"She's in shock."

"She looks dead."

"She needs dry clothes, let me take her to the bathroom and dry her off."

"Fuck you, Vincent." Scorpius cut Vincent a deathly glare, "You're not going near her."

"Sorry Scor, I forgot. You're bonded now." Vincent rolled his eyes and his remark earned him a swift elbow to the ribcage from Jonathan.

"What?" Scorpius lifted an eyebrow daringly high.

"Nothing." Jonathan interjected before the night got worse. "But she does need dry clothes. Scorpius, you can handle that, can't you?"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Scorpius challenged Jonathan.

"Nothing. Get her changed, okay? Then we can talk about this." Jonathan sighed, "Merlin's balls, Scorpius, you need to feed."

"And when was the last time you guys fed, huh?" Scorpius replied too easily.

"We've found some girls. Fed, and wiped their memories. They're no-names to us. Just food." Jonathan replied. Anthony was sitting in an armchair, staring at the crippled auburn-haired girl who was clearly in shock. Scorpius had carried her from the courtyard all the way to the Brothers' chambers after she passed out.

Scorpius didn't respond to Jonathan. He crossed over to the couch where Rose was laying, eyes closed and breathing shallow. He gently folded her into his arms and carried her into Vincent's room, where he found an oversized tee-shirt and a pair of sweatpants to dress her in. Scorpius laid her on Vincent's four-poster bed and let his gaze drape over her.

She was absolutely stunning – with a pair of long black eyelashes that brushed her delicate skin. Pink, plump, and ready-to-kiss lips were parted, her teeth sparkling white. Scorpius knew he had been with prettier – but why was she so damned captivating to him? He knew he should run far away from her and never look back – she drew out a vulnerability in him that he didn't like; wasn't comfortable with. Yet here she was – her small frame swallowed on the bed, shrouded in shadow and wet to the bone. Her clothes clung to her dainty body. Scorpius knew he needed to get her out of those wet clothes, but privately he was enjoying just being able to look at her and wonder. What does she like? What the hell does she see in him, to have kissed him so passionately at the courtyard, in the rain. The way her lips traced his darkened etching – his curse. Yet she kissed him like he was beautiful.

The fuck.

Scorpius' eyes darkened immensely and it wasn't from pleasure or desire – it was from self loathing. He didn't deserve her, didn't deserve her to look at him the way she did. She deserved a normal life, with somebody other than him – anybody other than him. The shit he had done and seen in his life…it would break her if she ever knew.

She would never know.

Sighing, he pushed such thoughts from his mind and forced himself to focus on the task at hand. Taking a step closer to Rose, he hovered over her and ran his fingers up her arm, admiring how delectable her skin felt beneath his cool touch.

How…warm.

Working with the skill that only Scorpius could acquire through years of shedding women's clothing, he had Rose out of her wet clothes and into the dry ones in no time at all. He left her bra and panties on, he didn't think she'd appreciate him seeing that part of her. Yet.

He pulled the blankets over her tiny frame and seated himself at the end of the bed, his back facing her.

Just a few short minutes had passed when he heard her stirring behind him – he spun around to find her staring at him with that look that killed him.

"Hi." Rose whispered sheepishly, not even looking at her surroundings, she only stared at him.

"Hi." Scorpius responded, waiting for her to explode or something. Anything. Anything but that look that she was giving him. His insides stirred with need. Need to touch her, kiss her. Taste her.

"What happened?" She finally asked, breaking the spell she had over Scorpius. He cursed silently to himself for allowing her to take hold of him with just one look.

He would have to work on that. Immediately.

"You passed out. I carried you here." Scorpius replied dryly. It was then that Rose looked around her – the realization that she was not in her own bed or even her chambers for that matter, hit her.

"I'm in…who's bed?" Her eyebrow raised slightly and she pushed herself to a seated position, clutching the blanket against her chest.

"Vincent's bed." Scorpius replied evenly once again.

"You changed my clothes?" Rose arched her brow even higher.

"Yes."

"Thank you." She tucked a strand of her wet hair behind her ear and bit her bottom lip.

Fuck. That.

Scorpius forced himself to look away from her – the way she nibbled on her lip made him want to leap across the bed and claim it for his own.

"I'll wait out here with the rest of the Brothers. I'm guessing you want some questions to be answered and we need to speak to you about your…knowledge of us." Scorpius pushed himself off the bed before he did something stupid like kiss her again.

"Erm. Okay." Rose still didn't look at him and still didn't relent that ripe bottom lip of hers from the grip of her teeth.

That was Scorpius' cue to get the hell out of there.

"She's awake." He announced as he re-entered the common room that the rest of the Brothers' were seated in. Scorpius fell into an armchair, buried his face in his hands and in turn, ran his long fingers through his blonde mane.

"You alright there, Scor?" Vincent asked as he eyed Scorpius precariously.

"Yep." Scorpius was short and leaned back in his chair, ankle resting on his knee as if nothing just happened.

A mask.

Too bad each of his Brothers could see through the façade – but they didn't have time to press the matter. Rose entered the room and all eyes darted to her.

All eyes except Scorpius'. He dared not look at her directly – it seemed he was drawn to her like a moth to an open flame. And open flames killed moths.

"I don't think I've been this close to all of you at once." Rose gulped as icy blank stares continued in her direction, "And I think just about every one of you has threatened my life in one way or another. So…I'm putting a lot of trust in you. To not…well, eat me."

"Not hungry." Vincent was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "Have a seat wherever you're comfortable."

Rose's gaze flitted in Scorpius' direction. He was finding the fireplace very interesting at the moment.

Nonetheless, Rose moved to the empty space next to Jonathan on the long couch and curled her hands in her lap. Since there were now three of them shoved on the couch, her thighs brushed against Jonathan's. He had no choice but to turn and drape an arm around the back of the couch to angle himself towards her – his arm resting behind her head.

Only then, did Scorpius look up. A wave of jealousy shot through him and he swore it moved through the room like a shockwave.

The three Brothers stared at him intently, all with darkened gazes on him now.

"What?" Scorpius asked them – challenged them. Vincent, Jonathan, and Anthony exchanged knowing glances at each other. They sure as fuck felt the shockwave that emanated from Scorpius – and the blackness in his eyes was surely hard to miss as well.

"Rose…" Jonathan started with his too-smart voice and soft tone – " We need you to help us. And trust us when we say we have never used a civilian before."

"But I'm not just a civilian." Rose interjected harshly – "I'm a Vampire, like you, aren't I?"

"No, honey, you're not. It's in your blood – "

"Oh, she's your honey now, eh Jon?" Scorpius spat.

"Maybe you should leave the room, Scor." Jonathan replied evenly, knowing why Scorpius was acting this way. A bonded male was overly jealous – and once bonded properly, would give off his own masculine scent, unique to himself only. And only when he was aroused, jealous, or around his mate. It was a warning to other Vampires not to fuck with their mate or they would get their throat ripped out. Plain and simple.

When Vampires mated, they mated for life. There was only one true bonded soul for them in the world – in all of their immortal life.

"What's your problem, Scorpius?" Rose asked with a taste of malice in her voice.

"Rose…" Jonathan grumbled but there was no stopping the train that was coming.

"What's my problem? You just had to sneak around and stick your nosy self into our business, didn't you? We were just fine keeping to ourselves – keeping little girls like you out of our business. And now look where it's got you! You're fucked! For life! Everything has changed for you, and what's more is that you now know you have Vampire blood in you. Like we did. One bite…one slight mess up on our part and we have a fucking clingy little baby Vampire on our hands. Not only do we have Hunters to worry about, but we have you to worry about now as well." Scorpius was standing, running his fingers through his hair as he only did when he was seriously stressed – giving his hair that just-fucked look to it.

It was so damn sexy.

Roses' eyes darkened at the sight of Scorpius' menacing presence before her, looking disheveled and lost. Confused. Vulnerable. And hot and bothered.

She nibbled on her bottom lip once more, causing a guttural groan to escape Scorpius' lips.

"Stop. Fucking. Biting that lip." Scorpius grumbled, wishing his Brothers weren't here to see him unraveling like this.

"Fo-cus, Scorpius. Focus." Vincent stood to stand next to Scorpius now, resting his hand on his shoulder he pushed him back into the chair with a bit of force. "Keep your mouth shut, okay?"

It was a warning.

"I seem to remember it wasn't long ago that you enjoyed my lips." Rose spoke daringly to Scorpius – silencing all of the members in the room.

Heat blazed in Scorpius' eyes as he and Rose stared at each other.

"That's my cue to go to bed." Vincent broke the moment of awkward silence and pretended to yawn as if he was tired. Silently he stood, Anthony matching him in movements and the two of them left the room and headed to their bedrooms.

Jonathan stared between the pulsating couple and momentarily wondered what it would feel like to love someone. To feel for someone as these two clearly do for each other – even if Scorpius is still pretending to be blind to the feeling. To the emotion.

"I'll leave you two to it." Jonathan whispered through the tension and silence. "Goodnight."

"Wait. You guys don't have to leave – I will." Rose broke her eye contact with Scorpius and smoothed her hair down – suddenly feeling uncomfortable in her own skin.

"You're not going out there alone." Scorpius muttered between his teeth.

Rose rolled her eyes dramatically – "It's the castle, Scorpius, I think I can manage. Besides – if you want me to be an undercover agent for the lot of you, then we shouldn't be seen together."

"You don't know what's out there."

"Probably only Darick." Rose muttered, causing the retreating Brothers to freeze mid-step.

"What did you just say?" Anthony asked.

"What?"

"Darick, did you say?" Anthony replied dryly.

"Er, yeah. I met him tonight. Says he's your dad or something." Rose shrugged and the Brothers exchanged knowing glances. The Brothers loved Darick for helping them as much as he has – and will continue to do. But the fucker was centuries old – has seen a lot of shit, and seems to always have a plan of action.

What was his plan of action…here?

"Cool." Jonathan didn't want to delve any further – the fact that Darick was present at Hogwarts was another issue in and of itself – and only between the Brothers. Rose only needed to know the basics, and the art of espionage.

"Let's go." Scorpius all but demanded of Rose. He stretched tall – and Rose let her gaze graze his body, admiring the ripples of hardened muscle that seemed to cross every bit of his body. "Rose." He growled this time, his eyes darkening from the lustful look in her eyes.

She gulped as she drew herself back to reality. She was seriously starting to feel like a love-sick school girl, and she would have to get herself in check and fast. At this rate of desperation, she would be at Level Dominique in no time.

"Fine." She managed to croak as she passed him and headed for the exit. The other Brothers had dispersed into their sleeping quarters, leaving only Scorpius and Rose to make the long walk to the Head Dormitories. Alone, and in utter silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Rose. Rose – wake up."

Rose pulled herself from her nightmare – goodness, who was she kidding. Vampires? Pfft. Whatever.

She forced her eyes to open and they beheld the face hovering in front of hers.

"Wh-what are you doing, Scorpius?" Rose jumped up so fast, she almost nailed her forehead against his.

"Time to get up, you'll be late for class and you'll probably never sleep again if that were to happen. And sleep deprivation leads to craziness – and we can't have a crazy Head Girl on our hands, now can we?" Scorpius deducted reasonably as Rose struggled to take in his reasoning. It was too early for that.

"I need coffee. I've been having nightmares." She mumbled as she pulled herself to a seated position beneath her thick blankets.

"Welcome to my life."

"Yeah, except you're a Vampire in my nightmares."

"And my Brothers and I are using you for the sole purpose of finding information from the Hunters that are stationed within the walls of Hogwarts. And don't forget the part about where your blood runs thick with Vampire genes." Scorpius shrugged.

"So…it's not a nightmare then." Rose felt like she had already slipped back to sleep and was reliving the same horrific scenes once again.

Except for a single scene that was far from horrific – Scorpius' mouth moving against her own, her body entwined in his. Moonlight laced with raindrops.

"Back to reality, sweetheart. Time for class. Get a move on or you'll have to face the day with an empty stomach." Scorpius turned on his heel and quickly exited the room.

Rose was losing it. She had never overslept. She convinced herself it was based on the recent stresses put on her by the Brothers. She made a mental note to keep herself together and forget that last night ever happened.

Except – she did promise the Brothers that she would eavesdrop for them. Get some information, etc. When was she supposed to find time doing that between her overloaded curriculum and extracurricular activities required by Head Girl?

She could definitely feel herself cracking under the pressure – something she hadn't experienced before. Something had to give.

She pulled herself together quick enough to make it for breakfast in the Great Hall – but with limited time to spare. She had to hurry to her first class and was the last one to take her seat.

Nobody seemed to notice, but to Rose, not being the first student in the classroom was a huge deal to her. She felt frazzled, on edge, and lost.

Her eyes were drawn to the back of the room as she passed a glance over her right shoulder – in the shadows sat Scorpius, eyes aglow with a light only she could see. Those silver orbs felt like they were trained on her own – captivating her momentarily. A student coughed loudly next to her, bringing her back down to earth.

Completely unlike her.

The class sailed by and she found herself gathering up her disjointed notes and doodles and shoving them into her bag. When she was finished, a folded sheet of parchment was coiled-to-strike on the desk in front of her. Fumbling the paper around with her nimble fingers, she found chicken-scratch and knew immediately who it was from.

Need you tonight. After dinner. You know where.

Short and to the point – thanks, Scorpius.

Rose shoved the parchment into her bag as well and went on with the rest of her day, still struggling to catch up from the disoriented morning.

Never. Again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX