Warning: I know I put a general warning for violence on the first chapter, but just in case you missed it… there will be blood and gore in this chapter… a lot of it.

Chapter 4 – Comeuppance

As soon as Harry laid the dinner out on the table and called the Dursleys to their meal, he numbly climbed the stairs up to the second floor. The butcher knife concealed in his jeans grew heavier with each step he took, causing him to worry that it would fall out before he reached safety. The wizard felt a bit nauseous, but couldn't say whether it was because of what was soon to happen in his tiny bedroom or the disgusting sound of Vernon and Dudley gorging themselves on the meal he had been forced to prepare. Harry was feeling somewhat grateful that Vernon forbade him from eating… he wasn't sure if he would have been able had he been allowed.

Harry closed his door and rested against it for a moment, his heart fluttering wildly inside his chest. He pulled out the heavy knife and hid it beneath his mattress. The raven-haired wizard would have given nearly anything to have a cellphone in that moment. He was certain that Jasper would tell him what he should do in this situation… or at least give him some moral support. The thoughts of his vampire steeled his resolve to go through with his plans. After all, what kind of mate would he be if he continued to let a mere muggle push him around?

He knew the drill. Once dinner was over Aunt Petunia would begin hoovering the downstairs. The high-pitched whining of the machine's motor was insurance against the neighbors hearing their nephew's screams. Vernon was then going to barge through that door with his belt in hand and, once Harry was reduced to a bleeding pile of flesh, the bastard would grunt in satisfaction and leave. Then Dudley, who would be impatiently waiting downstairs until his father was done, would happily enter the room and laugh at his cousin's misfortune.

But not anymore. Harry refused to take even one more beating from these loathsome excuses for humans. He refused to bare his back to that man ever again, and if it took gouging out his eyes with the knife he had smuggled into his room, then so be it. If the events began to play out as they had since he was five, then one of them would not be leaving this room alive.

The time leading up to the sound of the vacuum being turned on seemed to pass in both an instant and an eternity. Sure enough, Harry's door was flung open hard enough for the knob to smack against the plaster before a meaty hand slammed it closed once more. Vernon Dursley smiled with sadistic glee as he pulled the brown leather belt free from his slacks and approached the fifteen-year-old who was trembling from a mixture of nerves and anger.

"You know the routine, freak," the abusive asshole spat. "Shirt off and hands against the wall."

Harry, still shaking like a leaf caught in a hurricane, slowly shook his head. "No." He inched closer to where the knife was hidden, but didn't count on Vernon reacting immediately to his defiance.

With a loud smack, the boy was sent reeling. He registered the stinging coming from his face moments before his body hit the stand beside his bed. The small table, which was rickety on its best days, broke completely as the meagre weight of the teenager landed on it. Before he could even think to right himself, his uncle grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up until their faces were inches apart.

"What did you say to me, boy," Vernon asked in a low voice promising more pain than Harry's body would be able to handle.

Acting much braver than he felt, Harry glared hatefully at the giant waste of flesh before him. "I said no, you stupid fuck!" And if his words left any room for doubt, the teen obliterated it by spitting in his uncle's face.

With a roar reminiscent of the sound a wounded bear makes, Vernon pulled the boy's hair down until he was forced to bend over before bringing his knee up into Harry's chest. He heard the distinct snap of at least one rib breaking before he was thrown down. After fighting off the pain and dizziness, the wizard realized he had been tossed close to where he had hidden the knife. Vernon angrily stomped toward him, intending to make Harry pay further for his act of disobedience.

Harry's shaking hand closed around the hilt of the butcher knife and pulled it free. Just as his uncle was about to grab him once more, the teen released a growl of his own and thrust his weapon into the man's stomach. Vernon immediately recoiled and went to grab it, but his nephew was too angry and too motivated to be stopped. Eyes shining with excitement and adrenaline, Harry repeatedly pierced the blade into any part of his uncle that he could reach.

Vernon, anger having been replaced with terror, gave up trying to claim the butcher knife and began crawling frantically for the door. He continually coughed up blood from the punctured lung he'd received in the frenzy moments before. A sound similar to a whimper left him when Harry crawled on top of him and began to wage war on the man's unprotected back. The wizard laughed with the exhilaration he was feeling, knowing Vernon would never be able to hurt him again.

"Not so tough now, are you Uncle," Harry asked the pathetic man beneath him. The only answer he received was the wheezing gurgle as he slowly drowned in his own blood. Loving the idea of his uncle suffering as much as possible, Harry sat back and watched the life slowly leave his tormentor. Panting as the rush of adrenaline began to leave him, the teen never lost the smile on his face as he moved to where he could meet the other's gaze.

"Nothing to say now, Vernon? Cat got your tongue?" Harry chuckled as the desperate eyes began pleading for his life. He looked around at his room. Blood was everywhere. Seeing bits of flesh mixed in with the various splatters pushed his excitement to a new level. "You know… despite my loathing for everything that represents Gryffindor, I think red just might be my new favorite color." He grinned as Vernon's wheezes began tapering off. "I wonder if Petunia and Dudley's blood is the exact same shade as yours… I guess we'll just have to see."

That was the last thing Vernon Dursley heard as the life faded from his panicked eyes completely.

Despite his final taunting words to his hated uncle, Harry wasn't quite feeling up to committing another gruesome murder just yet. The pounding of his head competed fiercely with the burning in his chest from where his ribs were broken. Once the adrenaline had completely left him, Harry could do little more than drag himself backwards and rest against the wall. He belatedly realized after inspecting a suspicious stinging coming from his hand that the knife must have slipped at some point and opened a gash there. Reaching behind him, the teen picked up a blood-soaked pillow and removed the case in order to wrap the cloth around his wound.

It wouldn't do to bleed to death after the first act of revenge he'd ever taken.

If it were physically possible, Jasper's heart would be beating out of his chest as he broke just about every traffic law that existed in order to get to his mate. His Harley, which had been pushed to its limits on the frantic trip, screeched to a stop outside Harry's house. He could smell an outrageous amount of spilt blood before he even reached the front door. The woman, most likely Harry's horrid Aunt Petunia, had peeked through the drapes when she heard his bike roar into the driveway. She opened the front door just as he reached it and gasped in outrage and fright as he roughly shoved her aside and ran up the stairs.

Following the smell of blood, Jasper took a second to growl at the multitude of locks marring the outside of his mate's door and entered the room in a rush. He sighed with relief upon seeing Harry alive and fairly well. The boy was covered in so much blood that it was hard to tell if any of it belonged to him. "Harry," he asked as he knelt down before the teen, "are you hurt?"

Harry was breathing shallowly and his eyes seemed to be having a difficult time focusing, though that could be because he'd lost his glasses in the fight. "I think a rib is broken, my head hurts, and I cut my hand on the knife at some point." He suddenly smiled. "But I'm doing loads better than Vernon."

Jasper chuckled at his Harry's dark humor before the screeching of what sounded like a banshee startled him. Without thinking twice, he was up and had his hand closed around Petunia Dursley's throat, cutting off her hysterics. "Shut up!"

Dudley Dursley, who had hidden inside his room as soon as Jasper barged his way into the house, decided to be brave for the first time in his life and attacked the vampire hurting his mother. Without letting go of his captive, the blonde grabbed the pudgy boy by the hair with his free hand and soon had his teeth buried deep into his neck, feasting heartily on the now squealing boy's blood. Petunia, upon witnessing the oncoming death of her precious son, began fighting with everything she had. Her blows were vastly ineffectual against Jasper's body and soon she screamed in anguish, as much as she was able in her current position, as Dudley's corpse flopped down to the floor beside his father's.

Jasper smirked at Petunia and licked his lips. "Your son's blood was exquisite. I'd try yours, but I'm feeling a little full right now, so I guess I'll just have to let you go free." As soon as he finished talking he let go of her and used his claws to slash open her throat. "Or not." She immediately slid down the wall in shock, covering the grotesque wound with a hand as if she would be able to halt the massive flow of blood. Right before she perished, Petunia Dursley cast her gaze over to her hated nephew.

Harry responded by waving happily in her direction with his good hand. "Enjoy your stay in hell with your husband and son, dear Auntie."

Jasper stepped over the bodies and tenderly picked his mate up. "As sexy as you look bathed in the blood of your victims, I think we should get you cleaned up so I can tend to your wounds."

The teen grimaced as his rib shifted. "Probably not a bad idea."

Jasper soon had Harry naked and in the shower. Once his wizard was clean, he carried him to the master bedroom before leaving to find a first aid kit. Once he located what he needed beneath the bathroom sink, he had both the wound and Harry's chest wrapped tightly. "That should hold you for now. You just rest here while I clean up the mess."

"What about the bodies," Harry asked as he shifted in a bid to get comfortable. "I can't let you do all the work… especially when I made most of the mess, Jasper."

The vampire chuckled. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I'll simply stuff them all in the trunk of their car and make it look like they've taken a little trip somewhere. By the time I'm done, no one will be able to tell that a murder took place here." He leaned down to capture Harry's lips in a tender kiss. "People will think that something must have happened to the poor family on their trip out of town."

Harry smirked up at his mate. "You're devious, Jasper."

"Why thank you, darlin'," the vampire replied with a grin before getting to work. Harry was soon drifting off, the pain medication Jasper had located for him having made him drowsy.

Harry woke up to the feeling of Jasper wrapping him in something. "It's okay… I'm just getting you into some heavier clothing. I don't want you to get chilled on my motorcycle."

Still somewhat loopy from the drugs, the teen asked, "Where we goin'?"

Zipping up the black leather jacket he'd located in Dudley Dursley's closet, Jasper responded, "To my house in Chessington. Thank goodness I already bought a bed and some coverings."

The teen was confused. "What about the Dursleys?"

Jasper smiled softly and brushed the raven hair out of his face. "It's okay, Harry. I took care of everything already. I drove the bodies out to a remote location and disposed of them and the car. The blood's been cleaned up, and I wrote a note in Petunia's handwriting informing you that they were going to spend the weekend at the beach and you could fend for yourself in the meantime."

Harry allowed the vampire to help him up. "My trunk… with Petunia dead the wards will soon fall if they haven't already and Dumblefuck will be sure to send someone out to check." He couldn't believe he forgot about the wards until this moment!

Jasper opted to carry him rather than watch the teen struggle to climb down the steps in his condition. "Don't worry. I've already got it strapped to the back of my bike."

As soon as they had stepped outside Harry could feel himself wake up a bit more. He ignored the various aches and pains from his injuries as Jasper got him situated on the motorcycle before climbing on behind him. He smiled as a kiss was pressed against his head. "Lean on me, Harry and don't worry about a thing… I'll never let you fall."

With those words, Jasper revved the engine and sped off into the night.

Thanks to all who've read and reviewed! You guys are so freaking amazing :)