Claimed

Authors Note: I'm back!! Okay, so here is the chapter after that terrible cliffhanger I left you all with. Many thanks as always to my favorite beta Alexandra. Also, if you have not already seen, I posted the first chapter of my newest story titled Rivaling Affections, please check it out and let me know what you think of it.

Chapter 9 Bitten

Harry spent the next few weeks isolated in his room. He refused Lucius and the house elves entry and only allowed Narcissa in when she persisted.

His nights were spent roaming the manor and watching Draco. He would creep into his room every night and just stare at his beauty. It made him feel better just to be near him.

Occasionally he would talk in his sleep, and Harry would relish in hearing the boys internal thoughts.

Several weeks passed that way, until one night, Draco began talking in his sleep again, but this time it was to call out to Harry. He cried his name and his voice was laced with panic and need. He was used to being referred to as ‘the vampire’ or ‘the bloodsucker’ and was heartened to hear Draco use his given name, but the sound of the boys voice gave him pause.

He continued to watch him all night, only retreating when he could feel the first twinges of daylight coming in through the windows. He had to get back to his own room then, where the shutters were secured over his windows and no light ever shown through.

--

“How are you,” Narcissa asked, calmly and patiently.

“I’m well, mother,” Harry responded, though he knew he could do nothing to fool her.

“Are you feeding?” she asked, looking down at her tea instead of into Harry’s intense eyes. If she looked there, she would know the answer. His eyes had turned a dull gray, not the shining mercury of his love, but a lifeless gray of death.

“You know that I have no, mother,” he answered.

She looked up then, and met his dull gray eyes. “Harry, you’ll be doing no one any good if you starve yourself.”

“I’ll be doing worlds of good if I can manage that, but I don’t even think it’s possible. It’s been three weeks, and I just feel… well I feel gray,” he said, laughing slightly.

“What does that mean?” she asked in a panic.

“It’s hard to explain. I don’t get tired, so fatigued is not the correct word, and I can’t get sick, at least not in the traditional human sense. It’s just… gray. I’m starting to feel as lifeless as I really am,” he tried to explain.

“Harry, that sounds awful. Please, would you just feed a little,” she asked.

Harry laughed. “Would it be better if I only ate half a muggle virgin? No, he doesn’t like it when I feed, so I won’t.”

“If he knew what this was doing to you he would want you to feed too,” she said.

Harry narrowed his eyes. “I doubt that. We can go ask him if you like?”

His mother shook her head and sighed. “No, you’re right, he would never actually say it, but I’m sure he would think it.”

“Unfortunately I can’t read his mind, only father’s,” he said. “He called out to me last night,” he added.

“Lucius?” Narcissa asked, confused.

“No,” Harry laughed, “Draco. I was watching him… I often do at night, and he called out to me like he was hurt or in trouble.”

“He never mentioned anything to me this morning at breakfast. Perhaps it was just a troubling dream,” she said.

“I’m certain that it was, but what worries me is the type of dream. I did some research on vampire mates, after speaking with you, and I found them to be fascinating. Did you know there are only two known cases of a mate being a human and not another vampire?” Harry asked.

She shook her head and he continued. “The other known cases reported that leading up to their transformation, the mates had prophetic dreams. Both humans were changed later, and their visions slowed and eventually stopped, but during their human form, it was a nightly occurrence.”

“And you think Draco might be having visions, not just dreams?” Narcissa asked, concern tingeing her voice.

Harry shrugged. It’s hard to say for sure, but that’s what I read. If he really is marked as my mate, his dreams may have more weight… I really didn’t mean for that to rhyme, this vampire thing is getting a bit out of hand,” Harry grumbled.

Narcissa laughed her tinkling musical laugh. “Vampires are supposed to be smooth talkers,” she said.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Right. I feel about as smooth as sandpaper with the only person I wish would love me,” he muttered.

“He’ll come around, dear,” she said, though her voice held no hope for such things.

“It would be better if he didn’t. It would make it easier for him if he still hated me when I finally die,” he said sadly.

Narcissa hissed at him. “What have I told you about that?”

“Sorry, mother,” Harry apologized. Narcissa didn’t like for him to talk about his impending death, or to even hint at it.

He hadn’t given up hope completely. He was devising a plan to meet other vampires; he hoped one of them could teach him to live without his mate.

“I’m leaving tonight,” Harry blurted. He had no need to sugar coat things with his mother, but her gasp made him reconsider the sudden information. “I’ve found a coven in Ireland, and I’m going to seek them out. I hope they might be able to help me.”

“Help you to die?” she asked, her voice a tiny whisper.

“If that is what is needed. I hope though, that they can help me find a way to live without my mate,” he amended.

Narcissa relaxed and her eyes took on a hopeful sparkle. “They might be able to do that. When will you return?”

“I don’t intend to,” Harry said quietly.

“I see,” she said, carefully setting down her teacup. “So you are abandoning your family?” she asked.

Harry sighed and leaned forward, grabbing her hands. “I love you, mother, and in my own way I love Lucius as well, and… well I’m quite certain you’re aware of my fondness for Draco. I would rather come back, but I refuse to put my family in danger for the sake of my own selfishness.”

A single tear fell down her pal cheek and she nodded. “I love you too, Harry. I would do anything to keep you here,” she added.

“I know, but it’s done,” he said.

“Here, I had begun to think you had changed your mind. It had been so long since you last said you would leave,” she sniffed.

“I had many details to work out, but it was a decision I had every intention of following through on,” he said. “I just need you to know that there was nothing more you could do, for your own piece of mind, trust me in that, okay?”

She nodded and with a graceful curtsy, fled the room. His mother was never one for dramatics, and she had apologized several times over for her emotional outburst that one afternoon.

Harry sighed and pondered his plan for the umpteenth time, with thoughts and worries for Draco interspacing with them. He hoped his love wasn’t having prophetic dreams, because if so, they sounded harmful.

--

Harry was making a bag for himself, throwing clothing and various toiletries, most of which he had no use for, inside. He halted his activity when he heard footsteps approach his room.

He waited patiently for Lucius to enter.

The man’s face looked worn and anxious, but at the same time relieved. Harry suspected it cost the man little to know his newly created son was going off to die, and from looking in his thoughts, Harry relived the telling conversation he had just had with his wife.

Lucius bowed upon entering his room and Harry sighed in annoyance. It was quite unnecessary for this display of submission, especially in his private quarters. “Really father, it’s a nice gesture but really quite useless. I know my place in all of this and so do you.”

“Are you really leaving, my son,” he asked.

Harry was startled by Lucius calling him son when usually he referred to him as lord, it made him pause and listen to his thoughts again. He shook his head rapidly. “I will not have you attempting to persuade Draco in this. I have made up my mind, and I will not yield. Your son made clear his thoughts on my being here and about what I am, and I refuse to force his hand,” Harry said, a bit perturbed at Lucius’s thoughts.

“I would give Draco to you in order to keep you here,” he said softly.

“No, you seek to give him to me as leverage, but he is not yours to give, father,” Harry said, turning back to his things.

“So you will not be swayed?” Lucius asked, sounding slightly eager.

Harry turned and gave Lucius the full weight of his green gaze. “No, Lucius. I will be gone at sundown and you shall not see your abomination again,” he added, plucking a word Lucius only used in the confines of his once private mind.

“What?” questioned a sharp voice from further down the hall, why Harry had not heard Draco’s approach baffled him. He could usually pinpoint the exact place in the manor where the boy was at any given time. He must have let Lucius distract him too fully.

“Lucius, leave us,” Harry commanded softly.

His father bowed again and walked through the doorway just as Draco walked in. “You’re leaving?” he asked with no further pretense.

Harry only nodded and turned away from him, back to his bag.

“What mother said is true then?” Draco asked, his voice wavering.

Harry sighed and sat on the edge of his largely unused bed. “I’m sure it is. Our mother would never lie to either of us,” Harry replied tersely.

“So you’re leaving because of me?” Draco asked, taking a step closer.

“No, I’m leaving because I would rather that fate then the one I would subject you to otherwise,” Harry answered.

“But you’ll die.” It was a statement, and Harry could hear it in his voice that he knew it to be true. He could also hear the conflicted emotions bubbling up through his words.

“Would you prefer I make you into a monster like me?” Harry asked, though not really giving him the option. He had already made up his mind on the matter and would not be moved.

“No,” Draco whispered faintly.

Harry nodded his head in final defeat. “This is my fate.” He stepped forward with a quickness that still surprised him and closed the distance between them. Draco flinched but otherwise stood still.

Harry reached out a cold hand and brushed it lightly down Draco’s cheek, from temple to chin, and sighed. Draco’s skin was hot as flames against his own, and it sent shivers down his spine. He watched the boy close his eyes at Harry’s touch, watched his thick blonde eyelashes flutter and his lips part with a soft sigh.

He feathered his fingers through Draco’s perfect platinum hair and drew his mouth to his own. Draco didn’t resist, and their lips pressed together gently. The kiss was soft, yet firm, and Harry’s grasp in his hair tightened slightly as Draco’s tongue lashed out and ran across Harry’s bottom lip. He moaned a muffled sound against him and stepped away.

“I’m sorry,” Harry whispered. “I didn’t mean to take advantage.”

Draco pressed his eyes closed and shook his head. “I feel it too, the song… the pull, whatever you want to call it. I don’t want you to leave.”

Harry stepped back, but Draco mirrored him and removed the distance Harry had put between them. “I must. If I stay, I’ll go mad. I might hurt you or mother and I couldn’t live with that.”

He stepped away again, but again Draco followed him. “I feel like my heart is breaking,” he sobbed, and Harry reached out. He couldn’t help but comfort him. “I don’t even know why this is happening, but when mother told me your plans… I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re confused. I’ll leave and you’ll heal and everything will go back to normal. You’ll see,” Harry whispered against Draco’s cheek.

Draco moved and caught Harry’s lips again in a crushing kiss. It was desperate and Harry nearly melted into him, until he tasted the sweet coppery blood in his mouth. He had cut Draco’s lip with his fangs and he could taste him, hot and metallic on his tongue.

Without another thought he bit down harder on his love’s lip and pulled the blood inside him, he could feel the life-force of it replenishing his own. He felt Draco grow lighter and less resistant in his arms and he jerked suddenly away, gasping for breath, his mind yelling obscenities at his body for it’s recklessness.

Draco shook his head to clear it and his eyes widened when he looked into Harry’s. He held a finger to his lip and winced as he came back with blood on his fingers. The fear in his eyes crippled Harry and he let him go, let him run from the room. He wouldn’t stop him; he wouldn’t keep him a prisoner, a slave and he wouldn’t turn him into a monster.

There was nothing left for him there. He was a vampire trying to play human, and it was going to get someone he loved killed.

Harry grabbed his bag and in a blur he was gone, leaving the manor far behind him in his haste.

--

Authors Note: I know, another cliffie, but I think you have all come to expect that from me by now ;)