AN: Hey! I got a new chapter up extra fast! Umm...yeah, Harry is a little(ok, maybe more than a little) OOC in this chapter, but he's already pretty damn OOC anyway, so why should that bother you? I like this chapter, myself, but I don't think it's my best. Send me lots of nice reviews and I might even be willing to work extra hard and update tomorrow!

Disclaim Her: What up, homies? Yo! HP is not mine...

Chapter 25: Blood

Now, I had a problem. My human rationality and conscience was screaming at me from the dark recesses of my mind. I longed for a kill, but it would kill me later.

I was nearly too far gone to care.

It took me only a few minutes to get to Hogsmeade, and I melted into the shadows, a talent that I was becoming quite proficient at. I headed down into a dark section of town, not unlike Knockturn Alley, in the hopes that I might run into a truly sorry excuse for a human being, so that I could...feed...without feeling as guilty. Once I reached a suitably grimy spot, I stepped into the open, and tried to appear confused, and perhaps a bit younger than sixteen. It did not take me long to be accosted by an elderly man.

"Hello, there, little boy," He leered down at me, as I cowered before him, seeming much younger than I really was. "Are you lost?"

I nodded, wondering what he would do, and if I was really willing to do this.

"Well then, what say I help you find your way home, hmm?"

He grabbed me and pulled me into an alley, dark and disgusting, and even worse, already in use. There was a man and a woman in the back corner, and it looked very much like the woman was taking a bite out of the man. She smirked in my direction, revealing fangs, and a line of blood trailing down from her mouth. I shuddered, even though I knew I was not much better, and what I would be doing was probably worse. I turned my attention back to the man, who continued to leer at me.

"Here now, let me help you out of those dirty clothes..."

He grabbed my shirt and made to pull it off of me, but I caught his arm. Then I looked him in the eye, smirked, and twisted. There was a sickening crack, and he fell to the ground, screaming. I did not bother silencing him, since the only others close enough to hear were the...'couple'...in the corner, and there was little chance that the screaming would bother them.

I made short work of the man, and was cleaning the blood off my face as best I could, when the woman, who I assumed was a vampire, approached me. I took a glance at where she had been standing before, and I could see the body of the man she had been with. I looked up to meet her eyes, and she spoke.

"You are Harry Potter." It was a statement, not a question, and her eyes did not once flicker up to my scar.

"Yes."

"What are you doing in a place like this?"

I laughed mirthlessly. "I thought that would be pretty obvious, considering the bloody mess in front of me that used to be a man."

She smiled at me, rather sadly, almost. "You do not like to kill."

"This is only the second time I've killed. And the first was an accident."

She kicked the corpse of the man away. "This one will not be missed, and there are a few young ones who will rejoice in his passing. You have done the world a favor."

I stood up, and took a good look at her. She fit the vampire stereotype pretty well. Tall, thin, and pale, with black hair and black eyes. She was beautiful, that was certain, and if I had not been entirely sure that I was gay, well...

"What's your name?"

"Rachel."

"No last name?"

"I used to have one, but I have long since forgotten it."

"You're a vampire."

She smirked again, and this time her fangs did not scare me.

"You do not belong here, young Harry Potter. Daemon or not, this is not your place."

I started. "You...you know what I am?"

She frowned slightly. "You do not?"

I shrugged, somewhat embarrased. "I know what I am, I just don't know anything about what I am."

"That is not right. Daemon children should be recognised right away, and raised with full knowledge of their inheritance."

"Well, we didn't know what I was until a week of so after I woke up from death."

"You know nothing about your nature?"

"Not really..."

She looked me over, and I realised what it was that put me on edge more than anything else about this woman. I had gotten so used to the smell of humans, that I just expected it, but this woman, she had no scent at all. And it disoriented me. Finally, she spoke again.

"I will tell you about your kind. Everything you need to know. Just take me to where you are staying, and I will help you as best I can."

I shook my head. "I don't think that's a good idea...I've got a few friends there at the moment, and one of them is unconscious after cutting himself open, so..."

"You do not trust me. You think I will hurt your bleeding friend."

"Well, yeah. I just saw you kill a man, and-"

"No worries, Harry Potter. I will not harm your mate."

I nodded, believing her for some reason. I got the feeling that Ron would have been brandishing a wand in her face had he been in the same situation. Then something she said caught my ear.

"Mate?"

She smiled. "Yes. I will explain. Just lead onward."

I was getting more and more confused by the moment. What had she meant by 'mate'? And why on earth was I trusting her so soon? I got the feeling that I had just bitten off more than I could chew with this Rachel person...

And even worse, how would Ron react when I came back covered in blood with a vampire in tow?