A Highly Functioning Sociopath (Christine/Bella)

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

Alek had missed his opportunity at the Ball, but he was relentless in his pursuit of Christine. His desire to win her grew with every visit and it was soon became an all encompassing need that drove him to her.

Alek was so intent on hurting his brother that he failed to see that he was developing actual feelings for Christine. He continually noted to himself how much he admired her spirit, her bravery, and her honesty. It took no added effort to compliment her when she took his breath away and he showered her with small gifts under the pretense of being a gentleman. Were she to keep them all, her bedroom would be filled with the flowers he had given her.

Today he offered her an escape from the confines of her castle-like estate. He would take on the role of her protector as they ventured out into London. They found themselves walking the crowded street of Diagon Alley, Alek watching happily as Christine relished in her freedom.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine wasn't oblivious to Alek's gifts or his presence, and while she stood firm on their friendship being a friendship only, she allowed herself to enjoy his flirtations, flowers, and most of all his company.

She was getting to know him, the real him beneath the gentleman like behavior facade and even beneath the beast to where the wounded animal resided. She considered it a great accomplishment to get him to share anything of his past, and to make him genuinely laugh. She was getting better at both.

He was becoming her best friend.

"Thanks for getting me out of the castle today." she said while looking in the wares merchants were peddling on the street fair.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

"Of course," he said, continuing to watch her. "I'm surprised you managed this long without attempting a break out." Her home was larger than most anyone's, save the Queen, but Alek knew all too well that a prison did not require bars. He kept his past well guarded, but on this subject he felt a kinship with Christine that he had not felt with anyone else, besides his sister. He was a wolf and needed to run free, cages would not do.

[Christine Montgomery]

"And deal with your sister or my family?" she asked him knowingly throwing him a look. It wasn't so much the prison as the guards, at least Alek understood and gave her some space.

"Oooh, bookstore come on." she said taking his hand and dragging him toward the store, "Also I may need to stop by Knockturn Alley." she gave him a wicked smile.

In addition to understanding her about wanting freedom, he accepted her as an adult and capable of making adult decisions.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

Alek held no beliefs that a girl Christine's age, of legal age, was to be considered anything less than an adult. That was Dorian's hang up, and it would be Dorian's downfall. Alek gave her the space she desired because he knew she was capable of taking care of herself. He was the only one who saw her in the woods that day she escaped her captor. She was fierce and unyielding, and nearly took Alek's head off with a rock. She could certainly handle a trip into the city.

He rolled his eyes jokingly at her excitement over the bookstore, but gave his a smile as she mentioned Knockturn Alley. "Naughty girl," he teased her as she pulled him into the bookshop.

[Christine Montgomery]

She winked at him. After perusing the book store for twenty minutes she put him out of his misery and sent her purchases home.

"Alright, floo?" she asked turning her face up at him.

[Bellatrix Black]

"I know you don't have it in stock, that's why I ordered it. It was supposed to be here last week!" Bellatrix's voice carried through the shop as she let her frustrations with the clerk be known. 

The man in Knockturn Alley wanted three times as much for the same book on hexes, but as it wasn't technically illegal to own this particular tome Bella didn't see the point in paying such an unreasonable mark up. Now she did.

"Bloody useless!" she exclaimed as she turned and headed for the door, bumping into Alek on her way. She was about to scold him for getting in her way when she recognized him from the ball. She looked to the right and saw he was accompanied by the same girl as before. She smiled inwardly.

"Sorry," she said, the apology tasted funny in her mouth. "I've met you before. At the party, right?"

Alek too was about to lash out at the woman who had run into him but he kept his composure in front of Christine. "Yes," he said warily as he dusted himself off. He magicked the books from the floor back to their spot on the shelf where they had fallen from when Bella knocked into him.

"I didn't catch your name.

"Alek. And you're Bellatrix, correct?" Bella's smile showed he had remembered her correctly, though she had only given her nickname at the party. Alek had asked around for her after their meeting in the maze, a protective action to ensure Christine was not being used for the media's benefit. She came up clean-ish.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine bumped into him from behind as he halted abruptly, and 'oomfed' taking a step back and around him to see what the trouble was.

"Oh yes, Hello again." Christine said easily enough.

Knockturn Alley didn't frighten her as it did many of her other classmates, then again after being kidnapped by a serial killer, not much else was frightening.

[Bellatrix Black]

"Hello," she said cheerfully to Christine. "Sorry again, I seem to keep running into you two."

"I should have paid more attention but the incompetence here has me distracted," she shouted the latter half of her sentence loud enough for the clerk she had been berating to notice her then turn away. She smiled at Christine. "I hope you're having better luck than I am. I may have to go to a bit dodgier place to get what I need in a timely manner."

[Christine Montgomery]

"Dodgier?" she laughed taking a look around the store. It didn't get much dodgier than Borgins and Burkes, at least not for many miles.

She put a hand on Alek's arm as a way of letting him know he was free to roam while she talked. It was something she had come to notice about him. A restlessness that matched hers, but also an instinctual twitchiness around others.

[Bellatrix Black]

Unlike either of his siblings, Alek didn't see the point in keeping Christine on a short leash. He would of course look after her while they were out, she was still the target for a serial killer after all, but he didn't feel the need to be glued to her. Christine appreciated this about him and it only strengthened their relationship and increased the odds in his favor.

When Christine signaled that he wasn't needed, he nodded and left the women alone. How much trouble could Christine get into with Bella, anyway?

Bellatrix gave a devilish look at Christine and replied, "you have no idea." She smiled wickedly.

"A girl can never be too careful these days, well obviously you know what I'm talking about. We have to do everything we can to learn how to protect ourselves." Bella leaned in and spoke in a quieter voice. "And if that means we need to...bend the laws a bit, well I'd rather be alive and have the Ministry slap me on the wrist than end up on the other side of the veil."

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine frowned as she listened to Bella describe her own unspoken feelings. She had been practicing hexes with Lex before she was kidnapped, and had taken it up again. She knew Lex had access to more powerful spells, but she wouldn't teach them to Christine. Christine felt as though she had to learn it on her own, but these were thoughts she kept mostly hidden.

"You mean the Ministry that has complete access to the kind of magic you're talking about yet makes laws against public use?" she asked in agreement.

[Bellatrix Black]

"There's the rub," she said with a sly smile.

Bellatrix had been tasked by her master to recruit more followers to their cause. The Death Eaters could provide a safe haven for those frightened by the recent terrors and abandoned by the Ministry. Christine seemed to fulfill those requirements and then some.

"You know, if you're interested I'd be willing to show you a few things that I've learned. They've come in handy a time or two."

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine didn't feel abandoned by the Ministry, but she didn't think the laws allowed for adequate protection against the darker forces out there. Dorian had wanted her to rely on him for protection, and that was fine, but what was she supposed to do when he wasn't there? The Ministry seemed to feel the same way. Let the law handle the dark wizards, and yet when faced against a dark wizard didn't Christine have a right to protect herself?

"I'm interested." she said definitively, "Come by the castle anytime."

[Bellatrix Black]

"Brilliant," Bella answered happily. "Though, you might not want to tell your boyfriend what we're up to. Too many cooks in the kitchen, you know."

Bellatrix looked over to Alek who was looking sideways at them from the other side of the room. Bella waved her fingers tauntingly at him to show he'd been caught and he scowled in return before turning his back to them.

"Handsome and edgy. You've good taste. My Roddy is the same way."

[Christine Montgomery]

"He's not-" she sighed, Bella wasn't the first person to think Alek was her boyfriend - even Sam and her mother suspected as much.

"It won't be a problem." Christine assured her. Alek knew she was independent and capable, she doubted he would care whether or not she was taking 'self defense' lessons from someone.

[Bellatrix Black]

"Well then, I've got some shopping to attend to. I'll ring you later and we'll set something up."

She gave a small wave to Christine as she turned away and shouted out to Alek, "she's all yours, darling." The bells on the door jangled as she left.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine smiled and waved as she left then turned back to Alek, she walked toward him.

"I think you'd scare less people away if you smiled now and again, but the scowling that works too." she teased.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

"I thought it made me handsome and edgy?" he asked with a grin, having easily overheard the girls' conversation with his keen ears. "Looks like you've made a new friend. My sister will be jealous."

[Christine Montgomery]

She rolled her eyes at his eavesdropping and his ego, "I'm pretty sure Lex can share." she smiled.

"Alright I just need to pick one thing up, then I may let you buy me lunch."