Author's note: Promised is debt, so here you are chapter 5. Nothing else to say: just read and review.

Disclaimer: (Thinks) ... (Thinks harder) ... Oh! Yeah! Yes, I do own some of the situations happening here, I've made up Robert Kellehan's name, and some characters I'll surely add as the story progresses. Other than that... (Looks around) Yeah! This computer I'm using to write the story is mine, and so are the pens on my desk, which is also mine... (Remembers readers don't give a damn about that) Hey! That's all I own related to the story! J.K. Beat me at claiming Harry Potter and Activision at Bloodlines... Hell, the best parts of this story (that I'm writing) are someone else's! (Goes off to crush his head into a brick wall). Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! (Censurer censures the autor's next actions. An ambulance sounds in the distance).

"Holy shit..." We were now standing on a huge grass field, but what had caught my attention weren't the field, the lake in the distance or the mysterious looking forest on my left: "It doesn't matter how fast I work: a month's not enough to secure half of it."

An enormous castle stood, magnificent, on the top of the hill that decorated the field's very center. "We don't expect you to do that, mister Kellehan. It will be enough with whatever you can do."

As we continued walking, McGonagall's words had a soothing effect on me. I grew to respect the old woman from that very moment. I continued wondering and silently theorizing about why apparating had had those effects on me, if they would ever stop happening and, more important, how would apparating affect other Tremere while we continued walking.

I recalled the pressure I had felt while apparating. "... worse than a lift..." As I started to understand why the beast reacted so badly, the woman gave me a strange look. "Huh... Nothing, just thinking." She seemed to want to know more but, luckily for me, she dismissed it as an unnecessary argument.

As we approached the castle, its doors opened to reveal a very grumpy janitor who, after complaining about some Peeves person tying some lady called Miss Norris to the ceiling upside-down, presented himself as Flitch. After the usual freaking out after knowing about my... Condition and, after some quick explanations and McGonagall telling him Dumbledore was the one who had asked me to come, the witch managed to make him stop reciting the Bible and crossing his fingers and tell us Dumbledore wasn't there but had asked me to start working as soon as I got in.

We entered the Hall and left the guy, who had kept mumbling about putting Miss Norris a garlic necklace (didn't he know garlic tasted bad, but nothing else?) I had doubted all the wizards knew about what is actually a vampire but, now, I started to think the general knowledge between wizards maybe wasn't much better than that of the muggles.

The Big Hall was exactly what I had expected from a castle as magnificent as this: high ceiling, lots of paintings and portraits (with moving personages? Oh, well, it was magic), A big statue, some knight armors on the walls (did their heads turn towards me no matter where I were?), a huge, smooth carpet on the floor, enviable curtains... Why was I feeling so wary? I felt surrounded, caged, watched, threatened... I couldn't put the finger on what it was, but something was wrong. " Professor McGonagall?" I decided to give my first hypothesis a try. The alluded turned towards me, drew her wand and pointed it to my undead heart.

I tensed, but I couldn't summon the will to do anything about the menacing object. I couldn't summon thaumaturgy, I couldn't grab my guns or my own wand, I couldn't reach to my katana, duck, jump, walk or even bare my fangs and hiss: I was completely and utterly defenseless. "Acceptance!" A golden beam erupted from the woman's wand and I immediately felt... Much better... Whatever had been wrong in this castle was still there, but the being or charm had simply stopped minding me. "Now the school's defenses won't trigger on you. Take this map," she made a movement with her wand and a paper appeared from the thin air, "and choose whatever defenses you put by yourself. Don't tell me or anyone what or where are they, but make sure they won't trigger on students and professors."

I took the paper she gave me and was left alone. I scrutinized it for five minutes, deciding it'd be best to start by the most concurred places both during day and night, to protect as many and as much time as possible.

Dawn found me a week later drawing a small circle with ancient runes and symbols on it with a reg liquid in a glass I had conjured (to conjure is to create something from the thin air through thaumaturgy). I jumped off the witch statue and fell to the corridor's floor. "... And here goes another on the ceiling..." I watched pridefully the glyph I had just made. Well, the truth is that I was watching where I knew the glyph was, because I couldn't see it. So far, I had put some in the used classes, the dining room, the four Houses' main rooms and, earlier, that same night...

"Robby has painted the lobby! Robby has painted the lobby! Hahahahaha!" I didn't need to turn around to know who was floating around behind me: that childish voice could only belong to Peeves, Hogwarts' only (thanks to whoever is in charge up there) poltergeist, and my O.P.A. (Official Pain in the Ass) during the past week. "Bad bloodsucker, bad! You know, painting the walls may be fun, but it's MY fun." Obviously, the little guy had discovered the glyphs I had put there.

"Oh, shaddup, Peeves!" The joker looking poltergeist flew from side to side, laughing.

"And why would I do that, neck drainer?" I didn't even considered offering him a deal: I was tired of the hyperactive being.

" 'Cause, if you keep bothering me, I'll seal you again in an empty room." Peeves stood there, in midair, shocked; provably remembering the experience he had had two nights after my arrival to the school (hey! He had it coming! Who said I were a saint, anyways?). "AND, this time, I won't breack the seal for a year."

Obviously, there was no way I could manage to do that: the sealing protego thaumaturgy is always canceled at dawn or the contact with fire, no matter how hard you try to keep it up. Peeves, however, had no way to know that little detail. "You... You wouldn't dare!" If a poltergeist's face could pale, his would be the palest ever existed.

I grinned. "Ooh, you think so? Ok." I faked going to wet my finger in the glass, "Just don't blame me: you had it coming. Especially after what happened last time..."

"NOOOOOO!" He floated at top speed here and there, without knowing where to go. Peeves must have felt ridiculous, because he suddenly stopped, composed himself and started to talk as mockingly as ever. "Ehem... You're not fun anymore, I guess I'll just go and play with Flitch." Poor Flitch! The poltergeist flew (a bit faster than usual) though the ceiling and I stopped being able to see it. I was sure the poor janitor was going to have a very harsh awakening... Awakening! Just what hour was it?

I picked up my coat, put it on, and started running towards the nearest entrance to the dungeons. The sun hadn't entered through th windows yet, but I could feel it rising on the horizon. A feeling I didn't like on the least.

Dizziness clouded my mind and I had to stop to take a break. "Damn! Used more blood than I thought... And the Odious Chalice's still empty..." Kindred, being walking corpses as we are, don't need to sweat or breath (though we use to do the last, even if it's useless) but, if we did need to do so, I'd be doing both heavily. Fighting the beast, who was trying to gain control and search for blood by itself, I glanced the hallway before me.

Deadly sun beams were now starting to enter the windows and block my pass. I'd have to avoid them touching my skin or I'd become an overwork victim. "Gotta run fast now... It's at times like these I'd like having Celerity..." It was true: if I took too long to reach the dungeons, I'd end up caught between sun beams and, eventually, I'd find a rather painful and silly Final Death.

I gulped and started running again. The adrenaline flowing in my veins, mixing with my vampiric blood, affected it so I had a temporal increase of dexterity and agility. Enough to avoid the lethal rays that barred my way. I'd flatten to the wall, jump above low beams and roll under the high ones. Those I couldn't avoid crossing through, I used my leather coat to protect my skin from. I managed to reach the lower levels of Hogwarts even faster than I had first expected: no matter what you do, without celerity and without frenzying there's no way for a vampire to run so fast (twice the normal). Had I frenzied? The beast had surfaced? Why, then, hadn't I felt like it wasn't me the one controlling my body? Perhaps because I, like the beast, was just trying to come here, to survive...

I didn't know why, but I was certain that, at some point, the beast had surfaced and influenced my actions. This wasn't good: the beast only takes over because of too much hunger, fury or pain. If it was influencing my movements it could only mean one thing: I had used too much blood and I was dangerously close to frenzy: to lose control and kill anyone in sight.

I descended deeper into the dungeons at a slower and more relaxed pace this time, knowing that there weren't any more windows ahead. The other reason why I was trying to be calmer was because it was the only way to avoid frenzying. I walked steadily passed the potions classroom. From there, the third door to the left leaded to the office I had been provided with. I walked to it, reached my hand to turn the knob and...

"My, my, my. What has kept you still awake, Robert?" I turned from the door and stared into the corridor to find that year's new potions professor: Horace Slughorn, the very definition of fatness. His voice was that of a concerned father, but I wasn't going to be fooled: although he was a likeable person, it was only his way of survival: to be friends with as many important, powerful or competent people as possible.

Me being a vampire that could choose to bite his precious neck; and the one who could upgrade the castle's defenses on the places he frequented the most where, provably, his two main reasons to befriend me. Even so, he was friendly: the least I could do is to be polite. "Got distracted working, the sun nearly got me this time."

Slughorn watched me, both smiling warmly and staring warily. "Haha, you certainly are a hard worker. You are exactly like Richard Avery. He was a student of mine, you know?" Oh, man... "A true workaholic to the bone. He'd never let anything for later, and his essays... Merlin's beard! I've never laid my hands on any essay half that good." Oh, craps! Already bragging about old students, just like I had expected someone like him would do... Well, it would be surely better to get through it and pretend to enjoy the chatter... "Poor Richard; he once fainted in class because he had spent all the previous week's nights gathering information for one of his fantastic essays..."

So, that was it? He was worried that I'd go and frenzy on him because of not having preserved enough blood. "Well," I remembered the fat man before me felt at home when people around him seemed familiar and uncaring about formalities. Calling him by his name was the best option. "Horace, as much as I'm enjoying this conversation, I'm afraid I've overdid myself tonight and, now, I'm a bit thirstier and more tired than usual." At hearing this, the human's heart rate increased. He was afraid of me: I could just bare my hands and drink his vitae... Mm... He smelled A-... Not too bad, but a bit spicier than I'd prefer... No! The professors in this school WEREN'T PREYS! I managed to avoid my voice from betraying what I had just thought. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to sleep until I can go and hunt in the Forbidden Forest..."

"Oh, of course, of course. Er... Good morning?" Interesting, indeed: when someone goes to sleep, you usually say 'good night'but, for kindred, it's more usual to say 'good morning'. It's something I had had hard to learn as a normal thing to say: even a year after my Embrace I still had had to remind myself it was 'good morning' instead of 'good night'.

"Good morning to you too, Horace." With that said, I entered my office, locked the door and crawled into bed without even thinking about anything else. I fell asleep as soon as I was in bed.

Well, that's all for chapter 5. Next will come in shortly (I think I should stop promising: I might not be able to keep all my promises true...) Will Robert have a pleasant sleep? You'll have to wait and see (maniacal, evil laughter).