Duel of a lifetime

Ne'Os smiled once and then turned and left he knew Shacklebolt would give him hours of fun considering he thought the old wizard was already dead. Besides his skills weren't needed he was more of a let out large amounts of destruction not taking prisoners or whatever was being attempted here. He walked out of the trees taking a moment to admire the beauty of the burning forest and school. He slowly walked forward heading for the front doors drawing the hood of his hoodie over his head.

Thaor waited for Ne'Os to be long gone before he spoke again. Okay, now that that is over, here is your wand back. Thaor said, tossing Jack her wand. We just successfully just assured that I can return to spy on the death eaters without a problem. Jack, I assure you my loyalties lay with Robert, and this school. I don't know what I can do to prove it, but we don't have much time right now. It seems we are needed in the school. Thaor said, as he turned to walk to the school.

Felix was a coward - that much, Vito was certain of by the way the child ran from an evening of fun. Though he had not expected more from the Death Eater, he could not help but feel as though he’d been cheated; Vito had paid the price for an evening’s entertainment, and immediately upon arrival, had his chances of scalping the unoriginal Felix Barker taken away from him.

“Vacation? Is that what they call it now?” Vito asked Ne’Os with a smirk; at least Ne’Os had maintained his ability to have a bit of fun every now-and-then. Vito had always been irritated by Ne’Os Emof, but at least their rivalry was interesting – something which Vito could not say about any of the other Death Eaters. It seemed as though the newer members of the group were the ones who lacked class – as though style had died off.

Vito had begun fiddling with his new knife (a weapon which he had taken off of the hands of one of his employees upon leaving Satan’s that evening) – but became still upon being spoken to by Elldir. Vito’s smirk widened into a patronizing grin; it was as though he had truly forgotten of Vito’s ‘terms & conditions’ of being a part of their clan. “Now Thaorson, you know me better than to assume I would ever imperfect my flesh with that tattoo of yours, don’t you? I know that your 'initiation' "- Vito mockingly formed quotation marks around the word with his fingers – “was far more recent than mine, but I was under the impression that you had a better memory than that”.

Having grown bored of the man, Vito returned his attention to redhead whom he stood beside, “It seems you were correct, Jaquellene; this is no mess that you have gotten yourself into – just a class reunion.” With that, Vito gave his stolen blade a toss, and returned the thing to his pocket, along with the perfectly folded handkerchief that already resided there.

"I must say, I was expecting more of a party when I spotted you, wand-less amongst a group of Death Eaters..." Vito sighed over-dramatically.

Jack could not understand it. How was it, a second ago, she had been wandless and surrounded by three highly volatile Death Eaters, all intent on causing her great bodily harm. Then Vito walked up, and though he usually meant trouble, moments later she had her wand and she was out of their clutches. She stared after Thaor.

She slowly raised her wand. "I am so tempted to curse him right now." But if he really worked for them, that could lead to his wrongful death. Instead she said, "Depello." If the spell worked, he would be prompted to flee from the scene, and would therefore be removed as a threat from the battle altogether. He was so far off though, she could not see that her mark had hit the spot.

She turned back to Vito. "I have no idea what that was, but I, too, expected more. Almost a let down, but I'm alive." She paused. "Go home, Vito. I don't want to be fighting against you. Besides, you might mess up your hair."

Instinctively, Vito ran a hand through his dark brown hair - as though he had been programmed to react to its mention by dragging his fingers across his skull, correcting the position of every strand. It was an obsession of his; combing his hair back. Or, perhaps, hair in general. “It seems everyone has forgotten my ways this evening; I would not allow my appearance to be flawed for your sake, Jack. You may be a great addition to a night out, but need I remind you that some people never change?” Vito asked – despite the fact that his actions made it evident that it was not so.

Vito was thoroughly convinced that he had joined in on the battle in order to make his night more interesting; a chaos-craving poltergeist could only lock himself up in his tower for so long, after all. Jack had only become a part of Vito’s evening due to the fact that he’d spotted her out of the corner of his eye during a good game of ‘five-finger fillet’ with a Gryffindor near by - whom he'd left lying in the grass. The prats always got on Vito’s nerves; they were so very eager to waste their lives for the sake of love - which meant that they died too quickly for Vito's taste.

“Redhead…” Vito spoke in a low tone; a tone which could only be heard by someone as near him as Jack. “Was that an order?”

It almost sounded as though he were… challenging Jack.

He truly had grown bored of the war - as though it were an activity that one participated in as a pastime.

Jack looked up at Vito. It seemed like everything between them was a game, full of bluffs and lies, hoping that the next card was in their favor. Every move was calculated, every new development was scrutinized- how could this help me, how could it hurt me. When it came down to it, that was life. But not the way Vito and Jack played the game. A sneeze was a possible opportunity to bring down the other one, to drag yourself up.

The problem was, neither of them could remember why they had started playing in the first place.

And now, the stakes had risen. By alliances- hell, by nature- the two of them were pitted against each other in an endless struggle. Jack would not allow him to hurt any of her people, all of whom were natural targets for Vito. And he would not allow for her to get in his way to have his fun, which included attacking the people Jack was sworn to protect.

Her answer was important. She knew it. She slowly looked up at him, the same amount of danger in her eyes that she knew was beyond his cool expression. "You can take it as an offer to go to Satan's, get drunk, and I will join you later so you can psychologically torture me to your heart's content. But essentially..." She paused. "Yes." Her eyes told him she had risen to his challenge. "It was an order." And she pointed her wand up at him. "And I enforce my orders."

It was not often that Vito was surprised, or taken off guard, by the actions of a human being – at least, not if said human being happened to be someone other than Jack Dyllan, whom seemed to live for the opportunity to shock him senseless. Had he not come to Jack’s aid during what had seemed like a time of need when he’d arrived? Certainly – but Vito had made this decision in order to benefit himself, and that did not count, as it were.

Almost immediately after closing his mouth once more, Vito found himself at wand-point - though it was not the wand that he had expected to have jabbed in the general direction of his artificial heart. Jack had risen to the challenge that Vito had presented her with, but the way in which she had done so surprised Vito.

Once again acting on impulse, Vito drew his blade - and aligned its polished tip with one of Jack’s eyes. He so desperately longed to carve the colorful orb from her skull for speaking to him in such a way… but it was in this way that Vito found he could never act instinctively. It was as though Jack had wrapped herself in a protective sheet that Vito could not tear his way through…

He could act, however; despite the argument that was raging within Vito’s mind, he managed to express a dangerous rage through his facial expression, as he always did in such a situation. “I have often thought you a fool, Jack – but never to this extent. Should we settle our differences, here and now? Our councilor has suggested that we hash it out at one point, after all,” he replied, as sarcastic as ever. "I suppose he never considered what such a suggestion could lead to... Perhaps I'll send the man your eye? How honored Vincent Van Gogh would feel upon learning that Jack Dyllan followed in his footsteps."

"They say that Vincent's death was too sudden..." Vito added, hinting at the fact that he'd been responsible for the artist's insanity.

He raised a dagger, and though Jack knew she should be scared, she could not make herself fear any trickle of fear. She probably was the best person to know exactly what Vito was capable of. Had the knife been pointed at anyone else in the world, she would have been full of dread, and she would have known they were about to come to bodily injury.

But Vito could not. Jack could never do anything to severely hurt Vito, nothing that would break him down. Even now, when she had threatened him, she had done so for what she thought was the best thing for him. It would be better to hex him and keep him from dehumanizing himself even more than to let him walk away, unscathed, to reek more havoc.

"It's up to you," she said ever so softly. She stared at him and took a step closer, raising her head and stretching her calves, leaning up just slightly and positioning herself so that the knife was pointed more towards her chin, something she could easily heal, she was sure, and yet would still hurt like hell. She blinked, her eyes locked on his, intent on staring right into his soul- the one he was so sure he didn't have. Her wand tip found his chest. "Do it."

Do it. Do it. Do it!

It seemed that Vito's mind had forgotten how to function, and had resorted to repeating the same two words, over, and over again. They were Jack's words - Jack's mistake.

Vito wanted to rise to the challenge that Jack had presented him with; it was as though his fear of seeing a bloodied version of his companion had momentarily faded into nonexistence, leaving the poltergeist with no other emotion but anger and irritation. For the first time in a year, Vito felt as though he had gained control.

Vito stared down the tip of the polished blade, examining the reflection that was spread across its surface; half of the reflection belonged to Vito, and the other half, Jack. There was no better representation of Yin and Yang - but Yin had challenged her opposite, and Yang simply could not resist...

After a moment’s silence – or, as silent as it could get on the battle field – Vito’s blade twitched within his hands; he’d begun to lower the weapon, but there was something wrong within his eyes. Despite the fact that Vito had dropped his right arm at his side once more, that dark glimmer of danger remained just beneath his irises.

He paused, and in an instant it became apparent that he'd been wrong to assume he was physically incapable of inflicting pain upon Jack. "If you say so!" he replied suddenly, and plunged the weapon into Jack’s stomach with as much force as he could possibly muster, and with no fear of the result of his actions.

What he hadn't considered, was the way that he would react when Jack's wound had begun to bleed; he may have felt powerful when she'd had no more blood on her than a small droplet at the edge of her lip, but Vito's decision to accept her offer would surely result in a bloodbath - something which Vito was no where near prepared for...

OOC: I hope you don't mind the slight godmod, Jack.

Oohhhh... shit.

The dagger went into her much too easily, it did not seem like flesh should be so easy to penetrate. For a moment, she thought she had gotten back to that point where it had almost seemed like she had reasoned with him. But she and Vito were too alike. A challenge was not easily turned down with either of them. And everyone once in a while, someone paid the consequences.

It was her turn.

She gasped and groaned the word, "F********ck." Her eyes closed as she tried to keep herself from showing weakness, but she began to pant softly. Her hangs fluttered down to Vito's, clammy and shaking. They gripped his hands and the handle and pushed the knife from out of her stomach, feeling blood begin to seep into her shirt. She tipped her wand towards her stomach and murmured a spell, and began to feel the painful process of the wound healing up.

She slowly looked up at him, her face pale against her red hair, her eyes standing out shockingly green, and she made these strained yet defiant green eyes meet those cruel, misguided brown ones. She shook her head and said, in a quiet, dangerous voice, "You're terrified of the power I have over you, aren't you?" She shook her head. "When will you learn? Castreo!" And in case the spell wasn't enough, she lunged forward, fastening her arms around him and attempted to bring him to the ground. They were going to settle this once and for all.

Castreo- delivers a blow to the groin