.

Vampire and Prey

by lookimacloud

Chapter

A New Way

In what had seemed like forever, Hermione was home. She had hailed a cab after her flight and when she got to her house, she could smell the dirty dishes from the night before. Oh what a mess. Last night had been a living nightmare. Hermione washed the dishes in an attempt to feel normal. When she'd completed that task, she then called her best friend's work.

"Hello, Is Ginevera Weasley available?" Hermione leaned over her counter, placing both elbows on the marble, while chewing her nails on one hand. "Ginny? Hey it's Hermione. You will not believe the night I just had. Yes it was steamy, I think. Look, Gin, could you swing by my place after work? I need to talk to you about something. No Ginny, it is serious I cant tell you now. Just come over okay? And right after work. I think that I will never be able to see you again if you don't hurry and I need to tell you goodbye. I need you to hurry." she stressed, "Okay, see you soon, bye." She punched the 'end' button with a sigh.

"Nicely said."

Hermione screamed and leaped from the counter, dropping the phone in the process.

"I knew you would come back here. You cannot have your life back, Hermione. And your death is mine." Draco, as though he had all the time in the world, was leaning against the door frame of her bedroom. He straitened, eyes never leaving her own, and started her way.

Hermione backed away step for step. She didn't want Draco near her, but she knew her appartment well. There were only so many steps she could take before she would bump into the side wall.

"You were right." Draco purred, "Last night was steamy. Tonight will be even hotter." his eyes narrowed as he continued his stalking game, "You put the entire Kingdom into frenzy running away like you did. You are lucky that I told my guardsmen to let you pass them when you came. You cannot leave without asking my permission again, and you will do as you are told in the future. You will not ever shame me in this way." Draco paused to gauge her reaction.

Hermione tried not to show him anything. She kept her hands to her sides, and her face poker-straight.

"I knew that you would try to come back to this life. My mother tried to come back to hers too." he continued, "My patience is hanging on a thread with you. Do you need to go into the tower and be treated as my father's cousin would treat you if he had found you first? Your friend Ginny is the one they have chosen, you know. News from the other kingdom says that he chose her while I bonding with you. He did it to start a riot to my way of thinking. He knew that you would protest. You will not give him the satisfaction. You will see her again sometime, maybe when I kill her future king."

"Draco? Please." Hermione kept her eyes steady, her mind thought full, "I understand what is going on and I have accepted it. I knew that Vampires existed for a long time now and I know that I am now one. You have convinced me fully. No I am not scared of it. Just please, let me say goodbye to my friend. That is the real reason I came back." She lied, "I am becoming more of a vampire by the minute, it's the ring, I can feel it. Just let me say goodbye."

Draco hesitated a moment. "You are costing me many hours of my work, Queen." He growled.

"I am sorry."

"No, your not." He sighed.

Hermione glared at him.

In the end Draco conceded. He would do anything to spite his enemies after all, and he knew that Hermione hadn't touched her breakfast.

Hermione was going to kill her friend. Draco also knew that she would be distraught when she realized it, and he didn't ever want to see her in pain. So, being her king, he would do the only thing left open to him and make Ginny a vampire too. His enemies would be livid. He just wondered how he was going to carry two vampires home with him. Still, he could barely contain his excitement.

Grasping Hermione by her upper arm, Draco ignored her protest and dragged her over to the sofa. Sitting her down, he then sat himself, and pulled her struggling form to snuggle under the weight of his arm. With his elbow resting on Hermione's shoulder, he ran his hand over her head and through her hair. Years of watching this and doing it himself, had taught Draco that giving Hermione a head massage was the fastest way to put her at ease and even asleep. Hermione melted into his side. Draco hid a knowing grin.

The knock fell on the door an hour later. It was almost dark now. Almost time for Hermione's to five senses to expand and for her to lose all reasonable thought, as was what happened to all new vampires when they didn't have control over their bodies. His senses already were coming alive. Draco could already smell the soft skin on Hermione's friend. He was already imagining the joy he would feel at sticking his teeth into that smooth neck. He could hear the blood flowing through her veins. Hermione opened the door. He knew she could hear it too.

Ginny Weasley stepped inside the tiny space with a smile for him and a huge sparkle in her eye for Hermione. Draco noticed how Hermione tried to ignore the call of her new life. He noticed how she would pinch her nose every now and again as she talked to her friend. He noticed how she would pause to hold her hand over her mouth, glaring at him because she didn't understand. She thought he was doing this to her. She thought he was toying with her senses. Draco didn't say a word. He just waited.

In the middle of telling her friend all about her 'wonderful' honeymoon that she was unfortunately too drunk to remember, Hermione froze. Draco studied Ginny and knew she was aware of Hermione's behavior. Hermione's eyes glazed over and Draco stepped back. Ginny Weasley screamed her protest as Hermione dragged her to the ground, and then screamed in terror as Hermione mauled her neck. Draco didn't know why humans would scream. He couldn't remember that he had ever felt any of this incredible pain that they apparently did.

"Draco?" Hermione cried out.

He came to focus then. Hermione was on the carpet draped over her friend, pulling at her head to yank it in place. She was sobbing into the blood soaked blouse her friend was wearing, and tried to wrap her arms around the dead woman. This killing had been messier than usual. There was blood everywhere he looked. Draco sighed at Hermione's emotional display, and knelt down to revive her friend.

Hermione backed off when Draco sat beside her. She even allowed him to drink from Ginny, even though it was her friend that he was feasting on. Hermione couldn't believe it. She had just killed her best friend. She felt like sobbing. How could someone suffer so much and then go and kill the only friend that she had? As she sobbed out her pain, she heard a bang on the apartment door. It was the authorities on the other end, telling them that they would bust the door down if it wasn't opened. Hermione looked teary-eyed at Draco who was still drinking from Ginny. When he heard the pounding, he gathered them both, one under each arm, and jumped out the window. Hermione couldn't care less that they were running from the law. It was then that she realized for sure, she was a vampire. A vampire who killed her best friend.

Ginny just hung under Draco's arm like a rage doll. She was hanging rather like a blanket that was tucked into his side. Hermione looked at Draco's face as he carried them. Through her tears, she saw that he had grown hard and determined. She then continued to stare at Ginny. Her friend no longer had blood all over her neck and hair, though her shirt was still soaked through. She looked pale but the bite marks on her neck were no longer there. Had Draco healed her? He'd told her earlier that he didn't kill unless the human were evil and killed their own kind. Had he healed Ginny then? Hermione prayed that he had. That he was able to do so.

What was she going to tell her friend when she woke up? 'I am sorry Ginny, but you looked good enough to eat?' That sounded stupid even to her own ears.

Hermione was just starting to relax and enjoy being carried, when Draco stopped suddenly and sat her on her feet. She noticed then that they were inside that same room that Hermione had been in the night before, when she had killed her boss. "Will Ginny be alright?" she asked, rushing around Draco to her friend's side.

"Yes." he answered her.

Hermione couldn't think beyond that yes. After checking Ginny's pulse, she jumped up and threw herself straight into Draco's arms. "Thank you so much." She whispered through her tears. "I was so scared that I'd hurt her. I didn't know what to do. Thank you Draco. I don't know what I would do in the world without her." Hermione swung her arms around her husband's neck and kissed him.

Draco hugged her back. It was about time that she showed a little positive emotion toward him. She'd been down right boring since he'd turned her. Draco was glad that he was getting his Hermione back, even though he shouldn't care either way.

This was the kind of kiss that Draco had dreamed of. He kissed her deeply. He even used his fangs, and, he noticed, she was using hers too. Draco was proud of her. She had gotten over the shock fast. Now she would accept that she was pregnant and could take care of their children. Draco made no demands on her; he wanted to see just how far she would go with the kiss. Wrong decision he realized, when after a few minutes, Hermione raised her head and looked at him with starry eyes. Draco knew Hermione would wouldn't kiss him again without a demand. She was too busy alternating between shooting quick glances at her still unconscious friend, and fingering her fully descended teeth. Draco decided to tell her then. There was no simpler way.

"Hermione I need to take her now."

"Take her where?" Hermione asked dazed and still smiling.

"To her mate, her future husband. He branded her his, there is nothing I can do. She belongs to him. I may have had the pleasure of turning her, but she needs to go to Zabini before he starts a war over her. I will leave her as close as I can to his castle and then come home so that you can complete what you started."

"What?" Hermione shouted, rushing out of his arms and dropping to her knees in front of her friend. "You turned her? There was no other way? Don't you realize that you ruined her chance to live happily? You stole that from me last night, why did you steal that from her? She had a life too, you bastard." Hermione lifted her friend's head and placed it on her bent knees.

Draco clenched his jaw. "It was the only way I could save her. She would have been lost forever had I not done it. Zabini is not yet ready to marry, he wont be for a month. Your friend will stay with him until he is ready."

"No" Hermione growled, "She will stay with me. I will not let her go to that man. Cousin or no Draco, she will stay with me. I will never see her again if she goes away. I was okay with never seeing her again if she stayed human, but not this."

"She will go tonight." he demanded, "She will marry and bond in a month. I will not have a war called for. I will not kill her when it is time to kill her King. You will see her then. That is when we will unite the two kingdoms and become one."

"How many times do I have to tell you no? You can't take her from me Draco."

"She will be well taken care of." he replied. "Now go to our room. We will not discuss this again. Now Hermione!" he yelled when she refused to move. Hermione still didn't budge, but only continued to stare at him. Draco calmed his body, freezing his heaving shoulders to appear the royalty he was. He held himself back by shear force of will.

Draco had only been bonded one full day, and already he was ready for his son to kill him. Hermione was testing to his patience. He couldn't have that. Some of his race chose to hurt their mates if they were out of line. Draco never wanted to do that to her. His father had never hurt his mother and he would never hurt her. But it was going to be hell, if she was stubborn like this for 250 years. He was looking forward to taming her.

Hermione stood. She never took her eyes off of her husband as she reached under Ginny's arms and then began the slow process of dragging her. She kept her eyes on Draco to judge what he would do at her show of partial defiance, but he never moved. Hermione Dragged Ginny all the way out of the room.

Draco may think that she was shaming him again, but she couldn't care about him and his damn pride. She would have none of it. Hermione did go to the chamber that was hers and Draco's, after all, she didn't want him to use that damn ring on her again, but she locked the door after she and Ginny were inside. Then she sat, leaning against the heavy wood with Ginny's head in her lap. She stayed that way until sleep claimed her.

Draco had told her that Vampires slept only about two hours a night but, she remembered, she was pregnant. If she was now fully convinced that she was a vampire, and that everything that Draco had told her about them were true, then she had no doubt that she was pregnant. Merlin, would wonders never cease?

…..

When Hermione woke, the first thing that she noticed was that she lay on the big bed in the room. She was so very tired. Wiping the dryness out of her eyes didn't help change that. The second thing that she noticed was that it was late in the day, probably mid-noon. She stretched herself out under the covers and yawned. That was when she remembered where she was and who was supposed to be with her. Hermione pushed herself into a seated position and looked around the bedchamber. Empty. The room she was in was empty of all life except for herself. Draco must have been the one to place her in the bed.

Hermione looked about the spacious room in an acute panic. Ginny, was not with her. Seething, Hermione saw that she was naked and quickly dressed herself. She rushed over to the door, ignoring the very strategically placed goblet of blood on her end table. Easing the door open, she peaked her head out into the hall.

"Is everything alright your Majeste?" one of the guards standing by the door asked.

"No," she barked at him. Agitated, Hermione threw the door open the rest of the way so that she didn't look cowardly. "Where is the woman that was with me last night? Did Draco take her?"

"Our enemy is locked in her own chamber until a month's time your Majeste. His Majeste gave orders that you are not to see her or speak with her."

"She is my friend and I demand, as your Queen, that you take me to her."

"I cannot do that your Majeste. His Majeste would not be pleased. His Majeste told me to let you of her if you asked, but I cannot say more on any matter. He said that you should speak to him about concerns."

"I will not speak to him as long as I have air in my lungs to do so. I order you to not say that Ginny is your enemy either. She is my friend. And if I am your Queen, then she is not your enemy any more then she is mine. Is that understood?" Hermione was shouting by the time she had finished her instruction.

The two men at the entrance to the room merely nodded their heads.

"Good." She waltzed passed them. Hermione was only halfway down the hall when she turned around. "By the way, what are your names?" they stayed silent.

'That was not a request but an order." The men just looked at her. The guard had said that he was ordered not to speak to her. She guessed that her orders did not overrule that of her husband, High and Mighty King Draco with a Stick-Up-His-Rear. She glared at them and turned around to proceed down the hall.

Hermione decided that if the guards weren't permitted to speak with her, then they were probably just as useless for directions around the castle, as they were with Ginny. Hermione continued down the hall, and turned down all the corridors that she wished to. She tried every door, and no guard tried to stop her doing so. Hermione found that every door was locked and that every time she tried to pick the lock with her hairpin, the task proved to be a waste of time. The doors would not budge, and neither would the guards.

Hermione cursed the sunlight that shined in her face every time she passed one of the tall, gothic style windows. She hated the coldness of the marble floors she walked on, and the silence of the deserted halls. She wanted to hear laughter, joy, happiness. She wanted to hear her friend say the outrageous things that she did. She wanted to picnic in the park and watch all the children play. She wanted to see them with their mothers and fathers and wish that she would some day share a life like that with her husband. She hated this castle already. She hated the fact that Draco seemed to be a cold-hearted person, or rather, vampire. She hated the fact that everything that she did was wrong in his eyes. She hated that she had chosen the wrong man again. She had chosen a pretender, a man who cheated her out of a happy life. She wanted to go home, she realized. She wanted to take her friend home.

Hermione squat down at another door. She peeked into the keyhole and saw only the blinding sunlight from an un-curtained window. She didn't even try the handle this time, but took her bobby pin and stuck it into the lock. Unfortunately, this door hadn't needed to be picked. The door flew open the instant Hermione had really started to work on the lock. Three people stood in it's place. Hermione scrambled to her feet and backed up a few steps. The three women stepped into the hall, seeming to not notice her folly. First the Queen, and then two serving maids, one she recognized as Sally, the other, an elderly woman older than the Queen, but with the same softness in her eyes.

"Your Majeste." Sally exclaimed. Hermione felt the pink shade of embarrassment come to her cheeks.

"Would you like a word Queen Hermione?" Asked the dowager with a slight, barely noticeable, tone of disapproval.

"No." Hermione let her stubbornness show. She knew everyone had known what she was doing. The hairpin still in her grasp was clue enough. She decided to hell with decorum. "If you don't like how I act then you should turn me human and let me go home." She commented dryly.

The Queen smiled a knowing smile and held out a hand to her. "Ruth, see to the woman as I have instructed. Sally, I want you to be Her Majeste's new lady's maid. See to her clothing now."

"Ma'am," Hermione started. "My cloths are in my apartment. Back home."

"See to it Sally."

"Yes Your Majeste." She curtsied and left them.

"I know that I am a little out of the times, being two hundred and seventy-eight, but I still believe that nobility deserves the proper care. Sally will do well for you. And if that is not how you wish to do things," she sighed with a wave of her hand, "then you can merely send her off."

Hermione just looked at the Queen.

"Ah," Draco's mother shook her head, recalling why Hermione was here. "You were looking for someone. Well, you won't find her in my new quarters. The woman is in a separate chamber, being tended to right this moment. She will be well taken care of I assure you. My son will see to it that she is taught everything she needs to know about being one of us, and towards the end of the month he will take her to our enemy."

"I want to see her. Take me to her."

"No. You were ordered not to see her."

"You too? The guards wouldn't even tell me."

"The guards are not allowed to speak to you unless it is to relay to you orders or a message. They cannot speak to royalty, only to servants. Unless you wish them to share your bed, of course."

"Share my bed?" Hermione had to ask.

"For the guard to share your bed, Hermione. To share intimacy with him."

"That will never happen." Hermione shook her head vehemently. "I will never sleep with any man here."

"Oh," The Queen's surprise was genuine, "Has my son not told you that it is acceptable? I must have a talk with him about his duty to tell you these things. You know, when I was a young vampire, my King wouldn't let me share anyone else's bed? He said not until he had his heir. It was very selfish of him. And when I did have Draco, he said that I was his property and nobody else's. Still, he would starve Draco if he knew that his son was now shirking his duty, as he did to me."

"I do not want to sleep with anyone Queen. I just want to see my friend." The Queen took Hermione's arm and together they started walking down the hall.

The Queen also ignored her comment. "You know you missed the party in your honor last night. My son said that he would reschedule it to tonight. He said that you had an unexpected guest with you that he needed to take care of." Hermione gasped, her spine stiffening.

"Now child, she is still here. Just as before you fell asleep."

"I don't want to keep asking you ma'am. Please tell me where I can find my friend."

"No. As I said before, I cannot tell you. Nobody is permitted to tell you. Draco is being sensitive to your feelings by keeping you away. He knows that if you see her, you will not want him to take her where she belongs. He is sparing you the pain he knows you will feel."

"That is all very high and mighty of him Ma'am, but—"

"You must call me by my given name Hermione. We are family."

"I find this still very strange. If you don't mind me asking, what year were you born in?"

"1727 of course. Why would you ask such a thing?"

"And you have lived here how long?"

"Once again, I thought my son had explained to you about these facts." The Queen stopped and looked at her. "I have lived here for two hundred fifty years, nine months and three days."

"Just my point." Hermione began. She was shaken by the large number, but continued. "You have no idea what world is beyond these walls. You know only what the men tell you. You have no idea what has changed besides what is here. I want to live in that world with my friend. Yes, I have always been fascinated with vampires, but I do not want to live my life behind these walls. I want to change the way vampires live. The women here are repressed."

"Hermione. You are sailing without a ship here. Draco makes the laws, you are here to support him and care for his children."

Hermione grit her teeth on that one. "I demand to see Draco or Ginny."

"Ginny will be at the other Kingdom in a month. She will shortly become your enemy. She will bare heirs to be her new King's successors, and some day, Draco or your heir, will kill him or his heir and unite the two kingdoms." Draco's mother started along a corridor then, dragging Hermione with her. Hermione hadn't even realized they'd stopped. "Draco is in his study. He will not want to be disturbed."

"The guardsmen told me that if I had any concerns then I should tell him."

"Yes dear, but only if they are serious concerns. Akin to that of your pregnancy, an attack, or a vampire who was out of line with you. He will not want to hear of this, with your friend."

"What does he do all day?"

"He works, what else?"

"And what does he do all night?"

"He will be with you, or another, or he will be out on the hunt."

"With me or in another's bed, or out hurting people." Hermione whispered to herself. She sighed.

"Oh Hermione," The Queen paused to take in her measure, "We must get you ready for the party tonight. It is nearing sun down." Hermione let the Queen drag her down to her room and assist her into a black gown. The Queen fixed her hair in a swirl atop her head, and handed her a black fan to fan her face with against the night's heat. "You look lovely. Just wait until Draco sees you."

Hermione could care less about what Draco saw her in. She was too concerned about getting to her friend.

She swore that she would go on a strike if her orders or requests were not answered. She vowed it. And since the only thing that Draco truly cared about was this child, then she would starve herself. She wouldn't tell anyone about it, but she would just refuse to drink until Draco saw things her way and stopped hurting humans. They could just as easily breed animals here to drink from but not kill. Yes, that was what she would do.

She had to make a stand. She wouldn't really be hurting herself or the child, because Draco wouldn't let her starve to death. She did wonder how she was going to control the craving though. Food sounded so good right now. She found that she loved the taste of it. And she also wondered why she didn't own anything the color black. Black was the only color she would ever wear again. Every other color was just too bright, too hard on the eyes.

Hermione knew that the ring's influence was making her feel these things. She knew that if she didn't hurry, then she would have no will left to fight Draco for what she wanted. She knew that if she didn't have the will, then she wouldn't care what happened to Ginny. She also suspected that her friend would starve to death and be scared out of her mind before she could get to her.

At the party that night, Hermione sat next to Draco at the head of the table. There was music, dancing, and drinking. Draco held her hand through most of the night. They danced the first dance and then sat in their royal chairs that were set apart from everyone else in the room. Hermione thought that she was living in the eighteenth century. Everything was very, very, old fashioned.

Draco hadn't said a word to her all night. She sat as the picture of silence in her chair at the head of the room, as she assumed any obedient Queen would do. And she only tried to talk to Draco when they were dancing and nobody could hear them. He told her then, that they would talk later, as now was not the time. Hermione almost slapped him and stormed out of the ballroom. She barely managed to keep her composure. Draco must have realized her near explosion however, because he kissed that damn ring of his, and from then on, she didn't want to leave his side, or do anything that would embarrass him. Hermione felt like a puppet at the ends of his strings, and that was exactly what she was.

Draco conversed with others at the party, and she was either left to her chair, or silent at his side. The crowds laughed, and they toasted. She felt like she was somehow very out of place. Hermione decided to test Draco. She wanted to have a good time, but she was getting damn irritated with him. She wanted to see if what she'd been told was true. Would he really not mind if she flirted with someone else? She then left his side. Draco was still engaged in the conversation, and couldn't follow her even if he chose to. She could still feel his eyes on her back.

Hermione chose the first good-looking man with his fangs not showing that she could find. "Do you want to dance?" She asked the vampire. He smiled at her. "You know I cannot dance with you Your Majeste. It is not permitted."

"Not on the floor no." she agreed, hoping against hope, that Draco was furious and on his way over to them to yell at her. He wasn't. A quick glance over at him told her that. The man wasn't even looking at her anymore. He had just turned back to his friend and was now ignoring her. That bastard.

She would teach him to care about her. As a matter of fact, she was sure a part of him already did. It was a start. As of yet though, nobody had said anything to her about her lack of appetite. "Why don't we break the rules for once and cut the rug a little. Draco won't mind. I have his permission to do this."

"If that be your wish my Queen." The wary man agreed.

Hermione took the hand he offered, and lead him to the dance floor. When the man pulled her into his arms, there was a collective gasp from the crowd. They began to dance. Hermione hoped that Draco was watching this, as it was forbidden. She must only be able to have affairs if they were discreet. It was already clear that she was never ever allowed to dance with another man in public. Hermione smiled into the handsome man's eyes.

When the dance was over Draco claimed her hand. He glared at the other vampire and ordered him into his office first thing in the morning. He then dragged Hermione away from him.

Draco took her back up to the front of the room and stood on the small platform where their chairs sat. With her in front of him, and a glass of blood in his hand, he raised it up high and waited for others to do so too. When they did he began his speech. "As your king, I have sworn to protect you with my life, I have given you that silent oath the night I was bonded with my Queen. And here she stands, she and the life of my heir inside her. This party was a welcoming party for her and the child she will bare. I know you will all devote yourselves to her as you have devoted yourselves to me. My father was a great King. He did his duty and now I will do mine. To the Zandoffmoochenni." He shouted and raised his glass to the crowd. They cheered, raised theirs higher, and drank. Draco tried to get Hermione to drink then. He placed the cup to her lips and tried to force her to except it. "What are you doing?" he hissed at her. "Why wont you drink the blood?"

Hermione couldn't answer him because she knew that the moment she opened her mouth, he would feed her. "If you want to shame me tonight, if that is your game, then you may leave now and go to our room. Await me there. I will come shortly and we will discuss your need for an affair so soon after our bonding. Maybe we could improve on that."

Still, Hermione didn't say a word. Draco stopped talking to her when he noticed that some of the guests were starting to pay attention to what was being said. Draco let go of her and ordered her to go to the master chamber loud enough for all the guests to hear. They all started cheering, thinking that their King and Queen could not get enough of each other. When in reality, Hermione had had enough of her cocky King.

…..

"Why is he so arrogant? I just want to kill him." Hermione raged at Sally. She was pacing back and fourth in her room while Sally was trying to get her into a nightgown. "He had the nerve to order me about in front of everyone. And then, and then, I actually obeyed him. It was that damn ring I'm telling you. That damn ring made me do it. Every time he kisses it I'm screwed. All my wants just fly out the window."

"Begging your pardon Queen, but isn't that the way things are? Your Majesty, you will freeze if you don't put your night gown on." Sally said, still chasing her around the room.

"I will change myself." Hermione snatched the garment out of Sally's hand as she walked and shook it in a harsh gestured. "All I want is for Draco to pay attention to what I have to say. All I want is for someone to listen and stop treating me like I am any different as a vampire than I was as a human. Answer this Sally, why does everyone treat me differently? I can't even talk to who I want to talk to and I can't even free my best friend from a room she doesn't want to be in, even though I am this Queen whom everyone fears." Hermione stopped her pacing and turned to the woman, gesturing for an answer with the gown she held in her fist.

"Life is different in death because you are now our Queen, Your Majeste." Sally began. "We treat you with respect. Our King told us not to worry you with your friend because he didn't want you upset with the babe."

Hermione growled and threw the nightdress onto the bed, only to resume pacing with a reckless restraint.

"Leave Sally," a deep voice ordered, coming from the doorway. Sally immediately curtsied and left. Hermione didn't stop pacing or even look at Draco, the man who she despised for the time being. "What are you filling the poor girl's head with Hermione?" He asked as he began undressing.

"Nothing much. Just a list of your faults." Somehow, her comment amused Draco. He couldn't hide his grin.

"I see. And might you want to tell me your thoughts about my faults?"

"No." she said. Hermione turned to face him and noticed that he had taken his shirt off, exposing his lean hard-muscled back. She blinked fast to keep from dreaming and to help get her set on her goal again. This was really her husband; she couldn't believe her luck.

"I am not sleeping here tonight." Hermione determined. "I think I will go and sleep in Ginny's chamber. I will tell the guards to relay any messages I have for you, but there might not be many, because I don't think that you are that significant a person to tell anything to or to ask anything of." She said. Hermione waked to the door and opened it. She was half way out when she turned to look back at Draco. He was getting into bed, stark naked. He didn't even look like he cared where she went. "Draco?" she asked with uncertainty.

"Are you done carrying on like an adolescent of no more than 100 years?"

"I'm twenty-six. I don't even think that I turned two yet in vampire years." Gone was Hermione's vulnerability. She glared at Draco's horizontal form, then pulled the door closed behind her. Hermione tried to breath through her angry tears. She was oblivious to everything around her. She didn't care that there were guards standing on either side of her, or that Draco was just a door away. She gave up after a minute, and let her tears fall, eyes tightly shut. With the release of her emotions, Hermione also let her strength go. She rested her forehead against the hard wood of the door before she turned and sank to the ground. She was certain that even the guards at her sides, didn't care about her plight. As statutes were meant to, the guards never moved. As though, she didn't exist, like she meant nothing, Hermione mused. She was tired of it.

Hermione was in the throes of her misery, when the door opened and she fell backwards. Backwards, into Draco's strong arms. Somehow, her husband had known she was sitting on the ground. He didn't say a word to her, nor she to him, but he took her up against his chest like she weighed little over a feather, and carried her to their bed. One of the guards shut the door behind them.

"Draco?"

"What?"

"Why is it that I hate it here? Why won't you listen to me or let me talk to anyone?" she sighed against him as he lay her down. Draco curled his body around hers.

"You'll settle in." his voice was soft, scratchy, but soothing. "If you want to change something in the kingdom you have just to ask. If you want to talk to someone, then talk. I don't know why you throw fits every night. You have only been pregnant for a short while. You have only been a vampire for a short while. I have tried to spare you and your friend from the emotion you will feel at having to become enemies. I have also given that some thought. Maybe she could remain with us as our prisoner. My enemy cannot marry anyone but her now that he has claimed her. He would also suffer greatly if she stayed here. But then," Draco sighed, "he would rage war with the Kingdom. I cannot have that when we are so recently bonded. The heir needs me to keep it safe and it would hardly be safe to have a war raged against us when my son is yet to be born."

Hermione jumped out of bed so fast the bed shook with the movement. "Like that," she cried out in anger. "Draco? What happened to you? Ever since we have been married you have acted cold toward me. I hate it. I want the other Draco back. This is not the man I love. I want the man I had before. Give me him." Hermione started pacing again. She swore she would run a hole through the floor if she didn't get what she wanted. She just couldn't seem to stop the erratic movement.

"Hermione, come to bed."

Hermione stared at him for a minute. She considered the way he had said it. It wasn't an order, just a request by the man she had married. Just a shadow of the man she had loved. There was no coldness in his tone; there was no order or spite, just a request. He probably just didn't want to waste his breath on commanding her. It sounded sweet and caring. And before Hermione even thought about whether she should obey it or not, she was. Hermione lay bed beside Draco and let him take her into his arms, she realized then, that this was just a new way that Draco could get her to do what he wanted, the scheming butthead. Hermione snuggled close.

Author's Note: If you like Vampire and Prey, check out my other DHr vampire story, Their Destiny.

Special thanks to voldyismyfather for reviewing my third chapter. I'm glad you loved it. I hope you love this one just as much.