Chapter 175 - – Hook, Line, and Sinker

The evening was still warm as dusk was nearly upon them. The shadows were rather long as the sun steadily crept past the horizon to vanish taking all traces of light with it. Inside a rather seedy pub, a group of death eaters and other dubious characters gather together for a drink. The pub is dimly lit as shadows on the floor slither and crawl creeping forward to eat crumbs off of the grimy floor.

A rather loud wailing woman can be heard bemoaning the loss of her husband. "My poor Snyde," the red-eyed woman sniffed. "He was so young!"

"Aye," mumbled the nearby wheezy figure of a stocky young woman with sloping shoulders.

Waving her stubby fingers, she grabs her tankard and takes a sip grimacing at the taste. In a wheezy voice, Alecto Carrow says, "Empusa, I do believe you've had enough to drink. Why that is your fourth tankard of ale!"

The long-nosed woman with shallow cheeks loudly wails again. "My poor Snyde is gone and never coming back!"

Alecto with mixed feelings pats the woman on the back as she shares a glance with that of her brother, Amycus Carrow. With a pallid, doughy face and tiny eyes, the slightly hunched over figure lets out a wheezy breath. "Empusa, why do not try doing something liberating?"

Sniffing loudly, the watery face looks up and says, "My Snyde, would have loved to torment and torture some muggles!" Before bursting into loud sobs again and burying her face in her arms.

"Leave her be," the quiet voice of Rabastan Lestrange said. Amycus glances over at the thin, dark haired young man that seems less agitated than usual. But not by very much as his lips were pressed together in a thin line as if in deep thought.

Amycus opens and closes his mouth and thinks better of it. For the time being, Rabastan had the dark lord's favor. Should he fail it would be best to distance themselves, but should he be triumphant than they two would arise for having been at his side. Taking a sip of his tankard, he winces at the piss tasting ale but that doesn't stop him as he takes another.

The door slamming open reveals three hooded figures as they remove their hoods to reveal three Death Eaters. Aeron a rather long-nosed man, Seth a rather burly man, and a rather thin, short spectacled wizard, Arty Clanx.

"Welcome!" Amycus cheerfully wheezed as he raised his tankard to them. "Please sit!"

The three Death Eater's stride over as even the bemoaning widow, Empusa Snyde falls silent with a loud sniff. "What have you found?" Alecto breathlessly asked as she eagerly leaned forward.

"The rumors seem to be true," said, the rather burly, Seth.

"Of a dark artifact of untold power?!" Alecto eagerly asked.

"Untold power, no, but it does exist," interjected the long-nosed, Aeron.

"Have you seen it?" Rabastan asked with a slight frown. "Though uncommon it is quite easy to fake dark artifacts."

"I saw it myself!" Protested the short, spectacled wizard, Arty Clanx. "I saw the artifact being transported into Caithness by Sanderson's men!"

"Sanderson, the potentate of London's underworld?" Rabastan murmured with a deep furrow in his brow.

"Yes, that one!" Clanx nodded his head rather eagerly, before becoming rather still as he recalled exactly who Sanderson was. It would seem that it had not occurred to him until that very exact moment of exactly who the rather dangerous personage they were dealing with truly was.

"Caithness isn't that in the Scottish Highlands?" Empusa loudly sniffed as she tried to recall her geography.

"Aye," Seth murmured as he took a sip of his newly bought pint and made a face at the piss tasting ale and swiftly put his mug down.

"Seems a rather strange place for Sanderson's men to hide such a valuable relic amid a muggle village," Rabastan mused out loud.

"Exactly, no wizard would ever think to search into such a place," Clanx proudly declared. "Why even if a muggle did come across it, they'd never know the relic's value and leave it be. It's a rather brilliant scheme if I do say so myself."

"We can steal it then!" Amycus happily declared too stupid to understand the very real danger. "It'll be easy! Just a quick and hit and run!"

"And what of wizards living in the nearby area?" Rabastan slowly asked.

"There's more than a couple of wizarding families living on the outskirts. It's enough that they could cause a problem and possibly summon the Auror's," the long-nosed, Aeron admitted.

"Well, I might be of some assistance," interjected an unknown masculine voice.

All of the Death Eater's all instantly reached for their wands as they turned in unison to the source of the voice. A vicious-looking muscular man with salt-peppered hair and whiskers grins hungrily at them. His pointed teeth and long yellow nails made him appear as though a hungry beast taking human form.

"And who might you be?" Amycus pompously said, not knowing to have the least bit of fear, when he really should have.

"Fenrir Grayback," the vicious werewolf said with an arrogant smirk.

"The Dark Lord is interested in him," softly mumbled, Clanx as he warily inched away as he was the nearest able body to the bloodthirsty werewolf. It was close enough to the full moon that a powerful werewolf like Grayback could easily force a transformation.

"Your master requested to meet with me, but this seems far more interesting," Fenrir purred in a wicked tone. "A muggle town, now, that sounds like my idea of a good time."

"Well, with the werewolf at our side, we'd easily be able to take the artifact," Seth rumbled as he slowly eyed the viscously looking beast in sheep's clothing. Only in this instance, a man's flesh was the cover hiding the awful werewolf hiding inside.

Rabastan pursed his lips and was about to say, no, until he recalled his older brother's words. Full of anger and a thirst to prove himself, Rabastan said, "Dusk is nearly upon us and the shadows will be a perfect time for us to come and go."

"Yes!" Amycus and Alecto squealed sounding a bit too much like pigs again. Even the watery-eyed, Empusa wiped the tears and snot off her face as she eagerly took out her wand.

"Let's go," Rabastan steadily instructed, before they all eagerly marched out of the pub apparating away in thundering pops. The shadows had begun to move again and soon night would be upon them all.