A Long Way Back ~ Editing

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 9 ~ Adam's Beauty Treatment

Adam escorted Hermione down the stone stairwell, holding her arm securely. They walked quite a distance, the glistening walls wet with condensation and reflecting the torch light. Finally they left the stairwell and entered a chamber of stone also lit by torches. And in the center of the room was a great stone tub. It was empty and had a sloped back so the person using it could recline comfortably.

The tub itself was rather macabre. Images of demons, kobolds, imps, snakes and other creatures Hermione couldn't identify were carved into every inch of the stone in one horrifying jumble of evilness. At the top of the tub was a stone bust of a beautiful woman wearing a kind of crown. Well, she would have been beautiful if she didn't have long fangs protruding from her open mouth and her face wasn't twisted in rage. A small head pillow rested beneath the bust. An ordinary wooden folding chair sat next to the tub, and a small table on the other side had magazines on it. Closer examination showed they were mostly medical magazines and journals focused on hematology.

Adam patted Hermione's arm.

"I'm a vampire honey…I go for the bizarre. It's just a tub," he assured her. "I won't be dipping you in lasting evil."

Hermione looked at the tub a bit apprehensively anyway. She noticed little spout-like protuberances lining it.

"Now, get undressed," Adam said to the witch in a business-like manner, releasing her arm and stepping back expectantly.

Hermione looked at the vampire with wide eyes.

"In front of you?" she asked him.

Adam sighed exaggeratedly, put his hands on his hips and rolled his blue eyes before resting them on Hermione.

"Honey, trust me…I wouldn't be a Queen if I didn't have the soul of a woman. Plus, even if I did like pussy darling, I'd want it in a better package than you. So either way my dear, you're safe," Adam said evenly, pursing his lips.

Self-consciously, Hermione began to slowly unbutton her robes. Adam looked at her impatiently for a moment, tapping his foot. Suddenly he whipped out his wand so quickly his arm blurred from the speed.

"Divesto!" he said.

Hermione shrieked as she found herself naked. Adam shrieked too as he looked at her body.

"Oh Hermione, how do you even live? You have no meat on you at all. Your breasts are deflated, your bones are all jutting out, your skin is so dry its peeling, I can count every one of your ribs and you're so thin, you're skeletal. You have no ass either. You can't be getting any cock. Even the weakest wizard would break something on you," the vampire said, shaking his head in amazement. "Do you eat at all?"

Hermione tried to cover herself without much success. Adam had really lit into her and it hurt.

"Well I ate just one meal a day until recently. I've started eating better," she said in her own defense.

Adam clucked his tongue.

"Get in the tub, honey and hurry up…we can't waste a minute. You are one sorry mess," the vampire said. But his eyes were sympathetic.

Hermione climbed into the stone tub, and reclined on the slope, resting her head on the pillow.

"Are you comfortable?" Adam asked her.

Actually Hermione was rather comfortable, except the stone was cold. It was quickly warming however. Eerily so.

"Yes, I am," Hermione replied.

"Good," Adam said, flicking his wand toward the witch.

Suddenly what seemed like a thick sheet of glass covered the tub, a semi-circle cut out of it to fit around Hermione's neck. It was lined with what looked like velvet so she wouldn't be injured if she moved her head. The glass locked flush to the top of the stone tub.

"What is this?" Hermione demanded, her hands pressing ineffectively on the bottom of the thick glass.

"That is to keep you in place and so you don't waste any of the beauty solution. It is also a stasis field to keep the solution viable. Victor!"

A small slot in the wall slid back and a pair of blue eyes looked out. The vampire couldn't see into the tub however, and he was relatively thankful for that. Victor definitely didn't want to see Hermione naked.

"Yes my Queen?" he answered Adam.

"You can fill the tub now," Adam said, looking at the tub expectantly.

Victor was in a tiny control room. There was nothing in there but a chair and a lever. Slowly he pushed the lever up and the spouts lining the tub turned on. It began to fill

With blood. Warm, sticky blood, that smelled strongly of rotted fish.

Hermione was horrified and began to struggle.

"What is this? Blood? I don't want to bathe in blood! What is it? Human blood? Blood from innocent virgins?" she demanded.

Adam laughed.

"No honey…it's not human blood. It's Queen blood, from vampire queens. The most powerful blood in existence. It holds life in it and is an excellent restorative. I take a treatment once or twice a week and it keeps me supple and healthy looking. Look at my skin…it's pale but has the look of living, healthy flesh. It will be wonderful for you."

Hermione looked down at the blood. It was up to her navel now.

"How did you get so much of it?" the witch asked him.

A shadow dropped on Adam's face.

"I tracked down and killed rival queens," he said darkly.

When he first turned Queen, Adam was driven to seek out his rivals and destroy them, and accompanied by Victor, he scoured the country in search of them. The wizard knew they were out there, because he could sense them. Vashti lived peacefully when she ruled. The queens had their territories staked out and didn't fight. But Adam was determined to be the only Queen.

Most vampire queens were turned muggles and didn't have magic. Adam did have magic and wasn't afraid to use it. Most of the queens didn't stand a chance against him. First he would weaken them with an extremely bright burst of artificial sunlight from his wand, then attack them. The wizard was much stronger than an actual female queen and he usually killed them easily. He had cleared every hidden clutch in England of queens and saved their blood in a stasis field, which was powerful since it held the true life of the minions. Queens were more alive than dead because of this, which was why they could walk in sunlight. Only their vampiric powers were diminished.

In stasis, the life of the minions could not escape the Queen's blood when they were killed, and Adam was forced to kill all of them. Not because he wanted to, but because they were too savage to keep. Every clutch drank human blood when they could get it, hiding the nature of the attacks by slashing and tearing the bodies apart as if they were attacked by werewolves or other predators. Adam did not want them mixing with his own clutch, and he couldn't leave them Queenless. They would run amok and start the Vampire Hunts again. None of them would have survived if that happened.

Hermione suddenly felt her body totally relax and start to tingle as the warm blood rose higher and higher.

"You're starting to feel it now," Adam said softly, watching the witch's eyes go half-lidded. "It's intoxicating. The power. It consumes you…strengthens you."

Adam's voice faded as Hermione closed her eyes and began to drift in darkness, the lapping of the blood around her body strangely soothing. It was as if it were a living entity, caressing her. She felt she could float like this forever.

Suddenly she was in a huge throne room, looking at hundreds of well-dressed people standing on either side of the room, an aisle with rich carpeting running down the middle. Large chandeliers fitted with thick candles blazed overhead. The throne room was windowless.

"Bring them in," she said.

A guard in full regalia cupped his hand to his mouth.

"Bring them in!" he shouted. Another guard, then another picked up the cry. Then huge floor to ceiling double doors were pulled open and several guards walked in, escorting a group of bound, beaten men. They marched them up to the throne. They pushed one bound man forward so he fell on his knees. He was dark-haired and dark-eyed with a beard. He looked up at Hermione with hatred on his face.

"Not so belligerent now, Hundai," Hermione heard herself say. "Your revolution is failing. Your ragtag soldiers' heads are on pikes outside my gate and their bodies are feeding the wild dogs. You are finished."

"The revolution will never die, Vashti," the man declared. He was kicked in the back by a guard.

"That's Queen Vashti, peon," he growled at the man.

"She is no queen to the people, feeding herself and her court, holding lavish parties and celebrations while we all starve. She is no queen. A queen cares for her people," he said, looking up at Hermione.

"My people? My people! You are not my people. You are all servants meant to serve me and provide tribute to me. I am of the royal line. You and your people are nothing. Nothing, Hundai," Hermione spat.

"You will not be queen for long," the man said. "Someone will end your evil. You are killing women, children…everyone."

"Anyone who is against me shall perish and their families as well. I will allow no enemy or potential enemy to live. Children grow up, Hundai. These will not," Hermione said coldly. She looked at the man consideringly.

"You will not die yet, Hundai. You will be tortured until I can figure out a spectacular way to kill and display you. The same goes for your 'army,'" Hermione said, her dark eyes washing over the ragged crowd of bound men.

"Take them to the dungeons, and don't make it an easy walk," Vashti said. The guard urged the men back down the aisle, striking and kicking them brutally as they did so.

The scene changed. A servant was pouring her a cup of wine into a goblet. She sniffed it.

"A wonderful bouquet. I have not had this wine before. Where does it come from?" she asked the servant.

"It was a gift from the court itself, your majesty," the servant said, bowing.

"Ah, they love me so much," Hermione said.

Next the witch was bending over, throwing up blood.

"Round up the court. Every one of them and all of their families!" she screamed at the guard between heaves.

Next she was nude in front of a fire in some dank stone room. She was doing a ritual and casting what looked like blood into the flames. A circle of blood surrounded the fire. A frightfully large and hideous demon's head appeared in the midst of the flame.

"Why do you call on us Vashti?" the demon asked.

"I have been betrayed and am dying. I am not yet ready to die. I wish for you to save me, Great One," the witch said.

The demon looked at her consideringly.

"And what will you give us?" the demon asked.

"The blood of a thousand. Four hundred court members and their families. This I will give you," Hermione heard herself say. "And I will continue to give you blood of both the guilty and the innocent as long as I live," the Queen said. "Only save me, Great One!"

The demon's eyes swept over her body.

"I want you too, Vashti. You must remove the circle and let me come to you tonight at midnight and have my pleasure. Then will we save you," the demon hissed, his tongue flicking out in a demonic display of lust.

"I do not think I will live that long, Great One. Even now I burn inside with a terrible pain," Hermione gasped.

"We will hold you here, but the pain you must suffer," the demon replied, "then tonight, after I have had you, your life will be renewed. You will have power over the lives of many and all you touch will serve you loyally and only you. Even your enemies. It is a great gift, Vashti."

Hermione bowed.

"Thank you my Lord."

Next Hermione witnessed the disemboweling and crucifixion of a thousand men, women and children. Her entire court. Still alive with their innards hanging out, they were nailed upside down to crosses, and the crosses set in rows along the road leading to her castle, their intestines draped around their bodies like webbing.

That night the demon came to her, its green scaly body possessing not one but two scaly cocks of great length, surrounded by dull spines. The creature shoved them simultaneously in her ass and pussy and fucked her brutally, slashing her with its claws and biting her flesh until she felt herself dying.

"Now the gift," it hissed, opening its mouth, revealing large fangs and biting her throat.

Nest she was standing whole outside of a door in a dungeon with several guards.

"I will enter alone," she said to them.

The guard protested.

"There are over twenty men in this cell, my Queen. They will kill you," one guard said.

"I am not afraid. Open the door then leave us," Hermione said.

The guards were forced to obey. Dressed in a black cloak Hermione pulled her hood up to hide her face. She walked into the cell.

Twenty men in bad shape sat against the wall. The cell smelled of shit, piss and unwashed bodies. Hermione found it pleasant. She searched the faces of the men until she located Hundai and walked toward him.

"Who are you?" the leader of the rebels croaked up at her.

"Your mistress. I have come to free you," Hermione said lowering her hood.

Immediately all the men rose to their feet, hatred in their eyes.

Hundai looked at her.

"You must have gone mad to come in here without guards, Vashti. Now you will die!"

Hundai charged toward her but suddenly the witch wasn't there. There was a rush of wind then nothing.

Female laughter rose from behind the bewildered men.

"I am here, Hundai. Come get me," Hermione said, leaning against the back wall.

"All of us this time!" Hundai directed.

The men all charged Hermione, but again, there was a rush of wind and she was no longer there but by the dungeon door. She laughed nastily as the men turned.

"You are a witch. You are in league with the evil one!" Hundai cried as the men murmured agreement.

Hermione's eyes glowed red.

Suddenly she was on Hundai, grasping him strongly so he could not move, pushing his head aside so his jugular showed clearly.

"I am in league with evil," she said softly to the struggling man as the others stood unmoving, horrified, "but I am no witch."

Suddenly Hermione transformed into a hideous creature with unbelievably long fangs, an elongated animal-like face, pointed ears and long black nails. The men screamed as she sunk her teeth into Hundai's throat, shaking him like a rat as she drained him, hot blood filling her gullet. She released the man and he fell to the floor.

She spun and hissed at the prisoners before streaking to the next man, repeating the act as the terrified men screamed for help and scrambled away from her. Hundai slowly rose from the floor, his face and body misshapen, long fangs protruding from his mouth, which caused even more hoarse screams of horror. Together they attacked all the men, and one by one the men rose, misshapen and long fanged to attack the survivors until finally all that were left were transformed creatures.

Hermione became human again and approached the creature that used to be Hundai. She caressed its head, and it purred, rolling against her palm, smiling horribly, its bloody fangs protruding.

"Now, you will follow me without question. You will be my army and route out the rebels by night. But you will not kill them…you will turn them until I have a great army of minions. Then I shall rule the world," Hermione said as the creatures stood about her, looking at her with abject adoration. Then Hermione found herself drifting in darkness again, a darkness tinged with red.

Suddenly she was up high, looking down on a cobbled street. A man was passing by. Tall, blonde-haired and handsome. She felt a sense of longing.

Suddenly she was on the ground, behind the man.

"I need your assistance sir," she purred.

The man spun quickly. It was Victor.

The man looked Hermione up and down, and his blue eyes began to glitter.

"How may I help a lady such as you on this cold and lonely night?" he asked her, stepping forward and kissing her hand slowly, lingering over it.

Hermione felt a burst of desire thrum through her.

Next she was in a small room, lying on her back. She was naked, and Victor had just finished undressing. He was a beautiful man with a beautiful cock, long, smooth and thick with a large dark red head. His organ was nestled in a generous tangle of soft blonde pubic hair and stood straight out in rapt attention. Victor's blue eyes locked on the woman before him and he approached the bed.

"I don't know why God saw fit to bless me with you this night, my lady, but I would be mad to spurn what you so freely offer me," he said softly, climbing into the bed and mounting Hermione in the missionary position.

He penetrated her smoothly with one long thrust and pleasure flowed through Hermione as the man began to fuck her strongly, gasping with pleasure.

"I have never felt a woman so exquisite," he groaned, increasing his ardor.

"That is because I am not a woman, but a Queen and have chosen you as my consort," Hermione hissed, enjoying the feel of him

Victor stopped thrusting, confusion on his face.

"A Queen?" he repeated, looking down at her.

"Yessss," Hermione replied thrusting her pelvis upward on Victor's cock, causing him to fall back to fucking her.

"You are my Queen tonight," Victor groaned, slamming into her roughly now. "Knight me with your blessings."

"You are knighted then," Hermione replied with a moan, tightening around him, using her power.

Suddenly Victor let out a shout and came, his seed pouring into Hermione.

"Yesss," she said, "Yesss."

She pushed the climaxing man's head to the side and gently sunk her teeth into his throat, intensifying his pleasure. It was only a small pain and he never knew he was penetrated. She took only a bit of blood. Just enough to start the Turning.

Victor finished coming, and lay on top of Hermione heavily.

"I must go," Hermione said, gently pushing the panting man off of her.

"Now? Stay, please. I beg you. I have never had a woman so delicious," Victor said to her.

Hermione pulled on her black mesh dress, then her cloak.

"No, I must go," she said softly.

"At least, my Queen…tell your enamored subject your name," he urged, sitting up in the bed. "My name is Victor."

Hermione gave him a slight smile.

"My name Victor, is Vashti. And you will not soon forget me," she said, bending to kiss him lightly then exiting the room.

Next, Hermione was in a crypt alone. Caskets lined the wall, some half opened with the remains hanging out. A new coffin rested on a stone slab in the center of the crypt, and she lay on her back on top of it…waiting.

Suddenly the door was yanked open, and a pale, drawn Victor entered.

"I have found you," he said, his eyes full of lust, "I must have you…always."

Hermione opened her arms and the smitten man climbed on to the coffin with her, working at his trousers desperately.

"And you shall, Victor. You shall," Hermione purred.

Suddenly the witch was drifting again, aware of light against her eyelids, and the feeling of warmth draining from around her body. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened to see Adam standing over her, smiling broadly, his sharp eyeteeth visible.

He tapped the glass covering her with his wand and it disappeared. Then he held out a large white fluffy towel. Hermione climbed out of the tub. She felt wonderful and allowed Adam to dry her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The towel was covered in blood, and Adam quickly retrieved another, continuing to wipe her down until not a bit of blood was left. Then the vampire said an incantation and cleared the towels of the precious blood, sending it back to the chambers that held it in stasis.

He looked Hermione up and down.

"I tell you, I'm a miracle worker," he said, grinning. "Honey, someone should really build me a shrine for this one. Out of pure gold."

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A/N: Wow. Hermione experienced Vashti's memories while immersed in the blood. Way cool. So now we find out how Vashti and Victor became lovers. Not really a great lemon, but this wasn't really Hermione's experience. So I kept it kind of clinical…since she was an observer experiencing Vashti's half-life. Now…what made Adam claim he was a miracle worker deserving of a shrine? Well, we'll find out next chapter. Please review.