Regulus
Human adults rushed past them left and right, barely anyone giving them a second glance as they walked through the crowds. Regulus walked behind Sirius, trying to keep his head down and letting his brother pick their targets. Walburga hadn’t been back for days, and Orion was too drunk to help them.
They were starving.
Usually their mother took them out, lured a couple of humans to the park, then made them forget. Neither of them had done this before, but apparently Walburga thought nine and barely eleven was old enough. Or she just didn’t care. Probably both.
Regulus tried to hold his breath as humans bumped into him. Tried to block out their heartbeats. Tried to ignore the painful burning in his throat. He just wanted it to stop. He wasn’t used to resisting like this. He was almost shaking as he moved between the humans, supressing the urge to attack.
I can’t do this much longer…
He bit the inside of his cheek, and his own cold blood coated his tongue, seeping down his throat. It didn’t do anything to extinguish the flames, but he tried to imagine it did. He was so hungry.
This had happened once before, a few years ago. Regulus had accidentally attacked a cleaner and Orion was furious. It was the first time Regulus was staked by his father. He still didn’t know if he missed his heart by mistake or on purpose.
They were trying to avoid a repeat of that incident by going out. Not that they were having much luck.
Sirius had approached six humans so far, asking for their help walking to the park 'where their mother was waiting'. Two had ignored them, three had offered to ring their mother and one had tried taking them into a building to call for help. A couple of groups had approached them, but Sirius had waved them off. They weren’t confident enough to target more than one human.
As they walked through yet another group, Regulus’ throat burned.
“Hurry,” he choked. If they didn’t find someone soon, he was going to lose control.
“I’m trying,” Sirius whispered, glancing back over his shoulder, and offering him a weak smile. Regulus tried to return it, but when he noticed how red his brother’s eyes were starting to turn, he couldn’t. His almost certainly looked the same, maybe worse. They were running out of time.
They kept walking. Sirius in front, Regulus behind.
Sirius tried again. Stopping a woman in a black dress. She smelled really good. Her heart was beating like crazy.
“Um… excuse me miss. We’re lost. Our mother said to meet us at the park, could you help us go there?”
The woman’s face softened, and she put her hand on Sirius shoulder, glancing at Regulus sympathetically.
Thump, thump, thump
“Oh, you poor things. Do you know her phone number? How about I call her and she can get you.”
Thump, thump, thump
Regulus dropped his head. He had to focus.
“Oh um… she doesn’t have a phone… she just said we have to go to the park…”
Thump, thump, thump
“I just think it would be safer if we wait here is all. Maybe we could call a police officer? They might be able to help find your mother?”
Thump, thump, thump
“Oh um… that’s okay… thank you anyway…”
“Are you sure? I can-”
Sirius grabbed Regulus by the wrist and started dragging him away.
“No, thank you. It’s okay. We will find her.”
The woman called out again, but Sirius and Regulus ignored her and kept walking, trying to hide in the crowd. It was torture. He was so hungry. He needed to eat something. They needed to find someone. His eyes stung and he screwed his eyes shut, trying with all his might to force back any tears .
He couldn’t cry out in public. Humans cried water, not blood. They would realise something wrong with them.
Don’t be a baby. Don’t be a baby.
Everything hurt so much.
They kept walking and Sirius tried someone else, but the same thing happened. Regulus was so close to snapping. He was going to get them caught and staked. Why wasn’t their mother back yet? Why wouldn’t their father help? Why was-
“Are you boys alright?”
Regulus stopped and looked up. It was a tall man, maybe their fathers age, wearing jeans and a dark jumper. He was alone. Sirius jumped into action.
“Well, we’re lost. Our mother said to meet us at the park, could you help us go there?”
The man peered down at them, his eyes quickly darting between them both. Then he smiled and stepped forward, offering them his hands.
“Of course I can. The park is this way.”
Regulus and Sirius shared a look, and they both took the man’s hands. Regulus had to restrain from crushing the man’s hand when he felt the pulse beneath his skin.
Thump, thump, thump
The man smelled good, and his throat was burning more than ever, but at least there was an end in sight. He just had to keep walking. He just had to focus. It was going to be ok. They found someone.
The man didn’t say anything else but kept a firm grip on their hands, leading them down the street. But then he led them left, when he should have taken them right. Sirius spoke up.
“Um… are you sure this is the right way?” he asked, trying not to give anything away. They were supposed to be lost.
“Oh yes, this is a shortcut,” the man assured them, walking a little quicker. His heart beat in a funny way as he said it, but Regulus didn’t know what that meant. He glanced at Sirius, who just shrugged. Maybe the man did know a shortcut.
They crowd around them got thinner and they took another few turns before they stopped in front of a silver car.
“Hey boys, the park is a little further and this is my car. Do you just want a lift? Save up your energy so we can find your mum faster?”
Sirius hesitated and the man spoke again. “It’s alright, I’m a very safe driver, I promise. I just want to make sure we find your mum before she starts to worry too much.”
His heart made the funny beat again and it made Regulus’ mouth water. He was too hungry. He needed to eat.
I can’t wait any longer
Before Sirius could speak, he jumped in.
“Ok, we’ll just drive,” he said as clearly as his burning throat would allow.
“Great!” The man let go of their hands and the cars lights flashed. He opened the backseat door and grinned at them, gesturing for them to climb in. “You two jump in here.”
“Are you sure?” Sirius whispered, quietly enough for the human not to hear. Without glancing back, Regulus nodded, and hopped into the car. Sirius was right behind him.
The door slammed shut and a moment later the man was in the driver’s seat, starting the engine. The car started moving. The doors locked shut.
“So, are you boys from around here?”
“Um… no… just visiting…”
“Ahh alright.”
The man’s heart was beating like crazy and Regulus had to grip Sirius’ hand to try ignore it. The whole car smelled like him. He was so hungry. His throat hurt so much. He needed to eat.
“It’s alright, Reg,” Sirius whispered and squeezed his hand back. “We’re almost there.”
Regulus nodded, screwing his eyes shut.
“Do you boys have anyone else in town with you?”
“Just our mum,” Sirius replied.
“I see…”
They kept driving.
Regulus kept his eyes closed and leaned into Sirius, trying to breath in his scent to block out the mans. He was trying not to breath, but with his throat burning so badly he couldn’t help it, and every breath was like adding fuel to the fire.
He didn’t realise anything was wrong until Sirius said something.
“Are you sure this is the way?”
The man chuckled and his heart made a weird noise again, but he didn’t say anything.
“Um… Sir? Where are we going?”
The mans heart sped up and he chuckled again.
“I think you went past the park.”
What?
Regulus’ eyes shot open, and he peered out the windows. He didn’t see city lights. It was residential. That wasn’t right. They were supposed to be going to the city park. He turned back to Sirius.
“What do we do?” he whispered nervously.
Sirius swallowed, glancing out the windows then back at the man. They barely interacted with humans. Was he lost? Forgetting what he was doing? Their father forgot things when he drank, but he didn’t smell like that. Maybe he was confused about which park they meant?
“Don’t worry, I’ll figure this-”
The car made a sharp turn left, veering off the main road and onto a narrow, unlit street. Regulus gripped Sirius tighter. This wasn’t right.
“Where are you taking us?” Sirius demanded.
The man’s chuckle was deeper this time, laced with something Regulus and Sirius were too familiar with. “Relax, boys. We’re just taking a little detour.”
A cold, horrible feeling washed over Regulus, and he shivered. The man’s voice had the same tone their father used when they were in trouble. Right before they got staked.
Sirius must have noticed it too.
“It’s fine,” he whispered. “I can’t smell any silver. We can handle him.”
Regulus nodded, leaning into Sirius as the car continued down the road. He was so hungry. He just wanted something to eat. His throat hurt so much.
The houses gave way to forest and soon the man made another left. The car began to shake, rattling as they drove down an unsealed road. Until at last, the car slowed to stop. The engine turned off.
“Alright boys,” the man looked at them in the rearview mirror as he reached across to his passenger seat. His eyes were glinting with something that looked reminded Regulus of Walburga when she found a human. “You two are going to sit completely still, or I’m going to hurt you both very badly. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Sirius said, and Regulus nodded.
The man opened the driver side door and as climbed out, Regulus caught sight of a knife. He swallowed. It was fine. He was just a human. They were going to feed and leave. This wasn’t Orion. It was going to be alright.
“Stay. There.” The man ordered, as he walked around the front of the car, keeping his eyes fixed on them and the knife close by his side.
“Get ready, Reg,” Sirius whispered as the man approached the door. “Don’t hold back.”
The handle clicked, and the door swung open.
Thump, thump, thump
The man pointed the knife at Regulus, “You. Get out here.”
Thump, thump, thump
Regulus swallowed and crawled over Sirius. All he could hear was the man’s blood, pumping through his body. It was all he could smell too. He was so hungry.
His feet hit the ground and the man grabbed him, pulling him into a headlock and pressing the knife to his throat.
The man’s heart was practically beating into his ears. It was too much.
Regulus glanced at Sirius as his face began shifting. He could feel the shadows cracking down his cheeks, could feel his eyes glowing. Sirius’ face was doing the same. The man didn’t like that.
His heartbeat quickened. “What the fuck is wrong with your face?” He shouted at Sirius, stepping back and pressing the blade into Regulus’ throat. Regulus chose that moment to break free, but his timing couldn’t have been worse. As he tried to lead forward, he gasped as the knife dug through the top layer of skin, sending a little blood trickling down his neck. It hurt and he cried out, the shock enough to freeze him in his tracks.
Suddenly, he was at home. His father holding him down as he cried, holding a stake to his chest. All Regulus could smell was the silver adorning his body as he yelled. Cursing the disgusting tears coming out of his face, his mother for giving his children with her disease, and him for giving in to his monstrous nature.
The wooden tip dug into him, and he screamed. Sirius tried to help, but he couldn’t do anything against their father, not this young, not while he worse so much silver. It was an accident; he didn’t mean to hurt the cleaner. He was just so hungry. Why didn’t his father understand that? Why wouldn’t he help them? Was he going to die?
“I’m sorry!” he cried, frozen in fear, frozen by his own mind as something sharp cut his chest, or was it his neck? He couldn’t tell. His eyes were shut.
“Get back or I’ll slit his-”
Pain.
That was all Regulus could feel.
Not in his chest, but across his throat.
Blood was streaming down his neck, his lacerated skin burning as the air seeped inside.
Someone screamed. Why was someone else screaming?
The warm body behind him disappeared and he hit the dirt.
Why was there dirt? Why were they outside?
He choked, gasping for air.
“Reg? Are you okay? Come here, I have him.”
There was another scream. Who did Sirius have? Their father?
Regulus clutched at his throat, fingers slick with his own cold blood.
“It will heal, Reg. Please just eat.”
A man’s deep, terrified scream filled his ears and Regulus’ eyes shot open. He didn’t see Orion. He saw Sirius, holding a struggling human down.
Searching… a tall man… shortcut… car… driving… wrong way… a knife…
Regulus choked, as he felt the sliced skin beneath his fingers stitching back together. The pain receding as he watched the human, the man that did this to him, fighting to try push Sirius away.
“Come on. I’m hungry too.”
Hungry…
The final gap in his throat closed. Regulus gasped, and as air finally filled his lungs, its sweet taste reminded him why he was here. He was hungry. Very hungry.
Regulus blinked and he was his sitting up. He blinked again and he was standing. When he blinked for a third time, he was kneeling beside Sirius, helping hold the man down as he screamed again, his eyes filled with terror and his body trembling.
They went for his wrists.
It tasted like heaven. His blood was a mix of panic and dread, shock and confusion. It was good, so incredibly good and he was starving. He’d never been so driven by hunger in his life.
He drank and drank. He ignored everything and just took more, trying to fill an empty void. He didn’t know when he was supposed to stop, neither of them did. Mother normally stopped them. So, they didn’t.
They didn’t stop when the fighting and screaming ended. They didn’t stop when he grew limp. They didn’t even stop when his heart failed, and breathing ceased. They drank every drop of blood he could offer, consumed by their blood lust…
Sirius took it harder.
“Sirius, please. We have to go home. The sun will get us.”
He pulled on his brother’s arm, trying to move him, trying to tear him away from corpse. But Sirius wouldn’t budge. He wouldn’t even speak. His face was hollow and strained with red tears.
“Sirius, it was an accident. We have to go home.”
Regulus dropped to his knees, shaking his brother’s shoulders, desperate to break through. But Sirius remained rooted in place, still like stone, lost in his head. It wasn’t right. Sirus was never quiet. He was never like this.
“Please, you’re scaring me,” Regulus begged. “It was an accident. We didn’t mean it.”
His words fell on deaf ears, as Sirius continued to stare blankly at the human’s lifeless body.
“The sun will get us if we don’t go. Please, I need you. I don’t know where we are.”
Regulus wrapped his arms around his brother, as tears started spilling down his own face.
“Sirius, please talk,” he sobbed. “It was an accident. We have to go home.”
He may as well have been hugging a statue.
---
James
“Finally,” James yawned as he hit save the document and stood up to stretch. He’d been working on that assignment for way longer than he should have been, but at least it was ready to submit now.
Time for a break.
He still had to finish a couple of quizzes, but they could wait. He needed a minute to let his brain catch up.
James left his room, squinting as he adjusted to the dark hallway and made his way out to the living area. Everyone else would be asleep at this house, he could probably open a curtain for a while. But as he reached his destination, he noticed there was already a dim light coming from inside.
He frowned. Did he forget to close that after breakfast?
Oops…
James walked in to investigate the source of intruding light. He found it pretty quickly. One of the backdoor curtains was open about an inch, letting a beam of sunlight shine through like a wall. Which wasn’t that strange, but Sirius’ little brother was sitting next to it, was. The fact he looked like he was about to stick his hand through it, was even stranger.
“Aren’t you allergic to that stuff?”
Regulus snatched his hand back to his chest, snapping his head up at James
“Don’t panic,” James added quickly, holding his palms up. “It’s just me, James. Your brothers friend.”
Regulus visibly relaxed and dropped his hand in his lap. Then he scowled. “I know who you are. You don’t need to remind me.”
“Just making sure. We’ve only met like what, three times?”
“Four. This is the fifth.”
James grinned and kept walking toward the boy. “Yeh, that’s it. I was just testing you.”
“Right.”
Regulus turned back to the sunlight, staring into it and the particles of dust floating through it.
“What are you doing?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” he muttered.
James stopped just on the other side of the light beam, looking down at the cross-legged boy with curiosity.
“How come?”
“None of your business.”
James took that as his invitation to sit down, getting right in Regulus’ line of sight.
“I’m just trying to be a good friend.”
“We aren’t friends.”
“Well, I’m Sirius’ best friend and we’re housemates now, which kind of makes us at least casual friends.”
Regulus rolled his eyes, and to be honest, James was expecting another jab. Something along the lines of being essentially strangers still, which he intended to respond with the classic ‘strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet’, but he didn’t.
“I had a… nightmare.”
Oh…
Sirius used to get those.
“So, you decided to test if the sun still hated you?”
Regulus’ face stiffened and he dropped his gaze to his hands, twisting them together. One looked a little red.
“I was just… it was a memory… from when Sirius and I were kids…”
“Not a good one, I’m guessing?”
Regulus huffed, “What gave it away?”
“Didn’t you know I’m a mind reader?”
A tiny, tiny smile slipped onto Regulus face, and James felt a warm rush of satisfaction seeing it.
“What was it about?”
The smile disappeared and, James expected another cold remark about minding his own business. But he was surprised, again when Regulus just sighed and started talking.
“We were… in trouble and… went for a walk. We got lost and… Well we were just kids and we accidentally…” Regulus paused, twisting his hands together and taking an uneasy, shaky breath. “Stepped on an injured animal and it… it died…”
Oh…
“It made Sirius really upset… so we had to go slow, and it took the whole night for us to get back…” He took a deep breath and gestured at the sunlight. “Then, the sun started rising when we got to the end of our street… we got back, obviously but… it hurt… a lot… had we not just ea-”
Regulus cut himself off. “I mean… we just got lucky… we nearly died…”
He trailed off. James had a feeling he was missing a few details but decided against asking for them.
“So, you were putting your hand in the sun to check if it still hurt?”
Regulus sighed, and lifted his hand, putting it right up against the edge of the light beam.
“It was the first time I saw a sunrise,” he let the tips of his fingers dip into the sun. He smiled sadly for a few seconds, before wincing and yanking his hand back. “What does it feel like?”
James frowned, “What do you mean?”
“The sun. What does it feel like to you?”
“Oh…” James paused. He hadn’t really thought about it in words before. He just knew he liked it. “Um…”
He stuck his own hand in the light, watching as Regulus stared longingly at it, glancing down at his own fingertips that had barely lasted a few seconds before hurting.
“It’s warm… but not just temperature… it’s like… it makes my mind warmer and it melts away anything bad… and it reminds me of being a kid. Having fun and being outside, going on adventures.” He grinned, “Also gardening with mum and dad, which you can laugh about all you want but I stand by that.”
Regulus smirked but didn’t say anything, instead dipping his fingers back in the light. Held them there a little longer this time, but still pulled them out barely ten seconds later.
“I think I would have liked the sun,” he muttered.
“You still could,” James offered. “Maybe one day they’ll make a medication or something. Or a super sunscreen.”
Regulus chuckled and James felt his face warm up at the sound.
“Maybe…”
They sat in silence for a little longer, taking turns at putting their hands in the light. James shared a couple of stories about sunsets and sunrises. A few tales about gardening with his parents. The time he got so burnt at the beach he spent three weeks peeling.
Regulus didn’t say much but listened and nodded along. James didn’t mind, he had plenty of words. He even managed to draw out a couple more laughs, which felt better than the sun.
He didn’t realise how much time was passing until his stomach started making noises and he glanced up at the clock.
“Oh shit, it’s nearly one.” He stood up, stepping through the light to Regulus’ side and offering him a hand.
“Thanks,” Regulus muttered, taking the hand and getting on his feet too.
“I’m gonna have some lunch, do you want anything? I’m just gonna make a sandwich, but I could make two.”
Regulus seemed to consider it for a second, his face softening slightly as his eyes flicked down to James’ shoulder. They stayed there for a second, his eyes almost glowing and James glanced down to see what had him so transfixed. There wasn't anything though, and when he looked back, Regulus’ cheeks were turning pink. As if he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to.
“What?”
Regulus swallowed and looked down at his feet.
“I um… you know… same er… food thing… as Sirius…”
“Oh fuck, yeh sorry. I always forget about that. Do you want to have some of that stuff or something? I could help put it together if you want.”
At this, Regulus’ face snapped back up, his eyes almost doubling in size and his face going from light pink to bright red.
“No thanks,” he said, taking a step back and putting an extra foot of distance between them. “I’m actually going to try go back to bed… get in a little more sleep…”
“Oh…” He would’ve liked to keep chatting. Then he realised that might have been a strange response and James tried to cover up his disappointment. Taking his own step back and running a hand through his hair. “I mean… yeh that’s fair enough… I guess… cool… yeh…”
James mentally slapped himself.
But if Regulus noticed his weird behaviour, he didn’t make it known and just nodded in agreement to whatever it was that James had just tried to say. Thankfully.
“So uh… have a nice sleep?”
“Yes… thanks… I’ll try…”
They both stood there awkwardly for another few seconds before they each started shuffling in their respective directions. Regulus slipping around James and avoiding the light, and James heading into the kitchen.
“Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” James yelled out just before Regulus exited the door.
Regulus looked over his shoulder, confusion all over his face, “What?”
James just shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. Sleep well.”
The confusion didn’t leave his expression, but as he turned back around and left, James was sure he saw a little smile and a light blush. Or maybe he was wishful thinking? James mentally slapped himself a second time, the moment he registered that thought. He had so just fallen for his best friend’s brother.