Written in Blood - Rated Explicit
Starting things off with my longest SSHG fic to date: Written in Blood. If you're looking for vampire Death Eaters, then I gotchu. Summary: When Voldemort's death unleashes a curse that turns the remaining Death Eaters into vampires, Severus Snape finds all new depths of self-loathing as he attempts to fight his own body for control. Will Hermione Granger's unexpected intrusion into his life help him keep the curse at bay? Or will she push past his shields and potentially bring it onto her own head?
Beautiful cover art by @slytherinsneakers Check out her work! Title by you_are_my_black_world, check out her translations!
Tags include: vampire!Severus, vampire!Ex Death Eaters, slow burn, smut, there's gonna be blood, vampire bites during smut, rough consensual sex, minor character deaths, references to past character deaths, non-graphic depictions of bodies/magical autopsies, some comedy I think, mostly canon compliant to Voldemort's death, HP epilogue what epilogue, violence, depictions of blood draws via needle, references to canon torture, depiction of funeral service, angst, some fluff if you squint, depictions of murder scenes, a bit of a mystery, consensual face fucking, a dash of wizarding politics, grievous injuries, restraints in smut, edging, delayed orgasm
Excerpt (from chapter 1, mind the above tags):
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The soft pitter-pattering of rain was the only sound infringing upon the otherwise silent room in which Severus Snape stood as he stared out the window. He liked the rain, it was both soothing and appealed to his still-new aversion to sunlight. But he also hated the rain, because it tended to force him into unwelcome introspection; something he vehemently eschewed on a regular basis. He frowned at his faintly visible reflection in the water-streaked glass, and fought the recollections threatening to breach the surface of his mind.
Suddenly longing for the smell of petrichor, he Vanished the pane and stepped forward, tilting his face toward the sky and inhaling deeply. His heightened senses picked up on the minutely higher acid content of the raindrops, the smell of freshly disturbed dirt from a wandering rabbit below, and that the barely-there wind was blowing in a Northeasterly direction.
There was also, of course, the feel of hearts beating everywhere. Small ones like the rabbit, larger ones like the family of deer grazing in the nearby woods, and those of his fellow occupants in Malfoy Manor - though the latter ones beat as slowly as his own. The constant thrum of heartbeats were a daily annoyance for him, as he'd yet to determine how to fully block them out. Sometimes he could make it more bearable, other times - usually when he let his hunger rise to dangerous levels - it pulsed through him until he fed.
Which brought him to another thing he despised: Feeding. Through a large amount of trial and error, he'd concluded he could safely go a week at a time before needing to eat, and so that was how often he allowed himself to do it.
Severus leaned slightly out the window, permitting a jaunty gust of wind to ruffle his hair in an attempt to quell his own self-disdain. He'd spent the first three months after his Transformation desperately seeking a way to reverse the curse that turned him. But when the grim inevitability had settled in, he'd instead begun searching for suitable blood alternatives.
All attempts at synthesized blood - magical or otherwise - proved fruitless. Animal blood at least dampened some of the hunger, but it didn't douse the maddening heartbeats. Pre-harvested human blood was yet another step up, but was still lacking in regard to a true, lasting solution. And so, the entirety of his efforts had culminated into the realization that should he wish to attain anything remotely resembling peace, he would have to drink straight from the source.
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I'll give each chapter its own post over time, ideally leading up to the posting of the sequel (Blood in the Water, announced Dec 2023) hopefully in Spring 2025!
