um... wow... that took a long time. I've had this written for a while, but now I'm putting it up finally. People have been bugging me to ^_^

Draco Malfoy
And the Bloodstone
_ _ _ _ _By Ti'ana

Chapter Fifteen

Since he was a child, Draco had heard several tales about the Vampire realm, and many of them contradicted each other. One such fable told of a magnificent castle set in a cave hundreds of feet below the Earth. Another mentioned a similar castle in a field of light that any vampire could bear, even those who were weakened by the sun.

Needless to say, Draco was pretty disappointed when he found himself thoroughly lost in a cold, desolate underground labyrinth.

Not only was he disappointed, but scared out of his wits. It seemed every dark corner whispered unwelcome comments, while flashes of red eyes appeared every so often. None of those childhood fairy tales, told to him only by the paintings hanging on the walls (for his parents were not the storytelling kind), had prepared him for this.

He left the goblet Port Key where it had brought him, wishing for that familiar cold-hearted self of his to sink in so he could return to the wizard world uncaring for Lisha's safety. Of course, that never happened. Lisha had changed him, and he could not turn back now. So he kept going forward.

After what seemed to be an eternity of moving forward, Draco reached a large cavern with several branching tunnels. It occurred to him only now that the cave should have been very dark, but there was indeed a bit of light. If the light had a source, it was this room. It seemed that here all the whispering had stopped and the red eyes were gone.

There was no doubt in his mind, though he could not see it, that this was the chamber that held his treasure, the Bloodstone. In his mind, Draco had pictured the keep of the Bloodstone to be a mile-high chamber, much like this one, though empty save the Bloodstone, supported by an invisible force above a crystal goblet.

The room he was currently in looked more like a cathedral. From the ceiling came that bright light which struck him upon his entrance. The walls were bare rock, but extremely smooth and glossy. Steps carved into the floor led up to a platform with an altar, with intricately designed markings. The ceiling on that part had a low overhead, and arched over the table. But the altar was bare.

A terrible, ear-piercing screeching noise, of a like to nails on a chalkboard, echoed throughout the room.It was followed by a prolonged low hiss. Draco turned quickly, but found nothing.

"Wh-who's there?" His voice, while he tried to remain calm, broke unsteadily. "Where are you?"

"Can't you ssssee usss?" The voice came from less than three yards from where Draco stood.

"He cannot, my dear, I guessss," hissed another equally close creature.

"Immmposssible!" cried the first. Draco heard a low thump. "He is a curssssed one, a damned one. What businesss do you have in these partss?"

Draco figured the creature was speaking to him. Trying on his hardy façade, he responded, "Where are you?"

"Hear that, my dear? He cannot ssseee us after all!"

"Do you suppose we should ssssshow ourselvess?"

"He is not an enemy if he cannot ssseee usss. I believe we are sssafe to show this mortal our physical selvesss."

Not five feet from where he stood appeared, seemingly from thin air, two dog-sized snakelike creatures with four legs pressed against each of their serpentine bodies. They were entirely white with pearly scales and a red crest on their heads. Their eyes looked like polished golden marbles with dots of red for pupils. Upon initially seeing them, Draco's first intuition was that they were basilisks, but he was not frozen solid at this point.

"What are you?"

The creature closest to him seemed to sob. "We are damned!"

The other rolled his large eyes back and hissed. "Ssservantss to the undead. We are the lost ssssouls of innocent victims to the innnfamouss Vampire King."

This assured Draco that these snake-beings were not his enemies. They were allies, unless they were incredibly hungry, and a group of them would come overtake him. Out of fear, he asked, "Are there more of you?"

"Many more, but we are the only ones in thisss temple. We are the privileged guardianss of the Bloodsssstone. But we hate Blodsucan just as much as all of his ssservantss here, usss, his minionsss."

The less-composed snake wailed. She (Draco had assumed this one was a female) wrapped her long, thick body around Draco's legs. "You mussst destroy Blodsucan! As long as he livesss our souls will never ressst!"

"How, though? He isn't an ordinary vampire, and I could never kill anyone!"

"What kind of a Malfffoy are you?" The male hissed. "Besssides, you don't have to kill anyone. Jussst trap him."

"Trap him?"

"Yesss! In thiss realm!"

Draco thought for a moment. How could he possibly trick Professor Blodsucan into being stuck in his own realm? There was still the issue as to how he could help Lisha.

"All right," Draco said. "An ultimatum."

Both snakes raised their heads to Draco's eye level, listening.

"You give me access to the Bloodstone so I can help my friend. Then, I will return, and you can tell me how to get rid of Blodsucan."

The snake creatures hissed excitedly. "Finally, freedom for our pathetic souls!"

The less-composed snake unwrapped herself from Draco's legs, and quickly slithered over to the male. "Shall we, then?"

"Yesss."

Just as the two snakes had appeared mysteriously, so did, in between the two of them, a crystal goblet. Suspended in midair, just as he imagined, was a blood-red disk. It bled a crimson liquid steadily into the goblet, which was overflowing with the substance. That which dripped out of the goblet disappeared in a furl of smoke once it hit the floor.

"Take the goblet," the male snake ordered. "And be careful. For this is the only one of its kind, and the crystal used for it is very fragile and even more rare. Only Blodsucan has accessss to thiss form of crysstal. It is the only one which can contain the liquid from the Bloodssstone. Good luck, our sssovereign."

The snakes laughed maliciously. Without thinking, Draco turned around and ran in the direction from which he came, headed back towards the Port Key.