Remember to Bring the Garlic

Marguerite was lounging on a tree limb, one leg swinging as it hung beneath her. She hadn't fed the night before, and her thirst was raging. Marguerite had grown a bit closer to Hitame this past week, having met her a few times and having a lengthy conversation. It had been nice to have the pleasant company, but tonight she was hoping to impress upon the girl the curse which came with vampirism. Marguerite had told Hitame to wear garlic. She had starved herself the night before so that she would be sure to enter a bloodlust. She trusted the garlic to be able to keep her at bay if things got out of control.

Marguerite threw her right arm in front of her and pressed a button on the small contraption fitted to her wrist. She smiled gleefully as a dull glow emanated from the watch, showing her the exact time. There were so many fascinating things in this age....

The watch read that it was nearly midnight. As long as she didn't run into one of the professors, the caretaker, or Peeves, Hitame should arrive soon.

Hitamé had been careful to watch every move she made as she tried to leave the castle. It wasn't the professors or the prefects she was worried about mostly. What she really worried about was Peeves. He was more dangerous than a professor finding her. At least a professor would give her a warning or just take her down to their offices, without much fuss. Peeves would probably wake the entire damn castle up if he found her.

Taking one last glance back down the corridor, Hitamé left the castle and swiftly made her way down to the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. She reached into her pocket and rested her hand lightly on a head of garlic she had taken from the kitchen just to please Marguerite. She felt bad for basically forcing her to show her what she was going too, but she knew why Marguerite had decided too.

She doubted it would change her views though. As she approached the forest, Hitamé took her hand away from the garlic in her pocket and looked around for Marguerite.

Marguerite sensed movement below her, and was pleased to see that Hitame had arrived right on time. Marguerite hung from the branch and dropped noiselessly behind Hitame, then tapped her on the shoulder. No matter how much she enjoyed someone's company, she couldn't help but startle people.

"We will be going deep into the forest," Marguerite explained in a hushed voice, "That way we are less likely to be seen. The school does not take kindly to us feeding on living things. They fear it will result in a bloodlust-driven rampage...so we are forced to ingest the cold dead blood from the blood bags kept in the Kitchens. You will find that most vampire students sneak into the forest for a little relief, and hunt for fresh live blood...even if only from an animal."

Marguerite's sensitive nose could smell the garlic, and she was pleased. Were she to go berserk, the severe allergic reaction vampires had to garlic would keep Hitame safe. As long as she remembered the correct way to use it.

"I assume that you have been paying attention in your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and remember how to use the garlic should I become aggressive?" Marguerite asked.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Hitamé quickly turned around, half expecting Marguerite and half expecting someone else who had followed her there. She sighed softly when she realized it was only Marguerite and she smiled at the girl. "For a second there I thought you were someone who was going to get me in trouble for being out here." she told her softly.

Hitamé nodded when she said they would be going deep into the forest. She'd been in there before though never very deep. It was supposed to be dangerous though her friend always told her differently. He was almost always in there, pretty deep in there too, and he had never really encountered anything that dangerous, or rather, anything dangerous at all. Well, maybe one time but that was it, no other times had he ever seen anything dangerous in there. He did say that there were a lot of unicorns there though, but those weren't exactly dangerous.

When Marguerite asked if she'd been paying attention in her DADA classes so she would know how to use the garlic correctly, Hitamé hesitated for a moment. In all honesty, Hitamé never paid that much attention in classes, and most of the time she wasn't even in classes because she was either in trouble or was injured.

She looked at Marguerite and nodded. "Yeah." she said simply, trying to seem confident that she did know what to do, and she slid her hand into her pocket again.

"Oh, hey Hitame!" Derry said, appearing suddenly from behind a tree. "I was just taking a leak while Marguerite and I waited for you," he said, flashing a friendly smile at the girl while he zipped up his fly.

"So! A walk in the Forbidden Forest, huh? Exxxxciting!" Derry grinned broadly, rubbing his hands together. "What's this all about anyway?"

Derry had no idea what the heck Marguerite was talking about regarding Defense Against the Dark Arts, garlic ... or her getting aggressive!? What was that about? Were they going hunting? A quest? Monster capturing? Derry was imagining all sorts of thrilling possibilities. Now that he was friends with Marguerite, he figured all of his days - for the rest of his Hogwarts' years - were going to be a blast.

"I'm going to give you both a lesson on the darker side of vampirism," Marguerite replied darkly, looking each squarely in the eye....especially Derry. She needed him to understand this was a serious matter....though she wasn't sure Derry could take anything in a serious matter.

"We will be going deep into the forest to hunt," Marguerite explained, folding her hands in front of her, "With any luck, we may find a renegade werewolf. It is not a full-moon, so they would be in human form tonight. I do not want to kill a real human being, so this is the next best thing. I understand that many of your kind view the beasts as human, so we won't get no closer than this."

Marguerite's eyes bored into Hit. She felt she knew her well enough that this prospect would bother her. She would be surprised if she could handle it. She hoped that she couldn't. Thoughts of turning a mortal were once again flitting within Marguerite's head, and she needed a reason to keep her from turning the girl.

"I must warn you," Marguerite continued, now looking at Derry, "that I will be different from when I feed on you. I am not taking a mere pint of blood, but I am taking it all. Forcefully. Involuntarily. It has been about three years since I have killed a human for blood, so it is very likely that I will revert into a bloodlust. I will be unpredictable. I could attack my best friend without meaning to. This is why the garlic is so important, so Hitame, you will be responsible for keeping Derry safe.

Pay special attention, Hitame. This bloodlust is easy to fall into for those who have been recently turned. It is entirely possible to kill without wanting to. My first meal was a five-year-old child. If you were to be turned, you would need to be prepared to accept that guilt for an eternity."

"Not a day goes by that I don't think about waking up to that child limp and lifeless in my arms," she whispered, gazing out into the trees.

"Are you ready?"

"Er... Hey Derry." Hitamé responded to the older boy who'd showed up out of seemingly nowhere. She blinked a few times as she noticed that he seemed to be rather excited to be going into the forest, almost like he didn't know what was going on. And then he actually asked what they were going to do and she sighed softly, glancing at Marguerite. She was about to answer him when the other girl began to speak to both of them.

She felt herself wince slightly at the mention of hunting a werewolf while in its human form. It would be like killing an actual human, though she knew that wouldn't exactly be the case. A werewolf was different from a human in many ways, even while in their human forms. Hitamé had never personally thought of them as humans, but they were close to it. She looked Marguerite right in the eyes and acting as if she didn't care that she would be hunting one of them, she nodded.

Hitamé looked down for a few moments afterwards, until she heard Marguerite say her name. She immediately lifted her head and her grip on the garlic in her pocket tightened. She looked at Derry then back at Marguerite. She nodded again and blinked when she spoke about her first meal being a five year old child. Her mind produced an image of a lifeless body in Marguerite's arms and she looked away for a split second before looking at her again. That image would be hard to get rid of...

"I'm ready." she replied, with a nod.

"Wait! What? Why are you killing a werewolf? What for?" Derry was so shocked, some color had drained from his face. His eyes were bulging out of his head in a slightly frightening manner. He had never thought Marguerite capable of killing! Sure, she was a vampire, but that didn't matter: Derry saw her as a sweet, gentle, harmless woman. How could she kill anything at all?! He let out a nervous laugh, half expecting Marguerite would admit any moment that this was all some sick joke.

Despite Derry's horror at the thought of killing werewolf, he was also afraid that his reaction would convince Marguerite he couldn't come anymore. Somehow, those two emotions were battling it out in his head and shockingly, unexplicably, the part that was horrified by the death of a werewolf was not necessarily winning. "Well..anyway, if this is uh..important vampire stuff, uhh..I guess it's okay. I trust you, Marguerite and anyway, I'm kind of almost like your boyfriend, right? So I gotta learn more about the uhh..dark side as you say."

He let out a sheepish grin, hoping his big mouth wouldn't prevent him from following along. What he didn't get though was why Hitame was here. What was the deal with that? Was Hitame also a donor? Derry felt a tinge of jealousy at that thought, which he pushed away as best as he could. "Anyway..uh..I'm ready too," Derry said, in a completely unconvincing tone. He had a big, weak, uncertain-looking smile to top it off.

Marguerite smiled grimly at Derry. She had foreseen this. She had agreed to let him accompany her under the hopes that his hopeless fascination would dim a bit for her. She enjoyed his company, but having a mortal fall in love with her was something she always tried to avoid. She feared they would spend their whole life trying to win a fruitless battle to gain her affection. She would rather see them be happy with someone who can return their attentions whole-heartedly.

"I suppose I felt it was time you face my reality, boy," she said to Derry, "I am not a sweet, defenseless woman to be loved and protected. I am a vampire. A killer. Were I to lose control, the monster cannot tell friend from foe. Tonight you will see me kill a werewolf, but remember that it could very well be you should you not exercise caution around me. There is a great danger which lies beneath this frail and innocent-looking body."

Hitame....well, she had taken this whole business of killing a werewolf much more stoically than she had assumed. Marguerite had been hoping to rattle her, to make her see the mistake she was making in pursuing a life as a vampire; however, she was as steadfast as ever. Again, the thought of turning her crossed Marguerite's mind. She would be a friend that would not die, someone who would be there to keep an everlasting loneliness at bay. Of course, that is probably what Remisto had thought of her, and she had ended up leaving him over centuries of bickering and disagreements. What if she turned Hitame and the same thing happened? No...she would be better off as a human, finding human love, and living a happy mortal life. If only she could first become happy...

"Let us go then," Marguerite said simply then glided into the forest, moving silently among the trees.

Hitamé winced as she heard Derry outburst with questions about the Werewolf killing. Hadn't be known that before? It was only natural that Vampires do something like that. They did have to live off of something, and usually the blood they got from places liket he Kitchens in Hogwarts wasn't enough for them. Or even just having a little bit of blood from a donor wasn't enough either.

She stared at Derry for a moment after his outburst and shook her head, looking away from him and at Marguerite. At least she knew why Derry was coming along now. After what he said about almost being her boyfriend, Hitamé understood that Marguerite was doing it so he would sort of... back off from her. She didn't want Derry to get his hopes up about her and just keep following her, because she wasn't going to be able to corrispond to his affections.

Marguerite was trying to frighten her too. By showing her that life as a Vampire wasn't an easy thing, she probably hoped that Hitamé would give up on wanting to become one. However, Hitamé was determined to see the entire thing through and still plan to become one. She wasn't afraid of what she would have to do to stay 'alive' after becoming one. She would drink the blood from the Kitchens, or hunt some animal or anything down to get the blood.

She watched Magruerite for a second before she took off into the forest after her, careful to not make too much noise.

((Hit knows to much for a fourteen year old .-.))