Author's notes: Well, now, what do we have here? Hmm... It wouldn't be fair to kill Robert this soon... Done! Hahaha! I know how to continue, I know how to continue! You wanna know? Then why aren't you reading the actual chapter?
(Reads chapter 6 again) Well, I suppose I'm not very good at writing nightmares... Will start watching horror films at night, stop doing my essays early and start listening 'tubular bells' while sleeping to learn how they are really like. Won't be writing nightmare chapters until I improve at it.
Disclaimer: (Holds tightly onto a crucifix recently bought on the cheap shop down the street) Fine... Let's do it... (Sweats heavily) IdontownHarryPotterorVampiretheMasqueradeBloodlinescharacterseventsplacesorotherideastheyareexplicitpropertyoftheirownownerslikeJKRowlingandActivisionImnotmakingprofitofsaidcharactersinanywaythisstoryispurellyfictionalanyressemblancewithrealstorieseventsorcharactersispurecoincidencePLEASEDONTSUEME! (uses oxygen bottle to help himself catch breath) Hey! I'm not dead! (looks at what he has just written) Ouch! Eh... It means... I don't own Harry Potter or Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines characters, events, places or other ideas... (gets pricked by the crucifix) Auch! (censurer censures the author's next words)
I woke up screaming. After a few seconds of watching my surroundings warily, expecting something to jump from nowhere in particular and land me a lethal blow, I realized I was back into the office where I had spend the whole day sleeping. My stomach ached wildly and I remembered I was starving ( for a vampire, thirst and hunger are the same: we only use the terms as degrees of the same necessity. Starvation is the highest level, when a kindred is in danger of frenzying if it doesn't feed).
Still remembering freshly the nightmares I had just had, I slid out of bed and proceeded to dress up when I found out I had fallen asleep fully dressed, even the shoes. "Must have been way more tired than first thought..." My whole body was sore and every tendon protested painfully whenever I tried to tense or relax any muscle.
I grunted disgusted at my sudden show of weakness: I had survived some direct attacks into Sabbat strongholds by myself, confronting a flesh crafter Tzimisce five or six generations older than me, a werewolf chasing my ass in Central Park, a Blood Hunt... Why did my body still protest so much after only doing a little more rituals than usual? I was pissed, and tired.
A knock on the door woke me up from my musings. "Mister Kellehan, are you awake?"
I sighed: McGonagall. I walked over the door, unlocked an opened it. "Yes?" She had, as always, her business-like trademark face. Her heart rate didn't betray any emotion, her aura... Seemed wary, maybe unnerved? What was wrong? Bah! Not my business: I only wanted to go and hunt.
"Professor Slughorn has informed me that you require to go hunt into the forest. Is that correct?" I nodded, not even caring to notice her facial expression or the ramified possibilities of my actions: I was too hungry to care and I just wanted to get this conversation over... I didn't interrupt her speech.
"I'm afraid this will not be possible, mister Kellehan." No hunt? Well, THAT got my attention. I was, needless to say, shocked. The beast, feeling this woman was between me and supper, tried to coax me into draining her and I had to remind myself McGonagall was not prey. "Come." We started walking Hogwarts' different hallways. Where to, I didn't know or care: I just tried to concentrate on which ones weren't glyphed yet. Man, I was really thirsty.
As if sensing my hunger and uneasiness, the witch started explaining her actions. "The centaurs, the main inhabitants of the Forbidden Forest, are extremely furious about, as they put it, having been used by our students to solve students' problems. They dropped negotiations for a peaceful solution this afternoon and, should they find any human inside their territory, they have warned they'll kill the intruder and start hostilities against Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Dumbledore says they'll calm down but, as everything, it will take time."
Somehow, I managed to pick up the important part of her speech: the Forbidden Forest was now, well, forbidden. Out of the equation. No blood in the forest. Where else could I find a meal? Hogsmeade? "I'm... Too thirsty to hunt in the town: I'm pretty sure if I bite someone, I'll drain my prey dry... The fauna in the lake is too fast for me to catch... Is there any source of blood in Hogwarts? Maybe blood packs?" I gulped, there was one thing that a castle this big should have: "Rats?" Rat blood tastes horribly, but it's blood, after all.
McGonagall didn't stop walking, but gave me a... Pleased? Look. "I see you have more self control than I expected. Follow me." We were now climbing some stairs I hadn't previously noticed. I had to remind myself to put glyphs there too. Yeah, Robert, stick your mind to business... "We don't need any of those... Blood packs? And, though there surely are some rats within the school, it would be very difficult to find and catch them. We do have, however, a room that may fit your requirements quite enough."
"I doubt I'll find a blood bank in Hogwarts: this is not an hospital." My head seemed lighter than usual. Almost as if I had been beaten to death instead of having been sleeping... Shouldn't go to sleep this hungry again...
McGonagall stopped walking on the middle of a corridor in the castle's third floor. There wasn't any door nearby. "Focus your mind on what you require while you walk this hallway back and forth thrice."
"What!" To say that I was seriously thinking that she had some kind of mental instability would be an understanment: to walk a hallway back and forth? What for? Was it some kind of joke? Well, it sure as hell was not fun.
"Do you want your blood? Then do as I said." Her voice was calm, commanding, and left no room for discussion. Her aura didn't show any sign of amusement.
Lazily, I complied her request. After coming back the third time, as expected, nothing had happened. "Happy?" I hoped she was, because I certainly wasn't.
"I'm not your tormentor, Kellehan: right now, you are. If you want your requirement fulfilled, you've got to do exactly what I said." Didn't this woman understand that wishing for something doesn't make it appear in front of you, just like that? Sure, thaumaturgy is based on concentrating on what effects one desires to accomplish, but there is simply no thaumaturgy that can bring the user a whole pool full of blood.
Blood... Sweet and spicy, bitter and acid, soft and thick... All tastes of blood I had ever experienced crawled into my mind as I walked. Mmmm... Metallic, hot and reinvigorating red liquid... Intoxicating.
This time, when I stopped in the middle of the hallway, a door had appeared to my right, just across the woman. Curiosity and a familiar, lustfully intoxicant smell made me have to walk up the door and open it... "What the hell?" I was querying McGonagall, but not facing her: I couldn't keep my eyes off of what they saw in there.
"This is the room of requirement. You are free to use it as you need. Don't worry: its contents have been magically created, so they haven't been stolen from anywhere. There are no consequences of using this room."
I couldn't believe my eyes: before me, a mile square swimming pool. I couldn't see the bottom... The best of it: what was in the swimming pool? Water? Nooo... My legs trembled and the beast within howled in my head from excitement... Blood. More blood than I could drink or spend with thaumaturgy in a century: every kindred's dreamland was in front of my eyes. My mind only managed to formulate a last rational thought: "Is it edible?"
Behind of me, McGonagall answered my question with a simple one: "Why don't you try it yourself?"
Ok, now, I'm sorry if chapters 6 and 7 aren't too long... Ok, they are VERY short: sorry. But I just find them impossible to fix: I keep writing and just find out the chapter must end where it is and I can't enlarge it. Perhaps a better writer would be able to, but when I can't, I just can't. Forgive me? Yes? Thanks! I'll... Let's see... Start chapter 8 right now! Title... Title... Hey! That's a secret! (Stops writing on chapter 7's file and starts on chapter 8)