Razing | PG-13 Violence

Nik glanced upward with a slight frown at the number of feet he heard making their way into the main tent. This was the main event. How dare so little come. By the sound of it, it was merely a thousand or so. The wretches. Star's 50th fight deserved more... more...

Just more.

The amount of glitter in his hair was starting to flit down around his eyes by the time he made it down to the tunnel, standing in the center of the cages and looking at the ones filled. There were only six or seven left, but they didn't matter. No. The only one who mattered was Star.

And Angel had up and left.

That meant only one thing.

"Star. You fight tonight. Muñeca. You too." He pointed to Aurmerle's cage, then to Viola's. "Happy 50th fight, Star. If you win this one, you've only got Angel Smerti left." He took a step back as the familiar blinding white light of the spotlights flickered on one by one. The cages all were pulled back against the wall, and the ceiling of the cavern whirred mechanically as it began to open. Nik stood on his platform as it rose, flicking his Ring Master staff in his hand and slamming it on the ground, enjoying the sparks that flew as his Mad Hatter hat threw his face into shadow.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" He roared in his circus voice. "You've been following his fights for a while now, why, since we've had him as an addition, and now you are one of the lucky ones. You are the chosen to witness it, the monstrosity, the strength, the anger, that is Star's final fight before Angel Smerti!" The cheers and boos from the crowd didn't phase him, he simply threw back his cane arm and let the light catch on the sapphire orb on the top, throwing different shades of blue all over the ring, casting blue shadows and changing the tint of Nik's cape and hat.

"Who the fighter, you wonder, that gets this honor? Hopefully it's a strong one, a werewolf, a different type of challenge. Someone this audience would hope is worthy? No, the wheel has spoken. The fighter is simply Muñeca, the Spaniard. You have never laid eyes on her. Who is this mystical Queen of innocence? Who is she? Do we know?" Nik lowered his voice to a whisper, his eyes glinting as the microphone continued to amplify his voice.

"The answer, dear audience, is nothing. We know nothing about this seductress, this mistress of shadows. She could be anyone. Why, she might even be your children's professor, but don't get your hopes up! She could just as easily be an escapee from Furmage, a hidden prisoner from the Ministry, why, she could even be an escapee from Azkaban." Nik gave no notice to the way the arena was forming below him, Muñeca and Star's cages on opposite sides of the space, waiting to be released. As was his usual, Nik grabbed onto a rope hanging from above and stepped into the ring hanging from it, letting himself be pulled upward by the mechanisms involved before he began talking again, his platform sinking back into the earth.

"Immortal Kombat!!" He announced grandly.

The cages opened.

Aurmerle roared, letting the sound fill the tent. He just loved to put on a show when he got into the arena. If he was going to be forced to fight then he was going to at least having fun doing what he loved doing the most. His eyes lit up as he spun around with his arms held out wide to show himself off to the crowd before settling his eyes on Vi.

"Lets give them what they want, then i want you to kill me." He said pushing the thought into Violas mind whilst giving her a snarl out loud for the audiences sake. "Bring it on shorty." He spat, his eyes were now pitch black and his fangs exposed.

The lights were so familiar to her.

The glare of the bulbs against the metal bleachers was almost heartwarming compared to the darkness she just came from. For a second, she allowed herself to be swept away in the exictment and she watched the crowd, only to be met by hisses. Then, the sinking feeling of death and hunger returned to her.

Her eyes met the ringmaster's, then Aurmerle's with a steady glare. She knew the circus ads well. She was being sold as the strong, silent, mystery and, if this ringleader was anything like her old one, she knew how he wanted her to act. Even in the remains of her dress, she managed to look empowering.

I can't, she whimpered mentally, despite her strong face, Amora... she can't live without you. I'll die, please,

The crowd were silent as the doll took a step forward, calmly. An invitation.

Aurmerle growled out loud. His frustration being shown as a sudden burst of anger. "Do it or i'll make you. It's your choice." With the amount of human blood in his system he wouldn't even need to get that close to do it. All it took was one moments eye contact to lock him in and he had her.

He pounced at her, making sure they rolled over so he could get the vital eye contact he needed. "Stake me!" He compelled before he threw her into the side of the cage. If he was going to make things look real he would have to hurt her in the process and hopefully she would be smart and do the same to him in return.

Viola saw his attack, but made no move to escape. She fell back, her head cracking on the pavement. The echoing boos and cheers of the audience rang in her ears as she made eye contact with her mate's brother. No, not now. She could never truly bring herself to kill the man, yet... the glimmer in his eyes made her want to do just that.

Her arms grasped the side of the cage, stopping her from slamming into the vervained bars. Her hands were already burning and peeling from the contact, but the dark glimmer in her eyes showed she had no plans to stop. With a squeal of bent metal, Viola found the bars unattached in her hands. The tension loomed over the audience as she twirled the metal pole in her hands with a sadistic smile.

Then, with great force, she tackled the man. Her hand made spear landed through the vampire's hand with a sickening crack of bone, metal and concrete. She could only imagine the pain this would cause; even holding the spear made her hands crumble. This would have to be a fast match, or else she doubted her hands would heal. "I'm sorry," she whispered, bent down low, as if she was pinning Aurmerle.

"You! Ringmaster!" she called out boldly, sitting up with extra peace and calm. Her grip was still tight on the man, even if the image of her sitting of his chest was of lovers, not fighters. "This is the day!" She dislodged the pole from the man's hand, now eyeing the audience, as if she were to attack them, not the fellow vampire. Her voice dropped down to a graveled growl that echoed through the audience. There was that familiar moment of silence. The moment where everyone holds their breaths and hopes, prays, pleads, that something turns out the way they wanted it to.

"This is the day your Star fades away." She let the metal glint in the lights for a breif moment, her body shaking with guilt. Her pained grip tightened as her face grew to a false rage. She didn't bother to look at the ringmaster as she gave a final stage whisper, "Adios, Astro,"

And, with one slow motion, she went to drive the pole in the man's chest. She left an opening for the man to attack if he changed his mind. Or if he wanted to keep working the audience, like Merle often liked to do. This was his final performance- if he wanted it to last forever, she wouldn't complain.

Aurmerle roared in pain as the vervained metal went straight through his hand pinning it to the ground. He knew this was it. He didn't even make any attempts to kick her off him even though he so easily could with all this human blood building up inside of him. It wouldn't be long now until his plan came into action and when it did, the who operation would regret the day they kidnapped him and his people.

As she dislodged the pole from his hand he closed his eyes and waited for the dreaded pain to come. It was only when they knew he was dead that they would let him go that he was free to rescue the others. Then he'd had his fun. Aurmerle gasped and his body stilled beneath her, his heart frozen in time.

Mora had been running. She was sure Master Ethon was around here somewhere, but she didn't bother looking for him. He'd be here. He'd-

She ignored the fight when she arrived, focusing instead on pulling herself up to the tightrope, where she'd have more of a view of...

The crowd below her had frozen, gone silent, but she didn't look down until she was in the center of the tightrope, sitting on the thin wire as easily as if it was the ground. Then, and only then, did she look down.

The crowd, who had been cheering, fell abruptly silent a few of the weaker minded ones already stumbling. Soon, they were all on their knees, unable to cope with the pressure on their minds as their mental walls - if they had any - were ripped apart as if they were tissue paper, the deepest darkest of their memories forced to the forefront of their minds before they dissolved and were replaced by pain. Pure agony.

Mora's eyes had yet to leave the ring. Her lips had yet to move, but her mental shout might as well as been shouted.

Aurmerle!

Ethon strode through the main entrance to the Circus, sending a black-eyed gaze at the man who had initially thought to stop him. "You're not paid nearly enough," the vampire snarled at him.

It seemed the man agreed with this assessment.

In several short 'jumps', pausing in various locations to scope the area, he arrived at the small two-story structure which held the PA system. There was a moment of feedback from all the speakers before Ethon's voice rang out across the grounds.

"This is just a... friendly announcement," he intoned, before slipping into the Old Tongue, "You all are in the wrong place, at the wrong time: a fatal mistake."

Ethon gave a deliberate pause, letting out a short, chilling laugh. "I'm sorry." He didn't sound the least bit apologetic; his tone was too malevolent for that. "For those of you not able to speak languages more than a thousand years old, I told you to RUN!

"Run... for... your... lives..." Ethon drawled out in menacing sing-song, then snarled into the microphone. "Pathetic little mortals - how very stupid you all are. Here's the facts: there are at least two alpha monsters here tonight, and I can assure you, they are both very pissed.

"That's not even counting all the other beasties; locked up, waiting to be let out so the fun can begin."

His tone darkened into a demonic growl. "Run, mortals - and maybe you'll survive. No promises."

There was more feedback, and then the entire PA system went crashing through the window onto a stand below, followed a moment later by the mauled body of the person who'd manning it and had failed to leave soon enough.

Ethon stepped up into the window frame, leaning out into the deepening night. "Ringmaster," he whispered, voice every bit as audible as it had been over the PA system through the use of magic. "I'm coming for you, ringmaster. You and your pretty wife shan't live out the night." He vanished from the window to reappear on the opposite end of the grounds, closer to the main tent, this time.

"You want to know why, ringmaster?" Ethon's whispered voice echoed throughout the grounds, tone almost tender. "Because you have my brother... and you have my mate... I swear to you, ringmaster, you will suffer every hurt that has come to either of them before this night is through.

"I'm coming, brother," he assured Aurmerle in their native tongue, then his tone turned soft, "Estoy aquí, mi corazón."

Ethon appeared at the top of stands surrounding the arena, unseen until he began stalk forward.

It was a peculiar feeling, to feel the relaxation of muscles below her and to know her friend was leaving her here, alone. There was a singular moment before she let herself fall on to the vampire's chest with a strangled sob. Tears stained her cheeks, a mixture of her agony towards the fallen and her pained hands. She could already feel the vervain eating away in her skin, popping capillaries and tendents, but, with a solemn smile, she reached for the murder weapon.

With a wet pop, she slid the pole out of the chest cavity and listened to the sloshes of blood and organ being displaced. A heaving in her stomach and a poking in her mouth conflicted the woman for a moment; The monster inside of her had no respect for the dead. Then, as she looked at the pitched top of the tent, she dropped her weapon and rolled over onto the cold ground, mentally and physically spent.

The vervain was in her system now, swirling her thoughts with its posionous purpose. But, even in her fading haze, a small movement caught her eyes. The highwire act. A small smile crept on to her mouth. Amora had an act once. A beautiful one.

The Spaniard tilted her head to the side. The edges of her hand were in her view now, revealing the white powder that was killing her. In her palms, the deep red blood had pooled in the grooves where flesh used to be. In one part, the stained white that could only be bone stuck out where knuckle should have been. The horrific pain had started to fade, not in a healing numbness, but a terrifying absense of sense. But, instead of panicking, the teacher could only manage a shaking breath.

In this moment, the vampire noticed the silence of the crowd and reveled in the odd moment.

That's when she started to hallucinate.

It started with Amora, calling for her fallen mate. Then, she heard Ethon's words, slipping in and out of comprehensiblity. Her mind was creating a way to comfort her pain. Viola was on the brink of death- not hurt enough to die, but not well enough to live- savoring the words as of she'd never her them again.

"Mi... esposo," she whispered, black eyes clouded with pain, "T-Te.. a-amo..."

Nik swung down on his ring, over the crowd, applaud at their reaction to Star's proformance. "Are you not entertained?" He demanded. "This turn of events is legendary! Amazing! Almost-" He cut of and cocked his head to the side, listening to the announcements over the PA System. Well. It looked as if the voices were back. And they were coming to kill him. Nothing new there.

"Angel!" He greeted happily, swinging over to balance on the tightrope beside her. "Isn't this a wonderful show we're having tonight?" Ignoring the woman's obvious lack of speech - it was an amazing show, after all, look at the crowd - he pressed on. "I feel a riot coming on, dear. Will you collect Zab? I do think she's in her dressing room..." His eyes went to the ring, where Muñeca seemed to be having a problem with the vervain. "Well. She probably won't be able to fight for a few nights now. Shame."

Leaping back onto his ring, the Ringmaster did nothing more but allow himself to be pulled to above the middle of it all, even with the tight rope, directly above the dead Star. "Ladies and Gentleman, I give you your winner, Muñeca!" He invisioned the applause the crowd must have, the cheers for the underdog. Everyone loved an underdog. They always did.

"I know you're all distressed for our Fallen Star, but it is quite alright. The next match promises to be twice as bloody! Wolf on Wolf!"

He had no idea how long he'd been out, but he knew it hadn't been long. For one he was still laid in the middle of the ring surrounded by the crowds. He could smell them from where he laid but he still gave no sign of being alive, not until he was fully alive. He needed to be at his strongest before he took on the workers with their stakes and vervain.

Slowly his wounds began to heal and it took all his effort not to jump up and sink his teeth into the nearest human and drink them dry. Especially when he heard his native tongue being spoken through the speakers. That brought on a fear he hadn't even felt during the time he'd been at the circus. His entire being just screamed at him to leave, or else face facing what he had nearly a century ago in that jail cell.

"I'm coming, brother," His brother said and that was the last straw. With those words spoken Merle jumped to his feet to the sounds of what was left of the departing crowds screams, pushing Viola out of his way as he made his way to the side of the cage. He was in alpha vampire now and nothing was going to get in his way. No cage, vervained or not was strong enough to hold him now, so as he came to it he placed his hands onto the bars and pulled until he made a hole big enough for him to fit through.

It had been a century since Merle had let himself but he had to admit it felt good! He remembered now why he loved human blood so much, he'd wasted a century drinking animal blood and he was not going to waste any more time drinking that filth. He needed to get out of here whilst his brother was distracted. but of course he needed his own fill of blood before he did that to pick up his strength and to taste that pure elixir against his taste buds once more. without a seconds thought he plucked a random human out the crowd and sank his teeth into their neck and found himself in pure ecstasy.

Some of the crowd were on their knees when Ethon arrived, agonized and weighted down by the emotions projected by Amora. If he noticed them, himself, Ethon gave no indication of it.

Instead, his focus was on the ring, where both his brother and his mate happened to be. Ethon could sense them, now that the proximity was near enough that the vast amounts of vervain in use were no longer masking the connection. Both were injured, though, it wasn't long before Aurmerle proved himself alright - not that Ethon expected otherwise. It didn't make him any less pissed about his brother's suffering. As for the harm to Viola...

No one in that tent would live. Ethon would make certain of it himself. Even if anyone managed to escape the night, he would hunt them down and tear their throats out.

A savage snarl marred his handsome features, fangs extended and eyes a soulless black, as Ethon's forward momentum increased. Some thought to slow him down, whilst others, disoriented or foolish, mistakenly got in his way. All fell.

Seconds later, he had entered through the hole his brother had made between the vervained bars of the cage. Aurmerle was likely making a run for it. He usually did the times he'd slipped, and his last detox had been nearly as bad as the first one. No matter; Ethon could sort Aurmerle out later.

Kneeling beside Viola, he gently pulled her to him. "Te amo, también, mi corazón," Ethon murmured, a hand brushing fondly over her hair. Using his teeth to tear into the flesh of his wrist, he put it her lips. "Drink. Quickly, before the mortals start organizing themselves. You will feel better."

Ethon calculated that it would take at least a minute for the nearest idiot to make their way to their location, and another before any could be considered an actual distraction. It would be time enough. Further damage could be healed later, once all was finished.

Mora blinked, turning toward Nik and away from the ring. The crowd sagged as her focus was once again captured by that single order. That word.

Zab.

The woman was Nik's everything. His mate. See how he would like being-

Alone.

Again.

She barely thought of the apparation. It was simple. She'd apparated plenty of times before. She was outside of Zab's trailer in moments. Swinging the door open, the blond walked in, not even bothering to close the door behind her.

She didn't even scream.

The trailer shuddered slightly, and there was the sound of pots and pans hitting the ground before all was silent once more. There was a pause as Mora's eyes swept the hollow shell of a woman, debating sinking her teeth into the soft flesh that was her person, just so Nik would know who it was... but Nik wouldn't be living for long, would he? Perhaps she should just...?

"It's not as fun when they don't scream, is it Zab?" She asked, softly, quoting the woman easily, even deigning to sink into her accent. "We like the screams, don't we?" Patting the blank expression on the woman's face, Mora turned and stepped from the trailer, distressed to find herself only feeling a little bit better. The moment she thought of him however...

Popping back above the tightrope, catching herself easily on the thin line at the last second, pulling herself on top of the thing and balancing. Her eyes didn't bother to go to the ringmaster, the young vampire was much more interested in what was happening with Ethon. Surely he would put on a good sho-

Had her start been beating, it might have stopped.

She was by his side in a moment, eyes wide. "Aurmerle?" She asked, the human he was nearly devouring not deterring her in the least. The unimaginable pressure over her was lifted easily, and she barely cared that he looked- most... well... un... Aurmerle-like.

Viola hit the pavement hard when Merle kicked her out of the way, slurred insults leaving her mouth. Despite the ill intentions of the kick, the jostling seemed to help the vampire's brain get back on track. Now, the weight of Amora's mind caught her attention.

In an attempt to push herself on to her elbows, Viola found herself back on her back and her vision blurred again. Shit, it seemed moving wasn't an opinion. the Spaniard would have to wait here in the cacophony of the screaming crowd until the ringmaster brought her out. She was used to this, back when she was in the circus, though the calls of joy seemed to changed into shrieks of terror.

Must be Aurmerle, she thought.

Footsteps echoed in her mind, breaking through the noise of the injury and the audience. She tilted her head towards the sound to see her one and only maker.

She opened her mouth the speak, only to be cotton-mouthed and unable. Instead, she clamped her lips around his wrist and drank slowly. A bit of the red dripped out the side, flowing too fast for her mind muddled in vervain.