8 A little Revenge
December 1966
<Third Person POV>
Today was a major day for the underground world of London. This was because of the wedding between the eldest son of the D'Antonio family with the eldest daughter of the McGraw family. The D'Antonio family was the premier family for prostitution, kidnapping and extortion, and murders, while the McGraw family was known for its smuggling business. They smuggled almost anything from guns, drugs, antiques and art. They were also known to smuggle people on certain occasions if the pay was high enough and the client was accommodating of their transport conditions. Needless to say, the alliance of the two families thanks to the marriage was the start of the formation of a big underground organization that, if survived, would eventually go on to control the underground scene of London and possibly expand from there.
Though the heads and lower members of the families were happy over this marriage, the bride and the groom were resigned. The groom, James, had had his eye on a pretty nurse that worked in a hospital, however he had been given an order from the head, his father, that he was to marry Olivia. The bride, Olivia, on the other hand had been brought up with the expectation that she would one day be married out for an alliance. That the alliance happened to be with the D'Antonio family was just a coincidence. The family had received news that the youngest son of D'Antonio family, Cassian, that had gone to America to the main D'Antonio branch, had been given big responsibilities. This would directly affect the standing of the D'Antonio family as they could get even more help and importance from the main family. The McGraw family, while powerful, were limited to London and did not have the capacity to compete with the international D'Antonio family and thus started looking to make deals and a possible alliance. Later on, the head proposed the hand of his eldest daughter to the eldest son of head of the D'Antonio family branch and was subsequently accepted.
The ceremony was being held in one of the largest Manors owned by the D'Antonio family. It had been decorated very expensively and all the who's who of the criminal world's had been invited. Along with them a lot of officials and politicians had also been invited to the wedding banquet. There was a throng of people dressed in expensive suits and jewelry and the wedding would start in full swing soon.
While the wedding was just getting started, an 8 year old girl sneaked into one of the mansions some distance away from the wedding manor. It was here, that the bride and groom would spend the wedding night. Needless to say that the girl who had sneaked in was Veronica, who had avoided all the guards around and had just hidden herself into the attic at the top of the mansion. Now, all she needed to do was wait. Under normal circumstances, nobody would attempt something like this, much less actually succeed in sneaking into the mansion of the metaphorical boss of the underworld. However, something had happened four months back that changed her mind and was also the reason she was able to even come till here.
Four months back she had found a silver coin. After getting it examined, she found that it was made up of 100 percent silver. She was attracted to it and thus decided to keep it instead of just selling it. One day she was practicing her powers on her bed and was tossing the coin in the air to observe it as it fell, while thinking of whether to go through with her plan of killing James D'Antonio. After some time she got bored and decided to, just for some idle fun, toss the coin and ask some general questions for her school. Heads for yes and tails for no. Here's where things started going weird. Before this, the coin would fall on any one of its sides. But the moment she assigned it a yes and no side and actually asked thought of a question in a yes or no fashion, the results would always come the same, no matter how many times she tossed it. For example, if she asked if her maths teacher would be absent the next day, the coin would always fall on heads. If she asked if the arts teacher was going to give her less marks in her tests, it came back no. She was stumped at getting the same answer for the same questions more than 6 times. She suspected it had something to do with her powers and stopped using them and sure enough the coin went back to normal. Once she switched the powers back on, she got the same answers. This got her interested and she decided to check the results the next day.
She was surprised when she found that the results were the same that she had gotten the day before. Excited, she wanted to try it again and used a coin she had. Unfortunately, it did not work. In the coming days, she came to understand, that it would work only with the silver coin. The coin itself did not look anything special since it had no markings or anything, so she assumed it had something to do with 100% silver. She went to the library nearby to look up stuff about this. Ever since she awakened her powers she had been reading through all the Occult books, fictions and even comics. She found that this ability of divining an answer through a coin toss was called Numismatomancy in the ancient times and was one of the lighter methods of divination. Predicting the future through numismatomancy would give mixed results. Now it was not written any where but with her own experience trying to learn the present situations will almost always give a correct answer.
She then decided to see if she could go through with the plan that had been forming in her mind about killing James D'Antonio. She kept going through her plan again and again while tossing it into the air. She first decided to check if she could find where the wedding would take place. She first divided the map of London into 4 parts using a pencil. Then she kept dividing the map to find the exact location of the wedding. Then she divined the location of the wedding night the same way. Once she found out both she decided the check out the mansion and then modified her plan accordingly. She kept creating different compounds and made several different plans for the occasion and now she was here, waiting for the time to act.
It took 4 hours for the wedding to finish and then another 30 minutes before the newly married couple reached the mansion. They came inside the bedroom where they were supposed to spend the entire night. Veronica directly above them, from her position in the attic was able to hear them easily and with a crack in the boards she could see into the room with one eye.
James: "Olivia, Do you want to have dinner?? I know that you have not eaten anything at the manor."
Olivia: "Sure, but will there be any food here?? I don't think there is anybody inside the mansion."
James: "I had expected it, that's why I had asked some of the cooks to make food for us before they leave. I will bring the food here and we can eat here itself. Is that fine??"
Olivia: "That would be excellent James."
As James went out to bring the dinner, Olivia thought,' Maybe it might not be so bad to stay as his wife. I know that he does not love me, but atleast he respects me enough to ask for my opinion and gives me enough attention. Many I know would have simply ignored the fact that i had not eaten anything before.'
It was at this time that James entered the room pushing a cart on which a lot of dishes were placed. Seeing that Veronica thought,'Good, this part of the plan went perfectly. I was skeptical about this part since it was a chance scenario and not something that was decided before. Once they eat everything, they will be too inebriated to know who is talking what.'.
Veronica had spiked the prepared food with one of the compounds she made from the notebooks of her parents. This particular one would make anyone drunk easily. it had no taste nor any smell. It acts in 15 minutes and the end result is that the victim gets completely drunk. It had a long scientific name but she had simply named it as the Intoxication Drink.
James and Olivia ate in silence. The Intoxication Drink would act only after a time of 15 minutes which were enough for them to finish all the dishes. It was at this time that the compound started to show its effect. James looked at Olivia and then stood up to start some music on the old gramophone in the room. He then went to Olivia and extended his hand and said," May I have this dance?". Olivia, also did not refuse and took his hand to stand up. However being drunk, she leaned into his arms. Both of them pressed pressed their bodies to each other and started dancing. Being this close to a beautiful woman, one who was now his wife, James found himself getting excited. On top of being excited, he was also, very drunk and thus he started to talk," Olivia, I am sure you know that ours is a political marriage. We do not have love for each other, atleast not yet. I am still in love with someone else, but I know that she will be killed if I dared to go to her. I know my father. I want to know if you would give me time to get to know you. I will give you all the respect I can.".
Olivia looked into his eyes and said," James, I have known since I was a child that I will not get a marriage of my choice. I just wanted to be married to a guy that could see me as a person first and not just a tool for his lust. The fact that you are willing to get to know me is enough for me. But enough about that, you did not want to talk to me about this. Tell me what is on your mind??".
James looked at her for a moment and then said," You need to know somethings about my family before I can tell you what I want to tell you.". He brought out a small purse from his pocket. Olivia looked curiously at the purse and then her eyes widened when she saw her husband's entire arm disappear into the bag without actually tearing through it. "You, what..", was all she could say.
James looked at her and then said,"Usually you would be explained about all this once you formally enter the family. But I do not want to spring this on you in front of everyone. They will only make fun of you if you show the expression you showed just now. So I will lay it out in front of you. Magic is real. Yes you heard right, there is magic in the world and there is a completely hidden world of magicians and wizards in the world.". Olivia was about to say something before James raised his hand to stop her and then continued," The D'Antonio family is actually a very old family in America. A long time ago our ancestor broke off from his tribe due to not being able to perform magic. He moved to the mundane world but he still kept in touch with the magical world. The D'Antonio family has kept the tradition of keeping in touch with the magical side of the world. We pose ourselves as a family of squibs, people who are born into a family of magic but cannot actually perform magic itself. Since every few generations one of us would awaken the gift of magic we are not considered to have broken the statute of Secrecy. It is a law that says that the magical world needs to be hidden from the Muggle world. Muggles are normal people. Cassian, my younger brother, is the one in this generation along with two others from American branch that have awakened magic."
James continued to explain the magical world to Olivia as she stood there dumbfounded at the information. Veronica in the attic above also was completely stupefied. She had not thought that she would get more than she bargained for. 'There is a magical side of the world. That means there might be more like me out there. I have to find them. Maybe, they can help me with my parents' condition. They can also teach me more about my powers.', Veronica thought as she continued to listen James tell Olivia about the things wizards can do. There were wands, transfiguration, charms, herbology, magical creatures, alchemy, divination, potions etc. 'So since I am a witch should I start calling my compounds as potions?? Actually, that sounds better. I am a witch so anything I "brew" should be naturally called a potion. Besides I cannot even pronounce the scientific names of any of their muggle counterparts. Better call them potions. Also, it seems that divination and seers are actually true. Am I a seer?? I do have some talent in Divination considering I was able to perform it on my own with great accuracy. It should be easy to take care of the D'Antonio family once I get to know more about the magical side of the world and get someone to teach me. I will also be able to kill that bas-.... Wait, wait, wait, didn't James say that Cassian had awakened magic?? So that is why he was sent to the American branch of the family. he must have been training his magic. This won't do. I need to start teaching myself about magic as soon as possible. As of now the only thing I have going about me is that I have a greater than average control over my magic as well as doing some wandless magic and little bit of divination. But where do I go to learn magic??'.
Olivia then asked James," So to learn magic people go to America?? Is magic taught only in families like yours??". James smiled at her curiosity and replied," Families like mine are few and far in between and even then most prefer to send their children to magical schools. There are seven popular schools in the world that accept any child with magic and then each country has its own places to train the young in case the child is not sent to any school and cannot be home-schooled. England is unique in that any underaged child with magic is compulsorily sent to the Magical school called Hogwarts. The tuition starts when the children turn 11 before September 1 of the year. So if we have a child of our own and he/she shows signs of magic before his 11th birthday, they will get a letter of acceptance from Hogwarts and will have to be sent there without question. Unless we decide to go out of the country, but almost all underaged magical children are asked to atleast attend some magical education.".
Veronica was soaking up all the information James was giving out. She was more thankful for having spiked the food now. He certainly was more vocal and open with his information after being influenced. She hardly expected him to be so forthcoming if he was in full control of his faculties. She would still have heard some but it would certainly not be as detailed as now. She just hoped that they did not go to the bed for now and would continue to dance. Since once that happens she will not be able to know more. After all, the bed had been doused with a generous amount of Sleeping Potion. It was a small concoction that can emulate the effects of a very heavy sedative called Hydroxipam. Hydroxipam is crazy powerful, too powerful. A person under hydroxipam is unconscious for over 100 hours under the condition that they are undisturbed. However he/she can be woken up in between in case someone wakes them up. The victim would still feel sleepy though until the affects wear off. The Sleeping potion was made to create similar effect except with a smaller half life. It would ensure that whoever slept under its effects would only wake up after a full 10 hours and no amount of pain or shock or physical abuse will wake them up. There was also an antidote for the Potion in the notes however, she did not have it on her. This was because while making the Sleeping potion was easy since the materials could either be bought or isolated from everyday chemicals, the antidote needed some very specific materials that needed to be made in a fully contained environment. That required facilities and access to materials that she could not get.
Unfortunately for Veronica, both James and Olivia were still high and were fully enjoying the dance and thus both of them were getting more and more excited. Olivia asked while rubbing her body on James and pulling him to the bed at the same time," What about the tuition for children of normal people?? As you said every magical child in Britain has to attend Hogwarts then what about them. A normal person would not be able to leave the country permanently and they may not have enough to pay for their education.". Veronica in the attic gave a mental thumbs-up to Olivia. She needed the answer to this question before they are knocked out.
James kissed Olivia and both of them dropped on the bed with James on top. He then said," The ministry of magic has set up a tuition for all the students. In case a student needs money for the education they can apply for the tuition loan and can pay it back after their education at Hogwarts.". He kissed Olivia again and then said," There are about 20 books in the pouch about different things in the magical world. All of it has been loaned to us by father for a time of a month. You will need to learn the books in a month and then they will be returned to him. They are his prized possessions as they are copies of 20 books from the family in America. Anyway, we will be meeting father and the rest of our family tomorrow. You need to read the books cover to cover so that you can understand the family business better. You also need to know, my family has some very old views on marriage and father will ask to..." at this point James dropped down on the bed, knocked out unconscious. So was Olivia.
Veronica waited for 10 minutes and not hearing anything in the house she then came down as quietly as possible. She made her way to the bedroom. First thing she did was grab the pouch and place it in her bag. After that making sure that she was still wearing her gloves she grabbed James by his hanging legs and then dragged him from the bed to floor. Then she made him lie down on the floor face up. Next she very carefully brought out from her bag an small box. Opening the box there was a small glass bottle with a colorless liquid inside. Needless to say that this was a fast acting poison. It was the easiest poison that she could make by isolating various chemicals from different types of pesticides and pest poisons. The poison would naturally dissolve in the body after 1 hour, however, the poison worked by blocking the air flow. It would affect the lungs and stop all air entering it making the symptoms of the death look like the victim was choked to death. She then brought out a syringe which she then filled with the poison and bent over to take James's arm. Just before she injected him with the poison she looked at him and then at Olivia. She hesitated for a single second while thinking that she was about take a person's life and destroy another's. She wondered if it was the right thing to do. But then she remembered the murder of her sister and her parents in coma and then she found that she did not care. Although Olivia's life was about to be destroyed, but she made a promise that she would kill the D'Antonio family as soon as she could. If Olivia was alive by that time she would be free and if she was dead then she would revenge her as well. With that thought she pressed the injection and injected the poison into James. She removed the needle and packed her stuff while keeping a lookout at James. His breaths were becoming shorter and faster, his body trying to take in more oxygen. Finally after 15 minutes, James's body calmed down and his breath stopped completely. Veronica knew that if she stayed for longer she would be in trouble so she made her way out. Making sure to use her heightened state and divination to chart out a path for herself. 15 minutes later she left behind the neighborhood and started running in the direction of her house. After she felt sufficiently distant to the house she slowed down and finally came out of her heightened state. The moment she did her emotions came back to her in a huge torrent and she felt the metaphoric punch of her own emotions she had managed to keep away with the help of her powers.
She started vomiting by the side of the road. Tears filled her eyes and suddenly she was weeping, her whole body wracked by sobs. She cried since it was the first time she had killed someone and she knew that this day would be forever remembered in her mind and James will be the new person who will haunt her mind for many months to come. She would live with her decision, if asked to do it again she would kill him again. Veronica now remembered something her grandpa Alan, who had been a cop, said to her," Nobody can kill someone in cold blood and come out okay on the other side.".
A small whine from behind the dumpster caught her attention. She wiped the tears on her face and then moved behind the dumpster to see that there was a small puppy lying there on the cold street. She looked around and found that there were no dogs nearby. She figured it was a stray as only stray dogs would abandon their pups. It was a small black puppy that had an injury on its hind leg. It had been bleeding, however the blood had frozen due to the cold. The puppy suddenly opened its eyes and looked at her with a whine as if asking help from her. Veronica picked the puppy in her arms and looking at it licking at her hand furiously as if scared that she would throw it away, a small smile formed on her face. She could feel an instant connection with it. Both of them were orphans. Well, she was as good as an orphan. She decided to keep the pup and care for it. With the smile still on her face she finally made her way back. The overpowering guilt and horror and sadness she had been feeling seemed to lessen a little. 'I would eventually heal or I will learn to live with this burden. There is no going back.', she thought as she moved forward in the dark night.
