Chapter 6

His entire bottom lip stung and his nails felt funny. He gazed down at the girl on the couch, expecting to see Ginny lying, trembling, crying, but instead he found someone else; it was a girl with long blonde hair, wearing the exact clothes that he had seen on Ginny, along with a black and silver band on her right wrist. "Hello Draco," she smiled crossly and he caught that look in her pale blue eyes.

"Kuro, I presume?" He inclined his head lightly.

"Yes, very good, boy. Now where is he?"

"Who?"

"Do not play games with me, Taka, where is he?"

"I don't know. Why have you chosen now to show up, Megami?"

"Where is he?"

"I don't bloody know where the fuck he is. Where's Misturi?" He lifted an eyebrow and she narrowed her eyes.

"Misturi? What's he got to do with anything?" Kuro stood carefully and stepped nearly to Malfoy until she backed him against the wall and placed her hands on either side of her head. "I smell a rat," her nose twitched unexpectedly and she grinned heinously. "Where is he?"

"I don't know, goddamnit!" He felt the softness of her fingers slide down to his throat and he coughed. "Hey, what're you doing?" His vision blurred and his knees sagged but she managed to hold him up.

"I do not want to hurt you but if you leave me no choice I will kill you and your beautiful girlfriend." Her eyes had taken on a glassy look as she bared her teeth. "Now, where is Taka?"

"Good Evening, Kuro. I see you've not changed in 400 years. Heh, how predictable. Now let the boy go and I will tell you what you need to know," Taka's eyes lingered on hers before she delicately dropped her hands and Draco crumbled against the wall, trying to hold himself up. Taka swept his long silver hair out of his eyes and grinned hastily at her before turning towards Draco. "We're sorry we had to hurt your love in order for us to reconnect. You see, Misturi is not the one that needs your souls, we are."

"No...you're lying..." he murmured weakly as he edged away from them.

"We never meant to have this happen. As your souls are turned by darkness, though yours is fading, we want that girl's more. The strength inside that child because of what she endured is unfathomable. I suppose even you have no clue how powerful she is now, do you?" Taka's words were soft, even honest sounding. "We need her power to get back to our world,"

"How can you take her life like that?" Malfoy's voice was bitter. "How fair is it to take something to gain something?" Abruptly he realized how hypocritically he was and frowned. "Don't you see what she's done to me?" he asked quietly. "And you're willing to rip her from her world in order to save your own asses. I won't let you do that." He stood slowly and glared at them, his wand raising between their eyes. "I won't," he half-whispered. "I'd rather die for her then let you enslave her."

"Are you very willing?" Kuro asked snidely.

"Settle down, Megami. You're not here for him." Taka snapped and gazed at Draco.

"She's already falling under, Dragon. Soon we can extract her essence and she'll be empty."

"I won't allow you to hurt her!"

"You have no choice. This is your last warning."

Kuro's body slid to the ground and Malfoy looked away. Someone groaned and he looked up. Ginny was lying curled up on the floor by the door, holding her head. He held her almost immediately against his body and tried to calm her down. There are vials in the cabinet...He used his wand and muttered, "Accio, vials!" He clutched one bottle and raised it to her mouth, she squirmed and protested before the liquid slid down her throat and she winced. He swiftly picked her up and put her back on the couch, this time, holding her closer, breathing in the familiar scent of vanilla and lavender. Her eyes fluttered as his fingers wrapped around her hips. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I never wanted this to happen. I thought Taka was on our side, but they betrayed us. He and Kuro won't stop until they have you. I don't know how you can fight something off that resides inside of you. So much is spiraling away and I don't know how to stop it." She shifted and he watched her eyes open slowly.

"You have to beat them," her face colored slightly and she tried to sit up. She managed to turn in his arms and fall into his chest, her arms snaking around his waist. "I need you." His eyes grew cloudy.

"You need me?" It was almost a harsh laugh that split her in half. His eyes stayed hooded as he stared down at her. "How can you need someone so much when they're no good for you, Ginevra?" What was that? She thought faintly that she could hear someone talking in her opposite ear.

"Please," she moaned, for she knew what was happening to him. "don't."

"Don't?" He snarled as his nails grasped her long mane of hair and pulled her away from his body, eyes of a savage loomed down upon her. "I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do. You wanted that beast to love you so much that you released what he's been hiding. That's right," cold, hard hands cupped her cheeks and he leaned in, she caught the sight of hair, longer then normal, the palest silver she had ever seen. "I live inside of him."

The forest was dark, unnaturally so. She stumbled against the trees, groping, becoming increasingly frustrated. Where was he? Quietly, almost quickly she heard something hit the ground, that muddy, dank, cold ground which she stood rooted in. The brownish-green sludge smelled vile as the rain made it so much harder to walk. There was a clearing ahead. A figure stood alone. The head turned and the eyes gleamed; gray-blue. She called out to him and he smiled. She darted out of the trees and embraced him. His aroma made her eyes snap open and her entire body freeze. "No..."

"You really are naive," his voice, his touch, his...everything, was gone, tarnished by the evergrowing fog that surrounded them. The monster had his hands on her, her mouth fastened to her neck, she cried, struggled, screamed, anything to get him away. Her body ached as he squeezed her and she choked. "He can never love, not as long as I am in him."

"Ta-" she never got the chance to tell him to stop, because the evil rippled through her, pulsated, and she drowned.

He found them a few hours later. He bent down to examine the bodies and his eyes widened. Dangerously weak pulses. "They need to be at St Mungo's, if they stay here, they will surely die."

"I'd thought this might happen," he whispered.

People whispered as they carried their students from the room and Apparated away.

The only hope of survival lies inside. They will not allow each other to succumb.