Just finished season 2 of Rick and Morty! I'm so sad :(

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.

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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2015
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Chapter 45: The Crimson River

Get to the Crimson River in East London.

Kill vampires.

Try not to die.

Save people.

Sounded simple enough, right? Well, okay, getting there would be the really easy part, sure. We were already practically there, in fact. A simple use of Google Maps, had given us the quickest road to the vampire lair.

My burgeoning nerd sense almost howled in glee from the depths of my soul. I was about to raid yet another dungeon, with the first being Temen Ni Gru.

Granted, Temen Ni Gru wasn't exactly a dungeon, but the term "dungeon", itself, implied something a little different in the gaming industry.

I supposed "instance" was a more appropriate term than "dungeon", but people were people, at the end of the day; immensely set in their ways, and extremely resistant to any form of change that would upset the balance of their lives.

So, even a gigantic Demonic tower like Temen Ni Gru was referred to as a stinking dungeon.

Wrap your heads around that one, folks.

Anyway, where was I, again?

Oh, right. The mission of killing Red Court vampires while simultaneously managing to stay alive. A teensy weensy bit more difficult than just finding their lair, but still quite feasible.

No matter how much I hated the amoral scientists that modified my body in Metropolis, I had to admit to myself— albeit very reluctantly— that they had strengthened me in ways I did not fully comprehend.

For one, I was so much stronger, my base strength level on par with that of my Strengthening Solution level back when I was fighting against Lilith. As if that wasn't enough, I had gained a degree of flexibility that made most contortionists green with envy.

It wasn't something I really noticed, until I had to dodge bullets and my body began to bend and twist in impossible ways, without any strain whatsoever. It was only later, that I had realized what I was capable of doing.

"Almost inhuman, isn't it?" Erebus whispered from within the depths of my mind.

I bit off a scathing reply, partly because I did not want to startle my companion Clark, and partly because, well…

Erebus was right.

He hit the nail on the head.

It always came back to that. Inhuman; so different from the majority of the population.

Growing up, I had always known— whether consciously or unconsciously— that I was different from all of the other kids my age. I picked up on things a lot faster, I understood a lot more.

Perhaps it is arrogant of me to say so, but this is how I felt.

That talent had shown its face when I had become the Gryffindor Seeker in my first year at Hogwarts.

Aside from training to catch the snitch— obviously— Oliver Wood also had me observing my surroundings as much as I could, keeping a keen eye out for the snitch.

After a while, I realized I could apply it outside of practice.

I began observing.

Watching people, learning.

Motion, momentum (both linear and angular), and acceleration.

It was only recently that I was able to put my thoughts into words— I had never known exactly what these things were called, but my mind understood the way things worked.

I got good at it. So good, that my body could no longer keep up with my brain, no matter how hard I had tried. I was not strong enough. Not fast enough.

Like with Cedric; if he ducked, or moved to his right, he would have lived. If I could knock him down, he wouldn't have died.

Make sense?

Remember when I talked about how you couldn't instantly become the best at dodging and avoiding projectiles?

One mistake, and you would be missing a hand or a leg— in some cases, even your head.

Getting the timing perfect, and using the correct amount of forced to get you in the attack's safe zone (if there even was one such thing) was incredibly more difficult than people made it look.

At least, it would have been. Between gaining my Lightning Dragonslayer powers, and being modified by the scientists at Metropolis, I figured that my body was finally able to slightly keep up with the speed of my mind.

I wasn't really sure how much of it was Balthazar's natural abilities, and how much of it was the liquefied meteor rock running through my veins.

§Focus.§ The snake in question chided gently, the scales on my arm warming up slightly.

§Hard to focus when you're getting carried by a man like a sack of potatoes.§ I hissed back, a little petulantly.

Maybe I forgot to mention, Clark was basically carrying me as he sped through the streets, following the printed out map as best as we could.

We took a few wrong turns, here and there, but thanks to my ingenious, super-secret method of stopping and asking some ladies for directions— and somehow not getting maced in the face in the process, must have been my good looks, of course— we managed to get back on track.

Ten minutes later, and we were standing in viewing distance of the building in question. It looked nondescript enough, easily fitting in with its neighboring structures.

Almost nothing stood out, except the bright red sign at the base, complete with detailed drawings of luscious, red lips, and other things of… sexual nature.

Clark threw me off of him without warning.

I managed to catch my footing, somehow, and scowled at his amused form.

"We're here." He said, cutting off any scathing words I could have said, and gave the place behind me a significant look.

I turned, and took in the view. Shadows loomed everywhere, bathing the street in which we stood in darkness. In fact, if one looked close enough, it seemed as if the shadows were alive, somehow.

Or maybe it was just a trick of the feeble street lights around us.

I took a step forward, and hesitated.

"What if this isn't the right place?" I wondered.

"No, this is the place." Clark said, glaring at the building as if it had killed his puppy.

How did he— Oh, right, x-ray vision.

"What do you see, in there?" I asked, hearing the telltale pops of wizards nearby. I gave them a quick glance, making sure they were the people we were waiting for.

Indeed, it was them, standing there looking like an actual badass team: Sirius, Bill, Tonks, Ron and Hermione.

I was surprised at the last addition. Hermione was an emotional wreck, but I guessed that giving her the cloak was the right call.

I gave them a nod and reached out with my energy, a tendril of bluish-white Lightning quickly latching on to the contours of the building itself.

That's when I felt it: powerful, old. My muscles seized up of their own accord, rooting me to the spot.

I felt fear. Wait, no…

That wasn't quite right. It was this place, it reeked of fear; no, terror. I could also feel so much pleasure, pain, and an impossibly powerful Hunger. A hunger for blood, for human blood.

A desire to overpower beings less than themselves.

To show them how depraved they truly are, so they understand who they belong to.

"What the hell are these things?" Clark said, his voice causing me to shudder as I tried to shake off these feelings.

I gulped, the saliva going down my esophagus with great difficulty, before I stopped channeling my power, reining it inwards.

Immediately, my muscles relaxed, and the cool air of the night rushed into my lungs, providing me with sweet relief.

I sighed.

"If there was any doubt before…" I said. "This quashes it. This place is old, and evil. The only thing this remotely reminds me of is…"

I considered my words, before nodding. "Mundus. He felt similar to these things."

"So many bodies." Clark said, his eyes moving downwards as he tried memorized the layout of the place. "They just left them there to rot, like trash!"

I cringed on the man's behalf. At least he was only seeing an x-rayed version of the depravity. I shuddered to think how he would react if he saw the states of the bodies in full technicolor.

"Do you understand, even just a little now, Kent?" I said slowly. "This is the difference between our worlds. You wondered why I was so willing to kill. Take a look at what I have to deal with."

"I didn't know it would be so bad." Clark said, closing his eyes and deactivating his x-ray vision.

I gave a wave to my fellow wand-wizards, beckoning them over. A few seconds passed, and we all began to plan.

"So how do we want to do this?" Sirius started, nodding to me. Everyone gave me their attention.

"The main objective is to wipe out every single Red Court vampire this place has got." I explained. "The secondary objective is to save all of the thralls under the control of these vampires."

"Sirius, Bill, Ron, Tonks. Your job." I continued. "Is to find spots at the four corners of the building, make sure to kill off any vampires that try to escape. This way we cover any possible they have in the physical world."

They nodded, before Apparating with soft pops. Ron gave Hermione a hesitant look, before shaking his head and taking his position.

I guessed he didn't learn how to Apparate yet.

Neither did I.

"Don't worry about me, Harry." Ron said calmly. "I've been learning a lot from Sirius and fighting the Death Eaters."

"Wasn't even concerned." I grinned back. "You know I've got full confidence in you, ever since that stupid troll in our first year."

Ron nodded, but didn't smile.

"What do I do?" Hermione asked a little nervously. I eyed her for a second, and replied.

"You've got the Cloak on you?" I asked. She responded by pulling the cloak out of a pouch similar to mine, before donning it, all but invisible to the world around us.

"Awesome." I spoke to her last known position. "Your job is to follow Clark and I into the building and stun all the thralls silently. It doesn't have to be silent casting, just low enough not to be found."

"I am able to cast spells silently." Hermione said.

"Good. That makes things easier for you." I noted with a smile. "Clark, you basically carry all the incapacitated thralls out of the building as fast as you can."

"You— will be fighting them all." Hermione's incredulous voice came. "Alone?"

"You're taking care of the thralls, remember?" I pointed out. "Plus, not every room will be filled with thralls, you know. You just might get to do battle, yourself."

"Come on, let's get this done." I smacked my fist against my palm.

"Joy." Clark said wryly, though I could tell he was itching to fight, as well. Whatever he might have seen down there must have shaken him.

We walked toward the building's front door, hearing the muffled sound of rave music.

I pushed the door open, and in we went, the music physically impacting my body. That was how loud it was.

I had never been to a night club, before. I figured it was something I'd never get comfortable doing, partly because of my upbringing, and partly because of my own gamer's mentality.

Better to stay at home and just play games, right?

Still, there was something about this place, aside from the evil it was drenched in. The music itself; it excited me.

It was fast paced, random, and reverberated through my entire body.

I took a breath, my sensitive sense of smell picking up the smell of alcohol, sweat, and cigarette smoke.

We stood in a rather small, but brightly lit hallway. Another set of doors were in front of us, leading into a large, dark chamber, filled with flashing lights and the partygoers.

There was a guard at the front, looking at Clark and I with an unnerving blank gaze.

"My apologies." He droned in a monotone, Russian accent. "But none are allowed in here this night."

"Really?" I said skeptically, pointing at the crowd just ahead of us. Something else hit my nose— the smell of freshly spilled blood. "Did those guys get an invitation, then?"

The guard followed the direction my finger was pointing at, and it was all we needed. Hermione shot off a silent stunner.

The red beam of light hit the bouncer, and he fell over, already unconscious.

Clark caught him before he hit the floor in order to avoid any commotion before speeding out of the building, the stupefied man in tow.

Seconds later, he returned.

"Guess something's going down tonight." I noted. "I don't know what we've just stumbled on, but the plan is still the same."

I heard a quiet whisper of 'yes' from the invisible Hermione, and Clark didn't make any sound of acknowledgment, merely nodding instead. I took the lead, entering the large, dark chamber.

"How are we going to get all of these people out?" Clark said next to me.

I didn't answer immediately, instead choosing to survey my surroundings.

In the middle of the chamber, there was a large dance floor, filled with men and women in questionable clothing, just having a good time.

Next to the floor, there was a DJ, stringing beats together like a pro.

There were some couches off to the side. A few people snuggled on them, kissed, and even bit each other. The smell of the blood was strong from there.

The people doing the biting— vampires, I realized— lingered just a little bit too long after each bite, sucking as much as they could before moving on elsewhere, their victims not even putting up a fight.

They didn't want to.

"Pretend you're part of the crowd." I told the older man. "I'll cause a commotion, and you pretend you're the hero who herds them out. Come back when you're done."

Clark nodded a little hesitantly, before breaking off into the crowd.

"Hermione?" I called out, the music as loud as ever.

"Here." The girl in question answered from my left.

"Go to the right." I ordered. "Don't show your hand unless I call for help, okay?"

"O-okay." She said, sounding a little shaky.

"Don't worry, Hermione." I said with a grin. "I've changed a lot since school."

I moved to the other side of the crowd, pretending I was mingling. I got a few stares from some scantily clad girls, but I ignored them as best as I could.

After seeing beings such as Mab and Lilith, these girls were nothing to me.

I stood there for a few moments, and took a deep breath.

Then I pointed my hand at the DJ's equipment, and sent a Lightning bolt racing towards it. It engulfed the expensive machinery, frying all the circuits inside.

Thousands of dollars, just gone.

I almost felt bad. Almost.

The music suddenly stopped, and so did the people, who then began muttering amongst themselves.

"What's going on?"

"Did we lose power?"

"No, the lights are still on."

I pulled out my wand, and flicked it to the side. A loud bang was heard, reminiscent of the sound of a gunshot.

The effect was almost immediate.

A few women screamed. A few men even joined them. Heh.

"He's got a gun!" I heard Clark's voice over the rest. "We have to get out of here! This way!" The people were only too eager to comply.

Those that didn't were encouraged by more flicks of my wand, the loud gunshot-like noises booming in the large chamber we all stood in.

A few moments later, and the dance floor was empty.

A few people still sat in the sofas, their eyes glazed over, unseeing. Likely drugged up by the vampires' saliva. Next to them, stood five of the monsters.

Blood trailed down each of the monsters' chin. They had been feeding, and didn't look too happy about being interrupted.

Tough luck for them, I supposed.

"So." The one in the middle stepped forward threateningly. "Who are you? I just want to get your name right so the boss knows what idiot was stupid enough to dare attack us in our own stronghold."

I didn't even bother taking in his features; he would soon be dead, anyway. My wand went back into one of my many pockets.

"Well?" The guy asked again.

I began to channel my power in preparation for a fight. Lightning answered to my call, rushing out of my reservoirs of power and into my muscles and nerves, supercharging them beyond human limits.

One step, I was already halfway to the vampire in the middle.

"Edge!"

I reached him, and thrust my scaled right arm at the monster's midsection. A furiously spinning drill of Lightning formed around my right hand, easily piercing through the monster's flesh mask, and the hide from within.

It was a weird sensation, piercing through two skins. It was like he was wearing the first skin as a jacket, or something. Just thinking about it made me sick to my stomach.

My arm went out of his back. I was rewarded with a loud, choking sound, followed by the vampire's body going limp in my arm.

No more energy for you!

I quickly pulled my arm out of the vampire's stomach, and used him to shield myself from the onslaught of his fellow vampires.

They swung and swung with their claws, having shed their flesh masks as soon as I had launched my attack. A few seconds later, they leapt back, and I threw the body aside.

They truly did look like overgrown, rubbery skinned, beer bellied, long tongued bats. All remaining four leapt at me, spittle flying out of their mouths.

I concentrated, waiting until they got close to me, before invoking my Lightning Blades.

The electric blue blades of electricity flew in four different directions, impaling each vampire in the stomach, before spinning to the side, cutting right through bone and flesh alike until they were half horizontally bisected.

The monsters dropped in an instant.

Perhaps I had given these wretched creatures too much credit. Either that, or maybe— I felt a set of claw slash me from behind. I fell forward, shock and surprise appearing on my features, before dropping into a roll.

A loud hiss was all the warning I got. I blocked the raking claws with my scaled arm, before pulling Erebus out of his sheath, separating the ambushing vampire's head from his body in one clean strike.

Perhaps they were grunts, but they were smart grunts.

The rest of the bisected vampires squirmed, and twitched pathetically. Sturdy little fuckers, weren't they?

I calmly walked to them with Erebus out, and stabbed each one in the brain, the black Falchion absorbing every bit of energy it could grab out of the mostly drained creatures.

I heard a loud whooshing sound, and saw Clark standing next to me, eying the grotesque bat creatures with revulsion.

"These are the vampires?" Clark said, eyes trailing to the lumps of skin lying there in the back. Judging by the green in his face, he probably realized that those were the flesh masks.

"Get it together." I said in a chiding tone. "We've still got plenty of levels to clear. They already know we're here, so we have to move quickly."

Clark nodded, and lead the way to the right side of the room, away from all the blood and gore. He stopped in front of the wall, stared at it for a moment, and pushed.

The wall flew inwards, falling on top of several of the vampires, their screams cut off suddenly due to being crushed.

"Brutal." I commented, before stepping over the wall, over the vampires' bodies.

"There were no humans behind the wall." Clark answered my unasked question.

"Fair enough." I said, spearing through the brain of a vampire trying to escape with a quickly summoned Lightning Blade.

"Lead the way."

Clark moved through the unpainted concrete hallway, and went down a staircase to the right, his x-ray vision guiding us through the subterranean part of the building.

I could heard the soft steps of Hermione behind my own form.

"They're just up ahead." Clark said, scanning the area in front of him. "They've got guns."

He scrunched his eyes. "Assault rifles, I think. None of them are vampires."

"All right." I noted. "You guys are up. Knock them out."

Clark nodded, and said. "You go first, Hermione. I'll start, right after you."

"Okay." Her voice was less shaky now. I guess seeing the both of us in action had the effect of invigorating the young woman.

I heard her soft steps go further down the stairs. Clark and I followed the noise until we reached the end. Then I sat down.

There was an open door to the left, with light coming out of it.

Clark looked intently through the wall.

"How long until this guy shows?" One of the guards said.

"No clue. All I know is that a man is coming for us and our orders are to tear him to shreds." Another guy said. I could almost feel the grin on his face as he spoke.

I heard a loud thud, followed by exclamations of surprise and fear.

"What the—"

"Is he okay?"

Another thud was heard.

"What's going on?"

Clark took the confusion as his queue, and super sped into the room, quickly taking all the weapons from the distracted men. More thuds were heard. A single gunshot rang through the room.

Then silence.

I felt fear and doubt claw at my conscience. Was Hermione dead, already? Dead because I let her come with me to this dangerous mission?

The silence persisted.

"You can come in now, Harry." I finally heard Hermione's voice, after a long moment. She sounded fine.

I entered the room.

All the guards were neatly tied up in ropes, likely the work of Hermione's conjuring.

"Is everyone all right?" I asked quickly. "I heard a gunshot."

"Yeah." Clark said, showing me a crushed bullet in his right palm. "We're good."

I stifled a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt bad for doubting both Hermione and Clark. Hermione, for thinking that she couldn't handle herself because of what happened to her. And Clark, for not realizing he could have saved her with ease.

"All right." I said. "Do your thing, Clark."

Half a minute later, followed by many loud whooshes, we had the room cleared.

"Where to, now?" I asked.

Clark looked around. He pointed at a nondescript door to the left.

"Beyond this door is a way that leads to a congregation of… feeding vampires?" Clark grimaced. "It's disgusting."

Then he pointed straight down.

"Right beneath us…" Clark stared and tilted his head, as if listening for something. "I don't know what they're doing. They're standing in circles, and… chanting? There's a vampire right in the middle…"

"He's wearing some kind of mask. He seems different than the others." Clark continued, giving me an apologetic look. "I don't know what they're doing, but it doesn't look good."

I nodded, and reached out with my energy, latching onto the concrete below me.

This level of power… It was comparable with the power over Azkaban Prison; nowhere near the magnitude of the power that I felt being collected at Temen Ni Gru.

However, it was rising fast.

I saw it in my mind's eye. It was like they were tapping into the power of the earth itself, and feeding it to the guy in the middle. Wait… It wasn't the earth itself.

It was the blood that was soaking it. That's when I heard them; the cries of the sacrificed men, women and children. The carrion reek of their decomposing bodies grew infinitely more pronounced in a matter of seconds.

I focused on the energy's recipient, and almost recoiled in shock.

This vampire… He was powerful. Really powerful.

Like, easily on the level of Lilith.

Suddenly, the situation wasn't as simple. Whatever they were gathering power for, it couldn't be good.

Was it some kind of long range, wizard killing ritual?

It wouldn't surprise me.

Maybe they were simply amassing magical energy to strengthen their forces? I just didn't know how these vampires operated.

"Clark." I said. "How thick is the concrete below me?"

Clark looked, and answered. "About three feet."

"Small change of plans, then." I said with a grin. "You and Hermione fight your way down to the chamber, ensure I have an exit."

"What're you—" Clark said, before he understood what I was getting at.

"You plan on drilling a hole down and fighting them yourself." Hermione said, sighing. "You really need to work on this 'savior' complex of yours."

"But then I wouldn't be the badass that everyone loves and hates!" I said back jokingly.

True to form, the spinning drill of lightning appeared on my right hand. I looked at it for a second, before concentrating. Its size increased five times over, filling the room with the loud screeching noise of electricity.

I gave the two a wave with my free hand, before drawing Erebus and readying myself for the battle to come.

I thrust the gigantic Lightning drill into the concrete floor below me.

Whatever these Red Court vampires were planning, I was going to stop it in any way I could.

Even if I had to fight a small army of vampires, surrounding me from all sides.

Maybe I was a glutton for punishment.

For once, Erebus didn't make a funny quip. He simply vibrated, his bloodlust invigorating my slightly worn body as I drilled further and further down.