Chapter 12

She never screamed or made a noise when he threw her to the floor, bloody and cold. She was the girl who keep her silence, she had learned that so many times before, that speaking would get her into so much more trouble then she knew. She replied to his malicious laughter with a phrase her own mother would have been ashamed of, perhaps, not in this current situation. Her arms felt heavy as she lay curled up with her back to the wall. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. Her heart stopped when she didn't hear his breathing. She could decipher three when there were most certainly four people in this room. "What are you going to do now?" he knelt down beside her and she jerked away when he touched a strand of wavy hair. "Now, none of that, I think it's time we took a walk, it's such a nice night." she flinched when the thunder broke the sky and the lightning streaked down from the clouds. He yanked her up and she struggled, he hit her and she bit into his hand. "Incarcerous!" he muttered and the ropes tightened around her slender frame. "You really shouldn't leave your wand unabandoned." He smiled cruelly and the yelled "Stupefy". She was slumped against him even before she knew what was going on. He picked her up and disappeared quickly.

He half carried, half dragged her stirring body into a clearing on the Forbidden Forest and set her down in the mud. His arms encircling her waist and drawing her closer as she woke. She struggled and screamed only to feel the full blow of his fist against her cheek. He held her weak body in his arms and she trembled. "You are to come with me now." They evaporated into the gradually building fog.

The silver braclet lay in the dirt as the rain began to pour.

--

His eyes shot open and he sat up looking wildly around. God, where was she? His eyes connected with shadow after shadow and never-ending darkness before he staggered out of the bed and to the large window overlooking the grounds. He squinted as the glass was slashed viciously with an immense amount of rainwater. Through the distorted glass he could see nothing out of the ordinary, but he wanted to check to make sure, he whispered "Accio cloak," and he wrapped it around himself and headed outside. He tripped about a dozen times before he had gotten into the forest now covered from head-to-toe in sludge. Draco shuddered and wiped his face and hair clean, his eyes all the while surveying everything in front of him. The crunching of sodden leaves invaded his ears as he stepped on them, and then without warning as he edged nearer to an unfamiliar are, a clink. He didn't need to look down to know what that was. Fear flooded him and he sank to his knees, nausea washing over him. "I can't lose you again." He hung his head, his long hair wet and plastered to his forehead, his clothes weighed and stuck to his body. He reached into the mud and pulled the jewelry out and held it tight. "Not ever again. You hear me Taka, you bastard? You can't have her!" He needed to think, to concentrate on her, to help her.

A rundown masion came into view and the shadows loomed inside the tired looking windows surrounded by dark trees.

There were drag marks in the mud and they led all the way up to that house.

He smiled slowly. "Get ready you mother fuckers, I'm coming to take back what's mine and I won't stop at anything to murder the hell out of you while I'm there, too." He stood and Apparated away.

--

Her fingers scraped against cold stone and she sucked int dead air. Someone had bound her arms behind her back, she had noticed as she tried to raise them because of the dull pain she felt, and she was having a problem figuring out where she was or who had taken her. "You put up a hell of a fight, darling, thank you, it was entertaining." There was a breeze, the first since she had awoke, and his fingers brushed aside her hair and she glared. She slowly realized that she was not only restrained from using her hands, but also from seeing his face, as well.

But she knew who he was.

"Let me go! He'll save me, you know that, don't you?"

"He won't because he does not love you," he forced her chin to move so that she felt his breath-and smelled the alcohol-against her face. Something wet was dragged across the shell of her ear and she cringed.

"Shut up!" she managed to choke out.

"I do not think you're in a position to tell me what to do." He grabbed her arm and twisted in behind her back. She cried out and he smirked. "You will stay with me or I will destroy you if you try and leave. Crucio!" The pain was unbearable and she screamed herself hoarse, her body writhed on the floor and she lay still, breathing weakly. "Do not disobey me." The breeze settled and faded around her as he stood and slammed the door behind him, securing the lock.

Outside leaning against the wall Kuro was frowning at him. "You don't need to harm her yet. He's on his way. And angry as hell."

"No matter." Taka sneered. "We can still beat him and I'll get what I want out of all of this."

"She won't allow us to kill her lover." His hand touched her cheek and he drew her closer.

"She still doesn't understand what she is. What he is." His fingers tangled in her locks and she sighed lightly.

"How can she when all you've done is try to rip her from this world?"

"By bringing her here I'd hoped she'd understood her power."

"Impossible. The boy has already tested his. On that braclet you slid from her wrist when you abducted her. He knows his skill, not a very handy one, but still."

"He is Clairvoyant, is he not, Kuro? Then the girl has to see the rift now. She must."

"Clairvoyance is a smart and cunning gift, it suits him well. She, on the other hand, has a gift that will be useful right up until the end."

"Even with those powers they won't be able to beat us. She'll never win back the part of her soul that I've extracted."

"What part did you take?" Kuro asked curiously.

He smiled heinously. "As I am a Clairvoyant myself, I saw what kind of future she had, and I took the most precious thing I could."

"Which was what?" Her eyes shimmered slowly, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I took her unborn child away from her. In a few weeks she would have realized that she was pregnant but now she never will be." His eyes settled into her blue ones and he saw that she was looking at him with disgust.

"You took another life?"

"Don't act so fucking shocked, that's what we do."

"We made a vow to never kill children, or don't you remember? Have you forgotten her already?" Kuro's voice as well as her eyes were slightly tenser then they had been a moment ago. "You had no right, Taka, you fucking bastard."

"Listen to me," he grasped her arm and watched her wince, a slow, demonic smile crossed his features. "We do what we need to in order to survive. Do you understand that?" he waited for her to nod then continued in a steady voice, "and this is what had to be done. Not a day goes by that I don't remember her, Megami, know that. It seemed so damn long ago that she was caught up in that robbery. But perhaps it was for the best."

"Your little sister dying was for the best?" she glared at him and shoved him back. He hit the opposite wall and she raised her hand as if to smack him, but her fingertips were slowly sparking to life. "You will reverse what you have done to that girl or I will make sure you join Ryo. You can tell her then how you planned that robbery to kill her, you foul monster." Her back hit the wall as he slammed into her, his nails digging into her flesh, his eyes dark.

"How did you know?" For as long as she had known him, Taka Shindou had never in his life sounded so frightened. "How did you fucking know?" He repeated, his body shaking.

"Haven't you figured it out?" she whispered, her eyes flickering. "I saw her that night."

"How could you? I had just seen you that afternoon. You told me-"

"That I had a Piano lesson? It was a lie, Taka. I heard that conversation with Mudou. You remember, the one where you said you would kill Ryo because that's what your sadistic father wanted? You're a murderous liar. You wanted Ryo out of the way because she was the filthy step-sister and you could not stand everyone giving her your attention. You wanted everyone to feel sorry for you at her funeral when you knew how much of an unjustice it was to bury a little girl. You're wondering why I've stayed so silent with this, aren't you? Because I knew. I knew you had never changed. You're willing to take this girl's soul...to bring back Ryo, erase your families memories of that day and pretend like nothing happened. You'll go on living life as it were just an ordinary day, but it would not be, because you know the truth of what you have done. And so do I."

"Very smart, Megami," he chuckled lightly and smirked at her. "But you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" she growled at him. He held her against the wall.

"That your time is up." He had never looked as happy as he had done when he drove the silver dagger into her stomach and let her body drop onto the ground.

He stood near the window and looked out into the night. Waiting.