Notes:

A Twilight Spinoff of my current Work in Progress, Black Legacy: Ascension, in which Antares Black is the oldest child of Orion and Walburga Black, elder brother to Sirius and Regulus. This story is set after Black Legacy: Ascension and events that may be mentioned in this story may not reflect what actually happens in BL:A.

Antares Black grimaced in disgust as he scanned the dimly lit dining room of the Dragoncrest Inn.

It wasn't because the large hall (with its long wooden bar, rickety old tables, pungent odour and clouds of pipe smoke) was repulsive and downright sickening, because it was all of those things. It had more to do with who was occupying the seats of the rather large establishment.

Vampires, Werewolves, Hags and Wizards of ill repute made up the core clientele of the Dragoncrest Inn, all of which he hated with a deep and burning passion. All for a different reason of course.

Vampires were nothing more than a blight on the magical and Muggle society. The fact that they needed human blood to survive was enough of a reason to hate them for the abomination that they were. They didn't have the ability to do magic and were technically non-living creatures, all of which made him see them as non-magical beings that should be treated like the second-class citizens they were. Having sided with Voldemort in the war also played a big factor in his hatred of the undead creatures.

Werewolves, on the other hand, was an entirely different story altogether. They were wizards who were alive and who could perform magic like any wizard, only being affected by their condition 1 day a month. If you had asked him 10 months ago his honest opinion on werewolves, his answer would have been that they were just wizards with an affliction they couldn't control.

The recent death of his youngest brother Regulus at the hands of a werewolf had changed his opinion somewhat. He knew that condemning every werewolf for the crime of one wasn't exactly the right way of looking at the world, but he had lost a family member, and rational thoughts didn't matter when his family was concerned.

Hags, although classified as beings, were little more than animals that merely looked like witches. Ugly old witches that were covered in warts. They possessed only rudimentary magic, opting to use potions and cunning in order to achieve their goals. The thing that was the most disgusting about Hags was their diet, which consisted of human children and raw liver. This alone made Antares despise the creature purely on principle.

But Antares paid these disgusting creatures hardly any mind, for they weren't the reason he was currently sitting in one of the shadiest places in the entirety of the US.

There were very few reasons that he was willing to travel from England to the United States, especially given everything that had happened to him in the last two years. One of those reasons was the expansion and growth of his personal finances.

Which was why he was currently sitting in a place that was thousands away from his home, he was awaiting the arrival of his most trusted business associate. An associate who would see his wealth grow significantly larger than it already was.

8 months had passed since he had faced Voldemort on the grounds of Hogwarts. Since that night nothing had remained the same.

Before his encounter with the self-proclaimed Dark Lord, he had been known throughout Wizarding Britain and the surrounding area as the Heir to the Black Family, one of the oldest and most influential pureblood families in the entire wizarding world. He had also been known as the founder of Black Village (an entirely magical settlement) and Black Academy, a school for extremely gifted magical teenagers like himself.

After his defeat of Voldemort however, he was seen as one of the youngest and most powerful wizards in the wizarding world. Everywhere he went people recognized him for what he had done, his name being known in most major magical city's. He attributed this to his Great Aunt Cassiopeia's sphere of influence in many wizarding publications around the globe. It was just like her to try and make him as famous as she could, it was one of the reasons he had enlisted her as the head of Public Relations for both Black Village and Black Academy.

His relationship with his betrothed was better than ever before. When he learned that his parents had decided to put him in a Marriage Contract about a year and a half ago, he had been both shocked and somewhat betrayed. Yet his betrothal to the beauty that was Helena Greengrass had perhaps been the best thing to ever happen to him.

At one point he had had feelings for a certain Muggle-born witch by the name of Lily Evans, someone who was dear to him and who he had spent a lot of time with over the last two years. His feelings for her had diminished however as their relationship was never going to be a possibility, the two of them coming from two completely different walks of life.

If someone had told him that he would come to love someone via a Marriage Contract, then he would have outright laughed at them. But that was exactly what had happened with Helena and himself. In his 18 months of knowing her, Antares could say without hesitation that he had developed a deep and meaningful relationship with his future wife that could only be described as true love. He knew it was true love and not mere lust because he had risked his very life in order to save her on more than one occasion, something he as a Slytherin and a Black, would never have done for someone he didn't truly love.

Checking his watch for perhaps the tenth time that night, Antares sighed in mild frustration as he noticed that it was nearing eleven o'clock. His business associate was taking an extremely long time to arrive. By this rate, it would be midnight before the two of them had even begun to discuss their business ventures within the United States.

Waving over the barkeep to his table, he ordered his fourth round of Firewhiskey for the night.

Handing over a handful of sickles to the elderly wizard, Antares picked up the large goblet and promptly downed half the glass in one large mouthful. The amber liquid felt like a hot liquid fire as it hit the back of his throat, burning all the way down into the pit of his stomach. His consumption of Firewhiskey had

As he continued to silently sip his drink, Antares got the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched. The kind of feeling you get when you knew somebody was looking at you even though you were facing the opposite direction.

Raising his glass so that his face was somewhat hidden, he discreetly scanned the surrounding room. Seeing as there was but a handful of tables that were actually occupied, it took nearly no time at all for him to find out who was watching him. He was surprised to learn however that his presence hadn't caught the attention of just one person but rather that of an entire table.

He was unable to get a good look at his onlookers however as he was brought out of his musings by the sound of someone approaching his table. Placing his Firewhiskey down on the table, he turned his head to the left. His business associate had finally arrived.

"It's about bloody time Charlie. I was beginning to think you wouldn't show" exclaimed Antares as he stood up to greet his guest.

"I'm dreadfully sorry for the delay Mr Black. I had a prior engagement with a particular stubborn wizard that didn't know how to shut up. But enough about my troubles, let's get down to business".

"Yes lets, lest I be forced to spend another minute in this infernal place" replied Antares as he picked up his glass and downed the last of his drink, his gaze lingering on the group of people who had been staring at him earlier.

Notes:

Sorry for such a short chapter. More to come soon. Please comment if you like it / hate it, reviews greatly inspire me :)

Also for this story, Jasper does not exist and Alice and Jasper are not a couple.