"Victor. Victor?"
"Hm?" Vic looked up as McGonagall called him during the Order meeting a month after Alexandria had been spotted by Fred Weasley at Charlie's cabin.
"I said is there any recent news," McGonagall looked expectantly at him. But she gave him a sympathetic look, she was taking Alexandria's disappearance hard just as much, but Vic was distraught bordering on insanity to many of the Order.
"Not since the article that said Desmond was reported as captured," Vic said gruffly, his knuckles whitening slightly in his lap.
He could've prevented that, could've protected Alexandria. But she had to leave. Had to try and protect Vic and anyone else she could. Then she got kidnapped and it was all over the papers, everywhere he looked it was another picture of her face and the words captured underneath. It made his blood boil and that familiar red tint cloud his vision.
"Let's just hope she can withstand the Dark Lord's interrogation," Lupin commented.
"Or Lestrange's," Tonks put in softly.
"Just stop," Vic turned his head away from the couple as they sat across from him.
Silence filled the room as Vic pushed his chair away from the table and stood up, "I apologize...I should go," he muttered, not wanting to hear anymore. He looked at Tonks and Lupin who gave understanding smiles before Vic quickly left the room.
He could spend hours talking with them, learning everything they had to offer, but not now. Not without Alexandria. Without her he felt empty and cold, she was the light and constant in his world, without her he didn't know what to do with himself. He had always had a simple goal: protect Alexandria. But without her around, that goal was meaningless and there was nothing he could do about it. His world felt small and bleak, he had poured so much of himself into protecting Alexandria since the day he met her and when he discovered her secret he dropped everything for her.
Now the world was empty and dark.
"Mate, hang on for a moment," Fred gripped his shoulder when Vic passed him in the hall.
"She just had to go and try to be brave," Vic muttered as he shoved Fred's hand off his shoulder.
"Are you still mad at her?" Fred whispered.
"Aren't you?" Vic scoffed.
Fred shook his head, "I was but...not anymore. Because I understand, now I'm just determined to get her back."
"She dumped you and left, and you're talking about getting her back?" Vic said a bit too hostile. "She's not going to come back to you. Ever. Even if she somehow manages to survive being held prisoner, she'll never come back to you."
Fred's fist was hard as he punched Vic in the stomach, "Alexandria is your best mate and this is how you talk about her?"
"My best friend doesn't just--"
"She left to protect you!" Fred shouted, getting close in Vic's face, "I personally watched her change and I wish I hadn't. It was terrifying and when she looked up at me...those eyes..." a shiver moved down Fred's spine as he reflected on the past. Vic nodded in understanding, he felt the same when he saw those bottomless black pits. "She tried drinking my blood, Vic."
Vic only glared being at a loss of words as the two stared at each other. "She drank mine." Fred raised an eyebrow at this, "I thought she was going to die. I thought it'd save her life by giving her my blood."
"Is that why you're so mad with her? Because you saved her life and she left?" Fred questioned. "They were after her, they would've killed us if we were anywhere near her. She did the right thing."
"Just leave me alone, Fred," Vic said defeated, the fire in his chest dwindling, as he averted his gaze.
"Well, I'm going to figure out a way to save her," Fred puffed out his chest slightly and nodded confidently.
"She's being held prisoner by Death Eaters, god knows where, and you want to save her...that's virtually impossible," Vic repeated what Lupin had told him thousands of times before it finally sank in. Which also pained Vic horribly, he couldn't even dream of saving Alexandria....Which left him cold and empty inside.
"There's always a way," Fred said. Vic looked at him, seeing that determined look he had the day he and George decided that they wanted to create a joke shop or joined Dumbledore's Army. Deep down Vic was ecstatic that Fred had come back into his life, even if Vic had given up hope on the idea that he could save Alexandria, he was happy that Fred was still confident.
Someone needed to be.
~*~*~
Far off Alexandria laid on the floor of a cellar, watching a pipe slowly drip water overhead as the craving of blood burned away at her. She didn't know how long she had been down there but she felt herself slowly dying. Alexandria had always felt that the monster within her was a different being that clawed at her from the inside out, the longer she denied its needs, and the longer she sat there without getting blood the more she felt the monster slowly die.
She couldn't live without blood for much longer, she was bound to go insane. But she had a plan, given her time alone in this dark and dreary cellar, she had a bold plan but being as weak as she was Alexandria was worried it wouldn't ever work. Alexandria moaned in pain as her back ached from the unforgiving floor.
"Here."
Alexandria lifted her head up and looked toward the gate, at the bars was Draco Malfoy with a small cup, he stayed at the bars not moving an inch. "I can't move," she motioned to the shackles attached to her wrists that were slowly deteriorating with time.
Draco nodded, opening the gate and closing it behind him as he placed the cup of what appeared to be water on the floor by her feet. "Thank you, Draco," Alexandria smiled as Draco took a few steps out of her reach. Alexandria smirked at the motion but didn't say a word as she slowly sat up.
"How do you know my name?" he whispered.
"Went to school with you, watched you torment students, you stunned me from running away when Umbridge was around, got me in detention," her voice was hoarse and barely more than a whisper but that didn't matter down here, it echoed against the walls.
"I watched you mutilate a man last year," Draco spoke softly.
"At the time I thought he killed my best friend," Alexandria drank the water and sighed at the satisfaction of having something move down her throat.
"I'll take the cup if you're done."
"Whatever you want, you won't get it." Alexandria spoke softly, Draco frowned. "You've all been torturing me for days and I have nothing to tell you. I'm useless."
"Let them hear that and they'll kill you."
"Aren't you a part of them?" Alexandria tilted her head to the side.
"I brought you water, what do you think?"
"I think you fear that I'll come and kill you because I can't die. I can only be suppressed, and the second I get blood you believe that I will seek you out and sink my teeth so far into your jugular that you'll feel them touch bone. You're terrified of what I am, admit it."
Draco didn't speak, he only snatched away the cup and walked off quickly, Alexandria smirked and re-positioned the shackles that cut into her wrists. She looked at the dried blood on her wrists and sighed, what she wouldn't give for just a drop of blood...but no one would be stupid enough to give that to her, a vampire that has been deprived of blood for so long to be given just one drop is a deadly creature.
Alexandria had drifted off to a restless sleep when she was roused with a kick to the stomach, she lifted her head. Moving it from side to side, riding it of the cracks from sleeping propped up against a stone wall. She looked up to meet the sneer of Bellatrix Lestrange, she twirled her wand in her fingers as she studied Alexandria thoughtfully.
"Wakie, wakie, bloodsucker!" Bellatrix jeered.
"I have nothing to give you," Alexandria spoke quietly.
Bellatrix only smirked, flicking her wand effortlessly and producing a snake that coiled around Alexandria's throat and constricting tightly. Taking away any and all air from Alexandria as she sat there, the shackles cutting into her wrists as the snake tightened its grip. She willed herself to block her mind, she couldn't give anything to them. If they gained access into her mind Alexandria would surely die on the spot.
"Tell me where your little vampire friends are," Bellatrix whispered.
"I don't have any vampire friends," Alexandria choked out, her eyes beginning to blur, her vision slowly going.
"What a pity," she mused before kicking in her knees with sharply pointed boots and releasing her neck. Lestrange let out a cackle, "do you know why you're here?"
"No," Alexandria said hoarsely.
"You're going to be our little...pet," Bellatrix smiled.
"I will not be your little pet," Alexandria spat in disgust.
Bellatrix let out a snort and twirled her wand in her hand, "oh but you will....with time."
Bellatrix lashed her wand at Alexandria, she felt her body convulse and she felt as if she were experiencing the change for a second time in her life as she gasped out from the pain. No air entered her body, no tears fell, her heart was still as she laid there, Bellatrix continued to torture her. The only thought that kept Alexandria awake was the idea of escape, oh how she wished for freedom...to feel the sun on her skin and smell honeysuckle in the evening breeze.
When the pain was released, Alexandria's vision was black and she felt her ribs meet the sharp edge of a boot, before the familiar sound of the gate being closed with a click provided comfort. Nothing had made her want to escape and run more than just now.
~*~*~
Alexandria had just closed her eyes for a moment when the metal scratched against the stone, she cringed and lifted her head slightly to see Severus Snape gazing down at her. Pure shock written across his normally expressionless face.
"What?" Alexandria said hoarsely, "I don't have anything for you."
"How long have you been down here?" Snape said in his dull tone.
"You tell me," Alexandria raised an eyebrow.
Snape looked around, "when was the last time you had blood?"
"Minutes before I was taken here," Alexandria moved her left wrist as the shackle dug into her flesh, she felt something wet drip down her arm. She didn't bother to watch the blood as it trickled like a river, she was use to it at this point. Her brain longed for that blood to be someone else's, to provide her with some sustenance in this prison.
"They plan to suppress your hunger and use it to their advantage. You're their greatest weapon."
"Did you happen to mention how that won't work?" Alexandria scoffed, "no matter how much torture you inflict on me, no matter how long you keep me chained up, I will never be a puppet."
Snape had no emotion, all emotion had disappeared years ago...But he raised an eyebrow at the girl in front of him, covered in dirt and smeared with her own blood that caked over cuts and wounds that were slowly becoming infected as her fast healing couldn't keep up with all the torture inflicted by Bellatrix Lestrange herself. "It surely is astounding to see how much....spirit you still possess."
"It astounds me too," Alexandria spoke darkly, "what do you want?"
"Where is your coven?"
"I wasn't part of any coven," Alexandria shook her head.
Snape looked unconvinced, "if you would just comply...things would be easier," he revealed a bottle the size of the palm of the hand filled a quarter of the way with a familiar dark liquid. Alexandria was instantly on her knees, pulling at her restraints as she tried to get at the bottle. Her incisors prodding her lip as she snarled and twisted against her bindings.
"I'm telling you the truth," her fangs emerged as she stared at the bottle longingly.
"Have you run into any other vampires?"
"I'm the only one I've met unfortunately," Alexandria lied yet again.
Snape was silent for several minutes, Alexandria knew what he was doing having learned the talent herself from McGonagall.
"Who taught you how to block your mind?" Snape asked in slight wonder.
"Wouldn't you like to know, sir?" Alexandria sneered.
Snape looked outraged but it passed as soon as it appeared, "If you want to survive this, I suggest you comply and stop with your backlash."
Alexandria raised an eyebrow, "you want me to comply? Then alright." Alexandria readied herself as Snape walked through her mind, looking for the information he wanted.
If Alexandria survived this she had so many people to thank, McGonagall was top of her list for teaching her to block her mind. Even altering a memory for your own gain was possible. And if it weren't for her...Snape may have not stepped back in surprise and looked at her in disappointment.
"Was that compliance or would you like more?" Alexandria asked quietly.
Snape was silent, the two stared at each other for several long minutes before Snape looked behind him.
"Don't let this go to waste," he said in his monotone voice before stepping forward. Alexandria watched with surprise as Severus Snape released her shackles just enough that the wrists could slip out freely and placed the small bottle behind her back on the floor.
"Professor..." Alexandria gulped from shock.
Snape took a step back and gazed at her, "every evening Draco is posted outside the gate for watch. Don't harm him."
Alexandria raised an eyebrow as Snape turned on his heel, shutting the gate violently behind him. Alexandria only smirked, Vic would've been proud of her, it was like she channeled him in that instant...As she slunk back against the wall she thought of many things. How she needed to thank McGonagall so desperately for what she taught her. Alexandria would have to devise her escape plan, which would take some time seeing as she was so weak. But with her small supply of blood, that was soon to be fixed.
With a sigh, Alexandria smiled to herself, earlier she had thought there was no escape, that she would die down here. But now there was hope. And with this hope one big thought came to mind. He had fire red hair and brown eyes that always smoldered when she looked at him...hopefully she would see him again.
~*~*~
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