Thank you all for your reviews! I had several requests to update this story. I am sorry that it took so long, I have been having on again, off again muses.
This author does not condone violence, rape, use of force, or manipulation/abuse.
I own nothing. This is to include Harry Potter.
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For Katie Bell, it was an nightmare without end.
Her body ached and quivered. Partly out of disgust, and partly out of revulsion for what she'd been forced to endure. Marcus had made true of his despicable promise to 'claim' her. The young woman fought the mounting urge to retch as she sat along the banks of the Black lake. Her reflection gazed back at her with the most somber and defeated of expressions.
Defiled. Tormented. Owned.
Katie felt her stomach clench tightly as her eyes shut tightly. She hoped in vain to fight off the lingering memories of what had been done to her. Her mind had been thoroughly unwilling, yet her body had responded to Flint as if they had been lovers for decades and not simply a forced coupling beneath the murky depths.
She searched her memories, but was unable to think of anything that might explain why she seemed nearly powerless to resist him. Truthfully, she knew little of the magical creatures that had not been covered in the curriculum and the thought made her blanch. How much more did she not know? How much more would she be forced to endure?
His presence always hovered in her thoughts, as if he were checking upon her or unwilling to allow her even the barest scraps of privacy that should have been unquestionably maintained in her own thoughts. However, Katie was left bereft of anything except shock, anger, and anguish.
The substance he had forced down her throat had worn off, shortly after he had finished with her. He had, with some small amount of glee that he had not bothered to disguise, led her to the surface. As if her abuse had not been enough, he had kept her alive. She knew from the sinister and dark way he caressed her cheek, that he did likely consider her wholly his.
Her fingers were numbed from the cold and unending wind, yet she clenched them into fists tightly. The black waters churned and occasionally on the turbulent surface a body part or two might appear. Katie's red rimmed eyes watched it without expression. Though the mounting horror internally threatened to overwhelm her.
Magic.
All her time within Hogwarts, and even her very education, had not prepared her for this. Such twisted evil unleashed upon this small part of the magical world was nigh on unthinkable. She could scarcely even comprehend what she was seeing. Though the dead littered the ground like seeds of a Godless and bloody harvest.
Her face scrunched up and a fresh wave of tears , nearly scalding hot when contrasted with the cold that seemed nearly unending around her, rolled down her cheeks. She was filled with... Marcus Flint had...
Memories flashed. Painful, but made worse by the sheer fact that some part of her had found pleasure in the act. Likely from his influence, she had no doubt of that. He had done something to her mind, and her body. Katie had pushed against it with all of her might, but she had been rather unable to stop him.
An eye, bobbed to the surface of the lake, and Katie lost what little composure she had left. Her stomach attempted to offer up contents it did not have. Her dry heaving and racking sobs could not be heard over the distant sounds of cheering. Or over the mocking howls of the wind.
Dear Merlin. Why?
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Flint had collected her from the shore of the Black Lake. His eyes shimmered with unholy delight at her rising mental fury as she lashed out against the presence in her thoughts that refused to leave or be deterred even the slightest bit. The magic swirled around them, the wildness of it seemed somehow familiar now and Katie hated it instantly as it brushed against her.
"Stop it," she said in quiet hatred.
Marcus grinned at her. His crowded teeth held the putrid stench of recently consumed flesh. Katie blanched a little more at the thought. He had already eaten one classmate, and she shook her head with sorrow and horror at the memory.
"Now, now, Katie," He coyly admonished. "Is that anyway to talk to your man? After all the passion we've shared?"
There was a hint of leering in his tone, yet it was juxtaposed with the clear promise of some form of punishment and she felt her skin prickled at the very possibility of being at his mercy. Again.
She crossed her arms over her midsection and fought to find a semblance of her former self amongst the terror that was currently flowing through her veins like ice-water.
HIs eyes became half-hooded as he stared at her. The unnatural light in his eyes only served as a reminder that he was not wholly human. Nor wizard. He was some beast that had eaten some people she knew. It repulsed her far more than even the Dark Lord had ever managed.
No, Katie. His words were like a shout amidst her thoughts. She recoiled from him with wide eyes. The wave of simmering fury that breached her mind was staggering and she nearly fell to her knees with the force of it.
'Go away,' she vehemently denied only to have him brush past her refusal once more.
You must never refuse me again.
She felt the change overtake her again. The pull to be closer to him, even though she despised him for all that he had done. What he had committed was unforgiveable at the very least. Yet, in spite of knowing all of that down to the very marrow of her bones, her foot slowly slid closer to him.
The aura that radiated from him was compelling, and she felt her other foot move once more as it settled firmly upon cold mud. Closer, she was moving closer as his darkened gaze watched her with sinister intent. He was danger personified. Evil and wicked. He would kill her if given even half a chance to do so.
I will not harm you, Katie. You are mine.
It was conceivable that to him, such a thing might have been considered romantic. Yet, to Katie it was the most damming of sentences as tears gathered in her eyes.
'No,' the thought was small and barely there. Almost akin to a child that was too terrified to even speak. She was still so young. Not even truly a woman grown and her whole life rested in hands that could at any moment turn into wickedly gleaming bone claws attached to hooves.
Oh you lovely thing. His eyes were screwed up in a sense of delight as she moved ever nearer to him. Katie did not stop until she was all but tucked against his side. His fingers gripped her chin tightly, a possessive touch that did not cause her physical pain. Yet, it lingered on her skin like a brand.
Even over the dying winds she could smell the tang of the bitter and salty ocean air that seemed to forever exude from his skin.
"Katie, Katie, Katie." He tsked as he lowered his face nearer to hers. She shivered in revulsion but could not bid her body to move away. "You can fight, in fact please do... it is one thing I just adore about you."
His eyes trailed up and down her body, which only felt like a further violation to the witch. A look of capaciousness crossed his features. Followed by a slight grin of sinister delight. Katie could only give a half-moan of carnal desire as his lips claimed hers in a searing kiss. She wanted nothing to do with this, yet her body was not wholly her own whenever Marcus usurped her thoughts.
He pulled back, and were it within her power, she would have struck him firmly.
"However, you would do well to remember Bell, that you are mine." He intoned deeply with a the soft undertones of possessive fury. "I wanted you, didn't I? That there were far more dangerous things in this world?"
She remembered, with stark clarity, what he had told her that day on the quidditch field. She had thought he was simply being a tosser, but not the sickening weight of his words settled firmly in her bones.
It was followed by the bitter sense of bleakness that seemed to choke at what remained of her conscious thought. The parts not dominated by... whatever... Marcus Flint was doing to her. Where the pull of magic that whipped and stripped her of her abilities seemed even more gruesome than before.
"If you do not behave," he admonished with a hint of foreboding to his words, "I shall be hard pressed to allow you to see Hermione."
Her eyes widened and she glanced at him, the haze of his abilities were temporarily breeched by the name he had uttered so temptingly.
'Hermione?' she thought with the first burst of hope she had felt since this nightmarish ordeal had started. It was nearly indescribable to see the devastation that littered every inch of once safe grounds. She dearly just wanted to go home. To a place and time that was not tainted by Marcus Flint and his ilk.
However, such a place no longer existed and she had been loath to even imagine what would become of her parents. Katie stifled a gasp and licked her parched lips. Her tongue felt almost too rough against the skin that had been abused previously.
"Yes," Flint replied with a sheen of amusement to his features. Katie could still sense the evil nature that lurked under the facade he presented. "You heard correctly."
She shivered, and tried to keep her limbs from trembling all at once. Surely, if there were anyone that could find a way to keep these monsters at bay, it would be Hermione. Or perhaps, it was more likely that Katie Bell was grasping at straws and part of her was aware of that possibility. However, hope was such a frail and fragile thing that she was hesitant to stamp it out completely just yet.
OoOoOo
She had to bury her face against this mane, the wetness of it served as a useful distraction against being forced to see countless wide-eyed dead stares that had been left behind in an uncaring but changed world.
The monsters were everywhere. Something that Katie had genuinely tried to forget even during her violation. The twisting limbs, the coiling tails, and disturbing faces of creatures she did not recognize were nearly burned into the back of her eyelids. Every time she dared to blink, yet another unknown monster would grin wickedly showing off rows of pointed or jagged teeth.
The young witch had swallowed back her pride and self-respect to plead with Marcus to take her to Hermione. She did not believe that she could hide anything from Flint, yet there was always the slim chance and it was all that Katie had left.
The presence of her captor was always lingering in her mind, and she was beginning to grow accustomed to the feel of him there. That too she was hardly able to bare. She was stuck fast to the strange skin that covered the water horse. The color of his hide was so dark that it almost seemed to void out any chance of light.
The smell of the salt that lingered in his mane did much to filter out the coppery stench of blood and waste. Katie hid her face as the cackling cries of bird-like but warped women carried over the distance as Flint galloped forward. Her fingers clutched at him even tighter, trying to find some sense of purchase amidst the madness and carnage.
She attempted not to think overly long over why some of the corpses were missing parts and eyes. It also looked as if one or more might have had their innards plucked clean. Katie huffed a breath, trying not to grow light-headed at the thought.
Safe.
The word coupled with a pulsating sense of delight had her relaxing her hold upon his flesh. She did not wish to see the bony muzzle and protrusion of razor sharp teeth. The deadly grace that he possessed in this state still caused her thoughts to bleed together and the yearning started anew. She needed to be near him, yet at the same time she knew the danger of it. Katie understood all too well how quickly he could and would devour someone.
If they were not drowned first.
She was not safe, but she was not a target for someone's supper either.
Something shifted in the way Marcus was nearly flying across the landscape. He slowed as she clung to him as if her life depended upon it. Which it did. Gingerly, and largely at his urging in her thoughts, Katie lifted her head to see all manner of twisted and grotesque creatures. Some possessed only one limb, or one eye, several had misshapen and hideous bodies.
Beasts circled in the sky. They crawled along the ground. Serpent like eyes stared at Katie in many directions. Some were even more sinister and threatening. Some were larger than a troll, others were disjointed parts of several creatures. It was then that her ears registered the sounds of laughter.
They were laughing. Katie shuddered at the eerie and high-pitched sounds of some.
Dear Merlin. What was this?
Bones had been strung heinously about various archways, and Katie's eyes widened as fresh tears pooled in her eyes. Fresh bile collected in her throat as she noticed that...human skin... was wrapped around some of the creatures. As if they were dressing up and...
Good. Marcus' presence whispered hauntingly in her thoughts as her body warmed. We are just in time.
She wondered what on earth they could be in time for. The young witch might have had the fortitude to ask, yet the words died in her throat as she glanced to see a creature far more wretched with the others. He practically oozed sin and evil. Far more than even Flint. She cringed, huddling even closer to the being she hated even being physically near -though her body betrayed her- and could not suppress the whimper of fear that built in her throat.
It was too frightening to even glance at the creature for long and as her eyes flicked away she caught sight of Hermione.
Hermione Granger, her only small shred of hope, who was staring up at the wicked being as if she adore it.
