There's a possibility, there's a possibility ... [R for imagery]
“Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me …” The words of the song were lost to a merry hum as Bella continued to pace around the very outskirts of Hogsmeade.
“You’re the guest of honor, love,” she murmured to the fresh, levitated corpse she was guiding behind her. The wrist were slashed and blood dripped in a steady stream as she continued on their course. “Made it all possible,” she purred.
Humming again to herself, Bella continue to pick her way through the brush and around obstacles - sure to do it exactly the same way every time she trekked around the village.
The moonlight showed her the marker for her starting point and the humming dissipated. This was the last step. Fresh death’s blood to bind it, a death sacrifice to give it power, strength, and her own to tie it to her. It was forbidden magic, even with animal sacrifice. Human sacrifice was strongest; they had the most life force to give.
Cutting off the spell for her levitating corpse when the last drop of blood closed the third circle, it dropped to the damp grass in a twisted heap.
It was then that her gaze shifted to the bound woman several strides away. She’d quit struggling awhile ago now, but as she saw Bella come for her, the white of her eyes showed bright in the darkness.
“It won’t take long, dove,” Bella cooed, a flick of her wand levitating the young woman. “A quick death,” she promised, finger tenderly tracing down the soft cheek of her chosen sacrifice.
Levitating her to the point of beginnings and ends in the warding circle she’d made around the village, Bella gently settled her to the grass and knelt beside her. A large knife was pulled from the folds of her cloak, the blade as long as her forearm, the handle writ with dark runic magic.
Bella began murmuring the spell then, the Latin rolling off her tongue seamlessly as she stretched the white throat of her sacrifice, exposing. As the words rolled off her tongue, magic thickened the ozone, dark and creeping. Any near enough to feel such a thing would dream it, the inky, creeping blackness.
Voice strong and steady as she came to the end of the chant, Bella struck the white exposed throat with her knife. One blow to kill and blood poured, binding the beginning and end into one, thickening the ward. Eyes inking to black until there was no white left, Bella began the second chant and dug a deep groove into her palm with the tip of her knife.
The last words dripped off her lips in a rush of power even as her own blood joined the dark pool already there. When it joined her sacrifice, power snapped into place and then rippled out. Bella knelt for several minutes until it could not be felt, and then several more until the crickets began to sing again.
Smile curling her lips, she stood in a sinuous movement. It was done. It was bound to her, and the next she stepped foot inside that circle, inside Hogsmeade, there would be death, and it would beget life.
Chuckling, Bella began to hum again as she collected the bodies. Best to destroy tonight’s evidence. Soon, though, there would be piles and she’d claim them all.
“Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me …”
SUMMARY: Bella prepares Hogsmeade for her birthday celebration on Halloween night. [R for imagery]
“You’re the guest of honor, love,” she murmured to the fresh, levitated corpse she was guiding behind her. The wrist were slashed and blood dripped in a steady stream as she continued on their course. “Made it all possible,” she purred.
Humming again to herself, Bella continue to pick her way through the brush and around obstacles - sure to do it exactly the same way every time she trekked around the village.
The moonlight showed her the marker for her starting point and the humming dissipated. This was the last step. Fresh death’s blood to bind it, a death sacrifice to give it power, strength, and her own to tie it to her. It was forbidden magic, even with animal sacrifice. Human sacrifice was strongest; they had the most life force to give.
Cutting off the spell for her levitating corpse when the last drop of blood closed the third circle, it dropped to the damp grass in a twisted heap.
It was then that her gaze shifted to the bound woman several strides away. She’d quit struggling awhile ago now, but as she saw Bella come for her, the white of her eyes showed bright in the darkness.
“It won’t take long, dove,” Bella cooed, a flick of her wand levitating the young woman. “A quick death,” she promised, finger tenderly tracing down the soft cheek of her chosen sacrifice.
Levitating her to the point of beginnings and ends in the warding circle she’d made around the village, Bella gently settled her to the grass and knelt beside her. A large knife was pulled from the folds of her cloak, the blade as long as her forearm, the handle writ with dark runic magic.
Bella began murmuring the spell then, the Latin rolling off her tongue seamlessly as she stretched the white throat of her sacrifice, exposing. As the words rolled off her tongue, magic thickened the ozone, dark and creeping. Any near enough to feel such a thing would dream it, the inky, creeping blackness.
Voice strong and steady as she came to the end of the chant, Bella struck the white exposed throat with her knife. One blow to kill and blood poured, binding the beginning and end into one, thickening the ward. Eyes inking to black until there was no white left, Bella began the second chant and dug a deep groove into her palm with the tip of her knife.
The last words dripped off her lips in a rush of power even as her own blood joined the dark pool already there. When it joined her sacrifice, power snapped into place and then rippled out. Bella knelt for several minutes until it could not be felt, and then several more until the crickets began to sing again.
Smile curling her lips, she stood in a sinuous movement. It was done. It was bound to her, and the next she stepped foot inside that circle, inside Hogsmeade, there would be death, and it would beget life.
Chuckling, Bella began to hum again as she collected the bodies. Best to destroy tonight’s evidence. Soon, though, there would be piles and she’d claim them all.
“Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me …”
SUMMARY: Bella prepares Hogsmeade for her birthday celebration on Halloween night. [R for imagery]