::: Chapter Four :::

"Run! GO!"

"I won't….."

"GO! This is an order! Get OUT! GO! You're of no use to me here!! GO!"

"No! No! Let me stay with you…..please! My LORD!!" Bella woke up with a start. Cold sweat was beading on her forehead and she was panting as if she had been running. It was the same dream that had been recurring for 3 days. The dream kept reminding her of the last few moments she was with him. He had protected her, telling her to escape while he distracted the Order members. Every time she had this dream, she wakes up feeling overwhelmed with guilt. Each time she would get so upset with herself for she felt she had failed to find her Lord.

She hasn't had a good night sleep for the longest time. Tonight like any other nights was no different. She had tried to turn in early only to find herself restlessly tossing and turning. She tried to tire herself out during the day thinking she could make her body feel so tired it would welcome sleep by itself. Nothing worked. She even tried to take sleep potion one night. She was successful: She slept for 3 whole hours that night.

Bella decided it was no use for her to stay in bed when all she would end up doing is toss and turn, get restless and moody. No one not even her likes her moody. She got up off her bed and checked the clock.

2am. Rod's turn.

She went out of her room to find Avery asleep on the couch.

He must have just got in.

The three of them had taken turns going back to the village to look out for any signs that their Dark Lord could have tried to find them there. Her shift doesn't start until 3 hours later but she just couldn't wait. Time had been passing so slowly for her these past 10 years. The last two weeks had been even tougher on her since they had done the raid. Every minute of the day, she couldn't stop thinking about when he is finally coming back. She's done waiting. She went out of the tent and apparated.

::: The Muggle Town :::

The town had recovered pretty quickly. The village natives had put together their efforts in repairing the damages that had been done. Even Bellatrix herself was a little impressed by the speedy recuperation of the village. Their raid had been very damaging to the property of the villagers.

She appeared now in the semi broken house that the 3 of them had pretended to be interested in making purchase in. She noticed as she looked through tiny holes of the soot-covered windows that some houses had remained empty. Obviously some families had fled for fear that a similar incident might recur. Now she glanced down at her forearm where the Dark Mark was. For ten years, the Dark Mark had remained still on her arm. Even as she touched it now, she hoped so much that he would respond but, just as it had been for 10 years, it remained unmoving. It was as if history had repeated itself. The only difference now is that she is the one trying to rescue her Lord from whatever prison that had kept him from responding to their calls.

She saw Rod wandering about the empty street. She took out her wand, muttered a spell under her breath which elicited a yellow spark from her wand which hit Rod on his left shoulder. The sparks wouldn't hurt him. It merely causes a tingling sensation. He wasn't surprised for he knew it must have been her doing. It was a signal they shared to call each other while doing their rounds. He turned around, his eyes darted furtively to find out where the sparks had come from. He saw Bella up in the 2nd floor of house next to the one he was standing in front of. She smiled at him.

She does look hot when she smiles like that…..

He waved his hand at her beckoning her to come to him. Bella on sensing that the coast is clear apparated and stood next to Rod.

"Your round is not until 3 hours later. What are you doing here?" Rod asked her as they started walking up the path Rod had been on.

"I can't stand just sitting around the house. I have to do something." Bella said, she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. The pressure of trying to find the Dark Lord had gotten to her.

"Now now…..this,' he placed an arm around her shoulders. 'it's not your fault. I'm sure he wouldn't blame you for leaving him. You were acting on his direct orders. I'm sure he won't blame you for anything."

She leaned against him slightly as she wiped away a tear from her eye that had threatened to roll down her cheeks with her right hand. "So you really think we'll find him?"

"Of course, he is the Dark Lord. Just like the last time when the wizarding world had thought him dead, he came back in full force. We're just…..going through a phase that's all. One day, we will reign supreme again. We'll recruit new Death Eaters. There are probably so many of the old families out there that are just waiting for our Lord to rise again."

"I don't think we need anyone else,' Bella said with obvious contempt in her voice. 'I'd like to know where they all are now. I prefer just killing them instead of welcoming them back with open arms into our group again just to save their own asses.' Bella said animatedly with her wand pointing at an invisible object in front of her. 'When I think that my own sister betrayed us…."

"Now, now…don't get yourself all worked up. For now, we'll keep everything simple. We just find our Lord and after that we can start thinking of appropriate punishments for the traitors." Rod said as he smiled at her and kissed the top of her head.

"How can you smile when I feel so awful?" she said as she pushed his arm away.

"Hey…relax will you please just calm down."

'Don't tell me to calm down I…." she was cut off when Rod took her mouth roughly with his. He thought she would fight back but instead, her mouth opened up letting him through. Their tongues warred with each other as she gripped him closer to her. She broke the kiss as she pulled herself away from his lips. She tried to walk away but Rod pulled her back into his embrace and they were kissing again. This time, their kiss was much longer as Bella allowed herself to linger over it.

They started walking again. "You know what your problem is?" Rod asked her.

"What?" she looked at him and waited for his answer.

"You just need to get laid." He said smiling and started down bend leading away from the village leaving her gaping after him.

"Wha—I—are you saying that I'm cranky?" she said as she caught up with him.

"Well….moody, cranky, a little hysterical…hey.." she had started hitting him.

"I (slap) am (slap) not (slap) hysterical (slap)!"

Rod started raising his arms playfully in self defense trying to block her hits. "Oh and you're calling this normal behaviour?"

She stopped hitting him. " Alright Rodolphus Lestrange. You want me don't you so here. Take me now. Take me…" she could barely finish her sentence when he jumped on her. Taking her lips with his, pulling her tight into his embrace. Their tongues warred with each other's as hands gripped arms, caressed necks and caught up handfuls of hair. At this moment, Rod was determined to ensure that they both will be having sex tonight. They have both been putting off what comes naturally to them (mostly because of Bella's mood swings).

Suddenly, Bella was pushing him away. "Wait….Rod….stop!' she managed to break free. 'Stop! We are on duty!"

"What!? What the fuck did you say? Since when have you been such a stick in the mud?' Rod was chuckling at her jumpiness. 'Come on Bella. You need to relax." He said as he followed her moving away from the pathway. She is not even looking where she's going as she brought her fingers to her temple. Bella definitely wasn't feeling too good tonight. She felt like there is so many things to do and yet she can't seem to get started on anything. It seems as though there is an invisible barrier stopping her from completing everything that needs to be done. Just like right now when she feels the need to apparate away from Rod but it seems as though her Apparition switch is faulty. She was just about to walk into a tree when Rod pulled her arm causing her to turn around.

"Watch it! Will you watch where you're going? Merlin! Bella you're too tensed. Relax will you?" he grabbed her by her shoulders and almost shook her. He is worried about her now.

She damn near walk into a tree and she still doesn't realize it!

"Come on. I'm taking you home." Rod said as he took her hand in his and was just about to apparate when Bella roughly pulled her hand away.

"No! Rod please! No! I have to stay here! I have to be here when he finally comes back! Please ROD!"

"Bella…"

"Please! This is…the only thing that I look forward to everyday. Everyday I wake up…' she swallowed a huge lump that had formed in her throat. 'this is the only thing that appears in my mind…that keeps me going everyday. Him! Knowing deep in my heart that he will come back….and…right now….today….I feel so…so…terrible." she cried her heart out to Rod as she flopped herself onto the ground.

"Why? Why do you feel so terrible?" Rod said soothingly as he tried to encourage her to talk about her feelings as he too sat next to her, placing her arm around her shoulder.

"I…because I…I suddenly feel as if,' her voice softened. 'you and Avery were right. He is not coming back." She couldn't stop her tears from flowing as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Shh….hey…hey. Shh….it's ok. You've just been stressed out that's all."

"Rod….I…I can't take it anymore." She was getting even worse.

"Look….Bella look at me,' he grabbed her by her shoulders and forced her to look at him. 'You are just tired. You need to rest. You haven't been sleeping well lately and its only natural that you're getting a little…..excited. You and I both know that there cannot be any other person in this world that believes that he is alive more than you do. You are the only reason why Ave and I are moving forward with this. You have been the one who has been reminding us our purpose. You don't have to worry at all about whether your loyalty to our Lord has withered. I'd say it is more intact now than it was 10 years ago. Now…come on. Let's just go home."

She was quiet for a while as she let him hold her in his arms. He was patient with her as waited for her to pull herself together. He glanced down at her as her head lifted to look him in the eye again. "You don't think my loyalty was intact enough ten years ago?"

"I…I didn't say that. I merely said that…" he was silenced with a kiss. Bella was so grateful to him for standing by all the while. She knew it could not have been easy on him trying to put up with all her antics, mood swings and her quick temper. She placed her left hand on his cheek and caressed it. "Thank you Rod."

A sudden revolting thought went through her mind. We are behaving like husbands and wives. Yeesh!! She pulled her hand back with a disgusted look on her face.

"What? Am I that revolting?"

"No….no,' she started. 'Of course not…it's just I suddenly thought of something."

'That we're behaving like normal husbands and wives?" he said with a smile on his face.

She looked at him and laughed. It was the first time after so long that she had had such a good laugh. Catching the laugh bug, Rod too couldn't help but laugh at themselves.

"Alright. I think its time to wake Ave up for….." Bella trailed off.

"Bella….what's wrong?" Rod asked her. She was looking past his shoulder at something. He turned around to look at the direction where Bella was looking at. He saw something in the distance but he couldn't exactly make out what it is. It was a figure.

Rod stood up, his wand wielded in front of him. Bella too followed suit. She stood up alongside Rod with her wand brandished. Together, they walked up to the figure. As they got closer, they could see that the figure was a silhouette of a man. They couldn't see his face because the hood he was wearing has been covering his face. The fact that it was also very dark at that time didn't help them mush in trying to find out who or what the figure was.

As they came 3 feet of the figure, Rod yelled out, "Who the fuck are you?! Show yourself!"

They both stopped ahead of the figure waiting for it to reply when it suddenly moved. A hand came out from the old moth-eaten shroud. The figure slowly raised his hand to his head pulling back the hood. Bella and Rod both tensed up as their hands gripped their wands tighter.

"Don't ever raise your voice at me LeStrange."

Their eyes widened. They recognize that voice. It's his voice. It the Dark Lord.

Hi. Sorry I took so long to publish this. Thanks for patiently waiting. Please review. It will be very much appreciated. Thanks.