So Two Deva Walk into an Alley...

[aerisrivers]

"Where did you say the kitten was at?" the man asked Aeris, his back to her as he scanned the balconies protruding from the buildings on either side of the dark alleyway. When he received no answer from her, the man turned around to face her curiously. When his eyes fell upon her, however, he froze.

Aeris stood before the man, her wand extended straight out, pointed directly towards his heart. The soft, pretty smile had disappeared from her face, to be replaced by a menacing, evil sneer. As the man continued to stare, shocked, at the witch before him, Aeris's eyes darkened to their natural chocolate colour, glinting evilly, and her falsely brunette hair lengthened, returning to their midnight hue.

"Surprise," she said quietly in a mocking tone, laughing as she caught a glimpse of fear in the young man's eyes as he stood frozen before him.

"Who are you?" he demanded of Aeris, drawing himself up before her, trying to appear strong and unfearing. Aeris simply laughed harder, a quiet, cruel laugh as she flicked her wand, causing vines--sharp, thorned vines--to wind themselves around the man, cruelly piercing his skin.

"Darling, didn't your parents ever teach you not to talk to strangers? I guess your little girlfriend didn't listen either," Aeris said, her eyes flicking towards where Aros was entering the alleyway, his willing victim alongside of him, unaware of the fate that both she and her little boy toy were about to meet.

[Aros Orphe]

The woman pointed a finger straight ahead, not seeing her boyfriend being tortured, "The Apothcary is just over ther-" she stopped, eyes widening at the sight before her. Aros grinned, drawing his wand from his sleeve, pointing it at her back. He flicked it once, gagging her instantly as a cloth materialized in her mouth. Another flick of his wand caused a blackish hue of fire to seep from his wand, licking her body with its fiery breath.

He grinned as she screamed into the gag, collapsing to the floor, trembling from the pain as Aros continued to torture her, a mad gleam in his eyes.

[aerisrivers]

Aeris turned back to the man, whose blood was now rolling slowly in crimson droplets from the piercings all over his body, created by the sharp, stabbing thorns of the vine that was slowly tightening itself around him. She grinned evilly at him, laughing at the look of horror upon his face as his precious little girlfriend lay writhing on the floor.

Her chocolate eyes gleaming with excitement as she flicked her wand towards the man, Aeris just laughed harder as watched the indigo light of her curse hit the man, causing him to scream in agony as the blood in his veins began to boil. Just as suddenly as it had begun, however, Aeris lifted her wand slightly, ending the curse.

"Now now, I wouldn't want to kill you so soon, let you escape. No, I want my fun with you first. I want you to watch your little girlfriend here cry, plead, scream...I want to watch you beg for her life...for BOTH of your lives," she told him, adding with a twisted smirk, "It will, of course, achieve nothing, but it will be fun to watch."

[Aros Orphe]

Aros smirked, paying no attention to anyone else bu his victim. This is what he does best; To torture for no reason whatsoever and to kill them in the end. He smirked as he lifted the curse, the woman panting as tears fell from her eyes.

He muttered a spell as he waved his wand in a complicated fashion, producing a small yellow orb of energy. It moved towards the girl's arm, burning a small hole through her skin, going inside of her. She screamed as the orb went slowly through her body, burning anything in its path. It emerged from her neck, blood pouring from both of the wounds. With another wave of his wand, Aros healed all her wounds, leaving no trace of the spell except the excruciating pain. He laughed as she continued to squirm, crying softly.

He could do this forever.

[aerisrivers]

"No! Please, stop! Torture me instead! Kill me! Just please, leave her alone! Let her go!" the man screamed hysterically, shaking intensely as he watched his lover writh on the ground, crying and screaming in pain. Aeris, once again, just laughed as his pleading. It just made this all the more fun.

"You silly boy. Why would we torture and kill you instead? Why, neither of you are getting out of here alive. And neither of you get to welcome death until we're done playing with you," Aeris told him sternly.

Slashing the air before her with her wand, muttering a curse, a jet of black light, crackling with with lightning, extended from the wand, colliding with the man and throwing him backwards off his feet, causing him to smash into the solid brick wall behind him with a sickening crunch, breaking numerous bones in his body.

As the man lay at her feet, grimacing and moaning in pain, Aeris just laughed harder, raising her wand for another go at him.

"How's it going over there, love?" Aeris called over to Aros, never once taking her mischevious eyes from the cowering man before her.

[Aros Orphe]

"Just fine and dandy, love..." he said with excitement, looking down at his victim as she continued to cry. He laughed, giving his wand an upward flick, causing the woman to rise up, hanging limply in the air. She tried to move only to find out she couldn't. Aros moved his wand, controlling her movements as he made her flail her arms about. It was as if she was but a mere puppet and he was the puppeteer, controlling every action.

He flicked his wand once more, making her slam into the wall. He chuckled as he kept slamming her into the wall again and again and again. HE stopped as the blood began to flow. He grinned at Aeris, knowing the girl was still alive but barely,

"Oops, I think I broke her..." he said with a frown.

[aerisrivers]

"Now now, I told you to be careful, my dear. A broken innocent isn't nearly as much fun," Aeris reminded him, tutting quietly as she shook her head at her friend before turning her attention back to her own victim, who was staring back up at her, actually daring to look defiant.

"Let me show you how it's done," she said back to Aros, closing her eyes briefly in concentration before opening them to reveal chocolate brown eyes glinting maliciously down upon the man.

"Crucio!" Aeris hissed, holding her wand steadily in her hand as the curse hit the man, whose eyes had widened in momentary shock before glazing over as the most intense pain known to man coursed through his body, causing him to shudder on the ground as he rolled his body into a tight ball, trying to make it stop, to no avail.

After a good few minutes of this torture, Aeris could see that the man was reaching his breaking point, that he was on the verge of losing his sanity to the endless pain. Deciding she didn't want that, she raised her wand, and the man uncurled slightly, still shaking on the ground, as he was relieved from the curse.

"Hmm...maybe we're feeling especially nice today...maybe we will let one of you go..." Aeris said thoughtfully, hiding the truth skillfully from her eyes--the two of them would never make it out of here alive. Taunting them with the idea, however, giving them false hope that they might still be able to escape with their pathetic little lives, would be fun to watch.

"Now, which one of you shall live, and which shall die...Eenie, meenie, miney, mo..." Aeris pondered quietly, placing a crimson nail upon her chin in apparent deep thought as her eyes flitted between the shaking man and the cowering, bleeding woman, as though she were actually trying to make a decision, to choose one of them to live.

[Aros Orphe]

Aros snorted. his wand still pointed at the bleeding woman. He turned his head and looked at Aeris who was busy taunting the man and the woman who Aros knew were scared for their lives. He moved past Aeris, heading to the man,

"You're taking too long..." he whisped as he passed by Aeris, now standing in front of the guy. He crouched low, looking at him straight in the eyes. He sensed overwhelming fear from the man,

"I'll let you go..." he said silently, though knowing everyone else could hear him. The man's eyes lighted as he felt hope. Aros smirked at him, "...It's not that easy. You must kill your girlfriend over there to live..."

The man's eyes moved towards his girlfriend, whose frightened eyes were locked upon him. Aros laughed, looking back at Aeris, mouthing the words 'This is really fun'.

[aerisrivers]

The glint in Aeris' dark eyes was the only response that Aros got, as the witch watched in gleeful anticipation the scene that was unfolding before her, watched the battered girl, watched the broken and bleeding man, trying to digest the dilemma that Aros had just fed him.

After a short moment of silence, the man looked up at Aros and Aeris towering over him, his eyes, ringed with the telltale indigo and midnight hues of heavy bruising--the result of Aeris' delighted torture--narrowed at them, their depths hardened with hate and rage.

"I would never lay a finger on her. I love her," the man spat at them, his voice seething as he stared hard at them, suddenly struggling to rise to his feet.

"Oh ho, is the little innocent going to try and fight us now?" Aeris inquired, raising an eyebrow as the man winced, unable to put pressure on a clearly broken leg as he tried to get up. She looked pointedly at him as he crumpled back to the ground, turning her back to him momentarily as she walked a few steps towards Aros, away from the man. She stopped before going too far, however, and whirled back to face the man.

"We told you what to do. You didn't listen," Aeris said, her voice suddenly icy, her dark eyes narrowed as she raised her wand once more to the man. With a sharp upwards jerk, the man was yanked upwards, the spell dangling him in the air as an invisible hand held him up by the throat. The man scratched at his throat frantically, his fingernails gouging out the thin skin and leaving long trails of scarlet blood, as he tried to get air in through the blocked airway.

"You disobeyed. Now you must be punished," Aeris said quietly yet sternly, as she watched the man's face turn blue, his fingers moving slower and slower as they scrabbled at his throat.

Aeris meant business. She meant to murder the idiotic little innocent, snuff out his pointless, silly little life. If the man hadn't believed her before, he was definately believing her now as he hung limp in the air, inches from death. The only way he was leaving that alleyway was in a bodybag.

[Aros Orphe]

Aros shook his head as Aeris continued to have her fun. Paying no attention to the whimpering voice who was asking for mercy. He looked up at the hanging man who was being throttled to death by an invisible force. He would've done something, but he was taught at an early age to never take away a woman's pleasure.

He wrapped an arm around Aeris' waist as he looked up at the blue-faced man, smirking as he struggled for breath,

"I gave you a choice...Now face the consequences..." he said with a small smile.

[aerisrivers]

With a final, swift twirl of her wand, the invisible hand that was suspending the suffocating man morphed into an unseen rope, wrapping itself tightly around his bleeding throat. As Aeris jerked her wand to the left, the rope gave a final, tightening pull, and the man gave a strangled, agonized scream as he fell still, hanging limply in mid-air. He was dead.

Pulling her wand away with a satisfied smile, causing the lifeless man to fall to the ground with a loud 'thump', right before his terrified girlfriend, Aeris pocketed her wand before turning to Aros, standing closely next to her. Her eyes shone gleefully as she clapped her hands together, a broad smile across her fair-skinned face.

"Your turn, love," Aeris said in a sinister voice, her eyes flicking towards the woman still lying on the ground, who had painfully dragged herself closer to her murdered boyfriend and now lay sobbing, her head resting on his bloody, unmoving chest.

[Aros Orphe]

Aros grinned as he focused his gaze now over to the weeping girl, walking slowly towards her. Not to be outdone by Aeris, he flicked his wand upwards, causing the woman to be levitated just like her boyfriend was. He lazily pointed his wand directly into her face, giving her a cruel smile.

"Sweet dreams..." he whispered, staring into the fearful eyes of his victim. He drew a set of runic symbols onto her forehead which glew a steady pale yellow. As he finished the last pair of runes, he tapped each rune in a specific order, now glowing a blood red. It seemed to brand her skin as it began to burn bright. Suddenly, her skin began to peel off as the spell flayed her alive. As the final slice of skin peeled of, he ended the spell, the woman falling onto the ground a bloody mess, finally dead. He laughed at her remains, looking back at Aeris with a small frown,

"Such a mess. I feel terrible already for the person who has to clean this up..." he said, now heading back towards Aeris side, wrapping an arm around her waist,

"I believe we should have a little walk in Diagon Alley. Who knew torture could be so tiring..." he said, looking back at the mess they made, "..Come, lets enjoy Diagon Alley..." he said as he led her to the opening of the alleyway.

[aerisrivers]

Aeris perked a daintily arched eyebrow at Aros as he finished destroying the innocent, crossing her arms as she watched him.

"My my, getting quite fancy, I see. What happened to the good old fashioned methods of murder?" she asked him, waving a hand to indicate the strangled body of her victim.

"No matter though. They all end up the same way in the end," she said, strugging a petite shoulder. As she felt Aros snake his arm around her waist, she raised another eyebrow at him curiously, but kept her mouth shut as she walked with him towards the mouth of the alleyway.

"Wait," she hissed, stopping before they could emerge from the concealing shadows. With a swish of her wand pointed towards her, and a few muttered cleaning spells, Aeris rid her blue robes of the crimson blood spatters, returning it to it's previous innocent perfection. Fixing a soft, pretty smile onto her face again, Aeris finally stepped out into warm sunlight of Diagon Alley, looking the picture of innocence, as though she had not just tortured and murdered someone.