Hello again! I will only be answering reviews every other chapter, seeing as I an only read them every other time I publish something. That means sorry, but any questions will not be answered until the next chapter. On another note, I neet a very important question answered. I don't know which house to put Stella in, but I don't want it to be Griffindor or Hufflepuff, although I might make an exception for the Puffs. So, I want to know what you lot think. Based upon what you've seen of her so far, which of the three houses should Stella be in, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff? Oh, and what should I call the business Lucius will be making?
I do not own Destiny or Harry Potter.
Stella decided that travelling by Floo was her least favorite method of transport. She held her eyes shut as the dizzying vortex of sound, color, and random collection of fireplaces flew past her at a sickening pace. 'Traveller, kill me now!' Without warning, she shot out of Malfoy's fireplace like a living cannonball, slamming into a wall with a loud crash. Momentarily stunned, she barely reacted when Tonks grabbed and dragged her away from a blaze of curses and hexes.
"Moody! They're here, get the barrier up!" The pink haired metamorphmagus propped Stella up against the wall, looking at her worriedly. "Hey, Space-girl, are you okay?
Stella groaned, "I hate magical transportation..." She shook her head and stood. "How many hostiles?"
Tonks blinked, confused by the question, "How many whats?"
"Hostiles. Tangos. Contacts. How many people am I shooting at?"
"Oh! There's Yaxely, Crabbe, Goyle... Maybe a few more... Just aim at anything with a skull mask! Hey, what are you doing?!"
Stella had pulled a small device from a pouch on her leg and was fiddling with a glowing blue display hovering over it. "Negotiations and reconassiance." She deactivated the display and threw it past Sirius and Lucius, who dived behind the wall they were using as cover. "Attention, Assholes! This is Warlock Class Guardian speaking to the Death Eaters currently attacking. Cease your casting if you can hear me."
The Death Eaters had already stopped cursing when her voice began blasting out of the little device. A woman's voice, mocking and childlike, responded, "Aww,is the wittle Warlock scared to speak to-"
She cut the woman off coldly, "You are currently attacking an Auror, Ministry official, an ex-Auror,a prominent wizarding family, as well as Sirius Black and myself. While we would normally kill you for this offense, we will gladly accept your surrender. Throw down your wands and turn yourse-"
A rough, feral voice growled, "Shut up, girlie. I don't think you understand. We are going to kill all of you, including the blood traitors! Aveda Kedavra!"
Stella jerked her head to the side as her speaker was destroyed, causing high pitched feedback in her helmet. "Okay... We have eight Death Eaters. Shouldn't be too hard." She stood and began walking into the open.
Moody scoffed, "Eight? We need to retreat, lass. There's no way- What the blazes do you think you're doing, girl? Get back here!"
She ignored the protests from the others, staring down the female Death Eater and a somewhat rabid looking man. "You will not surrender?"
"Never!" The woman screeched, raising her wand. "Aveda Kedavra!"
Stella didn't even budge as the green blast of light slammed into her shields, causing a quarter drop and eliciting a scream from Tonks. "That was the wrong answer." She held out her hands, and the LMG Extreme Prejudice appeared in a flash. The Death Eaters, having no clue what a LMG was, sat there for a moment before she opened fire on them.
The woman dove to the side as her partner practically vanished in a hail of fifty calibre lead slugs. "Return fire! Piercers and explosives!"
Stella switched out the LMG for the pulse rifle Murmur and darted forward. A Death Eater whipped around, wand ready to cast, but never even got the chance. She whipped out her hand and slammed it into his chest. There was a bright explosion of purple light, and the man vanished with a sharp hiss, dropping his wand to the floor.
Something slammed into her shields, nearly destroying them. She spun around, firing at the first human she saw. The woman from before gave an ungodly shriek of pain as her wand arm was torn apa rt from hand to elbow. Stella leapt over her wailing form, firing at the remaing Death Eaters. She saw them reaching into their cloaks and vanishing in a swirling blue light. Not being one to allow enemies to escape, she fired at a particularly short one, nailing him in the chest and crushing whatever he was reaching for. The man hit the floor with an odd squeal.
Landing with a soft thump, Stella inspected her handiwork. Seeing no more targets, she called out, "All clear. Two dead and two captured."
Moody and Tonks slowly walked up to the carnage, incredulous looks on their faces. Tonks coughed, "You... You just took on eight dark wizards... without any magic..."
She cleared her throat, her helmet hiding a growing blush of embarassment, "Erm... Not really. I did vapo rize that guy..." She pointed at the smoking wand.
Moody grunted, "You killed Fenir Greyback and Rhodolphus Lestrange, and captured Bellatrix Lestrange and..." He began laughing as he learned the identity of the second prisoner. "Peter Pettigrew! You caught Pettigrew!"
Sirius whooped with joy and wrapped Stella in a bone crushing hug, spinning her around. "I could kiss you right now, Guardian!"
Stiffly, Stella shook her head, "Don't even think about it, dog breath."
Sirius just laughed and dropped her, dancing around Peter's unconsious form.
Stella watched him for a moment before crouching down and picking up Rhodolphus's smoldering wand. Her helmet hid the turmoil within her. She was a Guardian, a defender of humanity. Sure, she was glad that they had won, but at what cost? Two humans died by her hand, and another would probably never be able to use her hand again...
"You okay, Space-girl?" Tonks gingerly put her hand on Stella's shoulder, concern in her eyes.
She nodded sharply and dropped the wand, walking away. The disturbed Guardian didn't trust herself to talk.
Moody stood by Tonks, the two of them watching Stella. "Tell me what you see, Tonks."
"I... She seems shattered. As if she just lost a major part of herself."
Alastor nodded, "My guess is that this is the first time she's killed a human. It sounds like the Guardian Vanguard will be created to kill any threat to humanity. That means she just went against every oath, code, and moral she has in order to defend us." He stomped off to deliver a message to the ministry, leaving Tonks on her own.
The pinkette stared in the direction Stella disappeared in. A strange pang of emotion shot through her, unfamiliar yet strong. "I'm sorry, Stella... We should have never asked for your help..."
Hope you guys enjoyed Chapter Seven of The Warlock's Destiny. The drill is the same, let me know what you liked, didn't like, and what confused you. Now, I know this chapter is much shorter than the rest, but it was written to show a small portion of Stella's fighting style. The next one will be longer. In fact, it might have some TonksXStella. Which reminds me, anyone have a good pairing name?
Ego Mortem Pestifer Mundi.
PS. Kudos to the lucky one who can figure out what my outro means.
This is a preview of an actual book I am writting, titled "The Department." Enjoy
New York City, NY
Cold, harsh rain pounded the streets of Brooklyn, soaking the residents of the run down residential area and one man in a rumpled suit. His messy hair and five o'clock shadow only accented his weariness and severe jet lag. He stood under a lamp post, staring at a collection of flashing police lights and yellow tape. Sighing, the man trudged through the ankle deep water, a look of resignation on his face. A portly officer with a walrus mustatch held the tape up for him as he flashed a silver badge at him.
The walrus officer shook his hand and directed him to the crime scene, "Glad you could make it Agent Smith, I'm Deputy Barnes." The man had to almost yell for his baritone voice to be heard over the dull roar of the storm above. "Sorry we couldn't get a tent set up for you, but the call came in only two minutes ago."
John Smith nodded and glanced around, "What do we know so far?"
Deputy Barnes cleared his throat, "Well, it's not too pretty. When we first got here, we thought we had stumbled onto some B-Grade Horror movie set. The forensics team was able to get some pictures of the thing before the rain washed it away, I'll have someone get you those, but even without the crazy weather, there was almost no evidence."
Agent Smith looked at the officer sharply. "What do you mean by 'almost'?"
Barnes shifted uncomfortably in his wet uniform. "The forensics team found a black knife with some wierd engraving on the handle. It was next to the body."
He nodded, "I think I can find the body from here. Have the forensics team prepare a file of all evidence found so far. Once that's done, you and your men can go home. We'll contact you if there are any questions." Leaving the sputtering sputtering man behind, he pulled out a phone and hit redial.
The line only rang once before picking up. "Report."
Barnes stopped mid protest as he heard the Agent's response. "This is Agent Smith. The New York lead is positive. We have photography and a knife. I need a clean-up team on my location."
"Good work, agent. Clean-up is already en-route. They have a forensics team with them. Are the locals gone?"
Smith eyed Barnes cooly, "The Walrus needs to give the order, but they should be gone within the minute. Otherwise they'll be arrested for interfering with a federal investigation."
The deputy blanched and began barking orders into his radio. Almost immediately, men and women began moving for their cruisers, not questioning the urgent commands to clear out. He began walking away, but turned to look at Agent Smith, "If you don't mind me asking, what business does the FBI have with a murder on the streets of Brooklyn?"
The man gave him a tired smile, "As the age old adage goes... I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you. Enjoy your evening, Deputy. This investigation is no longer your problem."
Deputy Barnes swallowed thickly, and nodded, "Right... Good luck, Agent Smith."
John watched the man climb into his own cruiser and drive off, leaving him alone with the tattered yellow tape and a corpse. He cleared his throat. "You still there?"
An amused, southern drawl spoke from the phone, "Nah, they mysteriously lost connection about a minute and a half ago. Did you seriously have to use that line on the poor guy? I mean, it's been used so many times that I'm embarrassed for you."
The exhausted man groaned, "Athena... What on Earth possessed you to hack into a secure line? And why do you get to say what I need to say?"
"Eh, the jab at you was just for fun. You shouldn't say stuff like that when you know me, Mr. Matrix."
John grit his teeth at the girl's antics. "What do you want, LeBeu?"
"Oh, looks like someone missed his morning joe." She laughed. "We got a hit. Some guy in Texas is showing up as a Class Six."
The man blinked in surprise, his irritation lost, "A Class Six? Does McGregory know yet?"
"Nope. I figured I should let you know first, seeing as this came up on one of my programs."
He nodded, "Good. I want it to stay that way until we have the recruit." A set of headlights coming around te turn made him look up. "I have to go, clean-up is here. Have the team prepped and ready to leave in thirty minutes." He hung up, not waiting for a response. As he flagged down a pair of unmarked, black vans, he began regretting the decision to quit smoking. He was sure that all of this stress was causing ulcers in his gut.
Men in black military fatigues poured from the vans, setting up full-spectrum cameras and raiding the forensics tent. John ignored all of that; as interesting as a regular person would find it, he was more intruiged by the body lying eagle spread on the ground. He pulled out his phone, opening up the recorder, "Alfred Jones, age 18. Class Three Paranormal. Telekinetic. Cause of death... Blood loss, just like the last five victims. Victim was drained of his blood via four vertical slashes along the insides of his legs and forearms. A fifth cut has been made horizontally across victim's throat. This wound appears to be post mortem. I estimate-"
John paused, staring at the mouth. It appeared to be bulging out slightly, almost as if... Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he pulled out a pair of latex gloves and put them on. Carefully, he pried the mouth open, where he was met with a gruesome sight. The telekinetic's tongue had been torn out and replaced with a stone. The stone had a single set of oriental symbols carved into it. Quickly, he snapped a picture of it with his phone. That was going to Athena... On a whim, he reached for the eyes and opened them. Same thing. Both of them had been removed and replaced with carved stones. He snapped a picture of both and then closed the eyes and mouth. Checking the ears, he noted that they had a third set of symbols carved directly into the flesh of the earlobe. John took photographs of both ears and sat back with a sigh.
While the stones were certainly interesting, discovering the body was nothing. In fact, this was the fifth time in the past two months that a recruit had been murdered before a retrieval team could reach them. Frankly, it was alarming.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in."
John glanced up in irritation at a familiar voice, "What do you want, Oberon?"
