Steal My Sunshine (Sef, Alek, Jamie)

[Josef Monroe]

The Serbian Auror was running. Running. Running, as fast as vampirism would let him. Through the trees of the forest, and toward the village of Hogsmeade. The look on his face was a mix of horrorstruck and sick. He had tried to fight, but had only managed to save the students that the Death Eater had used to lure the Healer from the castle and not the young man himself before the dark male had disappeared with him. He was already injured, taking a curse for one of the young students. Admittedly, Sef had been impressed with the redhead's gall, and how he kept his cool to help the students feel safer. He was impressed. But, that didn't matter now.

He needed help from his closest friend in this matter. Where there was one Death Eater, there was always more.

There was always more.

As he hit the dirt path and skidded into the dusk filled town, he quickly sensed out Aleksandr and made his way to the other male as fast as he could fly. He had heard from the younger male in the castle that they were to meet near the Sweet Shop when the sun set tonight. Seeing him instead of the redhead was going to throw him off, and he knew it would already put him on edge.

He saw the Russian blonde standing where the redhead had said he would be and his sprinting slowed quickly and he had to put a hand out to keep himself from colliding with him.

" Alek....we have...a serious...problem..."

Sef's lungs burned in agony and his chest heaved to capture the breath that the wind had stolen. He had to pause to catch his breath and fight back the burning sensation.

" There...there was a Death Eater attack on the students today in attempts to lure out the staff. I managed to save the students with their help, but the staff member has been taken and is injured. We need to get moving! Right now!"

He knew his friend would first say that he needed to tell Jamie when he arrived that he had to work and would insist on waiting for him to show up first and he knew that he would get no where without telling him the full story. As he protested, Sef finally put out a hand and met the vampire's eyes.

" Listen, the Death Eater is deranged. He used the Cruciatus Curse on students. He's dangerous! That staff member took a curse for the students and is injured. I tried...I tried to save them, but the students were in the way."

More protests. Fuck! He wouldn't just go! He'd have to tell him now and brace for the reaction that was going to come.

" Aleksandr...you're not going to like this. But, Jamie isn't coming. He's the one they took..."

[Deleted]

Aleksandr had always prided himself on being the sort of person who was able to remain calm and collected under even the most stressful of situations. He was a sharp and sly young vampire that had excellent control over his emotions for the most part, being able to keep them in check without fault. There were a very few amount of people in the world that had ever seen the vampire truly show how he was feeling. Few people had ever seen him happy or sad and there were an even fewer amount of people had seen Aleksandr truly angry.

It would be today that Josef Monroe would be added to that list of very few people.

It was supposed to have been a normal day for the vampire and his newest companion of sorts, Jamie Rosenthal. Fate had pushed the two together for reasons unknown to the two of them and they had gotten very close over the time that they had spent together, that closeness only growing after Jamie had both saved his life and comforted him after the betrayal and near murder attempt of one of the people that he had previously considered to be one of his closest friends. Then Jamie had kissed him and the two had become nearly inseparable since then.

Aleksandr had been waiting in their designated meeting place for the night, leaning against the entrance of the place where the two of them had first spoken to one another, Honeydukes. The memory had been enough to cause a smile to play across the vampire's lips, remembering how they had quoted Shakespeare to one another on that day. It had been a while since he had done that for Jamie, perhaps he would go and do it again for him tonight, just to see Jamie gift him with the smile that he adored so much.

His plans became shattered as he managed to sense the presence of someone that he knew did not come into town often, his body tensing when he noticed that that presence somehow seemed weaker then it normally did. A frown pulled at his lips as the familiar blond came into his sight, sprinting towards him at full speed and as his eyes ran over his form, he could feel his blood begin to run cold.

Even from that distance, he could tell that Josef had somehow been injured. Something must have happened at the school.

When the half vampire had finally reached him, he waited patiently for his friend to begin speaking though the seriousness in his eyes and the tensed state of his body seemed to scream that he already knew that Josef had not brought him good news. When Josef told him that they had a very serious problem, the vampire looked at him before uttering in a calm and cold voice. " And vhat is this serious problem Josef? Vhy are you injured and vhat is going on here?"

He waited for Josef to gain the air that he needed back into his lungs, listening intently as the man spoke, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he was told what had happened to the school and the students. It seemed as though a staff member had been injured and kidnapped by death eaters and that they needed to get going now in order to save the staff member.

While that was something that had worried him immensely, his thoughts had immediately gone to Jamie and their meet up and he had opened his mouth in order to tell Josef that he wanted to wait for Jamie to arrive in order to tell him that he had to work and that he wanted Jamie to stay inside of the castle until he knew it was safe, but he was cut off as Josef held up a hand, silently telling the vampire to let him finish his story and the gaze that met his icy blue one was enough to get the vampire to fall quiet.

There was something more to this story and something told the vampire that he would not like what he was about to hear.

He was told that the Death Eater who had attacked was a deranged man that had taken to using one of the Unforgivable Curses on the students, something that was enough to tear a vicious growl out of the vampire as his eyes narrowed even further. He was told that the staff member had taken one of the curses for the students and that was enough to make his anger grow even further before Josef had said the very thing that he had been dreading the most. It was enough to make him freeze and his blood run cold.

The person had been taken...was none other than Jamie.

They had taken his Jamie. They had stolen his sunshine.

They had hurt him.

His vision went red as rage suddenly took over his body. His body trembled dangerously with restrained rage and a mixture of angry and inhuman snarls and growls left his form. He was absolutely furious. His gaze turned on Josef and his eyes burned with a mixture of absolute fury and bloodlust. He wanted to spill the blood of those that had taken and harmed his Jamie, that much was absolutely obvious. " Vhen I get my hands on those disgusting pieces of filth I am going to rip them limb from limb and vatch in delight as their disgusting blood stains the ground in beautiful crimson."

Oh he was absolutely furious. He would kill them. No amount of begging and crying for their lives would save them, especially if his Jamie was still injured when he found him. It was with a final snarl that the vampire turned toward his closest friend. " Vhere did they take him? Lead the vay Josef."

[Josef Monroe]

He knew that look, and he knew that his friend's bloodlust would transfer to him if he did not keep a level head. Bloodlust was a feeling he did not like, and he would rather feel all the pain in the world than feel his humanity slip away. However, Josef was an expert in covert operations and gaining information.

"I had heard that they were near, so I did some digging through my informants a couple of days ago. The Death Eater in question...is Manchester. That psychopath whose family was murdered 16 years ago and he went ballistic and wiped out all those muggles? He was a classmate of Jamie's when they were kids. He is fascinated by his inability to feel pain, and his gift. From what I understand, he took him to a place in the Black Forest that he seems more apt to perform...those sick experiments of his."

Fuck, was the redhead even still alive, if that was the case?

"He didn't go to the forest as we thought he would. We know there's a camp in there, somewhere."

That was for another day, this was far more pressing.

"My informant overheard a conversation between Manchester and the Head of the Durmstrang school. Alek...they're going to try to make him feel pain. At any cost at all. We need to move. Now."

He reached out ang gripped his partner's shoulder and whisked them both through the vortex that hurled them into the middle of the Black Forest. Something about this place felt...defiled. Manchester's taint was darkening everything. The flowers were glowing eerily under the moon, and he could smell the one thing he had no control over his reaction to in the grass.

Blood.

The vampire's eyes went into a state of shock as he felt the inhuman growl ripping through him. That blood...smelled so pure. The taste must have been so extraordinary.

"It's his. I'm sure of that smell. You're better at tracking than I am and time is of the essence! We need to find him before Manchester kills him!"

If he hadn't done so already.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He'd been left alone.

Dmitri had gotten bored with his lack of reaction and left the compound, leaving him there to rot. Both wrists bound in chains and legs chained to the floor, Jamie found himself weakly making soft clanking sounds that filled the silence with some form of a sound before he finally het his head hang.

So much for being strong.

He was bleeding freely, and then looked up sharply and started screaming, the sound absorbing into layers of stone. Would anyone find him now?

[Deleted]

The Russian was doing his best to ignore his animalistic urges at that point in order to listen very carefully to the other as he gave him the information that he knew he would need. It seemed as though the Death Eater that the two of them would need to watch out for a man that was named Manchester. He was a man that had his family killed sixteen years prior and had apparently been a classmate of Jamie's back when they had been children at Durmstrang and was fascinated both with his inability to feel pain and with his shapeshifting gift and had kidnapped him, taking him into the Black Forest in order to preform some sort of sick experiment on his Jamie, something that made his anger grow and also sent a large surge of panic through his system.

He needed to find Jamie and soon before that psychopath seriously hurt him, he may not have been able to feel any pain but that did not make him any less mortal. Jamie was still more than capable of dying if they pushed his body far too much with their sick experiments.

" Da. I have heard about the freak, though I did not know that he vas still uncaught and out in the open." He spat that information out eyes narrowing slightly as he contemplated just how that man had been able to escape capture for so long before shrugging the thoughts away for the moment when his partner began to speak again, this time telling him just what his informant had overheard both Manchester and the headmaster of Durmstrang say they were going to do to Jamie.

They were going to try and make him feel pain at any cost.

The panic that the vampire felt seemed to double if not triple at that revelation. He knew now that if he did not find Jamie in time that he would be killed. He would lose the person that had become his smile, his laughter, he would lose the person that had become one of his most treasured friends.

He would lose his sunshine.

" Ve cannot vaste any more time talking then. Josef ve need to hurry. I cannot lose him. I just cannot. He means more to me than anything else." It was immediately after he had uttered those words that his best friend and partner had grabbed onto his shoulder and they were both apperated to what appeared to be the middle of the Black Forest and yet everything seemed to be tainted.

The usual beauty of the flowers and the plant life was missing and the light from the moon seemed to make everything appear dark and eerie. The taint and the darkness of the Death Eaters were ruining everything in the forest, something that angered the vampire who had been tasked with protecting it. It was only seconds after their arrival that his nose caught the scent of the one thing that he had hoped he would not have to smell and he felt his heart drop and his anger soar.

Blood was staining the grass and tainting the air. Jamie's blood.

A dark growl was torn from his throat and his eyes seemed to glow with rage and ill intent to any death eater that dare come into his path. When he found his Jamie he would be sure to count every single scratch and injury that he found on the mortal.

For every one that he found, he would take the life of a Death Eater. He heard the growl that came from Josef and his attention was directed to the male as he heard him speak again, telling him that he was better at tracking Jamie than Josef was and that they needed to be fast. He lifted his nose to the wind and inhaled, searching for any trace of Jamie's blood on the wind before turning and sprinting off towards the west. " This vay. The scent of his blood is coming from this direction."

As they made their way through the forest there would be a moment where Aleksandr would stop in order to check the scent in the wind, occasionally changing directions as the scent of Jamie's blood led them in a different direction. They were moving quickly and swiftly, hiding in the darkness of the shadows as they moved deeper and deeper into the forest.

It was a while later as they ran through the forest that the vampire could have sworn that he heard a very faint sounding scream on the wind and his body froze. " Josef please tell me that you didn't hear anything and that that vas just my imagination."

[Josef Monroe]

"If I did, that would be a lie. What the hell was that?"

Josef hissed softly, straining to hear against the breeze again. Then he heard it again. The faintest sounding scream he had ever heard, but it was enough to get a solid direction. "This way!" He tore off toward the deep inset of the forest, moving far faster than he imagined he could. Over trees, under limbs, anything to move faster and find the poor kid as fast as humanly possible.

There were so many miles to cover, and minurltes turned to hours before a large compound was seen through the trees. It looked beyond abandoned, and the plants here seemed to flourish well, as if the taint never reached them. The smell was overpowering, and that scream had fallen silent within the last couple of hours. "In there." It had to be an old German military compound within the forest and somewhere in there...was likely one very scared kid.

One of the hooded menaces appeared, casting spells at the sudden sight of movement. However, Sef deflected and re directed the spell toward the Death Eater. Another appeared, another of Manchester's followers. He was screaming something that sounded like sublevel.

Sublevel!!

"Check the sublevels! I've got this!"

He started duelling off the Death Eaters with a skill that had yet to be matched by any foe he had encountered, looking sharply up at the sky to judge the time until sunrise. There was time still. Thankfully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jamie's head hung and his hair skirted the cement floor as his eyes closed. He'd struggled so much that he had rubbed his wrists raw and bloody. It was no different than the lean shirtless frame that hung there with wrists joined above his head. One found smell the strong blood from the various cuts on his body that still bled. His eyes were closed, but his skin was stained scarlet. The blood was only his own and some of the cuts were deeper than he anticipated from glancing before. All he did right then was hang there.

Sleeping.

[Deleted]

Even with the help of the scream guiding the two of them in the direction paired with the supernatural speed of the vampires, the search for where the Death Eaters were keeping Jamie was taking a very long time. The forest was thick and there were many miles that the two vampires needed to cover. What once started out as minutes began to turn into hours and as time passed on, he felt his hope start to grow smaller and smaller until it was now nearly non existent. He was starting to believe that the two of them had taken too long, especially since the scream had long since faded away. He was starting to believe that they had taken too long.

He had started to believe that he had lost his Jamie.

About an hour after he had been unpleasantly gifted with that dark thought the two vampires had noticed a large compound that was starting to become visable through the trees. As they got closer and closer to the building, Aleksandr could not help but notice that despite just how abandoned the building looked from the distance they were at, the smell of Jamie's blood hung heavy in the air.

Josef spoke quietly to him, telling him that the two of them should explore the building and Aleksandr agreed quietly. The two of them made their way to the entrance, only to be greeted immediately by one of the Death Eaters as he ran at them, casting spells in an attempt to capture them. Both of the auror's wands were drawn, yet Josef was faster in his movements, deflecting the criminal's spell and sending it right back at him and hitting him, knocking him unconscious only to have another Death Eater come and run forward to take the place of the one that had fallen, shouting to his companions something that sounded like guarding the sublevels.

Josef had turned to him and told him to run to the sublevels, that he could handle things there and the Russian hesitated for a moment, his gaze locking on the one of his best friend and partner for a moment before he nodded in agreement. " Very vell. Be careful my friend." It was with those words that the vampire ran past the Death Eater, quickly dodging the onslaught of spells as they were casted, making his way inside and again being hit with the strong scent of Jamie's blood.

He needed to find him and fast. Maybe he wasn't too late and maybe just maybe he could get there in time to save the younger male. Merlin he would do anything to see that smile again. He would do anything to see those beautiful eyes as they looked at him. He would do anything just to hear his gentle heartbeat and hear him breathe again.

To see him alive again.

The desire to see the German alive again was the very thing that he needed to encourage him as he ran through the base. There was certainly no shortage of Death Eaters present and those who dare got in his way were quickly dealt with. Those that had been unfortunate enough to remain conscious from the vampire's wrath would forever remember the rage on that vampires face and in those blazing blue eyes. Oh those eyes.

He had looked as though he was a demon straight out of hell with those eyes.

As the smell of Jamie's blood got stronger and as he got closer to finding the boy, he noticed that the Death Eaters had gotten more and more desperate to stop him. Unforgivable Curses were being shot at him left and right and while he had been able to deflect and dodge them with little to no problem, he had noticed that most had stopped with trying to hurt him and were now more focused on trying to kill him.

Oh how he loved the Death Eaters and their never ending cheap tricks.

Aleksandr found that as the time passed on and as he continued to fight that his time was being wasted. He had had enough of this and had begun to start attacking the Death Eaters with more dangerous spells. Soon the Death Eaters found various parts of themselves being set on fire, being thrown back and knocked out with explosions. Some had their knees reversed and others lost the digits on their wand hand. Aleksandr was done being merciful.

It was only after the ones that had been attacking him had been dealt with that the vampire continued on his way, walking carelessly through the puddles of worthless and filthy blood that now stained the ground, ignoring the blood as it splashed about. There were some Death Eaters that were still concious despite the treatment that he had given them and he ignored them as the writhed on the floor, writhing in agony. Most were unconcious, suffering from the numerous wounds that the vampire had been sure to inflict on them and yet he ignored all of them as he followed the scent of his Jamie through the halls, until he stopped in front of one door in particular.

He was inside that room.

The door was locked, something that was taken care of immediately with a simple Alohomora spell. He hesitated for only a moment before walking into the room and freezing at the sight of his Jamie that he was greeted with. His skin had been stained scarlet with the color of his own blood, various cuts and lacerations covered that beautiful and lean form and he watched in horror as they still bled. His wrists were chained above his head and blood seemed to be dripping down from them. His eyes were closed and he seemed as though he was just hanging there, appearing lifeless.

Appearing dead.

He could feel his heart shatter at the mere sight, at the condition that he had found him in. He had failed Jamie. He had failed to protect the boy when he should have and now he was going to lose him. A shaky breath was drawn into his lungs and his eyes fell closed, burning behind those closed lashes for a moment before opening again. A pair of quiet footsteps made their way over to the injured boy kneeling down before him with his wand pointing to the locked shackles that had restrained him. " Alohomora." The sound of a lock unlocking filled the otherwise silent air and the vampire caught the boy's form before it could fall, just cradeling him in his arms as he buried his face in that beautiful red hair. "Jamie...I'm so sorry. Please be okay. Please vake up."

[Jamie Rosenthal]

There was a feeling of relief that coursed through his body with the unlocking of the cuffs. He'd felt that annoying numb feeling for hours and finally it went away. His lungs filled, just as they had while he was seated on Aleksandr's couch. He started to move, but found his body being cradled inside a pair of strong arms.

Tired eyes opened and his mind registered Aleksandr well before the rest of him understood where he was still. "You...you found me..." His voice held no shadow of pain, but extreme fatigue. The blood loss made him weak, but he was very much still alive. "Mein vand...I need to heal..."

His eyes finally found those of the vampire and he found a wave of comfort pull through him. "I can't beliefe you found me. Yours vas the last face I logically expected to see vhen I opened my eyes. Now zhat I do, all I haf to say...is.."

His lips curled into a shadow of a smile, the same adoring smile that always seemed to grace him when Aleksandr was near. His tlhead tilted close to the vampire as the next words slid from his lips, "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and you are the sun."

Only he would do that now. His eyes slid closed in a drawn out blink before they opened and fell upon the purple wood of his wand, kicked to the furthest corner of the room and he uttered a heavy German word, summoning his wand to his fingertips. The next spell uttered had his strength seeping back and the lascerations that littered his body began to heal from the inside out.

"Liebe..." The endearing voice whimpered softly as both arms finally rose and circled the vampire. He was so happy to see him, no denying that. As his strength returned, the way that he held the vampire changed. It went from a weak attempt to hold him, to a bewildered embrace. "How did you find me, Aleksandr?"

[Deleted]

The vampire could now easily say that he had never before been so happy to see a pair of eyes looking at him as he was at that moment. They were still as beautiful as ever and though they were clouded with fatigue from the blood that he had lost from the sick experiments that he had been subjected to, he still found that they were perhaps the most beautiful that he had ever seen in his life, their already stunning gaze being enhanced in the senses of the vampire, who had been so sure that he would never be fortunate enough to see their gaze again.

Merlin he was so relieved.

When Jamie spoke, he was relieved to note that there was no pain in his voice and that it seemed as though their experiment had failed. However, it was obvious that the bloodloss had made him weak. " Da. I found you Jamie. I am sorry that I could not get to you sooner. If I had, perhaps I could have prevented them from touching you like this." When Jamie said that he needed his wand to heal, the vampire's gaze moved from his body to glance about the room in search of his wand lying about.

Surely if they had been stupid enough to leave only locks to keep Jamie restrained, they were also too stupid to properly remove the mortal's wand from the room.

His attention was grabbed when he felt a gaze on him and slowly his eyes moved to finally meet Jamie's. He could feel all negative feelings [panic, stress, anger, hurt and guilt] begin to melt away as a fresh wave of comfort and relief washed over him. His head lowered to gently nuzzle the top of the boy's head. " I vas so vorried that I had taken too long and that they might have seriously hurt you because of it. There are no vords that I can say to properly describe how happy and relieved I am that you are alive and breathing. I do not know vhat I vould have done if I vould have lost you."

His face moved from his hair a moment later to stare into those eyes as Jamie began to talk, a gentle smile crossing his face when the mortal quoted a line from one of their favorite plays. Only Jamie would think to quote Shakespeare to him at a time like this and yet he was completely happy and at ease.

"Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou, her servant, art far more fair than she." He watched Jamie as his eyes closed for a small moment before opening again and landing on something in a corner of the room. He had turned to see just what it was that Jamie had been looking at before he heard a single German word uttered and something came flying at the two of them, landing at Jamie's fingertips. It was his wand. A spell was uttered and the vampire watched as the wounds on the mortal's body began to heal.

It was then that a single word left the German's lips in a quiet whimper and his eyes were drawn back to his as a pair of arms were suddenly thrown around him in a weak embrace. They stayed in that position for a moment, both men quietly embracing one another before Jamie's hug had changed from one that was weak, to one that was confused and he was asked how he found the mortal.

" My partner is Josef Monroe, who also happens to be the auror who vas patrolling the school at the time of the attack. Vhen you vere taken, he vent to Hogsmeade and found me. He told me vhat had happened and he apperated us into the middle of the Black Forest. Because I have fed from you in the past, it vas easy for me to recognize and follow the scent of your blood vhich happened to be stained in the ground and the air alike and it is a combination of that and a scream that the both of us heard in the forest that helped us find you. Josef is on the upper levels fighting and I took to the lower levels to fight the Death Eaters down here and to find you."

[Jamie Rosenthal]

As Aleksandr explained everything, Jamie listened intently and nodded, the bewilderment was fading away slowly. "I understand now...danke." He was very lucky to have a friend like Aleksandr. More lucky than he had ever been through the course of his life.

Green eyes lifted and he examined the room closely now that it was easier to focus. It was dark, only lit with dim florescent lights that hung from the ceiling. Beside the wall was a tray of surgical equipment, stained in blood. His blood. Dmitri had gotten mad at the lack of reaction the tools had gotten and slammed the rack into the wall.

Jamie shook his head to push the angry German's face from his mind and replace it with that of the relieved vampire. However, when a masked Death Eater turned the corner, Jamie reacted more swiftly than ever. His wand shot out with a low, demanding bark of a German spell that knocked the intruder back with an audible grunt of pain and a spray of dark blood.

This time his body trembled, fear and anxiety building up in his system. He had never attacked someone, but his reaction was to protect him. "Aleksandr...I really vant to go home...I need to ensure my organs vere not damaged and it is easier vhen I am not scared to deas."

The next person to turn the corner nearly got the same reaction. But it was the other blonde Auror. Sef put his hands up, "Easy killer. That was a masterful spell. Did you do that?" Jamie nodded, still feeling queasy. "Damn. That was a nice one. He got away from me."

"Jamie, where is Manchester?"

Jamie quivered at the name and curled his body into a small contorted space. "Dmitri isn't here. He left vhen he got frustrated vis me. I don't know vhere he's gone." He hated the taste of that name, it made the bile in his stomach build.

[Deleted]

" Of course. Vhat are friends for?" He was given a gentle smile before glancing around the room with a glare of disgust. The room was dark, barely lit with only the absolute weakest of lighting. Next to the wall was a tray of what appeared to be tools of some sort. They were stained dark with dried up blood and the scent that he knew to be unique to only Jamie's blood seemed to be coming off of them in strong waves. It seemed as though Josef hadn't been wrong when he had told him that Manchester had wanted to make Jamie feel pain, something that caused his eyes to narrow slightly.

He was so concentrated on the scent of Jamie's blood and the tools that he did not hear the footsteps that had been running down the hall and as a Death Eater turned the corner, about to enter the room he was unprepared. His hand moved for his wand, only to freeze when Jamie swiftly pointed his wand at the Death Eater and shouted out what appeared to be a German spell, the man was knocked back and a spray of dark blood came from the man.

The vampire's eyes moved from the fallen Death Eater to the mortal, cursing quietly when he noticed that the other's body began to tremble with a mixture of fear and anxiety. " I am sorry. I should have been more on guard. I promise you that I vill take you home as soon as I am able to find Jo-" His words were cut short as he heard another pair of footsteps running down the hallway, wand lowering and face showing relief when he saw who it was.

" You have perfect timing as alvays my friend." He watched the small interaction between Josef and Jamie quietly before giving his input. " Josef I do not think that Manchester vill be returning to this place anytime soon. It is almost a sure thing that some of these idiots have managed to varn him that ve have found the hideout by now. Vhat ve need to do right now is take Jamie back and ensure that he has not sustained any lasting damage. Once he is safe I vill report to the Ministry and then come back here to run another patrol to ensure that he isn't hiding out in the forest or in Hogsmeade. That is all ve can do until ve recieve further orders from the head of our department."

[Jamie Rosenthal]

As much as Jamie was suddenly petrified at the thought of being alone, he didn't voice it. Instead, he heaved himself up onto his feet. The spell had cauterized the bleeding wounds and slowly healed then until no single flaw remained on his skin. No cuts, no bruising. He was as safe as he could be, however shaken up he was. No matter how badly he was hurt, he could always heal himself. He had to stand for a moment, legs trembling at the stretching of the limbs as he swept his hands over his flesh and his face looked almost shocked. A rib was broken, not breaking the skin, his shoulder was wrenched from its socket, and yet he still moved. His wand lifted and settled on the rib and there was an audible crack as the bone mended. Then the shoulder. That one made an even louder crack that made him jump as it slid back into place and the muscles and tendons healed with his magic.

Thank Merlin he couldn't feel this.

He had set hundreds of bones through his career and each one was met with pain from his patients. He neve wanted to cause it, because he had never felt it. It was not fair to make someone suffer to be well.

Josef cringed visably at the sound of bones grating. It was loud enough to echo and it sent a chill through his spine.

"Merlin...are you okay, kid?"

Jamie's face looked confused fr a moment as he said he wasn't a child. That was when Josef laughed.

"To me, you're both kids. I'm an ancient pain in the ass."

Leave it to Josef to try to ease the redhead's tension with humor, however, the redhead quietly quipped, "O, sir! you are old; Nature in you stands on the very verge Of her confine: you should be rul’d and led By some discretion that discerns your state Better than you yourself."

"And here we go with the Shakespeare quotes. Kid, you're worse than I am when it comes to deflecting tension."

That made Jamie chuckle as his hand passed over his skin again, feeling for more breaks, and healing them as he found them, though the laughter covered up the sounds of the bones being forced to knit. Josef looked over at Aleksandr and winked subtly. Getting the male to laugh was his intention, trying to keep everyone's mind off the nasty snapping of the young man's healing bones.

However, the next snap coaxed a surprised cry from his lips. Infernal rear rib! He had no way of knowing about that one. "Merlin's Bloody Balls, I didn't know zhat one did break." That one was broken by a forceable cut with bone cutters. Bloody hell. "Mein Gott...I sink zhat is zee last bone. Zere vere too many breaks. Don't efer let Dmitri catch you. He is entirely too fascinated by causink pain. Half of zhese breaks, he did by hand. Vis zhose..." He looked at the bone cutters and found another tremble of fear rumbling up his spine and the press of anxiety seared through him.

"I still need to check zee organs...but, I can do it somevhere else. Hold on."

His wand rose and he righted Josef's previous injury, and casted a spell to relieve muscle fatigue and the burns where curses had collided with an object nearby on Aleksandr. He noteably took more time, gently feeling a burn upon Aleksandr's cheek with a very tender touch that coaxed both a chuckle and a sigh from Josef.

The boy didn't know it, but he was becoming smitten with his dearest friend. He fixed him with a look and lingered there until Aleksandr finally looked at him and he gave a soft, knowing smile before looking out the door. If his infatuation had been stolen away, he would have done the very same thing.

Jamie never noticed how long his fingers softly stroked the vampire's cheek, easing away the burn with a healing touch. He never realized how much he softened, looking into those eyes to gauge if they had been injured. He was so clueless about his own heart pounding harder, that Aleksandr could likely feel the thundering underneath his fingers. But, he found himself whispering to the vampire in a soft voice.

"You've saved my life...I'm forefer in your debt."

"Let's GO! I don't feel like playing a game of Death Eater Roulette!"

The slightly fidgety vampire snipped, knowing that he probably just embarrassed the hell out of both boys.

[Deleted]

It was only when he watched Jamie stand up that he saw just how badly Manchester had truly injured him. While the spell that he had casted earlier had sucessfully healed all of his skin's wounds until there was not so much as a cut or a bruise left on the mortal's skin and yet as his eyes ran over the now standing form of the male, he could see that there were many many more wounds that needed to be tended to. He watched with calm eyes as the boy lifted his wand and set it on his rib, cringing visably when he heard the loud and painful sounding crack that filled the air as the bone mended itself.

His own body began to tremble with the effort of restraint as he forced down his rage and his building lust for spilling the blood of the one who did that to the boy when he heard the even louder crack that had come with the fixing of the mortal's shoulder. The sound that his bones made as they grated together was loud enough to echo off of the walls and ring in his ears and it was for a moment that the vampire closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, managing to calm himself down before his eyes opened to glance at Josef as he spoke, listening as he asked Jamie if he was alright, calling him a kid in the process. His lips formed a smile when he heard Jamie's reply and he snorted quietly when Josef called himself an ancient pain in the ass.

At least he was honest.

The smile that he had on his face only grew when again the redhead quoted Shakespeare in an attempt to rid them of the tension that was in the room. It was something that he could only see Jamie try to do and yet it was also something that he found to be amusing, especially as his best friend reacted to it.

It was only when he heard the redhead laugh that he felt the tension that he had completely leave his body. The rage and the bloodlust melted away and it was as if they had never been there. His gaze shifted from Jamie to Josef and he returned the subtle wink that he was given by the older man with a grateful smile and mouthed a subtle " Thank you" to him. He had managed to take everyone's mind off of the snapping bones and had gotten Jamie to laugh to the point in which his laughter completely covered up the snapping of the bones, at least until one had caused the youngest in the room to gasp.

He listened to the other male as he gave the two of them a warning about the other male, growling quietly when he was told that half of the bones that had been broken had been done by the evil man's own hand. His eyes fell to the thing that Jamie had been gesturing to and his face grew blank at the sight of the bone cutters. He could feel the urges to hurt, maim and kill grow to an all time high and it was at that point that he determined that they should probably try to leave the room as soon as possible before he lost control of his anger and let his humanity slip away.

He did not want to scare Jamie more than he already was.

He sighed quietly in relief when he heard Jamie said that while he needed to check his organs for any damages, he could do it somewhere else before telling both vampires to hold on for a moment. Icy eyes watched as the other healed his friend's wounds before turning to him and doing the same, though on him he took a longer time checking him over than he did Josef. It was with that gentle touch that he again felt any negative emotions fade away from his person, though he hissed quietly when that tender hand had come into contact with a burn on his cheek that he hadn't even realized that he had gotten.

Merlin, had he really been that desperate to get to Jamie that he had ignored his own pain?

He could hear a noise that sounded as though it was a cross between a sigh and a chuckle and for a moment his gaze was torn away from that gentle green gaze in order to glance at his friend in question. When he recieved that knowing and gentle smile he returned it with a quick one of his own before returning his gaze and his attention to Jamie.

Time seemed to fly by slowly as the mortal gently stroked his cheek and with each tender movements of his hand he could feel his pain slip away from him as the burn was gently eased away. He could see the softness in that gaze, could hear the steady beating of the other's heart as it pounded against his ribcage, could hear the racing of his pulse. His own eyes softened as he heard the quiet whisper that Jamie had gifted him with before returning it with one of his own.

"Nyet. Ve are now even. You saved me and now it vas my turn to save you." His hand moved to brush away a strand of hair that had fallen into the man's beautiful face, tucking it gently behind the mortal's hair with a tender smile before jerking away from the other male when he heard Josef's impatient exclamation. His face burned with embarassment and he avoided the gaze of both Jamie and his friend as he cleared his throat, embarassed by his own actions. " Da. Very vell. Let us get out of here before ve have more problems to deal vith. I agree."

[Jamie Rosenthal]

"I'm going to check the halls and make sure we're safe to get you out of here, kid. You guys hang tight, alright?"

Josef left the room and in that moment, Jamie found his eyes moving back to where Aleksandr stood. There were a lot of fuzzy feelings that went through his mind when he looked over at him. He was a little nervous to be alone after what had just happened, but he tried his best not to show it in front of Aleksandr.

"I vas scared to deas zhat I vouldn't see you again."

He tried to keep his distance from the vampire, but those funny thoughts only wanted him closer. For a moment, he hesitated before he couldn't take the overwhelming need to be near him. He moved to his side and his arm went around his waist as he thought quietly before talking again.

"Aleksandr, danke. Danke for comink to find me. I vasn't sure I vould efer see you again."

His hand rose and he pressed a soft kiss to the vampire's lips just for a short time before looking down at the pool of blood on the floor and he shifted gently before his laid his head against his shoulder and sighed softly.

"Danke, my friend. If it vould haf been anyone aside from you, I vould haf been entirely too scared to leave vis anyone else."

Green eyes quietly rose to find those icy blue eyes again and when his gaze found the other's, his heart fluttered again. What was that feeling? The curious German kept his gaze for just a few moments before he found his voice bubbled up again with a soft whimper laced with an emotion that he had never felt before in his life.

"Aleksandr..."

His arms moved swiftly to embrace him and in an instant his lips went up to the vampire's and sought them with more adoration than he had ever been able to feel in his lifetime, as short as that was. Jamie's body stretched up and he felt his heart beat go spastic as his hands framed his face. That moment lasted for a while, before he found his lips moving away from Aleksandr's and his body trembled.

What is this feeling?!

"I...I am sorry. I don't know vhat came ofer me."

[Deleted]

" Very vell. Be safe my friend." As Josef left the two of them in the room alone together in order to check the halls and make sure that they would be safe to get Jamie out of the base, Aleksandr released a very small sigh before moving so that he was standing a good distance away from the mortal. His cheeks were still burning from the embarassment at the overly affectionate gesture he had made towards one of his friends and the fact that his best friend had been there to see him make such a gesture.

Oh yeah, he would never live that one down.

As he stared straight ahead at one of the walls, he felt that familiar gaze on his form as Jamie stared at him from where he stood and for a moment he pretended not to notice as his gaze . He could tell from the way that the male carried himself that he was nervous to be left alone with the vampire and so he kept to himself, his eyes only straying from staring at the wall when he heard the mortal begin speaking to him. His eyes stared deeply into Jamie's as he listened to him talk, waiting for a moment as he thought about how to reply to the mortal before speaking.

" If I am to be perfectly honest, I vas scared that I vould not be able to see you again as vell. I vas upset that I vas not there to protect you vhen they attacked the school and I vas furious that they had gone as far as to harm you." He fell quiet for a moment his eyes moving to glance at the ground again in silent contemplation. " There is no reason to thank me. I am just happy that you are alive and that you vill be okay despite everything that has happened. That is all the thanks that I need."

What happened next was something that completely surprised him. The male moved close to him and he felt an arm wrap around his waist. Startled blue eyes moved from looking at the ground to looking back up and meeting the gaze of the mortal again. Their gazes remained locked on one another's for a short moment before the German's head moved up and their lips met in a short kiss that despite ending almost as quickly as it had started, still had the vampire's heart skip a beat as he stared down at the mortal in surprise.

He had not been expecting that.

He could feel the younger man's head resting on his shoulder and in that moment, a serene smile made it's way across his lips as he stared down at the boy with a look that could have been described as adoration. " I vould not have let it been anyone else. It doesn't matter vhere these idiots could have hidden you, I vould've gone to the furthest ends of this vorld and the next if it meant that I could save you and you vould live to see another day, my friend. I vill not let them harm you again, you have my vord."

Their gazes met again and again they held each other's. Icy blue were surprisingly warm as they stared deep into the green that the vampire had come to adore before that silent whimper of his name was met with a breathless whisper, a tone that was laced with something so soft and sweet that it was as if that single word, that single name was the most treasured and beautiful word that he knew.

" Jamie..." Arms were suddenly thrown around his body in an embrace and in seconds those lips were seeking out his own, pressing against his in a kiss of pure adoration, those gentle hands cupping his face as he was kissed. It was seconds later that those beautiful eyes fell closed as well, those pale lips pressing against Jamie's, moving against them in their own gentle kiss of adoration as his own hands moved to gently cup the face of the mortal. Their gentle kiss lasted for a few moments before the kiss was broken and his eyes opened again.

" It is fine. I should be the one apologizing. You did nothing vrong Jamie."

[Jamie Rosenthal]

If there was a way to describe the way that Jamie felt at this moment, it might have been confused. Why did he just practically throw himself at his friend? He was over thinking the whole ordeal when Sec looked in, "We're clear. Let's go."

Thank Merlin. Jamie sought out the top of his robes to no avail and found himself thoroughly embarrassed to be seen without his shirt, lean muscle carved through his torso and that flesh was unmarred, yet his nerves would not allow him to be pompous about his own appearance. "Accio robes."

From somewhere in the back of the base, his robes flew directly into his hand. Quickly, he put the material on and instantly regained his color before he followed Sef from the base. He was trying desperately to not gaze so adoringly ad Aleksandr. His heart, however, was trying to leap out of his mouth to get to him.

Friend, Jamie. He's your friend, nothing more. Friend! He even said that they were even.

The crush is one sided, he's humoring you.

His heart slowed its race and he found it easier to focus then, on trying to recall conversation with Dmitri if it would help them find him. "If it helps you at all, Dmitri said somesink of tellink zee Headmaster zhat I am hopeless, zhen goink into hidink." Dmitri had said a lot of things. A lot of things that really wounded his self esteem.

"Vhen I did not respond zee vay he vanted, he said a lot of sings. Zhat I'm a freak of nature, zhat I haf no place in normal vizarding society, zhat no one in any state of right mind vould efer vant to be vis a problem like me. I know it vas an attempt at emotional pain, but efen zhat didn't work." He found himself thinking on those words, and almost believing them.

As they left the base, the atmosphere changed as he stepped onto the earth. The whole place instantly came alive. Flora and fauna alike were showing life and purity, as if the dark never existed. Wherever he seemed to move, more life seemed to flourish.

Sef watched the boy as he studied a flower blooming on a tree. "He's lucky to have a friend so in tune with his whereabouts, as am I." He smiled and went on his way and Jamie waited for Aleksandr before he followed them both. Once they were in the clear of the metal obstruction, Sef said, "Alright. I'm going to appirate to the school. Wait 15 and follow. I don't want to risk running into the Durmstrang headmaster alone on the grounds. Aim for as close to the front door as you can get. Just let me clear the way."

With a pop, he vanished, and Jamie instantly began to feel like a burden. "I'm sorry...zhis is my fault. If I had not left zee castle alone, zhis nefer vould haf happened."