Luscious Lust

Chapter 29 - Nightmares

One year later

Lucius wakes up screaming. He's sweat, and he's shaking like a fragile leaf hanging by a thin thread in the autumn wind. I arise and look at my husband. He's white as a sheet.
"What's the matter? Were you having a nightmare?" I ask and stroke his back.
"Y-y-yes," he stutters.
I've never seen him like this before. "What was it?" I try to calm him down.
"My past. It's catching up with me." Lucius' eyes are wide open with fear. 
"It was just a bad dream," I say and give him a soft hug. "Go back to sleep, you're safe here with me." Lucius tries to smile, but it fades fast from his pale face. I embrace him and pull him down beside me. "I'll hold on to you all night, I won't let go," I say. "I'm here with you. I'll protect you from your demons." Lucius finally manages to smile. "My dear, I love you so much, I don't know what I'd ever do without you." He kisses my forehead and we lay back down to sleep. 

"Do you want to talk about it? Your dream," I ask the morning after.
"No, I... I..." Lucius' face loses color. "I'm not ready yet. I need to let it sink in. Or go away. But thank you, I know I can always count on you to be there for me," he smiles at me.
"Of course, darling. Always," I say and smile back at him. 

--- 

Some weeks go by. Lucius still hasn't told me about the nightmare. Maybe it was nothing. Then suddenly... 

He wakes up screaming again. His shrills send cold waves of terror down my spine.
"All right, let me hear it. This will not go away. Let me help you deal with it," I say harshly.
He looks at me, his hair sweat and sticky against his face. "I can't," he says and embrace me. "I can't let this happen."
"What? What will happen?" I ask.
"They will come for me, for you. We're not safe here," Lucius' shaking.
"Who will come? Who will deprive us from our safety that is our home?" I ask.
"A new era of Death Eaters," Lucius says.
"What? New ones? Has the Dark Lord risen?" I ask, color leaving my face.
"NO! No, he has not, but it doesn't stop people from still holding his ideology high, to try to bring his revolution back to life once more," Lucius looks at me.
"But what does it got to do with you? How do you know we're not safe?" I ask.
"Because I'm an ex-Death Eater. They know my name. They know what I've done, what I'm capable of. I might not have killed anyone, but I'm very familiar with the dark arts. More than most. I don't practice it anymore. I haven't done so in years, but I know how it works. I still research it, though I don't use it myself."
I'm shocked to hear this. "What do you mean? How can you still be working with it, and in what way?" I stare at my husband.
"I've been keeping that part of me hidden, but I thought you knew somehow... When you've been in my office, all the papers laying about. The writings, the symbols... I though you added two and two together," Lucius says.
"You've been examining the dark arts in our home?!" I shout at him.
"Yes! I have. But like I said, I just study it, I don't use it," Lucius tries to caress my arm, but I pull away.
"What's the fucking difference?! It's our home. You should know better!" I get up and put on a robe.
"Where are you going?" Lucius asks.
"I need air," I say and storm out of the room. 

He finds me in the garden, pacing in the wet grass. "My dear, please, listen," Lucius says as he approaches me.
"Help me understand," I say. "Anything!"
Lucius looks at me and I stop pacing.
"Why?" I ask.
"It's a part of my past, it's a part of me. It's a hobby, which I happen to use in my work. Like I tried to explain, I'm not practicing it, I'm just not frighten by it since I've been a part of it. I'm only frightened what it can be used for, what it can do, but not what I've done and could have done with it. I'm in control. I have control. That's why they're coming," Lucius explains.
"What? Who are coming?" I feel the blood leaving my face, and my feet feel heavy as rocks.
"I told you. The Death Eaters. They're coming," Lucius grabs my arms, looking into my eyes.
"But how do you know this?" I can't quite grasp what he's telling me.
"My nightmares. I thought they were nothing but bad dreams, but they were, are, warnings. I just know it. I have this feeling. I've should have acted already, when I had the first nightmare, but I couldn't. I wouldn't... Believe it."
"You've had more than these two nightmares?" I ask.
"Yes, almost every night, but I've manage to break out of them, to wake up not screaming. I didn't want to worry you," Lucius says.
"I'm your wife. We're in this together! You can't keep something like this from me!" I shout.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Lucius leans his head down to rest his forehead against mine.
"What do you see in your dreams?" I ask.
"Hooded wizards, witches, masks. Macabre masks. Darker, more fierce. They are strong, but they need help. They're seeking me. They want me, what I know," Lucius' pale as a ghost.
"What will you do? Will you help them?" I ask.
"No, of course not. I will not be a part of this. I got you, none of that stuff matters anymore. I've changed, I got a new life, though I'll never be a pure ray of sunshine or sweet to your teeth pumpkin juice," Lucius says, giving me a wicked little smile.
"And I wouldn't want you if you were," I let out a small laugh.
Lucius chuckles. "I know."
"So what will you do?" I ask.
"We must flee, hide, till it's over," he states.
"Hide? But what good will that do? You must tell someone, get help, we need to oppose them," I say.
"No, we can't. You must understand... If I tell someone about this... My Death Eater past, what I did... Freely, not under some curse... It might resurface. I might end up in Azkaban," Lucius' eyes are fixed on mine.
I swallow hard. "All right. We'll pack and leave," I say. "I'm with you till the end."
"That's why I love you, my dearest," Lucius says and kisses me.