(A/N): So, without authors notes, this chapter is over 3,000 words. I did tell you in the last chapter this one was going to be longer.
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Elaine
Sneaking into Slughorn's office was easy enough for Leo to do, especially considering he'd done it before, and he was in and out and back again before ten minutes had even passed.
"Is that it?" I posited, eyeing the small hessian bag he carried in one hand.
"No," He replied, rolling his eyes. "I stopped at the pet store to pick up a puppy. Of course it's the vervain, Damsel."
I held out my hand, and he gave it to me without the slightest hesitation, though I could see he was visibly shaking with nerves for what was presumably about to happen.
The drawstring on the bag was a little tricky, and normally by the time I managed to open it, Leo would have snagged it and opened it for me already, so that's how I knew he was really freaking out. That, and when I looked up, his eyes were on my jugular.
"How you doing, Leo?" I inquired, and when his eyes eventually met mine, I could see the fear in them.
"Um..." To be honest, I was expecting him to lie. To play it off like it was nothing and do that thing where his face instantly changes from one of turbulent emotion to one of utter nonchalance. None of that happened though. "To be honest, I'm completely terrified I'm going to hurt you in some way, or kill you." I paused for a second, more surprised that he had said that out loud than by the words themselves.
"Does terror make you tell the truth?" I asked dryly, not wanting to make him more anxious about this whole thing, but as I put my hand into the bag, I heard his breathing quicken even from feet away.
"No, but facing my greatest fear does." I barely had time to be confused before he put his hand on top of mine, the one that was currently inside the bag. "Ghislaine," His rare use of my full name caught me off guard, and told me just how serious he was. "I know I've asked this of you before, but I need you to promise me you'll do what you have to do, when you have to do it." Well, that certainly didn't sound good.
"Leo... please don't say what I think you're going to say." He dropped his gaze for a second, then looked me straight in the eyes.
"Elaine, hurting you is my greatest fear. If for some reason the vervain doesn't work- if I get it away from you or start to overpower you in any way- I need you to promise you'll put an end to it. By whatever means necessary. Even if it involves... killing me." He cut me off before I even finished opening my mouth to argue. "Elaine, I couldn't live with myself if I killed you." I felt my face soften, even as I gaped, horrified at the thought of such a thing.
"Leo, I won't let you kill me." His frown (which, by the way, looked completely out of place on his face) lessened somewhat. "But I also won't kill you." This time it was my turn to cut him off. "Leo, it's the same for me, I couldn't live with myself if I killed you. So, I'll have the vervain in hand, my wand close by, and a gorgeous- and extremely tall- vamp boy suckling at my neck." He winced weakly, and I pondered which part of my tangent he was finding issue with.
"It's a bit uh... different, from suckling." I tilted my head, intentionally baring the scar from where his uncle, Jonothan, had bit me.
"You know, I've been bitten by a vampire before." His face crumpled slightly, and he moved the hand that was on mine to stroke the scar with his thumb.
"I've never asked you about that. How it felt... What he said to you." I furrowed my eyebrows, more than slightly confused.
"What do you mean, 'what he said to me'?" Leo hesitated for a second.
"Just... Jonothan... He has a way of... lying back, waiting for others to do his dirty work before wading in and... dealing the killing blow, so to speak. The fact that he went straight for you? It's... odd. I just thought maybe he was trying to inflict more pain in the act rather than in actually, y'know, biting you." I considered it for a second.
"That... makes sense. Just... I remember him calling me 'little girl', and other than that just... intense pain." He rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, like he was working something out. "Leo...?" He met my eyes for a mere second before they darted away again, seemingly determined to avoid me.
"The three kinds of vampire venom- healing doesn't count, because all vampire venom heals- are numbing, pleasure, and pain." My eyebrows shot up at 'pleasure'.
"'Pleasure'? What, you can turn someone on with venom?" His cheeks flushed red, and I knew that was exactly what was going down- and exactly why he was avoiding eye contact.
"Well... vampire venom only has a type when the vampire wills it to, so you'd have to actually physically be biting someone to be able to give it a type, otherwise it'd just be normal, healing venom." My eyebrow rose slightly at the thought of the awkward training session in which someone had taught Leo about all that. "Although, some people don't need the venom to find a vampire bite pleasurable. Some people just like it, period." And now they shot up.
"How do you even know that?" I asked with a chuckle, half not expecting an answer, but he shrugged awkwardly nonetheless.
"Apparently, Lisbet had a few escapades in her day." My jaw dropped, followed by a half-awkward, half-nervous giggle.
"Oh, Merlin! Does Lisbet just bombard you with her stories of sex and... I don't know, love bites?" Now it was Leo's turn to laugh.
"'Love bites'? Really? Love bites?" I shrugged.
"What should I call them then? Lust bites?" He was clearly still tense, his blush having only intensified over the course of the conversation.
"I'd rather you didn't call them anything, if I'm to be completely honest." Well let's have a little fun with this, then.
"Lust... bites..." I whispered, drawing the words out just to taunt him with it.
"Damsellllll..." He whined, almost like a plea, and I decided to take pity on him- and not just because he was unbearably cute when he was embarrassed.
"Fine, fine... but seriously, do you just get bombarded with vamp sex stories at home?" I inquired, and he winced, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"Pretty much. I mean, they have been around for upwards of a century, it makes sense they'd be overflowing with stories right?" I nodded, rather reluctantly.
"I suppose." I said, scooting closer to him on the couch.
"I suppose, too." He replied, having noticed me creeping towards him, his grin slowly expanding as I got closer.
"You do, huh?" I murmured, rising up on my knees so I was as close to him in height as I could be.
"I do." He echoed as he sat 'trapped' between me and the arm of the couch, struggling to restrain his smile.
"Mhm?" I leaned into his shoulder heavily, and beamed up at him.
"Mhm." Before I could think of anything intelligent to counter, he kissed me.
It took all the air out of me, it was searing hot and swept over me like a tidal wave. His lips were soft against mine and his hand quickly found its way into my hair where it hung down the side of my neck. As he stroked my jawline, I brought my hand up to scratch between his shoulder blades, which sort of backfired on me, considering it resulted in him stopping kissing me. It wasn't all bad though, because although he was no longer kissing me, he had flattened himself to my front, arching his back to get the most out of my scratching.
"Do you like that?" I asked teasingly, already knowing the answer, but I was caught off guard as he pressed even closer, pushing me off balance and sending us both back against the couch cushions.
"Mhm... much..." I couldn't help but smile, even as he buried his face in the side of my neck, and I watched him wiggle around as I scratched him harder.
"I love it when you're happy." I told him, and he gave a happy little whimper that put a smile on my face.
"Ver... Ver... Hap..." I littered little kisses across his temple and up into his hairline before reaching out with my free hand to grab the little vervain bag.
"Leo..." I started, removing my hand from his back so he had a least a slight chance to actually focus on what I was saying.
"...'es?" He said, blinking a bit owlishly, and I had to bite my lip to contain my amusement.
"Would now be a good time to... you know?" I shook the bag to draw his attention to it, and he immediately sobered.
"Elaine... I want to, I really want... I'm just-" I cut him off, already knowing exactly what he was going to say.
"You're scared." He nodded, and I knew his 'greatest fear truth serum' was still in full effect.
"I've always wanted to taste your blood-" What? Hello, this was news to me. "But I understand if you don't want to take the risk-" I cut him off once more, pulling him down by the back of his neck until his mouth was flush with my neck.
"You're not backing out now." I told him, and I both heard and felt him take a sharp breath.
"Elaine..." His breath was hot on my skin, making me shiver not just at the feeling, but at the tone of his voice, also.
"Take a bite." I said, lifting my chin to bare even more of my throat to him.
"Elaine..." His voice sounded breathy, verging on shaky, and there was something else odd about it too. He was lisping- his fangs were out.
"I want you to bite me, Leo." That was all it took to convince him, I guess, because in the next second, his fangs pierced my skin.
At first, all I felt was pain, which is exactly what I expected, based on past experience- but the pain dissipated, slowly at first, then all at once.
It was completely weird.
I could feel Leo's weight on me, and feel the heat of his body. I could feel his lips on my skin, and a sort of numb presence of his fangs as they speared my skin- I could even feel it as he started drawing blood- but I couldn't feel any pain.
The teeth other than his extended canines were long enough to just nip at the surface of my skin, his mouth suckling at my throat, and slowly, I began to notice that his hips, situated between mine as they had been since we had fallen back, were starting to rock up into mine.
"Leo..." I whimpered, arching as a particularly strong pang on pleasure wracked my body, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he rutted against me mindlessly. "Leo..." I was starting to feel a little light headed, a little shaky, but most of all, I really wished I could kiss him.
Instead, I curled my fingers into the back of his hair, and Leo's hips jerked in reaction.
"Leo..." I hissed, digging my nails into the flesh of his back, and scrunching my fingers in his hair, scratching at his scalp and reveling in the feeling of his golden tresses flowing through my fingers.
And then, my blood was set ablaze as Leo began that inhuman purr he always came out with whenever someone played with his hair. It was only a second of purring later that I felt Leo's fangs retract, his mouth suckling at the incision he had made, and I shivered as I felt his tongue dart out to lap up some stray blood.
He had stopped taking my blood, but he was technically still biting me, and his hips were most definitely still grinding against mine. I tightened my legs around his waist, my hands sliding across his back and through his hair, and it was only a second later that his lips parted from my neck so he could nose along my jaw. He was obviously scenting me again, and I felt his fangs scrape across my skin, so they must have descended again.
I released my hand from his hair so we could have an at least somewhat intelligent conversation, and cleared my throat.
"How do you feel, Leo?" I inquired gingerly, not wanting to risk startling him. I was more than a little bit scared for what his response might be, but I had to ask, on the off chance that it might actually be of help to him- and the smaller chance that he would admit such a thing.
"Mph... Good." He managed to get out, breath ghosting across my skin, and I couldn't help but smile.
"Good? Blood lust gone?" He nodded lazily, almost groggily, burying his nose in the hollow between my throat and my collar bone.
"Almost nonexistent. No lusty blood." He murmured, but by the way he was still rocking against me, I thought differently.
"Blood, maybe. Lusty...?" I squeezed my legs, and he groaned filthily as the friction between us increased. "Definitely lusty." He didn't seem to disagree with me, but that may just be because he was too busy continuing to scent me, even as he continued to thrust against me. "You... You made this sound like... such a chore." I breathed, arching my back as he gripped my waist, rubbing myself against him as he tangled his fingers in my hair.
"It could have gone worse, I admit." I couldn't help but giggle at that.
"I love it when you do that." I told him as he nuzzled my neck, but when I tilted my head to bare my neck to him, a jolt of pain erupted from where he had bitten me. "Ah!" I gasped, and Leo's head shot up. "Oh!" It took me by surprise- I had never seen him in Sensory Alert this close before, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth- my blood.
"Sorry, sorry!" He exclaimed, his face twisting up as he a raised a hand to hold up to my neck. "I'm so sorry!" Immediately I sat up, taking in the drastic change from happy, calm Leo, to utterly terrified and dare I say ashamed, Leo.
"Leo, don't-" He darted down, his mouth at my neck again, applying more venom to get the wound healing more quickly. "Leo- Leo, it just caught me off guard." I objected, and he pulled back, eyes meeting mine then immediately darting away again repeatedly, like he wanted to look me in the eye, but couldn't stand to do so.
"Once was enough, right?" My eyebrows shot up. "I don't have to do that again?" I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"But... You said you felt better?" I asked, too confused to really say anything else.
"I did! I mean, it doesn't matter- just-" He let out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a sigh. "I just don't want to hurt you." I couldn't help but give a small, very tender smile at that.
"Aw, Leo... You can be a real idiot sometimes." He frowned, looking just as confused as I felt, so I took pity on him. "There are many different types of pain. Like, all the way from stubbing my toe to being hit with the cruciatus curse, this was actually... kind of nice." Understatement of the millennia.
I expected some sort of reply, but when I looked up, he was just staring at me. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were flushed, but why wasn't he saying anything?
"Leo- Leo, you okay?" He blinked heavily, then his blush intensified.
"M'fine." He murmured, crossing his arms over his chest, almost in a protective sort of way.
"Then why are you-?" I cut myself off as he lowered his head as if he were embarrassed.
"I have absolutely no idea why that turned me on." Well, that wasn't what I was expecting to hear.
"You're..." He still looked embarrassed though, which I didn't like in the slightest.
So, I planted my hands against his shoulders and pushed him backwards. It was almost painfully obvious that Leo had let me do so, especially considering that instead of falling off balance, he landed flat on his back, which happened to be exactly where I wanted him.
"Damsel, what are yo-" He cut himself off as I straddled his hips again. "Damsel..." I put a finger to his lips.
"Leo... I think I might like getting bitten. Especially if it makes vampirism more bearable for you." He went silent again, but this time I knew why, so I arched against him, jumping slightly as his hands flew up to grip my waist.
"Things like that could get you in trouble, Damsel." I smirked at that.
"If this is what you call 'trouble', I think I need to get detention more often." He awarded my sweet dirty talk with a not-at-all-constrained snicker. "Shh... Leo, come on, don't mock me." He clapped a hand over his mouth, even though I could still see the mirth is his eyes. "Leo, you-" I cut myself off as he thrust up against me, which would definitely have thrown me off balance if he didn't have such a firm grip on my waist.
"Have I ever told you that you're sexy when you're annoyed at me?" I blinked, surprised.
"I'm sorry, can you say that again? I thought you said I was 'sexy' whereas I know you usually say I'm 'cute' or even 'adorable'." He flushed a deep red.
"Well, I apologise." He said, in a way that was both cute and a little annoying. "You're extremely sexy when you're annoyed at me."
(A/N): For those of you who don't ship Eleo as much as I do, don't worry, I do plan on writing less of it, its just that these chapters were written at least like, three years ago, so uh... yeah. For those of you who do ship Eleo... uh, hang tight I guess?
This chapter has had edits made to it on 14/2/24 - changing Jonothan calling Elaine 'girly' to him calling her 'little girl', to match the original chapters in which he did so.