RP: Drowning in the dark Date: 27 April 2006 (late evening) Characters: Guilian Montague, NPC victim Location: Paris, France Private/Public: Private Rating: R Warnings: NPC death Summary: Guilian takes his first real step along the path to a very dark destiny.
Guilian had ironically found that the most comforting thing of all as he went about his mission was the tiny piece of advice from Damian's last letter. One key piece of information can make or break a person.
He'd done just that - researched the first person on the Lestrange's list, Dominic LeMarche. It wasn't hard. LeMarche was known to him through his father's business dealings. It was no surprise, either, to discover he had been supporting the Death Eaters since Voldemort's days. Guilian was curious as to why he had not been keeping up his obligations to the Lestranges, and had worked diligently to find out what he could possibly be hiding.
The man had been a cunning and shrewd operator, undercutting his competitors in their wand wood and cauldron businesses for decades. It had not been hard to slip into his confidences, posing as he was, on behalf of his father. They had been looking to contract a mutually beneficial deal for ages. Their cauldron and iron interests could be quite lucrative, and Guilian figured he might as well get some benefit out of this whole deal. Of course, his father might not be pleased if he knew, but then, he'd been strangely silent.
It didn't take long to work out why LeMarche had been lax with his tithes towards the Lestranges. He had overcapitalised on a new factory, and he was borrowing heavily from the French Ministry. To top it off, his daughter was going to marry the French minister's son. There was no way LeMarche was going to stay financially loyal to the death eaters and keep up a charade of being a model citizen. At least, not when he was swearing allegiances to their Ministry, and vocally denouncing the Lestranges in public. Even Guilian knew the stupidity of that.
The whole time he was playing the innocent, Guilian had to remind himself just why he was here. He'd done research into the man's full Death Eater history, and from what he'd learned, LeMarche had been instrumental in spreading the Dark Lord's 'good word' across Europe. This must have been how his father had become entangled in the first place.
Guilian had to remind himself that in spite of the man's shrewdness, and of all that he had learned in the few days with him, that his job was to convince him to return, or die. He was like a sponge, learning all he could - garnering names of contacts he was absolutely going to use after this. But then again, wasn't this why he'd aligned himself with the Lestranges in the first place - to build his own business empire?
He had dined with LeMarche in a fine restaurant, the food tasteless as he thought on his mission. Walking to an apparition point afterwards, Guilian made his final move, confronting him. It wasn't the most auspicious place, but certainly dark and dreary enough. LeMarche didn't believe him at first, thinking it was all some grand joke. He'd given up on the Lestranges as a lost cause - a bad investment - he called them.
Guilian was warned - yet again - to get out, to go home to his father - that he was too young to understand what he was messing with. That warning was enough to trigger Guilian's annoyance. He was tired of being told he was too young to understand - he was 25!
He offered his quarry one more chance to go back to the Lestranges, but it was a futile gesture as it was rejected. LeMarche had become a muggle sympathiser, and was never going to go back. It was the way the man laughed at him that truly turned his annoyance into fully blown anger. He might look young, but LeMarche had underestimated him. That was one lesson he'd learned from the battle.
The anger was enough for him to grab his wand, and cast a quick and effective Imperius curse. It didn't take long to convince his stunned victim to write a suicide note, claiming just how he couldn't live any longer with the gambling debts he had acquired, and that he was going to end his life. The curse held, even as he encouraged the man to send it, before suggesting they take a walk along the Seine. To his credit, he fought the curse to the last, but there was that genuine look of fear in his eyes as Guilian whispered the last instructions the man would ever hear.
Moments later, LeMarche walked straight into the Seine, drowning himself. Guilian kept watch, waiting until the body began to float lifelessly down the river. His victim's wand in hand, he snapped it in half before burning it, and finally venting the last of his anger.
The dark magic lingered long after he'd ceased the curse, the sweet taste of darkness fleeing on the slight breeze. It had been far too long since Guilian had heard the dark's siren song, and he now felt the aching void that usually followed the call of the dark. He stood by the river a while longer, just watching as the sun set, and LeMarche's body floated away.
As he stepped away, he knew he was back on a path of his own choosing - a darker path - but one that had been calling to him since school. He could so easily lose himself to it - as he nearly did at Durmstrang. But he had been given a purpose now - and permission to use dark curses to kill. LeMarche was only the beginning. As the ache of loss began to gnaw at him, he told it that it wouldn't be too long before it got its next taste.