Chapter 1 Cry Little Sister
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; if I did you would know it. Story title is a song by H.I.M. Chapter title is song by Gerard McMann.
March 7, 1960 12:07 am
Mira Chakano lay moaning in pain as another contraction swept over her. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out, as she wanted to avoid attention of her husband. He had just left the room after a chuckling Drago, his dark eyes holding anger and resentment that she did not understand. That was a lie; she did understand what he felt. She just didn't think he had the right to feel it. It's not as if she was the reason for their predicament, as if she had bartered his life to save her own. Her thoughts were interrupted by another contraction and she clutched at her bed sheets arching her back in an effort to stop the pain.
"Mira concentrate, remember to breathe." At the gentle admonishing she opened her eyes and looked at the women positioned at the end of her bed and snapped. "I am concentrating. It's kind of hard to miss what's happening here." The woman's ruby lips twitched in an effort to hide her amusement her purple eyes glinting as she rose, gliding to Mira's side. She helped to rearrange the pillows supporting the very pregnant women and calmly answered. "I realize your pain but you must breathe like we discussed. She placed a cool hand against Mira's forehead. The coolness of the vampire's hand was a comfort and Mira took several deep breaths. Gitana smiled pleased at her patient's compliance.
A knock at the door drew her from the bedside as she drifted to answer it. Opening the door her eyes landed on a golden skinned, taller but equally beautiful women. Long sable locks secured in a single think braid down her back. Gitana slipped backward allowing the other female entrance and glided back to Mira's bedside. She reached for a cloth and leaned over Mira dabbing her forehead and murmuring. "Jessinia is here now. Let's finish this quickly." Mira glared but continued her breathing as Jessinia propped her legs up and open in preparation. Gitana continued to mummer soothing directions that did nothing to ease the pregnant woman's pain. "The sooner she is born, the sooner your pain will end." Again, the stirrings of resentment rose within her chest and she pitched her words spitefully. "Yes, I am just so excited. One could say I'm just dying to bring my child into the world. What mother wouldn't wish this?" Gitana's eyes shot to Jessinia's and the taller vampire dropped her eyes in mute supplication. Gitana followed her sister-sires lead and continued shifting pillows silently.
The shift in position only eased her discomfort mildly. Mira gripped her sheets tighter and Gitana shifted behind her on the bed helping her to prop up better and offering her hands to the young women before her. Mira hesitated at taking the woman's hands but another contraction rendered the choice null and void. She cried out as the pain racked through her body. Jessinia murmured softly to Mira her voice washing over the women and offering little comfort. "Get ready to push Mira, I see the crown." Mira's grey eyes flew wide as pain rolled through her and she screamed.
Merikano flinched as he heard his wife scream, his dark eyes black with disgust, anger, resentment, and regret. He paced his small living room furiously, making rash promises to his wife in his head. Husky laughter sounded behind him and he turned, his dark eyes met a pair of gold, tinged in amusement. "Do not worry Merikano, Mira will be free. And the child gone." Merikano glared at the vampire for several seconds and Drago all-out laughed. "You didn't want me to save them, you didn't want my little monster, remember?" Drago did not wait for an answer and instead handed a brandy to the obviously overwhelmed man before him. Merikano snatched the glass and threw back the liquor in a single gulp, nearly choking as his wife cried out a second time.
Drago took the glass back and filled it again. "I feel sure that the child will have magical blood." Merikano took the glass back as it was offered and drank only half of it before he answered mutinously. "I should hope so, considering it has been fed your blood for the last several months." Drago's gaze shifted around the living room. "Yes, I needed to ensure my progeny." Merikano stilled, glaring at the vampire. "The child is mine, of my loins." Drago's gaze shifted back to him and gave the visibly stiffening man a once over before meeting his gaze. In the blink of an eye he was across the room, the hunter's throat gripped in his hand.
Both brandy glass and decanter fell to the floor shattering as Drago pulled Merikano's face closer to his. He allowed his nails to lengthen into deadly claws, which bit painfully into the man's throat. His voice dropped to a deep whisper. "You gave me the woman and the child for your life, remember? A life I could have had as my own, or left for feral dogs. As such the child is mine and the woman will die. I offered to save her for you but you denied it. You have two minutes to change your mind hunter." He flexed his hand lightly and Merikano's gasp of pain was lost as he was dropped carelessly to the ground. He hit the floor with a loud thump and muffled groan. It was as he was taking a steadying breath that the silence registered. Drago and Merikano looked at the door to the Chakano's bedroom. It stood open and Jessinia watched them her green eyes rimmed in silver. "The child is a girl. Drago, we have to complete the sacrament or she will move beyond our grasp."
Drago glided across the room to the bundle in her arms as Merikano struggled to his feet. By the time the drunken man gained his bearings the baby was already in the vampire's arms. Drago studied the still bundle. He could sense a weak heartbeat, the baby was nearly dead. He traced one sharply tipped claw along her cheek. It was the lightest touch and yet the child's tender flesh yawned open in its wake. The baby's eyes opened weakly and her face scrunched up in preparation of crying out in pain. The sound never came as Drago, having bitten his own tongue followed the path of his claw his blood mixing with hers and healing the wound quickly.
The baby instantly fell asleep and he used the edge of her baby blanket to clear the smudge of blood from her skin before handing her to Jessinia. Carefully, she followed her brother's action only the child remained asleep as though held at bay from the pain. As she healed the cut, Gitana drifted into the room her violet eyes lingering on Merikano as she accepted the bundle of the still sleeping baby. She followed the trail left by her sires and mimicked their actions before fore clearing the blood from the baby's face again; the dark sacrament complete. She lifted amethyst orbs to Drago and narrowed her eyes. "You had to mark her face didn't you?"
Drago laughed and took the baby back. "You know how much I like to mark what's mine." He shifted his reddish gold gaze to Merikano's dark one. "The time is nearly gone, Hunter, do you want me to save your wife?" Merikano scowled. "Please, you tainted her, why would I want a woman that craves a monster's touch?" Drago raised an eyebrow and smirked. "If that is your wish, who am I to stop you?" He turned then and glided down the stairs leading to the foyer below. Jessinia appraised him in silence before shaking her head as if disappointed and followed her brother. Gitana waited until she heard the door close behind her sire's before crossing to the hunter, stopping an arms length from him.
"What would you have named her, had she been yours?" Merikano studied her in silence for several long minutes. "You're allowing me to name her." Gitana smiled sadly. "I would have, had this been my arrangement." Merikano sighed and dropped his eyes. "Why should I care what you name that creature?" Gitana reached out her hand and lightly gripped his chin, raised it so her pale purple eyes held his. "She will always be your daughter, regardless of Drago's manipulation." Merikano studied her eyes for several more seconds. "Isadora." His eyes drifted from hers. "We would have named her Isadora." Gitana's hand dropped from his chin as she turned gliding away. "Why are you being so kind?" His voice was heavy, laden with unspoken or acknowledged emotions. Gitana paused at the top of the stairs and looked over her shoulder at him. "You are not the only one Drago has toyed with, your just the only one that is still human." She gave him no time to respond as she glided down the stairs and followed her sires into the night.
Drago stood in silence for a long time before slipping into his bedroom to find his wife, clean, pristine, and laid out as if she were sleeping. He reached out a trembling hand to gently cup his wife's face as he sat along the side of her on the bed. She gleamed against the dark satin sheets that she lay upon, and she was so very cold. Merikano sat that way until the sun rose, and only left the side of his wife's bed when a knock on his door drew him away. As he made his way down the stairs he realized he was crying. He stopped and whipped his tears from his face and vowed he would do better before answering the door. He was surprised to find his father-in-law watching him with silver eyes, dark with emotion that bled into his voice. "Did my daughter survive?" Merikano studied Marius Black for a long time before shaking his head and dropping his eyes to the ground.
Marius pushed passed his son-in-law and promptly made his way to his daughter's room. He found her as Merikano had left her and he heard his son in law shuffle in behind him. Marius sighed before asking coldly. "Was it a boy or a girl?" Merikano's voice was raspy when he answered. "A girl." Marius nodded and turned his clear silver gaze from the pale visage of his daughter. "Since she is dead, and you have no other progeny, the house and all her property revert back to the family estate." Merikano's eyes lifted to his father-in-laws in shock, which carried into his words. "You're saying I have to leave the premises." Marius nodded without a hint of remorse. "I suggest you find a new place of residence by the end of the week." And so it was that three days later, the day he buried his wife, Merikano Chakano left his home of the last seven years and returned to the hunter barracks. He swore that he would find away to get his revenge on the vampire that stole his right to life. He would find away to destroy the child he had helped create if he had to die trying.
A/N: And so begins another dream. R&R Please! -DJR