Dark Confrontations

Even the rats avoided this place; perhaps they did not wish to wind up in the stewpot of some sleazy tavern. The few street lanterns that remained unsmashed emitted an eery green radiance in the descending twilight. Dead wreaths of briar thorns hung from merchant doors mocking the Yule season. A stench of sewage assaulted Nymphadora's nostrils. Knockturn Alley was a warren of everchanging paths each more twisted and dodgier than the next. Its shady denizens scowled at her in undisguised malevolence as the frantic auror tore through the cobblestone corridors intent on hunting down her quarry. Turning the corner she caught a blur of a familiar grey hooded figure entering a tunnel.

Leaving the archway, Tonks navigated the diverging streets with trepidation. Her auror instincts were tingling. She slowed her pace to listen for movement. The minutes crept by like millenia. Cautiously Tonks paused to study the dilapidated buildings for a recognizable landmark. Her wand was brandished in readiness. There were reports of shoppers who had gotten lost in these notorious alleyways ... they were never heard from again. Tonks did not want to become another statistic. A grim shadow cast from behind caused her to whip around and face her potential assailant.

"Out for a moonlit stroll little hart?" Charm oozed deceptively from his leering lips.

"I saw you earlier. You were watching me follow you, why didn't you stop for me?" Tonks greedily memorized his gaunt frame and stubbled face. Remus where have you been?

"I was busy." Remus replied tersely, his eyes shifting quickly from her to his companion. A frail girl in a ragged pinafore stood at his side in unnatural silence.

"We really need to talk some more." She insisted. He seemed so twitchy.

"There is nothing left to say." He gripped the girl's wrist a trifle too harshly to Tonks's displeasure. The girl's azure gaze appeared suspiciously vacant and glassy…

"What do you mean? You've been gone for weeks. You left without telling the Order of your whereabouts. Everyone is worried sick about you." Her admonishment caused him to smirk uncharacteristically.

"It's none of their business. Just leave me now." His glacial fury frightened Tonks. He backed away as if to leave.

"But I want answers. I don't want you to go." She admitted softly. Was it a trick of the star ridden night that his fangs appeared to have lengthened and yellowed in his... mouth? Suspiciously, she sauntered towards him for a better look. Taking his unoccupied hand in hers, she rubbed his roughened knuckles against her milky cheek and moistened lips. Then she deliberately trailed his fingertips against her throat and down the valleys of her chest.

"Woman." He inhaled sharply, releasing his hold on the dazed girl. The werewolf made no move to extricate himself from the laces of Tonks's bodice.

"Why are you being so cruel Remy? Don't you remember what you used to call me… when we were alone? The games we played on nights such as this?" She pouted, batting her lashes artlessly. See how innocent and helpless I am.

"Baby bunny, I regret that there is no time for me to accept your... invitation. I must escort my… friend's niece home. Perhaps we can play Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf… another time." Lust glazed his feverish eyes. Licking his parched lips, he eyed her like a man who knew exactly what he wanted and how to take possession of it. His eyes grew darker and more slanted as he roughly pulled her closer... close enough for her to smell the sour reek of old blood and rotten meat.

His smell was wrong… his touch was wrong. His words, his behavior even his stance was wrong. This man was not Remus J. Lupin! Remus's pet name for her was Nymph. Her Remus would never be impolite or predatorial. He would also never voice lewd comments in front of a child. The Dark Mark spread like a cancerous blossom across his forearm. A tattoo of a grey wolf also revealed itself along his sinewy neck as his skin coarsened and grew browner. The impostor's identity was confirmed. It repulsed her thoroughly to know that a homicidal monster wore the face of the man that she loved.

"Greyback!" She jabbed her wand into his throat. Instinctively he jumped back and reached for his captive. Fenrir Greyback's muzzle tapered off into blunt features and a wolfish maw. His scraggly hair lengthened as the Polyjuice wore off.

"Ease off auror. You wouldn't want me to hurt the itty bitty witchling would you? Such a precious young thing. So pretty… so fragile… I could snap her neck before you could breathe a spell." He threatened and caressed the girl's neck in a sickening parody of tenderness. Tonks leaned towards him as if to attack but she could see his nails bruising but not breaking his hostage's delicate skin. She lowered her wand reluctantly.

"Let her go." She stared at the werewolf unflinchingly. You twisted son of a bitch.

"Throw your wand away." He countered smugly knowing that he had the upperhand. "I am going to leave and you are not to follow." His bark of satisfaction disgusted her as much as the fact that she had to cave into his demands. Fenrir kicked Tonks's discarded wand out of her reach.

"Take me instead." Her voice cracked in desperation, she was more worried about his hostage more than herself. It was said that Fenrir Greyback liked to devour small children especially nubile females.

"And give up my tender morsel… I think not. Darling Nymphadora, you're too old to be a meal but I'm sure you would've been sweet to eat." Lasciviously Fenrir bared his teeth at her as he considered her proposal. Tonks was so focused on the arm that was tightly wrapped around the dazed child, that she hardly noticed it when he grabbed her also. He held the older witch's jaw forcefully in his powerful grip bringing his face inches away from hers. He could rip her her skin off and there would be nothing to stop him. When he snapped his fangs as if to take a bite, she recoiled involuntarily while he chuckled in gravelly amusement.

"I won't let you take her, you vile bastard!" She glowered. Somehow she had to distract him.

"So eager are we… to face your fate? Perhaps I'll take both of you with me. When I'm done with you, maybe I'll let the rest of the pack fight over the scraps." His hoarse laughter could send a lesser creature scurrying for a brick house to hide in. Tonks refused to be intimidated.

"You're not werewolf enough." Her insult elicited a snarl from him. He sniffed deeply around the nape of her neck enjoying her revulsion. His long tongue traveled along her throat and jaw obscenely. I think I'm going to retch and I hope I do all over his shoes.

"I was Alpha enough to tame your puppy Remus. Do you think he'd mind if I mark my territory on you?" He crowed arrogantly.

"What have you done to Remus? Did you hurt him?" Tonks was horrified to realize that Greyback must have done something to Remus in order to obtain the ingredients of Polyjuice. Her fear morphed slowly into rage. She searched her robes discreetly for her runed dagger. Too bad it wasn't silver, imagine the damage I could do to this mooncursed beast.

"Your dear professor has willingly joined my pack of followers. Perhaps you were the one not wolf enough for him. In fact he found someone else to warm his den quite nicely." Greyback's vicious barb stung.

"Liar!" Angrily she slapped him causing his mouth to split open upon contact. Damnable Black temper, you've really mucked it up this time. She wrestled from his grasp and backed away. The hilt of her knife securely concealed behind her back.

"Feisty bitch, it's time that someone taught you some obedience." Greyback savored the salty vermillion stickiness dripping from his lips in anticipation. Roughly he flung his prisoner into a wall. The child crumpled in the snow. His claws sharpened and his eyes gleamed quicksilver in the shadows. Stalking cavalierly towards his newly marked prey he prepared to pounce. He intended to enjoy every scream... every bite of flesh. She would be delicious.

"But I'm not the one who needs the collar and leash. Why don't you be a good doggy and play dead?" Defiantly tensed in battle stance, Tonks squeezed the weapon tightly. Her odds against a lycanthrope were laughable. His kind was larger, faster and stronger than any human. However she did not care if she survived unscathed as long as she could keep him from taking the girl.

Rage and adrenaline fueled her actions. Her resolve was absolute. Tonks charged Greyback the blade aimed at the left side of his sternum. His body impacted with hers. Greyback roared. Her ribs screamed as if they were filleted by razors. They tumbled to the ground. He was seconds away from savaging her throat when a fierce knee to the groin floored him. His howl was deafening. When he rolled away, she scrambled to her feet only to have him catch her ankle and pull her straight down. Dragging her towards him, he struggled to pin her down but Tonks kicked him fiercely. Her robes were crimsoned in blood from mutually inflicted damages, the fabric ripped as he attempted to get a better hold of her.

Her shin connected with his jaw. There was a sickening crunch. Overwhelmed with dizziness, she stumbled to her feet as she ran. She could not retrieve her knife. The scratches in her side were tearing open. The wolf was on a rampage so she could not afford to rest. Coming to a blind alley, she halted to stabilize her breathing. His howls of pursuit seemed closer. Too close. There was no place to hide. He would find her and his vengeance would not be swift or painless. Torturous and agonizingly slow were words that came to mind. Injured, wandless and now weaponless Tonks waited for his arrival. Her heart exploded with each beat and every passing second. Wrapping her shirt around herself tightly to staunch the bleeding, she stared futilely at the only exit.

"There is nothing like a chase to whet the appetite." His maniacal voice drifted from above. With lethal grace he swung from a balcony to land before her. He pulled the blade from his torso with ease. Shite, I missed his heart.

"I hope I give you indigestion." Tonks grimaced as she rode another tsunami of pain. He backhanded her for impertinence.Refusing to cower, she confronted him with a calm dignity even as she started to fade. Little one I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you.

"A little appetizer before dinner, what say you sweethert?" Fenrir wound his large fingers around her hair tightly and slashed her robe open with a vicious swipe. Fear laced with metamorphagus blood would be like a rare madeira heady and intoxicating.

"Expelliarmus!" Greyback's hand was poised to strike when he was blasted four stories away over a building. Nymphadora's eyelids fluttered shut as she listened to the faint but concerned voices swiftly approaching her. Oblivion beckoned, she collapsed with the memory of steel corded arms catching her as she fell…

A/N: A girl can only listen to so much angst ridden music about love and loss before snapping. Here are some tunes to rip the beast right out of you. Too bad I wasn't a lycanthrope. Should I go to Cuba where the bastard is vacationing with his amour du jour? Only if I can eviscerate his heart and mosh all over it. Wait did I write that aloud? Evil, evil little me…

"Of Mist and Midnight Skies" by Cradle of Filth – "We Bite" by the Misfits

"Hungry Like a Wolf" – Duran Duran - "Wolf Moon" by Type O Negative

"Of Wolf and Man" by Metallica – "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne

"She-Wolf" by Megadeth – "I'm a Werewolf Baby" by Tragically Hip

"Werewolves of London" by Adam Sandler (Warren Zevon cover)

"Killer Wolf" by Danzig – "Forty Six and Two" by Tool