Happy EASTER! Well, easter weekend. I have a five day weekend so I certainly think it's happy. And not to toot my own horn.. but yeah.. this is another update within the same week. hope you like it! :D And can I just say that I ADORED all the reviews for this last chapter. Seriously, most of them made me laugh out loud in amusement. And just for that I made this chapter a bit longer than all the rest. Not extremely longer, but it's pretty substancial. Anyway, thank you again for reviewing and following and all that jazz! You all are wonderful:

MissLorraineScarlet, BadAssAlec, RainingTearsandPixieDust, KaitlynEmmaRose, BlueBlood, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, Lintered, vianney, unkowingly'inlove

I LOVE you guys! Enjoy your little hearts out.

I sit on the bed patiently waiting while the students slowly trickle out of Xerxes apartment. The party is over and life would get back to normal for all involved, that is after the hangovers dissipate sometime tomorrow. I could have left a while ago, I never went back out to join the festivities. I stayed on the bed and acted somewhat pleased when Xerxes came back and checked on me twenty minutes after Draco left.

I made the quick decision to stay behind and have a little chat with Mr. Xerxes. Probably not one of my brightest ideas, but I have to find out why he is toying with my life, including but not limited to lying to the guy I could potentially be head over heels for. So here I sit, cross legged on the bed that I have become so accustomed to sleeping in over the past couple of months, waiting for some alone time with this maggot.

"Who knew there were so many of you Slytherins?" he laughs ducking in really quickly to make sure I am still here.

"Who knew?" I smile in mock amusement. The moment he left I roll my eyes. What a dick. How was I going to approach this? Beat around the bush for a while and then throw in the tell all question - what do you want with me? Or maybe a little more assertion would work better... Why the hell did you tell Draco that you and I were involved asshole? Or is that too abrasive? I could just bite him... that would give me all the information I could need. As tempting as that is I can't... not when I know what it feels like. I don't know if I could do it even if I wanted to.

"Okay that's the last of them. Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?" he asks strolling into the room.

"Who says I want to talk about anything?" I mutter standing up and heading out the open door. The apartment had been cleaned and placed back to its original state. I take a seat on the couch.

"Don't play coy with me Miss Kane. What's on your mind?"

"Um, well... I was just thinking about what you were going to tell Carrow about the whole other vampire thing." Way to go. How could I freeze up like that? I had only been rehearsing what I was going to say for the last hour. Well, variations on what I was going to say but still.

"That's a relief, I thought you were going to ask about Malachi and why I'm really here. But I'd much rather focus on something a little more trivial."

"What?" I cough choking on the breath I was in midst of inhaling.

"My older brother, Malachi. The one who turned you? Come now Delilah, I heard you weren't the brightest but you couldn't have forgotten about him already."

"You know..." I whisper too stunned to move. And here I thought I had the upper hand. Stupid stupid idiot.

"Of course I know little one. I've been chasing your brother for the past month now. I know all about you. Even more so now with your human friends so willingly opening up their gobs to tell me all about you."

"Why are you here?" I ask still unmoving. I made a quick glance around the place to see what I could use for a weapon. I know where the utensils are in the kitchen, and my wand is still tucked tightly in my boot. So I'm not completely defenseless; that's reassuring. He walks slowly towards me in a calculated manner. It creeped me the hell out.

"There you go; using that little brain of yours," he smirks looking just as devastatingly handsome as his brother. "I had planned to toy with you awhile longer, but that human didn't stay compelled as long as he should have. Gave me away now didn't he?"

"I knew you were full of it." I spit out. I need to breath and calm down. I just have to ignore his blatant attack on my intelligence and act helpless in hopes to instill the false sense that I'm some damsel in distress. But if he continues insulting me I will punch him in the face.

"You did make it more difficult then it should have been to find the dirt I needed. Nevertheless, I got what I wanted."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, in all honesty I was planning on just killing you the first moment we were alone."

I look down at my body and back up at him with what I can only assume was an amused expression plastered on my face. "Failed that one didn't you?" I comment icily, ignoring all self-preservation.

"Don't be rude Miss Kane." He orders grabbing my jaw tightly and giving it a hard squeeze, "You're lucky you resemble Clarisse so much. No, I couldn't kill you. So my plans changed. And now here we are." He lets go of my face with a shove.

"And where would that be?"

"At an impasse. You see, I owe my brother quite a lot in the revenge department. Yet killing you now would do me no good. No no, I need your blood."

"My blood?" I question awkwardly. Maybe if I continue to act as clueless as he perceives he would never think I could give him a run for his money. At least I hope I could.

"It would be more propitious for you if you didn't repeat every damn thing I say." he growls, as he begins to pace back and forth in front of me, "Damon, your brother, owes me a debt. Now I know you won't willingly go with me unless you get something in return. So I have a proposition for you."

"Right." I mutter raising an eyebrow. Who the hell uses the word propitious?

"You come with me now and I will stop hunting him down like a dog hunts a wounded rabbit. And to top that off I won't tell anyone what you really are."

"How thoughtful of you." I glare at him.

"I thought so." he grins wickedly as he stops right in front of me holding out a hand.

"I don't get some time to think about it?" I ask politely racking my brain as to how the hell I was going to get out of this situation.

"I'll give you about five minutes. How's that?"

"Can I ask a couple of questions while we wait?"

"Shoot for the moon Delilah." he grins taking a seat on the edge of the couch much too close to me for my liking. He pulls out his wand and begins to twirl it around with his fingers.

"Why do you want my blood?"

"Buzzz. Try again."

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Eventually probably, but not definitely." he grins now picking at his fingernails with his wand.

"Why do you hate Malachi so much? Why can't you just let the past go? You're the one who killed Clarisse anyway."

"Is that what Malachi told you? Let me enlighten you. Clarisse wanted me and only me. We had a bond that vampires rarely find in a human. But Malachi grew jealous and changed her anyway. It didn't matter, our bond still grew and we became stronger together. Again Malachi didn't approve and persistently made it clear that Clarisse and my union was the harbinger of death. So he killed her. Burned her alive right in front of me."

"I don't believe you!" I shout standing up. He had to be lying.

"I don't care what you believe." he states pushing me back down on the couch forcefully, "you have two more minutes."

"So you came here to get revenge? You thought killing me would make you and Malachi even?"

"No. Never even. He will always owe me. But this way I thought he could feel a little bit of what I felt. He feels so strongly for you after all. Funny thing is, I don't think you feel the same way about him. And this my lovely Delilah is another reason why you're still alive. I think in the long run you'll do more harm alive than dead."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I argue looking away from him.

"Of course you don't."

"What did my brother do to piss you off?" I ask in hopes of keeping him occupied just a little bit more.

"Oh geez, I'm sorry Delilah it seems your time is up. Now what will it be? Come with me and you'll get to ask me as many questions as your heart desires or stay and die. Your choice."

"What happened to me being more useful alive?"

"Stop stalling and choose." His eyes were cold and piercing. They were exactly like Malachi's.

"Expelliarmus!" I shout as my wand flies into my hand and knocks him back off the couch. His wand flies into the air and lands in my outstretched hand.

"You should really reconsider." He snarls standing up quickly.

"Maybe next time." I declare running full speed around him into the kitchen. He must have thought I was going to head for the door first because he leaped in the wrong direction giving me even more time to fling open cabinet under the sink and grab the serrated knife with my free hand. I had been running over this escape plan in my mind for the last five minutes. I just have to remember everything Malachi taught me and I would be fine, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I stand just in time to see him racing towards me looking feral. I jump up on the counter and run towards the other side of the room. I could tell he is faster than me, but as long as I keep surprising him with quick movements I would have the advantage.

"Alohamora!" I shout running at the door. It bursts open and I run through it and out into the vacant hallway. I dart left and run full speed straight ahead. I just need to find a professor on duty and then I'd be safe. There's no way he'd be able to over power two of us... I hope.

"You should have taken the deal." I hear in my right ear just as a strong hand grabs my wand shoulder firmly and pulls it out of its socket. I scream in pain as my acceleration stops altogether and he flings me into the wall.

"So stubborn. You could have saved yourself. Anne did. I made her see what Malachi truly is." He says calmly pushing harder on my dislocated arm.

"Anne. Is. Dead." I gasp in pain still holding tight to the wands and knife.

"I figured. She's been missing for a while. No matter, you'll join her soon enough." he smiles evilly flashing his fangs, "And after I kill you I think I'm due for a snack. That best friend of yours looked mighty delicious. And then I'll finish up with your little boy toy."

"Like hell you will." I growl bringing up my left hand holding the knife and slicing him right across the face. He backs up and howls in agony.

I pop my shoulder back into place and stand up straight ready to fight. He was not going to lay a finger on Beth or Draco.

"That was surprising." he stands and faces me again. The wound has already healed.

"There's plenty more where that came from." I snap still glaring at him.

"This should be interesting." he laughs coldly.

He charges at me again. Tossing the wands aside I clock him across the face with my right fist and slash him across the chest with the knife. But he continues to come at me. I block almost everything he throws at me and even get a few more slashes across his arms and face, but he doesn't back down. And neither do I. Every one of his blows felt like a sledgehammer, yet I kept going. We were evenly matched, blow for blow.

"I've got to hand it to Malachi, he finally picked a protege that isn't a complete failure." Xerxes says grappling me to the ground.

"Why thank you Xerxes, now I can die happy." I growl elbowing him across the face and stabbing the knife through his leg as I stand.

"You bitch." he curses leaning over for the wands lying next to him.

"No you don't." I mutter kicking them out of his reach.

"That knife of yours is really getting annoying." he growls standing up as soon as his leg heals.

"What can I say? I have a flare for the dramatic." I toss it in the air and catch it with my other hand. This was getting fun.

He came at me again, running head on into my shoulder that he had already dislocated. It pops out again as he slams me into the wall. He holds his hand right at the center of my shoulder where the two sockets should be connected but weren't, and he was putting pressure on it to keep it from healing. I yelp in pain and try to wriggle free.

"Not so cocky now are you? Though I will admit I may have underestimated you a little." he grins not letting up on the full force he was pushing into my arm. It feels like he is literally grinding my bones down to nothing.

"A bit more than a little." I wheeze as I out maneuver his other hand and stab the knife through the middle of his chest. I push it in as far as it will go. He loosens his grip on me and I push him off of me. He stumbles back against the far wall.

I bend down and pick up my wand with my left arm: the one that isn't trying to mend itself back together. I point it directly at him as he proceeds to pull the knife from his chest. He lets it fall to the ground and looks up at me.

"Well? Are you going to kill me or what?" he snaps still leaning against the wall for support. Blood, his blood, covers the ground between us. I stare at it for a second before replying. I could do it. Kill him. All it took was one simple fire spell and he'd go up in flames.

"I'm not like you." I answer instead.

"That's a shame." he says with a small grin on his face.

I contemplate changing my mind. What's the death of one crazy vampire that pretty much wants me dead? I glare at him again just to make my hatred absolutely clear and that is when someone calls my name. I look towards the voice without even thinking, who is milling about the halls this late at night? I didn't have time to stand and ponder over it because in the second it took for me to look over was all the second Xerxes needed to grab me by the neck and sink his teeth down in me. And then he bit down again and again until it felt like he had torn a good chunk of flesh from my neck. I couldn't help but scream.

This was ten times more painful then the first time when Malachi had done it. I go limp in his arms and wait until the pain recedes... or until I die. Can a vampire die this way? I guess he could rip off my head while I'm lying in a pool of my own blood.

"You have two weeks before I find your brother and kill him, and then I come back and kill every other person you care for. If you want to keep this from happening I suggest you arrive at my residence before then. You should have killed me when you had the chance," His voice echoes in my brain somehow connected to me as he devours my blood.

A flash of red lightning bursts above me and I drop to the floor barely able to move. Xerxes disappeared into the darkness. My shoulder was still throbbing and don't even get me started on my neck, it that's what it was anymore. Heavy footsteps run over to me and lift me up off the floor delicately.

"You're going to be fine Delilah."

"Headmaster?" I groan trying to open my eyes. I was about ninety-five percent sure that it was Snape who was holding me carefully as he runs down the hallway.

"You'll be fine." he repeats.

"Whatever you say." I mumble before letting exhaustion over take me.

._.

My eyes pop open in surprise. The burning pain in my throat and neck engulfs my whole body. But it wasn't the pain Xerxes had inflicted on me, no, this was all me. My body needs blood and I can't focus on where I am, who may be here, nothing until I get some.

"Delilah sit up, you need to drink this." Snape orders pushing a vile into my hand.

"I can't; I have to go eat something... anything." I say hoarsely. It feels like I hadn't fed in weeks.

"It's the side effect of the potion. You must drink this." he barks guiding my hand towards my mouth. I do as he says, not because I think it will help because let's be honest what potion is going to help satisfy my thirst? But really just because if I thought about it too much I am pretty sure I was going to attack Snape just so I could get some blood in me.

I swallow the acidic liquid in one gulp. The potion felt like ice going down my throat. It eased the pain and soothed my entire body in an instant. I look up in awe at Snape who takes the bottle from me and places it on a side table. I glance around and realize I am in his office off to the side. Next to me is a table with some tulips and daisies on it.

"Sir, what happened?" I question growing more and more confused. Why wasn't I in the hospital wing? And who were the flowers for? Snape had gloves on his hands as he moves about the small space around my cot. That must be why his touch didn't set off alarms in my body. But how'd he know to do that? Maybe his self-preservation skills are higher than most.

"Mr. O'Conner over stayed his welcome," he says busying himself around a boiling cauldron.

"He was here for three days." I laugh sitting all the way up.

"Are you feeling more comfortable Delilah?" he asks still not looking at me.

"Yes. What was that you gave me?"

"Sanguis Fictus. It curbs your thirst for blood." he explains finally looking at me.

"What?" I choke blinking rapidly.

"Kane, please do not presume that I do not know what goes on inside my own school. The potion will last for about an hour now that you're awake. You can go to the forest after sundown." He says steadily as if he wasn't discussing the fact I am a vampire.

"Headmaster... I don't understand... what about..." I mutter nervously.

"You are what you are. Years ago I may have reacted in the way you expect from humans, but these are different times. There are more important things I need to deal with than this secret you've been hiding," after a long pause he adds, "I am not going to tell anyone."

"You're not angry? I'm not expelled?" I look down at my lap twiddling my thumbs.

"You have an overflow of potential Delilah, and you remind me of someone I knew when I was a student here. I would only be angry if you let this condition of yours get in the way of who you are to become. You've been keeping your cravings under control and I see no reason to expel you."

I stare at him in complete and utter shock. After all this is Snape I'm talking to. He's not one for verbose conversation. Even when I had all my detentions with him I just figured he was the introverted unique professor that I could somehow relate to. I never dreamed he would act like this, like a father figure for me.

"You saved me." I croak, adding more on to my awkward side of the conversation.

"If I had not distracted you you may not have needed saving," he comments focusing on cleaning up around the cot I am sitting on, "the flowers are from a few of your friends that stopped by. You have been in and out of consciousness for the last two days. The potion I gave you allowed you to heal and rest without needing to feed. It's a synthetic blood, but it will make you more hungry than usual when it wears off so make sure you are in the forest by then. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." I nod vigorously still in a slight daze.

"Your wounds have healed and you are free to go. I have already excused you from your classes for the last two days and just as a warning there are numerous rumors going around the school."

"I would expect nothing less." I laugh throwing my legs over the side of the cot. I steady myself and stand slowly.

"One more thing," Snape continues softly. I turn and face him. "Did Xerxes say why he went after you?"

"Revenge. It's a long story, but ultimately it's all about revenge." I answer unconsciously rubbing my neck in the place Xerxes had torn into it.

"One day I would be interested in hearing more about it, but for now you should go see your friends. They are anxious for your return. Don't forget your flowers." he smiles a very small smile and turns his back to me signaling my release.

I smile despite the fact he can't see it. I have hundreds of questions for him, but they would have to wait. I grab the flowers and my wand sitting next to them and race out of his office. I want to see Beth and make sure she's okay. And even though I shouldn't, I really want to see Draco too.

I walk as quickly as possible to the common room ignoring any and all people I pass. People were walking through the door so I slid in behind them and head straight to our room. It is night time and hopefully she will be there. I open the door and there she sits on her bed reading a book. I toss my flowers and wand onto my bed and run over to her.

"Ahhhhhhhh you're alive!" she screams in my ear as I hug her tightly.

"You're okay right? He didn't come after you once he left me right?" I question leaning back and checking her face and neck for any signs of damage.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. You're the one I've been worried about. Snape only let me see you once after telling me what had happened!" She shouts hugging me again.

"I'm just glad it was me and not anyone else." I mutter as she pulls away.

"I wouldn't have minded if it was Astoria or Pansy instead of you." she argues. I chuckle and push her over so I could sit comfortably next to her.

"Daphne's sister isn't that bad. And well... Pansy would have lowered his IQ a few thousand points, that's probably why he steered clear of her. But anyway that's besides the point how are you?"

"You've only been passed out for two days... I'm fine like I said. I was just worried about you. Actually alot of people were. Whether they are sincere or not I don't know but the whole school knows you were fed on by the vampire Carrow let in.

"Oooh. Is he getting shit?" I ask evilly.

"Tons. Speaking of which, I didn't know a vampire could feed on another vampire." she whispers looking around just to make sure someone hadn't snuck into the room or something.

"He can't. He can however draw from me. It pretty much means he can see a good chunk of my memories and apparently talk to me in my head. Which is something new I found out." I explain rubbing my neck absentmindedly.

"Sounds creepy."

"It was. He was. It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was all pleasant one moment and then went crazy the next."

"Well at least you have the satisfaction that you were right. He's psycho."

"Yeah." I sigh thinking of the last words he said to me... was he serious? Of course he was, what a dumb thought. But could he pull it off is the real question.

"You should hear some of the rumors. They're absolutely fantastic. In a couple you were having hot passionate sex and in the moment he fed on you, theres one that says you turned him down and he got mad and fed on you, and theres a few that talk shit about you wanting it, but don't worry I set them in their places right away." Beth says leaning her head on my shoulder.

"Good best friend. Were you the only one Snape told?"

"I'm guessing he told the professors, but no, he told Draco too."

"Why?"

"Beats me. He's been in a horrible mood these days though. Here I am, his fiance- not that I like to remind him of such things, distraught and upset over you getting attacked and instead of consoling me or anyone else he stomps around the place throwing tantrums and fits. He yelled at Gretel earlier today and even gave her detention. I'm guessing him and his lover got in a fight, and a pretty big one at that." she chuckles to herself.

"That's weird. Where is he now?" I ask hoping I sound more like I want to know so I can avoid him rather than go find him.

"Probably in your weekend hideaway. Unless he's attacking some poor first year again."

"I don't like it when you call it that." I push her lightly before I stand up.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go feed. Which by the way, Snape knows."

"Wait, Snape knows about your...?" but instead of finishing the sentence with her words she brings her fingers up to her mouth to imitate fangs.

"Yes. He knows." I laugh grabbing my wand off my bed.

"You can't tell me something like that and then just leave!" she shouts jumping up.

"I'll give you more details when I get back. He was really cool about the whole thing."

"Cool? Are we talking about the same Snape? Greasy hair? Headmaster? Walks around with a permanent scowl on his face?"

"He's not that bad. I have to go, I'll be right back!" I exclaim opening the door and heading out before she could stop me again. I really do need to go feed but first I plan on making a little detour.