quot;Copy that Hawk Leader. Falling back and waiting for your run."

"Good job Nighthawks." Aayla congratulated her squadron as she zeroed in on the last of their targets. A single pull of the trigger later and the guard house went up in flames. "Nighthawks, climb to one-thousand feet and enter into holding pattern. Master Nox. The towers are neutralized and you are clear to make your assault. May the Force be with you."

Raising the glass to his lips, Vlad Sanguine drank deeply of the rich red blood filling his goblet. Once he'd drained the cup of its entirety, he passed the empty goblet off to the thrall kneeling at his feet. "Fill it again."

Without a word, one of his many thralls moved up the dais towards him and took his goblet before fleeing quickly. Repressing a wince, Vlad tilted his head from side to side as he attempted to crack his neck. Greengrass had been more…formidable than he'd anticipated. Sure he lost a few of his coven, and that had been expected. But he had not anticipated that Greengrass would dare use such a spell as the one he had.

He'd just barely managed to avoid the hellfire, unlike almost all of the others he'd brought with him. But even though he managed to survive, he didn't do it unscathed. He'd been unable to participate in the hunts over the past week due to the fact that he'd been swimming in a pool of blood trying to heal the burns that'd been inflicted upon him.

Just as his thrall was returning with a full chalice, his entire throne room's silence was shuttered as dust fell from the ceiling. 'Hmm, it seems that she has come at last.' Vlad thought with a grin as his sensitive ears picked up the sounds of explosions coming from the manor house above him.

Unlike the fools in the magical world, Vlad kept apprised of everything going on in the muggle world. Because of that, he knew that Nox was probably one, if not the, most powerful women in the world in terms of both her influence in the business world and even the political world. She had access to technology and weapons that most governments didn't even have. And if word was to be believed; she was also creating her own personal army.

"Dread Lord!" One of his fellow vampires shouted, running into the throne room and prostrating himself before Vlad. "We are under attack!"

Vlad didn't bother to hide his annoyance as he addressed the kneeling vampire. "I am well aware of that Kraven." Vlad growled. "This was expected. Now seal the catacombs. We will weather this attack as we have done in the past."

He would've preferred to simply fight and turn any who were worthwhile into his thralls or even fellow vampires. But the simple matter was that the attacks that he and his coven have flinging on the wizarding world had dwindled his already limited numbers. And he wasn't quite willing to risk the entirety of his coven on the whims of a trumped up Dark Lord.

Kraven's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Dread Lord…there are still some of our brethren on the surface! Plus the Dayguards…and thralls. Shouldn't we-"

To the normal eye, Vlad simply disappeared from his throne and reappeared in front of Kraven. "Do not question me Kraven." Vlad growled, grabbing a fist full of the man's shirt and picking him clear off the ground. "We have enough fresh stock and magically preserved blood to last us for a century. Now seal the fucking catacombs before I decide to add you to the supplies."

Letting go, Kraven scrambled away as soon as his feet hit the ground as he sprinted to see that Vlad's orders were carried out. 'Fools. The lot of them.' Vlad thought, turning back to his throne. 'Come Nox. You will find only disappointment here.'

Staring down at the slightly burning building below them Nox felt more than a little smug. This was the first time that her soldiers, her pilots and by extension her fighters were being used in tandem. And so far they were not disappointing. Both towers were completely gone. The barracks were gone as was the guard house at the gate. The one thing that truly put her on edge though was the suspicious lack of living bodies on the roof.

"Ten seconds to drop point!"

Drawing both her wand and lightsaber into her open hands, Nox opened the sliding door of the LAAT and calmly stepped out. The air rushed by as Nox freefell through the air before she slowed her descent just enough to land softly on the roof. Several soft footfalls came from around her as the rest of the Guardian Masters dropped out of their transports. Followed shortly after by heavier footfalls as the soldiers dropped out of their transports.

Scanning the roof, Nox frowned as she failed to find any opposition. The only guards that were there to greet them were the dead. Turning her head slightly, she watched as Master Vos and his squad all descended onto the roof, looking just as confused as Nox felt at the lack of opposition. 'There is no way that our fighters got all of them.'

Kneeling down, Nox placed her hand on the roof of the building. "Omnes Videntes."

She couldn't help the grin from forming on her face as her vision pulsed, illuminating half a dozen lifeforms hiding just within either entry points leading from the roof and into the now-ruined towers. "They've set up ambush points just within either entrance. Not bad for being caught with their pants down." Nox explained, rising to her feet. "Master Vos, take your squad and head for the east entrance and work your way down."

"You got it." Quinlan half-saluted before motioning for his squad to follow him as they moved towards the opposite end of the roof.

Making her way towards the door nearest to them, Nox took a moment to examine the door and the wall. Raising her wand, she cast a few charms on the wall to reinforce it. "General, how many grenades, actual grenades, do you and your men have?"

"Two frag grenades. Two Incendiary grenades. And two sun grenades each ma'am."

"Have two frag grenades at the ready." Nox told the General, turning around and leaning her back against the door. "After all…we wouldn't want to disappoint them by not responding to their trap now would we?"

Rex nodded, first to her and then two others of his men as he and the other troopers reached down to their belts and pulled out one of their grenades. Pointing her wand at the door, Nox let out a powerful blasting curse that reduced the door, and its frame, to nothing more than splinters. Rex and his troopers were hot on her heels as both lobbed their grenades into the new opening before the dust could even begin to settle. Both went off just on the other side of the opening, destroying anything and everything that was on the other side of the door.

"Omnes Videntes."

This time when her vision pulsed, all she could see were dead bodies scattered throughout the interior of the stairway. "I guess that's one way to make an entrance." Obi-Wan commented dryly. "They teach you that at the Sith Academy?"

"Of course." Nox smiled as she activated her lightsaber and moved towards the hole in the wall. "It was the first class of the day. Shock and awe. Right after murder and mayhem one-oh-one. Well then ladies and gentlemen shall we? We have vampire clan to exterminate. And daylight is wasting."

Sitting on a tree branch a fair distance away from the castle, Harry watched in his phoenix form as Master Secura led her wing of fighters on two strafing runs. After watching the tower fall and seeing the two LAATs quickly approaching from the ocean, Harry let out a low trill as he spread his wings and with two powerful flaps he was airborne and sailing towards the back of the castle while behind him the rest of his little team took the air.

There were two guards at the rear entrance, both of whom were looking around frantically and seemed to be arguing with one another about what was going on. Angling himself upwards, Harry took advantage of their distraction to fly almost directly above them before turning in midair and shifting. Still in the air; Harry drew his lightsaber and twisted his body creating a cyclone with his lightsaber that went clean through each man's neck before he tucked his body in and landed safely on his feet.

Six soft thumps on the ground told him that the girls had all landed behind him and shifted back into their normal forms. Turning around, he looked at each of his girls in turn. Ahsoka looked completely calm and composed. Not surprising considering she'd already been fighting on the front lines of a galactic war for years. Ginny, who'd already bloodied herself during Ahsoka's rescue mission, barely gave the two corpses a second glance. Susan's face was completely neutral, but Harry could sense just the slightest touch of excitement under her calm façade. Luna appeared complete non-repulsed, in fact she looked completely at ease. Hermione however, while she put on a brave face he could tell that she was slightly put off by the sight of the two dead bodies lying at his feet.

"Don't hesitate." Harry told them as he pointed his wand at the back door.

Just before could cast a spell, the door was flung open. "The Dark Lord just told us to stay here and report on their success! He didn't tell us…to…"

Two black robed men with their hoods down stood in the now open door, staring confusedly at Harry and the six girls. Overcoming his surprise, Harry slashed his wand across his body, throwing a powerful banishing curse at the two men. Both men were thrown back into the house, stopping only when they crashed into the wall opposite the door with enough force to leave perfect human shaped indents.

Daphne and Susan were on them immediately, lightsabers drawn, activated and ready to cut the two down. "Wait!" Harry called out quickly, stopping the three. "Mother wants anyone from Voldemort, and I dare say that these two fit the profile."

Daphne and Susan didn't appear too pleased, but both pulled back and made way as Harry walked forward and hit both men with a stunning curse just to make sure that they would stay out. However when he started to conjure up ropes to secure them, Hermione stepped past him and pointed her wand at the two unconscious men while muttering a spell under her breath. Both men were immolated as fire coursed over their bodies. But instead of burning the two to a crisp, like Harry had feared, the flames simply died out after destroying anything and everything the two men were wearing. Leaving both in their birthday suits.

"Well Hermione." Luna said airily, openly admiring the two men on the ground while Hermione turned redder than Ginny's hair. "If you wanted to know what men look like, I could've given you a few books of mine. Although I must say, these two don't really 'stack up' to the ones in my books. Although I guess that it is a little chilly out."

"I-I didn't mean it like that!" Hermione snapped. "I just– well Master Nox said that they carry portkeys on their bodies…and well anything can be a portkey so I just that the best course of action would be too-"

"Its fine Hermione," Harry cut across, ending Hermione's rant as he conjured up blankets to cover both men. Followed up by ropes to secure them in place. "It was a good plan."

Once both were bound and secure, Harry looked around for a place to stash the two unconscious men. Spying a door just off to his left, he raised his wand to his eyes. "Omnes videntes."

The spell showed two figures in the room beyond, but something was…off about them. Despite the fact that there was obviously a battle going on around them, the two were just…standing in the center of the room. Stepping back, he signaled for the girls that there were two in the room and their general location before thrusting out his hand and blowing the door off its hinges with a Force push.

Six streaks of red zipped past his head, three heading in the general direction of one figure while three headed towards the other. Both figures within the room didn't even turn around as they were hit in the back with the stunning spells and fell to the floor.

Keeping his wand in front of him, Harry entered the room and found himself standing in a large kitchen that looked as if it could feed all of Hogwarts. "Strange." Susan murmured as she stepped past him and towards the two downed individuals. "There's a battle going on upstairs…and they were making breakfast."

"They're more than likely thralls." Daphne commented, squatting down next to one.

Turning his wand in a tight circle, Harry conjured a length of rope which wrapped itself around each of the downed individuals. "We can worry about that later. Right now we need to move. The Masters are all waiting for us." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Susan talking a few steps back from something. "Susan what is…"

His question died on his lips as he saw what'd caused a veteran of a galactic war to go pale. The corner of the kitchen was covered in blood splatter. And hanging from a meat hook was a partially dissected human. "Oh my god." Hermione gagged. "I think I'm going to be sick…"

Bringing his wand up, Harry threw a cutting curse to sever the chain before conjuring a blanket and throwing it over the corpse. "We have a job to do." Harry said, trying his best to keep his voice even. "Hermione, Susan. Take these two out into the hall and place them with our two resident Death Eaters then secure the area and wait. Everyone else with me."

Heading back out into the hall, Harry kept his wand at the ready while keeping his lightsaber deactivated. 'It sounds like they're using ballistic weaponry.' Harry thought as they advanced towards the sound of gunfire. 'Have to use wands for the time being.'

Strangely enough, outside of the obvious sounds of fighting coming from further in the house they encountered zero resistance as they swept through the first floor and headed towards where Harry knew the foyer was located thanks to the blueprints that Bill had managed to provide for them.

As they came upon a hall that would lead them directly to their objective, Harry jerked to a stop and jumped back into cover. "Shit." He muttered before turning towards the girls. "It looks like all the guards that are left are making one last stand in the foyer."

Raising his wand to his eyes, he poked his head just slightly out of cover. "Omnes videntes."

The pulse showed where each of the guards were on the lower levels as well as where the Guardian troopers and Masters were up on the second floor. "How does it look?" Ahsoka asked as he pulled his head back.

"The guards are using whatever they can as barricades on the first floor." Harry explained. "My mother's squad and Master Vos' squad have them caught in a pincer, but they can't get a clear shot because of their barricades. If we can flush them out though, then those on the second floor will have a clear shot at them."

"Okay, sounds easy enough," Ginny shrugged, peeking around the corner. "Um…how exactly are we going to be doing this?"

"Oh you Gryffindors…never thinking with the head on your shoulders." Luna sighed, summoning what looked like some sort of decorative rock from a table before using her wand to etch a patterns into its surface.

"Hey! I resent that!" Harry grumbled.

"I stand by what she said." Daphne shot back, before turning to Luna. "So what are you doing?"

Ahsoka however, was leaning over Luna's shoulder watching what she was doing. "Um, Luna. I know I'm not well versed in runes…but that doesn't look like anything to me. Just a bunch of…runes clustered together."

"Quite right." Luna nodded. "It's an unstable rune matrix. And what happens to unstable rune matrixes?" Using her wand to hover the rock she brought it around the corner before banishing it down the hall. A loud boom detonated from down the hall as the guards cried it in alarm, only to be quickly silenced. "They explode."

Shaking his head, Harry looked around the corner again. The barricades that the guards had been using were destroyed and all the guards were dead. "You know Luna." Harry said slowly, shaking his head. "Sometimes you scare me."

Pacing back and forth in front of the two freshly revived Death Eaters, Nox tapped her wand against the palm of her hand as she favored the two with a smirk while around her the former-Jedi, Amelia, Sirius, Xeno and General Rex looked on. At her invitation of course.

The short skirmish had actually gone incredibly well. Not only did they manage to take the mansion with no casualties, they also managed to avoid any injuries as well. And once the fight was over they managed to bring in their reinforcements without issue and now while the troopers were making sweeps through the mansion looking for any holdouts. While they were doing that, Bill and Fleur were hard at work disabling the seal over the catacombs. Although judging by the look on Bill's face when he started examining the entrance point, the vampires had obviously done something to the goblin wards and it would take him sometime to undo it.

"Well? Are you going to get on with it bitch!? We don't have all day!"

Stopping, Nox cocked an eyebrow at the Death Eater who'd spoken. The two were almost night and day from one another. The one who'd just spoken had an air of confidence and power to him. While the other…well Nox was pretty sure that he was about to lose control of his bladder at any moment.

Stopping in front of the man who'd spoke, she knelt down so that the two were at eye level with one another. "Now that isn't a very nice thing to say to a lady."

The man's eyes only hardened. "Fuck you bitch."

"Sorry," Nox chuckled, reaching out and patting the man on the cheek. "But you're not my type. But if you want this to be over with, I can comply with that request. All that you have to do is tell me why Voldemort sent the two of you here instead of keeping you both by his side. And what his next plan of action is."

The cowardly man actually flinched at the name while the one with some measure of spine went red in the face. "You dare say his name you mudblood bitch!"

"Of course I do." Nox shrugged. "Besides it's not even his name. It's just an anagram. But back to the topic at hand. Why did Voldemort send the two of you here and what is next move?"

The man with a spine smirked. "Do whatever you like to us. We won't tell you a thing."

"I see. Such a shame." Nox sighed, standing up. "Master Fay. Would you like to do the honors? I think this one with the mouth is a good place to start."

Nodding, the ageless Master walked past Nox and took up her vacated spot kneeling at eye level with the man. The silence stretched on as the two did nothing more than stare at one another. The corners of Master Fay's eyes tightened ever so slightly as the man with the mouth twitched his head. "What are you trying to do half-breed bitch?" The man growled. "If you think that you can get past my barriers…then you're as dumb as a-"

"You are nothing but hate and bile rolled together." Master Fay murmured softly. "Any light within you has been crushed. There is nothing by darkness within your mind, body and soul."

Small droplets of perspiration beaded across the man's brow. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Closing her eyes, Fay reached out and pressed her index fingers against the man's temples. "Your Master does not care about you." Fay muttered as the man began to twitch. "You know this. He sent you here to die. You have doubts about him. His cause. But you do not care. The darkness within you only cares about how much pain you can inflict on others."

The man's whole body started twitching as he struggled to break free. "Get out of my head bitch! Get out now before– Ah!"

The man gave off a blood curdling scream as his head was wrenched back out of Fay's grip as his back arched to an unnatural angle. What happened next surprised even Nox as while the man was screaming blood began seeping out from his eyes, his ears, his nose and his mouth. If not for the wards that she'd placed around the room, she was sure that his screams would've alerted even the vampires in the catacombs beneath them. Shaak Ti took two steps forward to help the man, but faltered when blood started streaming out of his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Nearly a full minute later the man's cries died out as his body fell lifelessly to the floor.

Walking up to the corpse, Nox reached out with her foot and lightly kicked at the man's leg. His presence in the Force was completely gone. "Well…that was different." Nox murmured, turning to look at Sirius, Amelia and Xeno. "Any ideas you three?"

"He must've had a trigger imbedded in his mind." Xeno answered, walking forward and kneeling next to the man's bloodied head before poking it with the tip of his wand. "You usually see this sort of thing with deeply imbedded spies. It's to prevent anyone from forcibly extracting information out of the mind. If the trigger senses an intrusion, the mind will self-destruct."

"Is there any way to detect these…triggers?" Master Ti asked, staring dispassionately down at the body.

"No." Xeno answered, flicking his wand off to the side to clean the blood off of it. "And it doesn't have to be a mental intrusion also. Some triggers are tied into the chemical reaction that occurs in the brain upon the consumption of veritaserum. Although the question that we should be asking is who placed the trigger in this man's mind. Did he do it? Or did Voldemort?"

All eyes turned to their remaining prisoner, who had in fact voided his bladder all over the front of himself. "Well?" Nox asked, stepping up to the man and making him flinch. "We do have a spare. And I sincerely doubt that this one has the ability to create one of these triggers. So if his brain turns to mush then we'll know that Voldemort is starting to take extra precautions."

"The Dark Lord placed them!" The man shouted, trying to avoid Nox's outstretched hand by leaning back. "He– he called us to stand before him before sending us here. He said…he said that he was placing safeguards in our minds to protect us from the vampire's enthrallment! He never said anything about these triggers!"

"That's just low." Sirius mumbled. "Even by his standards."

"Apparently he's starting to take extra precautions." Nox mused, touching a finger to her lips. "I suppose this might be my fault. The first time I encountered one of this Death Eaters I took as much information as I could from his mind. Learned a great deal about Voldemort and his original plans. Apparently Voldemort is looking to prevent me from repeating my actions."

"Well this will cause a problem for future interrogations if this Dark Lord does this to all of his followers." Kenobi mused, rubbing at his beard before turning towards Xeno. "Can he place these triggers on anyone?"

"No." Xeno answered. "The mind will naturally resist them. Even the most skilled legilimencers cannot place such a trigger without consent of the intended. Of course he doesn't need to actually tell them what he's doing. He just needs to say that he's placing safeguards in their mind and that would do. A skilled occlumens would be to detect what was done and counter it. But I fear that these are few and far between."

"That does create a problem." Nox hummed as she resumed her pacing. After completing several laps around the room, she came to a stop in front of their last remaining Death Eater. "I don't suppose that you would be willing to tell us just why Voldemort sent you here and what he plans on doing next would you? Or shall we take out chances with how careful I can be about avoiding the trigger in your mind?"

The man whimpered. "The Dark Lord didn't tell us his plans! I swear it! He- he doesn't tell anyone what he's planning. He just…he just stays secluded and mumbles to himself. That's it! I swear to you that's it!"

Nox stared down at the prisoner. "I believe you." Her words made the man heave a sigh of relief. "Now, why did he send you two here?"

The man licked his lips. "We were– we were overseeing the abductions and attacks by the vampires and reporting back to the Dark Lord on their success or failures."

"Makes sense." Nox mused. 'He would want to know just how much chaos was being inflicted.' Kneeling down again in front of the Death Eater, Nox used the tip of her wand to lift up the sleeve of his conjured robe revealing the magical mark branded into his flesh. "Why don't you tell us all how you got that mark?" She asked. "And don't try to lie to me. I'll know if you're lying to me. And you won't like the consequences."

The Death Eater, who'd just begun to calm down, started sweating profusely once again. "I– I- please…don't kill me! Have mercy please!"

Getting up, Nox began circling the Death Eater, trailing her hand along his shoulder. "I promise that I won't harm you should you tell us what one has to do to earn that mark."

The man broke and started sobbing. "He…he was only a muggle."

That got the attention of the former-Jedi in the room as his implication became clear. "Details man." Nox said, clapping him on either shoulder and making him jump slightly. "What did you do to earn that mark?"

Tears were flowing freely down his face as Nox came back around to face him. "I- we have to show our…our dedication to…to Him. A muggle is brought before us and…and we have to use the Unforgivable Curses on them." The man paused, but when no one spoke up he pressed on. "I– I used the Imperius Curse and made him cut off his own fingers. Then…then I used the Cruciatus Curse until his mind broke. And then…then I killed him with the Killing Curse." The man nearly shaking with in terror by the time he finished as all of the former-Jedi in the room looked ready to strike him down where he sat. "Please…please have mercy! All Death Eaters need to perform the same feat in order to receive their mark! Please…please don't kill me."

Smiling kindly, Nox patted the man on his cheek. "Doesn't it feel better to get that off of your chest?" She asked rhetorically. "And don't worry. I'm a woman of my word. And I won't kill you. Madam Bones?"

Amelia's heels sounded like hammers as she stepped forward, taking Nox's place in front of the prisoner. The Head of the DMLE's face looked like it'd been carved from stone as she stared unforgivingly down at the cowering man. "What is your name?"

The man soiled himself, again, as he wilted under Amelia's gaze. "Uther Mural."

"Uther Mural." Amelia echoed. "Of House Mural. A notoriously Dark family that was expelled from the Wizengamot two hundred years ago. Under the authority of the DMLE I hereby find you guilty, by your own admission, of association with a known terrorist organization known as the Death Eaters. You are also hereby found guilty, again by your own admission, of using the Unforgivable Curses to maim, torture and kill a muggle. The penalty these crimes is death by way of the Veil of Death."

The man broke down completely. "Please! Please have mercy! I– I have information! I can give names! Whatever you want! Just…just please show mercy!"

Amelia's eyes remained hard as ice despite the man's pleas. "I might be able to lessen your sentence to a life sentence in Azkaban. However you must be willing to go public with names of known Death Eaters."

Uther lowered his head. "They'll kill me."

Amelia merely shrugged. "The choice yours of course. A lifetime sentence in Azkaban for your testimony dissecting every aspect of the Death Eaters that you know. Or you can meet your end at the Veil of Death."

Uther shuddered. "Promise me that I'll be protected in Azkaban. I don't want my name to be known either. And…and put me in the minimum security section with the least amount of Dementor presence and…and I'll tell you everything I know."

In Nox's mind, she was already working on how to use this to her advantage. 'Xeno still has access to his printing press. Perhaps we can get his testimonial out with his publication. Not very many people read his magazine. But if we print enough copies someone and flood the streets with them it might just be enough to start turning the tide of the public's opinion.'

"One more thing." Master Kenobi said, striding forward. "You said that you were here to oversee the abductions. Are all the ones that are taken here within the mansion?"

The man hesitated. "Only the muggleborns. The squibs were– Ah!"

The man's head snapped back as blood began pouring from all of the orifices on his head just like it did with the other Death Eater. However unlike the other…Uther did not go quickly. His body thrashed violently as his fingernails began clawing at his skin.

"We need to stop it!" Nox yelled, grabbing the man's head in both of his hands and blunt forcing her way into his mind trying to salvage whatever she could.

But unfortunately she was far too late. But the time she actually managed to find what was causing the damage, Uther Mural had died. "Fuck!" Nox cursed loudly, rising to her feet and advancing on Xeno. "I thought you said that it would only trigger when the mind was invaded!"

For the first time since she'd known him, Xeno actually looked troubled. "Usually that is the case. But apparently Voldemort is taking more precautions than before." He said, his eyes meeting hers. "You should feel honored. He actually truly considers you a threat."

"He did give us something." Master Fay stated. "He said that only these…muggleborns are here with the vampires. Those you call squibs are not. Which means that this Dark Lord wanted them. Why would he want them?"

"Given who he is, Merlin only knows." Sirius sighed. "But given what we've just learned…he might need prisoners for when he starts recruiting to replenish his ranks."

"A mystery for another time." Nox said with a note of finality as she lowered the wards that she'd placed around the room before opening the door with a wave of her hand. Standing just on the other side of the door, with his hand poised to knock, was her son. "What is it Harry?"

Harry's eyes bounced off of the two corpses in the room before coming back to her. "Bill wanted me to inform you that he and Fleur have almost finished breaking the wards." He informed them, seemingly completely uncaring about the two dead bodies in the room. "We'll be able to head down into the catacombs soon."

"Good." She responded, turning her back on the corpses and marching out of the room.

'This can still be used to our advantage.' She thought, wandering into the foyer where the rest of the assault team, witches and wizards were gathered around Bill and Fleur as they waved their wands of the shield that'd been engraved into the floor just before the stairs. The only ones not present were the Apprentices she'd on purposely left behind as well as Master Yoda, Arthur, Molly, the Abbotts, Cedric, Viktor and Richard Davis.

"Any luck?" Tonks asked, sidling up next to her as she watched as Bill and Fleur work.

"Yes and no." Nox answered honestly. "Unfortunately both had kill triggers placed in their minds by Voldemort and kicked the bucket before they could provide us with anything useful."

Tonks just shook her head. "And just when I think that wanker can't get any lower he continues to lower the bar."

A loud crack echoed throughout the foyer as all of the troopers raised their weapons, loaded with UV rounds, towards the shield on the floor. In tandem with Bill's and Fleur's backwards steps, the entrance to the catacombs slowly opened as the shield on the floor split in two right down the middle. Revealing a long flight of winding stairs lined with dim lights. "General. I believe proper etiquette dictates that we announce ourselves." Nox asked, cocking an eyebrow at the clone.

Rex nodded back to her, reaching down for one of his two sun grenades. "Gregor…let's announce ourselves."

The sun grenades were a creation by Xeno had thought up to disperse a wide area of waiting vampires. Relying on the same principles of their UV bullets the grenades were contained in a glass spear that would break at a 5 seconds after being activated. Activating their grenades, the two clones threw the glass spheres down the stairs. The glass spheres bounced down the stairs and out of sight. Five seconds after they were activated, cries of alarm could be heard coming from down the stairs as light brighter than the sun came up from the winding stairs.

Activating her lightsaber, Nox took point without a word and made her way down the winding stairs. A full turn down the stairs and the smell of burnt flesh assaulted her nose. It wasn't hard to find the source of the smell. At the base of the stairs as the path began to widen and split off in different directions were three bodies that'd been burned beyond the point of recognition. "I must say Xeno." Nox stated as Rex led his squad past her, their weapons raised and ready. "You and the twins certainly outdid yourselves with this one."

"Well, I do aim to impress Madam Nox." Xeno replied with a touch of smugness.

"And you've succeeded." Nox shot back before noticing that Amelia and Sirius had come down the stairs. "Amelia, Sirius. I want you and your wizards to head back upstairs and hold the entrance. If anyone, and I mean anyone, comes up from down here without us present you're to stun first and ask questions later is that understood?"

Both of them looked like they wanted to protest her orders, but one stern look from Nox, as well as a quick glance down at Amelia's midriff, was enough to silence whatever protests they might've had. "Alright." Amelia sighed. "Come on, let's head back upstairs."

Once the wizards and witches had retreated back up the stairs, leaving only the Guardians and their troopers, Nox rolled her shoulders as a thrill went up her spine. 'Two battles in less than two weeks…how I have missed this feeling.' "Break up into your assigned groups." Nox called out, heading towards the path that would lead her down to the lowest level of the catacombs. "Let's hunt some bloodsuckers."

Changing out the clip from his weapon, Dan Granger stared down at the disintegrating corpse that he'd just put down. 'Well…Nox wasn't wrong.' He thought, loading a round into the chamber. 'These UV rounds are certainly effective. Two shots and these creatures literally melt from the inside out.'

"Commander Granger, are you alright sir?"

Next to him, the young man Harry Potter was nodding down towards the large gash across his arm. Unlike their guards on the surface, the vampires appeared to prefer hand to hand or edged weapon combat. And while that would usually give anyone with a firearm the advantage, the sheer speed in which these creatures moved made it next to impossible to get clear line on them. Hence how one had managed to dodge his shots and get close enough to claw at him.

"I'll live," Dan nodded, looking down at the wound. "As long as you tell me that I'm not about to turn into one of those things like they do in the movies."

"No." Harry answered honestly. "The virus is only transmitted through their bites. Not their claws."

"Good to know." Dan nodded, putting one last round into the vampire that'd managed to claw him. Just to make sure it was dead of course. "Lead on kid."

'Although I suppose that calling him a kid isn't really all that accurate.' Dan thought as Harry, his Apprentice, Ginny, and the alien girl Ahsoka once again took point. 'He's unbelievably skilled. As are those two girls with them. I think each of them have killed just as many of these vampires with their laser swords as our whole squad has. Not to mention they all have an aura about them that demands respect. A lot like some generals that I've met. And just to think…my little girl is not too far behind him. So much for pulling the tough dad act when she finally brings a boyfriend home.'

Thinking of Hermione made him wish for a moment that she wasn't with another group instead of with him. But he could understand Nox's thinking in separating the two of them. He would've been distracted had he been with his daughter. "Hold up." Harry called out as they reached what looked like a vault door.

"Well, if my experience has taught me anything a big door like this is usually here for a reason." Ahsoka murmured, tapping a finger to her lips while examining the door. "Wonder what they could be hiding."

"Only one way to find out." Harry said while raising his lightsaber and plunging the blade into the door up to the hilt.

The area around his incision point began to redden almost immediately before slowly turning white as Harry rotated his sword within the metal door. Bit by bit, the door began to melt away, forming a pile of molten metal on the floor. "There we go." Harry announced suddenly, pulling his lightsaber out of the door. "Think I got the lock. Ginny, Ahsoka? Mind helping me move this hunk of metal out of the way."

The two girls stood on either side of Harry and together the three of them raised their hands. Metal grinding against metal ground through the hall, ended only by something snapping loudly. Turning their palms towards them, the large vault like door slid out from its place. As one Delta squad raised their weapons, ready for whatever might be on the other side. But no one was prepared for what awaited them as the three tossed the easily one ton metal door aside as if it were weightless.

What awaited them in the next room didn't belong anywhere besides in a house of horrors. The unmistakable coppery smell of blood assaulted his nose. Cages, no bigger than a dog kennel, were lining either wall stacked two high. Each of which had a person stuffed inside like they were an animal. But what drew his attention immediately was the table in the center of the room and the woman wearing a white lab coat standing next to it. "What– how… that's impossible! Shite!"

The woman screamed as she ran towards the back of the room. Dan didn't hesitate as he raised his weapon and fired off a single round into the retreating woman's back. The round struck her in the shoulder blades, but unlike before instead of her skin instantly blackening and starting to smolder, the woman merely feel the ground screaming in pain alive and unburned. 'She's human.'

Moving into the room with everyone else, Dan took the time to exam each cage and its occupants. They were all alive…but they all looked drugged out of their minds. 'Good lord…they even have children in here!'

"Medic! Now!"

Snapping around, Dan found Harry standing beside the table. On top of which, held in placed with half a dozen crisscrossing straps, was a struggling young man with a feeding tube shoved down his throat. It took him a second to realize why Harry had called for a medic, but as he looked down at the table the young man was laying on it became obvious. Both of his wrists were cut. And blood was free flowing out of wounds, down the table and into a drainage tube near the man's head.

"Don't touch him!" The squad's medic yelled as Harry pointed his wand towards the cut's on his wrist.

"He's bleeding!" Harry shouted back.

"Anyone with eyes can see that Knight." The medic shot back, shouldering Harry off to the side. "But if you heal those wounds you'll kill him. As it is…it may already be too late."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked shakily, her eyes going back and forth between the bleeding young man, whose eyes were rolled up into the back of his head. "What are they doing to him?"

"Harvesting his blood." The medic responded, pulling out a wand and waving it over the body. "I was a Healer at St Mungo's before I was turned. I've seen this type of thing before. They cut open the wrists to drain the body of blood, then they force feed the victim a constant small stream of blood replenishing potion and a few other potions. The victim can stay alive for a full day or more, bleeding out. Through this process the vampires can harvest nearly a hundred liters of blood from a single victim before they expire. If we're not too late then we can save him, but he needs to keep bleeding for now."

"And if we are too late?" Dan heard himself ask.

"We'll know right away." The medic said without emotion grabbing hold of the tube that was shoved down the man's throat. "And he's already dead."

Yanking the tube out of the man's mouth, the young man gurgled in agony as blood started shooting up from his mouth like a fountain. "Fuck!" The medic shouted, taking a step back and pointing his wand at the young man's chest. "Avada Kedavra!"

A green streak of light leapt from the medic's wand and into the young man's chest. The young man's struggles ceased as his body went limp and the fountain of blood pouring from his mouth slowed to only a trickle. "Why did you do that?!" Harry shouted, rounding on the medic.

"Because he was already dead Knight Potter!" The medic shouted back, staring back unflinchingly into Harry's black and green eyes. "He drowned in his own blood. His mind and heart just hadn't' caught onto the fact yet that he was dead. Believe me, if there was a way to save him, I would've done so. He must've been hooked up like this for at least a full day or more. The pain he must've endured…it's unimaginable."

A low moan drew everyone's attention as he woman Dan had shot tried to weakly crawl across the floor. Blood and irradiated liquid streaming out of the wound on her back. Harry's gaze hard as he reached out with one hand. The woman's body went stiff as she was lifted up into the air and spun around to face them, her feet dangling helplessly a few inches off the floor. "You're human." Dan hardly even recognized Harry's voice as the woman floated towards his outstretched hand. "Why the fuck would you do this!"

Harry's fingers curled inwards and the floating woman began gasping as her hands clawed at her throat. "Harry!" Ahsoka said softly, laying a hand on his outstretched arm. "You're better than this. Better than them. Don't skin to their level. Be the man I know you are."

Harry continued to glare at the woman, holding her suspended in the air by her throat. Without warning his hand opened and the woman fell to the ground, coughing and clutching at her throat. "You don't understand." The woman coughed. "I– I did what was necessary! Using this method…the vampires haven't had a need to go out and hunt! And magical blood…it sustains them longer than normal blood. What is a few dozen sacrifices when thousands are saved in the process!"

"So that's your justification for torturing and murdering innocents!" Harry yelled, advancing on the woman and making her scramble backwards to try and get away from him. "If you truly cared about saving lives…you'd be looking for a way to kill them. Not feed them." Reaching out, Harry smacked his palm against the woman's head. Her head snapped back, but Harry's hand stuck to her like glue. "No…you don't care about saving lives. It's just a lie you tell yourself. A lie you don't even believe. You just wanted to become one of them."

Letting go of the woman, Harry turned his back on her and marched back towards the exit. Pausing as he passed by the young man dead on the table. "If there was any justice in the world…you'd be on this table bleeding out for days on end." The tone in his voice was so serious that Dan honestly believed that Harry was about to do just that. "But I am not you. I am not a monster. Heal her wounds and bind her. The Temple has holding cells. We'll lock her up until we can properly sentence her for her crimes. And someone start freeing all of these people."

The squad medic stepped forward, a streak of red leaving his wand and striking the woman knocking her out cold before flipping her over and cauterizing the wound on her back. While everyone else started going around and opening cages, Dan stepped up to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You made the right choice son." Dan said, drawing Harry's black and green eyes to him. "I've seen a lot of shit in the world kid. And I've seen it drive men and women mad. But you resisted it."

Harry didn't say anything as the two held each other's gaze. "Does it ever get any easier?"

Looking around, Dan winced as he watched Ahsoka and Ginny help a young girl who couldn't have been more than five years old out of one of the cages. "If I ever find the answer to that question kid, I'll let you know."

Walking into the lowest level of the catacombs, Nox stared at the large ornate doors in front of her. She could sense the power radiating through them as she examined the crisscrossing pattern of runes etched into the wood steel. 'Hmph…impressive.'

Activating her lightsaber, she began carving a large circle out of the door. After completing a full circle, she pulled back and then used the Force to throw the cut out section of door into the room with enough force to crush anyone who'd been dumb enough to stand in its path. And judging by the few screams she heard, she'd managed to hit at least a couple.

"You two stay here and watch the door." Nox said, spying Luna and Daphne out of the corner of her eye. "When the time has come, I'll call for you two. But right now, I can't fight him and keep an eye on you two."

Daphne looked like she wanted to say something, but after a single look from Nox she swallowed it and nodded. "Yes Master Nox."

Eyeing her knight one last time, Nox squared her shoulders and waltzed through the hole she'd made. Lavish didn't begin to describe the room beyond. Gold trim lined the walls. Marble columns lined either side inlaid with gold. The room was clean that the marble floor reflected her image almost perfectly. The only imperfection was the section of door that she'd blown into the room and the streaks of blood racing across the floor in its path. And directly across from her was a raised dais that was outfitted with a large white marble stone throne. And sitting on said throne, looking completely unconcerned with her arrival, was an old withered husk of a man. Or at least what was once human man.

Spinning her inactivated lightsaber around in her hand, Nox tsk'd as she walked down between the marble columns. "I must say…it's going to be a shame when I bury this room forever. I suppose in a hundred years or so when some archaeologist is digging around here they might actually be able to recover some of this gold."

The withered vampire, who could only be the famed Vlad Sanguine, laughed. "You assume of course that you are going to win here? Heh. How pathetic." Rising from his seat, Vlad reached to the side of his throne and pulled out a long steel sword that was nearly as tall as he was. "All of those that you've fought leading to here…mean nothing. The difference between myself and them cannot even be measured. And it will be a thousand years before you could ever think of challenging me."

Nox merely eyed the Dread Lord as he descended from his throne. "No wand?"

Stopping a dozen paces away from her, Vlad hefted his blade up and ran a finger along its edge. "Before I became Vlad Sanguine…I was just a mere muggle. Then I was turned. I bided my time, grew stronger. Learned the secrets of witches and wizards; even if I could never actually cast a spell I learned to enthrall those with magic into my service. And you'd be amazed at what I can do with just a few simple runes." Pausing, Vlad pointed his blade towards her. "You are not the first witch to underestimate me just because I cannot use magic. And you will not be the last."

Cocking one eyebrow at the man, Nox tucked her wand back into its sheath. "Very well then. Not very sporting to use magic when you cannot."

Vlad hesitated. "You are either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish to put away your best weapon against me." Sighing, Vlad rolled his shoulders. "Either way, it won't matter in the end."

The vampire moved so fast that he disappeared from her line of sight. Her arm moved without thought, activating her lightsaber and catching the edge of the steel blade against it just inches from her neck. "Impressive." Nox commented, parrying his strike away and sliding away from Vlad. "You almost got me on that one. Although I do have to admit I am surprised that your sword managed to survive. It wouldn't happen to be inlaid with unbreakable charms would it? Maybe even a rune to power the charms?"

Vlad hadn't chased after her, instead he was looking at his sword as if it had suddenly started talking to him. "Impressive Nox." Vlad complimented her. "There are few who have been able to follow my movements. Perhaps there is hope for you yet. Instead of throwing your life away, why not join me? I can make you immortal and to-"

"Let me stop you right there." Nox sighed, holding up her hand. "I have no intention of joining you. Now or ever. So just shut up and fight me."

Vlad's eyes glowed. "I see. Such a shame."

Pivoting on her heel, Nox let the vampire that had tried to sneak up on her pass her by. Once she was around fully, she held out her hand and let loose a volley of Force lightning. Only instead of its normal white-blue color…her lightning was green. The vampire that'd tried to attack her screamed in agony as the lightning struck him full in the back. He didn't just fall over head. His entire body simply disintegrated.

'Huh,' Nox thought, sparing a quick glance down at her hand. 'That was different.'

She had no time to ponder what had just happened though, as Vlad had taken advantage of her momentary hesitancy to close the distance between the two of them. Bringing her lightsaber up into a high guard, Nox deflected his strike before sweeping down and making Vlad dance backwards to avoid her lightsaber going through his chest.

Vlad was good, there was no doubt about that. The man had obviously not been idle during his life. He was quick, both with his counters and his attacks. Nox found herself alternating back and forth between Soresu, which she'd spent the past few months refining against Master Kenobi, and Ataru to keep the man on his heels. And even with the Force to guide her, it was all that she could do to keep up with him.

After trading blows with the man for several minutes, Nox used the Force to push herself away from him before hitting him with a bout of white-blue Force lightning. Vlad crossed his arms in front of him to defend himself, and besides scorching his coat little else happened to him. But as she kept the pressure up on her attack, she could just vaguely make out what looked like bracers of some sort underneath the arms of his robe. 'Hmm, interesting. Some sort of either magical repressor or absorption point. Either way, a trick like that only works once.'

Abandoning her attack, she grabbed hold of the piece of the door that she'd cut out earlier and pulled it across the room to sweep Vlad's legs out from underneath him. With a cry, Vlad fell backwards, crashing into the floor with enough force to dent the stone beneath him. Leaping up, Nox swung down at her downed opponent, only to have her strike be blocked as Vlad managed to get his own blade around him in time. By the time she managed to land, Vlad had sprung back up to his feet and was once again advancing on her like a man possessed.

Nox had to rely heavily on Soresu as she blocked a flurry of attacks from Vlad, all of which were coming at her almost faster than the eye could follow. As the fight wore on, Vlad's patience waned as his movements started to become more erratic. "Die you pathetic bitch!"

Lunging out, Vlad made to spear her. But he over extended his thrust leaving Nox more than enough time to swipe down with her own lightsaber aiming not for his blade, but for his wrists. Her blood-red blade cleaved through flesh and bone as if there were nothing, removing both of the vampire's hands and as his sword clattered uselessly to the ground. Before the man could utter a single cry, Nox spun again, this time aiming low as she circled around and sliced through the man's legs just above his knees. Then with a thrust of her hand, Nox sent the Dread Lord flying backwards and into his throne.

Picking up his fallen sword with the Force, Nox then sent the metal blade flying through the air as fast as a blaster bolt and into Vlad's chest, taking care not to actually pierce the man's heart. Within the space of a few heartbeats, the most feared vampire in Europe had had his hands cut off, his legs removed, been thrown back into his throne and had been pinned there through the use of his own sword piercing his chest.

Vlad though, merely looked down at his current predicament as if it was a mere nuisance and nothing more. "I suppose that you are expecting me to beg for my life now?"

"No. Your life is not mine to take." Nox answered simply, deactivating her lightsaber. "You two can come in now."

Stepping around the ruined door, Daphne marched into the room with a smiling Luna right behind her. Luna looked around in awe at her surroundings, but Daphne had narrowed her eyes on the vampire lord pinned to his own throne.

Sheathing her lightsaber into her holster, Nox walked up to Daphne and put a hand on her shoulder. "He's all yours." She said before moving back to stand with Luna, giving Daphne a clear line at the vampire.

It took a long time for Daphne to reach the throne, as each step she took towards the vampire was slow and calculated. When she finally reached the base of the dais, Daphne merely stared upwards at the Dread Lord. "Do you know who I am?" She asked, her voice completely devoid of all emotion.

Vlad glared down at her, hoping to intimidate her. He failed. "I assume you're the brat of some fucker that I've killed over the years." Vlad shrugged. "What does it matter? I'm still going to tear your throat out. Although…you are rather pretty. In a few years you might even be considered beautiful. How about you let me go and I can grant you the greatest gift of all. Immortality. And a place at my side as my queen."

Even with how far away she was from the two of them, Nox could see the echoes within the Force as the Dread Lord spoke. 'Interesting. So this is a vampire's "enthrallment". Too bad I won't be able to study it in-depth. It could prove useful. And he's a fool to think that he can freely mess with the emotions of one such as Daphne. Who literally lives in emotion.'

True to her predictions, nothing happened. At least nothing that Vlad had been expecting as Daphne tilted her head to the side. "Interesting. Is this a vampire's enthrallment? It's tied into your voice. Most interesting."

Vlad blinked as he realized that his attempt at enthrall the girl had failed. "Unfortunately though, sensing and messing with emotions could be considered my forte." Daphne said loudly, showing off the ring on her right hand as she took a single step up the dais. "My name is Daphne Greengrass." Another step up. "Daughter to Cyrus Greengrass." Another step up and she was standing right in front of the vampire, close enough to touch. "And daughter to Evelyn Greengrass."

Vlad's eyes bounced off the ring and back to Daphne's face. "So you're the daughter of Cyrus huh? I expected you to be…older. And maybe a little more powerful given the way your father bragged out you before he died squealing like a stuck pig."

Nox could almost see the fury radiate off of Daphne, but as quick as it came it was gone. "Fear." Daphne's voice rang out like a gong. "You're words are full of bravado. But you're scared. More scared than you've ever been in your entire life. It's like a black hole, sucking you in and extinguishing all hope."

Vlad's eyes widened as he started to struggle against his impalement. "I'll show you the meaning of fear girl."

The hissing of Daphne's lightsaber activating echoed throughout the silent throne room as she hovered the glowing blade right next to the vampire's head. "I was planning on making this last for a long time." Daphne said emotionlessly. "I wanted you to feel the pain that I felt when you tore my parents from me. But now…now I see. You're nothing. You're just a hollow, pitiful, scared little boy. And I will not let you turn me into the very type of monster that my parents fought against."

Rearing back, Daphne thrusted her saberstaff right into the mouth of Vlad Sanguine before wrenching it up through his skull, then she pivoted and slice clean through his neck. Vlad's eyes blinked once, then his head split in half, each piece rolling away from his body in opposite directions as they fell to the ground.

Giving Daphne a moment to recover herself, Nox walked slowly to the young girl making sure that she knew that she was coming. Coming to a stop beside her, Nox stared down at the headless corpse. "You're parents would be proud of you Daphne."

The young girl's shoulders shook as she repressed a sniff. "Thank you Master Nox." Daphne said slowly, deactivating her lightsaber and turning towards Nox. "Are we done here?"

"Yes," Nox nodded as she gave Daphne a pat on the shoulder and turned the young girl towards the door just as General Rex walked through with two other soldiers. "General Rex. I take it by your presence that our cleanup operation has finished?"

The General spared a single glance at the decapitated vampire and nodded. "Yes ma'am," he saluted. "We lost two men during the assault and over a half dozen others are wounded although none of them are in critical condition. Commander Gregor is the worst of the wounded and his face is covered in second-degree burns from being too close to one of those sun grenades going off."

Nox frowned. While their loses were not nearly as high as she thought when planning this assault, losing even a single soldier was a mild set back as they did not have a large pool of well-trained reserves to pull from. "You've trained your men extremely well General," Nox congratulated Rex.

"Thank you ma'am." Rex nodded.

Leading the two girls towards the hole in the door, Nox stopped just shy of the opening. "Set the bomb to remote detonate General and then seal the room and come back up to the surface."

"Yes ma'am!" Rex saluted before turning to the two men he'd brought with him. "Well you heard her troopers! Wilson, get that bag off your back and let's finish this."

It took nearly until sun down to fully evacuate the mansion of all its prisoners. Most were in no condition to fight after their extended stay with the vampires and had requested to be sent straight to St. Mungo's while others had requested to be sent near to their old homes. Only a few had openly volunteered to join the Guardian cause. And those that did were sent along with Commander Wolffe to her recently developed manufacturing site where the troopers had been trained. Everyone who had volunteered had sworn that they were not in league with Voldemort, but Nox was still going to be making careful inquiries. If Voldemort was willing to fry the minds of his own men to keep information secret, she had no doubt that he would be willing to let one of his own suffer at the hands of the vampires in order to get one into her ranks.

"Ma'am!" General Rex saluted, walking up to her. "All civilians are evacuated and all non-Guardian Forces have evacuated back to the Temple."

"Good." Nox nodded as Kenobi, Harry, Ginny and Ahsoka made their way up to her. "Then I suppose that it's time for our resident voyeur to come out and play."

Flicking her wand off the side, she sent a stinging hex at the wall. Only it didn't hit the wall, as it impacted something just before it. Something that gave off a cry of alarm. "Damn it all lass! Ya could've just asked me to come out if you wanted to. Ya didn't have to blast me with that! And ya didn't have to aim for my bits girl!"

Harry and Ginny eyes both widened as the invisibility cloak fell away. "Professor Moody?"

The old scarred ex-Auror grumbled as he folded up his cloak. "Eh, took you two long enough."

The three younger Guardians all looked sheepishly at one another. "We were a little preoccupied."

Moody just shook his head and started limping towards them, keeping his arms out at his sides to show that he wasn't holding his wand. "No excuses! Constant vigilance! Your mum knew I was here. And so that one there and the older one that looks like your bird Potter. So why didn't you three?"

"Chastisement can wait till later Moody." Nox said, pointing her wand towards the scarred man, forcing him to stop in his tracks. "You've been hiding along the walls ever since we started evacuating. Why? Did Dumbledore send you after us? And how did you know that we would be here?"

"I ain't Dumbledore's lap dog lass. And like I told your boy there I ain't his spy either." Moody growled. "Despite what some people think. As for how I knew that you'd be here, well that was obvious. The attacks that were happening? Only occurring at night and no bodies found, all the signs of a vampire attack. And there's only one clan large enough to attack both you, your allies and the muggleborns. So I figured that you'd be coming after them here. Been staking out this compound for two days waitin for ya. Ya sure took your bloody timing getting here."

"That only answer's one of my questions Moody." Nox pressed. "Why are you here?"

Grumbling, Moody slowly reached into his cloak and pulled out a small vial before placing it on the ground. "A peace offering lass." He mumbled, taking a few steps back.

Once he was a safe distance away, Nox walked forward and, after casting several detection spells on the vial, picked it up to examine its contents. "A pensieve memory?"

"Aye," Moody growled. "Figured ya want to know what the prophecy about your boy is all about."

Nox blinked. 'So…he's offering answers to a question that has long plagued my mind.' "And what do you want in exchange?"

"For the moment, nothing." Moody replied, which immediately drew Nox's suspicion.

"Don't take me for a fool Moody. You want something. What is it?"

"I told you, nothing." Moody growled again. "Listen, you probably don't believe me on that front, but frankly I don't give a flying fuck. The truth is…you and your lot are probably the best option there is for taking down the Dark Lord. And I want to help."

Nox wasn't quite sure which was harder to believe. The fact that Moody was being sincere, which she could tell with just the briefest of touches with the Force. Or the fact that she actually believed him. "Then why don't you join us? As you said, we're the best choice for taking Voldemort down."

"Because I owe Dumbledore." Moody shrugged. "The old goat may have changed over the years, and not necessarily for the better. But he still saved my life back in the Second World War. I won't betray him. But…I still need to do what I can to bring Voldemort down. Plus this way, I can keep the old man from standing in your way too much."

Nox stared at Moody appraisingly. Reaching a decision, she reached into her robe and pulled out a fist size flat rock with numbers etched into its surface and tossed it onto the ground between them. "Should you ever need it, press seven-three-one-nine-zero on this rock. It will turn into a portkey and bring you to a safe that only I know the location of."

Pulling out his own wand, Moody went through the same series of spell that Nox had used before picking the stone up off the ground. "Thanks."

"Just make sure you keep your head about you Moody." Nox smirked, turning her back on him and making her way towards the waiting LAAT. "Amelia tells me that you're one of the good ones. I'd hate to lose you. Or worse. Have to kill you."

Behind them, Moody started laughing. "Haha! I like you lass! And the same goes to you as well!" Then with a crack of apparation the old Auror was gone.

Ten minutes later, Nox was standing beside her four Knights within the LAAT hovering a safe distance away from the island. A detonator in hand and ready to be used. "Daphne." She called out. When the young knight turned towards her, she held the detonator out for her to take. "Bury it."

Daphne didn't hesitate. Taking the detonator, the young woman spared the island one last glance before pressing down on the button. The entire manor shook for second before erupting in a wall of flame.

Stretching his new arm, Voldemort took his time examining his new silver appendage. It'd taken him over a week to properly grow it. And now that it was fully functional, he was actually y starting to consider altering more aspects of his body. As he contemplated the issue, Lucius barreled his way into his throne room and fell to his knees before him. "Forgive my intrusion, my Lord. But the emissaries that we sent to the Sanguine clan have not reported in this evening."

Lowering his arm, Voldemort merely shook his head. "It only took her a week to take her revenge against the vampiresss. Impressive."

Lucius raised his head just high enough to stare at him. "My lord?"

Rising from his throne, Voldemort wandlessly levitated himself down the dais until he was level with Lucius. 'Never hurts to remind my servants about why they follow me.' "I knew that Nox would attack the vampiresss. It wasss the whole reason why I sssent them after her in the first place." He explained, walking past Lucius and motioning for his most "loyal" follower to follow.

"Sssanguine wasss powerful. But he lacked sssight. He could never sssee the long game. Eventually we would've had to fight Sssanguine. If for no other reason than the sssimple fact that he would've refused to sssubmit. By sssending him after Nox, he might've gained a few blood bagsss to drain and sssome thrallsss. But in doing ssso he brought Nox'sss wraith down upon his own head. And Nox, in turn, took care of our future problem for us. We can only hope that Sssanguine's clan proved capable enough to actually do sssome damage to her numbersss."

He could almost taste the shock and, dare he say it, admiration that was coming off of Lucius. 'That's right Lucius. Remember who is in charge around here. I know of your ambitions. Keep them in check. Or I shall see to it that you meet a similar fate.'

"Brilliant, my Lord."

"Sssave your flattery Luciusss." Voldemort drawled, coming to a stop. "Sssend a notice. I want all of the true familiesss loyal to our cause to bring their families wands to me. I need a new one." 'At least until I receive the wand that I and I alone am destined to hold.'

"Yes, my Lord."

Continuing on his way, the two descended deeper into the complex. The whole building had been purchased by Lucius some months ago. And the moment was currently being renovated before it could serve its true purpose. Walking out into the lowest level of the complex, the two men stared at the dozen workers digging with pickaxes and shovels while Death Eaters kept careful watch over them. 'It is almost time.'

"Once I've replaced my wand, it will be time to move onto our next ssstage." Voldemort drawled, watching as one of his men sent a dark curse at one of the workers, making the man cry out in agony.

Lucius eyes lit up. Although not from excitement. "My Lord?"

Smirking Voldemort watched as the slaves continued to work. "Yesss…it isss time to replenish our numbersss. And…I have sssomeone I need to meet."