Lily: Gaaaaah I'm writing this as I teeter on the edge of the second week of school. I'm about to tumble down into the third week and already I'm tired. Uuuugh. Anyway, I'll write this and then post chapter three and then, Chicken Alfredo dinnertime! Glee!
Midnight Love Affair: A Dangerous Situation
"Vampires are dangerous creatures of the night. They depend solely on the lifeblood of humans for survival and are known to take the life of whatever poor soul they feed on. They are not human so their abilities are above that of a normal human. Vampires can take on the form of bats, they can fly in their humanoid forms, they possess a superhuman strength, and can use a technique called Body Bind where they use their eyes to…"
Hermione Granger slammed down the book she'd been reading in frustration and angrily picked up the next one, titled "All You Need to Know About Vampires and More!."
It had been a long, hard month since she had stumbled across her boss, Draco Malfoy, sucking the blood of a woman in his office. Ever since "The Incident", as she had dubbed it, things in the office only seemed to become more difficult. Now that she was aware of Draco's situation, she was expected to keep his ridiculously late hours, to arrive early in the morning, to run all sorts of errands that he hadn't delegated to her before as she hadn't known. Never before had she regretted something as much as she regretted hiding in his office that night.
"A Vampire's worst enemy is the cross. Vampires are abominations against God and being thus, cannot stand the sight or feel of anything holy. The purity of holy things, depending on the amount of holiness in them, can blind or even kill a vampire…Wooden stakes also pose a sizeable threat to vampires. A wooden stake driven straight through the heart is the most surefire way to kill a vampire…"
Hermione looked at the passage she had been reading and decided that the information seemed useful and wrote it down in her notepad, intent on further research.
The day after she had found out about Draco Malfoy's…condition, the part o her that loved to know things awoke and reared its head. She was gripped by the intense need to know everything and anything about vampires. And so she had made a trip to her local library and had borrowed every book pertaining to vampires they had. Quite a lot of them were nothing but foolish made-up rubbish but she had been able to glean small tidbit of, what sounded like, useful information from a few.
"Doing some research Miss Granger?" an amused voice said from above her. Hermione looked up and blushed lightly when she saw Draco standing there, a mocking smirk on his lips.
"Yes, what of it?" she replied defensively, straightening in her chair. Draco picked up one of her books and flipped through the pages, looking more and more amused as he went.
"These books are full of rubbish, you won't find anything of use in anything a human wrote" he said, dropping the book and walking away from her desk and back into his office.
Hermione picked the book back up and stared at the closed door her boss had just disappeared through.
Another thing she had started noticing about Draco this past month was that he seemed to harbor an intense dislike for humans. Though he was regularly seen with many different human women, he thought and spoke of them as if they were nothing more than meals; something which, Hermione had realized, to him they were. She had never heard anyone say the word "human" and make it sound so dirty!
The door to Draco's office opened and the man himself stepped out wearing his coat,
"Miss Granger, it would be time better spent improving your looks than reading those books." He said, noticing the book still in her hand. She frowned at him
"that may well be the case but this is the only way I can find out the things I need to know" she put the book down neatly on the desk.
"Need to…?" Draco said, smirking slightly "trying to dig up some information to use against me so you can make your escape?" he raised his eyebrows, looking every bit the vampire that he was.
"Not at all" Hermione replied calmly, "even though the role was forced upon me I have a duty to uphold as a secretary. I know there are certain…problems that come with being a vampire and I wanted to be as informed on them as I could so, should the situation ever arise, I could help you out of trouble."
They stared at each other for a minute before Draco cleared his throat
"In any case, after you've finished whatever it is you need to do, you're free to go today, I've an early…meal to get to" he said and walked out of the office to the elevator.
When he had gone, Hermione stood and collected all her books. She hadn't remembered that today there was an early meal scheduled, perhaps it had been Draco who put it in. Now that she knew about his being a Vampire, Hermione was also put in charge of scheduling his "meals". The women who were seen going in and out of Draco's office were, in fact, meals not the (very) brief trysts everyone had thought them to be. Hermione scheduled a different woman twice every week, sometimes Draco would schedule another one himself if he felt he would need one.
She looked at the clock and sighed, it was good that she was getting to leave early today, she was tired! Luckily she had finished her work quickly so she could leave as soon as she had cleaned up for the night.
"Hermione! Wait up!"
Hermione turned around and smiled as she saw Ginny running towards her. It felt like she hadn't seen her redheaded friend in a long time and she was happy she got off early enough to see her for once.
"Good Lord woman! I haven't seen you in an age!" Ginny gasped when she had caught up. Hermione laughed,
"sorry about that, Mr. Malfoy keeps late hours" she said. Ginny scowled,
"I tell you, that man is nothing short of a slave driver. Look at how tired you are!" Ginny had caught her breath so the pair began walking.
"I just didn't sleep very well last night" Hermione insisted. Ginny shot her an 'I don't believe a word of your bull' look,
"And I'm the fairy princess Sparkle" she said sarcastically. Hermione giggled,
"oh Gin, I've missed you." She said, flinging an arm around her friend.
"Yeah, yeah!" Ginny grumbled "anyway, where're we off to? It's a Friday night and neither of us has to be in until 2 tomorrow. And don't try to tell me otherwise Hermione Granger, I know its company wide!" Ginny's blue eyes bore into her skull and Hermione sadly bid farewell to any dreams of a nice night in.
"Well, we aren't dressed for a club Gin" she tried, sounding so hopeful that Ginny had to bite back a round of laughter.
"Oh 'Mione, you know there's always a way to get around wardrobe deficiencies when Ginny Weasley is involved" Ginny said, a mischievous look in her eyes. Hermione groaned as Ginny pulled her down the sidewalk, no doubt towards a very, very long night.
When she finally settled down in the office the next day, Hermione was suffering from a terrible headache from lack of sleep so she didn't notice anyone had come in until a male voice bade her good morning. Looking up sharply, she was relieved and delighted to see it was the other Malfoy son, Aurelius.
"Ah! Good morning sir!" she said, standing and smiling at the man who had once been her boss.
Aurelius Malfoy was the opposite of his brother in almost every way. He was kind, considerate, gentle natured, and polite; his reputation in the company was spotless, women loved him and men respected him. Not only was he opposite in personality but in looks as well. While both Malfoy sons were disarmingly handsome, Draco was fair haired and had blue-grey eyes whereas Aurelius had dark hair and dark eyes. They made an ironic pair of brothers.
"How are you Miss Granger?" Aurelius asked and Hermione smiled inwardly, happy to be treated so politely after a month and a half of Draco's verbal abuse.
"I'm doing fine, thank you for asking sir. And how are you?" she replied,
"Just as polite as always Miss Granger. I'm doing well thank you. Your friend Miss Weasley is a very efficient secretary" he said.
"Ah, she does work hard. Um, Director Malfoy isn't in at the moment…" Hermione trailed off, unsure of what else to say. Aurelius smiled,
"That's fine, I'll just wait inside his office if that's alright" he said. Hermione accompanied him to Draco's office and let him in, leaving a minute later to go prepare coffee.
When she came back with a cup of steaming black coffee Aurelius was standing by the large windows, staring out at the London skyline seemingly lost in thought.
"Your coffee sir," Hermione said softly, setting down the tray and standing back.
"Ah, thank you Miss Granger."
They were silent for a minute while Aurelius fixed his coffee then, suddenly
"So I see you've found out" he said, staring into his cup.
"Excuse me sir?" Hermione asked,
"About Draco's…circumstances" he clarified. Hermione nodded
"yes sir," she replied.
"It's good he has someone else who knows about it…someone who can help him…" Aurelius continued, tentatively sipping his coffee.
"Ah, I'll try and help him as best I can sir"
"Who needs help?" a familiar voice said from the door and the two of them turned to see Draco leaning against the doorframe, looking decidedly unhappy.
"What are you doing here brother?" he asked, straightening and walking into the room,
"I came to remind you of the Howard Enterprises dinner tomorrow" Aurelius answered. Draco groaned and walked over to his desk,
"of course I remember it, you didn't need to come all the way over here to remind me, if that's even what you came for" he said, throwing himself into his chair and fixing a steely eyed look on his brother.
"well that and…" Aurelius started but trailed off,
"and?" Draco snapped, clearly unwilling to have his brother in his office any longer, "what!?"
"And Mother wants you to come home soon. This is getting ridiculous Draco" he said in a rush.
Hermione thought she could feel the temperature in the room drop. The look on Draco's face was positively terrifying,
"Tell that woman" he said in a chilling voice "that she can stop sending messengers too weak to refuse her and face me herself if she wants something"
Aurelius sighed and, ignoring the jibe Draco had aimed at him, he finished his coffee and stood,
"Thanks for the coffee Miss Granger; it was delicious, as always." He said, turning to Draco his eyes flashed briefly with sorrow,
"and Draco, make sure you attend the dinner tomorrow, and bring your secretary"
He nodded to them and exited the office.
Hermione turned to Draco who was staring at the door as if he wished it would burst into flames.
"Well then, I'll just clear this up" she said and bent to pick up Aurelius' cup,
"delicious as always eh?" Draco suddenly spoke, looking up at her,
"did you often make coffee for him? Are you one of those?" his smirk was especially mocking,
"one of what sir?" Hermione asked, briskly clearing up scraps of sugar packets,
"one of those office ladies that fawn over my brother's every move and word?"
Hermione frowned at him,
"Director Malfoy is a kind and well respected man. I admire him, but as an efficient and hardworking superior, nothing more" she said. Draco only laughed at her,
"ok, ok Miss Granger, so you say. Just don't set your sights too high" Hermione only gave him a disapproving look and gathered up the coffee things.
"Well, I shall go clean these and then prepare the data for tomorrow's meeting and dinner" she said and, before Draco could imply she harbored designs on his brother again, she turned and walked out of the office.
Draco and Hermione sat in the back seat of the town car that would take them to the Howard Enterprise dinner. The meeting they had been in before the dinner had run over and they had had to dress in a hurry.
"I don't see why all those department heads can't get their acts together. And their secretaries! Embarrassments to the position, the lot of them." Draco grumbled. Hermione ignored him, looking out the window as the car navigated the streets.
"Roger, I'm sorry but we're in a bit of a rush. If we don't hurry I'm afraid we won't even be fashionably late" Draco said to the man who nodded and sped up.
Hermione looked at the back of Roger's head, thinking.
'Roger's been with Malfoy Corp for a long time, and he's the only one who ever drives Draco. He also takes Draco out on his 'meals'…he must also know Draco's a vampire' it made sense for the driver to know about Draco, who else could drive him around to all his meals and not ask questions?
"We're here Granger, quit spacing out and let's go" Draco said, dropping the 'Miss' he usually attached to her name in irritation. Hermione snapped out of her daze and looked at the building they had pulled up to.
"A church?" she muttered, and looked sharply at Draco who was walking ahead of her. As she looked on, he went to the door where he was greeted by a man he was obviously familiar with, and then he walked into the building. Hermione waited for a minute and nothing happened.
'Well, he did say that humans make up a lot of myths about vampires. Perhaps that holiness one was another one of them' she thought, shrugging, before she walked into the church herself.
The church was actually a restaurant which the wife of the Howard Enterprises CEO owned. The room was elegant and brightly lit with high quality furniture and beautiful (and most likely expensive) paintings hanging on the walls. An enormous stylized wooden cross hung suspended from the ceiling and depictions of saints in stained glass made up the windows. Aside from those, Hermione saw nothing else "holy" and it didn't seem to be bothering Draco so she stopped focusing on in and instead committed herself to enjoying the dinner.
Later, as they were finishing dessert, the Howard CEO stood up on stage and called everyone's attention
"Excuse me, my honored guests, thank you greatly for coming to this dinner. I have now, for you enjoyment, some music that my wife and I truly love and we hope you will too"
He announced gesturing offstage, and out came about twenty black robed nuns. They took their positions and then, after a collective intake of breath, began to sing. Hermione couldn't remember the name of the song but she knew it from the one year she had spent in Catholic school when the sisters used to sing it every morning at mass.
When they had finished singing, they trooped offstage and the audience clapped politely. By this time, dinner was over and people were just mingling, Hermione was about to pick up her cup of tea when Draco grabbed her wrist,
"we're going" he said, his voice strangely hoarse. Hermione looked at him strangely but stood and, excusing herself from the table and bidding their table-mates good evening, followed Draco.
By the time they got their coats and had said goodbye to everyone they needed to, Roger had already pulled up to the front of the restaurant. Draco got into the car in a hurry and Hermione slipped in beside him,
"where to sir?" Roger asked, pulling away from the church.
"the office" Draco said again in that strange hoarse voice. Hermione looked closer to him and was startled to see that he was sweating and his breath was coming in short quick gasps.
"what's the matter!?" Hermione asked him, instantly worried. Roger turned around and looked sharply at Draco who had his hand over his eyes and looked even paler than usual.
"That church you went to belonged to the Howards of Howard Enterprises didn't it?" Roger asked, suddenly sounding urgent. Hermione nodded,
"yes, they…" but Roger cut her off,
"the Howards are devout and practicing Christians!" he exclaimed. Draco swore next to her,
"how did I overlook that!?" he growled. Hermione reached out a tentative hand
"sir? Are you alright?" she asked, but Draco suddenly jerked away from her,
"don't come near me Granger" he barked. Hermione jumped,
"but, but what's the matter!?" she cried "I thought none of that stuff about crosses was true! Why does it matter that they were devout Christians!? What made you become like this!?" Roger sighed.
"You really should tell her these kinds of things sir," he said and met Hermione's eyes in the rearview mirror,
"Vampires are not affected just by things related to the religion, but if the one holding them or owning them is true to the religion then it slowly drains away his life force."
Hermione gasped,
"his life force? Then how does he get better?" she asked, suddenly afraid she was about to witness her boss's death.
"Blood" Roger said very seriously, "for some reason, human blood is the only thing that can replenish a vampire's life force"
Draco shifted so he could glare at the back of Roger's head,
"you talk too much Roger" he growled,
"begging your pardon sir but she needed to know" the driver replied.
"Now you know Granger, quickly call someone from…" Draco rasped, looking weaker by the minute. Hermione made a quick decision then and cut him off
"no," she said, "drink my blood."
Lily: DUN DUN DUNNNN! Yeah…so a little cliffhanger. Whee! The next chapter is sitting and marinating, so probably next weekend I can get it kinked out and baked and good to go. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! I love all of you gaiz!
Next Chapter: A tentative taste, An awkward situation, and Meeting the Parents