It's okay to be scared
James ran. He didn’t exactly know where since the forest was dark and his panic didn’t leave much room to think about any direction. He just ran away, hoping he’d either find the city or the other with the police.
He was quite sure Sirius’ biological brother had something to do with the murders, since he appeared to be a murderer, but he couldn’t really believe everything he had seen and heard, just enough to know he needed to get out of the forest as quickly as possible.
So he ran, and he really thought it was alright, since he didn’t hear any footsteps following him, but he also thought it wasn’t alright at all since he didn’t hear any footsteps following him. Sirius was still there, fighting off that psychopath brother of his. James had left him behind. He only did so because he trusted Sirius, but maybe, after everything that had happened today, that wasn’t the best idea. James looked back over his shoulder. No one was following him, which was both great and awful. Maybe he was just completely lost, and Sirius was taking the right way home, which also was both great and awful, because there was still a psychotic murderer who seemed to have taken a particular interest in him following him in this dark, creepy forest.
Did that guy really have fangs? He thought he remembered seeing something like that. His mind must be playing tricks on him, but the whole conversation Sirius and his brother had made no sense at all. James had ran because Sirius asked him to and he trusted Sirius more than anyone, but he had also ran because he wasn’t sure if he still trusted Sirius today.
James didn’t know what was real anymore when Regulus appeared out of thin air in front of him. He turned on his heels either way to run in the opposite direction, but Regulus was fast, inhumanly so. James dodged trees in sharp angles in an effort to shake him off, but he kept running right behind him. James could almost feel his breath in the back of his neck, ignoring the fact that he was the only one breathing in this situation. He did feel his ice could fingers as he gripped his collar though. The fabric of his shirt choked him as Regulus reeled him in like a caught fish. He was so much stronger than he looked and it scared the hell out of James. The only time he heard him breathe was when he took a deep whiff through his nose. His face was dangerously close to his neck and James tried to struggle himself free, but Regulus had an iron grip, one hand in his collar, one arm around his waist, holding him dangerously close.
“What do you want from me?”, he begged to know.
“Your blood”, he said, giving James an impending sense of doom. Then he made it even worse licking a long trail alongst his neck and James felt so assaulted he couldn’t even breathe right anymore. “Oh, I’m going to savour every last drop of you”, Regulus moaned before ruthlessly dragging James towards the first tree he could find and pressing him with his back against it. He ripped the collar of his shirt so that his entire shoulder got exposed. James felt incredibly naked, incredibly assaulted and worst of all, incredibly scared.
Regulus breathed in again just so he could sigh loudly and dramatically. “You’re so beautiful, I don’t understand how Sirius could ever resist you this long.”
“Just let me go”, James begged. His body trembled like a prey in a trap, because that was exactly what he was. “…please.”
“You won’t go very far anymore once I’m done with you”, Regulus dismissed, not reassuring James at all. “Now be very still, sweetheart. If you struggle it’ll just hurt more. Not that I care, actually.”
James didn’t dare to look as Regulus sank his inhumanly sharp teeth in his neck. Pain shot through his nerves and he heard Regulus moan and pant as gnawed on his neck to get as much blood out of him as he could. He honestly sounded like he was having an orgasm, which was not very helpful for James’ assaulted feeling.
Then it all abruptly ended as Regulus got snatched away from him. Something large jumped in front of James’ eyes to attack his assaulter, but it happened so fast he couldn’t really see what it was exactly. He held the hand on the bite wound to stop the bleeding first, then he looked sideways to discover a giant furry beast pinning Regulus to the ground with unsightly large claws and barking in his face. James took that as his cue to get the fuck out of there again. He didn’t care if it was the devil himself who saved him, at least he would still be alive. If he didn’t bleed to death, that was.
He found himself stumbling a lot more than earlier, and tripping over every unfortunately positioned branch, but this time, he didn’t look back anymore. The only thing that mattered was that he was getting away from there.
He didn’t get very far before a familiar voice called out to him. “James, wait!” When he looked back, he saw a waving Remus Lupin trying to catch up to him. He didn’t look very threatening, but James wasn’t very keen on trusting any more people he barely knew, so he kept running.
“Are you alright?”, Remus asked him. James didn’t reply. Just keep running. Get home. Find out if Sirius made it. See mom. Let her treat that wound. Cry. That was all he was going to do today. None of it involved Remus in any way.
“Hey! I saved your ass back there”, Remus then snapped. He didn’t run anymore. He just stood there, waiting to see what James would do. “The least you could do is answer me, or say thanks!”
James slowed down. With his hand still on his neck he turned towards Remus. “How exactly did you save me?”, he asked. “You weren’t there.” There was only that animal.
“I really was, though”, Remus said with a meek smile.
“I didn’t see you.”
“I doubt that…”
James had forgotten how hard it was to not understand a single thing about the world around him since he was like three years old, but just like back then, he felt tears well up as his brain broke under the weight of the new impossible information. “Don’t say things like that”, he begged. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s okay to be scared”, Remus reassured him as he slowly got closer, “because it is scary.” He too talked as if he were speaking to a three year old child.
“Where’s Sirius?”
“He’s fine”, Remus said, and for a while, that was all James really needed to know. That was something he could understand. “But he can’t see you right now”, Remus continued, “not while you’re like that.” He nodded towards the wound on his neck. Blood dripped in James’ clothes and all over his hand. “Do you understand why?”
James shook his head and it hurt his neck to do so. “I don’t understand a thing”, he muttered.
“That’s alright”, Remus consoled. He had gotten a lot closer already, closing the distance between them. “We’ll explain everything to you”, he promised. He was close enough to put his hand on James’ arm, but all his muscles tensed the second he felt his touch. It was just the memory of Regulus all over again.
“Don’t touch me!”, James snapped, scaring Remus enough to retreat his arm. He nodded slowly, understanding, and put his hand in his coat pocket to take something out.
“Would you like some chocolate instead?”, he offered, showing him a chocolate bar in a shiny silver wrap, “it’ll make you feel better.”
James looked at him strangely and confused, but accepted his offer.