I promised a Darkstalkers crossover, and here it is, as a sort of belated Halloween chapter for The Cauldron. I was trying out all sorts of challenges (some from DZ2, others from Dis Lexic) as a hook for the plot, but none of them seemed to work...until I looked through Anubis of The Highway Thieves' challenges. Namely 'It Followed Me Home', where Harry gains a familiar, and while mostly dangerous creatures were in the criteria, Succubi were allowed. Now, while Morrigan is over three centuries old in Darkstalkers canon, here, she is Harry's age (which is 16, despite being set in Year 5). I'm also using a hybrid of the game's mythos and the Udon comics. There will be other Darkstalkers in this story, but the focus is on a Harry/Morrigan pairing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

EDIT (NOVEMBER 3, 2017): Yep, this is yet another sample chapter getting the revision treatment. I'm grateful for the positive response to this story, but I just realised, there was a better way of introducing Harry and Morrigan than mere happenstance...or at least happenstance in a physical meeting. Keep an eye out for the revised chapter later.

NOCTURNE (ORIGINAL)

CHAPTER 1:

SUCCUBUS AND WIZARD

Darkstalkers.

This name, not generally known in common parlance, is a catch-all term for non-human beings who are considered dark or demonic, by both magical authorities, and the mundane ones who are aware of their existence. Vampires, werewolves, Succubi, along with demons of many stripes, the undead, catgirls…whether they prey on humanity, or try to co-exist, they are frequently tarred with the same brush. Generally, Dark Creatures in general fall under this banner, as long as they are considered somewhat sentient…and malevolent. Even if they aren't truly evil, but instead are somewhat inclined to violence.

There are many kinds of Darkstalker. There are many varieties of vampire and werewolf, for example, and there are many forms of the undead. The various magical authorities have a fairly hard time covering things up, though they also find it merely better to allow some mundanes to hunt them.

To consort with a Darkstalker is to invite death, if not from the Darkstalker themselves, then from those who hunt them. Some hunters do it to make the world a better place. Others do it for money, or for sadism, or (in the case of a deceptively-dressed girl who seems to have a thing for looking like Red Riding Hood) both.

Not all Darkstalkers are evil. Some are as good as any sentient being can be. Others are just amoral rather than immoral. But there are many who do not, cannot, or will not make the distinction.

The night is dark and filled with terrors, so they say, and not all of them are Darkstalkers. This is the story of how a group of wizards who hid in the night found themselves caught short when the night was reclaimed by those who always possessed it…and how the Light made its biggest blunder…

Morrigan Aensland was sixteen years old, and bored out of her skull. She had had enough of her father's lessons and lectures, the admonishments of her caretakers, and the sheer ennui that came with her existence. A common malady amongst humans in general, and teenagers in particular.

However, Morrigan Aensland was not human.

She was a Succubus, one of the most powerful in existence, and certainly the most powerful for her age. Then again, what else should you expect from the daughter of the strongest Lord of the Demon Realm, sometimes known as Makai? Up to now, she had subsisted on the dreams of men and women she had entered, feeding from within their dreams. But soon, she would need to do more. And she was certainly looking forward to it, feeding on the souls of the living while giving them one last prolonged moment of bliss…and then giving their souls eternal pleasure within her own self.

Of course, her father Belial was leery about this, if only because she had a habit of going to the human world whenever she pleased. It was less over-protectiveness, as she was more than capable of dealing with any hunter of Darkstalkers, the Night Warriors, who crossed her path. No, it was simply because he didn't like her having fun. He claimed that it was because she was meant to be comporting herself according to her station as heir to the ruler of Makai, but she personally thought it was because he was a bloody killjoy.

Which was why she was going for a stroll in the human world. Not in her standard form, but as a human. As a tall, slender teenaged girl, her usually green hair changed to a light brown. Though why she was strutting through some suburban nightmare of a place in England during a heatwave, she didn't know. Oh wait, she did. She randomised the portal she had taken somewhat, in order to confound her father and her servants. Still, she would have preferred London at the very least: she could have gone for a night on the town when it got dark, and there were plenty of things to see. And she knew to keep an eye out for various Night Warriors, the hunters of Darkstalkers.

That being said, something was drawing her here. It was odd, that draw. Like a gentle tug of gravity, leading her somewhere. And she wondered why.

She soon got her answer.

As she turned a corner, she found herself nearly bumping into someone. "Oh, sorry," grumbled the person sullenly, seemingly lost in thought.

Morrigan, however, was blinking. In that moment of contact, she felt…something. A spark between them. She soon realised why. The person she bumped into was a wizard. What she felt was a slight magical discharge, when beings from Makai were brought into physical contact with a mage. "Oh? I thought I felt you copping a feel, there," she said. This got him to whirl to face her in shock.

Hmm. Not too bad. A bit scrawny, Morrigan thought as she appraised him. The boy was about her age, she'd wager, with a messy mop of black hair, from under which a scar, shaped like a lightning bolt, snaked. Emerald eyes stared at her in confusion. "Sorry, I didn't do it deliberately," he protested.

"That's what they all say, but I know better." As his panic grew, she snorted. "Calm down. I'm just messing with you," she said with a smirk. "You didn't touch anything inappropriate. You all right there? You seemed deep in thought."

A scowl came across his features. "It's none of your business."

"Oh? Well, I'm making it mine. Of all the people to run into, I run into a wizard being all mopey."

The boy seemed to freeze, and Morrigan held up her hands. "Hey, I'm not looking to start trouble."

He jumped back, pulling out a wand. "Oh, really? Are you working for Voldemort?"

Voldemort? Oh, right, that warlock her father mentioned in her lessons. He had made a few dodgy deals with some of the lesser clans of the Makai, and they had been looking to collect. Wasn't he vanquished by some baby fifteen years ago or something?

"Keep that thing in your pants," Morrigan scoffed. "You haven't even bought me a drink first. Besides, if I was working for Voldemort…" She sank into a shadow, darted between his legs, and then appeared behind him, grabbing him with one hand as he whirled to face her (nice instincts and reflexes), and brought her face in close as she plucked his wand from him, "I'd have skipped the foreplay by now. I'd have taken my time with you, but you'd be in my power anyway at this point. Hmm, maybe I should do that anyway. I'm bored, and I'm looking for some fun. You know of anything fun to do around here? I mean, aside from vandalising the local neighbourhood? I swear, if I see another house that looked like they cloned it in a vat, I will raze it all to the ground. Oh, and incidentally…" She handed his wand back, though not before whispering, "Nice, long, and firm. Just the way I like it."

He snatched it from her, blushing furiously. "What is wrong with you?" he hissed back.

"Like I said, I'm bored, and I want to have some fun. Don't you?"

"I would if I could," he muttered mutinously. "But even on my birthday, I'm not allowed to."

"Oh! It's your birthday! Even better!" Morrigan said with a broad smile. "You shouldn't be so ornery on your birthday. What're you? 15? 16?"

"…16," he said.

"Ooh, so am I! See, you shouldn't be like that! Sweet sixteen, and, uh, never been kissed, is that how you humans put it?"

"…You humans?" he asked, stepping away slightly, only for Morrigan to grab his wrist. Maybe he wouldn't be nourishment…but maybe she'd have a bit of fun with him anyway, even if it was of a more mundane variety.

"Let's go celebrate," she grinned, before opening up a portal, and pulling the boy in after her…

…And then, they were elsewhere. Morrigan pursed her lips as she took in the surroundings. "Hmm, not bad. Have you ever been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach before? I've only been once before."

"…What the hell did you just do? That didn't feel like a Portkey," the boy protested.

"It's not Apparition either," Morrigan said cheerfully. "Otherwise, you'd be feeling a lot more uncomfortable."

"I can believe that," the boy snarked. "But how did we get to Blackpool?"

"Magic. Well, my sort of magic. Anyway, have you ever been here before?"

"No."

"Well, let's remedy that, shall we? Oh, I didn't catch your name, by the way."

"…You know about wizards, and you don't recognise me?"

"Should I?"

"…I'm Harry Potter?"

Morrigan pursed her lips, thinking. That rang a bell. Oh, wait, that was the babe who supposedly vanquished Voldemort. Wow, he was easy on the eyes. "I see. Well, I'm Morrigan Aensland. You probably haven't heard of my family. We're famous in certain circles, but I doubt a teenage wizard would have heard of them."

"Oh."

"Well then, if there's no further objections, let's have some fun…"

And it was fun. Gradually, little by little, Harry loosened up. Morrigan had to admit, it was kind of cute, seeing him relax and act like a teenager. If he was really in danger from Voldemort, it was little wonder he was so tense.

And that gave Morrigan the germ of an idea, a germ that grew gradually, until it became a notion. It was possibly foolish, and it'd piss off her father something fierce…but she found herself not giving a shit. After all, Morrigan was looking for some excitement in her life. And it wasn't like these fools could kill her if she didn't let them. The Killing Curse was powerful, but while it could kill most demons of Makai, the strongest ones, even as young as Morrigan herself, wouldn't be killed by it, unless they were weakened.

So, after going on a number of rides, which she had to admit excited her a little, Harry asked the inevitable question. "Why are you doing this?" he asked as they walked down a path, cotton candy in hand.

"On a whim. You seemed like the sort who needed a wee bit of happiness in your life. Besides, like I said, I was bored. I still am. I need some excitement in my life. I'm…royalty, I suppose you could say."

"Really?" Harry asked sceptically.

"Oh yes, it's true," Morrigan said.

"And…what you said earlier about not being human…?"

"Oh, yes, right. I guess you could call my kind in general Darkstalkers. The things that go bump in the night. That's not a species, by the way. It just something what you humans call us sometimes. Most of the time, you wizards just call us Dark Creatures. You know, like vampires, werewolves, demons, the undead, that sort of thing. Anyway, I want to make you an offer…and as you humans say, it's an offer you can't refuse."

"And why is that?"

"Well, leaving aside the fact that the Killing Curse doesn't really affect me, well, what you'd like is protection against Voldemort and his cronies. I want to alleviate my boredom. Therefore, I think we can come to some sort of arrangement. Maybe you can consider it a birthday present…" And with that, she pulled him through yet another portal…

Harry was confused by this girl. At times, she set off his instincts for danger, and yet, at other times, he felt he could trust her, paradoxically. If she was going to kill him, she would have done so earlier. In fact, he knew that she could have, given her ability to sink into shadows, and then come up behind him.

He still had a vague feeling of being near a predator, one that was playing with her food, so when she took him through a portal, and into a room that seemed like it was an opulent bedroom in a castle, he felt no anger anymore, just resignation. Something told him he was in her territory.

But in a way, he didn't care anymore. His friends hadn't written to him much, neither had Sirius or anyone else, and he had been stuck at the Dursleys, with no news of Voldemort. Frankly, this was the best birthday he had ever had in his life, thanks to this girl he just met. Nobody had done anything for him like she had done, just upped and taken him out somewhere for his birthday…unless going to the Quidditch World Cup last year counted as a belated birthday present.

Still, it seemed like it was time to pay the piper. But if this Morrigan girl was going to turn on him, then he was going to go down fighting.

"What's this…arrangement?" Harry asked.

Morrigan smiled. Then, a swarm of bats surrounded her body. When the bats dispersed, almost everything about her had changed. She had been wearing jeans and a shirt, and her face and hair style was the same. But everything else? She had green hair, wearing something like a black leotard that nonetheless exposed a lot more of her buxom body than it should, the neckline lined with what looked like feathers. Her legs were covered in stockings that had bat-like images printed on them. A pair of bat-like wings protruded from her back, and a much smaller pair protruded from her head. Her face was beautiful, inhumanly so, and her light green eyes twinkled with mischief. She was, frankly, bloody hot, and he felt himself getting aroused, despite himself.

"You see, Harry Potter, I am a Succubus," Morrigan said. "I am also the heiress apparent to Makai, the demon realm. And my proposal is such: I will become your familiar, your bodyguard…" Her smile became a more lustful smirk. "…And your lover. So, what say you?"

Oh, what the possibly-literal Hell had he gotten himself into now?

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry and Morrigan have met up, and Morrigan has an interesting proposal for Harry. But will he take her up on it? And what will Belial think?

Now, keep in mind, Harry's not trusting Morrigan per se straight away. Rather, he's in a bit of a bad place, thanks to Cedric's death and the lack of communications with his friends, so, after Morrigan got the drop on him, he sort of resigned himself to getting dragged along for the ride. And considering he'll get bedded by Morrigan soon, he might loosen up a little too.

Incidentally, we will have other Darkstalkers characters appear, never fear. Jon Talbain will definitely appear, and maybe Felicia and Hsien-Ko.

No numbered annotations this time.