Kings and Darkness

Kings And Darkness

1: First Voices

Blood and Water

Hogwarts Castle was a dim ruin in the faint dawn light; smoke trickling out of the high shattered windows. The stench of death and burning flesh was dissipating on the cool morning breeze, but instead of dew, the grass was wet with blood. The moans of the dying were growing faint as the new day arose, and the quiet movement of the strange dark shadows did nothing to relieve the silence.

One of those shadows halted, lifting its dark-cowled head to the sky. A black-gloved hand swept to its face and removed the stark white mask. The man underneath could hardly be called a man, so young as he was, but no one would ever think to call this grim assassin a boy. Light brown hair spilled from under the pure black of his hood. His light blue eyes, disenchanted and tired, searched the dark windows of the destroyed castle.

His eyes lit upon the tower, the one with the shattered red and gold stained-glass windows. A dark smile slid over his face as he imagined the fear its inhabitants had felt when the first fire was set. His eyes glinted with malice at the thought of the endless piles of photographs that had curled and smoked and melted.

Another dark figure stalked up behind the first. "Oi, Creevey get your arse to work." She stalked off, throwing a lazy Killing Curse at a moaning man. The man fell back to the ground, silent.

Dennis laughed, smirking up at the burnt-out husk. "Goodbye, Colin." He replaced the mask, and turned.

~~

Eyes and Inner Eyes

She held the cloth to her face, a grimace creasing her brow. The blood was slowing, but it had taken quite a bit of magic to do even that much. Her blood-soaked blonde hair was swept up into a messy bun, her wand tucked into it for safekeeping.

"God's eyes!" She swore to the empty room, and grunted, hauling herself to her feet. She tottered unsteadily to the door and wrenched it open, only to be rapped on the head.

"Oh!" Luna exclaimed, rubbing at the sore spot on her forehead. The man who'd hit her stepped back and chafed his hands, one of which was gleaming silver like a metal glove.

"Oh, sorry, Lovegood. I hadn't noticed the door opening."

Luna sighed, and waved him into the room. "I've had the Sight, Pettigrew, for six weeks. And you've managed to hit me eleven times." She removed the cloth from her face and glared at him, hands on her hips. "Do stop bothering to knock."

Peter smiled, but the smile died when he caught sight of her destroyed right eye and the blood still oozing out of it. "Haven't you seen to that yet?" He looked at the cloth she was holding. "Surely you haven't just been holding a cloth to it and hoping it would stop have you?"

She snorted and returned to her chair, reapplying the cloth to her face. "Oh, of course not, you dolt. I've seen all seven of the Courts' Medi-staff. It's a bloody cursed wound. Nothing to stop it except clotting now. Natural clotting." She sighed again and leaned back, taking a swig from a tarnished brass flask sitting on a nearby table. "All the magic that can be done has been done, and now I just have to take Blood Replenishing Draught." She leered at Pettigrew, who had sat on a low footstool. "Specially made by Snape himself." She smirked at Peter's answering shiver.

"The eye'll be lost forever though." She lifted her dirty-booted feet and dropped them in Peter's lap with a grin.

~~

What They Wouldn't Give

He watched grimly as the blood flowing from her neck started to slow. With a sneer, he dropped her broken and battered body on the ground and stood. Her wide, grey eyes dimmed as he stared down at her once-beautiful face. He drew back his booted foot and kicked her head, relishing the cracking noise.

The other men came forward and dragged the corpse away. One remained, a smirk planted on his lips. "I'm rather glad you don't hate all of my family that way." The grey eyes, so similar to the dead woman's and yet so different, sparkled with dark mirth. He stepped forward, and held out the white porcelain mask. "It's all yours now, my love. Welcome home."

Neville smiled as he took the mask and cradled it in his hands. Carefully he slipped it over his own face and took Regulus' hand. He was home.

~~

Lust Is A Sin

Stan watched heavy-lidded as Terry undressed in the firelight. His back, crisscrossed with the thousand fiery-red scars glimmered from tiny beads of sweat. Stan reached a hand under the covers and touched himself, knowing that His Grace the Dark King had made a decree. No one could have sex without His Majesty going first. As of yet, neither Stan nor Terry had been taken. And for now, neither of them could take the other. Disobeying meant death.

Terry turned, his dark eyes glittering, and licked his lips. Sidling to the side of the bed, his dark body taut, he grinned coldly, ferally down at his prey.

"I'm not waiting any longer for what's mine, love."

And Stan knew that resistance was futile.

~~

Canid Power Struggles

It had been Severus who'd found him, half-naked, dirty. It had been Severus who'd marveled at the way his hair still shimmered in the waning moonlight, like fresh blood.

And now it was Severus who Bill would not let go of, even for a moment. Somehow, the Dark King had understood, and allowed the gorgeous broken wolf to be spared from His bed, allowed Snape to touch the blood-crazed boy in whatever way he pleased.

Snape never asked just whose blood and fur and entrails Bill had been covered in, and Bill never volunteered. The closest he ever came was muttering 'Moony' in the night.