Story Summary…. (That wouldn't fit in the title summary!)
Legend tells that one night a very, very long time ago, almost at the dawn of time itself, a wizard opened a portal between two worlds. A demon slipped through the portal and changed a beautiful, ambitious young woman into a mirror image of itself. This terrible creature's name was previously only spoken in hushed tones, even in it's own realm. Alas, it soon became know and feared on this earthly realm too. The creature's name was Vampyre.
This young, damned woman fell in love with a man who was incapable of loving her in return, and their doomed love affair left a trail of devastation throughout history, or so the legend tells.
Hermione Granger never much believed in legends. That is until she began fruitlessly tracking non existent werewolves for the Ministry of Magic. What she and Harry Potter stumble across one night in a forest clearing leads to three things. The exposure of the biggest Ministry cover up in history, the greatest love of Hermione's life, and the startling revelation that sometimes legends are based in truth.
Story Notes
Hi, and welcome to Before The Dawn! I'm both super excited and a little bit terrified of this story!
First of all, I'd like to dedicate the whole thing to the members of the Facebook group Death Eater Groupies, because they have been so super positive and supportive during the whole writing process. I'd specifically like to thank Brianna Stenson for the wonderful art that sparked the whole idea, and Marion Boon for her total enthusiasm and support.
I'd also like to thank my wonderful writing partner champagneandliterature. Your support, patience, alpha and beta skills are out of this world. THANK YOU!
So, here we are then, this is our completely mad take on the Vampire Death Eater trope. It's not canon, not even remotely, it's all a product of our own imagination, and we own nothing nor will we make any money from this. JKR owns Harry Potter and the entire Wizarding World.
Last note I promise, please, please, please, pretty please mind the content warnings on each chapter! There will be blood, there will be questionable behaviour, there will be an eventual foursome relationship development, and there will be triggering content. Having said all that, there will also be a lot of feels and hopefully a beautiful love story that emerges. (I'm trying my best at that anyway!)
I hope you all enjoy this, and THANK YOU FOR READING! Lots of love. XXXXxxxx
Content warnings for Chapter one….. Blood, consensual vampire bites, implied historical vampire attack.
Siberia, Russia. Circa 1100 AD
The road was long, and the two travelers were weary. Antonin Dolohov stilled his horse then looked around, trying and failing to gather his bearings. Eventually, he shook his head in frustration. No matter how hard he searched the gathering twilight, he couldn't work out where they were or where they had made the wrong turn. Their destination should have been close, but instead of the welcoming town that should be appearing before them, all he could see was a bleak expanse of open ground. Sparse, stunted pine trees grew to his left, and to his right open scrubland stretched endlessly all the way to the horizon.
He heard Thorfinn Rowle sigh beside him, his best friend also seemed to be feeling confused. Both men had traveled this road many times, both together and alone, and neither of them had ever gotten lost here before. Their horses shifted nervously in the deepening twilight. Antonin didn't blame them for being wary, both wolves and bears were a common sight in these parts. Antonin moved his horse closer to Thorfinn's, and together both men studied the map he held, then looked up sharply at the sound of approaching hooves.
Abruptly, the two horses tossed their heads in alarm. Thorfinn's steed pawed the ground anxiously, and Antonin watched his friend place his large hand onto the mare's neck to calm her. A moment later, Antonin's own mount bunched underneath him then jumped forwards, spinning on the spot and causing the map to fall onto the dirt road. "Easy girl," Antonin crooned as the frightened creature backed up further.
A carriage had appeared in the distance, and it seemed to be moving towards them unnaturally fast. No horse that Antonin knew of could travel at such a speed. Both men drew their wands, automatically favoring those over the daggers they also carried. They glanced at each other in confusion as their horses continued to fuss. Antonin peered curiously into the gloom. The horses pulling the approaching carriage moved strangely too. They seemed to glide smoothly across the uneven ground with an eerie, otherworldly grace. Antonin's horse reared as the old fashioned carriage finally drew to a halt beside them.
From her body shape, what appeared to be a woman stepped down onto the dirt road. She whispered into her own horse's ears, and they dropped their heads, waiting respectfully for their following command.
Antonin stiffened in alarm as the nearest horse turned to look directly at him, and its eyes flashed blood red.
The cloaked figure raised both hands then pushed back the dark hood that had been concealing its face. As it did so, Antonin caught the unmistakable scent of asphodels in the air. His fingers tensed around his wand as his alarm grew further.
The woman, for he could now clearly see that she was a woman, slowly drew her hands down to reveal a beauty of such intensity that Antonin was left breathless. Glancing to his right, he saw that Thorfinn was equally entranced. Their horses snorted, fidgeting and plunging until both men dismounted, partly in fear of their own safety, and partly because the beautiful woman seemed to compel them to do so.
As he planted his feet firmly on the ground, Antonin looked at the woman more closely. Her skin was as pale as a ghost, her lips were a deep, rich red and her bewitching eyes were as dark as coal. Her hair was a shiny mass of tumbling black curls that fell all the way down to the soft curve of her hips.
The night was cold, but the woman didn't shiver as she removed her cloak and lay it over the carriage handrail. She wore a flimsy midnight blue dress that was trimmed with lace and revealed her deep, alabaster cleavage. This was a dress that no woman native to these parts would ever wear. The stranger was as exotic as she was enticing. Antonin stepped forwards, watching as Thorfinn did the same. The woman was calling to them without words, her impossible beauty seemed to act as a siren's call all of its own. She was both terrible and wonderful to behold.
Antonin exchanged a stunned glance with Thorfinn, then turned back to the woman. Like her own patiently waiting horses, he too seemed compelled to wait for her next move. "Good evening." Her voice was melodic, rich and feminine with just a hint of girlish charm. The tone she spoke in was as lovely as her appearance. "How nice to see you both tonight."
"Yes," Thorfinn said, sounding uncertain. This in itself filled Antonin with further unease, Thorfinn was always sure of himself with women. "Who are you?"
The woman's smile was devastating. "I think a more appropriate question would be what am I? For my name is not yet spoken in this world. I am Bellatrix. I am a woman, but also, I am now queen of a species that the demon who created us calls Vampyre."
Antonin watched warily as Thorfinn's eyes widened. He could see his friend was entranced and Thorfinn never failed to pursue a woman who ensnared him in such a way. Everything about this particular woman was screaming danger, but Antonin couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. He didn't understand how she was holding them. He didn't feel spelled, he could fight the Imperious curse off easily and he always felt its use. There was something different at play here. Something he had never encountered before. Here he was, a sorcerer of immense natural power, who commanded respect wherever he went, currently held captive by this slip of a woman.
His horse pulled dramatically backward as Bellatrix raised a hand and Thorfinn took a step towards her. Antonin dropped the reins without a second thought, letting his frightened mare wheel away, taking Thorfinn's horse with her. Antonin swallowed nervously as both his and Thorfinn's wands soared through the air into the woman's dainty hand and still he could do nothing about the situation. "What do you want with us?" he asked in as guarded a tone as possible.
The woman gave a high pitched, tinkling laugh, but as she broke off there was just a hint of a hidden, deeper cackle that came through, and it was that sound that disturbed Antonin more than anything else. "I want you both. It's simple, you both belong to me now. I've yet to turn a sorcerer and here stand two, deliciously handsome ones.Powerful too, especially you," she nimbly wiggled a finger in Antonin's direction and he stared, transfixed at the perfect skin of her inner arm. It was almost freezing, they were in northern Siberia, why wasn't she cold? "It's taking a lot of power for me to hold you. This is going to be my lucky night. When I take you both, your magic will become mine and I will absorb your power into my own. With your magic inside me I will become powerful beyond all others. Powerful even beyond HIM!"
With that she threw her head back, shook her hair loose and when her gaze leveled back at Antonin he gasped. Her once dark eyes were now shining blood red, just like her horses.
"Come to me," Bellatrix opened her mouth to reveal sharp, pointed teeth and as she ran her tongue seductively over them both Antonin and Thorfinn stepped towards her, helpless to do anything other than obey her commands.
New Forest, Hampshire, England. Present day.
Antonin woke just as the sun was setting. A glance to his left told him that his companions were still fast asleep. The irritation that the sun always caused under his skin was mild, and even that was fading fast. In a few more minutes it would be safe for him to get up without casting a shield charm. He lay still, considering the night ahead as a deep seated, intense hunger started to burn inside him.
He lifted his wand then carefully summoned the cup of cow's blood he had prepared before going to bed. He sat up, warmed it carefully with his wand then drank deeply, careful not to let any drops spill on the bedding lest he risk incurring Pansy's wrath. The cow's blood warmed him, filled him, and revived him to an extent that he could function normally, but it didn't completely sate his thirst. No animal blood ever did. For that, he needed the real thing. Almost a thousand years worth of existence had taught him that there was no substitute for human blood.
He closed his eyes assessing the condition of his mind and body and wondering if he could get through the night without it. The answer came to him quickly, not tonight. With a sigh he summoned the phial of Pansy's blood that was also sitting on the side, warmed it to body temperature, then uncorked it. He lifted it to his nose then inhaled deeply, feeling his body flare instantly into life.
He dipped his tongue into the dark red liquid then stifled an automatic moan of relief. This human blood would do what the animal blood couldn't. Animal blood sustained him, human blood invigorated him.
Antonin had long since ceased to question the morality of drinking Pansy's blood. The relationship the three of them shared was complicated to say the least, but Finn didn't object to the arrangement in the slightest, instead, he claimed to find the idea of sharing his girlfriend's blood with Antonin arousing. Pansy was more than willing to provide for both of them, too. In fact, she writhed and begged regularly under them both in bed, imploring them to bite her because she so loved the feel of vampire venom in her veins. Although Antonin himself steadfastly refused to break her skin, Finn had no such qualms. He did as she asked almost as often as she asked. In Antonin's opinion, the fact that Pansy was so thoroughly turned on by the whole process only made the blood she provided taste sweeter.
Antonin held the vial to his lips then drank. He held the metallic tasting liquid in his mouth to savor it before letting it slip like silk down the back of his throat. He sighed with intense pleasure then opened his eyes to find Finn and Pansy watching him with amusement.
"What?" he challenged, his voice still strongly accented a millennia after leaving Russia.
"You know," Pansy cut her eyes seductively and Antonin braced himself for what he knew was likely to come next, "you can always take that from me directly."
Antonin growled as Finn chuckled. "I could yes. But then you'd be damned twice. Is that what you'd have me do? Isn't having one vampire blood bonded to you enough?"
Pansy just smiled in reply. She stretched out beside him like a cat, arching the soft plains of her neck towards him enticingly. "I'd damn myself over and over again for the pair of you. Just imagine, Antonin, imagine how it would feel to sink those beautiful, sinfully sharp teeth deep into my veins-"
She broke off with a cry as Finn saved him from answering her impossible question by doing exactly that. Pansy arched up under his immensely strong, muscular chest, pressed herself into him and held Antonin's eyes until pleasure overtook her totally. Finally her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her long lashes fluttered closed as Finn sheathed himself inside her.
"Fuck!" Antonin rubbed his hands over his eyes, licked the last remaining drops of her blood from the vial then jumped out of bed before he did something he'd be sure to regret. He'd never bitten her and he wasn't going to. Finn could do as he pleased, he wasn't going to judge, but he, Antonin, wasn't going to be a part of her further damnation. He cared too much about her for that. Besides, as much as they played around and shared a bed, Pansy Parkinson wasn't the one for him.
But that was a thought for another day. Curly hair, honey brown eyes and a purple curse that had long tethered their souls were not images that he could deal with right now. To the best of his knowledge Hermione Granger was entirely unaware of their link, and that was the way it was going to stay. He huffed as an intense thrill of arousal shuddered through him as it always did when he woke and thought so painfully of her.
To hell with the last rays of the almost fully set sun. To distract himself from his torment, Antonin cast a sunlight shield over Finn, drew back the curtains and let himself burn.
Grimmauld Place, London, Present day.
Hermione Granger woke at sunset, panting from the intense orgasm that had just ripped through her body in a dream.
She had been working through her current rota of night shifts at the Ministry, and had therefore been sleeping during the days. Every evening she woke like clockwork, at sunset, from this exact same dream and tonight was no exception. She unclenched her fingers from the bed sheets, opening her eyes with a shiver as the last aftershocks of pleasure faded from her body. She had no idea what was happening, or why, but each time the dream claimed her, the feelings grew more intense.
The only thing Hermione knew for sure was that she never felt orgasms like these when she was awake. No lover, nor her own fingers had ever affected her body like this.
The visions that accompanied her now regular climatic dreams were erotic and unsettling too. Dark images flashed into her mind, as her body lit up with pleasure, images of razor sharp, pointed teeth, of long, silken dark hair and deep, male voices. Sometimes there was a female voice too, and that was the strangest thing of all. Hermione wasn't bisexual, but when this girl spoke Hermione's body responded. All of the images that made their way into her dreams felt forbidden. They were steeped in a dark desire that caused her body to react even though she somehow knew it shouldn't. It was a primal calling that felt as if it came to her from a different realm.
Yet, strangely, she felt she knew the people she dreamed of. She couldn't say why, but she had the feeling that they had all met before, and that for some reason their pasts were entwined.
Hermione didn't understand her dreams in the slightest, but she was unnerved to admit that she liked them. In fact, if she was honest, she more than liked them. She craved them. These dreams only happened at this time of day, and that was one of the reasons she had agreed to work so many regular night shifts. The dreams made her feel alive in a way that not much else did. Hermione looked forward to them every day.
She'd been astounded at how easily her body had acclimated to her new, nocturnal way of life. She very rarely missed being awake during the day. The daytime overwhelmed her, it had for years, ever since she had gone on the run during the war. Night time had long since become her favorite part of the day. There were less demands at night, less people wanting things from her, and less sensory overload to deal with.
She swung her legs out of bed and crossed the room on shaky legs to open the curtains. Her heart was still pounding, causing her blood to pulse wildly around her body. She could feel the thrum of it in her neck and her wrists, strangely close to her skin as it always was after these dreams. She took several deep breaths and stroked the veins in her neck, soothing their ache with her fingers until her erratic body had calmed and she was able to start her day as usual.
When Hermione walked through the employee entrance of the Ministry of Magic an hour later, she was almost as collected as usual. A cool shower and a hearty breakfast had settled her over sensitive nerves, and as always she had put the erotic dreams firmly out of her mind ready to start work.
"Evening, 'Mione." Harry looked delighted to see her as he greeted her with his usual customary hug. "Everything okay?"
"Of course," she said, shaking her head to get a sudden, unbidden image of haunting, unknown grey eyes out of her mind. She turned to follow Harry to the apparition point. "Ready?" she asked, smiling as he nodded in reply.
Harry's hand brushed accidentally against hers as they walked, and Hermione forced her mind away from the memory of the dream his touch had yet again triggered. Why was she so affected tonight? She jumped as a sudden thrill of anticipation shook her body. Happily, Harry didn't seem to notice her distracted mood or her slightly wild eyes. He turned towards her, fixed her with his own, familiar, emerald eyes and grinned. "Come on. Let's go werewolf tracking!"