Prologue- The Accident
She was running. She didn't know where, but that didn't really matter. Not anymore. She had seen what they were doing to those children, what they had already done, and she wasn't going back there to subject her own child to it, war be damned.
She had never been this cold in her entire life. The falling rain was already half-frozen when it hit the ground, turning the forest floor into a muddy slush that was sucking at her bare feet. Not that it mattered much; the feeling in her extremities had gone an hour ago. Had it only been an hour? It seemed like she had been running for days. She could not detect any of the sound of pursuit in a forest, the cracking of twigs, the crushing of leaves, but she still knew she was being following. For all she knew there could be a group of captors just over the next rise. But as she scrambled down the mushy slope, grabbing at an enormous tree root to slow her descent, the way was blessedly clear. She began to think that she might just make it after all, that she and her unborn child could actually have a chance at a normal life. She was aware, of course, that her baby would never be a "normal" child, but she could at least try and raise her that way. Her right foot hooked a tree root protruding from the soggy soil and she went down heavily on her knees, violently jolting herself from her reverie, and berating herself silently for allowing her mind to wander into a future that might not even come true. What mattered was here and now and getting out of this god-forsaken stand of trees that seemed to have no end. She would have to try and find a large city. Yes, she thought, big cities were the best to disappear in. Everyone had their own problems to worry about these days, what did they care of a runaway pregnancy. For that was all she would ever tell anyone about herself. And it wouldn't be that much of a lie would it? She was in all actuality running away, just not from home.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the shadow slipping silently from tree to tree, following her easily.
Caesile had picked up on her mental call the moment he had set foot in the woods. It's not like he could have missed it. Even an inexperienced fosterling vampyre could have read her clearly. It almost unnerved him how strongly he was being drawn to her. He had not been fascinated this strongly by another person, mortal or otherwise since.well, it had been a long time. He shook that train of thought off distractedly. He couldn't afford to lose his wits thinking of days long past, days that couldn't be changed now. Looking around he realized that while he had been caught up in his memories he had inadvertently been following the young mortal woman that had so captivated his thoughts. He got his first physical glance at her as she scrambled down a muddy embankment and past the tree that he was currently standing behind. While he had sensed the second life in her aura he could now see that she was greatly with child. It only just seemed to occur to him that a very pregnant woman was struggling through a frozen forest in the dark of night with only the light of the moon to guide her. He could tell by reading her emotions and the strongest of her thoughts that she was running from someone, or something. No, he thought, it was a place. She was running away from somewhere. And she was desperate to get away; so desperate in fact that she would rather kill herself, and her baby too before she would go back to "that place", wherever "that place" was. He noticed that not once while she was running from.whoever it was that was trying to take her back she never once looked over her shoulder. It was as though she knew there was no use; she wouldn't be able to see her pursuers anyway. He sensed other presences in the woods, but they were not yet close enough to cause him any worry. He effortlessly threw a minor mind bock up in front of their minds. At least, almost effortlessly. The minds of those that followed her were unlike any mortal minds that he had ever encountered in his existence, which was considerable even for a vampyre. They were young minds, which was a bit confusing, as they were also the minds he would expect to find in grown men, warriors, men who had killed.and had loved it. Whoever, whatever these things were that were chasing her, they lived for the hunt, and more importantly, the kill, and from what he could tell, they were just children. But he didn't dwell on it beyond throwing simple mind blocks up to delay their arrival and throw them off her trail a bit. He was following her again he realized, but this time he didn't really care. He had never encountered a mortal with the kind of as-yet-undiscovered telepathic ability that this woman carried. He felt himself being drawn to her. He wanted nothing more in the world right now than to taste her blood, though he knew it was strictly forbidden to feed on a mortal woman carrying an innocent within her. But suddenly none of this seemed to matter. The urge was too strong to simply ignore. He could feel her hear, even through the freezing rain and wind. He could sense her heartbeat, once strong but growing weaker. Eventually, he knew, only her determination to save her child would keep her going.
He was quickly moving closer to her against his own will. Half-crazed to taste her blood now, he thought that if he did not drink from her soon he might actually burn up from the inside out, as though he had been left in the sun to die. Impossible though he knew it was, he felt it nonetheless. She could feel his presence now and this time she did look back, and undoubtedly saw nothing as her panic seemed to double. Gasping and casting her eyes around wildly she seemed to falter for a moment, and it was what decided him. At the last moment, just before he reached her side, she caught him in her gaze and he saw himself reflected in her eyes, seemingly gliding without even touching the forest floor. And then she was in his arms and his mental aura was soothing her, telling her that everything was okay, that this was what she wanted, this was her escape. And willingly she complied; her body went limp and leant towards him. Closing the last few inches between them, Caesile the vampyre sunk his teeth into they delicate white flesh of the neck of a pregnant mortal, and suddenly he understood why his kind forbade it.
He felt as though every vessel in his body was flowing with molten lava. He was on fire and he loved it. He had never known anything but the cold of death pervading his body, and only when he fed did he feel anything remotely like the warmth of life filling him, and even that was a sheer suggestion of this. Feeding on the blood of a supple youth, as the mortal was probably not yet 23, and at the same time feeding on the very life force of an innocent soul yet to enter the world was more intoxicating than anything he had ever known in his extensive existence. This completely overshadowed all of the cold in his lifeless body that had ever been there. He didn't think he ever wanted to stop drinking from this spring of heat, of fore, of life. But then those minds, those abominations, they were there. They had shaken off the mind blocks. "Clever little buggers." He hissed, baring his fangs and, as the magnitude of what he'd done hit him, he fled. Or tried to. In his uncharacteristic panic he had gotten careless, and the woman, in pure shock and desperation at this one last chance of salvation threw her arm out and groped blindly for him. She grasped his arm and her fingernails ripped through his sleeve to his newly heated flesh and ripped through that as well. He shook it off, he would heal quickly, especially since he had just fed, and such rich blood at that. Turning his head for one last look at this intriguing mortal he watched in horror as three small drops of blood seemingly dripped in slow motion from his torn sleeve into the dying woman's mouth. He ripped himself away from her and reeled backwards on his heels gaping in horror at the mortal in front of him who would no longer be a mortal in a short time. Sensing that the child-hunters were close he leaped to his feet and ran. His mind would not clear enough for him to think. He had never known panic like this before and it clouded his mind over even more than the strongest thirst for blood that he had ever known. It scared him and he kept running as though he would never stop. He only hoped that without a master to guide her, the woman he had left back in the woods would not feed and that she and her baby would die. Though it sounded cruel, it was the only way. He had connected to the child while he fed and he knew that it was one of the hunters, and he did not even want to consider what the babe might become if it were allowed to live.
A/N: So? Good? Bad? Neither? If you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to review or email me. (starvingpoet452@hotmail.com) I should have the first chapter up within a week. The HP gang won't show up until chapter two or three, but they ARE some of the main characters, so don't worry, yes they are in this story and they do play very important and crucial roles. And just as a reminder. (Book 5 spoiler coming up within the next 2 sentences, be warned.) This is a Remus romance. And in my AU Padfoot lives. (In fact that situation might even be included in my story, I haven't decided yet.)
She was running. She didn't know where, but that didn't really matter. Not anymore. She had seen what they were doing to those children, what they had already done, and she wasn't going back there to subject her own child to it, war be damned.
She had never been this cold in her entire life. The falling rain was already half-frozen when it hit the ground, turning the forest floor into a muddy slush that was sucking at her bare feet. Not that it mattered much; the feeling in her extremities had gone an hour ago. Had it only been an hour? It seemed like she had been running for days. She could not detect any of the sound of pursuit in a forest, the cracking of twigs, the crushing of leaves, but she still knew she was being following. For all she knew there could be a group of captors just over the next rise. But as she scrambled down the mushy slope, grabbing at an enormous tree root to slow her descent, the way was blessedly clear. She began to think that she might just make it after all, that she and her unborn child could actually have a chance at a normal life. She was aware, of course, that her baby would never be a "normal" child, but she could at least try and raise her that way. Her right foot hooked a tree root protruding from the soggy soil and she went down heavily on her knees, violently jolting herself from her reverie, and berating herself silently for allowing her mind to wander into a future that might not even come true. What mattered was here and now and getting out of this god-forsaken stand of trees that seemed to have no end. She would have to try and find a large city. Yes, she thought, big cities were the best to disappear in. Everyone had their own problems to worry about these days, what did they care of a runaway pregnancy. For that was all she would ever tell anyone about herself. And it wouldn't be that much of a lie would it? She was in all actuality running away, just not from home.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the shadow slipping silently from tree to tree, following her easily.
Caesile had picked up on her mental call the moment he had set foot in the woods. It's not like he could have missed it. Even an inexperienced fosterling vampyre could have read her clearly. It almost unnerved him how strongly he was being drawn to her. He had not been fascinated this strongly by another person, mortal or otherwise since.well, it had been a long time. He shook that train of thought off distractedly. He couldn't afford to lose his wits thinking of days long past, days that couldn't be changed now. Looking around he realized that while he had been caught up in his memories he had inadvertently been following the young mortal woman that had so captivated his thoughts. He got his first physical glance at her as she scrambled down a muddy embankment and past the tree that he was currently standing behind. While he had sensed the second life in her aura he could now see that she was greatly with child. It only just seemed to occur to him that a very pregnant woman was struggling through a frozen forest in the dark of night with only the light of the moon to guide her. He could tell by reading her emotions and the strongest of her thoughts that she was running from someone, or something. No, he thought, it was a place. She was running away from somewhere. And she was desperate to get away; so desperate in fact that she would rather kill herself, and her baby too before she would go back to "that place", wherever "that place" was. He noticed that not once while she was running from.whoever it was that was trying to take her back she never once looked over her shoulder. It was as though she knew there was no use; she wouldn't be able to see her pursuers anyway. He sensed other presences in the woods, but they were not yet close enough to cause him any worry. He effortlessly threw a minor mind bock up in front of their minds. At least, almost effortlessly. The minds of those that followed her were unlike any mortal minds that he had ever encountered in his existence, which was considerable even for a vampyre. They were young minds, which was a bit confusing, as they were also the minds he would expect to find in grown men, warriors, men who had killed.and had loved it. Whoever, whatever these things were that were chasing her, they lived for the hunt, and more importantly, the kill, and from what he could tell, they were just children. But he didn't dwell on it beyond throwing simple mind blocks up to delay their arrival and throw them off her trail a bit. He was following her again he realized, but this time he didn't really care. He had never encountered a mortal with the kind of as-yet-undiscovered telepathic ability that this woman carried. He felt himself being drawn to her. He wanted nothing more in the world right now than to taste her blood, though he knew it was strictly forbidden to feed on a mortal woman carrying an innocent within her. But suddenly none of this seemed to matter. The urge was too strong to simply ignore. He could feel her hear, even through the freezing rain and wind. He could sense her heartbeat, once strong but growing weaker. Eventually, he knew, only her determination to save her child would keep her going.
He was quickly moving closer to her against his own will. Half-crazed to taste her blood now, he thought that if he did not drink from her soon he might actually burn up from the inside out, as though he had been left in the sun to die. Impossible though he knew it was, he felt it nonetheless. She could feel his presence now and this time she did look back, and undoubtedly saw nothing as her panic seemed to double. Gasping and casting her eyes around wildly she seemed to falter for a moment, and it was what decided him. At the last moment, just before he reached her side, she caught him in her gaze and he saw himself reflected in her eyes, seemingly gliding without even touching the forest floor. And then she was in his arms and his mental aura was soothing her, telling her that everything was okay, that this was what she wanted, this was her escape. And willingly she complied; her body went limp and leant towards him. Closing the last few inches between them, Caesile the vampyre sunk his teeth into they delicate white flesh of the neck of a pregnant mortal, and suddenly he understood why his kind forbade it.
He felt as though every vessel in his body was flowing with molten lava. He was on fire and he loved it. He had never known anything but the cold of death pervading his body, and only when he fed did he feel anything remotely like the warmth of life filling him, and even that was a sheer suggestion of this. Feeding on the blood of a supple youth, as the mortal was probably not yet 23, and at the same time feeding on the very life force of an innocent soul yet to enter the world was more intoxicating than anything he had ever known in his extensive existence. This completely overshadowed all of the cold in his lifeless body that had ever been there. He didn't think he ever wanted to stop drinking from this spring of heat, of fore, of life. But then those minds, those abominations, they were there. They had shaken off the mind blocks. "Clever little buggers." He hissed, baring his fangs and, as the magnitude of what he'd done hit him, he fled. Or tried to. In his uncharacteristic panic he had gotten careless, and the woman, in pure shock and desperation at this one last chance of salvation threw her arm out and groped blindly for him. She grasped his arm and her fingernails ripped through his sleeve to his newly heated flesh and ripped through that as well. He shook it off, he would heal quickly, especially since he had just fed, and such rich blood at that. Turning his head for one last look at this intriguing mortal he watched in horror as three small drops of blood seemingly dripped in slow motion from his torn sleeve into the dying woman's mouth. He ripped himself away from her and reeled backwards on his heels gaping in horror at the mortal in front of him who would no longer be a mortal in a short time. Sensing that the child-hunters were close he leaped to his feet and ran. His mind would not clear enough for him to think. He had never known panic like this before and it clouded his mind over even more than the strongest thirst for blood that he had ever known. It scared him and he kept running as though he would never stop. He only hoped that without a master to guide her, the woman he had left back in the woods would not feed and that she and her baby would die. Though it sounded cruel, it was the only way. He had connected to the child while he fed and he knew that it was one of the hunters, and he did not even want to consider what the babe might become if it were allowed to live.
A/N: So? Good? Bad? Neither? If you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to review or email me. (starvingpoet452@hotmail.com) I should have the first chapter up within a week. The HP gang won't show up until chapter two or three, but they ARE some of the main characters, so don't worry, yes they are in this story and they do play very important and crucial roles. And just as a reminder. (Book 5 spoiler coming up within the next 2 sentences, be warned.) This is a Remus romance. And in my AU Padfoot lives. (In fact that situation might even be included in my story, I haven't decided yet.)