Writing a book is a long and tedious process—especially when it comes to technical books.
Nolan spent the remaining dozen or so days of his vacation entirely focused on it.
He locked himself away in a small room, living in near seclusion, only emerging to feed when a Muggle girl was sent in at scheduled intervals for him to drink from.
Eve would occasionally drag him out, and the two would indulge in moments of deep affection. But such moments almost always ended with Eve losing herself completely.
By the time she came back to her senses, Nolan would already be gone again.
This diligent yet eccentric vampire amused Eve greatly. She found his strange habits both exasperating and utterly endearing.
At the end of August, the people of Randall Gorge bid farewell to Angela. Her vacation had come to an end, and starting today, she had to return to work at the "R·S" shop. The place couldn't function properly without her.
"Vampires are really quite decent folks," Angela said with a smile, holding her daughter in her arms as she prepared to leave. She glanced at Nolan and added, "I have no idea what zombies or demons are like, but I think I'm no longer afraid of them at all!"
"I'd rather you be afraid of them," Nolan shrugged. "Those creatures aren't friendly to Muggles. They don't need a reason to eat people."
He leaned in to give her a polite farewell cheek kiss. "Safe travels, Angela. Take care of yourself, alright?"
"I will," she promised, stroking her daughter's soft hair. Then she looked at Nolan and Eve with a serious expression. "You two behave, okay? Listen, I have nothing to give her. She has to fight for everything herself. So, all I can do is ask you to be good to her, Nolan. You're all she has."
Nolan's gaze was steady as he replied, "I'll treat her as well as I treat Felicia."
Angela tilted her head in confusion. "That sounds… strange. Isn't Felicia your sister?"
But she didn't press the matter further. After kissing her daughter goodbye, she got into Miss Theresa's car and left Randall Gorge.
Two days later, Nolan and Eve began packing their things—it was almost time for them to return to Hogwarts for their third year.
"Nolan! Do you know where Famas is? Its cage is empty!"
Eve was searching for her long-eared owl.
"Maybe you should ask Miss Nancy? They seem to get along well. Are cats and owls even related? I've never been sure about that," Nolan mused as he sorted his parchment, carefully organizing the important ones into folders while handing the discarded ones to the black cat, Nancy.
Nancy transformed into a gaping, pitch-black maw and swallowed the unwanted parchment. After reverting to her feline form, she chewed thoughtfully before speaking. "Famas? It's probably in the woods hunting mice. Lately, a lot of mice have moved into Randall Gorge—Famas thinks they're plump and juicy!"
"Ew!" Eve wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I told it not to eat mice!"
"I'd bet it's not as smart as Miss Nancy," Nolan remarked dryly. Then, suddenly, his hands froze mid-motion. He let out a quiet "Hm?" before swiftly striding down the stairs.
The elf sisters, Lúthfa and Shafa, rarely visited Sistine Manor. They had their own little wooden cabin deep in the forest.
But today, they were here. And judging by their furrowed brows, something was very wrong.
"Your Highness," said the ranger, Shafa. "Werewolves have infiltrated Randall Gorge."
Lúthfa added, "There are seven of them. We issued a warning, and Shafa shot one down with her bow, but that only seemed to enrage them. The remaining six are out of our control. We had no choice but to use the magical creatures of the forest to restrain them."
"This is an insult to the Von Draugr family," Miss Theresa said coldly. "Werewolves breaking the rules like this… utterly disgraceful."
Countess Constantine flipped through a thick tome, running her finger along a line of text. "To my knowledge, the largest werewolf clan in Britain—the Coldclaws—has a non-aggression pact with the Von Draugr family. The other clans are too weak to pose a threat. So where did these rogue werewolves come from?"
A crimson glow ignited in Nolan's eyes. His voice was eerily soft as he said, "It doesn't matter where they came from. Trespassing on Von Draugr territory means only one thing—death."
"Libera," he commanded, "wake up all the combat units. Tell them it's time for their favorite pastime—slaughtering werewolves."
The moment the words left his mouth, a playful female voice chimed in:
"There's no need for that, Nolan!"
With a creak, the grand doors of Sistine Manor swung open.
A stunningly seductive woman stepped inside.
She hadn't changed at all in the past year.
Despite a full year of roaming across Northern Europe, her beauty remained undiminished, and her playful, mischievous nature was as lively as ever.
The most stunning yet dangerous rose in all of Britain strolled in with a dazzling smile, threw her arms around Nolan, and kissed him deeply.
It wasn't until five minutes later that she finally pulled back, still smiling. "I'm back!"
"You're late, Felicia… Whose blood is that?"
Nolan's gaze dropped to the Grand Duchess' hands, which were both soaked in fresh blood. The crimson liquid had seeped into her gown, staining its vibrant red fabric into something dark and sinister.
"Werewolves'!" Felicia giggled, her voice rich with amusement. "Those foolish little mutts actually thought they could lay a hand on my Randall Gorge. So I gave them a lesson—sent them straight to hell to reflect on their mistakes! Oh? Elves! Are you two new additions to the family?"
She seemed very interested in the elf sisters, Lúthfa and Shafa, and immediately began circling them with keen curiosity.
"When will you two finally turn into dark elves?"
"That will take some time, Grand Duchess Felicia," Lúthfa responded respectfully. She knew that the seemingly young girl before her was, in fact, one of the three most powerful vampires in Britain. "Randall Gorge is gradually altering our bodies. We are starting to lose some of our natural forest elf traits and abilities…"
"That's not a bad thing," Shafa said. "Dark magic will make me a better ranger. I'm learning how to use shadows to conceal my presence."
Nolan ignored Felicia's enthusiasm as she chattered with the elves. Instead, he led Libera and a few others out of the manor and into the forest, where they found the bodies of the slain werewolves.
"Can you trace which family they belong to?" Nolan pointed to the insignia on their arms. "I want them to pay for this."
"I'm working on it…" Countess Constantine's expression was grim as she studied the markings, letting out an irritated sigh. "The werewolf clans in Britain are even more convoluted than political alliances in Parliament. There are tens of thousands of them, and their insignias all look frustratingly similar!"
"Find out. I want answers as soon as possible."
With that, Nolan summoned devilfire and incinerated the corpses until not even ashes remained.
When they returned to the manor, he found Felicia casually draping herself over Eve. The two of them seemed to be getting along quite well.
"Felicia, as much as I'd love to properly welcome you home, we don't have time for this right now." Nolan grabbed Eve's hand, urgency in his tone. "We need to get to London today—Hogwarts is starting."
"Hey, Nolan, wait!" Felicia reached into her pocket and pulled out a small package, her expression turning mysterious.
"You forgot this."
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