Creatures of the Night

An eerie silence filled the night, a silence that was only broken by the occasional whistle of the wind blowing past tree branches and the soft, quick steps that belonged to the sixth year Hufflepuff, known as Ryo Hiroku. His dirty blonde hair was blown back by the wind and revealed his normally colored olive green eyes. The silence that surrounded him was comforting, as he never was the type to like places that were loud.

It was well past midnight, or at least he thought it was, and he knew everyone else was pretty much asleep. Well all of the humans of the school were, or should be, as well as those creatures who weren't nocturnal. The sixteen year old turned around and stared in the direction of the ancient castle a bit away from him for a long moment. Finally taking his eyes off of the castle, he turned around again and stood in front of the place where it seemed he always spent his time.

The Forbidden Forest.

The Forest somehow attracted him to it, and he always found himself unable to resist the urge to wander in there. The place was comforting, in a way, for the vampire inside him. It was a place where creatures like him could be free and not have to limit themselves. It wad always the vampire's will to go there, and this was something the boy could not overpower so he just let the vampire inside take him as far as he willed into the Forest. He liked the darkness of the Forest and would always enjoy going in there, both the boy and the vampire did. But the boy was always more cautious of what he did, unlike the vampire.

Though today, it wasn't the vampire that was leading him to the Forest. He was going of his own free will. He'd become accustomed to going almost every night, after not being able to sleep at all. Besides there was always something interesting that happened in the forest, pretty much every night. Something that he wouldn't want to miss always happened in there.

He had stopped at a small clearing when he snapped out of his thoughts, and he was immediately plunged back in. In this same spot, or in areas very close to it, so many things had happened to him. First it was during the first full moon of the school year, when he had witnessed Rise's transformation. Then, the second thing that happened here was when he met Evalyn and they were attacked by a werewolf. He remembered how hurt he had been after that atrack and a sharp pain coursed though his arm and side where the werewolf had injured him. He held his arm as the pain subsided and thought of the next thing that had happened there. His enounter with one of the Greybacks. Victoria he believed her name had been.

He looked up at the sky after he sat down under a tree that had begun to regain its leaves after a hard winter. All these things had happened because he was a vampire, he thought. If he wasn't one, like he so desired many times, then none of this would have ever happened to him. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to he a vampire then. Just maybe it might actually be a good thing. But it didn't matter this was only one good thing he found out of millions of horrible things. He wondered what tonight would bring...

At first he had been wondering whay had happened to Rise. She had pretty much just disappeared, without a trace. Her scent wasn't anywhere to be found in the castle, and he should know, he had searched for it multiple times. The Hufflepuff common room was where he'd expected to find her scent, but it wasn't there either. He had to admit that he was worried, no matter how much the vampire protested, he was also sad that Rise was gone. He missed the werewolf whom Ryo thought he had fallen in love with. Though now he knew that it wasn't true, he had never been in love with her. What he felt wasn't even lust, it was pity. Pity for the girl who had been turned by one of the Greybacks. But he had never loved her as he thought.

A strong breeze blew and his mind was thrown to the memories of Evalyn. He sniffed the air and it was like she was there. Wait... This was her scent but it was so different too. But she had also disappeared just like Rise. So how was It possible that he smelled her scent? She wasn't at Hogwarts, or was she? His dull gray eyes filled with sadness looked around. His body turned automatically and his eyes fell upon a large tree near him. This had to be Evalyn, but the scent was so different now, could it really be her? He didn't know if he should trust his senses, as they had let him down before. But could he afford to not trust them?

Deciding to trust his senses, Ryo stepped toward the tree he was facing cautiously. He wasn't sure of what was waiting behind it. It could be Evalyn or it could be some deadly creature that would kill him the moment it realized he was a vampire. But, it couldn't be something like a werewolf, the scent was far off from that. It was a Veela scent, but a strong, powerful scent. Similar yet so different to that of the girl he hoped what behind the tree."Who's there?" he heard himself call, realizing that he had stopped moving about a foot away from the tree. The vampire had made him stop. He was also unsure of who it was behind the tree and he didn't want his host to take any chances.

The voice that tried to answer his question was a familiar one. He stared at the figure that had stepped out from behind the tree, trying to recognize who it was. The scent was so familiar but the image he saw wasn't the one he hoped. There wasn't the snow white hair he remembered, but the skin was pale as he remembered it being. Was this really the girl who he though - who he wanted it to be? She seemed so different and he wasn't sure if he had made the right choice in trusting his senses. They could just be playing tricks on him, or maybe this was the vampire's doing. He didn't know what to think anymore, this also wouldn't be the first time the vampire did this to him. It pleased the vampire to make his life hell, and he wouldn't be surprised if this was a trick produced by the vampire within him.

He stood at a foot's distance still. Not moving an inch closer to the female figure. He wasn't sure if he could afford to let his guard down now, by making himself think it was her. But if it was her what was he supposed to do? Take the risk and get closer to her, allow his guard to drop so that if he had made a mistake he would end up dying for it? He was just starting to see the purpose of living and he was really going to take a risk like this and possibly end up dead for taking it? His bangs covered his gray eyes but he stared at the female in front of him curiously, wondering if it was really her.

The figure began to run at him and he hesitated in what to do. Before he reacted she had thrown her arms around him. He tensed for a moment before relaxing at the embrace. He looked down at the figure that had embraced him and he couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. It was her, she seemed so different but it was her. "Evalyn..." he said softly, allowing himself to wrap his arms around her as he burried his face in her now dark hair. He stayed like that for a while, before he brought his head up and he looked down at her. "What happened to you?" Was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

As she explained why she had disappeared, his eyes looked at her, glancing from her face to her hair. She might seem different on the outside, but on the inside she was definitely still the Evalyn he met a while back. She placed her hand on his cheek and he pressed his cheek onto her hand gently, closing his eyes, feeling the familiar warmth of her hand. A warmth the he could never feel on now own. He sighed softly, with a calmness he hadn't felt since she disappeared. It amazed him how much he depended on a single person for so many things that he could not do on his own.

When she took her hand away, his eyes opened slowly. He watched her bring her wand to her hair and he saw It change back to its original snow white color. He smiled as he saw her with her natural hair color. "You know, I think I like you better with this hair color. Black just isn't you." he said softly. As she hugged him again, he felt his arms wrap around her instinctively, as if protecting her. "I don't thinly he will find you the way you are for now." he told her in a soft voice that didn't even sound like him.

He looked down at her quickly. "And even if he does, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to you." he said in a strong yet gentle voice. She was the only one he has left, out of his friends and even out of his family. He wasn't going to let anything happen to this girl, even if it met dying to keep her safe. He wouldn't allow anyone to harm her, this girl was the only one he held close to him, no one else was as important to him as she was. His family wasn't even as important, it had never really been important to him in the first place.

The sadness that filled him and the gray that filled his eyes were fading and his eyes were returninf to their normal olive green color as he smiled down at her. "Don't worry about not having told me anything. It was to make sure you were safe, I understand that." he told her in the same soft voice as before. "I'm just glad that ypu are back." he told her, his eyes now bright with happiness showing in his olive colored eyes. "I just don't want you to leave again. If I can help it, I'll keep you here." he assured her.

Ryo smiled.down at her gently. "And I would gladly go with you." he told her softly. It wasn't like anyone would miss him or even notice his absence for that matter. His family wouldn't notice, they were always too focused on his sister to notice that anything was wrong with him. At least now he had someone who actually cares for him. Before the only person who cared for him was his mother, and now she was missing and possibly dead. Though he refused to believe that she is dead, he knew there was a large possibility that she was gone forever. But even knowing this, he didn't give up hope that someday he would see his mother again.

"Don't worry about it." he smiled at her. "Though I was a bit lonely, I managed just fine during those nights." he said. It wasn't hard for him to do so, as he had always had sleepless nights, for as long as he could remember. And for as long as he could remember he would always find peace outside, which is probably why now he would always go out to the Forest when he couldn't sleep. At home he would always just climb out though his window and walk to the woods that surrounded his house. He would always spend the night there, and he would return at dawn without anyone ever knowing that he had left the house. It was like a routine really, a routine that he followed even now.

He looked down at her as he felt a slight pressure on his chest. Pressure caused by her laying her head on his chest. He hugged her a bit tighter and he began to remember the night they had met, when that werewolf had attacked them. Everything was still so vivid in his mind, despite it happening quite a while ago. The scent of he blood from his memories hit him and he shivered a bit. He remembered the vampire's hidden desire for that blood. But he couldn't remember something, he couldn't remember who's blood it was. Only he and the werewolf had shed any blood right? He couldn't remember right, all he remembered was the strong urge the vampire inside him had to drink the blood.