She paused only briefly in the book she was reading when she heard the big wooden front door creak open. She didn't even bother hoping; Her master had been punishing her for the mistakes she'd made in helping to procure the Potter boy. A quick, indifferent glance up told her that she was correct as her dark, broad-shouldered husband crossed the threshold. He hung his hat before he moved in to kiss her. She jumped back quickly, dropping her book. She glared at Rodolphus with a mixture of hatred and disgust clouding her pale face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she questioned, jumping to her feet.
"You're supposed to be my wife, Bella." He scowled. Bellatrix sneered at her husband, and then noticed his eyes lingering on the front of her shirt. She glanced down and, with a smirk, realized that her pale breasts were straining against her lacy black corset. She burst into jeering laughter, and his beady black eyes followed her heaving chest up and down.
"Poor baby..." she drawled. "Don't pay you enough attention, do I?" Don't show you enough love?" The word was so foreign to her lips that she had to spit it out quickly. Rodolphus said nothing, and she considered him for a moment. Her husband had always been good for nothing, but she was rather enjoying this. She'd been on edge for weeks now, cooped up in the house with this poor excuse for a man. She needed a distraction, something to take her mind of the guilt she felt for not serving her master properly. With no word from the Dark Lord, her guilt and worry had increased more and more with each passing day. Since she couldn't do anything useful, she'd have to settle for putting her oaf of a husband in his place.
"Sit down." She ordered, unlacing her corset and casting it away onto the filthy floor.
"Don't order me around..." He started, and out of nowhere, she had thrown her elbow into his face. She whipped her walnut wand out of the pocket of her skirt and pointed it at his now bloody nose. She stood there, bare-chested, her wand following him as he submitted and sank into the couch. He reached up to stop the bleeding, and she smacked his hand out of the way.
"Stop that, you fucking baby!" She snarled. "The Dark Lord would be so ashamed of you. You're a coward. My Lord is so very brave..." A maniacal gleam possessed her dark eyes as she imagined him: His glowing snake-like eyes...Such power, such majesty...She felt her insides stir with longing, and she wished he were there with her right now. She would do anything for him, things she would never even imagine doing for her useless husband. She closed her eyes and imagined herself kneeling before her master, serving him as no one else could...She flinched as she felt a warm touch glide across her breasts. She looked down and saw Rodolphus gazing hungrily up at her, obviously thinking the look of ecstasy that had crossed her face had something to do with himself.
"Don't flatter yourself." She sneered as she lowered her body onto him. As revolting as she found her husband, her fantasy of she and Voldemort together had left her breathless. She had never let herself dare to imagine such things before, and she couldn't help but wonder what the Dark Lord would think.
"Bella..." Her husband moaned as he took her nipple into his disgusting mouth, but her mind was elsewhere. She allowed her eyes to close again as she imagined Voldemort's mouth instead upon her breasts. She dreamed his breath would be delightfully cold and icy, and she felt her nipples harden at the thought. She could vaguely sense Rodolphus' big, clumsy hands fumbling to slip her skirt off. A smirk on her face, she picked up her wand from where she had left it on the grimy end-table and used it to blast her skirt away.
Completely naked now, she could feel her husband's greedy eyes roam every inch of her body. She was incredibly pale, her wild, raven-black hair forming a curtain around her upper arms. Her dark nipples, her exotic sex, and the Dark Mark burned into her left wrist stood out against her smooth, ivory skin.
Rodolphus grinned, leering at her. He placed his hands on her tiny waist and thrust his hips toward her, as if trying to show her what he wanted to do to her. She did her best to ignore him. Under any other circumstances, she would have told him to go fuck himself, and maybe torture him with a Cruciatus Curse for good measure. However, right now, she felt exhilarated as images of herself and her Lord invaded her mind. She took a deep breath and tried to imagine it was the Dark Lord touching her body. Her sharp mind transformed Rodolphus' thick fingers inside of her to Voldemort's long, thin ones. They moved in and out of her, and she shuddered with cold pleasure. So many times, she had secretly desired to feel her master's powerful hands searching her body, and now it was finally happening...But it wasn't. She snapped back to reality and looked into the ugly face of the man she so detested. She suddenly felt completely and utterly disgusted with her husband's hands on her, and she roughly pushed them away and stood up, her breasts bouncing.
Rodolphus looked bewildered. "What the hell's wrong with you? Every time I try...You just don't care." Defeated, he closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Bellatrix grinned nastily, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder; She took an actual good look into her husband's face for the first time in months, maybe years. He was a wreck. His face was gaunt, and there were deep lines etched into his forehead and around his mouth. He looked as though he's aged about twenty years in the last month. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, apparently on the verge of speech, but gave up and hid his face in his hands.
Bellatrix glared at him for a moment, just shaking her head. Then she burst into harsh laughter. "You're such a coward." She taunted him. "You've never had a backbone, have you? If it weren't for me, the Dark Lord would have cast you away long ago."
"Bella..." Rodolphus whispered, his face still buried in his hands.
But she hadn't heard. Snarling at him, she magicked her clothes back on as she continued, " I'm his most faithful servant. He's told me so many times. What have you ever done for him?" She grew more and more deranged with every word. "You don't even deserve to walk on the same ground as my Lord!" Rodolphus slowly lifted his face out of his hands, and she spat in it.
"Bella!" He pleaded. "I need to tell you..."
"You're such a waste of space." She muttered as she turned her back and began to walk away. She needed her beloved master. She missed him, and she was so confused. Did He know how she felt? Did He feel the same way? The physical and emotional craving she felt was so intense she could hardly stand it. It took everything she had not to press her fingers to her left wrist to summon her Lord, her everything. She couldn't risk Him getting any angrier with her than He already was. The guilt she felt for letting Him down suddenly became too much for her. She fell to her knees, shaking, and vomited on the floor.
Rodolphus came running to her side and reached out to her. She shied away from his touch and struggled to regain control of herself. She stood up and, before she could get away again, Rodolphus spoke. " Bella, I want out." She paused, trying to contemplate what he'd just said. Her mind began calculating, trying to figure out what sort of effect a divorce would have on her social standing in the pureblood community. She supposed it wouldn't matter: She could just find another pureblood to marry if she had to. Then again, maybe her wildest dream would come true. He'd always praised her and called her His most loyal servant. She smiled as she imagined their bodies entwined, and a shiver of pleasure coursed through her.
"I love you, Bellatrix!" Rodolphus burst out. Relief flooded his face as he said it.
"What?!" she exclaimed, the confusion showing in her eyes. This had to be the stupidest, most unexpected thing she'd ever heard. Their marriage had never had anything to do with love. It had all been about social standing for her stupid parents' sake; She thought she'd made that perfectly clear. "What the hell are you talking about? And if you're so in love," She shuddered in revulsion at the thought. "Then why would you want a divorce?"
"A divorce?" Rodolphus' brow furrowed. "No, I want to be with you. I..." His eyes darted around as if her were afraid someone else was listening. "I don't want to be a Death Eater anymore. I want out."
Bellatrix's eyes widened in shock as it began to dawn on her what he was saying. He continued, " I guess you're right, I am a coward," but she'd heard enough.
"How dare you?" she screeched. She rounded on him and, as he knelt cowering beneath her vicious rage, she pointed her wand directly at his heart. "You filthy, disgusting Blood-Traitor!"
"Please, Bella." His voice shook as he pleaded with her. "Bella, I love you. It's taken all this to make me recognize it. I've changed so much. You don't realize how insane it is, all of us putting our lives at risk just so the Dark Lord can have his revenge on the boy. Don't you see what it's done to us? You're skin and bones, Bella. You're killing yourself! And for what? He doesn't care about you. He'll never love you..."
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" The jet of green light shot from her wand into his heart, and he lay dead on the floor. She turned and walked out of the room, not even bothering to glance back at her husband's lifeless body.
By the time she got back to the bedroom, she was trembling violently. Rodolphus' words kept tormenting her. "He'll never love you..." A scream of anguish escaped her lips as she collapsed onto the floor and began sobbing. "My Lord, My Lord..." she whispered repeatedly as she curled up into a fetal position. Then, suddenly, she felt it. Her precious Dark Mark burned: He was calling her. He'd finally forgiven her, and she could fight alongside Him again. Ecstatic, she jumped up and immediately began preparing to Disapparate. She sensed that this was it. This was to be the final battle, and she would do anything to prove herself to her master, her beloved. She would die for him, if she had to...