Creature 1403. I had been labelled before, names such as Mudblood and Gypsy filth, such names stung but they were not something I considered identifying. Creature 1403. It might as well have been stamped onto my body, instead of that disgusting brand. I was slightly curious if the number referred to the number of so called 'creatures' that they had labelled before, or if it was randomly picked. Somehow I knew it was the former, which meant that there were 1402 innocent humanoid-like people such as myself who had been forced into this category. That makes 1402 reasons to kill Riddle, and 1402 people who would help me achieve this goal.
I had underestimated the changes that Riddle would be able to make in the world. After we had returned from the Ministry, I had promptly ignored both my evil overlords and made a point to subtly find out all I could about this current world. It had been three days since the branding, and I had been granted free reign over the Manor, but only the Manor. I could see the forests that surrounded the property through the windows, and knew all I needed was a split second of complacency from the staff and my captors and I could be free and hidden within their dark alcoves. But so far I was given no such chances, so I waited, and took the time to understand my new world.
As far as I could understand, from speaking to the branded staff and researching books in the opulent Malfoy Manor Library, Riddle had risen to power in the last four years. I had discovered a book in the library, written by some sycophant no doubt, which told me in great and obsessive detail how the 'Great Lord Voldemort' had captured the hearts of half-bloods and pure-bloods alike. He had started small, which I was surprised at, by attaining a middle level job at the Ministry after completing Hogwarts with a perfect score. From there he slowly climbed the ranks of bureaucratic hell, until he was a underling to the previous Minister of Magic. All the while he was edging himself forward he was gaining a reputation as powerful wizard, so powerful that he was sent a request to 'help' with the Grindlewald situation in Europe. There are varying accounts on the battle that took place in Nurmengard, all that could be agreed upon was that Riddle won that fight and returned victorious with the Elder Wand. After that it was a simple progression to get elected as Minister of Magic, and from there he started his reforms. There was little objection at first to the slight changes, he had declared that all Muggle-born children were to be taken from their Muggle families once they were identified and placed with Magical families. It seemed that most people agreed that this was a prudent and necessary step forward, to protect magic from the Muggle families who might take advantage of such power. Stupid. He then pushed forward a law that required the identification of such Muggle-born children, something that made them easily identifiable. So began the branding. Once that became the norm, people forgot that they should even consider branding people a gross violation of their rights, he moved on to magical 'creatures' next. Many of them were already required to register their existence with the Ministry before Riddle was even Minster of Magic, so it was a simple thing for him to implement a classification for such humanoids. Which is why I am now Creature 1403. As far as I could tell he had managed to classify the giants, Veelas and a few herds of Centaurs, I assumed I was the only Nymph.
Once I had gained all the information I could from the Library, I began paying attention to the staff. It seemed that most of them were Muggle-born witches and wizards. I had spotted a Veela yesterday however, she was exactly what I would have expected, tall and beautiful with deep red hair and a air of superiority about her. The only reason I really noticed her however, was the brand on her neck, a vicious looking 'V' graced her throat. When she saw me her entire demeanour changed, instead of looking past me, like she did the Muggle-born staff, she froze for a moment and stared. She shook herself from the stupor when heavy footsteps came down the hallway and Malfoy appeared, he took one look at me and her and a stricken look cast over his face. I immediately knew that this Veela was a 'personal friend' of his. Instead of feeling anger, I felt pity for her. Veela had become nothing more than play-things for Purebloods, I could relate. She had hurried away before I could speak to her, but I knew instinctively she would seek me out. And I was right, I had been sitting in the Library again after a fun day of refusing to speak to Malfoy, when she suddenly appeared in the chair across from me.
"Nymph." Her head nodded in greeting, her gaze looking down at my exposed arm and the brand that still itched.
I placed my book down, "Veela." I didn't mean to sound mocking, but it escaped me despite that. Instead of being offended she laughed, a pretty pearl-like sound.
"I am Vanessa." She held out her hand and I shook it, stating my name. "Oh, I know who you are. We all do."
"We?" Head tilted curiously I regarded her.
She laughed again and slumped a little in her chair, I found it amusing that such a graceful person could suddenly look so exhausted. "Us 'Creatures', those wizard pigs call me 1203, and you are 1403. Does that make us like sisters do you suppose?"
I snorted out my own laugh, "Mayhap it does. How many others of us are here."
Her eyes turned devious, and I delighted in the darkness I sensed in them mirroring my own hatred. "Lord Malfoy owns about 50 of the currently registered creatures, about to be 150 once the Minister finishes his preparations."
My lip curled at the mention of the Minister. "What preparations is Riddle planning?"
She flinched at the name, at least she wasn't stupid enough to not fear him. "Apparently he is moving his residence here, I only assume because of you, because of your triad."
"It's hardly a willing triad," I stared off into the fire for a moment, "believe me."
"Oh I do, which is why I am coming to you. We need help." I was more than surprised, having envisioned that I would be the one to ask her for help.
"How can I help, they have me in a blood curse, the best I can do is ignore them." She laughed at my words, practically salivating in joy.
"Yes, I do find it rather amusing when Lord Malfoy comes to me ranting of his disobedient mate." Her eyes flicked to me, they looked worrying. "All he does is talk, he hasn't touched me since you awoke."
"I don't care if he does, and I know that he hasn't, I can feel when they are intimate with somebody else." I couldn't help the twitch under my eye, remembering the silent agony I suffered in my dark mind when that happened.
"You felt it then? I apologise." Her head bowed, and she looked stricken in regret for a moment before it vanished. "Even our people know so little about your kind, save a few stories of great and violent power." Her gaze was hopeful, "can you help us."
"I am untrained." I looked down at my hand and it glowed for a moment, and then died out. "Besides which they literally placed a blood curse on me." I smirked, "something to do with Virgin blood and orgasms."
Her lip curled and she actually spat on the ground, "disgusting Wizards using such a spell. They are banned for a reason."
Interesting. "You know what the spell is then?"
She nodded and took a moment to look into the flames as well, "bad magic. Not as bad as some, but still very bad and hard to break."
I nearly fell off my chair in shock, it can be broken then. "How do I break it?"
She huffed out a breath and ran a hand through her hair, it shimmered and I stared transfixed for a moment before snapping out of it. "You would need one of them to break it, who cast it?"
I pointed at a portrait above the fireplace, it was of Riddle, even in bloody paint he smirked down at me and watched me. What surprised me about it was that it wasn't enchanted, just a normal painting. Vanessa hissed up at the picture, for a second I wanted to hiss too but fought my instincts. "That is a shame, I doubt he will release you from it..." she paused and looked over at me, "can you harm other people?"
"I haven't tried." Which was true, I wasn't violent by nature unless it was against two certain Wizards.
She held out her hand, in it was a knife. I stared for a moment then took it up. "Try and cut me." She flipped her hand over and exposed her wrist.
"I'd rather not."
She huffed out a breath in frustration, "we need to know if they truly understood the magic they were casting. If you can hurt me then all of this won't matter, and he will never remove the curse."
Oh, I get it. Still slightly hesitant, I bought the knife to her wrist and slid it along the skin, which instantly parted and bled, and I immediately felt that horrible pain in my brain. Shrieking I dropped the knife and fell off the chair, clutching my head as an ice-pick wiggled its way around my skull.
"What is going on here!" A booming voice stole the breath from the room. Malfoy stormed over and picked up the knife off the floor, he looked down at my still pained form and then at Vanessa. "What happened?"
Vanessa fell to her knees next to me and looked beseechingly up at Malfoy, her voice was like honey when it reached my ears. "Forgive me My Lord Malfoy, I simply tried to speak with your new pet and she attacked me." She held out her wrist and bowed her head. Under her hair I could see her eyes, she winked at me and I bit back a triumphant cheer at her acting prowess, for a moment I believed that she wanted to get me in trouble. Malfoy waved his hand over her cut and it knit itself back together, she mumbled out her thanks and kissed his shoes. He didn't even react to this, which meant he was used to such subjugation.
"Leave us Vanessa, and be wary around this one." She replied in the affirmative and stood, leaving the room as quickly and quietly as she had entered.
Once she left, I pushed myself up onto my hands and shook my head. That damned pain was still there. A gentle hand pushed my hair out of my face and I stared at a kneeling Malfoy from underneath my lashes, he looked concerned. Fuck you. Peeling back my lips, this time I did hiss and took satisfaction when he quickly removed his hand. He stook quickly and started pacing.
"Foolish Mudblood, why can't you just be happy with what we have provided you with?" He didn't expect an answer, because he already knew why. "I told Riddle he had gone too far, Christ!" He slammed a fist down on a table, I flinched a little and cursed myself for it. Realising he had frightened me, he held up both hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, I am so god damned sorry, for everything." Stomping over he gripped my arms and pulled me up, I was a little to surprised at his admission of guilt to do anything but stare. His hands rubbed along my shoulders, for a second his eyes glazed over and I knew he was feeling what I was feeling. He released me with another curse and stormed over to the fireplace. He waved his wand at it and the flame turned blue. I shuddered when Riddle's voice came from the flame, I had avoided him completely and him me since that Ministry incident.
"What has she done now?" He didn't sound made, just resigned and almost...Tired.
"Get here now," Malfoy snarled.
"Very well." The returning voice was cold, clearly he expected me to have done something awful to Malfoy.
Seconds later the flames turned green and Riddle stepped out of them, I sucked in a hidden breath at the sight of him. His gaze found mine and I was relieved to see that only a hint of red could be seen in his eyes.
Malfoy didn't waste a second, before Riddle could speak he was punched in the face. I gave him credit that he kept his cool. He almost smirked and rubbed his jaw where Malfoy had hit him, a small red mark giving away his mortality.
"You fucked up." The blond sounded madder than I had ever heard him. "She can't defend herself."
Riddle looked at me, and then the knife on the table, there was still blood on it. "What do you mean, she isn't hurt and that blade has blood on it, which means she won."
Malfoy made to punch him again, but froze at the look in Riddle's eyes, he had granted him one shot and one shot only. "She cut Vanessa."
"Shouldn't you be mad at her then, for marring one of your collection." I nearly threw up, collection?
"I am mad at her, and I will find out how she managed to get a bloody knife." He looked at me and I smirked, Fuck...You... "but when she used the knife the same bloody reaction happened to when she tried to hurt us."
Riddle hid his surprise well, but a slight tightening of his mouth gave him away. "What do you mean." He hissed.
"She...can't...defend...herself! That's what I bloody mean, and if she tries then she suffers for it."
Riddle lost his composure then, his wand flicked down from his sleeve and his hissed a curse out. A bookcase to my right exploded and I shrieked, hands flying up to protect my head instinctively. A bubble seemed to surround me though, multiple bits of wood bouncing off it as Riddle destroyed the room around him. When he was finally done I blankly looked around me. He wrecked my library.
"Feel better?" Malfoy seemed more relaxed now, having cast his own protection from the fury of his Master.
Riddle huffed out a breath and pushed a stray lock of hair back into place, his fury disappearing as quickly as it came. "Yes." He walked over to one of the only intact things in the room, a cart holding alcohol and cups and poured himself some of the brown liquid, gulping it down in one go.
"You need to remove the curse Riddle, we can't let her be undefended. Especially when she has to return to that damned testing room. We both know what they want to do to her." What?
Decidedly sick of being spoken about and not to, I made to leave the room.
"Where do you think you are going?" It was a question I knew Riddle didn't expect me to answer, considering I hadn't spoken to them in days.
I turned and looked at him, eyes cold as I could possibly make them. "Considering the fact that you just destroyed my favourite room in this prison, I thought I might go to my second favourite room for something to eat." They both shuddered as I spoke, I could almost see the Goosebumps form on Malfoys arm.
"This is your favourite room?" Rasped Malfoy, he waved a hand and his magic began reappearing. He smiled at me, as if one simple act from him would replace what they had both done to this world.
"Enough," Riddle waved his hand and the self-repairing room stopped, and everything dropped to the floor with a jarring sound. I flinched, hating myself for the fear. "Come," he was talking to me and clearly expected my obedience.
"I am not a dog." Blankly I stated the fact, he didn't respond in anger like I hoped, like I was used to. Instead he ground out a huff of air, and tried again.
"Come here please, I am not going to hurt you."
I sneered at him and walked over, "what more could you possibly do to hurt me Voldemort?"
His eyes turned deep red and I almost faltered in my steps, but I refused to be cowed by a man who thought he could imprison the world into his own making. I stopped when my bare feet nearly pushed up against his perfectly polished shoes, and met his red gaze with my own fury. The red colour slowly bled out as he stared at me, a hint of green returning.
"Hold out your arm." I held out the arm with the 'N' branded on it, he glanced down at the mark for a moment, his face blank. Gently he ran a finger along the 'N', I huffed out a breath of pain at the touch and he moved his finger. "I could remove it you know." It was almost as if he were speaking to himself. Hushed words in a silent room had a way of carrying through the air though. From behind us Malfoy let out a surprised sound, we both ignored him.
"I am Creature 1403 remember, classification Nymph and the apparent property of the great Lord Voldemort and his faithful second." Again came that tell-tale red, but I carried on speaking. "Leave the mark, it reminds me to hate you even more, for what you did to others and myself."
His teeth were grinding, I could tell by the clench in his perfectly punchable jaw. "Very well." His hand snapped out and the knife that was on the table came obediently into his grip, he muttered a quick spell and the blood that stained it was gone. Before I could think about moving my arm he slashed a thick line across the 'N', I tried to pull back but he had already slashed his own wrist and pushed the wound into mine. The joined blood began to glow as he muttered an incantation under his breath, when he stopped I pulled my arm back and the glow dissipated.
"What did you do?" I hissed out, hand clasping the wound to stop the blood.
"The blood bond is gone, you're welcome." He snapped back, his wand waved over his own arm sealing the wound and then he did the same to mine. A scar was left behind, it slashed through the 'N' horizontally.
I was surprised it was so easy to get him to release that particular curse, clearly he feared what those doctors would do to me as much as I did. Might as well test it. My fist struck out and a satisfying crunch was heard, Malfoy barked out a laugh and Riddle a curse as he held his broken nose. I waited for a moment to see if there was any residual pain to come, but nothing except a slight throb in my hand. Satisfied I nodded to him, "thank you." Turning I glared at Malfoy, who was still laughing, and stormed out of the room.
