Blood Ties

By theanonymouslibrarians

Note: I do not own the Harry Potter Series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or any of their characters. That honor belongs to she-who-must-be-mentioned, whom we all owe hours of entertainment to.

The man was scanning the crowd when Graves "accidentally" caught his eye. Graves put on what he hoped was an innocent, maybe even a bit nervous, smile. If Williams had been just a little less drunk or a little less cocky, he would have turned away and kept searching. Graves' scent should have told the vampire that the auror was taken. But the man had been terrorizing New York for a month without M.A.C.U.S.A being able to pin anything on him. Long enough to develop a confidence in his capabilities, but not long enough to know when he was going too far. And Graves had taken great care to look like the type of human Williams would be interested in. So, Graves let his gaze drop to his feet. When he looked up again, the vampire was in front of him.

"You look lonely." Williams called over the sound of the music.

His face was open, friendly. As if he wanted nothing more than to chat up a stranger. But this wasn't a typical club, and, while it wasn't unusual for humans to visit, there was no good reason for a vampire to show interest in a strange human who had already been marked by another.

"I...I was supposed to..." Graves darted his eyes around the room. "My...friend was supposed to be here. But I've looked all over."

"Careless." Williams tutted, edging slightly closer. "Letting his pe...pal come here alone."

Graves took a step back. "H-he said it would be fine. That most vampires wouldn't-"

Williams reached out to him, placing a hand on Graves's arm. "Oh, love. I didn't mean to insinuate...it's just so rude! The least he could have done was let you know if he'd be late."

Percival let the tension drop from his body and scanned the crowd again. "I'm not even sure he is late." He said, as if he were admitting some shameful secret. "We've fought a lot lately and...well, it doesn't matter. I should keep looking."

Williams shook his head and took a step closer. "That's not the way to go about it at all." His voice sounded as if he were confiding a bit of wisdom to an old friend. "If he is here, you'll walk circles around each other on the dance floor. Let's go sit down. I'll buy you a drink while we wait."

Graves let the vampire guide him to a pair of armchairs on the farside of the club. The rest went easier than he could have hoped for. All he had to do was play the scared human surrounded by potential predators and just so glad to have found a kind soul to wait with him for a friend who would never show up. Graves let his voice shake when he asked if the beer Williams bought him was safe for humans and injected just enough awe in his expression as Williams explained to him things about vampires that Graves already knew. The man was a narcissist and clearly had low expectations when it came to humans (although he tried to mask this). He had expected to find a gullible victim and so he didn't think that Graves might be acting. Percival pretended to get progressively angrier at his missing friend as the night went on, opening up about how he'd done this before and didn't he know how hard it had been to get away from his family's party for a man they'd never approve of? By the end of the night, Williams thought nothing of Percival letting the vampire push him against a wall and drink from him.

Getting away was somewhat harder. Williams was insistent that Graves allow the vampire to walk him home. Percival refused, saying that things were moving too fast. They said goodbye and promised to meet there next Saturday, but Graves could sense Williams tailing him and knew that the moment they were in an uncrowded area the vampire would be on him. The auror ducked into an alley and apparated the instant he was sure no No Majs would see him. Just to be safe, Graves apparated several times in rapid succession before finally going home.

Once there, he let the disguise fall and collapsed in the bed. It was finished now. He might need to wait, and there might be more victims before Williams was brought down, but soon enough the vampire would be dead.

…..

Grindelwald hadn't fed on Graves immediately. He'd taken no pains to hide the fact that he was a vampire, and he'd rifled through Graves mind, heedless of the auror's attempts to resist him, but for the first month of Percival's captivity Grindelwald hadn't fed on him. Apart from holding him prisoner and stealing whatever thoughts and memories were necessary, Grindelwald hadn't bothered much with Graves. He had ensured that the director was fed, stopped by to talk to him now and then, and even allowed him books to help pass the time. But mostly Grindelwald seemed to regard the director with only a vague interest.

It hadn't been personal. Not to Grindelwald. Percival was in a position of power that Grindelwald needed. Graves wouldn't serve Grindelwald willingly, so Grindelwald himself had to take the director's place. Killing Percival would destroy information that Grindelwald might need and prevent the dark wizard from negotiating with M.A.C.U.S.A if need be, so Graves had to be kept alive. Torturing him was a waste of effort, as any information could be gained through legilimency and Grindelwald didn't hold a particular grudge toward the wizard. So, to Grindelwald, Graves was simply there. An unwilling guest whom courtesy and necessity demanded that Grindelwald pay occasional attention to.

But Grindelwald hadn't taken into consideration how hard it would be for the director of magical law enforcement to feed in the vampiric sense. His official schedule meant that he worked longer than most M.A.C.U.S.A employees, and Grindelwald's personal interests kept him even busier than Percival would have been in his place. Even when he could find an opportunity to search for food, there was always the possibility that he would be seen and Grindelwald had found he often didn't have time to identify a healthy human out of the hordes of New Yorkers and lure his victim to an area where Grindelwald could feed without chance of discovery.

"It's just that...well, you're here." Grindelwald had told Graves before the first time he'd drunk from the auror.

Graves had tried to fight back, but of course Grindelwald had him at a disadvantage. It hadn't hurt all that much, had even felt good after the initial pain, but that hadn't decreased Graves' horror at being fed on. Even the calming spell Grindelwald had used on him hadn't been able to keep the panic that he might turn into a monster at bay. Of course, later Percival had learned that for that to happen he'd have had to drink Grindelwald's blood, as well. But at the time, all Percival could think of was how with that simple bite Grindelwald had stripped all hope from him. Even if M.A.C.U.S.A did manage to rescue Graves, his career would be over. They wouldn't want a vampire as the director of magical security. He had enough money to retire, of course, but Percival had wanted a life and a career for himself that wasn't tied to his family's name and money and now it was gone. Graves hadn't cried when Grindelwald had defeated him, roughed him up a bit, locked him up, and tore his memories from his mind, but he hadn't been able to hold back a sob at the thought that nothing would ever be the same.

Sometimes Percival wondered if that had been the cause of Grindelwald's change of attitude toward him. Or maybe it was normal for a vampire to develop a certain type of sympathy for someone he claimed, and that had been what Grindelwald had planned on doing even at the initial feeding. Certainly, Grindelwald had pulled away momentarily when he'd realized that Graves was crying, looking at his victim with a mixture of surprise and something suspiciously like guilt. But regardless of why, Grindelwald had started to spend more time with Percival.

It started with dinners together. Apparently, vampires were able to eat the same food as humans; they just also needed blood. Any type would do, Grindelwald had explained, but human blood was best. Nothing Graves had been able to say could convince Grindelwald to deny himself. He'd listen to Percival's arguments, even admit their merit and express sympathy, but ultimately Grindelwald saw no reason why he shouldn't put himself and his desires first. However, Grindelwald didn't usually feed on Graves at the dinners. The vampire only did that once or twice a week, and then he only took enough blood to keep him healthy until he could find another source.

"You'd be of no use if I took too much or didn't let you recover in between." Gellert had told him.

At first Graves had thought he'd told him this to try to make Percival feel grateful. It had been said, though, in a matter-of-fact tone. In fact, most of their dinner conversations were about vampires, their customs and way of life. Percival always listened attentively, hoping for some slip that would allow him to get the better of his captor. However, most of the information was interesting but useless to Percival in his current situation.

Most of the myths regarding their limitations were simply lies mortals told themselves to believe that they had an advantage of the hunters. Vampires could obviously walk in sunlight, as Grindelwald had been impersonating Graves for quite a while and had suffered no harm. Garlic, crosses, and silver did nothing to them. They were also able to be killed with great difficulty (Gellert was silent on which methods of execution were effective).

Most vampires in modern times rarely killed their prey. Some restrained from taking lives on principles, while others did so because too many deaths would draw the wrath of the wizarding world down on them. The majority of vampires being No Majs, every war between vampires and wizards throughout history had ended with the vampires taking the worst of the damage. Not that wizards had efficient ways to kill them. Historically, they'd just used the darkest of spells on a massive scale, unsure of exactly what it was about them that killed the vampires. The result was just as devastating as if wizards had known more, and todays vampires were quick to deal with any of their kind that was attracting too much attention.

Percival had wondered, of course, why Gellert seemed so eager to educate his prisoner on the lives and times of vampires. At first, he'd thought the vampire was trying to get Percival to understand, maybe even condone Gellert's use of him as a food source. The vampire was slightly apologetic about the feedings, although not enough to make other arrangements. Then, as Gellert began improving Percival's living conditions, giving him a larger cell and more forms of entertainment, and even taking Graves out places, always in disguise and tethered to Gellert, when Grindelwald was in an especially good mood, the auror had wondered if this was some trick to try to win Graves over or even a genuine desire for a twisted form of friendship. But finally, after several dinners and after Gellert had fed on Graves several times, he'd looked cautious as he began the conversation.

"It can be difficult to find a suitable blood source in today's world." Gellert had said. Percival had made some noncommittal noise, and the man had continued. "Oh, we manage, but it takes time. You need to watch a person for quite a while to gauge whether they're worth the effort. You need to watch carefully for signs of illness or drug usage. Just because those won't kill a vampire doesn't mean tainted blood can't cause unpleasant symptoms."

"How unfortunate."

"Mmhm. Of course, we have ways. Cities are teeming with people, so vampires can usually find at least one healthy source when necessary. Those type of people, the ones we feed off of once or twice and then move on to a different one, vampires don't care about too much. Or at least not more than you would someone you bumped into on the street."

"Charming."

"But, you see, towns and villages are a bit more difficult because if half the town gets fed from someone's bound to notice something. To make things easier, most vampires have one or two food sources that they can return to. Usually not too often or without giving the person time to recover; only when there's no one else the vampire can safely feed from. Sometimes the human's willing. Other times it's simply someone who isn't in a position to refuse or spread word of a vampire in the area. We usually refer to them as..." Gellert had hesitated, and Graves would later realize he had probably been discarding other commonly used terms like pet, property, and whore, "donors or friends. They're people whom we know are healthy and can be relatively certain are drug free. Much easier than picking a random stranger off the street." He was looking at Percival with a guarded, slightly nervous expression, now. "Vampires are very protective of their...friends. Even if the vampire doesn't care for the person as an equal or a loved one, they see the person as their...responsibility. It's instinctive, in a way. And...when a vampire feeds on a person regularly, a certain...scent...rubs off on the human. Marking the human as the vampire's-"

Whether Gellert would have said property or found a more diplomatic way to put it, Percival didn't know because it was then that he had understood what his captor was trying to tell him: that in feeding from Graves over and over again, Gellert had made it clear to every vampire Graves would ever encounter that Percival belonged to Grindelwald.

Percival couldn't remember much of the rest of the night. He'd risen from the table shouting and throwing things. He thought his rage had been so strong that he'd managed to cause several paintings to fly off the wall, despite Gellert's jinxes that usually rendered him unable to do magic. Percival knew Gellert had tried to placate him, but he'd ultimately had to resort to magic to render Graves unconscious.

For weeks after that Gellert had kept his distance, giving Graves little luxuries and being kinder than usual. Eventually the dinners had resumed, and Percival had begrudgingly let the other man draw him into conversations. After all, Gellert was the only company he had, and now it was even more important that Percival learn all he could about vampires because, for all he knew, he'd be trapped in their world forever.

….

After being rescued, Percival had quickly realized that things wouldn't be as bad as he had originally thought. He could safely pass on that Gellert was a vampire. It wasn't common knowledge, probably because Gellert cared more for wizards than his other kind and revealing it would cause some humans to fight against Grindelwald out of fear alone. Percival took some pleasure in knowing he'd made Grindelwald's cause more difficult. But he kept their...their...the exact nature of their relationship to himself. Gellert had made it clear that he'd be safe from other vampires, as if that was some type of consolation. For one vampire to harm or even feed on another vampire's pet was unspeakably rude to say the least. It would almost always provoke a fight, but with a vampire like Grindelwald it would be a fight to the death. Percival wasn't sure if that reaction would occur if humans harmed him, but sharing what he'd learned with M.A.C.U.S.A could lead to him finding out. They'd use him if there was ever a time they thought it would draw Grindelwald out (and Percival had known it was only a matter of time before Gellert escaped). Oh, Seraphina and his team would fight it. They wouldn't want to. But people were scared and there were those in government who didn't care about the means if the end meant Grindelwald dead or forever imprisoned. So, Percival had kept quiet. Gellert hadn't mentioned anything. And when Grindelwald did escape, he'd left without paying Graves a visit.

Percival did notice that certain people he encountered avoided him. Some criminals even surrendered or ran away without any attempt to attack him or his team. Later, after Percival had scoured every available resource, he'd become able to identify these people as vampires. Slightly paler than usual. A hungry look in their eyes when they saw humans, replaced with a look of unease when they presumably smelled Percival. It was uncomfortable but, since Gellert seemed content to leave Graves alone, Percival hadn't minded too much.

He hadn't planned to use it to his advantage at first. Percival wasn't sure how a vampire knew when his prey had been fed on. Maybe some type of bond told them, or maybe they wouldn't know until they came and smelled the other vampire on their property. But Graves had no doubt that Gellert would pay him a visit after dealing with the threat, and Percival didn't want that.

And then corpses had started showing up. No Majs and witches and wizards. Some fed on, some just mutilated. The murderer was clearly a vampire, but he was killing for sport. It had been difficult, but Percival had been able to get some of the vampires to talk to him. The vampire community was a nervous as the wizarding one. The murderer was putting them all at risk, and most never killed if they could help it. Over and over again, though, he got the same response: no one knew who the murderer was. In the end, it was a No Maj who had had the answer. She'd seen one of the victims with a strange man before the victim's body had turned up. It wasn't much and could have been a coincidence, but M.A.C.U.S.A had gotten the man's image from the woman's memory and, when they showed it with other pictures, other people remembered seeing a similar looking man with other victims. It wasn't enough to prove the man was the murderer, but enough to give undercover aurors someone to look for. Soon enough, they'd manage to interrupt the man in the middle of a crime. The victim, a young man barely in his twenties, had survived, but the vampire had escaped and severely two aurors in the process. Now they had a name, or at least a pseudonym though. The vampire had told Eli, his intended victim that his name was Williams. No first name given.

That had been two weeks ago. Percival and his team had made little headway in finding Williams, but the bodies had continued appearing, more rapidly than before. The most recent had been a M.A.C.U.S.A employee. Percival hadn't known her. She'd worked behind the counter at the visitor's information desk. The death of one of their own had heightened the investigative team's already livid fury at Williams, and Graves knew that it wouldn't be long before M.A.C.U.S.A decided to retaliate against vampires in general, rather than single out the one responsible. The vampires would defend themselves of course, even strike back, and the wizards would win, but the price would be countless lives on both sides and civilians would get caught in the crossfire.

The idea of manipulating Gellert into killing Williams for him, the director of magical security turning to M.A.C.U.S.A's biggest threat to carry out some kind of vigilante justice hadn't appealed to Percival. He knew Grindelwald would exact revenge for the perceived slight on his honor, but what else the man would do in New York was anyone's guess, and Graves was certain he could count on a personal visit by the vampire. But people were dying and Graves had no idea how to kill or subdue a vampire without the use of several illegal spells. This way, if M.A.C.U.S.A continued to fail to bring Williams to justice, at least the people of New York would be safe from one threat.

….

Williams's dismembered body turned up in M.A.C.U.S.A's lobby 3 days later without a single ward being tripped or guard seeing anything. It had lain unseen for hours until the disillusionment charm on it wore off precisely at the time the lobby was at its most crowded.

It was a long day at work, full of interviewing every single person who even might have seen the murderer and trying to figure out how Williams's killer had gotten past the Woolworth building's security. Percival doubted he'd ever know how Gellert had done it, but he figured that was a small price to pay for Williams's death.

Percival put off going home until 8:00. Of all the distasteful aspects of his plan, this was the part he was dreading the most. He'd debated coming up with some excuse to bring aurors with him, but Graves didn't think the fight would end without several of his team member's death, he wasn't sure Grindelwald wouldn't be able to kill all of them, and the vampire would know about any operation large enough to pose a threat before anyone got 100 yards of him. Better to deal with this on his own and hope it didn't end too badly.

Even though Graves was expecting Gellert, he couldn't help but feel slightly offended to see the man lounging on his couch, reading Graves' copy of Macbeth.

"Glad to see you made yourself at home." Percival said by way of a greeting.

"Force of habit." A rather smug look touched Gellert's face as he put the book aside. "I thought we'd have a drink. To your first murder."

"You know I can't stop you."

Percival had already decided that he wouldn't duel Grindelwald again unless forced or unless he had an edge. He'd done well in their first duel. Gellert himself had admiringly admitted that Percival had come close to winning more than once. Graves thought he might be able to overcome the other wizard if he could take him by surprise or knew how to kill him. But Gellert would be prepared for a fight now and Graves couldn't say he'd learned anywhere near enough about vampires to make this an even match.

Grindelwald sighed and waved a hand. A bottle and two glasses appeared out of nowhere. Another wave and the bottle was filling the glasses. "Château d'Yquem. I believe that's your favorite."

It was, but Graves didn't reply. After a moment's hesitation, he crossed the room to drop into the chair opposite Grindelwald and took a glass.

"I must say, I was surprised. Not that I didn't know you had the stones for it, I just thought you wouldn't want to sully yourself." Gellert said, after taking a sip of his own.

Percival drank before answering. "Desperate times. And it's not like I'm not already tainted."

The vampire rolled his eyes. "So dramatic. All the same, that was extraordinarily dangerous of you. I've followed his crimes in the papers. He could have torn your throat out and left you to die in some dingy alley. Hardly a glorious end to such an illustrious career."

"Oh, I'm sorry. How inconsiderate of me. It must have been nerve-wracking to realize you could have lost your food source."

Gellert's eyes flashed and his lips peeled back in a snarl. Graves was on his feet in less than a second, wand in hand, but Grindelwald waved a hand and Graves found his knees buckling, toppling him back into his seat in a much less comfortable position, and his wand flying across the room. "I didn't mean it that way and you know it."

"Of course, because you've always been so good to me!"

"I've left you alone for months, haven't I? I took care of your problem, didn't I?"

"What, so I'm supposed to be grateful that you haven't fed from me recently?" Graves spat. "That's not a favor; that's common courtesy. You had no fucking right to drink from me in the first place! The way I see it, you've stolen more than enough blood from me; Williams just makes us even for that. And that doesn't even begin to take into account-"

"Alright, Alright!" Gellert snapped, waving his hand angrily. "You've made your point!" He drained his glass and sat back, tilting his head back against the rear of the couch. Percival found he could move again and summoned his wand back to his hand, even though he doubted it would do him much good. "I watched Williams's memory, you know? I wanted to see exactly what happened. You weren't this mouthy with him."

"I needed him to feed from me. I figure you'll do that no matter what I say, so why should I care about hurting your feelings?"

"You're wrong there. For tonight at least. I didn't come here to feed."

This did surprise Graves. He'd figured that Grindelwald would at least want to reestablish his claim. "Then why are you here?"

"Because what you did was reckless and needlessly so. And there's no guarantee that Williams will be the last. It's unusual for a vampire as murderous as he was to be able to hide himself from those of our kind who would usually deal with him, but it's not unheard of. And I can't have you offering yourself to every vampire you meet. Sooner or later you'll get yourself killed, and even if you didn't it would cause all sorts of problems for me that you can't even begin to imagine."

"You mean it's embarrassing." Graves knew he was right when Gellert looked away. "Well, you know the answer to that, then, don't you? Tell me how to kill them and I'll never do it again."

Gellert chuckled. "You'd like that wouldn't you? No. I'll let you work that one out on your own. Although, I think I will be dropping in now and then. You don't know anywhere near as much as you think you do about my kind and that ignorance could get both of us into trouble." He sat forward again, shaking his head at Percival's protests. "No. I don't mind being your attack dog now and then. I've killed better people than Williams and will again. What's a few criminals, as well? But I must impress on you this point: If you let anyone else drink from you again, I will need to take certain precautions that neither of us will like."

"Who the hell-"

"So, instead, when you're in over your head, all you need to do is ask. Sound fair?"