Hello everyone! I hope you all had a happy new year!
Here comes Chapter 21!
Lots of love!
~Z
Chapter 21
Judas
The Dark Lord swept the length of the parlor, his long black robe billowing like a wraith behind him. In a chair beside the hearth sat the Lycan, an air of confident menace about him, with his good hand curled beneath the stubble on his chin.
"Is everything prepared as I have instructed?" he questioned, his deep burgundy eyes glittering.
Voldemort shot him a disgruntled look from the corner of his eye – he did not like following the orders of anyone but his own, but if he wished to trap a vampire, then follow orders he must.
If only for a short while.
He blinked slowly to regain his composure. "Yes" he hissed softly, though he knew that the Lycan would have no trouble in hearing him.
"The walls of the cell are lined with steel?"
Voldemort nodded.
"The charm on the ring is prepared properly?"
A short, curt "yes".
"And finally, you have acquired adequate amounts of vervain?"
Voldemort nodded solemnly once more.
"Excellent" Zarivan hissed, a dark smirk tipping the corner of his ruined lips. "Excellent".
Draco was awoken late one Saturday morning by a sharp rapping on the door to his dorm room.
He groaned and sat up, blinking blearily. A quick glance around the room showed him that he was the only one yet to leave. He reluctantly slid out from the warm comfort of his bed and stepped lightly across the black marble floor to pull the door open.
A flurry of feathers shot through the barely opened doorway as Phil soared into the room; nearly colliding with Draco's head on his way by. He clicked his beak with impatience as he extended a slender leg toward his master bearing a sealed parchment envelope.
Draco removed the letter and tore it open, his silver eyes scanning the page. As his gaze descended the length of the paper his eyes grew wider and wider with shock. Random words jumped out of the paragraphs as if suspended in the air before him; "need your help…dire consequences…before it's too late…"
At the bottom of the page sat his mother's elegant signature, slightly uneven with what he could only assume to be fear and desperation. A small closing note at the bottom of the page bore the words "Wear the ring that I have enclosed – it will protect you"
Curiously, Draco shook out the envelope over his bed, and a small ornate ring fell out; it was a light metallic silver set with a strange violet stone that seemed to glow in the dim lighting of the dorm room. As Draco slid the ring onto his finger, anger began to boil within him. If that bastard dared to hurt his mother…
Without another thought, he quickly changed into a set of robes, grabbed his travel cloak and wand, and hurried from the room.
"Draco will you get up already!" Elena yelled against the wooden door to the sixth year boys' dorm. She pressed her ear to the wood, but no sound came from the other side.
With a slight frown she pushed the door open and stepped into the empty room. "Hmmm…" she murmured, strolling over to Draco's bed. His bed covers were strewn about half-hazardly, and on top of them lay an empty envelope.
Elena picked it up, but there was nothing to be gained from it; no contents, no address, nothing.
Her frown deepening, Elena pulled open Draco's trunk to see that it was void of his travel cloak and wand. She closed her eyes and reached out with her bond, only to be met with complete and total emptiness. It was as it had been before she had been bonded to Draco – only her own presence could she feel within her consciousness.
Her blue eyes widened with alarm and concern. Hastily she jerked up the sleeve of her robe, only to sigh with relief at the tattoo that still marked her skin. But, if the tattoo still remained, why couldn't she feel Draco?
With concern growing by the second, she dematerialized to the library where she had just left Hermione and Luna.
Both girls jumped at her sudden appearance, about to teasingly chastise her, but one look into her anxious gaze and their own soon mirrored concern.
"Elena, what-"
"Draco's gone!" she cried without pretense.
Luna cocked her blonde head to one side. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"
Elena waved her hands before her agitatedly. "I mean, I can't feel him through our bond – at all – it's like he doesn't even exist anymore! There's just an empty void!" her voice rose slightly in pitch on the last sentence in her growing panic.
Hermione's brow furrowed over her brown gaze. "Have you ever heard of anything like this happening before?"
"No! Even if he was injured or killed, I would be able to feel it. But this…this is nothing!"
Suddenly, a shocked expression crossed Elena's frantic features. "Wait…I just got something…something really faint…but…it's gone now!" she cried mournfully.
"Wait…" she perked up once more, "I think I can still tell where it came from…" she shut her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying with all her might to focus on that one fleeting sensation.
Hermione and Luna watched silently, their gazes a mixture of confusion and concern.
"That's it!" Elena suddenly cried, her eyes wide with triumph. Without a second's hesitation, she dematerialized from Hermione and Luna's sight.
"Elena…?" Hermione murmured tentatively.
"She's gone" Luna stated matter-of-factly.
"This doesn't feel right…she needs our help". Hermione slid off of her perch on the window seat.
"But what can we do? We don't even know where she went!" But regardless, Luna followed Hermione from the library and toward their headmaster's office.
Little did they know, Professor Dumbledore and Harry were not in the castle at all, but rather, were in a dark and dreary cave by the distant seashore.
Elena took form on an empty, desolate street before an equally dilapidated, unfamiliar house.
The house was rather large, and looked as though it may have been grand at one point, but now it stood in a shambled state of it's former self; the windows were cloudy and dusty, some broken or cracked, the paint on the siding of the house was faded and peeling, and many roof shingles were missing. The lawn was overgrown and covered in unhealthy, brown weeds, the front walk nearly obscured from view.
A rusted iron gate stood before an ancient, cracked sidewalk, the lock long since gone.
Draco is in there…? Elena thought with disbelief and confusion. She slowly approached the front gate, placing a hand tentatively on the iron bars; it swung open easily enough, as if it had been recently, sending a slight wail into the air with its rusty hinges.
Elena walked slowly down the dirt-strewn sidewalk, her body primed and tense for battle if need be.
Several concrete steps led to an old oak door with an opaque window in the center. The door opened silently, offering inside a dark hallway that spanned into the farther recesses of the house.
Elena walked lightly on her toes, not making a sound, down the dim hallway. The air smelt musty and dank – and of something else that Elena could not quite put a finger on…
She entered what was once a lovely parlor – but now the furniture stood covered in dust, forgotten. But what pulled her into this room was a silent figure on the floor before the hearth. A figure with blonde hair that even in this pathetic lighting still shone platinum…
Elena strode forward quickly, falling to her knees beside the motionless form. "Draco…" she whispered, placing a hand on her charge's shoulder and shaking lightly.
He did not move.
"I've got to get you out of here" she thought grimly…something about this place did not feel right, but she could dwell on it once she and Draco were safely back at Hogwarts.
But just as she moved to lift Draco from the floor, the floorboards behind her creaked ominously.
She jerked to her feet and spun around in an instant, only to be faced by a shadowy figure in the doorway that she did not recognize. Baring her fangs threateningly, she growled low in her throat as something that she did recognize was pulled into her view. Her black eyes widened in shock and horror even as her body moved instinctually to evade the new and present danger, but it was too late.
The shotgun went off with a resounding crack that filled the small room like an explosion, and everything went black.
So so so so sorry for the late update guys! And I dearly love any of you that are still reading! Please stay with me – we're nearly done
Oh and for those of you wondering, no, vampires cannot be killed by a shotgun, I know- but you try staying conscious after getting shot at nearly point-blank by one. ;)
Lots of love!
~Z