Author's Note: La-Laaa! Two brand new chapters of Angelic Layer. The plot thickens and evil, evil cliffhangers galore!
As soon as Severus had put his foot in the Riddle Mansion, a very panicked Wormtail ran to him.
"- The master needs your assistance immediately."
Severus sighed and nodded. Obviously the dark lord had 'forgiven' him. Or 'forgot' the whole baby-incident. Or at least long enough to command Severus could do whatever he wanted him to do.
Severus was lead to the cellar of the Riddle Mansion. It was surprisingly clean and large. A single bed was in the middle of the room, surrounded by various sized bassinets, cauldrons and Death eaters.
Some one was on the bed, shaking. Already from afar Severus guessed who it was: Augustus Rookwood.
Severus shrugged. The man lying on the bed was on the brink of dying.
Yet Severus wanted to know what had happened. Just when Severus was about to detangle the man from the cocoon of bandages he was wrapped in, Voldemort stepped into the room.
"- Very good Severus. Mend the man."
"- What happened to him?"
"- Ask Macnair, he found him."
Macnair was one of the Death Eaters surrounding the table Rookwood was on. The executioner seemed hypnotised by the ragged breathing of the dying man. Severus knew how Macnair would smell death. He also knew how much Macnair enjoyed the smell of death; in fact he loved it so much that someone dying was giving him pleasure to rivalize with an orgasm.
"- So, Macnair, where did you find him?"
The man's head snapped up and shot Severus a surprinsingly co-operative look.
"- Found him in Knockturn alley. Bas state. Had taken Polyjuice potion to look like me to go and do some errands."
Macnair winked to Severus, and he didn't know what to think. What kind of errand?
"- Continue!"
" – Found him semi-transformed with his guts spilled out, bleeding like a pig but suffering quietly. Fixed the night sky and pointed at it. He managed to describe his attacker before his blood thinned out too much."
Severus listened attentively whilst peeling off the bandages before quickly abandoning the idea of it. The wounds released a horribly putrid and fetid smell and the little skin Severus saw was purple and covered in a sicklish yellow goo.
His opponent had obviously attacked him with some poisonous weapon. Severus came to think about a weapon he had in his collection, a stiletto made of kappa scales. The poison was supposed to slow down the opponent by injecting an blood thickening poison in the blood circulation.
These daggers were easy to find in Knockturn alley, because they weren't illegal. Every witch or wizard of age could have one of these.
The combination of both polyjuice and this poison was easily lethal.
"- When did this happen?"
"- A couple of nights ago?"
"- Why wasn't I summoned earlier?"
"- Our lord wanted you to come only in emergency. Besides, he was okay until this morning when we gave him a blood thickening potion; the smell came then."
"- Was he allergic to the potion?"
"- I don't think so. Look at his mouth and eyes; I think he has been poisoned. With what, no idea."
Severus sighed and drew a blanket over the dying man's body.
"- As good as dead. Nothing to do."
"- I know, I told our Master so, but he wanted a second opinion."
. "- Why didn't he summon me right away? I could have found an antidote. It was the only logical thing to do"
"- You've fallen out of our Lord's grace. Now stop asking yourself stupid questions that no one will answer."
Severus's eyes turned cold as he took a cloth and bound it around his nose and mouth.
"- I'm going to study his body whilst he lives. At least he would have died in a useful way."
Severus peeled the rest of the bandages away and gagged every time another of the dirty stinking bands fell off the body.
Soon, the stank was unbearable and Severus had to vomit.
"- Disgusting."
"- You didn't see him a couple of hours back. Even Bellatrix vomited her guts out."
Whilst Severus was closely watching the wounds, he felt Macnair's eyes on his back.
"- Severus, can I ask you something?"
The scalpel that was supposed to dig out a patch of clean, unharmed skin was suspended in the air. Did Severus hear right? Did Macnair ask his permission to speak?
"- Yes Macnair, what is it?"
"- Why were you kicked out from the research group?"
The scalpel escaped through Severus's hands and fell with a clatter on the floor.
"- Pardon me?"
"- Severus, I was in the 'baby project' too."
"- The one were I was supposed to make a baby; our Lord's heir."
Macnair let a bark of laughter escape through his thin chapped lips.
"- Heir? God, Severus, I thought you had understood the whole purpose of the thing: you weren't supposed to create a heir; you were supposed to create the perfect bride to our Lord. One who would reign with him and assure his throne when he was old and give birth to his children."
It was a good thing Severus's back was to Macnair and not face, because all colour was drained from it. Severus let for once all his defences down, and his face was contorted by concern and fear and love.
° How? How am I going to tell her this? How am I to protect her? But then again, it's just a supposition. It isn't because Macnair likes to rape young girls that Voldemort….Young girls.°
"- Macnair, where exactly was Rookwood found?"
Author's Note n°2: Oh, Btw I started a new fic 'Don't go to bed angry. Stayup and fight!". It's also a HGSS and it's also a bit odd, there is also mystery in it, but it's much lighter than this fic which is going to be quite dark.