Day 7

Trembling from an especially vivid nightmare, Draco splashed cold water into his face. He hated remembering the things that had happened to him, shaking him to his core every time he relived them in his dreams. Even the pain felt real, and the terror stayed long minutes after waking up.

Finally he couldn't bear the silence of his room anymore, slowly making his way downstairs although there probably was the vampire waiting for him. But even the vampire couldn't do worse to him than those in his dreams had done. And if Asmodeus was there, he'd probably keep the vampire mostly in check.

Standing at the foot of the stairs, Draco heard voices from the sitting room. He could identify Asmodeus and the vampire, but there was a third male voice with them that he didn't recognize. Wondering a little bit, Draco decided that it would be safer to not disturb them; it was the first time since Draco's arrival that Asmodeus entertained guests. And that at an ungodly hour in the morning – the sun had barely cleared the horizon.

Quiet as a wraith, he turned around to head upstairs again, maybe retreat to the library, but Asmodeus' voice called him back. "Draco. Come in, please."

Ah. He had forgotten. Draco was quite sure he hadn't made a sound, and the conversation inside surely was loud enough to cover his breathing. But two days ago, they had more or less confirmed that they could sense magic from quite far away, and he should have known that they felt his presence. Just how much of their magic did they have to dedicate to continually being so aware of their surroundings?

Hesitatingly, he opened the door to the sitting room, taking in the vampire sprawled on the couch, Asmodeus standing next to the fireplace, and a blond stranger seated in an armchair. And a black panther curled up on the couch next to the vampire.

"Draco, this is Silas, Daray's cousin, and his familiar Nuri."

Draco looked closer at the stranger, barely suppressing his shudder in time. The blond was a vampire, too, same age as Asmodeus and the black-haired vampire. At least the blond didn't look as forbidding as Daray. The panther, on the other hand, scared him with its intense focus, but fortunately it stayed where it was, seated regally on the couch.

Asmodeus continued. "I talked to Mariah, and she said she's a bit too busy at the moment to take you back. You'll stay here for the next few days, until she's got a bit more time. I'll give you another vial of that potion tonight; you should have had the last dose this morning."

Draco nodded, uncomfortably aware that he was on more or less a vacation right now, and that he would have to go back eventually. He didn't really want to think about that.

For a moment, Asmodeus looked a bit preoccupied, either communicating with someone or thinking about what else Draco was supposed to know. After a few seconds, he focused back on Draco with a conspiratory smirk. "Right. Since I'll probably be away the whole day, Silas is going to practice some spells with you. And remember: should they get too pushy, the threat of castration spells works wonders with vampires. Have fun today."

With those parting words, Asmodeus stalked out of the room, leaving Draco to stare after him, hearing the two vampires growl slightly behind him. Slowly, Draco turned back towards them. Seeing how they were focused on him, he hastily excused himself in favor of the kitchen.

To his huge relief, the blond one just nodded, and he hurriedly scrambled out of the room. He could hear the two vampires striking up a conversation once again, but couldn't make out their words.

Two bloody vampires. That was just what he needed. Well, the last few days had been too good to be true, almost normal. He had helped with a few more potions, read a lot, learned how to make a half-way decent meal from the vegetables he had been given, and even begun to like Asmodeus' caustic bantering with the vampire. True, most of the time he didn't completely understand what the two were talking about, but those short interludes that inevitably turned into flung knives or wandless curses had somehow turned into a highlight of the day.

Not that Draco would ever tell them, especially not the vampire. Asmodeus might understand, but the vampire would dismember him if he even thought that Draco was anything less than terrified of him. And most of the time, Draco was terrified of the vampire. It was just, well, Asmodeus somehow managed to take away a lot of the vampire's terrifying aura when the two of them were in the middle of one of their daily spats.

But two vampires and no Asmodeus – he was getting out as soon as possible.

Quickly preparing a few vegetables (by now, he was almost used to the obnoxious taste of celery and lentils first thing in the morning), he wolfed down his breakfast, not keen on spending any more time than absolutely necessary in close proximity to two vampires, especially when Asmodeus wasn't there to reign them in.

Just when he had cleaned his plate and the pots in the sink, he became aware of the blond vampire lounging against the doorframe to the hallway.

"Here."

Draco froze and looked at the second vampire's outstretched hand. He was holding a wand. Looking disbelievingly back at the vampire – Silas? – Draco caught him smirking. What did he want?

"Take it. Like Rahkesh has already told you, we're going to practice some curses today. Daray's got some other things to do, so it will only be the two of us. I don't know where Mariah got it from, but I think this wand is yours."

Eyes widening, Draco's gaze snapped down to the wand. Cautiously, he made his way closer to the vampire. Yes, it was the same color as his old one, and there were some scratches he recognized…

Hesitatingly, he let his hand hover over the wood, biting his lip anxiously. Was that just another ploy to humiliate him? The blond vampire didn't move, neither away nor towards Draco, so he pulled up all his courage and closed his fingers around the wood. Immediately, the warm, tingly feeling of magic shot through his veins. His breath caught in his throat, and he had to fight not to close his eyes in bliss. When he wanted to examine his wand closer, to once again familiarize himself with it, the vampire didn't release it.

Holding his breath, Draco looked back at the vampire, who was watching him intently. "You are not to use your wand to try and flee, gain access to locked doors, or attack anybody outside the sparring room. You don't want to make us angry, do you?"

After seeing what Asmodeus was capable of? Draco frantically shook his head, and the vampire nodded. "Good. Now, let's see what you can do. Follow me."

Finally, the blond vampire released Draco's wand, and he cradled it to his chest in wonder. He almost forgot the vampire's order over the blissful feeling of once again being connected with his magic.

The vampire clearing his throat from the hallway sent him scrambling outside, trying to catch up with the other. Still in wonder over the sudden turn of events, Draco followed the vampire downstairs, and through the left door that always had been locked. He noticed how the vampire seemed very familiar with the cottage, never hesitating in the slightest. Apparently, he was a frequent enough visitor to know his way around. How could Asmodeus live with two vampires?

The room behind the door was huge and completely bare. It was at least 90 by 150 feet wide, with a 15 foot ceiling. Apparently, it stretched underneath the whole cottage, probably enhanced by enlargening charms. The walls and the floor consisted of roughly-hewn stones, and several floating orbs of… something lit the room as bright as daylight.

Without warning, Draco felt his legs begin a quickstep, the movement completely involuntary on his part. Alarmed, he almost forgot that he had his wand back, but he finally remembered that he was able to cast magic again. Finite Incantatem finished the spell, but the next moment, he felt the uncontrollable urge to laugh. He hadn't seen any spell hit him, and the vampire hadn't said anything or done any wand movements. Such kind of casting required enormous skill; less than a quarter of the Dark Lord's servants could cast silently, and not even all of the Inner Circle could cast invisibly. He knew his father couldn't.

This time, he quickly cast a shield before canceling the Rictusempra, and indeed, the next moment his shield lit up brightly, forced to absorb quite a bit of power. Two more spells in frighteningly quick succession easily shattered his protection, catching him with the backlash. Once again, he found himself dancing uncontrollably, barely getting enough air because he was laughing so hard.

His wand jumped out of his hand and flew towards the vampire, and the spells on Draco vanished. When he had his breath back, the vampire merely nodded and tossed him his wand back.

This time, Draco was a bit more prepared and immediately cast several shielding spells. The vampire's casting got stronger in response, leaving trails of warped air in their wake. At least now, Draco could pinpoint their location somewhat, evading them whenever possible. The vampire had an unbelievably quick casting rate, but still each and every one of his spells rang like a gong across Draco's shields.

Finally, a triple combination of almost simultaneously cast hexes broke through the shields, and before he could react, he was flung backwards with his wand sailing towards the vampire. Landing heavily on his back, Draco froze when the vampire suddenly appeared next to him, once again holding out Draco's wand.

"Do you honestly want to tell me that is all you are capable of?"

Draco stared at him completely perplexed, not even reaching for his offered wand. The vampire rolled his eyes and dropped the wand next to Draco. "I haven't come in here for you to be my spell target." He hasn't? "You are to defend yourself properly, and attack back. I want to see what you are capable of."

The vampire retreated a few steps, giving Draco enough room to scramble to his feet and take up his wand once again.

"What are you waiting for," the vampire taunted, "show me those Dark curses your ministry has banned!"

Almost on instinct, Draco waved his wand and shouted Sectumsempra, more than a little bit surprised when he actually saw the spell's characteristic light erupt from the tip of his wand. Apparently, the spell was easier to cast than he had thought, explaining how Potter had gotten it right on his first try in the bathroom. He knew he was going to hit the vampire, probably making him angry despite his reassurances, and then the vampire would…

The vampire easily stepped aside, grinning smugly at Draco when the spell harmlessly whistled by an inch above his shoulder. Feeling a little bit stupid, Draco sent a second and a third Sectumsempra after the vampire, which were easily sidestepped as well. The widening smirk on the vampire's face was the only warning he got, and Draco immediately raised several different shields, just in time to feel various high-power spells splash against them.

Sending back a moderately illegal blood freezing curse, a quite illegal concussion hex, and a not-quite-dark bonebreaker, he almost got hit by another wave of spells, barely made visible by the surrounding distortion of air.

Those were fast!

Quickly jumping to the side, he had his hands full trying to keep his shields erect through the onslaught, too busy to think about retaliation. One spell that he evaded with bare inches to spare apparently had a magical backlash that inflicted several shallow cuts on his skin. Grimacing a little, Draco tried to get more distance between himself and the vampire, completely on the defensive by now.

A few more inhumanly strong hexes against his shields vibrated deeply into his bones, and then the world exploded.

When he woke again, the first thing he felt was pain, and a slightly amused voice talking. "No, Nuri, he isn't dead yet. Just a little bit concussed."

Carefully, Draco opened his eyes – only to stare into the eyes of a very, very big cat. A panther, his mind supplied after a few moments. The vampire's pet. How had it come into the room?

Freezing in place, he let the panther study him, trying not to cry out in pain when the panther placed a paw on his face. Blinding needles of pain shot through his skull while he felt the panther sniff his hair and sneeze a few times. Still, he didn't dare move an inch.

"Nuri! Get off him, he has a concussion!"

Dimly, he felt the panther being dragged off him, but he was too busy gasping through tears of pain. "You know that he doesn't have any healing powers, so you can't step on him when he's injured!"

He heard the big animal whine. "Yes, you can do that with Daray or me, but not any human." Another whiny growl. "Okay, maybe Rahkesh, too, but he's the exception. Now go back to your corner and wait for me. I don't want you to get caught in any spells."

Not do that with any human? Suddenly, his memories returned all at once, making him bite his lip in terror. He had been dueling with a vampire of all things, and the vampire had beaten him badly, and now…

His involuntary flinch brought another wave of blinding pain, making him gasp in agony.

"Do you know any healing spells?"

Draco opened his eyes, which he hadn't realized he had closed, looking up at the blond vampire kneeling next to him. Shivering from both pain and fright, he couldn't do a thing but stare at those inhumanly waxen features and the strange eyes.

The vampire sighed and pointed his wand at Draco. Before he could react, he had already been spelled, resulting in his head almost exploding again from agony.

Slowly, very slowly, the pain abated until, to his surprise, it hardly hurt anymore. Instead, he finally took notice of all those little complaints the rest of his body sent to him.

"Well, now that I have healed your concussion, do you remember any healing spells for the rest?"

Carefully, Draco levered himself onto his elbows to check what 'the rest' consisted of. The shallow cuts he had received earlier were still bleeding sluggishly, so maybe they hadn't been that shallow after all. Otherwise, he had a few burns, especially on his hands, and a few bruises. "Y-yes," he nodded shakily.

Gathering his wand again, he cast a few healing spells on himself, breathing in relief when his pain abated.

Thinking back to the duel he had witnessed almost a week ago, his respect for Asmodeus raised another notch. Asmodeus had kept on fighting with his broken arm, healing all his cuts and bruises even before having the rest of his quite a bit more severe injuries dealt with.

A hand appeared in front of his eyes. Hesitantly, he looked at its owner. The vampire.

He was looking at Draco, not moving an inch. Draco looked back at the hand and timidly grasped it, shuddering at the inhuman coolness. The vampire nodded at him briefly, pulling him to his feet effortlessly. "That was better. Now let's try again."

____

Three hours later, Draco was sweaty, bloody, and dead on his feet. Panting from exhaustion, he once again picked himself up from the floor, swaying unsteadily. Those three hours had consisted of repeatedly being thrown across the room, injured and healed again, but somehow he felt better than he had in weeks. He had managed to land a select few curses, singeing the vampire somewhat, and on one occasion even breaking his leg.

That hadn't deterred the vampire in the least though, displaying incredible pain tolerance and healing powers far beyond what Draco had thought vampires capable of. Within seconds, the fracture was healed again, without any sign of the injury left behind. The vampire had used Draco's fright at having actually landed a hit to quickly incapacitate Draco, but he hadn't retaliated beyond that.

Since they had come into the sparring room, the vampire hadn't threatened to go after his blood at all, making Draco relax slowly. He was even starting to have some fun, much to his surprise.

"I'd say that's enough for now," the vampire commented after looking critically at Draco.

Since Draco didn't trust the vampire, he kept up his guard. But apparently, the offer was genuine. The vampire was in a non-threatening stance, as fresh and immaculate as ever, whereas Draco was far beyond tired and exhausted. And it wasn't even noon yet.

Moving towards the door, the vampire expectantly held it open. The panther, which Draco had forgotten about almost completely, jumped up from its corner and padded towards the vampire, rubbing its head against his thigh. Both of them were staring at Draco expectantly, and he reluctantly walked towards them, watching for any signs of attack. Neither made any move, and he hastily slipped by them, not wanting to have them at his back for too long.

Only afterwards did he realize that they hadn't taken his wand from him. Quickly, he tucked it into one of his pockets, hoping against hope that they would forget it.

Back in the kitchen, he immediately drank a tall glass of water, very thirsty from his first real exercise in months. He didn't count being used as spell target as practice, and the housework in her mansion hadn't been too physically demanding.

Both the vampire and the big cat entered he room behind him, giving his pocket with the wand a knowing glance, but not demanding it back. Instead, the vampire smirked and started making lunch. To Draco's surprise, he never once attempted to add blood or any other disgusting things like the other vampire had, or try to bite his neck.

Since he had used up all his strength in the fight, Draco didn't have enough power left to be properly afraid anymore, merely sinking into the next chair. Finally those long nights of nightmares and those long days of fear caught up to him, pushing him into total exhaustion, mentally as well as physically. He mindlessly watched the vampire, his brain in a state where, if asked, he couldn't tell what he had been thinking – or if he was thinking at all.

He shrank up from his musings when a somewhat appetizing looking plate with green beans and asparagus was placed before him. "Eat up, you will need it."

Shuddering slightly, more from exhaustion than from fear of what the afternoon was going to be like, he tiredly started on his food, not even tasting it properly. Shaking himself slightly, he tried to prevent his head from nodding forwards, not able to keep his eyes open and focused. From what he had seen, the vampire hadn't added anything to his food, but he was so tired…

Not even the sharp bolt of fear when a cold hand grabbed his shoulder to keep him from face-planting right into his dinner could wake him up completely. He was almost asleep when he felt a set of fangs at his neck. Brief terror shot through him, but the immediate relaxation of being fed on lulled him completely to sleep. He never felt the vampire shake his head at Draco and levitate him to his room.

_______________

Something heavy pouncing on his bed woke him, and Draco jumped up in fright even before realizing just what it was. Seeing a panther staring back at him from very close proximity was enough to get anybody out of bed, and with a small scream, he backed against the wall.

From its place on top of Draco's covers, the panther merely looked at him regally, turned around three times, and then settled down, apparently going to sleep. Staring incredulously at the animal that had just managed to evict him from his own bed, Draco finally realized that the door to his room was open, and that the blond vampire was standing outside, convulsing in silent laughter.

Somewhat irritated at having his first really restful sleep in weeks interrupted, Draco barely managed not to frown at either vampire or cat. Looking down on himself, Draco saw that he was still clad in his sweaty clothes from his morning exercise, wrinkled beyond help. The rest of his memory came back with a rush, and he found that he couldn't remember how he had gotten back into his room. Had the vampire really…?

Watching the panther warily from the corner of his eye, he saw that the vampire still hadn't made a move to come inside. That calmed him considerably, but he was curious as to why. He didn't think the vampire held much respect for his privacy.

Apparently feeling Draco's stare, the vampire straightened and looked back at Draco, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, if Asmodeus hadn't placed some of his hellish electric anti-vampire wards around your door, I would have come inside to wake you up myself. Now you get to put up with Nuri, and he really likes your bed, I can tell. Don't worry, he's really cuddly harmless."

That prompted the panther to hiss from the bed, and Draco had his doubts that the big animal was 'cuddly harmless'. Maybe to a vampire, but definitely not to him.

"Well, get dressed, you can't sleep the day away. Nuri, leave the poor mortal alone, I think you frighten him."

The panther didn't even raise its head, not making any efforts to get up from Draco's bed. The tip of its tail twitched a little, but otherwise only its ears told that it was awake. The vampire barked a laugh. "If you think so. I'm waiting in the sparring room, you have fifteen minutes to make yourself presentable."

With those words, the vampire waved his hand and shut the door wandlessly, never once coming close enough to actually touch it. This left Draco alone with the panther, which was still ignoring him.

Retreating into his bathroom with another set of clothes, Draco hastily stripped out of his wrinkled ones and showered quickly. Now, he really felt the exercise of this morning, his muscles very sore and stiff. The warm water helped a little, but not enough to chase away all the aches.

Grabbing for a towel, Draco almost slipped in the shower in surprise. The panther was staring back at him once again, somehow having managed to get inside the bathroom unnoticed. Draco shot a brief glance at the door – it was open. Hadn't he closed it after him?

Very slowly as to not startle the big animal, he got the towel and dried himself off, always keeping an eye on the panther. It seemed intent on exploring the corners of the bathroom, even putting its front paws onto the sink to look into the mirror.

Moving towards his fresh clothes, he almost immediately jumped back again when the panther pounced on them, batting them away from Draco with one of its big forepaws. Then, the panther proceeded to bury its nose in the freshly cleaned items, sniffing at them contently. Left only with his old, smelly robes, Draco finally remembered that he still had his wand in his pocket.

Searching the robes, he became aware that the panther was watching his every move intently, dangerously still and tense. Draco extracted the wand very slowly, taking care to never aim it in the direction of the animal, which had become even tenser at the sight of his wand. Did it know what wands meant?

A few cleaning, airing, and pressing spells later, his robes were almost as good as new, and as soon as he set the wand down, the panther relaxed again, going back to sniffing his other set of robes. Exhaling in relief, Draco quickly got dressed, only then realizing just how uncomfortable he had been when facing the animal stark naked.

Pocketing his wand, he once again relished in the feeling of magic running through his fingers, the wand throbbing gently as soon as he touched it. To his surprise, the panther followed him attentively, bounding by him when he exited the bathroom, Draco's other pair of robes completely forgotten. Draco had to steady himself on the doorframe because the massive animal had easily pushed him aside in its haste.

The panther stopped in front of the door to the hallway, rose to its hind-paws, placed its front paws on the doorknob, and started walking backwards. As soon as the door was open far enough, the panther fell back down to all four and smugly sauntered out of Draco's room. Draco stared after it in surprise, astonished at the amount of intelligence the animal possessed. No wonder it had managed to come inside the bathroom; doors where it only had to lean its weight against had to be even easier than doors that opened inwards.

The pair of eyes in the hallway reflecting the light from Draco's room quickly spurred him back into action, cautiously exiting his room. The panther had already bounded towards the stairs, stopping once again to see if Draco was following. Smiling slightly, Draco decided that, despite its superior size and strength, the panther was decidedly less scary than the snake or the bat.

The panther apparently knew its way around the house, too, because it unfailingly led him towards the sparring room, once again opening the door with its weight. Suddenly it yowled and jumped back so quickly that it almost crashed into the other side of the hallway, its fur bristled, hissing and spitting.

"Sorry, Nuri, didn't think you'd be the one to come in first," a somewhat apologetic voice drawled from the sparring room. The black-haired vampire.

"That'll teach you not to booby-trap any doors in here," the dry answer came. "Come in, Nuri, you know Daray didn't mean it."

The blond vampire opened the door completely, inviting both Draco and the cat in. Although Draco had been waiting for it, he still yelped when something stung him in his bottom as soon as he passed the doorframe.

"See, Nuri," the blackhaired vampire purred from the other side of the sparring room, waving his wand lazily, "now you're not the only one anymore."

As an answer, the panther turned its back towards the vampire, flicking an ear haughtily, and moving to lick the paw that must have been stung earlier.

"Give it up, Daray," the blond vampire laughed, disturbingly close to Draco. "If you ever want to get in his good graces again, you'll have to share Rahkesh's couch with him."

"That is my couch!"

"Not according to Rahkesh."

"Possession is nine tenth of the law."

"Even if the remaining tenth wields lightening?"

Draco had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

"I've told Rahkesh time and again that electricity doesn't solve all of life's problems!"

"Well, with him, it apparently does, especially the problem of uninvited vampires on his couch."

The black-haired vampire smirked evilly. "But he's not here today, is he? So he can't complain about it. Come on, Nuri, I think it's time to permanently stake our claim on the couch!"

Together the vampire and the panther padded out of the room, and Draco couldn't decide which of them was moving more sleekly. It was clearly visible that both of them were predators, and since the black-haired vampire was always wearing black, he seemed like a big cat himself.

The door slamming shut behind them drew Draco out of his musings, focusing his attention back on the blond vampire still in the room. A shiver ran down his back at the sight of the feral grin.

"Let's see how much you have learned this morning."

Before Draco could even think of an answer, he was already dodging wildly, more concerned with staying alive than how much his already aching muscles were protesting. He was going to be so sore tomorrow…