Pierced (Completed)

Chapter 8: Fear

Harry sat on his throne, his body aching. Had the fighting really been so intense that he was barely able to move at this point? And why did it feel as though he had been stabbed through the chest?

He touched the spot on his chest and winced. As crazy as it sounded, it really did feel as though he had either been stabbed or impaled on something. Did his inner vampire not care about or value his own life at all?

"My Master?" a vampire presently relaying a message in his throne room said nervously.

Harry managed to pull himself out of his thoughts, focusing instead on the task at hand. "Please continue," he said.

"Well, it seems as though the preparations are right on schedule," the vampire said.

"That's good," Harry said, looking at the vampire on his right, who was wearing thin spectacles and a very old, very well-kept suit with coattails, his grey hair flaring away from his thin, sharp face. He had probably been about sixty-five when he was turned. The man nodded, fulfilling his duty as Harry's advisor.

The vampire licked his lips. "And Master, if I may…"

"Go on," Harry said, surprised that the vampire seemed so nervous.

The vampire shrank a little beforehand, averting his eyes. "I don't think this raid on Voldemort is such a good idea."

"And why's that?" Harry asked sincerely, thinking there might've been something he had missed.

The vampire flinched though, as if Harry had threatened to kill him for speaking back. "B-b-because he's j-just a petty human. I m-mean, all the other v-vampires think you're…you're…"

"I'm what?" Harry asked, thinking that the last Master must've been a psycho if this vampire was acting like this.

The vampire gulped. "Crazy, Master," he whispered.

"For wasting my time on a human?" Harry asked.

The vampire nodded quickly, quite obviously relieved that he hadn't been killed for speaking his mind. "Yes, Master."

Harry blinked a few times and took a deep, reflexive (and unnecessary) breath, thinking hard. Of all the times he could've used Hermione…

"Erm…well…Voldemort has an army of creatures, right?" Harry asked, an idea striking him.

The other vampire nodded quickly, his eyes not leaving Harry's. "Yes, Master," he said.

"And no vampires are a part of it," Harry continued.

"No, Master," the vampire responded quickly.

Harry stood up, trying his best to make himself look intimidating and in control. His advisor had told him to work on it. "We're attacking him to make him pay for insulting us by not inviting us to be part of his army," he said angrily. He let his inner vampire take control a bit, little enough to retain control while giving him enough to have pure vampire magic radiating from his body, making the cowering vampire in front of him take a few steps back. "He will pay with his head," he growled, his voice dangerously low. It was all a lie to get the other vampires to help him, of course, but one that was completely necessary.