Sapphire, by lyradaemon

Chapter 3: Noelle's Story

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. I mean, come on, would I really let people have Daemon if he belonged to me? Really…

This chapter is dedicated to all my lovely reviewers, in particular to my fellow Brit, HeLl HaVe No FuRy LiKe A wOmAn - tea all the way!

The rain continued to fall, soaking everyone and everything. Except that there weren't many people out and about in this weather and this time of night - despite it being only early evening, no one in their right mind would be walking around this part of the town when it was dark.

Noelle walked quickly through the dark, muddy streets until she reached the familiar shabby door. Pausing to give the area a cursory probe – there was no telling what sort of people would be around here – she pulled her coat tighter around her and stepped in.

Something was wrong.

A stillness hung in the air, along with a slightly obscured psychic scent which…wasn't whole. Steeling herself she mounted the creaky wooden stairs and stopped at the door at the end of the hallway; the lights were all out for some reason. She'd have to speak to Aine about that.

Cautiously she pushed open the door, expecting an irritated "Where have you been?" from her friend. Except there wasn't one. Opening the door fully, Noelle stepped into the dimly lit room…

"Mother Night!" She gasped, putting a hand to her mouth to stop herself being sick and instinctively taking a step back.

Aine lay in a pool of blood in the middle of the floor.

"Mother Night what happened?" She whispered to herself, rushing over to her friend's side. She felt her pulse; dead.

Noelle's mind was reeling. Why would anyone want Aine dead? She hadn't done anything – well, as far as she knew. Being a whore probably ended up earning you a few enemies, both male and female, but she couldn't see why anyone would want to exact this much revenge.

Aine and Noelle had been friends since childhood; but when Aine's father had been brutally murdered – by one of Dorothea's henchman, no less – and her grief-stricken mother had taken her own life, Aine had gone to live with Noelle and her family. Then, a few years ago, someone had broken into Noelle's house while she wasn't there and taken her parents and brother. Noelle had returned to find an empty house and no clues as to where they'd gone; so she and Aine had left quickly, knowing that they could very well be next.

The two of them had been living in their little house for over two years now. Aine had taken to whoring; being a beautiful, feisty yet light-Jewelled witch had meant that she received a lot of custom. She worked in one of the more 'upper-class' Red Moon houses in the town, which was frequented by numerous wealthy and powerful males, more often than not working for Dorothea but desperately needing a respite from the corrupt, sadistic females in the covens.

Aine said she found many of them very charming; they had been persecuted for years before submitting to Dorothea's rule yet still hated the corruptness of it all. Being with a woman, they said, was their way to get away from it all. And Aine didn't mind one bit; after all, it was good money, and these days money was the only thing which kept you out of the gutters.

But Noelle had had different ideas. She wasn't thrilled at the prospect of whoring – after all, who would be? – although she accepted the fact that Aine was really only doing it for the income it provided them with. But the thought of selling herself, her body, just for money, no matter how good it was, was something which sickened her to the very roots of her soul. She didn't tell Aine this, although she had her suspicions that her friend realized her viewpoint on the profession.

Instead, Noelle did 'odd jobs' for paying employers. She would never reveal to Aine what these jobs were; Aine rarely asked anymore, since she knew Noelle wasn't going to tell her anyway. All she knew was that her friend would leave at odd times during the night, and would return at strange times in the day, sometimes dirty, sometimes covered in blood, and always exhausted and pale.

The truth was, Noelle was hired as an assassin. Being a strong, dark-Jewelled witch with stunning looks and a decent brain, she was able to seduce even the most narrow-minded man into giving up his life – for a price of course. Many 'employers' had sneered at her offered rate, but they soon enough came to value her, despite the high prices she demanded. Having a woman who could kill off strong enemies was a desirable commodity these days.

And although she didn't approve of her friend's profession, she was quite happy to seduce a man into thinking he would get sex, before plunging a knife deep into his heart. Being particularly skilled, she never left any evidence that it had been her; of that, she was proud. She knew that killing for money was immoral – and that it made her the lowest of the low – but she did it anyway.

Noelle had always had her suspicions about the identity of the person who had taken her family; the High Priestess of Hayll never did anything herself, but that didn't mean she wasn't behind it. Quite the opposite. Noelle's father had been a powerful Red-Jewelled Warlord Prince who despised Dorothea and everything she stood for; her mother had been an Opal-Jewelled witch who shared her beloved husbands opinions. Together they had raised their two children to hate the corruptness which had spread through Hayll and Terreille, had tainted the Houses of the Blood. They had been taught to fight for what they believed in; a pure, wholesome world where you could walk through the streets of a city without being attacked; where you would be respected, revered, for being a powerful Queen, a strong Warlord Prince, instead of being killed.

A world where Dorothea didn't exist.

From an early age Noelle knew that these views were dangerous; countless times she had seen strange men in her house, speaking in hushed but threatening tones to her mother or father. It was a dangerous world to live in, she was constantly told. Always be on your guard.

And she had been. Even as an assassin – and an extremely good one - she always watched her back, because you never knew who was out there to get you. She had heard stories from Aine of whores being butchered brutally, of girls being found murdered in the Red Moon houses; only a few weeks ago, a friend of Aine's, Marlie, had been killed with a knife in her back at the Red Moon house down the street. It had scared all the girls, Aine said; but they still went about their business, since for many it was there only source of income.

Noelle had spoken to Aine about it; confronted her, told her she had to be careful otherwise she, too, could end up joining those other poor girls. Aine had scoffed at her friend's serious words, but Noelle could tell they had hit home. After that conversation, Aine never left the house without one of Noelle's sharp little silver knives slotted in her waistband.

And now this had happened.

Noelle could hardly comprehend what it meant; she had lost her family, her parents, her brother, and now her best friend…

"I've been waiting for you, little witch."

Noelle turned slowly, dreading what she was going to see.

A man, dressed all in black, sat casually in a chair on the other side of the small room. He had a leering smile on his face; his hair was greasy and he looked dirty.

"Who are you?" She asked, as levelly as possible. Inside, her heart was thumping.

"You don't need to know," he replied silkily. "But I know who you are… Noelle."

"How?"

"My, my, don't we want to know a lot? Maybe I should tell you…Or maybe not."

Angry tears pricked her eyes. "Why did you kill her? She never did anything to anyone."

"No, but she was your friend. And any friend of yours, is an enemy of mine." He stood up, an odd look in his eyes. "I've been searching for you for a long time now, Noelle. I never knew how to get close to you. But your darling friend here proved to be the perfect means. Having a whore for a friend is a never a good idea, my dear. They bring all sorts of…unwelcome…people home with them."

"What do you want?" Her voice trembled slightly as she unwittingly took a step backwards.

"Payment."

He lunged towards her; Noelle threw up a Sapphire shield – but in vain. A blast of Jewelled strength threw her to the floor, breathless.

"How-?" She gasped, clutching her chest.

"Ah, you're about to ask how I, a weak, Rose-Jewelled Warlord can get through your shields, aren't you? Well, sweet Noelle, I too have friends. Strong, powerful friends. They leant me some of their strength so that I myself could overpower you." He smiled, a cold, brutal smile. "I like to be prepared for every situation."

He took another step toward her. Desperately, Noelle threw a Sapphire fireball at him; it bounced of his shield harmlessly. He giggled.

"There's no point in wasting your energy. You won't get through. Besides, I want you to have your full-strength…I've got something else in mind." He leered at her; the stench of stale sweat dripped off of him.

"Look, just tell me what you want…" Noelle said desperately, getting gingerly to her feet.

"What I want? Noelle darling, I want you. After all this time, after all you've done, I finally want to get what I deserve; revenge."

"For what?" She said through gritted teeth; Mother Night, she ached.

"For everything you've taken; from me, from Hayll, from Dorothea. All those males you've murdered; they were good men. They didn't deserve to die. But you, my dear little girl, killed them. And you will pay."

"Good men? They were disgusting, corrupt, twisted little men who liked to play games with people's lives; the lives of my friends, of my family. They deserved to die." Another blast of strength doubled her over in pain, but she carried on regardless. "Dorothea doesn't deserve anything; she's a rotten, filthy taint which has spread through the Blood. I will happily kill if it means her taint spreads no further."

He was on her in an instant. "You do not speak of the High Priestess like that!" He spat at her. He yanked her hair back, bringing tears of pain and anger to her eyes. "You will pay for that too; your mother's screams as I raped her didn't do nearly enough to repay the debt you owe to Dorothea."

Without a moment's hesitation he ripped off her dress, laying her exposed to the air. Noelle tried desperately to hide herself, but he locked her arms by her sides. "You won't escape this, little witch, so there's no point in resisting. Just try to enjoy it." His biting laugh chilled her to the bone.

There, on the middle of the floor, he exacted his revenge on Noelle. Powerless to stop him, she endured the pain, the agony of being invaded by this man; she shook with fury at him, at herself, at her parents for abandoning her. Tears of frustration and self-hate rolled down her face as he thrust into her again and again. And all the time she was powerless to stop him.

Then when he groaned above her, relish and vengeance twisting his face into a hideous mask, Noelle felt his shields vanish; in the heat of the moment, he let them slip. Keeping her steel-tight grip on her inner barriers, resisting his attempts to assail her inner-mind and break her, she carefully reached into herself and gathered her Sapphire strength.

Gritting her teeth as he thrust into her one last time, she hurled all her power at his mind.

With a scream of pain mixed with fury, the man was hurled onto his back. The grip he had had on her body ceased and Noelle jumped to her feet. Shaking with rage and fury, with tears pouring down her face, she stood over him. He lay, writhing and screaming on the floor, his inner barriers blown open, laying his mind bare.

Without waiting, Noelle threw the last drops of Sapphire strength at him. It was enough. With one last, blood-curdling scream, his brain disintegrated before he vanished completely.

Numb with shock, exhaustion and anger, Noelle stood rooted to the spot. Eventually she got enough feeling back in her hands to pull what was left of her dress around her, before she lurched backwards through the still open door, horror still coursing through every part of.

The moment she stepped outside the room, her brain kicked in to action. She spun and ran down the stairs, the muscles in her legs and thighs protesting, the sharp pain between her legs reminding her of what had happened with every step. Not pausing to collect any belongings, she rushed out into the darkness of the street. The rain still fell in torrents, soaking her instantly. Stopping only to get her bearings, she hurried off through the sheets of rain to the only place she could think of.

She thumped heavily on the oak door; it was answered moments later by a friendly looking girl. "Please…Surreal…" she gasped, breathless.

Giving her only a confused glance, the girl hurried off, to return just minutes later with an older woman.

"What do you want to see the Lady for?" She demanded, though not unkindly.

"I…please, I need her…please," Noelle whispered, pain causing her vision to blur.

"Come in, child, you'll catch your death out there," she chided before bustling off down a corridor.

She returned after a few minutes with a small, slim, black-haired woman. "You wanted to see me?" She asked, voice warm and inviting.

Noelle looked thankfully up into those blue and green-flecked golden eyes before darkness consumed her and she fell into darkness

A/N: Duh, duh duhh! What will happen next? Who was that man? Why did he want Noelle?

Find out soon…but only if I get some nice reviews for this chapter! (and constructively critical ones as well, I suppose…)