Chapter 463: Vampire Gathering
Chapter 463: Vampire Gathering
The long-haired vampire standing behind Lockhart opened his mouth, revealing long, sharp fangs, and leaned down to bite Lockhart’s neck.
"Wait! You can’t do that!" Gar hurriedly intervened.
"That’s right, Artemis", the brown-haired man standing next to Gar said. "That’s our brother’s prey. He should be the first to taste it."
"Alright", the long-haired vampire reluctantly released Lockhart. "I’m really hungry."
His gaze, like that of a venomous snake, swept over Lockhart’s neck. Lockhart’s body stiffened, and he looked to Gar for help with a desperate expression.
"Listen to me—" Gar’s mind raced, trying to speak with the exaggerated hunger of a vampire. "This blood is very rare. He’s a wizard... So I think, after everything is over, we can all enjoy him slowly."
Lockhart was so terrified he could hardly think. He looked at Gar with a mix of fear and betrayal.
"A wizard?" The long-haired vampire immediately became alert, searching Lockhart and breaking his wand before grinning with anticipation. "I’m looking forward to it... By the way, what’s your name?"
"Oliver!" Gar’s heart skipped a beat as he blurted out a common name. "I’m Oliver Williams!"
"Oliver? Ha, you’re the third Oliver I know! I’m Jack Roberts."
The brown-haired man patted his shoulder hard, smiling. "While the first two didn’t taste very good, I feel we’ll get along great!"
Gar forced a smile and nodded. "Definitely! Definitely!"
At the same time, he looked up at the sky with a hopeful expression, praying the owl delivering his package would notice his predicament and bring his uncle to rescue him.
But the owl had already flown away. Instead, he saw two bats flying in the distance.
—What’s going on? A vampire gathering? So close to Hogwarts? Are they crazy?
Gar had a reason to be here, but he couldn’t understand why these vampires, who weren’t being pursued by Dementors, had also come to this place.
He wanted to ask around but was afraid of exposing himself as an outsider. So he just mumbled a few vague responses and remained silent, observing with a sense of dread.
Then, the group walked together to the edge of the village. Lockhart, with his hands and feet bound and a gag in his mouth, was carried by two vampires, looking like a drunk man.
Hogsmeade, apart from its central commercial area, was much like any ordinary village. Most of the place was quiet, with houses scattered along the roads, and some people living in remote areas.
But the place the vampires were heading to was somewhere even Lockhart, who had studied at Hogwarts for seven years and then taught for half a year, had never been. It was almost at the farthest point on the western edge of the village.
It was an old wooden house, two stories high with seven or eight windows, and some thin branches growing from the ground nearby.
Lockhart didn’t get to see more. As soon as they entered, he was thrown into a dirty storage room, swallowing a mouthful of dirt.
He managed to lift his head and saw another person tied up in the room.
A young woman, dressed in a gray robe, sat in the corner, her head down, sobbing quietly, clearly terrified.
"Be careful", someone said. "Didn’t you hear the new guy? She’s a witch."
"I know", another person replied, taping Lockhart’s mouth and hands tightly before leaving them.
Hearing the door close, Lockhart’s face was filled with despair.
Even if he knew wandless and wordless spells, it would be difficult to remove the strong adhesive tape... and he didn’t know how to do it.
Lockhart lay on the ground, tears of regret streaming down his face.
If he had taken the time to learn wandless and wordless spells at school... or if he hadn’t abused the Obliviate spell for fame...
No, no, the biggest mistake was coming to Hogwarts in the first place. It was cursed land. Ever since he accepted the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, one misfortune after another had never stopped.
Why was life so hard?
Accompanied by the crying of the woman next to him, the mute Lockhart silently shed tears for a while, feeling a sense of shared suffering.
He struggled to turn his head, hoping to catch the girl’s eye for help—maybe she was one of his fans?
Even if she wasn’t a fan, at least her hands seemed free, which meant she could figure out a way to remove the tape from his body.
The long-haired woman continued to cry, as if her tears were endless. Lockhart tried to groan a couple of times to remind her of his presence.
The crying paused slightly, and the woman slowly raised her head, revealing bloodshot eyes and a face with only one nostril.
...
Gar could also hear the cries that sounded like an owl's howl. He watched the door close and asked uneasily, “Who else is in there?”
“The owner of the house,” a red-haired vampire said.
“What?” Gar said in surprise. “This is her house? What if... what if someone comes looking for her and finds us?”
“Don’t worry, it’s a banshee. No one wants to get close to them,” the red-haired vampire pushed him in and said, “Come on, everyone’s almost here.”
Gar stumbled a step and entered the living room, where he saw that the small house was packed with twenty to thirty vampires. The living room was dimly lit and filled with smoke, and dozens of glowing eyes turned to look at him.
Gar couldn’t help but take a step back.
Then he was bumped back by Roberts, who was walking behind him.
“What’s wrong?” Roberts asked curiously.
“I... I’m a bit worried about the blood offering I brought,” Gar made up an excuse, “Will he be killed if he stays with the banshee?”
“Read more books, buddy,” Roberts mocked. “Banshees are harmless. They just like to cry under the windows of people who are about to die.”
Gar reluctantly walked in and was handed a goblet.
He sniffed it and found it was fresh human blood, mixed with a strange, cedar scent.
“Special banshee flavor,” the vampire who handed him the goblet winked and said, “You’ll love it, brother.”
Gar took a couple of sips and felt every cell from his throat to his stomach being satisfied.
During his time on the run, he rarely had the chance to drink human blood. The refrigerated blood from the hospital was mixed with preservatives, and it tasted far worse than fresh blood.
If his life weren’t still in danger, Gar might have shouted excitedly, “Another one!”
Even more fortunate, after listening for a while, he realized that the others weren’t familiar with each other. They were just vampires in similar dire straits, all invited by a mass-sent invitation.
“Hi, hello,” a young-looking vampire girl walked over and smiled, clinking her goblet against his. “I’m Sophia.”
Gar quickly responded, “I... I’m Oliver.”
He almost forgot the fake name he had made up on the spot.
Sophia took a sip of blood and leaned in to ask, “Do you think what the invitation said is true?”
“Ah? This...” Gar had no idea what the invitation said, so he hedged, “I guess so? Do you find it unbelievable?”
He threw the question back at her.
“Who knows?” the girl leaned against the cabinet and looked at the room full of vampires with dark eye sockets. “It says we’ll each get at least thirty thousand Galleons if we succeed. I never even dared to dream of such a good thing...”
—How much? How much did you say?
Gar was so shocked that he almost spit out the blood in his mouth. He stretched his neck and gulped it all down, finally understanding why the vampires in the room had such expressions.
That greed... that desire... wasn’t because they rarely got to drink blood, but because they were anticipating a more tangible and glittering reward.
—In the vicinity of Hogwarts, could there be such a good thing? What kind of operation could yield hundreds of thousands of Galleons?
Although he didn’t know the details, Gar had a strong sense of impending danger and was eager to escape.
He drank the rest of the blood in one gulp, set down the goblet, and chatted a bit more before clutching his stomach and saying, “Sophia, I think I’m allergic to the banshee’s blood. Could you tell me where the...”
But Sophia’s gaze suddenly shifted upward, and she said, “Look! That’s probably our host.”
Gar turned his head and saw a man and a woman descending the stairs. The man had a dark aura and exuded the vibe of a dark wizard; the woman looked like a regular housewife, but her eyes gave off a dangerous vibe.
“Welcome, welcome, fellow vampires.”
The man smiled and said, “Thank you for accepting my invitation. I miss the old days when we worked together. Unfortunately, since the organization’s bases were destroyed one by one, we’ve all become wandering spirits. I’ve heard that many of you have been having a tough time recently...”
"Enough talk, Byrd."
A vampire with a scar on his face said, "We're all just cannon fodder who were thrown into battle and somehow managed to survive. We're not like you, the favorite in front of the boss."
"Right, we just want to hear about this big business of yours", another vampire with terrible burns said with a sinister smile. "If you're lying, I swear I'll tear you apart piece by piece!"
Gar could see that most of the people here didn't actually believe there was a "big business" worth hundreds of thousands of galleons. They were just driven by greed and decided to come and check it out.
For most of them, even if they didn't get the promised twenty thousand galleons, a few thousand—or even a few hundred galleons—would be worth doing some dirty work.
"Once you hear it, you'll understand why there's so much money involved. In fact... the real amount might be even higher", Byrd said with a mysterious smile.
...
"Are you kidding? Kidnapping a student from Hogwarts? And Wade Gray?" Roberts roared. "Do you want to die? If you do, don't drag me along!"
He turned to leave but was stopped at the door by the scarred vampire.
"Considering the sales of his various works, Wade Gray's vault could indeed hold hundreds of thousands, or even millions of galleons. But with Dumbledore around, no one can touch him."
The scarred vampire calmly asked, "Byrd, I assume you don't want to commit suicide, so what's your plan?"
"I received a message that this weekend, Dumbledore needs to meet with the headmistress of Beauxbatons."
Byrd smiled. "On Hogsmeade weekends, the young wizards are all running around the village. If one or two disappear, no one will notice."
"Do you really think you can just rush into a crowd and snatch such a conspicuous wizard?" Roberts sneered. "I bet if you try, Dumbledore will show up within three seconds!"
"Yes, that's why we need someone to lure him here, where no one will notice if he's caught", Byrd said. "The hardest part is already arranged. Someone will bring Wade Gray here, and do you have any more questions?"
"Even so..." Artemis said nervously, "it's not guaranteed to be foolproof. He might bring friends, or a Hogwarts professor might suddenly appear..."
"That's why I invited you, guys! If it were a sure thing, I'd do it alone!" Byrd said bluntly. "But if it goes smoothly, it will be as easy as picking up money from the ground!"
"And if it doesn't? Besides Dumbledore, Hogwarts has plenty of powerful professors, and even this village is full of wizards..." Artemis worriedly said.
"If we get caught, we might die", Byrd shrugged and smiled. "But then the others will get a bigger share of the money."
The thought of a glittering mountain of gold made the vampires' eyes greedier.
The burned vampire licked his lips and said, "It's worth a shot. Byrd, how will we split the profits?"
"I just want the person, alive", Byrd said. "All the assets in that kid's vault are yours."
"What's your plan for escaping after you catch him?" the scarred vampire asked. "Do you have a Portkey?"
"No such luck. The wizards in the organization who could make a Portkey have been killed by Grindelwald", Byrd said regretfully. "We'll have to use Floo Powder, but fortunately, this house has a fireplace."
Everyone fell silent.
The fireplace in this house could only fit two people at a time, meaning it would take a significant amount of time to transfer everyone to a safe location.
They couldn't speak the Floo destination clearly and accurately while transforming into bats.
If the operation was exposed early, the vampires left behind would be doomed. They might even start killing each other to secure their escape.
But if they could stay undetected for half an hour—maybe even twenty minutes—this would indeed be an easy money-making operation.
No one thought that a few dozen vampires would fail to capture a teenage boy. Their only concern was becoming the cannon fodder left behind.
After a moment of silence, they suppressed their worries and fears and began discussing the details of the operation.
(End of Chapter)
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