The Last Lieutenant

Cruciatus

"You have to mean it."  Bellatrix's voice whispered in her ear, breath hot on Audra's neck.  Audra wants to push her away, but she's too busy keeping her eyes on Emmeline, never looking away as they circle around the room.  "You have to want it."

Audra doesn't think either of them want it, but both of them are bored, and even fighting each other is better than just sitting around and waiting.  "You have to feel it."  Bellatrix's nails scrape at the inside of her wrist, fingers trailing her arm all the way up to her shoulder.  The touch on her bare skin makes Audra shiver, and she tries to tell herself it wasn't because she was afraid.  There's no room for fear anymore.  "You need to feel it."

Emmeline's the one to start it first, arm slashing in a downwards arc that throws a spray of purple sparks at Audra's face.  She steps back and they fall to the carpet, a thousand singe marks that Narcissa would make them fix, and its all that Audra needs before she stops holding bac, wand flashing, hair flying as she twirls around the room, both of the deflecting the spells almost as soon as the other can send them.

It's fun.  That's the only word for it, really, and Audra wonders what that says about her now, that she thinks that dancing around the edges of pain is actually enjoyable, a constant test to see who will be the one to falter first.  She's been dying for a chance to prove herself to these people, the ones that are still looking at her like she's some little girl that they had watched grow up, not as a talented witch who could kill them all with only a few whispered words.  Here, now, with all of them watching, she isn't about to lose the chance to impress them just because it was her best friend she was fighting.

"You getting tired yet?"

Audra was giving her an out, or maybe she was only taunting her.  whatever it is, Emmeline doesn't rise, just snaps out a laugh and then lashes back with a whip of fire, one that Audra turns to smoke with a wall of water.

(They were completely ruining the Malfoy's living room.  Thank God Lucuis isn't here to see it now, he'd have their heads on a platter and serve them for supper.)

"Not even close."  Emmeline takes a hit to the shoulder and is knocked off her feet, but she rolls and throws herself back into the fight second later, making it Audra's turn to dodge  "You?"

She wasn't tired, but she was bored, and Audra knew that she would spend this whole time holding back when all she really wanted to do was let go, fight without worrying about who she was hurting.  She couldn't do that when it was Emmeline she was facing, so she snatches a dagger out of the side of her boot and throws it, watching as it nails her right in the shoulder.

"Fuck."  Emmeline stopped and let her wand drop to the side, staring over at her.  "Jesus, Audra."  She was pouting.  "Overkill  much?"

Audra snorted and stalked across the room to her, ripping the knife out and wiping the blood on her jeans.  Emmeline gasps out a muffled breath of pain, but Audra doesn't feel that bad .  The spells she had been sending her way had been ten times worse, and they both know it.

"You haven't seen overkill yet."  Audra grins at her, then turns to face the rest of the room, wand in one hand and blood covered dagger in the right.  If her mother could see her now, taunting all these men that crawled out of back alleys to get even a taste of power by giving them the chance to see her fall, she would have a heart attack.  Thankfully, her parents haven't talked to her in a while.  "Now, who's next?"

They wouldn't come forward on their own.  They're greedy and stupid, but everyone comes with a fully equipped sense of self preservation.  Audra won't take no for an answer, though, because hurting someone else, getting lost in the rhythm of a fight seems to be the only thing that can calm the ache inside her, make her feel a little more whole.