Hello lovelies
Thank you so much for your reviews! You guys keep me going when I start to feel lethargic about writing. Buuut the good news is that I actually have most of the rest of the story mapped out – I just need to actually put it into writing – but it's all up here *taps temple cheerfully*
Thanks for all the love and support! Hope you enjoy :D
~Z
Chapter 7
Guarded
Draco awoke slowly, drowsiness and exhaustion fogging his brain. His gaze swept the unfamiliar room he'd been placed in, decorated with a lavish Victorian style, and he began to remember the events of that evening. He raised his right hand and gazed curiously at his palm. The pale skin was immaculate in the faint moonlight pouring into the room, but Draco could easily picture the cut that had graced it only hours before. He rose out of the canopy bed, now fully awake, and grabbed his black cloak off of the sofa at the foot of the bed. He crossed to the window in a few easy strides and gazed out onto the moonlight grounds; off to the left he could easily make out the circle drive in the clear night, the driveway painted silver by the full moon overhead.
Bollocks, I'm hungry Draco realized with annoyance, having realized he had missed dinner due to the ceremony, not to mention the fact that he'd practically passed out afterward. Glancing over his shoulder to be sure he was indeed alone with the bedroom door securely shut and locked, he quickly pulled on some clothes and quietly unlatched the window to push it open.
He stepped out onto the dew-covered grass, thinking of visiting the main city to find a restaurant, when he realized that he had no means to do so. Apparition was out of the question, considering he had no idea where he was going, and it was a bloody long way to walk.
No sooner had the thought entered his mind when a dark shadow passed above his head. Draco glanced up to see a large Thestral banking to land near him. He froze as she slowly approached him; she was lovely, sleek and perfectly proportioned, her warm breath ruffling Draco's hair as she leaned closer to sniff him.
Raising his hand slowly, keeping in mind his previous encounters with Hippogriffs, Draco gently touched her soft muzzle. She allowed this for a moment, and then turned away, her side to Draco. He stared at her in confusion; she snorted with seeming annoyance and turned back to face him, shoving his shoulder firmly with her nose, before resuming her previous position. She turned her head to face him and bobbed her head in encouragement. Oh… Draco smiled despite himself, grabbed a thick chunk of her black main, and easily hoisted himself onto her back. He had been searching for a mode of transportation after all – he supposed that a Thestral was as good as anything.
Her muscles quivered beneath him as if in anticipation, waiting patiently for instruction.
"Uh, go?" Draco asked questioningly, but that was obviously all she needed. With one gigantic leap, she stretched her wings and took to the sky, racing toward the city.
Draco's new companion walked the streets at a relaxed, cheerful gait as he searched for a place to eat. The city was nearly as active at night as it was in the daytime, and they regularly passed other people, some also on Thestrals, as they traversed the cobblestone streets.
Must be a normal way to travel around here Draco mused; it would make sense – the "undead" horses serving the "undead" riders.
Draco could now easily tell the difference between the human citizens and the vampires; the vampires moved with an effortless, unearthly grace, and for the most part paid him no attention. The humans looked at him curiously, and he noticed that many wore silver medallions around their necks. How odd.
Overhead, small, irregular black shapes sailed through the sky; Draco at first assumed them to be post owls, until one landed in a store window that he and his Thestral were passing. It was a massive bat, easily the size of his owl, carrying a parcel tied to its small, clawed feet. The window opened and a small girl greeted the bat cheerfully, taking the package and giving it a bit of food. Really? Post bats? Draco rolled his eyes as the bat took to the sky once more; he couldn't wait to get back to England where things made sense.
Up ahead on the street corner sat a small, beautiful restraint. The curtains on the windows were drawn, a layer of thick red velvet obscuring his view, but regardless Draco decided to stop there. He stopped the Thestral in front of a long, trellised archway leading to the front of the single-story building. Dark red boganvilla vines created a floral tunnel to walk through as one approached the glass and oak doors.
Draco slid off of the Threstral and turned to walk down the tunnel, but suddenly an unseen force prevented him from continuing forward. Turning in shock, Draco saw that the Thestral had gripped the back of his cloak between her teeth. Her ears were pinned and she snorted angrily, giving a sharp tug and sending him stumbling back several paces.
"Let go", he ordered. She responded with another snort and jerk of the cloak. Draco pulled the cloak quickly from her grip and jumped inside the tunnel, out of reach from the large specter. She whinnied and flapped her wings in agitation, then leapt into the sky and raced away.
"Psycho creature" Draco muttered as he placed his hand on the door.
The blonde hostess looked up the moment Draco stepped inside, seeming to know in an instant that he was human.
"Are you here as a volunteer honey?" she asked sweetly, her carnation-pink eyes gleaming.
Draco looked around in confusion, "Is this not a restaurant?" he asked in a bored tone.
The young woman cocked her head to the side then. "Well, yes it is, but…" she broke off, her expression quizzical as she shifted uncomfortably. A sinking feeling starting to take over in the pit of his stomach, Draco glanced beyond the hostess' podium into the rest of the restaurant.
The large room was elegantly decorated; off to the right was a long mahogany bar, with the rest of the room being filled with various tables and booths, all adorned with red velvet tablecloths and seat cushions. Seated at the bar were several people, drinking from tall glasses of a dark red liquid. At one table, a waiter in a tuxedo showed a young couple a bottle of dark wine. Draco craned his neck to see over the backs of the tall, private booths around the perimeter of the room. Couples sat in several of the booths, apparently necking. Oh for the love of… Draco thought, rolling his eyes, before turning back to the hostess.
"Valerie is that one for us?" a gruff voice asked from behind the podium.
The woman turned sharply. "No, Caine, he's not; he came in the wrong place."
"Like hell he did; we're hungry". The voice was much closer this time, coming from a muscular brunette who now approached the front lobby. He was accompanied by a slighter red-haired man, who had yet to make a sound.
Valerie turned, her slight hands on her hips as she glared at them in disapproval. "Caine, you're drunk. You guys have been at the bar for over an hour. Go home." As she spoke, her small pointed fangs glimmered in the evening lighting of the room.
"Nah, I'm fine", the big man replied, his lips curling into a wicked grin as his gaze raked over Draco.
"Kid get out of here", Valerie ordered, her voice slightly rose in growing desperation. Easily sensing the tangible danger of the current situation, Draco began to backpedal toward the door. However, before he could reach said door, a pair of burly hands gripped him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him easily off the ground. "And this one's so pretty", the man growled in his face, eyes black and filled with malicious intent. His breath had a metallic tang to it, making Draco feel like gagging.
"Caine!" Valerie cried, rushing forward.
Draco glanced up and beyond her shoulder to look at the remaining inhabitants of the restaurant. They were making quite a scene now, and many pairs of eyes were now trained in their direction. The previously necking couples stood up as well, and Draco felt the blood drain from his face as he realized that they were not in fact necking…
A quick jerk of his collar pulled Draco back to his predicament as Caine swung his free hand at Valerie, sending the small female flying backward at an astonishing speed. She raised a hand to her temple and moaned weakly, her expression dazed.
Draco felt a sudden surge of anger at Caine's rough treatment of the young woman who had tried to save him. His lips curled into a snarl and he lifted his hands to go for the brute's eyes…
Suddenly, the doors to the restaurant swung open, a frigid wind whipping through the room, tearing at the curtains, sending menus flying. The glass lights mounted on the walls in the lobby exploded simultaneously, with a loud shattering tambour reverberating in Draco's ears. A dark shadow stalked through the doorway as a menacing voice commanded, "Let. Him. Go." . Draco shuddered – the command was both spoken aloud, as well as echoing inside his head, penetrating his consciousness. The projected thought was so powerful and furious that Draco mentally recoiled. A glance around the room would have shown him that the restaurant's other inhabitants were all reacting likewise, cringing back from the mental assault.
Caine released Draco, a mixture of confusion and fear in his drunken gaze. Draco stepped back quickly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness; he realized with shock that the commanding, fearful shadow was Elena. He would never admit it, but he nearly sank to his knees in relief at the sight of his Guardian.
Elena prowled slowly up to Caine, menace rolling off of her in black waves, her fangs long and overgrown.
"Get. Out." She hissed, her pupils completely dilated; normally crystalline eyes shone black as night. Her dark gaze focused on Caine intently, and he recoiled with a jerk and shrank in on himself as if in agony, clutching his temples with trembling hands. He whimpered and slid slowly past Elena and out the door, his nameless friend on his heels.
Elena visibly relaxed at the men's departure and bent down, extending a hand to Valerie, who had watched the entire scene from the floor.
"Are you alright Val?" she asked softly, her voice filled with concern though her eyes were still black.
"Yeah, yeah…I'm fine now. Thank you for getting those jerks out of here El – they'd been hitting the nightshade way too hard." She shakily rose to her feet before releasing Elena's hand.
Elena smiled reassuringly at her before turning her dark gaze on Draco. "Draco Malfoy" she hissed, the tips of her fangs clearly visible. "What do you think you're doing? First day on the job and you've already nearly killed me!" she threw her hands up in exasperation and drug them through her hair. She turned and led him out of the restaurant, back into the cobblestone street. "You nearly got yourself killed" she growled angrily. Draco's eyes narrowed into a glare; she may be his guardian, but she had no right to reprimand him like this. He wasn't a child.
Draco sneered, "I was fine" he spat.
"Oh yes, getting your throat torn out and limbs ripped off is lovely" she hissed back, black eyes narrowed and voice full of biting sarcasm.
They glared at each other for a few more silent seconds, neither one wanting to back down. Finally, Elena sighed, "Come on, we need to get back to the estate, we leave early tomorrow". She threw a longing glance toward a club nearby with loud dance music pulsing out of the windows. Shaking her head a few times quickly, she turned back to Draco, grabbing his upper arm.
A strange sensation overtook Draco, like apparating, only not as callous. It was smooth and fluid, almost relaxing. One moment, they were in the street in front of the restaurant, the next they were in a hallway in Estate Firenze. It was like they had become mist at one point, and then simply solidified at the other.
"What was that?" Draco asked, previous annoyance temporarily forgotten.
"Mmm…we call it "dematerializing" Elena replied flippantly, "Similar to your apparating – only we figured it out first and perfected it. You tear your own limbs off sometimes", she grinned smugly then before the smile fell from her face. "Now go back to bed."
Draco's blonde brow furrowed into a straight line. "Alright, one, you don't order me around like that, two, the only reason I left in the first place was for food – I intend to get some. Where are your house elves?"
Elena laughed caustically then, her eyes cold. "Wow, one, you're a spoiled little twat, two, we don't have "elves", we have humans, for you are the lesser species", she finished the sentence with a faint hiss, taking a threatening step toward him. She grinned in satisfaction when he took a step back, though his furious scowl did not falter.
"And the kitchen is right through that door". She gestured snappily across the hall.
Ignoring her previous comments, Draco turned his back to her, walked the few steps across the wide hall to the door, and stepped into the large, modern kitchen.
He nearly leapt out of his own skin when, upon entering the room, Elena was already seated on the island counters in the center of the room, smirking darkly. "Told you."
Recovering his composure quickly, Draco snarled wordlessly at the vampire, and strolled past her to the muggle thing known as a "refrigerator".
"Toss me one of those black bottles, would you?" Elena requested in a satirically cheerful tone, swinging her long legs back and forth over the edge of the counter.
Draco grimaced, his upper lip curling in displeasure, and without turning around, roughly tossed one of the many bottles lining the fridge over his shoulder. He angled it so that it would fly at an awkward angle, toward the opposite end of the room, away from Elena. He smirked to himself, waiting for the satisfying sound of impact against the floor or a cabinet. But the sound never came.
Elena suddenly spoke from beside him "Nice try", she muttered, taking a drink from the opaque bottle. Her eyes were still black.
Draco shuddered inwardly at the knowledge that she could move that quickly without making a sound. He glanced at the bottle in her hands, raised an eyebrow, and reached into the fridge for another.
Elena watched with an amused curve on her lips.
Draco popped the cap on the bottle and sniffed at the rim curiously. It smelled faintly metallic…vaguely familiar, though he couldn't place it. He slowly lifted the bottle to his lips.
"Uh, you're not going to want to do that" Elena murmured quietly. Feeling a surge of defiance, Draco tipped the bottle so that the cool liquid poured into his mouth – and gagged.
The liquid was thicker than he'd expected, filling his mouth with a strange tang. Elena stared at his face, one eyebrow raised and mouth quirking with barely concealed amusement, waiting to see if Draco would actually swallow.
Refusing to relinquish any of his pride, Draco boldly met her gaze and forced the thick liquid down his throat. He grimaced – it was salty and metallic.
A dark grin spread across Elena's features as she watched Draco struggle to conceal his disgust. His lips turned down into a frown, his eyes narrowing at her. She smiled wickedly and took a long drink from her own bottle, eyes trained on Draco in a mocking manner.
His glare deepened.
"Well, I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning Draco", she said cheerfully as she turned to leave the room.
"What the bloody hell is this?" Draco glared resentfully at the bottle in his hand.
As she reached the door, Elena turned and glanced back at Draco over her shoulder.
"I think you already know. But I'll tell you – it's not at its best when it's been chilled; most prefer it at body temperature." With one last grin she disappeared around the door frame and out of sight.
From down the hall she could hear the bottle fall into the trash bin, accompanied by a disgusted hiss.
Her grin did not fade as she continued on to her suite.
*Peeks from around corner* So you got to see a bit of a darker side of Miss El- she is a vampire after all. ;)
Lately I've been a bit concerned with my abilities in transitioning, so let me know if anything reads awkward or rushed.
Apologies for any grammar problemos.
Drop some love if you'd like!
~Z
