Absence, make thine heart grow fonder...

[Hollace Lutrov]

Hollace nodded, not saying another word to the patriarch other than, "Good bye." It was spoken so quietly, nearly wooden. This month spent in captivity, being constantly tested, had drained her mind, body and soul. To the point where all she wanted to do was be in her husband's arms and sleep for until the next millennium. She neither walked nor ran to the fireplace but she wasted no time to grab a hand full of floo powder, throw it into the flames and clearly stated, "Home."

Night One
Hollace whirled within the fireplace. She called out for Hades only to hear her own voice nearly echo back to her in the empty house. Stumbling, she managed to make it to their room, once only his, and curled up in the covers. His pillow still carried his scent. She breathed it in and was asleep within moments, the long train of the black dress spread across the bed.

Night Two
Hollace bathed and changed into her own clothing, waiting for Hades to come home. Asparuh had said he would not but Hollace could not believe that the man she had seen chained in the basement would not want to see that she was alright. She set the table and made dinner from the stocked cupboards. Hours passed, food grew cold and the light finally guttered in the melted candles on the table.

Night Three...night four...night five...night six...

Night Seven
Steam fogged the mirrors and filled the large bathroom. Hollace had pinned her long hair in a messy knot on top of her head, her bare shoulders beading with moisture above the tub's rim. Drawing her knees inward, she wrapped her thin arms around them, chin resting on her knees. It had been a week since she had been home. Not one word, she thought wearily, tears no longer leaking from her eyes. She had cried herself to sleep for the past five nights. Last night she had finally slept like the dead after drawing in her sketchbook as she had been since she had returned. They followed her emotions, passionate and deeply caring, to angry, to intense sadness, to rage, to quiet acceptance then they had morphed into what the darkness whispered to her. Demon lovers entwining on pages, vaguely familiar figures from the past month in their final death rattle by various means of torture.

Hollace dried and wearily pulled on her black camisole and underwear then trudged into the dark bedroom. She sat there without the light on, always with out it on, and stared at the black wall, letting the darkness surround her. It whispered things, comforting and cloying, wrapping itself around her.

 

[Hades Styx]

"Stand up, Hades, the time has come..." spoke the darkness around Hades.

A week has passed, and Hades was hallucinating. His onyx eyes opened, and he stood up to see his darkness take form of something almost scary, but not to Hades. His breathing was steady, and he stared into his darkness. It was all in his mind, and he nodded to show it some respect. "I will agree to anything you wish, darkness." Hades remained still, and he did not blink as it reached out for him. A skeleton hand on his shoulder that was not there, Hades did not tense up at the 'touch'. This process was going to be slow, to gain control like his older family members, but then again, some did not give in at such a young age, like Hades did.

"Get rid of your light." The darkness vanished, sinking into the abyss as if nothing was there.

Hades nodded once, knowing what to do. Get rid of the light. Asparuh never had it, so he didn't have to get rid of it, and Kalif's light was killed, thus his darkness was under control. Hades knew what his light was. Hollace. Hades disapparated from the room, and he was back in his study. The room was dark, and a single candle was lit. Hades summoned a book, a Dark book in Russian, and he sat down in his chair and started to read. How to get rid of the light, killing or not. The light would now anger him, infuriate him. It would be enough for him to want to destroy that light. Hades wore his trenchcoat and jeans with a black shirt, and Hades could barely feel them on his body. The candlelight was enough to read, and his onyx eyes looked eerie. Hades did not even appear the same. The expression alone was even worse than before. It was horrifying, chilling, and calm. His eyes went across the pages, but his wand was at his side, in case something were to happen.

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

Hollace's eyes slowly opened, her eyes unfocused as though in a trance. The unmistakable sound of apparition tore her from the peaceful place and had her rising slowly from the bed. She ran a hand through her hair, dislodging the clip, her long dark hair spilling around her shoulders and down her back, releasing the subtle jasmine smell she'd used earlier. Stepping from the room she spied the light, very faint but not there before, coming from the jarred door. "Hades?" Softly asked, no answer given, Hollace made the familiar trek down the darkened hallway. Her husband sat there, reading a book as he often did in their home. Yet nothing about this was like anything she had experienced with him. The room was cold, her skin starting to quiver from it, except she didn't think it came from the Russian weather.

Changed. He looked so cold, seemed so unfamiliar yet he was undeniably the man she loved. The Hades she had fallen for and longed for, bled for, fought his family to be returned to him. Happiness flooded her, clouding the confusion and anger she felt toward him for not coming home to her before now. Walking toward him as though seeing a ghost, she quickly approached him and fell to her knees beside his chair. Her hands, warm from her bath, closed over his empty one, raising it to her lips. "Hades." The tears she didn't think she had swam in her eyes, before splashing against her cheeks.

 

[Hades Styx]

Subtle hints of jasmine filled his senses and his name filled his mind, yet nothing phased him. The touch though, so warm, like fire licking his skin. Instinctively, Hades pulled his hand from her grasp. His onyx eyes bore from the pages and onto hers. His hand went to his wand, and her pointed it at her. He hissed in a voice that he had never used before, something so eerie, so violent, so cold, "Get rid of the light." Hades closed the book with one hand, and it returned to the shelf. Hades almost looked downright possessed, but it was him. Hades was in the right state of mind, but being controlled by the lurking darkness within. Strange thing was, Hades was not fighting it. Hades' expression did not change, it remained statue-like. Not a hint of happiness or disappointment. It just was. His moves were like fluid, smooth and steady. He had taken a step from her, in case a spell was shot, it would hit her without a chance of missing unless she moved.

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

His eyes, black as night, hard as onyx, no light in them to glitter from the scant light in the room. Hades words were so odd, the meaning a complete mystery to her. "Hades." Slowly she approached him, her hands out to show him she meant him no harm. She could understand, he must be so skittish, so upset still from being locked up how he had been. "Your grandfather...he showed me, what he did to you. I'm so sorry, I never should have wandered at night...it was foolish and we both paid for it...you paid so dearly," her voice hitched from the tears. "But I'm here now, love,"[/b] she whispered, reaching her hand up to stroke his cheek.

 

[Hades Styx]

[color=#33]Hades hissed, "Impedimenta." The spell was a one hit, and once it made contact, Hades leaned forward, his wand tracing down the side of her face, "Don't...touch me or else I will rip you open, and force you to watch me take the heart out of your chest and rip it to shreds." Hades walked around her, the aura around him that was eerie before could now send chills down a grown man's spine. It was the darkness that he had embraced, and he worshiped it. However, the perfect examples of those that had this darkness was none other than Kalif and Asparuh. Hades had to be like them. He worshiped them, now. Hades stated, his back on her, but his wand at his side, "I could have escaped easily. But I needed that. It showed me the path, and there was an obstacle in my path, distracting me. You were. You are the Light. And I have to destroy you, to become truly and fully one with the darkness." Hades turned around, and he glared at her. There was still that light in her, that forced him off the path. It had to be destroyed.[/color]

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

The spell slowed down her body, impeded her movements until she might as well had been frozen in place. Yet it was the blackness of his eyes, the words like a snake spitting from his mouth, shooting poison into her heart, that made her not even struggle. She wept harshly, the sound caught within her chest and silent to him, until slowly she stopped. Her face became calm, wiped clean of emotion, except her eyes. Pain, love, betrayal, it all swirled within the dark depths of Hollace's eyes, that stared at Hades accusingly. He could have freed himself, maybe free her, instead he had chosen to follow his own selfish path. Take thy dagger from out my heart... Truly did she feel as though hers had been been broken, the light fluttered then died within her eyes.

 

[Hades Styx]

Hades removed the spell with a wave of his wand, and he kept it aimed at her. Hades heard the tears, and he knew that it was nothing more than a weakness, and it would in the end slow him down. Hades began, "Avada Kedav-" Something made him stop, and it was the look in her eyes. Everything faded, anything good. Was it the same thing as killing her? Hades heard a voice in his mind, but it poured from his lips softly and almost silently, "Darkness can only rely with Darkness." Hades lowered his wand, and he kept his icy glare on her. Hades sneered, "Leave." Hades couldn't be in the same room with someone from the light, someone so good even though they were broken. He did not have the will to manipulate her. Hades should no longer do that. It had to be a choice, someone that the person had to make. Hades had helped it along, but he could do nothing more now. Hades turned and he exited the room, retreating into his bedroom, before the candles lit up, and he stared into their dark light, the glimmers dancing off his white features.

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

Dead. Hollace would have been dead, could feel the magic stir within Hades, suck the light from the room as he prepared to send the one curse to quickly and painfully kill her. There would be no pain in death. For one moment she pictured herself as Juliet, drinking the poison to end her life, just as surely as her husband had ended his own. Given over to his precious darkness, cold and rotting as she would be. Silence. The spell ended as abruptly as it began and life still beat within her breast. Whispers began again within the room, trailing down the hallway, beckoning her. Turning she walked on long legs, unsteady, resembling a reanimated corpse for all the grace she showed as she left. With each step she took from him, the coldness faded, warmth spread until she crumpled against the side of the bed.

Long fingered hands grasped the coverlet, her thin body bowed in on itself as she pressed her face into the soft fabric. It began as a soft keening. Moments later harsh, rasping sobs shook her body, the sound carrying. If ever the sound of a heart breaking were recorded, the sound coming from the dark bedroom would surely be it. Her future was dead, the husband she had just begun to know was forever gone from her.

---

Next morning

---

Hollace slammed open the door to the study. All night she had cried until finally she had fallen into a deep yet disturbed sleep. This morning she saw things with more clarity but with no little anger. It burned within her like hot coals. She saw Hades, standing there with his stoic features, so handsome she wanted to drive a dagger through his blackened heart. Smooth steady steps she paced in front of him then whirled to face him. One long finger pointed at him and she let loose. "You listen to me you black hearted son of a *****. You don't tell me when to leave my own ****ing house! You may not remember marrying me but you didn't take your out when you could. Do you remember why?" Her voice started to raise, her hair tossing over her shoulder, cheeks dusted in rose from anger, eyes alive and bright with something unholy. "Vows Hades!" She held up her left hand, the once bright ring now tarnished from her stay at the manor. "Vows which you said when you make you cannot undo. So what the **** was last night?"

Hollace stopped, chest heaving, her fingertips numb from the magic longing to pour out. "You're such a ****ing liar Hades," she whispered, disappointment tinting her voice and her young face, the pain still raw that he would have murdered her, wormed out of his vows, destroy the light within her. A light she wasn't even sure she had anymore. Something had changed last night, destroyed and withered inside her.

---

---

 

[Hades Styx]

Hades was standing in his study, glancing over his books for something interesting for him to read and help him in his situation. A voice rang through his mind, and he slowly turned to see Hollace yelling at him. Hades hissed, his own attitude strangely calm and his voice low and sinister, “Your house? Prove that it is yours. You don’t even know how many have died in this house, how many I have had before you here…” Hades advanced upon her, with steps long and swift. “I remember no vows. You drugged me, and I have no memory of anything. Thus, the vows are void unless the man behind them actually knows what the hell he is doing.” With a swift action, his white hand wrapped around her throat, and it was strong enough to cut off the air supply. With one hand, he lifted the woman into the air, and he held up his own left hand. Nothing. No ring. Hades had taken it off and left it back in the room where the darkness invited him back on the right path.

“I gave you a chance to save yourself. You were just too stupid and blind with this love that you have for me, and you chose your fate.” Hades dropped Hollace, and he turned from her. He walked across the room, and he drew his wand. Hades stared at her, the look in his eyes deepened into something worse than insanity. It was killer. Hades then took a step forward, and sent out a killing curse hurling toward her. She better have good dodging skills or else she would be breathing her last breath right here and now.

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

Hollace jerked and struggled against his hold, dark eyes widened in fear then rage. Her mouth trembled, words pouring from lips going numb from lack of air, no sound forcing past them or her burning lungs. Liar. Cheat. Betrayer. Pain lanced through her side as she landed roughly on the floor. Scrabbling to her feet, she leaped and spun, flinging herself out of the way of roaring rush of green magic. "Bastard!" she hissed, her throat raw, fingerprints clear on her pale skin. Palming her wand, she rolled until she was on her feet, crouched low. "Crucio!" The energy it took to cast that one unforgivable spell was enormous. Pain, she wanted to inflict as much of the curse upon Hades, the man who was no longer her husband. In paper only, once in her heart yet never in his. Her hair rushed back as if from an invisible force as the darkness consumed her, turning her face into a raw beauty it had never held.

 

[Hades Styx]

Hades waved his wand to hurry and block the blast of the spell. However, the chair was knocked into him from the force of the spell. Hades was forced back, until his back hit the floor with a thud. Hades shoved the chair off him, and he uttered in a dark voice, "Stupid *****." Hades used wandless magic to bring his wand too him, before he pulled out the dead mudblood's wand from the trenchcoat he wore. Standing back up, he shouted, "Sectumsempra!" with Alexander's wand, and fired, "Crucio!" as well. Hades was in no mood for games. If she managed to dodge them both, then that would be simply impressive. Hades was out for blood, and he was going to kill Hollace, one way or another. It was too late, things can never be fixed nor reversed. Darkness was Hades' only lover, and he will do as it says.

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

Hollace felt the rush of magic as it danced toward her, barely allowing her a moment of satisfaction watching Hades fall on his ass. Deadly excitement rushed through her veins, the dark kiss was upon her and she-liked-it. Theirs was a dark fatalistic dance, cruel in its beauty. It was something her body understood, the grace and sheer willfulness that pirouetted her on the ball of her feet, the cutting curse grazing her skin. The strap fluttered and fell down her arm, blood sprayed in an arc as she moved once again. The last spell did not come near her as she spun down to the floor. Bringing her hands together to hold her wand, she channeled her magic, casting, "Confringo!" Her wound throbbed and bled sluggishly although it wasn't deep.

 

[Hades Styx]

Hades side-jumped to dodge the spell, as it hit books and shelves, causing them to explode. Pages and bits of covers flew around him, and he moved smoothly, his wands pointing at Hollace. He muttered, "Duro." Hades quickly thought of another spell, and it spilled from his mouth, "Defodio." Hades rolled his eyes and he murmured dangerously, "You just can't take no for an answer. You can't get over this obsession. It is pathetic, and the darkness does not suit you. It never will. You cannot have me, and you cannot have the darkness." Hades cast a barrier around him, to protect him from any harm. Never will he stand to see this woman again. She caused him to stray off his path. For that, she had to be killed, or ejected from his life. Either way, Hades seemed fine with that.

 

[Hollace Lutrov]

Hollace cursed, twisting faster and amazingly dodged both spells. Panting, eyes shining with either madness or tears, she sent a non verbal spell toward his trenchcoat to set it aflame. She needed to get out of there quickly but not before... "The darkness isn't yours to control, you pathetic worm," she sneered, blood coating her fingers and palm. She held it up, the sweet, coppery smell mixing with the smoke from the flames. She licked her love line clean then spat at his feet. "When next we meet, I won't hesitate...," recalling to their memories the night she had nearly plunged a dagger through his heart. Hollace's laughter echoed in the room, insane and oddly bright. In the next second, she was gone.

 

[Hades Styx]

Hades smirked, giving his appearance even more stunning appearance. "Wrong, the darkness controls me. Difference." That was something that had to be said before she vanished. Hades glanced down to see his trenchcoat on fire, distracting him from killing her. He had pulled out his dagger and thrown it but it just cut through air, where her face had been. It stabbed the wall, dangling there. Hades used a spell to extinguish the flames, and he wiped his forehead as his expression darkened. If it was the last thing he was doing to do, it was going to kill her. Free him from whatever bonds he had. Then, he would be free as the shadows of which he lurked. Now completely blood-thirsty, Hades breathed. With a wave of his wand, everything was fixed, and he was going to seek out the advise of how to kill someone from one of the best: the Patriarch.