Disclaimer: I do not own Little Vampire or The Craft (the universe of my OC) and all depictions done are out of love for their respective franchises...but I wouldn't mind owning Gregory...he's yummy.

Author Note: I really do hope people are reading and enjoying this story (no reviews wound my soul, even a single word might help me along), don't be afraid to drop me some lines, I'm a friendly critter, I'd be happy to hear what ya'll are thinking ;)!

- O -

"Your bag," he stated blankly, searing her skin with his intense gaze.

Nancy wrapped her arms around her mid-section to try to cease the terrified pangs prodding her stomach.

"Aren't you going to take it?" he challenged, cocking his head to the side. The movement dislodging a dreaded hair plait, causing it to now rest over his shoulder.

Nancy eyed the bundled up strands of hair, ignoring his question altogether.

Gregory grew impatient with the Witch's blank features. "Hey, are you listenin' to me?"

At the slight snarl in his voice, Nancy's blue eyes flew upward to stare widely into a mirror of equally wide blue eyes. "...Yes," she rasped, dropping her gaze to the floor and squinting happily at the sight of her forgotten satchel. She shakily stood up and gathered here sole belongings from the slimy surface of the ground. She felt immediately relaxed by the return of her possessions and plopped her body down blissfully onto the rocky seat once more.

Gregory looked on in curiosity as Nancy removed her jacket off her person and while she was at it, removed a few bundles of tinder and what looked to be fresh herbs from her bag. She even began rolling up her pants legs. His slit eyebrow rose in fascination and bewilderment as she took those same woodland items and began to viscously scrub them against her arms, neck, and legs. All the while chanting sections of words like, "...the one...the needs...many trials...oh manon..." The only coherent sentence his Vampire hearing managed to discern from her babbling was, "In the name of the Eastern fire..." His eyes widened further upon noticing that her thoroughly rubbed limbs were now clear of the cuts and bruises that had once carved her skin.

"You've missed a spot," he spoke before he could stop himself.

Nancy's eyes shot open at the sound of his voice. Suddenly again becoming aware of who she shared company with. She forced her dilated pupils to focus again on the young Vampire. "Where?" she breathed. Her logical side arguing that she was in no state to disregard her well being for even a minute longer and continue to humor her silly fear of this Vampire boy.

Gregory numbly tapped his clawed finger to his cheek, to point out the very wound that had almost caused him to lose his wits and devour her.

There was a short moment where Nancy's mind tried to reel the memory of the blood dribbling from her chin to the ground, but she blinked her eyes rapidly before refocusing on her task. Nancy quickly saw to it to treat her omitted cheek wound and swollen lip with her herbal rub down. Once she was satisfied that all her physical wounds were dealt with; she gathered up the now used materials. Then gently placed them into the bird bath at the center of the room. Pleased with her work and glad to have all of her already spell cast materials returned to her, Nancy neatly stuffed her satchel shut. She hesitated only slightly this time to look into the undead boy's eyes. "Thank you," she acknowledged him with a large forced face splitting smile.

Gregory nearly recoiled from the unexpected gratitude, but the even more unexpected big mouthed smile nearly sent him toppling over. Significantly flustered, and irritated by being caught off guard, Gregory grumbled. Turning on his heel, he sulked away in, what was becoming to Nancy, his usual manor.

The Witch let out another relieved breath at his departure before slinging her body up onto the large sitting rock she'd been using. She crossed her arms behind her head before closing her eyes, intending to get a nap in before being exposed to anymore Vampires.

- O -

She awoke to what sounded like an argument.

"Freda, my love," a deep voice spoke quickly. "Taking a Witch into our ranks may not guarantee our success." It reasoned fitfully.

"Yes dear," Freda dismissed. "But she certainly could not hurt our search," she spoke coyly.

"We do not know that," he argued. "She very well might be of the malignant Witch kind," he spoke harshly.

It was at this moment that Nancy decided to reveal herself. Lest this Vampire slander her opportunity to stay within the comfort of his family's protection. She cleared her throat, before throwing her sore legs down to dangle from her perch on the large boulder.

The bickering couple recoiled in surprise. The snarling face of the male Vampire voice being revealed to her as he stood protectively in front of Freda.

"Frederick," Freda spoke gently, placing her ringed hand upon her husband's shoulder. "This would be our Witch," she wandered to the side of his shielding, gesturing to Nancy. To return the gesture, the Witch in limelight hopped down to the crypt floor in response.

Nancy flinched as she felt his eyes scrutinize her throughly. Her hands nervously wrung the end of her torn shirt under his silent judgement.

"State your coven," he demanded.

Nancy's eyes rose up to eye Frederick in confrontation. "...I don't have one," she said carefully.

Frederick breathed indignantly through his nose. "...Preposterous," he spoke.

Nancy's fiddling hands wandered into her jean pockets. "Don't you think if I had a coven, I would be with them now?" she said rhetorically, putting more confidence in her voice than she actually felt. She had a gut feeling that she would would have to word her sentences carefully in order to convince this Vampire patriarch to allow her to stay in his company.

He appeared to contemplate her answer for a moment. Then he at last nodded to himself, looking satisfied. Given the normally exclusive solitary lifestyle of the Witch folk he had observed from his time he found it easy to believe that this characteristic of Witch kind had not changed. He gave the child another look, her reasoning seemed sound, but a bigger question posed threat," Why do you roam in solitude?"

Nancy's upper lip quivered as she felt the truth fall from her lips, "I was born to a mortal family."

Frederick and Freda's fanged mouths fell open. A rarity indeed.

But Nancy spoke before any more questions could be asked. "I would prefer not to talk about my life before this graveyard," she spoke firmly. "That is my only request of you and your family for my services," she said plainly, looking to the side of her, to eye the bird bath littered with her spent magic debris.

Frederick's black eyebrow rose almost to the height of his widows peak. "Do tell, what services might you offer my family?"

Nancy swallowed before forcing herself to look into his eyes. "You search for an amulet," she spoke slowly. "...Correct?" her eyes explored both faces in the Vampire pair.

Frederick looked skeptical.

"I may not be able to help you find it," she allowed to slip. "But I have some resources that might give valuable information."

"..."

"...Maybe I might even be able to recreate an amulet," she mumbled jokingly into the tense silence.

Freda and Frederick gave each other simultaneous looks of hope before Frederick cleared his throat. "Very well," he said curtly. Giving Nancy a nod before he whisked away from her presence, striding down a dark corridor with his cloak whirling behind him.

Nancy blinked tiredly, "What just happened?" She gazed imploringly at Freda.

Freda showed her small smile before walking up to place her hand on Nancy's jacketed shoulder. "He's pleased," she informed with a graceful dip of her head.

"Great," Nancy mumbled. '...I was just kidding...recreate an enchanted amulet?...What do I think I'm doing here?' Exhausted with the weight of new expectations. She stepped away from Freda's grasp to return to the comfort of her boulder. She heard a small laugh escape Freda as she once more reclined onto the cold surface. She shot Freda a questioning look.

"You seem to be most fond of that particular spot," she spoke almost fondly.

Nancy's eyes drooped in silent affirmation before she allowed her weariness and grogginess from her earlier nap to take hold.

- O -

The next time she awoke it was to the muffled chattering of birds. Pleased to be rid of the night dwelling creatures that had flooded the evening before, she granted herself her first true smile in a while. Giving a mighty stretch and hoisting her body forwards off of her designated rock. The filtered light from above revealed all the swirling glittering dust clouds migrating around the crypt. Nancy's smile quickly became a grimace. "Ah, the beauty of lung disease." Her hand recoiled from the face of the boulder she was leaning on when she felt the creepy crawlings of pill bugs at her fingers. "Lovely," she grumbled wiping both hands onto the front of her jeans. 'This just gets better and better.'

Twisting her face into an ugly snarl, she retrieved her satchel from its place precariously balanced against the limestone wall and clung to it as a child would their favorite plush. Then she waltzed her way over to the opposite end of the Sackville-Bagg cavern. One deep breath and potential choking fit later, her trained eyes carefully evaluated every nook and corridor of the space around her.

With no hope in site, Nancy reluctantly found herself trying to navigate the labyrinth of a catacomb home Anna had attempted to show her only a few hours earlier.

- O -

"God. Damn. It." she seethed throwing her hands up wildly to grab at her unruly locks. This had to be the third dead end she'd encountered on her journey through these dark chambers. With a swift kick, she sent a couple rocks ricocheting off the wall in front of her. "I swear-"

A threatening hiss sounded from the corner the rocks had plummeted into.

Nancy took three hurried steps back as the illuminated leaf pile in the corner shuffled and flared with alarm. The sound of sizzling and the smell of burning flesh filled the air as a black spiked head jostled into view. However, the filtered stream of light from the hole above scorched and distorted his features.

Nancy took action the moment her mind finally analyzed what was happening. She grabbed hold of the jutting leg of the vampire and hoisted its small body forward into the complete darkness of the cavern. The force from her sudden release of the leg flung her body to the damp floor landing her squarely on her rear. She huffed and puffed steadily to quell her adrenaline filled pulse and wiped the grime from her hands onto the glossy surface of her leather jacket.

"Woah," she breathed, finally craning her neck to study the crumpled steaming form of the vampire lying two scoots away from her. "...You alright kid?" questioned carefully, pulling herself into a stand but still refusing to approach the small child. When she heard no response, not even a groan, she became even more weary. Taking a deep steadying breath she pushed herself forward and leaned down to pull what looked to be the remnants of a black cape, from the boy's face.

A vacant eyed child stared back at her.

She gulped. His face looked even more deathly white than the vampires she had encountered only hours before. "Are you alive-I mean dead? Umm...Are you...there?" she said lamely, feeling foolish even though she was sure the boy couldn't hear her. She swished her hand in front of his face in a final effort.

His eyes followed her movements.

Startled, she withdrew her hand back to her side. "How. can. I. help. you." she spoke slowly.

He rolled his eyes at her.

Nancy snorted in amusement. "Alright, so you can hear me." She smirked down at the child, suddenly less fearful after his very human sarcastic response.

The boys eyes stared blankly back at her.

"Seriously though, how can I help you?" she gazed at him imploringly.

His face underwent some twitching before his small fanged mouth started to open, "Bl-d-d." It mouthed.

That's all the information Nancy needed, she held up a hand to stop his further attempt at speech. "Alright, let's get this straight before we go any further here."

The vampire child's finger twitched.

"I. am. not. a. snack." she pointed to herself proudly. "I'm here to assist the vampire, the ahh..." her fingers caressed her chin in thought. "Bagg-Ville-SackBagg-a-whatever family, so yeah! The answer is no! You cannot eat me!"

The child eyes lit with wonderment and sudden understanding. The Witch!

"So you need blood and you can't get it from me," Nancy giggled nervously and fiddled with the two long bead strands around her neck. "What are we supposed to do?" A thought abruptly occurred to her. "Hey! You should be sleeping! its daylight!" She accused with a finger.

He remained in vampire coma at her questioning and accusations.

"Damn, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that you can't talk," Nancy scratched the back of her neck as she lazily observed a lizard crawling leisurely along the surface of the cave wall. A thought occurred to her.

Eyes widening, and hurried mumbles slurring from her mouth, the lazy lizard stiffened and plopped softly onto the bed of crunchy leaves lining the floor. She stepped hurriedly over the boy to retrieve it, and brought herself to a kneel at his side, lizard in hand. "Can you drink its blood?" she felt stupid asking, but she really didn't know.

The boys eyes widened and then with a great deal of effort twitched his jaw to open his fanged mouth.

With an understanding wince, she wiggled the scaled creature into the boys mouth and didn't stop until she had impaled its body upon his fangs. At the immediate popping and sucking sounds, her hands quickly flew back down to her sides.

The vampire child's eyes blinked groggily for a moment before he stiffly sat up and faced Nancy.

Nancy's crouch nearly gave at his movements but she held herself steady.

"I believe thanks are in order," he stated rather properly in an adult-like voice.

Nancy blinked. "Sure, you're welcome?"

The boy nodded. Seeming to compose himself before speaking again, "I am called Rudolf, and you are the Magician Nancy my family speaks of?"

Her lips nearly curved into a smile at his terminology. "Yeah, you could say that."

Rudolf's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her words.

"I'm a Witch, for the record," she clarified, embracing the once hated title.

"For...the record?"

"Sorry," she could just slap herself, she'd been doing so well with the vampires archaic English up to this point. "It's a modern phrase, it means, "For your information."

Rudolf gave another nod of affirmation, letting a wince slip as he tried to push himself to stand.

"Hey," Nancy immediately grabbed hold of his arm and steadied him so that he wouldn't topple back onto the floor. "That's right, what are you doing all the way down here in the first place, shouldn't you be hiding from daylight like the rest of your family?"

Rudolf cringed as he began leading them back through the dark corridors. "Yes," he began to explain. "But last night I began a game of seek and find with my sibling Anna, and I hid in that pile of leaves. Lovely spot, but it was so comfortable, I fell into slumber."

Nancy kept her comments about her own comfort preferences to herself and nodded her understanding.

Rudolf turned them down a winding path and asked a question of his own, "What ever were you doing in that end of our manor?"

After inwardly translating that question, Nancy huffed before responding, "I was looking for a place for me to stay." Taking a tighter hold onto Rudolf's shoulder, she stopped him from slipping from her grasp.

Rudolf turned his head to regard her in question. "Do you not wish to stay with me and my family?"

Nancy shook her head at him in silent amusement, "No, I'm staying, but I have to find the place in this catacomb with the highest concentration of natural magic, so that I can build some better accommodations for myself, you don't expect a mortal to live like a vampire do you?"

Rudolf shook his head slowly in fascination. Rounding his still weak body down the last dark turn, he led Nancy to the sleeping chamber of his family.