After Hours [Vladmir]

[Esteban Montez]

It was getting dark already and many of his customers had wondered off in the darkness outside. While the others continued upstairs to their rooms. His phoenix sat on a perch behind him. It wasn't the first time he had taken him to work. He loved to watch him whenever it slowed down and there was nothing to do. In a few hours he would be closing it up and heading home. He just wished some of the few straglers would leave already.

[Vladmir Morcerf]

The Three Broomsticks was becoming Vlad's go-to for when he just wanted to be around people. He must have been staying somewhere nearby or he was hoping to run into someone he knew. It was doubtful but whatever the reason, there he was. This time he came right up and sat at the bar counter. Sometimes he liked to order drinks, just to smell them, to imagine what they used to taste like. So many bottles in bars and not a one could he drink.

[Esteban Montez]

Esteban had to take a double take when he was Vlad walk in. It was too perfect. He immediately went over to him after glancing around to see if anyone else was there.

"Do you want anything?"

He offered, grabbing his own glass from behind him and taking a drink. His phoenix chirped slightly as he did.

"It's been a bit of a slow day. Hey, didn't you used to work at the school over there?"

[Vladmir Morcerf]

"Double malt whiskey... on the rocks... liberal with the rocks."

Vlad replied when asked. He didn't need a top shelf single malt or a lot of it. Just enough to enjoy the scent of the drink. When he were mortal, he had been a vodka man since that was the only real drink in the region but it didn't have the scent that Whiskey held. Something about it was soothing to him. The way actually drinking it may have been soothing to mortals who preferred it.

"A few times... yes... I worked there..."

This go was not his first with the school on the hill nor would it be his last, or so he hoped.

[Esteban Montez]

It only took him a minute to make his drink. It wasn't the first time he had it ordered before. As he set down the drink in front of him, he heard the resentment in his voice about the school.

"Seems idiotic of them to let you go. All for an article that probably isn't true."

In fact, Esteban had read it and found it interesting. It was even funny to him that the school freaked out and had to let that Vlad go. All the professors had a past. It was the mudbloods who didn't know what anything was in the wizarding world.

[Vladmir Morcerf]

Vlad took up the drink and mulled over it, letting it linger close to his mouth wishing it would taste right but with his heighten senses it was too abrasive. He might as well be a wizard drinking some sort of harsh muggle cleaning fluid. Still the scent was sweet and the water kept it from being harsh. Contented he set the glass down and turned it between his fingers as he pondered the article and it’s aftermath.

“I don’t blame the school for what happened. It is the appearance of propriety that they have to keep. A burden as old as the school itself.”

Hogwarts always seemed to be fighting off the demons of it’s past.

“If I were to lay fangs on people again it would not be on a student or college. How does the saying go? Don’t shit where you eat?”

Or in Vlad’s case, he couldn’t eat where he worked.

“The forest, I have found, is an excellent source of a good hunt. Forest Trolls do put up a good fight and they have more than enough to spare without any fear of mortal consequence…”

He had wanted an ear and now he had it. Sure Esteban was no reporter, he couldn’t write a counter article to make all right with the world again but he could at least let others know that a vampire could enjoy hunting other creatures than man without killing. Not all Vampires were a threat nor were they all killers. Being a bar tender he had to of heard every sob story there was, wife leaving, husband cheating, romantic trysts gone awry, or just the tales of people fallen on hard times but the ramblings of an old vampire were not a common event.

[Esteban Montez]

Esteban listened intently, trying to find something that he could take and run with. He leaned against the bar, taking another drink.

"Well why not? The school is off listening to a reporter that has learned all his information from other rumors. Shouldn't they be listening to those who are more wise and know what happened first hand?"

The school was really full of idiots. Esteban hated seeing all the professor come in and get to the point of almost drunk. If it was up to him, he would kick them all out.

"That school is just scared. But afraid of what? The student's muggle parents? I don't see any students that had a problem with it. If the school was afraid of getting in trouble, why didn't they just send home a letter to all parents saying it was okay. It seems easier then losing a great professor."

He added the compliment in there to show that he like Vlad. He took another drink, emptying the glass.

[Vladmir Morcerf]

“You just answered your own question… the Muggle parents. Wizarding folk understand that a vampire can be honor bound from certain things or that he can even be cursed from it. Muggles, while they mean well, are ignorant of the ways of the world. My sire used to call them forever children, for even as their body continues to age, their wisdom does not...”

He realized he was talking about very old days and tried to push that from his mind. He even dared to take a sip of the watered down drink, now that the ice had a chance to melt into it. He cringed for the taste and pushed the glass away remembering exactly why he only smelt and never drank. No matter how watered down he had it, the drink would never taste the same.

“You know… in the old days… vampires used to be licensed to hunt Muggles, the ministries of the world wanted to keep their numbers. The Muggles should be glad they live in this age. Not that I am yearning for the old days… only that I can remember when my kind had a purpose in society. Now we’re forced to live in hiding, a shameful secret the wizarding world would rather forget and the muggle world fears like everything else they have nearly forgotten.”

This is exactly what got him in trouble in the first place. He spoke his mind with Jamal and that kid remembered everything and turned it against him. Now he was speaking his mind to this young wizard. Vlad wondered when he became this bitter old man who would go on and on to the days youth about how things used to be.

[Esteban Montez]

"Just like you said, the wizarding world understands about vampires. And yet they hid you and your kind like a mistake. To me that's just as bad as those ignorant muggles."

Esteban shook his head. If they understood all there was about vampires, then they wouldn't be keeping them a secret.

"They treat others that aren't pure wizards the same as everyone else. Take the brothers that work at Hogwarts. Aren't they part giant?"

The school paraded around with different sort of beings. He had even heard rumors of a couple of half veelas that go there. If the muggle parents found out, they would take the veelas as sirens, alluring their precious kids to their deaths.

"At least that's how I see it. There's no use dealing with that school. If anything, they need to be put into their places for treating people like that. You're just as good as anyone there!"

[Vladmir Morcerf]

There was a deal of difficulty following Esteban’s line of logic. Vlad gave him a wistful expression recognizing the man’s youth and impatience with the world around him. Vlad held no anger toward the wizards who would rather forget what they consider darker times and he would not blame the muggles for their ignorance. They should be forgiven for they know not what they do. Ah but Vlad did miss the taste of human blood. Just thinking about it had his fangs pull into view. Realizing his fangs had elongated he closed his mouth to hide them away. He didn’t want to scare the man or be rude.

“They may be, but it is very removed from their line. All that remains is the height… and perhaps some of the soak. They can drink more than any human I know, without effect. And take a good beating at least Marcus can, I have not seen Saku in a fight he is too happy-go-lucky for such things.”

Having no idea that Saku had been in a fight in this very bar a while ago. If he was told about it he wouldn’t have believed it. The Saku he knew would never get in a fight with anyone. But then he did not know the hate Saku had for one man or even of that man’s existence.

“And what place would that be exactly?”

Suddenly Vlad did not like the way this conversation was headed. Maybe he was reading too much into the man’s words but it almost sounded like the sort of separatist statement one would make to argue that the school should be pure as Salizar had intended. A noble cause, Vlad might have championed at one time, but people change.