Run

Khaat had been pressed into service in the Emergency Room. She had been in her office and had been stacked high with paperwork that she had gotten miles behind in due to being off again for yet another medical leave. She had picked up her new black walking stick with the amethyst stone in the handle. She had tried to wear heels today. Not her usual stillettos, but still, she had had a day of simply sitting at her desk planned, and that had allowed her to kick the offensively painful shoes off under her desk and not be seen. Now she had to wear them.

She had put them on and had made her way downstairs. She had started off limping but was soon barely on her feet because of the pain. It was making her sweat. She was dripping wet in short order. And it didn't make her one ounce happier that she had to go clear to the sub basement to get a potion that was in the stores there and was not in the Emergency Room.

She took a deep breath to summon her strength, which was fading. She was tiring--wearing out. The shoes had been a terrible choice. Her brain was feeling a bit numb and slow because of fatigue and pain. She wasn't as sharp as she had been this morning, and she was running on some odd ability to force herself.

She took the elevators to the basement and limped along the darkened cellar hallways, thinking that perhaps she needed to transfigure the stylish shoes into fluffy little scuff slippers, maybe in baby pink just to be a bit quirky.

Suddenly, an arm snatched her around the neck and pulled her so completely off balance, she stumbled and fell, the grip around her neck now choking her. "On your feet, Lupin!" a forceful male voice ordered sharply nearly lifting her off her feet by her neck in order to put her back on her feet. She struggled for a moment, trying to stand, as her walking stick clattered to the concrete floor. She was gasping for breath, choking, her head spinning from the sensation of his lifting her up so high and so hard, if even for a moment. Her vision started to fade to black, and she tried to force it back. For an instant, she had no desire to fight. For a moment, she was going to yield to him and allow him to kill her.

"First, you," he hissed sadistically in her ear, "Then your daughters and your granddaughter. Your lover, your husband, and oh, then of course your mother. That ought to be good for starters, don't you think? How mighty will your precious father be when you're all gone? Will he be so self righteous then? What do you think?"

Killing everyone she loved? No. Her, he could have, but them, not a chance. She began to fight. to do whatever she could to try to get free. He cuffed her hard across her cheek. Her head snapped hard to the left. She heard the sudden snap and felt the pain, just before she blacked out.

Luther Burke didn't like being interrupted. He turned and saw the young man who thought he was man enough to interfere and save Khaat Lupin's life. Burke laughed out loud arrogantly. "And you're going to stop me, little Boy Scout? Run along now and play with your toys, and let the grown ups play, won't you, Laddie?"

Evidently Noxi had somehow found it difficult to distract all the people who loved Khaat. They really were everywhere. And they were becoming like pestulance to him. They really were starting to annoy him, and somehow this tot had gotten through. He drew his wand and fired a warning shot at the boy.

"That's just a fair warning, Lad. The next time, I'll blow your body parts so far apart, they won't be able to sweep up what's left of you," he hissed at him. Burke had what he wanted. He had Khaat. The smell of perfume was wafting up in his face and the softness of her silky hair was brushing up against his neck. They were like trophies to him. He had gotten through that supposedly inpenetrable defense Robert Lupin had attempted to shield his one and only daughter with, and now she was in his grasp. He knew he could simply apparate away with her, but he really wanted to kill her here, and leave her dead corpse right her, right outside her father's lab, where he would forever have to deal with the fact that his daughter died right under his nose while he was totally unaware there were no defenses around her whatsoever. He laughed in utter delight at the thought of Robert Lupin alone and guiltridden for the rest of his life. And if Burke had his way, Khaat would only be his first. He would win where Barker had failed.

"OOOh. I'm terrified. Can't you tell?" Burke taunted him, firing a contego to protect himself and Khaat. Well, for the moment anyway. He wanted to be able to savor her death. He didn't want her dying by accident. That really would be rather anticlimactic. He figured that either Noxi was dipping into the potions today and a bit sluggish or that the child in front of him was just plain lucky. "Let me bring you up to speed, Boy," Burke said, deciding to get him on the right page. "Robert Lupin is a coldhearted sonofabastard who murders people just for fun and destroys families. What the hell do you think this is all about? Your beloved minister is a wolf in sheep's clothing. And this one here?" He pointed to the unconscious Khaat laying limp against him. "She's the only thing he cares about in this lifetime. Its about time someone taught him a lesson. I'm about to even the score a bit. He's getting what he deserves. Nothing more, nothing less."

Burke turned his want towards the young auror "Everte Statum!" He wasn't bored enough with him yet to want to kill him quite yet. But he did want to set him on his arse, maybe send him off packing. He didn't believe Robert Lupin would hire children, but apparently the man was desperate now.

Burke had expected his Contego to hold, but it hadn't. When the young auror threw an Everte Statum at him, it threw him backwards in a way he had not expected, and in the process, he dropped Khaat awkwardly on the floor. Burke was angry now. He did not want any part of losing his quarry now that he had her. He looked up to see Daniel stab Noxi to death.

Well, now, that was jolly inconvenient, wasn't it? He'd rather liked Noxi's general efficiency. That meant he would have to do something else to contend with. He'd have to replace Noxi now too.

He ignored that minor rub in his plans and scrambled towards Khaat. He had to recover her before Daniel had a chance to get to her. He had no desire to have to explain to Thomas Gelding how he'd had her and let her get away. That would not be at all pleasant. And Burke wanted to keep all his limbs. Gelding was angry as it was that Barker had been captured. That risked blowing the lid off the lucrative operation that the Gelding family had kept under wraps for so many decades. Gelding was staring to panic that perhaps Robert Lupin now had the power and the influence he needed to shut down the family business. And, it occured to Burke that if Gelding discovered he had been beaten by a boy scout, he'd risk far more than being fired. Far more.

He scrambled to right himself and to try to get to Khaat before the boy got to her and made away with her.