The Shattering of Souls

well, here i sit once again. i guess i should just start by saying that i am not stealing anything here. i give all credit for nearly all the characters and anything else you recognize to one j.k. rowling. i merely borrow them for all our pleasure. not just mine, even though i\'m the one who sticks them in such awful situations. i just couldn\'t help myself. i\'m not making money from this, nor do i seek to. i merely wish to feel, even for the smallest fraction of time, as if i belong to this wonderful and secret world that ms.rowling has so beautifully created.

ok, so perhaps a small amount of smut will take place with in the confines of this chapter. as such, i expect you all to enjoy it. that\'s what its there for. there will also be some other, less pleasant things that happen here. but i\'m sure you all knew that. you probably figured it out all on your own. i just wanted to let people know, so that they couldn\'t claim i was trying to be mean. i just want you all properly warned and everything.

finally, should you perchance find yourself really enjoying this, or if you have a small problem you wish to see resolved, please do not hesitate to let me. however, do not flame me, as i will use it to roast your ass with. then i have to give the dragon equal share. he\'s crabby these days. i don\'t think he\'s feeling well. after that last really heavy meal of barbequed construction worker, he\'s not been right. maybe he has heartburn. at any rate.... let\'s all just be nice, shall we?

Chapter Sixteen: Setting the Wheels in Motion
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Bri came awake slowly, her body feeling curiously heavy and light all at once. She was laying on her side, her head resting on something rather solid. It took a moment or two for her to gain her bearings. Her cheek was pressed to the firm muscle of Severus\' shoulder, just above his nipple. Her leg was tossed up over his thighs, resting terribly close to his groin. Her hand was laying on his abdomen possessively. Intimately. Finally, she realized just why she felt so odd. Last night, she had let Severus....

A blush stained her cheeks as she recalled how tender he had been with her the night before. She had been so frightened in her dream. Of her dream. And yet, he hadn\'t forced anything with her. He\'d been patient and tender. It had been confusing and exhilarating all at once. She had felt, for those moments when she\'d been pressed in his arms, their bodies straining together, as if she were truly safe. Needed. Wanted. Cherished and cared for. A smile curled her lips up and she snuggled a tiny bit closer.

She felt his arm tighten about her, then he was rolling her over so he could settle on top of her. Bri stared up at Severus, apprehension in her eyes. He offered her his soft smile, then lowered his head to capture her lips with his own. She sighed, only her breath trailing over his skin telling him she had done so. He pressed closer to her, putting nearly all of his weight on her. She shuddered to feel the thick length of him press against her once more. Then his tongue was driving into her mouth and she lost all thought for the moment.

Her body recalled, easily and quite clearly, the memory of his own pressed to hers. How he had felt moving over her and into her. She felt herself growing hot, as if she had a fever. There was a fire raging beneath her skin, a fire that she knew without a doubt could only be doused by him. Her hands crept up over his shoulders, fingers twining in the silken locks to pull his head closer to hers. She moaned low in her throat when his tongue dipped deep into her mouth, probing along the walls and her own tongue.

His hands stroked down her sides, his fingers trailing ever so softly over her rapidly sensitizing skin. Gooseflesh errupted along the path his wonderfully talented digits took. When they reached her thighs, they started back up. At the full curve of her hips, he stopped. His hands wrapped slowly about her hips to pull her closer to him. The action ground his hard erection into her soft flesh. Bri was losing the ability to think. She could only feel. And she wanted to feel him moving deeply inside of her.

She shifted her thighs apart, widening the space between them so that his hips fit there. Her knees bent, then she was locking her feet behind his back. Severus never lifted his head from her mouth, merely kept kissing her deeply. He lifted his hips, redistributed his weight over her until he could feel the hot, wet opening to her core. The head of his cock nudged it gently. Just by that small touch, he could tell that she wanted him. Never once taking his mouth from hers, he pressed into her, filling her slowly with his thick shaft until he could go forward no further.

He lifted his mouth from her hungry lips to kiss along her jawline and shoulder, his hips remaining still. He could feel her body clutch at him, the walls around him tightening down. He waited, simply kissing his way back up to her neck. The skin there was soft and taut, pulled tight by the way she stretched and strained her body in an attempt to make him move. When she decided that he was not going to do so, when he felt her relax under him, he went to work.

Bri cried out when Severus\' teeth latched onto the skin covering her throat. The bite was hard, arching her body up into his. At the same moment, his hips pulled back and surged forward in a swift, even motion that left her panting for breath already. The two actions of both participants saw that he was embedded deeply within her aching center. His teeth let go, his tongue darting out to lave at the spot he\'d just abused. He felt more than heard her sigh, then he bit down again. The action was coupled with another hard thrust.

The body beneath his surged upward again, and she grunted when the head of his erection slammed up against her cervix. He was buried within her as deeply as he could go without pushing past the tight ring that guarded the entrance to her womb. He could do such, could force an incredibly painful coupling with her. But he wanted her trust as much as he wanted her love. It would be so much easier to crush her when he had been given both freely. He could not allow himself to act like Lucius. Not yet, at any rate.

He set a pattern. With each thrust, he bit at her throat. Some bites were harsher than others. The end result was the same. She would bear his mark when they climbed, sweaty and sated, from the bed. Everyone in the house would know that he\'d claimed her as his. And she would wear the mark proudly. The smile that he would have worn, had his mouth not been busy with more pleasurable persuits, would have been frighteningly nasty indeed. He would show them all, especially Bri herself, that he was not a man to be trifled with.

\'Please, Severus,\' she whispered in his ear. The sound of his name hissing past her wonderfully delectable lips saw his hips thrust in deeply. She arched into him again, her hands slipping from his hair to claw at his back. He felt her nails tear his skin, could feel the blood well up into the runnels of ripped flesh. That dark thing that lived inside of him snapped to life at this. Pain and torture was something it thrived on. It wanted to be set loose, so it could inflict the same on the plaint form beneath him.

\' I do not wish to hurt you,\' he lifted his head to speak the words, his voice a tightly controlled whisper. She made no reply, merely rocked her hips up into his as he thrust again. With a great deal of mental strength, he pushed the darkness back, once more locking it in the small corner of his mind he\'d set aside for such things. He would not give in to the temptation to treat her like any other woman he\'d used when he\'d been a Death Eater. He wanted her to need him so desperately that she felt she couldn\'t live without him. Not as afraid of him as she was of Lucius Malfoy.

He carefully measured his strokes, pistoning in and out with a seemingly slow and leisurely pace that promised they had the entire afternoon to copmlete this one act. She was wrapped around him like his robes, her body slick with sweat and sliding against his so wantonly that he wanted nothing more than to release now. But he held the idea back, taking his time with her. He knew there was still much work to be done before she would be ripe for the picking.

He pushed all thoughts of revenge to the back of his mind, shutting them away. In fact, he shut all throught processes down so he could concentrate on feeling. There was no doubt that it felt so very good to have Bri wrapped about him, clinging to him as though she were a vine. It felt... right. Something he wasn\'t about to ponder at length at the moment. He was too concerned with how tight her body was around his. How her muscles clenched and pulled at him as he shifted back and forth within her welcoming flesh. She was so hot and tight. So ready for him.

It amazed him that someone he despised as he did her could make him feel so good. His body thrummed with the need to possess her\'s fully. To spill himself inside of her without thought or care. to ride her to completion slowly, with great skill. Odd thoughts for himself, but he knew that they would only help his cause in the long run. Never before had it felt so good to bury himself within a woman\'s willing flesh. And though she was still suffering from the memories of Malfoy\'s abuse, Bri was open and wanton for him.

It was that thought that saw him driving himself into her body with a little more depth and force. He did not increase his pace yet, simply drove harder and deeper. The head of his erection slapped into her cervix each and every time. She grunted beneath him, groaning her pleasure loudly next to his ear. When her tongue snaked out to lick the sweat from his neck, he thought he would lose his tightly held control. He was forced to grit his teeth to keep from spilling himself right away. How was it that she could make him lose control so easily? He wasn\'t sure he wanted to know the answer to that question.

Her breath rasped in his ear, driving him to distraction as he pushed into her. Her fingernails once more sought purchase in the flesh on his back. He grit his teeth, increasing his pace with the fresh wave of minor pain this brought. When her teeth latched onto his throat, all thought of slow and pleasurable was thrown out the window. His hips slammed into hers, driving the thick length of gradually swelling cock into her visciously. She answered him by lifting her hips into his, taking him deeply into her body. It was the only urging he needed.

Consumed by the desire to explode within her, to fill her with his seed, his hips pistoned rapidly. Her own met him thrust for thrust, her breath panting in his ear as they strove toward the same results together. Her body was almost sealed to his, her mouth latched onto his throat like a vampire locked onto its prey. Her teeth bit and pulled at his skin, her tongue soothing the irritation. It sent his hips into a flurry of motion.

He could feel the need to orgasm building inside of him, the knot at the base of his spine growing, tightening with his need to release. His testicles felt tight and painful, telling him that somehow this orgasm would be the most mind-blowing, most intense one he\'d ever had. For a moment, he wondered if his partner had something to do with that. But the throught was driven from his mind by a decidedly wicked circular motion Bri made with her hips. Everything narrowed down to the tight muscles of Bri\'s hot core clenched tightly over the thick length of his shaft. She was trying to kill him with the crushing grip she had on him. She was driving him to the very edges of his sanity.

The darkness wanted out with such ferocity that holding it back was proving difficult. He wanted to bring pain to the surface, wanted her to taste what true mastery was. Lucius had a certain style to him, but he had nothing on the levels of depravity that Severus had sunk to. It had always been Snape who\'d been given the hard ones to torture and crack, to use as he pleased. He\'d been the Dark Lord\'s favorite method of torturer. He\'d always had such patience. He could break anything or anyone. That had fed his dark side, drawing it ever closer to the surface. Putting it away when he\'d changed sides had been nearly impossible. But he\'d managed.

And now, by involving himself with one woman, one insignificant pain in his arse woman, he was facing the undoing of everything he had accomplished in all those years.

With sheer determination, he fought the darkness back once more. He would not allow it to ruin everything he planned on accomplishing. Turning his mind back to the soft body pressed so closely to his, he put all his effort into pleasuring her. Into making her want him with every last breath in her body. Every single fiber of her being. He wanted her to be unable to face the day without him. His mouth searched out her neck, depositing little kisses on her throat. Her teeth bit down harder on his own skin, leaving her own marks on him. He slowed his pace, let thoughts of potions and ingredients drift through his mind to push the need to release back. He would do this properly.

Severus closed his eyes, shutting his brain off from thought. Instead, he allowed himself to feel. It was rather unusual for him to find pleasure, to feel pleasure, from a simple joining. There was no numbness, no anonymity with Bri like there had been when he\'d been a Death Eater. No pleasure taken from giving pain. He was immersed in the waves of feeling, of true pleasure to be found in the joining with Bri\'s body. He found himself lost in a vast sea of emotion that was as unfamiliar to him as the concept of happiness.

His hips rocked forward slowly, driving his hardened length into her welcoming flesh with long, firm strokes. She lay beneath him, but not impassively. Her hands clawed at his shoulders, her nails scoring his back while her legs were wrapped about his waist, her heels digging into the taut muscles of his flexing bum. Her breath tickled her ear, his name a whispered sigh on her lips. She hissed her engcouragement and enjoyment at him, as if she were a snake. His snake. Only his.

The thought brought a groan to his lips and he redoubled his efforts. He plunged deeper. Harder. Even faster than before. Her breath panted in his ear, short blasts of hot air teasing his hair, sending it flaring out from his head in a feathery arc. Her hips surged up into his. Their flesh slapped noisily together, the sound helping fill in the blank spaces around their panting.

Her body was tight around him, her muscles contracted sharply in a prolonged effort to suck his pistoning shaft further into her molten core. She was so hot and wet around him, against him. The knot at the base of his spine was growing larger, tightening to near painful degrees. He was so very close to the edge. It wouldn\'t take much to send him over. He could feel the way her muscled walls rippled and tensed over him. Tiny mewls of pleasure rolled up her throat. Her teeth were sunk into the flesh of his throat. It served to add the pain of her bite to the numerous stimuli that has his mind reeling, his body tensing almost past the point of comfort.

His balls drew up, and he couldn\'t hold back the groan of pleasure that poured out of his mouth. His hips slammed forward once, twice, three times. The third thrust was enough to send him into an explosive release. It was as if he spiralled out away from himself, just barely taking note of Bri\'s body frozen beneath his. The half scream that fell from her lips as her pussy convulsed around his swollen shaft. The feel of his seed, pouring into Bri\'s body in thick ropes. How their bodies strained against one another in an effort to absorb every ounce of intense emotion and feeling that washed over them. For a few brief moments, it was as near to heaven as he\'d ever been.

When Severus finally came back to himself, it was to find his body slumped over Bri\'s, crushing her down into the mattress even further than before. They both gasped for breath, thier bodies slicked with sweat and stuck to one another. He rolled slowly off Bri to settle on the bed next ot her. She turned onto her side to look up at him, her eyes dark and sparkling. As he watched her, he swore the silver specks in the night sky of her irises were brighter than normal. She smiled at him, then threw her arm over his chest, settling her head on his shoulder. \'By Circe, that was amazing!\'

\'Thank you,\' he replied, a smirk clearly heard in his voice. \'As content as I am to lay here and bask in the afterglow of such a monumental event, I suggest we crawl from the bed and seek out breakfast. We shall be needing out energy, pet.\'

She grinned at him and slipped from the bed, dressing herself quickly in the first thing she could find. Her clothes were from the previous evening and were now wrinkled from spending the night tossed haphazardly on the floor. He stood and stretched, then went about the lengthy task of dressing himself. It was quite sometime later that the two of them put in an appearance in the kitchens.

The looks they received were less than welcoming. It didn\'t go unnoticed by anyone how Severus\' hands lingered on Bri\'s shoulder when he helped her into her seat. Nor did they miss the marks that covered Bri\'s throat. He saw the way Remus and Bill looked at one another, eyebrows raised in silent wonder. Harry and Izzy both frowned heavily, then turned to one another and began whispering back and forth. Let them wonder what he was up to. Let them know he was involved sexually with Bri. He didn\'t care what they thought of him. He only cared about his goals. And he was pushing ever nearer them.

Returning to the table with two plates in his hands, Severus set one before Bri, then took his seat beside her. She offered him a smile and then nearly attacked her meal. He ate slowly, watching her while going over his wicked plans yet again. The smile that curled his lips was truly frightening to look upon.

~*~*~*~*~

Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk, staring at the box laid out before him. The latest \'gift\' from Lucius Malfoy. The man refused to give up. He\'d received several of these boxes since that initial ultimatum, and yet Albus could not bring himself to do what he needed to stop it. He simply couldn\'t give up Harry and Bri, no matter what he\'d told Minerva. He had no desire to see Malfoy crush them as he had Draco. He didn\'t want to be a failure with Harry as he had been with so many others. Tom Riddle. Severus. The list was endless, and he didn\'t want to put two more names on it.

He did not want to open the box. His mind did not want to see any more proof of Malfoy\'s depravity. He simply wanted to get on with his life and let the memories fade away. So that they could become less painful, though no less meaningful. That would not happen, though, until Lucius was caught. Or killed. He sighed, running his hands over his face. The world had been so much easier before Tom Riddle and Voldemort.

With a determination that he didn\'t really have, Albus lifted the lid away. A folded piece of parchment lay on the top of the paper. One hand curled about the note, careful not to disturb the crumpled newspaper for the moment. He unfolded the fine piece and read it. Only a handful of words were scrawled over it. They made their point easily, though.

\"Wallace! Potter! Or next time, I\'ll send the entire Muggle!\"

Setting the short note aside, Albus slowly moved the paper laying on the top out of his way. There was so much of it that he finally had to lift it out and set it to the side of his desk. The paper was heavy, already starting his stomach turning. That, of itself, told him more than he wanted to know. Closing his eyes a moment to gather his courage and strength, Dumbledore steeled himself against what he knew was a shocking sight. He opened his eyes and looked.

And very nearly retched up the contents of his stomach over the surface of his desk.

Inside the box lay a pair of eyes. They were the color of cornflowers in bloom, staring up at him sightlessly. They still held their fluid, making them round and full. Thin trails of blood slipped down their sides, soaking into the paper beneath them. They lay a space apart from one another. The distance equal to that, were they still lodged in someone\'s head. Under them, where the nose would be, sat a heart. It was still red with color and leaking thick rivulets of blood. Malfoy had charmed it to keep beating a while longer. The entire scene made Albus ill.

The longer he stared, the more sickened he felt. And then he saw it. The slightest bit of white at the edge of a small pool of blood caught his attention. There was something laying under the body parts. He pulled it free with two of his fingers, dislodging the eyes and heart. The hollow thumping ceased, the eyes rolling over until the color was hidden from sight. He lifted it, watching as a fall of red slid off the thin item in his hand to pool in the bottom of the box.

A picture was pinched between the tips of his fingers. He watched the blood slip off its flat surface, waiting for the image to clear enough so he could see it. A woman, not much older than twenty, was pictured with Harry. Her long red hair hung over her shoulders, a pair of blue eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. She was smiling at a younger Harry, holding his hand in one of hers. The picture couldn\'t be much more than two years old. This woman, who ever she was, had once shown Harry Potter a moment of kindness. And this was her reward.

Dumbledore tossed the photo into the box, not wanting to think of his fault in her death. Malfoy was most determined to have Harry and Bri. And he would get them however he could. In all, the boxes from the crazed Death Eater now made up nearly an entire person. Not that Albus had kept them. He\'d called in Aurors. Discretely, of course. All of Malfoy\'s little \'gifts\' were now in the possession of the Ministry. They were searching for the man intently. But there was only so much they could do. And there were so many places for Malfoy to hide.

Albus buried his face in his hands, unmindful of the blood he smeared over his cheeks. He was too old to deal with this any longer. He\'d spent too many of his years fighting this very thing. He was weary of battle, weary of being the strong one. He\'d placed his hopes on two men, and now he wasn\'t certain either of them would be able to take up the fight in his stead. His first hope, Severus, was too embittered and self absorbed to even consider it. And Harry. The boy was teetering on the brink of a deep chasm. Madness was about to claim him and Albus could do nothing to stop it.

He didn\'t hear the door open, didn\'t hear the steps that moved toward him. A hand touched his shoulder. \'Oh, Albus. This can\'t go on any longer. You need to confront Malfoy and put a stop to this,\' Minerva\'s voice was soft, though he could still hear the tinge of disgust that she tried to cover. He knew she\'d seen the contents of the box and was trying hard not to get sick over it. He lifted his head, staring at her with a look of overwhelming sadness. She tried to ignore the streaks of drying blood on his thin cheeks.

\'This isn\'t my fight to end. Bri and Harry are the key to it. Malfoy will settle for nothing less. And I cannot risk losing you. So I am caught in a bind,\' he told her honestly. She sighed, her mouth thinning into a tight line of temper. Stalking to the fireplace, she scooped up a small pinch of fllo powder and tossed it in.

\'Corneliius Fudge, Ministry of Magic,\' she snapped into the green flame. After several long seconds, Fudge\'s plump face appeared in the flames.

\'Minerva! What a surprise! What can I do for you?\' the Minister exclaimed, his voice far too cheery and bright. She scowled at him a moment before speaking.

\'Cut the shite, Fudge! There\'s been another delivery. I expect the Auror\'s to be here within the hour. And you might want to stop dragging your feet about this. You\'ve had plenty of time to get off your fat arse and do something about Malfoy. If you don\'t get on the ball at once, I shall be forced to go to the Qubbler about this. I\'m sure Luna\'s father would love to publish a story on the sorry state of the Ministry.\'

Albus couldn\'t help the chuckle that rose at Minerva\'s firm tone and the look of mortified shock it brought to Fudge\'s face. \'Now, now, Minerva. You know I have every one of my Aurors dedicated to the task of finding the renegade Death Eaters and bringing them in. I\'m doing everything I can.\'

\'If you expect me to buy that line of crap, you\'re even more daft than I originally thought,\' Minerva\'s voice was waspish and sharp. Fudge didn\'t stand a chance against that razor edged tongue of hers. \'We\'re talking about innocent Muggles here, Fudge. Malfoy is killing them. He\'s going to alert the Muggle authorities, if he keeps at it. He must be stopped. If you cannot do it, we shall have to find a Minister who can. Do you understand me?\'

\'Clearly. Since when have you let a woman speak for you, Albus?\' the man asked, looking past Minerva\'s figure to where Albus sat.

\'Since she has more intelligence in her little finger than the entire Ministry has in their collective brains. She\'s right, Cornelius. Malfoy must be stopped. All the Aurors should be set upon the task of finding him. Of bringing him in. Leave the rest of the Death Eaters until he\'s been brought in. We have to stop both Lucius and Bellatrix,\' Albus looked up at him, his face grave.

\'Albus, you know as well as I do...\' Fudge began, but was interrupted.

\'What I know, Cornelius, is that I have lost too many people I know and care about to this war. A war that could have been avoided, had you listened to me when I told you Voldemort was back. But you chose to ignore the warning. And this is what it comes down to. The boy who saved your life and your position with the Ministry is running for his life. Malfoy wants him dead. He wants a woman who did nothing more than her job dead! I should think you would be more interested in saving your hide than arguing with Minerva and myself about such an important matter. But it seems that time has taught you nothing,\' Albus told him softly, his tone of voice full of scorn and admonishment.

\'Good evening, Fudge,\' Minerva spat, then closed the connection to the Minister. She turned to look at Dumbledore, her face a mask of righteous anger.

\'What ever would I do without you, Minerva?\' he chuckled at her softly, a faint smile finally breaking across his face.

\'Walk around with your head up your arse all the day long, I should imagine,\' she snorted, turning on him to exit the room. Albus smiled as he watched her go, wondering just how correct she was on that assessment.

~*~*~*~*~

Bri sat on the soft sofa, thumbing through one of the books she pulled from the shelf in the living area. It was written in some language she couldn\'t even begin to name, but there were drawings in the book that had kept her attention. They were full of vibrant color, the images flowing about one another in a way to suggest that they were done by a loving hand. To her, it seemed as if the pictures were waiting to come alive.

She looked at one picture, an image of two tiny figures holding one another close, and let her mind wander. Several more weeks had passed since Bri had given herself to Severus. They shared the same bed everynight, his arms locked tightly about her body. She snuggled into him, enjoying the feel of his warm, muscular frame pressed to hers. Nearly every night, he coaxed her into slipping from her nightwear. Then he would slide himself into her, his hips rocking against hers slowly. It always made her feel loved and cherished. She slept through the night after those bouts of love making, not a single nightmare to invade her slumber. She felt completely safe in his arms.

Nearly a full month had passed since their first encounter. She was more sure now than she had been before. She loved the man. She wasn\'t sure why, but she knew she did. For some reason, she knew the others didn\'t approve of her relationship with Severus. She didn\'t know why they felt that way, either. Harry and Izzy sneered at her every time they saw her, then promptly began whispering bewhind their hands. She suspected they were talking about her. She wasn\'t sure how she felt about that, particularly since she had been told more than once that the two of them were her friends. Why would people who were supposed to be her friends talk about her like that?

Remus often times looked at her as if he were trying to figure out just who she was. What made her tick. Then he would blink and the look would be gone. He\'d give her a sort of wistful look, then go back to brooding. And that man brooded. She wasn\'t sure what troubled him, but he thought on it constantly. She wished she knew him better, so she could be the friend she suspected he needed. But he kept more to himself lately. The only person he really seemed to respond to these days was Tyler. At least he had someone to turn to.

The one that really threw her was Bill. He always gave her a look of such intense pity, and she couldn\'t be sure just why he would do such a thing. She knew each of the people there wrestled with their own inner demons, but she couldn\'t for the life of her remember them or what would trouble them all. It frustrated her to no end that she couldn\'t do anything. That she felt so helpless. She turned her mind from the problems, knowing she would only give herself a headache. Setting the book down, she stood and moved to stand in the windows.

A fluttering sounded near her ears, and she turned. Something small was flying about the room, likely let in through the open windows. It came nearer where she stood, then alighted on her shoulder. When she saw the tiny face peering up at her, Bri was startled. \'Oh my... What are you?\' she asked the little figure.

\' I\'m a pixie. I am called Lilah,\' the tiny voice was melodic. Bri smiled at her. the pixie was about four inches tall, with glimmering wings of irridescent colors. Her hair was long, in pale pink, that hung to her miniscule waist. She wore a gauzy gown of light violet. Her skin was a very light purple color that was almost not there. She was a beautiful creature.

\'My name is Bri. Why is it I\'ve been here for three months and you\'re the first pixie I\'ve seen here?\' Bri told her.

\'We pixies tend to avoid humans. They are cruel to anything smaller than they are. Anything different. But I\'ve seen you outside a few times. You do magic. I can taste the magic in the air around you. It\'s an intoxicating flavor,\' Lilah told her, her voice tinkling in the silence.

\'Oh... um, thank you?\' Bri replied hesitantly. How did one respond to a comment on how their magic tasted? Lilah smiled at her, then lifted from her shoulder to flutter down and land on one of Bri\'s hands. She turned the extremity so that Lilah stood on her palm, her fingers curled up toward the tiny person. Lilah walked to where her fingers were, her miniature hands stroking over one fingertip gently.

\' In fact, your magic tastes so good, I want to know what you taste like,\' the tinkling voice told her. The next thing Bri knew, there was a sharp pain in in her finger. Looking down, she saw the pixie licking her lips. A single drop of blood was welling up on her abused finger. The little tongue darted out to lick at the blood, swallowing it down. Bri watched as a confused expression crossed the tiny face, then the pixie looked up at her. \'You...\' her voice trailed off, then she licked at the second drop of blood. \'By the Mother!\' the tinkling voice exclaimed, then the pixie was off in flash. Bri watched her zip out the window, blinking in shock at what had just happened.

~*~

Lilah stopped to catch her breath when the Jeweled Castle came into view. The court of Faerie resided there for the summer, and the large holding was alive with activity. Centries stood at attention along the wall, but they paid the hurried pixie no mind. She fluttered past them in a flash, aiming for one of the windows high up on the Second Tower. It was here that those who served the Royal Court resided. It was here she had to go.

The window, all mullioned glass, was thankfully open, allowing her a swift entry. The figure she searched for was bent over a writing desk. His long hair spilled over his shoulder, though he kept pushing it absently behind one ear with one of his long fingered hands. She landed in the middle of the parchment before him, sure to grab his attention that way. \'Lilah, by the Mother! Must you do that? Can you not see I am busy?\'

\'But I have news, my Lord,\' the small voice panted breathlessly.

\'What news is so important that you must disturb my letter to Shee?\' he asked, obvious put upon by her intrusion. Lilah bobbed her head and pressed on before she angered him further.

\'Forgive me, my Lord. But I have tasted you.\'

\'Of course you have tasted me. I allowed you a bite just this morning,\' he snapped at her.

\'No, my Lord. I have tasted you on another,\' she hastened to add. This caught his attention. He glanced up at her, his gem like eyes narrowing on her face.

\'What other is this you tasted me upon? Shee and my offlings are back at Nosse en Coria\'Imirie Ithil\'Loki,\' his face showed his confusion. Lilah practically vibrated off his desk in her excitement.

\'A female. She is in Otherworld, my Lord. She is half Mortal, with eyes of the bluest night and the silver of stars in them. Her hair shines black. But in the truest of lights, one can see the deep purple highlighting her long tresses. Her skin is dusted with gold. And her magic is strong. Not entirely of the Mortal world. She is...\'

\'Leave me!\' he snarled at the pesky pixie. She stopped her monologue and stared at him. Her Lord had gone pale, his eyes wide in disbelief. When Lilah didn\'t immediately move, his hand swung at her, driving her from the table. She hovered in the air near him, watching his face. \'Lilah, if you do not leave my sight, I will not be help responsible for what is done to you!\'

\'Yes, my Lord!\' she whimpered, then dove for the window. The temper of her Lord was legendary and she wanted nothing to do with it. If he wanted his solitude, she would give it to him. He waited until the little annoyance had flown out the window before turning back to the desk. One hand reached for a small drawer, too small for anything other than little trinkets. He knew where the picture was without having to look. His fingers closed over it and he stared down at the woman in the photograph. She smiled at him forever in that frozen image.

Setting the picture down on the desk top, he turned his mind to what Lilah had told him. Could it be possible? Was she really here in Otherworld? There was only one way to find that out. Gathering his usual travelling gear, he replaced the photo and stalked from the chamber, his face set in grim lines. He had much to do, and none would stop him.

end chapter sixteen.
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my many thanks to those who keep reading this and to those who encourage me, tell me that the chapter isn\'t total shite. i love all my supporters. there are times when i want to quit, and you guys keep telling my to go on. thanks millions. it means alot. also, any mistakes in here are honest ones, and my own. at present, i am my own beta reader. so i can only catch so many mistakes.

anyone interested to know.... Nosse en Coria\'Imirie Ithil\'Loki is from Grey\'s Elven. it translates out to the House of the Purple Jeweled Moon Dragon. this will make more sense in the next chapter, i should imagine. for any of those who may now how to properly conjugate and speak Elven, if i\'ve fouled up, my most humble apologies.

and finally, to Ana: thank you so much for your review! i hadn\'t had one in a while on this fic, and i was despairing of ever having one again. it means alot that you left me one. i hope the smut at the beginning of this chapter will work.