Fall into Darkness
Chapter 18: Annihilation
The group decided to move on, stepping onto the road leading out of town. The asphalt road curved upwards onto a ridge leading to the fire station apparently further up the road. Bellatrix looked up and regarded the mountains above. Covered with trees, the mountain seemed liked a stoic guardian for the town of Bright Falls stood in its shadow. There was something serene about this ancient, haunting landscape. Unfortunately, it did little to break the tension among them. Being surrounded by shadows and fearing being jumped at any time by living shadow had a tendency to do that to a person.
The six of them kept on walking in silence. Palpable silence. Even Max seemed ill at ease as woods along the side of the road became denser and the shadows became longer. Nymphadora stuck close to Rose, for obvious reason, the Christmas lights and her mining helmet illuminating the way. Bellatrix and Grant were guarding the rear while Sarah led the way with her shotgun in hand, for all the good it would do without light. Further along they walked and Bellatrix caught glimpses of the town now much further below. It looked peaceful, though quite threatening with the lights off. Regardless, the darkness seemed to have abandoned its assault on the town.
Which only worried Bellatrix further. The dark witch stepped up to her niece and whispered softy. Even a soft whisper felt intrusive in this oppressive silence. "Dora," she whispered. "Give me that thing on your head."
Dora made a face, which looked even more ridiculous as she was being lit up by multi-coloured Christmas lights. "Sorry, there's just the one."
"I don't have a light. And you know I'm the better witch than you are."
"I have to protect Rose."
"Girl before the family, huh?" Bellatrix chuckled.
"You got magic, she ain't."
"You've got magic! And the Darkness is after me, remember?"
"And I also have a mining helmet," replied her niece. "Which you can't have."
Bellatrix muttered a curse under her breath and fell back to join Grant, lighting up her hands to try to dispel any encroaching darkness. Try as she might, she couldn't fault Nymphadora for not giving up the helmet; she wouldn't have done either. Max looked up at her and she gave the dog a wink. "Helmet makes her look like a twat anyway," she muttered to Max.
Finally, they arrived at the fire station. As expected, it was a large two-story building made from corrugated metal like many of the other newer large buildings in the region. A fire engine stood parked in the front, holding a silent vigil over the large lot surrounded by a chainlink fence. On the pad next to the station, near the edge of the ridge and the very back of the lot, stood their salvation.
The muggle machine was a much larger and broader helicopter than the one she had seen a few days ago. The bulky helicopter had four doors on the side and some sort of large tank on the bottom. To Bellatrix' eyes, this bulky flying windmill didn't seen very capable of actually rising in the air without the aid of magic, but she had learned to give muggle technology some credit over the years.
"Oh, god, hallelujah," Rose exclaimed, a little too loud for the gathered crowd.
"There she is," Sarah grinned. "The S-70 Firehawk. She's slow as molasses and moves with all the grace of a morbidly obese ballerina, but she'll fit all of us easily."
Sarah moved towards the door the opened it, only to slip inside. The sliding door to the compartment opened. Grant was the first to board, with Rose second. Max stood by the side of the chopper, eyeing the thing warily while Bellatrix took one last look over her shoulder. Just in time for pandemonium to break loose. Sometimes, Bellatrix hated being right.
The expected ambush happened in the blink of an eye. Above them, clouds of darkness formed out of nothingness. The wind whipped while that sickening smell returned as well as the strange dampening of sounds. Max barked and it sounded as if the dog was underwater. This felt… different. Far more oppressive. Far more… familiar. A maelstrom of living darkness, stronger than the one she had seen near the mines days ago came barrelling down the mountain, dragging trees and stones from the ground to swerve around its powerful gusts. Living darkness was reaching out to them with countless sickly tendrils.
"SHIT!" Nymphadora shouted as she stood next to her. "Get this thing in the air!"
"This isn't a car!" Sarah shouted from the cockpit. "I can't just turn the key! I need to prep her for flight. A few minutes!"
Bellatrix grit her teeth as she regarded the tornado. In front of her was no minion, no avatar. This was the Dark Presence in its full, angry glory. "Quite certain we don't have a few minutes," she said grimly.
A log shot down from the tornado, aimed straight at the helicopter. It approached so fast, Bellatrix barely had enough time to raise a shield of magic to block it. The dark witch cried out as the full force of the impact against the shield became clear. She fell to her knees just as the log fell to the ground.
"Auntie!"
Dora was just quick enough to shield both themselves and the helicopter from another incoming piece of debris, a heavy rock this time. The log would have undoubtedly completely destroyed the muggle machine. And this assault was only the beginning.
"We have to protect the helicopter!" Dora shouted over the whipping winds. With Rose headed into the chopper, the wires from the battery pack were pulled loose. The Christmas light went out, though she beam from her mining helmet still helped to light the way. Between the two of them, they channelled their magic into a more powerful shield around the helicopter as more and more debris were flung from the sky. Trees, rocks, pieces of crash barriers, even chunks of asphalt. A particularly heavy object slammed on top of the shield and the sheer force of the impact almost sent both witches to the ground.
"Is that a sodding anchor?!" said Nymphadora as the heavy piece of metal slid off the shield and landed on to the ground with a terrifying clang. "Where the hell did it even find an anchor?!"
"FOCUS!" Bellatrix hissed.
The tornado of living darkness swirled dangerously above their head. Bellatrix barely had time to blink when… something… was barrelling down from the sky. Both she and Nymphadora braced themselves, pouring whatever ounce of power they had into the shield. The thing from the sky smashed into the lot. A shockwave smashed through them, against the shield, against them, against everything around them. It took everything they had, but the shield held.
Around them, nothing existed anymore. The fire station was gone, nothing more than heap of shredded metal. Not a single tree was left standing on the ridge. The fire engine couldn't even be seen anymore. In front of them now was a massive crater with a swirling column darkness in the middle of it.
Behind her, the sound of an engine flaring up could be heard through the distorted atmosphere and above her the rotors of the helicopter slowly started turning.
"One more minute!" Sarah shouted.
Bellatrix was quite certain they would no longer be alive in a minute. Especially when the column of darkness started to subside and a figure could be seen standing in the middle of it. Her breath caught in her throat. No. No, it couldn't be.
"Merlin!" shouted Nymphadora, just as the light from her miner's helmet hit the figure.
Bellatrix closed her eyes, lowered her head and sank into despair. Of course, she had already seen it from the outline, but she didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to admit it.
In front of her stood Hermione, the love of her life.
No, not Hermione. The Thing That Was Hermione. The thing she had only seen in her nightmares. The thing, its skin ashen grey, its eyes as dark as vantablack. Hermione, the Darkness defiling her gentle body as it writhed over her skin and wreathed the air around her, took a step forward. Tendrils reaching out from her back, moving and searching in sickening alien motion. Every move she made was unnatural. The Thing That Was Hermione walked as if she was a marionette with tangled strings.
The dark witch glared as she balled her fists. All she had left now was anger, because she knew that those fully taken by darkness had no hope. If it was indeed Hermione in front of her, her love would be lost to her forever. Still, she had known deep in her heart, Hermione was still alive, crying out in the darkness beneath the lake. Had that been a lie? Was it a fantasy she had fabricated because she didn't want to see the truth?
The Thing That Was Hermione hissed as it snapped its head towards Nymphadora, apparently having had enough of the lamp on her niece's head. One of the tendrils of living darkness sprouting from her back elongated and lashed out, knocking her niece to the ground and then coiled around her like a serpent. It squeezed and burned her exposed skin. One look on her fact told Bellatrix that agony shot through her niece's body like fire rushing through a gas pipe. Before Bellatrix could help her, the Thing That Was Hermione was upon her. Its hand, fingers transformed into a pitch-black elongated claw, clamped around her face and raised her off the ground. Bellatrix cried in pain as the darkness burned into her skin. Worse yet, she could feel the thing in her very mind. It was hard to breathe. Hard to think. Hard to… resist.
"SUBMIT!" roared The Thing That Was Hermione. Her voice. Hers. Distorted beyond measure.
Indeed. It was hopeless. Hermione was gone. Why would she even go on?
"FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!"
Reality fell away from Bellatrix. She was… underneath the lake. A unbridled place of power. Power without a will. Powerful without form. Primal. Without thought. Then, it gained a will. A desire. Creation couldn't happen without a creator. A sculptor to mold the clay. A painter to create an image. A writer to create a reality. That's what the Dark Presence needed most. Even so, it could never create itself. The Dark Presence followed the choreography laid out to it in the writings, growing more powerful and strong with the turn of every page Bellatrix had written, moving like a storm from one scene of destruction to the next.
But it was still bound to follow the story and chained to the dark place it came from. When the story reached the end it longed for, it would finally be free.
And amid all that primal rage, Bellatrix could see her beloved. Hermione had screamed until she had no voice left to scream. Around her, the darkness was alive. It was cold and wet and evil and without end. She was a prisoner, trapped in the darkness of the lake. The terror would have burned her mind out, if not for Bellatrix. She could sense her in the dark. She could see the words she was writing among the darkness. She sensed her too. Bellatrix was trying to find a way to her.
Bellatrix felt its rage. She felt its desire. And it felt hers. It had always felt hers. That's why it wore Hermione's face….
The dark witch opened her eyes, filled with a primal rage of her own. A motion of her hand caused a shard of metal to fly in between them with a dazzling speed. Bellatrix was freed and fell to the ground along with spatters of black ooze. As she had figured out, The Thing That Was Hermione was not using Hermione's actual body, but a facsimile molded from living darkness. As was witnessed by the creature's severed arm dissolving into one of those same globules of living darkness she had seen before. The Thing That Was Hermione gave a rather confused stare to the stump of its arm.
It was all the opening Bellatrix needed.
A shriek emerged from the very depths of her lungs as she poured whatever left of her power she could muster into a massive ball of light between her two hands. The creature shrieked as she thrust the ball into its body. The Thing That Was Hermione staggered backwards, crying out in rage as it clawed at itself. Though such a powerful light was enough to kill the living darkness wreathing lesser shadow-creatures, The Thing That Was Hermione seemed to be only distracted. The Dark Presence itself was far more powerful, but quite hearteningly not unstoppable.
The rotors were spinning fast now. Max barked from the inside of the chopper, while Sarah yelled for them to board. While the creature was stunned, the dark witch rushed to her fallen niece and dragged her to her feet while the creature was stunned. Grant and Rose helped the two of them on board and shut the sliding door behind them. Bellatrix felt her stomach lurch when the machine started to rise. But they were not safe yet.
Outside, the Dark Presence had regained its wits and was beyond enraged. The facade of Hermione raised her arms and flocks of dark birds emerged from the sky. Again, Bellatrix and a now far more coherent Nymphadora let their magic flow into a shield around the machine just as dozens upon dozens of darkness-imbued bird smashed themselves to pieces on it. Bellatrix might not know all that much about technology, she had seen what a dead bird in the machinery could do to one of those flying windmills and going down in a fiery explosion would not help her to save Hermione from the depths of the lake.
The helicopter was high above the land now… not that that would save them. Bellatrix peeked out of a window and saw the Dark Presence below, now a mere speck. Even so, she could just feel the glare it shot up at them.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Grant exclaimed. "I feel twenty years older."
Bellatrix said nothing. What was there to say? All she knew for certain was that they certainly wouldn't have seen the last of that thing. Not by a long shot.
Bellatrix did enjoy her morning runs. It had become her routine ever since moving to the mountainous vistas and wide open fields of Montana with Hermione. Her days consisted of cooking them both a hearty breakfast and then taking to the dirt roads of the Helena outskirts. The clean air, the quiet, the view, the soft spring winds. Though colder weather did nothing to deter her, she was happy that the snow was now gone and longer runs outside were once again a possibility.
Of course, her run today wasn't as intense or exerting as her usual jaunts. The reason being Hermione. Though Hermione was looking rather delectable in her spandex running gear, she currently had a less-than-sexy posture as she dragged herself across the road. Her face was red, her eyes were puffy and every exhale was a disguised cry for help. "S-stop..." her brown-haired angel yelled between gasps. "P-please... just... stop..."
Bellatrix sighed heavily. A small viewing deck with a dilapidated old wooden picnic table for tourists was right ahead. Though it had a lovely view of the lake and the mountains beyond, she doubted Hermione would have much interest. The moment her girl spotted it, she threw herself onto the seat and lay her head on the wood. "W-water..." she whined.
After letting out a sigh, Bellatrix decided to run in place next to Hermione to keep the blood pumping and her body working.
"Honestly, pet," Bellatrix spoke in a tone of sheer disappointment after tossing her a bottle. "You have the endurance of a fat slug. Look at me, and I'm over twice your age. You should spend less time working and reading and more time outside."
"We've been running for miles!" Hermione protested.
"What you mean 'running for miles'?!" Bellatrix let out a loud cackle. "I can still see the house from here!"
Hermione looked up from her misery to see Bellatrix still running in place, eager to keep going. Hermione let out a groan. "How? W-where do you get all that energy from?!"
"You sad, deformed urban pustule," sighed Bellatrix. "Need I remind you I grew up in the countryside?"
"In a HUGE mansion, Belle!"
"Still the countryside..."
Hermione muttered under her breath. "Shouldn't be surprised. You have French blood. French people are really good at running. Mostly away."
Bellatrix snorted. "French-English rivalry, how droll and original, pet. Well, I take it you don't want me to practice some of my 'French arts' on you tonight then, pet?"
Silence.
Predictable.
From the roaring in the distance, a muggle car was approaching around the bend. A few moments later, the green old pick-up truck belonging to their next door-neighbour Pete came rolling past. Though next-door was a bit of a misnomer since there was quite a bit of distance between their ranch and Pete's. Pete was a nice enough muggle; a retired landscaper in his sixties, single and jovial, though a tad eccentric at times. He had done some work for them at their ranch when Hermione had wanted a more English style garden to combat her homesickness during their first year living in Montana. Pete stopped next to them and gave the two women an amused look after tipping his cowboy hat.
"Howdy, ladies," he greeted. "Morning run again, Bella?"
"Hello Pete," greeted Bellatrix. Hermione managed to croak a tired hello.
Pete gave her pet a look. "Hermione don't look too good."
"I don't feel too good!" Hermione added.
Bellatrix kept running in place and just rolled her eyes. "Endurance of a fat slug. She should probably eat healthier than she does."
"AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?!" Hermione shouted back before letting out a groan.
Bellatrix sighed dramatically. "Again with the complaints. And I slave and work my fingers to the bone in our kitchen so Hermione can eat well. No appreciation whatsoever. Seriously, though, there's nothing wrong with eating well as long as you balance it out with healthy exercise. Such as these runs."
"She's right, you know?" chuckled Pete. "And Bella makes the best goddamn burgers I've ever tasted."
Bellatrix noticed that the bed of Pete's truck had stacks of metal slabs and that the truck had been struggling to haul it. She pointed to the bed. "Are you building something, Pete?"
"Just some improvements to my fallout shelter," said Pete. "Four inches of pure lead will give a lot of extra protection. Of course, it's still under six feet of dirt, as it should be, but you don't mess around with them sieverts. Four inches of lead, or six feet of dirt, or ten feet of wood. Either of those will do."
Hermione blinked. "Wood?!" she exclaimed. "Who'd build a wooden fallout-shelter?"
Pete laughed. "You'd be surprised, little lady. Anyway, you should probably build one yourselves. Ain't trusting Obummer with my safety, especially not when the bombs come droppin'."
"Cold War is over, Pete," said Hermione, finally panting less.
Pete chuckled. "That's what them Ruski's want you to think, Hermione. Don't fall for their tricks. Anyway, can I give you gals a lift back to the ranch?"
"YES!" Hermione exclaimed. "Yes, please!"
"No, no," Bellatrix said resolute. "We're only a third through our run."
"A THIRD?! A BLOODY THIRD?!"
Pete bit his lip, thinking. "Third, ey? Ah, you're doing the short route today."
"Short?! This is the short one?!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah, she usually runs all the way around my fields," said Pete. "I see her almost every morning."
Hermione blinked. "W-what..." she muttered. "H-how?!"
Bellatrix smirked. "And here I thought you knew everything about me, pet. Nice to know I still have some secrets left, small as they are."
"Have fun then, gals. Talk later," said Pete, tipping his hat once move before his weighed down car continued to labour to move over the road. Bellatrix watched him go, as did Hermione with a forlorn expression on her face. Bellatrix had to admit that she quite liked Pete as far as muggles went. Hermione had explained to her that Pete was something called a 'libertarian' and held personal freedoms in high regard. Apparently two women in a relationship could still be somewhat of an issue for some muggles, but Pete had once told her in a conversation that 'whatever you gals are up to in the privacy of your own home is nothing of anyone's goddamn business'. A rather refreshing change of the usual British mentality of silent judgment hidden behind polite smiles.
"Ready to continue the run then, pet?" Bellatrix smirked. "I daresay you had plenty of rest by now."
Hermione looked up. The expected dirty look never came; instead a rather serious expression. Hermione bit her lip for a moment before averting her eyes.
Bellatrix kept running in place, still brimming with boundless energy she needed to spend. Eager as she was to keep on going, she knew there was something on Hermione's mind. "Oh, I know that look, Hermione," said Bellatrix. "You always have that look when you want to say something you don't think I'm going like. Just come out with it already. I won't judge you for being a quitter. Rome wasn't built in a day and you're not ready for a long country run yet."
Hermione sighed and looked her in the eyes again. "There's really no easy way to say this so… Alright. Belle. You need to get a job."
Bellatrix stopped moving. No longer running in place, she merely stood there frozen trying to comprehend what Hermione had just told her. The words rolled around in her head and yet failed to register.
"Pardon?" Bellatrix asked when she finally regained the ability to speak after having finally grasped this completely alien concept Hermione had tossed in her lap. "A job?! ME?! A JOB?! A BLOODY JOB?!"
Hermione sighed. "I knew this might fly as well as a lead balloon," she muttered and sat up, ready to make her case. "Bellatrix, despite us now living together… involved together… I am still your case-worker, you are still my patient and you are still in the Program. To enter the final phase of the Program, you are required to seek out employment."
Bellatrix blinked. "But… but…" she stammered. "I am literal billionairess! You know this! You approve all my finances! You know what I have in my vault down to the last bloody knut!"
Hermione sighed. She turned her gaze to the mountains in the distance. "It's not about the money, Belle. It's about fulfilling a requirement of the Program. You need to be able to show that you can adapt and function in proper society."
"FUCK proper society!" Bellatrix shrieked. "What about my cooking?! What about my painting and sculpting?! What about my writing?! What about my morning runs and exercise?! Nothing kills creativity as fast as a bloody job!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "How do you even know that? You never worked a day in your life."
"That's besides the point!" Bellatrix challenged, gritting her teeth in anger.
"Look, it doesn't have to be a full-fledged career or even full-time," said Hermione. "Just enough to satisfy the requirements of the Program. Managing time is part of learning how to properly function in society."
Bellatrix kept glaring. Of course, Hermione wasn't much intimidated these days. "Why should I even want to head into the final phase of the Program? Maybe I'm happy the way I am? We're doing fine!"
Hermione shook her head. "Progress is expected or there might be an investigation and… we don't want that. In the final phase of the Program, there'll be far less scrutiny and thus far less chance of our relationship being discovered. Not to mention if you're three years into the final phase you can apply to get your wand back. Don't you want that?"
Her wand. Her curved, childhood wand. It had been locked up at the Ministry ever since 1998. The idea of getting it back was enticing. It was a part of herself, really. But she had done without it for nearly ten years now. Did she really need it? Part of her had given up hope of ever magic more advanced than a cantrip ever again. Knowing Hermione, she would be unyielding regardless of how much she'd yell and scream about it. Perhaps another tactic would work.
Bellatrix sat down besides her. "Pet," she whispered softly, reaching out a hand to lay on Hermione's cheek. "You mean everything to me. You believed in me when no one else would. I cook for you. I work for you. I change for you. All I've done for the past decade has been for you. I decided myself to being a lover devoted to you like none other. I would lay down my life for you."
There was a brief flash of red on Hermione's cheeks, as was expected. But she soon pursed her lips. "I don't need you to lay down your life for me. I just need you to get a job."
Bellatrix threw her head back and groaned.
Her pet gave her a cheeky look. "Well, if you think you can't do it… If you aren't up to the challenge. If you want to give up before you've even started…"
Bellatrix snapped her head towards Hermione. "Stop trying to manipulate me!"
"Like you tried to manipulate me just then?"
"I meant every word I said," Bellatrix pouted.
"I believe you," said Hermione. "But even a heartfelt truth spoken at the right moment can be used to manipulate."
"I forgot I was talking to a trained psychologist."
Bellatrix resigned to her fate, let out the heaviest of sighs and lamented her lot in life as she glanced over Pete's nearby fields. That was until a giggle sounded next to her.
"What?" demanded the dark witch.
Hermione was still laughing, showing off that cheeky glint in her brown eyes which Bellatrix loved so much to see. "Your expression. You're pouting like a six-year old who has been denied a treat."
"Six-year old, am I?" Bellatrix narrowed her eyes and reached out to Hermione. A hand lay on her lover's side and she felt Hermione's sharp intake of breath. Her other hand found its way running through Hermione's glorious brown mane as she scooted closer to her. "I assure you I have very adult things on my mind."
Their lips met and, to her delight, Hermione took charge during their kiss. It was the tip of Hermione's tongue which playfully probed her mouth. It was Hermione's desires on display here. She felt Hermione's hand running through her curly hair. It was Hermione's hand she felt on her breast.
But Bellatrix had plans, as she definitely going to ravish her young lover in the shower after their run.
"Right," Hermione sighed, having regained her breath a little. She stood up from the picnic table and looked ready to move. "Time to head back to the ranch. I still have some work to do."
"Oh?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow as she got up from the bench, once again starting to run in place. "Nice try, pet, nice try... But we are finishing our run. The full run."
Before Hermione could say anything, Bellatrix raised a hand an shot a mild current from her fingers right into Hermione's rather shapely spandex-clad bum.
"OW! HEY!"
"Run, Hermione... run!" Bellatrix grinned, using zaps to force her back onto the path. Forward, of course.
"SADIST!"
"Correct. RUN!"
Zap.
"AH!" she exclaimed. "What happened to 'Rome wasn't built in a day'?!"
"That was before your plan to turn me into a wage-slave! RUN!"
Running. Giggling. Good times. Wonderful times. A bright of light consumed the world. Surrounded by darkness, Bellatrix stood underneath a source of bright light right above her. She shielded her eyes but could not see. However, the male voice was one she recognized.
"A memory of better times," said the voice. "You have seen through the Dark Presence's deceptions. It will not take kindly to this."
"Zane?" asked Bellatrix.
"You already know the answer. Brace yourself. It only gets worse from here on…"