chapter 6

Chapter 6:

–Valerie–

Rose Potter was an interesting girl, to say the least. She was eager to help, though it was obvious her attraction to me played a part. It wasn't hard to tell—her heartbeat sped up every time she glanced my way. And then there was the unmistakable scent of her arousal.

"This is Tom's pub," Rose whispered as we walked into one of the dirtiest bars I'd ever seen.

"This place must be drowning in health code violations," I said, glancing around. Rats and cockroaches were sharing a moldy plate on the table to my left, and it looked like it had been sitting there for days at the least. 

Doesn't the owner have magic? Why not cast a few spells to clean this place up?

To my right, there were a couple of tents squished together in the corner. Three homeless looking wizards were even sitting around a campfire that was just burning right on top of the wood floor…

I didn't even know what to make of that spectacle. I'm all for feeding and housing the homeless, but you're not supposed to literally house them in the middle of your Pub! 

Thankfully, we didn't stay inside for long. Rose tugged at my sleeve and led me to the back of the pub, stopping in front of a brick wall. She pulled out her wand and tapped the bricks in a specific sequence.

I whistled in appreciation as the bricks shifted and shuffled, creating an entrance to Diagon Alley.

That appreciation vanished the moment I stepped through. "What a shithole!" I said loudly, not caring who heard. Britain's famous magical shopping district was a disaster. Garbage piled up in the streets, mixed with…other questionable substances.

"Please don't be human feces…" I muttered in disgust, stepping around a suspicious brown smear. Something, or someone had left it right in front of the entrance to the Alley.

Rose sighed. "This place used to be so much nicer. When I first came here at thirteen, it felt like a wonderland. Now it's filthy and deserted. No one comes to shop anymore because they're too afraid of being attacked by Death Eaters. Most of the Muggle-born shops have shut down for good."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I'd come here to spy, but how could I do that if there was no one around to spy on? Sensing my frustration, Rose pointed toward the end of the alley. Unlike the other boarded-up, graffiti-covered shops, one building still looked pristine. And were those armed guards wearing actual plate armor standing out front? Why did they look so short though?

"That's Gringotts Bank," Rose explained, her voice bitter. "It's run by goblins. You can probably get some good information from those greedy little buggers if you pay them enough. They'll serve anyone, even Death Eaters." I could tell she wasn't thrilled about it, but at least I had a lead.

"Goblins, huh? Why are they running a bank? Shouldn't they be out in the wild, wearing loincloths and trying to kill or defile adventurers?" I asked as we made our way down the empty alley toward Gringotts.

Rose snickered. "Apparently, they used to be like that, but after losing all their rebellions, they ended up in charge of our money instead."

I stopped for a second, giving her a disbelieving look. "Wait, you're telling me these creatures used to kill witches and wizards, got beaten down repeatedly, and then wizards decided, 'Hey, let's trust them with all our money'?!"

Rose tapped her lips thoughtfully. "When you put it like that, it does sound kind of dumb…"

"That's because it is dumb!" I said, exasperated. As we reached the steps of the bank, I noticed the armored goblins at the entrance eyeing me far more intently than Rose. I wondered if they could sense my true nature.

Rose pushed open the doors, and we stepped inside. I had to admit, the goblins outdid themselves here—the inside of the bank was far more impressive than Tom's Pub or even Diagon Alley itself. Rose grabbed my hand, catching me off guard. I thought she was being forward, but she quickly pulled me toward a goblin behind one of the empty counters.

"Hey there, Griphook," Rose greeted.

The goblin, busy counting gold coins, glanced up with mild disinterest. "Hello, Miss Potter. Here to visit your vault?"

"No, I'm here on other business." Rose shook her head and turned toward me. That's when she seemed to realize we were still holding hands. She quickly let go, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Sorry about that," she murmured before addressing Griphook again. "My friend here is looking to buy some information," she added in a hushed tone, even though we were the only customers in sight.

Griphook raised an eyebrow, eyeing me carefully. "Information doesn't come cheap, Nosferatu."

So, the goblins did know what I was at a glance…

"Money isn't a problem for me," I told the Goblin. I had a credit card in my jacket with essentially unlimited funds, as long as I used it to cover expenses that benefited Hellsing. Otherwise, my salary was around 20,000 British pounds a month, with additional bonuses depending on the missions I completed.

Griphook gestured to another Goblin to take his place behind the counter before leading Rose and me down a nearby hallway into his private office. He plopped himself into an expensive-looking leather chair while we took our seats across from him.

"Alright then," Griphook began. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know where and how the Dark Lord is smuggling other vampires and werewolves into the country, and if possible, the location of himself and his forces."

The Goblin scoffed at me. "Oh, is that all?" he asked sarcastically.

I ignored his tone. "I also want to buy any information you have on the Tepes Clan in Romania…" I added after a brief pause.

Rose turned her head and shot me a curious glance.

"Now that one, I can tell you about," Griphook said. "We'll start there, although the information won't come free."

I suspected as much from the greedy glint in his eye. "How much?" I asked.

"1,000 galleons or 10,000 Muggle pounds," he replied immediately. His tone told me there was no room for bartering.

"What!?" Rose blurted out. "That's practically robbery!"

Griphook glared at Rose before turning back to me. "My price is firm. Do you want to know or not?"

"I'll pay it," I said. Ten thousand pounds was a lot for some information, but this was very important information to Hellsing and me specifically. I reached into my jacket and pulled out my wallet. Griphook took my credit card and swiped it on a scanner he pulled from his desk drawer. He nodded and handed it back to me once the payment went through.

Griphook leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk. "Alright, here's what I know: The Tepes Clan suffered a major disaster about two months ago. Apparently, someone very important to the clan managed to escape from their castle, pretty much burning the entire place down in the process. With the loss of their century-old stronghold, the Tepes Clan vampires suddenly found themselves homeless and at the mercy of their rivals, the Carmilla Clan."

The Carmilla Clan? I had heard my guards complain about the arrogant female Carmilla vampires a few times over the years, but I didn't know much beyond that. I couldn't imagine they were worse than the Tepes…

"What happened next?" I asked.

"The Carmilla Clan gave them a good thrashing, rumor has it. The Tepes Clan had to flee Romania and have set up a couple of emergency branches throughout the rest of Europe. Rumor has it that a prominent member of the clan is even currently in Britain, in talks with the Dark Lord himself."

I grimaced upon hearing this. I knew my clan might track me down someday, but I didn't think it was going to be so soon. Or maybe they weren't even here for me. The Tepes vampires are a bunch of evil monsters, so I wouldn't put it past them to team up with an insane Dark Wizard that wants to take over this country and enslave all the normal people. They also might be how Voldemort is smuggling so many other vampires into Britain. I destroyed the teleportation circle in the warehouse I arrived in, but there are probably even more of them hidden out there somewhere.

"That information was helpful to me. How much for you to tell us about the Dark Lord?" I asked next.

Griphook drummed his fingers along his desk and pondered for a moment. "I'm afraid I can't help you there. The Dark Lord isn't known for showing mercy against those who spill his secrets." 

"Oh come on, Griphook!" Rose spoke up again. "Voldemort is a wizard supremacist! How long into his rule will it take until he decides to just kill all the Goblins and let his Death Eaters take over your bank?"

Griphook snarled at Rose. "He's welcome to try, but the Gringotts and Goblin nation aren't defeated so easily!" 

Yeah, I wasn't so sure about that. The Goblin guards we passed had some pretty cool armor and swords, but I don't know how either of those hold up against magic or guns. My guess was they didn't hold up well at all…

"I can offer you 100,000 British pounds for the location of the Dark Lord." I said while crossing my legs and leaning back.

Rose gasped at the amount of money I just offered. I could see Griphook's eyes light up with greed for a few seconds before he grit his teeth and disappointedly shook his head.

"The answer is still no. I cannot give out that kind of information…no matter the price." 

"Fine then," I said while standing up. "I guess we're done here. Cmon, Rose."

"Hmph, I thought you were cool when we met Griphook. You were the first Goblin I ever talked to." Rose said as she followed me to the door.

"So sorry to disappoint you…" Griphook drawled. He didn't let us walk back down the hallway unaccompanied. He escorted us back to the lobby, which was suddenly full of a lot more people than when we arrived.

"We meet again, Rose Potter," a man with long blond hair, even longer than my own, strode toward us. His black cane clacked loudly against the marble floor with each step.

"Itzy bitzy Potty, wandering Diagon Alley all by herself. Didn't your parents ever tell you how dangerous that is? Oh, wait… they're dead, aren't they? Hahahaha…" A woman with wild, curly black hair and a crazed gleam in her eye chimed in mockingly. There was a group of six masked men standing behind her who all started laughing along with her.

Rose tensed beside me. "Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange…"

"That's us!" Bellatrix grinned smugly. "You're coming with us, Potty! The Dark Lord is going to be so very pleased with us for catching you. Maybe he'll even stop using the Cruciatus Curse on Lucy here every single day for being such an incompetent sissy!" she cackled at the look of annoyance Lucius was sending her.

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I'm pretty sure I just stumbled upon some Death Eaters. Or rather, they stumbled onto Rose and me. They also seemed to be after her specifically, barely sparing me a glance.

How did they know we were here, though? No one spotted us in the alley; it was completely deserted when we strolled through. I turned back around and glared at Griphook. I'm sure my eyes were glowing bright red from anger. "...You sold us out, didn't you?"

The nervous goblin took a couple of steps away from us. He nervously reached up and adjusted his tiny tie. "It was nothing personal, it's just business. There's a massive price on Rose Potter's head!"

I reached into my coat and pulled out my pistol. "Just so you know, this is extremely personal…"

BANG!

Griphook's head whipped backward. It turned out that goblin blood smelled just as foul as I suspected it would as it started pooling on the floor beneath his corpse.

"Damn you, human!" Five armored goblin guards started rushing at me with pointy spears. I took aim at each of them and pulled the trigger.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-CLICK!

"Dammit…" I forgot to reload that one bullet I fired to scare away Rose's perverted cousin!

The massive bullets easily tore through the armor of four of the goblins, either killing them instantly or putting big enough holes in them that they were no longer a threat. The final guard made it to me and thrust forward with his spear. I was much faster than him, so I simply batted the weapon to the side before he could stab me.

A hiss of pain left my mouth as I did so. Half of my palm was burnt! No one told me these goblins' spears were made out of silver! That's when I noticed the specific gleam in the goblin's armor—it was made out of silver as well! He tried to bum rush me after failing his stab. I did not want to find out what being in contact with that much silver at once felt like!

I held up my left hand and called upon the first spell that came to mind. "Bombarda!" 

The explosive curse struck the goblin center mass. I was thrown backward from the resulting blast that went off only a couple of feet from my face. The goblin fared much worse since he took the curse head-on. His body was flung across the lobby, where he violently collided with a marble pillar 30 feet away. A sickening crunching sound pretty much confirmed most of his bones were probably broken.

All the other goblins in the bank immediately started to flee after I dispatched Griphook and all of the guards.

"Ugh… Gotta be more careful with that spell." I slowly picked myself up off the floor to the sound of clapping.

"My, my… that was an entertaining show you put on, little vampire," Bellatrix said curiously. "How is it that you managed to perform magic though? Only noble witches and wizards should be allowed such a gift!" She had her wand in her hand but wasn't pointing it in my direction yet.

Rose was gaping at me in shock after what just occurred. She might have even temporarily forgotten that Death Eaters were here to capture her.

I flicked open my revolver and ejected the empty casings, replacing them with fresh rounds. I kept my weapon at my side as well. "Clearly, no one ever told you that true noble vampires are able to use magic," I said to Bellatrix. I didn't bother explaining that I was a dhampir and was able to use it before even becoming Alucard's blood daughter.

She furrowed her brows at me. I noticed that she was probably incredibly beautiful at one point, but something had happened to this woman that made her skin look sickly, and her teeth were practically rotting in her mouth.

Once again, I wondered why none of these witches or wizards used any cleaning spells. Rowena had taught me a bunch of them, and she was from 1,000 years ago!

"Oh? I met a noble vampire a few days ago," Bellatrix said. "He came groveling before the Dark Lord, begging him for aid and pledging his support to us. He certainly couldn't use any magic," she elaborated.

I scoffed. "Then he clearly wasn't a noble vampire. Just some poser." That was probably a member of the Tepes clan.

"And what makes you so special?" Bellatrix asked curiously.

"Because I'm the daughter of the dragon," I declared.

Bellatrix's eyes widened, as did the blond man's next to her. "No… that isn't possible. No one has seen him in hundreds of years! He's dead!"

"She's obviously lying, Bella! There's no way that's true!" Lucius exclaimed while pointing his wand at me next.

"Hehehehe…" 

The sound of eerie laughter echoed around the room, bouncing off all the walls. Rose let out a startled yelp next to me and latched onto my arm. "There's a man in your shadow, Valerie!"

Sure enough, there was a man in my shadow...

My shadow on the floor turned much darker until it became pitch black. Then Alucard himself slowly began to rise up from the floor. "Hello, my daughter. Fancy meeting you here."

I put my hands on my hips and sighed. "Were you seriously inside my shadow this entire time?"

"I was bored and wanted to shadow you on your little reconnaissance mission. Who would have thought you'd stumble right onto some of our targets? It seems you inherited my amazing luck..." Alucard trailed off with a large grin. His eyes glowed underneath his yellow sunglasses as he gazed at Bellatrix, Lucius, and the six masked Death Eaters behind them.

"D–Dracula...?" Lucius stuttered in disbelief and started backing away slowly. He backed up until he bumped into one of the masked men behind him.

"I prefer to go by Alucard nowadays." he said while stepping past Rose and me. "I heard you and your little group have been naughty. My master would like to hear all about your little plans for taking over Britain."

Bellatrix recovered herself and snarled at the most dangerous and famous vampire in the world. "We're completely loyal to the Dark Lord! We won't tell you anything! AVADA KEDAVRA!" 

A bright green curse flew from her wand and hit Alucard directly. He hadn't even bothered trying to dodge. We all waited a few seconds for her curse to have some kind of effect, but it did nothing but amuse him. "Hehehehe… Was that death magic? That tickled." Alucard said.

Bellatrix's newfound confidence didn't last much longer. She turned toward Lucius and shouted a single word: "RUN!" She followed her own advice and sprinted past the Death Eaters, who were all still too stupefied to move. A second later, Lucius turned around and sprinted after her, heading toward the bank's front exit.

"I love it when they run. It makes the hunt more enjoyable," Alucard said with a chuckle, slowly walking after them. He reached into his trench coat and pulled out a handgun even larger than my own. "I'm sure the master has no need for worthless minions." 

Without wasting any time, he fired upon the masked men. Only one of them managed to throw up some kind of shield spell, but Alucard's hand cannon punched a hole right through it regardless.

The bank lobby was filled with even more corpses as Alucard followed Bellatrix and Lucius out the front door and into the Alley. I doubted he would need my help chasing after them. I'd probably just get in his way and ruin his fun if I did try and help anyway.

Rose and I were left alone in the lobby. She gazed up at me, still in shock over everything that happened. "What the fuck was that, Valerie…"

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