A/N: only own the plot and characters not recognisable from the books

I'm nearly done with this one now woo only a couple more chapters to go then I'm back onto my other one thanx for reviewing and enjoy : )

The lyrics at the beginning are from 'Beat of Your Heart' by Hayley Westenra

Chapter Eight – Blood Tears

Carry me away from this dark and lonely room
Light me in your arms - all I want to know is you
Chase away the darkness with everything you are
I will find my strength in the beat of your heart

Picture book of memories, how we used to be
Some people spend a lifetime waiting for their dreams
But I won't find the answers by looking at the stars
I will find my strength in the beat of your heart

Time held in our hands
Will change into years gone by
If I can hold on to you
I'll leave all my fears behind

Holding on we drift like two flowers on the sea
Riding on the waves letting go of what will be
I won't find the answers by staring at the stars
I've found all my dreams in the beat of your heart
I've found all my dreams in the beat of your heart

"Whatever it was that cut her has fucked her vampire blood, the poison is unlike anything I've ever seen before it's directly targeted at any abnormalities in the blood. Basically it's killing the vampire cells in her blood which are what help her to heal, so she's losing that ability."

Every word coming out of his little sister's mouth made Viridian pale even further until his hair looked almost black in comparison as the group gaped at Crysta who was furrowing her brow at the analysis of Appleby's blood which Matt had magically made disappear from the Hospital Wing and just as magically appear in the Slytherin common room in his bag.

"Sounds much more complicated when you go through all that crap when basically I'm just fucked."

The group jumped as one and turned to find Appleby with her arms folded and one foot tapping on the floor in her high heeled boot. She couldn't stay angry for long though, she didn't have the energy and she slumped onto the sofa besides Viridian, her head dropping onto his shoulder as she stretched her legs over Matt's knees and yawned.

They didn't say anything but every one of her friends and cousins were shocked at her ragged appearance beneath the beauty, her cheeks were worn down to their admittedly perfect bone structure and the huge bruised circles beneath her eyes only enhanced their fever-induced brightness and her haunting beauty. Appleby knew they were staring but didn't have enough energy left in her to lift open her torturously heavy eyelids as her friends' voices faded from her consciousness and she drifted back to the night before.

((Flashback))

Her eyes swept over the grounds dyed dark blue by the waning moonlight as she hurried out of the dark grip of the Forest. She clutched her cloak closer to her and fought with the wind for control of her hair whipped free of its loose plait down her back. She froze when she heard the crunch of someone crossing the snowy path behind her and she spun around, her heart was pounding as her eyes encountered... nothing. Not entirely convinced it was just the wind she turned slowly back around and continued towards the school, her pace quickening and her breath coming in gasps as she hurried forwards.

This time there was no mistaking the sound of someone behind her as the footsteps increased their pace to match hers and she forgot all pretences of being the future World Saviour, she ran. She stumbled up the hill just before Hagrid's abandoned dilapidated hut and cried out when her feet gave way on some loose ground buried beneath the snow and she fell, screaming at the top of her lungs when a hand colder than the ice beneath her burned against the bared skin of her ankle where her trouser leg had ridden up.

She felt desperate hands tearing at her clothes, ripping her trousers and pulling all the buttons off her blouse as the cold hands gripped at her chest and she thrashed wildly trying to throw whoever it was off her. The person froze and lifted their head, staring around for a moment before leaping away from her and darting off into the night as she sat up trembling and staring around for whatever had saved her.

Something flashed in the lights from the glowing windows of the school and her eyes widened as a small creature like a snake with wings came crashing down. She hardly noticed her mouth was frozen shut with shock but still she silently screamed out in pain as the creature slashed through her cloak jumper blouse and skin leaving a deep gash just below her left breast.

As quickly as it had appeared her attacker was gone and all that was left was the whisper of the wind still whipping tiny snowflakes over the slumped body of a whimpering teenage girl with a sheet of silver hair shading her face from the shower of snow and surrounded by her own blood seeping into her clothes and dying the snow around her.

Her eyes were flickering as she fought the waves of pain ripping through her, she barely had the strength to lift her head the centimetre it took to watch the figure swathed in shadows that gently lifted her up and left her at the bottom of the stairs inside the school where a hurriedly rushing up Head Mistress surrounded by a dozen members of staff and the school nurse surrounded her in a flurry of activity. Only one aged man with a floor length silver beard and matching hair seemed to notice the figure that dissolved into the shadows of the night the second the others arrived.

-----

Beams of harsh lights shot through the hazy layers of pain surrounding her as she slowly came to her senses and took in the entirely white room she was in. the bright lights reflected off the crisp white sheets of the bed she was in as she turned her head slightly to the side to avoid the brightness. Bunches and bunches of flowers had been crowded onto her bedside table, the windowsill above her bed and lined along the edge of the floor against the wall of her cubicle.

"It seems you're quite popular."

The plump, frowning face of the school nurse appeared at her side with a lethal looking needle which she promptly prodded into Appleby's upturned arm and pressed down on the plunger injecting the blood red liquid into her arm. Surprisingly she didn't feel the needle prick her skin but she definitely felt the liquid enter her blood stream as it burned through her body like fire. Panic swiftly followed the pain when she realised she couldn't move at all besides her head.

"Why can't I move?" She croaked, tears of pain welling in her eyes when she tried to sit up but found only slicing agony in her chest and no result.

"Calm down, we just had to numb your entire body while we worked on you. The feeling should return any time now..."

The rest of her words were drowned out by Appleby's shrieking cry as razors of pain shot through her entire body. Hurriedly the nurse sat her up and shoved a steaming potion into her hand which she unwillingly drank, her sobs receding to snuffles as the pain slowly left her everywhere except her back and her chest.

"Why is a stab wound having that effect on me?"

The nurse jumped at her whispered question and slanted her eyes down at the floor avoiding the Malfoy piercing gaze now directed entirely at her.

"Yes, I think we'd all like to know that?"

Appleby twisted her head around to see Matt and Shari with her cousins and friends at their heels running across the room towards her.

"Well unfortunately for you, Mr Napier, it's none of your business."

The nurse's lips were so thin they had all but disappeared as she pulled herself up to her full height and matched Matt glare for glare. Eventually the pair moved apart and the nurse bustled off to bully someone else into getting better while Matt moved to slump down on the end of Appleby's bed.

"We just passed your parents in the hall..."

Appleby snorted and looked over at Crysta sat cross-legged on the end of her bed behind Matt in genuine amusement;

"Trust me we'll know when my father gets here."

No sooner had the words left her mouth when a voice could be heard through the half open Hospital door accompanied by the banging of doors several hallways down and the pounding of heavy boots being stomped on the marble flooring.

"Bloody imbeciles... could have been killed... why don't you bloody well protect your students... I suppose you haven't caught him... I'll catch the fucker then I'll kill him... I want guards all round this school until he's caught... bloody moronic woman as Head of the school... you're still as idiotic as ever Granger... how you managed to become Head of Hogwarts is a mystery to me..."

The occupants of the Hospital Wing had fallen silent a long time ago as the door banged entirely open and a blazing Draco Malfoy stalked in followed by a frantic looking Ginny who promptly raced across the room and threw herself on her daughter. Gibbering madly and close to tears Ginny was finally pried away from Appleby and led off by Belladonna for a cup of coffee laced with Ogden's Fire Whisky in the Head's office.

Looking up into her father's eyes Appleby felt a laser of fear shoot through her as she waited for him to question what she had been doing in the Forbidden Forest at midnight on a Tuesday evening. Instead he shocked her by pulling her up into a warm embrace where she lay stunned, relishing in the warm his body was radiating as his shaking hands smoothed over her matted hair.

"I'm fine daddy, honestly."

Eventually he let her go and she fell backwards gratefully against the pillows trying to soothe her aching back but the sight of her bandage slightly showing beneath her over-sized t-shirt made him turn on the Head Mistress in fury once again.

"How in hell did this happen?"

The bushy haired woman quailed slightly under his ferocious gaze but she held her ground, tilting her chin up to glare at him with her hands clenched at her sides; gone were the days this man terrorised her and her friends at school, now she was in charge of the school and its students and he would not intimidate her again.

"Mister Malfoy..." Pronouncing each syllable carefully through her teeth she stared up at the handsome man before her.

A fire was burning in his silver-grey eyes so they seemed to flash with lightening and his hair seemed to crackle with electricity as he surveyed her.

"We take as many precautions as possible with the safety of our students and the fact remains that Appleby was out of the building after curfew alone."

The furious eyes narrowed as he hissed his next words and those watching could only wonder how the Head teacher hadn't turned tail and run by now.

"Are you saying she brought it on herself?"

The ice in the voice made even Appleby feel sorry for the woman who was so very strict with her and her house-mates and she tugged on her father's hand to stop him.

"Of course not."

"Daddy just leave it."

Deliberating Draco decided to back down for the time being and make sure his daughter was going to be alright.

"Mr Malfoy?"

"Now what?" Draco snapped at the nurse who tightened her lips and straightened up.

"I would like a word with you and your wife... now."

Something about her tone made Appleby's heart plummet and even Draco pale as he nodded meekly and followed the nurse and the Head out of the room.

((End flashback))

Appleby awoke once more in her bed in the corner of the Hospital Wing that had become her home at Hogwarts since the attack. Her body constantly ached from the poison searing through her blood and she was always tired, not even having the energy to play Quidditch anymore as she spent more and more time confined to her bed for her own good.

"You fell asleep again."

Even turning to look at Cecy hurt her head but she was gradually learning to live with it and it was getting slower and slower as the remedies Belladonna concocted took turns in returning her strength.

"Sorry."

Cecy shook her head and smiled leaning over to feel her forehead with the back of her hand. Frowning she withdrew her hand and headed over to the Nurse's office at the opposite end of the wing, pulling the curtains back around Appleby's cubicle as she left. Hearing the rustle of her curtains Appleby lowered her eyes and began fiddling with the sheets tucked around her, figuring it was just Cecy or someone coming to maul her about again 'making her better'. She did not expect Dante to be stood at the foot her bed looking straight from hell in entirely black and a hood over his face as he watched her.

"Dante?"

Her voice barely above a whisper Appleby watched him approach her, nearly screaming in frustration when Cecy flung open the curtain with a wet cloth dripping in her hand and Dante disappeared. She still hadn't figured out how he did that but right now she was too tired to be angry and she sank back against the crisp white pillows in despair a single tear escaping her closed eyelids to roll down her white cheek and drip onto the pillow.

She was already asleep when Cecy backed up and fell over the desk behind her with an almighty bang and a muffled squeak as she lay sprawled on her back propped up by her arms and gaping at Appleby.

"What on earth?!"

The nurse nearly fell over Cecy when she bustled into the room closely followed by Ginny and Draco who took in the situation calmly before holding out a hand for Cecy to take.

"She's crying blood for god's sake, what's happening?"

The nurse turned to a once again frantic Ginny and dropped a hand onto her shoulder comfortingly, shooting Cecy a glare as though it was her fault before replying;

"That's how she's losing the vampire part of her blood; she'll be coughing it up as well for weeks to come."

Cecy winced at the words and fought back her own tears as she led Ginny out of the room to calm her down once again.

-------

Dante watched through the glass window by the door of the Hospital Wing as Appleby leant against Matt on the other side, her body wracked with coughing as the white cloth the nurse was holding to her mouth slowly faded into red. What was in her blood that had him hooked? He had barely tasted it the week before but whatever it was had set a fire in his loins and burned like a constant craving in the pit of his stomach whenever he looked at her.

He knew what was happening to her now he could smell the poison like acid in her blood and her constant pain was like an irritating burning inside him as he watched her suffer. She was dying. They all knew that, even she knew it and there wasn't a single thing any of them could do; not even him.

valentines-hater – Dante is a demon but one of my own creation mixed in with a vampire, all that will become clear in due time

Nickel – thanks so much for all of that lol yay another odd-name lover! u can have a star now :D secrets are never as well kept as we hope are they?

AmericanGirl1114 – they aren't soul mates but because her blood is part vampire he reacted with her because of it meh bein grounded sucks! Parents do hit below the belt with that one don't they. Cheers for reviewing anyway

little-munchkin-poo – the mind is the best place to wander god knows what you'd find in mine though :P I'm so very glad someone likes it pretty stupid to sit writin something ppl don't even like but hey lol hope u enjoy this one

Chantal J – hope this is a quick enough update for u? belladonna is my favourite character of mine I love drawing her as well as writing about her and I really love the name as well hem hem yeh anyway thanx muchly for reviewing and hope u enjoy it :D

short arse – they do indeed but disappearing for a few hours a day every day isn't really going to go unnoticed is it?

Alicandra Black – thanx very muchly :D I'm totally in love with your name now it is so funky! Mine was just a random thing passing through my head at the moment I signed on lol hope you enjoy the next chapter

Rumona07 – thanx for all the compliments in there and I'm glad you like Dante and the story :D