Isabella woke with a start the next morning, not realizing she'd dozed off last night. She glanced around the tent, happy to see she was alone. A loud growl issued from her stomach; she put both her arms around herself, trying to quiet it. She walked outside, stopping when she saw a circle of other snatchers sitting on the ground or a large rock eating. When one looked up in her direction, all the others looked too, making her feel uncomfortable.
She was about to go back inside when one spoke up. "You hungry, miss?"
She peeked her head back out, biting her lip and nodding softly. The man smiled, patting the large rock next to him. She walked over cautiously and sat down, instinctively wiping down her jeans.
"Here, have some bread. All we got, really." He said, handing her a small plate with a piece of wheat bread on it. She bit into it hungrily, realizing how long it'd actually been since her last meal.
"Someone's hungry," one of them said, sniggering.
"Don't blame her, she's been through a lot recently." The same boy said, smiling at her.
She put on her fake smile, looking down and eating the crumbs off her plate as well. She looked around the campsite. The quietness rang in her ears. "Where's Scabior?" She asked suddenly.
The boy rolled his eyes. "Off to snatch two half bloods using the Dark Lord's name again." He shook his head. "And not taking us. Again."
There was a long pause before she answered. "Sorry."
After another long pause, Annabelle came out of her tent. She stopped when she saw all the Snatchers sitting in a circle as well.
"Hungry?" The boy asked.
Annabelle shook her head. "No." She grabbed Isabella's hand, jerking her up. "Come on."
"Ah, can't let you do that, sorry." The boy said, standing up as well and crossing his arms over his chest.
Annabelle stared the boy down boldly. "Oh? And why is that?"
"Boss's orders." He shrugged. "You two ain't allowed to be together."
She scoffed. "Your boss doesn't scare me, not one bit. So if you'll excuse me..." Annabelle dragged Isabella into the tent she just came out of. "What are you playing at?" She asked Isabella, her voice lowering as she put both hands on her hips.
"What do you mean?" Isabella asked, confused.
"Hanging out with all those Snatchers!" Annabelle gestured to them from the opening.
Isabella rolled her eyes. "Please, they're harmless."
Annabelle barked out a laugh. "Please, no Snatcher is 'harmless'." She put quotations around the word harmless, like it didn't even fit in the sentence at all. "That's just stupid."
"The one boy seems nice."
Annabelle shook her head. "No. They're all heartless bastards."
Isabella rolled her eyes again. "Whatever you say." She turned around to leave the tent.
"Where are you going?" Annabelle demanded.
Isabella turned around. "I'm not just going to stay here." She half laughed.
"Are you seriously going out there?" She implied as if Isabella was talking about going to a boring class.
"Listen, Annabelle, I understand you're upset with the fact that I don't want to try to escape anymore," she lowered her voice when she realized how loud it was getting. "But I'm terrified of him, okay?"
"Scabior?" Annabelle laughed hysterically. "No way you're scared of that guy. He's the dumbest, laziest, and cockiest of them all."
"He's also obsessed with keeping me with him at all times!" Isabella crossed her arms, looking at her with a fearful expression.
"Well he's not here right now, is he?" Annabelle smiled. "We could disapparate and he'd never know."
"You obviously didn't hear what he said to me last night when he captured us..."
"No, it looked like he was about to rip your face off though." Annabelle said with a vacant expression, shifting her weight.
"He can smell me, Anna. He follows my scent and comes right to me."
Annabelle stiffened. "You called me Anna."
"Yeah," Isabella hesitated. "Why?"
Annabelle shook her head. "No, I just...last time I was called that was by my mother..."
"Oh." Isabella stopped talking.
Annabelle eyed her carefully before taking her hand. "If Scabior even tries to touch you, I'll have his head."
"You don't even have your wand!" Isabella screamed in a whisper. "You wouldn't stand a chance against the man."
Annabelle scoffed. "I can fight."
"No, Anna—"
Before she could finish, she felt that jolt on her stomach and she was at the campsite they were at before being kidnapped. Isabella looked around, bewildered.
"Anna, do you have a death wish?" Isabella ripped her hand from Anna's, running them through her hair, embittered. "You're trying to kill me!" She paced the grounds. "Take me back, now!"
"Okay, now you're the one with a death wish!" Annabelle said, flailing her arms in the air before slapping them down on her thighs. "I'm trying to help you here!"
"No! I want to survive! Bringing us back here was a bad idea!"
"You really think Scabior would think to look here first?" Annabelle asked, a skeptical look on her face.
Isabella sat on a nearby rock, putting her head in her hands. "I don't know! But this was a bad idea!"
Annabelle sighed. "You seem to be scared of everything, Is."
Isabella looked up at her, pressing her lips together in anger. She stood up and got in Annabelle's face. "Well, the fact that I got kidnapped by a bunch of men that I don't know last night start using magical spells on me and then torture you with one, single, little word, and, oh, they kill people! Sorry for going off the deep end about everything, Anna. Sorry for not being a complete badass like you are."
Annabelle stood there, her eyebrows furrowing in fury but her eyes were filled with sorrow.
"I just want to help you. You have no idea what's going on in the wizarding world, I'm just trying to keep you safe," she said calmly.
Isabella ran her fingers through her hair, holding her head. She felt like she might explode. "Anna, he's going to keep coming after me, no matter what."
Annabelle shook her head, going inside her old tent without another word. Isabella sighed, sitting on the same rock. Silent tears slowly began falling from her eyes.
After about an hour of Annabelle not making any noise, Isabella went inside the tent to see her sitting on the ground, reading what looked like an outdated newspaper. When she looked closer at it, the pictures seemed to be...moving? She shook her head, ignoring it. That wasn't what was important at the moment.
"Anna," Isabella spoke up.
"Before you say anything," Annabelle started without looking up, "I just want to say sorry. I'm not used to people not being as brave as I am I guess."
Isabella drew in a deep breath before slowly letting it out, "I'm really sorry for yelling at you before. It wasn't like me at all. I'm just scared. I'm terrified that if I leave he'll do something terrible." She took in another deep breath. "Last night, I told him what I was...and he left in what seemed to be an angry state. I barely slept because of it...I'm sorry for freaking out."
Annabelle looked up and smiled softly. "It's okay, I understand." She got up and walked over to Isabella, giving her a long hug. "I forgive you."
"We're going to get through this soon enough," Isabella said softly.
"Yeah," Annabelle replied, her voice breaking. They separated and she wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "But, like I've said, Scabior is as dumb as they come." She laughed softly. "He obviously hates his own life. He doesn't actually have the guts to kill someone without bringing them to the Ministry first. I've heard he's terrified of Umbridge."
Isabella laughed. "Well, I guess so."
A crack echoed within the air outside. The two girls looked at each other, knowing what was coming next. They went outside, not seeing anybody at first until Isabella heard a voice behind her.
"Well, aren't you just beautiful this mornin'." Her eyes widened. She turned around and saw the angry man towering over her head. He leaned down, getting dangerously close to her face. She inched back slowly, not taking her eyes off his. "I don't like being abandoned, Isabella." He said her name icily.
"I-I didn't—"
"Didn't think you'd get caught?" He said, his eyes darkening by the second. There were more cracks behind Scabior. She glanced over his shoulder for a split second and saw Greyback, another Snatcher from the circle, and the boy she'd just been talking to not too long ago. She looked back into Scabior's eyes, swallowing hard. The other three walked past them to grab Annabelle.
"Hey! Let go of me you—"
Scabior sat up straight, looking at his other fellow Snatchers. "Bring that one back to the campsite...Fenrir...you know what to do." He smirked.
Isabella didn't dare look behind her. She was too scared to see the ugly man's face. Once she heard the loud crack sound throughout the air, Scabior looked down at Isabella and bent down to her level again.
"You find it fun testin' me? You don't think I can actually track you?" He threatened.
Isabella shook her head immediately. "N-no, I was saying I didn't want to leave."
"I'm touched." Scabior chuckled. "Are you gettin' used to me already?"
"No," Isabella grimaced. "Not even close."
He smirked at her uneasiness. "Your friend, Annabelle, finds it fun to leave on a regular basis...I think it's time we ended her."
"No!" Isabella screamed. Her eyes became scared. She didn't know what she'd do without that girl. "Don't you dare hurt her again."
Scabior ran his fingers through her hair, placing strands behind her ear. "All right, love." He grinned.
"Are we going back or not?" Isabella asked impatiently, ignoring him touching her hair for about the third time already.
Scabior laughed, grabbing both of her wrists and pulling her into him. She apparated back in her tent and wrenched her wrists from Scabior's grip, massaging them and trying to get the blood circulation flowing again.
He latched onto Isabella's arm, leading her outside. "I ain't lettin' you out of my sight again," he said malevolently. "You're stayin' with me through everythin'." He stopped, looking at her. "Try to escape again and I promise your new best friend won't come back alive."
"Where is she?" Isabella asked, her face etched with fury. Scabior smirked, bringing her into Annabelle's tent. She lay on the ground, being laughed at by fellow Snatchers while Greyback leaned over her, his face in the crook of her neck. When everyone else saw Scabior, they stopped laughing. Even Greyback looked up.
"Hey, Scabior!" He said cheerily. "This one is definitely good enough to eat." He looked back down at her hungrily. Annabelle looked at Isabella desperately.
"You said you wouldn't hurt her!" Isabella screamed, punching Scabior's chest, which did nothing but make him laugh.
"I did say that," Scabior smirked, raising an eyebrow. "I never said no one else couldn't though." Everyone in the tent laughed besides Anna and Isabella. "Continue your doing, Greyback." Everyone else cheered as Scabior brought Isabella outside.
"Stop him!" Isabella demanded.
Scabior just looked at her and smiled maliciously. "You can't tell me what to do, love. Nice try though."
"Maybe Annabelle was right." Isabella clenched her jaw together. "You're nothing to be scared of. At. All. Just a pathetic, dim-witted bounty hunter."
Scabior's face hardened. "Wilson!" He yelled, surprising Isabella.
"Yeah, boss?" A small, thin man appeared out of the entrance of the tent.
"You think I'm nothin' to be scared of, Izzy?" A knife felt like it'd been drawn right through her heart as he drawled out her common nickname viciously. The only person who'd ever called her Izzy was her only best friend and sister. Scabior looked straight at the man, pointed his wand at him and cried out "Avada Kedavra!" A green light flashed from Scabior's wand and through the man's chest. He instantly dropped to the ground.
Dead.
Isabella shook as she looked into the face of the man that just killed someone. He twirled his wand around in his fingertips.
He looked down at her, smiling. "I am everythin' to be scared of, beautiful." He caressed the side of her face, tracing his finger down to her chin and removing it as quickly as he'd put it there. "And you're my prisoner." He whispered. The smirk on his face was just screaming deranged.
Positive feedback, constructive criticism? I felt like this chapter was sort of random, but I really wanted a scene like this. A scene with Scabior and Isabella, and how you actually see how obsessive he is of keeping her. Not in a "I'm totally in love with *GUSHHH*" way though. Those kind of relationships make me wanna puke, and it's NOTHING like how I picture Scabior at all either, so screw that haha. And, I'm going to stop with the two of them trying to escape all the time...kind of. I have some really good ideas for later chapters to come ;D. Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think! :)
Song for the chapter is "Surrender" by Evanescence.