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Disclaimer: Draco Malfoy and Virginia Weasley are not my characters. I am using them without permission. They belong to J.K. Rowling and her constituents. Please don't sue me as I have a total of $12.52 to my name. Thank you.
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Scarlet Woman
Part Six
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He walked past her building again. Light shone out of the large window on the third story where she and that bastard lived. Oh, he knew that the guy wasn't really that much of a bastard. He'd have done the same thing for her, to keep her with him.
But that wasn't the point. As he began circling the block again, he felt the rage and hatred rise within him for the Demon, as he was beginning to think of him, who had taken his Angel. The Demon hadn't understood how he felt about his Angel.
His Angel was perfect, a beauty in a world filled with ugliness and hatred. She was a beacon to everyone, telling them there was hope. And the Demon had taken her, taken her out of the world where she belonged, the world where they had lived together just fine for two blessed years.
He knew what he was going to do. He'd been planning ever since the Demon had taken his Angel. There was very little to his plan that he couldn't figure out, and now he just had to wait.
Standing in the street, looking up at the window filled with light, he felt as though the world was soon going to go back to the way it was before. His Angel had tried to fly away, and now he was going to clip her wings.
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Ginny was the one to break off the kiss. Pushing against Draco's broad chest, she took a step back, leaving the circle of his arms. Her eyes were misted with desire and confusion.
"What are we doing?" she asked, incredulous. Draco ran a hand through his hair and decided to ignore that it was shaking.
"I don't know." He shifted away from her, partially to stop himself from trying to kiss her again, and to get some space from whatever it was she was stirring up inside of him.
Silence stretched through the hallway as Draco locked eyes with her. There were so many emotions flowing through him at the moment, and Draco didn't trust himself to do anything other than try and kiss her again, or run as fast as he could. Ginny ran her tongue over her bottom lip and Draco felt his heartbeat race.
Especially if she keeps doing that, he thought. Looking for an escape, his eyes darted to the bathroom and then back to Ginny.
"I… I'm going to get a shower." He tried to take no notice of the pause, but mentally slapped himself for it anyway.
"Oh--okay. It's all yours." She quickly ran her eyes over him and then walked into the living room. Closing the bathroom door behind him, Draco ran a still shaking hand over his face.
What have you started, Malfoy?
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Ginny unsteadily sat down on the couch and stared into space.
What just happened in that hallway? She wondered, running an idle finger over her kiss-swollen lips. And why did I like it so much?
Shaking her muddled head, Ginny quickly looked around for something to occupy her mind, rather than the thought of Draco standing naked in the shower, water running over his lean body.
Can't be thinking those things, Ginny, she reprimanded herself. How will you be able to sleep in his apartment if you're thinking about that?
Grabbing for some semblance of self control, she quickly stood up and turned on the radio. After fiddling with the dial, she quickly found a news station.
Good, she thought, nothing better than news to calm raging hormones. As a report on the state of the economy rambled about the apartment, Ginny felt herself wondering about another kiss she and Draco had shared.
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He looked so sad standing there. The sky was overcast, making the world hued a light grey and depressing to look at. She thought that it would probably rain, either today or tomorrow.
She didn't quite know what had brought her out here. Gryffindor tower was warm and her classmates were celebrating the end of final exams. Today had been her last one, and Ginny was quite glad that it was over.
But she was also feeling a pang of remorse and loss, although she wasn't quite sure why. Walking to stand next to Draco, though, she felt those feelings ebb and die within her.
He was staring out over the lake, his eyes fixed on some far away object that Ginny was sure she couldn't see, even if she tried.
He looks so… lost, she thought.
"What are you doing here, Weasley?" he asked her, his voice shocking her out of her daze.
"I… I don't really know, Malfoy. I just felt like this was the place I needed to be today."
He smirked at her. "Don't be getting philosophical on me. You know I can beat you there."
She grinned back at him. "But I'll always be better at transfiguration."
He turned to face her, his smirk still in place. Ginny felt something shift when his eyes met hers. Slowly, but surely, his face came closer to hers. She felt pulled towards him, closer and closer. He reached out a tentative hand and cupped her cheek gently.
But when their mouths met, she didn't feel anything else. The kiss was short, and gentle. Just a brush of lips rather than a kiss, she thought later. But that same something that had shifted before locked into place.
Feeling panic and… desire warring inside of her, Ginny took a step back. Draco's eyes were dark with emotion and she almost let herself get lost in them. His hand slid from her cheek to her shoulder, then hung limply next to him. Ginny took another step back.
And another, until she turned and walked away.
She never thought of herself as a coward, but she knew that this was a fight she wasn't going to win, no matter how hard she fought.
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Now, five years later, Ginny still found herself fighting against that intangible towards Draco Malfoy.
And I can't walk away this time. She sighed and slid deeper into the couch cushions. The black leather rasped against her skin as she tried to find a comfortable position. Finally throwing her legs onto the couch and staring at the ceiling, Ginny decided that she had to figure out why she needed Draco so much.
Her list of reasons was disgustingly short. Besides having offered his apartment to her, and taking her off of the streets, Ginny couldn't think of anything (logically) that explained why she needed Draco.
Deciding to give into frustration, Ginny sighed again. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, Ginny felt that the inevitable truth of the situation was that she wanted to need Draco.
And that, more than anything else she had seen in her life, scared her.
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He'd thought that a cold shower would be a good idea, but Draco found that he was incorrect in that assumption. All he'd accomplished was partially freezing himself and he was still, damn it, thinking about Ginny. The numerous times he'd hit his head against the tiled wall hadn't helped in the slightest, either.
So, cold and with the beginnings of a head ache, Draco decided that he was done with his shower and that he really needed a drink. Somehow, he'd only needed a drink when he thought of Ginny. And there he was again, on the same train of thought. Growling in aggravation, he turned the water off violently and stepped, dripping, onto the floor.
Grabbing a cream-colored towel from the rack on the wall, Draco angrily started drying himself off. Rubbing the steam from the mirror, he looked at himself.
His face was twisted into a scowl, his blond hair sticking in different directions. His grey eyes were darker than normal, probably because he was so frustrated right now. His shoulders were tense, his muscles tight with repressed emotions. His scars stood out on his pale skin, littering the expanse of his chest and torso. He knew -- even though he couldn't see them -- that they continued on his legs.
Quite frankly, he looked frightening. Trying to relax, Draco sighed, counted to ten, and decided to get dressed.
When he walked into the living room, he found Ginny lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. He felt himself pulled towards her, and fought the attraction.
We're like the opposite poles of a magnet, he thought, we can't stay apart.
He sat down next to Ginny, and she lifted her legs and laid them in his lap. He raised an eyebrow in her direction, but she just shrugged.
"I don't think we should let that happen again," he said as he avoided Ginny's eyes and looked at her feet, peaking out from the edge of the pants she was wearing. The toes curled, and then straightened.
"I couldn't agree more." Ginny sounded confident, and Draco tried to ignore the quick shot of pain in his heart.
"Well, now that that's settled…" The sound of their voices was replaced by that of the radio. A slow jazz song resonated in the apartment, and Draco fought his desire to ask Ginny to dance.
The weight of her legs in his lap was soon removed as Ginny stood. "I'm going to start some water boiling for pasta. Is that okay for dinner, for you?"
He nodded. "That's fine."
She was out of the room and in the kitchen before Draco smacked himself on the forehead, but he was certain that she heard.
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He couldn't wait. His Angel was too far away and the separation was driving him crazy. His plan would still work later, wouldn't it? Even if he used it now, the police wouldn't be able to discover who he was.
Feeling safe in his animosity, he decided that maybe a quick replacement would be the best thing for the evening.
He found her only three blocks away from his Angel's building. She had straight red hair. She wasn't a perfect copy, but she would do.
Moving quietly behind her, he placed a large hand over her mouth and stifled her surprised scream. Dragging her into a pitch black alleyway, he made sure that her screams wouldn't be heard again.
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He pulled his pants back on and look at the lifeless body of the woman he'd killed. The rush he'd felt, the ultimate power, had given him a heady feeling, an excitement he hadn't felt in a long time.
But it wasn't right. This wasn't his Angel, only a pale replacement. Disgusted, he decided that the world needed to know that this one was an imposter.
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When the police found the posed and mutilated body of Melissa Paterson, the newest officer on homicide had to excuse himself to throw up in a nearby dumpster. The on-site medical examiner discovered signs of rape and that the body was most likely posed after death. The most telling signs that this rape wasn't random were the mutilations to the body.
The word 'angel' was carved onto the chest and stomach of the woman and two wings were jaggedly cut into the back.
Red letters, written in the victim's blood, spelled out a terrifying message to the citizens of the city, and also the name the press would eventually use for the killer.
"Fallen angel."
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Authors note: Yes, there is a rape/murder in my story. Yes, there's a message in human blood in my story as well. And yes, I am quite grossed out that I have to write it. However, it's important to the story. I apologize for the more disgusted readers. There was a warning at the beginning of the story for a reason. School starts in two weeks, so chapters are going to be coming out slower than they are now. *ducks thrown fruit and tries to ignore the groans of impatience* I apologize for the inconvenience, but I'm a busy beaver when it comes to classes and such (I'm in all of these annoying advanced ones, and I'm taking a class at the local community college), so my times are going to be a very rare commodity. I'll try to keep getting these things out at least once a month, but I can't make any promises.
Katharos Katrina (I'm glad you've started to like fan fiction! If you're interested in better D/G fics, look at my favorite stories. There are a lot of good ones there.), Nataly (I was afraid I made him too OOC! Thanks for that reassurance.), Deranged Elegance (I have never been called J.K. Rowling before. Thank you.), Divine Miss S, Psycho-Kitty-Purra (yes, that was a D/G kiss. Yay!), draigonfire, Benjamin, black crayons, KrystyWroth, dragonsprincess, blackrose62, and xangelcrisisx, thank you all for your kind reviews! Plates of fudge to all!
This chapter is dedicated to my sister, who is thinking about becoming a homicide cop. Hopefully, she'll be able to capture evil men like the one I've created… heh heh… ^_^;;
And, again, thanks go out to my beta, Sarah, who pesters me just when I need it. :D
paranoid