Chapter 2: Facing the Beast
"Ennervate!"
Kai was jolted awake by the sharp energy of the spell, gasping for breath as pain burned in every inch of his abused body, his nerves still afire from the Cruciatus.
He was lashed to a frigid stone wall, rough ropes tying his arms above his head and each of his thighs to the stone, making movement impossible. The flight instinct of his thestral form was pushing into his mind, the animal panicking. His chest heaved with the effort to take in enough oxygen, but a set of broken ribs jabbed with every breath, inciting the inner animal further.
Calming the animal with Occlumency, he tried to spread his senses out but was too weakened magically amd physically to manage it. He was blind. Knowing that it was the only way to access his situation, the assassin opened his eyes. Taking in the look of himself, he was not pleased. He was naked above the waist, his blackened chest stained with blood. The feel of the short hair on his head and the structure of his face told that he was still in morphed form.
It was a shallow victory. He had never maintained such a complex transformation through unconsciousness before, especially under such magical exhaustion. Sadly, it mattered little as he would likely die here. Kai had felt the power of Voldemort and knew that he could only defeat him at his best. In this weakened state, Kai would be squashed. The youth mentally kicked himself. He should have called in Callyn to watch his back as soon as that bad feeling started nagging at him. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He knew better!
His still brown eyes landed on the ice blue ones of Lucius Malfoy. The blonde Lord sneered viciously, "Rise and shine assassin. Welcome to hell."
Kai looked at the man coolly, schooling his face to a cold mask, showing none of the pain and anxiety he felt.
"Don't be so dramatic Malfoy. No Riker trained assassin will be intimidated by your antics, no matter how young," a hooded man chuckled from behind Lucius.
Kai's eyes narrowed on the shadowed man, how did he know? Even the ministry had not known that he was a Riker. The school that trained him, Riker Academy, was a place where only the most promising entered and the best in the world survived. Only eight people graduated with him of the 25 that entered in his first year. The assassin spent six years training at the school, learning powerful magic widely believed lost or dark. Crystian had not been Riker trained, but had help Kai get accepted at the young age of 10.
The stranger barked a laugh at the slight look of surprise in the assassin's eyes, "I felt your brands when I helped drag you in here. They're very elaborate on your left side, but the raven brand is there," he paused. "We have other Rikers on our payroll on base, though theirs are not nearly as hidden as yours are."
Kai felt a flicker of hope, no matter the job fellow Rikers came first. And even with his face hidden the additional brands named him as Council.He nearly flinched when the dungeon door was slammed open by an unseen force and Voldemort blew into the semidarkness of the room. Another figure hung back in the doorway.
The Dark Lord turned to the hooded figure, "Rookwood, is this the man you met with?"
Kai's eyes narrow, the whole damn thing had been a set-up from the fucking start. This had been the unspeakable he met with.
"No, my Lord, the body shape is similar, but the two are very different. I also noted a very powerful glamour over the Riker markings on his body, but not his face. I was unable to remove it."
The dark-haired, young bodied Dark Lord mulled that over, "What of his voice?"
"Haven't had him speak yet, my Lord, though if it helps the voice of the man I met did not fit the man."
The assassin cursed himself, he was still learning how to morph his vocal cords as well. It was extremely dangerous amd took years to master.
"Hmm..." Voldemort smiled a wicked smile that caused his followers to shiver, "I smell a Metamorph."
He stepped closer; his large dark aura pulsing so close it tickled Kai's senses. With a flick of a black wand, Voldemort spoke, "Amorphous."
Kai bit back a scream as the spell burned through his entire body, searching for features not of his natural form. Kai thanked Merlin he hadn't changed his body as any change to his chest structure at this point would have killed him. He let his head fall to his chest as the burning centered on his face. The assassin felt his long black hair cascade over his face and neck and his features sharpen.
He vaguely felt a powerful anti-glamour spell hit him before rippling away, ineffective. He had a Parselmagic glamour on so only the correct Parsel counter would remove it. Parselmouths were so rare that this was highly effective. Unfortunately, the only other known Parseltongue stood before him, scanning the glamour with his magic.
"Is it possssible?" the Dark Lord hissed in a deep rumble. "Revelosss!"
The glamour was ripped from Kai's body. A gasp from the back snapped Kai out of his slight trance, but he could not summon the strength to lift his head. He did, though, try to jerk away when a hand reached under his chin to pull his head up.
"Quite a striking creature," Voldemort muttered. A bony finger traced the odd lightning bolt shaped scar that had been moved back onto his forehead, "What a fascinating scar…it simply reeks of dark magic. A curse scar perhaps?"
The dark youth tried hard to stay conscious as the Dark Lord dropped his head and studied the Riker brands and his tattoos, especially the Parsel writing wrapping both his upper arms.
As the edges of his vision faded away, the other man stepped in from the doorway, "May I?" he asked.
The assassin's breath hitched…that voice…no...
"You're losing him, sir, would you like me to dose him so he's fit for questioning?"
Voldemort nodded, motioning the man forward. The other Death Eaters quickly moved out of the way to allow the man access. The light revealed the man to be a young vampire. The vampire stood tall, yellow, cat-like eyes sparkling, deadly fangs visible. Long black hair fell down his back in an intricate braid.
Kai hissed the moment his death-green eyes landed on the vampire, "Leander." He hated how weak his voice sounded.
"Kai," the vampire purred, "how lovely to see you again," he chuckled coldly.
Leander Baraccas was the one Riker Kai never wanted to see, one he knew could never be trusted.
Voldemort's sharp laugh followed Leander's, "I see that you known each other."
"Yes, sir, we were classmates for over half a decade."
In a haze, Kai felt his jaw being pried open and a large amount of liquid being poured in. Kai immediately closed over his throat, like hell he was going to allow that! Before he could spit it out, a hand was slammed over his nose and mouth, cutting of his air supply.
Swallow now or when you pass out and risk choking was the ultimatum. Leander's long fingers stroked Kai's bloodied throat trying to force the involuntary movement, pushing Kai to put more and more focus on stopping it.
Unfortunately, the youth was too close to unconsciousness before this began and soon his body gave in and swallowed the mixture, his head falling limp in his rival's hands. Leander had always been unnaturally talented at potions so Kai stayed as alert as possible to know what he had been drugged with.
He felt his muscles relax and his body completely collapse into the restraints. More ropes snaked out of the wall, around his waist and one slid loosely around his throat directly below his chin, pulling his head up. Kai gritted his teeth as what could only be Barracas' patented healing potion pulled the broken pieces of his ribs back into place and knit his still oozing wounds together.
Then, he felt something attack his mind instead of his body. His eyes blazed open, his head thrashing weakly back and forth, the animal inside panicking at the attack. It felt like Veritaserum, only 100 times more powerful! And like the Imperius, except it was in his blood so he couldn't break the spell! What was happening?
The vampire watched with satisfaction as his rival battled his newest creation, a creation inspired by the Shadow himself. Leander knew Kai had lost the battle when his head stopped moving and his emerald eyes glazed over as if he was dead.
"Riker, state your name and designation," he barked, testing the effects.
"Musha Kai Shadow-Stalker," the prisoner replied smoothly, the hissing undertone the potion master was accustomed to replaced with an empty coldness.
Leander turned to the Dark Lord who was eyeing him with impatience, "He is now ready for your questioning my Lord. I have dosed him with my newest invention, Veritimperio, which I ironically created because of him. Kai Shadow always had a powerful resistance to both Veritaserum and the Imperius. I'm pleased to report that it has caught him and therefore is irresistible to any wizard."
Voldemort raised an eyebrow, "His mind is that powerful?"
"His ability to resist truth serums was unsurpassed at Riker Academy."
The tall power turned to Kai, "How did you find Lucius' manor?"
"A blood magic location spell combined with an easily acquired strand of his hair was all that was necessary."
"Blood magic?" Voldemort's eyes narrowed, that was powerful magic.
"Kai has a Mastery in blood magic," Leander interjected. "His blood is highly magical."
"That is very interesting…" the Dark Lord murmured to himself, his red eyes thoughtful, looking odd in his youthful face, "very useful as well. Shadow, how is it your very blood is magical?"
"I cannot say."
Voldemort snarled, "Cannot or will not?"
"Oathbound."
"What did you do to the wards?"
A faint smile graced Kai's thin lips, "Oath bound. But I can say they can no only be fixed or destroyed by me "
"Protection oaths…"Leander muttered to himself, before his eyes landed on the brands on his side. His breath caught; wild flames were branded around the Riker Raven whose wings were spread wide as if about to take flight.
Leader then let out such a string of profanity that even Voldemort quirked an eyebrow at him, "Explain." the dark Lord demanded.
"This man is a member of the Rikerian council." The vampire's voice gace away his anxiety. "Helping you subdue and question him when he was just my class's leader was bad enough, but if any Riker found out I did this to a council member, I would be hunted down by the entire society and killed, violently. No other Rikers cam know he's here."
Voldemort nodded agreement before turning back to his caltive. "Shadow-stalker." The Dark Lord spoke in Parseltongue. "I suspect you are a Parselmouth. If you are, reply to my next questions in Parseltongue. First, are you a Parselmouth?"
"Yes."
The other Death Eaters started sharply at hearing the assassin hiss back to their master in the same language they thought only HE could speak.
"Are you of Slytherin blood?"
"Unlikely. However, I am an orphan of unknown parentage."
Voldemort turned to Leander, "The assassin is unable to use a simple heritage potion to find out his parentage?"
"None worked for him. It's believed that he went through a magical event as a child that burned the bridge to his recent family."
"What can you tell me about yourself then?" He snarled in frustration.
"Many things," Kai spoke in English, the small smirk playing on his lips again, "My favourite color is green; I'm fond of rugby; I like to ride thestrals. Sadly, not much of what you want to know, I want to tell you."
The vampire frowned; the assassin was fighting the serum and had purposely switched to English to flip-off Leander. The potion-master may have hated Kai, but the bastard was good at what he did.
"Have you considered joining my side?" Voldemort hissed through gritted teeth, trying to think only of the assassin's power and how he would love to have control over another parselmouth.
"No. I find this pureblood supremacy, non-mag hating mantra pathetic and unfounded," he switched to Parseltongue, "not to mention, hypocritical, eh Tom?" Kai hissed a cold laugh, closing his eyes. When they opened, they once again flared with life and intensity.
"Crucio!" Voldemort yelled in rage.
As Kai twitched violently, but soundlessly, Leander noted the time: 8 minutes and 39 seconds to defest the serum. That bastard.
The furious Lord held the vicious pain curse for almost 10 minutes. Leander shook his head. When most would have gone mad, Kai simply gasped for breath, meeting Voldemort's eyes.
"That your best, Tom?" He snarled. "Unbreakable as diamond, immovable as the earth itself."
The pale vampire didn't need to understand Parseltongue to know that Kai had spoken his mantra. Those words were such a part of him that they were tattooed in written Parsel on his upper arms.
The assassin eyed Leander. "You know you're going to die for this Barracas," he said in the Riker's language, "The clock is ticking."
"You will die here, Shadow, unknown and broken! If no other Rikers know you're here, no one will ever know!" The vampire snapped back.
"We'll see," the bound assassin replied, "Tick-tock, tick-tock."
Voldemort stepped up right in the assassin's face, both pairs of eyes flashing with powerful mind-magics.
"Lucius, I want him broken. He will stand at my side. Do what you need to." The Dark Lord smiled viciously, "Just nothing permanently debilitating."
Cloak billowing behind him, Voldemort strode out of the room, beckoning Leander follow.
Lucius' eyes lit up with excitement, "Rookwood, get Avery, tell him to bring my tools."
The look of pure sadistic pleasure in the Malfoy Lord's eyes told Kai everything he needed to know.