Chapter 1
Regulus - 10/06/1969
Regulus pulled the door open, just enough to slip through the opening and gently shut it behind him, careful not to make a sound. Sirius snuck out all the time, why couldn’t he? He was eight. He could handle it.
Besides, it wasn’t like he was doing anything dangerous, he just wanted to see the meteor shower, and the prophet said it would be at peak visibility tonight.
Regulus shivered as he made his way across the road and into the dark park. The air was colder than he’d anticipated and crossed his arms to try keep the warmth in. He’d only be out here for a little bit, he’d be fine.
Finding a park bench, unobstructed by tree cover, Regulus sat down and looked up. He grinned as he just managed to make out his own star on the western horizon, he could even see Arcturus. Sirius wasn’t visible but Cygnus was right in the middle, and he could just make out Andromeda to the north.
Now he just had to wait for the-
“Oh you poor little thing…”
What…
Regulus’ eyes snapped down from the sky and he jumped to his feet, twisting around to see a woman, staring at him from just a few meters away. She was pale, even more so than him, and her mouth was stretched out in crazed smile.
A terrible, cold feeling washed over him as they locked eyes. Hers were red. Regulus swallowed and was suddenly all too aware of the racing heart in his chest. Panic surged through him, urging him to run, but he was frozen. He couldn’t move.
The woman stepped forward, shortening the gap between them. Regulus’ heartbeat quickened and the woman laughed. “You’re already afraid. Do you know what I’m going to do?”
Regulus sucked in a sharp breath as his whole body began to tremble. Yes, he knew exactly what was about to happen. He was going to die. He was about to have the blood sucked out of his body.
“P-Please…” he stuttered out, his eyes widened as she kept walking, step by step, getting closer and closer. She was almost within arm’s reach, just behind the bench, towering above him, keeping her eyes locked on his.
“Please?” She laughed. “Oh, you do know what I am…”
The woman lunged. She leaped over the bench, arms stretched out, reaching toward him. It was too fast. Regulus gasped as cold fingers wrapped around his neck and he was spun around, his back pressed up against the woman’s freezing body. He tried to scream, but the woman squeezed his throat, stopping the noise from escaping.
“Hmm…”
Regulus’ eyes watered as the woman grazed his neck with her tongue, laughing as Regulus shook in her grasp.
“You know little boy…” she whispered into his ear. “I’m not even hungry... I just saw you all alone and couldn’t resist your sweet, sweet scent…”
Regulus shivered as her icy breath went down his shirt and he screwed his eyes shut. His body was buzzing with fear. His head was spinning. He was going to die. She was going to kill him. He tried again to move, to twist out of her hands and escape, but his body wouldn’t listen.
“Oh, your little heartbeat sounds so adorable,” the woman whispered, sounding almost giddy with excitement. Regulus whimpered as tears streamed down his cheeks. Why was she toying with him? Why was she being so cruel?
As if in response, the woman laughed and forced his head to the side, tracing her tongue up the centre of his neck, stopping just below his ear.
“Are you scared?”
The woman loosened her grip Regulus’ throat and he gasped for air. He should have screamed. He should have taken that opportunity to cry for help, but he couldn’t think.
“Y-Ye-es…” he stuttered, barely loud enough for his own ears to pick up.
The woman breathed against his neck, letting her teeth graze over his skin.
“Do you want to die little boy?”
“N-No…”
Regulus could feel the woman smirk and he let his eyes open to catch one last glimpse of the sky. This was it. She was about go drink the life from him. He looked up and let out another sob as he took in the blurry mess of stars, all jumbled by his tears.
“But will you let me kill you?”
Regulus stared up, pretending one of the specks of light was Sirius.
Goodbye…
“Y-Ye-es…”
The woman laughed again, pressing her mouth against his neck and scraping his skin with her fangs. He braced. His heart pounded. He prepared for the pain.
The fingers around his neck tightened and the woman’s lips left his skin.
“You know what little boy…” Regulus shuddered as a ripping sound filled his ears. “I think I can arrange that…”
Regulus gasped as something icy cold and dripping wet was pressed against his mouth. He tried to scream, but all he did was choke and splutter as the liquid seeped into his mouth, trickling down his throat. It was horrible. It tasted like death itself. What was happening? What was she doing to him?
Then there was pain. Two sharp fangs pierced down through his skin, sinking into his neck, as a mouth latched on around the wound and began to drink. His neck burned where she was slipping apart his flesh. His throat stomach where the foul liquid kept dribbling down as his throat.
He could hear her gulping down his blood, sucking him dry. But that was nothing compared to the burning, radiating from his neck. The acidic burn coursing through his insides.
It hurt. Everything hurt. Regulus tried to keep his eyes open, tried to keep his gaze fixed on the sky as he died, but everything was fading. Everything was going dark.
---
James - 01/08/1976
James had been having an… interesting summer holiday so far.
Sirius had appeared in the Potters fireplace less than a week after term ended, unconscious with nothing but his wand and the clothes on his back. He barely spoke of what happened, just bits and pieces. His parents finding out about Remus, that he was disowned, that the Black heirship had been passed onto the next in line, his eldest cousin Bellatrix. It had been a long time coming, and Sirius seemed to have taken it in his stride. The only odd thing about his behaviour, was the number of owls he’d been sending and receiving. When James asked about it, Sirius brushed off, saying it was to do with organising his trust with Gringotts. James believed him and nothing more was said.
Since then, the summer had been great. Sleekeazy's had received an invitation to the World Potions convention, so Monty and Effie were in Greece until the end of August, Sirius and James were left alone, which meant Remus and Peter spent every day at the Potter Estate. Arriving as Tipsy served breakfast, not leaving until dinner was over.
The first of August was set to be the first morning James would find himself alone. Sirius had stayed with the Lupins the previous night, and both James and Peter decided a morning spent catching up on sleep was probably a wise decision.
So, being woken up just before sunrise, by a boy knocking frantically on his front door, begging to be let in, was not how James predicted he’d wake up on the first day of August. He certainly hadn’t been expecting to open the door and find a pale boy about his age that looked eerily like Sirius.
But that’s what was happening.
“James?” he asked, eyes wide and his voice shaking. “Is Sirius here? Please let me in. Please say I can come in.”
“He’s not back yet, why? Who are-”
The boy shook his head, his face twisting with fear as he looked over his shoulder toward the horizon, where the sun was set to rise any second. “No, no please just say it first, say I can come in. Please say it.”
“Okay, okay you can come in but who-”
The boy rushed forward, pushing past James, and sprinting upstairs without looking back.
What in Merlins name …
“Hey!” James called out, trying to chase after the boy, but he couldn’t keep up. “What’s going on? What do you need Sirius for?”
But the boy didn’t seem interested in talking, and all James could hear was his footsteps getting further and further away, closer to Sirius’ empty bedroom. As he reached the top of the staircase, he could hear the boy banging around in the room and he rushed toward it.
“What are you doing? Who are you?”
When finally, James made it to the room, he had to squint as his eyes tried to adjust to sudden darkness. The boy had pulled all the curtains shut and by the sounds of it, was riffling through all of Sirius’ drawers.
What the fuck is happening?
James dashed forward, heading straight for the curtains so he could open them and actually see, but before he could get within arm’s reach, a small, cold hand wrapped around his wrist, holding him back.
“No! Stop! Please leave them closed!”
It was the boy, and suddenly the hand was pulling him, dragging him away from window and shoving him against a wall. The hand moved to his chest and James tried to push against it, to get free but he couldn’t. James blinked, squinting, trying to see, but all he could make out was the boy’s silhouette.
He was a least a few inches shorter than himself and seemed much thinner. How was that possible? How was the boy doing this?
“Please, just stay there. I need to find it before-”
“Who are you? I just let you in my house and now your-” James tried to lean forwards, struggling against the boy’s hand, but he was stuck. He couldn’t move. “What are you doing?”
The boy groaned and James could just see the outline of him running his free hand through his hair.
“Can’t you just be patient?”
“No! I want to know-”
The boy mumbled something, and suddenly James gasped as the hand on his chest slid up to his throat, the boy’s fingers tightened. What was happening? What the fuck was happening? He couldn’t breathe.
James struggled against the boy’s grip, he scratched at the boy’s hand, trying to free himself, but he couldn’t. The boy’s fingers were wrapped too tight. They wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t breathe. His lungs burned and-
The boy let go, and James collapsed to the floor, gasping for air, his heart pounding.
“Now please, just there. I don’t want to do that again, alright?”
James wheezed, fighting to suck down some air and he nodded. What else was he supposed to do? He didn’t even have his wand to fight back.
The boy mumbled something and stepped away from him, going back to digging through Sirius’ things, as James’ mind raced. Who was this boy? Why was he here? Was he going to kill him? It certainly felt like he might, and James wasn’t sure he could do anything to stop him.
“Oh, thank Merlin...” There was a metallic grinding sound and James recognised it as a flask opening. He strained to try see what the boy was doing with it, but all he could make out was his outline. Tipping his head back and presumably drinking whatever was in the flask.
The boy let out a long, deep breath of relief and James shivered as a cold, sick feeling washed over him. Every instinct in his body started screaming at him to run. He shouldn’t be here. Something wasn’t right about this boy. He was in danger. He needed to escape.
The grinding noise returned as the boy re-sealed the flask and suddenly footsteps began echoing towards James. He froze. Bracing himself as the steps got louder, closer. His heart was beating out his chest, he was shaking. This was it. It was like he could sense it coming. This boy was going to-
There was loud swish, and sunlight flooded the room. James winced at the sudden change in brightness, screwing his eyes shut momentarily, and when he opened them again, he just about jumped out his skin. The boy was kneeling right in front of him, staring, biting his lip like he didn’t know what to say or do.
James swallowed.
He really did look like Sirius, maybe a little younger, but not much. He had the same sharp features, though he was somehow even paler than Sirius. He had the same wavy, black hair, though it was cut far shorter. He seemed to have the same lithe build as Sirius too, though a little shorter. Which didn’t make any sense considering what he’d just done. He didn’t even look tired.
The boy reached forward, and James flinched as his cold fingers gripped his chin, jerking it upward. James shivered as the boy’s other icy hand brushed against his neck, right across the spot he’d been squeezing before. He sucked in a deep breath, preparing for the boy to start choking him again.
“I don’t think it’ll bruise…” The hands pulled away and the boy looked up, meeting James’ gaze, suddenly looking very guilty. “I am so sorry about all that… I know I should have explained… I just didn’t think I would make it, and then you opened the door and said Sirius wasn’t here and… and you smell really good and I just… I just couldn’t think straight … I was so hungry and…”
The boy pressed his face into his hands and sighed loudly. “I’m sorry… I’ve had a really long night… Can you please get Sirius?”
---
James wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to react. It wasn’t bad news but… it was certainly unexpected…
“So Regulus is your brother…”
Sirius nodded.
“That your parents told everyone died…”
He nodded again.
“But he was actually turned into a vampire…”
Another nod.
“And kept alive so they could sell his venom…”
“I mean, at first they told us it was for his safety until a cure was found but… yeh that’s basically sums it up…”
“And he’s who you’ve been owling all the time?”
Sirius folded his arms, and sighed.
“You know how bad it is for Remus, and vampires are even more worse off than werewolves. I’ve been telling him for years that once I got my own place, I’d get him out. After I got kicked out, I just wanted him to know where I was, and that if he ever needed to run, I’d have food and shelter ready for him.”
“But you didn’t think he’d actually come?”
Sirius shook his head. “He said he was fine in the letters… he won’t tell me what happened, but it was clearly bad...”
“Why didn’t you tell me about him?”
“He didn’t want me too, and I sorta felt like it was his right to choose that…”
James nodded. He understood that, and it even made some other things about Sirius make sense. Like why he went back home every year, despite the Potters offering to take him. Or why’d kept quiet about Remus’ secret for so long after figuring it out.
“So, what now?”
Sirius swallowed, “Are you sure Effie and Monty will-”
“They’ll be fine with him living here, now what do we have to do?”