Chapter 9
The town was small, the cobbled streets grey with age, chipping in places but it was so cheerful, potted plants of all kinds sat in wicker baskets lining the edges of the streets. The locals wore bright colours, in dresses and flowy pants, the kind made for the heat of the place. The buildings were old and completely wooden or stone structures, smushed together like they’d been built in a rush. But it was home, it was where his family had lived, where they had made their home. I turned to say something to Malfoy only to notice the wide smile on his face as he watched three children in the town square, braiding their hair with flowers and laughing widely.
“Butchers first I think… What kind of meat do you want, Malfoy?” I asked quietly, nudging him with my elbow slightly.
“I like beef and lamb and chicken” He mumbled. I nodded, and steered him towards the small butchers on the corner. It was much the same as the other houses, except this one was a business, there are certain things that can’t be sold on stalls and with this heat, meat is definitely one of them.
The bell above the door chimed as we entered. I let Malfoy wander the store as I walked up to the counter. A middle aged man stood at the register, hair only just beginning to grey, apron tied around his waist.
“Buenos días señor, ¿Qué puedo ofrecerte?” He asked
“Buen día, ¿Podría tener sus mejores cortes de carne, cuatro pechugas de pollo y una pierna de cordero, por favor?” I replied.
I swear Malfoy’s head whipped round so fast it was audible when I spoke
“Sí, tardaré unos momentos.”
“Gracias”
I felt Malfoys presence more than heard it as he came to stand very close to me. He spoke in a hushed whisper.
“I know you said you spoke Spanish, but I didn’t expect it to sound like that” He sounded breathless
“Well yeah, I wouldn’t get very far in Mexico if I couldn’t” I joked and turned to face him. His face was flushed, eyes glassy, he kept adjusting his stance. Weird… Oh… Oh.
“Malfoy…” my eyes wandered on their own accord, flicking from his eyes to his lips and then to his throat and back up.
The fire in my throat burned brighter.
“Aquí tiene señor, serán 80 pesos.” The man said cheerily, I tore my gaze from Malfoy, reached into my pocket and paid the butcher. The walk to the bakers for some bread was awkward, I forced myself to keep my gaze away from Malfoy, regardless of what the beast wanted. The beast better go back to sleep, regardless of its need for blood, now it wants something else too. Stupid fucking beast.
The bakery went much the same way, even if I did end up getting some little cakes for Malfoy and his insatiable sweet tooth. We walked our way around virtually every stall and shop that the little town had to offer, bought something from pretty much all of them, even the little trinket shop and then made, to walk our way back to the manor. Sadly I wasn’t able to sate one of my needs, I couldn’t manage to leave Malfoy anywhere. I say this like it’s a problem. Thats because it fucking is. Because now the beast wanted something that I wasn’t willing to give it, my obsessive nature for the man only made it worse. FUCK. Malfoy was off limits, in every sense of the way, I couldn’t sink my teeth into the thin, soft skin of his throat and drink my fill and I definitely couldn’t do it while being so deep within him at the time that he wouldn’t remember his own name. Never mind the fact that I doubted the Malfoy heir would even remotely swing that way.
I lead the way back to the house in silence, phone in my hand.
Any news on the B Sub? - HP I text Hermione. I know, I know she would have texted me if she had an update but shit I’m desperate.
Nothing yet Harry - HG
FUCK.
Not sure how much longer I can go here ‘Mione - HP
Well you’ll just have too, find a way, you’re good at that - HG
I could hear the eyeroll in her text. Fucks sake, I was going to have to sneak out tonight, find somewhere to get atleast the need for blood sorted. Shame there isn’t a way to bottle it.
I opened the door and held it open for Malfoy, who carried the cakes in his arms like he was cradling a child. I walked behind him to the kitchen, allowed him to place the cakes wherever he wanted before filling the fridge up and walking to the lounge without saying a word.
The firewhiskey bottle was in my hand before I could second guess my decision, I yanked the cork out with my teeth, spat it in the direction of the floor and put the bottle to my lips. I drank deeply, hoping it would quell my thirst until Malfoy was asleep. I really hadn't fucking thought it all through, having someone around me constantly. Especially this someone, who was entirely and completely off limits, who would figure out my condition in about 5 seconds flat if I slipped in front of him. I lifted the bottle up to my lips again.
Honestly at this point I should be given the title of king of the idiots and given all the holdings and land that go with it considering I’m standing in my own bloody house, drinking firewhiskey like a man parched, all because I just had to fucking save Draco Malfoy.
“Thirsty?” Said Malfoy drawled from the hallway where he was watching me. I grunted in response as I polished off the bottle and slammed it back onto the table.
“Never thought I’d see someone drink an entire bottle without flinching and remain upright if I'm honest. Should I add it to your list of impressive abilities?” He’s goading me into an argument, I can smell the annoyance on him like a second skin. Ordinarily I would have argued but given my lack of blood over the past several days, any heightened emotion would end with me having my fangs in his throat. So like the mature savior of the world I am I responded with
“Piss off Malfoy” and then stalked to my room.
I needed blood, I needed the beast roaring within its confines to shut the fuck up for ten seconds so i could bloody think. There’s a Spanish club nearby I could go and just not say anything to Malfoy, except that seemed sort of rude somehow and given my mood and behaviour not ten minutes ago… Yeah no, I’d have to invite him to come with me and then hope and pray he gets either too drunk to notice or I can be sneaky enough to get what i need without alerting him. I scrubbed a hand down my face and sighed, I was running out of options, I would have to take the chance.
“Malfoy, Get your gladrags on. We’re going out” I shouted and then closed my door to get changed myself. Took about ten minutes before I was in the foyer, pacing, waiting. I checked my phone again and shook my head. Nothing from Hermione, nothing from anyone actually.
“You look like a caged animal when you pace” A bored voice came from the stairs
“You take longer to get changed than Hermione does” I muttered before walking so that I was standing in front of him. He looked nice actually. I held out my arm.
“What no compliments?”
“You look fine Malfoy, let's go” I shook my head. He looked better than fine actually. Downright delicious. But starving vampire i might be I still have my fucking dignity… Sort of.
He took my arm, not before rolling his eyes but he did take it and I apparated us to the alley near the club.
The lights were low, the music loud as we entered, the bar was easy enough to spot as I pulled Malfoy along.
“What drink do you want?” I asked except he couldn’t bloody hear me could he. Fuck.
I leant down so the shell of his ear was centimetres away from my mouth as I asked again.
“What drink do you want, Malfoy?” Apparently now in its usual hunting realm my voice had reduced to a rasp as I spoke, almost a whisper, I watched the shiver work its way down Malfoys back. Stood transfixed as a blush crept up the neckline of his pristine white shirt and had to swallow a moan as the scent of his arousal hit my nose. Damn this condition.
“I… I don’t know?” His voice was small but not weak “Order for me?” He asked and this time I heard the way his voice dropped an octave as he looked back towards me. Flushed and pupils blown wide. Fuck.
I nodded, leaving him with a lot of reluctance to stand and wait in line at the bar. Half the issue is that Malfoy is a very, very good looking bloke. He’s completely different to how he was in school and that only makes it worse. Blonde hair looking like spun moonlight, reflecting the golden glow of the lights, pale skin flushed and soft looking, those pointy features he had as a child now more proportionate. He looked less like a stuck up priss and more like royalty, it was almost impossible to look away once you caught a glance. Even the way he was dressed, billowing white shirt tucked into tight black pants, I could see every muscle in his legs.
I was staring, I knew I was staring but I couldn’t look away. I hadn’t even noticed that it was my turn to order drinks.
“¿Qué puedo ofrecerte?” the woman asked, I blinked as she repeated the question.
“Ron oscuro con hielo y un mojito por favor” I responded, my eyes barely left Malfoy. I heard her come back with the drinks, I slammed the money on the counter and turned to take the drinks when I heard her again.
“Es muy guapo, yo también lo vigilaría, en un sitio como este. No siempre tenemos el tipo correcto de gente aquí. ” I nodded and walked back to Malfoy, setting the Mojito in front of him.
“What is it?” He didn’t speak very loud, but then I didn’t need him to, not really. I leaned close to him again, ignoring the way that the creature within me thrashed.
“A Mojito, mint and sugar and rum and lime. It’s refreshing." He nodded. I moved away and began watching the dancefloor. A man beckoned me forward and I went without thinking of the consequences. It was packed as I sauntered up to the tanned male with dark hair, I could barely see the luminescence of Malfoy's hair from where I stood. Then I caught the scent on the man, the scent of his blood pumping through his veins, and everything else fell away.
I have no idea how long I let him dance on me before tugging him to the bathroom, I have no idea what time it was or how long I had abandoned Malfoy for. All sense of being, of well everything melted away the second I sunk my fangs into the man's throat against the wall in the bathroom stall and began to drink. Blood, hot and thick was coursing down my throat, I was hard as a rock in my trousers, the man was moaning in my ear. He was trying desperately with shaking hands to undo my belt, but I was lost to the taste of his blood, the way it quenched the burn in my throat to even think about my cock. When I heard the shouting begin, I tried to ignore it, figuring it was just some argument that had broken out at the bar. Most of it was in rapid-fire Spanish anyway and honestly I wasn’t interested in anything other than satiating my thirst and getting off with the randomer in the bathroom. I was doing quite well at ignoring it until I heard Malfoy. Then I started paying attention.
The rest of it was garbled and like I was listening through a glass pressed up against a door but it was his voice I could hear. His voice panicked and shouting one word over and over again.
“Harry?!”
The thing about Malfoy is I am more than aware that he can take care of himself, more than aware that he can throw a nasty right hook and handle pretty much anything without interference. Except, well I’d been living with him for almost a week, the scent of him was on everything I owned, everything he touched. He’d changed too, he wasn’t nasty really, and he wasn’t a blood purist anymore from what I could tell. Actually he was quite nice if overly talkative sometimes and he was attractive, and he’d seen all the worst parts of me bar one and still trusted me. Maybe it was that vampires are known to be territorial, maybe it’s because vampires are known to mate for life and they’re a protective species… Maybe it’s because of some instinct within me to protect what is Mine.
Wait? What the fuck? Mine? Malfoy isn’t mine. I barely fucking tolerate him. Where the fuck are these thoughts coming from? I heard him call out again, and the damn thing that paces within my chest cavity began roaring, biting at the bars that confined it, snapping through them one after another.
I’d have to ponder it another day.
Maybe it was because Vampires are territorial and because everything I owned had his scent on it and because I’d spent the best part of the last week keeping him protected. Maybe I could blame the beast within me. Or maybe it was the way he called for Harry, not Potter, not Hadrian but Harry that had me casting a wandless and sloppy obliviate at the man and then almost sprinting from the bathroom, barely remembering to wipe the blood off my face.
Malfoy was struggling with his back to the bar, the woman that served me earlier standing over his shoulder as six men stood around him. One hand wrapped around Malfoys upper arm dragging him towards the exit, the woman had a look of panic and fear on her face as I stalked forward. I didn’t get there before the burlier of the men gripped Malfoy by the waist, slung him over his shoulder and walked to the exit.
The beast screamed then. Loud and fucking clear.
I was out the door and standing in front of the pack of men before the door had even swung all the way open. There were more than I expected, twelve in total. The six that had been inside the bar and six that were leaning against bikes and cars outside the club.
“Le sugiero que deje ir a mi amigo.” I drawled, arms crossed, a bored expression on my face but I didn’t miss the way that Malfoys shoulders sagged in relief.
“No.” The man holding Malfoy said, his accent thick.
“Esto es lo que va a pasar. Lo vais a bajar, subir a vuestros vehículos y marcharos, o en su defecto os voy a meter bajo tierra.” I said again, dropping my arms by my sides.
“Somos doce y vosotros uno. Apártate de nuestro camino y no te haremos daño.” The man responded. I could see the glimmer in his eyes. He would try, He would Fail.
“Verás, el problema es que es mío y no lo comparto.” The man sized me up then. Dropping a terrified Malfoy onto the floor.
“Consíguelo”
They all moved at once.