.

Vampire and Prey

by lookimacloud

Chapter

A New Game

Such a strange custom they had, Hermione pondered angrily as she waltzed from Draco's office. They couldn't love? It seemed like she lived in some emotionally stunted world. So these King Gods, whom she assumed were the past vampire kings, killed anyone who fell in love with each other. Oh no, they killed only the women. Sexist fiends. So the slivy of the speech Draco gave her earlier was that they couldn't love each other because she would die in the end, Draco's daughter was cursed because he slept with a female vampire that he had feelings for. Oh, and because Annabell was the first female ever to be born a vampire. And now Hermione knew that her own mother died because the evil part of her new race wanted to anger their enemy, her King –husband. Oh lord.

Hermione felt the pain of losing her mother even more now that she knew the truth about what happened to her. She wanted to go over to the other kingdom and kill every last one of those damn vampires. But first she had to get to know her daughter, who inconsequently, was older than herself.

After twenty minutes of searching, Hermione still didn't find Annabell in the castle. So she decided that she was going to go in search of Ginny again. But this time she knew where she was going.

Hermione waltzed directly into her mother-in-law's room first, just to see if she would be able to persuade her into a short walk to the towers. She figured that her mother-in-law might be a little more sympathetic towards her cause. In fact, the only problem that had occurred with her plan, was that her mother-in-law wasn't in the room. So that option was closed. Hermione then went to her own quarters and rang for Sally. Sally immediately appeared, knocking on her door. Hermione opened it and Sally curtsied as usual. "Yes Queen?" Hermione grit her teeth. She pulled Sally into the room by her hand and closed the door.

"I know that Ginny is in the tower and I demand that you take me to her. I command you as my subject but also request it of you as my friend.

Sally had never seen her Queen like this before. Her Queen usually ordered her to stop being formal with her, and that was the only order she ever gave anyone. Sally could tell that her Queen was truly upset this afternoon however. "I am sorry Queen but my orders are to never take you to see the enemy. Orders directly from my King, Your Majeste."

"I changed them just now. I demand this. If you do not take me to her right now Sally I will have you put in the dungeon with the lowest criminals. I swear it Sally and I am not joking. I don't want to do it but I will. Take me to Ginny!"

"I cannot Queen."

Tears of frustration ran down Hermione's face and she quickly wiped the evidence of such a weakness away. In doing so she missed the look on Sally's face.

Sally was horrified. She had never actually seen water flow from someone's eyes before, as she'd been adopted out of the human race when she was scarcely a year old and bonded with the abusive twenty-year-old son of a very wealthy noble. Oh she's heard of this water of course, but she'd never actually experienced it or seen it. Even when her bonding mate emotionally beat her down because she would not have been his choice. She'd heard that it was a human affliction that represented pain and suffering. She'd been told that this water represented weakness in the human race. She had never known a vampire to feel such things. Vampires didn't feel. Well, now that Sally thought about it, they did have minor feelings, feelings of happiness and such. She'd been happy when the former King had brought her to live in the castle and out of the reach of her mate. But these feeling were never felt over another vampire. It was forbidden. Still, she could not disobey an order from her King. Not even for the Queen who had treated her so kindly.

"Fine." Hermione said as if she were a child not getting her way. "Then I will go and sleep with the guards to get him to talk to me and then I will find out how to get to the tower." Hermione swept from the room leaving the stunned maid behind.

She next went to Gabriel to see if he would help. She knew he wouldn't and that who she really needed was the Queen but she decided that it couldn't hurt to try him. She found Gabriel in the library looking for a book. He was startled when she popped in front of him out of nowhere. "Gabriel." She started in a commanding voice. Gabriel seemed prepared for her demand before he even knew what it was. "I need you to take me to Ginny right away. Just to the towers. Yes I know about them." She added when he looked at her in surprise. She decided to press her advantage. "I need to speak with her now." She turned and started waking toward the door as if he would immediately follow her. "Well," she demanded when he hadn't moved a muscle.

"My Queen," Gabriel began.

"Oh don't give me that crap about not disobeying Draco's order, because he told me to find you and tell you that you can take me to her." When he still looked to hesitate however, she got even more impatient. "Oh please, how do you think I know about the tower in the first place if Draco hadn't told me?" That must have been the swaying information because Gabriel calmed.

"Alright then Your Majeste. Follow me." He stepped out of the door and waited for her to follow. Gabriel took her around a series of corners and curves. On her own, Hermione was sure she would never have found the tower. He took her through one secret door after another and by the time they had finished their walk in silence, she was standing in a corridor full of guards lining the halls. They each were built and fierce-looking. None of them glanced her way as she walked through the hall just in front of Gabriel, but she could tell that they were curious and itching to look in her direction as she made her way.

Hermione halted at the end of the long hall, in front of four guards who were blocking her passage through the door. "Give way by order of the Queen." She growled. She was surprised herself that she had given that order so harshly but they had to know that she meant business. Besides, she was terrified about how she would find Ginny. Would her friend be in chains locked to a wall with rats and bread on a plate far out of her reach? She had to know. Still, the guards didn't show physically that they had heard her. So she tried what she had been forced to do a lot lately, plain trickery. "Give way by the orders of the King's wish." They gave way. But she noted, not before looking for conformation from Gabriel's nodding head. She would have to remedy that one of these days.

As Hermione opened the door with caution, she began to cry again. She couldn't seem to help it. Her friend had been locked up in this tower for four months. She stepped into the room and tried to close the door for privacy. It didn't work. As soon as she tried to shut them out, all of the guards filed into the room to stand around it's perimeter, offering her protection from what they perceived as a threat. Two guards also stood on either side of her as she walked further into the room to search for her friend. Even when she glared at them, they paid no attention and continued to follow. Hermione gave up.

She looked around her friend's containment with interest. It wasn't as bad as she'd first thought it would be. This room was as big as her old apartment. It was elegantly furnished too. There were several books on a shelf and half of them were lying around the room as if they had been recently read and not returned yet. When she looked closer she saw her friend. Ginny was sitting in a rocking chair staring out of a giant window at the sunset. "Just put the food tray on the end table Mandala if you would. I'm not that hungry tonight. Are you early or is it just me?"

Hermione couldn't say a word. She was overwhelmed with relief and happiness.

"There is nothing I can do. I feel so hopeless."

"You shouldn't feel hopeless. Everything will be fine."

Bright lights, white walls.

"Mandala?" Ginny questioned again. She turned around then. She gasped. "Hermione!" Ginny rushed up to her friend as soon as she saw her. Hermione's guards wouldn't let her make physical contact though and held out their hands to ward her off. Ginny stopped in her tracks. "Oh Hermione I was so worried about you. When Mandala told me what was going on and about you I was so scared. Are you okay? Speak to me."

"Oh Ginny." Hermione rushed the rest of the way to her friend and hugged her tightly before her two guards could force Ginny to let go of her. They then held onto both of Ginny's arms to hold her away from Hermione. "Release her this instant." She ordered.

"It's okay Hermione." Ginny smiled a small smile. "It felt good while it lasted. I haven't had a hug in a long while. Do you realize that our families and friends both think that we're dead?"

"I know. I have been so worried for you Gin. I haven't slept in a long while. I have searched for you every day. Nobody would tell me where you were or how you were being treated or anything. The only thing that I knew was that Draco was going to take you to the other kingdom to marry our sworn enemy and that we would only see each other again when he killed the man."

Hermione then noticed how sick her friend looked. "What is it Gin? Gin!"

"What is going to happen to me Hermione? Nobody told me why I was here just that I would be out soon."

"Oh, Ginny. What do you know?"

"That I was brought here for a short time, that I wouldn't be hurt while I was here, and that I am now a vampire. I have to admit that I have had time to get used to the idea and I have read history books on vampire theories so I am not as scared as I was when I was first told. I didn't believe them at first but then I started feel strange and cravings and everything and…what did you say about Draco and kingdoms?"

"Oh Ginny I am so sorry." Hermione glared at her guards. "Get out of this room. I demand it Queen to subjects. Get out now! –Or I will demand that punishment should be met out accordingly." None of her guards would listen to her. "I need a solder who has honor, discipline, and a history of obeying orders to stand before me. I have a special task that I need him to follow through with." Every soldier in the room moved forward a step. "You." She demanded of the nearest, "What is your name?" she asked. The man didn't answer her. She stepped up to the handsome man. "Do you have a wife sir?" she demanded. The man just looked forward. "Don't answer me then. You will just have to deal with her then, if what I am about to do will upset her, as I am sure it will." With that said, Hermione grabbed his head and leaned forward on her tiptoes to kiss him full on the mouth for all of two brief seconds. "Now," she said in a commanding voice ignoring Ginny's gasp and Gabriel's grin. "We are officially lovers. Tell me your name. I demand the English language from my lover."

The solder wasn't phased in the least. He did show signs of a smile though, and looking around the room showed that some of the other solders were trying to hold back theirs as well. "Well?" she demanded again. "This is what I was told. I was told that unless I took solders to bed then they wouldn't talk to me so I have formally announced it. Now I demand for the final time sir, what your name is or I will give this special task to another."

The disciplined man let his smile show this time and told her. "Nicolas Your Majeste."

Hermione grunted in a manly satisfied fashion and smiled back. "Now Nicolas I demand that you to take all of these men from this room this instant and place them all in the dungeon until I am able to come down there and deliver my lecture about obedience to them. You may keep guard there and Gabriel can guard me outside this door. Leave now all of you by order of the Queen."

"I don't think that they are going to listen Mione." Ginny laughed. "You had me going there. I think that you have turned as nuts as myself. I have been completely miserable here. My family thinks that I am dead and apparently now I am set up to marry a stranger that you call enemy. This is great. Truly it is."

Just then Mandala came into the room with Ginny's dinner. She took one look at the room full of people and stood still. Then she noticed her Queen. "Your Majeste." She curtsied, tray in hand. Hermione bowed her head in acknowledgment. Her head started to spin as Mandala set the tray full of blood-soaked raw meet and vegetables onto the table next to her. She took one look at the delicious meal and sank down to the floor in a dead faint.

Draco got the news of his Queen's faint almost immediately. He was frantic to get to her. When he realized where she was he was even more concerned, and even more angry.

"Hermione." He demanded in a harsh voice to the woman lying on the tower floor. "Hand me that drink," he ordered the nearest solder.

"What is wrong with her Draco?" Ginny asked as the guards restrained her from across the room.

Draco looked up at the use of his name. "I am King Draco of Zandoffmoocheni to you." He hissed at her. "Nothing." He said in a softer voice. "She is pregnant and hasn't eaten in weeks." Draco tilted Hermione's head back, and slowly filled her mouth with blood. Hermione came awake sputtering.

She glared up at her tormenter and savior for only a moment before grasping the goblet of blood and viciously drinking it as only the starved could. Draco lifted her up and placed her gurgling form on the bed where he towered over her. "There now, don't you feel better Queen?"

Hermione nodded her head.

"I should have made you eat a long time ago." He sighed as if he were disappointed, but no more than that. "I command that you feed my child throughout the rest of the pregnancy."

Once again Hermione nodded her head. She was too dizzy from the foreign nutrients to take exception to his high-handed remarks. "Draco. I came here to say goodbye to Ginny and to tell her why. Please let me do that in private."

"No. You shouldn't even be here." He turned to glare at his men.

"It's not their fault. I tricked them."

"I still will not let you alone with my enemy."

Hermione sighed. "With only you here then." She compromised. Draco considered.

"Five minutes," he degreed. "Then you will never speak to each other unless I am with you." He spoke more for his men's benefit than hers but Hermione was grateful to him all the same. "Go.' He ordered the men.

When the three of them were alone, Draco sat in the chair facing the window, while Ginny scrambled on the bed.

Ginny, silent until now, demanded answers from Hermione. "Hermione what's wrong here? -With Draco. Your pregnant?" she began agitated.

"Nothing is wrong here Gin. Draco has been this way since we married…"

"But that isn't Draco?" Ginny hoped, under her breath.

"He can still hear you Gin." Hermione laughed.

"You're avoiding my questions," she wined. "Why am I your enemy Mione?"

Hermione froze. "You will never be my enemy. I will always love you as my friend."

"But Draco said…"

"I know what he said. He tells me that every day. He wants you to go away soon and I don't know when we can see each other again."

"Where?" she asked tentatively.

"Draco?" Hermione called him. "Could you please explain this to her?" Draco just stared out the window.

"Draco please! She isn't your enemy yet and she deserves to know."

Draco sighed and spoke. "I will soon take you to my enemy and he will marry you and bond with you. You will then be his Queen and birth his heirs."

"What?" Ginny asked panicked.

"Draco?" Hermione pleaded with him. She then turned to Ginny. "What Draco is trying to say is that you will marry his relative and because they hate each other, we can't be friends."

"That is the child's version yes." Draco commented.

"But why will I marry this man?" Ginny asked him.

"Because he will demand it of you. The night that Hermione became my Queen, Blaise Zabini told the entire vampire world that he would bond with you."

"Bond?"

"Marry on vampire terms." Hermione answered.

"But why me?"

"Because you are friends with me and Draco married me."

"That doesn't make sense."

Draco was getting fed up with talking about his enemy. He wanted to get it over with so that he could yell at his solders and Hermione in private. "It doesn't have to make sense to you. The only thing that you need to know is that you are dead and you will never go back home to your family. All you need to know, is that you will marry Zabini on his birthday and then have his child nine months later. All you need to know, is that you will never see my Queen as long as your King lives."

"I refuse." Ginny answered.

"You can't."

"But I do."

"Oh Draco?" Hermione exclaimed when she saw he was about to argue. "You said that you never bonded a man and woman unless the woman agreed to marry and has married the man. Ginny hasn't done that."

"It won't matter in her case." He said. "I have kept her prisoner in this place with no way for Zabini to court her here. That is just a minor technicality that doesn't really apply to Princes."

"But what about what I want?" Ginny asked him.

"It doesn't matter what you want."

"This is really screwed up." Ginny shrieked. "I had a life. I had a family! I had friends. Does none of that matter? Does the only thing that matter have to do with me obeying this King?"

"Prince until you bond."

"Whatever." She said.

Hermione pushed herself into a higher sitting position and grabbed hold of her friend. "I love you Gin." She whispered as she wrapped her arms around Ginny's trembling form and rocked her.

Draco turned a blind eye to Ginny's plight and once again looked out the window.

His given five minutes were over before Hermione knew it. She was suddenly pulled out of Ginny's shaking arms, and forcibly pulled out of the tower room while Ginny watched the tower doors slam and lock.

"Draco please." Hermione pleaded with him when they were out of earshot. "She is very upset and I am the only friend that she has here."

"She doesn't need to make friends here." He said. "She will make friends in her King's kingdom. Not here."

"Draco you set her in this world where she has nothing, knows nothing, and needs every care. She will not adjust like I did. She is not like that. Let me go back to her."

"The only reason that she has any of these feelings is because you disobeyed me. Now all of my solders are going to get punished because of your insolence. You could have spared her this pain if you had followed orders. She was fine and she will be again. You will listen to me this time."

Hermione came to a complete stop, halting Draco when he tried to drag her on.

"Don't make me use this ring Queen." He warned. Hermione grit her teeth and walked on, pulling him.

"I hate you sometimes Draco you know that?"

He shrugged.

"You need to change your attitude towards me because as it is, I have had to flirt and kiss every man that I want to talk too just to get them to say boo to me. And let me tell you, it hasn't been bad, but it can be exhausting."

Draco spun her around. "Who have you kissed?" he demanded grasping her shoulders and squeezing hard.

"It doesn't matter. The only thing that does matter is the reason why. I am supposed to command them, yet nobody will take my commands. So I will eventually be forced to become a whore."

"Who will not follow your orders?" Draco demanded to know. He would punish the offenders to no end. "Any command not followed is an insult to me as well as you. They will be properly punished. You should have told me about these offenders. This is information that I demand to know."

"Draco the reason they are not listening to me, is because they think that you told them that they can't follow any of the commands that I give." She hoped that she worded that right. With luck, Hermione hoped that Draco would command his solders to listen to any order that she gave, no matter what.

…..

"You will follow your Queen's orders." Draco demanded to all of his solders. They were currently lined up and looking like they would be sent into the dungeons for all time until they died from lack of food. "I will know the names of the men who have disobeyed this new order and I will have them now. Any who have not listened to my Queen stand forward from the line."

Every solder save four took a step forward. "How can this be?" Draco demanded of them. "You are all loyal and have proven to be loyal over centuries. Why are you not obeying orders? Amos I will have your answer." He demanded of the knight standing the closest to him.

"My Queen demanded something against your commands Your Majeste."

"And what was that?"

"To be taken to our enemy, King." He replied.

"Have you obeyed every order that she has given you that had nothing to do with our enemy?" the King asked.

"No, my lord."

"And what were those commands." Draco was starting to understand the reason why his guards were disobeying the woman.

"My Queen demanded I speak to her while I was on duty King. She also wished to play a game called Checkers with me King."

"Checkers?" Draco wandered aloud. She wished to play checkers? He made a mental note to tell her of all the things she could fill her day and night with so that she wouldn't be introducing human games as mediocre as checkers, into his Kingdom.

"Are all of her orders to you, placed in the same category as this?" He questioned his men.

"Yes Your Majeste." The knights chanted.

"And what of you four?" He asked the remaining men. "Why haven't you been assailed with these commands?"

"Our Queen has not yet met us Your Majeste. We don't think that she knows about the stables we guard yet."

"I see. You are all dismissed as long as the Queen doesn't take you for fools again. If she claims I gave her permission for one of her adventures, ask to see my allowance on parchment first."

Author's Note: Special thanks to,

btvs22

voldyismyfather

for commenting on my last chapter. I hope you both like this one as well. As always, let me know what you think.