Trigger warning:::::::
A short chapter I know and I apologise.
She had screamed and hit him; her fists seemed to strike against a marble pillar when she struck his chest. Severus held her at arms length as she struggled, her rage cracking the walls around them, anything that was breakable laid smashed into powder. She tried to get away, tried to stay and in the end she fell exhausted weeping against him. The nightmares were violent, Nymphadora was panting against the far wall of the room watching what played out between her aunt and Severus. Her cheek sporting several cuts with dried blood forming a protective crust where Bella had lashed out with her nails.
The evening had been relaxed, fun and silly; the three of them had been drinking and teasing one another. It had ended with Severus and Bella having their asses handed to them in a three person chess match with Tonks. She had said goodnight and grinned wishing them and teasing the couple to have a quiet night.
She had seen him for a moment in the darkness; she took a breath and whispered that he wasn't real that he was dead. She enjoyed the dizzy feeling from the alcohol and threw herself onto the bed; she smiled as she heard her niece and Severus laughing from their bedroom. She fell into a fretful sleep full of dark shadows and white faced girls. Her mouth was dry in her sleep as she tried to make a sound, her throat felt coated with dust as she cried out. She couldn't move, her hands were tied to the bed and her mouth covered with a thick calloused hand. She fought, her wrists bruised against the ties, tears stung her eyes until finally she screamed. It tore from her throat until it felt as though she were bleeding through the noise.
Severus and Nymphadora appeared in the doorway with their wands out looking for an attacker. Tonks realised Bella was asleep and tried to rouse her to her detriment, in a moment Bella lashed out and threw her back, her nails cutting into her niece's cheek. Severus helped Tonks stand before approaching Bella who knelt on the bed unseeing them.
"Bella-" He said in a gentle voice as he took a tentative step towards her, Tonks held her cheek hissing from the pain. "It's just us, it's just the three of us. Come now, it's alright."
"My wand?" She asked backing up from him.
"On the table Angel." He said taking another step. "Come now, I won't hurt you."
A flitter from the shadows made her jump and she rounded on him, when the dust settled and Bella was calm she cried her apology to both Severus and Nymphadora. They knew her secret; they took a vow to be her keeper. They did not speak of it again but Severus knew when Bella's thoughts would go dark, when her thoughts made her feel dirty and when she needed space.
Severus was only Bella's keeper for six months, six months he held it and did what he could to keep the shadows from her eyes, six months to the day and then he was gone.
Bella trembled against Hermione, again her mouth felt as if it were covered, as if she could not speak her secrets. The echoing blood drips had silenced for the moment as the red haired girl whispered into Bella's ear.
She had been thirteen when she had performed the ritual, when she had taken hair from her father's brush and burned it against the blood red candle. She had been thirteen when she had whispered into the darkness of a moonless night for the reapers to deliver her from the evil of his touches, to keep her and her sister's safe. She had been thirteen when she pierced her thumb and let the drops hit the flames, when she had cut off a lock of her own hair and burned it against the white candle. They had heard her cries; they had heeded her pleas and answered her prayers. The girl's muddy fingers caressed Bella's cheek sweetly, "We've been summoned again beautiful child." The voice cooed leaving a cold trail down Bella's cheek and arm. "The pleas for help are happening even now. Our book was found."
Bella swallowed, the book in her grandmother's study with the blackened cover. One of the few books that existed that referenced the reapers. She knew her grandmother's copy was one of only three that was still known.
"Help us." The girls cracked lips formed against her ear. "Help them as we helped you." The fingers clasped Bella's hand and then with a freezing gust of wind she was gone, the room was fully lit and Hermione lay next to her staring at the space the girl had vacated. There was a cold item in Bella's hand; it felt like ice, she opened her hand to see a white and red splattered stone. It gleamed in the light of the hospital room. It was a blood stone, she was marked now, there was no turning back.
.