Inside the house, all was very, very still. They had felt their way through the cold cellar to the stairs that led to the kitchen. The large room was dingy and the fire on the huge hearth had gone out. There was a faint smell of burnt oatmeal and wet ashes. A much stronger scent of death hung over it. He looked around for the source and was heading for the door. Lorelei's hand touched Padfoot's shoulder hesitantly and he shifted to Sirius without standing up.

"Shouldn't there be someone here?" she asked. "Servants? House elves?" He snorted a little and rose up on his haunches.

"With a horde of peckish vampires in residence?" He said. "If they're smart, they ran for it days ago. And if not..." He tossed his head towards the corner. Lorelei followed his gaze to the slumped body of a house elf stacked on the pile of firewood. Her eyes narrowed.

"Monsters," she said. Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. She was obviously terrified and Sirius felt a touch of fear too. The sun was now lighting up the windows though, so he tried to shake it off. Fear was contagious. He stood up all the way and peered out the door into the next room. It was empty and with Lorelei close on his heels, he led the way to the main hall.

It didn't look terrible. Someone had been trying to keep it clean. Maybe there was a house elf or two still kicking. There was a fountain trickling to itself. It was arranged to flow down either side of the grand staircase into two shallow pools. The water was dingy and dark, and Sirius didn't want to think about what might be living in it.

"Where would Esme be?" he wondered aloud. He led the way up the stairs and down some narrow hallways. They passed through a maze of small rooms and corridors. The Nalicus family had divided their huge house into a beehive of chambers and doorways. God help any of them born claustrophobic, Sirius thought as they went. Big sweeping rooms to show off company in and these little mole holes to live in.

The small chambers were lavishly decorated though. Expensive hangings and carpets were still arranged over beautifully carved hardwoods. Every little knickknack was made of something rare and precious. Most of them had a large or small fountain in them, though most were dry. There were also numerous potted plants in various stages of wilt and all sorts of breeze ways and fireplaces as well.

"All four elements," Lorelei realized aloud. Sirius looked at her questioningly and she pointed. "Fireplaces to contain fire, fountains to contain water, all these windows and breezeways to let air in, and pots of earth everywhere. Someone was trying to achieve some sort of balance."

"Hunh," said Sirius, looking around. "Maybe Messalina." It was her turn to look inquiring and he pointed at one of the large paintings of the family that also seemed to be in most of the larger rooms. "The girl in the back." Lorelei nodded and they went on. There was no sign of vampires, or indeed, of anyone. Lorelei began pulling open drapes as they went, spilling morning sunshine into the old rooms.

"Where would they keep her?" Sirius muttered as time passed with nothing but more empty rooms. "I wish we had her compass. Can you make a new one?"

"It would take weeks to do it right," Lorelei sighed. She was as stressed and tense as he was. Her hand was clutched to her chest and at first he thought her burn was bothering her again, but then realized she was holding a little pouch strung around her neck. Maybe it was a anti-vampire talisman.

"Before, you said you might know a way to lure her to you," he remembered. "Can you do that now?"

"Oh," she looked taken aback. "No. I...I can't do that here." He started to argue and then she added. "And it won't work if she's contained. Let me... try something else first. I can send out some shadow hounds." She seemed to hesitate. "But you'll have to guard me. I'll be...helpless for a moment." Sirius blinked at that.

"When did you get so brave?" he asked. "Not only to come into a vampires house but to be 'helpless' inside it."

Lorelei did't answer. She took a deep breath and stepped back. Her shadow darkened into a much deeper blackness. She held out her hands and spoke the words to a spell Sirius had never heard. Her shadow moved and writhed, but her own body was motionless. Five black shapes sprang from it, taking the form of jackal-like dogs. In another flash, they streaked away, silent as shadows themselves. Lorelei remained motionless. Her eyes were closed and her mouth hung slightly open.

Sirius spoke to her softly and when she didn't answer, touched one of her outstretched arms. She didn't respond to that either. A long moment ticked by as the sunlight outside got steadily brighter. There was sensation of motion in the room as the shadow hounds returned. They flowed back into the shapeless patch of dark at Lorelei's feet and she swayed unsteadily. Sirius moved to help her and she stepped away before he could touch her.

"I know where she was," she said, rubbing her eyes as if they burned. "Something was there, something was blocking me. I couldn't make out where she went from there, but I could hear her... almost."

"Which way then?" Sirius asked.

"I...I think..." she looked around to get whatever bearings the hounds had brought her. "This way... There should be stairs.." And there was. They crept down carefully, knowing that the farther they went from the light, the more likely it was they would meet vampires. The stairs ended in the room Fred and George had described. There was a huge fountain that emptied into a large pit/drain. The water was red. Lorelei crept closer, a knuckle pressed to her lips. Sirius stopped when he got close enough to see a body floating in the main cistern. Lorelei ignored it to peer down into the pit.

"This is where I lost her. I can hear her, I think," she said, her own voice almost too faint to be heard over the water. "I can see a ledge... It must be for the house elves to clean the drains out."

Sirius joined her at the rim to look into the pit as well. The water disappeared into the dark and he could only barely see a ledge winding around the pit walls like a spiral staircase. He couldn't hear a thing, but assumed Lorelei's vampire-sharpened senses were keener than his. When she didn't move, he crouched down to slide over the rim until his feet hit the ledge. He eased his weight onto it carefully. It seemed sturdy enough, even though it was barely wide enough for a man his size to stand on.

"Are you coming?" he asked Lorelei as he began to creep his way down. She didn't answer, but dropped next to him. One hand clung to the wall and she gripped his shoulder with the other. Her hand was cold and surprisingly strong. It was getting harder not to feel sorry for her. She made no complaint, but it was more and more obvious that she was scared out of her wits. He could hear her breath hissing around her teeth. He had to take a deep breath to steady his own nerves. He covered her hand with his and began to walk.

"Maybe you should lead," he said. "If your eyes are better than mine in the dark."

"Please don't speak," she gasped. "I can FEEL things listening..." Sirius thought she was being paranoid, but decided he couldn't blame her. He led the way down, stepping as carefully as he could on the tiny stairs and trying to keep from being splashed by the fountain. The spray was icy cold and soon his hair was dripping with it.

The temperature dropped more the further they went down. Sirius had begun to shiver, and they had to slow their pace as the ledge became icy. Sirius slipped once and might have fallen if Lorelei's iron grip hadn't anchored him. After that, he became Padfoot for better footing and Lorelei took the lead.

Finally, they reached the bottom. Sirius had never seen waterworks like this in any magical house he'd ever been to. There were pipes and grates everywhere with sluggish water churning through all of it. More elf-sized catwalks crisscrossed over waterways. There was a pump in t he middle of it, chugging away to force the water to all the fountains still running. Lorelei lit a tiny light spell, just a match-sized flicker in her hand. She held it high to throw weak light over the weird tunnels and Padfoot did a quick exploration of the place. His paws were easier to guide over the small stairs and ladders.

He found he could see into some of the rooms from grates and drains. The house elves must've LOVED this, he thought. I certainly would have! From down here you can see and eavesdrop to your heart's content! The trouble that must've caused... The Master's elves spying on his wife and children and their respective elves spying on him and all of it squirming like a nest of vipers under the surface.

As soon as the word 'viper' skipped through his head, he caught sight of something that very nearly made him growl. Through a grate, he could see a girl asleep on an old velvet sofa. It was Raye. She didn't look injured and she was alive. He could see her blouse rise and fall with her steady breathing. As he watched, she shifted in her sleep and one arm slid to dangle off the sofa.

A hand touched his shoulder gently enough that it didn't startle him. Lorelei had crept up behind him. The light was now in her clenched fist so that no one would see it through the grate. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Raye.

"I dont see a bite," she murmured. Sirius nodded before he remembered that it was too dark to see him. He made sure his feet were braced and there was room to shift before becoming human again.

"We can come back for her later," he whispered. "We can't get to her from here anyway."

"She may be killed by then!" Lorelei gasped. It wasn't really a protest, he realized. Just a statement.

"She may be a traitor anyway," he said, trying to keep the growl out of his voice. "And if so, I may kill her myself." She didn't answer that, but she opened her palm again and they moved on.