CHAPTER 1

A/N – Hello everyone! As if I hadn't enough ongoing projects on my hands already (when will I ever learn?!) I have now gotten a brusque inspiration as well as shipping desire – if that's the right word for it – to write this little tale of terror (don't get your hopes up though, it might not be that scary in the end). So here it is, a (hopefully) short Romaniaxfem!America for my amazing fellow author dezel. Enjoy!

Amelia stood there quiet, unmoved, observing the peculiar building through the ever growing downpour. It was a little past midnight and she had classes the next day, as part of the normal life in the very much normal and rather mundane world who knew nothing of the Silent Purge.

Indeed, in this boring, old college town, nobody gave much thought to the rundown place with a pointy, decrepit roof and rotten wood windowframes which held Borisov's Magic Books&Gifts Shop, an altogether crappy business which hardly ever got any customers except for the days before Halloween, when cheap costumes and accessories of all kinds were on sale. No, the ordinary, decent people inhabiting this sleepy little town – maybe Sleepy Hollow would have been a more suitable name for it? – had no idea that Dr. Frederick Jones's men had secretly stormed the place one dead afternoon and had forcefully dragged the quiet Norwegian student manning the front desk outside in full sunlight, all but drenching him in holy water.

To no effect though, because he had turned out to be human.

Dr. Jones – her younger brother Alfred was so proud of also wearing the name of their favorite uncle, the one secretly called 'the modern Van Helsing' – had later chastised them for ignoring proper knowledge in favor of blind suspicion, though Lukas Bondevik was indeed ghostly pale, poor soul. However, someone had yet to lay eyes on Mr. Borisov himself – the owner who was always away on some business – and she knew for a fact that they had successfully gotten their hands on someone worth the hunt, namely the boy covering the nightshift. A thing suspicious in itself, for why would a bookshoop need to be open at night anyway?

The Silent Purge, while first initiated in this occult-dominated little town, had been an operation of extensive amplitude and what anyone would have called a successful war against the children of the Nosferatu (Amelia couldn't understand why her uncle wouldn't just call them 'vampires', like everyone else). But to the doctor's credit, even if some disagreed, it had not been a mindless bloodshed. With the help of the Artifact, he had been able to ascertain with precision which of the captured vampires had been killers (those had been indeed executed on the spot), which had bitten humans but without murdering their victims (those had received various punishments as decided by the Council) and which had resorted to survive on animal blood only (the so-called innocents, who had gotten off with a mere warning). Of course, all surviving vampires had been kept from then onwards on a permanent 'probation', needing to come in and have themselves checked with the Artifact on a regular basis.

Amelia knew all this because she was an apprentice in training, hoping to follow in her uncle's footsteps while her unsuspecting parents assumed her only current preoccupation mostly comprised of an obscure History major. Alfred knew the truth, but only because he'd been inadvertently eavesdropping and had been harshly sworn to silence.

And so, it made even less sense as to why she was here tonight, all alone, spying on the object of her latest self-assigned study – Borisov's nightshift shop assistant. Like Bondevik, who was crazy enough to still work there during the day even after the brutality he'd suffered, he too was just an exchange student (Romanian) in apparent need of a part-time job, one she'd often spotted in the college halls during evening classes.

But he was a vampire.

Alin Vasile was peculiar (a thing most believed justified by the mere fact that he was a foreigner - and weren't they all strange?) and looked peculiar in a somehow de facto way, as if it were the most normal thing in the world and couldn't be otherwise. The light brown, almost strawberry blond shade of his long and often a bit tousled hair beautifully matched the garnet shade of his eyes in a way which was by no means natural but all the more striking as a result and his flawlessly pale skin had that apparent smoothness of porcelain, which is palpable even without touching.

Yet Amelia wasn't interested in him because he was handsome – for there was an undeniable and even overwhelmingly creepy vibe to that borderline genderless beauty of his - but because she thought vampires in general were worth studying, as far as an effective hunter was concerned. And while she'd found no credible excuse to approach him at school, the opportunity had presented itself in the need to buy a present for Alice Kirkland's upcoming birthday.

Alice was Amelia's best friend and it was a fact that she had a vast interest in the occult. Both Kirkland siblings had such interests and apparently Arthur had taken his a bit too far, reason for which the Council had even brought him in for questioning at some point (sorcerers of all kinds were disliked and suspected almost as much as vampires). After this incident had somewhat dampened their spirits the two of them had toned down on their excentricities, but Amelia was sure that they continued with their exploits behind closed doors.

So there, a present for Alice it was.

The inside of the shop was poorly illuminated by some cheap electric candles but the countless raindrops incessantly sliding onto the windows made it impossible for her to make out anything. Still, Amelia knew that he must have been there and when she finally stirred from her hidden spot across the street, the miniscule twin guns strapped to her thighs under the long, battered leather jacket, she knew it was folly and things could have ended very badly. Not only was Alin Vasile not human, but he wasn't one of the innocents either.

There was no bell at the door, only an ominous creak of old wood scraping against the floor welcomed the blonde as she stepped into Borisov's Magic Books&Gifts Shop for the first time. The air was stale and musty, just like in the old town library, even if a sharp and steady draft made the wrapping paper laid out on the counter flutter as if nervously moved by an invisible hand. She looked around – aside from the relative neatness of the countless rows of books displayed on shelves of all kinds, there was also a multitude of boxes, jars, trays and miniature cupboards, all thrown together in a dismal jumble, as if someone had just turned the place upside down in a hurried, frantic search.

There was no one in sight.

Amelia started down a random aisle opening to the right of the counter, trying to make out the products on display despite the increasing semi-obscurity and realizing that she hadn't thought at all of what she wanted to buy for Alice. Maybe she could ask for a recommendation? If anyone actually bothered to show-…

Warned by mere instinct, the blonde turned around brusquely and there he was, lurking like a quiet shadow, mere inches away from her.

"WHOAAA! Dude, you scared me, what the fuck?!" Amelia exclaimed, every word genuine in the spur of the moment.

The vampire drew back instantly, his face - which had been the only visible part of him to begin with – now disappearing completely in the shade of a massive bookshelf. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" he apologized quickly.

"Geez, you could have said something instead of creeping up on me like that!"

"I-I was going to! It's just I never remember whether it's 'how may I help you?' or 'what can I do for you', or… one of them is wrong but I didn't figure-… Uh, sorry again!"

His foreign accent was obvious as he spoke and his tone was hushed and low probably in the very purpose of concealing it, his English must have not been that good either if he was having doubts about common phrases. For some reason, Amelia softened a bit.

"Eh… it's okay, I guess. It's just that you showed up like that and you… I mean you're-…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Alin stepped back into the light, awkwardly tugging at the hem of the striped oversized button down shirt he wore over a tight black tee and skinny jeans. She noticed that his nails were painted black. "It's just that… well, it's part of the job description. Mr. Borisov would not have ordinary looking employees and simply popping from behind the counter doesn't cut it either, you know?"

Amelia nodded, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Yeah. But there's a while until Halloween, you know?"

"It's always Halloween in here, heh, whatever that means. So says Mr. Borisov, it's good for business."

"Speaking of …" She paused and scowled lightly, as if trying to recall something. "Have you ever… seen the guy? Or he is just one of those mysterious employers you only talk on the phone to, you know, like Charlie from Charlie's Angels? I mean a friend of mine once tried to get a part time job here and… I don't know, there was something weird about it," she said, waving her hand dismissively as she looked around curiously, everywhere but at him.

The vampire stood there observing her, arms crossed and oddly motionless. "Uh… yeah, Mr. Borisov is… how is that expression, 'real as hell'? Also, nothing weird about the job, but he does only hire creepy people so that he can pay them less." He bit his bottom lip briefly. "Of course, you didn't hear that from me."

Amelia smiled. "No, no, of course. Uh, anyway, I'm here to buy a gift for a friend, it's her birthday tomorrow and I completely forgot about it!"

"Yeah? What would you like?"

She shrugged. "Um... I don't know. She's a big fan of Harry Potter..."

"I'm afraid we don't keep any Harry Potter stuff in here, Mr. Borisov said that the… francize or something is too costly. Maybe something else?"

"I really don't know. To be honest, all I could think of was a wand," the blonde confessed. Oh. Shit. A wand, yeah... this just sounded wrong.

Alin nodded and walked past her towards the back of the shop, where it was even darker, giving a flick to one of the electric candles which had gone out and bringing it to life anew.

This shithole is a great place to embarrass oneself big time, I suppose...

"What?"

Amelia saw the vampire stretching over a pile of rolled carpets and digging somewhere past it. "Huh?"

"I though you said something."

"No, I didn't. Here. " He had pulled out several long boxes – some just plain colourful cardboard, others a cheap velvet imitation – and held them up for her to see.

The blonde reached tentatively for the box on top, a dark green 'velvet' one with a silvery locking, and there it was again, that soft, ever alluring voice she'd heard earlier and which seemed to resound straight into her skull rather than come from the outside.

Long, short, thick or thin, I'm afraid that a wand, especially all by itself, might prove an unsuitable gift. After all, it is a rather… frustrating little instrument.

Fingers halting in mid-movement, Amelia looked up at the vampire, but his lips hadn't moved. He simply looked expectant in a neutral fashion, even if she was under the impression that his eyes shone with hidden mirth. No, no, get a grip on yourself, she inwardly argued, just buy whatever shit and walk out of here. Taking a deep breath, she flipped the lid open and forced a surprised exclamation at the sight of the slightly crooked, knobbly object contained inside.

"Wow, this one looks great! I mean... uh... just like Voldemort's, I guess."

Alin's gaze shifted from her to the object and his thin eyebrow rose ever-so-slightly as he blinked.

"Voldemort's wand," Amelia clarified, as if there were any need. "I'll take this!"

"Wonderful. Will that be all?"

She paid quickly, tucking the wrapped gift under her arm, and tripped epically on the threshold on her way out.

To be continued

A/N – tell me if this is any good so far, because I'm getting a 'half-assed Van Helsing' vibe from it... Should I press on?