A Second Chance at Life Chapter 20, a harry potter fanfic

Many thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one.

Chapter 20

The sun was just beginning to set over the valley, the sinking orb turning the flanks of the mountains brilliant shades of gold and pink and orange. The bright light sinking into the snow covered slopes and causing the tall evergreens to send out shadows many times taller than they actually were. The mists rising from the hot springs turning a smoky pink and orange in the light while the ghostly shapes of herds of animals wandered through the fog. A dragon rose from down the end of the valley and flew up over the ridge top and into a massive cave in the mountainside. A pair of Rocs were flying above Akren Mountain School of Magic in an elaborate mating dance around Akren Mountain.

Rahkesh stood in front of the mirror, he checked again to make sure his disguise was working, not that he needed much of a disguise anymore. The dragon's blood had finally had a noticeable effect. His eye color had changed. The killing-curse emerald green had been replaced with bizarre, hypnotic, captivating gold, black, and silver. Streaks of the three running through his eyes in a dazzling array. He found it a little frightening. But he no longer needed the eye-color changing potions. And he still had the green. When he used magic to call it up his eyes would turn green again. The only disguise he needed now was a name and fake skin to hide the scar.

Satisfied with his disguise he brushed some dust off his shoulder. Akren was having its yearly ball/all-school-party. Costume of some sort was expected, or at least an effort to dress decently. Black pants, black boots, both decorated with dark gold, wide-sleeved dark gold shirt – unlaced halfway down the front, the usual obsidian chip earring, and the usual tasers in his boots and wand holster against his leg. He also wore a necklace of gold, emeralds, and feathers given to him by the Chachapoyaro healers. The feather and stone magic in it was extremely powerful. The bright feathers and emeralds were a little gaudy for Rahkesh's taste, but he wasn't about to ignore such power. And the gold pendant in the center was a beautiful work of art, a dragon's head. He had a small knife hidden at the back of his neck, concealed by his long wavy hair, and second knife in the second sheath on his other thigh. Of course all the weapons had intense notice-me-not charms, vision repelling spells, concealment charms, and shape/size obscuring spells.

Rahkesh leaned down to tie on boot, when he straightened again he glanced in the mirror and froze.

Daray was sprawled across his couch, as usual, taking up far more room than ought to be physically possible. Once again the vampire had somehow gotten into the rooms without him noticing. Rahkesh glared furiously at the smirking vampire in the mirror, then gritted his teeth and tried to ignore him while he placed notice-me-not and other concealing charms on the earring.

"Saul is still alive." Daray informed him gloomily. He was in his human form, since showing up as a demon to the party might not go over too well. The vampire was dressed entirely in elegant black, silver, and gold, looking very much like Rahkesh but with a black shirt. Over that he was wearing a lightweight black silk, velvet, and fur cloak.

"Not surprising." Rahkesh replied.

"I find his survival to be insulting."

"You think he does not deserve to live?"

"Exactly."

"Who are you to judge such things? In the eyes of many you don't deserve to be alive."

"It isn't the same."

"Isn't it?"

"No it isn't." A tired sigh.

"How so?" Rahkesh asked. He watched in the mirror as the vampire fed the bat his blood from a fingertip. It was morbidly grotesque to watch, but neither blood drinking species- found it at all odd.

"Saul frequently tortures mortals for the fun of it. And I do mean tortures. He does the same to other vampires, anyone who he can get that can't fight. He has no reason to. Most of them are genuinely good people. He takes joy in killing nuns." Daray explained. Rahkesh thought about that.

"Very well."

"I knew you'd see things my way."

"Perhaps."

"What?"

"Saul should be killed."

"So you agree, what's the issue then?"

"If you want him dead, then at least have the courage to kill him yourself." Rahkesh told the vampire. Daray stared at him for a moment. Then he nodded.

"I agree with that. And I will."

"When?"

"When I'm done torturing him."

"Have you been?"

"No. But I plan on starting tonight. I tracked him down earlier." Daray grinned sadistically, "he's lost quite a bit of blood." Rahkesh went to work on attempting to transfigure a cloak. Daray waited for a reply, and got none. The vampire sighed and shook his head. "You're angry at me."

"There's no need to torture and humiliate him."

"No worse than what he's done to countless people."

"And therefore reason enough to do the same to him."

"Yes."

"An eye for an eye only works in theory."

"Does it? I rather think it works very well. And even if I didn't have a reason to kill him I still could if I wanted to. He cannot outfight me therefore it doesn't really matter whether he deserves it or not, if I want to kill him I can." Daray pointed out. In the vampire world that was entirely true, survival was power and the more powerful had the power of life or death over those weaker then themselves. "But I can't kill him just yet."

"You want to have some fun with him first. And you have to wait until summer break, or until he leaves the valley again." Rahkesh said, Daray nodded. Rahkesh let the argument drop; he was not getting involved with the way the vampires did things. He had enough to worry about. And whatever Daray did to Saul the bastard really did deserve it. Rahkesh gave up on the cloak and tossed it aside. He turned around and walked back across the room. Rianae had appeared in the second it took to turn around. She was in the armchair. She was too was dressed for the party, dark green, black and gold robes over black pants and a dark green shirt. The colors suited her well. Rahkesh stared hard at her for a moment, then snarled and stalked past to the shelf where he kept his transfigured furniture. He took down another armchair and enlarged it. The two vampires were smirking at him.

"Do you have to do that?" Rahkesh asked. Referring to their habit of appearing silently when his back was turned.

"It's amusing." Daray said.

"Go bother someone else."

"We do. Everyone." Rianae answered. "Tanya didn't make it." Rahkesh rubbed his forehead and nodded, another one down. They had been back at Akren for less than twenty-four hours and news so far had all been about the students who didn't return.

Akren might take in a lot of students but almost a third of them would not survive to graduate. Students who didn't like Akren were not permitted to drop out – they knew the school's secrets. If they ran away there were the professors and alumni waiting for them. You had to remain in school until either you graduated or died. This meant that those who came to Akren either didn't have a clue what they were setting themselves up for, or really truly did want to be in such a place. Because most students really did want a learning environment like what existed at Akren they worked off each other to push things farther and farther. Competition in Akren was fierce and bloody. This year hadn't been so bad – first year students were given a break, especially during first semester. They didn't have the power to bother anyone, and no one knew where they stood or what they could become, and were nervous as a result. After the first year, or semester depending upon the student, things were different. Reckless ambition was high, especially with things such as bloodmagic that promised power and superiority. Four people had attempted blood magic over the break and died. No one mourned them.

In the vampiric tradition of killing off most young vampires it was expected that over half of the vampires admitted to Akren would die. The survival rate for young vampires outside of Akren was much lower. The survival rate for werewolves, because of pack dominance competition, was only a little better. This winter they had been fortunate, no werewolves had died. The vampires had not been so lucky, at least three of them had been killed off, possibly more, the end count wasn't in yet.

"How?"

"Duel with another student she somehow insulted." Rianae answered with a shrug, such things were fairly common. But they only got lethal outside of Akren. Rahkesh wondered again over the casual familiarity with death so common at Akren. Death happened every day, most of the students had seen someone killed or killed themselves. It was no big deal here. No wonder so many students couldn't handle it. And they weren't allowed to leave. How could someone like Tanya manage to offend anyone? For the first time since his arrival Rahkesh wondered how Thom was holding up.

"The others?" Daray asked, it had been Rianae's turn to find out how the dead students had died.

"Two of the younger vampires were executed by the master of Moscow. I killed the third." Rianae said.

"Why?" Rahkesh asked.

"Because he challenged me a duel and lost. And I didn't feel like letting him live." Rianae said. Again Rahkesh told himself that he was not getting involved. If the vampire who won the duel felt like killing the loser then that was their right and no one at Akren was going to interfere. "And if someone else doesn't get rid of him soon I'll kill Saul myself." Rianae told Daray. "And, if you don't mind my asking, what the HELL happened to you over break?"

Daray and Rahkesh winced, they'd been hoping to avoid any questions, but, as, Rianae had just demonstrated, the changes in both were fairly obvious to the vampires, or werewolves.

"It would be best if we only had to explain once." Rahkesh pointed out.

"You'll have to wait." Daray told Rianae, "if we tell you at all. It is good to have secrets."

"Fine. But everyone's going to be asking." She warned them.

Scent and magic masking enchantments in place – they wanted to avoid questions until at least after the party – they went down to the main hall. Dinner was being served throughout the night, and a wall had been removed to show a second hall of a similar size, the floor cleared for dancing. Not that anyone was likely to be dancing much. Not wanting to draw attention Daray and Rahkesh picked out seats in a shadowy corner. Rianae wandered off to find some unfortunate weaker vampire or mortal to feed on.

Parties at Akren were not exactly enjoyable, and, listening to the whispers going around, Rahkesh got the impression that there had been severe upsets in the vampiric and werewolf hierarchy over the break. This of course put everyone on edge.

Enchanting his ears to hear better Rahkesh also caught mutters of some fight going on between several fae students, with the other fae in the school taking sides, or starting their own. The veela were pissed at the vampires over something and the vampires were very nearly starting fights as they frantically reworked their pecking order. Rahkesh could feel the telepathic pressure in the room, emanating chiefly from the vampires, reaching almost intolerable levels. This of course was angering the fae students. Some of whom looked absolutely murderous. There was a good deal of telepathic posturing going on, but there was no fighting permitted in the dining hall.

Silas and Nuri joined them as the meal began, the panther had been washed and brushed until his fur practically glowed.

"Have any of the teachers seen you yet?" Silas asked.

"No. We're hiding." Rahkesh admitted, Silas snickered. Of the three he was the only one who didn't have to worry about being treated like a lab rat.

"You're finding this far too amusing cousin." Daray warned, Silas ignored the icy tone and boldly waved a hand to catch Ally's attention. Daray and Rahkesh shrank back into the shadows as the movement drew several eyes.

"Had a good break?" Ally asked.

"Well I did, can't say much for these two." Silas chuckled, drawing another round of murderous glares.

"Oh?" Ally asked curiously, "what happened?"

"Damn it Silas!' Daray hissed when Silas went to start telling Ally everything.

"I still have those tasers." Rahkesh growled, softly enough that across the table from him Silas would hear, but Ally would not. Ally looked between the three, and then looked around the room, it was packed. She was no fool; speaking of anything sensitive in this crowd was unsafe.

"Alright boys, I'll wait, but you are going to tell me what happened."

"Maybe we could just hide for the rest of the year." Daray muttered, going into sulk mode. Rahkesh shook his head.

"No, I want to know if the blood did something to me besides the eye change. And you know very well that we wouldn't be able to get out of the room without being spotted by one of the teachers. And most of them would notice the change, whatever that is." Rahkesh whispered, Ally had conjured a tape measure and was measuring how much Nuri had grown, and ignoring them.

A sudden burst of telepathy brought everyone's attention to a group of vampires gathered at a nearby table. Three of them were on their feet talking angrily. One of them had blood running down the side of his neck, though the wound healed in seconds. Saul and the other vampire were snarling back and forth, Saul was losing control, and starting to shout. Other vampires began moving towards the group, and voices were rising, though still kept low enough that anyone without enchanted hearing couldn't tell what they were saying. The vampires were gesturing and magic was crackling through the air as they snapped back and forth, white fangs flashing. Saul raised a fist and shouted some insult about the other vampire's blood. Several vampires shouted back at him. One of them must have said something particularly nasty because several vampire's laughed and Saul's face went dark red, an amazing feat for the white-skinned vampire.

"You will pay for that!" Saul screamed, "I'll have you killed the moment you set foot out of the valley!" One of the vampires barked out something about Saul not being able to fight his own battles. Saul drew a knife, amid roars of anger – a fight in the middle of the dining hall, non-combat territory, could spark a battle between every other student in the school, and the vampires – Saul shouted something about how he'd have the inferior species killed too. Now the fae and werewolves, already angry, were on their feet and ready to fight. Rianae appeared from no where and moved to get between him and the weaker vampire he was intent on attacking. Saul balked for just a few seconds, wary of her.

And suddenly the mass of vampires went silent, a wave of roaring, furious, overpowering telepathy swamped the room, and when it passed the vampires quickly went back to their own tables, looking shaken and unsteady. Daray and Silas winced and shuddered as the telepathic command swept over them. Through the crowd, which was parting like the red sea before Moses, Rahkesh glimpsed a furious looking Tristan Namach bearing down on the troublemakers, who were looking rather petrified. Namach had dressed for the party in the garb the vampire lords had worn millennia ago. Dark red, cream, black, and gold robes, black gloves covering his entire forearms, gold/black armbands, jewels, sandals with real silver and rubies, and a long heavy dark red cloak that swept the floor, trimmed with glistening black feathers. The imposing figure with bared fangs and glowing eyes sent the vampire students scattering.

"By the way, just what is going on with the vampires?" Ally asked. Silas and Daray shrugged, watching with great amusement as the ancient backhanded Saul - who had just opened up to complain about the interference - audibly breaking his nose and skull and sending him flying nearly twenty feet. He then picked up the other two vampires by their necks and carried them out of the room. Neither one offered the slightest resistance. There was a high balcony just down the hall, and Rahkesh had little doubt that both vampires were about to be dropped off the mountain. It wouldn't kill them but it would certainly hurt, especially if Namach drained their blood first.

When the doors slammed behind him the telepathic presence vanished, a collective sigh of relief swept through the room and the terrorized gleam began to fade from the vampire student's eyes. The fae seemed to collectively smirk and the werewolves growled approvingly.

"I think this happens every year after every break. Reestablishing who's where. But there's something different going on right now, ultra-competitiveness." Silas said.

"Grandmother mentioned the possibility of war between the vampires who think vampires ought to rule the world, the vampires who think we shouldn't, the ones who want all vampires to build their own world, the group that wants to enslave muggles, the group who wants to enslave the magic humans, and that new upstart group that wants to unify the muggle world under one government." Daray said, "There're a few other groups in there as well but those are the most substantial ones. Tensions are always rather high but recently things have been getting a lot worse."

"Worse? It was already bad, this is getting unnaturally violent." Silas said, "We've been back for less than twenty-four hours! I can sense others who are ready to kill."

Rahkesh had heard all about vampire politics before, but he agreed with Silas that this was way out of hand. Whatever news was circulating in the vampiric world it was sending the ordinary extreme competitiveness to a fever pitch. He was just grateful that his friends mostly ignored such things. The Ateres family would always have their well established role picking off cults and rogue vampires, no matter who was in power, and so they didn't much need t worry. Backed by Cyala Ateres they held themselves outside of the large part of vampiric society. But if some powerful group did emerge in the vampiric world, what would they do? Cyala did not seem like the type to just watch, and the ancient matriarch was extremely aggressive.

"You'll notice that only the younger vampires get so frantic about such things, with all their little political groups. Anyone over two or three hundred probably doesn't give a shit about any of it." Silas mentioned, "But this is getting really bad. When was the last time you felt this sort of disturbance?" he asked Daray, Daray thought and shook his head.

"Never. But I do remember what grandmother said, about the older vampires occasionally finding it necessary to kill of large numbers of younger vampires to maintain some sort of calm and order among the species."

"That might be it then. The younger vampires know they've pushed it too far and everyone's jockeying for power so that they might be spared when the old ones finally get sick of them and start the massacres." Ally said, "Is that a problem for you?" Daray and Silas shook their heads.

"Not at all." Daray said with a ghoulish grin, "in fact we both might profit from such a purge of the species."

"That might depend upon what happened while you were on vacation." A silky smooth voice spoke from behind them. The group looked up to see Tristan Namach standing against the wall, encased in shadows. Apparently he had finished with the two nuisance vampires.

Daray and Rahkesh traded looks; apparently their attempt to hide hadn't worked at all. Namach was watching them suspiciously.

"Any chance that could wait until tomorrow?" Rahkesh asked. Namach stared at him, and then raised one dark eyebrow. "Never mind."

"Anywhere else we can talk?" Daray asked, looking pointedly at their crowded surroundings.

"My rooms I suppose." Professor Namach replied in a growl. The ancient vampire vanished into the shadows, traveling through the shadows themselves, in a manner only a rare few vampires could manage. Rahkesh and Daray excused themselves and left, trying to avoid attention on their way out.

Namach met them in his rooms, opening the door and ushering them inside, shooing Eli the giant magical frill-neck out of the way. He motioned for them to take a seat on the couch in sitting room, picking the lizard up and moving him to the armchair against the wall when the magical frill-neck tried to get in their way. Eli hissed at him and promptly stalked off (as much as a lizard can stalk) into the bedroom.

"The enchantments on the room prevent anyone from spying." Namach said, "Now tell me what happened, and why I can sense demons and dragons all over you."

XXX

Burning red eyes narrowed, glaring down malevolently at the bowed blonde head.

"Lucius, I trust you have some progress to report."

"I am certain that he is no longer in the country my lord." Voldemort's foot hit Lucius Malfoy in the head, knocking him aside.

"That is not progress Lucius!" Voldemort snarled, Lucius cringed, "crucio!" The man collapsed, twitching, and soon started to scream. "I told you to find your traitorous son by midwinter! And what do you tell me? That he is no longer in the country? Worthless scum!" Voldemort snarled down at his screaming death eater. "Finite incantatem." Voldemort muttered. Lucius slowly tried to roll back upright, Voldemort kicked him in the face, blood splattered. The door swung open and a figure walked in, and stopped, seeing that his master was busy.

"My lord?" The new death eater asked softly, Voldemort kicked Lucius again and turned to look at the masked man.

"Severus. Send out word to the assassins; tell them I'm offering five northern wyverns to anyone who can bring me Draco Malfoy, alive."

XXXX

"Time travel is not so unheard of, though what you're describing is very rare. Unintentionally time travel is often deadly." Professor Namach mused, more to himself than to the two young men sitting on the couch. He was standing facing the window, bathed in the blood red light from the sun, which was almost gone behind the mountains.

"I have never, in all my millennia, heard of someone drinking dragon's blood and living, though I have heard of a foolish few who attempted it." The sun vanished, taking the light with it, Namach turned and walked back to them. "I even knew of one wizard who died from three milliliters of it." He said, fixing Rahkesh with a focused, powerful, look, as if he was trying to figure out his survival that way. "It only changed your eye color?"

"Nothing else, yet, that I know of." Rahkesh said.

"The potions masters and the healers should take blood, and bone samples. I would not be surprised to find significant chemical changes in your blood, and possibly alterations in your bone density. Perhaps a testing of your brain fluids would also be worthwhile." Namach said, "but since you, foolishly, decided to go ahead and keep working on blood magic I'm not too worried about that." Rahkesh shrugged, knowing that using bloodmagic before returning had been extremely foolish. But it had worked, and his instincts had told him it was safe.

"Did you feel that doing bloodmagic would not be harmful, or did you just try to it to find out?" Namach asked.

"I felt safe. Once I meditated on it a bit, I didn't feel like it would any more risky than bloodmagic usually is." Rahkesh said, he was surprised when Namach accepted that and just nodded. The vampire thought for a few moments, and then he pulled out a knife. Daray and Rahkesh watched with interest as he proceeded to make small cuts, in the shape of bloodmagic runes, on his skin. On his throat, cheeks, and palms, he made tiny incisions. These stopped bleeding, and began to glow. The glow spread, bloodmagic runes appearing, glowing, all across his skin until all his visible skin was covered with winding curling runes glowing in gold. The effect was shocking, but not in a frightening way. When Namach opened his eyes they had changed, the glittering silver eyes had a white/gold glow behind them similar to the bloodmagic runes on his skin. Namach watched Rahkesh for a few moments, and then closed his eyes; the runes vanished, leaving no cuts behind and not a hint of the bloodmagics hidden on his skin.

"Interesting." The old immortal said, he got up and went into one of the other rooms. Moments later he returned with two wine glasses filled with blood. He handed one to Daray, who accepted it with a word of thanks, and then went over to a bookshelf in his office. Rahkesh and Daray traded confused looks while Namach looked through the shelves, finally pulling out a large book bound in white dragon hide. He flipped it open and looked through a few pages before pausing to read.

Eli, the magical frill-neck, came out of the other room and walked over to stop standing in front of them, immobile but for his flickering tongue. Rahkesh held out a hand and beckoned him forward. Eli stared at him, and didn't budge.

"Come on Eli." Rahkesh said softly, the lizard blinked.

Namach put the book away and walked back over to them. He appeared to be very amused about something.

"I would guess, Rahkesh, that you will learn more about the full effects of the dragon's blood when you start working on your animagus transformation, and when you begin some of the high level bloodmagics this semester."

"I was admitted to one of the higher classes?" Rahkesh asked, ignoring the rest of it, he'd already guessed that. Namach snorted and smiled.

"Of course. You're wasting your time in the beginner classes. Daray given how much you and Silas got done in your extra year I moved you and your cousin up as well. Three classes up, you'll be with the older students, and you'll find that they're a bit different." Namach paused, thinking over something and suddenly beginning to grin. "Yes, it's very different. Everyone who continues that long intends to get really good at bloodmagic, most of them are hoping for a mastery in it. But I think you can handle the competition." Namach said, smiling as if he was really looking forward to having them face off with the older students. Which he probably was. Namach turned to Daray.

"Now about your demon transformation, you will still be required to complete another animagus transformation, which is possible. There is precedent for this, combining your mind with another creature's body the way you did. Though you seem to have come out of it better than most, usually they lose all their former magical abilities. So when you are finished you should have two forms, which is not as unusual as most of the mortal world would have you believe." The last part was added to Rahkesh, who hadn't known that multiple forms were possible. "The headmistress has four animagus forms you know," Namach informed them, "though I believe she is the only creature of any species to ever accomplish that."

"How much is known about demons?' Daray asked, Namach thought about that for a few moments.

"Not a lot. The people of Atlantis knew a lot about them, but all the records were destroyed along with the city. I own a demon skeleton, a very rare artifact. That one was killed back when I was still one of the masters of Rome. We magical folk had our own version of gladiators, and the demon was brought in to fight them. The portal it was brought through self destructed after just one summoning. I still have my old studies of the dissection of that demon. But of its magic's I can tell you little. That demon was very young, younger than your form probably is. It seems that adult demons are very difficult to summon. And, unfortunately, the mortal wizards threw the demon to the gladiators before we got the chance to study it alive." Namach fell silent, thinking. "I do remember an event involving demons, shortly before the time of Merlin. A group of druids found a portal. They summoned a dozen young demons, sent them to kill the priests of a rival religious sect. The druids are all dead, but the arch druid was a vampire, and he may still be alive. I met him once or twice in those years; he was unusual because he was a vampire with only one eye. Auzric, yes, his name was Auzric I think. Perhaps you should have your family look into finding him." Namach said.

"Can I see your notes from the dissection?" Daray asked.

"Yes, and you should tell a few of the healers about his as well. But do not inform all of the staff. The vampires, the werewolves, I wouldn't be surprised if headmistress Nvara Aelfly already knows. Perhaps a few of the mortals as well. But be careful, the existence a vampire demon would cause great upset amongst our kind." Namach warned, Daray nodded. Rahkesh thought that the term "upset" was a little mild. More likely every vampire would want him dead, seeing him as a threat they couldn't match, or want him as a pawn in their battles. On the other hand the Ateres family would surely find it useful to be the vampire family with a demon on their side.

"So I'll have to start trying to figure out what magics demons have, and how to use them." Daray thought aloud, "Are there any professors who could help monitor that? Watch the flows of magic?"

"Of course. Once they find out what you are they'll be begging for the chance to study you." Daray snorted, "but there is an easier way to find out what you're new magics are like." Namach said as he walked over to Daray. Daray didn't resist as Namach gripped the back of his head, stretched his neck out, and bit into his throat.

Rahkesh gave up trying to entice Eli to come close enough to pet and watched curiously, he had never seen a vampire feed on another vampire before. And with his growing telepathic abilities he could sense that Daray's telepathy had shut down completely, allowing Namach free range of his mind and magics. The ancient took his time, searching Daray's blood for information on what his demon side was capable of. Finally he stepped back, the punctures healing instantly and went to sit down across the coffee table from them, looking very thoughtful. Daray stayed leaning against the couch, eyes closed, looking much paler than usual.

"Fascinating." Namach muttered, "have you tried breathing fire in your demon form?" Daray blinked hard, and shook his head, looking dizzy, his eyes a little glazed.

"He hasn't tried any magics in that form." Rahkesh answered for his friend.

"Unless I am very much mistaken he should be capable of any and all magics a regular demon is capable of. Except for demonic telepathy." Namach said. Daray finally straightened and rejoined the conversation.

"But would my bloodmagics work on my demon form?"

"No. They don't. I sensed no bloodmagic connection between forms. Usually someone who has bloodmagic rituals keeps those magics when they do an animagus transformation, but this was not originally an animagus form, and the magic is different. However I do believe that, if you can figure out what blades to use, you might be able to begin bloodmagic rituals on your demon form."

"How nice." Daray purred, looking delighted.

"But you should wait until you're sure that your demon form is indeed an adult form. At the moment it still has a little bit of physical growing to do, and a lot of growing magically. Demons finished their physical aging several years before their magic reaches it final form. Attempting bloodmagic before that would likely be disastrous." Namach warned him. "Am I correct is assuming that the transformation between demon and human is very difficult?"

"Yes it is, both ways. It's only several hours after the transformation that I feel that I am completely in that form." Daray admitted.

"That will become easier with time and practice. I would guess that your body has difficulty growing an extra set of limbs." Namach said with a smile. Then his look turned grim. "While I did not sense any crossover from your bloodmagic I did sense other things that now apply to both forms. One of which is your susceptibility to sunlight. Your bloodmagic makes it possible for you to endure up to six or seven days of direct light, then it becomes difficult. But the bloodmagic does not crossover, and your vampiric allergy to sunlight does. I would guess that exposing your demon form to more than two days of direct sunlight would cause all the illness and weakness normally associated with overexposure to sun in a regular magical vampire.

"It is also true that the demon body is ill-suited to cold, and from an examination of their eyes I would believe that they are not capable of seeing all the color ranges, though their vision adjusts itself for distance naturally. You will not have noticed but your ability to see color has been partially removed. You can still see color, but not as you did before the merging.

"There are reports, in the records, that demons are also allergic to certain substances, though unfortunately exactly what those substances are is lost. I do sense several transferred allergies form your demon to vampire form. None of them are likely to be life-threatening they are there. But unfortunately I can't tell what they are."

Daray took this news well enough, he seemed to find it an agreeable trade. Though there wasn't any point to making a fuss, since there probably wasn't anything to be done about it.

"Thank you for your help." Rahkesh said, Namach just nodded then grinned at them.

"Don't thank me yet, I have every intention of finding out exactly what these new abilities or disabilities of yours are. By the time I and the other professors are done with you you'll hate our guts." The old vampire laughed, "The tests the potions masters are going to make you go through!" He laughed again at the forlorn looks the two shared. "Oh cheer up boys, it will be interesting."

"Easy for you to say, you're not a lab rat." Daray growled. Namach just laughed more. The two rose to leave, carefully side steeping Eli. The frill-neck escorted them to the door, making sure that they were out of its territory.

"Oh and Daray," Namach called to them when they reached the door. They both turned, Namach was not laughing now, instead he fixed Daray with a cold look, "Saul's life is mine." Daray nodded, bowed and walked out, Rahkesh patted Eli on the head and followed, barely avoiding the beast's lashing tail.

"You realize, don't you, that we won't be able to keep the concealing spells up forever." Daray said as they walked back to their rooms.

"Yeah." Rahkesh answered. "Your fellow vampires are going to throw the collective hissy fit of the millennia when they sense that something has happened to you to increase your potential, and current, power."

"Oh, I am looking forward to that." Daray smirked, "a year Rahkesh, maybe a year and half, and I'll have every vampire student in the school under my command."

"I'll believe it when I see it, and I won't. Because by that time I'll be the one they're more frightened of." Rahkesh growled, meaning every word of it. "And I am also looking forward to our fellow student's reactions."

"Once you take the spells off every vampire in the school is going to sense how your blood has changed." Daray warned, "and there's a good chance that they'll do everything possible to get your blood." Rahkesh grinned wolfishly.

"Bring it. I've just ordered this brand new type of tasers and –" He was cut off as Daray started to howl with laughter. "Nasty scaly demon." Rahkesh complained, "and no comments about sadism." Daray just laughed harder.

Ta-da! Did you like? I hope the vampire politics discussion didn't bore anyone. I was going to put that in when Rahkesh first arrived at Akren, but I thought it should wait until he'd been around enough vampires to have some first hand experience with the species. Agree?

Please review! All comments are welcome.

Rahkesh's classes start again soon, and maybe I'll off Saul. Expect the next chapter in a week or so, maybe longer. Any information about the next chapter or long delays in posting will be on my page.