A/N: TPOV

Tonks couldn't hear much above her own heart pounding in her ears as the creature leaned in.

"You interrupted my feeding, witch. It's only polite that you make amends by providing desert." The vampire purred in her ear. Tonks could feel his cold breath and smell the acrid scent of stale blood. However, what truly struck a bold of fear through her was when she felt the threatening caress of his fangs gliding up the all too vulnerable expanse of her neck. She braced herself for pain.

A crash from one of the rooms startled both her and the vampire. Keeping hold of her still armed right hand and letting go of her left in exchange for wrapping it around her throat, he spun her around in front of him. Her right arm became twisted behind her back, now between herself and the vampire.

As Severus rounded the corner, wand drawn, Tonks couldn't be more greatful for her white knight. However even as that comparison crossed her mind, she realized how off it actually was and more than it would be usually. Something's wrong.Tonks had just begun trying to look closer at Severus when the grip around her throat tightened and she became more concerned with being able to breathe, wincing as the creature's claws pierced her skin.

"Ministry Auror!"

Tonks was glad to see backup had arrived. Check the girl! Get her out and safe! Someone needed to check on the girl and make sure she was okay. Tonks couldn't bring herself to even honestly consider the fact that the girl might be dead. Furthermore, vampires were rarely, if ever, something someone could handle one-on-one. Magic was only as good as the individual casting and vampires had enough speed and strength to out-maneuver any single witch or wizard. Not that I am particularly comforted by that fact that I am being used as a human body shield for a vamp that now has not one but two wands pointed at him…AAHHH!The vampires claws dug in deeper and she could actually feel the slow trail of blood making its way down her neck before pooling at her collarbone.

"Wands down or I'll kill her. NOW! You've got a little girl here that will die if you don't get her help soon."

Go to the girl! If you have to, leave me and save her!

"I WANT YOUR WANDS ON THE GROUND, NOW!"

Tonks felt Severus enter her mind and she was just about to order him to save the girl, when his voice reverberated in her with two simple words, Trust me. All she could do was obey, trusting in the fact that he had a plan, trusting in him. However, the moment he dropped his wand, that trust was severely tested.

Severus signaled for MacKenzie to do the same.

"Why did you disarm yourself?!" MacKenzie practically shrieked. Tonks' couldn't help but feel like it was an extremely valid question, her trust in Severus notwithstanding. Her eyes shut, wincing as the sound of a second wand clattered dully on the floor. All too soon she felt herself being dragged backwards, her feet trying to keep up so that her body weight wouldn't be hanging by her neck and her arm still wrenched behind her back. The loud crack of apparation was heard behind them, immediately followed by another loud crack. As the vampire's blood sprayed everywhere, Tonks had the odd sensation, as both bodies fell forward, that it was her who had been hit.

It wasn't until Severus pulled her from the vampire's grip, stepped in front of her and fired three more shots that Tonks fully grasped that he had a muggle gun and the blood she was covered with was the vampire's and not her own. MacKenzie rushed over to her, his hands grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to stay where she was. She hadn't even realized that, with wand drawn, she was moving forward to help Severus.

"He has it under control." MacKenzie glanced over his shoulder. "I don't know how, but he does. I need to make sure you are okay and get you and the girl out of here." Tonks wanted to shoo him away. I'm fine. A rational part of her mind tried to tell her that adrenaline was possibly clouding her judgement, but right now she was too concerned for Severus to listen. Looking over her fellow auror's shoulder she wasn't quite making sense of what she was seeing and was once again hit with the fact that something about Severus was very wrong.
"He's moving too fast...the vampire...he shouldn't..." She looked up at MacKenzie for answers. He seemed just as unnerved by Severus' condition, but he didn't look worried.

"I know. Right now you need to sit." MacKenzie's firm hold on her shoulders increased its pressure as he directed her over to a corner, as if he were afraid that at any moment she would lunge past him and try to join the fight. Keeping one hand on her shoulder he used the other to cast a cleansing charm on Tonks so that he could get a better sense of what blood was hers and what was the vampire's. The five deep gashes in her neck were still bleeding and the vampire's grip was strong enough that without magical attention Tonks would have had a darkly bruised handprint across her neck as well as across each wrist.
The painful screams of the vampire caused both aurors to look over just as Severus tossed the final burning remains out the window. Severus walked by, his face disconcertingly blank, and handed MacKenzie a pain-relieving potion. Tonks tried to catch his eyes, but he turned too quickly to go help the girl.

"Let's get you out of here. Snape will get the girl," MacKenzie murmured, while placing one arm over his shoulder and the other around her waist. After making sure she was steady, he cast send a signal to the other aurors to let them know everything was secured and apparated both himself and Tonks to the gates of Hogwarts before taking her up to the hospital wing.