A/N: Yeah, I crank out these action chapters quickly because they're more fun to write. Once again, disturbing gore of epic proportions. If you're squeamish, you might as well skip this chapter.
Please enjoy! And I'm still listening to Daft Punk's Alive 2007 album. 'Tis awesome.
'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.'
-Mark Twain
Chapter 7 - Pierced by Madness
Harry levitated up the side wall of the castle, coming to rest on the other side in a small, secluded alley. He pulled the hood of the cloak he was wearing over his head. The black garment was designed to make him blend in, because according to Shadow, all the vampires who resided in the castle wore one. Harry though it was a little stereotypical.
That was beside the point, though. He reminded himself one more time what Shadow's plan entailed as he walked up to the inner castle doors. Down to its basics, the plan basically consisted of Harry heading directly to the Master Vampire as the main distraction while Hermione and Shadow busted out Katerina.
Harry kept his head down as he was inspected by the guards, Shadow claiming that since he smelled like a vampire, they would have no problem. His cloak billowed around him as he strode through the entrance hall, his powerful steps taking him directly towards the heart of the castle.
Dim candles hung on the walls, though the castle seemed to be immaculate. Dim, but immaculate. Shiny marble floor squeaked lightly under the soles of his shoes and dark shadow clung to him as he walked deeper into the bowels of the vampires' den, trying his best to stay unnoticed as other vampires passed him, their identical cloaks covering their faces. He glanced behind him and saw several vampires traveling in the same direction as him, which made him think that he was hopefully going in the correct direction.
Going with his gut feeling and trying to remember the directions Shadow had given him, Harry turned left at the next perpendicular corridor, only to come face to face with a dozen vampires armed to the teeth, nasty grins on their faces.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Hermione did her best to breathe quietly as she and Shadow soared over the castle wall, Hermione on the vampire's back. A modern sewage system ran through the castle, so the two of them found the nearest grate and hopped into the sewer, Hermione making sure to cast an impervious charm on her body first.
They went in the direction of the castle, Hermione plugging her nose as Shadow listened with all his might. Hermione was surprised the smell didn't overwhelm him considering that he had a super-sensitive vampire nose.
"It's just waste, a part of nature," Shadow murmured. "Doesn't smell that bad, actually. Reminds me of nature."
Shadow must have had some weird experiences in his two thousand years if the contents of a sewer reminded him of nature.
"Here we are," Shadow muttered, pointing up at a hatch. "Funnily enough, the Master also uses this sewer as an escape route."
"But if Harry fights the Master, then won't he just escape through here when Harry's fighting him?" Hermione asked.
"I don't think the Master would back down from a direct challenge if other vampires were there," said Shadow distractedly as he tried to work the hatch open. "It just makes the Master look bad. Just to be safe, though, we'll destroy the hatch as soon as we're through, all right?"
Hermione nodded as Shadow finally got the hatch open. He peeked his head out to check that the coast was clear before hopping out and offering Hermione a hand, which she gratefully took. Shadow pulled her through the hatch, carefully setting her on her feet afterwards. Hermione was amazed to find that she was in the dungeons.
"Directly to the dungeons?" Hermione whispered in awe.
"Not now," Shadow whispered. "Seal the hatch."
Hermione non-verbally colloportused the hatch before adding another magical seal onto it that would take over half an hour to unravel by any means. Impenetrable both physically and magically.
The dungeon was well-lit, allowing no real shadows to form, which stopped the prisoners from gaining any power. The rest of the dungeon, though, was just like any dungeon. Mold grew along the cracks, mice scuttled around, and various sounds that Hermione figured were the prisoners echoed through the hall.
Hermione took in a deep breath and stuck close to Shadow as they snuck through the dungeons, the latter checking every prisoner for signs of Katerina. Hermione stopped looking after a while, though, because what she saw was horrendous. The sounds that Hermione had heard echoing throughout the hallway were indeed the prisoners…the prisoners' muffled screams and moans of pain as they were being tortured. One was pinned to the wall by polished rosewood stakes, another anchored in spot to the ground as a tap dripped holy water straight onto his forehead. It was horrendous. Surely nobody…or nothing…could deserve this kind of treatment, could they?
"The Master's a bit of a sadist," Shadow muttered, responding to Hermione's thoughts again.
"I can tell," Hermione said slowly, looking at the ground. She finally did look up, though, when they came up to a cell in which the inhabitant wasn't screaming.
But she should've been.
She had dozens of crosses crudely taped against her bare skin as more tape held her hands tied behind her back, making Hermione remember Harry's reaction to a single cross through two layers of fabric. How could this woman bear it silently? She was probably dead…not even a vampire could bear all that and live to tell the tale.
"No," Shadow whispered in awe. "Not dead."
"Psst, Kat," Shadow whispered. "Katerina," he whispered a little stronger. "Katerina!"
A small smile curled Katerina's lips, though her eyes stayed closed. "Number five," she said, her voice weak.
"We're going to get you out of here," Shadow said, gripping the bars of the cell and pulling. He immediately dropped to his knees in pain, Hermione able to tell that he wanted to cry out.
"Bars…anti…vampire…" Katerina whispered.
Shadow looked at Hermione, who nodded and used a slicing hex to cut the bars. Surprisingly enough, it worked, the bars falling to the floor with a clang. They obviously weren't expecting any normal humans to bust out a vampire.
Shadow immediately rushed in and tore all the crosses off of Katerina's body, the images of the crosses burned into her previously flawless skin as an ugly black. He cradled her carefully, wincing as he looked at the burns. "Kat…" he whispered again.
Katerina moaned. "Human…smell…human…" she croaked.
"She's on our side," Shadow said, softly stroking her hair. "Don't worry, though, we'll get you fed."
"Human…and vampire?" Katerina asked, her eyes barely cracking open to study Hermione. "Like…like Jean-Claude during…during the French Revolution?"
"She helped me get to you," he said, pulling her into a sitting position with her head resting against his chest. "I'm going to put you on my back."
Hermione, feeling awkward with the level of intimacy between the two, stepped out of the cell.
To be greeted with dozens of vampires sneaking up on the cell, wickedly-sharp fangs fully extended.
"Sh-Shadow," Hermione whispered, frightened as she stepping back into the cell without turning her back to the enemy.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Harry immediately turned around to flee, wanting to conserve his strength for the battle with the Master. He came face to face, though, with the group that he had noticed following him. That made nineteen vampires in all.
A stake was hurled at his chest at Mach speed, leaving him just enough time to spin around it and tap it with his hand, altering its course enough to make it slam through the heart of a vampire on the opposite side. He threw off his cloak and took a fighting stance, his red eyes taking in every little detail of what was around him. Just as the group lunged at him, he grinned and disappeared, Shadowalking onto the ceiling that was one hundred feet above. There was a moment of confusion before the vampires all launched themselves at him, jumping with incredible speed and force.
Incredible for a human, maybe, Harry thought lazily. He knew that not only did these vampires not have enough skill or power to Shadowalk, they probably didn't even have enough power to levitate properly. He launched himself off the ceiling as they flew towards him, fangs and weapons bared. He landed on the chest of one surprised vampire before jumping off of him, sending him slamming into another vampire, which sent both of them crashing into the floor so hard that the marble cracked.
The jump propelled Harry onto the chest of another vampire, whose head he grabbed. He ripped it off as he used him as a springboard, throwing the head at the legs of another vampire, which made him spin uncontrollably, ending up as a splat on the ceiling. Harry was standing on the wall now, the remaining fourteen vampires springing towards him again…amateurs.
Harry Shadowalked to the ground to buy himself some time, manifesting his vampire magic into a katana. Lightweight and designed to slice through other people with ease. Perfect.
Forming the katana had only drained a tiny bit of his strength, too, since it was such a small weapon. The silver blade glinted in the dim light as the vampires jumped at him again. Harry shot towards them again, twisting and twirling around their reaching hands while simultaneously slicing off and through anything he could reach. Just as he was about to hit the wall he Shadowalked again, bringing him to the opposite side of the hallway from the remaining six vampires.
Then something registered in Harry's mind. There had been fourteen vampires on that last wave and he had only killed seven. Where was the seventh?
Harry quickly spun around, but not quickly enough. He gritted his teeth as a stake that seemed to have been dipped in holy water was slammed through his back only inches from his heart. So one of them could Shadowalk, if barely. Damn arrogance…
The vampires were rushing him again, leaving him no time to either extract the stake or deal with the pain. The one who had almost successfully staked him was staring at Harry with wide eyes, wondering why he hadn't died. His head was quickly removed with a flick of Harry's arm.
Sensing the vampires behind him, Harry Shadowalked behind them…or he tried to, at least. Nothing happened, and his eyes widened before a body slammed him into a wall so hard that he almost blacked out. Harry ran up the wall and back flipped over the whole group, quickly yanking the stake out of his body and throwing it through the heart of the one who had slammed him against the wall.
The last five vampires charged him again, one of them bearing a giant double-handed broadsword. Harry spun around the sword as it was thrust at him. He stabbed the vampire through the heart and jumped as a fist came flying at his face, using the vampire's arm as a platform to jump from. He kicked the body of the impaled vampire at the puncher, who dodged and again swung at Harry, who removed his head with a slice of the katana.
A gun was fired, Harry sensing that the armor-piercing bullet was headed for his brain. Even if it wouldn't kill him, it would incapacitate him for a few minutes, which wouldn't be good. Harry dodged it, the shockwave teasing a few locks of his hair. He dodged two more as he advanced on the gunman as quickly as he could, though his approach was cut short by the other two vampires, who came flying in from opposite directions.
Harry spun and ducked as he grabbed one of them, holding him so the bullet blew through his heart. The other vampire did tackle Harry, who went with it and sprang off of him towards a wall with the unfortunate vampire's head. He jumped off of the wall as more bullets were fired at him. He spun and dodged in midair, one of the bullets grazing his thigh as he sped towards the gunman. Turns out the bullets were coated in Holy Water, too.
Just as Harry reached point blank range, the last bullet in the magazine was fired. Harry sliced it and the gun in half, though he sliced through the bullet at such a close range that he didn't have time to dodge both halves, one of them lodging in his left shoulder.
He gritted his teeth as he sliced the last vampire's head in half, the body falling to the ground as torrents of blood joined the other vampires' blood on the marble floor. So much for immaculate.
Harry dropped the katana with a clang and sat against a wall as he clenched his teeth in pain, his wounds very slowly closing, the half-a-bullet falling to the ground with a tink as it was pushed out of his body. He really shouldn't have underestimated those vampires. Even when his wounds were fully closed, he would only have about fifty percent of his energy left. Healing was taxing. He didn't have time to recover that extra energy, either, since he didn't want to run into any more of those grunt vampires. They may have been grunts, but they were deadly grunts.
Harry finally relaxed when his wounds had fully healed, then picked up his katana and ran deeper into the bowels of the castle.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Luckily enough for Hermione, Shadow, and Katerina, Hermione had cut through the cell bars only enough to allow one person in at a time. Shadow was holding the vampires off as Hermione did her best to get any shots in with stakes, though it was difficult to do so without risking hitting Shadow.
So Hermione gave up as Shadow continued to strike down vampire after vampire with his rapier, though the number of vampires seemed endless. One of them would get past him eventually.
Hermione knew she could hold her own against one or two vampires from her special training, but it would be great to have another vampire on their side.
But if she offered her blood to Katerina, could she be sure that the vampire wouldn't suck her dry? She had only known her for a few minutes now…
"What are you doing?" Katerina croaked, propped up in a corner. "Go help Five."
"I can't do much," Hermione said quickly, eyeing Katerina. She had gained a little of her strength back, enough to speak fluidly, but she definitely wasn't recovering quickly enough. "But I can help you." Katerina waited, allowing Hermione to study her burn marks some more as she chewed her lip. "Just…please don't kill me, okay? Harry would kill you if you made it out of this, which would make all of this pointless."
"Ah, so you're with my fledgling?" Katerina asked, a small grin on her lips. "Where is he?"
"Right now?" Hermione said, eyeing Shadow out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be holding up fine at the moment. "Probably fighting the Master."
"Show-off," Katerina muttered. "Wouldn't do good to kill the Master's mate, now would it?" she asked. "I promise not to kill you."
Hermione nodded quickly, swallowing convulsively. She had never thought she would willingly allow any vampire other than Harry to bite her, yet here she was. She took a deep breath and scooted close to Katerina, who steadied the back of her neck and sank her fangs into her jugular. The way she did it hurt more than when Harry did it, and it seemed that she didn't have enough strength to project those images into her head that Harry managed to.
Hermione moaned as she became light-headed, too nervous to remember to take one of the blood-replenishing potions out of her pocket. Katerina, much of her strength returned, seemed to have read Hermione's mind, for she fumbled around in Hermione's pocket for a minute before coming back out with the potion. Still sucking her blood, Katerina tipped the potion into Hermione's mouth. Hermione sighed as her head cleared.
Katerina drank a few more mouthfuls of blood before pulling off, leaving Hermione to heal her own wound. The vampires seemed to have smartened up in the time that Katerina had been sucking Hermione's blood, though, for there were vampires keeping Shadow distracted as the rest of them managed to rip the rest of the bars out of the wall. Looked like the anti-vampire magic had faded as soon as Hermione had sliced through the bars.
Shadow hopped back as there was now a wide enough space for nine or ten vampires at once to get in. Shadow twirled around Hermione to guard her left, seeing as she was a human and all, while Katerina, her burns healing quickly, guarded her right.
Hermione raised her wand as the sea of vampires came crashing towards them.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Harry staggered into the throne room, his wounds apparently healed only skin-deep, pain ripping through him with every step. He gritted his teeth as he approached the empty throne, the tip of his katana dragging along the ground.
The throne room was dark, darker than the rest of the castle, though the throne itself was made of pure, glowing gold. It was elegantly sculpted, with a padded seat and back, the armrests too having a bit of leather. Harry staggered up the two steps leading to the throne's dais, turning around and trying to sense the Master, since he didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. He didn't sense anything so he relaxed a little, glad for the extra time to allow his wounds to heal.
Harry suddenly cried out as a sword was impaled through his back and exited through his chest, the blade literally less than a centimeter below his heart. "Fuck," he groaned as he fell to his knees wearily, feeling more Holy Water corrode the inside of his body.
The vampire who had stabbed him Shadowalked in front of him, elegantly-painted nails lightly grabbing his jaw and pulling his head up to look at his attacker. She was pretty, Harry would give her that. She had dark burgundy hair which curled into tight ringlets at the bottom, though that did nothing to make her look cute. She had a sharply angled face with high, angled cheekbones and alluring red eyes. To top it all off, she looked to be no older than Harry. It was beauty, but it was a dark, sinister beauty.
"Who the hell are you?" Harry demanded.
"I can't believe I thought you might actually be a challenge," the woman said condescendingly. "I'm the Master, you fool. You didn't even do enough reconnaissance to know that and you thought you could kill me?"
It was true. If Harry hadn't even known the Master was a woman, then that means that Shadow probably hadn't. He really did go into this fight blind. "Meanwhile, I've been watching every plan and every move you three made. Shadow of the Silver Moon, Hermione Granger, and you…Harry Potter. How pathetic." Harry looked at her defiantly, doing his best not to move. There was a sword extruding from his chest, after all. "Did Shadow of the Silver Moon never tell you that he had been out of the vampire order for over eight centuries, three before I took the throne? He hasn't been in the vampire loop for a while, except when he met up with that silly Katerina Reinhardt."
At the mention of the name, Harry's eyes widened. If she knew of their plans… "Well, at least when I kill you, it'll all be over. I sent numbers one and three with a few hundred vampires to take down those three. Your mate is probably dead by now," she said, grinning wickedly with her face only a foot from Harry's.
The Master began pacing in front of him, and Harry asked, "And where's the number two?"
"Shadow of the Silver Moon didn't even tell you that much?" she asked, humor lacing her voice, making Harry more angry. "Katerina's number two, you fool, why do you think I sent so many to deal with them? Your stupidity definitely amazes me. You come in here, expecting to kill me and break out Katerina, yet you know next to nothing about me or the vampire order. Craziness and arrogance are not good traits to mix, Harry. Meanwhile, I know everything about your mother and father, pissing off some Dark Lord and getting themselves killed," she taunted as Harry grew more enraged. "Guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree." She squatted in front of Harry, twisting the sword in his chest painfully. She whispered, "I wonder if the boys will have their way with your mate before they kill her."
Harry's temple throbbed as his rage overwhelmed him, vampire magic bursting from him and sending the Master flying through the air. The sword was propelled from his body as the wound sealed instantly, the black aura of his vampire magic swirling around him. His eyes glowed red as he walked up to the Master, who seemed a little apprehensive. "Awaken, so I can see the look of terror in your eyes when you know I'm stronger than you," Harry said confidently, his voice amplified and a few levels deeper.
"You want to die that badly?" the Master growled, some of her confidence returned, her eyes flashing red as her inner vampire took over.
The Master lunged at him, spinning away from Harry's thrusting sword at the last second and kicking it out of his hand. She thrusted her palm against his chest, sending him flying 20 feet back into the wall behind him. His magic began swirling faster, his mind falling deeper into the abyss of anger.
He threw a punch at the Master, who sidestepped to avoid it…only for the magic to slam into her and send her flying. She flipped in midair and shot towards Harry by jumping off a wall, punching as she reached him. Harry caught her hand before throwing a punch of his own, only for the Master to bring her legs over his arm and use his face as a springboard, slamming him back against the ground.
Harry got up and tried again, but no matter what he tried he couldn't really seem to touch her at all. Finally, she got him good as he went off-balance throwing a punch by slamming him against the ground and pinning his throat with her shoe.
She smirked at him. "You're running at fifty percent energy and I have thousands of years of fighting experience," she said condescendingly, pressing her foot harder against his neck. "It was hopeless from the beginning." She pressed harder, Harry thinking he was going to black out from the pain. "You can go join your whore mate in the depths of hell."
Harry's magic blew outward again, though this time the Master was ready for it, bracing herself. Harry's strength immediately depleted, black encroaching upon his vision as his windpipe was crushed. Her words seemed far away as she pressed harder, Harry trying to fight but unable to move. "Then your whore mate can meet your whore mother."
This time the blowout of Harry's magic did blast the Master off of him, sending her crashing hard against the wall behind her. She stood up to face Harry again, rubbing her head, ready to beat the fledgling down again. It was fun toying with him.
But what she saw made her jaw drop. "I…I-Impossible…" she sputtered.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Hermione casted spells furiously, also putting up ward after ward to try to hold off the vampires as long as possible. Hopefully they only had to hold off long enough for Harry to defeat the Master and show up. Hopefully the vampires would obey him then.
Suddenly, all the vampires backed up and parted, allowing two vampires to come to the front. Hermione could tell they were different; they seemed to radiate pure power. The one on Katerina's side stood a little in front of the one on Shadow's side when they stopped, making Hermione think the stronger one was on Katerina's side.
"Katerina Reinhardt and Shadow of the Silver Moon, along with the human present," said the vampire, standing regally. "For the attempted breakout of a convicted criminal set for execution, you are all hereby sentenced to immediate death. Please just give up now and allow us to kill you quickly."
None of the three responded, all of them actually tensing even more. The man on the same side as Shadow slowly drew his own rapier while the leader said, "I give you three seconds. One." Hermione's grip tightened on her wand as she steadied her aim at the chest of the vampire. "Two." Katerina and Shadow got ready to spring in any direction, their eyes darting among the vampires. "Three."
Hermione almost said a spell, expecting the vampires to attack immediately, but none of the vampires moved. Then the two leaders took off their cloaks. "Everyone, stay back." He pointed at Hermione. "Even you, human. First, we solve this among us vampires once and for all."
The leader faced Katerina and raised his hands in a fighting position, Shadow and the other vampire with their swords already crossed. Hermione held her breath as they stayed motionless, then Katerina went for a roundhouse kick and all hell broke loose between the four. Their inner vampires all surfaced at once, any shadows in the room drifting across the ground and walls to join the vampire magic surrounding them.
As Shadow and his opponent fought, every time their swords met a shockwave exploded outwards. Katerina's movements as she fought her opponent looked more like dancing while the other vampire's movements were very concise and calculated. It was very clear early on who the better fighters were, both Katerina and Shadow being driven back to back very quickly.
Then everything seemed to fit together.
Shadow and Katerina fought in almost perfect sync, their movements making their vampire magic meld and mesh. They began pushing back, though they stayed together to keep the magical connection. Shadow was parrying and countering every thrust his opponent made, Katerina blocking her opponent and throwing out some moves of her own.
All seemed to be going well…until Shadow's opponent slipped under his guard and slammed his sword into his chest to the hilt. Katerina froze up as she felt the tip of the sword prod her back, turning around to find Shadow standing perfectly still, his rapier gripped weakly in his hand.
His eyes rose to meet Hermione's, a grim look in them. There was something else though, a silent warning, and Hermione looked back just in time to see Katerina's opponent about to decapitate her, taking advantage of her shock.
The vampire, too eager to finish Katerina, noticed too late when Hermione's wand came up and fired a wooden stake straight at his chest. It blew through his heart, killing him instantly, and Shadow used the last of his strength to lunge forward, decapitating his shocked opponent in one swift blow. Then Shadow crumpled to his knees, pulling the sword out of his chest and clutching the wound in pain. Somehow, Hermione could tell it wasn't a normal wound.
Hermione didn't see what happened to Shadow next as all hell broke loose, the sea of vampires rushing them again.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"Impossible," the Master growled again, taking a wary fighting stance. "That's impossible!"
Where Harry should have been was a sleek, black panther. The panther was huge, its height from the ground to the top of its back about the height of the average man. Its jet-black coat was shiny and smooth, the only mar a white, lightning-bolt shaped tuft of hair running down the middle of its forehead. Its fangs gleamed in the dim light, its blood-red eyes flashing with intelligence much greater than that of the average wild animal.
Harry, running purely on emotion, let out a feral roar, his anger pulsing through his body. How dare the Master call the women he loves whores?
Harry felt a little odd, the change not fully settled in his brain. He thought he was still a vampire. All he did know was that the Master seemed to be oddly frightened of him for some reason.
He took a few steps closer to her, fangs bared, making her back up. "You…you're a fledgling!" she stammered. "This is impossible! Not even I have achieved maximum nature synchronization!"
Harry had no idea what she was talking about, but for some reason he felt oddly confident and let it pass without a worry. All that mattered at the moment was that the Master pay for not only trying to kill his friends and Hermione, but slandering their names, too. This woman who had stabbed him through the chest…tried to crush his throat…she was going to die no matter what.
She made a move to escape the corner Harry was backing her into, but Harry just swiped a paw at her, slicing her lower half to ribbons, her legs gone mid-thigh. Terror was etched on her face, her eyes wide with fear as she tried to crawl using her hands.
"Please…" she pleaded. "I submit the throne to-"
She would never finish her sentence, for Harry's claws shot out again and took her head off, sending it rolling on the ground a good twenty feet away. Harry, wasting no time at all, picked up the head in his powerful jaws and set off for the dungeons, once again only one thought on his mind.
Hermione. Hermione. Hermione.
And then, finally, as he sped through the hallways with more powerful strides than he had ever taken, it registered in his head. He had transformed into a panther. He would have time to think about it more later, but for now all that mattered was 1. He was a panther and 2. Hermione was in danger.
He pushed his new body even harder, amazed at the speeds it achieved. His magic blasted the door to the dungeons open and he bounded to the entrance, coming to a stop to gain his bearings. What he saw astounded him. There were probably about a hundred vampires all funneling into a single cell, which Harry knew was Katerina's.
Katerina was like a tornado, jumping and spinning and twirling all over the place as she killed vampire after vampire after vampire, the darkest magic he had ever seen enshrouding a vampire pulsing around her. Hermione wasn't doing too bad herself, taking heads off and shooting stakes through hearts with swishes and flicks of her wand. And Shadow…Shadow was laying on the ground, his life force slowly leaving him.
Harry let out a loud roar, making the Master's head drop to his feet as he caught the attention of every vampire plus Hermione.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Hermione's jaw dropped as all action came to a halt, a giant panther standing at the entrance to the dungeons. It was so far away that Hermione could barely see it, though it seemed to have dropped something upon roaring. Was this some sort of vampire patronus? Had Harry won and was doing his best to communicate the fact? Or on the other side…was this the signal from the Master that the challenger had been killed?
"Human…" a vampire moaned, the awe inspired by the panther already gone.
He shot at Hermione, who knew she didn't have enough time to even bring her wand up. She cringed, not knowing what else to do, the vampire's glowing red eyes coming closer and closer to her. Then a black blur came out of nowhere and slammed against the vampire, something sharp slicing the attacker's body into little bits.
The shape solidified into the panther as it landed on the ground in front of Hermione, facing the vampire crowd. It dropped the same thing to its feet again, which Hermione saw seemed to be a terrified vampire head. The vampires all shrieked and fled the dungeons, leaving Hermione to deduce that the head had belonged to the now former Master.
Which meant that Harry…
The panther looked over its shoulder at Hermione, who stared back. There was so much intelligence in those eyes…too much to belong to an animal. There was also arrogance in those crimson eyes, pride, and was that…a need to be acknowledged?
"H-Harry?" Hermione gasped.
The panther immediately turned into Harry. Hermione smiled and raced at him, intending to hug him, but she was stopped by a single look from his cold, red eyes. Vampire Harry was still in control. "I thought I told you earlier to leave me alone," he said coolly.
Hermione hesitated, her face uncertain, then she took Harry completely by surprise by hugging him anyway. "I don't care if it's you or normal Harry. I'm just glad you're both safe," she said. Harry was frozen in her embrace, not sure how to react. Hug her back, or push her away?
"Hermione, do something!" came a near-hysterical cry from behind her, startling her. She quickly turned around, wand out, to find Katerina crying, cradling Shadow's head on her lap.
Shit, she had forgotten about him in the confusion.
"Kat…" Shadow whispered weakly. "It's too late."
"No it's not!" Katerina cried. "It's never too late! Don't leave me!"
Shadow gave her a small smile. "Holy water…on the blade…nicked my heart." A tear fell on his face, making Hermione notice that she was crying along with Katerina, her throat burning. Shadow's shaky hand reached up and cupped Katerina's cheek, his thumb brushing over her trembling lips. "Kat…I…I love you."
Katerina gave him a wobbly smile, more tears landing on his cheeks. "I know, you silly man. Why it took you fifteen hundred years to confess I'll never know."
Hermione felt like she was intruding on something private, but she couldn't will herself to move. "I was afraid…if I…if I told you…I…I wouldn't be able to see your smile anymore. I thought…you wouldn't…you wouldn't…"
The light was leaving his eyes, and Katerina shakily whispered, "I would've said 'I love you too.'"
A small smile pulled up the corners of Shadow's mouth as the final light left his eyes, which were staring into Katerina's.
"Katerina…" Hermione whispered, taking a small step towards her.
But the vampire didn't hear her, her fists clenching Shadow's shirt. Then, after a few seconds of motionlessness, her head snapped up towards Harry, angry tears in her wild eyes.
Harry didn't even try to dodge as the weaker vampire slammed into him and pinned him against one of the walls of the cell, his feet a couple inches off the ground. "It's your fault!" Katerina roared, her grief threatening to burst over.
"Tell me how it's my fault," Harry said coolly.
"I…you…" Katerina stuttered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Why didn't you just come in alone and defeat the Master? You could've released me," she sobbed.
"You and I both know that wouldn't have worked," Harry replied condescendingly, an annoyed look on his face. "For me to have pardoned such a blatantly broken law…" he trailed off.
Hermione watched on in awe, amazed and angry that the vampire Harry could be so callous at a time like this. But Katerina let him slowly slide down the wall until his feet were touching the ground, her shoulders shaking as she began to cry harder.
"Why did he have to die?" she whispered quietly, letting her head fall forward. "Why did he have to come and save me?" she choked out.
Hermione looked at Harry to hear his answer. She knew he wouldn't be able to stay quiet at a time like this, even if the questions were rhetorical. There was silence for a moment, then Harry's eyes rose to meet Hermione's almost instinctively. "Because he loved you," Harry said, though Hermione had a feeling he wasn't even paying any attention to what he was saying. He was speaking from the heart.
"Why…why…" Katerina kept repeating, small sobs escaping her mouth. "I loved him…"
A sob burst from her lips and she fell against Harry, crying hard into his chest. Then, surprisingly enough, Harry's arms wrapped around her and he rubbed her back soothingly.
Finally, Hermione understood.
He wasn't just being cold, he was making her see that Shadow really had given his life for her, that he was gone and there was nobody to blame. It would've been bad if she had ended up holding a grudge against Harry.
Harry gave her a few minutes, then said, "Katerina, you're going to need to calm down for a few minutes. You and Hermione need to escape so it doesn't seem like I let you off the hook. You can grieve as much as you want afterwards. You're just going to need to hold it in for about five minutes, alright?"
Katerina nodded, shakily gripping Hermione's elbow and helping lead her through the castle, leaving Harry behind. Katerina was still silently crying, making Hermione wish there was some way she could help.
Hermione glanced over her shoulder one last time before exiting the dungeons.
She saw Harry kneeling at Shadow's head, his eyes closed, muttering something under his breath.
Then he opened his eyes and slowly closed Shadow's before grabbing his rapier and placing it in his hands, which were folded on his chest.
Goodbye and Farewell, Shadow of the Silver Moon.