No one saw Selene until the next day. It was around 6 o-clock when she finally emerged from her room, walking straight to the kitchen. Remus had been there since 9 that morning, waiting to talk to her, so when he saw her, he rushed after her, Sirius close behind him.
They walked in the kitchen to see their friend looking worse than they had ever seen her. She was dressed in a pair of black shorts and a purple tank top. Her slender, lily-white legs were thin and trembling slightly. Though she was standing as straight as always, the set of her shoulders looked vulnerable. Her face was pale, not her normal pale, but a sickly pale, she had bags under her eyes, her lips were not as red and her hair was a tangled mess. Her eyes were as green and shiny as normal. This last observation made Remus sure that whatever was wrong, she still hadn't given up.
She turned her back on the two and reached into the fridge and pulled out a package of raw meat.
"What I am about to do never leaves this room." She growls. She tears the plastic wrap off of the package and pulls out a cup. She tips the foam tray holding the meat over the cup, the blood from the meat running into it. She wrings out the blood sack from under the meat into the cup, then wraps the meat up again and returns it to the fridge.
After licking her fingers, she rinses the rest of the blood off of her hands then lifts the cup up in front of her face. "Cheers." She mutters, drinking all of the blood in one gulp. She was unsatisfied, but that was all that she had.
She sets the cup into the sink, then pulls out a chair and sits at the table. The boys follow suit and sit across from her. "Are you okay?" Sirius asks, making Remus roll his eyes. Anyone could tell that she wasn't.
"Do I look okay to you? I have a splitting headache because I slept not a wink last night, I have hurt my best friend and I am scared for my life. Tell me, do you think I should be okay?" She says, the last sentence bordering on hysterics. She lifts a hand to her forehead, then sighs, digging her fingers into her temples. She looks up, her green orbs piercing into Remus. "How is your arm?"
He lifts his sleeves enough for her to see a perfect purple handprint. The bruise was almost a red color, meaning that it would take awhile to heal and was probably quite painful. "I am sorry, Remus. But if you would have gotten left behind, you may not have been seen again."
"Who was that man in Knockturn Alley?" Remus asked her. This had been on his mind since he had seen him yesterday.
"His name is Gilbert. He is my half brother. My father had him with a Muggle. We have always hated each other. He is older than me by a year. He feels that he isnt good enough, and that was why father got a witch pregnant." She explains, her eyes glistening. "He is a Death Eater. He feels cheated out of immortality because he is only half vampire, and father refuses to change him. He has the rest of our kind on his side, they all hate me. But I have quite a few full vampires on my side. Vampire feuds are much bigger and last longer than normal human feuds. By the end of this, either he will kill me, or I him."
"So, its a 'blood feud?" Sirius asks, smirking. Selene doesnt move, but she glares at him. The glare itself makes Sirius pale and slump into his chair.
"So, why is he back?" Remus asks. Selene can see the gears turning in his mind. He would do all he can to help.
"I am not sure. He wants to finish it." She whispers, looking at her fingers. Suddenly her head snaps up and she looks at Remus and Sirius. "I have to warn you. When he shows up, which I assure you he will, you will see a whole new me. It will be like I was yesterday, only worse. I could barely get away from you without hurting you yesterday. So when he is around, don't get in my way. Any of our way. Vampires are dangerous when it comes to these fights. We no longer think rationally. We only think to kill."
"So, what do you want us to do then?" Sirius asks.
"Nothing. If they get their hands on either of you, they will rip you to shreds. Literally." Selene says, a tear slipping down her face. "This is something that I have to do on my own." With that she stands. "I need to get dressed. I need to go out." She walks with purpose from the room.
"We have to do something!" Sirius says.
"She just said that there is nothing to do. I have never dealt with vampires, but I am scared of her, and she would never hurt us. Now, think of vampires that do want to hurt us. We cant help by fighting." Remus says. He was racking his brain, and figuring out nothing that could help her. "I am going to talk to her for a minute." Remus stands and walks out of the kitchen. He takes the stairs two at a time.
He knocks at her door and a moment later he hears her call "Enter." He opens the door and steps inside, closing the door behind him. When he turns to her she is digging in her trunk. She is wearing jeans and no shirt, just a red bra.
"Where is the damn thing!" She mutters. She begins throwing garments around the room, looking for something in particular.
"What are you looking for, Selene?" Remus asks.
"A certain shirt. I know I brought it!" She says, head still bent over the trunk. She finally stands and turns to Remus, her hands on her hips. "What did you need?"
Her milky breasts were quite distracting, but he was here for a reason. "Is there anything we can do to help, even from afar or help you prepare?"
She was quiet, contemplating. Her alabaster stomach was flat and moved as she breathed. Her waist was very tiny, then flaring out again at her hips. She suddenly began sobbing, and shocked, Remus could only stand there.
"I don't know! I don't know what anyone can do! I am so scared, Remus." She sunk to the floor, balling up, holding her hands to her face. Remus reached down, grabbed her hands and pulled her up again. She just looked at him. She looked so broken. Remus just pulled her to him and held her. Her arms snaked around his waist, her hands flat on his back.
He held her for a few minutes while she sobbed. She finally calmed and spoke into his chest, "What do I do?" Then, looking into his face, "What do I do, Remus?"
"You tell the vampires that are on your side what is going on. They can come and help you." He says, looking at her.
"I never thought of that. I was too busy thinking of how to keep you out of it that I forgot about the others." She whispered. Selene pulled away from him and walked to a desk on the other side of the room, and sat. "I have quite a few letters to write. I'll come down when I am done." She says without looking up. Remus leaves the room without another word.
He finds Sirius in the Living room and explains what Selene is doing, leaving out that he saw her without a shirt. They sit in silence for what seems like a few minutes, but was really almost an hour.
They heard the pad of feet walking toward the room and watched as Selene entered. She was wearing the shorts and tank top again, and just stood in the doorway.
"Remus, will you come with me?" She asked quietly, in a small voice.
"Um, sure." He says, glancing at Sirius who looks slightly confused and angry. Selene walks upstairs, Remus just behind her and opens the door to her room for Remus to enter. He does, and her behind him, closing the door behind her.
"Would you just...lay with me? I don't want to be alone." She says, her eyes on the floor. Her hands, clasped in front of her, were trembling slightly.
"Of course, if you want." Remus said. She looked broken, completely shattered, and if he could help her he would.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to her bed. "Wait, take your shoes off. I don't want dirt in my bed." She gives him a small smile, and he slips his shoes off. He climbs into the bed, under the covers and slid to the opposite side of the bed. Selene climbed in after him and pulled the blankets up over them, then snuggled up to Remus.
He pulled her close to him, and she snuggled into his chest. Almost immediately, she was asleep. It took Remus awile before he found himself drifting off because he was confused as to what this meant for them, and she was so cold that he couldn't sleep.
But he must have fallen asleep, because he woke to Selene thrashing around beside him. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, she woke with a small cry, and was breathing heavily.
"It was just a dream, Selene." He says. She turns and presses her forehead into his chest.
"I'm sorry I woke you." She says into his chest.
"Don't worry about it." He replies, hugging her.
She pushes him away and flings the blanket off of herself. "My god you're hot!" She says. Her tank top was up around her waist, showing the snowy skin of her stomach.
"I was just thinking that I'm a little colder than normal." He says. With her being so cold, she was taking his body heat, and it wasn't just warming the blanket, but a person as well. She obviously wasn't used to having any heat while she slept.
There was a light knock on the door, and Remus looked at the clock, sure that it was very early, only to find that it was 11:30. Selene stood and slowly went to the door, pulling her shirt down. When she opened it , Remus couldn't see who was there, but he could tell from the voice.
"Did Remus go home?" Sirius asked from the door. Selene just pushed to door open wider to show Remus on her bed.
Sirius's face paled slightly, but he smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes. "I see. Well, goodnight."
"Goodnight, Sirius." Selene said, closing the door and sauntered back to her bed. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to." She said, looking at Remus.
"I am quite comfortable." He told her as she climbed back into the bed and cuddled herself up to Remus like a child would. Remus rested his hand on her waist while she placed her hands flat on his chest. He knew that he wasn't very muscular, but he had never worried about that until now. Was she okay with him being this thin?
Selene sighed into his chest. "I don't think Sirius is very happy with this arrangement."
"It didn't look like it." Remus replied, recalling Sirius's pale face when he saw a fully clothed Remus in Selene's bed. "But you should never base what you want off from someone else. Whoever that may be." He realized that she could say that she didn't want him even though he wanted her, but he only wanted her to be happy.
"I never would base my feelings off of someone else. I can think for myself." She replies softly. She then leaned up and pressed her lips to Remus's. She had meant for it to be a small, quick kiss, but he had other ideas.
They kissed for what seemed like hours. Remus loved every moment of it. He had never allowed himself to be loved by anyone, and if anyone seemed to be getting too close to him, he broke it off. This was different. Selene was different.
When he finally pulled away from her, not necessarily because he wanted to, she just smirked at him in the moonlight. He had never thought the moonlight was beautiful until now. The way it highlighted her face was perfect. "Get some sleep, Remus." She said, settling herself closer to him. Remus ran his hand down her hip and back to her waist once, making her sigh.
Remus woke feeling a tickling sensation on his jaw, then realized that it was Selene's eyelashes. The sun was shining on him, and Selene had pulled herself away from Remus to stay out of the sun. He wasn't sure what the sun did to her, he just knew that she didn't like it.
"Morning." She whispered. "I didn't wake you, did I? I was just trying to stay out of the sun."
"You didn't wake me." He replied. Just then, a cloud must have gone out from in front of the sun, because there was even more sunshine, this time falling across her arm. She ripped her arm out of the golden rays, hissing. Selene grabbed her wand off the night table and darted over to the window and waved her wand, closing the heavy curtains over the window, her arm cradled to her stomach.
Remus reached over and lit a lamp as she came to sit on the side of the bed. "Let me see." He said.
She held her arm out. The sun had burned the pearly skin of her forearm terribly to where it was red and blistered. Remus knew that the blisters were only just starting. "Magic can't heal it. It is as cursed as one of these." She lifted her hand to his face and brushed a finger lightly over one of his scars. "Only, it won't scar, it will just burn like hell." She looked over at her trunk. "I should probably bandage it."
She went to her trunk and pulled out a little box and brought it to the bed to set it down. "Give it here. I'll do it." He put the cream that she gave him on a bandage and wrapped her arm tenderly. He then put the rest of the stuff back in the box and placed it on the bedside table.
He laid back on the bed and she followed, curling up much the way she had last night. He ran his hand down her side and back up.
"What are you trying to do, Remus?" She asked, smirking at him.
"Um...Nothing. Why?" He says.
"Because I don't think that you would like to have sex with someone as cold as I." She replies, still smiling slightly. "I have only ever been with vampires, but I can only assume that someone with body heat wouldn't much care for someone without."
There was a scratching at the window. "That must be Bernard. Could you let him in?" She asked.
"Sure." Remus stood and walked to the window. He opened it and let in a small screech owl who flys directly to Selene who is standing just off to the side of the sunlight. Remus closed the curtains and sat on the side of the bed, bending to retrieve his shoes.
"Thank you Remus, for staying with me." She says, noticing that he is getting ready to leave.
"I did it just as much for me as for you." With his shoes on he stands and walks to her. He plants a small kiss on her lips then walks to the door. "See ya." Then he is gone.
Bernard nudges Selene's hand, reminding her that she has a letter. She pulls the letter from his leg and he flys to his cage to rest. It is the response from her father.
Dearest Daughter,
It was quite pleasant to receive your letter until I read it. I am ashamed that Gilbert would do this. I have already taken away his allowance, but that doesn't seem to have done anything. And now you are asking for my help and the help of our allies, and all I can say is that I will write to them and set up a time to meet. I will write to you when I have more information. It may take awhile.
Please remember that you make me very proud. Do you still move like the Countess Avery? You always used to hold yourself like her. Well, I guess that I shall see for myself soon enough. Be careful, my dearest Selene.
Love always,
Your Father