Messed up Families and Mysterious Monsters
Marlene watched as Remus slammed his drink down and walked out the pub, leaving James alone at the table.
She turned back to the others, "I still think we should kill that new hunter, he's untrustworthy."
Peter shook his head, "I like him."
Mary smirked, "I bet Sirius does. A lot."
"Ugh", Marlene grimaced, "Gross."
Peter and Mary laughed together, whispering to each other.
Marlene nudged Dorcas, "You alright?"
Dorcas nodded slightly, not taking their eyes off of the letter in their hands.
"Cas, love."
They looked up, focusing on Marlene, "Hm? Sorry, Regulus sent me a letter."
Marlene slumped against their shoulder, "Do you need to leave again?"
Dorcas nodded, "Just for a couple of days, I'll be back soon."
They pulled Marlene closer with their hand on their chin until their lips touched.
Dorcas stood up, "Mary, can I borrow-"
Mary instantly passed her a locket filled with vampire blood, charmed so that vampires would smell the locket wearer's blood as that of a vampire.
They leaned down to kiss Marlene once more before heading out. They stopped briefly at James' table on the way.
"Hey", Dorcas said to her, "Your friend will come around. You were still sceptical at first, just give him time."
James offered them a smile in return, before they headed out the bar.
They untied their horse, getting onto his back and heading off to Purcaster.
Dorcas was a frequent visitor of the town, known as a distant friend of Regulus Black, but the rest of their life remained a mystery to the inhabitants and the Black family. They had been friends with Regulus for a while, meeting him when Marlene had brought them to Hellsgate. They became instant friends, being each other's shoulder to cry on and person to mock. Dorcas had gone to Purcaster a few times when Regulus needed help or his parents had forbidden him from leaving the town for a while. His family knew Dorcas as another vampire from a distant town, travelling now and then to visit Regulus. They had no clue of the truth.
Once Dorcas had arrived at Purcaster, they rode straight through town to the castle, no one bothering them with the locket around their neck. They got off their horse, a stablehand taking the horse to the castle's stables.
The castle doors were opened for them and they walked straight in.
"Dorcas Meadowes!" Druella called as she walked down the grand staircase, "I assume you are here to see Regulus? He's just in the parlour with my daughters, I'll take you there."
"Thank you, Druella. Lovely to see you again, as always. You haven't aged a day."
Druella let out a stifled laugh, "Oh how I've missed your humour. No wonder our Regulus is so infatuated with you, hopefully you'll be married soon."
Dorcas tightly smiled, "Perhaps."
She opened the doors to the parlour room and stepped inside, "Regulus, you have a visitor."
Druella stepped away, walking back down the hall as Dorcas walked into the parlour.
"Hey."
Regulus, lying down on one of the dark green sofas, opened his eyes and peered at Dorcas.
"Dorcas. What are you doing here?"
They resisted the urge to roll their eyes at him, "Visiting. I haven't come around in a while and was sorely missing the company."
Narcissa stood up, pulling Bellatrix with her.
"We'll leave you two alone", she said with a grin, still clutching Bellatrix' arm.
The elder protested as Narcissa dragged her from the room, "Stop acting like mother, they're not in lo-"
The parlour door was shut behind them and Dorcas flopped onto the previously occupied sofa.
"What was that letter about? Urgent help?"
"Narcissa. You know the wedding with Lucius is soon? Well, she came to my chambers last night and urged me for help. Apparently she knows I'm still in contact with Sirius and asked if I could help plan her fake death and run away to Hellsgate."
Dorcas sat up more in disbelief, "Narcissa? Really? She's really going to leave you and Bellatrix here?"
Regulus shrugged, "That's what she wants. I think she realised, with the wedding so soon, that she doesn't want to live like this forever. With Lucius, of all people."
"Well… good for her then. But where do I come into this?" Dorcas asked, leaning back against the sofa again.
He smiled slightly, "I want you to kill her."
They blinked, "as in pretend to?"
"You believe my family would fall for that?" Regulus said, turning away, "No. They'll know exactly what happened if it's fake and they'll go burning down the entirety of Hellsgate. Including Sirius… I assume Lily or Macdonald can make you some of that potion for you to be able to do this."
Dorcas squinted, staring at Regulus for a moment before replying, "You love Narcissa."
"She'll die either way. Even if she doesn't go through with it and did marry Lucius, you really think she'd be able to stay forever? I have looked at this from every possible angle, you know I have, and there's only three possibilities. One, we do as she asked and we fake her death as she runs away to Hellsgate, our family will then find her and every citizen of Hellsgate will perish, including Narcissa. Two, I convince her not to run away and she marries Lucius and stays unhappily with the family forever, causing her to realise she'll never be happy and only death would end her suffering so she kills herself. Or three, we actually kill her and she'll be free from her unhappy life without any other innocent people having to die. What option would you like to take?"
Dorcas glared at him, "I hate you."
"I know."
"You can't rationalise murder."
"I disagree."
"You're killing your only ally in this family."
"I am."
They sighed, "If I do this, your family will come after me and they'll find out what I really am, you know that right?"
Regulus nodded.
"Of course you do", Dorcas sighed again, "And I assume you have a plan for that."
"You can never come back to Purcaster."
"And leave you here alone? Fuck no."
Regulus rolled his eyes, "I won't be alone here."
Dorcas paused for a moment before frowning, "You're not really going to do that?"
"Do what?"
"Regulus, you're not. I won't let you. There's no reason for it."
He gave them a small smile, "I have not a clue what you mean."
Dorcas got up in anger, "I'll kill Narcissa for you. But I am never letting you do that, alright?"
They made their way to the parlour door.
"Dorcas?" Regulus called.
They slowly turned around to face him again.
"If Narcissa stayed here she would eventually kill herself. Having an unhappy life is worse than death."
"If that was true, I would've died long ago and never met you or Marlene. Don't fucking give up, Regulus. I'll kill you if you do."
Regulus smiled again, "Not if I beat you to it."