The People of Hellsgate
The next morning, Remus set out to the castle. It was a tiring walk, especially the full moon being soon. Remus' muscles hurt like hell. Although it was a fairly short walk, he had to take numerous rests to catch his breath and give his exhausted legs a small break.
He reached the top of the hill, and the gates of the castle after an hour or so. He estimated it would take around half an hour normally.
He noticed the gates were locked and chained up; just his luck, his thought.
Remus started climbing the gate, but as he reached the top, a sharp sike seemed to appear out of nowhere and pierced his hand.
He bit his tongue in pain, stopping himself from yelling as he fell back down to the ground.
His hand oozed with blood, his bone clearly visible and he held it close to his chest. He grabbed a cloth from his bag and wrapped it around his hand.
Remus looked up to see where the spike had come from, but no one seemed to be around. The top of the gate clearly lined with spikes that he somehow hadn't noticed. He could've sworn they weren't there before.
His trek down the mountain was much quicker than going up, the downward slope increasing his speed as well as his determination to dull the pain in his hand.
He soon got to the town centre, and looked for a place that would sell medicine. He reached a stall selling 'cures to common ailments' and 'fast working elixirs'.
Remus stood in front of the stall, reading the labels on the bottles until he found one for his type of injury. God, he hoped it was cheap and would work.
He picked it up and held it in the eye level of the stall owner, "how much for this?"
The stall owner' lip curled upwards and she let out a small laugh.
"You're the traveller, then? What happened to your hand?"
Remus unwrapped the cloth from it to show her the damage. They tutted and picked up a wet cloth from a small bucket, cleaning the wound.
She then grabbed the bottle from his other hand, pouring it onto the injured one. Once done, she got actual bandages, and tied it tightly around his hand.
Remus nodded in thanks, "how much do I owe you?"
The stall owner laughed again, "Nothing. We don't use money, or any other form of trade."
Remus tilted his head slightly, "I'm sorry. But, how does that work?"
They smiled politely, "travellers always ask that question. None of us really see a reason why we should pay each other. We're a community, if someone needs something then they should be able to get it, no matter their financial situation."
"So… no one here has any money?" Remus asked.
She shook their head, "There's no need for it."
"Right. Um… thank you, then."
The stall owner smiled again, "No problem. I'm Lily, you are?"
"Remus."
Lily waved to him, "See you around, Remus."
Remus made his way back to the inn, waving to Peter who was sitting on the front step, drawing the landscape.
Once in his room, Remus set out all the information on the case onto the bed and small desk.
Newspaper clippings of strange murders a few miles away from the town, James' last few reports.
An infamous, upon hunters and other monsters at least, family of old vampires lived fairly close by. Moody had lost an eye and a leg from trying to hunt them in his youth.
Remus groaned, hoping James' disappearance wasn't related to the family.
After hours of pouring over the useless information and realising he wasn't getting anywhere, he decided to get himself a drink.
Leaving the inn, Remus set out to look for a pub. The sun was almost set and the streets were fairly quiet. He walked through the empty streets for a while, until finding himself outside of a small pub.
Remus opened the wooden door, and was smacked with loud music and terrible singing voices following it.
He felt a hand wrap around his wrist and looked to his left to see Lily there with a wide smile on their face.
"Remus! Want a drink?" She asked, pulling him further into the place.
They stopped at a booth in the corner, littered with other people. Lily pulled him to sit next to her, and a bartender came over with large glasses, placing one in front of Remus.
He lifted it to his face, sniffing it to check it wasn't laced before drinking it.
A loud voice close by filled his senses and he lifted his head to see a blonde woman shouting over the music.
"Reggie was there a couple of days ago as well, I don't think they're that lonely, Cas."
She followed someone, 'Cas', into the booth he was at. The woman sat in their lap, kissing 'Cas' squarely on the mouth.
Remus gaped at the public display of affection, looking around to make sure no one who might be against that sort of love saw it.
Lily poked his shoulder, "What are you doing?"
Remus turned to her and gestured towards the couple, "Aren't they worried about getting beaten up? And It's a small town, people could talk and they could get banned from everywhere and have to move."
Lily winked and affectionately tousled his hair, "Everyone is fine with it here. Stop worrying about everything."
"I'm not!"
She gave him a questioning look, "I'm very drunk right now so I won't remember this by tomorrow. But, why are you here? You have a secret reason, I can sense it!"
Remus sighed and took a sip of his drink before answering, "I'm looking for my friend. James Potter."
Lily's eyes widened and the other people on the booth seemed to stop their conversation to subtly listen into his and Lily's talk.
"Do you know him?" he prompted.
Lily froze for a few seconds before nodding. The other people at the booth seemed to be shaking their heads slightly, as if to tell Lily to stop speaking.
"He just came through town in passing. I met him at my stall in the town centre, he hurt his ankle."
"So he left town?"
Lily's eyes darted to their friends in the booth. The woman who had been speaking loudly earlier was mouthing sentences to Lily.
He regretted not letting Fleamont teach him about lip reading now.
Lily turned back to him, "Yeah. I assume so, I haven't seen him since."
Remus nodded, gulping down the rest of his drink and standing up.
Talking to the people here just left him more confused. He needed to get in the castle.
As he walked back to the inn, he made a mental plan. Go through the full moon and take a few days to recover, then set off to castle with full energy.
He'd find James soon. And kill this fucking vampire.