Chapter Two
Nico woke to the loud slam of a door. He immediately fell into a defensive position, pulling out a short stygian iron dagger and shoving the rest of his belongings into his shadow. Waiting, Nico stayed in that position. As his mind cleared, Nico realized that the sound had come from the next-door building, and that it was just the thin walls of the abandoned building he had slept in that made it seem as though a door to his new shelter had opened.
"Whew," Nico sighed in relief, before tucking the dagger into the back pocket of his black jeans. Nico massaged the tattoo on his back, as his wings were still sore from their lack of release. However, there was nothing he could do. Unless he was on a mission or in danger, Thanatos had strongly advised him to keep the wings hidden. Suddenly, he winced as he pulled his arm too far back.
Nico had been attacked by a Greek monster after letting down his guard executing one of his new long reaping missions from his father a month ago. He had succeeded in defeating it, but not before gaining a painful gash down his side. Although it had started to heal and Nico had done a good job stitching it up, the gash still burned with pain every time Nico moved a little too much. Shrugging the pain off, Nico quickly cleaned the wound again before getting ready to explore the wizarding world he had discovered, along with his newfound knowledge of it.
There were a few things Nico had realized on his own about this new world, through experience of wars, jobs, and life on the streets. Nico knew that for him, it'd be safer in Knockturn Alley just because of all the secrets he had to keep, and the dark look he held. Nico's skinny frame which almost seemed to melt into the shadows would most definitely be shunned and draw second looks in Diagon Alley, while in Knockturn Alley it would only be ignored for the most part as all of its beings minded their own business. This way, Nico could explore without having to worry about his identity being questioned.
Nico also understood how much easier it would be to gather all forms of information and connections that would be beneficial to him in Knockturn Alley. He had noticed the availability of such services, and the presence of obviously wealthy individuals. In one pawn shop, he vaguely remembered was called something like Birkin and Barks? No, ... Bergan and Burkes? After pondering it for a few more seconds, it finally came to Nico's mind. He snapped his fingers.
"Borgin and Burkes, it was." He said out loud, triumphant in his battle against memory.
Nico remembered this shop due to its plentiful supply of artifacts that seemed cursed, and the aroma of death that had been wafting throughout the shop and had enshrouded him in a familiar coat the moment he had walked in. Within the shop, a father and son pair browsing, both with blindingly white hair had stood out greatly to Nico. Nico could remember the strange, unique smell of a tattoo along the arm of the older of the two, similar to his own of his wings, but of a vastly more sinful origin.
Yawning slightly, Nico twitched his fingers ever so slightly at the nearest shadow. It whipped over, dumping Nico's desired objects to the creaky wooden floor of his new home. Smiling slightly, Nico didn't waste time arming himself and making sure he could access his valuables easily, but also keeping them as safe as he could.
Once Nico was prepared for another day exploring this hidden town, he shadow traveled to the back door of the building he had stayed the night at, and proceeded into the darker alleyways of Knockturn Alley. However, right after Nico had left his new shelter, he felt a low rumble from one of his shadows.
"Ughhhhhhh..." the teenager groaned softly, before walking back into shabby old apartment. As he climbed the stairs back up to the sole usable chair in the building, Nico casually stuck a hand in the closest shadow to himself before pulling out a black, leather-bound book he had gotten from Thanatos for his job.
Throwing himself into the moldy armchair that barely supported his weight, Nico flipped open to the newest page in his book, ignoring the dust that rose from the chair. As he examined the page, Nico saw how previously blank parchment was now stained with ink, covered in Thanatos' flawless cursive. The words were in ancient Greek, so it would be legible to Nico even with his dyslexia.
Scanning the newly edited page, Nico confirmed the data. On the top of the page was the soul signature of Nico's new target, a sly soul that had escaped from the underworld the moment Thanatos had took his eyes off it. The objective was to capture this ignorant spirit and bring it back to Hades within a month. Now, this task was by no means difficult, as the soul was not truly evil or cunning, and simply deserved to be placed back in the fields of Asphodel. What was curious about this soul's situation, however, was the fact that it seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet a few days after escaping the underworld. Thanatos could sense its spirit in the world but had no clue where it could be. But since Thanatos didn't have enough time to go searching for a foolish soul, he ended up handing the task over to Nico, with a longer deadline than usual.
Until now Nico had simply shadow traveled to places the soul had relations to while it was still alive and tried to sense if it was in the area. But since It was not possible for him to do so with this soul, Nico had been putting this job off until the deadline got closer. However, conveniently enough, the book had sensed the soul nearby, and marked it in the page for this soul.
So this wizarding world is what was cutting the spirit off from Thanatos' radar...Nico thought, furiously tapping his black converses on the creaky wooden floor beneath him. That means my presence is currently cut off from the world as well!! Eyes widening, a suspicion crossed his mind.
Doesn't that mean...monsters can't find me here as well?!? Now that he thought deeper about it, it was strange how Nico hadn't encountered a single monster, no matter how harmless or small, the moment he had set foot into this world. Yesterday he had marked it off as sheer, dumb luck. But now he knew otherwise.
Well now I have to stay here, Nico concluded, before closing Thanatos' book. Let's start investigating, he thought as the corners of his mouth lifted up in a slight smirk, and Nico silently shadow traveled out of the building to Knockturn alley.
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A few hours after Nico had started searching for the lost soul, he was in a very bad mood. First of all, he had no luck finding, or even sensing the spirit close by anymore. His book remained silent and his wings had continued aching. He could feel his injury getting worse as well, and the stiff armchair he had slept in the previous night certainly did not help.
Second, Nico had run into some angry drunkards a few moments ago, and was currently on the run from them, continuing the process of ducking into dark alleys and shadow traveling away every time those persistent men came close. Nico wished he could just beat the crap out of them but had held back for the sake of not standing out. He didn't want a reputation in this obviously shady part of the wizarding world, especially not a bad one.
But now, Nico had accidentally stumbled out into the slums of Knockturn valley, where the presence of the worst criminals and the darkest curses filled the air heavily. And the moment he had set foot into the territory, Nico had caught the eye of an aggressive and desperately hungry vampire, extremely different from the little vampire girl Nico had met yesterday.
"Hey brat. What're you doing down here without your mommy, huh?" the vampire called out to him, easily bearing his fangs and not bothering to hide his bright red eyes. Ignoring it, Nico continued walking towards the edge of the slums where he could sense the most deaths lingering, almost painting the air in its vicinity black.
"Hey! You deaf?" The vampire tried again, this time leaping up at lightning speed and slamming Nico into a crumbling cobblestone wall. Nico felt the wall cracking from the vampire's pressure, and knew his stitches broke and his wound had started bleeding again in that moment.
Pressing his hand to his side, Nico turned a chilling glare to the vampire.
The vampire licked his lips, smelling the blood in the air. Slowly, he started smirking, before sniffing the air near Nico once, then continuing on.
"Don't you look at me like that, you piece of scum! You're just another homeless shit that got abandoned by his parents! Boo-hoo, what a little crybaby." Nico felt his nails dig into his palms as he forced his hands into a fist, trying to suppress his urge to punch the vampire. "You're only acting this way since you haven't gone through any real hardships. Like angering someone as powerful as me! Guess you need to be disciplined. And what great luck you have, since I'm hungry right now!" The vampire finished, leaping at Nico, straight at his neck.
Nico had reached his breaking point. This ugly thing that just failed to die when it needed to was lecturing him on discipline and the hardships of life. And now, it was trying to suck Nico's precious demigod blood without a single care in the world.
So of course, Nico punched the vampire straight in the face. And proceeded to beat him up. Very. Very. Thoroughly. By now spectators had gathered, watching the pure violence happening as a young boy easily beat up one of the most notorious vampires in the area. They looked on in newfound fear as Nico finally slipped a dagger that almost seemed cloaked in death from out of nowhere, and slowly carved the vampire's throat out in the most painful way imaginable. Unbeknownst to Nico, a sadistic smile had made its way onto his face as he tortured and killed this vampire.
Finally, once the vampire was truly dead, Nico looked up and noticed the crowd that had gathered and started to hear the rumors about him spreading like wildfire.
"Fuck." Nico said. So much for not attracting attention.
Quickly, Nico ran into the nearest hidden shadow and went as far away as he could from the scene he'd caused. This wasn't very far though, since Nico's reopened wound had steadily grown worse throughout his one-sided beatdown of the vampire. His shirt now soaked in blood, Nico slumped against the side of a shady looking pub, away from people's eyes.
Wincing, he pulled his shirt up and examined the damage. Deeming it was still manageable without going back to camp and having a healer look at it, Nico began the slow process of stitching the wound back up again. It was quiet and peaceful for a few minutes, until...
Nico felt the presence of a dark man walking into the narrow dead ended passage he had shadow traveled himself into.
Shit, I'm trapped! Nico panicked, his hands starting to tremble and his breath quickening. Nico closed his eyes, trying to calm down.
If Nico was attacked now, he would not be able to defend himself or shadow travel away. His injury was more serious of a drawback then he initially thought it'd be.
Opening his eyes once again, Nico turned a sharp glare at the shadowy figure, bracing himself for what was to come.
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Severus Snape could not believe his eyes. He had just witnessed something amazing, that he never even imagined possible.
Today marked the end of the first week of summer. Snape had simply been going about his own business in Knockturn Alley, gathering the supplies he'd need for personal potions and for preparations going deeper undercover as a Death Eater. Most of the objects Snape found necessary at the moment were either illegal or very hard to find through legal means. So obviously, Snape had decided he needed to venture back into the darkest slums of the English wizarding world, where he had spent his fair share of time exploring.
However, today there seemed to be a ruckus throughout the town, more whispers than usual, as well as a slight hum of magic Snape had never felt before passing through the air around him.
How odd, Snape thought to himself the moment he set foot into Knockturn Alley. But he had learned earlier on in his life that it was not a good idea to question things going on in this part of town. So, Snape simply made his way to the store he frequented in more of a rush than usual, picking up his pre-ordered items and buying a few more that caught his eye.
As soon as he was done shopping, Snape hurried out of the store with a swish of his pitch-black robes and started heading back up to Diagon Alley where he'd be less likely to find trouble. This is where things all started going wrong.
After heading a few blocks uphill, Snape encountered a crowd in the usually deserted clearing near the edge of the slums of Knockturn Alley.
What sort of event could there be for the people here to crowd around instead of minding their own business? Snape thought. He silently slipped through the crowd until he got to an angle where he could see what was happening. And along with the onlookers around him, Snape was dumbfounded. There was a young boy, that looked like he was at the age of a Hogwarts student, beating up a vampire.
Now, it wasn't rare for there to be an occasional child roaming the streets of Knockturn Alley. Everyone knew that those children weren't actually as innocent and young as they looked, and usually were century old creatures that were vicious and violent. However, this boy looked as if he were truly a teenager, with his beat-up clothing, lack of ethereal aura, and the uncomfortable way he traversed Knockturn Alley, as if he was simply a stupid kid exploring the place. Perhaps that was why the vampire had gotten mixed up into this mess.
But what was truly surprising about this event was that wasn't just any vampire the boy had beat up. This teen had just brutally pulverized Diederich Zilla.
Zilla was one of the most ruthless and well-known vampires in the area. He had a reputation for being stupidly rich, and for no one knowing just how old he was. Snape had seen countless bodies of Zilla's victims scattered in dark alleys he discovered by chance, recognizable by the symbol Zilla always carved into their bodies.
And yet, as he watched, the teenager conjured a dagger that looked enshrouded in black magic out of nowhere, with a disturbing smile creeping across his face. Wandless magic, at his age! Snape thought shocked at the pure talent of the boy. He quickly shook his head though, since for all he knew the boy could be an even older vampire than Zilla.
Snape, along with the onlookers around him, couldn't tear his eyes off the scene unfolding before him. The boy slowly brought his dagger to Zilla's throat, as the vampire's eyes grew wider and wider. It was almost as if the teen was taunting Zilla. Finally, once the dagger was touching the vampire's throat, the boy slowly began carving it out. Snape flinched, as he stared at the extreme look of pain Zilla had.
And after what seemed like ages had passed, Zilla was dead. Murdered by a nameless boy, finally bringing an end to all of the vampire's crimes.
Then the teen began processing his surroundings, looking around, before he cursed, "Fuck." As soon as the words left his mouth, the teen turned around and ran at a wall, not showing any signs of stopping.
He's going to crash, Snape realized, and before that could happen the potions professor apparated right behind him. Reaching out, the tip of Snape's finger grazed the boy's back. But before Snape could grab on any firmer, the boy ran straight into the shadow covering the wall!
What in Merlin's name...Snape said in his head, before he felt a swirling sensation around him, similar to apparating, except darker. Snape felt his surroundings warp, getting colder, and started to hear whispers coming from all around him.
Who is this boy? Was the last thought that ran through Snape's mind, before he was fully immersed in darkness.