Gore Warning
"As much as I enjoy our bonding GinGin. We should go."
"You're right dear Gred. The trace is on your wand littlest sister."
"Aw, fuck." Ginny sighed as she pulled back from her brother, allowing herself to just breathe for a moment. "That means everyone and their mother knows where we are, right?"
"Exactly," they chorused with mirrored grimaces.
"Great, okay. So, how do we get away? They can track side-along apparating and I'm sure the hotel is going to be surrounded soon enough. Who knows what group is going to show up… and Merlin… all the muggles."
The twins glanced at each other before turning to her with grim eyes. "Right now we can't worry about the muggles. They should be fine as long as they stay out of the way… but if we try to help we put them at more risk."
"Our best bet is to sneak out and that's just as risky because we can't guarantee Harry staying passed out. If he wakes up…."
Yea, Fred didn't need to finish that sentence. Her neck twinged, phantom pains racing up and down her back at the horrifying thought.
A quick plan was hashed out and the disillusionment spell cast on all three of them before George fetched Harry, casting another Stupefy to be sure, and settling him on his back. Unfortunately, the plan never had a chance to be put into action because as soon as they opened the door there was already a boy standing there.
The witch froze. How in the world were they supposed to explain the door opening by itself?
"Obliv-"
Faster than she could follow, the kid lunged knocking one of the twins into the wall with a yelp.
"Aw man. You guys are no fun. I was going to play helpless civilian and everything. Oh well. Guess we have to do this the hard way."
The grin on his face implied that he would very much enjoy the hard way. Then his face shifted and Ginny's stomach dropped to her toes. Orange red ringed eyes and glistening fangs. Her heart rate was skyrocketing again and all she could feel was the burning agony on her neck. Her eyes widened with unshed tears, seeing nothing and only feeling the pain.
She was going to die!
It hurt it hurt it hurt.
I don't want to hurt him!
It hurt it hurt it hurt.
Make it stop please!
It hurt it hurt it hurt.
"-ny! Ginny!"
Her shoulder hit the bathroom door and she fell into in a graceless tumble, her head banging against the tiled floor, neck stretching until she could feel warm wet heat again.
She cried in pain, scrambling to get up, get away.
"Lumos Solem!"
There was an unholy screech before the boy's voice was back. "Ouch! That hurt, man!"
"Good." That was one of the twins snarling out there.
Out there. Where she wasn't because she was in the bathroom. Her neck ached but there were no teeth clamped there. What?
With trembling fingers, she held onto her wand best she could and poked her head out. The door to the room was open and halfway imbedded into the wall behind it. Harry was sprawled across the entryway while one of her brothers was blocking the doorway in a rigid stance, wand held loosely in his nimble fingers.
"Wha-"
The twin moved his hand up quickly, a physical wall of purple light sparkled into existence. Then finally he turned around as he faced the bathroom. Fred's face practically melted in relief as he caught sight of her.
"Oh thank Merlin you're alright"
"What happened," she asked dazedly.
"You just froze and he could smell where we were. You especially because of your neck. I had to grab you and shove you out of the way."
There was another screech and a body went flying past the doorway.
"Would you stop that!?"
"Would you die already?"
"Oh, that's not very nice of you. Here I thought you were an upstanding citizen. Guess you are just like the rest of the trash around here."
That meant George was out there fighting the vampire. The very young, baby-faced vampire. What in the world was going on?
A barrage of something flashed by the door.
"Hey hey hey! No need to get nasty! Stakes will only up the ante. You sure you can handle that?"
"Die."
"Is George okay," she asked haltingly.
Never in her life had he thought that he could sound so monotone while apparently being vicious. It was strange and Ginny most certainly didn't like it.
"Definitely not," Fred snorted. "He can handle himself against one blood sucker, though. Problem is… where there is one, there's probably more."
That sounded ominous and for a brief second she had the thought of just handing Harry over so they would leave. She squashed it immediately and with ruthless efficiency. There was no guarantee they wouldn't hurt them even after taking Harry. And she wouldn't hand over her friend anyway. So there.
She shook herself from her strange thoughts and glanced around to find something that might help them. Harry was still passed out, the bed would be of no use, the window… They were only on the second floor.
"I'm going to check the window, you check on George."
"Nope. Sorry Gin. You stay here and keep an eye on our little monster while I check the window."
A frisson of unease passed through her as she glanced at the sickly wizard. She ignored it, instead turning to righteous anger.
"I can do this Fred," she exclaimed, hopping to stand on unsteady legs. "I'm not an invalid!"
"Whoah! Nuh-uh. To both of those. You're not invalid, just injured and weaponless-"
"I can handle myself!"
He glanced at her neck and she cut him off before he could even open his mouth. "I was doing fine until you guys came. If you hadn't blasted down the door-"
"You might have been dead," he whispered furiously, eyes burning with an inner fire.
"Oh fu-"
There was a sickening crunch followed by a garbled scream. Both of them stopped and turned towards the door with wide eyes.
"George," Fred yelped and took a step closer to his shield, his hands falling from her shoulders (when did they get there?).
Then the boy was back with a spray of blood along his lower jaw. "Hey guys," he greeted cheerily as if they were the best of friends. "I'd sure like an invite."
She glared, hoping even an iota of her hatred could burn him as much as it was burning her right now. He'd done something to her brother -oh merlin her brother - and he thought he could act like they were friends?
"Didn't think so. That's alright. You might want to watch out. I've heard broken glass can really hurt."
He was still smiling that infernal smile while she tried to process what he meant. What did glass have to do with anything? He'd just hurt -he definitely wasn't dead right? - her brother and he was preaching about being careful? From glass?
Not a moment later, the window imploded. Most of the glass was caught by the curtains but a lot of it speared forward through the air to lash against her face, followed by a strong wind that knocked her back. Fred yelped and stumbled hitting his shield and smashing through it to land with a painful thump in the hallway.
Then a body came tumbling through, blood splattering on the carpet in its wake.
"Having fun, Sam?"
"Oh, sure. I love stakes and sunlight. Makes the party worthwhile."
The blonde in the doorway snorted dropping right next to the possible corpse with an audible thud from his heavy combat boots. The light from outside backlighted him and reflected off the platinum hair spiked on his head. The light from the hallway illuminated his orange eyes and cruel grin. Everything else was just too dark to make out from her position on the floor.
A gurgled groan broke her out of her staring -why was she freezing so much today? What was wrong with her? - and she scrambled over to Harry's body, throwing herself over him.
"Stay away," she growled, chest burning with rage and helplessness. Her wand had been knocked from her grip and was now somewhere behind her where George and the other Vampire were. She couldn't turn away. Something deep inside her said that if she looked away from this monster she would be dead within a second. "You stay away you shit-sucker."
"Ooooo! That sounds familiar," the boy laughed from behind her. "Ouch! Leggo! No, bad wizard. Stay down."
Her heart clenched. What was happening? She needed to know!
Orange eyes glinted at her as he cocked his head like a bird of prey. It seemed like he was asking her something. What are you going to do? Testing her. Save your family or your crush? Mocking her. In the end it won't matter what you choose.
"Shut up," she screamed desperately. "Shut up shut up shut up! Leave us alone!"
"Hm. No can do." She could barely hear him over the rush in her ears, the sound of her blood, her life, coursing through her. He knelt in front of her in a gentle parody of a lover, bringing his black leather gloved hand under her chin. She wanted to move so badly. Hit, scream, cry…
She just wanted…
His hand wrapped gently around her throat, tugging her up and away and she was helpless to follow. In the light there was another figure coming in through the window that could barely be made out. She couldn't turn to look, instead seeing only a vague impression of dark hair and dark clothes in her peripherals. All she could do was stare at the orangeorangered instead.
Dwayne dropped another wizard in disgust. Laughably weak and panicky, they stood no chance against the ambush he and David had set up as soon as they'd smelt their arrival. The ones in the white masks went first. They were the ones that could - more like would- cast the more debilitating spells. Then the ones in the official looking -stupid, ugly, and completely unfashionable- uniform robes were next. Those could easily summon more and could be annoying.
Just when they thought they'd finished up, a few more had popped in and Dwayne was just about done with this whole mess. Why had they come here in the first place? They obviously didn't know about the vampires or they would have been more prepared.
Whatever.
It was done now. He could finally get up to 212 to get Daniel. He could finally hold him again. Feel the bond thrumming with life instead of clinging in an almost hopeless desperate fashion.
He shook his claws out to disperse some of the blood. Normally, he'd clean his fingers with relish but wizard blood could be nauseatingly sweet in large quantities. He glanced down at the woman whose neck he'd snapped. Her orange hair glinted in the old street light and her outfit was relatively free of any mess. He leaned down and wiped his hands quickly on her frumpy knitted sweater.
Her dull blue eyes stared at him and he chuckled.
"You guys sure are arrogant, aren't you?"
With a happy sigh he stood back up and glanced at the destroyed window David had chucked a werewolf through. Now that had been a bit of a shocker but nothing they couldn't deal with quickly considering it was nowhere near a full moon and they had the advantage of surprise on their side.
With a quiet whisper of wind he was stepping in through the window, glancing around to take in the scene. Sam was out in the hallway practically drooling over a struggling redhead while David was holding another one, female, enthralled. Right beside them…
Dwayne breath caught in his throat and his eyes burned.
Daniel.
All at once he could feel relief, joy, triumph, and most importantly the bond.It was right there. Feather light and struggling but the closest he'd been to touching in a decade.
It had been so long. Too long. All he wanted was to run his fingers through the black messy hair and read him stories again. To have the little boy yawning on his lap and eyes begging for more even as they drooped.
He couldn't have exactly that, not anymore. Dwayne wasn't stupid he was just hopeful. Daniel would never be the same as the small boy they adopted on the beach. They had missed ten years of the most critical years of his life. But he could be their brother again. They could go out in the night and have fun and mess around.
Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground and allowed the pads of his fingers to run down the gaunt pale cheek of his little brother. It was soft and warm, just like his personality. But, oh, did his physical appearance leave something to be desired. He'd grown well with a strong jaw, and nose, and high cheekbones but that only seemed to exacerbate the hideously sunken cheeks from illness. His face was turning sallow and dark bruises took up most of the space under his eyes. He looked… starved with one foot already in the grave. Paul had warned them that the teen had already seemed ill before going into the house so that probably didn't help his transition any. And then there was the fact that he couldn't feel any vibrancy from him. The strangely light and happy air he'd had as a child was gone, along with the slightly sweet smell of alluring candy. Something must have happened to his magic as well.
Daniel was in very real danger of dying if they didn't turn him soon. Would it be better to use a human or a magical? Would either be better or worse than the other?
A few loud cracks caught his attention and he couldn't repress the snarl in his throat as his stress shot through the roof. More fucking wizards. Best to go while they could. He absolutely would not lose Daniel right after they'd finally gotten a hold of him.
"David."
I know. I've gotten a lot of what I need from her. We can leave.
But I'm hungry, Sam whined. Aren't you supposed to feed your children. This is neglect I say.
Get a move on squirt.
Dwayne chuckled at the disgusted look on Sam's face at the 'endearment'. He carefully picked up Daniel bridal style, trying not to wince at how light he was. That wasn't normal for his height and body type.
David was quick to snap the girl's neck with a squeeze of his hand, even going so far as to pop the skin on her neck open like a zit so her blood splattered everywhere, and Sam moved to follow with his own prey before he was blasted backwards, a yelp torn from his mouth.
No time to fight back. Just get to the roof.
Got it pops.
You're going to get the beating of a lifetime if you keep that up.
When David's sly blue eyes glanced at him he couldn't help but laugh. Of course he was doing it purposefully. They both were; trying to alleviate his tension and bring back his earlier joy. He gave a half smile in understanding but no more than that. He wouldn't, couldn't , relax until they were safe back at Sanguini's.
They both flitted out the window, almost getting away unseen. There was a shout as they disappeared into the sky followed by a few spells that missed them entirely. Sam joined them a minute later, a silly grin on his face as he latched onto David.
Fly on your own you miserable little-
But daddyyyy-
You're dead meat.
Their youngest member squeaked and shot forward with David in hot pursuit. Dwayne smiled, his hands clenching his precious cargo close.
AN: Wow! What a trip! Also, sorry not sorry! XD
Sorry it's a bit short but I figured you guys were ready for that reunion and I've got a bit of writer's block. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and, like always, please tell what you think!