Battle Of Gringotts

[jmj23435]

She listened to the woman speak to her, her voice pitying. She could feel her wand in the pocket of her coat. She could also feel the bouncy ball in the other. Moving as fast as she could, she ran to the desks and his behind one, tears still falling in rivers. She was a mess her white dress was covered with dust and her hair was frizzy and flying everywhere. She curled up under the desk. She wanted to disappear, to vanish without a trace. The tiny girl curled up under the desk, watching the battle through a crack in it.

The battle was going on around her, but her eyes followed one fight. Keara was a vampire. She knew something had been off about her. She'd been talking with a vampire. She should've listened to her mum and never spoken to her. She should've hurried away. Ignored her. But no, she had talked to the woman, and some how she was glad she had spoken to her, at least she knew someone who would help her. Closing her eyes she tried to ignore the battle around her. She tried to stop the tears. Neither attempt was working. She was bad luck. Everyone always died when she was around. First her parents, now her mum. Something, high above them hated her, she just knew it.

Clutching her wand tightly she looked through the crack in the desk, pointing her want at one of the people fighting. "Stupefy." She said softly. She wanted to help, to stop the fighting. But she was just a scrawny, tiny, little 12 year old girl, what could she do. She had no clue who was good or bad, so she tried to go with her best judgment. The man in the corner probably was. So praying she was right she sent a stunning spell at him, the put her wand away. She wanted to escape from the confines of the desk, but Kea had been very specific to say not to leave the desk. So she stayed put.

[Deleted]

So many things were happening at once that Tristan’s attention was begging him to focus on anything else, but he was drawn to the confrontation ahead of him. There was something about the look of confusion on Wentworth’s ugly face that caused his features to contort into the same. He pulled his wand out, keeping it firmly in his hand as he walked. It was when he had gotten only a bit closer that he saw it. It was hard to make out, but the discoloration on Kaydence’s right forearm was all he needed to see. All suspicions he had ever had about her were confirmed. He always knew there was a reason why she was such a bitch. No one with that sort of attitude and self-confidence could have been anything differently. Granted, well over a majority of Slytherins conducted themselves in that manner, but there had always been something different about her. Then again, all the times she insulted his Quidditch skills she had managed to turn him off from ever considering looking at her in a positive light. The grip around his wand tightened. Tristan may have only been a part-time Auror, but he would use every ounce of authority he had to make sure she was locked in a cold and dark cell at Azkaban. Considering her environment so closely resembled her personality, she would be right at home. His pace quickened, determined to get to the group before they disbanded.

If it hadn’t been for the chandelier crashing to the ground Tristan was convinced he would have advanced on them in enough time. The disruption caused him to stop in his steps as he felt a pain from behind his ear. A wet and sticky feeling began trailing down from his head and to his neck. Pressing his fingers to the area, they were covered in blood when he brought them back to his line of sight. He swallowed nervously. Usually he didn’t have a problem with blood. He had suffered many cuts and gashes from his Quidditch days. However, blood coming from his head was a different story. After reading and seeing what could happen to people at the hands of a head injury, he took any trace of blood or lightheadedness very seriously. When he had his weeklong suspension from the Ministry, he didn’t sleep for two days to make sure that his skull and brain were fully healed after all of the hits it had taken from Wentworth. The reminder of his enemy started his legs moving again. A scowl rested on his lips as he resumed his advancing. The fact that the prat was standing next to her and her brother was also all the confirmation he needed that something was up. Tristan had no idea how Darren Morgan was involved, but clearly he was a DeathEater too. The looks on all of their faces were hard for him to comprehend, but there was an overpowering feeling that this was all an act.

This was all part of whoever’s plan it was to attack Gringotts. The supernatural fight that led to the Ministry’s involvement that led to the DeathEater’s involvement. All of this was part of some bigger picture and by the looks of it, the three bodies huddled together were conspirators. He was sure that before he had entered the bank, the three had been finalizing their plan, making sure that everything was going as it was supposed to. Hell, the various looks on their face was probably planned as well. Just to make sure it looked like Ashton wasn’t a member of their evil posse. He did work for the Ministry after all. If they had any intention of keeping him as a spy, they couldn’t let him slip up here and now. Tristan had seen the tall exotic looking woman roaming around the lifts before. Since she was going to be carted off to Azkaban before the day was over, that would leave them with Wentworth. Wentworth’s treachery to the government infuriated him. How traitors like him managed to get the jobs that pure people such as him were unable to get was mind-boggling. He had so much loyalty to the fight against the dark side that he knew when his time came, it would consume him. Besides, he would have so much to prove to himself and to the department itself. He wanted them to regret ever making him wait as long as they did to promote him to active status. Now was a better time than ever to show Rutherford how true his words were that he had spoken earlier in their meeting. He was an asset to the Ministry. A loyal and strong asset.

Growing tired of the distance, Tristan began running towards the group. He was not expecting Ashton’s body to come sailing into his though. He completely lost his footing, letting Wentworth’s momentum take over. The amount of force that had been put behind Morgan’s spell had been enough to send them halfway back from where they had collided. He felt the air get knocked out him when they finally landed. There weren’t any ribs that felt cracked, but he had a nasty feeling his chest would be an awful shade of black and blue tomorrow morning. Helping Ashton get off of him with a little push, more oxygen was able to be taken in. Tristan took a deep breath, hoping the air flow to his lungs would stabilize. The last thing he had gotten the wind knocked out of him was, conveniently, also at the hands of Wentworth except under completely different circumstances. How the prat constantly managed to get the best of him was baffling. Back at Galaxia, he had always been the first to provoke, the first to hit and the first one to win. Since he had entered his life again, he had been nothing but a thorn in his side. Always managing to come out on top. What a sick twist of events it was. Careful not to place his palms in the glass that had shattered all over the bank floor Tristan began pushing himself up. A sudden hand to the face brought him back down again. A muffled groan came from him as Ashton’s irritating voice sounded from behind him. "GO HOME Stavros, you're no good here.”

He was tired of having his skills laughed at. He was tired of being judged before anyone could see what he was capable of. Tristan had been with Ashton in training camp, but their time together had been limited. The truth was that Wentworth had no idea how good he was with a wand. The man had come fist-to-face with his combat skills, but he was well aware that being an Auror wasn’t all about fighting. He heard Ashton’s footsteps moving away with him. “If that bugger thinks he’s getting off this easy he’s got another thing coming,” he muttered to himself, once again pushing himself from the floor. His nose ached from the impact it had made with the ground. Fortunately, it just hurt and wasn’t bleeding. As he got to his feet, Tristan looked around to see where the prat had run off too. Unfortunately he had disappeared, making it that much harder for him to retaliate. He ducked as a spell came flying towards his head. “STUPEFY!” he yelled, watching the bolt of red light sail off into the distance and into a hooded figure. Pumping his fist in excitement he took off towards the left where a group of more hooded figures were advancing upon two women with shopping bags in their hands. He managed to get behind them without either noticing. He jabbed his elbow in the first ones neck, giving him a swift kick to the head as fell. As the other one turned to him Tristan pointed his wand at the sleeve of his robe, “INCENDIO!”The fabric instantly caught flame and the male underneath began screaming. Once he had run off, he grabbed the girl’s by their arms and ushered them underneath one of the marble teller desks. “I’ll send someone over. Don’t move.” They nodded in understanding and he took off again in attempts to find Wentworth.

It didn’t take long for him to find him. Right after he had jumped over two fallen bodies Tristan saw Ashton running in direction of Darren. His eyes narrowed and he quickly took off towards him. The two were running at a right angle. He’d collide with Ashton as he came from the right and before he got to his target. Wentworth was so focused on Morgan that he didn’t see him coming. Lowering his head, he brought his arms forward and grabbed him around his waist, tackling him to the ground. ”NOO!” The yell was a little much, but he supposed it would be necessary to keep the act going as long as he could. He felt glass slicing into his leg as he fell though forced his mouth shut to keep from yelling out in pain. Doing his best to ignore it, he grabbed Wentworth by the collar, sending his closed fist straight into his jaw. “YOU HAVE A LOT OF FUCKING NERVE!” he yelled. “YOU’RE TELLING ME TO GO HOME WHEN YOU’RE PART OF ALL THIS MESS! THEY NEED ME HERE MORE THAN THEY NEED YOU!” Tristan sent another punch to his jaw. “DON’T TRY TO TELL ME TO GO HOME SO YOU CAN HAVE FREE ROAM TO CAUSE EVEN MORE DAMAGE THEN WHAT YOU’VE DONE ALREADY. I’M NOT GOING TO LET YOU AND THEM KILL ANYMORE INNOCENT PEOPLE!” He knew that he couldn’t save everyone, but he was enraged that people had died already. Just off to the left, a Ministry official he had occasionally said hello to lay dead with glass in the back of his head. It was a sickening sight and it killed him that his time was being wasted by only being able to take one of them out.

The fire burned even deeper within him as he noticed Ashton still not looking at him. Turning his gaze behind him momentarily, he saw the direction he was looking in. “Stop ogling your stupid girlfriend,” he hissed, rearing his arm back for another punch. “I’ll get her next once I’ve laid you out.”

[Juliet Delia]

Juliet's stomach turned violently as she watched the mystery man torture Kaydence and the blonde. There was something far, far more sinister about this situation than what there appeared to be. This was not a simple quarrel about owing someone some money. This was about hurting someone and scaring the living fuck out of them. Her fingers gripped her wand tighter and she clenched her jaw tightly. Juliet looked around the room, searching for a possible exit at some point, or at least a hiding place that she wasn't so liable to get blown up in. Going back down to the vaults was even a risky thought, considering if something happened at the entrance up here, there was no guarantee she'd be able to come back up for a while. It seemed that the clear and most obvious choice was that she was going to have to fight her way out of Gringotts, or at least protect herself until it was safe to make a break for it.

Her ear's perked up at the sound of two words: the Ministry. What in the name of Merlin would the Ministry be doing here? The moment the question had crossed her mind, the acrid smell of smoke reached her nose. Her eyes widened as she peered out of a window into the alley. Dust was everywhere. Something was building. Sparks flew from two wands whose owners she could not see. The Ministry was attempting to break up that fight, clearly. It was suddenly as if her stomach was made of lead: the Ministry doesn't show up to break up just any fight. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

A whimper from Kaydence drew her attention back to the scene before her, and Juliet had to stifle a gasp as a serpent began to snake through her arm at the touch of the man. "Oh, shit," Juliet muttered under her breath. There was no way this was going to end well. She rolled back her sleeves and straightened herself up, prepared to fire. It was doubtless that in seconds, the entire building would be absolutely swarming with Death Eaters. A sudden blast through the front doors of Gringotts told her that Death Eaters were not her only worry. She peered around the pillar, and saw a Ministry worker and none other than Centara on the ground. They both picked themselves up quickly enough, and after a quick address to the man gripping Kaydence's arm, she headed toward a fierce looking woman who had the strangest looking eyes. Juliet closed her eyes and groaned. "Death Eaters, Ministry officials, vampires, and a werewolf. WHY? Why today?" Her hand flew to her cloak, ensuring her valuable cargo was still secure. Losing it would be a gigantic pain in the ass.

A chandelier suddenly fell from the ceiling and Juliet ran from the pillar, attempting to avoid the glass that suddenly flew everywhere. A flying shard caught her cheek, the resulting cut immediately beginning to bleed. She could feel the warm blood trickling down the side of her face and she grimaced as the sting subsided. People everywhere were screaming, children were crying, goblins were letting loose strings of profanities that would make a Death Eater blush. And as if it were speak of the devil, the room suddenly darkened, streams of black smoke exploding through windows and doors: the Death Eaters had arrived. It was time to fight.

Juliet looked around the room in horror as each Death Eater drew their wands and began to cast at random. The patrons of the bank drew their winds and fired counter-curses, trying to flee to safety. Screaming echoed through the hall, the sounds coming from both in and out of the building. The smoke from what she now realized was a burning building was still drifting into Gringotts, burning her throat. She turned quickly as a jet of silver sparks flew past her ear. A man not 8 feet from her was standing with his wand held in front of him, his face hidden from her by the hood of a cloak. She was more than sure he had an absolutely devious grin on his face. As his lips began to move to attempt another curse, Juliet ducked and pointed her wand at the man. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" He dropped to the floor, hard, what she was assuming was his skull making a sickening thud. Juliet ran to the man, kicking the wand out of this hand and into a corner. She placed another kick to his ribs for good measure. She threw several blasting curses at other people that fired at her, most of them making contact. Those would at least take care of them until she could find somewhere better to duel from.

She turned to face the greater part of the room, and before she could react, a hurling hex hit her square in the chest. It launched her backwards, causing her to hurtle straight into one of the marble pillars before she dropped to the ground. The world was spinning around her, and intense nausea threatened to make her vomit. She crawled towards a pillar, a small shriek escaping from her lips as a Cruciatus curse barely missed her. Her nausea began to dissipate, and her vision was beginning to come back to her, but her head and back were throbbing. She noticed that another hooded Death Eater was making their way towards her, not 7 feet away, she so she fired the first spell she could think of. "Expelliarmus!" Their wand flew forward, and Juliet managed to catch it, gripping it tightly as she pointed her own wand at her new attacker. Her eyes widened as they got closer, and her breath caught in her throat from the shock. "Damien?" She didn't know if she was seeing things or if her eyes were fooling her, but if it was Damien, there were clearly more than a few things she didn't know about him. Juliet kept her wand trained on the man as he came close, her eyes narrowed in suspicion and pain.

[Isis Moswen]

So many thoughts were running through Isis’ head as she kneeled over Centara. At the forefront, was the image of the bloodsucker’s head rolling across the lobby and her howling at the sight in form. The monster within her was begging to be let out and she wanted nothing more than to let it. Unfortunately for her, there were still too many Ministry officials around to do it. Since Wentworth was in here now, she would have to make sure he was distracted enough to be unable to capture. She didn’t know exactly what he was capable of. Ordinary spells were worthless when cast upon her when she was in form. It would have to take exceptionally powerful magic to faze her, or silver. The thought of the metallic element made Isis shiver slightly. It was one of the only things that could strike fear into her heart. It was rather silly that something so simple could frighten her the way that it did, but her kind were absolutely defenseless against it. Looking around for only a brief second or two, she saw flickers of light from various parts of people’s bodies. She knew that not every member in this battle wore the substance that could potentially kill her, but she was somewhat paranoid nonetheless. All it would take was one accidental stab or prick and its poison would flow through her veins within seconds. If she was unable to receive medical attention within minutes, its effects would be fatal. That was something Isis was not willing to experiment with. She didn’t even wear anything silver out of fear of that one in a billion chance of an accident happening.

Her gaze shifted back down to the vampire in front of her. Fortunately, Zealon wasn’t wearing anything that could turn the fight around in seconds. Being reassured of it, Isis smirked and spoke up once more. “Do you know how easy it would be for me to turn right now? I could sink one of my claws into your shoulder and watch you suffer a slow and painful death. Or, if I was really nice, I could just use my teeth to kill you.” She pretended to bite at her. “It’d be too easy,” she continued, “one bite and that’d be it. I could sever your veins, nerves and spine just like that.”She hoped the extra emphasis would get her even more riled up. Though as much as she wanted Zealon to succumb to threats, Isis hoped she wouldn’t give up just yet. She still had another round or two in her. Given the leech’s inability to slide out from her under her hold though it didn’t appear that she did. She could always kick her around a bit more, see how much more damage she could do to her already wounded shoulder. That sounded like the better option. She wasn’t done playing yet. All of the other humans wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as the bloodsucker was.

Isis had begun to rear her head back to return the head butt she had received earlier when her body was hit by something solid and began tumbling across the glass-encrusted floor. Small shrieks left her mouth as she felt each and every shard pierce her skin. Watching other people suffer from her handiwork was far better than suffering from it herself. As they finally came to a stop, she could feel the free areas of skin working to push out the foreign objects from their entrapment. However, the other spots, like her back and the back of her thighs, were having more difficulty loosening the glass from her skin and she was forced to feel the pieces going in deeper every time she tried to wiggle them out. “I really don’t like how mean you’re being, Isis.” She liked to keep herself updated on as many vampires of the world as she could. Especially the stupid ones who flocked to Zealon’s clan. The bloodsucker that held her down was unfamiliar, yet she knew the voice. It clicked a few moments later. The voice had been with Zealon and the others in the conference room at Der Keller that fateful day. It went without saying that she was also a vampire. Her stench was horrendous. “Who the hell are you?” she questioned, growing angrier each second that she was held down. “Now why don’t we just stay here until you learn your manners?” Isis hated being spoken to like a child. Her rage built at that and that it had been done by a bloodsucker that she had never seen before in her life.

”Keara, this isn’t your fight!” Keara. The name clicked. Isis had heard about Keara Sonnet. She was significantly older than Zealon and from what she had been told, also significantly stronger. The vampire’s age undoubtedly brought wisdom that Centara could only dream of being able to understand. How she had not been her arch nemesis was perplexing. “Yeah Keara,” she mocked, maneuvering her leg underneath Sonnet’s weight, “this isn’t your fight!” Normally, Isis would have been infuriated that outside help had been called, but in this instance, she was delighted. One more vampire to knock off of her list. Once her knee was positioned where she wanted, she brought it up into Keara’s stomach. As her chest saved in she took the opportunity and kneed her even more forcefully. Once her leg was free even more she brought it up and gave bloodsucker number two a kick that sent her flying. Isis quickly pushed herself, sighing in relief as the remaining glass shards dropped, staining the floor with her blood. “You scared of the big, bad wolf Zealon? Had to call in back-up since you knew you couldn’t take me on your own?” she said, amusement in her voice. “You’re pathetic.” She took a step forward, ready to continue where she had left off with bloodsucker number one when a bolt of red light from off into the distance came flying straight into her.

Isis fell backwards. She had been hit with a stray stupefy spell. Looking over in the direction of where it had been cast, she growled as she saw Ashton Wentworth running away like a coward. For someone who should have had more important things to worry about, he had certainly started with her far too early. Instead of having to worry about Darren and the male that had just taken him down, she was going to be coming into the picture soon enough as well. The stunning spell hadn’t knocked her out, but her head was feeling uncomfortably light and the room had begun spinning. Isis could only hope her healing ability would kick in sooner rather than later. She still had two vampires and a human to knock off after all.

[Kaydence Morgan]

Terror. It was the only word to describe the influx of emotions in her body. Terror at the look Ashton was giving her brother after spitting at his shoes. Terror at the thought of what Darren could do to him for being so bold. Terror at what was going to happen to her if and when they both had their chances alone with her. Kaydence had seen Ashton’s demon within and had no desire to see it again. She had also been subject to Darren’s circulation-cutting-off holds and temper. Her head throbbed again, reminding her of what he was capable of doing to her. Between the two, she was helpless. She could shout and scream and throw as many punches as she wanted, but they would always have the upper hand. Another strange feeling began joining her terror. It was hard to figure out exactly what it was though with the endless array of confusion. It was slowly rising to the surface, soon to make itself known if things continued to head in the direction that they were. Kaydence looked pitifully back at Ashton who was still averting his gaze from her. She wanted nothing more than to beg for his forgiveness, although he had kept his identity from her as well. She wanted to apparate him back to her condo and tell him everything. How she hadn’t been an active DeathEater since leaving Austria. How she had no desire to rejoin the ranks of her brother. For the first time, Kaydence wanted to open up and tell him all about the life she had ran away from. The life that she was being forced to come to terms with again. But the look on his face suggested that he wanted nothing more to do with her. And she couldn’t blame him.

It all happened so fast that Kaydence’s brain hadn’t caught up to the present when Darren’s hands pushed her back against the wall. Darren had broken the silence. “Wentworth is it? I hope you and your boys are ready for what’s coming. Kaydence has helped me invite some friends who have been locked up for a little too long.” She remembered her heart breaking again at the reality of the situation. She had helped Darren whether she had done it willingly or not. The flames crackling underneath her skin were the evidence. She also remembered Ashton for stupidly wrapping his hand around her brother’s arm as if he actually thought he stood a chance in a fight with him. Darren had revealed himself, but not in a manner that Ashton would fully comprehend until he thought about it later. To him, his warning was just that, a warning. He had no idea the impact behind those words. He was the only one who could summon all of his followers through the arm of another. His ability to do wandless magic wasn’t a rarity, but certainly raised eyebrows when one watched it. Kaydence didn’t know the extent of his wandless powers and hoped to never have to see them. Due to the war raging around them that was more than likely not going to happen. She could only pray that Ashton wasn’t going to be victim to whatever he had in store. She would never forgive herself it he was.

He had sent Ashton sailing into another who wanted to inspect the gathering. Her eyes had widened as the two were sent further away. She had taken a step forward with intentions of going to his aid, but Darren had other plans for her. Which was brought her to the now. The pain in her head was pulsating. The area that had been hit previously was even more tender and raw. Kaydence was terrified to feel for blood, but was convinced that she at very least had a concussion given her blurred vision, feeling of nausea and confusion. ”Have you completely lost your mind?! She didn’t understand what he meant. It seemed her short-term memory had been tampered with in the hit as well. The only thing she could comprehend was that Darren was beyond infuriated with her. “A Ministry official Kaydence? Can you sink no lower?” Ministry official? Ashton suddenly came to mind, but she had no idea why. Her eyes followed her brother as he moved towards the side. She screamed as a stand next to her came close to hitting her straight in the head, which would have without a doubt knocked her unconscious if it had made impact. She did her best to begin moving backwards to get away from him, but it was pointless. “You are worthless. Do you hear me? Worthless!” As his hand struck her face, the force from his hit nearly made her fall over. Her own hand instantly went to her face, but recoiled as her fingertips touched the quickly forming bump. The wound was tenderer than the one on the back of her head. The ring on his finger had hit her cheekbone hard enough to cut it, the blood slowly seeping. Even worse, his strike had knocked her memory back into gear. Flashbacks blinded her vision. The way the day had started, Darren finding her and hurting Cammie, the battle starting, Ashton discovering who she had once been, Darren attacking him and then her, all of it came back.

Kaydence’s breaths were short as the shock took over. Anyone who looked at her could see it written all over her face. Her brother, so angry by her secret coming to light, had hit her in the face. His target stung so much that the thought of touching it again made her cringe. The side also felt heavier as result of the bump that had formed from the ring hitting her bone. She could feel the bruising starting and was unsure of whether it would look worse now or later. Darren began moving backwards but her body shook as if he was advancing. “Get the fuck out of here before I kill you.” He had no idea how badly she wanted to do that. When he had turned, Kaydence frantically began looking around her. There was no escape without stepping into someone else’s fight. She had enough for the day. Her head had had enough for the day. She began breathing heavily, vulnerability quickly washing over her. It felt like she would burst into a panic attack any minute. Ashton was gone. Cammie was gone. She was all alone. At the thought of Ashton, her condition got even worse. Where was he? Why couldn’t she see him? It didn’t help that the entire lobby was being slowly engrossed in a thick cloud of smoke. Kaydence wanted to find him. She wanted to beg him to take her somewhere safe. Even if he wouldn’t, she had to try. He needed to get out of here as much as she did. Now that Darren knew there was something between them, he would be next on his hit list. As much as he hated her Ashton would have to listen to her. She knew her brother better than anyone else.

Even with the screams and blast in the confined space, Kaydence could still make out his yell among the crowd. Another rush of panic kicked in. Had Darren gotten to him already? The effects of her concussion were still heavily influencing her body movements. Her attempt at taking a step resulted in her almost falling to the floor. She was stuck, vulnerable to any and all attack from anyone that chose to make her their target. If he had gotten hit, she was unable to do anything to help, as with Cammie earlier. It was all her fault. Kaydence’s back found the wall again and she did her best to keep herself from sliding to the ground. With any luck, she’d remain hidden from view and be given time to recuperate so she could go find Ashton. Taking her wand from her back pocket she brought it slowly up to her temple. There was a spell that she knew that could take away a majority of the pain, but she was unsure if she was even capable of casting it in the state that she was in. She had to try though. She had to find Ashton and make sure that was alright. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Opening her mouth, she began to say the first syllable when a voice interrupted her. ”What did you do?” Kaydence’s eyes instantly shot open, her hand in a death-lock on the thin piece of wood that was her wand. She knew that voice. Turning her head slowly in the direction of it she saw Erin stalking towards her, wand at the ready.

The last time Kaydence had lost it had been several years back. It had been due to a combination of things. Being homesick, the memories of her past constantly ruining every waking moment of her life, her inability to see what the next day brought her, those were to just name a few. She had been sitting at the bar in a sleazy little place in Switzerland. She had been drinking her sorrows away after a particularly rough episode when a drunken idiot had approached her. He started hitting on her and she ignored him. He put his arm around her shoulders, continuing to try and drunkenly sweet talk her to the way of his bed. She denied him, pushing his arm off of her with force. In reaction, the man grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off of her stool and to his body. Kaydence never forgot the smell of vomit and scotch that radiated off of him. He had made her sick to her stomach. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head down so she could see his lips moving to form insulting comments and vulgar names. Like now, she had flashbacked to everything that had made her angry or disappointed in herself. With that, she had snapped. Grabbing his own head, she had smacked it across the bar top, narrowly avoiding it making contact with her forehead. All she could remember was blacking out and coming out of it with her arms swinging and the drunken idiot on the ground with blood pouring from his head. She had fled before ever finding out what had happened to him. She could only assume the worst.

The wrath now was nearly identical to that time. Kaydence was over being subject to cruel comments and the injuries from Darren, as well as the judgment that Ashton had leered at her with. If someone was stupid enough to continue making her feel like a piece of shit, she was going to use every ounce of strength she had to stop being the victim. Pushing herself from the wall, she stumbled once before turning her body completely to face Erin. The girl had no idea who she had provoked. Kaydence didn’t know or care why she was here. All she knew was that Emerald had put herself in a very unfortunate position. “What did I do?” she called back, slowly walking towards Erin. “Nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you now.” Raising her wand, she brought it back down sharply. “LEVICORPUS!” Emerald’s body instantly flew up into the air and turned, causing her to dangle in the air by her ankle. She was about to make the girl come crashing to the ground on her head when Cammie finally came into view, causing her other side to vanish as quickly as it had come. The girl looked nearly as battered as she was. “CAMMIE!” she yelled, moving towards her. Her concentration broke causing Erin to fall to the ground regardless. The girl had been completely removed from her mind. All she was worried about now was getting to her friend and getting them the hell out of the bank. Kaydence had nearly reached the girl when a spell hit her in the back, making her fall to her knees and scream out in pain.

[Centara Zealon]

The pressure of Isis on top of her made Centara’s ache in her back that much worse. Her shoulder was being pushed down into the marble beneath her and Isis was only enjoying it more as she pushed down on her wrists even harder, making it more difficult for Cen to lift her shoulder off of the ground even half an inch. Her fingers moved slightly under the grip as she attempted to get some feeling in her fingers. If she could focus her attention on another part of her body, she may be able to get enough strength to push the wolf up, but her wound needed to heal from its current state and with her pushed into the ground, it was not going to be able to do that. When Isis began speaking, Centara grimaced. “You would love to do that, wouldn’t you?” Centara spat, flexing her fingers slightly under the grip of the wolf. She was strong, but not strong enough to keep her down for long. Soon the throbbing in her shoulder would ease and she would be able to focus more on moving the wolf than on keeping the pain away. “Just keep your bloody breath off of me.” When she had finally thought she was gaining some control over the throbbing, her eyes widened as she realized what Isis was about to do. She was about to replay the favor of the head butt Cen had just delivered out on the streets. Cen braced for the attack but was shocked to find that Isis’ grip was removed before it could be delivered.

Centara recognized the brunette that soared past her, stealing Isis away from the fight that was about to continue further. She was thankful to have the relief from the pressure bearing down on her shoulder, however she was not pleased to know that the fight had been interrupted by an outsider. Centara rolled to her side, relieving her shoulder from the pressure of the marble as she looked at the two a few feet away from her. “Keara, this isn’t your fight!” she shouted, grimacing as her shoulder began to heal. She sat up where she was sitting and reached her hand around to her back. The gash was about six inches long and about two inches deep. It was enough for her shoulder blade to be exposed to the atmosphere, including the glass shattered across the floor. She could feel a few small pieces tucked within the wound as well as in other parts of her body. Those pieces were already falling from her skin as it healed, but this wound would take much longer. Deciding she couldn’t wait, Cen pulled her wand from its hiding place in her boot and pointed it at the wound, muttering a small spell. The wound began to close up, the glass shards falling from it as it did so. The depth shrunk to about one inch, but her bone was still exposed. Muttering another charm, small black threads weaved themselves in and out of her skin, tying the gash together. The stitches would keep the gash closed and allow it to heal much faster than if she were to leave it alone.

Rolling her shoulders backwards, she realized that the throbbing had dulled considerably and she was now able to focus on the fight at hand. She glanced over just in time to see Isis push Kea off, not taking long to get up herself. Centara narrowed her eyes in the wolf’s direction before getting to her own feet. “The back-up wasn’t for you. It was for him,” she said, motioning in Darren’s direction. “Don’t think I wouldn’t figure out that he would be close behind. A dog is always followed by its master.” She couldn’t help but let out a sadistic laugh when Isis was hit with Ashton’s stunning spell. Though she hated others getting involved, it was enjoyable to see her opponent get taken down by a Ministry official by an off-the-wall spell. Unfortunately it hadn’t done much to the wolf. She was still ready to fight. Narrowing her eyes in Isis direction, Centara began to walk in her direction, ready to stab the wolf in the heart. Suddenly a spell hit her in her arm. She turned to see where it was coming from and realized that the fighting from outside was getting more outrageous. Spells were flying in every direction as the smoke from the building Isis had knocked on top of her came billowing into the bank. Fresh air was being replaced with the smell of smoke and death. Fortunately, the two smells were something Centara was far too used to. Another spell went screaming past her head as she began to walk in the direction of Isis, wand tucked back into her boot. “Transform already. I’m tired of dealing with this form.”

When Isis began to make her way towards Centara, she shortened the distance between the two rather quickly. She had realized, focus was going to be the best way for her to get the upper hand in this battle. Many times she had been told by Keara that she lacked the patience and focus she needed to be a true vampire. She had also been told that it came with age because at this point, she was too power-hungry and head strong to focus on the battle, but Cen would try to prove her wrong. She attempted to allow the sounds around her to drop from the world and all of the people around the two to disappear from sight. When the two were nearly two feet apart, Centara broke out into a sprint, dropping down to the ground at the last second and sliding across the floor, slamming her foot into Isis’ knee. She felt a bone crack, but not shatter. A broken knee cap was a painful healing process and it also made it that much worse during transformation, but her attack hadn’t been quick enough for that. She then wrapped her legs around Isis’ and twisted herself, bringing Isis to the ground as she pushed herself into a standing position at the same time. This was her fight and she was going to be the one to finish it. Not Keara.

[Keara Sonnet]

Keara’s eyes narrowed at Centara for bringing up her real name in the presence of Ministry officials. The vampire knew Keara had spent most of her life hiding from officials who would attempt to register, but she was even more infuriated by being told to stay out of the fight. She had not listened of course, and was now facing the wolf beneath her while Centara attempted to take care of her shoulder wound in the meantime. Even if she was supposed to stay out of the fight, it would give Centara a chance to heal her wound and allow her a better chance to win the fight. She was a young vampire without a pure outlook on what was needed to keep herself alive when fighting a werewolf. The only time Cen had ever fought a wolf was with Diego and that had not turned out as well as Centara had hoped. At least this time Keara would be able to help keep Cen alive while she learned how to properly fight a wolf. That was the biggest first step for a vampire that was looking to be leader of multiple clans. Centara had slightly skipped a step.

When Isis made a comment, Keara tightened her grip around the wolf’s wrists. If it were any tighter, she was sure the bones in her grip would crumble. She could feel the wolf attempting to wiggle out of her grip and she was trying the best she could to keep her from moving however with Keara’s weight only being around 120 pounds, it made hit highly difficult to hold down someone nearly a foot taller than herself and at least 30 pounds heavier. She had the strength, just not the weight behind that strength to keep her from wiggling. A moment later, she felt that she was losing the battle of holding down the wolf and her feeling was confirmed when she was thrown off. She went flying through the air but managed to flip around and land on her feet. The crunching of glass under her heels was gritty and unwelcoming, but only allowed her to slide back only a few feet. She caught her grip on the floor and without missing a beat, began walking forward, back in the direction of which she had come. Not only was she stronger and faster than Centara, but she was also more graceful. It was amazing how much age made a difference for both vampires and werewolves. She stopped when she realized that Cen was back on her feet and heading for Isis. “You better kill her because if you don’t, I will,” she muttered, knowing full well that Centara would hear her. Despite the fact that Keara’s abilities were much better than Centara’s, she still chose to abide by the request. Every vampire deserved the opportunity to take down their own werewolf. This would be Cen’s. She would never forgive Kea if she took that chance from her.

Deciding it wasn’t worth her time, at least in the present moment, Keara turned her attention back to the rest of the hall. The sounds she had been blocking out now came flooding back to her. The screams from all around pierced her eardrums as she glanced around to see that the battle had only intensified. Darren had called in his forces and the Ministry was matching it. This wasn’t her war, but she did have things to take care of here. Her eyes darted around for Tristan again, but then she remembered the thing she had left behind. Biting on her lip slightly, she glanced around for the desk at which Jenelle had run under. Her eyes fell upon the spot where she had first seen the girl and in a moment, she was ducking and dodging spells as she ran to the spot. Sliding by the side of the desks, she just narrowly avoided a stunning spell. However, this time she was unable to keep herself from being scratched up. The glass embedded into her knees and calves, cutting up the jeans she had been wearing. “She just had to break that chandelier,” Keara hissed under her breath, moving into a kneeling position to keep from getting scratched further. She was not about to stand up just to get hit by a stray spell so she walked around the desks, keeping as low as possible, ducking lower if she heard the screaming of a spell coming towards her.

Keara made it past a few desks before she finally found Jenelle, huddled but with her wand at the ready. That was when Keara’s eyes closed and she cursed at herself. Her wand was still sitting under the bar top at Der Keller. “Hey, you ready to blow this joint?” Keara asked her, holding out her hand. Now all she had to do was find a way to get the child out of there and in a safe area, then she could get back to the fight at hand.

[erin]

The regret was instantaneous. She hadn't meant to be so accusatory, she just saw the first face she recognized and associated with everything foul in her life and had a knee jerk reaction to it. Of coarse, she had no idea who had caused this whole mess, and Kaydence certainly did not look powerful or guilty when her shocked eyes landed on her. But, Erin saw the tattoo and jumped to conclusions, as she tended to do. And then her mouth took over and shouted towards to other. Looking back on it, she would have told you that the person she addressed looked just as shocked, if not more, than the girl had been herself. Her subconscious put two and two together in a false manner, and now she had to deal with the consequences. And oh boy were they awful consequences. She supposed she deserved all the messes she got herself in to all the time, she just happened to be so damn impulsive that it was consistently getting her in to tricky pickles. Especially, it seemed, when a certain K. Morgan was concerned. Stupid Erin.

The look she received in return was pretty intimidating. The woman looked infuriated, murderous even. She'd never been the recipient of such a reaction before. As mentioned, the regret was pretty instant.“Nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you now.” This confirmed it for her. In the few milliseconds that followed, she considered taking the cowards way out and running from the crazed person diminishing the distance between them. But, how would she go about doing that? She couldn't retract her comment, and if she turned now to run off then her back would be to her opponent, making her that much more susceptible to hazardous spells. She wondered if the girl was angry enough at her to just fire a killing curse her way. Her wand was up and ready, prepared to block any curse.

But a spell came anyway, and Erin was suspended in the air upside down in a split instant. Wonderful. So much for being prepared to protect herself. In the shock of the encounter, she hadn't been ready after all to pull a counter. The blood gushed to her head unpleasantly, making her feel light headed and uncomfortable. The ground loomed ominously a few feet below her, and she expected any moment for it to come rushing towards her. She looked up to see Kaydence running away from her almost-victim, distracted by someone or something else. The spell was lost through the lack of concentration from the caster, and the girl dropped suddenly. Her left arm hit the ground first, quickly followed by her face, particularly in the regions of her nose and forehead. She lay for a moment, motionless and in agony.

She lifted her face and spotted Kaydence instantly in the crowd. She was getting farther and farther away with each passing moment. Anger surged through her, and she pointed her wand at the moving target. She wanted to cause pain, but she didn't have the energy in her to perform the cruciatous curse and hold it. Instead, she sent a powerful version of a stinging hex, one she learned from a rather dodgy book in the back of her book shelf. It was an instant effect, causing pain in the area it hits similar to that of being struck hard with a heavy sharp object. It was enough to pull someone to their knees, especially where Kaydence was hit, in the lower back region. This gave her time to pull herself up and take a quick survey of her condition. Her left arm stung like nothing she'd felt before, and she knew it was broken. Well, of coarse, since it took the majority of her weight after plummeting a few feet. Blood trickled down her face, she could feel it. It almost tickled as it streamed from the wound on her forehead, and nose. She didn't think her nose was broken, which was a good sign. However, she had bit her tongue upon impact, and the metallic red liquid pooled in her mouth as a result.

She used her good arm to pull herself back to her feet, just in time for Kaydence to recover from the hex. Her broken arm hung uselessly at her one side, but she pointed her wand with the other hand, this time completely ready. She must have looked like quite the sight, blood covering her face and clothes. But, if another shot was fired, it would for sure be blocked this time. No more mistakes could be made.

[Damien Monroe]

Damien was never the type to get frazzled easily. Whether it was a girl who wouldn’t stop following him or a bet he knew he shouldn’t have gotten himself into but did anyway, he always kept a cool head about him. On the rare occasion that he did find himself a bit disturbed, there was usually good reason behind it. His surroundings seemed good enough reason for his current state. The smoke from spells destroying the bank was thickening by the minute. An area he had once been able to see was now nearly hidden by the fog. Also because of it, he had to be careful where he was walking. He could be hit by a stray spell any second and wouldn’t know it until the smoke decided to let him see the bolt of light hurling towards him. A person would be able use the smoke as a disguise to creep up on him and attack. For those obvious reasons, every step Damien took made him weary. His lack of control only made things that much worse. As he continued moving towards Juliet, he constantly had to move to the side or duck his head to avoid being hit by something. After the Masquerade, he had foolishly thought that the attack had been it. He’d never have to see another battle, take down another enemy or protect those that needed protection. Yet here it was all around him. Damien had not taken the job for this, as stupid as it sounded. He had his own personal reasons and nothing about the events taking place now were part of them. He could only hope to get to Juliet and get her out of the bank safely so he could leave and deal with any consequences Darren had for him later.

Relief washed over him as he got closer to Juliet and saw that although she was crawling, she was alright. Damien’s grip tightened around his wand as he quickened his pace in her direction. Though he had knocked out her attacker, she was still an easy target for whoever else decided to close in on her. He wouldn’t be guaranteed of her safety until he got to her. It shouldn’t have surprised him when he approached, but he was caught off guard as she pointed her wand in his direction. Her spell sent his wand flying out of his hand and into her outstretched one. He had faith in his fighting skills but doubted them when it came to being face-to-face with a wand-welding Ministry official whom was almost certain to show up when he finally got next to her. She had to know that he wasn’t trying to harm her. He had to protect her. Damien was forced to stop once she had gotten a look at his face. ”Damien?” Juliet had every right to be as shocked as she was. She had just found out his secret. She was witnessing what he did in his time off from drinking, or at least what he was supposed to do. His face was expressionless as he slowly resuming walking towards her, hands extended out to show that he had no intention of hurting her. “Juliet,” he finally said when inches away from her. “Put the wands down doll.” If he was even going to begin shielding her from stray spells, he needed her to be reassured enough to give him his wand back.

Damien couldn’t even begin to imagine the thoughts racing through her head. Alcoholic Monroe, a DeathEater. The man who slept all day and partied all night, a member of the Dark Lord’s army. The thought had even made him laugh whenever he thought about it. He wasn’t the typical follower. He only showed up when he was called. He had no interest in pursuing the enemy when Darren didn’t make him. Actually, he was constantly surprised that Darren continued to keep him around due to his laziness and his right hand woman’s hatred of him. Yet even though he was probably the worst DeathEater in existence, he was still free to do whatever he wanted. All things considered, Damien had it made. However, would any of it really make a difference to Juliet? He was sure she still harbored ill feelings towards the Ministry for the raid on her Manor, but would it be enough to give him her trust? Especially when she found out he had been the reason for the raid? It was entirely possible that this would be the last time he ever saw his favorite former Hufflepuff. He could by no means hold it against her. He could only hope that she would understand that this wasn’t by choice. He hadn’t come looking for a fight and he still didn’t want to fight. Mostly because he was still slightly hung-over.

“Juliet,” he spoke up again, stopping when he was inches away from her. “Listen to me doll, I need you to give me my wand back.” Damien turned his hands inwards towards himself. “This isn’t what it looks like.” Except that it was. “I know you’ve got questions, but I can’t answer them now. All I can tell you is that I am the safest person for you to be with.” He laughed nervously. “I haven’t even had anything to drink all day.” He hoped that by resorting to humor he would be able to get her guard down just enough for him to steal his wand back from her. Damien stepped closer to her. “Seriously, just let me have my wand back and I will explain everything when we get out of here.” To him, the repercussions from Darren would not be nearly as hurtful as the ones Juliet could give him.

[Ashton Wentworth]

Why was it that every single time Ashton found himself face down in glass, or his whole body aching and bruised that Tristan Stavros was always nearby? He knew that they didn't much care for each other, but he was growing endlessly tired of having the man constantly distrust him, to think that he was one a different side of him. Obviously here was a spy in the ministry, but it certainly wasn't him. Whenever he had seen Isis earlier fighting with the Vampire, it had seemed obvious to him that it had been her, but he hadn't been certain until that man had used Kaydence's arm to summon the dozens of other Death Eaters into the fray. Now at least he could see the mark on everybody's arms, something he ought to be thankful for. No doubt, with the fight going on like it was nobody was going to stop and think long enough to cast another concealment charm on their bodies. It seemed that almost every person in this bank was just attempting to not get killed, to attempt to shield themselves and whatever loved ones were in the area. There was a grey fog that seemed to be darkening the room, no doubt caused by bits of rubble and particles of marble and concrete that was getting smashed about by the spells. Various flashes of light were soaring in every which direction, luckily since he was on the ground they were going over top of him. Only a few physical fights were happening, but no doubt there was already an influx of people in St. Everdines, and there was bound to be an even longer waiting list whenever they got this under control. He was glad for the fact that he was more experienced than he was during the last fight the Dark Lord had caused, he had more training and was focused. Physical fighting had always been second nature to him, but now dueling was easier as well.

His ribs had collided once more with the hard ground, all of the oxygen was forced from his lungs upon impact. Groaning he struggled to wiggle free of the other mans grasp, never really realizing before this very moment just how much the man really weighed. He was still forcing his vision to remain still whenever he felt his body jerked around until he was on his back. A position of extreme vulnerability, his eyes focused just in time to see the fist flying at his face. His eyes widened for a second, only to snap shut at he attempted to absorb the impact. He had taken enough punches from this man to know that it was not going to be enough, he just hoped that he wasn't going to lose any more teeth to the cause. He didn't dare try to speak at first, just let his face turn as the fist directed him to do, no doubt his face was going to already be turning red and would be purple in only a matter of minutes. “YOU HAVE A LOT OF FUCKING NERVE!” Opening his eyes again he attempted to stretch his jaw, his free hand flying to protect the injured side of his face. Didn't Stavros know that this was not the time or place to have his little melt down. Rage started to come to a boiling point inside of his body, he could feel his body shaking. How dare he interfere with his plans, how dare he get all upset whenever there was a war happening around them. They were on the same damned side for Merlin's sake, they didn't have the time or the man power to spare by fighting each other. He wanted nothing more than to murder the bastard and get it out of the way. He was the active auror, he was the one in a position of authority here, Stavros shouldn't even be here, and so help him, if he got in the way of closing this thing, Ashton was going to bury him in the Ministry department.

“YOU’RE TELLING ME TO GO HOME WHEN YOU’RE PART OF ALL THIS MESS! THEY NEED ME HERE MORE THAN THEY NEED YOU!” He couldn't believe the amount of dribble spewing out of this ignorant man's mouth, he couldn't stop from laying still in shock as the man shook him, the veins in his face threatening to rupture at any moment. How would they need him more than Ashton? He was the one who specialized in this sort of thing, then it dawned on him, he still thought that he was a Death Eater, which meant that he man he was going to tackle was somebody of importance, Stavros' constant keeping him from stopping the Death Eater rebellion made him only look stupid, and like he was on the wrong side, not Ashton. In his shock, he hardly felt the second punch to his jaw, he had always hated the man, but never before this very moment had he thought that he was so blindingly stupid. “DON’T TRY TO TELL ME TO GO HOME SO YOU CAN HAVE FREE ROAM TO CAUSE EVEN MORE DAMAGE THEN WHAT YOU’VE DONE ALREADY. I’M NOT GOING TO LET YOU AND THEM KILL ANYMORE INNOCENT PEOPLE!” He had enough of this ignorance. As much as he knew it was going to hurt him, he grabbed the other mans collar, and thrust his forehead against Tristan's own, hoping to have a reprieve of the yelling, if he was really lucky the man would drop the ground all together, though it was not likely. He attempted to shove Tristan off of his own body but didn't manage it. As he fell back to the floor useless he looked to the side just in time to see Kaydence get hit in the back with some sort of ugly looking spell. He gasped, and renewed his efforts, if anybody was going to take her out it was going to be him.

He had to watch, as he was pinned down, he was prepared to fight dirty, forcing the hand with his wand up and under Stavros' chest, he knew that the other man was going to feel the point of the wand, and know that it was a threat. Ashton had spared his life once, and wasn't going to readily do it again. “Stop ogling your stupid girlfriend,” He froze for only a moment, how did he know? It wasn't possible because Ashton worked very hard to keep his business life and his private life seperate. Had he been following him? What sort of depraved loser was he really? If he had been following him, and known that Kaydence was a DE this whole time, and didn't bring it up then he was just as at fault for evading the ministry as Ashton was for associating with a person that he knew nothing about. There was a chance that he was just commenting on him staring at Kaydence without actually knowing anything, but he wasn't fool enough to believe that. “I’ll get her next once I’ve laid you out.” The rage boiling within him started to topple over, he wrapped himself around the other man, flipping the pair of them over, since Tristan was heavier, it was an easy enough move. Aiming his wand at the man's throat this time, he could only imagine the crazy fire burning though his eyes. "You listen to me Stavros, and you, listen good" he started to press the wood against his vocal cords, and it was sure to hurt soon "Look at my damn arm, I'M NOT ONE OF THEM!" he pushed harder still, wanting nothing more than to rupture skin, but since they were technically on the same side, there was nothing to be gained by that. He yanked up the sleeve of his already ruined shirt to expose the blank skin there, he had a joker tattoo on the other forearm but even that if harmless. If Tristan did bother to look at his forearm, he would be forced to realize that Ashton wasn't a DE, because they all were forced to have the mark and he didn't. There was his evidence. "And you will not touch her, I will handle it" he sat up as best as he could, there were a number of spells running though his head, he could end him here, once and for all and never have to worry about him again. He could blame it on a stray spell, he doubted that anybody was going to be watching them anyway. "impedimentum"

The spell was going to make it exceedingly difficult for Tristan to get up and follow him, or to do anything for that matter. The nature of the charm was to make the person hit by it to slow down, Tristan was going to have to be stuck there, generally safe but useless. Something that would make his more angry than anything else the he could have done to him. Turning his body over and rising only as far as his knees "FINITE" the spells in his general area dropped where they were, glancing back down at Tristan, he delivered one square punch to his gut and staggered to his feet, looking around him for Kaydence, he needed to get her out of here and figure out her involvement in all of this. All he could see was the fight from outside, and he knew that Kaydence was just going to have to wait, there was nothing that he could do for her now, he needed to do his job and then handle her. Turning his wand in on himself, a his ribs specifically he muttered small healing charm, and he flt his ribs snap back into place, the pain was instantaneous, and almost enough to make him go crumbling back to the floor. Grimacing as he attempted to take in the scene around him, Natalie was taking some small child away, she was too far away to do anything about but he would find her again, there was no doubt in his mind about that. Shooting another stunning spell into the fight with Isis he could only hope to bring her wrath in his direction, then somebody else from his department would be able to capture the other girl, at least he hoped they would. It just didn't seem like there were too many badges left. He couldn't stand the idea of losing this fight. Levitating a bit of rubble, he sent it straight toward Isis' turned back, wanting to grab her attention but she seemed dead set on murdering that other woman. If he couldn't get her attention, then he was just going to have to settle for finding out whatever happened to the man who had almost hurt Kay. It wasn't long before he spotted him up against a pillar, looking smug. He had to be behind this, there was no other reason for him to be looking that pleased with himself. If he could take a shot at the Dark Lord, he wasn't going to miss it. "Stupefy!" he said softly, watching the jet of red light go soaring directly in his direction.

[Cammie Wagner]

The spells were flying every which direction, and the body count was starting to really add up. There was no way of telling how was winning at this point, and she no longer really cared. This wasn't helping their cause, there was nothing that she needed to do here except leave. She wanted to be back home, under her protective enchantments and sleep it off, hopefully wake up in the morning like this was all just a very bad dream. She wanted even to be stuck in her brothers basement, watching reruns of old classic movies on the television, to be curled up on Kaydence's couch for the millionth time in the past month laughing about how stupid they had been in Galaxia. She knew that wasn't going to happen, in fact, after today the likelihood of any of those things ever happening again were almost nothing. She was stepping over bodies, unwelcome flash backs to the last time that she had been forced to step over bodies came to the front of her mind. Of course, back then she had been more than willing and certainly able to kill or maim and she had certainly been on a different side. She couldn't see Darren anymore, and she doubted that he was even getting his hands dirty in all of this. She had always thought that it was a tad cowardly to sit back and watch, always having others, generally far younger than he was doing his dirty work for him, instead of partaking in the fight himself. Then she hadn't questioned it, and while he might kill her for it now, she would love the chance to tell him that to his face, maybe that could be her dying wish.

“CAMMIE!” At the sound of her name she whipped around, ducking under a green beam of light, the Ministry certainly wasn't doing a very good job of keeping this contained. Hopping over a limp body with a badge and long blond hair she made her way in the direction that she had been called, it had sounded like Kaydence so she was fairly certain that was who it was, it was female anyway and nobody else really knew that she was back. Except for Cen, and she seemed to be fairly occupied at the moment. Glass crunched under her heels, bits of something or another were hitting the exposed flesh of her arms in a less than pleasant manor. Finally locating the girl she had came in with, she headed in her direction cautiously, not wanting to get hit with a spell at the half way mark. She shuddered subconsciously remembering the countless times that Darren had used magic against her. It was nice to see Erin hanging upside down by her ankle, a welcome change than the faux arrogance she liked to display, at least that was how Cammie interpreted it. She smiled as the girl came crashing to the ground and Cammie stepped up her pace, wanting to close the distance in a shorter time. Her relief was short lived, she watched in horror as Kaydence let out a scream and crumpled to the ground. Her body froze, she just knew that it had to of been Darren again, he was back to finish them off, as much anger as she had for the man, she doubted that she would never not be terrified of him. She couldn't see nor hear him, then her nervous system kicked in and she started to move quicker, leaping over the bodies in her way. The years of running daily starting to pay off on the uncertain terrain. "KAYDENCE!" It was hard enough to run in heels, let alone on broken glass like this.

When she was close enough, she fell to her knees, sliding the last few feet, the lower position of her already small body was underneath the general spell range. The sting of glass on her legs was not an unfamiliar one, just one that she didn't wish to ever have to feel again. Yet, she couldn't help herself whenever she saw Kaydence fall to the ground, she had moved without thinking. She hadn't paused to look and see who had cast the spell, she could only hope that it wasn't temperament. A small part of her was thankful that it hadn't been her because she had enough hexes for one day, but she didn't want to see her friend in pain either. It was an overall bad situation. Her momentum ended a couple of feet away from where Kaydence fell, crawling the last few inches, she was just going to have to heal the shallow wounds in her flesh whenever she got out of here, if she did. If she didn't, well then a few cuts were the least of her worries. Grabbing the girls shoulders and pulling her torso into her lap she checked to make sure that Kay was breathing, that she had a pulse and could open her eyes. There was no way of knowing exactly what kind of hex had hit her, but she looked like she was going ot be fine. Reassured, her eyes shot up in the direction that she spell had come from. She spotted Erin again, and her eyes narrowed. She had a lot of nerve, she seemed to be alone which worked well for Cammie. Softly helping Kaydence into a sitting position she moved out from underneath her and rose to her feet. Her hair had bits of debris in it, and her cloths were covered in a fine layer of dust, all of which could be handled farily easily, her friend being hexed by an amateur however, not so much. She knew that Kaydence was a big girl, and could handle herself but Cammie had her own issues to work out with Erin, this was just a small push in the right direction.

Taking a few steps toward her, she lifted her wand, she had refrained from harming her during their last meeting, she was not going to be so kind again. She didn't need to be here, and nobody would be able to trace the curse back to her. "crucio

[/b]" she spat with venom, the spell shot out of her wand faster than she could blink. She had cast the spell dozens of times, and usually on people far more deserving than Erin was, she just rubbed her the wrong way. Walking toward her with slow, deliberate steps, she almost hoped that Darren was watching her so that he could see what he no longer had, and was no longer following him. [/blockquote]

[Isis Moswen]

”Transform already. I’m tired of dealing with this form.”The bloodsucker had no idea just how badly she wanted to. Isis’ body was shaking violently. She was tired of lifting herself back up just to get knocked back down again. This wasn’t how she fought. She was supposed to be in control at all times. If Osiris was here, he’d be disappointed in her for consistently letting her opponent get the best of her. This was no longer a game. If she didn’t get her head fully into the game, then she would be setting herself up for failure. That simply was not an option. Groaning, Isis pushed herself off of the ground. Her vision was beginning to straighten itself out. She could see Centara walking towards her and she was ready for it. She stalked over towards the leech, cracking her knuckles as she did so. She refused to let Centara call in anymore assistance for their fight. If she couldn’t handle dealing with her, then she should have given up by now. She could have apparated off like a scared child. That would have been taking the easy way out. “Speed up Zealon! I’m getting bored!” The good thing for any opponent that wanted to fight, Isis was always willing. Even if she was on the ground, she never quit. She would never accept defeat, even if on the brink of death. Fortunately for her, she had never gotten to that point. And she wasn’t about to try today.

She grinned as Centara came running towards her. Isis wasn’t expecting for Centara to drop to her knees and send her boot straight into her knee. She had been in pain before. Several years ago, she had nearly had her arm ripped off after coming into contact with a member of Diego Resendez’s pack before he had gone rogue. She had been young, inexperienced and stupid. They had met in human form. Isis had grown tired of hearing his cat calls and comments and had, as usual, let her temper get the best of her. She shifted and the man did so as well. She had thought that she had the edge, but he had simply been playing with her. All it had taken was one distraction on her part and he had sunk his teeth into her left shoulder socket. His teeth had continued to rip into her nerves until Osi had heard her calls and came bounding in after them, making one of the only kills he had ever made. Isis had never been in as much pain until then. His cuts had been so jagged that her healing ability, even while in form, hadn’t been able to ease any of her discomfort. It had taken a full three days for her arm to fully restore without so much as a scar. That had been pain. This was indescribable. She couldn’t stop the scream that came out as her leg crumpled and her body was aided in falling to the ground by Centara’s legs. For someone so determined to make her mark in this fight, she was sure doing one hell of a job keeping herself on the ground.

As she landed, a glass shard went into the back of the same knee that had been hit. Isis whimpered and wondered how it was possible for her pain to get any worse. This was going to make it difficult if she lost all self-control and turned. She really should have considered the long-term consequences of the glass shattering when she had the ingenious idea of breaking it in the first place. In the meantime, a wall of rocks flew past them and made contact with two goblins wrestling each other off in one of the corners. Her head sharply turned in the direction the rubble had come from. Wentworth. Her eyes closed into small slits as she watched the idiot turn around and head back into another direction. He was begging for her attention and he had gotten it. This was the second time now that he had spent spells or objects now, in her direction. She was grateful that the first round had been the only one that had hit her. The rubble may have been more than just an annoyance. If Wentworth wanted her attention so damn bad, he was going to get it. Right after she got finished with this bloodsucker. Breathing heavily, Isis looked back at Zealon, fully set on killing the woman. “Do you actually know how to fight without taking such cheap shots?” she provoked, propping herself up on her elbows. “Or is that how you really teach all of your bloodsuckers to fight?” Without waiting for a response, she shot up straight, grabbed Centara’s legs by her hands and used every ounce of force she could muster to send her sailing headfirst in the opposite direction.

The noise in the bank was so deafening that Isis couldn’t even hear where Centara had landed. All she knew was that her opponent was once again out of the picture for the moment, unless she played to the media’s perception and turned into a dingy little bat that was getting ready to fly back around and attack her head any minute. Chuckling, she pulled herself back up to a standing position with the help of a not completely destroyed pillar. It still hurt to put weight on her injured knee so she would have to refrain from using it as much as possible. Isis pressed her body against the pillar looking around to take in the action around her. Sonnet was with some little brat underneath a desk. The target would be too easy, but she didn’t know if her knee was strong enough at the moment to go against her. Darren’s little errand boy Damien had finally decided to show up and heading in the direction of some girl. Go figure. “Completely unreliable,” she muttered, turning her head to see the best she could from the smog quickly filling the lobby. Wentworth had disappeared, probably after Kaydence. She smirked as she thought about what Darren would do to the two of them when he managed to get his hands on them. Hopefully Kaydence would keep her mouth shut about seeing her a few weeks ago. With how well things had been going lately, the last thing she needed was for Darren to find out that she had kept his sister’s location a secret from him. Isis knew he wouldn’t deal with it well. Not even if she tried to tell him that she was doing it so he could keep his mind on the game plan.

Her eyes continued scanning the room. Not too long after, they settled on a fallen male who looked particularly unhappy and unable to move. Raising a brow, Isis let go of the pillar to get a closer look at him. She had seen him before. That much she was sure of. It was rare for her to forget a handsome face, but she couldn’t place it. Sure, he was an easy target, but if Ashton wanted her so bad she figured killing a Ministry official, he wore the same style badge that he had, in the area she had last seen him might bring him back over to her. Taking her wand from her pocket, she slowly began walking in his direction. Once his eyes had focused in on hers, she grinned and shook her wand, making sure he was fully aware of what she had in mind for him.

[jmj23435]

Jenelle watched the fight curiously. There was really no bad or good sides. Everyone was trying to kill each other. One side was jut more bad than the other, but the other side the one everyone called ‘good’ wasn’t as good as everyone thought they were. She thought about this and she huddled tightly under the desk, covering her head as a spell hit the desk next to her. She wanted to leave, to stop this fight, but what could she do.

She felt herself crying again. For her mum, for the people who were dead. For everyone. She whimpered as the desk she was hiding under exploded around her. She ran for cover in the next desk, trying to protect herself. At this time, Keara came to get her. She latched onto the vampire quickly. Just wanting to leave. “L-let’s go.” She whimpered, ducking as another curse went at a desk beside them. “I don’t like all the fighting.” She said, covering her ears at the loud noises.

What she wouldn’t give to have gone with her mum to get gold? Maybe she could have protected her from the spell. But the deep, sad realization sunk in finally, and she felt herself begin to cry again, even as the two quickly headed towards the door. How was she going to tell her dad about this? How would she tell him that her mum was dead? And she did nothing to stop it?

As they reached the next set of desks she began to cough from the dust.. She was coughing so hard she fell to the ground, cutting herself on rocks, stone, glass, and wood. She yelped and began to cry harder, the cuts were causing her a lot of pain. She tried to stand up, only to fall again as pain seared through the ankle and leg. She whimpered, looking up at Kea and wincing.

[Autumn Stanton]

Autumn flopped down in the bed in the staff resting room with the utmost anticipation. She had been waiting for this moment ever since her twelve hour shift had started. She hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before as it was, so this hour long nap was eagerly welcomed. The shift had been a grueling one. As soon as she had stepped through the sliding doors it was like they had been waiting for her. Actually, they had been waiting for her. Miss. Fayberly, an old and small nurse who kept track of the Healer’s daily tasks, had been standing at the receptionist’s desk with her clipboard in tow. ”It’s a busy one today Autumn dear. You’ve got ten patients until two hours from now. Then your list will erase itself and a new set of names will appear. You know the drill from there. Every two hours you’ll get more.” She had taken the list with as genuine smile as she could though it was hard. She had stayed up late reading, as usual, though knowing that she had a long day ahead of her. Her greeting from the nurse had been her karma for staying up so late. And the woman hadn’t been lying either. With the exception of a patient or two here and then, they had all been worse than the previous. This one didn’t want his medicine or that one didn’t want to be in the hospital room and needed restraints. A man had come in with a teapot stuck on his head that refused to come off as a result of a magical enhancement gone wrong. A woman had been unable to be properly diagnosed with a rash that kept coming back and disappearing. Autumn hadn’t had this much of a workload in awhile. Fortunately for her, she was only one patient behind out of a list of thirty. That wasn’t too bad.

“Just need…forty five…minutes,” Autumn said to herself, yawning as she pulled the sheet over her. Forty five minutes would be all she needed to get rejuvenated. Plus she’d be able to sneak in a quick bite before getting back to the grind. Anything would help get her through this day. The sleepiness had started kicking in about an hour and a half ago, which wasn’t good considering she still had four and a half hours left to go. She knew she needed to take a nap when she spent nearly ten minutes trying to find a vein in a patient’s arm to take blood from, a task that should have normally taken a few seconds. For Autumn’s sanity, and job, rest was definitely in order. Yawning again, she moved the small fan on a wall-shelf beside her bed towards her. Once satisfied with the amount of cool air blowing on her, she turned the small light off on top of her and nestled her head as comfortably as she could get into the thin padding the hospital called a pillow. It didn’t take long at all once her eyes were closed to fall asleep.

”Autumn! Autumn! Wake up!”

She grumbled into her pillow. ”Autumn! Please!” Grumbling again, Autumn turned to her other side. “I just fell asleep Rolan, my break only started.” Rolan’s hands shook at her arm. ”I’m sorry Autumn, but we’re all being called to the main floor. Something’s going on. Everybody has been called off of their breaks.” Releasing a heavy sigh, her eyes slowly started opening. The potential seriousness of the situation hadn’t sunk in yet. Her delayed reaction time was an indicator of just how tired she had actually been. The bright red numbers on the wall clock read 3:00. She had been asleep for thirty minutes. ”Autumn, come on.” Sitting up straight, she glared wearily at Rolan. “Alright, I’ll be down there in a minute.” As he stepped away and out of the door Autumn brought her arms over her head and stretched. Merlin she wished she would have been granted those fifteen extra minutes. From personal experience, any extra bit of rest helped with a job like hers. Sighing again, she let her arms drop to her side and looked around the darkened room. She had no idea what could have happened that needed the attention of every available Healer and staff member in the hospital, especially this early in the day. “Probably just another emergency run-through,” she said to herself, pulling the sheet off of her and sliding out of the bed. The hospital routinely did disaster scenarios in which every staff member was required to spend a few minutes going through the plan the hospital had set for various emergencies such as: bad storms, viruses, attacks on the public and strangely, animal breakouts. They hadn’t had one in awhile so it seemed logical that it was time for a new one. Though naturally it had to be during her break.

Grabbing her coat from the floor Autumn put her arms through the sleeves and pulled out her hair that had been caught underneath the collar. The sound of running outside of the door caught her attention and she quickly made her way to it. Upon opening, she was nearly hit by another runner making her way to the elevator. Puzzled, she stepped out of the room and followed suit. People all around her looked worried. Had she missed something? “What’s going on?” she asked a fellow co-worker when she stopped in front of the elevator. ”I don’t know. A lot of muttering going on about getting prepared.” Autumn chuckled to herself. “Scenario I’m sure.” The co-worker nodded. The bell sounded above the doors and she stepped through as they opened. The elevator was uncommonly full as it began its descent towards the main lobby. Everyone seemed to have the same question on their minds and were talking about it in hushed whispers. Autumn kept to herself. As soon as the lift had stopped moving and the doors opened, her eyes widened. Every single male and female Healer, receptionists and officials were gathered in a huge group. The chairs off to the right that usually held waiting patients were empty and had been curtained off into separate spaces, each with a cot and rolling medical drawers. Stretchers lined the walls of the lobby. Any incoming visitors were directed off to the left towards a hallway that led to the makeshift waiting room. ”Gather in everyone! Gather in! We need to make this quick!” The urgency in the speaker’s voice allowed the reality of the situation to sink in. This wasn’t a drill. Something really was happening.

”Everyone please! We have just received word that there is an attack currently taking place in Alzubra Alley.” Frightened voices filled the air. Alzubra Alley was several blocks away from St. Everdines, in the opposite direction of the Ministry of Magic. Autumn’s mouth dropped open slowly. A chill ran down her spine as the memory of three years ago quickly pushed its way to the center of her mind. She remembered the chaos and panic that had erupted from the unforeseen attack. So many had lost their lives or been injured. Autumn herself had been victim to a stray memory spell that plagued her for a good couple of months after the masquerade. It had been what had motivated her to push through her internship and receive her Healer status. From that time, however, she also had no desire to ever step foot in that type of battle ground again. Although she wanted nothing more than to help, the worry of something worse happening to her this time was at the forefront of her brain. What good could she do for the public if she was dead? ”Victims are en route to the hospital and everyone needs to be prepared for what is about to walk through these doors. We’ve gotten reports of various sorts of injuries, so be prepared for anything. You all need to report to your stations that you’ve been assigned to and wait for further instruction. Also, due to the severity of the situation, we will be sending out more on-site Healers than usual. If your name is called or you are approached, you must immediately report to the outskirts of Alzubra and await further instruction from Ministry officials that will lead you to pick-up the injured or dead and bring them back here. I must reassure all of you that this is NOT a drill. We need every man and woman available to treat the hundreds of men, women and children that need our aid. You are all dismissed to get into your positions.”

Autumn’s normal station in these scenarios was the makeshift curtained rooms. Given her skill, hospital officials saw her as one of Healers who needed to be downstairs, able to quickly treat the severely injured. As she pushed her way past the scattering bodies, she prayed that she would be able to stay in her curtained-off space. She’d rather be here helping then out helping and collecting. Quickly finding an open space, she stepped in and set her wand on the rolling table. She was pushing up her sleeves as she heard the first cries of pain from the glass doors that had slid open. This was going to be a very long night.

[Keara Sonnet]

Another blast came from behind her and she was sure that if they didn’t leave at this moment, her and Jenelle could possibly have their hiding spot blasted apart. It seemed as if everyone in the battle had forgotten the act of aiming their wands before shooting their spell at their enemy. Stray spells were flying in every direction and she was actually wondering how long it would take for her to get hit. When Jenelle climbed out of the desk with her, Keara figured it was now or never for them to at least move closer to the door if not make it out of them. Jenelle latched onto her, not hesitating a moment when she realized they were about to get out of there. Her words only added to the fact that she did not want to be here in the fight and Keara most definitely did not blame her. When they moved over some, another spell hit the desk they had just been at and it blew apart into pieces. Keara covered the girl as splinters of wood flew past them. It was a good thing they moved when they did.

Her eyes shot around the room as she figured out where they could go. People were fighting all around the doors of the bank and it seemed like more people were coming in than going out. That was when she noticed another set of desks that were about halfway across the room, much closer to the door than they currently were at least. If she could just keep inching them towards it, hopefully in time they could sneak out. Granted, she could as easily apparate but she had a hard time apparating herself let alone two people at once and she wasn’t sure her speed would help her in this situation. If she missed a step, they could go sprawling across the floor or if she didn’t see a spell coming their way, they could get hurt. When she figured the coast was clear enough, she tugged at Jenelle as they ran across to the other desks, hiding in behind another desk. This area was more smoke filled than the one where they had just been but it didn’t affect Keara. She didn’t have to breathe. The only thing it really affected was her sight but even then, she was still able to see across the bulk of the bank as long as she stayed low.

A moment later when Jenelle started to cough, Keara realized that she was being affected by the smoke in the air. It was resulting from the damage across the bank as well as the burning building outside so there was not much Kea could do to protect her. At this point, the only thing she could do was keep her from those who were fighting. Luckily, most people were staying towards the middle of the bank and the desk area seemed to be rather empty with the exception of goblins who seemed to be particularly upset about their bank being torn apart. Keara laid eyes on one who seemed to be glaring at them. It looked as if he was blaming the two females for his problem. Keara bared her fangs and hissed at him. He quickly turned away and ran down the way. Her fangs retracted as she looked down at the girl at her feet that had apparently just harmed herself on the debris on the floor. “We’ll get out of here soon and then we can get you some help.”

As she looked around the desk where they were hiding to see where they could go next, her eyes fell upon a fallen figure instead. They widened as she realized she knew exactly who it was, the person whom she had been trying to get to the whole night. Ashton seemed to be walking away from him and in the opposite direction, but Tristan was not moving. What was even worse than that was she knew who was walking towards him and she was not going to lay a finger on him if she had a say in the matter. “Stay here,” she said to Jenelle, not even looking at her before she stood up and began walking in the direction of Tristan’s fallen figure. She didn’t know why he wasn’t moving but she hoped and prayed he was still alive on the ground. If he was dead, today was going to mark her last day in Austria. She wouldn’t be able to stay here knowing what happened tonight. Her eyes stared at his body and she realized, his chest was still rising and falling and his eyes were open. Quickening her pace, she didn’t even realize that she had just walked through a fight between a Ministry official and another DeathEater, a spell screaming right past her face, but she didn’t care. He was her goal now. She also didn’t even realize that she had just passed a man that she had known for so long talking to a female she had graduated with not too long ago. If she had even noticed, she probably would have asked Juliet to help with the small girl who was scared half out of her mind, but Jenelle wasn’t even on her mind anymore. The fact that Isis was walking towards Tristan mean that nothing else mattered.

“Stay the hell away from him, you bitch!” she shouted, hoping Isis could hear her over all of the commotion in the room. The moment she noticed her wand was out, Keara’s paced quickened. She was attempting not to run given the glass all over the floor and the fact that she was in heels, but she feared she may have to if she was going to make it in time to get there before the wolf had a chance to act.