Blood Lust : Tom Riddle

1: Tale as Old as Time

Victoria Graves.

- 𖥧 -

[victoria's pov]

The smell of blood had never been stronger.

Even as I sat alone in my compartment on the moving train, I could smell students rushing by, being smothered by each others' presence and reunion. How oblivious they were to my new presence, as my door was shut and locked with an unwelcoming coldness.

My table was scattered with scrolls and books of a long plan I had been putting together since I heard about the chamber of secrets just last year. My interest in the chamber was undeniable, but more because of the creature that resides within the walls of Hogwarts.

The basilisk.

So before me were layouts of the school with possibilities as to what the chamber may have looked like. I even had the case file of the girl, Myrtle Warren, who was killed by the beast. It was a thin file I had gotten my hands on–with only the information as to where the girl was found and what revolved around her life.

I was beginning to believe that compelling a ministry law enforcement worker a few months ago was not worth the risk for such a flimsy file, since it would give me no leads on the basilisk.

Compelling was one of the few abilities that I had never gotten used to as a vampire. Or more specifically, a heretic: a witch and vampire. Though I was born a pureblood witch on December 31st, 1916 into my former family–the Graves–that identity was no longer a part of me.

Seven years ago, my family was attacked by a vampire at dusk, nearing the dead of night. By unfortunate fate, the vampire left only me to live because living men tell tales.

I soon discovered the man who killed my family was a tyrant more well-known than I expected... A wizard known as Morfin Gaunt, suddenly arrested in 1942 for the murder of a muggle family that everyone refused to talk about. But I suspected the ministry locked him up because it was discovered he was part vampire.

No one batted an eye toward these events. Not a single question about my family's attack or Morfin Gaunt's arrest, as the attacks were around the same time the fearful Gellert Grindelwald was inflicting chaos across Europe–especially London where I lived, and still do.

My first human was the son of a muggle family, who had a reputation for their little lightbulb business. The Dillanes. With no guidance and control when I first turned, I could only leave Christopher Dillane to die. I didn't remember it much, blacking out.

Though my human nature of guilt and remorse left me hanging to swell my throat during the aftermath. Not long after killing Christopher Dillane, I discovered the stranger could have been more helpful than I thought.

Using my new abilities to my best advantage, I compelled the Dillanes family into taking me in. Though it would never be as worthy as the life of Mr. and Mrs. Dillaine's son, my magic came in use to make their business more well known in the muggle and wizarding world.

My presence would be troubleless, as they truly believe I'm their third cousin from the Americas. And with the sudden death of their son, that made me the heir to the company: Dillanes' Lights.

Yes, at first I thought about turning to the ministry. But what would they do to me if they discovered I had been bitten? If they realised I was a vampire, just as murderous as the next? My name was stashed upon the many missing victims of Grindelwald's attacks, my life being buried under the breathtaking soil of the Earth.

So for seven years as I was with the Dillanes, they did not question my immortality. They did not question why I was twenty-seven years of age and was still trapped in my seventeen year-old self. And after the death of their son, I realised how much closer I was becoming like the murderer of my family.