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one

BOOK ONE: The Hotel

Remus didn’t wake up that morning expecting Sirius Black to be tied up in his living room by noon, but, honestly, Remus never expected Sirius Black when Sirius Black decided to show himself.

The vampire had a knack for appearing in Remus’ life when he wanted him there least, a taunting shadow, ever-present in the holy water doused rope he had begun to carry around with him everywhere - just in case.

It was ridiculous - even looking at him now, wrists singed and sizzling with his every movement, hair somehow still sitting perfectly if not a little frazzled, beads of sweat lying leisurely on his brow. It was ridiculous, particularly, that he wasn’t fucking dead yet. Today will be the day, Remus told himself, as he moved across the room to his desks and began to sort through his stakes.

He recalled the first time he had met Sirius, eight years ago; ‘ met’ being perhaps too kind of a word, in substitute of an act that felt a little less like meeting and a little more like being thrust into the personal space of an incredibly ravenous vampire at dusk. He had been a novice hunter then - barely 20, in awe of a world beyond his previous understanding and still getting to grips with it. What had it been that night? A poltergeist, maybe, or a Wraith - easy stuff. He had never come into contact with a vampire, but had heard incredulous things about them from Moody, along with werewolves (the latter of which being the beast that had been the downfall of his eye). It had been just his luck that the seemingly harmless, painfully unarmed trip down the road would be his first encounter with one. Just his fucking luck.

He had yelled, as Sirius had pinned him against the wall of an alley at a ridiculous speed - it almost felt like flying, had he not been able to feel the wind from the momentum of Sirius’

feet pelting - and had been thrust against the bricks, immediately winded, blinded for a second before the spots in his vision had melted away and there he was, the beautiful, terrible creature, pupils wide and erratic in his thirst, teeth bared as he snarled in what Remus had learned since was involuntary in a thirsty, feral vampire. Remus had been positive he would not have the time to shimmy the small stake he kept in his inside jacket pocket through to his sleeve, but then, unbelievably, Sirius had begun to speak.