Abandonment and Exile

When everyone arrived at the tavern, Scabior was standing behind the bar. His hair was hiding his face and he seemed to be doing...something...but he did raise a hand in greeting.

Somehow, he seemed a little absent, or hiding something, then again he was good at hiding things from everyone and concealing the truth, at least about himself.

The tavern was considerably busy and the pack sat down at their table, mostly ending up in the regular groups. Xeno, Sybill, Laslow and Pandora were sitting on the floor, looking through a deck of cards that Sybill seemed to have gotten.

Evan, Barty, James, Marlene and Dorcas had gotten their first drinks the second they had come in and were now playing darts.
Sirius was actually reading for once and Remus was just sitting there, leaned against Regulus. He was wearing his hoodie, but the Mark still showed when he moved.

Regulus laughed, “I didn’t know you could read.” he did, obviously. But it was a brothers job to be annoying. At least, he thought so. He cuddles Remus closer and hid his nose in his hair. He was so hungry. 

He wanted to ask Scabior about it but he doesn’t have it in him to raise his voice. He’d rather not talk at all, actually. He kisses Remus’ head and moves to rest his cheek on his head. 
The mark on Remus’ shoulder was rather pretty to look at, but he’d rather have been the one to put it there. And he’d rather bite that pretty neck, but that could be the hunger talking. 

Sirius chuckled and shook his head "Brat. Go talk to Scabior." he smiled softly, gesturing to the bar. Scabior hadn't even fully acknowledge Fenrir when he had come in, something was definitely up. But it could easily be attributed to what had happened today.

"I can go with you?" Remus offered, speaking softly, quietly, but with a smile.
They walked over to Scabior but Regulus felt like he shouldn’t be over here since Scabior appeared to be busy. He tried to muster up the words to talk but it came out quiet. 
“Scabior,” he started, just trying to catch his attention. 

Scabior looked up immediatly when he heard Regulus. He looked rough, really rough. "Hey. Are you two alright? I know that the whole thing earlier might have been a shook, I want to apologize for that." he directed that at Regulus, mostly.

"Now, what can I do for the two of you?" He asked with a slight smile. Remus had sat down next to Fenrir on the bench in front of the bar already, out of habit.
Regulus was still standing, but he was concerned for Scabior. He shook his head and mumbled an ‘I’m fine’ 
“Are you okay?” He asked, not acknowledging what he’s actually here for yet. His stomach growled his response.

Scabior sighed "We're going to try that again" he was friendly yet somehow stern 
"Because you are not fine, kid. You look like a walking corpse." Regulus looked down in shame. He looked like normal in his opinion. 
“…’m hungry.” He admitted. 

"I appreciate that you are coming to me with it, that you are telling me. I understand that it is hard and I told you I won't force you, but I can't say that I am not at least a little relieved now" 
He nodded "I'll be right back, kid" and he vanished into the backroom, coming back a little later with a glass for Regulus.

"I got you. When ever you need something, I am here for you. Just remember that, alright? You deserve to be taken care of"
Regulus tried to not take the glass too eagerly but he is starving. 
“….Thank you.” He said sheepishly. 

He would trust Scabior with his life, and that said a lot. Regulus was not easily trusting. Nonetheless, Scabior wormed his way onto the list of people Regulus would kill for. He downed the glass of blood and grimaced. 

“It doesn’t taste as fresh as…they did.” He explained to Scabior, not able to name the people he killed. Perhaps he sounded like the stuck-up prince he was and he frowned. He didn't want to disappoint Scabior. 
"I know, but it has to do for now. But if it ever comes to a fight between you and a human or you find someone willing - believe me, there are messed up people out there - don't hesitate." Scabior sighed

"Sadly, there are messed up people of our kind out there as well. The man who turned me, for example. He would kidnap people and keep him for his own pleasure and to drink their blood. Sadly, he was also the one to turn Tom, the man who turned you and your brother."

Memories flashed behind Scabior's eyes "We aren't meant to live in groups like wolves, we are destined to be alone by the sins we carry in our heritage. Only few lucky ones like me or Marlene or you find someone to spend their life with."

His eyes flashed over to Fenrir. He was still holding back on information and he needed confirmation that he wasn't saying to much. 
"Those of us that do live in groups more often than not have some kind of motive, some kind of higher reason behind it, and the this day I have to find one of them that is not harmful to others or themselves."

"You are one depressing bastard" Marlene half scolded Scabior as she walked over. She wasn't afraid to open her mouth and kind of backtalk and banter with Scabior on occasion.
"Fenrir, why don't you lighten the mood, eh? For how many people are here, the tavern is awfully dead today"

Regulus pondered what Scabior had said He doesn’t remember being turned, but Scabior knows what he’s talking about so Regulus didn’t question it.

Fenrir grinned with that wolfish grin, at Marlene’s words, “Am I hearing you want to sing, Marls? That’s what it sounds like to me.” 

He starts to pound a tune on the table and opened his mouth to sing some old song he couldn't remember the title of. He trusted the pack to pick up on the rhythm and join him. 
Marlene pretty much immediately joined in, so did Dorcas and Xeno. It wasn't hard to figure out and Remus got it pretty quickly as well, so little by little the entire pack and their friends were all singing. 

It was turning heads for sure and the two or three musicians that had previously played quickly tuned into that. Marlene grinned brightly and grabbed Remus hand. She was drunk, but not as much as most of the others, and it was just her being carefree most likely when she began to drag him with her.

"Come on, dance with me!" She laughed and Remus just managed to balance himself before being dragged into the middle of the tavern that was kind of like a dance floor.
Regulus watched Remus dance with Marlene and smiled, still drinking his glass of blood. He didn’t join in the singing but it was fun to watch. He looked around and realized he was alone but that was alright with him. Remus’ smile was worth it. 

Remus kept looking over at Regulus while he still could. More and more people joined them and it turned into song after song.
Fenrir stiffened, the air felt wrong all of a sudden. He looked around the tavern so see anything out of place but the only thing different was that he couldn’t see Regulus. 

He walked over to Scabior, “Where did Regulus go, dragul meu?” 
Scabior had served a customer at the other side of the bar so he turned around to look at where Regulus had literally just stood. "putain de merde..." Scabior ran a hand through his hair 

"Get Remus here, see if he saw him?" he asked Laslow, who was mindlessly stirring a drink with a straw for the past five minutes.
"Will do." and he walked of to grab Remus, coming back a minute later. "What's going on? Is everything alright?" there was concern in Remus voice.

"Did you see Regulus?'
"Not since the last dance, lots of spinning, lots of moving, but wasn't he right here at the bar?"
Scabior wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Laslow holding up a letter "Was that here before? It's adressed to you" he handed it to Scabior

jó estét, báty 
Now, hearing from me might come as a shook after all these years, but after all it was you who hurt those of mine, wasn't it? It is only fair that I keep yours now. Do not worry, I won't kill the kid, he's to precious for that. Why don't you come see me here in Rome, we can "talk it out" like you love to do.
Viszontlátásra
Tom

Scabior tossed the letter onto the bar, whispering "this is war" to himself before turning around, trying to conceal his emotions.

"What...what's that?" Remus had read the letter but not understood what it was about
“They took Regulus, Remus.” Fenrir responded, rubbing Scabior’s back. 
He knew the history behind Tom and Scabior to some degree, but it’s not something Scabior likes to talk about. He fully agreed that this was an act of war. 
“We’re going to get him back, Scabior.” He said. 

Remus felt as if everything around him had just gotten absolutely distant. Regulus...gone? Taken? The thought was terrifying and he immediately felt guilty. He could have stayed with Regulus while the others were dancing, waited for him to finish. Fuck- Scabior nodded, facing Fenrir, holding his hand.

"We will. And Tom is going to pay." He glanced over at the letter and scoffed.
"He dares to call me brother, as if it means anything still. I'm glad that we are already here at the tavern, I wouldn't have been able to wait otherwise."

Suddenly, Marlene climbed on the bar 
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE"  the music stopped and everyone looked at her 
"It's time to leave, we got our own business to take care of and you wouldn't like it very much. We'll see each other in a while, but for now, I'm sorry but the party is over"

Surprisingly, everyone listened and only the pack stayed behind. Marlene carefully walked over to Sirius, telling him the news in the most delicate way possible

--------

Regulus hadn't moved much of an inch in the week he’s been held captive here. Wherever here was, that is. They had kept him blindfolded. He wasn’t even intimidated, really. He just felt a lot of adrenaline from time to time and they tried to feed him but he ignored it. He didn’t respond to their taunts either. They couldn't break him if he showed no weakness. 

However, that meant he had been thinking a lot. He missed the pack more than anything, and he just wanted Remus, Scabior, and Sirius within arms reach again. He had been enjoying music one minute and the next there had been a funny smelling cloth over his nose and he woke up tied to the back of a horse with a blindfold on.

He had already tried to break the chains, but they were clearly made to be vampire strength proof. Whoever was in charge hadn’t bothered to talk to him yet, only the goons. It was quite sad, really. 

"Get up" someone dragged Regulus up and got him out of his chains, dragging him along still blindfolded.
The light changed constantly and eventually, the blindfold was torn off his face. In front of him sat a man at a table, surrounded by a few other people.

"My, My, Theodore! That's no way to handle our guest, is it? Let him sit" The man good up, pulling up a chair for Regulus.
"My name is Tom. Who you are, that I know, but you can still introduce yourself"
He looked good, about Scabior's age, charismatic, for sure. And compaired to everyone else, he seemed kind.

Regulus scoffed. 
“If this is your idea of treating a guest, I’m surprised anyone willingly stays here. I didn’t think guests were to be chained up, that is very bad etiquette you know.” 

He didn't bother to say his name since Tom already knew it. This was the man that turned him. He had a scarier image in his head. This man looked like he had been thirty years old forever, which he probably has. He and Scabior were raised together as brothers. That was weird to think about. 

Regulus looked around the table. He recognizes McNair, Selwyn, Nott, and…. Bella? He tried to not let his shock show on his face. She did not look happy to see him. 
“What do you want?” He asked after turning back to Tom. 

"Talk, for now. We have had awfully little time to do so since I last got invited to France. You had to be...what...five years old?" Tom smiled 
"Maybe you remember, perhaps you don't, but I remember quite a few details. The playroom they had set up, with this beige slide in it, a stuffed tortoise. Those should still be pretty prominent pictures."

He handed a glass of - most likely - blood to Regulus before continuing to talk. It was warm. Fresh.
"You're brother, on the other hand, he would spend a lot of his time in the library, studying. He was very interested in field work so that was the reason I had to sometimes take him outside the castle walls. Do you remember anything at all?"

Regulus couldn't remember a thing from when he was little, but that playroom did sound familiar. He didn't want to admit to Tom that he couldn't recall what happened, but he didn't see an alternative. 
“I don’t, no.” He replied, sounding more confident than he felt. He took the glass of blood and sips it. Who had just been killed for this?

"That is alright, your parents took precautions. I am certain your brother does remember. It grows out eventually."
“My parents were awful people.” Regulus responded, “And I don’t remember so obviously I can neither confirm or deny that statement.” 

He was only talking back to Tom because he was bored and his training from being royalty was helpful in this situation. He was no longer Regulus Black, he was the Prince of France once more. 
"Don't you have so many questions? You can ask them all. If you need to, we can be alone, too."

Regulus looked around the table, purposefully avoiding Bellatrix this time. 
“I’d rather us be alone.” He deadpanned. 
He would not show emotion unless it calls for it, but why not be a bit of a dick? They did kidnap him after all, it was deserved. 

With one movement of Tom's hand, everyone left.
"There, we are alone. Is it better that way?"
The atmosphere seemed a lot lighter all of the sudden.

Regulus nodded stiffly. 
“Why me? Why my brother? What do you really want? I know taking me just to talk isn’t your plan. Otherwise you would have just asked me to talk with you.” 
Tom did seem nice, but Regulus felt that it was a façade. He didn't trust him. 

"I did not know what my brother told you, so I needed to be sure. And as for why the two of you, I had many friends in royal families that strived for power, and any non human child is power in their hands. So I let them pay me and I would look after the children for a while. Some later joined me, some are still out there. Some died. It does not make me a good person, but I had to live somehow"

Regulus nodded slowly to show he was listening. 
“I have not been told much.” He responded after Tom answered. 
So his parents wanted power from their vampire children but instead they starved the both of them and treated them like something less than human. They weren’t human. It made sense, and that was hard to process. Did he and Sirius fail a test of sorts? 

“Why did you leave then?” Regulus asked, needing to know. 
"Well, my dear brother found out where I was and I had to go into hiding, leaving all the children without help growing up. And for that I apologize"

Regulus furrows his eyebrows. The brother Tom speaks of is Scabior, so that means Scabior likely knew that Sirius and Regulus were turned. 
“How would life had been if you had stayed?” Regulus asked, needing to sate his curiosity. 

"I would have taught the both of you how to control your abilities. Maybe you would have come with me for a while, learned from me. Your brother wouldn't have left because I would have kept you safe" Tom nodded
Regulus inhaled thinking of how life would have been if Sirius hadn’t left, but how did Tom know that? Did Bella tell him? His parents? Was it in the news? 

He had a feeling that Tom had watched him and Sirius their whole lives. If Sirius remembered Tom, why hadn't he said anything? Did he assume that Regulus remembered too? Regulus couldn't even remember if he told anyone he didn’t know who turned him. Scabior explained some things, but that was it. 

“Well, we’ll never know.” Regulus said finally. “It didn’t happen. And you kidnapped me. That’s not keeping me safe.” 
"I apologize, I have told them to bring you where while I was away to keep my eye on a child, so I return today and find out they were treating you like like a prisoner."

He noticed that Regulus had thought about the thing with Sirius. "Your brother had stayed with me for a while after he ran away"
Regulus felt his mask drop and his eyes widened. He needed to get a grip on his emotions. He told himself he wasn’t going to get emotional, no matter what Tom Riddle said. 

He could also feel Tom’s word’s slithering themselves into the doubts in his mind. If he didn’t collect himself, Tom would know Sirius is still a sore spot for him. He already did, most likely. Gods, Regulus was stupid. 
“…He what?” Regulus breathed out. 

Neither Scabior or Sirius had told him that, and Sirius had caught Regulus up to speed ages ago. Unless he left things out. But then shouldn’t Scabior have told him? If Sirius had come here immediately after leaving, that meant he knew he was a vampire. That confirmed it. Sirius either lied to Regulus or purposefully withheld information. Regulus thought that Sirius trusted him. 

"He had a bad issue with drugs until I showed him what he really needed was blood. He was almost going insane, he was certainly on the brink." Tom sighed "I am glad that I found him, really"

Regulus knew that Sirius had a substance abuse problem but for it to be that bad? Did Sirius really not trust him at all? Regulus thought James and his family helped Sirius with that. Part of Regulus yelled at him that Tom was lying, but the insecurities of Regulus’ mind had already taken over. 

Regulus looked down at the table and fought back tears. 
“Why did Sirius leave you then?” He asked. 
"Because he is not comfortable working in groups, fitting in. He likes to be his own person and I respect that. He knows that if he needs me, I am here."

Regulus furrowed his eyebrows. He knew that Sirius loves being with the pack. Unless that was another lie? Regulus didn't know what to trust. He was alone on this. 
"It's alright, I did not think he would tell you"

Regulus shook his head. There had to be a reason Sirius didn’t tell him. Maybe Sirius wasn’t ready…? However, Regulus did think that Sirius having stayed with Tom would have been important information for Regulus to know. 

“So why did you take me?” Regulus asked. He hadn’t touched much of his glass of blood either. 
"I turned you, Regulus. I made you. I know when you are not okay. I know when you are starving yourself"

There was no way Tom knew that. He had been starving himself in the cells, so that had to be what Tom was referring to. He wouldn’t know about Regulus’s eating habits just because he sired him. Or would he…? Regulus didn’t know what to believe. 

"I can understand you might feel guilty, everyone did in the beginning. I am not forcing you, but there is so much more you can do when you are fed."
Regulus blinked.  “What do you mean I can do more? More than superhuman strength and weapons for teeth?” 

"So much more" Tom nodded "Did no one tell you just how much power you posses?"
Regulus looked away and clenched his jaw. 
“I know we can move fast. That’s about it.” 

"What about....what about magic? Alchemy?"
Regulus looked at Tom in skepticism. “I know about magic, but not that it’s a vampire thing.” 
"Oh it is, we draw from the essence of life in the blood we drink"
"That’s weird.” Regulus unintentionally spoke and immediately shut up. “Sorry.” 

"No, no." Tom chuckled "It can indeed be called weird when you hear about it for the first time. It takes a while to learn, but it is possible"
Regulus said nothing for a while. He needed to think, but he felt pressured to speak. He knew he couldn’t trust Tom, but he was curious about the magic. If he is going to be stuck here, he decided, he should make the most of it. 

“Can you teach me?” 
"I can, but you need to take care of yourself for that first."
"That would be the first step, yes"

Regulus squirmed in his seat, “I’m not killing anyone, but I can try to can drink more.” 
"I will never make you kill anyone, I promise" Tom nodded
Regulus nodded slowly. Could it be possible for Tom to not make Regulus kill anyone? He thought Tom was supposed to be a horrible person. 

"Blood can be acquired in many ways. Some of our kind even drink animal blood. If you live close to a butcher, that is a very smart idea, actually."
“That makes sense.” Regulus whispered, horrified with himself that he agreed with Tom. “It doesn’t have to be human blood?” 

"Of course not. Although human blood - fresh human blood - is regarded highest quality and most likely to help with the magic"
"Not necessarily. What you need most is training"

Regulus stared at Tom blankly. “What kind of training?” 
"You'll see then. A lot of it is learning to read your own body, being able to draw from your own energy- or the energy in you"
“When do we start?” Regulus asked. He honestly wants to go back to his cell to process what he’d heard this past hour. 

"Tomorrow. You need rest, proper rest. I'll show to your room"