Tears of Lamis by dracoslamis
Chapter Notes: a big thanks to my wonderful betas rowenaathena and Arianna =]
Sorry it took so long.
It will explain a little more about Lunas... um... situation.
Enjoy
Stop the Memories
Hurtling through the cold night air, the tears stayed buried. It was only when the dark mouth of a cave loomed ahead and the small black bat morphed, mid flight, and bare pale feet touched the rough stone floor, that the tears came. Darting to the back of the cave, Luna furiously beat her delicate looking fists against the jagged back wall, but no cut or bruise marred her smooth white skin, smooth apart from a long slender scar running down the underside of her left forearm. The tears streaming silently down her face turned to sobs that racked her small frame as she sunk down onto the cold stone floor. The cold hard fact of what she was and the memory of how she had become it had pursued her in her flight, and now with only the empty night air to comfort her, the full force of the terror of that fateful night flooded her mind.
~*********~
It had been on a trip that summer with her father. They were searching for proof of the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks existence, and perhaps even a glimpse of one. Luna had, understandably, been overly excited and eager to set off. She and her father had left the day after Luna returned from Hogwarts for the summer holidays, leaving their house to look after itself.
It was the seventh night of their stay. There had been no sign of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack but Xenophilius had not been discouraged and Luna had stayed hopeful due largely to her father’s child like enthusiasm. She couldn’t sleep that night and decided to go for a moonlit walk. She had often done so at home and at Hogwarts, when either sleep evaded her or her dorm mates had ‘accidentally’ locked her out. She had never minded, the castle was always so much more peaceful and… free, her vivid imagination had been free to soar unhindered in the darkened corridors. Filch and Ms Norris had been easy enough to outwit; she was a Ravenclaw after all.
Luna crept silently away from the tent and her sleeping father. Once she was a safe distance away she began skipping gaily through the forest from one patch of moonlight to another. She suddenly came to an abrupt halt and tilted her face up towards the velvet black sky. The moon beams struck her face so that her wide eyes appeared even more protruding than usual. Sinking down gracefully onto her knees, her eye lids fluttered shut, long pale lashes gently brushing together.
She had always preferred the moon over the sun. Maybe because it was her name in Latin or maybe because she had always found the suns-rays too harsh, too blinding, too… revealing. The moon gave you light enough to see by, and shadows enough to let your mind make of them what it wished. Slowly opening her eyes and lying back in the long cool grass, her waist length hair spread out beneath her and fluttered gently in the warm summer’s breeze. Staring dazedly at the pin pricks of light in the sky, but not really seeing them, a particle of dust caught the moon light and twisted and twirled its way towards her. Luna let out a small contented sigh that sent the dust skipping off behind her head. Rolling her petite frame over onto her belly she continued gazing at the dust that was making its unsystematic journey towards earth.
An unnatural rustle sounded in the undergrowth directly in front of her. Pulling back and drawing her legs up under her, she slowly and cautiously stood up. The rustle had ceased, but an icy chill ran its finger tips down her spine causing the hairs on the back of her neck to rise up. Suddenly, instead of moonlit leaves in front of her, there was the imposing silhouette of a man. Before she had a chance to gather her wits and run, he had flitted across the distance between them.
Cold, hungry eyes were mere centimetres away from hers. Her waist was caught in a vice-like grip and she became aware of a marble-like face containing the dark narrowed eyes boring into her own wide pales ones. His black fathomless eyes gave a stark contrast to his deathly pale, almost translucent skin. She would have screamed, but her breath would not come; it had been stolen away by the ruthless beauty of his defined features. The high, prominent cheek bones, the straight line of his nose and the angular line of his clenched jaw were all painfully perfect. His hand twisted its way into her hair and used it to pull her head back with a strength so powerful she would have had no chance of resisting even if she had tried. His eyes flickered down to her now exposed neck as his lips pulled back over his teeth. A tongue darted out and ran its way along the long and snowy white canines. As he lowered his cold marble lips to her smooth, pulsing throat, her eyes misted over and she knew no more. Her pale throat and his marble lips became crimson with her blood.
Darkness, that was all she could see, feel. It pressed down painfully on her, smothering and sufforcating. A sudden sharp pain seared down the soft underside of her left forearm, and she blacked out again.
When she had woken after being found by her terrified father, her life was no more.
~*********~
Drawing up her knees, Luna shook her head as if trying to shake out the memory. Her hair fluttered in the shafts of moon light that had snuck their way to the back of the cave. She was ashamed of herself, of her weakness. How could she have had made no effort to throw him off, or to call for help? She had just stood there, defenceless, and let Him, for she did not know the creatures name that had done this to her, draw out her blood and along with it her life, her laughter, her humanity, in fact her very essence. The hate that seethed and boiled up inside her at the very thought of Him, Luna had unknowingly and unwittingly turned on herself.
She had to try not to - no - she must not dwell on that night any longer. Angrily wiping away the tears that had streamed relentlessly down her face, Luna pulled back her thin shoulders and straightened her back. Standing elegantly, she began pacing back and forth across the cave, trying to make sense of her jumbled thoughts and emotions.
How long she could last without …blood she did not know. She had already been without it for just under a week, but her last feed had only been a small hare. Just remembering the poor creature shuddering and convulsing whilst she had mercilessly sucked the life blood from it, made her want to flee from that part of herself. But intermingled with the distress of that memory was the pure ecstasy of the still warm blood filling her mouth, her mind and her senses. That aspect of the memory was what she most feared of herself. She had given way to complete instinct, an instinct which she did not know nor understand to its full extent. She hated her seemingly total dependence on blood. She hated that in just under a week without it, she was desperate enough to attempt to attack her own father. No. She had to stop dwelling on that too; it would get her nowhere. Practical thinking she had never been the best at it, nor needed to be, and now she was forcing herself to do so and not to let her mind wander. Why didn’t she just stay here, in the cave? It seemed sufficiently isolated so as to avoid temptation.
Pausing and leaning her back against the jagged cave wall, Luna blew out what would have been a breath of air. The lock of hair that had drifted across her face made no move, not even a flutter. Of course, how could she forget? She had no breath. Angrily sweeping the offending lock behind her ear with a pale hand, the shafts of moon light gave her marble skin a translucent, almost ghost like appearance. A sudden gust of wind whistled its way into the cave, flapping Luna’s over-sized t-shirt around her bare thighs. The chill of wind did not bother her, she could no longer feel the cold, but it reminded her of something practical she needed. Clothes! There - she knew she could think practically if she tried. She supposed she could steal some, but that would put her near humans, and in the state she was at the moment she did not want to risk it. And she had never stolen anything in her life before, not that she had a life any more, but she still did not want to steal. She would have to risk going home.
Her wand! She would need her wand, and that was another problem and reason to go home. She did not know if she could go back and face her father. She had almost fed on him; how could he want to ever see her again? And even if he did, she would never put him in danger again and if keeping him safe meant staying away, then she would. She would stay away from him and everyone else. To collect her wand and some clothes, then, she would have to sneak in.
Chapter Endnotes:
so... do you like my vampire? copy&paste the link below for a banner i made of Him
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r234/fairyfeet_5/Him.png
dont forget to Review!!! =]