Nicole Stevens: Blood and Daggers

Chapter Nineteen: Captured

There was a knock on the door...

Draco pulled away from me quickly, standing and straightening his robes. I sat up, smoothing my hair.

"Come in," Draco called. The door opened, and there were footsteps. The door was wreathed in shadow, so neither Draco nor I knew who had just entered.

"Draco," the person said from the shadows. "Son. Thank you for following up on your promise. Now you have proved yourself. Miss Stevens, if you would please--"

"Draco," I said fearfully, "Draco, you didn't--" He turned to me, his eyes full of sombre hatred, but I knew that the loathing was not for me, but for the miserable creature that was his father.

Draco took my hand, and pulled me up from the bed. He let my hand drop as I stood, and I tried to keep the tears from my eyes. His father stepped from the shadows.

Lucius smiled the smile of a murderer. He came forward, standing in front of me. His eyes were so unlike his son's that it pained me to look into them. Lucius' hair was clean, his robes crisp. I exhaled, my breath hissing.

"You bastard!" I hissed. "You low-down, selfish, son of a--"

"Oh, no, no, no," Lucius sighed, shaking his head and letting a small, evil grin show. "I can assure you, I am not selfish. Now, Son, the Dark Lord can be proud of you. Come, Miss Stevens. The carriage is waiting, and my business associates are very impatient to begin."

"To begin what?" I spat. "The human sacrificial ceremony?" My words dripped with revulsion and antipathy. "Isn't it a pity that I'm already busy, you cheating, scum of a bovine?!"

Lucius smirked, "Son, I think you had better take this filthy b--" he called me something very vulgar, "outside, before I decide to take the pleasure of torturing her now."

Draco looked at the ground, nodding mutely. He took me by the forearm and roughly pulled me to the door.

"I will be outside shortly," Lucius said. "There is something else I must attain to first."

His son continued to pull me out the door. I followed resolutely; biting my lip to stop the flow of vulgarities that would escape me is I let my harsh control slip. Draco led me out into the hall, taking me out the entrance to the Slytherin common room. He was utterly silent, not saying anything. His face showed no emotion, and he would not allow me to see his eyes, though I knew what I would see if I could. I knew I would see fear, sadness, and despair. It would be the exact same as it had been one year ago, at Christmas.

"Draco," I whispered as he dragged me out of the front doors, into the cold night air. "Draco, stop. Look at me." He shook his head and continued to tug me down the front lawn. "Draco, look at me." He did not respond. "God damn it all!" I yelled, frustrated. I dug my heels into the ground, jerking him to a stop. He would not look into my face, only the ground.

"Draco, look at me!"

"What!?" he yelled back, letting me go. I stood, amazed that he had relented. "Why do you think I hide my face? I don't wish for you to see me! I don't want you to pry into my soul!"

I seethed with anger, but that only lasted a moment. Then, I shoved Draco with all my might and he landed flat on his back. Draco sat up, but did not stand. I had an urge to kick him, but I didn't. Instead, I nudged him in the chest with the toe of my high heel, pressing hard enough so that he was forced to lie back onto the ground again. I placed my foot over his heart, with very little pressure.

"Why did you do this?" I asked him, my breath hanging in a mist in the cold air.

"I didn't have a choice!" Draco yelled, finally meeting my eyes. I stared furiously down at him, and he looked away.

"So you sold me to Voldemort again," I said quietly. "Well, it figures."

"Excuse me?" Draco asked, managing to look incredulous and angry at the same time. "I didn't realise that he was coming tonight! I thought he would wait! You think I wanted this? Well, I do hate to burst your lovely bubble, but I don't want this!" he grabbed my leg and yanked it out from under me, so I landed with a thump on the soil next to him.

"You are exactly like him," I said cruelly. "You and your father are one and the same. The same blood, the same eyes, hair, lips, everything! I knew I never should've broken it off with Harry! I loved him, but I never loved you!" I was ranting and I knew it but it didn't seem to matter anymore. "What I felt for you was a crush, and what we had was a fling. I don't know why I let it continue for so long. You led me on last year, and you have done the same this year! Why I trusted you I'll never know. Maybe your charm won me over, but it won't win now! It won't have a chance to, because I'll be dead!"

"You never loved me?" Draco asked in amazement.

"No!" I lied.

"Give me the ring," he ordered, extending his hand, palm up.

"Take it!" I threw it at his forehead, where it hit him squarely between the eyes. He caught it as it bounced off. "Now I'm going off to meet my painful, torturous doom, I'll send you a post card!" I yelled, standing. I stomped off towards the gates, not thinking that it would be a perfect time for escape.

I ran out of the gates, stumbling in my high-heeled shoes. Seeing a horseless carriage waiting a few paces away, I stalked over to it and pounded on the door. It opened, and I stepped onto the steps, and clambered inside.

I was greeted by the over-powering scent of dark magic. Dark magic, like dark wizards, had an aura, which was between a taste and a smell. The fumes of darkness hit me head-on, and I staggered backwards, and nearly fell out of the carriage. My vision was blurry, so I only saw a flesh-coloured blot that was someone's face leaning over me and hauling me back into the coach.

The hand was rough as it yanked me back up, and onto the seat. It was still difficult for me to see, so I used my fingers to feel the material of the cushion: velvet. Then I felt for the person who had seized me before I fell. But before I could, a voice said from the opposite side of the coach, "Not blind, are you?" Then I recognised the voice. Somnus, yet again.

"Somnus," I murmured his name, enjoying the smooth way it flowed over my tongue. "Could you sit by me? I really can't see--yet. And, to answer your question, no, I'm not blind. It's just--"

"The fumes," Somnus finished quickly, moving to sit close beside me. I enjoyed his warmth, and felt even calmer when he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him. "I know. Uncle is horrible about it. He won't shield them, not even for me. I can hardly breathe. How are you? Your breathing, I mean."

I tried to get a sufficient gulp of air to answer. "It could be worse. I can breathe, a bit, but...oh, Somnus, how did I ever get into this mess?" I cried, suddenly exasperated.

"Shh," Somnus quieted me, "relax. Sleep, if you'd like."

"Would you make Draco leave me alone?" I asked, suddenly childishly fearing the dragon-boy. "I don't want him to bother me."

"Of course," Somnus whispered. "Shh, sleep."

"But--"

Sleep, I heard Somnus' voice in my head. I did not have time to register what he had done, before my mind was wiped blissfully blank, and the blackness of dreamless sleep encompassed me.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Where is Lucius?" was the first thing I heard after my awakening.

"Don't know," came the sullen reply. "How is--?"

"She's fine, really. Mad as hell at you, though. Not that I blame her. It serves you right to lose her after what you've done...again."

"Oh sod off, will you. I did what I had to do. I told her that if she really loved me--" it was Draco, I finally noticed, and his voice was breaking, "--then she had to understand that there was a chance of this happening. I warned her, but...she didn't care. Or, at least, I thought she loved me enough to do that, but she said--" his voice had completely cracked, and it turned into a half-sob, "she said that she shouldn't have ever come to me."

"Buck up, Cousin."

"Could I...hold her, or something? If she's asleep, she wouldn't...I just don't know what else I can do."

"She asked me if I would keep you away from her," Somnus said.

"And you answered..."

"I agreed, naturally."

Draco's voice came in a harsh rasp, and I knew he had sworn loudly.

"Somnus, your elbow, it's digging into my ribs, and--thank you," I said.

"Oh, you're awake," both Malfoy's said.

"You noticed, Somnus?" I asked, my sarcasm returning. "Where's your uncle, anyway?" I was careful not to direct anything at Draco. I could almost feel his gaze on me.

I was blinking against the harsh, un-flickering light inside the carriage. Somnus was sitting beside me, his arm no longer wrapped protectively around me. His hair was as perfectly combed as ever, and his eyes were, unlike Draco's, a crystalline blue that seemed impenetrable. Somnus' eyes sparkled like light-coloured sapphires as he looked at me. After a whole minute of staring unrelentingly into Somnus' eyes, and being met with the same gaze, Draco coughed loudly. I looked down at the floor, finally removing my gaze from Draco's cousin's eyes.

"So, er, Nicole," Draco began awkwardly.

"Shut up," was my reply.

"But, I wanted to--"

"Shut up."

"No, that's not what I wanted to do," said Draco, giving me a look. "I wanted to apologise."

"Hmn...for what?" I asked. "What it because of your repulsive behaviour towards me earlier?"

He scowled, visibly angered. "Look, I am trying to apologise; the least you could do is to acknowledge my existence."

"Somnus, do you hear something? It sounds like a fly."

"No, Nicole. I don't hear a thing," Somnus said, glad to take part in my game.

"Oh, must've just been the wind."

"How childish can you be?" Draco asked me.

"There's that nasty fly again," I sighed. "Will it ever get the hint that we don't want it here?"

"I doubt it," Somnus answered, shrugging. "But--" Suddenly, the carriage door opened, and Mister Lucius-the-Bovine Malfoy stepped in. He sat beside his son, carrying a black bundle about a metre long.

"Gift for Voldemort?" I questioned bravely.

"No," he answered. "That is what you are for. This is something else."

"Oh, delightful," I scowled, but the carriage gave a sudden lurch, and we were off. "Now--" I began my rant again.

Sleep, now, Somnus whispered into my mind for the second time.

And for the second time, I was whisked away to the land of sleep. But this time, I dreamed.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Somnus!" a girl cried. She reached out for her brother, as she was dragged, screaming, away from him. The frustrated teen struggled to grab onto his youngest sister's hand, but the hands restraining him yanked him back.

"What are you going to do to her?" Somnus cried in anguish. He knew the answer, but hoped desperately that he was mistaken.

"Never you mind," said a gruff voice from one of his captors.

"I do mind!" he screamed. "What the hell are you going to do to my baby sister?!"

"Shut up," said a second voice from behind him. "You shall see her again."

"Alive?" asked Somnus, still frightened and struggling against the men that held him from his sister.

"Not necessarily," said the voice. "That shall depend on your behaviour."

Somnus nodded resolutely and allowed himself to be taken back to the dungeon. Once inside his cell, he spoke to his companion, a boy with vibrant green eyes and messy black hair.

"They're all cruel," he growled. "She never did anything to them."

The other boy only stared blankly at the wall.

"She--Jade, that is, only wanted to be a good person. Honestly." It seemed that he was trying to redeem his sister in the other boy's eyes; if he could not make amends for himself, then at least his sister had a chance of fond remembrance.

"And, I know I screwed up so badly, but that shouldn't make you think any less of Jade. She--well, she really was nice to Nicole. It wasn't like she had sold her to the Dark Lord, but, then again; I didn't do that, either. That was my cousin's doing."

"I hate him," the first words from the green-eyed boy. It appeared that he hadn't been paying attention until now.

"Who, Draco? Oh, yes. Well, I don't blame you. She wasn't very fond of him either--Nicole, I mean. Apparently, they dated for a while before he sold her to the Dark Lord, but when she found out, she was very mad."

"I miss her," the other boy said.

"Harry--may I call you Harry?--well, you see, I don't know exactly what's happened to her, but...I'm sure, just positive, that she's in perfectly good health. I know that neither my uncle nor my cousin would hurt her."

The other boy's eyes flashed angrily, "You're lying. Don't lie to me. I know the truth, all right? I know there's no hope, and even if there was, I'd commit suicide, I'm sure, because she'd go run off with that bloody traitor again."

"Oh, Draco, again? No, no, I'm sure she wouldn't," Somnus reassured.

"You're lying again," Harry said drearily, leaning his head back against the wall.

Somnus shrugged. "Oh well. If you do want to commit suicide, I'd go with quick-acting poison. It seems the quickest way to die."

Harry nodded miserably, saying, "I think so."

"This sucks," Harry said, some time later.

"It does, doesn't it?" Somnus said with that air of one commenting that the sky was looking quite blue.

"Yes."

"Oh, listen," Somnus put a finger to his lips and tilted his head. "I think there's someone coming."

"I don't want to stay here any longer," Harry said. Somnus merely shrugged, and Harry thought that the other boy had completely gone off of his rocker. And, in truth, he had.

Then the cell door opened...

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

I opened my eyes to see a bright sword about an inch from my nose.

"You really think she can wield that?" I heard Draco's voice from far away.

"Ack!" I screamed, not moving for fear of goring myself in the eye.

"Oh, good; she's awake," Somnus said, retracting the sword and helping me to my feet. "So she finally awakes, just as we get her all situated on the bed," Somnus commented.

"Where are we?" I asked groggily, still not fully awake after my who-knows-how-long sleep.

"We are at my home," Draco said snootily, as if he was announcing that "yes, Nicole, human breathe air."

"And where might that be, Somnus?" I maintained my game of only speaking to Somnus, standing up.

"I haven't the foggiest," he answered, "though a map might tell you more than I can."

"Oh, thanks," I said sarcastically. "You're such a marvellous help."

"He is, really," Draco said, smiling at me. I nearly hit him. "Well, I'll just be going. Somnus, stay with her and make sure she doesn't curse my underwear to glow in the dark."

"Then other curses will still be tolerated?" I asked, smirking.

"Somnus, just keep her away from a wand," Draco said. Somnus nodded uncaringly and shrugged gracefully. Draco flashed me a dazzling smile and strode out of the room, pinching my cheek gently. I nearly slapped him but he had disappeared from the room before I had the chance.

Still seething, I sat heavily on the bed that I had just risen from. I took advantage of Draco's absence, and began to survey the room in which I was staying. The walls were deep green, so dark that I could hardly tell that it was green, and not black. The floor's plush carpet was a lighter green, like the colour of a python. And the bed I was sitting on had a soft, velvet bedspread, which was black, like the walls. I longed to lie on the soft bed and fall into a dreamless sleep, but with Somnus standing guard, I wasn't sure if I wanted to let my guard down.

"You can go to sleep, you know," Somnus stated from the opposite side of the room. "I won't kill you in your sleep."

"Why were you waving that blasted sword in my face earlier?" I inquired, shivering at the memory of its radiant blade.

"Uncle Lucius said I should have it ready or you, when he called for you to be taken downstairs."

I muttered incoherently, tugging at the uncomfortable fabric of the black dress I had worn earlier that night. Somnus, noticing this, said, "I had Jade gather some of her dresses for you."

"Mm...hmn..."

"Would you like her to deliver them to you?"

"Mm..."

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, going to the door. "Promise you won't curse Draco's underwear?"

"No," I answered truthfully.

"Good," and he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. I heard the click of the lock as it shut.

So I waited for Jade to come.