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Not So Fast
Author: Shane Reimann
Date: 03-01-07 16:56
Shane didn't love the woman he had spent the last couple days with but he liked what she did for him; he enjoyed both the pleasure and the pain that she had brought to him. He laid next to her completely spent but still craving more but, for now he just laid there trying to regain his strength.
"I really should go," she whispered, and her words didn't make Shane happy.
"No, I don't think so!" He replied to her, his words were cold and held no feeling. "You're not going anywhere until I say so." Shane knew she wasn't a meek or timid woman but she wasn't exactly like he was either. Shane held no regard for anyone else but himself, he wanted what he wanted when he wanted it and, he would use any means to get what he wanted. The lies came easy for him, the stories and even the torture.
He grabbed ahold of the woman next to him and quickly pinned her to the bed, "you don't leave until I say so."
She stared into his dark eyes they said she wasn't going to give up, but at the same time they said she didn't want to fight. A smirked worked it's way across his face and Shane knew he'd won at least for now and he laid down beside the woman again. He still didn't know her name, not that it really mattered to him.
After a while Shane conjured sandwiches for the two as well as a bottle of firewhisky. The two ate and drank in silence, but Shane watched the woman's every movement.
"By the way," she spoke, "my name is Eleanor, Eleanor BlackThorn."
Shane knew the name, this woman was Nicholas BlackThorn's wife. He laughed and she just looked at him with a puzzled look on her face.
"What's your name?" She wasn't demanding but Shane knew she wanted an answer, he was a man of few words and normally when he spoke it was about something important, not just useless things such as names.
"Shane..." he finally said as he took a long pull on the bottle of firewhisky.
"Shane what?"
His eyes narrowed and he studied her again. He lowered his head and tilted it to the side getting a different perspective of the woman sitting across from him, he didn't trust her, why should he she had given him no reason to. Not that Shane was big on the trust anyway.
"What do you want my whole fucking family history right now? Just because we," he let the sentence die on his lips. He smirked, he liked the power he held over her he could virtually do whatever he wanted to her and tell her whatever he wanted. "Maybe if you're a good girl I'll tell you more..." He sneared at her as he said this and then tipped the bottle back up to his lips and took another log pull on the bottle.
Are you telling me what to do?
Author: Eleanor BlackThorn
Date: 03-02-07 07:40
I sat across from this strange man I had shared a room with for the past few days, stunned. His manner and nature where some what frightening I had to admit. But I wasn’t the type of woman to listen to a man. I never had been. The only man I ever listened to at all was Lord Voldemort and that was because, I didn’t really have much choice I the matter. But this man, this man I had no ties too. And had taken no oath too. I only spent a few days with him and he already thought he owned me? I silently shook my head as I looked into his eyes.
“ I don’t want to know anything about you. There is no harm in knowing another person’s name.” I said as I walked over to the corner where my clothes where and slowly began to get dress. It was clear this man wanted me to stay. And I wanted to stay for a little longer. But we both knew I couldn’t stay.
If Nickolas found me here, he’d kill Shane. Or perhaps, Shane would kill Nickolas. He seemed like the type of person who would do that. And having been silent all these hours, I was a bit surprised that he had spoken at all. Though, now, he seemed to be quite. Watching me with silent eyes.
“ I thought I told you, that you couldn’t leave unless, I told you too.” He said his voice cold and hard. I had one leg in my black jeans and the other leg out of them. I glared at him.
“ And I thought I told you I should go.” I said just as coldly. Though, I really wasn’t leaving quite yet. I just wanted to get dress. What was the harm in that? I wondered frowning at the man in front of me.
This Is It
Author: Briar Rose
Date: 03-02-07 17:50
Standing in front of the bakery, Briar clasps her hands together as if wringing them. The man facing her wrinkles his brow. "Having second thoughts?"
"No." "Yes." "I don't know," she finally sighs. "There's no going back now though. I know that."
"Correct. No going back. The Ministry is officially involved and has a vested interest in your cousin's continued blackmail. Were she ever to carry out her threat to reveal us to the Muggle community, the clean up could potentially be horrendous."
"I know. That's why I involve the Ministry in the first place. Now that the time has come to act, it all seems so extreme."
Briar holds up her hand in acquiescence and adds, "I know it's necessary."
Arnold Peasgood, an Obliviator, looks grim as he nods.
Briar motions towards the bakery. "Melisande hasn't come down yet. Why don't you get some tea or coffee and pick out something to eat while I see if I can get her stirring."
Peasgood holds the door for Briar, stopping at the counter where he looks over the selection on display. Briar continues on to use the stairs in the kitchen that go up to the flat. Aegean checked in earlier to see if Melisande was up so that the House Elf could bring Grace over to play in the portion of the flat still used as Grace's main daytime play area. Briar told Aegean to bring Grace by a certain time whether Melisande is up or not.
A good way to get Melisande up is to let her know Grace and Gerry will be here soon. Melisande being Muggle can't put up any sort of silencing charm to buffer or totally block out the noise of the children playing; and Briar's never offered to do it for a woman who's lazy enough as it is without Briar enabling her to be even lazier.
Climbing the stairs and walking the short way to the bedroom door, Briar thinks about what Arnold Peasgood is about to do. Evidence against Melisande has been being collected, thanks first to Auror and friend Geoffrey Blackwell and then others once the Ministry got officially involved. Satisfied they had a good case against Melisande, a hearing was held with Briar in attendance. Briar had expected the need for obliviation but the ulimate decision reached still shocks her somewhat.
Melisande's entire memory is to be obliviated. Not just recent events. Everything. Melisande won't remember her name, where she's from, when she was born. Nothing.
Peasgood will take the blanked woman away using a side along apparation and leave her near a Muggle hospital or police station. Somewhere she'll be found and care gotten for her. If at any time Melisande appears to be a threat again to the Ministry, to the Wizarding World as a whole, she will disappear from whatever new life she has in the Muggle World and put into Azkaban.
Extreme.
But necessary.
Briar keeps telling herself that.
Raising a hand to knock on the bedroom door, Briar calls out loudly, "Melisande! Grace and Gerry will be here soon to play. Come downstairs. I've got brunch ready for you and there's a friend I'd like you to meet. A male friend. A rich male friend."
Briar throws that last lie in for good measure knowing that the thought of a man to spend money on her will get Melisande moving more quickly than anything else will. Making sure she hears noises of someone moving around in the bedroom, Briar goes back downstairs to let Peasgood know her cousin will be down in a little while.
A Perfect Murder
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 03-02-07 18:49
Realizing he left a book meant for sale on a table in his flat, Lysander called to Julian to let him know he'd only be gone a moment and then took the internal stairs to his flat over Twice Told Tales two at a time. He breezed into his living quarters, becoming only all too aware of the disheveled stack of Daily Prophets from the last few days that he hadn't bothered throwing in the rubbish bin yet. Every morning, he scoured the paper for any further mention of the investigation on the death of Sebastian Taite as well as the murders of the Stolojans. Lysander was very nervous about someone finding out about him and his involvement in both incidences.
He slid to the table on which the book rested and scooped it up mere moments before he heard someone knock on his front door. Lysander froze momentarily, imaginging aurors standing on his front stoop with a warrant for his arrest. Somehow, he managed to wipe the fear and nervousness from his face and walked with the book in hand to the front door. He opened it, hoping he looked cool and collected, and found himself face-to-face with Augustine Ravenscroft.
Augustine had only visited Lysander once before, and on Lysander's invitation after he and Julian had cleared out the secret room at Twice Told Tales and needed to find new homes for their treasures. Unlike the last time, Augustine did not appear to come on friendly terms. There was something cold in his countenance, something Lysander had always suspected lay deep within the man who had such a fondess for books relating to the dark arts. Lysander had a feeling he knew why Augustine stood on his doorstep.
"Please, come in," Lysander said, deciding it might be better to hold the conversation in the privacy of his own home rather than outside where all of Hogsmeade village could hear.
Augustine stepped inside and walked to the nearest chair, which happened to be one at the kitchen table.
"Do you know why I am here, Lysander?" the old man asked, easing into the chair. He let his cane rest against the wall next to him.
Lysander had followed Augustine into the kitchen and set the book in his hand on the counter. He turned and leaned against the counter, so that he and Augustine were nearly side-by-side.
"Why don't you tell me?" Lysander asked cautiously.
Augustine shot him a dark, sideways glance. "I recently learned that my colleague, Bastian Ironside, was found dead in his workplace. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"When I left your friend, he was still alive." It was the truth. Lysander hadn't seen Bastian take the plummet to his death.
"That doesn't mean you were somehow responsible for my friend's passing," Augustine commented darkly. "I know you are capable of far worse than using the Imperius Curse to force an old man to commit suicide."
Lysander tried not to let his features betray his thoughts. Augustine was just assuming that that was what had occured, or perhaps the official autopsy and auror report had surmised as much, but that didn't mean that Lysander necessarily knew anything about it... even if he did.
"You're like an open book, Lysander," Augustine continued, growing more confident that his theory was the right one even though Lysander tried his hardest to remain neutral. "From the first day I met you, I sensed your weakness. You are a bad man, yes, but you lack the confidence to be greatly evil."
Lysander couldn't help but get a little angry by the insult.
"Won't you serve your guest some tea. It's the least you can do for me, after all you've done and all I've done to help you."
Lysander turned to face the counter and went through the motions of grabbing a teapot and two cups. The silverware drawer happened to be behind Augustine's chair. Lysander went to it, intending to grab two spoons, when his eyes fell on the knives. He grabbed a particularly sharp one used not for eating but for slicing and dicing and whirled on the old man, his heart beating so rapidly in his chest that had his ribcage not barred it, it might have jumped right out of his skin.
Before reason could take him, Lysander plunged the knife into the side of Augustine's neck. The old man jerked violently in his chair and gurgled sickeningly, as blood spurted from the wound in his neck. Lysander nearly pulled the knife out and plunged it back into the old man's neck, but instead held it firmly in the wound. Augustine gurgled and shuddered for several minutes before death took him.
Exhausted, Lysander stepped away from the body so that his back was to the counter again. He leaned against it and sighed, cradling his head in his hands. One of his hands was covered in blood and smeared the side of his face and hair with the warm, red liquid.
Upon learning about the discovery of Taite's murder, Lysander had known that to fully cut all ties to the crime, he'd have to get rid of Augustine. He just hadn't thought it would happen so soon or so easily. Now he had another body on his hands, one he needed to get rid of before someone discovered what he'd done.
Lysander was very thankful that Charlotte was with his parents for a long weekend. He'd have hated for her to be in the flat while he committed so heinous a crime.
He felt very agitated and jumpy, as if he'd consumed an exorbitant amount of caffeine. Lysander didn't want to let the body fester in his flat for longer than possible and so decided to call on Julian for help, though he didn't want to drag Julian in on his problems if it could be avoided. Should something ever happen to him, Lysander wanted Julian to care for Charlotte, and that certainly couldn't happen if they wound up cellmates at Azkaban.
Lysander used a dishtowel to wipe his face and his bloody hand and then quickly moved out of his flat to the stairwell that led into Twice Told Tales. He only peered down the stairs, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself in case he looked like he'd just murdered a man. Luckily, Julian happened to see him and without any words exchanged between them, seemed to know that Lysander required a private conversation with his friend. Julian followed Lysander up the stairs and into the flat. Lysander wordlessly led Julian into the kitchen, where the body of Augustine Ravenscroft was where he'd left it only moments earlier.
Knowledge Of A Murder
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 03-02-07 19:56
Seeing the body in Lysander's kitchen, Julian thinks but does not say aloud, "Getting to be quite the serial killer, Lys."
What he does say aloud is, "You're cleaned up?"
"I think so," Lysander answers, holding up his hands and turning slowly around for Julian to inspect.
"No, you'll need to change clothes. I hope you aren't overly attached to what you're wearing. Change, go to London or something. Eat if you've the stomach. When you come back, if anyone says something about the change of clothes, like Edgar, say you got a stain that no amount of scourgifying would get rid of. Wad the clothes up and leave them on him."
Lysander starts to move out of the kitchen. "And him? Any ideas?"
"Yes, but it will wait. When you return, take at least half an hour, I'll have my turn going to lunch."
Knowing without asking that Julian's using the phrase going to lunch very euphamistically, Lysander doesn't stick around to query Julian further. Julian thinks all this with Lysander is getting far out of hand but he'd be a hypocrite if he says much of anything. Afton Carew's corpse, wherever it rots in a grave now, is testament to Julian's own handiwork when under pressure to protect his daughter. It would certainly help though if Lysander didn't have such messy methods with blood to clean up afterwards.
Julian goes back downstairs, returning to rearranging a display of OWL and NEWT study guides. Some are used, though in very good condition, and others are new. Most of the books Twice Told Tales carries are used, many vintage, but some, such as study guides, they do provide new. With Hogwarts just down the road and a library here in town, it's a logical business decision.
Edgar, who'd been to lunch, returns. He doesn't ask where Lysander is, probably assuming the man had gone to lunch. What he does ask is, "Given any more thought to replacing Jacinda?"
"You know, Lys and I haven't really spoken about that. We should. It's too bad Jacinda finished her massage therapy training. At least she's giving each of us our first massages fresh, eh?"
Edgar grins, "From things she's said, Jacinda would like to give you more for free than just a massage, Julian." Edgar chortles then moves across the shop to help one of the bookstore's more elderly, very regular customers.
Just under an hour later Lysander returns. Julian waits another twenty minutes then says, "I guess I'll be off to lunch now. I think I've got the makings for a sandwich but if not, I'll pop out somewhere."
Going up the stairs Julian hopes that what he's been going over in his head will work as he hopes. For Lysander's sake - and his own as well - Julian hopes so.
Japan
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 03-02-07 20:56
Julian, even under cover of an invisibility cloak, has the sense of being watched and soon caught. He knows it's just nerves from carting around this dead body. Although it's the dead of night - Julian nearly laughs aloud from nervousness at the unintended pun that just passed through his mind - there are glaring spotlights and a great deal of activity. Julian is careful where he treads and of not making enough noise to attract attention.
Pretty much on the other side of the world from Scotland and Hogsmeade, Japan is not someplace Julian had expected to be anytime soon. Yet here he is, with a body to get rid of no less. Lysander owes him big time. Not that Julian would remind him of the fact. Not in any seriousness. Best friends who are like brothers don't do that sort of thing and mean it.
To get in and out unseen, Julian had first gone to his parents. Very recently he'd found out his parents own an invisibility cloak. That in itself didn't surprise Julian. His parents are rich enough to afford a good many of them if they want. The surprise was only finding out less than a month ago that they have one at all and have done for years. How that fact got by him he's not certain. He would have loved to have known before because there are any number of interesting uses to put such a cloak to.
Returning to Lysander's flat, Julian had put on some old clothes he'll get rid of after this, placed his friend's bloodied clothes into a bag then levitated the corpse. Invisibility cloak over the dead man and himself, Julian had started the first of several jumps by Floo, the last few of which are international conduits.
His destination of Japan is not random. Two days ago The Daily Prophet ran a story about a devastating earthquake to hit one of Japan's islands, Hokkaidÿ. The reason it made a Wizarding paper is because that island's largest city and prefectural capital was affected. Sapporo has a nice sized Wizarding community and it received a great deal of damage just like its Muggle counterpart.
With the earthquake having occurred only two days ago, rescue operations are still underway. There's still time before the rescue operation is officially termed a recovery operation. That's why there are spotlights and people around though Julian knows from having been here before that with a city this size, there would be lights on and people around at this time of night anyway. Just not spotlights and people wearing helmets and other protective gear.
Finding the place he's looking for, Julian uses the natural night time shadows and those created by some of the spotlights to conceal what the invisibility cloak won't hide. In the rubble, ruins which help to also shield his actions, Julian uses his wand to move around debris. He puts the levitated body down when he's satisfied with what he's done.
After the last Floo trip and before apparating to the damaged portion of the city, Julian had taken a moment to strip the body of its Wizarding robes and to put on it a pair of pajamas. Julian covers the pajama clad body with the debris he'd moved and steps away. When the body is pulled from the rubble, it will be deemed another dead tourist or businessman staying at this now destroyed hotel. The wound in the neck will be put down as being caused when the hotel smashed down in the earthquake.
Although Japan has many large structures that are so called earthquake proof, the earthquake that hit was very large and damage to older sections of the city was substantial but new parts were badly damaged as well. This hotel is a Muggle one that Julian ate lunch in once when in Sapporo before. From what he saw of it, he thought it would be one to ride out a large earthquake relatively unscathed. Under the circumstances Julian can't say he's terribly upset that it didn't.
The job done, Julian disapparates away to dispose of the dead man's clothes and Lysander's. Julian goes through several international Floo conduits, making a stop in Athens. In a bathroom stall, Julian changes into the clothes he was wearing at work then while taking a stroll through a park he uses bushes to conceal the job of incinerating them all. When he returns to use the Floo again the clothes are nothing but ashes scattered on the wind.
When Julian returns to Twice Told Tales he's very tired from all the Flooing while keeping a dead body and himself concealed with an invisibility cloak, the apparating with a corpse, then doing it all again, though mercifully without dead weight in tow, and all without actually getting a single bite to eat.
Seeing him, Edgar comments, "Doesn't look like you had a relaxing lunch."
Julian smiles that dimpled smile as thouh he hadn't a care in the world. "Yes, well, I met someone and we ended up not having anything for lunch. Not food anyway."
Edgar laughs, knowing all too well how easily women fall for Julian, and goes about his business, leaving Julian to wait on someone wanting to place a special order.