Making-Moves (III) [Chapter 172]

~~Unnamed Warehouse, Budapest, Hungary~~

Voldemort walked up to the entrance of the unknown warehouse before pulling down his hood, to reveal his bald head and serpentile face. He pulled out a note from his robes and read the address before burning the message in his hand. With a silent growl, he entered the warehouse and looked around. He couldn’t believe the Vampires had made him come to this place, but for now, he decided to play along with them as he needed them.

“So, you are really back… When Mulciber told me you are back, I was certain he was lying” Kraven walked out from the shadows along with a few other vampires, but Voldemort didn’t consider anyone to be a threat to him and they probably weren’t… There was a reason why Voldemort was considered the strongest Dark Lord. Vampires didn’t possess the ability to use Magic, but they were somewhat sensitive to Magic.

“Lord Voldemort is immortal” Voldemort stated simply, making a vampire standing at the side, snort in derision. Voldemort’s eyes snapped toward her, the female vampire looked completely disinterested and even though he wanted to punish the creature for the insult, he decided to hold his hand. It wasn’t time yet…

“That is what it looks like…” Kraven nodded his head in acknowledgement. “So, you are asking for our support, just like you did the last time?” Kraven inquired.

“Yes, that is the plan” Voldemort nodded his head.

“Are you planning to include those filthy beasts too?” Kraven inquired coldly. Voldemort knew that the hatred between Vampires and Werewolves ran very deep, so it won’t be easy to get them to work together, but he did it the last time, so he was confident that he could do it again.

The Vampires clearly looked displeased at his admission… “What do we get in return?” Kraven asked.

“You are going to receive the same deal you received the last time” Voldemort stated firmly as he didn’t want to give them any advantage over him.

Kraven seemed to smirk at his words… “No, no, no, my friend… That won’t do, this time at least. We no longer need blood. We do have blood coming in sufficient supply. There is something else we want” Kraven said and Voldemort flared his nostrils in rage and the vampire’s tone. Kraven wasn’t even the leader of the Budapest Coven, he was only the regent, but Kraven was his best hope if he wanted to get the Vampires on board.

“What do you want?” Voldemort asked tersely.

“We want to hunt” Kraven revealed, making Voldemort frown. There was a good reason why the ICW had made it illegal for the Vampires to hunt. Yes, the Vampires are strong and all that, but they aren’t that hard to defeat for a trained Wizard or a Witch. The Vampire Elders, especially Marcus were probably the strongest Vampires in existence, but even they could be killed with a group of trained Wizard and Witches.

That was why the Vampires decided to respect the ban placed on them by that ICW, and while it was an ironclad law, it was simply impossible for the ICW to enforce absolutely… After all, it was simply impossible for them to catch the Vampire responsible for hunting and turning, all the time… There were a lot of Vampire Covens around the world, so it was impossible for the ICW to blame any one of them without concrete evidence.

Vampires still hunted and turned humans into their kind from time to time as they needed to maintain their numbers and even though it was possible for the Vampires to copulate, it was impossible for them to increase their numbers through copulation… So, most of the time, the ICW would simply look in the other way if the hunting and turning incidents were minor, but the ICW would start moving if the incident drew too much of their attention.

Voldemort seemed to ponder his options… At this stage, he didn’t want to tangle with the ICW forces, but at the same time, he also needed the support of the Vampires… Now, he could try to negotiate with Kraven but that would make him look weak. So, after some consideration, Voldemort finally made his decision… He will play along with the Vampires for the time being, but he will deal with them as soon as they are no longer useful to him.

“Fine… Your forces will be allowed to hunt, but they will be under my command” Voldemort declared firmly. There was no way he would allow someone else to command his forces.

“Okay… okay” Kraven nodded his head before starting to grin as he looked around at the Vampires he brought along with him. “I hope this alliance turns out to be more fruitful than the last one” Kraven declared and Voldemort internally snarled at the jab. He decided to kill Kraven when the time was right… “Send Mulciber to discuss the finer details” Kraven said and Voldemort simply inclined his head in understanding.

After that, Kraven and his entourage disappeared into the darkness, leaving Voldemort alone in the warehouse. Now that the Vampires were on board with his forces, he needed to find and meet Greyback himself as there was a chance that Greyback might kill Mulciber… With that thought in his mind, Voldemort turned on his heel and disappeared from the spot with a soft pop…

~~Hel~~

“I have found another Horcrux” Harry declared and Hela seemed to raise an eyebrow at his words. She already knew that, after all, she had been watching him all the time, though she wondered why Harry would think that she needed to know such a mundane thing… Voldemort was nothing in front of either of them. No matter how much he struggled, at the end of the day, he would still remain an insect in their eyes.

“I know, I saw…” Hela drawled blandly. If it was someone else then they would have been creeped out, but Harry was used to being watched all the time. His mom had been watching everything through his eyes, so the addition of Hela didn’t bother him much.

“Can you teach me how to locate the other Horcruxes?” Harry inquired and Hela finally remembered that he wanted to learn that too… It had completely left her mind.

“No can do, my student. I will teach you after you become a Second-step Martial Artist” Hela declared, leaving Harry somewhat displeased, but he didn’t complain. At that, Hela internally nodded her head in satisfaction… Her to-be husband knew when to hold his tongue. It was an extremely good skill to have… There had been so many beings she had come across who lacked this skill and then she had to pull their tongues out…

“So, what are we going to do today?” Hela was broken out of her musings when Harry spoke up. She could always reminisce about good old times at a later time.

“Hmm…” Hela seemed to ponder her options for a bit. He already knew everything about the Martial Arts Technique she was teaching him and he was making significant progress at a steady pace. “Is there a weapon you prefer?” Hela asked. It was about time she started teaching him hand-to-hand combat and weapons handling. There were hardly any melee weapons she didn’t know how to use, so she could easily teach him anything.

“Probably a longsword or an estoc?” Harry answered with an unsure look on his face. He never handled either of those weapons, but a longsword or an estoc appealed to him the most. Hela looked him over for a moment before nodding her head… Either type of sword would work perfectly with his build, but personally, she would prefer a longsword over an estoc any day.

“Then a longsword it is” Hela declared. While she was capable of using almost any weapon, she mostly preferred using a longsword over anything else. ‘Yes, my to-be husband does have a nice taste… Both of us using longswords to butcher our enemies and create rivers of blood… What a beautiful sight it would be’ Hela hummed dreamily inside her mind. “Though before I can teach you how to use a longsword, I want to teach you something else” Hela declared as she gestured him to step forward.

Harry couldn’t learn any physical techniques with a simple look, so she needed to give him hands-on training. It was something she was going to enjoy quite a bit. “Right now, you are completely useless in hand-to-hand combat, so I am going to teach you something that would complement the sword art I am planning to teach you” Hela explained and after getting a nod from Harry, she decided to continue.

“Now, carefully watch my movements as you will be repeating them after I am done” Hela said before she finally started to move with deadly grace…

~~Tonks’ Residence~~

Andromeda Tonks was doing dishes when she heard someone open the door. The Wards didn’t trigger, which meant it was someone she knew and after taking a glance at the clock, she was sure it wasn’t her husband. “Nymphadora, is that you?” Andromeda called out, but nobody answered, so she quickly slipped her Wand into her hand. Yeah sure, the Wards weren’t triggered, but it was to be better safe than sorry.

“Yeah, mom. It’s me” Her daughter finally answered before stepping inside the kitchen and Andromeda quickly stowed away her Wand before greeting her daughter with a smile even though her daughter was looking somewhat down… It didn’t take her much effort to realize that something must have happened, and it was probably something serious as her daughter didn’t complain when she used her name.

“What happened?” Andromeda asked gently as she wiped off her hands with the towel. A part of her was hoping for it to be a boy problem as that would be the easiest to solve. She simply needed to kill the boy and then hide the body… That was bound to take care of the problem…