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London
–Damian Hawthorne–
It was almost theatrical, the way the vampires came out of the back door, their body language screaming comfortable to him as they languidly made their way down the small staircase, barely sparing a glance at the dumpster in front of them before turning to face him.
Each taking a side, all three of them stood in front of him, their bodies still covered in thick coats, but the red in their eyes unmistakably branding them as vampires. They sniffed the air, their enhanced senses allowing them to realise that he was all alone, with no backup, something that made them relaxed as the two that arrived later on took a step back, allowing the first one to take the lead.
The weak light struggling to stay alive, flickering, behind them made their shadows elongate as he waited for them to speak. He kept a close watch on the shadow that was alarmingly close to his current position for any signs of magic. While not officially recorded, he did not want to be the first recorded wizard to encounter a vampire capable of Umbrakinesis.
Sure, Dracula probably had it, along with a host of other abilities that bordered on absurd, but these chumps here? The chances were in his favour.
"Who are you?" The lead vampire spoke, his red eyes and pale skin creating quite the contrast, even if said contrast was only visible when a car with a particularly bright headlight passed the alleyway, passively illuminating it.
A fairly basic question, one that was not spoken without any hint of intimidation behind it. He also did not notice the subtle psychic pressure that vampires were known for. It was a known ability of theirs to project their intent to murder, to kill people through their magic into the air, allowing them to stun or freeze weaker wizards before going for the kill.
Well, it would seem that either they were too inept to use it or that they were using it and it was so weak, that it didn't even register to his senses.
Usually, he would have just killed them off, but he needed intel here, and unfortunately, he was not that well versed in that art. So, letting them talk on their own was probably the best option here. Alas, they seemed the patient sort, opting to wait in silence rather than blurt out a villain monologue that would have made his life much easier.
Things couldn't go that well for him now, could they?
He sighed internally, cringing at the words he was about to speak out loud, but soldiered through as the lives of dozens of people hung in the balance, along with potentially hundreds more if these three were not acting alone and had some sort of coven backing them. That would be the worst.
Stepping forward, he let the subtle glow of his shields running underneath his clothing, light up his costume as he spoke, "I am what many people refer to as the Giant Killer."
"Oh," The answer could not have been spoken with less cheer as the vampire on the right, a middle aged man with a faint scar running across his right cheek, lit up a cigar, with the old man on the right remaining stationary, unnaturally so, as they were vampires and not humans.
His eyes twitched as his trick fell flat on its face, as he realised the mistake he had made. The Giant Killer might have been a fearsome figure for wizards across the Great Isles, a hated one in some hidden pockets of Africa, but that was just in the context of wizards, normal wizards. Not vampires, and certainly not the strong vampires in front of him.
With an internal sigh, he realised just how pointless talking and establishing the pecking order would be, especially if he did not use force. With that in mind, he felt relief as he would no longer have to maintain the Chūnibyō act, which was extremely cringy in his opinion.
With a single snap of his fingers, the sound of which echoed in the empty alley, a surge of magic from artifacts previously hidden alerted the vampires, who were just a second too late to act, as multiple things happened all at once.
He smiled as the beauty of enchantment was revealed to him all at once. See, wizards, no matter how talented, how powerful, how OP, had a fatal limitation, especially if there was a numerical difference between the two sides. There would always be a limit to spellcasting speeds, mental limits on multitasking, and more.
When it came to enchanted items? Well, that limit was suddenly far higher, allowing sufficiently talented people to do…this.
A curtain of silence, as well as an attention deflection charm, was cast over the entire alley, as well as the backdoor entrance. Then, four stones glowed a bright purple as a rectangular formation appeared all around them, boxing all four of them in, the edge of which was a hair's breadth away from his coat.
That single act made the two silent vampires flinch, as he leaned to the side in one fluid motion, a claw appearing where his head previously was, as the vampire in the lead, the one who was a moment faster than the other two when it came to realising what was about to happen, attacked him.
Well, he tried, anyway.
With a seemingly lazy motion, he kicked the vampire in the torso, the body folding in half as a small shockwave rang out at the base of his shoes, punting the lead vampire all the way to the other edge of the boxed forcefield.
He noted the few splatters of dark red blood that fizzled away moments later, as the two beta vampires remained on alert, keeping their eyes on him as their hands morphed into claws, their fangs sharpening. Overall, they gained a distinct inhuman appearance as the alpha vampire stood up, the hole in the coat visible but the pale skin underneath perfectly fine.
Very high regen level. Noted.
"So," He said, his hands in his pockets, body relaxed, "Shall we do this again? Who I am is of very little consequence to you guys but I am very interested in your presence here. Why are you here? And why do you have…" He trailed off, focusing on his senses, them being a little muted due to this thick ass magic dampening barrier around him, but even so, he was able to get a rough estimate, "....over 50 thralls, just roaming the streets, surrounding this place?"
The change was immediately noticeable, as all three of them stiffened for a bit, the lead one's reaction being the most visible, which was odd because weren't vampires, who were really long lived, supposed to be really good at poker faces?
The alpha vampire snarled and rushed him, only this time, his hands flickered into drippy shadows aimed straight at his face. Once again, he leaned to the side, mentally flipped a switch in another set of enchanted items placed in the alleyway, and kicked the vampire once more, really not enjoying the way he felt the skin managing to hold onto its integrity but feeling the internals get crushed once more.
The next moment, as if two suns had bloomed behind him, two flashes of light hit the vampires, making them scream, as the beta vampires found themselves being used as meat shields, the alpha vampire dragging them together forcefully.
He raised an eyebrow at that, as the light shut itself off. That behaviour, right there, was odd, as the two beta vampires were tossed aside by the now steaming and burning vampire, who did not have any reaction other than pained groans, as their bodies began regenerating as well, albeit much slower than the alpha vampire who had chosen to use them as a biological light filter.
Realistically, with what his magical senses told him, all three of them were roughly on the same level of magical strength and the other two did not act like thralls, not the ones he read about anyway.
They acted as if they were true vampires, not thralls with broken minds, so why?
Another set of questions added to the list, but knowing their purpose was far more important. So, he asked once more, "What are you doing here? I know that light was a bit painful but if you don't start answering, the next one might not stop at just burns."
The alpha vampire, now mostly healed, stood up and snarled at him, his hands twitching but not turning into claws as the vampire tried restraint for a change this time, "I did not expect Dumbledore to have a pet like you on his side."
Um, what?
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