Disturbia
DaggersBloodPain
Chapter Ten
The Familiar Taste of Poison
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was having an absolutely wonderful morning, his tea was warm and seasoned just right, a dish of lemon drops was filled to the brim sitting in front of him on his desk and the Daily Prophet had just been delivered to his office where he was enjoying a rare quiet morning before the students came back for another year of learning. Opening his paper and taking a sip of his tea he read the headline on the first page and spat the mouthful of hot liquid right back out drenching his paper and ruining his dish of lemon drops, his good mood went downhill rapidly from there.
Wizarding World Under Attack
It has come to the attention of this reporter that no less than three households were attacked last evening, all housing prominent light families. These attacks come sharp on the heels of the Minister's latest announcements that attacks from dark forces were on the decline. If any deaths occurred there has been no mention of them and also no reports of Dark Mark sightings have been made which begs the question, if the death eaters are not to blame then who is?
The article went on speculating on how and why the attacks happened but Dumbledore had read enough. Something was very wrong about this. The minister had been right, while attacks hadn't stopped they had noticeably backed off in the last few weeks. There had to be something much bigger hiding behind these attacks he just knew it but what? In a flash of realization he had a momentary vision of hardened emerald eyes and deadly promises, could this be his doing?
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When Azreil walked into his office the morning after the first planned attacks he was unsurprised to find his chair occupied by a smirking brunette wizard. "How did everything go last night?" Rayven asked eagerly, just the thought of the seizure Dumbledore must be having right about now was enough to make him giddy.
"Everything went as planned, we attacked three of the families on the list, fed on the powerful ones and generally scared the hell out of the others. We left no permanent damage and created a bit of panic in the mean time. Was it your intention to have the first family we attacked be related to a reporter for the Prophet?" Azreil reported.
"Of course it was planned, every name on the list I gave you was there for a reason. I have gone over this before I don't mind causing fear and panic but I am not going to attack without a purpose in mind, I would be no better than my predecessors if I did so." Rayven explained, snapping back into his serious mood smoothly.
"Forgive me for my slip. Now when do you want us to attack again? Should we keep up a steady stream of attacks or go at random, each option has its own set of advantages and drawbacks?" Azreil asked, knowing he had just made a slight misstep with this powerful wizard, he wasn't afraid of Rayven but if pissed off enough Rayven might decide to stop feeding him and he had the most delicious power Azreil had tasted in a very long time.
"I think randomly would be best, your men are good but I don't want to risk them unduly, if they have no idea when or where we will strike next the light side will have absolutely no chance of predicting the attacks, they will have to be alerted at the very earliest when the attacks have already begun. That will drastically reduce the risk to your people." Rayven advised.
"I agree, and thank you for considering their safety, most of them are volunteers, they are young and reckless. I think the less chance of incident for them the better." Azreil agreed.
"You know I take care of my allies. Now, who is the first to be paid for their help?" Rayven asked, still keeping his side of their bargain.
"I think Baraxel will be the first, he has shown good initiative, if he survives his first century he has all the makings of a very skilled incubus." Azreil decided after some thought.
"Where can I find this Baraxel?" Rayven asked.
"You will find him three doors down on the left hand side of the hall, his room is right across from the library which I will trust you remember where that is located from your previous visits." Azreil directed.
"Very well I will go and settle part of our deal, I won't be able to feed another of your kind for a few days though, it has been a very trying time and I am not recovering quite as fast as I normally do." Rayven warned wanting to be honest about his new found limitations. His preparations were going well but they did take a great deal of magic from him at their current stage.
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Baraxel ended up being a very handsome man with sandy blonde hair and nicely toned body, it came as no surprise to Rayven that he had never seen an average looking incubus they were all different forms of handsome. They had to be their survival depended on their ability to seduce humans into dark corners in order to feed. Baraxel did not have the practice in feeding that Azreil did, Rayven had been expecting that, but he was still skilled enough to give Rayven some of the much sought after numbness.
When Rayven finally managed to leave the incubus compound he was staggering with the effort it took to stay on his feet. He really had drained himself a bit too far this time, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He had long since stopped paying attention to himself, all his focus was on achieving his goal which was finally so close he could taste it.
Spinner's end had become his unofficial base of operations, he was expecting the lifted eyebrow and accusing eyes of Severus when he got back, he was not expecting the second man in the room, Voldemort.
"What in the Hell happened to you?" Voldemort's shocked question was just blunt enough to shock Rayven out of his stupor.
"Magical exhaustion if I could hazard a guess. You have been to see the incubi tonight haven't you?" Severus questioned.
"Yes, so what? I made a deal with Azreil and I refuse to go back on my word. I had to start keeping up my end of the bargain as they have already begun their part." Rayven confessed.
"Rayven when are you going to get it through your think skull that we need you in one peace to pull off this little revolution? We are taking on some of the most powerful wizards alive with more resources and people at their disposal. If you do not get yourself pulled together, Draco would have died in vain, and I know you don't want that do you?" Severus pushed a little harder than he really should have but his words were the truth and Rayven really did need to hear them.
Rayven was too angry and tired to try to process what was just said, instead he allowed his magic to lash out at the Potion's Master, "Crucio!"
The spell was weak, everyone in the room could see the color wasn't half as intense as Rayven's normal spell work, and the fact he had resorted to Cruciatus when he usually used far more creative means of punishment spoke for just how drained he really was. Severus just neatly side stepped the spell and watched calmly as Rayven's last bit of strength gave out and he sunk to the floor unconscious.
Voldemort and Severus didn't speak as they picked Rayven up off the floor and deposited him in his own room to sleep off the magical exhaustion. Nothing else could be done for the brunette wizard until his magic replenished itself, it was best they just let him rest for now.
"Now that he is taken care of, would you care to tell me what the Hell is going on?" Voldemort asked his one time servant.
Severus took a deep breath and told the story from his perspective from the first moment Rayven had come back into his life right up until that morning when Rayven saw the Prophet and knew the Incubi attacks were successful.