Title – To Consort With The Devil 3/?
Rating – PG-13
Disclaimer – I own none of this, it all belongs to Rowling. I just have the honor of using her creations in my story. NO sex, slash or profanity.
Summary – A Traitor's Punishment
A/N – Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! All reviews, correction, suggestions and questions are welcome! Read and enjoy.
To Consort With The Devil
Chapter 3
The memory came to an end and the silver gas of the Memory Orb dissolved into nothingness. An odd silence descended upon the throne room as all eyes turned to the figure huddled on the ground and the powerful wizard standing over him.
Lord Voldemort had carefully watched the prisoner as the memory had played and was extremely pleased with his reactions.
Snape was trembling and his wide eyes were staring vacantly at the wall in front of him. His already pale skin had paled even more to a sickly grayish hue as he relived the nightmare of his youth. He released several shaky breaths and slowly turned his eyes up to the smiling Dark Lord.
"That was a dreadful memory to keep locked away my poor Severus." Voldemort said with mock sympathy, "How long have you been living with the fear, the guilt? Does it still torment you at night or perhaps you learned to repress that night and all memory of your dear, departed sister? Valeria was what – six? So young. So innocent."
At the mention of his lost sister Snape's eyes flashed and he clenched his fists to keep from attacking Voldemort in rage. He had no right to talk about Valeria, no right at all. They could torture him with his fear of vampires all they wanted, but Severus would be damned if he would allow this despicable excuse for a wizard stain the memory of his beloved sister.
"Don't you dare talk about my sister." Snape spat, "She is above your consideration and you are not worthy of even saying her name you bastard. Now that you've revealed that memory to everyone, what are you going to do about it?"
Voldemort smirked, deciding to ignore that display of bravado, and sat back down on his throne.
"Why Severus I thought you would never ask! Lucius!"
Out of the shadows behind the throne stepped Lucius Malfoy, unmasked and looking very pleased with himself. His short stay in Azkaban had done nothing to diminish the cruel and cunning look in those pale eyes. The Death Eater approached and bowed low before Voldemort.
"Yes my Lord?"
"You accomplished your mission did you not?"
"Of course my Lord." Malfoy replied smugly, giving Snape an evil grin before returning his attention to the Dark Lord. "He is here and waiting."
"Good, good. Go and bring my special guest, we are ready for his services."
Snape looked between Voldemort and Malfoy, trying to determine who they were talking about and what it had to do with him. Pushing away the fear that had paralyzed his mind during the memory, he began to put the clues together and came to a frightening conclusion. No pleas for mercy or excuses would save him now. Gasping, Snape stared up at Voldemort in horror and tried to crawl away from his doom. The Dark Lord lazily waved his wand and invisible ropes wrapped around his body, holding him immobile on the floor.
"There is no escape for you now Severus. No Dumbledore or Order to save you. You have not even begun to suffer for your betrayal."
Voldemort was interrupted by the return of Malfoy and the mysterious guest. The other Death Eaters moved in a bit closer to see the person Malfoy had spent two days searching for and many wondered what punishment their Lord had planned. Bellatrix Lestrange was the first to see the new arrival and gave a short bark of laughter, her mad mind ever in sync with her master's. Everyone else watched with barely concealed excitement, eager for their Lord to be done with the traitor so they could have their rightful turn at revenge.
Snape had managed to keep a hold on his fear and anxiety despite everything that had happened to him, but one look at the stranger and it all threatened to burst free and send him spiraling into madness. Somehow he stayed calm and did not struggle against his bonds, even as the new wizard approached.
At first glance the man looked like an ordinary wizard one might find shopping in Diagon Alley. He had long dark hair held back by a silver clasp and dressed in black robes trimmed in red satin. Polished black boots clicked on the stone floor as he entered the circle and focused his piercing gray eyes on Snape. His stern, foreign features sharpened to a hungry smile, revealing his pointed canines and showing the room he was indeed a vampire. It was confirmed that this stranger was not from Britain when he opened his mouth to address Voldemort in an Eastern European accent.
"Lord Voldemort, it is a honor to meet with you again." The man bowed before the Dark Lord and held his hands in front of him. Voldemort inclined his head respectfully and replied,
"Thank you for coming on such short notice Master Strix. I hope Lucius has been an accommodating host?"
The vampire nodded, glancing over at the still grinning Malfoy.
"He has been a most gracious host. I must admit when he explained that you desired my presence here tonight I was a little apprehensive. We did not part on the best of terms."
"I am willing to let bygones be bygones if you are. No sense in letting the past unduly influence the present now is there?" Voldemort said with a disarming smile. Strix the vampire smiled tightly and changed the subject by waving a hand in Snape's direction.
"Is he the night's entertainment?"
The Dark Lord looked back at Snape, who was silently staring at Strix in open horror. Perfect.
"Why yes he is. Severus, let me introduce you to Vladimir Strix, a vampire of high repute and power. Strix, this is Severus Snape, traitor, spy and condemned."
Strix casually moved closer to the bound prisoner and reached out a hand to touch Snape's head. Snape frantically squirmed in his bonds and barely swallowed the scream that threatened to escape. It was much harder to keep control when he was face to face with the thing he feared more than anything else in the world. The vampire smiled.
"He is afraid. An unusual reaction among Dark wizards like yourselves."
"This wizard's fear stems from unusual circumstances. A vampire drained his sister when they were children. He could do nothing to save her and the encounter has haunted him ever since." Voldemort answered and rose from his throne to stand next to the dark creature.
"Ah. That explains much, but not why you summoned me here." Strix said, a hint of impatience coloring his deep voice. He continued to gaze unemotionally at Snape, having quickly figured out why the Dark Lord wanted a vampire tonight, but wanted to hear Voldemort reveal his plan himself. Rubbing his fangs with his tongue, Strix waited while Voldemort began to circle the doomed traitor and spoke to the room in general.
"I gave much thought as to what would be the appropriate punishment for our wayward Potions master. Torture would be too easy and death would be too merciful. Severus fears neither of those things. But what if he was bound to the very thing he fears the most? What if he became the thing he fears the most, turned into a dark creature, doomed and outcast?" Murmurs of approval came from the assembled Death Eaters and Strix licked his lips in anticipation. Voldemort bent low to look Snape right in the eye. "Prepare to become your own worst nightmare. At your leisure Master Strix." Then he sat on the throne and prepared to enjoy the festivities.
Snape released a low moan and bowed his head, unable to meet the Dark Lord's evil gaze any longer. So this was what Voldemort had planned. Rape his mind, discover his worst fear and exploit it. Yes, it was a punishment worthy of a diabolical Dark Lord. When he raised his head it was to look into the mercurial eyes of Strix.
"Do not worry my child," the vampire told him quietly, "Everything will be all right. I will take good care of you."
The hall fell silent yet again as Strix brushed Snape's lank black hair behind his ears and placed his hands on the thin shoulders. Snape shivered and found that he was unable to look away from the hypnotic gaze of the vampire before him. Strix flashed his fangs.
"Relax and it will not be so bad." The vampire paused thoughtfully, "Although on second thought, I think your pain and suffering is the whole point."
Too frozen by fear now to struggle anymore, Snape heard Strix mutter something a foreign language and his robes opened to expose his neck and shoulders. He felt the icy hands of the vampire trail across his bare skin to his throat, pressing down gently where his pulse beat rapidly. A long fingernail scratched his skin, drawing blood.
Strix brought the finger to his lips and sucked on it, tasting Snape's warm blood and finding it to be delicious as all wizard blood, especially pure wizard blood, tended to be. There was something about magic that made wizarding blood exceptionally scrumptious and Strix had a hard time not giving in to his blood lust and draining Snape quickly. Voldemort wanted a show and Strix would give him one. He had turned several wizards over his long lifetime and if there was one thing Strix knew how to do, it was how to prolong the change from human to vampire as long as possible.
"Do you know how a vampire turns its victim my child?"
Snape weakly nodded his head, all too aware of the feeding habits and customs of vampires.
"Let me explain the process anyway." Strix said, his voice reverent as his fingers tightened ever so slightly around the pale neck. "First I will drink your blood almost to the brink of death, though not quite. It will be painful to be so close to the blessed release of death but unable to be fully embraced by it. For three days and nights you must hover at this edge, alive yet dead, dead yet still alive.
"Then at daybreak on the fourth day you will drink from me and I will utter the incantations that will bind you as one of my kind. You will then rise later that night as a vampire, ready to stalk the shadows."
The sudden expression of fear and despair on the wizard's face was beautiful to behold, Strix realized as he studied Snape carefully. If he accepted his fate now, he would be less likely to fight the change over the next four days and make Strix's job that much easier. But Strix sensed a lot of fight left in this wizard and let his fingers rub painfully over the bleeding scratch on Snape's throat. The Potions master frowned and found the inner strength to glare defiantly up at the vampire, former fear banished.
"Go on, get started with it already. I can't stop you, but I will fight you every step of the way."
"Oh I know you will, it wouldn't be much fun if you didn't. Shall we begin?" Strix said with a smirk.
Snape tore his eyes away from the vampire's enchanting smile and stared down at the floor, unwilling to look at anyone in his moment of defeat, especially Voldemort. He gave one last token struggle against the magical bonds holding him still and then slumped into Strix's waiting arms. He could feel the creature's cold breath on his skin before sharp fangs sank deep into his throat. Snape cried out as pain blossomed in his neck and settled into a painful throb as the vampire began to feed.
It was an odd sensation, having one's blood forcibly sucked out of you by a greedy mouth, and Snape wondered if this was how Valeria felt in the hands of the vampire who killed her. The pain continued unabated and soon Snape began to feel lightheaded and weak. There was no end to the misery and it spread throughout his body, leaving him limp and dizzy. All thoughts of fighting vanished in the face of this pure flood of pain.
As his vision began to turn black, Snape felt nothing but the pain that consumed his body and mind. He forgot his fear, despair and defiance. He forgot about his sister and his first encounter with a vampire. He forgot about Voldemort and the Death Eaters watching and enjoying his torment.
Snape's last thought before he lost consciousness was that if he were truly fortunate the vampire would go too far and actually kill him.
Then everything went dark.
Now that I have introduced the vampire aspect of this fic I feel I should explain that my concept of vampirism and their world is going to be as close to JK Rowling's universe as possible. I won't be introducing people or concepts from other fantasy/horror universes i.e. Anne Rice or Buffy the Vamp. Slayer. (Strix is a unique OC that I will connect to an infamous Dark Lord of the early 20th century and will reveal more about as the fic continues). I will try to remain faithful to Rowling's idea of vampires, but as she as given us few clues to their nature most of Snape's ordeal will be drawn from elements of the HP world or made up by yours truly.
In Ch. 4 Snape awakens a changed person and Voldemort has fun.
Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave support over the stupid flame issue! I appreciate the kind words and support. Keep the reviews coming!