Haunting by Moonlight [Open]

[RICKARD MAGNUSSEN]

The night was wonderfully dark, and it was a moon-less night. It was 87 years to the day that Rickard was bitten, and he could remember it like it was yesterday. He was just 23 years old when he was bitten, and even though his body had aged slightly, he was still incredibly lithe, fit and ferocious. He had seen many things in his extraordinarily long life; things he loved, things that he hated, but most of all he hated and loved what he was. Rickard lived and breathed his next intake of scarlet. Sure, there were plenty of times when he ignored his urges, and after a big meal he could last weeks, but at the end of it all, he needed the hunt and the kill to live - quite literally.

It had passed 11pm local time, and Rickard was standing on a hill overlooking a large, rickety building, snow-capped from the recent shower. Over his shoulder was a deer that he had just captured and killed, and he planned to feast for the first time in what was, in reality, only a few days but felt like weeks. It had been several weeks since his last human meal - he tended to haunt battlefields or morgues, where the blood was still warm and fresh. Personally killing his victims sometimes was the only way, and he preferred to kill himself, as it added a little to the experience, but he simply couldn't afford to draw attention to himself. He was hunted in several countries (in particular Scandinavia), and if he was put away in his home country, he knew he could never see the dark of night again.

Rolling the deer off his shoulder, Rickard sat down in the cold, white snow, staring at the stars. Night was the only time of day - apart from a few times when he couldn't avoid it - that he had seen in over 80 years, and he preferred it that way. Going out in direct sunlight for a vampire was like a human getting immediate sunburn, and it felt much worse. His black eyes scanned the horizon; there was nobody around but him. A few people milled around in the village just below him, and lights flickered on and off in the gargantuan castle on the horizon, but otherwise it was him, the deer and the soft pit-pat of snow falling from the sky above.

[ARIANA MORGAN]

It was great not having school for once. The Christmas holidays had finally arrived, and she was free to do what ever she liked...kind of. Tonight was her hunting night, when she didn't have Michael breathing down her neck. It was nice occasionally to have company when she hunted, but not always.

Ariana paused to have a break as she looked around her. She stopped immediately when she caught a distance scent of another...vampire? She had only ever met one other vampire and that was Michael. Desperate to know just who it was, she ran as fast as she could on the trail of the scent. A couple of minutes later she spotted a distant figure on the hill, glowing in the moonlight. With a smile upon her face, she approached the other vampire eagerly, but also with extreme caution. She didn't know how he would act, so it was best to play it safe.

[ARTHUR STROUD]

One would think that after nearly eighty years of life, one would be used to downtime, but Arthur, old as he was, still grew bored of waiting much for anything. It seemed that most of his time was spent as a hermit, waiting in the bowels of some inn until the sun went down and he could roam the world, looking for a bite to eat. This day had been exceptionally boring. Arthur stayed holed up in his temporary room in the Leaky Cauldron with a bottle of bourbon while he drew shapes in the air with his wand and took occasional sips from a victim he had managed to sneak in. Although, it didn't take long before the body was drained of blood and the bottle was empty, and then he was just left to wait patiently for the sun to go down, and Arthur was anything but patient.

But when the sun fell behind the horizon and the white snow-blanketed streets were glowing with haunting moonlight, Arthur practically burst out his room, hoping that the dead body in there wouldn't smell bad enough to cause alarm before he got back. All day, he had been planning for the night, and he decided that he would visit this "most haunted building" everyone had been talking about: the shrieking shack, they called it. Now, he knew this to be in a town called Hogsmede, which was near the school and quite a ways from Diagon Alley. Having only been to Hogsmede once before, he thought hard of Honeydukes and his only time ever being there. Closing his eyes, the vampire disappeared with a pop, traveling through a horrifying realm for a very brief period of time before appearing just outside the door of Honeydukes.

He greeted the shopkeep, asking for a blood lollipop, paying, and making his way out of the shop with a smile and a new treat. It wasn't anything like human blood, but it was better than being locked up in the Leaky Cauldron for another second. Still, he'd have to have a proper meal by the night's end. Snow fell past him in flurries as he placed slow footfalls toward the shrieking shack. His black eyes peered through the soft white dots into the distance, where only a few were out to brave the weather.


When he was about half way through with his lollipop, Arthur smelled something dead, and he liked dead things. It just so happened to come from the same direction he was going, so he increased his pace, letting flakes of snow get lost in his midnight black hair.

When he arrived, he saw a man, a girl, and a dead deer-- quite the combination. He smiled his sinister, cocky smile, his steps becoming more playful as he moved in a bit closer to them, though he was still several meters away. "And they told me that Hogsmede was boring," he began jauntily, taking another lick of his lollipop as he looked at the pair. "Are you going to share that?" he said to the man, using his lollipop to gesture toward the deer carcass. Then, finding himself to be even more amused, he looked to the girl, and then back to the man. "I'm sorry. Am I interrupting?"  he taunted, practically smiling ear-to-ear at this point. "She's a bit young for you, isn't she?"

[RICKARD MAGNUSSEN]

The sky above was swirling with the promise of further snow, but Rickard cared little - for the last eight decades he has been cold as ice, both in temperament and temperature. The snow fell in front of his eyes and covered the deer behind him, keeping it fresh. The scarlet snow surrounding the deer open flank was enticing, but he didn't feel that hungry yet. After a few moments, there were only a few lights on in the distant school, and Rickard had the urge to break in to take someone from their beds, but he couldn't risk it. He was hunted, quite methodically, by many of Europe's ministries for crimes ranging from murder to theft, so he tried to keep a low profile wherever he ventured. Coming to Britain, and being so close to one of the world most prominent magical schools was somewhere he had always wanted to visit, and as it was Christmas time, there were likely to be less students around to disrupt him.

However, that assumption was about to fall down quite spectacularly, when he smelled another presence close to him. His head snapped around to where the smell was coming from, and he was surprised to smell another vampire, but the scent was tainted. A girl, not older than mid-teens appeared from down the slope of the hill Rickard was perched upon and seemed cautious in her approach, a wise move. The girl was quite obviously a vampire, but she had the aura of a human as well, which was an odd combination, but something Rickard had seen before. What was this girl doing out so late, when she was quite obviously not an adult? "Hello." Rickard said, quite pleasantly in his gravelly voice. "What are you doing lurking around? The night holds many terrors, and little girls should steer clear." He black eyes glinted as he looked at the girl.

Suddenly, Rickard sniffed the air once more, smelling another, but this time, the scent was pure vampire. Rickard's eyes widened - it was rare for vampires to meet one another when they didn't expect it, but for three vampires to be in the same vicinity quite by chance was rare. The male vampire appeared out of the white gloom with black eyes glinting with maleficence. Again, this vampire kept his distance from both the girl and Rickard, and called out taunts and requests. Rickard stood up quite slowly and lowered his hood, staring at the male with unblinking eyes. "Welcome." Rickard said. He then bent down, ripped off a leg of the deer and threw it at the feet of the male. "Feel free." Rickard said, choosing the ignore the quip about the girls age and his own. "You are both hunting, I assume. You will find no hostility from me, nor interruption. There is plenty of game in the forests around here for all of us to hunt in peace. However, I advise you don't get in my way."

[ARTHUR STROUD]

Arthur raised an eyebrow with intrigue as the  deer's leg landed in front of his feet, dying the blanket of snow around it a deep crimson that spread slowly. Theatrically, he tipped an imaginary hat to the vampire, picked up the leg, and took a bite out of it as if it were a leg of mutton. "I like you," he said with his mouth full of deer. The blood drenched his mouth sweetly, rolling over his tongue and falling down his throat in streams that snaked around his chewing fangs.Meat gnashed beneath his teeth, and a sinister grin flashed on his lips as he let the blood sit in his mouth a while before swallowing. Good as it was, it didn't even come close to the human stuff.


"You are both hunting, I assume. You will find no hostility from me, nor interruption. There is plenty of game in the forests around here for all of us to hunt in peace. However, I advise you don't get in my way,"
the vampire said in a tone a bit too cliche for Arthur's fancy, though he had a hard time appreciating anything that wasn't comical in nature. He took another bit of the deer, swallowed, and took another lick of his blood lollipop. "Game in the forest?" he inquired judgmentally. Animal blood was fine as a little snack or something to hold you over, but any vampire knew what a real meal was. "Come on, what do you say you and I tiptoe our way into one of these houses and get a real meal? My treat," Arthur suggested, a trail of blood dripping down his chin as he taunting, near-flirty voice filled the night. He looked away from the man momentarily, turning his attention to the girl briefly. Her scent was much different than that of an average vampire, but there were traces of vampire on her. Arthur had seen a half breed or two in his day, but they were still a rarity to even the oldest of vampires. "You can come, too," he mused before looking back to the man.

He threw the deer leg behind him, hearing it land far away with a thud in the snow. "We'll make a night out of it. Just a couple vampires out on the town. And let's make it quick, the deer just ins't doing it for me."

After a few seconds in his mouth, the lollipop had been finished, and he tossed the stick away in the same direction as the deer leg. "Well, no need to stand about. The nights are short enough as it is."

[RICKARD MAGNUSSEN]

When Rickard ripped off the leg of his deer and threw it over to the male vampire, he could tell that the other did not think it was satisfactory. Of course, killing animals for food sated the vampires lust for killing and blood, but it never truly satisfied their lust for murder. Rickard attempted to avoid killing humans as often as he could, as it attracted too much attention when friends or family stopped by, and instead of being met by a happy, friendly human, they were met with a massacre. Vampires rarely left any blood behind, especially when hunting in pairs or trios, but as Rickard was positively hunted - quite ironic for a vampire - by several European ministries, it didn't do well to draw attention to himself.

The male vampire picked up the leg of deer and tucked in. Through a mouth of blood and calf, he said that he liked Rickard, although Rickard chose to ignore it, and let him eat. After Rickard gave his little speech about how if they were hunting, they were welcome to be in the same area, so long as they stated out of his way, the man seemed to be slightly amused. Perhaps his speech was a tad dramatic, but there were threats layering his words, and he hoped that it sent out a message that he was not one to be messed with. The male suggested that game in the forests were insufficient, and that they should leave that and attempt to get something to feed on that was a little more human.

He threw the disfigured deer leg behind him, as well as a small, lollipop stick and seemed eager to kill. The way he was speaking about it was a little too eager, as if he hasn't killed in a while. Rickard could appreciate how tempting killing a human could be, but could he take the risk? Sighing, Rickard turned back to his deer, picked it up by the one of its remaining three limbs and threw it towards the young female. "Here." Rickard said, with a wicked smile on his face. "This should satisfy you. I doubt you would keep up with us." He turned back to the male and nodded his head in the direction of Hogsmeade. "Come." Rickard said, setting off down the snowy hill towards the yellowy lights of the village. "We must be careful. It would not do well to attract unwanted attention."

[ARTHUR STROUD]

The taste of animal blood still lingered beneath his tongue, and bits of raw meat were caught beneath his teeth. He pried them out with his tongue, his mind briefly drifting to thought of how the man must've killed it. It was certainly a clean kill-- an experienced kill. Far too often the new vampires went overboard with their kills, and they'd rip the animal up so much that they'd puncture their bladder spoiling the perfectly good meat and making the blood taste sour and putrid. Arthur could tell by the meat that, like himself, this vampire had been around for a while.


The man threw a few pieces of deer to the girl in a way that Arthur interpreted as slightly mocking, as if she couldn't catch it herself. Granted, he had done the same for Arthur, but at least he asked for it. He made a comment to the girl about how he doubted that she could keep up, and Arthur all but pointed an laughed at her as he was overcome with joy. He wasn't sure if the man was intentionally being condescending or if he was just stating a fact, but Arthur was appreciative of his blunt nature. "Sorry, girl. Maybe when you're older," Arthur teased before turning away from her and continuing to poke at his teeth with his tongue, looking for a few more scraps of meat.

"Come," the man demanded in a tone so bland that Arthur wondered if the man hadn't traded all if his emotions to receive the bite. He hadn't known the vampire for long, but Arthur was gathering that the man didn't have a joking bone in his body, and he found that hysterical. "Come," Arthur repeated in a voice that was jokingly mocking the man who was now headed toward Hogsmede village, seemingly uncaring whether or not Arthur was following him. He was, though, and Arthur remained only three or four steps behind the man as they set off toward the lights that dotted the snowy hill.


"We must be careful. It would not do well to attract unwanted attention."


Arthur smiled, finding himself amazed that people this serious existed outside of old movies. "Unwanted attention?" Arthur began, his voice as teasing and taunting as usual. "Hmm," he continued spryly. "And to think I pegged you as a diva."

Arthur began to lift his feet a bit more to combat the piled snow that was now making it more and more difficult to walk without becoming covered in cold, wet snow. "So," Arthur began in a singsong tone, "what are you in the mood for? Personally, I could go for someone young. A blonde, maybe? Oh, or perhaps a fat old man filled with whiskey and food!" His eyes drifted to the sky. He wasn't saying these things to be serious by any means, but only to harass this vampire who seemed to have a stick somewhere that Arthur wasn't going to check.

[ARIANA MORGAN]

Ariana sent a glare at the two men, how dare they accuse her of being too young?! She knew she was only 15, but still, she wasn't a child. She had had plenty of experiences with hunting, and Michael had taught her so much. 

"Are you saying that because i'm only half vampire?" Ariana half shouted at the man. "Or are you saying that because i'm female." 

Ariana knew that there were a few male vampires that didn't like to hunt with the opposite sex, but that didn't mean that they were weak. She might not be as fast as the other two vampires that stood before her, but she was sure she could catch up, and when was hunting ever to do with how fast they were? Before, she had been told that others of her species may not like her for what was in her blood, they would call her an abomination. Especially since she was still young and had not yet stopped aging. Nevertheless, Ariana did not let this go, even to the superiors. 

[RICKARD MAGNUSSEN]

When Rickard threw the rest of the deer carcass at the young girl, he saw out of the corner of his eye that the other male seemingly enjoyed his attitude, and all but laughed in the face of the girl. Adding another comment, the male spoke down to the female vampire in a derogatory manner, which Rickard internally applauded. After Rickard beckoned the man and began walking down the snowy slope into the village of Hogsmeade, the girl after them. Stopping in his tracks, Rickard turned slowly back to face her, glaring into her eyes from several metres away. She asked whether he insulted her because she was a half-vampire, or a female. Rickard smiled a malicious smile, blood and meat covering his teeth. "You choose." He said simply, and continued back down the hill with the other male. "Follow if you wish." Rickard shouted as he walked. "But if you draw attention to us, you may end up being my desert."

The other male kept a few steps behind Rickard for reasons unknown, but he preferred it that way - it showed him where he place was. The male, who seemed to have a penchant for being sarcastic or vaguely witty, shot another comment at Rickard. Rickard closed his eyes for a moment and continued walking, choosing to ignore the other vampire - it would be counter-productive to get into a potentially lethal battle with another vampire, not to mention he did not have the time or the patience to be fighting in the fields like a couple of werewolves.

As they neared the village of Hogsmeade, Rickard raised a hand for them to stop, and he peered around the corner of a building to make sure the coast was clear - it was. In answer to the males proposition, Rickard took a great sniff of the air and looked around, before finally focusing on a small bungalow on the edge of the village. "There is a young..." He sniffed once again. "Redhead, I believe, in that building on the edge of the village." Rickard turned back to his comrade, his eyes wide with lust. "Shall we?" He immediately ran off, faster than any human could hope to move, and was placed against the wall of the small house within seconds, his eyes black. Rickard placed a finger against the ground floor window catch, and was surprised to find it unlatched, especially on a cold night. A light was on, but he couldn't hear anyone in the room. Looking back to the male, he decided to be courteous and creak the window open, allowing him first access.

[ROSE NIGHTDREAM]

It wasn't often that Rose snuck out of school in the middle of the night. Even less frequent did she make it all the way to Hogsmede. The village was over half an hours walk from the school and it wasn't exactly the nicest of route between the Wizarding Village and the school. She had only just managed to get past the gargoyle with a very well placed transfigured chess piece which thankfully engaged the gargoyle in a duel. of course it lost, but it gave her enough time to make her escape. Getting back in was always easier for students than getting out after hours. Normally she just snuck away for a pint at the pub, but tonight she had been meeting with a ... friend of hers. It was just a bit of fun, but getting the chance to meet with him was difficult. But it left her sated, happy ... and drunk. She enjoyed being plied with drink before a night with her old friend.

As she stumbled out into the street, her heels giving way a little at the ankles Rose fought to steady herself. She had only her tiny green dress and her black robes, half heartedly thrown over her shoulders. She looked rather like a girl who was without her wits. Which of course she was. But Rose had been out many times during her years in Hogwarts. She knew that she had to be wary when out alone at night; especially when drunk. Her wand was in her pocket inside her robe,but the state she was in meant she would likely have to hunt for it for a while before she managed to put her hand on it.

It was exactly what she had to do when she noticed that there was someone trying to break in to one of the cottages along the bottom of the street. Followed by muttered expletives and the occasional "Oh hell!" as she leaned forward and tripped on the edge of her robes. Her initial plan was to attack ... once she found her wand.

[ARTHUR STROUD]

It seemed that the other male vampire was warming up to the idea of banter, and he threw very cold threats at the girl that Arthur just couldn't get enough of. It didn't seem that the man was trying to be funny, and perhaps that was funny about it. The well-timed, way too serious statements that Arthur had half a mind to write down and sell to a muggle movie producer.

Arthur always enjoyed to wonder what vampires were like before they were bitten-- it really changed a person's perspective of life. Before Arthur had been bitten, he had a passion for investigating, and he wanted to be a detective in the muggle world, perhaps using a bit of magic here and there to get an advantage over the criminals. But now he was nearly the opposite of his crime-stopping young self. Now he killed freely, stole when he fancied it, and caused as much trouble as he felt like putting up with. This man he walked with must've been something crazy before he was bitten, Arthur thought. Maybe a rock star, or perhaps a professional quidditch player. There's no way he could have been this boring before the bite.

Suddenly, the man took off with a speed only a vampire's eye could trace, and Arthur scoffed. Was a warning too much to ask for?

Arthur followed the man, the wind rushing through his ears loudly as he zoomed through the snow at an unnatural speed. He was a swift blur moving across a blanket of white before suddenly stopping just behind the man at a small cottage on the edge of the village. There was a light on, but Arthur couldn't see or hear anyone in the room; apparently the other man was on the same page, because he took his finger and slightly lifted the strangely unlatched window. Arthur tipped an imaginary hat to thank the man for allowing him to go fist.


But there were soft thuds quite a ways behind them-- footsteps-- and Arthur stopped, listening more carefully. They were staggered steps-- clumsy,-- some landing harder than others. He turned to face them, and he saw a young girl, falling face first into the snow.

"Race you," Arthur said to the man before taking off at vampire speed, once again becoming a blur that moved faster than the wind itself. He made a point of coming rounding up behind her for that extra cliche vampire effect, and he looked down, taking a whiff of her. "Ahh, she's drunk! We get a drink and a meal. It's like Christmas," Arthur said spryly.



He reached into his robe, retrieving his short, black wand and twirling it in his fingers. "How should I do it? Wand or claws?" he began, asking the other vampire how he should kill the girl. "Do you have a coin?" he said to the girl, confidently asking her to provide the means to which they'd choose her death.

"The wand is definitely cleaner, but I do like how the claws are just so up-close and personal. Call me a romantic, I suppose."

[RICKARD MAGNUSSEN]

When Rickard ran towards the house at the end of the street, he could see the lights on in certain windows of the houses that he passed. The occasional burst of laughter or radio warble echoed out of the walls and through his hyper-sensitive eardrums, as did the smells of warm, luscious bodies and meat on the table for dinner. He slowed down and pressed himself against the wall of the target house silently, waiting for the other male vampire to follow. He heard the rush of feet approach, like a whistle of wind down an alleyway, and then he arrived. Standing behind Rickard, the man noticed that he slightly cracked the window open to allow him to go through, and he doffed an imaginary cap in a silent thank you.

However, before the man could enter the property, there were footsteps behind them. Rickard slinked back into the shadows and decided to watch for the time being. The male, however, seemed positively thrilled at having company. It was a girl, no older than Hogwarts age, and she seemed to be quite inebriated. The man immediately ran towards her and approached from behind, for some reason. He pulled out his wand and mocked the girl, threatening to kill and devour her, and was deciding whether or not to do with a wand, or rather with just claws. Rickard shook his head and muttered "Amateur dramatics" to himself. After a moment, he decided to come out of the shadows and walked slowly and methodically towards them, with only the sound of crunching snow beneath his feet accompanying him.

"I wouldn't think about taking your wand out, my dear." Rickard said as he neared the two of them. He came to a stop a few metres away, closed his hands together and put them behind him. He then began to circle her, keeping his eyes and ears pricked for anyone interrupting them, however, the chances were slim as it was a cold night just before Christmas - most people were far too preoccupied with filling their stomachs than helping a poor, young girl out for a drunken stroll. The girl looked to be late into her teens, and quite drunk. She was pretty, not his taste, but good looking enough for a human, and the smell coming off her - oh, it was delightful - was sweet alcohol, fear and warm, supple flesh. "What are you doing here? It is cold out tonight, and dangerous. I didn't think children were allowed out of the school after dark?" His lips curled into a malicious smile.

[ROSE NIGHTDREAM]

Through the alcohol induced haze that Rose was currently in, she could barely make out where own feet were going. stumbling around on the snow covered cobbles that lined the streets of Hogsmead. Her shoes weren't fit for walking in this weather. But she was never seen without a killer set of heels. Too bad they felt killer too whenever she turned over on an ankle. Even when she heard the voice from behind her it took a few seconds before her brain registered on it, and she attempted to spin around to confront the voice; catching the edge of her robe and stumbling to the ground; giggling at her own mistake. She began tapping her side looking for her wand and where she could take it out from inside her robe when a second voice advised her against the action. She said something, mumbled. Possibly sounding like "Can't tell me what to do." But the amount of alcohol in her system made it come out a garbled message, which may as well have been said with her mouth shut. 

Looking up at the first voice, or at least the person who had spoken first Rose grinned. Completely ignoring his comments, her drunk ears just weren't listening. "Well aren't you just walking desire." She bit her lips and smirked, trying to look appealing. She was completely unaware both how loud she was talking and how ridiculous she looked. "I could definitely spare some time for you ... and your friend over there. Whatdaya say, baby?" She grinned, shaking her shoulders in what she thought was a sensual way.

She did however, pick up on the comment about her being a child. She hated being called a child. It always leant its way for someone saying she couldn't do something. "Mnot a child." She mumbled. "Im a woman. Want me to prove it?" Her grin was almost predatory ... to a drunk person. Rose had never met a vampire, nor had she paid much attention in her defence against the dark arts class when they covered the beast. She heard that they were solitary and they didn't come out during the day ... that was all she cared about. It never registered that she was out at night.

[ARTHUR STROUD]

It had come to the point where Arthur thought that inebriation would be an understatement when describing this young girl's foolish condition. Of course, Arthur wasn't one to criticize someone for being drunk, as he often found himself in that state, but he also wasn't a teenage girl. The other vampire had made his way over to them slowly as Arthur prodded the girl with his words. As expected, he ignored every single one of Arthur's comments, which made Arthur smile with amusement. He was quite enjoying their contrast of personalities.


He warned the girl not to take out her wand, and asked her why she was out after dark, but she didn't seem to be listening to anything either of the vampires were saying to her. In fact, she was hosting her own conversation with them, trying to take the two of them to bed. At the same time, even. "I could definitely spare some time for you ... and your friend over there. Whatdaya say, baby?"
She said in an attempt to be seductive, but her words were a bit slurred and her eyes were plastered with a drunk glare. Arthur grinned, walking around to her front and aiming his wand at her forehead. "Flippendo," he muttered, only using a tiny, tiny bit of power to create a small force that would flick her in the center of the forehead. 



"Someone has daddy issues," Arthur teased with a huge smile, looking up at the other vampire with eyes like a first year in Honeydukes. He looked back to the girl, wondering exactly where she was going before she tripped and ended up in the company of two hungry vampires, but he didn't ask. "Sorry, sweetheart. I don't usually go for girls more than six decades younger than me," he said, his eyes drifting down to her snow-covered feet. "Sexy heels, though." 

Arthur rubbed his ears. The girl was obnoxiously loud, and Arthur didn't fancy listening to her speak much longer, despite how entertaining she was proving to be. Still, he could get entertainment later. What he needed right now was a meal.

"You want the first bite," he asked the other vampire politely, gesturing toward the girl with his wand. "You hear how loud she is. Weren't you the one who wanted to avoid unwanted attention? Or has your mind changed now that she's pitched your tent?" Arthur taunted devilishly, gesturing toward the man's crotch.

[Deleted]

The sea of stars stretched overhead, setting the sky alight. The light reflected off the snow that had fallen earlier that day. Eva had not been able to sleep. Just past the full moon and her body had received a battering this time. A few new wounds on her torso stretched uncomfortably with each step. Her lips twisted into a slight grimace. However, the fresh air set her mind at ease. A few more munites of walking and she would be ready to return to her cabin and settle down for the night. The dim roar of the village rested in her mind. The glimmering lights of the buildings provided a rather cheerful sight. A nostalgic smile touched Eva’s face she stopped for a moment. She felt at peace wandering the edge of the world. A loud voice broke the silence. Eva felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The wolf inside her growled a warning. Eva could not turn to walk away. For a moment she stood rooted to the spot, her eyes squinting into the darkness. Suddenly, she decided to move towards the sound. She caught a glimpse of a young female figure stumble. Two males seemed to stand watch. She felt an urgency to get to the scene that she could not explain. Most likely there was nothing, but her instincts told her otherwise. She caught the final words of the first male as she stepped out the shadows. She was sure that they would have heard her coming – and when she caught a look at the eyes of the two males, she knew that they did. Vampires – disgusting creatures of the underworld. She stiffened, stifling a growl. . Her hand darted to the inside of her robes and wrapped around her wand. She quickly glanced down to the girl that was clearly inebriated. Rose. A student. She almost sighed. This was no place for the professor to be. She doubted that she could take on two vampires by herself. Bravado was not what Eva was about. The duties of a professor clearly outlined their job to protect the students, even if their misfortunes were self-inflicted. “Oh, a man saying no to a sensual encounter with a woman? Does it not make it more fun to feed when there's a little more involved -- a blood orgy, perhaps.” she said, her voice breaking the darkness. There was a slight waver in it. It was transparent that she did not believe that her presence would do much good. Oh, all the cliché lines entered her mind. She could ask them to spare the stupid girl in exchange for her or give meaningless threats. Those words never did work. Eva only had an arsenal of witty banter to exchange for a little more time for her to think things through and come up with a plan. Oh, these vampires were rather dangerous. Being the COMC professor, she could say that she knew the textbook facts about these creatures. But the wolf inside of her knew more. It bristled with an unexplained hatred for these creatures.

[RICKARD MAGNUSSEN]

It was getting better and better. The girl, who had obviously been out in Hogsmeade - illegally - for several drinks too many, was so drunk she could barely stand. Rickard shook his head slowly when she laughed off his commanded request to leave her wand where it was, mumbling incoherent words. However, the vague drunken attitude quickly switched to flirtatious, which Rickard liked even less. The girl was pretty, but he must have been nearly nine decades older than her, and that prospect was horrendous.

It realised to Rickard that the girl could have been faking the flirty attitude to try and distract her adversaries, but he thought that a distinct improbability; he could tell when a person was faking or not, he had been around enough to train himself, and this girl was plainly and simply drunk. "Oh, but you are." Rickard said in reply to her saying she wasn't a child. She was, plainly, still at Hogwarts age, and where humans may consider her an adolescent, or even a young adult, she was still a child to an old vampire. The other male flicked some spell at the girls head, knocking it slightly. He resumed taunting her for a moment, and then fired one back at Rickard, asking if he wanted the first bite, suggesting that the girl had aroused him somehow.

Rickard's eyebrows raised and then his eyes narrowed at the vexatious male, but before he could retort or act in any way, he smelled something - someone - else in the near vicinity. Rickard's head snapped right and he smelled it - werewolf. Rickard grinned maliciously at the prospect of seeing one of his species' sworn enemies, but his night time haunt was beginning to get more and more attention, which could not be for the better. Another young woman, albeit not as young as the drunken one before him, stepped out of the shadows, a determined expression on her face, and a hand in her robes, no doubt holding onto the handle of her wand very tightly.

Immediately, it was apparent to Rickard that this wolf was not stupid, and either was a true good Samaritan, or was a teacher up at the school, and therefore had some kind of duty to protect the drunk girl from harm. Either way, her words were sneering, and Rickard despised that. Rickard sighed, his hands still entwined behind his back and he stared up at the sky, the moon still bright. "It was full a few days ago." Rickard said, half to himself. He looked back at the new woman. "Did it hurt? I'm sure it did." He smiled. "Now...you don't strike me as a stupid woman." He began pacing up and down, something he did occasionally to focus his mind, and intimidate his enemies. "I don't think you seriously believe you can stop us, so do yourself a favour and leave. Now." Rickard stopped and stared at her for a moment, before looking back at the male, a fire alight in his onyx eyes. "I've decided, you can have the first course. Kill the girl."

[ARIANA MORGAN]

Ariana had been silently observing the scene from within the shadows of the building behind them. When the drunken girl had arrived, there was something familiar about her that made a bug in her head. She was sure she knew her from somewhere, but she was most likely one that she hated and therefore she was fine about the two vampires in front of her to kill her. But when her eyes flicked to the lady coming on them, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. The Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts was not a teacher she loved, but the worst one in the whole school. She was sure from the strange and constant stares that she received from her; she knew what she was.


Ariana stepped out from the shadows and a realization came on to her. The girl that they were about to kill was, in fact, a student in her house. She couldn't say she was a friend, but she was in her house.


“Wait! Hold it!” Ariana burst out, hoping that the two men would hold themselves back for a few seconds. “You can’t kill her. If you do, the blame will be put on me.” She knew the head of Hogwarts knew she was a vampire, but she had rules. Strict rules which was she to break, they would expel her for. Her hunting ground was the forbidden forest only, and if they were to find this girl, she would be expelled immediately.