Twenty Seven

[James Harlow]

James had seriously grown tired of searching now, he had spent weeks looking for the same retched girl and had yet to even find a trace that she ever existed in New Zealand at all. His brother better have not lied to him or his remains would be used for research on dead bodies, it wasn't like James cared about his brother all that much anyways, they were all just pawns to help him get to her. He had already visited Alphonse and Avory, both were unhappy to see him, almost as angry as he was to see them acting like they were. 'Bunch of snotty bratty children, I should have killed them all when I had the chance.' The little brats even went out and had children, that meant twice the amount he was going to have to deal with when it came down to him eliminating them all. Crossing his arms over his chest he resisted the urge to scan the crowd and pick out people he thought would make nice victims. James needed to behave until Nicolette was found, then all hell was allowed to break loose. 'And honestly how could one girl be so hard to find, Nicolette was always attracting attention to herself.' Whatever the reason was, when he found her he was going to break every bone in her body, then let her bleed to death. She had been alive for far too long and it was starting to get on his nerves that she was for once out smarting him.

Just as he was about to take a sip of his tea, he saw something that made him clutch his class cup to the point of causing it crack under the pressure. "Well I'll be god d*mned." Those golden eyes, there was no mistake that they were his creation, she was even with another woman too, she looked so..happy. Even the thought of her being happy made him want to throw up and wring her little neck, Nicolette Hensel had been away far too long.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette and Cecily decided that they had needed a day out away from their husbands and babies for a day, as much as they were all adored the woman figured they just needed a day to relax themselves and hang out, it wasn't often they could be completely goof balls and get away with it like they did. "Hey Cecily...wouldn't it be cool if the moon was made out of cheese?" Nicolette asked randomly as they walked together, it was a random question that she had wanted to ask for years but had never really decided to actually ask it until now. To Nicolette the moon always looked like a giant ball of cheese, it was quite funny to her actually, she was so happy with her life now that nothing seemed to matter to her. She had an amazing husband even if he was a tad grouchy, two beautiful babies, friends, and some of the most amazing memories ever, it was almost as if James had never harmed her and her family in the past. And right now she was unaware of the mad who ruined her life, currently staring at her with blood lust clearly evident in his eyes.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily hummed lightly in her throat, threading her arm through Niccy's, a wide sunny smile on her unlined face. Her long golden hair twisted into two pigtails that bounced against her shoulders with each step that she took, a curve hugging sweater dress encased her once more thin body. Her clothing, a bright icy winter blue, faux silver calf length boots with silver leggings, she felt feminine and exactly how her husband had said he saw her; as a woman first, a mother second. Prodan had surprised her with a brightly colored gift bag, tissue paper crumpled and after opening her eyes and diving in, Cecily had hugged his neck then kissed his face. He knew her so well. It hadn't been his only gift to her since Elisaveta's birth, the other now holstered in the sheath she'd strapped to her thigh. The wand, specially made for her from the masters at Ollivanders, was perfect, molded specifically to her magical genetic structure. It still amazed her, having two wands, the other within easy withdrawing reach on the inside sheath she normally wore on her left forearm.

Laughter trickled brightly from her as Niccy's silly question managed to pull her from memories of Prodan expertly showing her how to wield two wands. "I dunno. What kind of cheese?" Green eyes soft as she thought of her husband and the care he had taken, the side of him she had not seen to him coming out and intriguing her. She wondered how many other facets there were to the man who made every day with him seem like a honeymoon.

 

[James Harlow]

James was thrilled to see that neither of them had noticed him already and stood up from his table, and laid down some money before he grabbed his large wooden cane and started towards the blonde's. Due to a failed experiment he had nearly crippled himself to the point of losing his own legs, it was foolish mistake that he intended to forget. It hadn't taken him long before he reached the two girls and stood in front of them, a proud look in his eyes now that he had finally found the girl he was searching the ends of the earths for. Twenty-seven years was far too long to be away from his adoptive daughter, even if he wanted to spill her blood all over the street, he was amazed at how much she's grown. "Twenty-seven years I've been looking for you....and my have you grown." His voice was chilling and calm, enough to send chills down anyone's spine, especially Nicolette's. James knew she would remember the pain, the haunting memories, and the promises he made to end her life forever...how could forget something like that so easily?

'Who is this she is with, could this be the Cecily Rambolt, Alexander had written about so many times?' Just the look at the happiness of the woman bothered him, why was she with Nicolette and looking so happy? That girl was never supposed to have friends, and this blonde b*tch looked like she was bending the rules; she would be dealt with soon enough. "Oh how I've missed the blood Nicolette." He sneered, his hands casually sliding to his pocket to touch his wand. He wouldn't pull it out yet, he wanted to see how the ladies would react to him.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette's entire body froze and she could have sworn that her heart stopped beating when she heard that voice his voice ring clear and loud within her ears. 'Oh please no...please...please!' She pleaded with god, with the devil, with anyone who could make it possible that this wasn't really James in the flesh standing in front of her right now. Nicolette paled visibly and her arms began to shake slightly as absolute fear and shock took over her, her golden eyes locked onto the form of the man that had ruined thousands of lives, including hers without a second thought in the world. "W..w-why are you here?" She managed to whisper out, she had never been afraid of anything but losing her loved ones, and this man. James brought the fear back alive inside her body knowing that he could fully well take everything away from her.

'Why me?' All the memories of the past few years that she had spent with these people flashed before her eyes like a movie that she had seen millions of times. All the fun times with Cecily, the moments with Kalif, holding her babies for the first time, even the all the moments she spent with her new family it was all going to come to an end. "Please go away..." She breathed out, her body shaking her voice completely weak as she suddenly felt like she was going to cave to the floor and suffocate.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Niccy's trembling had Cecily wrapping her arm around her friend's trim waist. "It's okay Niccy, it's okay," wondering who this strange, cold man in front of them was. Until she heard his words, saw the hatred in his eyes for her normally bubbly friend, and knew that this was James. It had to be. Kalif, she should have told him, damning her promise to say nothing. "Keep on missing the blood, a**hole. There'll be none spilled here," she growled out fiercely, lips pulling back from her teeth. She fought to breathe, to keep a calm and level head when she wanted nothing more than to whip out her and blast his disgusting face.

"Niccy, he can't harm you," she whispered for her friend's ears alone, trying to infuse some of her strength into her. Cecily had always been one to pull out her wand first in all situations she deemed to need it; more of the fire now and ask questions later type. Prodan had told her differently, to keep her wand sheathed, waiting for the look in her opponent's eyes. Her fingers itched to palm the wood yet she waited, loathing the fear that washed over her friend, caused by this odious old man.

 

[James Harlow]

A sick smirk appeared on James' face when he received the reactions that he had been hoping for since he first laid eyes on the two blond woman, fear from Nicolette and pure anger and hate from the other one, they surely must have been friends with the protectiveness and caring that the woman showed towards Nicolette who was cowering and petrified with even the mere sight of him. James was proud of the memories he had imprinted in her head, he knew she would never forgot and chuckled softly at the mere thought of how much fun it was to push and bully these kids around, too bad they all went off and had to make things harder for him. "You must be Cecily, pleasure to meet you." He bowed a little before adjusted his cane and lightly pulling his wand out, he held it lightly showing that he as not making an attempt to show that he was not going to attack them just yet, no he was going to break her down first. Nicolette was always much easier to restrain when she was broken and beaten down a bit, he nearly wondered if she could still even heal herself like she used to. "Alexander told me so much about you...about all of you, I'm quite proud of him actually." Maybe Alexander had been more useful that James had given him credit for, it was tragic that he had been killed off seeing as he could have been used some more. Alexander had taken notes about Nicolette, Avory and Alphonse specifically like James had told him to, but he also took some notes about people they were close with, people to avoid, even some tings he had picked up on about his past students' behaviors.

"Oh, I assure you I can harm her, and I'm going to." He picked up the words that Cecily had said to Nicolette, possibly used to calm her and knock some sense into her, but James knew that Nicolette knew better. However he was mot ready to kill her or even come close to touching her just yet, James had some questions and sayings he wanted to run by her. This was her fault after all, she was the one that thought it would be smart to run away and think she could just pretend that none of those things ever happened, and that made her weak and just as hopeless as her parents had become before they died. "Nicolette, do you know how much of a hassle it was to track you down? My question is...why try so hard to escape what you already know? Your pathetic!" How she escaped he didn't know, who had taken her in and prevented her from dying on the streets he was also unsure of, but he did know that his adoptive daughter had people on her side now, Alexander had clearly warned him that she was far from being alone.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Even with Cecily's comforting words and strong protective hold on her, Nicolette still felt so alone and stuck, like no one else was around that even cared of bothered to look up to look up and see her. He always had a way of making you lose your hope and faith in yourself, because at the moment she felt like she was the weakest most unwanted person in the entire godforsaken world she was in. Still continuing to tremble she suddenly felt herself begin to feel like she was losing all the oxygen in her lungs at the very mention of him not only wanting to hurt her, but that Alexander had also known this man and seemingly worked for him. "Cecily, be careful...he could easily kill us both." She whispered back, trying to have her friend be as cautious as possible. There was no way they could take him on themselves, he could take them out in mere minutes and Nicolette wasn't willing to risk her friends like like that, she had already had lost so many to him that she wasn't prepared to let him kill anymore. Still trembling her eyes stared at him with all the fear in the world, he could harm her, and break her, and ruin her all within seconds and he knew that.

"So Alexander...he worked for you this whole time? He was a fake?" Nicolette sputtered out, clutching onto Cecily as she felt the very thing she called a heart feel like it was going to shatter into a million pieces, had she been led astray by her father once again so foolishly? Sure she hated the man with a passion but Alexander had claimed so many things to her, were they all lies implanted in his head by James?

 

[James Harlow]

James scoffed and rolled his eyes, he hated how surprised and hurt she sounded about Alexander faking it all, he didn't know why she would think that he wasn't, just the very way that he described him acting towards her should have proven that he was a no good liar, but then again Nicolette had always been a bit of an airhead. "You think he actually loved you, humph don't make me laugh." He scoffed again and cracked his neck loudly before stepped closer to them so he could easily see into their eyes, both were quite a beautiful color for such odd woman, especially the golden eyes of Nicolette's that he created himself. "Child you were never meant to love or be loved, it's foolish and not-existent..I thought I told you that, but yes..he worked for me to get to you." His fingers tapped against his cane as he tried to keep himself calm and rational, being so close to the girl who ruined years of research whom he wanted so badly to just strangle and beat until she could breath no more was getting him antsy, especially with the fact that she was so vulnerable right now.

"Don't even think about turning away Nicolette, or do you want to die just like your parents did?" He didn't see her ready to leave, but the way she spoke to her friend sounded almost as if she were getting ready to pull something, he wasn't going to let her get away that fast and without letting her know something, he would never let her live peacefully until either he or she was dead.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Anger coursed through Cecily, stinging her senses, rattling her nerves until color stained her cheeks and splotched across her breast bone. How anyone would dare to speak to someone so sweet, someone so selfless, that had overcome so much in her life was beyond her. It-set-her-off. "You listen here, you smug son of a *****," she snarled, palming her wand, green eyes narrowed on his, looking for that sign. She kept Niccy in physical contact, knowing they would have to disapparate away at the first sign of trouble. "Nicolette's not only loved, but she's respected. She's more of a human being than you will ever know and I'll be damned if you'll make her feel anything less. So ****-off," she emphasized.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

If Nicolette had been honestly less afraid, less hurt and less angry at his words she would have busted out laughing at how easily Cecily mouthed him off, he always hated being spoken to like that by anyone. She remembered being beaten for it when she was younger and was a lot less docile than she currently was, even if she was stronger now than she was when she younger she knew she would have been more willing to kill him back then. Nicolette had so much to lose now and it made her cautious and fearful of losing her life or the ones she loved to some man who seemed to only exist for her misery. "I never expect to be loved or accepted, I'm not forcing anyone to like me or accept me, they have done that of their own accord." Nicolette had nearly forgotten that James didn't believe in hope, friendship, or even love for another human being. He had told all his students time and time again that if was nothing but sick joke or fake feeling that people thought they got when they were around people that were similar to them, he said that in the end you were always truly going to be alone. Feeling the anger rise up in her that she had always hated but knew existed, she clenched her fist and pulled out her wand before diving towards him, she was so tired of feeling fear from him that her sense of judgment had become non-existent for a split second.

 

[James Harlow]

James didn't like how the other one, Cecily definitely must have been her name then if she hadn't denied it yet, had mouthed him off as if he were some common man off the streets, didn't she realize that he could easily kill them both if he had the desire or need to. Her mouth was so harsh and filled with so much anger that it reminded him of the good old days when Nicolette was a teenager and thought rebelling would save her, luckily a good knock or two in the head always settled her down a little. "You have quite the mouth, Cecily. I used to beat Nicolette for even daring to show such disrespect, don't make me have to start with you either." James warned with a dark cackle, he already didn't like this woman and was being led more and more towards wanting to spill her blood all over the streets as well, he was sure that Nicolette would enjoy seeing something like that again. He raised his wand a little and raised an eyebrow at Nicolette's behavior, her anger surprised him a little since Alexander had made it seem like she had completely lost her temper. Instead when she charged at him he knew he was getting to the fun part, and waited until she was close enough before he used his cane to smack her right upside the head, he then grabbed her shoulder and slammed her face first onto the ground and placed his foot on the small of her back, holding her down.

"Tsk, tsk. Such a temper Nicolette." He sighed, getting tired of dealing with an attitude and noting bus disrespect from these two woman, how did they ever go out into society with those kinds of mouths and self-control issues? Hearing Nicolette groan from the uncomfortable slam to the ground he kept his foot on her back to make sure she would not move and try anything that could worsen her situation, he didn't want to have to restrain her and sedate her like he had to so many times in the past, she could probably win in a battle of with him f she watched her actions and didn't let her emotions control her. "Don't you move either Cecily, if you do...I'll kill her...if she moves...I'll kill you....easy as that." He sighed and pulled out a piece of parchment and a small case. One contained the Hensel family tree while the other was his container of poisons and sedatives that he brought with him everywhere he went in case he needed them. He doubted that he would since he hoped neither of them were that dumb, but it would always work as a good threat for anyone. "Is it so bad that I want to see my daughter and have her check the tree? I'm not ready to kill you just yet my dear." He rolled his eyes and was tempted to unfold the map, he would need a prick of her blood to have it updated since he needed blood of either a descendant or someone added to the tree. And since it was unknown to him that she was married or had children, he figured he could only get it updated by her and her only.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Being hit with the cane did nothing other than stop Nicolette to give him a look at clearly meant that she was confused, was that supposed to hurt her or something or was he just trying to be funny with her? However it wasn't until her shoulder was grabbed that Nicolette realized what the man was trying to do; distract her so she could be taken down more easily and swiftly. When she landed face first on the hard concrete ground she hissed in pain, it wasn't like being tortured or beaten but it still quite hurt, especially with her face hitting the ground. "F**k." She hissed when she lifted her face to only realize that that she couldn't get up because he was pinning her down, well she could move if she really tried and wanted to, but he used a strong threat with Cecily's life plus she was in some pain so or course her brain wasn't functioning as easily as it usually did in these situations. 'Cecily please be careful..' She silently begged when he golden eyes glanced over to her friend to give her a stare, Nicolette didn't want her friend to become harmed at all due to her own stupidity, she was already seeming to anger him enough with her harsh words to him, they needed to think of a plan and they needed to think it up quick.

"Yor not my father, and there's no reason for you to need the tree updating." Nicolette liked about the tree part, there were many new members added that were closed than third generation to her now, and if he saw that James would most likely flip and lose all humanity. Cecily, Nataliia, Avory, Kalif, and even her babies were all on there now and that makes them either possibly targets or just something to get her killed faster. Her tree had gone from one member to many of them, and she knew it would anger her. 'Cecily we've got to something...but...I don't know what.' She felt his press harder down on her back when she looked at her friend once more, she knew that Cecily couldn't hear her thoughts but she hoped that her friend could see the desperate through her eyes, Nicolette would only moved until she knew that Cecily wouldn't be harmed if she did so.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

"Niccy!" Cecily's thigh muscles quivered as she dipped into a crouch, her wand in her hand, pointed directly at James. He flapped his mouth, spewing his rhetoric that she did not care about. Already he was a disgusting being to her, no redeeming qualities that she could see or cared to see. He was a degrading bastard who needed to be rubbed out; barring that she knew that right at that moment she needed to get Niccy and herself out of there. She wasn't fast enough to stop him from sticking that needle and withdrawing blood from her best friend.

It spurred her on; Cecily fired a nonverbal stunning spell at his face, dove and grabbed Niccy while he was recovering. "C'mon!" She held Niccy's hand, running with, away from the maniac who claimed to be Niccy's father. Cecily fired a few more spells as they got farther and farther from him. Soon they were safely away from him.

 

[James Harlow]

It had only taken a small prick on the shoulder to get a drop of Nicolette's blood onto the needle like he had planned and brought it up to the tree, it was odd how their tree needed blood of someone who was added on it by a family member but it was also simple at the same time. "That wasn't so hard now was it." He opened up the tree and added the drop to it and watched as Nicolette's name extended a line, and then another line...and what was this? James was about to demand why there were other people on the tree when stunning spell had hit him and forced him to stumble back a little, how that little b*tch was able to hit him so easily he couldn't tell. Once he looked up he noticed it was too late to run after them and growled under his breath.

'If she thinks this is over than she is far more dumb than I remember her to be.' James thought to himself bitterly as he picked his cane up and stared at their retread forms, he couldn't run after them, besides he had accomplished what he needed from her this time anyways, he couldn't kill her yet. Looking down at the tree he was amazed to see that it had gone from just one...to many many living family members. What made him more curious was the fact that not only she was married, but seemed to have children as well. "This isn't over." He muttered to himself crankily knowing that he was going to have to deal with this, Nicolette was never supposed to be happy, have children , have friends, or fall in love an and he was going to make d*mn sure she stayed away from ever having the chance too....even if it meant destroying what she had already done.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette visibly flinched when she felt her back being pricked by something sharp, he must be trying to update the tree if all he was going to do was give her that small prick and leave her alive without any further injury. The whole time she waited for his to freak out for her adding members to the tree she held her breath, she didn't want them hurt because they were all so important to her now and him knowing about them was putting them at such a risk. 'I won't let her him hurt anyone else!' She thought as she watched Cecily crouch down, Nicolette was unsure about what she was trying to do and looked at Cecily with a raised eyebrow. But when Cecily shot a nonverbal spell at James she quickly caught on and wasted no time in standing up and following after Cecily amazing speed they both headed out of the street and around many corners. "Hey come on, I have an idea!" Without further warning she grabbed onto Cecily's shoulder whole they were still running and apparated onto the roof building quite far away from here, so far from where James was that she sure he probably wouldn't find them here.

"Godd*mmit" Nicolette hissed as she healed the wound that the needle had made when he pricked her and then checked to make sure the slam hadn't done anything to her when she had been attacked and slammed to the ground, they had gotten off lucky this time seeing as he seemed to really be only interested in the tree. "I had to go through that everyday as a child... but are you okay?" Nicolette crouched down and leaned against the wall of the building, what was she going to do now that he was actually here to be cruel and inhuman to her once again?

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

"What is his damage?" Cecily gasped out, bending over, hands propped above her knees. She panted and was feeling a little dizzy from running and the side along apparition. She couldn't believe that that had just happened. "I'm okay, are you okay?" Carefully striding over she slumped by Niccy. "We have to tell somebody he's here, Niccy. What if we had our babies with us?" Cecily slid down and sat down, rubbing at her forehead. That had been insane.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette blinked and looked at Cecily softly through her golden orbs, she had never meant to pull her friend into her business like this and now she felt terrible for it. She sighed and propped her knee up to she could rest an arm on it and stare up at the sky, it was in the late afternoon but it still felt like the entire world was growing quiet from just that little incident. "I'm fine. And as I said, he's always been like that...why else would I have run from him?" Twenty-seven years ago Nicolette used her animagus form to escape and she thanked merlin everyday that she had learned that ability, without that form she wouldn't be the happy person she had become today. In fact she was starting to think that he had lied to her about friendship and love being fake feelings, whenever she was around these people she always felt so happy, even if she had a darkened heart and chose a dark path she still had feelings and could care for others.

"Maybe we should, but...what if no one cares and James is right?" Nicolette already had an idea on who she might want to tell but didn't want to admit it to herself because she was still worried that was James had said about her was true, that downright nobody really cared about what happened to her and that she was always alone. "If we had the babies with us things would have been far worse than you had just seen." Nicolette sighed and ran thin fingers through her blond locks before she turned to look at Cecily softly, thank god that she had been there or things could have gotten to bad to the point where Nicolette couldn't do anything to fix it.