Stormwalker

A/N: My computer died. And that is an understatement. I had over half a dozen viruses
flooding my system and eating my computer and internet from the inside out. My deepest
apologies to those who have been waiting.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\"Something must be done!\" A man with long, luxurious, golden hair spat
and the raven-locked woman kneeling before him fought desperately not to flinch.

Heian Lunax backhanded his daughter viciously and the vampiress who looked hauntingly
like Belle bit her lip. The ancient vampire snarled. \"If this witch is still
alive, Gabriel will tell her about us, and that fool Dumbledore will bring the whole
fucking Inquisition upon our heads!\"

\"I\'m sorry father.\" Belle whispered through bloody, tattered lips. Heian
clenched his pale, perfect hand into a fist, but Tempeshia put her hand over his.
\"Heian, enough.\" Her voice was soft and sorrowful. \"We knew that
when Gabriel escaped and became a teacher at that school, that there would be danger.
You cannot blame your own daughter for doing the one thing you could not!\"
Her voice rose at the end of the sentence and then dropped back down to her normal,
submissive, tone. \"If you still wish to capture your brother, wait until the
summer when the humans\' powerful magic no longer protects him.\"

Heian\'s hand slowly and deliberately relaxed and he nodded. \"I agree. Belle,
you\'re dismissed.\" His daughter slunk away into the shadows of Maison de Sang,
rage seething within her heart. Tempeshia hid her sigh of relief. At least that
was over with.

The vampire turned to the woman, frozen forever as one of 17 years that had been
his lover for centuries that he had lost count, and she slid into his muscular arms.
Heian pressed his lips to Tempeshia\'s. She complied, letting him kiss her with the
shadowed love he and his dead un-beating heart possessed, if only to forget that
the passion he once stirred in her innocent heart was fading away, like his humanity
had long ago.

************************************************************************

Belle was in her room at the moment, sulking like the teenager her immortal body
desperately tried to mimic. Her sheets had been shredded to little strips of burgundy
cloth. The mirror had been shattered and razor-sharp fragments littered the floor.
Even though she was barefoot, the vampiress couldn\'t make herself care. Any cuts-accidental
or otherwise-would heal quickly.

Heian had left rather hastily after ordering her to stay inside the house, presumably
going to some other Death Eater meeting, where he would bow and scrape and torture
just to secure his precarious position above Lucius Malfoy. She didn\'t care about
Voldemort and his little schemes. The only reason she hadn\'t totally blown him off
was because he and his stupid henchmen had gotten her Gabriel, if only for a night.

She had no idea where her mother was. Heh. Mother. Biologically she was, but she
remembered when she had first seen her. Belle had been 17. Tempeshia had hugged
her father (not her real one, but she had no idea who he was) and Belle had attacked
her mother, not knowing who she was, screaming and calling her a whore and so many
other names. Gabriel had dragged her down the stairs, sputtering out the explanation
of why her own flesh and blood had not been there her whole life. Her mother was
this submissive...thing that acknowledged Heian\'s ever wish and slept with him whenever
they were out of her sight. But she knew it was not her mother\'s choice.

But something had changed as of late. Now Tempeshia would wait until her lover had
left the house, and then disappear to parts unknown, always returning at least an
hour before Heian was home from wherever. Belle never said anything about Tempeshia\'s
disappearances to her father, fearine coe consequences both from Heian from keeping
a secret in the first place and from her mother for betraying her.

Belle looked to the only untouched thing in her room, a large picture covered by
a nondescript canvas; she felt bloody, tainted tears forming at the corners of her
perfect, monstrous emerald eyes. The vampiress tore the cloth away, revealing her
tre treasured possession, a centuries-old painting.

It showed her and Gabriel in the nude, posing on a decadent bed, smiles on their
faces. Belle remembered when they had gone to Paris all of those years ago to have
it done. The storm-eyed vampire had one leg propped up and the other was stretched
out. Most of the rest of his body was obscured by her pale form. She was in his
arms, lying in the curve of his muscular body, his luxurious silver hair hiding
her breasts. Both painted figures looked straight into her eyes, their grins revealing
beautiful and lethal fangs.

The bed they lay upon had been huge, she remembered. Silk burgundy sheets like the
ones that had been mauled by her claws had covered the bed, along with soft pillows
edged with fur. Belle felt her already broken heart shatter once more as she looked
to her room, torn apart like the vestiges of her soul.

If she had one.

No one had understood why she had wanted Gabriel captured. Belle had not had another
way to find him and with magic Voldemort could find him. And he would have been
hers if only...Hermione! The vampiress snarled and started to destroy her room once
more. What did that bitch know!? Gabriel was a lover of pain, the fanged slut.

Belle knew he had loved every minute on that cross, smelled his lust in the air.

She would have revenge, at any cost.

************************************************************************

Dance music ripped through the dark speakers of Eve\'s Temptation. For those who
happened to have a vampiric friend or two, they had heard of this place, where disappearances
could always be explained away, and the bartender had every type of blood behind
his counter. Indeed, it was a vampire named Rage who owned the place, but that was
all many knew about her. She liked her privacy.

Tempeshia was in the back room, a place where only \'special guests\' were allowed.
The only thing needed was an invitation and immortality. No mortal had gone in and
come out alive. All of the men and women behind these closed doors also happened
to know a certain Gabriel Lunax, whether as an ex-lover or a friend. It did not
seem unusual, for in the Dark Ages, Rage herself had owned the masochist as a slave.
More like her beating post.

The vampiress was sprawled on a black leather couch, her beautiful emerald eyes
half-closed as her senses were repeatedly shocked by the sounds and smells, and
all of the other wonderful things about this nightclub. Tempeshia no longer wore
the pale modest dress that life (or unlife) demanded in Maison de Sang, but a clash
of tight black leather and dark silks that she had grown to love.

A man with short brown hair and vibrant violet eyes stalked into the room with a
wicked smile on his face. But no fangs were visible. Tempeshia sat up from her lounging
position and grinned back at the fey. He was of the dark court, but who cared? She
wasn\'t a saint. She leapt off of the couch and wrapped her arms around him. He laughed
and hugged her back.

\"How are you, Tempeshia?\"

The girl flinched and tried to hide it. \"Fine, Eos.\" She lied.

He grabbed her wrists in a blur before she could pull away and flipped them over
so her pale skin faced the ceiling. The vampiress winced in shame. Innumerable scars
from a razor-sharp blade criss-crossed along her arms, although a few were newer
than the rest. But because of her vampiric body, whenever Eos blinked, one of the
scars disappeared.

\"Tempeshia...\" He whispered, and she jerked away violently, curling into
a ball, her face buried into the dark corner of the leather couch, sobbing. Eos
slowly put his arms around her and held Tempeshia as she cried. The vampiress moved
into his lap and nuzzled his shoulder.

\"I\'m so sorry. I just can\'t stop myself.\" She said between sobs, holding
a vice-like grip on her friend like he was her last lifeline. He knew about her
deep depression, and also that little could be done about it. She looked 17, and
could conceivably go to a counselor, but she would have to lie about why she was
this way. While in this day and age, her being a single mother was certainly possible,
there was no way to explain to the fact that Belle looked like her sister. Add in
the fact that she had been imprisoned by Heian for several centuries before managing
to sneak into the outside world, and her part of a viciously sado-masochistic bloodline,
and the only help she could get was from him and a few others.

It’s alright, Tempeshia.” He whispered, stroked her raven hair. She didn’t
answer him, but sobbed in response, and Eos could feel her blood-tears soaking through
his jacket, but he couldn’t make himself care.

The male fey stood up, and let the vampires slide out of his arms. Tempeshia looked
up at him with wounded, blood-shot, emerald eyes. “Where are you going?” She
asked softly, her face stained with red.

“To find Gabriel.” He said bitterly and stripped off his waist-length leather
jacket, revealing a dark blue T-shirt that went rather well with the faded black
jeans and shining black boots.

She opened her mouth once more to speak, knowing what this meant to him. Tempeshia
said nothing and watched him leave. It hurt her heart to see him like this, because
of her. The last part of Eos she heard was his soft voice, always gentle. “Silver,
please tend to her.”

A man, that in less jaded times would have been named an angel, or a demon, with
his black wings, stepped out of the shadows and took Tempeshia into his muscled
arms without a word. She clung to him and wept until she passed into oblivion. The
shattered woman wept for lost love, and the suffering that choked the life out of
everything around her.

************************************************************************

The weekend had come to Hogwarts and as the sun sunk below the horizon. A grim light
hung over the school, like a foreshadowing for events to come. Gabriel leaned against
a wizened tree, looking out over the lake as autumn leaves fell at his feet.

A full moon hung low in the sky, shining a silver light that no matter how strong,
could not pierce the black waters. The vampire’s hands clenched into fists, one
tightening his grip on his sword. He had brought his family blade outside and practiced,
thrusting and twisting, stabbing and slicing invisible opponents. Gabriel could
feel the ancient power in the obsidian blade, created before Rome, his homeland
was even a vision.

He did not see the pair of brown eyes watching his every move.

Hermione watched him, a pale god made flesh in the light of the moon. She had seen
Gabriel sparring with shadows and looking out into the water, almost as if he was
waiting for someone. Maybe it was her. Hermione jumped a little as he spoke.

“One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that
is myself,
And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand
or ten million years
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I
can wait.

My foothold is tenoned and mortised in granite,
I laugh at what you call dissolution,
And I know the amplitude of time.

I am he that walks with the tender and loving night,
I call to the earth and see half-held by the night.

Press close, bare-bosomed night, press close magnetic
nourishing night!

Night of south winds, night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night, mad naked summer night.”

Hermione gasped when another figure stepped out of the shadows close to Gabriel.
She heard the clatter of the vampire’s sword as it fell to the earth. Gabriel
froze and the stranger spoke. wit witch suddenly recognized the man as the drummer
of Beautiful Death. Why was he here?

“Smile, O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset, earth of the mountains misty-
topped!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with
blue!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
Earth of the limpid grey of clouds brighter and clearer for
my sake!
Far-swooping elbowed earth, rich applosslossomed earth!
Smile, for your lover comes.”

“Eos?” Gabriel whispered, and Hermione could barely hear.

“Who else?” Eos answered with a grin.

“I…” The vampire’s voice trailed off as the man put a finger to Gabriel’s
lips, and for some reason, Hermione felt a stab of jealousy rear its ugly head in
her heart.

“Many are looking for you, Gabriel. Tempeshia bleeds as you hide behind these
mighty walls.”

Gabriel’s face twisted in rage. “What did he do to her!?” The vampire hissed.
By his tone, Hermione knew that he had to be speaking of his brother.

“Nothing, noir ange, she does it to herself.”

The vampire’s eyes widened but he slowly calmed down. “Don’t call me that.”

“Why not, Gabriel?”

Hermione’s jaw dropped in shock when he choked out a response. “I didn’t think
we were lovers anymore.”

Eos’s eyes narrowed. “The only person who’s known you longer than me is your
brother. I still love you, Gabriel.”

The vampire said nothing.

“I know about Hermione”, Eos said, no hint of anger or betrayal in his voice.
“But I still love you, and I always have, no matter how many other lovers you have
taken. And I also know why you haven’t slept with her yet.”

“I barely know her,” Gabriel spat defensively.

“And she still thinks she loves you, or whatever teenage girl nonsense she convinces
herself with. How long you’ve known them doesn’t make a difference. You fuck
them whether you’ve known them a century or an hour. It doesn’t matter to you.”

The silver-haired man scoffed. “Then why haven’t I fucked her yet? Huh?”

“Because she’s mortal.”

Gabriel bursting out laughing. “O my lovely Eos, do you know how many mortals
I’ve slept with?”

“No, I don’t think there’s a high enough number. But you know that’s not
what I meant. Most of those mortals never wanted a relationship, and the ones who
did you either abandoned or changed into vampires!”

Hermione just stared in shock and disgust. “Is that why you came here, Eos, to
mock me?”

“No, Gabriel. I just want you back.”

“Never.”

“Never’s a long time, lover.” Eos pressed closer to Gabriel and the vampire’s
breath caught. He said nothing and the fey pressed his lips to Gabriel’s, and
the vampire hungrily returned the favor, unable to fight his oldest lover’s touch.

In anger and betrayal Hermione fled and was almost inside the castle when
she collided with someone.

The person stood up and brushed her black bangs out of her face before looking up
at Hermione and snarling, grabbing the witch by the shoulders and pinned her into the stone wall forcefully. Hermione struggled to get at her wand and attack the woman who was holding her down.

“Belle!” She hissed, seeing the emerald eyes.

The vampiress froze. “More like her mother.”

“Tempeshia?” Hermione said, wincing from the other’s grip.

She nodded and pulled away from the witch, and she stumbled. Tempeshia looked rather unconcerned but offered a pale hand nonetheless. The vampiress’s fangs slowly retracted, and she looked like a normal teenager. It was a frightening thought to how well she could blend in.

“How do you know who I am?”

“Gabriel told me.”

“Then you must be Hermione Granger.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m a Lunax. We always seem to be meddling in other relatives’ business.”

“Why are you here?” Hermione said cautiously.

“To find Gabriel.”

“The bastard’s busy right now.”
Tempeshia raised an eyebrow. “Doing what exactly?”

“Sleeping with another man, is my guess.”

“And this surprises you?”

Hermione gave Tempeshia a strange look. “Of course. And it doesn’t surprise you?”

The vampiress laughed. “Of course not. That man has seduced anyone he lusts for or gets in his way. By that tone, I’m assuming you haven’t slept with him.”

“Two things. I’ve known him for a week, and I have the slightest inkling that he doesn’t swing my way.”

“You’re joking.”

“No.”

Tempeshia instantly became thoughtful, and then worried. “Do you know who the other man is?”

“Someone named Eos.”

“Fuck.” For some reason the word didn’t seem right coming out of someone who seemed so innocent. But Hermione knew that that couldn’t be true, not by any stretch of the word.

“What?”

“This is my fault.”

Hermione scoffed. “How could something like this be your fault?”

“I needed to speak to Gabriel, and I sent Eos to get him. I had no idea that he would sleep with him to do it.”

“So he’s gay?”

“No child, he is not.” Hermione thought it was weird for someone who appeared to be her age to call her child, but she knew that the vampiress was centuries old and had faced more hardships than she could imagine. “Gabriel is a very prodigious lover, gender doesn’t even faze him anymore. Every Lunax but Heian is the same, but none have Gabriel’s record.”

Hermione bit her lip. “Why?”

“Immortality breeds boredom.”

“So it’s all just a game?”

“To some.”

“What about him?”

“Remember Hermione, for centuries Gabriel has used the weapon of seduction to get himself freedom. It is a habit I suppose.”

“It seems monstrous.”

Tempeshia’s emerald eyes narrowed. “We are all monsters, child.” She extended her hand palm first and Hermione stepped back as her nails turned from perfect to an animal’s claws, black and deadly. “On the inside.” The witch said nothing, staring at Tempeshia’s hand. “You see us as these perfect immortal creatures. That is a lie created by vampires to trick others into becoming like them. Misery loves company.” She said bitterly.

“Why?”

“Gabriel may well love you as time passes, Hermione, but remember, he has loved Eos for millennia.”

“Then why did he turn away?”

“Because he hates what he is, what he became for Eos.”

“He became a vampire for Eos?”

“Yes. See, Eos is part Unseelie fey, immortal creatures that have existed as long as us. So when Gabriel realized that his mortality could shatter his relationship with the one he loved, he didn’t fight back when his sire chose him.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It is the truth.”

“I don’t know.” Hermione said softly.

“Don’t know what?”

“If I love him.”

“All it takes is time, Hermione. So much has happened so quickly. Take it slow and learn to love. Immortality breeds patience as well.”

“You speak like you’ve gone through this before.”

“I have. Heian is a Lunax as well.”

“He’s nothing like Gabriel.”

“Don’t assume, child.” Anger flared for a second in those serpent’s eyes. “Heian was created by those around him, just as Gabriel, and they are very much the same.”

“Do you become a vampire for him?”

“Yes, and I don’t regret it.

“I don’t think I could handle immortality.”

“It is a heady thing, but so much can come out of it. Eternal beauty, power, the chance to explore the world around you forever and try to learn everything. The cost is your soul. And that essence inside has never done anything for me.”

“Don’t you feel empty?”

“Yes. But ‘for what is it to die, but to stand in the sun and melt in the wind’?” Tempeshia said softly, quoting Kahlil Gibran. “When you are a vampire, you always have the chance to die when you choose. But unlike mortal suicide, we see death as a wonderful thing because it lifts the weight of immortality off our shoulders. As…this, I can have a glorious life and a wondrous death.”

Hermione nodded. “Thank you, Tempeshia.”

“Don’t thank me. Just remember my mistakes and learn through my suffering. Love is not a fairy tale, and immortality doesn’t last forever. ‘Life is weaker than death, and death is weaker than love.’”

And then, the vampiress was gone, and Hermione stood there for a long time, her heart heavy in her chest..


The poem that Gabriel and Eos were reciting was Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself.’ Some of the parts were just too damn appropriate to leave out. And Tempeshia’s last line was from Kahlil Gibran as well.

Please review!