Many apologies for the late update – IT WASN'T MY FAULT – internet connection died for five days, very upsetting, suspect government conspiracy.
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As always I'll answer a few reviewers (randomly selected).
Lily – I will consider that pairing for my alternative version of this story (which will not be written until this version is done)
Kira Bartholomew – Same message as for Lily, I like both ideas.
Mephesto – there are reasons why Rahkesh would not want to become a vampire. They will become more obvious later on (his next year of schooling).
Shakai – there is a reason why Rahkesh hasn't felt anything from his scar, will be made apparent during his summer adventures.
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Chapter 25
It hit him out of nowhere; a raging vortex of magic that threw him off his horse and tumbling off the trail and down the mountainside. Rahkesh was vaguely aware of curling up to protect his head - then the magic attacked his mind. His mental shields were ripped apart as if they didn't exist and the foreign magic swept through.
His bloodmagic reacted, he could feel his skin burning as the power they channeled began to become visible and the runes began to glow. Sparks of magic darted through his body and across his skin, fighting uselessly against whatever was attacking him.
Whatever it was wrapped around his mind, separating him from his body, and then he felt it like the claws of some beast, shredding his magic.
Dimly he was aware that he was screaming and thrashing helplessly as he tried to fight off something that wasn't attacking him physically but magically. It felt a hundred times worse than the cruciatus curse and he felt his body, unable to handle the magical overload, start retching.
Many miles away the professors, and some students, of Akren Mountain School of Magic felt a great disturbance washing across their senses.
Rahkesh fought back, struggling against whatever was holding his mind captive. He struck again and again, trying to break free. Even half-insane with agony he still fought intelligently, never hitting the same place twice, searching for any weakness.
Gradually he became aware, through the blinding pain, that there were many presences, and they were searching his magic for something, and one of them wasn't quite as strong as the others. Rahkesh felt for that being's spot in the wall around his mind and attacked, crashing against foreign inhuman magic.
Whatever, whoever, was attacking him spread out, taking over his magic and trying to invade his mind. That last was enough shatter whatever control over his magic Rahkesh had left. No one was going to get into his mind, not after all the effort he had gone through to keep his identity and his secrets hidden.
Rahkesh channeled everything into an attack at one spot in that weaker presence, and felt it snap, and suddenly someone else was screaming as well, and the walls around his mind were crumbling away, setting his mind free to reconnect with his body.
Nearly unconscious Rahkesh now called on everything he had to throw whoever was attacking him away. As it had that day Diagon Alley, and the day the dragon had attacked him, and when the fae had attempted to put him into a coma, his magic responded.
The magical reaction set the ground shaking visibly, trees toppling, boulders rolling and avalanches cascading down the mountainsides. All around him the entire mountain range that surrounded Akren seemed to convulse, magically, and shake. The rocky treeless mountain tops crumbled apart, chunks of rock the size of mansions falling apart and dropping hundreds of feet. Cliffs fell off the mountains and a winter's worth of snow let loose and swept down into the valleys.
In her office Nvara Aelfly raised on delicate eyebrow at the magical disturbance and the shivering earth, and calmly tapped one of the glowing milky white orbs on her desk.
"Please tell me this is just another of your experiments gone wrong Tristan." She said politely, not the least bit panicked or worried.
"No. It's outside the valley, I can feel the presence of fae magic, but I sense a bloodmagic component to it too. I'm going to check it out. Contact Xanthius will you, tell him to meet me out there." Namach replied. The headmistress tapped another orb.
"Xanthius."
"Yes I felt it." The elf professor replied before she could ask, "I'm on my way out." Satisfied that her staff would handle whatever it was Aelfly cut the link and went back to sorting applications from prospective students.
Ripped apart by the foreign magics being channeled into his body Rahkesh lost any control over his magic and it went wild, thrashing as if in a seizure and attacking the foreign magics until they drew back and fled.
Then he was alone, his attackers gone. Rahkesh's vision blurred and went grey and he began to vomit helplessly as his body started to shut down from the overload. He was shaking uncontrollably and he could feel excruciating pain spreading from his left leg, he'd broken something in his fall down the mountain.
Then the presences were back, this time gentle, he felt the dimmest magic sweeping over his shattered mental shields, trying to calm him. Rahkesh attacked, striking out wildly, the magic vanished.
- Easy young one, be calm, we will not harm you - . The voice was in his mind! Rahkesh panicked at hearing the voice inside his head and promptly sent a blast of memory of a cruciatus curse to surround the presence. There was a pained cry and it vanished. Immediately other presences returned, trying to speak with him telepathically. Rahkesh fought, dimly aware that he wasn't being rational but too frantic to care.
-Stay out of my MIND!- He screamed, his voice sounding hoarse even telepathically. His body was going numb and the shaking was getting worse, there was blood on his hands, from his leg and his bleeding nose, and blood from the cuts made in his palms with his fingernails. There was blood running down his back and his back hurt horribly. He was in no state for the physical fight, but he could manage magically.
-Stop it child, if we wanted you dead-
-Get the fuck away from me!- Rahkesh shouted, trying to attack the mind of whoever it was, smashing up against impermeable walls. Rahkesh heard a mental sigh, exasperated. He shut down his mind as far as he could while still remaining conscious. Now he could feel nearly a dozen telepathic presences trickling across his senses, trying to talk to him, Rahkesh blocked them out and sent waves of acidic, painful magic at them when they got to close.
Magic surrounded him, then he felt everything shift, swirling colors and spinning air. Rahkesh opened his eyes.
He was surrounded by darkness; he couldn't see the floor, the walls, or the ceiling, not even his own hands in front of him.
"We had not intended to harm you." Someone said in a soft wispy voice.
"Right. Not." Rahkesh growled.
"We were testing your magics. We had not anticipated your mental walls being so substantial, or so strangely constructed."
"Why the FUCK are you testing my magics?" Rahkesh barked.
"You have shown unusual powers. Power no human should have. This was a new voice, louder than the first, with a strange lilt to it. Power no human should have. What? Rahkesh thought about it, and then remembered what Namach had told him after he had thrown off the fae's curse.
"We were merely examining your magic, we've never had such a reaction before." Another being said.
"Well if I have powers that no human should have it's a pretty safe bet my magic is a bit different from the norm, genius." Rahkesh snapped.
"No need to be rude."
"No need to be rude? No need to be rude? I'll give you rude!" Rahkesh roared, unable to believe what he was hearing. He lashed out again, screaming in pain as magic flooded out of him.
The uncontrolled magical attack forced them back, and Rahkesh felt himself fall face forward into the snow. He hadn't actually gone anywhere.
The presences returned, but then they halted, not contacting, not leaving, blocked by something. Rahkesh felt a firm hand on his shoulder rolling him over. He blinked snow away and opened his eyes.
Namach was kneeling beside him, while Professor Xanthius was drawing glowing symbols in the air with on finger. Answering symbols appeared from nowhere in response. Xanthius read them, then brushed them aside irritably and began writing again.
"Don't use your magic," Namach told him softly, "it's been overstressed." He stopped and backed off as Rahkesh tried to get up, and promptly collapsed with a cry when his leg gave out, and then started vomiting again.
"Xan, tell them to get the hell out of here, now." Namachdemanded. Professor Xanthius nodded and waved away the writing that was appearing, he raised one hand and sent magic after the vanishing letters. Rahkesh dimly felt a connection being established, and then was nearly shocked out of his skin at the scream of pain that emanated from empty air. Unable to close off his telepathy he felt the elf professor shoving the fae away and closing them off, then ripping into their magics, despite what must be an immense distance, and setting up blocks within their magic to stop them from trying again. The fae protested violently, but professor Xanthius brushed their attacks aside like he would a fly and continued despite the furious and desperate cries.
Seeing that Rahkesh was distracted by not being able to shut out the mind magic fight going on the vampire professor took the opportunity to set the bones in his leg. Rahkesh nearly fainted as the shards of broken bone slid back into place, and were fused back together magically.
"Kill you to use a pain relieving charm?' he hissed between gritted teeth when he could think again.
"You can't handle having that much magic working on you right now. And given the way a magically overload can change the body chemistry a potion is a very bad idea." Namach replied apologetically, casting cleaning and mending spells on him to remove the blood and vomit.
Professor Xanthius growled in annoyance as the fae began protesting their treatment again, and, magically, punched them, with a wave of one finger. Rahkesh felt the edges of the magic racing across his mind, and blacked out.
-
He woke lying on his bed in his rooms. Ally was sitting in one of the armchairs, stirring a cauldron set up on a box to keep the flames off the carpet. Daray, in full demon form, was being demon-like - and was stretched out on the thick, carved stone railing before the glass windows that opened onto the balcony.
The first thing that registered was how odd it was that the vampire wasn't on the couch.
Rahkesh tried to sit up, and felt his head spin and his vision blurred. He ignored it and pulled the pillow up behind him to lean on. After a few moments he could see again, but it would obviously be some time before he could attempt walking.
"How do you kill a fae?" He asked. Someone laughed softly, Daray grinned, showing a set of nasty fangs, and Ally smirked.
"I think Xanthius got there first." Namach said, from the couch, apparently he had usurped Daray's usual place. Which would explain why Daray was scowling at him and his tail was lashing like an irritated cats.
"What was up with that?' Rahkesh asked, his throat felt raw and he dropped his voice to a whisper.
Namach rose and walked across the room holding an open book with a bloodmagic rune, drawn in blood, probably his own, on the cover. "Elves and fae don't get along very well. He didn't kill them but they're probably in pretty rough shape magically."
"Those really were the fae then? How did they do that?" Rahkesh asked.
"Those were the fae elders, and they're easily powerful enough to reach all the way around the planet when they feel like it." Namach told him, handing Ally what appeared to be dried botuber seeds, and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"How'd he fight off all the fae elders?" Rahkesh asked, they were very powerful, but Xanthius had pushed them around as easily as if they were non-magical children.
"I can't answer that." Namach said simply. And Rahkesh realized he would never find out anything from the ancient vampire.
Sygra uncurled from around the headboard and settled on his knees. The snake glared him with narrow eyes and Rahkesh realized he was going to hear yet another round of "you can't take care of yourself so I ought to" from the serpent.
"Why'd they go after me?" Rahkesh asked.
"I warned you that throwing of the curse of an Amadan was likely to attract some high-level attention." Namach said. "And Haedil is the son of one of the tribal leaders. I contacted the fae elders the day before yesterday after we brought you back. Amazingly enough they've taken quite a liking to you and not only apologized but said that they'd like to meet you sometime."
"They didn't apologize to me, so I won't be accepting the invitation. And why do they like me? We barely met." Namach chuckled, Rahkesh got the impression he approved of the decision.
"Apparently they were rather impressed, and whatever they saw when they started sifting around through your soul, they liked." Namach explained with a shrug.
"They did WHAT?" Rahkesh yelped, trying to struggle upright, Namach flicked his fingers, and wave of magic pushed Rahkesh back against the pillows. Searching his soul?
"Relax Rahkesh; it's a little late to throw a fit about it. They couldn't get much from your mind, and they couldn't search through your magic either - not for lack of trying mind you – so they did a quick soul reading instead. Which you reacted extremely aversely to."
"That was the understatement of the century." Daray commented, from the couch, now that Namach had left. "The professor of stone magic says that earthquake registered around a 9 on the Richter scale."
"Erm, sorry?" Rahkesh said sheepishly.
"Don't be, Vaeryes broke his nose." Daray told him. Namach pretended he hadn't heard the comment about his colleague.
"Fortunately no one else was out there, and a little vampiric and elven telepathy kept anyone from seeing us return. And with the fae connected to you magically the magic causing the earthquake couldn't be felt as any one individual, nor as a human. And the draconic magic woke up and took part so anyone who's trying to find a source is very confused right now." Namach told him, "Your bloodmagic didn't not react very well."
"Yeah I felt that." Rahkesh muttered.
"The runes you've been doing are designed, subconsciously, so that they can become part of any soul magic or necromancy runes your attempt. As a result they manifest tiny amounts of soul magic. However the draconic magic your started showing didn't mix very well. Your bloodmagic runes have been slightly altered to accommodate the draconic magic and add it to anything else you attempt. Which is why it was so painful. It wasn't a properly prepared ritual, your skin just split along several new sets of runes, altered a few of the old ones."
"Will it affect my magic?"
"You won't notice any major difference in your magic, now that the draconic magic has mixed in it's there to stay. We sent a new set of blood samples to the healers and potions master. I think they'll find some fairly significant changes." Namach said. Rahkesh nodded and closed his eyes, he felt awful, and he didn't need to ask to sense that using magic would be a bad idea. Under the pretext of checking his injured leg and back Rahkesh felt around under the pillow. His tasers were there, and the exploding throwing stars he'd created a week before. The knives Fred and George had given him were in their sheaths attached to the bedposts and the staff given to him by the Chachapoyaro was currently in its spot, invisible, against the ceiling. Ally finished the potion and poured it into a large mug, then banished the rest.
"You'll need to drink all of that over the next few hours, it should help to heal your connection to your magic." Namach told him. Rahkesh wrinkled his nose at the astonishingly purple brew, and then drank some of it. It tasted like sea water, with milk gone bad.
"You'd think, after all the shit that happened to me during our battles with the Inca, I'd get used to this." Rahkesh muttered.
"Perhaps you should try another set of bloodmagic runes to strengthen your bones so they don't break as easily." Daray suggested.
"I'm working on the runes for one. The issue is that added bone strength usually means denser bones, which are heavier, I'm trying not to increase my weight. That makes it harder to fight." Rahkesh explained.
"You're lucky tomorrow is Sunday, by Monday you should be capable of a reasonable amount of magic." Namach said, "try to repair your mind magics a bit. I was going to have Xanthius help with that, but when he tried to touch your mind you went into a seizure and attacked him. Rahkesh blinked, and then nodded slowly, the vampire left, followed soon after by Ally. He knew he would have attacked the elf for trying to read his mind had he been conscious, apparently his subconscious had the same feelings about having other read his mind. That was good.
Rahkesh turned to the remaining vampire and raised an eyebrow. Daray glanced towards the door. A second later Silas came in and shoved his cousin's tail aside so he could sit. Daray hrumphed and transformed.
"I'm guessing you're not sitting around to see how well I'm doing." Rahkesh said dryly.
"No. We wanted to tell you that its started." Silas said.
"What has?"
"At noon today the master of London sent out a warning. There're some three hundred vampires under a century in age gathering around that dark wizard, whatever his name is, Voldemort." Rahkesh groaned, and looked around for a convenient wall to bang his head on. Fae, vampires, dragon blood, and he'd thought his life was complicated before coming to Akren to study.
"Soon enough there'll be a massive war amongst the vampires, and the mortals are throwing themselves in as well, or at least that dark wizard chap in Europe is." Daray said. "Now I know that what happens outside the valley shouldn't affect anyone here, but we all know that bullshit. Most of the vampires here are too young and not useful enough – they can expect to be killed almost anywhere in the world. And that is going to cause problems. We expected this war to come at some point. But the sides have changed with those mortals getting involved and adding another dimension no one anticipated."
"How much do you two expect to be affected?" Rahkesh asked.
"Not a whole lot." Daray answered, "We're a family of assassins and I have a feeling we'll gain from all sides. In fact I expect the family will profit immensely. We can both expect to gain a mastery in bloodmagic, and probably mind magic as well. Silas has a good chance at managing to get a potions mastery before graduation, I'm going into Necromancy and weapons training. And anyone who thinks we're not worthy of survival can take it up with our grandmother, and good riddance."
"Rianae?"
"She's safe enough. Here at Akren no one is likely to kill her. And she's developing a rare talent with thread magic, plus her other abilities. If she were to graduate right now with what she has she'd still have a good chance of living. Any city master would see the benefit of having someone that good with thread magic around. She'll probably manage a mastery in it sometime late next year, so she has little to worry about."
XXX
"I don't know what you did Rahkesh, but it worked rather spectacularly." Moody said as soon as the connection was established.
"Excuse me?" Rahkesh asked, he hadn't done anything recently.
"There was a massive explosion last night, potions lab blew up. The place was a site that we were monitoring as a center of high death eater activity. Whatever blew up in there killed fourteen death eaters. Now what was it?"
"What makes you think I had anything to do with it?" Moody blinked his one eye, and then stared hard at Rahkesh.
"I've become a supplier of rare potions ingredients. Snape was buying stuff so I tampered with it so it would explode. Fourteen dead?" Rahkesh finally admitted.
"Fourteen. And we had to modify over a hundred memories."
"Snape?"
"Not among the bodies, but they're not all identified yet. I expect he somehow got out alive." Moody said. Rahkesh nodded, he had had some small hope to catch Snape in the blast, but fourteen was very satisfactory. Especially since Snape would probably take some of the blame, and subsequent cursing, from Voldemort.
"I guess Nagini being killed would be too much to hope for?"
"Not a chance Voldemort would let his precious horcrux near potions." Moody agreed. "You're…friends…have been asking about you. They want to know what you're doing next year. They'll have graduated, and I think they want to join you or help the Order."
"I haven't spoken with them recently, what is happening?"
"I don't know a lot. Worrying about jobs right now. Hermione is seeking a position at a magical research place. Ron's going to try assisting his dad. Neville is finding something to do with plants I think."
"Sorry I missed it all."
"I imagine you find the crowd at Akren more to your liking."
Rahkesh sighed and nodded, he was long past hoping to reconnect with his friends. Things would never be like they had been. He'd changed too much. And he liked the change, enjoyed his new life and his new friends. There was something about what he'd found at Akren, freedom, independence, self-reliance, something else, something that had been missing before. Perhaps it was the ferocious quality of life, whatever it was he wouldn't leave it, couldn't. And no force on earth was going to make him give up Ally, Daray, Silas, Rianae, and, increasingly of late, Tyler. Or the magic, maybe it was the magic that he'd found. Or the lack of rules and restrictions. Kill only when necessary, and possible, and do it well.
"Addictive isn't it?" Moody asked softly, as if he knew exactly what Rahkesh was thinking.
"Yeah. Why'd you give it up?"
"Voldemort. Killed my mother on her vacation. I wanted to help, had the skills, joined the aurors, and met Dumbledore. The rest is history. Once Voldemort was gone I went back, hunted top members of the human slave trade. Never killed, gathered information. Little old for that now."
"The kind of life I'd prefer. Seems I'm more likely to wind up trying to keep world stability between the various magical species. After Voldemort." Moody raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"God help you lad. They'll tear you apart."
"Been trying that. Think I can handle most of them. Back to Voldemort though, Regulus come back yet?"
"Yeah. And Shacklebolt, Mundungus is dead. Suicide in Germany."
"Suicide eh?"
"No one investigated too closely."
"Huh. Horcrux wasn't with him."
"Nah."
"Long shot hope. Regulus?"
"The cup is at the Riddle place. Not the manor. Underground hideout big enough to house a hundred death eaters somewhere on the property."
"Cave system, the place is built on a hill. Perhaps we should look into some creatures that dwell in caves, send a few of them in, and see who comes running out screaming." Rahkesh suggested with an evil grin. Moody chuckled.
"Nice thought. When will you be around next?"
"Not until summer break, things are getting a little hectic. Vampiric war." Moody nodded.
"I've been checking in with my old pals, sounds pretty rough. You contacted Andrew Farov."
"He was a suggested contact if I wanted to meet the vampires back home."
"And advisor to the master of London."
"That too."
"He's known to keep human slaves, preferably male ones."
"I'm aware of that, I'm not pretty enough, young enough, or short enough for him. Can't say I'm worried much, besides Namach eating him there're a few other old ones who I know and who would not approve. Cyala Ateres for one."
"I thought you were joking when you said you were going to wind up working on interspecies connections." Moody said, eyes going very wide at the mention of the ancient matriarch of the Ateres assassins.
"Unfortunately not. The fae elders went and tested my magic, and did a soul reading, a few days ago, nearly killed me. Now they want to meet me in person. I told them they could stuff their offer where the sun doesn't shine until they apologize." Moody flung his head back and howled with laughter.
"I bet they don't hear THAT very often!"
"If the awed looks I'm getting from the ambassadors children say anything, no they don't hear that very often." Rahkesh agreed. The fae Justin and his older sister both attended Akren, and while they didn't advertise just how high placed they were in fae society it was not hard to check the names of the known fae elders and politicians against the list of Akren alumni and current students.
"Regulus and Remus are going to work catching death eaters and questioning them. I'll keep you updated."
"Thanks."
"You should be aware, there's a movement going on to get rid of vampires. That happens every few decades, but this would be a bad time to upset them."
"Thanks, I'll start asking around. We're doomed"
"We were doomed the day some asshole decided werewolves and vampires were dark and evil." Moody corrected him.
Moody closed the link and the sheet went blank. Rahkesh folded it and put it in a drawer. Why hadn't politics been such a big deal at Hogwarts? Life had been much easier then. Realizing that he was calling the worst dark wizard of the last century wanting him dead easy Rahkesh rubbed his eyes and told himself he'd gone completely insane.
XXXX
"First year students do not belong here. The rest of us had to work for years to get into this class, why should they have it any easier?" Rahkesh listened to the werewolf's complaints with half an ear. Some people just didn't get it, at Akren it didn't matter how many years you'd been training; you went where your skill level placed you.
"Oh go read the class placement guidelines." Haedil snapped irritably. After getting over the shock of Rahkesh managing to throw off his curse the black eyed Amadan had stopped complaining about them being in the class. Apparently doing the impossible made a positive impression. The other fae didn't bother him either. And Rahkesh had yet to reply to the fae elder, since they had yet to send him any actual apology. He knew he was being a little too stubborn about it, but he was sure it was making an impression on them.
"Class dismissed, and do go read the placement guidelines Benjamin, I grow weary of your whining." Vaeryes growled, the werewolf left in a hurry. There was not a single rule protecting the students of Akren from their professors if they annoyed them. The class filed out of the room with only a few glares at the three younger students. Daray gave them all the finger and Rahkesh flicked tiny bits of electricity at the glaring student's feet, sending shocks through their shoes and numbing their toes. The three didn't bother hiding their amusement when their classmates tried not to jump at the shocks. Rahkesh ducked as the vampire sitting beside him bumped into his chair "accidentally" and tried to hit the pressure point at the back of his neck. He pressed a taser against the vampire's groin and set off a low burst. The vampire screamed and leaped away, before stumbling to the ground. Daray and Silas made sure to step on his hands as they walked out. Vaeryes ignored the whole thing.
The vampires in their class let Daray be, but Silas had gone home a bloody mess one evening after getting attacked by two of the vampires in their class, after he finished yet another set of runes that increased his healing speed. That had been two days before and one of those two vampires hadn't been in class since. A ruptured spleen, cracked skull and a knife through the appendix was something that even a vampire would take time to heal from. The other vampire had been several years older and much more powerful than Silas, and Silas had still managed to remove one of his eyes. Though Rahkesh suspected that the other vampire had managed to defeat Silas, Silas hadn't said anything and whoever his opponent had been he wasn't bragging much, loosing an eye is not very dignified. And he couldn't claim he'd beaten Silas on his own, so the victory meant little. Since then Daray had kept an eye on his cousin, who didn't appreciate being looked after. Rahkesh had pointed out that all you really needed to win a fight was a very good grasp of the summoning spell. Summoning off a limb or an eye, or blood, would usually give any opponent pause.
Daray had taken to actively hunting down every vampire in Akren, one by one. Starting with the weakest, and drinking their blood as he went. He was intent on attaining a position where none of them would ever bother him, if not being the active leader of the Akren vampire students. Since no one ever admitted to fighting him no one but Rahkesh, Silas, Rianae, and Ally were aware he was doing it. How he kept them all from talking was something Rahkesh had yet to figure out. Rianae and Silas knew, but they refused to say. Something about Ally and Rahkesh probably not approving. Which, according to Ally, meant he was either fucking or cursing them afterwards. Rahkesh opted for both.
Either way it was working fine and Daray used his new position to intimidate the weaker vampires into behaving themselves. And to pick out the best of them and bring them along by training them and arranging opportunities for them to fight and defeat each other, slowly gathering a network of allies (though not friends) who he could rely on.
Rahkesh managed to stay far away from his friend's political maneuvering and concentrated on his studies, and trying to guess where the world was headed. Mostly downhill.
He'd actually had some hope left for his homeland, but the day Justin came into the dining hall waving a copy of the Daily Prophet and shouting to his friends that Europe had banned vampires, Rahkesh realized that things were rapidly getting completely out of control.
"What do you mean, banned vampires?" Caroline, the current alpha-vampire (Ally's term for it) of Akren asked loudly as the dining hall went silent.
"The European countries finally joined up with the others who are banning vampires!" Justin said, copying the newspaper and throwing her a copy. He sat down at the table next to where Rahkesh and his friends were eating and handed them a copy. Rahkesh copied his and sent it on to the next table and soon the hall was very quiet as the students read what had happened.
Some Ministries of Magic Offer Bounties for Vampires – Others Say No
Rahkesh glanced through the article, feeling sick. The dining room was very quiet as the student read the Daily Prophet.
Vampire Bounties are Offered in: United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic,Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea.
Countries Not Offering Bounties: Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Romania, Finland, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.
Other countries are still undecided as vampires, long banned in many places throughout the Middle East and Eurasia, arefinally banned in the United Kingdom and France. Most of the countries not offering bounties for vampires have been long-time supporters of vampire freedom and are clearly being pressured into remaining safety-areas for vampires, despite increasing evidence that the vampires are getting ready to attack humanity.
Just a little dramatic. Rahkesh thought, "attack humanity", they made it sound like the vampires wanted to wipe out the human species, which clearly would not benefit the vampires any. He could just imagine what a fit the old ones in Europe throwing. He was sure Shacklebolt had tried, but the Ministry seemed intent on starting a confrontation. Funny, he had thought the new Minister a bit more intelligent than that. Perhaps it was time to start seriously pushing his old friends to get out of the country, preferably somewhere far away. Like Mexico.
"My Uncle Grath and Aunt Vera took an assignment to find out who is pushing this anti-vampire thing, and kill them." Daray mentioned, folding the paper unconcernedly. "That was a week ago, after the vote for this idea they'll know exactly who to remove." Rahkesh tried to feel sympathetic for his fellow humans, but was not surprised when he didn't feel anything but disgust.
"Good riddance." He muttered, wondering yet again when he'd changed so much. "Make it look like natural death?"
"No, we're blaming Voldemort."
"What are they getting from it?"
"A small herd of black unicorns. Very, very rare. The family owns a lot of land, and now that we've finished acquiring magically removed and hidden land grandmother says it's time to start building up in other areas. Akren owns two black unicorns, the fae own a few herds, but in total there are less than five thousand of them in the world. And even fewer of breeding age, close to fifteen percent of the black unicorns alive today are too old."
"I thought the elves owned them all."
"No, different unicorn species. Black unicorns are, obviously, all black, while the others are all white. The third species is owned exclusively by the elves and no one knows what they look like." Silas corrected. "You're from someplace in Europe, though you refuse to tell us where. I'd suggest you contact your family and friends and tell them to run."
"I did. They didn't listen I'll go back over the next weekend I guess." Rahkesh said. he'd been hoping to finish another piece of bloodmagic and begin growth enchantments on his Dylanos tree. That would have to wait, however difficult their separation making an effort to help his friends and their families came first. Not that they would listen any better now. Ron would probably agree with the bounties being offered. Ron wanted riches, he'd probably be dreaming of becoming a vampire hunter and refuse to believe anything Rahkesh…Harry…said. Maybe Neville and few of the others would hear. Luna. They would know he wouldn't tell them to leave unless he truly believed that they were facing death. Or enslavement, which was probably about as bad.
"You know the European Ministries, what chance do you think they have?" Tyler asked.
"Almost none. The young vampires are helping a wizard who wants to rule the world, the old ones are so angry they're probably causing earthquakes, and the average person there can't fight off a housecat." Rahkesh said, "And the average vampire is tough to kill and knows how to defend him/herself."
"Aren't there old treaties that forbid this?" Ally asked. Rahkesh nodded, he had looked into that when he'd contact Andrew Farov.
"Yes, supposedly vampire can do whatever they please, so long as any humans they kill or enslave attacked the vampires first. And they can only feed on muggles." Rahkesh said, "but the Ministries have been breaking the treaty for decades."
"And they just threw it out the window." Daray said, suddenly starting to grin.
"Which means that there's no agreement, and nothing giving the vampires any pause." Rahkesh said, nodding again , "what's so amusing?"
"If the humans got rid of the only rule stopping vampires from enslaving or killing or feeding on them, perhaps I will take a trip to Europe and go hunting." Daray said, "I've never been there, and it currently seems to the world's best hunting ground. Magical blood and no one to stop you or put up much of a fight."
Rahkesh winced; he had a feeling that many would feel the same way Daray did. There would undoubtedly be a massive influx of vampires. Magical blood was much better than muggle blood, and while most places had agreements going back centuries all of those countries had just freely removed their only protection. Though North Korea had never had any such treaty in the first place. The rest of them were just begging for slaughter.
"And perhaps my mother will let me get a few human slaves now." Rianae said thoughtfully. "She's been against slavery for a long time, but after this…Some really despicable mortal. Maybe two." And Rahkesh remembered how Daray and Silas had gone after the mortals they termed "despicable" while hunting in Brazil.
"Why only the despicable ones?" Ally asked.
"Because you don't enslave people you respect. And you don't feed off of intelligent, rational, useful people. We only go after those we don't like. That's true of all vampires, feeding on a doctor isn't as much fun as feeding on someone who's a racist. It just isn't. Unless the doctor is a racist." Rianae explained. "Personally I have a fondness for those who think vampires are evil, dark, nasty creatures."
Rahkesh gritted his teeth, and decided that he really needed to have a chat with Ron. Not that his friend would listen, but maybe the rest of the family would. Perhaps he should introduce Ron to his new friends, so he could see for himself that vampires weren't horrible, that was the only way Ron was capable of learning. But of course Ron would give away who Rahkesh was…had been…whatever. Then again, if he had to choose, Ron was probably better off as a slave than dead. Not a choice Rahkesh ever wanted to make, but his friend was living in one of the most dangerous places on earth, on the loosing side, and didn't know it.
Ron might be a lost cause, but he was sure his older brothers would listen, and his mother and father. Ron was likely to be the only holdout. Unfortunately he didn't have time to go back that day, he'd have to wait until Friday afternoon. The vampires wouldn't have really started yet by then though. He had a little time.
"Do you think this dislike of vampires and werewolves will spread to the fae?" Justin asked them. Rahkesh choked on his orange juice.
"Yes." He answered, putting down his glass and fork. He hadn't even thought of that. It would spread, of course it would. Centaurs, werewolves, vampires, of course the fae would be next, whether they were any threat or not.
"You realize what will happen if they write laws against fae." Daray said. There were a lot of fae around, though few mortal magic users knew of them at all. Since the wizards and witches were generally oblivious of other species, especially in the places most likely to ban them.
"I'm more worried about what will happen if they write laws against all magical beings." Rahkesh said, attracting the attention of the surrounding tables, "because that would include the elves."
There was a very long silence around the table, and those sitting nearby.
"Looks like the mortals here in Akren might wind up the last of their species." Justin said finally, "sucks to be you."
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Okay have to end it there. I apologize again for the slow update, it wasn't my fault. Can't get a reliable internet connection. Blame the government, blame the aliens, whatever. Personally, I think the tiny little beings that live inside the computer and make it work went on vacation.
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At some point I'll get around to explaining the difference between the fae and the elves, they are different species. But first I have to decide what the real difference is.