The Other Side of Madness

[Cassandra Salvatore]

The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and herself. What if doing the right thing wasn’t as simple as everyone thought? What if there was no such thing as an easy choice? What if both answers to a dilemma led you down a path that isn’t right or easy? Enyo struggles with making just such a choice, a choice where neither path seemed right. The time for what she would ultimately choose though was fast approaching, as she fully expected those she had set loose upon the world a few nights prior to show their gratitude by returning to ther side as she had asked. If they looked hard enough, it wouldn't be too difficult to realize where to find her. She stood in Borgin and Bourkes, marveling at everything the shop had to offer. Part of it was the feeling she had been here many times before. She picked up a thumbscrew torture device and for the first time in a while, she actually smiled

[Mariella 'Eris' Ebony]

Three long years had past since the eyes of Mariella Dolohov had met with the sights of Diagon Alley. Though far from normal as a 20 year old, it was nothing compared to the delusions of the 23 year old who walked the streets now. The darkness barely shielding the late night shoppers from the sight of her. On the contrary the shadows added ghostly contours to her bony face, she now resembled a skull with a matching body. Before she had been a mere waif, now she was emaciated though in a strangely appealing way, in the way muggle supermodels were skinny. Funny how women starved their way here, all they needed was a nice stint in Azkaban.

The cries of unfairness from over prisoners rang in her head and a smile curved her lips, they had screamed out that Eris had only suffered three years, her spirit was strong, she could last longer. In reply she had teased them mercilessly, snapping and jeering. The memory of her glee reflected in her unnerving eyes which served as a window to her soul. No matter how sane she acted she could never hide the true Eris in those eyes.

Skipping lightly down the alley to the darker side of Diagon Alley she began to sing under her breath, a nursery rhyme as usual, one of her most unnerving habbits, and one that her victims remembered most. After revelling in her newly acquainted wand she had gone on a delicious spree, smiting down all that had opposed her or sent her to that hell hole, well that was how she had seen it. Some of the countries best Aurors were now gone, at the hands of a little girl they had once underestimated as brutal and blood thirsty, but naive and crazy. Through out it all she had had little time for clothes and still wore her ragged shorts from Azkaban and a grey vest she had arquired to keep out the chill that she barely felt.

As the small shop came into sight she made her way for it, pushing the door opening and mimicing the 'ding' loudly in a sing song voice as she grinned at the shopkeepers terrified recognition. She had little time for him and her large blue eyes turned on the dark Lady. "Lady Enyo," she made a flourished courtsey, grinning all the while, her eyes never leaving the woman she was forever in debt to.

[Cassandra Salvatore]

She didn't look up from the torture device she held in her hands, her eyes hidden beneath the hood she wore, only the shift of her black locks that spilled out to tell her that she had shifted her attention in the slightest


"Ah the woman who believes herself to be a goddess in disguise. What have you done that makes you think you deserve such a title. I after all do not make such claims out of inflated arrogance, but the fact that I am not just me. I am everything. And yet....nothing. Tell me, what do you believe the truth of the world is?"

It was a heavy question, for which there was no right answer, but because of that, that was the answer

[Mariella 'Eris' Ebony]

Most people took Eri's giggling to be a sign of low intelligence, but it didn't take them long to change this thought, if anything her insanity made her brighter, her mind was running a mild a minute, she had to be able to process things quickly. Giggling was just a sign that she was happy and that was what she did now, though no doubt it would annoy the dark Lady, in time she would come to see it as far from a sign of weakness.

Tossing her head slightly she met the woman's eyes with no fear, though there was little emotion except wild glee in her blue eyes anyway. She knew of course the question was a trick one, people had constantly questioned her on her ways in Azkaban, foolish people who had been taught a lesson... "Not in disguise.." she felt the urge to utter her usual 'my love' or 'darling' but squashed it, there was such a thing as pushing your look. "I am well in the open, Goddess I may not be, but in her image I mould myself.." pausing again for no particular reason her expression darkened as she continued. "I take her love of destruction, blood.. and dischord. I make it an art form" her words dripped from her tongue in an unnervingly loving way as she kept the woman's eyes. "I do not busy myself with the worlds beliefs, they are trivial and until the world conforms I will continue to live my own way."

[Cassandra Salvatore]

Her awful yellow eyes, that seemed to glow of their own accord met Mariella's. She would indulge her for now, and let her think herself nearly her equal, if for no other reason that she was certainly on to something. A greater truth as it were, chasing the rabbit down the hole. She pushed the hood back and paced close to the other woman, standing only a few inches away

"Precisely. This world is a great void. There is no way of things, no ultimate uniting song, just a huge void. There is no meaning in this void, no higher purpose to being, just a void. Things exist, and the ants scurry around every day trying to justify it all, but there is no real reason why we do it. Except for magic....the very right of the purebloods. We alone have the proper disposition and can project our desires into the void and impose our own meaning on reality for a short time. This is where the real fun begins!"

[Mariella 'Eris' Ebony]

Of all the words that came from the woman's mouth, the ones that struck a chord most inside her was the uttereance 'This is where the real fun begins.' Blood lust and mingles excitement flooded her eyes, the night she had killed her Uncle had been a mere taster, there had been no blood, there had been no time, but it would be different for her next victim. She almost pitied them in their current unwitting state, but she couldn't help the smirk that curled her red lips.

Patience had never been her best quality but she nodded at the woman's words. "Let the purification begin," though Enyo probably wouldn't realise, this was the most coherent Eris had been in years, there was no one to talk to in her lonely cell except herself and perhaps Kieran, it was a shame all that time her parents had wasted on elocution lessons. Though they had known from birth that there was no glory for their daughter that lay in normal society, "and I for one am willing," though she was of the notion that the two of them could do this task on their own she knew there was a need for lesser people, and at the moment they were late, not that she minded, her own insanity was enough for her to handle, maybe Kieran's, but the woman who insisted on calling her peanut.. now that was a different matter. "If you wish it, may I know your plans for us?"

[Cassandra Salvatore]

"What purpose would it serve to keep you all in the dark. If you know not, you can achieve not, and if you achieve not, what worth are you? So I would say this. Once in a while, He needs to tell me something important, so He talks to me when He has my full attention. And all that attention is on the Jackson twins. Once they have been captured, I can find out why I need them"

She set the torture device down, and paced a bit, frowning

"We have to draw them out of hiding, and the only way to do that is to cause so much suffering to everyone they know that they have little choice but to confront me"

[Marcello Ventrella]

Marcello had been wandering in the shadows, trying to get a feel for everything. None of this was familiar to him. Looking down the dark alley he heard a distinct giggle and knew it must be Eris. He walked over to them slowly and stood completely completely still in the shadows, not knowing if they knew he was there of not. His wand down by his side but in a tight grip, just incase. He listened to them speak about purebloods and such, he was not one but he'd never let that secret out, he swore to himself that no one would ever get the chance to find that out. "I Am Willing," he said and took a step out of the shadows.

[Mariella 'Eris' Ebony]

Unconsciously her hands flittered to her wand at the woman's words. Suffering was her specialty, and the more intense the better, it had become like a drug for her, one that she had far from given up upon being locked behind iron bars. "Irons bars break and bend" she crooned in a whisper at the memories of what it had been like behind there.

Turning back to her new 'Lady' she nodded, anticipation obvious in her face again. She had no knowledge of who the Jackson twins, nor of their importance, but she didn't care, she would draw them out and their protectors, one by one into Enyo's presence. "It will be my pleasure to attend to it, forgive me to underestimate, but I'm sure their protectors cannot be too much of a problem," after all she had spent all her life dedicated to the dark arts, learning everyone, lost and known from books, the people surrounding her, old relatives, the assortment of spells swimming inside her mind was vast. If she had chosen to fight when she had been caught, she surely would have escaped.

Whipping her had around at the sound of a voice, her eyes met Marcello's and she smiled, filled with promises and desires that had nothing to do with sex. "Hello... peanut," the word dripped from her tongue, filled with sarcasm.

[Cassandra Salvatore]

She suddenly seemed to snap, as if she could read their very thoughts, searching their hearts, their minds, their very souls. Some took it just an extension of her madness, that she had an uncanny knack for being right. But there may be more to it now. She fully cast down the hood over her head, and dropped the calm, almost melodical tone she had taken for one laced with venom

"NO! No....your both far too prideful. Don't think so highly of yourselves, or be too sure you cannot be defeated"

She walked between the two of them, looking from side to side

"Just like you and I don't like other people's ideas imposed on us, the void doesn't like it when you impose too much meaning on it. When you do that, and ESPECIALLY when you're blatant about it, the void strikes back and takes revenge"

[Mariella 'Eris' Ebony]

For someone who had spent many years around unstable people, Eris was not very good at the whole insane conversation, in her mind no one elses behaviour or insanity made sense, as for sane people she merely pitited them that they had not found the realms in their mind that Eris and people like her explored easily.

At Enyo's outburst her eyes merely darkened, she knew better than to aruge back, she would get too worked up and at the moment, it was best for people to see her as the 'young giggly one,' until they fought against their enemies she would accept it. Nodding her head slightly she offered the woman a smile. "I apologise," she knew very well she could be defeated, how else was she in Azkaban? Though she saw her defeat as a thing of the mind, a flaw in her personality, not a flaw in her magic.

[Claud Vlad Claustrophos (Cim)]

Claude let his walking-stick dance between the fingers of his right hand, as he watched the gathering inside the store of Borgin and Bourkes with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. He had heard rumors from his 'contact', his mole of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, that a certain powerful one had payed the place a visit. And a chance to meet this certain individual was not one he was going to let slip - She - if it was a she -was probably not the one he was searching at all... but he had to check.

He had been doing some research over the past years, trying in vain to find any clues on the remaining Dead Eaters that had survived after the Dark Lord's fall years ago... How many persons in this damned world had shared his opinions through the years without dong anything to change it? He had failed in his own attempt to manipulate the minister when he had the chance... that chance was long gone now. It was about time he went aggressive in his cause, about time he made use of 'Plan B' as he called it... it was time for the use of sheer force and brutality - not that he liked the idea, but what was required was required. That was a fact beyond any excuse.

Noticing how the certain someone he was watching suddenly got company first one, then a second, he wondered just why the potential one - the rumored 'heir of the Dark Lord' - would show her important face in a place like Knockturn Alley. Yes, it was dark and all but not safe for a power-hungry individual like she. If she even was that. If and if and if - he was tired of all the 'if's of his life these past years. It would end with 'if' once he could finally join the side of the future, the side of the Lord's heir.

He would make an approach. Drawing his wand out of the pocket of his jacket, the Count moved toward the door, leaned the stick against the wall and took a firm hold at the door-knob, pushing it open and entering the store as he grabbed the head of the stick again. He would wait and see what his first approach - entering the store - would bring about of effects and raised wands from the gathering before him.

[Cassandra Salvatore]

As Claud entered the store, she had her wand trained on him almost immediately. It was almost as if she anticipated his approach, and the words she chose carefully certainly seemed to echo that effect

"Why have you been following me, yet hesitating to make contact? Ah, I'm just a weapon to you, something you think you may yet point at your enemies. Gently deluded woman you think I am yes? It might be a delusion, but then again, Alexander the Great had delusions of granduer too. Look what it got him."

[Claud Vlad Claustrophos (Cim)]

Claude's laughter was hoarse and bizarre as he had digested the words of the woman in front of him. Her wand was raised and her words very clear - obviously she thought just what everyone else would think in her situation; That he was some kind of fool, wanting to abuse her powers in a way that would quickly get himself killed. Like if was going to use her as some sort of tool. Indeed, the thought was tempting to Claude... but only a fool would challenge the breed of devil. And that was what the lady before him appeared like - if she was not the Heir of the Lord... then she could probably lead him to the right person.

He raised his wand. "Only the unthoughtful turn her weapon toward her enemy..." he said, knowing how daring the words were. He would have to take caution now. "... without knowing if the enemy is an enemy of her enemies - and thus her friend!" He made a quick move with his hand and his wand was gone, tucked away in his jacket again. He nodded in silence and approached her further, taking small and slow steps and keeping his eyes at hers - he was being cautious.

As he finally stopped, he watched her and her servants for a moment, then kneel down before her but not bending his head forward and thus not fulfilling the gesture completely. "Tell me..." he asked, his voice almost a whisper. "Tell me if you are the one chosen by fate to change the world -" he raised his head further, looking at her with glowing eyes "- Tell me if you was the one behind the outbreak at Azkaban. Tell me if you are the Heir of the Dark Lord, the one who will bring ruin upon the impure and make the rise of the purest of blood a reality, a truth in this darkest time of our race... Tell me that, My Lady, and I -" he swallowed and smiled, turning his face down and away from her. "- Claude Vlad Claustrophos will serve you, guard you and do your biding whatever it takes. My home will be your home, by wand will be your wand and your words will be my guide - but only if you are indeed the One..."

[Peyton Brooks]

Peyton turned discreetly into Knockturn Alley, a black cloak swirrling around her. She pulled the hood up to hide her face. Only her matted and tangled blonde hair could be seen. She looked ahead and saw no one on the path, so she began to peer into the windows of stores. She spotted four individuals grouped together in Borgin and Burkes. Pushing the door open slightly, she slipped in, dropping into a low curtsy before Lady Enyo.

"It is wonderful to be in your presence once more, master," she said, her head bowed, knees still bent in an uncomfortable position. But oddly, the pain in her legs felt like a triumph. She'd bare any amount of pain for her master.