Unsatiable
Regulus Black had never broken his word before. When he made a promise, he lived up to it. But the universe had basically begged him to break that rule. Why else would he have found his brother and James Potter in such a situation? Sirius could barely stand on his feet anymore and James just… smelled so irresistible. The fear only made the human’s heart beat even louder than it usually did and Regulus felt it reverberate in his own silent chest. He couldn’t have possibly not taken advantage of that situation.
Now he’d finally done it. He’d fought off his pathetic excuse for a brother and sank his teeth deep down James Potter’s neck. His warm blood had flown past his teeth, over his tongue where savoured the taste and down his throat where it quenched his thirst.
Against all rhyme or reason, Regulus had found himself weak at the hands of James Potter. From the moment the first drop of blood had hit his tongue, his entire existence revolved around nothing else. He couldn’t stop. He really never could, with any of his victims, until he was fully satisfied; but this wasn’t the same. James was long gone, out of his reach. He hadn’t been able to find him anymore after the werewolf attacked him. The beast had done quite some damage. But still Regulus just couldn’t stop. He could not stop thinking about it and he could not stop wanting it. His blood still consumed his every thought. He’d gotten a taste of it and now he wanted nothing else.
He had tried to quench his unquenchable thirst by going out hunting again. He had found some athletic teenager and buried his teeth deep down his neck. His blood should have tasted so good as he was such a nice catch: young, healthy, toned muscles, not drunk or high and a healthy diet; but frankly, he tasted disgusting, bland at best. He needed James Potter again and he could just not stop needing it. He’d never be satisfied unless he had squeezed every last drop of blood out of his body.
Regulus didn’t even stalk his brother anymore. From now on he only stalked James. He was the bat hanging from his window and the threat in his shadow. Everywhere he went, James could be sure that Regulus would be creeping right behind him, waiting for him to let his guard down, waiting to attack again. But the truth was out and James knew to protect himself. He either had Sirius at an armlength away or his pockets stuffed with garlic, and in his house he was safe entirely, since Regulus could not enter there without an invitation.
In his house he was safe entirely, since Regulus could not enter there without an invitation, and whenever James went outside, he either had Sirius at less than an armlength away from him or his pockets filled to the brim with garlic. It was on such an evening that they met again.
The garlic prickled in Regulus’ nose, drowning out most of James’ scent, but nothing except death could ever drown out the sound of his heartbeat. Regulus had gotten familiar with the rhythm and could point him out from miles away by now.
James walked down the street as Regulus followed closely over the rooftops. He’d always been awfully quiet on his feet, light as a ghost and roofs were his safe spaces. They were his domain. He walked them with ease as a human would a flat surface and he knew he was completely safe up there. James didn’t know, but they had walked this road together a hundred times before since it was on his route between the school and his house and Regulus had always been following his brother. Now for once Sirius was nowhere to be seen, and James had to fall back on some garlic to protect himself.
Regulus jumped down the roof and landed on his feet like a cat. James scared up at the sound but Regulus didn’t come any closer to him. They stayed quite a few meters apart as he spoke.
“Don’t try and run. You know very well it’s no use by now”, he said, but James didn’t try to run; he reached in his pockets to weapon himself with garlic.
“Stay away from me!”, he warned as he threatened to hurl an entire garlic at Regulus’ head. Even with Sirius’ guidance, humans really did not know how vampires worked.
“That’s not going to do very much, sweetheart”, he said. “At least not more than the stench that’s already coming out of your pockets from over there anyways. If you really want to keep me at bay, I’d recommend chopping those up beforehand, not keeping them in the peel and hoping I somehow happen to bite down on one of them.” The thought of it already made him convulse. He didn’t know how Sirius managed to actually do it.
James frowned. “Why are you helping me?”, he asked full of suspicion. He started peeling the garlic as he walked.
“Because I’m not here to bite you”, Regulus lied. Well, kind off. He figured he ought to take an example of Sirius more often and play the long game just like he did. He wasn’t here to bite him right now. He was here to gain his trust and bite him later, though he had a long way to go since his… unfortunate first impression. He sighed like this was all a very heavy topic for him before he continued the fib: “I don’t know what possessed me that night. I’m usually not like that at all. I’m very sorry I scared you like that, really.”
“Now why would I believe any of that from the man who bit me? And still might have done all those murders?”
If James Potter hadn’t caught Regulus’ attention before, he certainly had now. “You know I had nothing to do with those murders, right?” He wasn’t lying anymore. He had been as horrified as they were when he discovered the smell of blood only led to some mauled body parts. “It wouldn’t even make any sense if I did. Such a waste of good blood…”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that”, James said, waving a peeled clove of garlic in his direction so that he had to take a few steps back. “You’re clearly some sort of psychopath, who just happened to be in the same forest as those bodies that night. I personally don’t find it too hard to draw some conclusions there.”
“You’re not drawing conclusions, love. You’re jumping to them”, Regulus said. “I’m not the one behind those murders. You’ll have to trust me on that one even if it’s just for the simple reason I wouldn’t have been able to commit those murders like that even if I wanted to. Spilling so much blood? Let it all flow in the ground? There’s a point at which instinct prevails. I would have just sank my teeth in their skin and sucked them dry, as would any other vampire in their right mind.”
James shrugged. “You don’t seem all that right in your mind to me.”
Regulus couldn’t help but chuckle. “You met me at an unfortunate moment, that’s all. I’ll even let you in on another little secret: if Sirius didn’t eat that clove of garlic, he would have just bit you himself way before I even got there, maybe even some of your friends as well. The whole forest reeked of blood. There was just no denying it.”
“Sirius wouldn’t do that”, James claimed. “He isn’t like you. He doesn’t want to kill anyone.”
“Don’t we all?”, Regulus mused, “but anyone can kill anyone, if their just hungry enough. Remember that well, human. It applies to your kind just as much as it applies to ours.”
James had long picked up his pace, like he couldn’t be home soon enough, but he had also just the right amount of curiosity to keep the conversation going. “If you’re not here to bite me, what is your deal?”
Regulus smiled. “I wanted to apologise. I know I really scared you back there. I wanted to see if you were doing okay.”
“You did. And I am, if we’re just going to ignore the gaping holes in my neck, that is. So you can just leave me alone now, please and thank you.”
“Sure, If that’s what you want”, Regulus said, “but know I won’t be far. You just don’t allow me to do that, James Potter.” His name started to taste as good as the boy himself. James potter had a magnetic power over him, and Regulus just couldn’t leave the boy alone. He’d do whatever it takes to catch him off guard someday, and then, nothing would be able to stop him from sinking his teeth in his flesh again and drinking his blood until he was fully satisfied. James Potter would have no chance of survival anymore at that point, because he had made Regulus unsatiable.