Burning Down the House

Karma pulled her trunk behind her. Rather than floo from Hogwarts to her house, she'd wanted to take the train. That did, in fact, mean walking, but walking had never bothered her. It was a peaceful time when she could think, and she'd needed time to think lately. Nightmare followed at her heels.

Rounding the corner onto the familiar street of the only home she'd ever known, her face split into a smile. It was good to be home.

Dropping her trunk at the bottom of the steps, she pushed open the door, calling into the house to greet the portaits and Lace. She walked down the steps once more, grabbing her trunk and pulling it upward. It seemed heavier than usual, as she hadn't fed in a while.

Then she heard it.

The sound of tires screeching on asphalt grated her ears. She paused on the steps, her eyes going to the end of the street. What was that...?

The answer came in the form of a white van, unmarked except for a black cross, that screeched to a stop in front of her house. Nightmare growled in warning, but Karma was already in motion, throwing her trunk inside and slamming the door behind her.

There was a brief moment where the only sounds were locks sliding home and the door of the van bursting open.

A click.

Nightmare tackled her to the ground as the rapid sound of gunfire assalted the culdesac, the doorway and walls soon shot through with holes that let in the sunlight.

Karma growled. Her thigh was shot through. Once the gunfire stopped, she struggled to her feet, moving deeper into the house. She had barely made it to her Grandmother's portrait when the shots started once more, forcing her to the ground again.

"Arsen!" she called out, her eyes going to her ring. "Ethon! Jet! Arsen!" Dimi!

But none of them would be there on time.

She howled as another shot through her stomach, the pain getting to her. "Lace!" She called. "Lace! Get Jet!"

The sound of breaking glass covered the crack of Lace's apparation, and quickly following was the sound and heat of flames. "Arsen!" She struggled to her feet, ignoring the pain from her thigh, she limped further away from the doorway, the quickly spreading fire following her.

Her Grandmother screamed.

"Grandmother!"

"Get OUT Karma!"

She continued down the hallway, eventually coming to the steps that led down to the kitchen. More broken glass, more fire.

Halfway down the steps, she finally noticed the green smoke coming from her bullet wounds. "No..." She said. "No..."

With a cry of pain, she fell, her insides feeling as if they were ripping apart. She hit two steps before Nightmare put herself between the floor and her human. She landed hard on the panther, but Nightmare took the weight.

Mewling and growling at the fire, Nightmare gently lowered her human to the ground, stepping over and looking down at her.

The last thing Karma saw was the golden-brown eyes of her familiar.

Jet had been walking in the park near Grimmald Place, reminiscing old memories of his childhood, when Lace popped next to him. He was halfway through a greeting when the old house elf took his hand. "Save her!"

He was suddenly standing in the kitchen of Karma's house, and automatically he smelled the smoke.

Yowling in the distance alerted him to the presence of Nightmare, and where there was Nightmare, there was Karma.

The scent of smoke engulfed him the second he opened the door, and, eyes watering, he dropped to his knees.

Fire.

It was everywhere.

Nightmare was shrieking now, frantic.

"KARMA?!" Jet yelled.

He couldn't lose her too.

Jet moved to all fours and crawled toward Nightmare's yowls. He couldn't tell if they were getting louder because he was getting closer, or if the cat was getting more agitated.

It turned out to be both.

Nightmare met Jet nose to nose, and led him quickly to her human. The walls on both sides of the hallway, including the ceiling, were ablaze now. The heat of the fire making perspiration break out on Jet's forehead, but he took no notice, his eyes on Karma.

She was losing a lot of blood. Her clothes were soaked with it, so much so that he couldn't figure where the wounds actually were. A warning growl from Nightmare along with a creaky groan from the ceiling above them, shocked Jet into motion.

Quickly, he picked Karma up, bridal style, and moving quickly as not to be burned by the fire quickly spreading to the floor, made his way back to the kitchen, following the meows from Nightmare and the age old instinct born from growing up in this house.

Bursting into the kitchen, Jet finally breathed, the air in here was much easier to breathe, though the blackness of smoke was starting to swirl on the ceiling from underneath the door. This observation led to another, more troubling one.

Karma wasn't breathing.

"Master Jet!" Lace said frantically, pulling the boy toward the fireplace. "Take her to St. Mungo's!"

"But..."

"NOW Master Jet! You must!"

Jet nodded, taking the floo powder in her hand and stepping into the green flames. "ST MUNGO'S!" He yelled, dropping the powder from his fist and clutching Karma close to him, surrendering to the spinning sensation of the floo.

Lace watched him go, her big elven eyes worried.

She picked up Nightmare, who had turned back into a cat, and popped her outside the house. The culdesac was deserted, black tire marks the only evidence anything had happened except for the blazing fire behind her.

The motherly house elf placed the Familiar on the ground, before turning and popping back inside.

She had to save her masters.

Nightmare took off down the sidewalk, her cat paws pounding on the ground.

She had a half-demon to find.