He shouldn’t have done what he did. Benoit knew that. He shouldn’t have interfered. It wasn’t his place. The child would be hurt, but still alive. His orders were absolute. He needed to watch Harry Potter. He needed to wait for the order. He couldn’t interfere unless the boy’s life was in danger. He had to let whatever happened, happen. The boy’s life wasn’t his own. The boy was merely a pawn. A very valuable pawn.
Benoit knew all that. This mission was of the utmost importance. It would determine their future. The future of vampire society. If all went well, if Benoit was successful, if he did everything he was told—He would never need to live in fear again. No vampire would. The world would be as it should have always been.
“Benoit.”
The vampire looked down at the human child.
“What do I do?” he sobbed. “I don’t want to be hurt again. Last time—last time it had hurt so much. I thought I was dying. Why? Why does Papa want to do that to me? I don’t want that kind of present!” Harry continued to sob. He clutched at Benoit’s suit. Then he let go. It was as if the child knew he couldn’t do anything for him.
“I haven’t given you a birthday present.” Why had he said that? The words had come out before he’d even known he was talking.
“Huh?” the boy looked at him, sniffling.
“Put your underwear on, I’ll be right back,” he said. He quickly walked to the kitchen and grabbed a small plate, fork, and cutting knife. Then he walked back. He had been quick about it. Harry was still lifting his panties up his thighs. He put the plate on the table and cut a slice of cake for the boy. He put the plate with the slice and a fork by Harry’s seat. Then he pulled the chair out and gestured for the boy to sit.
“Go on, have a slice.”
The boy didn’t move. “But I’ll be in even more trouble. Papa wants to feed me from his hand after we have sex, like last year.”
“It’s alright, Harry. I promise he isn’t going to hurt you tonight. That’ll be my present to you.” What had he just said? Had he lost his mind? How could he promise that? But he knew what he was going to do the moment the child lost faith. He knew he was going against Mikael. He knew he was going against the king. But the king needn’t know. What didn’t sit right with Benoit, what he feared more than the king, was the fact that what he was doing may change the course of history. He didn’t see how preventing a rape would do that, but it could. The king had made his plans based off the words of the seer. What if he was jeopardizing a better future for vampires?
He watched Harry sit down and eat his cake. The boy looked up at him and gave him a teary smile. When he was finished, he asked, “Do you mean it? Papa’s not going to hurt me?”
Benoit nodded and lifted the boy’s empty plate and placed it by Mikael. He saw that the man’s member was still out of his pants and flaccid. “Harry, take your panties off again and come here.” The boy did so, trusting him completely. He had the boy get on all fours, then Benoit began stretching his hole with two saliva-covered fingers. He added a third. He heard the boy grunt. “Forgive me, but I need to make your hole look stretched out.”
The boy looked sheepish before saying, “Y-you could use your…” the boy pointed toward Benoit’s pants.
“No,” he said simply. He worked the boy’s hole for a few minutes until it had a bit of a gape. Then he stood back up. “Stay there and spread yourself.” The boy did as he was told and took his hands and spread his cheeks.
Benoit went back to Mikael. He lifted the human’s wrist to his mouth and bit down. It took a moment, but the man began moaning in his sleep. Benoit watched the man’s cock harden as his fangs naturally injected pleasure-inducing venom into his veins.
Benoit sucked the blood into his mouth, but didn’t swallow. He took his fangs out of the man’s wrist and rubbed the bloody wrist against the man’s member, coating it in his own blood. He hadn’t healed the wound with his saliva so the man’s cock had a generous amount. When it looked about right, Benoit licked the wounds, sealing the holes closed.
Then he kneeled behind the boy. Harry still had his cheeks spread and his hole gaped open. Benoit stuck two fingers in his blood-filled mouth and pulled them out. He thrusted them inside Harry’s hole, coating his hole in blood. It wasn’t nearly enough though. Benoit stuck his fingers back in his mouth again and repeated the action. He did this as many times as he needed to in order to make Harry’s hole look brutally abused. He swallowed the rest of the non-magic blood that was in his mouth before lifting Harry off the floor. He noticed trails of blood leave the boy’s ass and stream down the child’s legs. He placed him on Mikael’s right leg, drenching the expensive fabric in the man’s own blood.
Benoit and the child waited. Mikael’s cock eventually went flaccid once more and the man slowly awoke.
“W-what?” he asked, blearily.
Benoit brought himself to Mikael’s level and lifted his finger in front of his eyes. The man looked at him. Perfect.
“You have just carried out your plans for the night,” he said now that the man was in a trance. “You have brutally raped Harry Potter’s hole, causing it to tear and bleed just as you wished. The boy screamed and cried while you tortured his tight hole. It gave you so much pleasure.”
“So much…pleasure,” the man repeated with a dopey look on his face.
“You came inside him. You left your flaccid cock inside his abused hole as you fed him a slice of cake. You took him off your cock. Now you’re tired. Very tired.”
“I’m so tired,” the man yawned.
“Don’t stop looking at me,” he commanded. “Yes, tired. You are tired. You feel so good and now all you want is to go to bed. Alone. You wish to sleep.”
“Sleep. Yes. I want to sleep. I planned to keep my cock in him all night long.”
“No. Listen. You want to sleep alone. You will send the child to Corin and Aldrick for medical attention.”
“Yes I need to get him healed first. Then he can join me in bed,” the man said slowly.
“No. You don’t want that.” Benoit repressed a sigh. It was a little more difficult to make someone do something that went against what they wanted so very much. “You want to sleep alone so the boy can heal. You don’t want him to disturb your sleep with his cries. You’re so tired.
“Yes, that’s right. The boy will cry. I need my sleep. So tired.”
“Very tired,” he said before stepping back and allowing the man to be released from his trance.
Mikael took a moment to come out of it, but once he did, he was himself again. He yawned. Then he looked down at his bloody cock and at Harry. He smiled a sadistic smile. “You were perfect, ma fille. You screamed and cried quite a bit, but I don’t think you could really help that, could you?”
Harry shook his head.
The man yawned again. Now why don’t you show me your hole, Helen.”
The child got off the man’s lap, bent over, and spread his cheeks. The man’s eyes practically gleamed.
“Oh my, I may have overdone it a bit. I’m sorry, love. That must have hurt a lot.” The man didn’t look sorry in the least. He was smiling ear-to-ear. Then the man reached over and inserted two fingers inside the boy’s hole. Harry grunted like he was in pain. The man took out his fingers and wiped the blood off on his napkin. “Still so tight too,” the man said. “That’s my girl.”
The man yawned again. “But you still haven’t thanked me for your present. Didn’t you like it?”
♦ ♦ ♦
Harry stood up. “I- I did, Papa. It hurt a lot, but I know that you only did it because you love me.” Harry was confused. Benoit made it so Papa thought he’d shown him love like he had last year. Benoit helped him, but why would he need to help him? It was supposed to be a present. Why would Papa give him a present that he didn’t like? A present that hurt him so much?
Harry remembered Papa saying something a long time ago about how love was difficult and painful and love-making had to be painful too. But why did love have to be painful in the first place? It didn’t cause him pain to love Benoit, well, maybe a little. He knew the man didn’t feel the same way and that was painful, but he somehow knew it wouldn’t be painful to have sex with Benoit. Benoit was always kind and treated him gently, like he thought Harry would break if he touched him wrong.
Was what Papa felt for him really love? Then Harry felt guilty. Of course Papa loved him. Papa had saved him from the Dursley’s. The man had allowed him to learn magic. And now he would be going to a magic school. It was too good to be true. Papa loved him more than anyone. Maybe he should have stopped Benoit. Maybe he should have taken his present like a good girl. He felt so, so guilty. He would make it up to Papa somehow.
“Thank you so much for my presents, Papa,” Harry said, beginning to cry again.
The man yawned again. “Okay, you’ve received your gifts and had a slice of cake. I think that’s enough for tonight.” The man addressed the butler. “Benoit, bring Helen to Corin and Aldrick. And after that—after that, when she’s all healed up— bring her to…no, just put her to bed. I’m too tired for anything else.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“Yes, Master Mikael,” Benoit said. He smiled only on the inside.
Benoit walked over to the child and picked him up. He carried him bridal-style out of the room.
When they were in the hallway, Harry asked, “Why are you carrying me?”
“Because you are too injured to walk.”
“Oh. Right.” The child looked away sadly. It puzzled Benoit. Was the boy still upset that he’d almost been brutally raped? Well anyone would be. But that’s not how it looked. The child looked…almost guilty, Benoit decided. Why would he feel guilt? It wasn’t like he was the one who very nearly jeopardized the well-being of his species. Benoit still felt bad about that. He just couldn’t seem to stop himself. It was as if the boy had put him into a trance.
As if the boy could read his mind, he said, “You hypnotized Papa into thinking he had already given me my present, right?”
“You could call it hypnotism.”
“I’ve seen you do that before. You put that man in your room to sleep. And you’ve put me to sleep before.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“How?”
“How do you do it? Hypnotize people?”
Benoit didn’t see the harm in telling the child. “It’s simple. I can put a person into a trance as long as they are staring into my eyes. Eye-contact is key.”
“So it’s just eye-contact?” The man nodded. “But then what about your finger?”
“What about my finger?”
“Don’t you use your finger to hypnotize—I mean, put people in trances?”
“No.” What was the boy talking about? Oh. “You mean when I lift my finger?”
“Yeah.”
“I only do that to get their attention. If someone puts their finger in front of your face suddenly, you are going to look at it. Even if you try not to. I put my finger between my eyes so when my target looks at my finger, they will then look into my eyes. Then they’re trapped.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” Then the boy looked, without blinking, deep into Benoit’s eyes. “I don’t feel like I’m in a trance.”
Benoit smiled the tiniest bit. “That’s because I’m not trying to put you in one.” Then the man stared into the boy’s eyes differently, he watched as Harry’s eyes clouded. “Now do you feel like you’re in a trance?”
“Feel like…in a…trance?” The boy said, sluggishly.
“Do you?”
“Do…I…?”
Benoit released him. It took a moment for Harry to snap out of it, but once he did, he pouted. “Hey!”
“What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to know what it felt like.”
“I didn’t like it. I felt really confused and like I wanted to do what you said.”
“But I didn’t tell you to do anything.”
“Yeah, but it was that sort of feeling.”
“Oh, is it?”
“You don’t know? You’ve never been in a trance?”
“No. Vampires can’t trance each other. We are immune.”
They were at the boy’s bedroom now. In all honestly, Benoit had been walking a lot slower than usual, enjoying their conversation.
“I thought we were going to Corin and Aldrick’s?”
“It’s not necessary for you to go.”
“Are you going to convince them that they already healed me?”
Benoit nodded. He helped the boy get changed into his nightgown. The man was about to leave, when the boy called out to him.
“Benoit?”
“Yes?”
“After you finish with Corin and Aldrick, um…are you…are you going to come back to keep me company while I sleep?”
That was an odd question. “Of course. Like every night.” Why was the child asking?
“So you aren’t going back to your room? The man…when…?”
Ah. “Don’t worry, Harry. My job is to watch you. I will be back up in just a moment. I plan to eat my meal before I go to bed in the morning.”
“Oh.” The boy still looked distressed.
“Is that not why you are upset?” Harry didn’t say anything. “Are you feeling sorry for my meal?” That’s when the boy looked up at him. That was it. “You know I need to eat, Harry. And magic humans are the only dishes on my menu. You know this. You never appeared that bothered before.”
“I guess that’s because I’ve never seen one of your—your victims—before. I guess it just didn’t seem real until now.”
“Do you hate me now?” Benoit didn’t let any emotion show on his face. Besides, it didn’t matter if the boy hated him. It meant nothing. He was simply doing a job. That was all. But for some reason, the thought that the boy hated him…he didn’t like it. Maybe it was because he just gave him a present.
“No!” The boy had said it so quickly. An obvious truth. He didn’t even have to think about it. Benoit felt a bit relieved.
“Are you afraid of me then?” The boy must be.
“No. I know you’ll never hurt me.”
That wasn’t true, Benoit knew. He would hurt him. He was destined to use Harry Potter’s death for his own benefit, the benefit of all vampires. He needed to carry out his mission.
“I just—can’t you drink the blood of animals or something?”
“No.”
“Can you drink blood from people who are already dead?”
“Definitely not.”
“Okay, what if they are about to die, like really old people?”
“Do you wish me to drink garbage? Because that’s what you’re asking. Old blood doesn’t taste as good, blood from a corpse could be bad for my health, and animal blood doesn’t have the nutrients I need to survive. Besides, I’m a noble. I deserve to drink the blood of young, healthy magic humans. Why do you wish to restrict me?” Benoit wasn’t mad exactly, though he decided he didn’t like this conversation. It was like the boy wanted him to feel bad, and for what? Eating? He had never felt bad about killing and eating a meal in all his life. That wasn’t about to change.
“Do you eat rotting, diseased pork or chicken?”
The boy shook his head.
“How about a substitute? What if you eat a dog instead of a pig, would that be okay?”
“Eww, I couldn’t eat a dog!”
“Exactly. We both need to eat. And we eat what we need to in order to survive. We also eat what we like. Vampires are far less picky eaters than humans are. I enjoy my blood from the source. The age I most prefer is between infancy and twenty-five. Younger blood is sweeter. Anything older than thirty is a bit blander, and anything over fifty really doesn’t appeal to me. And the blood must contain magic. Magic blood has a certain spice that non-magic blood lacks.” There. Now the boy knew. How would he take it?
♦ ♦ ♦
“I-infancy? You’ve killed a baby? You—you like to kill babies?” Harry couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing. He knew that Benoit drank blood, but now he really knew.
“Baby blood is sweet, but it’s honestly too much of a hassle. Babies are so small. Their bodies hold so little blood it really isn’t worth it. So no, I usually don’t hunt children under the age of four or five. Now a gift is another story. If an infant is gifted to me, I would happily accept, though only for a quick drink. They wouldn’t be able to fill my stomach.”
Harry had never been so repulsed by something the butler said. Babies. Babies.
“You look pale,” Harry heard the man say.
“You just told me you like eating babies,” Harry said in disbelief. “Those babies will never know what it’s like to live. And what about the mothers? They must have felt so sad when they lost their children. What do you think will happen to a family when their six year old daughter never comes home?” Harry looked down at his knees. “You’ve hurt people, Benoit. Can’t you see that?”
“Can’t you see? That’s a part of life. We all need to eat. Don’t you know that all the animals you’ve eaten had families too? And what about the factories? Humans put their livestock in such small cages, horrible environments, and feed them until they grow big enough to eat. Vampires don’t do that. We hunt for our food.
“Besides, you don’t need cum to live, do you? You just like it. Would you continue drinking it if it hurt people?”
“Of course not!”
“Then stop.”
“But it’s not hurting anyone.”
“It’s hurting yourself.”
Harry didn’t understand what that meant. Drinking milk didn’t hurt him. But Benoit was right about the other. Harry had hurt many animals in his lifetime. So many. Did he feel guilty? He supposed he should, but it was normal for him. Harry had eaten clams just a little while ago and he hadn’t felt even a bit remorseful. He still didn’t. It must be the same for Benoit. He saw humans the way Harry saw clams, of pork, or milk.
Benoit sighed. “Do you understand that different creatures have different diets?”
Harry nodded. He did. He really did. It wasn’t right for him to judge what Benoit ate. He knew that. It was just hard for him to accept. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to make you feel bad. And after everything you’ve done for me.”
“I accept your apology.”
“But you shouldn’t be trying to make me feel bad for drinking my milk either.”
Benoit didn’t agree with that, but he figured enough was enough for today. He needed to let the child rest.
“Like I said, I’ll be right back. You can go to the bathroom and begin cleaning yourself up. You’re still covered in blood.”
“Okay.” Harry watched Benoit leave. Even after their conversation, Harry still loved Benoit. He knew the man wasn’t a bad person. He just ate differently. It was like a meat-eater and a vegan. Just because they had different diets didn’t mean they were all that different. Benoit was still Benoit.
♦ ♦ ♦
Benoit made his way toward the midiwizards’ examination room. When he was at the top of the staircase, he stopped short. Did he hear something? No. There was a presence. He looked around, but there was nobody there. He used his sense of smell. Nothing smelled out of the ordinary either. What was that presence he sensed? Was someone following him? He walked quickly the rest of the way.
Corin opened the door. “Huh? Just you? Where’s the kid?”
“Where is the other one?”
“Aldrick? He went out for a smoke. He’ll be back in a sec.”
“Good.”
The man took a step back and Benoit took a step forward.
“Uh, so where is she? I know that Mikael must have fucked her pretty hard. He planned to destroy her hole just like last year, so—”
Benoit took another step forward. It was obvious that the human was on edge. The mediwizards didn’t like him. They were smart to not trust him.
“I heard about the present you gave him. A whole bottle full. I didn’t know you were that generous. Will you be that giving with me on my birthday?” Benoit knew he was scaring the man. He’d never spoken so much as a short greeting to the mediwizards. But he was in a bit of a bad mood. So much had happened in a short amount of time. He learned of the abuse Harry had faced last year. That it had almost happened again this year. The same. He’d gone against his orders and saved the child. Then he’d had an unfortunate conversation with the boy. And now he was being followed. It was a lot and the night had barely begun.
“I—I would, but I wouldn’t know what you’d like,” the man trembled. The man didn’t appear to have his wand on him. Idiotic human.
“Oh I’m pretty sure you would. And I’m a bit bigger than the child, so one bottle full simple wouldn’t be enough.” Benoit smiled. “Maybe one Corin full would do. Oh, wait, that’s your name isn’t it?”
“W-what?”
Benoit put the terrified man in a trance. “You will forget that entire conversation,” he began. He needed to get back to business, and acting so childishly wasn’t like him. He shouldn’t be taking his mood out on insects like Corin.
“Now, you’ve just finished healing the boy’s torn rectum, do you understand?”
“I just finished healing…rectum.”
“Yes, exactly. You and Aldrick. You worked together. Then you called for me. I carried him to bed.”
“Me and Aldrick…I called you…you carried him.”
“Yes. Now you are going to fall asleep at your desk because you are so very tired. Go on, walk over to your desk.” He made sure the man’s eyes were on his even as he walked to his desk and sat down at his chair. “Good. Now sleep.” The man put his head in his arms and went to sleep. Aldrick walked in a minute later. Benoit put him in a trance and had him believe the same things as Corin. Both slept at their desks.
He went back to the boy’s room to help clean him up and put him to bed. When the boy was snuggly tucked in, he asked one more question.
“Benoit? Papa said something about you being under some kind of magical contract. Is that true or did you just make Papa believe that?”
Benoit smiled. “You’re catching on,” he said affectionately.
“So there isn’t a magical contract?”
Benoit shook his head.
“Then why haven’t you eaten anyone here? I know you don’t like Papa for some reason, so why do you let him live?”
“I have to. Remember when I told you I was on a mission?”
“Oh right.”
“Besides I would never drink from Master Mikael.”
“Oh yeah, because you don’t like muggle blood. That’s what Professor Lafitte calls people who don’t have magic.”
“Yes, I know the term.” Benoit saw a smile on the boy’s lips. “Are you relieved now that you know I won’t drink Master Mikael’s blood?”
Harry nodded sleepily.
Benoit sat in a chair in the corner of the room as the child fell asleep. He watched the boy through the night like he did every night. He got up when he heard a short knock at the door. The day butler was here to take his place. Benoit looked at the man as he walked past, but Dru didn’t look at him. Dru was like a machine. He did his job perfectly. His eyes were on Harry the moment he had a glimpse of him.
Benoit’s stomach made an unsophisticated noise as he made his way to his room. He hadn’t eaten all night and now he was simply parched. He was going to enjoy his dinner.
At least he was going to enjoy his dinner until he walked in to find that his meal was dead already. He closed the door and walked up to the corpse on his carpet. There were two perfect holes in the man’s neck. Then he smelled her. The smell was everywhere. Where was she? He opened his coffin. Nothing.
Suddenly a screech came from above. Benoit looked up to find a bat hanging from a rafter. The bat flew down and transformed mid-flight into his beautiful friend.
“Darci,” he greeted in a clipped tone.
“Benny!”
“I’m far too old for you to be calling me by that childish nickname. It’s Benoit. Boe-nwa.”
“You’ll always be Benny to me.” She said in her sing-song voice.
“What are you doing here?”
The vampire pouted. “What’s wrong?”
“You ate my dinner. I’ve been starving all night.”
“It’s only customary to be hospitable when you have a guest.”
“Not when the guest is uninvited,” Benoit said, a flatter tone than usual.
“If your mother heard you say that she’d simply die.”
“Darci—”
“Oh, please. I know you have blood bags in the fridge.”
Benoit looked over at the mini-fridge and sighed. He opened it for her to see that he only had two bags left.
“Well it isn’t my fault you haven’t been hunting as much as you should. You need to take better care of yourself.”
“I was taking better care of myself this morning when I went hunting and brought home this one,” he said, pointing to the corpse.
“Fine, I’ll make it up to you. This coming weekend I’ll bring you a basketful of infants.”
“That’s ridiculous. How are you going to find that many?”
“I’ll go to the store.”
“The store.” Benoit said flatly.
“You know, that place with all the newly born magic babies,” she said as if it were obvious.
“You mean the ‘wizard hospital’?”
“Right, that place.”
“You know that’s far too risky. Besides, you shouldn’t bring that here. Humans live here.”
Darci raised an inky-black eyebrow. “You don’t want the boy to see a basketful of babies? And I thought humans liked babies,” she giggled.
“Darci.”
“What?”
“It’s insensitive.”
“Insensitive?” She asked is disbelief. “Benny, are you okay?”
Was he? Maybe he was so hungry he wasn’t thinking clearly. He got a bag from the fridge and drank it down. He hated cold blood. At least it was from a magic eight year old.
“Why don’t you hurry and tell me why you’re here. I still have thirty minutes before the sun comes up and I really want to hunt.”
“You know, you were so much cuter when you were a kid. I even had a crush on you.”
“I highly doubt that.”
The vampire just smiled. “Now I have my sights set of a handsome red-head from a coven in the south. Ever since we met he hasn’t stopped sending me letters. I believe he’s infatuated with me.”
“Do I hear wedding bells?” He said in his usual monotone.
“Actually you do!”
“You’re joking.”
“Not me. Far too soon for me to get married, I’m only…only…how old am I now?”
“Darci, why are you here?”
“Oh right, the wedding bells! Have you heard about Prince Emeril’s engagement?”
“The Prince is engaged?”
“Yup, and we’re both invited to the wedding. Your mother wanted me to hand-deliver it to you.” She handed him the letter. He didn’t open it. “Well, I better be off.”
“You should stay the day. Wait until it’s night.”
“No, that’s okay. Besides, I got to make it up to you. I’ll find a replacement for your dinner.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’m not angry at you; it’s just been a long night.”
“Yeah, you’re never mad, but I still want to make it up to you.”
“Okay, but no basketful of babies. It’s not like it’s my birthday.”
“Okay, no babies…well, maybe just one.”
Then she transformed into a bat. Benoit opened the door for her, then the next with his vampire magic. Darci could escape through a window upstairs.
Benoit finished the blood bag, then drank the last one. He really did need to hunt again when the sun went down. But for now, he’d sleep.
Or at least he tried. He lay awake in his coffin for another hour pondering what to do about Harry’s birthday present. When Benoit put Mikael in a trance, he’d intended to also include the wizard school. He’d have Mikael change his mind about sending the boy. Harry couldn’t go to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. It would be impossible to watch and keep the child safe if Benoit was unable to go with him. And going to a magic school was akin to stepping out into the daylight. Wizards and witches, children and professors—all having wands. The times had changed. Children were taught about creatures like him. They’d be more aware of the signs. He’d be found out easily.
Besides, it simply wasn’t possible. Mikael had been right. Magic schools were warded against Life Drinkers as well as other dangerous magical creatures. There was no way for him to get in.
So why hadn’t he made Mikael change his mind? It was simple. Benoit saw the joyous look on Harry’s face when he’d opened the box and read the letter. It was as if the boy had never received a gift as grand in all his life. The child was jubilant. Benoit couldn’t crush that.
So then, what was he to do? Benoit made up his mind. Someway, somehow, he would have to find a way past the wards and accompany the boy into the school. He had to. He didn’t want the boy to cry anymore.
Finnian Siog 