Author's Note : Double chappies again !
But here are two of them, so I hope it'll make up.
These chapters are dedicated to ArcticAngelzTx who likes to have two chapters posted at the same time.
Bussi!
Angelic Layer
Chapter 39
"- Macnair, where exactly was Rookwood found?"
"- Knockturn Alley. Near Bas State. In a bad state. Hehe"
The 'Bas State' was the nickname of a very reputed brothel in Knockturn alley. It was special in that way that you could find everything – really everything there. They had many muggle girls working there. This somehow excited the wizards, to know they had power over them.
Of course, there were cheaper whores all around 'Bas State' who hoped to be chosen over the deluxe ladies in the house.
Rookwook and Macnair had both the habit of going to go to the 'Girls'. A single man needs to relief himself from time to time. Of course brothels were illegal, but Bas State was a decreed establishment, and changed its location every third year.
Sex with girls who doesn't love is easy. A prostitute (or let's call them escorts, it's more gratifying) cares only about pleasure. No embarrassing questions, no "Please-take-off-the-liiights-darling" or "Not-now-I-have-a-headache"-s.
Rookwook and Macnair were far from being the only ones going to Bas State (or the others girls or boys eventually).
Severus bit his under lip. He saw slowly a pattern form itself in his head. Maybe; just maybe he had found a culprit.
Dolohov had been found in a forest. Avery in a muggle street as well as Nott. Now Rookwood was found in Knockturn Alley.
Could it be that all four had been murdered by the same person?
It had been likeliest scenario. All the three first victims had been stabbed. Thus they were connected to each other. They could have been murdered by anyone, muggle or magical person alike.
It was more likely of course that they had been murdered by a wizard or a witch. Who else could bear a motive and hate towards these persons?
But Rookwood was a different story. He had been found in the magical world, and he was dying due to magic. It wasn't a normal killing anymore. Was Rookwood the victim of a copycat? Or was the murderer of Dolohov, Nott and Avery become more daring?
"- Macnair, tell me what he said before he died. I understood he described his attacker."
"- Describe would be a large word. He merely said something completely random.
There was a silence, only punctuated by Rookwood's moans of pain and Macnair's obvious excitement of the dying's man last breaths.
Severus re-adjusted the cloth around his face and started to delimiting the patches of healthy skin on the suffering man's body. He even stripped pieces of skin away.
Suddenly, Severus froze as Macnair started talking again.
"- Rookwood said he has been accosted by a young girl. You know how he likes young tight arses. Anyways, a young girl came to him and proposed her services to him. Rookwood's coherent speech stopped after that part. He started rambling about her beauty, her naked breasts and about how lovely she looked. He even talked about divine punishment and angels; it was his leitmotiv. But we all know how religious he was. Compared our Lord to Lucifer."
Severus listened to the word Macnair was pronouncing without caring at all. He was trembling due to something he saw.
Some of Rookwood's leg muscles were absent.
Actually only two muscles were away; and you couldn't really distinguish anything in the purplish mass of meat that was now Rookwood. But Severus knowledge about anatomy was wide enough to know that something was missing.
The deltoids were missing. The longest, firmest and most elastic muscles of the entire body. Cut away. They were missing in both legs.
Cut away with a kappa knife. It made sense: the blood was circulation slower, thus providing time to cut the muscles out. Muscles could be conserved in various potions to hold its efficacy and freshness.
Rookwood's poisoning could have been made by a disinfectant. A disinfectant supposed to prepare the body, supposed to soften the skin. A disinfectant Severus was very used to.
The same disinfectant used on those you had been used to create Hermione.