Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters, places et al. are owned by J.K. Rowling. Also Twilight and all characters places et al. are owned by Stephenie Meyer
A/N: And another one... :) Sorry for the longer delays, but that 6-season DVD box of Shameless really does suck up a lot of free time. A very guilty pleasure... Still, hope to be still on time with regular updates ;)
Chapter 18: Encounters of the Weird Kind
In retrospect, the little kitchen talk was astonishingly relaxed, Draco smiled. Martha obviously didn't have a problem with Jasper being a vampire – she probably was used to weird things, or so she said. She was far more concerned about Draco being happy. He had been a bit embarrassed, really when she said it. It was still something special to find people who were truly concerned about the person and not just wanted to use you in any number of ways. At least now he knew what 'mother hen' meant...
Jasper took it all in stride, for which Draco was thankful. He chuckled when remembered Jasper's mortified look when Draco started to redecorate Jasper's old room. But, amazingly, he just sighed and stepped back – with just a hint of marvel as the magic did its work. Draco thought, in his modest opinion, that he only changed a tiny bit, just enough to make it feel like home to him, rich wood here, some granite and marble here. He also enlarged it a bit, magically. Well, actually about five times the size, but who counts, anyway?
It was enough to fit in a new walk-in cabinet, a huge four-poster bed – yes, I have a thing for those... - and a rather lavish drawing room. Now the former room was a small flat in itself, and gave enough space for both of them.
All the while, Jasper had taken the liberty to sift through Draco's belongings, looking sometimes like a little child when he discovered some strange magical item – asked all kinds of questions. At first, it was really strange but after a while it felt all quite natural.
When they finally settled down onto the couch and started a heavy make-out session – not the first, though for that night - Draco suddenly heard shouting downstairs. Before he could react, Jasper was already gone. Draco grabbed his wand and followed.
The moment he came into view of the entrance, he immediately knew that Carlisle's fears from earlier that night hadn't been completely unfounded. Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper stood side by side in front of the door, blocking any further entrance into the house, Rosalie standing slightly behind them. Before them stood a group of barely dressed, extremely athletic – and extremely hot, Draco had to admit grudgingly – guys, who glared at the vampires. One stood out, though. He was taller than the others and looked stronger, sharper. Though when Draco looked closer, he thought he also looked like that guy had taken too deep a gulp from the crazy juice. He's seen it before, once or twice, in the more loyal followers of the Dark Lord. A fanatic, a true believer in whatever cause he was on – one of the most dangerous things in the universe.
"-is he!?" Fanatic Guy was shouting with considerable volume.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Dog," Carlisle answered calmly. Deathly calm. "You're on our territory. We have an agreement with your clan-"
"I can smell it!" it shouted back from the group of werewolves. "He must be here! I don't care about stupid agreements!"
"Then go rub your nose clean and ask your elders what they think of it," Carlisle shot back. "Not my problem you can't find your way around."
"There will be blood if you don't give me what belongs to us," the Fanatic answered, his voice getting a dangerous edge. Draco was afraid he could lose it. And what would happen then, he could only speculate. Given the parties involved, it would be messy...
"Maybe your blood, not ours," Emmett hissed suddenly.
"Emmett!" Carlisle said protectively, never looking away from the Fanatic. "But he's right. You would lose far more than what you are asking for."
"I don't care!" he spat. "Give me Seth, and nothing will have to happen."
"He is not here!" Carlisle said very slowly, like he was talking to a mentally deficient child. "If he ran away from you, I cannot fault him. What do I know you smell here, maybe he came here and was afraid of us and ran again? You want to risk your life for that?"
"I-" he started, but then one of the other guys put his hand on the Fanatics shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Fanatic's shoulders stiffened, then relaxed suddenly.
"OK," he said through clenched teeth, "I will leave, for now. But be sure that we keep a watch on you, leech. If I find out you're behind this..."
With that, the group slowly walked away from the door and then turned around, running for the forest.
„You don't think all of this is too strange?" Draco asked thoughtfully, his head resting against Jasper's cool chest. They had decided to retire into the room, following the incident. Carlisle seemed to be quite concerned and it was probably good for all of them to sleep over it.
Jasper hugged him tighter and kissed his tousled hair. "I am an undead vampire, you're a wizard. I don't think there is such a thing as 'too strange' for us, really. We just hang on tightly and enjoy the ride," Jasper answered and tickled Draco in his armpit. "Let's just enjoy this first night in our room, no?"
Draco laughed and looked up from Jasper's chest. "You're still not tired?" Draco feigned exhaustion.
"As I said, I am undead. I don't tire," and looked lasciviously at Draco. "You better get used to it, lover boy!" With shocking ease, Jasper flipped Draco around and pinned him down to the bed.
Amazingly enough, the next days actually passed without a crisis, deaths or other major incidents.
Draco didn't trust this peace one bit and felt more like being in the eye of the storm. Still, he could enjoy it as best as he could. Might be a bit selfish, but, well, the sex was hot. He turned red as he saw Edward look at him with a raised eyebrow as they walked from the parking lot to the school. It seems he got a bit better at reading him. Draco looked at him, shrugging apologetically and smiling sheepishly.
He couldn't know for sure, but he got the feeling that the others were more accepting of him now that he lived with them. With Alice mostly away, Edward had turned on him for whatever reasons for advice on the Bella matter. And boy, did he need to talk... Draco sometimes had to suppress the impulse to just hit him with something very hard and very big over the head. But slowly it looked like Edward and Bella were becoming an item – though it was hard to tell, with both of them. Still, there was hope.
They hardly ever saw Alice. She was busy with Seth and making sure he got better. Soon, Seth should be fully healed soon. But what they would do then... Even the slightest mentioning of letting Seth go back to his pack led to an almost instant reaction of Alice, and no one wanted it to get that ugly. But they couldn't allow Seth to walk outside either, if the reaction of his pack was any yardstick. Draco had an idea, but he needed some stuff. He had managed to get Jasper drive him to Seattle for some shopping – and some nice couple time away from home. Two birds with one stone, Draco chuckled.
They walked across the parking lot and everyone was giving them wide berth, out of respect or fear, he didn't know. It made him feel like being back at Hogwarts, almost an eternity away. Roaming the school like nothing could harm him, like he owned the place. Unlike then, though, it wasn't something he needed to feel good about himself. It was just a weird perk of being with vampires.
But suddenly, a black-haired hunk of a guy was stepping in front of their advance. It took a second or two to connect him to one of the almost naked werewolves from that dreadful night. Everyone tensed up, and the other students around them gave them an even wider berth almost subconsciously.
"What do you want?" Edward asked brusquely.
The guy was just as tense as Edward and the others, but he didn't look like he was here for a fight.
"I wanted to warn you," he answered.
"We already got your 'warning', thank you very much," Edward snapped.
"No," the guy shot back, "it's not about that. I am sorry how it turned out. I tried to control Sam, but...", the guy looked pained. "He got somewhat...unbalanced in recent times. He is obsessed with you," he looked coolly at them. "I don't like your kind, but I don't want a fight. We kept it quiet so far, and your kind had kept your word. That Seth imprinted on one of your kind... It complicates things. And I can't say how long we can keep Sam under control."
Edward looked at him for several seconds. "If he is so dangerous, why don't you remove him from his position?"
"I...We...We can't. It's complicated. I do my best. Whatever you did, just make sure Seth isn't around anytime soon. It could turn nasty."
"Trust me," Edward looked steadily at him, "we don't like what happened either. But it happened, and we as a family decided to not judge just because it is not normal. Whatever your Seth and our Alice decide, we will support. Family understands. You should know that." Edward's voice became a hint less frosty. "I will relate your warning. Thank you."
Uneasy seconds followed, then the guy slowly walked backwards and slowly walked away. They continued their walk towards the school, when Bella waved towards Edward and came to them.
"Edward," she smiled shyly and hugged him. Draco was sure, if he could, he would turn beet-red.
"Hello Bella," he answered huskily. "I missed you..." he said.
"Missed you, too," she answered and her smile steadied, becoming wider. "But what was that thing with Jacob?"
"Jacob?" Edward looked caught off-guard for a second. "You mean him?" He pointed in the direction the guy had left.
"Yes," she nodded. "Friend of the family, well, him and his dad. You looked sort of serious..."
Edward frowned slightly. "It's...complicated. It was nothing major. Trust me, yes?"
Bella looked up to him and just nodded.
Sheriff Swan carefully walked the mossy path to the little hut, huddled close to the forest border. One of his deputies and the coroner waited for him close to the hut.
"What we got here?" he inquired. His deputy pointed at a spot a few meters away. "Derek Willow, age 49. You know, Weird Derek?"
He did. No one really knew where he came from originally, but some years ago, he moved close to Forks. He never sought contact with anyone, some nights walking around aimlessly through the town and the surroundings. He was weird, but no harm to anyone. When he looked down on the bloody lump lying in front of him he really wanted to know why anyone would do something like that to him.
"Animal attack?" he sceptically asked the deputy.
"I am not sure, really." He looked at the body and whistled. "It looks like something or someone really went to town on him. The coroner says it most likely looks like a wild animal. But we haven't seen anything like that like, in, ages."
"We did get a lot of reports of similar incidents from around Forks and the other towns, remember?"
"Yeah, I know," Sheriff Swan mumbled. "Still, it's weird, really. I talked with some of the rangers, and they don't know about any unusual activity in the park and around. Could be a rabid one, but then it should be local, not all over the place. It just doesn't make sense..." He looked up and around, scanning the forest. "Just keep the suspicion down. Can't have people going paranoid over that..." He sighed. "I really don't want people going crazy and shooting at ghosts."
"Thought so," the deputy nodded. "Guess its best that way."
"OK," he waved at the coroner, "get this mess cleaned up!"