d e s p a i r (gabriella)

[malfoy]

Isaac had lost count of the days, all he knew was that he did not have much strength left. He had been through too much, he had tapped into his last reserves of strength weeks ago, he had nothing left. Too weak to even stand, he laid on the cold, damp floor. He was filthy, his moonbright skin dulled from lack of blood. Painful lurches ran through his abdomen, Isaac knew that unless he got something soon he would die. The blood from the cells around him was overwhelming him with desire. Isaac wanted it all...

But he was too weak to get off the floor, let alone rip through the magically enforced bars to his cell. He coughed forcefully, brining a small trickle of silverly blue liquid up into his throat. Sputtering, he spat it from his mouth and then laid face-down on the floor. Isaac had sank into a pit of despair, there was nothing he could do. He was going to die here.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella pulled herself in through the window, thankful that no one was in what was obviously a bedroom. Gabriella figured that it belonged to either Vivienne or Bellatrix, but she didn't have the time to ponder that question. After months of raiding possible places, she had finally realized that Isaac could be in his childhood home. It was silly, really, how she hadn't thought of it before, but Gabriella didn't dwell on that either. Her only thoughts were on getting Isaac back, no matter what it took.

She could smell blood coming from down the stairs. It didn't take Gabriella long to find a staircase that led into the dungeons. Unfortunately, at the top were two guards, unmasked Death Eaters. Gabriella held her breath for a moment, planning her attack. In one swift motion, she left her hiding place and Stunned one guard before throwing the other to the ground. She left them both unconscious on the floor and headed down the stairs.

Gabriella made her footsteps light; she didn't want the others to be warned of her presence before she had time to attack. The dungeons reeked of blood; both inside bodies and out. Gabriella had to hold her breath to keep herself from going crazy at the smell. She hid behind a wall and steadied herself. Then she breathed deeply, finding both Isaac and everyone else in the process.

Her attack was swift. The guards in the main room were dismantled in a matter of seconds. Gabriella hardly bothered with her wand, instead she left it inside her robes and she headed for where she thought Isaac was being kept. She could hear the footsteps of other Death Eaters behind her, but Gabriella was running too quickly for them to catch up. At last she arrived at Isaac's cell. He was on the floor and for one horrible moment, Gabriella thought he was dead. "Isaac!" she hissed, glancing back at the approaching figures.

[malfoy]

"Gabriella," Isaac breathed, he had smelled her amongst the others the second she had entered the dungeons. He could hardly believe that she was there, it felt almost surreal to him, as if it shouldn't be happening. Using whatever strength he had left, he managed to turn himself over and prop himself against the wall. With a trembling hand he pointed to the wall across from him. "That brick in the middle-" Isaac said weakly, it was hard for him to even speak, "it's false. The keys-" he paused a moment, pushing through his weakness, "are behind it."

[igloogirl]

With a start, Gabriella realized that there was silver blood on the floor. They had been starving him. She mentally shook her head, and then nodded to Isaac. She turned to the brick Isaac had mentioned and pried it apart, coming up with the keys. Gabriella hastily put the keys into the lock, jiggling it open impatiently. The moment she got the cell open, the wave of Death Eaters hit. Gabriella dodged one spell and then pulled out her wand. She stunned one and threw him through the door to Isaac. He clearly had no strength, and Gabriella didn't know how they would escape if he couldn't even more. Gabriella quickly knocked out the others, but she feared that reinforcements would be on the way soon. They had certainly been alerted.

[malfoy]

Without a second of hesitation Isaac sank his fangs into the Death Eater's neck, not caring that he was killing a person. He drank so deeply that the body was drained in maybe ten seconds when it normally took a minute or two. He felt his strength slowly returning, but it wasn't going to be enough. Trembling, Isaac used the wall for support as he climbed to his feet. Scarcsely able to control himself, Isaac snagged another stunned Death Eater and drank all the blood he had in him as well. Finally able to move and think somewhat coherently Isaac walked, a bit unsteadily, to his wife and grasped her hand. "We need to get out of here," Isaac said, his tongue still awkward, although he knew his wife was aware of the fact.

[igloogirl]

"No kidding," Gabriella commented, giving Isaac a slight tug toward the exit. She took only a few steps before they broke into a run. Gabriella was focused on Isaac, aware of how weak he was. Then she stumbled. It wasn't much, but it was uncharacteristic and caused Gabriella to shut her eyes for a moment and release her husband's hand while she caught herself. When she looked back up, everything seemed suddenly different. Duller, actually. Gabriella blinked, confused. She knew they didn't have time though, so she ran to catch up with Isaac. Her feet felt suddenly sluggish, and she found that she couldn't keep up.

[malfoy]

Isaac was troubled when his wife's speed suddenly deminished, that wasn't supposed to happen. And she seemed like she was struggling to keep up... Knowing they wouldn't be fast enough to get past all the Death Eaters on the main floor, Isaac grabbed his wife's hand and pulled her down one of the corridors stemming off from the main dungeon hall. He remembered finding a secret passage there in his youth that lead out of the house and into the woods surrounding the neighbourhood. He opened the passage and checked to be sure they hadn't been followed before closing it, leaving them in the dark. Isaac leaned against the mossy wall, sinking back into exhaustion. After a few steadying breaths Isaac took Gabriella by the hand. "Once we're at the-" Isaac began, his head spinning. He placed his other hand against the wall to keep himself from falling over. "End we can apparate," Isaac concluded.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella nodded, trying to squeeze Isaac's hand encouragingly. She doubted he could even feel it though; she felt as though she had no strength at all. Gabriella felt a bit lucky to still be standing at the moment. "There's blood in the fridge at home," Gabriella commented, giving Isaac a slight tug so that they could get to the end of the passage and apparate. "We've got to leave now, though."

[malfoy]

Isaac nodded. He could not go much faster than the pace of a brisk walk for a vampire, which might have been the equivalent of a human running fairly quickly. He still felt as if he were moving at a snail's pace, having to brace himself on the wall with his free hand for fear of falling over. He felt as if his legs were made of marshmallow, all of his senses were dulled. It took all of any of the strength that he could somehow come up with to follow the passage. At the end of the passage was a ladder, which lead up to a trap door which would take them out into the wood. "You first," Isaac said quietly.

[igloogirl]

Even at Isaac's slow pace, Gabriella was forced to break into a job to keep up. She felt extremely weird at the moment, and was regretting her attempt to save Isaac without any backup. Gabriella was very relieved when they got to the ladder. She pulled herself up as quickly as she could manage and then looked back down at Isaac, ready to help him if he needed it.

[malfoy]

Isaac wasn't sure how he was going to get himself up- he barely had enough strength to walk, let alone climb up a ladder. He mentally told himself that he was not going to have come this far to not be able to move anymore. This gave him the motivation that he needed to get himself out of the passage, however slowly. Once out into the fresh air Isaac found himself nearly overcome with emotion. He was free, breathing air that was not damp and mouldy. "Let's go home," Isaac said as he struggled to get on his feet.

[igloogirl]

"Alright," Gabriella said, taking Isaac's hand and gripping her wand inside of her robes. She closed her eyes and turned on her heel. After the usual eerie sensation, Gabriella opened her eyes to see their house in front of her. "We're home," she said quietly, unlocking the door and giving it a little push so that it was open.

[malfoy]

Apparation was about enough to do Isaac in, when his feet finally touched ground he felt terribly dizzy, any energy that he was had entirely spent. He stepped over the threshold, immediately placing his fist against the wall, as if expecting there were some place for him to grab hold of. Isaac only managed a few steps inside before his knees gave way- He was out cold before he hit the floor.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella jumped as Isaac hit the floor, unconscious. "Shit," she muttered under her breath. Feeling that she probably couldn't lift her husband at the moment, she shut the front door and went to the kitchen. Gabriella opened the fridge, its sole purpose being to store blood for emergencies, and pulled out a handful of bags. She went back to the front door where Isaac was on the floor. Gabriella set the bags down on the floor next to him and folded herself down on the floor as well.

[malfoy]

The scent of the blood, even when contained in the bags, teased his unconscious brain. Isaac had never wanted anything so badly in his life, but his body refused to cooperate. He was stuck, but the blackness was comforting... It took several minutes before Isaac finally came around, though when he did he immediately reached for one of the bags. He felt as if he were moving in slow-motion, and his bones had been replaced with lead. It seemed like so much work to reach those few inches and bring his sustainance to his mouth, like it were an impossible goal, a suicide mission. Isaac quickly punctured the plastic with his fangs, draining the contents. He still thirsted, and so promptly finished off every last one that Gabriella had brought out.