Breaking All the Rules

Taking Back What Is Yours

~*~~*~~*~

Leveret gingerly picked himself up from the hit he had received and glared at Blaise thoroughly. He held his head to find that it was bleeding from where Blaise has pulled his hair. It had rooted out and it hurt like hell. He had not expected such an attack from one of his best workers, but really he shouldn't have been so surprised. He knew how close Blaise was to Draco and he felt quite foolish when he didn't realise it earlier. He looked around at his office. It had shaken so much the walls had cracked and now there was gaping holes in the wall. He knew he was protected, but he had never actually been attacked before. It seemed the building had a way of protecting both itself and him as it was stripping away more of its power to give to him the more his marker attacked him.

Blaise stood as passive as ever, the only indication of feeling being the tense clenching and unclenching of his fists. He already knew that Leveret could not be affected by magic, but old fashion means of assault had to be accounted for.

"I take it that you don't work for me any longer then?" he said callously.

Blaise steadied his breathing. "I hate every fibre of your being. You have taken something away from me that I will never get back and I am here to make you pay for it." He held up his hand that was stained with blood and showed him the chunk of hair he had yanked out of his scalp. "And if I must, I will take you one piece at a time." He then threw it to the ground getting a small splatter from where the blood hit the tiled floor.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Julia, more affectionately known to you as A57-58. You killed her. I know you did because the mark you sent after her told me your little message."

Leveret frowned. "Erm..." Leveret trailed. "Even though I have no idea what message you mean." - He still didn't understand what this had to do with anything. - "So?"

Blaise looked incredulous. "You killed her," he said as if it explained everything. "Without even a second thought, you took her away from me. I will never be able to forgive you for that. I only just got her back and you took her from me!" he screamed as he lashed out at him. The curse penetrated Leveret's field but only by so much, he knew it was coming so he was prepared for it. Blaise fell to the ground panting, the man was well protected and he knew it. He could tell from the drain of his energy and the maniacal laughter coming from Leveret's direction.

"You can't kill me. I have powerful charms on me. Not even an empath like you can break them."

His head shot up. "Like me?" he smiled. "You don't know one thing about me."

"I don't? I don't think so. You see, ever since I found you and your AWOL marker friend, I have been following your 'Careers.' You intrigued me especially. Who would have known I'd find an empath in the making." He spread out his arms and casually pointed to himself. "Not me, that's for sure." He rested them at his sides and crouched to the ground. "You learned, you trained, you excelled and you passed. You passed every test that we have thrown your way. I was particularly amused when you used a restricted spell in your end of school exams." He took in Blaise's expression. "Oh yes, I was there. I was watching the two of you, how different and yet how much the same you were. It was... touching in a way I cannot describe with words," he said mockingly raising one hand casually to his face. "I sent marks to the both of you in particular because I wanted to see how far you could both go when you were on your own." He stopped to look around at the shambles of his office and the singed marks on what was left of the walls and floor. "Very far it seems, as now you want to take me down. And why? Because of a piece of skirt," he laughed.

Blaise grew furious. He shut his eyes and stared at the floor feeling something burning behind his eyes, in his head and his arms, running through his veins to his legs down to his feet. It burned harshly but the sting brought something with it, something far too powerful to understand. He watched as the floor began to crumple as if it were melting and split the ground open to a ragged circle. He was standing above the space, hovering in place. It was an unbelievable feeling that soared through him, filling him to the edge where it began to spill through his pores. He drank it in, the freedom of it and how it had no limits at all. He looked up dangerously at Leveret and smiled knowingly inside.

Draco had figured it out.

Leveret looked at the space below Blaise's feet and chuckled to himself. The stupidity of this man, using all his energy to show off special effects. "You cannot beat me alone, Blaise Zabini. Even if you had your friend with you, two would never be enough to fight this entity. It lives everyday and has fed on the lives that are taken. The magic of thousands of marks lay embedded and living in this company, this building." He paused. "In me. How do you plan on countering them all?" he said with a knowing smile.

Blaise just looked at him and finally let the smile he had inside show. Leveret looked taken back for all of a second before narrowing his eyes dangerously. Something was wrong. Blaise noticed his worried glance and stood up straight.

"What are you doing?" he asked a little fearfully. Nothing that had lost that much magical power could stand, let alone move. Very swift for a man who had lost most of his energy in trying to kill me. Very poorly might I add.

Blaise wasn't listening to him though. Channeling so many different people at once was a little distracting. He could feel every one of them, including something else he had not felt before. It was laden in the walls, or what was left of them. He looked around at the open-air office. Each torn wall had wavering threads flowing in the wind that blew around them, like a torn shirt that was frayed at the edges. They glowed with a sparkling light and moved in the wind as if they had muscles of their own, lashing around like an angry snake.

It was as if the building was stitched together with these threads, they were woven into the brick.

Leveret came toward him, studying his movements as he looked at the torn edges of the office. He looked over there, and saw nothing but crumbling bricks. He turned on Blaise with disdain. "You cannot oppose the life of this building's existence. It is what it is made of..." Blaise heard.

He registered these few words and stared again at the angry threads and how they reacted to every move that Leveret made. He suddenly realised they weren't just threads. They were the life and soul of the building, the company. They were the life and soul of marks that had been killed. They were the life and soul of him; it's what he had been feeding on.

"You cannot counter them all. It is impossible."

He narrowed his eyes at the man circling him. "No, it's not," he said simply. "'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.' A muggle said that. Just this time, we had to make the reaction ourselves. I can counter them all." Suddenly he could hear strange words sounding in the distance. It sounded strange at first but then they became audible through the wind that carried in the night air.

Zhertvi zlo, Ya vizivayou vas suda
Shto be vzat' obratno zhizni, katoriye kogdata billi dorogiye
Osvobazhdaite s svoyei turmi gde vi vse dolzhni billi zhit'
Iditi i vizivai'te sozdatelya vashevo ada...

"And how is that?"

"By using just as many to protect me." He turned to face Leveret and glared at him.

***

Falcroft stalked around the large map where in the center stood five assassins of Leveret's company. They each stood in the country of their birth chanting in their native language. He looked down at all the other portkeys and how they glowed eerily in the darkness. Harry, Hermione and Ginny stood at the edges watching them in wonder. The level of concentration portrayed on their faces was indescribable. All had their eyes closed chanting. Ginny could hear utterances of English and Spanish as she had heard their professor on La Isla speak it before as well as hearing it in passing throughout London.

Suddenly, they stopped and beams of light flung themselves all over the place. The men's eyes were still closed and their faces had relaxed somewhat but they just stood there, like nothing was happening. Ginny and the others on the outskirts of the large map save Falcroft covered their eyes to shield from the concentrated brightness that came from the portkeys on each country. Some time after, the light maneuvered around the map and connected every body and everything that stood on it. It looked like a road map that someone could have drawn to plan out their journey.

They watched it in wonder as it continued pacing its way through Jonathon to Cole, joined to some portkeys and then crossed Draco, to Paul, through numerous other portkeys and then crossed over to Andrew before joining back to Jonathon. The amulets around their necks began to rise until they were level with their owner's eyes. Each person then opened their eyes and looked around as if seeing everything for the first time.

Jonathon spoke first. "Жертви на злото, призовавам ви тук, да си възвърнете живота, който някога ви бе тъй мил. Бъдете свободни от затвора, където бяхте заключени. Елате и се противопoставете на създателя на вашия ад."

"What was that?" Cole asked him.

"I think... I think it was Bulgarian?" he said as if he couldn't believe it.

"I didn't know you could speak Bulgarian."

Andrew joined him. "Θύματα του κακού, σας καλώ αυτό το μέρος, για να πάρετε πίσω τις ζωές που σας ήταν κάποτε πολύτιμες, Ελευθερωθείτε απο τις φυλακές που έπρεπε να διαμένετε, Ελάτε να αντιμετωπίσετε τον δημιουργό της κόλασης σας." They all looked at him. He stared at each of them in turn. "Greek," he said astonished and then smiled. "I can speak Greek. I like this." He smiled even wider.

Those that stood on the grass looked at each other and the others that stood on the map one at a time wondering if this is what was going on here, what the hell was going on with Blaise.

Draco smiled with them. "The cause, I think, is even better." He narrowed his eyes in wonder. The others soon joined him. They were seeing an office. An office they all knew well. They were seeing it clearly as if they were there. Suddenly they were looking down at hands, they followed suit where they stood but instead of seeing their own they saw someone else's. "I think, I think I'm channeling-."

Then, just as they came out of their trance, their heads shot back and their eyes closed again as they said, "Numquam sine canes te degravere." They saw Blaise step over to Leveret as he watched them warily and they all sneered. "You do not own us. We are-."

***

"- merely the foundation to what keeps you alive," Blaise said. He continued toward Leveret as his eyes glazed over and Leveret watched him with even more caution. Then, Leveret blinked. Blaise didn't sound like himself, more like many people speaking at once, it sounded strange and near frightening. "We know what you are Leveret. We know what ties you to this world. We are going to sever your connection." Blaise's eyes returned to normal and he blinked several times still watching Leveret with loathing. The words drifted illegibly in the breeze. He closed his eyes as the wind brushed his face and he could hear them clearly. Leveret watched him strangely wondering what he was doing.

...Ondskans offer, jag kallar er hit för att ta tillbaka
de liv ni en gång höll så kära.
Bli fria från de fängelser där ni ruttnade
kom och konfrontera er skapare av Helvetet...

Blaise smiled as he heard the words. "I may not be able to stop you Leveret, but we can." The chanting continued behind his words. It sounded like they were being said right next to him, and yet far away.

"W-who's we?" Leveret stuttered.

"You don't know us?" he said over the spells being chanted softly. "Why, you discovered us didn't you? We're wounded." He glared at him. "You told us we would be free to come and go as we pleased. You said no one would be able to tell us what to do as long as we accepted the contract. You said we would be untouchable to any form of torture. You promised many things to sweeten the deal." He stopped talking and waited for Leveret to absorb everything. Understanding smoothed his features and he looked at Blaise with a look that went beyond fear.

"You're all here."

"Yes, we are. Your many years of work, what do you think?"

"Even the students?" he stuttered.

...Victimes du Mal, je vous appelle ici
pour reprendre les vies que par le passé vous jugiez si chères
Soyez libérés des prisons où vous demeuriez
Venez confronter votre créateur en Enfer...

Blaise twitched as another spell started. "They're in there somewhere."

He continued when Leveret tensed, just then his eyes glazed over again. He could feel them all watching Leveret with an intense hatred. They must have learned what had happened after he had sent them away. They bubbled to the surface and he could sense they had something to say to the man before him.

"You told us that our families would be taken care of!" they screamed.

"Our parents."

"Our brothers."

"Our grandparents."

"Our cousins."

"Friends."

"Aunts."

"Uncles," they said as one.

Blaise faced him, eyes back to being his own and joined in with an addition to their list. "Our lovers... are dead."

... Opfer des Bösen, ich rufe euch her
Nehmt zurück eure Leben, die ihr einst so bedeutsam wähntet.
Seid erlöst aus euren Kerkern, in denen ihr gefangen wart.
Kommt und stellt euch dem Schöpfer eurer Hölle!...

He walked toward him and took pleasure when Leveret moved back each time. The wispy threads lashed out with vehemence as he closed near them, some even tried to stretch out to him turning a bright shade of red as they brushed past him. They seemed disappointed when nothing happened. "You would have promised us anything and the universe to flaunt it in as long as we accepted and signed on the dotted line." Blaise was inches away from his face.

Vittime della malvagità,

li convoco qui all'introito indietro le vite che una volta avete giudicato così caro.
Sia liberato dalle vostre prigioni in cui voi tutto dovuto per abitare.
Venga confrontare il vostro creatore del inferno

He stood in silence just glaring at him with a thousand eyes of hatred that glazed over many times, each set watching the person before them and each one sending daggers with every glare. Suddenly, the spells stopped for a moment as the voices focused on Leveret's form. There was complete silence around him until they all chorused in his mind.

"You lied," he said in the multiple voices he had sported before.

...Víctimas del mal, yo las convoco aquí
para devolver las vidas a las que una vez se aferraron con fuerza
Sean liberados de las prisiones en donde tuvieron que morar
Vengan y confronten a su creador del Infierno...

"What are you going to do?"

"We," they corrected him. Revenge, in this case, was not the work of individuals after all. In this case, it was a social event. "We are going to show you how it feels to suffer. You will know how it feels to make the worst decision of your life ten times over. We're sending you back where you came from."

He laughed. "You don't even know where I came from."

"Oh, we do," they said chuckling in a knowing way. "We know more about you than you know. We also know what can destroy you." Leveret watched Blaise and in turn every mark he had ever met smirking at him and straightened. "But we aren't going to do that yet. We are greatly beyond just hating you but we aren't greedy. There are others here that want a piece of you." With that Blaise closed his eyes and tilted his head back and began to speak softly.

"Huc victimae mali advoco, ut vitae recipatis quae quondam delexistis. Liberate de phylacis vobis ubi cunctari debuistis. Venite et creator locae infernae occedite!" they said loud enough for every thread that stuck out of the walls to brighten and become solid straight pins of light. He repeated it over and over hearing others chant it in his head along with him.

Then the building began to tremor again harder, vibrating through the ground so viciously that Leveret could have sworn it would fall apart. It didn't. Instead various shapes and sizes of colour broke out of the bricks and soared into the sky circling menacingly as if it were planning a strategy in Quidditch.

Blaise stopped chanting and looked at the sky. The colours were deceivingly beautiful as they circled high. He sensed the mixed emotions of extreme anger and the sudden happiness that the freedom brought to them. He could feel every emotion and, unlike before, it was not as overwhelming as it would have normally been. It must have been the amount of power he had at the moment that was keeping it all at bay as he sure if the power wasn't there, he would be on his hands and knees crumpled in pain. It felt refreshing to say the least. He had no idea how it would have felt if it was all directed at him though. Thank Merlin it wasn't.

Leveret had been alive for many centuries. He had survived many wars and founded a most profitable organization that killed for a living. The souls of those that were killed were stored in a building instead of being set free and he had fed on them for centuries. That was a lot of angry souls to be on the receiving end.

"Get ready Leveret. The end is near." The sky, filled with bright colours, began to descend upon them. They continued faster and faster.

He glanced sideways at him. "They cannot hurt me. I am protected-."

"By what?" Blaise interrupted. "By them?" he said pointing up. "I don't think so. They are not a part of this place anymore. There are thousands of them coming at you. I hope it hurts a hell of a lot because that would still be only a fraction of what you have put them through." He came dangerously close to him. "They hate you as much as we do, if that's at all possible anymore." His eyes glazed over once more. "You had better die, Leveret." He looked at Blaise and heard the voices of the people he had recruited as Blaise backed away with an evil smirk on his face, the kind of evil only thousands of people could conjure at once. "If you don't, you'll have us to deal with."

Leveret's face turned solemn as the comment distracted his gaze from the hurtling spirits approaching him rapidly. As he turned his attention to Blaise and the cruel smile on his face, they hit him full force and he was slammed against the only wall left in his office. He stopped at the wall as they had pinned him to it but the thousands upon thousands of coloured spirits ran straight through him and the wall coming out on the other side brighter than before.

With each soul that passed through him, Leveret was drained even more as they took back what belonged to them. It continued this way until he couldn't breathe anymore and when the last soul passed through him, it looked as if the final piece of life he had left was ripped away. It looked painful.

Good, they all thought.

Blaise suddenly felt the great power he had leave him, he exhaled a large breath he had no idea he could hold as he swayed forward and backward a little lightheaded. He felt a little empty when it left but he let it go, he didn't need it anymore anyway. It had done all it was needed to do. Then again, the pain in his head was the only downside. He slammed up his barriers to block it all out. He looked up to the sky; he couldn't see the colours anymore, which was a shame because it wouldn't have had the same effect if he couldn't see it.

Leveret lay as a crumpled heap on the ground. He could barely move or breathe and when he did, it was more a whimper than anything.

Blaise sneered. "You're still alive," he said a little disappointed and chuckled cruelly. "You're a brave man to still be alive after that."

"It hurts, all over it hurts." He coughed heavily and blood dripped from his mouth.

"It's the least you deserve for what you've done to us," Blaise said coldly as he approached him. He heard numerous cracks and looked behind him to see Draco, Ginny and a few Aurors standing nearby. Draco had a drawer in his hand. He turned back to the man on the ground and spat on him. "I don't even want to kill you anymore. You're worthless and beneath me to even touch you." He kicked his hand away from him and stepped back. Ginny, however, stepped forward.

"I think you're disgusting." She dropped a file on the ground next to him and he read the title. It had his name on it and he opened it to see the contract he had signed when he was actually the age he still claimed to be. He froze in horror as he read each line of requirements and a voice filled his head and the air around him.

"You have failed me, Ira." Every person in the, kind of, room jumped at the loud voice. They recognized it as they had only conjured him hours before.

Ira Leveret fell back. "No, no I won't go back. I won't die, not ever."

"You have no choice. You do not fail me and run free. You offered me a deal, you have broken it. The contract must be fulfilled." The ground around his body began to burn away to a hole big enough for him to fall through. When he did, he screamed as high as he was able until his voice began to fade.

When his voice was gone and he was removed in all ways possible, they all sighed before hearing clattering sounds. They looked down to see the chains they had worn for years had broken apart and fallen to the ground.

"I'm going to miss this job," Draco said breaking the silence. Blaise looked at him, as did most of the others there before they all laughed.

"What's with the drawer?" Blaise asked.

"Contracts, for every marker known." He shrugged, "Figured we could toast a few marshmallows." Blaise smiled and looked at it. There was a quill that fit into a hole at the corner. He pulled it out and wrote a name on the label of the drawer and waited for the name to soak into the paper. When it did, they waited a while. Then, 'FILE FOUND,' reappeared on the label and the file appeared in the drawer.

He picked it up and looked at the typed name in block capitals.

JULIA M. RAYMOND

He took out his wand and pointed it at the file in his hand opening his mouth to say a spell.

"Wait," Draco said and put down the drawer to fish in his pockets. He withdrew his wand and pointed it at the file in Blaise's hand. Soon every other person in the, sort of, room had all come closer to point their wands in the same direction.

"Incendio!" they all said at once and the file burst into flames. Blaise dropped it to the floor and watched it burn away to ash before the wind swept it away.