Chapter 1

A tear of joy and excitement ran down her cheek. She could not believe it. At last one of her greatest ambitions had just been fulfilled. She could not find the appropriate words to express her feelings, her gratefulness for that man; in fact, it was not just gratefulness but that was not the case at that moment. So she kept staring at her left arm unable to utter a single word.

After a few moments of complete silence she managed to take her eyes off her arm and set them to the man that was standing a few steps away from her. The man to whom she would have to be loyal from now on, for the rest of her life. To whom she had been loyal for the last few years even though he was not aware of it. Her master. The Dark Lord. Voldemort.

"Thank you… my Lord." she murmured stressing the last two words as if she could not believe that she was able to pronounce them. "I won't let you down. I'm never going to let you down." she added, looking steadily in his eyes.

He looked her back with a blatant smile on his face. "I'm sure you won't… Bella." he said in delight.

The woman blushed in the sound of her nickname, exactly as he had expected. A short laugh came out of his mouth. He had been observing the woman's reactions for the last few minutes and had been really amused by them. He loved to see his followers being dedicated to him but this woman exceeded his expectations. She was exactly what he needed. A follower willing to risk everything for him, even her life and he did not intend to lose her now he had found her.

"I'm sure you'll honor your Mark 'till the day you die… love." he continued and his last word came out as a whisper so she could barely hear it.

"I…I will" she stammered rather shocked, unsure of what she'd heard and she blushed even more.

Voldemort, of course, noticed her frustration and suppressed his impulse to laugh. That was exactly his intention anyway. He slowly walked closer to her and took her arm in his hand. He examined the mark he had just made with his wand with an enigmatic expression on his face. It was the same as always, a skull with a snake coming out if its mouth, with about the length of her forearm. Her pale skin was rather red in that area and he guessed that she would feel a slight burn. There was no reason really in doing that but he knew the effect it would have on the woman and he decided to entertain himself a little bit.

As Voldemort had expected Bellatrix's cheeks were now fiery red and she was standing still, afraid to make the slightest move. She would almost even hold her breath as if she was afraid that breathing would make her lose her balance. Her heart was pounding so fast she thought that it would rip off her chest.

Voldemort inclined his head close to hers and set his eyes first on her lips and then on her eyes. He opened his mouth slightly and he felt Bellatrix freeze completely under his grasp.

"You can go now, Bella." he finally said. "If I need anything… I'll… let you know." he added and pressed his finger on her Mark. A subtle shriek came out of the woman's mouth as she could feel her skin burning under Voldemort's touch.

"O...of course… my Lord." she replied as calmly as she could and Voldemort let her arm go.

Bellatrix backed off a little bit, bowed slightly and exited the room. A sardonic smile was now painted on Voldemort's mouth. After a few moments a characteristic crack broke the silence. Bellatrix had apparated.