his eyes turning black, fangs revealing themselves. He could feel it breaking through. His finger nails now resembled six inch long talons. They too were solid black. His back arched, and he screamed. Pain coursed throughout his entire being. Every little muscle ached for freedom. He couldn't stand it. He needed to feed. The draw was too much.

"My dear old friend, listen to me! Please! I just want to help you!" Makarios reached forward to touch Tak, but it was too late. Tak's hand shot forward and grabbed the mans arm, nearly ripping it from the socket, as he pulled the man in like a cat dragging a mouse. Makarios screamed at the top of his lungs as the talon like nails cut through the flesh and muscle on his arms like a razor blade cutting through paper. Taka shot forward, his fangs blaring, ready to taste blood. He felt razor hot burns across his hand. He roared in pain as he was thrown backwards. Makarios, nearly unconscious, looked up and saw a figure of someone stepping forward. He was wearing white robes, with a trimming of gold around every edge, and the drawing of a badger where the house emblem usually was on a school robe.

"Makarios, now might be a very good time to leave," came the voice. The boys hair was a vibrant blue, and it was cropped, not going past his shoulders. He was a very slim figure, though his body was corded with muscles, unlike most peoples. He didn't seem to have any amount of fat on him at all, and most people would refer to him as feminine, or beautiful to look at. His wand was held in his right hand. It was a golden colour, and was squared near where his fist was, and then rounded towards the tip. It had Japanese carvings throughout the entire thing. He took a step forward.

"Now, Takamaru, you need to let people help you. You told me that you could control it. You said that it was nothing more than a little disease in which you simply had to be treated for," he took another step closer, flicking his wand casually as Tak's lightening fast hand shot forward to grab him, causing it to recoil as though having been stuck in acid, "You cannot control Vampirism. It is impossible."

The words went right through Tak's head, and right back out. He roared in anger and reached for the man once more, only to be thrown back, his skin burning once more. He started forward once more, but before anything could be done to stop him, he dropped to the ground, screaming in more pain than he had ever really been in. His eyes faded back to the normal colour that they were. The fangs that had currently been his teeth reformed back to their normal state. His finger nails returned from the talon like claws, to the normal nails that most people seemed to have. He looked over towards the figure in white, who was standing there, a smile on his face.

"Damn it Kouji, I am close to containing it." Tak said, before standing up, and walking over to the bar that contained all of his drinks. He poured a funny smelling liquid, and drank it, his face failing to show any emotion as to whether it was nasty or sweet. He turned back to Kouji, sitting casually on the sofa that was in the Slytherin Common Room. Kouji chuckled, placing his wand securely back into his sleeve. He sat on the black leather armchair that was directly across from the piece of furniture that Tak was currently occupying.

"You cannot keep taking sample versions of the virus so that you can see if you could control it if you got the real thing. It doesn't work that way. Your body will end up adapting to it, and the next time you use it after that happens, the virus will be in you forever. Either you can control it now, your you can't. You cannot keep distorting your body, or your psych anymore," Kouji picked up Tak's wand, which was sitting on the coffee table between the two, and pointed it at the table, giving it a nice little flick. A small glass gauntlet appeared and filled itself with a emerald coloured liquid. He set the wand down, and picked up the glass, and started drinking some of it.

"Power. That is the game Kouji, and you know it. Whoever has the most power wins. That is how it is played, and that is how it has always been played. The game stays the same, the players are all that changes. My father has power. He was winning. Dumbledore ended up receiving power, then he was winning. Now it is back to Voldemort. He is now on the winning side. Its all one big game. Nothing more; nothing less," he sipped his gawky liquid once more, "Snape has entered the game. He wants me to take down Voldemort so that he can take me down. That removes two players from the board. Chances are, once that is done, he is going to go after my sisters. Once they are gone, our line of power is decimated. There would be no other to stand before him, unless he found out about you."

Kouji listened to it all. It all seemed rather interesting, "So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to distract Snape so that I can finish my father off. Then we will move towards Snape and finish him. Once I am finished with my father, things will move a little easier around here."

"What if you cannot finish him?"

"What makes you think I can't?"

"What makes you think you can?"

"This," Tak set a small vial on the table. It was filled with a black tar like substance. Kouji's eyes narrowed, "You think that will allow you to win against your father? That infecting yourself with this unstable disease?"

"It will. I can control it!"

"Is that what you were doing just a minute ago?!?"

"I WAS CONTROLLING IT! I HAD IT UNDER MY CONTROL!"

"Damn it Takamaru! That thing will eat you alive. You cannot control it. You are killing yourself!"

Kouji stood up, and walked towards the common room door. He turned back towards Tak, his eyes flashing with lust for pain and death, "I will distract Severus. Be quick."

Takamaru watched him leave. And it was as though as soon as his robes disappeared Makarios walked back into the room, still attending his wounds.

"You know, they say 'A man's desire for a son is usually nothing but the wish to duplicate himself in order that such a remarkable pattern may not be lost to the world.' Do you think that is why your father wanted you to be borne? He wanted to sculpt you into the same thing he is? A power hungry tyrant? Just like him? Another little curse to the—" he was lifted off the ground and thrown backwards into the bookcase behind him, his lifeless body landing on the ground. His death filled eyes staring up at nothing.

"Its time you are quiet," replied Tak, setting his wand down back on the table, and finished his drink.