A/N: Hello, everyone! After reading SnitchBuilder's, "Lethal Darkness" on TheDarkArts, I got this cool plot bunny, and couldn't resist starting to write it. Fear not, I'm not abandoning the Fury, and I will be continuing that story full-force. I'm just waiting for my good betas to get back to me, so it should be up in about a week.
This story is an HP/Predator cross-over, so all you Predator fans out there should enjoy it.
Read, Review, and Enjoy!
The Phoenix King
Hunter's Moon
A terrified scream pierced the stillness of the night, the stench of death mixing with the oppressive summer heat. In the luxurious penthouse, Lucius Malfoy chuckled manically, his victim squirming under the Cruciatus Curse. Nearby, Walden Macnair planted a tender kiss on the face of a young woman as he raped her, her screams joining with the curses of her husband. Crabbe and Goyle Sr. took turns torturing the couple's two small children, chuckling, seeing their young faces contort in agony. In all, eight Death Eaters had raided this quiet penthouse, ransacking every room, destroying everything they found. The young man, his wife, and their two small children, all them stripped naked, were left to amuse the cruel Death Eaters, Malfoy laughing as the father grovelled before him.
"Please, kind sir," he whimpered, "please don't hurt us. We'll give you anything you want, money, documents, anything!"
Malfoy kicked the man over; his twisted smile hidden behind the bone-white mask. "What do we want, Mudblood? Your filthy hide tacked to the back of my chair would be nice. Maybe your children. I've heard that Wormtail likes them young."
"No, please!" the man screamed, receiving another taste of the Cruciatus Curse. His objections only seemed to encourage the Death Eaters, one preparing to kill the father where he writhed, raising his wand.
As he did, a strange growling sound echoed throughout the penthouse, throaty, yet utterly alien. The Death Eaters stopped, looking around, seeing only the ruined rooms in the faint light. Malfoy nudged Avery. "Check that out."
The Death Eater, Avery, did as he was told, raising his wand, examining every room in order to find out where the sound came from. He wiped his brow with the edge of his cloak, the intense summer heat turning the house into an oven, which was still cooler than outside! Shaking his head, he kicked through the debris of broken glass and smashed furniture. "Nothing here, Malfoy. Must hav-"
It was at this point that he noticed the three red dots centred on his chest. The strange growl sounded again, and the dots floated up his chest, focusing on his forehead. Avery gaped as a pair of menacing yellow eyes flashed in the darkness, before fading again.
Plasma whined, and Avery's head exploded in a rain of gore, his body falling to the floor with a dull thump. The strange presence growled once more, then moved on towards the other prey...
"Avery?" Malfoy asked, hearing the blast. He glanced over at the other Death Eaters. "Where's Avery?"
One of the Death Eaters opened his mouth to respond, and was thrown across the room, propelled by the massive spear impaling him through the belly, his corpse pinned against the wall. The growl came again, louder and more menacing than ever.
"Back to back! NOW!" Malfoy screamed, the Death Eaters moving to a ring formation, wands trained in every direction, the Muggle-born family frozen with terror on the floor. Eyes darted around the room nervously, teeth chattered, and muscles twitched with fear.
"Where is it? Where-"
A massive form landed in their midst with the force of a bomb, sending Malfoy to the floor. Behind him, a Death Eater screamed as his chest was slashed open, droplets of blood staining the length of, a blade? A second Death Eater joined his comrade; the only sign of the attacker a shimmering field, like a desert mirage.
Screaming in terror, the Death Eaters unleashed a barrage of Killing Curses, barely missing each other, the assailant lost in the confusion. "Stop cursing, you fools! We'll kill each other!" Malfoy bellowed, dodging to one side.
"Better us than that!" Goyle shrieked, before a bolt of plasma blew a massive exit wound in his chest, the wound cauterizing instantly. The burly Death Eater dropped.
"Where is it coming from? Where?" Macnair yelled, firing off Cruciatus Curses randomly, desperate to hit something. The giant shuriken sliced off his head, a bemused expression twisted on his features.
Malfoy fired off several Cruciatus Curses, his efforts rewarded with a harsh alien scream. The shimmering form writhed on the floor, bolts of electricity flaring off its body like a deranged thunderstorm. At last! he thought, Crabbe leaping forward to finish it off. A small explosive clap sounded, and Crabbe flew into the wall, caught in a massive net, steel razors burrowing into his skull.
The elder Malfoy trembled as the creature rose up, the effects of the curse wearing off. A single touch to a wrist-mounted panel deactivated its field of invisibility, the full horror of the beast revealed to the Death Eater. The deadly blades emerging from wrist bracers. The bulky cannon placed on its shoulder. The heavily muscled body, covered in a strange mesh and green skin. The banded dreadlocks hanging from a helmeted skull, the cruel mask a grim parody of a face.
"What in Merlin's name are you?"
With a keening shriek, the creature bounded forward, covering the ten feet of distance between them in an instant. The wrist blades extended and ripped through Malfoy like paper, the last sight of the Death Eater that of the glowing yellow eyes, as unstoppable and inexorable as Death itself.
The former victims of the Death Eaters screamed in terror, fleeing for the nearest exit. The creature ignored them, instead drawing a knife and taking the trophies he had claimed...
A/N: Like it? Hate it? Stick with FotE? Review!