Twice Bitten ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 19 ~ Vashti’s Lair

Three hours later, Adam flounced into the chambers where Snape, Victor, Ron and Harry were waiting. Harry was talking with Snape, Victor looking on and Ron seated a little distance away, looking sullen.

Snape had informed him he wouldn’t accompany them to Vashti’s lair but was to wait until they returned. The wizard tried to argue, but really couldn’t blame Snape, particularly the way he acted.

“I’m a miracle worker,” Adam gushed as he minced in. “Vashti is going to blow an artery when she sees Hermione. She’s luscious! Even I want to take a bite out of her.”

Now that was quite a compliment coming from Adam, who, as he said, didn’t do “snatch.”

Everyone turned to face the corridor.

”Well, where is she?” Harry asked.

“Grand Entrance, Hermione!” Adam called out.

Suddenly a shimmer walked forward out of the corridor, then shifted. Hermione suddenly melted into view as she removed the Disillusionment charm. Snape’s eyes went wide as he looked at the witch. Both Harry and Ron’s jaws dropped, fangs visible. Victor’s eyes narrowed.

”Just bitable!” Adam gushed, clapping his hands together in delight.

Hermione was garbed in a gold silk Chinese dress known as a Cheongsam, which translates to “long dress.” Ankle-length with long sleeves, a high mandarin closed collar, loose chest, fitted waist and side slits, it complimented her figure perfectly. The dress buttoned on the right side and showed a flash of leg as she walked forward wearing a very sexy pair of matching gold heels. Embroidered dragons caught the light, seeming to writhe around her body. Her hair was down, catching the torchlight, falling over her shoulders in a cascade of ringlets. Highlights of gold flashed from her hair, and she wore a touch of gold lipstick and eye shadow, enhanced by the expert application of eyeliner and mascara. Hermione walked determinedly but sensually, her hips swaying from side to side. She looked like pure, unadulterated sex.

Apparently, Adam had given her some ‘runaway’ lessons as well.

“Hermione! Is that really you?” Ron said in amazement. “You look gorgeous!”

”Yes, it’s me, Ron,” Hermione replied, blushing prettily.

Harry managed to close his mouth, swallowing as he looked at his friend.

”You look, you look like a . . . a woman, Hermione. A real one,” he managed to get out.

This comment made Hermione scowl.

”So what the hell did I look like before?” she snapped at him, “A Gorgon?”

Hermione might as well been a Gorgon the way she glared at Harry. The look she gave him was enough to petrify him on the spot. As she went on the offensive, clenching her fists and scowling blackly, she lost all her poise, much to Adam’s aggravation.

Snape smirked. Yep. Hermione was still in there, ready to slug someone.

Actually Harry.

”Keep that back straight, Missy!” Adam said to her, snapping his fingers for emphasis. “I didn’t do all that work to have you stomp around here like a troll. You have an image to portray. That of a sexy little mortal vamp-stealer. Remember why we did this and get a grip.”

Hermione quickly straightened back up, assuming the ‘vamp’ pose. Victor licked his lips.

”Covering up her throat like that won’t make Vashti not think about biting her. It actually draws attention to it, my Queen,” Victor said, his dark eyes resting on Hermione hungrily.

Harry thought the way Hermione dressed not only made vampires want to bite her, but shag her too. Hell, non-vamps would go for it as well. His eyes shifted toward Snape, who was gazing at her steadily, his face betraying nothing at all. No, he wouldn’t show his lust. He didn’t have to. He could get her anytime he wanted, the bastard.

“That’s precisely what we want, Victor,” Adam said, looking at Hermione with approval. “Although you are going to have to carry her, Professor. She won’t make it through the catacombs in those heels.”

Snape nodded. He wouldn’t mind carrying Hermione at all. It would bring him into final contact with the witch. Snape stood up, picked up her satchel and approached the witch.

”Excuse us,” he said to the others, pulling out his wand and casting a Sphere of Silence around them.

“Well, I never,” Adam said.

Snape looked down at Hermione, then waved his wand over her, saying a spell they couldn’t hear. Hermione looked dazed a moment, then Snape spoke to her and she nodded. The wizard then reached into her satchel and handed her a bottle. She opened it and drank out of it. Snape replaced the bottle in the satchel then removed the sphere. Hermione slipped her wand into her sleeve.

”Miss Granger will not be able to speak or respond to any of you,” the wizard said, picking her up in his arms. His scabbard and sword were safely under his robes. “Now Adam, show us the way to Vashti’s lair. Stay here, Mr. Weasley.”

”But I want to go!” Ron protested.

”I SAID STAY HERE!” Snape roared at him, thrusting a palm forward and slamming the wizard into the closest chair. Ron struggled but couldn’t get up.

”Damn you Professor!” Ron screamed at him as the group walked to a wall and Adam pulled back the hangings, revealing a stone door. He pushed it open easily though it must have weighed a couple of hundred pounds.

“Let’s go, ladies. We have a vamp to kill,” he said, grabbing a torch out of a wall sconce and leading the way, the door swinging shut behind them. The moment they exited the chamber, Ron was able to move again. He ran for the stone door, but couldn’t push it open. He cursed and slammed his fist against the wall.

”If anything happens to Hermione, you bastard, I’ll kill you, Professor. I swear it,” he seethed. Then he walked away from the door, looked around the chambers, then headed up the corridor. He heard giggling and could hear heartbeats. He stopped in front of an open door with a circle of moving water running around it, peering in.

Inside were four very lovely brown-skinned young women. Ron blinked at them. He wasn’t the least bit hungry.

”Er, hello?” he ventured.

The girls all looked out the door and gasped when they saw Ron, huddling together.

”Who are you?” Aden asked in a tremulous voice.

”My name is Ron. Ron Weasley,” he replied.

”You are like Victor and Adam,” Habiba said to him, frowning.

Ron nodded.

”Yeah. I’m a vampire. The only one here really. I was left behind,” he said, his face falling.

”You have red hair,” Fadila said, smiling a little.

Ron ruffled his hair.

”Yeah. My entire family has red hair,” he replied.

The girls seemed to relax when he said he had a family. It made him seem more, well, human.

”You have a family?” Aden asked him, moving closer to the door.

”Yes. I have five . . . well four now. Four brothers and a sister,” he said to them, leaving off Fred, who was gone now. “I had five brothers, but Fred was killed during the Final Battle.”

”Final Battle? You were in a battle?” Jazlyn said, moving a bit closer to the door.

”Yeah,” Ron said, “I helped destroy Voldemort.”

Oohs and ahhhs rose up from the young women. He had destroyed someone.

”Who was Voldemort?” Aden asked him.

”Just the most dangerous wizard in the world,” Ron said importantly, “He killed thousands before me . . . and Harry brought him down just a few days ago.”

Ron left out Hermione completely. The story wouldn’t be as impressive with more than two heroes.

”Oh! Tell us about it, Ron Weasley,” Aden begged him. The other girls joined in with pleading eyes.

“Tell us! Please tell us. It is dull here, Ron Weasley,” the young woman all urged him.

It would be kind of nice having four pretty women hanging on his every word. It would help pass the time too.

”All right,” Ron said, sitting down cross-legged in the corridor. Aden, Fadila, Habiba, and Jazlyn sat down also, safe on the other side of the moving water, looking at Ron expectantly.

”Well, it all started when I was eleven and on the train, going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry Potter was on the train and he was sort of famous, but I wasn’t at all impressed. I don’t impress easily. You have to prove yourself to me . . . you know? He was all like, ‘look at my scar’ and trying to make friends with me. He didn’t know anyone and I felt a little bad for him, you know?”

So the Gospel of Harry Potter according to Ron Weasley began.

It had the potential of becoming another new testament.

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Adam led Snape, Harry and Victor through the passageway. There were no corridors leading off it and presently it began to ascend, moving closer to the surface. Snape could feel a draft as they moved higher. They came to a fork.

”That way leads to the surface,” Adam said, continuing down the left corridor.

Hermione clung to Snape as the vampires moved silently toward Vashti’s lair. She realized she couldn’t hear their footfalls on the stone. No matter how warm and solid Snape felt, he was still an unearthly creature. He held on to her rather possessively. She could feel it though he said nothing to her. The plan was in effect now. There was no turning back.

They walked about a mile before entering a foyer. In front of them was a heavy wooden door that reminded Hermione of the door the led from the Room of Requirement to Adam’s lair. But this door had the face of a beautiful woman on it, surrounded by the images of a lion, a serpent and an owl.

”That’s Lilitu’s image,” Adam hissed, “and her sacred animals. Vashti pretends it’s her though, the demented bitch. I hope we can pull this off.”

Adam walked up to the door, Victor standing beside him. Snape was behind them, Harry bringing up the rear.

A large knocker rested below the head and Adam used it to knock heavily on the door. Snape put Hermione down, moving her to the back so she would enter last.

“Be of strong heart, witch,” he said to her softly, grasping her hand encouragingly. Hermione nodded but didn’t speak. She couldn’t.

“Remember to bow when we enter,” Adam said, “Except you, Hermione. Just stand there. That’ll fluff her tail feathers. Professor, you know what to say, don’t you?”

”I am well prepared, Adam,” Snape replied as the door slowly swung open.

”Enter,” a husky feminine voice said in a low whisper. “Enter the domain of Lilutu.”

Adam rolled his eyes. What a drama queen. Adam and Victor entered together, followed by Snape, Hermione and Harry. They all bowed except for the witch, who took in the scene before her.

They were in an immense throne room, one meant to hold a large court. The room was completely bare except for torches ensconced on the walls for light, a huge throne that looked as if it could comfortable seat someone twenty feet tall and a man shackled to the wall, who looked to be in very bad shape, a dried pool of blood at his feet, deep, oozing scratches in his face and several fingers bitten off, resting on the floor before him. He shuddered, clearly in pain and agony.

”Kill me,” he gasped. “Please, have mercy and kill me!”

Hermione didn’t react to his words at all but looked directly at the shadowed shape sitting on the throne.

”Who is this you bring me, Adam?” Vashti said, half-shadowed.

”Someone from your past, my Queen,” Adam said, sounding as if he’d like to gag at her title. “His name is Severus Tobias Snape. He comes to pay homage to you.”

”Severus Tobias Snape?” the vampire said, rising from her throne and walking forward, her body undulating as the torchlight revealed her, wrapped in a black sari, her black hair whipping about her. She looked as she did the night she bit Snape.

”I remember that one. He never returned to me. Come forward, Severus Tobias Snape, so I may look upon you,” the vampire commanded.

Snape walked forward, stopping a respectful distance away and bowing again, his dark eyes meeting Vashti’s.

”Lilutu. You’re as beautiful and desirable as I remember,” he purred at her.

Lilutu laughed.

”And you are no handsomer, Severus Tobias Snape,” she responded, walking up to him and looking into his face, “But still . . . there is something there . . .”

Then she pressed her hand to his crotch.

”And there as well. I remember you,” she said caressing his loins and letting her sensuality wash over him. Snape responded beneath her touch, but it was purely physical. “Why did you not come to me? I longed for you . . .”

Here she scratched Snape’s cheek with a long, sharp nail, cutting it open for a moment, before it healed. Snape didn’t react to the pain. He had withstood the lash while under Voldemort. A deep scratch that healed instantly was nothing.

”I stopped the turning with magic,” he replied softly, “I didn’t know that. But recently I was murdered and then the turning was completed.”

”Ah yes. Death must be approaching before the blessing takes hold. So you sought me out?” she asked him, walking around him a bit critically.

”Yes. I wished to . . . to ‘see’ you,” he said, adding just the right amount of rawness to his voice. Hermione reacted slightly to this, but maintained her stoic position.

“To ‘see’ me, Severus Tobias Snape, or to fuck me?” the vampire hissed.

”I would give anything to be in your embrace again, my Queen,” the wizard responded.

”Your voice is so beautiful now,” Vashti said to him softly, “It is pleasing to me. But, who is that mortal woman?”

Snape looked back at Hermione.

”That is my human lover,” he said.

Vashti’s eyes narrowed at this.

”Walk forward, mortal,” she hissed at Hermione, crooking her finger at her.

Seeing Vashti gesture at her, Hermione stepped further into the throne room, the light from the torches catching her dress, making it flash. She looked even lovelier than when Adam first presented her. She looked at Vashti directly, a bit of disdain clearly in her eyes as she remembered the vampire’s history. She was a child killer and a cannibal.

“She is quite . . . lovely,” Vashti said tightly, noting the disdain and disrespect the witch radiated. It was like pins sticking into her flesh.

”Yes, she is my Queen. Quite pleasurable as well. But her beauty doesn’t compare to yours,” Snape said smoothly.

Vashti scowled as Hermione met her gaze steadily, showing no fear or deference. She looked at Snape, a sly look on her face.

”If you come to pay me homage, Severus Tobias Snape, then you must give me tribute as well. A gift,” she said evenly.

”I was not aware of this, my Queen,” Snape said, “I have nothing to offer you . . .”

Vashti smiled at him, her fangs purposely visible and pointed at Hermione.

”She’ll do,” the vampire snarled. “Would you deny me this mortal?”

Snape hesitated just the perfect amount of time.

”No, my Queen,” he said, a quaver in his voice.

The wizard really did feel his stomach tightening.

”Got her,” Adam thought, smiling a bit, a little fang showing in anticipation.

”Bring her to me,” Vashti ordered.

Snape turned and walked back to Hermione, taking her by the hand and holding it high as if displaying her. Hermione did her little runway walk, shifting sexily as she walked toward Vashti, whose eyes glittered with jealousy. This mortal was beautiful enough to draw attention away from her. She couldn’t permit her to continue to live.

Hermione stopped in front of Vashti, who looked at Snape.

”Return to the others and watch how I accept your gift, Severus Tobias Snape,” she said.

Snape bowed and returned to stand by Adam’s side. Hermione was steady but her heart rate increased dramatically. Vashti heard it and smiled nastily.

”Ah, you are afraid. And well you should be. Being marked will not protect you from me. You are under my power. Unbutton your collar,” the vampire hissed.

“Unbutton your collar,” Snape said in a whisper so low his voice didn’t register to the others. He was a vampire after all.

But Hermione heard him clearly.

This was the moment. Hermione reached up and slowly began to unfasten her collar, her warm flesh falling into few.

”Yessss,” Vashti hissed, drawing closer.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.