Yep…alive. I have issues but they haven't killed me yet. Thanks to Lady Starlight for her work on this
chapter, and a certain evil little bunny for getting me off my ass and posting this chapter.
Chapter 44: Maelstrom
Instantly the battle erupted into a maelstrom of wand fire, red, green, gold, blue, orange-a myriad of colors lighting the night as the kids took the offensive, taking almost two dozen more Death Eaters out of the fight in as many seconds. The Spheres had dropped another twenty, and Sirius and Emilia charged the Dark Lord with a sense of desperation as Xander raced to Justin and picked him up on the fly, nearly flinging him towards Abby as she raced toward Harriet.
The Dark Lord chuckled and casually batted away the pair of Reductors converging on his head, before he flicked a hand, and sent Sirius crashing back through one of the flaming torches. Emilia's blade flicked at his chest only to crash into a long, serrated blade that appeared in Voldemort's hand in a spiral of black smoke.
She tumbled backwards, dodging a long swipe and cut sideways at his ankles, watching as he levitated above them with a long sideways bound. A crackle of purple lighting raced from Voldemort's wand, only to be caught desperately on Emilia's sword, knocking it from her hand with an accompanying yelp of pain. Emilia ducked and sprinted to the side, jumping just as a Cutting Curse snapped at her heals. She tucked into a ball as she dove over the top of her fallen blade, taking it in passing and snapping it back towards her foe, sending a sizzling blue ball to explode on his robes in a shower of bluebell flames.
To the side, Emilia swallowed as she found Rain trapped by Death Eaters, and turned back to her own fight, having no choice but to allow her sister to fight her own battles.
Rain Mai Kincaid was not the most powerful witch or wizard in this dark, bloody night; swept by chill, source less winds and lit with the periodic flickers of sickly, green flames. She tightened already white knuckled hands on the twisted, worn grip of her sword, one that her father had presented to her years before, and made still years earlier. A flicker of memory, of her father's laughing face as he lightly 'dueled' with his precocious daughter, her a mere wisp to his solidness, blue eyes twinkling below short reddish hair, as he lightly blocked the slow strike of a foam-covered wooden sword with the one in his hand.
Her mother had been leaning against the wall of the workout room in her father's combination forge, workshop and dojo, built of the same redwood as the surrounding trees that hid the house and shop from prying eyes and sheltered it from the elements.
Rain's eyes slowly met the three surrounding her, as they slowly moved about her, sniggering lowly. Her breathing never increased, as she waited, holding for that invisible, unseen moment that would start…and end this duel, even as seemingly unfair as it was to her. Yes, she was not the most powerful, fastest, most indestructible here this night, that honor probably belonged to the trio fighting with dark desperation off to her left, somewhere, but she was much, much closer to that that plateau than some might think from the picture before them. In the end, while she might not be able to shatter mountains with her powers, or move so fast that a mortal eye could not follow her, she was at the bleeding edge of 'normality'.
And in the end, as the trio of Death Eaters, all of whom held long, sharp double-edged blades in their gloved hands, occasionally trying to taunt her with them, trying to draw her into attacking; that was more than enough.
A slow dibble of blood traced down one cheek, flowing down under the neck of her suit, from an earlier near miss, but she held her center, waiting. One of the first things that her father had taught her, even before letting her pick up that practice sword, was that the fight, a true fight, often truly ended in the same instant that it actually started. Long, drawn-out duels with blades, or magic, or whatever were rare.
Unconsciously, not really seeing anything in particular, she waited for some unknown signal, a tightening of a brow, a tensing of a bicep that would signal an attack. The instant that there was no possibility of defense for even the quickest, as their entire being would be set on the attack.
"Do you really think that you can fight us, little girl?" the one directly behind Rain sneered, her voice rough. "Why don't you just lay that little toy down and we can…have a little fun?"
Rain remained silent as the other two laughed darkly, and slowly lifted their swords. The one off to her front and right, flicked his blade at her, and she did not even bother to dodge, already knowing it would miss her by several inches. The clang of Emilia's sword against another carried to her ears, and even that did not seem to faze her, even though her sister in truth was fighting for her life less than a hundred yards away.
The truth was, the truth that so many Death Eaters never realized, that so many in general never realized, was that this was no training salle, no practice fight in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Death Eaters, as a rule, almost never came up against those who did not flee in fear, did not panic. And they especially did not encounter those who just looked at them implacably, waiting for their slightest error in position or action or even thought.
Perhaps it was the bead of sweat that bloomed just above the dark mask of the one on her right, or the tightening of a muscle in the left one's neck, or the faintest scrape of a boot on gravel from behind, but suddenly she knew.
Rain was already moving as the one on her right front moved towards her, his blade flashing down. Her blade flicked up and right, the infinitely sharp edge not even seeming to feel the cloth, flesh and bone it cut through effortlessly as she opened his torso up from right hip to left shoulder and spun down and to her left, ducking below the horizontal slice of the one on her left, spinning around him, and cutting back to her right, severing his spine just below his skull.
She dropped away under the cut of the woman who had been behind her, and thrust upward, thrusting the point of her sword through the soft palette of the third Death Eater and out the top of her head, and withdrawing the blade before the woman fell to the ground. Rain took a breath, her eyes wide and shifted bounding away into the darkness on four legs, leaving behind the remains behind her.
Emilia did not see the fight as she panted on her knees for a breath or two as Sirius sprung back into the fight. She winced as he took the edge of a Cutting Curse, and she snapped her gaze to the side as a pair of Death Eaters appeared out of the night, aligning on his back as he continued to duel the second Lord Voldemort.
An ice-blue spell took both of the Death Eaters in the torso, freezing them solid, only to have them crumble into frozen chunks a beat later.
Emilia picked off another from Abby's back, even as her and her brother were taking out another two, their Lycan parentage more than evident as they darted about, moving faster than their opponents. Emilia shared a quick look with her mate from fifty meters away, his fully black eyes as able to seem in the gloom as her emerald-lit ones, and she charged back to the attack.
Voldemort jumped backwards as Emilia hammered a succession of Reductors at him, a blue rain of Plasma that seared the ground at his feet into chunks of seared glass, and giving Sirius precious breathing room.
Sirius dove out from behind a blackened head stone marked with 'Harvester' and snapped his wand downward sending a spiraling amber curse into Voldemort's shoulder. He roared his displeasure, and retaliated, knocking Sirius back as the curse cracked his shield like an egg hit with a hammer.
Emilia screamed, and charged again, her blade vanishing into a silver blur as it danced, crashing into the Dark Lord's blade again and again. The tip shot out, flicking beneath Voldemort's guard, and into and out his side. He roared and shot one hand out, sending her tumbling arse over teakettle, his sword shot up and she screamed as his own sword ripped a long furrow down her thigh. Her knee buckled as she landed, and collapsed back flat onto the cold, bare ground.
Sirius' vision flared and he took the strike of a black, flaming whip, letting it wrap around his sword as he moved to block the attack on his sister. He grunted as the whip pulled him forward and around, smashing him into a tombstone, and through a torch. The green flames licked at, but did not manage to burn through the shadow suit before he waved a hand and extinguished the flames.
"GO TO HARRIET," Emilia snapped, rolling to her feet as she gathered herself to rush back. Sirius glanced back he swallowed as he saw Bellatrix moving forward towards the altar with the dagger in her hands.
Bellatrix shot a stuttering yellow bolt from her wand, knocking Shin down in a spray of blood and cackled maniacally.
"EM…"
"Go, damn it."
Bellatrix ducked a red, flickering beam from Rain, one of the few kids still standing, and sprinted back through the fighting, running toward the white stone altar where she found a tiny black-haired girl struggling with the magically reinforced bonds holding Harriet down to the altar. Abby growled, her eyes fully black, and pulled at the bond holding Harriet's right leg. The stone snapped with a loud CRACK, with the rope still not letting go.
Abby took a step back, pointed her wand at the rope, and a blue bolt hissed across the distance, vaporizing the rope in a searing flash of light. Harriet hardly moved; her eyes only on Sirius as he and his sister dueled desperately with the Dark One. Harriet let a faint whimper escape as a yellow beam flickered past Sirius' defenses and dropped him to his knees.
Emilia vanished and reappeared, and dark, nearly black blood hissed as it fell to the ground, as her blade flashed. The Dark One roared, dropping his curse and flung his hand out, sending Emilia tumbling back through the air. She flipped in mid-air and sprung back at him as her feet hit a marker, swinging desperately at his head, only to watch, bewildered as a shadowy blade appeared in his hand to block her strike.
The glowing, silvery portal still hung open at Harriet's head, as Abby fired at the next bond, missing as she ducked a wild Cutting Curse. She gathered herself, the end of her wand already shimmering blue with a Reductor charge as she concentrated on not blowing off Harriet's leg…
"CRUCIO," Bella screamed and Abby dropped to the ground, her wand tumbling from nerveless fingers. Bella dropped the curse and kicked the small teen in the ribs, sending her rolling to the side. "I will finish it, my Lord," she cried and reached down, picking up the twisted black dagger that had fallen there when the teens attacked out of the night, and lifted it high. She took a breath and plunged it straight down at Harriet's heart…
"NO!" Sirius screamed as he forced himself to his knees, and flung his hand towards the plunging dagger. His eyes blurred just as it reached her chest, missing it, as the desperate pulse of magic pushed aside the knife, ripping into Harriet's left chest just under her breast and down along her side.
"YOU BITCH," he roared and vanished, reappearing next to Harriet, and flinging back Bella with a wave of his hand.
She stumbled to her feet, "Look, a whole new wee little Potter," she sneered and brandished the dagger in one hand as she lifted her wand towards Sirius, "Did I hurt your little slag?" Bella glanced past his shoulder at Harriet, as Abby forced herself to her feet, and with an inhuman growl, ripped the bonds tying Harriet to the slab in half.
Her fangs were fully dropped as she caught Harriet as she rolled from the slab into her arms, barely holding up the much taller girl. Kill the bitch, Sirius, Harriet muttered and collapsed to her knees, taking Abby with her.
"Did your whore get a boo boo?" Bella continued to taunt as she turned back to Sirius, "She's going to die, my Lord will still…ERRK…"
She silenced suddenly as Sirius swatted his left hand at the air and the Dagger and Bella's wand were ripped from her grasp to tumble off into the dark. A red beam, a random overshot, tore from the darkness directly at Sirius, and vanished just as it almost reached him. Twin emerald suns drove back the darkness, their pure light, so unlike the tainted flickering light of the torches as to not even be of the same spectrum, as Sirius slowly stepped toward Bellatrix.
"No," she said disbelievingly, turned, and tried to run, only to find herself unable to move.
Sirius' sword rested back along his forearm, held inverted in his fist as he lifted his free hand slowly, and Bella rose into the air, turning back to face Sirius. His eyes narrowed, as he closed his fist and Bella coughed, choking as the small bones of her throat snapped one by one… He vanished between heartbeats, twisting as he bounded forward in a blur, leaving a faint glowing afterimage behind, he twisted as he passed, his right arm coming up and around, and Bella's head tumbled to the ground behind him, bouncing once before coming to a stop at Harriet's feet.
Ignoring the sudden corpse behind him and the blood rapidly soaring into the dead grass at his feet, Sirius moved over to Harriet, taking her in his arms as he slipped down to the base of the blood-stained stone, and cradled her, fighting back tears at how very, very tiny she seemed all of a sudden. Only the tattered fabric of her skirt had survived the night's events, the Dagger had cut through the fabric of her bra, leaving it dangling.
Sirius glanced up to see the sparkling light of his sister still fighting an ultimately loosing battle with the Dark One, and Rain, Justin, and Xander still fighting somewhere in the darkness against the still much greater numbers. He glanced over as Elliot popped up from behind a stone, moving stiffly and dropped a Death Eater with a Stunner to the back of the head, before falling back behind cover where he was sheltering a wounded Shin.
"Sirius," Abby asked quietly, "is she going to be alright?"
"I don't know," Sirius replied as he dropped his sword to the ground next to him and summoned a defensive ward around them, before lying Harriet down on the ground and rapidly binding her chest with conjured bandages. Swallowing heavily, tears speckling his eyes, he watched as the bandages turned red instantly. Sirius reached out with his mind, feeling the anti-Portkey wards that still held sway; risen since they had started fighting seemingly days ago.
Harriet turned her head to Sirius, her silver eyes holding his, Go, my Love, help Em, I will be alright.
But…
Get your arse out there, and help her, Sirius Ronald, she growled faintly. She coughed once, and he nodded, bending down and kissing her, licking his lips at her blood that he found there. He started to rise, and stopped, reaching quickly to the second wand sheath strapped to his left forearm on the Shadow Suit, and pulled out her wand, and pressed it into her hands, receiving a faint smile in turn.
"Stay with her," Sirius took Abby, "get her over to Elliot if you can."
"Merlin won't get her," Abby replied, her appearance fully feral now as she looked back up at Sirius, her voice deeper than normal.
"I know," Sirius whispered and stood, his eyes blazing as he slowly panned his eyes around, watching as the Death Eaters still present continued to duel with the few remaining kids. He watched as Rain rolled under a wild spell and bounded upward, her sword neatly taking off the Death Eater's wandhand at the wrist before she reverted it with a deft flick of her wrist.
Emilia met his eyes from across the dark graveyard, before she continued to slowly turn, looking for the Dark Lord who had vanished at the instant of his mother's death. Sirius started to move towards her cautiously, his eyes flicking about---
"SIRIUS," she screamed as a black shadow appeared just behind him. A shimmering greenish-yellow spell sent her brother tumbling into the night. Before she could even breathe a second time, an impossibly strong, invisible hand picked her up by the throat. The world slowly faded until she flew backwards through the air, crashing back through the ruins of the stones.
Emilia quivered as her eyes flickered, panting heavily as she lay crumpled against the bottom of a shattered headstone. Distantly she felt her blood dripping down her slack fingers onto the barren ground, and the grinding of the shattered ends of her ribs against each other with each movement of her chest.
Looking across the scattered ruins of the graveyard, still lit by the flickering fire of several still standing torches, she found Xander looking back at her, his eyes still totally black. He reached for her, and a dark laugh boomed across the way, as the Dark One stepped out of the night.
He glowered down at Emilia as he kicked her sword away into the night, and reached out his hand, catching her wand as it flew to him. He looked over to the stone altar, where Sirius was trying to push his way back to his feet, next to Harriet who had passed out again. The silvery light from the portal shone brightly on Harriet's hair, and the Dark One only laughed further as he lifted a dark, shimmering blade above his head, ready to strike down.
His other hand snapped out, palm outward and an invisible force pinned her to the ground, "It is a shame that I do not have time to entertain you properly, you are rather lovely…you could have joined the pair already waiting for me. Or perhaps a few of my followers," he mused.
Emilia spat out blood, "Fuck you."
He laughed, "The time for that is gone, I am afraid." The blade tilted slightly, the sickly green light falling off the cutting edge like ichor. "But I must be back to my task-"
A thunderous BOOM sounded as the sword fell, lighting ripped across the sky, and the flashing sword bounced to the side with a clang, as a glowing blue blade intercepted its arc. A wave of faintly visible energy flashed, flinging him back a good fifty feet to crash through a tall, grey headstone emblazoned with the name of Johnson.
A/N: I wonder who could have just arrived? Yeah, I know it's been a bit, sorry. In other notes I am working on the song list for this one, usual Nickelback works pretty well, along with a few others…and I am dying to do something with Bad Girlfriend song…maybe a h/hr…vinette…hehehe.