Standing in the front garden, waves of panic began to wash over me. Never before had I been completely on my own. Before they had been sent to Azkaban, my parents had taken care of my every need. After their imprisonment, my father’s parents had doted upon me. Then earlier that year, when my parents had finally escaped, they had spoiled me rotten, trying to make up for fourteen years of neglect.
But I was completely alone and free to do as I wished. I could Apparate, but where? I really had no where to go. Although my pockets were heavy with gold, I was apprehensive about spending it due to the fact I didn’t know how long it would last. Going to the family vault in Gringotts would raise suspicion, and I doubted that my parents wouldn’t alert my grandparents to the fact that I was missing. I was so confused, but I knew I was wasting precious time that I didn’t have by staying in my front garden.
I walked towards the gate that sealed off our property. The surrounding countryside was empty; the large wood separated us from the Muggle city. Not even a Muggle car wandered down the sandy dirt track that lay close to the house. To the left I could just make out the deep navy half of the sky that was the sea. I felt a huge urge to go there, but I knew it would be the first place my parents looked: I had always loved the sea.
Still, there were plenty of other seaside towns. Perhaps I could go and live by the coast. The idea of waking up to that familiar salty tang, the whooshing of the waves and the shrieks of the gulls was certainly appealing. So I spun on the spot, concentrating with all my might on a perfect, secluded beach.
I entered the compressing darkness and found myself standing upon shimmering, navy pebbles as the pearl-gray sea played its game of rushing backwards and forwards. It was deceitful; at some point the tide would come in and drown all that were left on the shore. Tears welled up in my eyes as I wondered how long I could survive. I found a large flat rock and sat on it, letting the motions of the waves soothe me.
I was exhausted, sore and cold, but I didn’t care. I watched the sky. In this part of the country, it was pure white and had a fluffy texture. Although I knew it was the clouds, I was fascinated by it. After about an hour, I had calmed down enough to focus on the daunting task at hand.
The truth was, at some point I would have to sleep. The two months I had spent comatose had made me more tired than I could ever remember being. I tried to think of a place to stay. My parents were going to notice my wand was missing, so Diagon Alley was out. I was far too proud to even consider the Hog’s Head. But then I remembered a quaint hotel I had stayed in with my grandparents. I couldn’t remember its name, but the image of its whitewashed walls that were draped with ivy was sharp in my mind, and I managed to Apparate successfully.
The pathway up to the hotel sloped crazily downwards and twisted in odd shapes. Made of powdery white stones which crunched under my shoes, it cut through a garden that was overflowing with flowers. The scent was sweet and sickly, and hung thick in the damp air. The place looked like a fairy tale cottage. Although it seemed stupidly cute now, when I had visited it as a child it had seemed like an enchanted place straight from The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
I opened the yellow wooden door and a little bell tinkled gently. A middle-aged witch in lilac robes rushed out to meet me. She was so enthusiastic I doubted whether she had many customers these days.
“Welcome, welcome!” she sang. She bounced up and down happily, grabbing my bony hand and pumping it in time with her jumps. “I’m Alison.”
“Evie,” I replied, trying to pull my hand away. When I finally freed myself from her iron grasp, I said with as much dignity as I could muster, “I’d like a room.”
“Of course you do! That will be three Galleons, with all meals thrown in!” she gushed, practically wetting herself with excitement. “I’ll have a house-elf take your things up for you; dinner is being served as we speak! Cookie!”
A tiny house-elf (couldn’t have been more than two years old) appeared at her side, beaming. I passed it my bag and allowed Alison to lead me into the dining room.
Like the rest of the hotel, it was sickeningly adorable. A picture of a kitten reminded me of Dolores Umbridge. There were many circular tables, each covered with a little lace cloth with a pink vase overflowing with tulips in the center. All were empty apart from two. At one sat a boy not much older than myself with bronze hair and at the other sat an elderly couple.
I took a seat at the table closest to the door. Alison placed a huge portion of pie in front of me, and then fluttered over to the elderly couple. I wolfed down my food; my appetite had returned with a vengeance. After I’d finished, I sat back, blissfully unaware that I was being watched.
Then, the boy with the bronze hair was suddenly sitting opposite me. I nearly fell off my chair in surprise.
“Hello,” he said, grinning mischievously. “I’m Ben, Ben White.”
“Never heard of you,” I sneered haughtily, standing up and walking towards the exit.
“You’re supposed to say, ‘hi, I’m…’” he trailed off, looking at me expectantly.
I sighed. The kid wasn’t going to let me go unless I answered him. “Evie Lestrange.”
“Le- WHAT!” he exclaimed.
“Yes, my parents are wanted mass murders,” I said lightly. This had never failed to get rid of annoying admirers and I was practically counting down the seconds until he ran away.
However, his face split into a relieved smile. “Good one. You actually had me fooled for a minute there. What brings you here?”
I scowled. “I wasn’t joking!”
“I’m here on work,” he said, ignoring me. He looked around, and then continued, “I work for the Ministry, you know. Right now there are some vampires terrorising the local Muggles,” he was muttering in my ear, as though it were a secret.
I sniggered at a mental image of Muggles scuttling crazily out of the way of blood-sucking monsters, or holding up wooden crosses as their houses were demolished.
“I’m telling the truth!” whined Ben, looking hurt. “They’re in league with You-Know-Who!”
“Then keep as far away as you can,” I warned. I mentally slapped myself. What did I care if the idiot got himself murdered? It would give me peace and quiet.
“You can come with me, if you want. We usually work in pairs, but my partner- he went over to You-Know-Who,” he said sadly.
“What’s his name?” I demanded.
“Algernon Selwyn,” muttered Ben, biting his lip.
“That idiot!” I exclaimed. Algernon had been two years above me at Hogwarts. His father was in the Dark Lord’s inner circle, a friend of the family and held in high esteem at the Ministry. He was OK, but Algernon was not. An arrogant swine, I had disliked him ever since I’d met him.
Ben smiled appreciatively. “He is, isn’t he? So what do you think? Will you help me tonight?”
“You don’t even know me,” I sneered.
“And I’d rather it stayed that way,” he said, suddenly serious. “I don’t want to know your life story, believe me.”
“Good!” I snapped, offended. “I wasn’t going to tell you anyway!”
“We’ll meet at seven ‘o’ clock, in the lobby. Be there,” he said, and then he vanished into a room.
I stood there, feeling like a fool. Alison hadn’t told me my room number. I searched my memory for the name of the house-elf.
“Cookie!”
A loud crack confirmed that I’d got it right. The tiny house-elf had appeared in front of me, her long ears twitching slightly. “Yes, Miss?”
“Where is my room?” I asked, irritated.
“Cookie will show Miss,” she said, walking to the far end of the corridor. The door was wooden but painted white, with a golden number seven attached to it. I opened it and felt another surge of annoyance.
It was like a child’s dream bedroom. The wooden slats of the floor were uneven but worn smooth by time. The walls were thick and white, with oak panelling that looked like it could be hiding a secret passageway. There was a huge window with a built-in seat, littered with fluffy pink cushions. A large four-poster bed with sheer white hangings took up most of the room. There were at least six mismatched mattresses and four pink blankets. A large oak wardrobe was built into the wall, explaining why they were so thick, and there was a little desk in the corner decorated with dragons and unicorns.
“You may leave,” I said to Cookie.
She bowed and left the room, leaving me to strip the bed of excess blankets and pillows. I lay down, still fully dressed. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep before I even had time to mull over the events of the day.
When I woke, it was dark. I lit the lamps with my wand and checked my watch. Half past six. I still had time to waste until I met Ben. I told myself I was going with him because he was a meal ticket and ignored the mounting excitement in my abdomen. Although I had slept for barely two hours, I felt refreshed and ready for action.
After a quick shower, I went down to the lobby. Ben was waiting, holding two heavy shoulder bags. He gave one to me and I looked inside. It was filled with swords, stakes and other Muggle weapons.
“Why do we need those?” I frowned.
“You can’t use magic on vampires,” he said simply.
That was something new. According to my family, magic solved every problem. I followed Ben down the crooked path. The sky was a deep, midnight blue and stars were scattered across it in random patterns. The smell of flowers had stopped being so overpowering now, and the songs of birds had been replaced with the bleeping of crickets.
It was a five-minute walk down a gravel path that twisted through a dense forest to the Muggle village. I stayed close to Ben, as the trees blocked out all light and made me feel uncomfortable. When we reached the village, the only light came from the stars and the half-crescent moon. There were no signs of life anywhere: all of the windows in the houses were dark.
“Why are they all asleep?” I asked.
“They’re not; they’re hiding.”
Gooseflesh prickled the back of my neck as I looked out at the horizon. A huge graveyard was set upon a towering hill, and thousands of headstones leaned towards us, silhouetted against the dark sky.
“What a dumb place to put a cemetery,” I said, trying to sound less scared than I really was.
“Come on,” said Ben, pulling me towards the center of the village. A huge fountain stood there, but it was turned off. The place was too quiet, eerily silent. Then-
“Argh!”
A piercing scream shattered the still night air. I grabbed a sword from my bag and rushed after Ben to the source of the noise.
Four vampires were chasing a girl of around fourteen down a dark alleyway. Their skin was sallow and waxy, their features distorted, their eyeballs dark and sunken into their sockets. They moved faster than the normal human did, their tattered robes streaking out behind them. They were catching up with her easily.
“No!” I screamed. Muggles dying wasn’t the joke my family made it out to be. The girl in front of me had feelings. We even looked alike; if you put her in robes and gave her a wand, I wouldn’t have been able to tell us apart. In that moment, I realised my parents were wrong. We were all human.
My screams distracted the vampires. They stopped, sniffing the air. They appeared to sense the magic in my blood, in Ben's blood. Magical blood was obviously something that they preferred, as they turned to pursue us instead.
As they sped towards us, I threw my sword at the nearest. It hit him in the chest, and he fell to the floor, writhing in agony as the life left him. I desperately pulled another weapon from my bag; another sword. The vampires were an arm’s length away. I took a desperate swipe and they backed away, preparing to strike again.
“Don’t swallow their blood!” yelled Ben, “or you’ll become a vampire, too!”
I covered my mouth with my hand and began stabbing furiously at the remaining vampires. An arm was ripped from one and he howled angrily, bearing his pointed teeth at me. Again and again, I stabbed and swiped, until one fell and there were two left.
In one livid slicing movement, Ben beheaded the nearest vampire. Blood spurted everywhere, but I kept my lips clamped together. Infuriated by the death of his fellows, the remaining vampire ran at us and jumped on Ben, pinning him to the floor. The vampire bared his teeth, ready to bite…
Enchanted Slumber by Lyratearsx
Chapter Notes: Now let's have some fun and get the vampires in!
Chapter Endnotes: Don't you just love cliff hangers?