What a nice day for a murder
WARNING: VIOLENCE.
It took every ounce of restraint Bishop had not to tear the note to shreds. It was obvious from the mocking words. Today was the day - his last chance to get his family back - and he wasn't any closer to locating them than the day Dora'd been taken. Picking the damned parchment up again, Bishop shook it in frustration. The whole missive was crap. Verdelet didn't have an Uncle Cedric. His mother was an only child and his father was any one of a thousand men she'd bedded.
He needed help. They had to move now, but move where? The whole department had been working on this and they'd turned up nothing. Spotting Hestia, he crossed to where she was standing, checking in with Romilda's trainee from the looks of it, and held out the note.
"He's killing her today."
Blood instantly started pounding in Hestia's ears. "The hell he is. How do you know? What... what is that?"
"His latest taunt. Some nonsense about losing Dora's company and drowning kittens at his Uncle Cedric's farm or some shit. Fucker doesn't even have an Uncle Cedric. He's just letting me know I've run out of time." Bishop's face was red and his voice hoarse as he spoke.
"Wait, wait, wait. Cedric?" Euan ran a hand through his hair as he began to shuffle through the papers on his desk. "I know that name. I know I know it." Triumphantly, he held up a piece of parchment, filled with notes. A quick glance over it had the trainee grinning. "Cedric Price. Ran with Verdelet's mother for a time when the man was young."
Bishop grabbed the parchment from Euan's hands, wide-eyed. Fucking Merlin. He scanned the paper, an old therapist's report on the younger Verdelet brother, the one Bishop had killed. "Is there an address? Where did he live?" There was no reason to think Verdelet was at this man's home, but it was the first and only lead they'd had.
"I think so?" Euan's voice hitched as he shrank slightly under the man's hard look."I mean, I cross referenced the name in the archives as soon as I came across it, but I didn't get to look at everything yet." Summoning the correct file from the stack that littered his desk, the young man began to flip through it quickly. "Here's a house deed." He passed it over to the hitwizard.
A flicker of hope lit inside Bishop as he stared at the address. Clapping Euan on the back, he grinned a bit madly. "Good work, Abercrombie. Good work." His eyes turned to Hestia. "We need to move. Now."
Euan tentatively returned the grin. It was nice for something in this god awful week to go right.
Hestia grabbed a trainee who was walking by. "Owl Sirius Black and Draco Malfoy these coordinates."
She showed Enid Stone, said trainee, the deed.
"But-"
"Stone, do as you are told. I am going with the angry mob to fetch Auror Tonks. I am sure her cousins would like to inflict some damage."
Stone took off running for the Ministry's owlery without another word.
Hestia looked at Bishop. "I'm ready." She looked at Euan. "Good work, Abercrombie. Come by my office for a chat soon, yes?"
Euan nodded. "Yes'm. Anything else I can do?"
"You do the same for Joscelin Jones. Tell him I'm already there," Bishop said, already starting for the Apparation point. His brother would turn up and it might be good to have him there. Bishop didn't have much in the way of restraint where Verdelet was concerned, and Malfoy and Black weren't likely to outshine him in that department.
Hestia stalked after Bishop, fairly certain wildfire could not spread as fast as the word that they were getting Tonks.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Corbin stood at the counter, running the blade over the whetstone in an easy rhythm. He'd always enjoyed the smooth shhhpp of metal against stone; it relaxed him for the challenge ahead. He'd been too rash when he killed Theresa Robins. It was quick. There was no meaning, no lasting effect in her death.
This time it would be different.
Lifting the knife to the light, he ran a finger lightly along the blade. Blood began to flow in a trickle, running onto his palm, and Corbin smiled and started down the stairs. "Nymphadora? Are you awake?"
Her eyes cracked open. She'd been quiet and meditative since the episode with her aunt the night before.
"You've not earned the privilege to call me by my given name, Corbin, as I've repeatedly told you. I do hope you hadn't planned on having children." Her mouth curled up in a nasty snear as her hand closed over the fork she'd managed to sneak into her hand from lunch.
You won't have to endure it much longer, he thought, sheathing the knife in the back of his trousers. "No, I believe this will be the closest I come to being responsible for the birth of a child." Corbin pulled out his wand and trained it on Tonks, smiling. "I'll need you to lie on the cot, dear. Let's not make this time as difficult as the last, shall we?"
"The fuck you will be, if you think you're coming near my child," Tonks replied calmly, not letting her rage and fear color her tone. He was not coming near her child with that thing. Oh, hell no. The gloves were off. If she had boots? They'd be on.
"And where the hell are the boots I requested?"
Chuckling, he arched a brow. "There's no need for boots here. Your shoes have served quite well." Motioning toward the cot, he said a bit more firmly, "Now, on the cot with you. I don't want you falling again. What would your husband say if he found you bruised and battered? He'd think I mistreated you during your stay."
"This wasn't a fucking stay. You attacked me, kidnapped me, and are now threatening my child. Bullshit, I'm not cooperating. Besides, what kind of real man uses a wand to take out a pregnant woman. A heavily pregnant woman. Pussy."
"A smart one," he replied dryly. She was going to be difficult. It was hardly a surprise, but he had hoped leave her unmarked but for the incisions he himself would make. He wasn't a monster. Rascaile's wife had been well fed while Corbin kept her. She hadn't been ill treated. Even now he was being kind, planning for her to see her child before she died.
Corbin sighed heavily. "Very well. We'll do it your way. You dance around in circles while I aim hexes at you. On three. One. Two." A bolt of red light shot from his wand.
She didn't dodge the way she had earlier in the week, when she was still rattled and unsure. Tonks simply moved to the right a bit as she felt the hex whiz past her elbow.
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that really your best? Honestly, my dead mother could have missed that." She didn't need to fly about in her usual manner, but just keep out of the way. He telegraphed what he was going to do with his chest. She just had to keep watching him.
"I don't believe I'll miss your sarcasm." His eyes narrowed, concentrating on the minute shifts of her body. He'd been kind to her and she was making this difficult. The whole time she'd been in his care she'd been obstinate and had he retaliated? No. Not once. But even now the bitch wouldn't give a fucking inch.
Hand moving like a whip, Corbin tried again to subdue her.
"Awww, how sweet. And here I was thinking we'd made some sort of bond. Asshat. Try again," Tonks replied, moving to the center of the cage after he missed, again.
This time he didn't wait, didn't respond. He just fired off a binding hex without warning. Taunting little whore. He'd had enough of her.
Tonks fell to the ground, frozen, but already starting to fight the hex. She was not going down with a fight, and the man was not coming anywhere near her or her baby with a hex.
Damn. Damned shite fucking asshatting buggerer.
Satisfied and smug, Corbin stepped into the cell. Tonks had fallen on her back, and he stood over the motionless woman, sneering. "All I asked was for a little cooperation. You had to fight me. Over and over I tried to make things easy for you and yet you don't show the slightest gratitude, you arrogant bitch. What if you'd harmed your child? You'd never have gotten to see him before you died. You are a very lucky woman."
Oh, yes, because I was needing a vacation. Instead of using my time off, maybe some time on the beach or with my nephews, I'd prefer to be stuck in a cell, no shower, no books, and fed by a man who reminds me of a psychopathic Mr Rogers. Thanks, really. Asshole.
Carefully, he lifted Tonks onto the cot, raising her shirt to expose her stomach. Tracing a ridge along the stretched skin, he spoke quietly. "This is likely where his back is pressing. Isn't it amazing how close he is, and yet how entirely separate his world is from ours? I'll have to be very careful not to cut too deeply."
He hand slid to another part of Tonks' belly, a light trail of blood from his cut palm . "I think his head is here. He's a good-sized boy. Larger than the charts estimate for this time. Not surprising, really. Your husband is something of a mutant. Soon, though, he'll be a broken man. He'll understand what he's done, that he's brought it all on himself."
With a smile, Corbin reached behind and pulled out the freshly whetted blade. "It's time, Nymphadora. Don't worry. You won't be crossing over alone." Bending low, he pressed a cold kiss to her forehead.
The kiss was his mistake, really. The closest he'd gotten to her since he'd snatched her from the beach. He should never, ever had messed with a pregnant Black. Mixed feelings of rage, love, and protection showed on her face an instant after she threw the hex. Finally.
Her mouth was set in a grim line as the fork in her hand stabbed high in his thigh, and her fingernails raked down the side of his face, catching the corner of his eye. Tonks pushed herself back from him as fast as she could, before Verdelet could catch hold of her.
"Yeah. Right. How 'bout no." Her butt hit the floor and she winced.
The sound that came from her captor was animalistic in its rage. His eye twitched as he grabbed the fork from his thigh, blood flowing freely from the wound, and hurled it at Tonks. "Bitch!" he screamed, rushing her and kicking her solidly in the ribs. She would not ruin this for him.
"Damnit!" She held her ribs as she kicked out a foot to catch him in the knee. "If that makes me a bitch, then yes." She grabbed her fork again and managed to hold it in front of her. She wasn't getting up. Not easily, or without placing her child in prime damage position.
Grunting as his knee nearly buckled, Corbin swung the knife down, slicing the hand that held the flatware-turned-weapon. The fork hit the floor with a clatter and Corbin kicked it across the cell. "You ungrateful whore. Get up!"
She struggled to move, to push past the burning pain in her ribs. Her hands found the cot, and she pushed herself up, slowly, keeping her eyes on the bleeding man in the middle of the cell.
"You're going to bleed to death."
He could feel the blood running down his leg, but Corbin wasn't about to take his eyes off the vicious harpy. Wounded and pregnant or not, she was wily. "Not yet," he said, voice shaking in anger. "Get on the cot."
"No." She kept moving against the wall, making her way towards the exit. Hoping she'd pissed him off enough that he'd forget his wand. That the blood running down his leg would run faster, so that he would pass out from blood loss.
"You aren't going anywhere, Nymphadora." She didn't stop, though, just kept inching for the door. He hadn't come this far to be thwarted now. Without warning, his fist flew at her, a sneer growing as he felt her head snap back into the wall, her nose giving way under the pressure.
"Shit, fuck, ow. What the hell was that for?!" Tonks screeched as she cupped her nose. She blinked rapidly against the tears forming in her eyes.
He was running out of time, and his leg was beginning to get wobbly. He needed to see to his injury before it made him sloppy. Efficiency was important, and he couldn't be efficient while he worried about blood loss. His own blood loss. No, he'd go upstairs and bandage his leg tightly, then finish what he'd started.
Taking advantage of the fact Tonks was momentarily distracted, Corbin limped out the cell door, shutting it solidly behind him. "A brief reprieve, then, Nymphadora. When I come back, you can meet your child. If you're lucky, you might even get a glimpse of your husband before you die."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They were in an open field, facing an old three-story farmhouse. Bishop had wanted to charge right in, but Hestia had convinced him they should wait for the others to arrive. 'Convincing' him involved her wand pointing at him steadily and frequent reminders that they couldn't have Malfoy, Black, and Joscelin wandering into a potential fight blind.
Fortunately, it hadn't taken long for the owls to deliver their messages and Draco and Sirius had arrived before Bishop decided to risk the hexing. His brother was still absent, but Bishop was more than ready to go in.
"Alright, we're mostly here. Joscelin won't go in carelessly. Can I go get my wife now?" he groused, itching to get inside. Who knew what Verdelet was doing to Dora while they stood around.
Draco was about to tell Sirius to sniff her out, when someone started talking to him. He almost told the disembodied voice to shut the hell up, but it was leading him.
"We'll get Dora," Draco said, gesturing to Sirius. "You lot get the bad man. Unless you need me to set something on fire to get his attention. I think Black and I could blow something off the house. That'd probably get his attention."
Hestia looked at Bishop. This was his call.
Bishop nodded. Draco and Sirius would make sure Dora got out alright. As much as he wanted to see his wife, he needed to take care of Verdelet and make sure this could never happen again. If he saw Dora before he accomplished that, he'd be distracted. "Go on, get her out."
"So do we go hunting or make him come to us," Hestia asked.
Watching Dora's cousins disappear around the house, Bishop considered their approach. "He won't come out. Too risky. Bastard's been waiting for this day for nearly twenty years. We'll have to search him out."
"I guess what I am asking is if we do things to draw his attention. I'm sure if we started blasting things from the walls, he'd come to see what's going on."
"We should probably make some sort of diversion at the front of the house - blast in the door or start breaking windows. Malfoy and Black will need the cover, and your right, he'll come to see what the situation is. I doubt he'll let us see him, though, so keep a wary eye out." Bishop knew Hestia knew these things. She'd been in her position as long as he'd been in his. Better to make sure they were on the same page, though.
Hestia just flicked her wand at the nearest window, busting the glass outward.
Inside, Corbin raised his head from where he'd been tying a tight bandage to his injury. Shit. Rascaile was here. Hitching his trousers into place, he moved carefully to where he had a view of the front of the house. Rascaile and a dark-haired woman were outside, heading for the front door. Subtlety had never been one of the Hit Wizard's hallmarks.
Bishop blew out another window as they advanced on the house. He didn't bother with cover for himself. Let the bastard come for him. Give him an excuse to strike Verdelet down immediately. It was what he planned to do anyway.
He continued the barrage of destruction, blowing the door from its hinges as he charged into the home. It was possible this could go very wrong. It was possible this was still just the home of a former lover of Verdelet's mother. Bishop didn't think so, though. There was a reason this particular 'uncle' was called out in the owl he'd received.
And he could feel that his wife was here.
Corbin watched from the shadows as Rascaile and the woman entered his home. A dark smile spread across his face as he took in Bishop's appearance. The Hit Wizard looked ferocious and exhausted, the stress and worry obviously having worn his nerves thin. With luck, his reflexes would be slow.
They hadn't seen him yet. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Corbin fired off a hex at the large man. It struck Bishop's shoulder, causing him to yell out in surprise and pain. Corbin's original plan was not to be, but this could be even better. If he could incapacitate the Hit Wizard and his companion, Rascaile could watch him slice the child from his wife's belly, see them bleed out in front of his eyes.
Bishop flattened himself against the wall, trying to make as small a target of himself as possible. Looking back, he saw that Hestia had done the same on the opposite wall. Slowly, keeping their eyes peeled for the slightest movement, they continued down the hall.
The sight of a slender stick of birch had Bishop raising his own wand, but Hestia was quicker, sending a bright red light streaking down the narrow passageway. When Verdelet pulled his arm back, Bishop rushed up the hall and into the room the attack had come from, narrowly avoiding a second curse.
Verdelet bolted from the room with Bishop in pursuit. They traded hexes as they ran through the house, the sound of their footsteps broken occasionally by a grunt or yell when one's spell found its mark. Bishop had lost track of Hestia in his pursuit of Dora's kidnapper, and he nearly hexed her by mistake when she stepped out to block Verdelet's path.
Caught between the two MLE employees, Corbin cursed. He aimed a hex at Bishop and rushed the woman. She was small, he felt certain he could overpower her. He was not prepared for the fist that connected with his face at the same time as Rascaile hit him with a Jelly-Legs curse. "Fuck!"
Binding him quickly, Bishop sneered down at the bastard who'd made his life a living hell. "Not this time, Verdelet. You're game is over."
Summary: With a little help from Euan, Bishop and Hestia discover where Tonks is being held. While they deal with her abductor, Draco and Sirius are sent to rescue their cousin.
It took every ounce of restraint Bishop had not to tear the note to shreds. It was obvious from the mocking words. Today was the day - his last chance to get his family back - and he wasn't any closer to locating them than the day Dora'd been taken. Picking the damned parchment up again, Bishop shook it in frustration. The whole missive was crap. Verdelet didn't have an Uncle Cedric. His mother was an only child and his father was any one of a thousand men she'd bedded.
He needed help. They had to move now, but move where? The whole department had been working on this and they'd turned up nothing. Spotting Hestia, he crossed to where she was standing, checking in with Romilda's trainee from the looks of it, and held out the note.
"He's killing her today."
Blood instantly started pounding in Hestia's ears. "The hell he is. How do you know? What... what is that?"
"His latest taunt. Some nonsense about losing Dora's company and drowning kittens at his Uncle Cedric's farm or some shit. Fucker doesn't even have an Uncle Cedric. He's just letting me know I've run out of time." Bishop's face was red and his voice hoarse as he spoke.
"Wait, wait, wait. Cedric?" Euan ran a hand through his hair as he began to shuffle through the papers on his desk. "I know that name. I know I know it." Triumphantly, he held up a piece of parchment, filled with notes. A quick glance over it had the trainee grinning. "Cedric Price. Ran with Verdelet's mother for a time when the man was young."
Bishop grabbed the parchment from Euan's hands, wide-eyed. Fucking Merlin. He scanned the paper, an old therapist's report on the younger Verdelet brother, the one Bishop had killed. "Is there an address? Where did he live?" There was no reason to think Verdelet was at this man's home, but it was the first and only lead they'd had.
"I think so?" Euan's voice hitched as he shrank slightly under the man's hard look."I mean, I cross referenced the name in the archives as soon as I came across it, but I didn't get to look at everything yet." Summoning the correct file from the stack that littered his desk, the young man began to flip through it quickly. "Here's a house deed." He passed it over to the hitwizard.
A flicker of hope lit inside Bishop as he stared at the address. Clapping Euan on the back, he grinned a bit madly. "Good work, Abercrombie. Good work." His eyes turned to Hestia. "We need to move. Now."
Euan tentatively returned the grin. It was nice for something in this god awful week to go right.
Hestia grabbed a trainee who was walking by. "Owl Sirius Black and Draco Malfoy these coordinates."
She showed Enid Stone, said trainee, the deed.
"But-"
"Stone, do as you are told. I am going with the angry mob to fetch Auror Tonks. I am sure her cousins would like to inflict some damage."
Stone took off running for the Ministry's owlery without another word.
Hestia looked at Bishop. "I'm ready." She looked at Euan. "Good work, Abercrombie. Come by my office for a chat soon, yes?"
Euan nodded. "Yes'm. Anything else I can do?"
"You do the same for Joscelin Jones. Tell him I'm already there," Bishop said, already starting for the Apparation point. His brother would turn up and it might be good to have him there. Bishop didn't have much in the way of restraint where Verdelet was concerned, and Malfoy and Black weren't likely to outshine him in that department.
Hestia stalked after Bishop, fairly certain wildfire could not spread as fast as the word that they were getting Tonks.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Corbin stood at the counter, running the blade over the whetstone in an easy rhythm. He'd always enjoyed the smooth shhhpp of metal against stone; it relaxed him for the challenge ahead. He'd been too rash when he killed Theresa Robins. It was quick. There was no meaning, no lasting effect in her death.
This time it would be different.
Lifting the knife to the light, he ran a finger lightly along the blade. Blood began to flow in a trickle, running onto his palm, and Corbin smiled and started down the stairs. "Nymphadora? Are you awake?"
Her eyes cracked open. She'd been quiet and meditative since the episode with her aunt the night before.
"You've not earned the privilege to call me by my given name, Corbin, as I've repeatedly told you. I do hope you hadn't planned on having children." Her mouth curled up in a nasty snear as her hand closed over the fork she'd managed to sneak into her hand from lunch.
You won't have to endure it much longer, he thought, sheathing the knife in the back of his trousers. "No, I believe this will be the closest I come to being responsible for the birth of a child." Corbin pulled out his wand and trained it on Tonks, smiling. "I'll need you to lie on the cot, dear. Let's not make this time as difficult as the last, shall we?"
"The fuck you will be, if you think you're coming near my child," Tonks replied calmly, not letting her rage and fear color her tone. He was not coming near her child with that thing. Oh, hell no. The gloves were off. If she had boots? They'd be on.
"And where the hell are the boots I requested?"
Chuckling, he arched a brow. "There's no need for boots here. Your shoes have served quite well." Motioning toward the cot, he said a bit more firmly, "Now, on the cot with you. I don't want you falling again. What would your husband say if he found you bruised and battered? He'd think I mistreated you during your stay."
"This wasn't a fucking stay. You attacked me, kidnapped me, and are now threatening my child. Bullshit, I'm not cooperating. Besides, what kind of real man uses a wand to take out a pregnant woman. A heavily pregnant woman. Pussy."
"A smart one," he replied dryly. She was going to be difficult. It was hardly a surprise, but he had hoped leave her unmarked but for the incisions he himself would make. He wasn't a monster. Rascaile's wife had been well fed while Corbin kept her. She hadn't been ill treated. Even now he was being kind, planning for her to see her child before she died.
Corbin sighed heavily. "Very well. We'll do it your way. You dance around in circles while I aim hexes at you. On three. One. Two." A bolt of red light shot from his wand.
She didn't dodge the way she had earlier in the week, when she was still rattled and unsure. Tonks simply moved to the right a bit as she felt the hex whiz past her elbow.
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that really your best? Honestly, my dead mother could have missed that." She didn't need to fly about in her usual manner, but just keep out of the way. He telegraphed what he was going to do with his chest. She just had to keep watching him.
"I don't believe I'll miss your sarcasm." His eyes narrowed, concentrating on the minute shifts of her body. He'd been kind to her and she was making this difficult. The whole time she'd been in his care she'd been obstinate and had he retaliated? No. Not once. But even now the bitch wouldn't give a fucking inch.
Hand moving like a whip, Corbin tried again to subdue her.
"Awww, how sweet. And here I was thinking we'd made some sort of bond. Asshat. Try again," Tonks replied, moving to the center of the cage after he missed, again.
This time he didn't wait, didn't respond. He just fired off a binding hex without warning. Taunting little whore. He'd had enough of her.
Tonks fell to the ground, frozen, but already starting to fight the hex. She was not going down with a fight, and the man was not coming anywhere near her or her baby with a hex.
Damn. Damned shite fucking asshatting buggerer.
Satisfied and smug, Corbin stepped into the cell. Tonks had fallen on her back, and he stood over the motionless woman, sneering. "All I asked was for a little cooperation. You had to fight me. Over and over I tried to make things easy for you and yet you don't show the slightest gratitude, you arrogant bitch. What if you'd harmed your child? You'd never have gotten to see him before you died. You are a very lucky woman."
Oh, yes, because I was needing a vacation. Instead of using my time off, maybe some time on the beach or with my nephews, I'd prefer to be stuck in a cell, no shower, no books, and fed by a man who reminds me of a psychopathic Mr Rogers. Thanks, really. Asshole.
Carefully, he lifted Tonks onto the cot, raising her shirt to expose her stomach. Tracing a ridge along the stretched skin, he spoke quietly. "This is likely where his back is pressing. Isn't it amazing how close he is, and yet how entirely separate his world is from ours? I'll have to be very careful not to cut too deeply."
He hand slid to another part of Tonks' belly, a light trail of blood from his cut palm . "I think his head is here. He's a good-sized boy. Larger than the charts estimate for this time. Not surprising, really. Your husband is something of a mutant. Soon, though, he'll be a broken man. He'll understand what he's done, that he's brought it all on himself."
With a smile, Corbin reached behind and pulled out the freshly whetted blade. "It's time, Nymphadora. Don't worry. You won't be crossing over alone." Bending low, he pressed a cold kiss to her forehead.
The kiss was his mistake, really. The closest he'd gotten to her since he'd snatched her from the beach. He should never, ever had messed with a pregnant Black. Mixed feelings of rage, love, and protection showed on her face an instant after she threw the hex. Finally.
Her mouth was set in a grim line as the fork in her hand stabbed high in his thigh, and her fingernails raked down the side of his face, catching the corner of his eye. Tonks pushed herself back from him as fast as she could, before Verdelet could catch hold of her.
"Yeah. Right. How 'bout no." Her butt hit the floor and she winced.
The sound that came from her captor was animalistic in its rage. His eye twitched as he grabbed the fork from his thigh, blood flowing freely from the wound, and hurled it at Tonks. "Bitch!" he screamed, rushing her and kicking her solidly in the ribs. She would not ruin this for him.
"Damnit!" She held her ribs as she kicked out a foot to catch him in the knee. "If that makes me a bitch, then yes." She grabbed her fork again and managed to hold it in front of her. She wasn't getting up. Not easily, or without placing her child in prime damage position.
Grunting as his knee nearly buckled, Corbin swung the knife down, slicing the hand that held the flatware-turned-weapon. The fork hit the floor with a clatter and Corbin kicked it across the cell. "You ungrateful whore. Get up!"
She struggled to move, to push past the burning pain in her ribs. Her hands found the cot, and she pushed herself up, slowly, keeping her eyes on the bleeding man in the middle of the cell.
"You're going to bleed to death."
He could feel the blood running down his leg, but Corbin wasn't about to take his eyes off the vicious harpy. Wounded and pregnant or not, she was wily. "Not yet," he said, voice shaking in anger. "Get on the cot."
"No." She kept moving against the wall, making her way towards the exit. Hoping she'd pissed him off enough that he'd forget his wand. That the blood running down his leg would run faster, so that he would pass out from blood loss.
"You aren't going anywhere, Nymphadora." She didn't stop, though, just kept inching for the door. He hadn't come this far to be thwarted now. Without warning, his fist flew at her, a sneer growing as he felt her head snap back into the wall, her nose giving way under the pressure.
"Shit, fuck, ow. What the hell was that for?!" Tonks screeched as she cupped her nose. She blinked rapidly against the tears forming in her eyes.
He was running out of time, and his leg was beginning to get wobbly. He needed to see to his injury before it made him sloppy. Efficiency was important, and he couldn't be efficient while he worried about blood loss. His own blood loss. No, he'd go upstairs and bandage his leg tightly, then finish what he'd started.
Taking advantage of the fact Tonks was momentarily distracted, Corbin limped out the cell door, shutting it solidly behind him. "A brief reprieve, then, Nymphadora. When I come back, you can meet your child. If you're lucky, you might even get a glimpse of your husband before you die."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They were in an open field, facing an old three-story farmhouse. Bishop had wanted to charge right in, but Hestia had convinced him they should wait for the others to arrive. 'Convincing' him involved her wand pointing at him steadily and frequent reminders that they couldn't have Malfoy, Black, and Joscelin wandering into a potential fight blind.
Fortunately, it hadn't taken long for the owls to deliver their messages and Draco and Sirius had arrived before Bishop decided to risk the hexing. His brother was still absent, but Bishop was more than ready to go in.
"Alright, we're mostly here. Joscelin won't go in carelessly. Can I go get my wife now?" he groused, itching to get inside. Who knew what Verdelet was doing to Dora while they stood around.
Draco was about to tell Sirius to sniff her out, when someone started talking to him. He almost told the disembodied voice to shut the hell up, but it was leading him.
"We'll get Dora," Draco said, gesturing to Sirius. "You lot get the bad man. Unless you need me to set something on fire to get his attention. I think Black and I could blow something off the house. That'd probably get his attention."
Hestia looked at Bishop. This was his call.
Bishop nodded. Draco and Sirius would make sure Dora got out alright. As much as he wanted to see his wife, he needed to take care of Verdelet and make sure this could never happen again. If he saw Dora before he accomplished that, he'd be distracted. "Go on, get her out."
"So do we go hunting or make him come to us," Hestia asked.
Watching Dora's cousins disappear around the house, Bishop considered their approach. "He won't come out. Too risky. Bastard's been waiting for this day for nearly twenty years. We'll have to search him out."
"I guess what I am asking is if we do things to draw his attention. I'm sure if we started blasting things from the walls, he'd come to see what's going on."
"We should probably make some sort of diversion at the front of the house - blast in the door or start breaking windows. Malfoy and Black will need the cover, and your right, he'll come to see what the situation is. I doubt he'll let us see him, though, so keep a wary eye out." Bishop knew Hestia knew these things. She'd been in her position as long as he'd been in his. Better to make sure they were on the same page, though.
Hestia just flicked her wand at the nearest window, busting the glass outward.
Inside, Corbin raised his head from where he'd been tying a tight bandage to his injury. Shit. Rascaile was here. Hitching his trousers into place, he moved carefully to where he had a view of the front of the house. Rascaile and a dark-haired woman were outside, heading for the front door. Subtlety had never been one of the Hit Wizard's hallmarks.
Bishop blew out another window as they advanced on the house. He didn't bother with cover for himself. Let the bastard come for him. Give him an excuse to strike Verdelet down immediately. It was what he planned to do anyway.
He continued the barrage of destruction, blowing the door from its hinges as he charged into the home. It was possible this could go very wrong. It was possible this was still just the home of a former lover of Verdelet's mother. Bishop didn't think so, though. There was a reason this particular 'uncle' was called out in the owl he'd received.
And he could feel that his wife was here.
Corbin watched from the shadows as Rascaile and the woman entered his home. A dark smile spread across his face as he took in Bishop's appearance. The Hit Wizard looked ferocious and exhausted, the stress and worry obviously having worn his nerves thin. With luck, his reflexes would be slow.
They hadn't seen him yet. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Corbin fired off a hex at the large man. It struck Bishop's shoulder, causing him to yell out in surprise and pain. Corbin's original plan was not to be, but this could be even better. If he could incapacitate the Hit Wizard and his companion, Rascaile could watch him slice the child from his wife's belly, see them bleed out in front of his eyes.
Bishop flattened himself against the wall, trying to make as small a target of himself as possible. Looking back, he saw that Hestia had done the same on the opposite wall. Slowly, keeping their eyes peeled for the slightest movement, they continued down the hall.
The sight of a slender stick of birch had Bishop raising his own wand, but Hestia was quicker, sending a bright red light streaking down the narrow passageway. When Verdelet pulled his arm back, Bishop rushed up the hall and into the room the attack had come from, narrowly avoiding a second curse.
Verdelet bolted from the room with Bishop in pursuit. They traded hexes as they ran through the house, the sound of their footsteps broken occasionally by a grunt or yell when one's spell found its mark. Bishop had lost track of Hestia in his pursuit of Dora's kidnapper, and he nearly hexed her by mistake when she stepped out to block Verdelet's path.
Caught between the two MLE employees, Corbin cursed. He aimed a hex at Bishop and rushed the woman. She was small, he felt certain he could overpower her. He was not prepared for the fist that connected with his face at the same time as Rascaile hit him with a Jelly-Legs curse. "Fuck!"
Binding him quickly, Bishop sneered down at the bastard who'd made his life a living hell. "Not this time, Verdelet. You're game is over."
Summary: With a little help from Euan, Bishop and Hestia discover where Tonks is being held. While they deal with her abductor, Draco and Sirius are sent to rescue their cousin.