Disclaimer: Look! Look! *points gleefully* It's the official document saying that I own them all! Look, it's right there! That pig with wings has it in his mouth!
Warnings: Bit of blood and blood drinking, but nothing too bad. :)
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Smoke & Mirrors.
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Part Three. Same Old Things.
Draco looked around, his hand already resting on his wand. The Floo had brought him exactly where he asked, though he hardly wanted to be here. Everybody else in the 'establishment' was staring at him, mostly in wonder. He knew they were probably thinking he'd either ended up at the wrong place or he had jelly for brains. Some of the 'patrons' at the closest table stood up, clearly wanting to come over and meet him. But they stopped that idea when a voice spoke quietly to Draco's right.
"You've got balls, I'll give you that." Draco turned his head to look at the speaker, though he couldn't really be seen. "I can't think of a single other person I know who would come here when they know that there's a price on their head."
Draco smiled slightly. "Call me crazy, but I really love the food here. You should try the chicken."
The other gave a snort of laughter and stepped out of the shadowed corner he had been sitting in. "You've got balls, Malfoy, or rocks in your head, either one." He held out his hand, silently asking for Draco's.
Draco allowed his hand to be kissed and followed quietly when a tug indicated they were to go sit at the other side of the room, next to the working fireplace. He accepted the chair politely and sat down. "How have you been?"
Before the other could answer a large man came to stand next to their table. "What's going on here, Labyrinth?"
Draco looked to his companion. "Is there a problem?"
Labyrinth smiled and shook his head. "No, I see none. Problem, Gelric?"
"You invite him here, then expect us to say and do nothing about it?"
"I didn't invite him, but I have welcomed him. Go away."
Gelric seemed to have other ideas though and he wrenched Draco up by his robe. A soft snarl, a flash of light coupled with a gentle hum through the air and Gelric took a few steps back growling in pain and clutching his hand. Draco gently smoothed his robe down and used his boot to nudge away the two fingers that were now lying on the floor. Labyrinth returned his sword to where it had been leaning against the table and the two men sat down again.
The blonde took out a cigarette, waiting for his companion to indicate that he didn't mind before lighting it. "So, how have you been?" He blew the smoke out, towards the fire instead of into his friend's face.
Labyrinth gave a casual shrug, leaving its meaning to be determined. "Why are you here?"
"Did you hear about my father?"
"I heard bits and pieces and then a whole lot about a Dark Mark in the sky, above your home town. I assumed the rest from there."
Draco shifted, trying to get comfortable in the cheap chair. He nodded his thanks when a drink was brought over to him, ignoring that fact that it was blood. "I just need to know if it has anything to do with me."
Labyrinth shook his head, sipping his own drink. "No. It wasn't one of us, I can tell you that. There are whispers that the corpse looked ... drained, and yet we stop drinking when the heart stops. Too hard to bring it forth otherwise. Need the pulse to make unlife easier."
"Basically you're all just lazy."
The young man smiled bitterly. "Not all of us."
"Yeah, you came after me quite hard."
"I thought you left me there. I was angry."
Draco shook his head. "We've been over this, I did everything I could." He remembered the blood that had covered his hands as he tried to pull his friend to his feet and stop the bleeding at the same time. 'Hold on, we'll get you fixed up, it's not that bad, it's only a little bite.' He smoothed his fringe away from his eyes. "I didn't know she'd fed her blood to you already, or I wouldn't have taken you to St Mungos."
"It doesn't matter now." The tone of voice clearly stated that a new topic was needed.
"So my father's death had nothing to do with the slight grudge the underworld has against me?"
Labyrinth sipped his drink again, pausing to lick the small trace of blood left on his top lip. "You know better than that, Draco. It's not personal. They're only doing it for the reward."
"And to be the one to claim they brought down the famous Draco Malfoy."
The young man smiled, tipping his drink in a small salute. "Well, maybe a little of that as well."
"That would be personal."
"That would be your own fault."
Draco smiled for a second before continuing on. "Have you found out anything more about who has placed the hit?"
The other shook his head, watching his drink swirl around in his glass. "Even the most stupid of us know not to really tell me anything about all that. They know I meet you, and that I let you live each and every time. Some may not know who I used to be, but all they care about is that I'm different."
The two sat in silence for a few moments. Draco absently pushed his glass around the table. "You didn't come for my birthday."
Labyrinth gave a laugh, a real laugh and he rewarded Draco with a beautiful smile. "I thought it would be best. Close quarters, with all those heartbeats. Didn't want any little accidents happening." The smile faded as his dark brown eyes slid to Draco's neck. "You still have the scars." His voice was flat.
From habit, Draco reached his fingers up to the two marks on his throat. He remembered that night very well indeed.
'You'll fucking pay for what you did to me, Malfoy.'
'I only tried to help.'
'Bullshit, you left me there to die.'
Draco felt stinging pain in his neck as the hands on his shoulders tightened. His former, now dead, friend had crept up from behind and grabbed him, making him unable to turn around. He had gone to swing his sword around, but his arm had stopped when his brain recognised the voice. He knew he still should have carried the shot through but he didn't, guilt from the past rising up quickly. Instead he now dropped his weapon and reached his hands up to cradle the head by his neck. Even as he felt the blood being sucked from his body he didn't try to pull away. 'I did everything I could to save you. You were my friend.' He whispered, his fingers sliding through the soft hair of his attacker. 'I'm so sorry.' Pain increased as the other tore his mouth away, ripping the delicate skin even more.
'You betrayed me.'
Draco shook his head slowly, not wanting to aggravate the wound. 'No, I took you to the hospital. They said it was too late, that they'd burn your body before you rose. I stole you back, couldn't let them do that. You saved me, I saved you, I took you back to her, told her to train you.'
'Liar.'
And then the teeth were back, the mouth sealing over the wounds and sucking. Draco could feel himself starting to weaken. 'If you're going to kill me, take me with you. I'll make it up to you, I swear. I never wanted this. Gusjowi no, n' gsoipf. 'Au xisi n' dmutitv.' Draco muttered in the undead tongue. 'I told her to train, to keep safe, I took her finger as a warning.' He was almost unconscious by this point.
His attacker froze and then pulled away suddenly. 'What did you say? What did you take?'
'Her finger, her finger.' Draco repeated unsteadily. He could feel the spilled blood running down to his shirt, but for once he wasn't worried about his clothes getting stained. 'Tried to find you, had to say sorry. Been looking so long. Had to find you, came here for you.' His words were slowing down quite noticeably as his brain fought to think coherently. His hand was lifted and placed over his neck.
'Slow the bleeding.' The voice had lost it's accusative tone, was soft and gentle, almost guilty with the hint of fear. Draco absently thought that the cool breath across his ear was almost comforting. 'Keep your eyes open, Draco. Someone wants them shut.'
He half felt that he was being lowered to the floor and then his attacker took a step back. He vaguely heard someone shouting his name and his brain tried to focus. It knew that voice, could hear the worry in it. Softly, distantly, the voice called his name again and Draco unthinkingly stretched his hand out in the direction. 'Harry.' He whispered, feeling to dizzy and cold to say it any louder than that.
'He's here!' The voice behind Draco hollered and then all was silent in the room before Harry burst in and fell to his knees next to where Draco sat, still weakly holding his left hand to his neck.
'Draco? Draco?' The voice was still so distant, but it made Draco feel better as his eyes slipped shut.
"Why do you still keep them?"
Draco shifted his gaze back to his companion. "Keep what?"
Labyrinth sighed. "The scars, Draco, the scars. They can be removed, you know."
"I like to remember."
Labyrinth gave a snarl but Draco wasn't worried. "Have them removed. I hate to look at them."
"You thought you knew what you were doing and why you were doing it."
"I don't care, get rid of them."
Draco lowered his head in concession. "They'll be gone by the end of the week."
Again they fell into silence, and Draco continued to ignore how no one else, excepting Gelric, in the establishment had spoken since his arrival.
"You should drink your blood before it congeals." Labyrinth said, more to break the silence than anything.
Draco smiled lifting his glass. "I thought most undead pubs had a special ingredient to stop it from doing that?"
"It's just a figure of speech." Labyrinth motioned to the man in the corner, and the two glasses were taken away, only to have two more placed on the table. Draco sighed, causing Labyrinth to smile. "It's quite clean I assure you. Nothing but the best, for my guest."
Draco smiled. "I usually only like A positive."
Labyrinth's shoulders shook from his attempt to not laugh at Draco's causal, slightly snooty tone. "Just drink you're blood before it goes cold, it'll annoy them more." He flicked his head in the general direction of the other patrons.
Draco took a small sip, much to Labyrinth's shock. "It's all right I guess. Has a rather disturbing minty taste. What? Did you drain a leprechaun or something?"
Labyrinth was still staring in surprise and for the first time in almost five years he stumbled on his words. "Um, that's ... that's the anti-coagulant. You get used to it after awhile."
Draco nodded absently. "They won't tell me what happened to him."
"Who?"
"My father."
"Aurors can't work on cases that involve family."
"I know, and I hate it. I'd do better than them."
"Who has it?"
Draco scrunched his nose up. "Harry."
Labyrinth sighed. "Rumours of your ..... problems, have made their way, even to here."
"I'm sure everyone knows." Draco took another sip of his drink, noticing that his friend was right, the minty taste was barely noticeable at all this time.
"I always thought the two of you would be together forever. That what he did last year, only proved it."
"Can we not talk about him?"
"If you like. What will we talk about? You seem reluctant to leave."
"I just don't understand what's going on. My father and still, all the undeads out to get me. I wish I knew something, anything. The walls are closing in on me again. I hate it when they do that."
"You may have to go to another source for such things. I could give you a list of names, but how helpful they'll choose to be, I don't know."
Draco nodded.
"And it will cost you."
"Yeah, and there are only three things vampires are interested in." Draco recited automatically.
Labyrinth smiled. "Blood, money and sex." He leant forwards slightly. "Which are you offering?"
Draco gave a small smile. "All but the last."
"Pity."
Draco's gave flickered back to his friends face. "You never used to go that way."
"Ahh, but everything is different now." Labyrinth settle back into his chair. "You stop caring who it's with after awhile, only interested in how good it is."
"And what have you found in your little adventures?"
Labyrinth gave a smirk that truly reminded Draco of the old days. The vampire's voice was soft and deep when he spoke, and The blonde had a very good idea of how easily it must be for his friend to find a willing victim. "Male or female, humans are good. They're warmer and it tingles the skin. You can smell their heat ... the blood ... the lust. It fills the senses. You can hear their heart pounding. Always starts off slow, then racing by the end, and you can make it change all the time between that. Speed it up, then slow it down, letting them cool off. But sadly the heartbeat will be your downfall if you're not careful. Becomes to tempting to not just slow it down, but to make it stop."
"Always a risk to sex, no matter who it's with."
"True but that heartbeat .... I mean, take a look around you. They're all trying not to look at you, but you know that they are. We can all hear your heart, beating its own little tune and it's driving them crazy. Duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh. As perfect as a fucking metronome. They know you're not afraid of them and they hate it. They want you to reek of fear, and you refuse. They want your heart to race, to hitch, to stop and you won't give them the satisfaction." Labyrinth held his hand out, asking for Draco's and was granted it. He ran his fingers over the pulse. "You're one of a kind, Draco, you always were. You fascinate them and they hate you for it, they fear you and yet they still want you. You make them question everything they know, re-evaluate all the things they thought they knew about themselves. Do you know how confusing that must be for them?"
"Yes." Draco said quietly, knowing exactly what his friend meant. "I've been there before."
"Ahh yes. I had almost forgotten about him."
Draco looked away. "Can we not talk about him either?"
"You can't hide forever, Draco."
"I'm not hiding, I just choose to not think about it. We all had to make sacrifices, decisions. It was war, that's what it's all about. I finally made mine."
"Would you do it again?"
"Yes." Draco spat out, looking back and not letting his gaze waver. A smile played at his lips then. "In a heartbeat." He whispered softly.
Labyrinth laughed again, releasing Draco's hand. "I do enjoy our meetings, they make me feel almost alive."
Draco tilted his head slightly, not worrying that it gave some of the onlookers a tempting looking target. "Do I fascinate you?"
"I didn't need to be dead for you to do that. I'd watch you as you planned, as you led us in to battle. There was always something about you. You both hated and loved your life, your work, your situation. You did what you had to do, and you did it with that look in your eyes. Bright and dangerous. Anyone else would have broken under it all. Everything you'd already been through, all the things you'd already done and yet you kept going. Every single day."
Draco stared into the fire, knowing that wasn't exactly true. There had been many times he had almost faltered. Many times he'd almost cracked. Part of him was sure he had, just that no one had noticed. He took one last sip of his drink. "I should go."
"Yes." Labyrinth took out a piece of paper. "I knew you'd come to find me, whether it was here or not. I've already made the list for you."
"Thank you. What do you want for it?" Draco stood up, ready for whatever the answer would be.
"Consider it a birthday present."
"No. That would make you look weak in front of your ..... associates." Draco held his arms out to the side a little. "All but the last." He repeated. He saw the dark eyes slide to his wrist and smiled, offering it out to him.
Labyrinth looked away, shaking his head.
Draco step closer and held his wrist next to the turned away face. "Go on. I don't mind."
"You do it out of guilt."
"I do it out of friendship." Draco corrected firmly. "You know the deal. I don't kill you, you don't kill me ... we never speak of each other to anyone else."
Labyrinth turned his head back and gently gripped the arm in front of him.
Draco absently ran his fingers through the dark hair as he felt the teeth slide into his skin. It never hurt, his friend never wanted to hurt him again, he knew that. He felt the pull as the blood left his body and just held still.
Labyrinth pulled his teeth out gently and turned his head to look away again. "Don't keep the scars." He growled out, more disgusted with himself than angry at Draco for offering what he knew he couldn't refuse.
Draco placed his fingers on his friend's chin and forced the other to look back at him. He smiled and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I'll see you."
Labyrinth nodded as Draco walked away. He watched quietly as his old friend Flooed out. He closed his eyes and muttered a curse in the undead language. He and Draco had been dancing like this for too long. It would be the death of one of them. And they both knew it.
To Be Continued.
Warnings: Bit of blood and blood drinking, but nothing too bad. :)
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.
Smoke & Mirrors.
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Part Three. Same Old Things.
Draco looked around, his hand already resting on his wand. The Floo had brought him exactly where he asked, though he hardly wanted to be here. Everybody else in the 'establishment' was staring at him, mostly in wonder. He knew they were probably thinking he'd either ended up at the wrong place or he had jelly for brains. Some of the 'patrons' at the closest table stood up, clearly wanting to come over and meet him. But they stopped that idea when a voice spoke quietly to Draco's right.
"You've got balls, I'll give you that." Draco turned his head to look at the speaker, though he couldn't really be seen. "I can't think of a single other person I know who would come here when they know that there's a price on their head."
Draco smiled slightly. "Call me crazy, but I really love the food here. You should try the chicken."
The other gave a snort of laughter and stepped out of the shadowed corner he had been sitting in. "You've got balls, Malfoy, or rocks in your head, either one." He held out his hand, silently asking for Draco's.
Draco allowed his hand to be kissed and followed quietly when a tug indicated they were to go sit at the other side of the room, next to the working fireplace. He accepted the chair politely and sat down. "How have you been?"
Before the other could answer a large man came to stand next to their table. "What's going on here, Labyrinth?"
Draco looked to his companion. "Is there a problem?"
Labyrinth smiled and shook his head. "No, I see none. Problem, Gelric?"
"You invite him here, then expect us to say and do nothing about it?"
"I didn't invite him, but I have welcomed him. Go away."
Gelric seemed to have other ideas though and he wrenched Draco up by his robe. A soft snarl, a flash of light coupled with a gentle hum through the air and Gelric took a few steps back growling in pain and clutching his hand. Draco gently smoothed his robe down and used his boot to nudge away the two fingers that were now lying on the floor. Labyrinth returned his sword to where it had been leaning against the table and the two men sat down again.
The blonde took out a cigarette, waiting for his companion to indicate that he didn't mind before lighting it. "So, how have you been?" He blew the smoke out, towards the fire instead of into his friend's face.
Labyrinth gave a casual shrug, leaving its meaning to be determined. "Why are you here?"
"Did you hear about my father?"
"I heard bits and pieces and then a whole lot about a Dark Mark in the sky, above your home town. I assumed the rest from there."
Draco shifted, trying to get comfortable in the cheap chair. He nodded his thanks when a drink was brought over to him, ignoring that fact that it was blood. "I just need to know if it has anything to do with me."
Labyrinth shook his head, sipping his own drink. "No. It wasn't one of us, I can tell you that. There are whispers that the corpse looked ... drained, and yet we stop drinking when the heart stops. Too hard to bring it forth otherwise. Need the pulse to make unlife easier."
"Basically you're all just lazy."
The young man smiled bitterly. "Not all of us."
"Yeah, you came after me quite hard."
"I thought you left me there. I was angry."
Draco shook his head. "We've been over this, I did everything I could." He remembered the blood that had covered his hands as he tried to pull his friend to his feet and stop the bleeding at the same time. 'Hold on, we'll get you fixed up, it's not that bad, it's only a little bite.' He smoothed his fringe away from his eyes. "I didn't know she'd fed her blood to you already, or I wouldn't have taken you to St Mungos."
"It doesn't matter now." The tone of voice clearly stated that a new topic was needed.
"So my father's death had nothing to do with the slight grudge the underworld has against me?"
Labyrinth sipped his drink again, pausing to lick the small trace of blood left on his top lip. "You know better than that, Draco. It's not personal. They're only doing it for the reward."
"And to be the one to claim they brought down the famous Draco Malfoy."
The young man smiled, tipping his drink in a small salute. "Well, maybe a little of that as well."
"That would be personal."
"That would be your own fault."
Draco smiled for a second before continuing on. "Have you found out anything more about who has placed the hit?"
The other shook his head, watching his drink swirl around in his glass. "Even the most stupid of us know not to really tell me anything about all that. They know I meet you, and that I let you live each and every time. Some may not know who I used to be, but all they care about is that I'm different."
The two sat in silence for a few moments. Draco absently pushed his glass around the table. "You didn't come for my birthday."
Labyrinth gave a laugh, a real laugh and he rewarded Draco with a beautiful smile. "I thought it would be best. Close quarters, with all those heartbeats. Didn't want any little accidents happening." The smile faded as his dark brown eyes slid to Draco's neck. "You still have the scars." His voice was flat.
From habit, Draco reached his fingers up to the two marks on his throat. He remembered that night very well indeed.
'You'll fucking pay for what you did to me, Malfoy.'
'I only tried to help.'
'Bullshit, you left me there to die.'
Draco felt stinging pain in his neck as the hands on his shoulders tightened. His former, now dead, friend had crept up from behind and grabbed him, making him unable to turn around. He had gone to swing his sword around, but his arm had stopped when his brain recognised the voice. He knew he still should have carried the shot through but he didn't, guilt from the past rising up quickly. Instead he now dropped his weapon and reached his hands up to cradle the head by his neck. Even as he felt the blood being sucked from his body he didn't try to pull away. 'I did everything I could to save you. You were my friend.' He whispered, his fingers sliding through the soft hair of his attacker. 'I'm so sorry.' Pain increased as the other tore his mouth away, ripping the delicate skin even more.
'You betrayed me.'
Draco shook his head slowly, not wanting to aggravate the wound. 'No, I took you to the hospital. They said it was too late, that they'd burn your body before you rose. I stole you back, couldn't let them do that. You saved me, I saved you, I took you back to her, told her to train you.'
'Liar.'
And then the teeth were back, the mouth sealing over the wounds and sucking. Draco could feel himself starting to weaken. 'If you're going to kill me, take me with you. I'll make it up to you, I swear. I never wanted this. Gusjowi no, n' gsoipf. 'Au xisi n' dmutitv.' Draco muttered in the undead tongue. 'I told her to train, to keep safe, I took her finger as a warning.' He was almost unconscious by this point.
His attacker froze and then pulled away suddenly. 'What did you say? What did you take?'
'Her finger, her finger.' Draco repeated unsteadily. He could feel the spilled blood running down to his shirt, but for once he wasn't worried about his clothes getting stained. 'Tried to find you, had to say sorry. Been looking so long. Had to find you, came here for you.' His words were slowing down quite noticeably as his brain fought to think coherently. His hand was lifted and placed over his neck.
'Slow the bleeding.' The voice had lost it's accusative tone, was soft and gentle, almost guilty with the hint of fear. Draco absently thought that the cool breath across his ear was almost comforting. 'Keep your eyes open, Draco. Someone wants them shut.'
He half felt that he was being lowered to the floor and then his attacker took a step back. He vaguely heard someone shouting his name and his brain tried to focus. It knew that voice, could hear the worry in it. Softly, distantly, the voice called his name again and Draco unthinkingly stretched his hand out in the direction. 'Harry.' He whispered, feeling to dizzy and cold to say it any louder than that.
'He's here!' The voice behind Draco hollered and then all was silent in the room before Harry burst in and fell to his knees next to where Draco sat, still weakly holding his left hand to his neck.
'Draco? Draco?' The voice was still so distant, but it made Draco feel better as his eyes slipped shut.
"Why do you still keep them?"
Draco shifted his gaze back to his companion. "Keep what?"
Labyrinth sighed. "The scars, Draco, the scars. They can be removed, you know."
"I like to remember."
Labyrinth gave a snarl but Draco wasn't worried. "Have them removed. I hate to look at them."
"You thought you knew what you were doing and why you were doing it."
"I don't care, get rid of them."
Draco lowered his head in concession. "They'll be gone by the end of the week."
Again they fell into silence, and Draco continued to ignore how no one else, excepting Gelric, in the establishment had spoken since his arrival.
"You should drink your blood before it congeals." Labyrinth said, more to break the silence than anything.
Draco smiled lifting his glass. "I thought most undead pubs had a special ingredient to stop it from doing that?"
"It's just a figure of speech." Labyrinth motioned to the man in the corner, and the two glasses were taken away, only to have two more placed on the table. Draco sighed, causing Labyrinth to smile. "It's quite clean I assure you. Nothing but the best, for my guest."
Draco smiled. "I usually only like A positive."
Labyrinth's shoulders shook from his attempt to not laugh at Draco's causal, slightly snooty tone. "Just drink you're blood before it goes cold, it'll annoy them more." He flicked his head in the general direction of the other patrons.
Draco took a small sip, much to Labyrinth's shock. "It's all right I guess. Has a rather disturbing minty taste. What? Did you drain a leprechaun or something?"
Labyrinth was still staring in surprise and for the first time in almost five years he stumbled on his words. "Um, that's ... that's the anti-coagulant. You get used to it after awhile."
Draco nodded absently. "They won't tell me what happened to him."
"Who?"
"My father."
"Aurors can't work on cases that involve family."
"I know, and I hate it. I'd do better than them."
"Who has it?"
Draco scrunched his nose up. "Harry."
Labyrinth sighed. "Rumours of your ..... problems, have made their way, even to here."
"I'm sure everyone knows." Draco took another sip of his drink, noticing that his friend was right, the minty taste was barely noticeable at all this time.
"I always thought the two of you would be together forever. That what he did last year, only proved it."
"Can we not talk about him?"
"If you like. What will we talk about? You seem reluctant to leave."
"I just don't understand what's going on. My father and still, all the undeads out to get me. I wish I knew something, anything. The walls are closing in on me again. I hate it when they do that."
"You may have to go to another source for such things. I could give you a list of names, but how helpful they'll choose to be, I don't know."
Draco nodded.
"And it will cost you."
"Yeah, and there are only three things vampires are interested in." Draco recited automatically.
Labyrinth smiled. "Blood, money and sex." He leant forwards slightly. "Which are you offering?"
Draco gave a small smile. "All but the last."
"Pity."
Draco's gave flickered back to his friends face. "You never used to go that way."
"Ahh, but everything is different now." Labyrinth settle back into his chair. "You stop caring who it's with after awhile, only interested in how good it is."
"And what have you found in your little adventures?"
Labyrinth gave a smirk that truly reminded Draco of the old days. The vampire's voice was soft and deep when he spoke, and The blonde had a very good idea of how easily it must be for his friend to find a willing victim. "Male or female, humans are good. They're warmer and it tingles the skin. You can smell their heat ... the blood ... the lust. It fills the senses. You can hear their heart pounding. Always starts off slow, then racing by the end, and you can make it change all the time between that. Speed it up, then slow it down, letting them cool off. But sadly the heartbeat will be your downfall if you're not careful. Becomes to tempting to not just slow it down, but to make it stop."
"Always a risk to sex, no matter who it's with."
"True but that heartbeat .... I mean, take a look around you. They're all trying not to look at you, but you know that they are. We can all hear your heart, beating its own little tune and it's driving them crazy. Duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh. As perfect as a fucking metronome. They know you're not afraid of them and they hate it. They want you to reek of fear, and you refuse. They want your heart to race, to hitch, to stop and you won't give them the satisfaction." Labyrinth held his hand out, asking for Draco's and was granted it. He ran his fingers over the pulse. "You're one of a kind, Draco, you always were. You fascinate them and they hate you for it, they fear you and yet they still want you. You make them question everything they know, re-evaluate all the things they thought they knew about themselves. Do you know how confusing that must be for them?"
"Yes." Draco said quietly, knowing exactly what his friend meant. "I've been there before."
"Ahh yes. I had almost forgotten about him."
Draco looked away. "Can we not talk about him either?"
"You can't hide forever, Draco."
"I'm not hiding, I just choose to not think about it. We all had to make sacrifices, decisions. It was war, that's what it's all about. I finally made mine."
"Would you do it again?"
"Yes." Draco spat out, looking back and not letting his gaze waver. A smile played at his lips then. "In a heartbeat." He whispered softly.
Labyrinth laughed again, releasing Draco's hand. "I do enjoy our meetings, they make me feel almost alive."
Draco tilted his head slightly, not worrying that it gave some of the onlookers a tempting looking target. "Do I fascinate you?"
"I didn't need to be dead for you to do that. I'd watch you as you planned, as you led us in to battle. There was always something about you. You both hated and loved your life, your work, your situation. You did what you had to do, and you did it with that look in your eyes. Bright and dangerous. Anyone else would have broken under it all. Everything you'd already been through, all the things you'd already done and yet you kept going. Every single day."
Draco stared into the fire, knowing that wasn't exactly true. There had been many times he had almost faltered. Many times he'd almost cracked. Part of him was sure he had, just that no one had noticed. He took one last sip of his drink. "I should go."
"Yes." Labyrinth took out a piece of paper. "I knew you'd come to find me, whether it was here or not. I've already made the list for you."
"Thank you. What do you want for it?" Draco stood up, ready for whatever the answer would be.
"Consider it a birthday present."
"No. That would make you look weak in front of your ..... associates." Draco held his arms out to the side a little. "All but the last." He repeated. He saw the dark eyes slide to his wrist and smiled, offering it out to him.
Labyrinth looked away, shaking his head.
Draco step closer and held his wrist next to the turned away face. "Go on. I don't mind."
"You do it out of guilt."
"I do it out of friendship." Draco corrected firmly. "You know the deal. I don't kill you, you don't kill me ... we never speak of each other to anyone else."
Labyrinth turned his head back and gently gripped the arm in front of him.
Draco absently ran his fingers through the dark hair as he felt the teeth slide into his skin. It never hurt, his friend never wanted to hurt him again, he knew that. He felt the pull as the blood left his body and just held still.
Labyrinth pulled his teeth out gently and turned his head to look away again. "Don't keep the scars." He growled out, more disgusted with himself than angry at Draco for offering what he knew he couldn't refuse.
Draco placed his fingers on his friend's chin and forced the other to look back at him. He smiled and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I'll see you."
Labyrinth nodded as Draco walked away. He watched quietly as his old friend Flooed out. He closed his eyes and muttered a curse in the undead language. He and Draco had been dancing like this for too long. It would be the death of one of them. And they both knew it.
To Be Continued.