The Vampire's Prey

A/N: Yay I've done Chapter 2. This is where I get applause, and you nice people promise to review the chapter once your done reading it =) Pretty please? By the way- sorry for the confusion on my penname. I sometimes jump from lucybelle to starsinhereyes… but I'm just sticking to the latter now.

Chapter 2

She was better the next morning. She had awoken to a stream of sunlight breaking through her moth eaten curtains from outside, and she felt better for it. It was less bitter that morning. The bed hadn't been broken in- it was a hard, lumpy mattress that wouldn't properly suit the sleeper's needs, and the doona was far from warming. But yet, that morning was less cold than the last. She swung her legs around to step out of bed, stretched, then walked to the dirty windows to check the climate outside. It was merely frosty.

She smiled to herself. Today would be the day she'd get out of this house.

Hermione walked out of the bedroom and up the hall to place herself in the kitchen. She'd be well behaved and polite today. She'd eat her breakfast without argument. She'd tidy up where she'd made mess. If all went to plan Draco would be lenient and give her some privacy. Then she'd get out when his back was turned.

Draco smoothly entered the kitchen, and Hermione casually observed him from the corner of her eye. He had a very gentle walk. For his height, she was surprised his footsteps didn't make more noise coming down onto the tile floor, but it was like he walked on water. Today he was dressed in a light blue long-sleeved shirt and black pants; the blue played with his eyes. Hermione believed he looked… passable.

"Morning," she said simply.

He looked at her suspiciously. "Good… morning," he replied warily, not taking his eyes off hers. "Not throwing up this morning?"

"Nup. I feel better." She sat down at the small wooden table and folded her hands. "What's for breakfast?"

He scowled at her. "Do I look like your slave, Granger? Get it yourself. Yesterday was a one off."

Hermione stared at him patiently for a moment. "I don't know where anything is," she replied simply. "I haven't exactly received the Grand Tour of the kitchen." He glared at her for a moment, to see if she was being smart with him, but then thought better.

Draco grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up- Hermione obliging without hesitation in fear of being hurt. He pulled her over to the top cupboard, where he wrenched it open and pointed to a container.

"Cereal," he said. He then hauled her over to the fridge, and opened the fridge door in the same manner he did the cupboard.

"Milk." She nodded.

He pulled her over to the lower cupboard, and bent down, taking her with him. He yanked open the door, and pointed.

"Bowls."

And finally, he took her to the drawers. A little bit rougher, he pulled open the drawer, only to have the knob come off in his hand. He cussed.

"Spoons."

He pushed her down into the chair roughly. "Now you know where everything is. Go get your own breakfast."

There was a moment's silence. Then he watched in amazement as Hermione sighed, and retrieved everything she needed for her breakfast. She then sat down and started to eat- without complaint.

"What are you planning?" he asked suspiciously, sitting down slowly. "If you piss me off, I'm going to eat you a day early, you hear?" Hermione didn't respond to this, and continued to eat her breakfast. Draco left the room.

She found him after breakfast lying on the floor on his stomach reading a book. He was so at ease she felt kind of bad for disturbing him. He had a pleasant expression on his face and he turned the page, and for a moment she forgot he was a vampire.

He looked up and saw Hermione. Immediately a crease in his brow formed as he frowned at her. He closed his book and sat up. She remembered.

"What do you want?" he asked nastily, crossing his arms.

Hermione inwardly sighed. He was so aggravating. She bit back a smart remark and forced a small smile on her face.

"Umm… well, you see, I kind of want to shower," she began calmly. "And I don't have any clean clothes to change into."

He rolled his eyes. "Can't you wash the ones you're wearing?"

"And stand there naked at the washing machine?"

He smirked at the thought. "Go ahead."

She clenched her fists. Stupid Malfoy, she thought. She gritted her teeth and turned around, counting to 10. When she rotated back around her face was pleasant.

"Can I please have some clothes?"

Draco leaned back, and laughed, amused at the situation. Granger. Asking him for clothing. He could be mean and let her suffer. It'd be hilarious, watching her stomping around dirty. Girls despised being dirty. Then again, he had to drink her. It'd be unhygienic to drink her when she hadn't changed in that many days. He pondered on his situation for a moment and then spoke.

"I'll grab you for something today, but then we have to… uh, acquire some clothes. And you're washing the ones I lend you."

She trailed after him into his bedroom. His room was surprisingly well kept, without a house elf. His room was dark; the curtains were closed and his walls were coloured a deep emerald green. Typical. He still mourned for his Slytherin days. He had a large wooden bed with a black bedspread.

"Are you allergic to the sun or something?" she muttered. "What's with the curtains?"

"I like the dark. It's just something that's developed from becoming a vampire," he replied.

He walked over to his large cupboard and rustled through it for a moment. Finally, he pulled out some garments and handed them to her.

"Stain them and die, Mudblood," he said simply. "Now go shower."

She forced a smile in gratitude, the turned her back and inwardly cursed. She hated being beneath Malfoy- having to make sure she didn't displease him. He led her to the bathroom, handed her a towel, and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.

She began to strip down, praying to God that the water was going to be hot, and also praying Malfoy wouldn't storm in for some unexplained reason- when she noticed the window. It was a long thin window, just above the sink. She was on the second landing- it'd be a fair way down to the ground. She stood on the sink in her underwear and bra and looked through the window. It wasn't too high- sure she'd break something jumping down but there had to be another way.

It'd be the perfect opportunity to get out while Draco thought she was in the shower.

Instead of showering, she began to dress in the clothes Draco had given her. He had passed her a red flannelette country-style button up shirt and a pair of jeans. She sighed as she rolled the jeans several times so they didn't drag on the floor.

She glanced out the window again. There were pipes connected to the side of the wall; she could climb down. It'd be difficult, but it'd be worth it in the long run.

She turned on the shower full blast to set the scene, and then hastily opened the window to its fullest. She stood onto the sink, jumped onto the ledge and took a deep breath. It seemed so much higher now she was taking the plunge. She turned around and found her footing on a pipe.

It seemed to take hours to get to the bottom. Several times she seemed to slip- only to find her footing again to keep climbing down. She tried to remain optimistic and focus on the task on hand- foot down, hand down, hold on, don't let go; but the thought that Draco might spring her loomed in her head and threatened to distract her.

Finally she reached the bottom, and she smiled at her triumph. Hopefully, if all went to plan, she'd find her way to the main road, stay low, follow it up into town, change her clothes and-

"What do you think you're doing?" said a cold voice behind her.

She turned around to find Draco standing there, staring at her with his eyes livid. She'd never seen him so angry. He seemed to be attempting to control his breathing; he looked ready to tear her apart.

"Fresh air," she replied briskly, swinging her arms around. "And you?"

In a flash, he had punched the wall next to her head, his fist going slightly through. She was cowering against the wall now, afraid her head was going to be next to be slammed, but he just stared into her eyes with such fury she was too afraid to say anything.

"Would you like to come inside?" he whispered into her ear icily, leaning in so close his body was pressed against hers.

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered back, her voice weak with fright. "I want to go home…"

"Are you a fool, Granger?" he roared, grabbing her arm roughly. "There is NO home for you to go to! Hogwarts is gone to Voldemort, all your friends are dead, and your parents are in Australia. How do you plan to retrieve their memories without a wand? Would you really jeopardize their safety just to be with them- knowing the Dark Lord doesn't know their whereabouts?"

"Anything's better than here!" she screamed, wrenching her arm free of his grasp. "I'm not going to be your food!"

"Survival of the fittest, Mudblood," he sneered. "You will get inside, or I will make you get inside."

She stood there, tears welling up inside her eyes. She furiously wiped them away, refusing to let Malfoy see weakness. In one swift movement, he had her thrown over his shoulder walking back to the house. She beat on his back furiously, but to no avail. He was a vampire. He was stronger than her. He ignored her yells and walked back into the house.

When they got inside, he threw her onto the couch roughly and pulled up a chair to face her. She was still crying.

"I'm not going to go over this again," he said coldly, showing no pity for the tears rolling down her cheeks. "You WILL stay here. You WILL have to accept I need you every 3 days. You will NOT try to escape again."

"I'm not a child," she sniffed, wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve. "Don't speak to me like one."

"Then don't ACT like one!" he shot back at her.

They seemed to stare at each other furiously for ages. Finally, when she stopped crying, Hermione stood up.

"I'm going to my room."

"Oh, no you don't," he growled, standing up as if to block her. "Do you think I'm just going to let you go back to your room to let you attempt another escape?"

"I'm tired from the climb," she sniffed furiously, standing up also. "You can't watch me all the time."

He glared at her. "You think so?" Again, he had her over his shoulder in the blink of an eye. She was now beyond angry. He had twice now violated her- picked her up against her will, brushed against her outside. From over his shoulder she glanced the hallway as they entered her room, and he threw her carelessly onto the bed.

He crossed his arms. "You can go to sleep now." She waited for a moment as he stood there motionlessly, his grey eyes boring into her.

"Get out!" she screamed at him, shutting her eyes tightly attempting to block him out.

"And let you run off again? I think not."

"You're not going to sit there and watch me sleep," she said ferociously.

"It's the middle of the day. I'm not tired. Plus it's my house," he said. "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want."

He walked out of the room for a moment, and Hermione sighed. She couldn't stand it much longer here. She was telling the truth; the climb really had taken all the energy out of her. She crawled underneath the bedspreads and lay down, shutting her eyes as tightly as she could so she could gently fall into a slumber. Then she heard a clunk. She sat up quickly, to find Draco sitting down on a wooden chair he had just retrieved from the kitchen. He was casually leaning back, watching her intently. She groaned and got out of bed again.

"Get OUT of my room!" she screamed, attempting to push him out of the chair. He merely sighed and grabbed her wrists to stop her. She struggled, and then broke free.

He gave her a little push and she was back on the bed again. "I'm not going anywhere. So you my as well try and sleep now if you're that tired. Teaches you not to climb down houses."

She ignored what he said, and continued to sit on her bed. She crossed her legs and leaned against the wall, arms folded crossly. She'd fight the sleep. She wouldn't give in. She would NOT sleep while Malfoy was in the room. It was going to be a long day.

She stared into his light grey eyes, her face furious, as he mirrored he expression. It was silent- except for the ticking of the Grandfather clock in the hall she detested. The minutes ticked by, and not once did they break their eye contact. Minutes turned into an hour, an hour progressed into 2, and for hours they sat there, just staring at each other.

The minutes grew harder. She was beginning to feel the sleep fighting her, threatening to make her close her eyes and rest. Several times she could feel herself nodding off- her muscles were so sore and they too wanted to relax, but she pulled her head back up and continued to stare. Not once did Draco move- he was in exactly the same position he had been in 4 hours ago.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. With no control, her eyes shut and her head lolled. She had fallen asleep.

When she opened her eyes again faintly, she felt a light cool hand brush against her forehead and the sound of a shutting door a moment later. She had been placed gently into her bed, and the curtains had been shut tight to block out the light. She closed her eyes and fell into a slumber.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The clock read 6:00 PM when she entered the hall. She'd been asleep for about 2 hours. She added up the hours in her head. It had taken about half an hour to climb down the pipes, and then those many hours just staring at Draco in her room… this was ridiculous.

She walked into the lounge and found him reading his book again. She'd never known he'd taken an interest to literature at school. Then again, she had tried to block out Malfoy completely. Sigh. Her waking up at abnormal hours and finding Malfoy was becoming an irritating routine.

"I think we need to talk," Draco said, taking her by surprise. He closed his book and stood up. "Take a seat?"

She merely glared at him angrily, taking several steps away from him. He sighed and sat down, rubbing his forehead.

"This can't continue," he sighed, looking up at her. "This whole escape thing you've got going in your head. It starts and ends now."

"I am SO sick of having this argument with you. I want to get out of here. I'm going to die here with your stupid sucking thing."

"It'll get easier," Draco said, putting his head in his hands. "Stay 1 month. Just try it out. If you can't stand it here… I'll… try and find somewhere for you to go. Ok?"

You contemplated his suggestion for a minute. If he kept his word, she could be out in a month. But then again he was a vampire. But her escape plans had been stupid. She had no real plan in mind, no real place to go now that her friends where… lost.

"Fine," she spat, standing up. "A month. You better keep your word."

And she stormed out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Yes yes I know it was repetitive. I'm going to make it more interesting. Sorry for the wait!! Please comment. Byeee.