demetrius mulciber is coming apart at the seams (scrubbedraw) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-03-13 22:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-03] march, demetrius mulciber, mary macdonald |
Log: Mary MacDonald and Demetrius Mulciber
Who: Mary MacDonald and Demetrius Mulciber
When: Friday, March 13th, late-ish.
Where: Vixen Tor, Dartmoor, Devon
What: Reuniting and kicking the hell out of each other.
Rating: Good old fashioned R.
Status: COMPLETED
Demetrius walked around in a large circle, just within the shadow of the towering rocks. It was already practically pitch-black outside, and he hadn't seen a person around since he'd been there, luckily. He was casting Muggle-repelling, precautionary wards. There was no telling what sort of trouble he would be in if some idiotic Muggle walked up on a duel. Pulling a silver watch out of his pocket, he looked at it quickly and then put it away, putting the finishing touches on the few wards he had put up, he decided to sit down on a nearby rock and wait. It shouldn't be much longer now, unless the petulant little girl had decided not to show. He'd be rather put out if that was the case. Of course, he didn't really think it would, given than she was a Gryffindor, and no matter how impossible the challenge, they'd never back down. Demetrius crossed his arms over his chest and simply waited. He was more excited than he let on, trying to keep his face entirely impassive. But he couldn't help but be a little anxious- this was finally ending. He could walk out of this duel with her dead, and that would be the end of it. That was something he was very, very ready for. But he knew that if he didn't feel like it was ending on his terms, he'd have to let her go and end it another time. Soon, of course. Very soon. But this was going to end and it was going to end how he wanted it to. Mary knew this was foolish, but she was far too stubborn and proud to admit it fully. Demetrius had underestimated her skills for far too long, and she was ready to show him that she was no longer the inexperienced child he had botchily disemboweled so many years prior. For some reason she couldn't even explain to herself, she changed into her competition dueling gear and apparated out to Dartmoor. She wasn't late, rather, precisely on time. She could feel the magic close by, and was strangely pleased that Demetrius was smart enough to cast repelling charms on the place. The last thing they needed was to be caught by unwanted eyes. She crouched down and took out her wand, casting Homenum Revelio at Vixen Tor. She just needed to know that Demetrius wasn't trying to ambush her. This may not have been the best decision, but she was definitely smart enough not to go waltzing in without being sure. However, the spell told her it was just her nemesis, and so she stood to her full height and walked up the Tor. "Demetrius," she said, the only greeting she was willing to offer him, "I'm surprised you even came. Snakes tend to shy away from danger, don't they?" The swooping sensation of the Homenum Revelio had alerted him to her presence, and he couldn't help but laugh at her comment. "We both know that is just not what I do," he said in an amused tone. "I figured you would be the one not to show. I thought you had 'things to live for', or whatever the phrase is." It had gotten completely dark. Almost too dark to see, but it hardly mattered. He could see his opponent and that's all that really mattered in the grand scheme of things. In the shadow of the towering stone, he dusted off his robes, simply to do something. "And now we duel. A fair rematch, just for you," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he bowed. Normally, he wasn't one to bow to people like her, but it seemed appropriate. "My family's gone," she said wryly, though it wasn't without some truth behind it. To her, her family was dead. At least until this war was over. Everyone except Leslie, of course. "And besides that fact, I'm not scared of you and your little underhanded tactics." She circled around him to get into position, and her eyebrow rose in surprise as he bowed. "Interesting," she said as she mimicked the move, her own bow fluid and professional, "I never thought you'd actually follow the rules of a duel. You always seemed like the type to attack when you're opponent's back is turned." She smirked and settled back into her dueling stance, her right arm extended out in front of her with her wand held delicately in her hand, her left hand pulled up and away. "En garde," she said, her voice nearly sarcastic. After this moment of professionalism, she had more than an inkling that any sense of 'fair play' was going to disappear into nothingness. "Well... you should be scared," Demetrius said in a low voice. "I may not have been particularly dangerous five years ago, but now..." She'd just have to find that out for herself, he thought. Telling her too much would be folly, of course. "There's no fun in attacking someone by surprise unless it serves a point. Tonight, only something resembling a proper duel will work." Taking a measured step forward, he considered his first move. It was almost like chess, and in chess, the pawns go first. "Stupefy," he practically drawled, the bright red light shooting from his outstretched wand. Stunners, nothing special, effective if they actually hit, but really, he was counting on a miss. He was just testing her reflexes, just toying with her. Which would likely seem odd to anyone else, but it made perfect sense to Demetrius. Mary would have rolled her eyes, but there was one thing about her that Demetrius probably wasn't counting on. Mary's training had required her to learn focus, concentration, and when it came to dueling, there wasn't much that could distract her. Over her nearly two years of competition, she had dueled with broken arms, broken ribs, cuts and bruises. He cast stupefy (Stupefy? Really?) and she expertly and effortlessly flicked her wand to cast a shield charm and then cast Reducto at his feet. Blasting him away was always a nice option. His shield charm wasn't quite fast enough to completely block the Reducto sent his way, but it gave him a second or two to step away as the rocky earth he had just been standing on was blasted up. "You're quick, good," he commented scathingly. Then, Diffindo followed by a silent Shield Charm. There was no need to take unnecessary risk and stay unguarded, particularly since this was probably going to get messy. Despite her own Shield Charm, she stepped back with her left foot, spinning away from the attack and then casting her own severing charm at his chest and a freezing charm so that the ground underneath his feet would become icy and smooth as glass. She steadied her breathing and grounded herself, her eyes narrowed and focused. While the severing charm glanced off of his Shield Charm, the ground around his feet became slick and icy rather quickly. Not paying it much mind, Demetrius took one bad step and slammed into the ground. Flat on his back and winded, he groaned audibly. After taking a moment to catch is breath, he pushed himself to his feet carefully, stepping away from the frozen patch of ground and narrowing his eyes. "Sectumsempra," he said quietly. That wasn't something she'd have seen in her dueling circuit. When he fell, Mary took one step forward, she cast a binding spell, her shield charm falling for a moment, and missed when he cast a spell she definitely never would have seen before. She saw the flash of light before it hit her square in the chest, and it sliced across her left arm. She hissed at the pain and quickly cast a finger removing jinx before she strengthened her shield charm. She turned her wand on her arm and tried to stop the bleeding, but apparently her basic healing spells she had learned on the circuit didn't quite cut it. What the hell kind of spell had he used? She retreated slightly, her breath calm even though the blood flow from her arm hadn't even slowed. Demetrius dodged the binding spell easily, but only just got the Shield Charm up to avoid losing any fingers. While he was immensely pleased that he had landed a hit, he knew it didn't matter. He couldn't ease up or get arrogant about it or he would probably be bested. And what was the fun in being bested by some petulant little girl? Casting a Conjunctivitus Curse, he snickered slightly. "You've gotten good," he noted, though there was no trace of flattery in his tone. It was quite obviously a statement, and wasn't meant to be complimentary in any way. She easily deflected the curse, bloody arm or no bloody arm, though she could feel the blood start to slow - perhaps the wound wasn't as deep as it seemed. That or her small healing charm had done something to slow her bleeding. "Don't mock, Demetrius," she said with an air of superiority to her voice, "It's not becoming - though I suppose the idea of you doing anything becoming is laughable." She flicked her wand and cast furnunculus and then shot a tripping jinx right after it. The more she could get him unbalanced and off his feet, the better. It was one of her tactics on the circuit, and she didn't see why it wouldn't suit her well in a more serious duel. "That tone of superiority is even less becoming," Demetrius snapped, ignoring the pang of disgust as he felt boils cropping up on his chest. Falling, again, flat on his back, he sighed in annoyance. "Do you really want me flat on my back that badly, Mary?" he asked sarcastically, not even bothering to stand as he cast his own Tripping Jinx and a Leg-Locker in quick succession. At least one of them hitting would be perfectly useful. The tripping jinx caught her just barely, but luckily because she stumbled and fell, the leg locker missed her, "Trust me, Demetrius, the last thing I want is you on your back in the you're implying." She cast Deprimo before getting to her feet. She'd be bruised from that fall the next day, but she wasn't too worried about it. Demetrius tried to roll out of the way of the Deprimo, but not he wasn't quick enough, and the blast got him on the side, opening up a rather sizable wound. Standing up and touching the new, undeniably large hole in his side gingerly, he grimaced. "Incendio." A jet of flames shot from his wand and he took another second to catch his breath as the blood poured freely down his side. Shit. The bottom of her garb caught the flames, and she had to waste time casting Aguamenti to put it out before she could turn her attentions back to Demetrius. She winced though, the burn was rather bad, but she thought she could ignore it. Maybe. She cast another freezing charm at his feet, and then cast Confundo right after it. She glanced down at her arm and realized that though it had slowed, she was still bleeding steadily. This was not going to be a clean fight - Leslie was going to murder her when she came back bruised, bloody, and burnt. As he slipped again (which, in retrospect, was rather lucky because falling caused the Confundus to miss him entirely), he flicked his wand wildly upward with a silent Levicorpus. Him on the ground and her in the air, seemed like a practical approach. He could feel blood trickling slowly down his side and he cursed his luck. That hole was probably beyond any of his friends' healing capabilities, he'd have to see Healer Dolohov when this was over. Casting a quick Diffindo, he took a moment to right himself. She made a small sound of surprise at suddenly being in the air, and she cursed herself for being caught off guard because she was paying attention to her injuries. That is how people lost duels, and she knew better than that. Of course, in the dueling she was used to, there were judges and points and all sorts of other rules. This wasn't that kind of duel. She swerved around and cast Incendio just as his own spell flew toward her. She attempted to move out of the way, but being suspended in the air didn't exactly warrant fast and/or accurate movement, and the curse caught her across her just under her collarbone, and she hissed at the slice as it cut across. Damn, that one hurt. She cast the counterspell to his Levicorpus and quickly cast a cushioning charm to keep her from breaking anything when she made impact. She sunk into the ground, then scrambled to her feet, shooting a haphazard, "Stupefy!" at him. Demetrius was rather displeased when his shoulder caught fire (and had an odd feeling of Deja Vu as well), the flames trailing down his chest and left arm; but he let his robes and arm burn up as he dodged the Stunner, casting a hasty Reducto in her direction, he took a moment to extinguish the flame. His arm was aching awfully, though he was trying to ignore it. A haphazard Impedimenta, if only to give himself a second to catch his breath and assess his injuries. His side was still steadily pouring blood, even if his adrenaline made it less painful than he knew it should be. And now his left arm was nearly completely incapacitated and rather badly burnt. "Damn," he said to himself, wrinkling his nose at the singed flesh. The Reducto hit her hard, and threw her back against one of the outcroppings of the Tor. She felt a sickening crunch and shooting pain as she landed on the ground. She hissed and looked down only to wish that she hadn't. Her left arm was mangled and the bone had broken through her forearm. Her ribs were also not faring well, and she found it difficult to breath. On top of her injuries she had to roll quickly to dodge his second spell, shooting a confringo, finger-removing hex, and expelliarmus rapid fire so she could have a moment to do something about her arm. The first spell glanced off the ground beside Demetrius's feet, the debris and dust puffing up into a cloud and throwing him off balance. Stumbling, his wand flew out of his hand. He caught himself before he fell, avoiding losing his fingers but not having his wand. It was dark, so he couldn't really see where it had gone. "Now that's just an unfair advantage," he said in an irritated voice. She did her best to repair her arm, nearly screaming in pain as she used her wand to at least set her bone back in her arm. The wound was gaping though, and she didn't trust herself to close it. She heard his comment and nearly laughed. He sounded rather put out, and she found that rather amusing. "It's a fight with you, Demetrius," she said, her voice strained as she struggled to her feet. "Accio wand!" she called out, and Demetrius' wand was soon in her fingers, "I don't think either of us expected this to be fair!" She squinted in the dark - they'd been separated decently far between all the blasting curses - and saw his silhouette. "I've won, arse," she said as she walked over to him with a slight limp, "Go and tell all your buddies that I've gone and kicked your sorry excuse for an ass." She wasn't sure if she could apparate away, but she didn't want him coming after her or Leslie because she had his damn wand. She looked around to try and see which direction to throw it before she left this place herself. If there was one thing Demetrius hated, it was getting his hands dirty. But he quickly closed the distance and grabbed her upper arm tightly, his hand quickly covered in her blood. "Don't think this is over, Mary, that's just naive. I thought you knew me," he taunted. This was getting stupid and petty quickly, but if he had to physically fight her in order to get his wand back, he would. This fight would end on his terms, not hers. She had taken his eyes off of him, and overestimated the extent of his injuries. He closed the distance sooner than she could have anticipated, and she nearly screamed when he grabbed her mangled left arm. She glared at him and spit in his face before she turned and threw his wand as far as she could into the darkness. She heard it clatter against the rocks, but God only knew where, it was becoming darker and darker as the night wore on. She used a Revulsion Jinx to try and get him off of her, the purple light illuminating the Tor for a split second. It was a risk she had to take - if he held onto her arm, it would be agonizing, but if he stayed, she knew it would only get uglier. The spell pushed him back and he released her. He had to get his wand, and he couldn't let her get away. Walking in the direction she had thrown it, he looked around carefully. "Lumos," he said, hoping it was close enough that it would light up for him. He was in luck, as it was sitting a few feet away under a rock. Practically lunging, he grabbed it. She was too far away for most spells, he cast a forceful Leg-Locker Curse before walking back to the side of the Tor that was tattered from too many blasts and explosions. "This isn't over," he said in a loud voice. "Not at all." He went for his wand, and Mary took her chance. She turned on her heel, and began to sprint, though it was more of a limped jog as her body rebelled against the choice of her retreat. She finally had to stop, the pain far too great, and she pressed herself to the ground and cast a Disillusionment charm over herself. It wasn't much, and it wouldn't last long, but at least it would give her time to think, and perhaps Demetrius would think she apparated away and leave himself. She hated the fact that she was hiding - she didn't want to, but she also knew that the last time they had fought, he had used Dark Arts on her (though she already assumed that the cut on her arm was dark as well). She had studied the Dark Arts peripherally on the circuit, but she wasn't well versed enough to use them, and definitely not against Demetrius Mulciber. She tried to still her breath; the disillusionment charm made her transparent, not silent, and she didn't want to magically silence herself in case she needed to cast a spell quickly and without the concentration it took to do silently. "Homenum Revelio." Quick and effective, and it told Demetrius quite plainly there was still someone around. She hadn't run off and left. "Let's not make this difficult," he said, rolling his eyes. He had never tried to Summon a person before, he wasn't even sure if it would even work. But he had to at least try before he walked around the whole top of the Tor to find the stupid bitch. He was getting annoyed with the games. He hadn't wasted his evening to play games with this immature little girl. He had come to settle something. "Accio Mary," he said finally. Mary felt the spell wash over her and cursed silently to herself. He knew she was still here. But he couldn't find her - righ----- She nearly screamed as she was pulled forward, hard, and her body launched toward Demetrius. Caught off guard, she wasn't able to counter it or even get herself in enough control of her body that she could control her landing. Instead, she slammed into Demetrius, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Her body screamed in protest, the burns, bruises, cuts, and breaks all screaming for her to stop. But the adrenaline pumped in her veins. During the tumble she had lost her wand, so rather than scramble to look for it, she reared back her good arm and punched him in the face. Her disillusionment charm was still in place, though she could feel the magic wavering, and so she tried to get away after the punch since he wouldn't really be able to see her. Hitting the ground with a magnificent amount of force, Demetrius could almost feel his ribs rebreak as his back collided with a rock, the weight of Mary's body (she was rather surprisingly heavy) practically crushing his abdomen. He had sort of expected the punch after she crashed into him- the wound in his side and his left arm (trapped under their combined weight) and newly broken ribs were burning in protest. The force of the punch broke his nose (again). So with his free arm, he grabbed for something- since he couldn't really see her, it was a blind grab. The struggle had torn the hole in his side a little more, and the pain was becoming quickly unbearable. When his hand closed around something, he gripped as tightly as he could and pulled, hoping the force would pull her off or give him some sort of advantage. Mary had started to climb off him when he reached forward and grabbed the bun of hair on the back of her head. She growled in frustration and pain as he pulled her backward and threw her her to the ground. She could see her hands in the grass, her charm fading so her visage started to become clearer. She tried to crawl away, all the while fumbling into her pocket. She'd had the feeling that things weren't going to turn out well here, and had been prepared. She wasn't about to let Demetrius Mulciber kill her here. She'd kill him first. Snatching up his fallen wand and getting to his feet, Demetrius waited patiently as the charm began fading and she became more and more visible. He had to laugh at her, scrambling around. "Hurry and stand up, dissolving into fists is so tasteless. We should do this properly, if I'm going to kill you," he said casually, ignoring the pain in his arm and the blood running down his leg from the hole in his side. But then he rethought his approach, and swiftly, while she was still on the ground, he aimed a hard kick at her abdomen. "Hurry up," he said casually, as if it were a matter of the weather and not life or death. Her fingers curled around warm metal and she withdrew her hand from her pocket with object in hand. She was just about to turn around when his foot connected with her side. She flew to the side, her already screaming ribs landing hard against a large rock. She felt a sharp (maybe she even heard) crack and finally cried out. The pain was immense, unlike anything she'd felt before. And suddenly that wheezing feeling she felt before came back full force. Even worse. She rolled over and leaned on the rock, nearly defeated. The pain was too much. She wouldn't admit defeat, but in the back of her mind, she knew she was going to die here. All of her injuries wouldn't allow her to apparate home, she splinch herself or worse, and she sincerely doubted Demetrius would leave her alive. She coughed weakly, unable to get air into her lungs, and suddenly there was a bitter, metallic taste in her mouth. She knew, immediately, that even if he left her here, she was going to die. She looked at him with something of bewilderment and spit the blood to the side. It stained the edges of her mouth, and she weakly smirked at him, "Looks like a rock... beat you... to..." she started to cough again, her body's only response to its inability to get enough air as her lung filled with blood. "...fuck." "Don't give up now," he mocked. "We've only just gotten started!" Crouching down, he rested his elbows on his knees and his chin in his good hand, observing the spectacle with a sort of benign interest. "Hit me, Mary. You can do it. Your injuries won't be killing you too quickly, I hope." He started at her with a bored expression on his face, his blue eyes glinting in the starlight. "I thought you were tougher then this," he continued. Goading her would help. It couldn't be over so quickly, he hadn't had time to play. Ugh. "You want tough, Demetrius?" Mary leaned forward, though her lungs, her entire body protested. She leaned close, dangerously so, and then spit in his face the blood that had gathered again in her mouth. She wasn't nearly satisfied. Oh no. He had mocked her for so long, had harassed her and refused to leave her alone. His disgusting obsession with her had reached a level she could no longer handle. And she wouldn't let it end like this. If she was going to die, he was going to remember it. Or die himself. She didn't care the end result. Her thumb moved ever so slightly and there was a small shick noise. And without hesitation, Mary brought her arm up and back and lunged the switchblade forward, sinking it deep in to Demetrius' cheek. "Bastard," she mumbled through a mouth thick with blood, "Now you'll never forget how tough I really am." She pulled the blade out and her arm dropped to the ground, the blade clattering against the stone. She coughed again, harder this time, and her face twisted in agony for a moment before she settled back against the rock and spit out more blood. There was so much blood. In her mouth, from her arm... just so much blood. The blow had rendered Demetrius perfectly speechless. The gaping hole in his cheek was one thing, but... His eyes were wide and his face began losing colour as blood flowed freely from the wound. Wiping her blood and spit off of him, he grabbed up her knife. Toying with it a second, he hurdled towards her, driving the blade into her uninjured arm, just above the bend of her elbow. "You stabbed me in the face," he said in a somewhat shell-shocked tone. "I think that's enough, don't you?" he asked, his face inches from hers. He wanted to smirk at her but his face was burning from the pain. He couldn't take much more of it. She arched her back and yelled in pain through clenched teeth when he stabbed her. She couldn't even reach across to pull the blade out, so there it stuck sunk to the hilt in her arm. She turned when he spoke, her eyes narrowed and intent on him. He was so close, his blood streaming down his face and dripping on her from the wound she'd given him. "Not yet," she said, and then jerked her knee up and caught him hard between his legs where it mattered. She couldn't help but smirk through her pain and then said softly, "now it's enough." "Fuck," was the only word he could manage through clenched teeth, falling backwards after her kick landed. Taking a few deep breaths and trying to keep himself from crying (yes- crying, because he felt that being kicked there was nearly comparable to the Cruciatus Curse), he pushed himself off the ground shakily, dusting off his robes and narrowing his eyes, once his legs stopped feeling like jelly at least. "If you want to play like that," he said darkly, pulling his wand back out. "Crucio." He didn't hold it long, he felt that a few seconds was more than enough to get the idea across, but the malice was so strong, he felt like that may have been the best Cruciatus he'd ever done. Her blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the starlit emptiness that surrounded them. As if the Cruciatus curse didn't hurt enough on its own - with the extent of Mary's injuries, it was like being thrown into hell and ripped back out again. She couldn't stop the tears, and even though the spell was only for a few moments, it felt like a lifetime. "Coward," she managed to say when the curse had lifted. It was barely audible, her lungs unable to really get a good amount of air. The darkness of the night enveloped her, and she realized she was losing consciousness. Dying, probably. "...coward." She coughed and spit out more blood, and then her consciousness failed, and she embraced the darkness. "Hmph," he said with a bored tone, walking a few feet away and sitting down. He pulled a small black book out of his cloak pocket, frowning at the fact that it had a bit of blood on it, and opened to a page. After a second, he got back up and walked over to Mary. She was still breathing, but only just barely. Hm. Demetrius pulled the knife out of her arm, pocketing it, and tapped the hole with his wand, shallowly stitching the wound. He conjured a splint for the broken arm and then went back to his journal. They'd really have to do that again so he could kill her properly, he thought as he gingerly touched his violently aching ribs and finally wrote a note to Severus, knowing he couldn't Apparate himself, the wound in his face dripping steadily onto the page. After another moment of consideration, he added a note for a few more people. |