A dangerous calm had swept over him as he stood up at last, not yet letting go of the Slytherin locket. Hepzibah rose from her chair as well, holding her hand out to take the locket but he snatched it away, "no."

"Tom, are you alright?" She spoke uncertainly, noticing the anger radiating off him, "is anything the matter?"

"Not at all," his smile was menacing as he spoke, "in fact I haven't felt this better ever before."

"Ah that's good for you. Now if you please give the locket back..."

But her voice trailed off seeing the red gleam in his irises, making him look akin to a deadly serpent, "oh no, you're not getting it back. I am only taking what is rightfully mine. You said this locket belonged to the founder of my house? Well I'll tell you, Salazar Slytherin was not only the founder of my house but also a direct ancestor of mine."

She gulped in fear, "you want the locket? Take it. But please, my boy, stop this nonsense. You are terrifying me."

He took the locket and held up the cup instead, "and what if I want this too?"

"But dear, it is my family heirloom, I can not..."

He stepped closer wand pointed straight at her heart and she shrank back, trembling in fear.

Her lip quivered slightly, "Tom, darling..."

His voice roared down at her, "I'm not your darling! Only Nicole had the right to call me that!"

Hepzibah cowered in terror, witnessing a side to him that was monstrous; the angelic feathers no longer concealing his darkness, "take anything you want, I will give you whatever you want... But spare me please. Don't kill me..."

"It is too late now for a negotiation," he seethed, his wand pointed straight at her as he uttered those two words,"Avada Kedavra."

Her old eyes glazed over as she fell lifeless onto the floor, heart coming to a fatal stop. He positioned his wand over her, extracting a piece of his soul that he trapped into the Hufflepuff Cup, creating his fourth horcrux.

But when he turned around to find the house elf and frame it for her murder, the person he saw standing in the doorway shocked him.

It was Eleanor, standing with a horrified look on her face for she had witnessed him killing Hepzibah Smith as well as seen him create a horcrux due to that murder.

Her wide green eyes flickered from the woman's corpse to the golden cup in his hands and she stumbled back, no word passing her lips.

"Where do you think you're going, love?" Tom asked calmly, the door behind her slamming shut as he swished his wand, uttering a nonverbal spell.

The terror on her face magnified, "you killed her..."

"Yes and that unfortunately makes you an eye witness to Miss Smith's murder. Such a pity," he clicked his tongue in mock disappointment, relishing to see fear morph her features completely for once.

And the sense of power it brought upon seeing her back off, cooled off all the anger he had felt towards her for spending time with Silas Avery.

However, that mask of fear was just a trick because in a flash, he had been disarmed, his wand held in between her delicate fingers. She had used his distraction to her advantage and while any other wizard in Tom's position would have faltered at the drastic turn of events, he merely laughed as if she had told him a hilarious joke.

He laughed heartily, making her uncomfortable because to any onlooker it would seem that Eleanor had the upper hand over him as he was clearly wandless. But little would they know that he no longer required his wand to cast the darkest of spells he had mastered over the years.

"Well done, love, you have once again proved how remarkable of an actress you are," he clapped in delight, amusement dancing on his features as he addressed her, "you being frightened of me? No... I should have known it was just a trap. Ah how foolish, now my wand has been forfeited. Well done, indeed. I applaud you from the depths of my heart."

She held both wands tightly, uncertain of his next move but ready to face him, "if you think you'll scare me into not standing up against you, then you're clearly wrong."

"Who said I was merely going to scare you, Miss Troy... I have something else in mind."

Without warning, darkness seeped out from the floor underneath him akin to a thick tar like liquid, heading towards her speedily. She drew back in alarm but the liquid closed onto her feet, transforming into wet black tentacles wrapping all over her.

"What the hell are you doing?" She screeched, feeling the tentacles pierce her skin as the grip tightened. Both wands fell from her hands as she was lifted into the air, the darkness wrapping her up tightly.

Tom stepped forward and picked the wands that had fallen on the ground, pocketing his own wand but twirling hers in between his fingers.

"Stay here, love, I'll be back in a moment," he spoke in an uncomfortably cheery voice as he opened the door and stepped out to search for the house elf Hokey.

He had decided to temper with the elf's memory so that it would think it had poisoned Hepzibah with the chamomile tea and was the cause to her death.

After the deed was done, he returned to the parlor to find Eleanor still held in the tight grip of the dark tentacles, however, scratches and cuts covered her body and she had lost consciousness.

He held his hand up and the darkness dissolved back into the ground. Eleanor fell in a lifeless heap but before she could strike the ground, Tom caught her in his arms.

"I never wanted to do this, Eleanor, but you have a terrible habit of poking your pretty little nose where it isn't invited," he whispered to her, disapparating immediately afterwards.

He knew she had witnessed him murdering Hepzibah Smith so there was no way he could let her go easily. For a brief instant, the thought of killing her and transforming the Slytherin locket into a horcrux too crossed his mind but he relented.

He just did not want her to die so soon. There was a lot he needed to figure out about her first.

So the only option left for him was to keep her in his captivity and there was only one place where that could be possible.

Hence, he decided to take her to Malfoy Manor.

***