Broken Hearts

A quick pace, a shortened breath, hidden face and rainy night. It was the perfect night to go... borrow.. some things. But she needed some stuff for home first. Her eyes barely flickered off the path she was taken as she turned down the small entrance to the place called Knockturn Alley. It was one of her favourite haunts, even if she rarely came here. So many people she passed gave her death glares, but she ignored them completely. They were just jealous that she wasn't a beggar like them.

Turning down a small side street, she glanced around for a moment, hesitating before pushing into a shop. It was dark and almost as damp as outside, with an odd musty smell to it. She was surrounded by items that would never have gotten past Ministry inspections, but she didn't care. She needed something at the moment. Quickly turning a small corner, and heading down an aisle, she got to the shelf where the locket lay. And froze.

It was gone.

Zara glared at the shelf for a long moment, her eyes locked on the spot where the locket had been. She knew it had been, it had always been there. And right when she came to get it, someone had taken it. A scowl crossed her face and she spun around, her dark traveling cloak falling off of her head and revealing a mess of curls and pale skin. Her eyes roamed the store for a minute before she walked out again. The rain having gotten heavier, she didn't bother pulling on her hood again. She would have to try again, she knew it would come back, it always came back. People hated that thing, and she needed it.

Her eyes scanned the streets for signs of life before turning back down the alley and going deeper into the forbiddenness of it all. The rain was what finally made her stop. Her eyes traveling across the taunt faces of beggars and merchants before she turned into a narrow shop to wait for it to finish raining. She wasn't about to go home, not yet anyway, she hadn't been here for a while, and she needed to look around, even if the locket was gone. There was other things she needed. She turned into the shop, and started to browse, her small bag of money stashed safely in the front of her traveling cloak.

Niov was not sure why, but it seemed that Knockturn Alley was a breeding ground for very unlucky people... Or perhaps they just happened to be convenient victims. Nevertheless, it seemed that Niov's luck had at least improved.

A woman was traveling down the street alone in the rain. She passed by Niov, who was hiding in the shadows of an alcove of a desolate shop that had long before been shut down. She waited a beat before falling silently into step behind the woman. Niov's steps were completely quiet and the rain rolled off of her "skin."

Niov towered over the woman. Niov had a slim figure that was not befitted for a bodyguard, but she had a brutal ferocity that quite matched it. Though not as disfigured as many of her 'colleagues' the subtler changes were almost just as terrifying, for they showed how close to her humans really were...

The woman stepped into a shop and Niov followed. As she walked in the lights flickered on and then off. The blinds whisked closed, the door slammed shut. Niov smiled and stepped in front of the woman. "Has your luck always been this dreadful?" she rasped. With that, her hands flung out and gripped the woman by the throat.

Zara gripped her wand in her pocket. Something was following her. She could hear it, and she felt her breath come in shorter and shorter gasps. When she saw the woman in front of her her eyes narrowed. But it was to late, a hand grabbed her throat and she felt her air supply be cut off. The person who ran the shop was obviously a coward, because he was gone in seconds as the other.. odd looking woman gripped Zara's throat.

"Bad luck?" Zara asked hoarsely. "Nah, I just tend to attract attention, even from people as ugly as you." She managed a smirk, but she was gasping for breath, pulling out her wand, she contemplated different spells before pointing and saying softly. "Stupefy." She didn't necessarily want to destroy this shop, seeing as she liked a lot of the items in it. But if this.. thing fell down, well stuff would undoubtedly crash, if she did, well she wouldn't be afraid of destroying the place.

Niov could see the woman's face contorting as it tried to bring in oxygen in any way it possibly could. Her eyes were slightly bugged and her pale skin changing colors. She managed to gasp words that meant nothing to Niov, because she had seen another movement.

Niov liked dealing with wizards because they had the obvious advantage to muggles. Muggles were what Niov attacked when she just needed death. When it came to causing distraction, she went for witches and wizards.

Niov threw the woman towards a nearby table and was able to whisk out of the way of the spell that was shot at it, though it probably would not have affected her in the least. She still did not want to let the woman get in more destruction than Niov could.

Niov shook her head and looked coldly at the woman, her dead eyes lethargically sticking to her human features. "Ugly hmmm... And by which standards do you measure beauty, human? By your own races? Well you should know...when it comes to standards, humans have none."

She smiled, an action that only me her more terrifying. Niov had a sad, dead look and to see an action that illuminated her features only made her looks drastically more un-human. Not to mention, it also revealed her pointed, sharp grey teeth. Her hands seized an object near her and she examined it; it looked like a large bone, possibly dragon. "And why have beauty, when I have power?" With that she brought the bone down on the woman, aiming for her head.

Zara felt herself be thrown against the table, and she landed with a crash, the table buckling then breaking under the force that she had hit it with. "Dammit." She growled and got to her feet gingerly. She checked herself and found she had no broken bones, but she would be if she stayed there any longer. Jumping out of the way of the Dragon bone aimed for her skull, she landed lightly on top of a cabinet thing.

Pointing her wand at the woman she sighed. This wasn't on her agenda for today, and being beat up by an odd looking woman didn't seem to have crossed her mind for what she needed as a way to get out of the house, but hey, it was something to do. "Oh.. right.. about your beauty I guess if you find.. horns and torn clothes as.. 'fashionable' I'll agree with you, but I didn't exactly do anything to hurt you lady.." She said calmly, pointing her wand at her again and sighing lightly. "Bombarda Maxima." She said smiling at her, watching as the spell flew through the air towards the creepy woman.

Niov stared coldly back at the woman, once again finding absolutely no importance in anything she said. What place did beauty and fashion hold in a demon's life? What place did words have? What place did words of beauty and fashion have? None.

Niov's job was not to bring information to her superiors. She was not the most intelligent nor the most threatening demon. She had just needed to find a lace amongst her brethren, and if that place required all she did was kill, destroy, destruct, and cause chaos, she was perfectly fine with that.

The woman threw another spell and Niov turned, allowing the spell to go past her and shatter the objects and table behind her. The shards from objects and the table sent wood chips and other shrapnel flying everywhere. Pieces gouged into Niov's face and bloody, sprouting a purple blood that leaked from her face and dripped down her body. She licked away the blood on her face and shook her dark hair, which was now dotted with the purple droplets.

"You like to play," Niov said in her raspy voice. "Fun." She let out a bark that was supposed to be a laugh and swung the dragon bone again, grabbing with her other hand a glass instrument and throwing it at the woman's face. She snapped her fingers, hoping that her dog-like demon companion would materialize soon. He would enjoy a new chew toy.

Zara scowled. What was with this thing? She glared at her and realized that she had only a split second to choose what would hit her. The bone or the glass instrument. Zara chose the glass and dodged the bone only to be hit right in the chest with the instrument. Falling off of the wardrobe, she slid to the ground and gasped for breath, using the large cupboard to hide her from view for a moment as she caught her breath and started to rip out glass chunks.

Zara muttered darkly under her breath and heard a snap behind her. "Sh!t.." She muttered and glanced around the wardrobe, seeing the lady, but nothing else. She was sure this thing wasn't human now.. it wasn't a woman, or a lady, no respectful person just attacked someone in a shop without a reason. Pulling her hood back up over her face, Zara grinned slightly and jumped out from behind the wardrobe. "Stupify! Crucio! Bombarda Maxima!" She cried out, throwing all of the spells she could think of at one time. She grinned slightly and threw herself back behind the wardrobe, taking that moment to leap up on top as though it were only a step off the ground, and looked down carefully from over it.

The room was a wreck, and that thing had oozes of something purple in it's hair. She had an odd feeling that it was its blood of some sort. But what an odd color.. Scowling again she realized it was getting darker outside. Rain was pounding now and it looked like it was trying to drown anyone who dared set foot in it. She took that moment to plan her escape from this thing. Course she could always apparate, but where was the fun in that? She rather enjoyed having something to do, and apparting, well it took the fun out of things.

A daring chase through the rain, followed by a bloodbath towards the end did sound like something fun to do. Even if she ended up guzzling pepper up potion in the end, it would be worth it. Taking a deep breath, she somersaulted herself over the cabinet and into the room at large. "Bombarda! Confringo! Defodio! Densaugeo!" She growled out, pointing at the thing. A lot of those spells wouldn't hurt a fly, but could make it rather awkward for the thing in her way. Especially if Densaugeo hit her horn, that would be hilarious.. as it grew to ten times the normal size. She dove towards the door, hoping to make her escape outside of it, in the confusion of spells that hit was hitting things all around.

Niov found herself again dodging all of the woman's spells that she threw at her. One of them hit her and she cackled with laughter as her dress and hair caught on fire. The pain was terrible and yet she loved it, reveled in it, because she finally had a fight. She brushed herself off, and magically the fire extinguished as though she had brushed off the fire. She ran a hand through her matted hair and again the same happened.

"So you like fire, huh?" Niov rasped. She held out a hand and a ball of fire materialized. She flung it at the table she had collided with. The table burst into flames, making the instruments shatter and explode, sending glass and more debris flying everywhere.

The woman had run for it, but she found her path barred by a magnificent wolf dog, standing four feet tall at the shoulder. Its fur looked torn and its eyes were like endless pits. Staring into them could cause madness. It revealed its yellow, blood-stained teeth as it approached, making the woman have no choice but to turn. "Meet Defres," she teased.

Niov smirked, looking terrifying with burnt clothes, tattered hair, and a wall of fire behind her. Her yellow eyes stared back at the woman and she held out her hands, grabbing a sharp spear like object near by and bowl full of teeth. "Shall we have some more fun?" She flung both at the woman as Defres blocked her escape.

This was getting insane. This woman dodged every spell, and when the fire hit her, it was like she had been hit with a tickling jinx. She stared at the thing for a long moment, and just as she had been about to leave, she was barred by a giant dog. So that's what the snapping was for, calling in backup. "Really.. you need backup to take on little ol' me?" She asked averting the dogs gaze and sinking into a bow. "Sorry." She turned and went back to the woman, her back to the dog.

"So what's your problem eh? We aren't exactly on the wrong side ya know, I mean, no person you want to kill is down this alley, I think you chose the wrong place." She said feeling pieces of debris rain down on her, getting in her hair, lodging in her skin and burying themselves there, glass caught in her smooth skin. She looked down at it like it was an insult. "Why are you hurting my skin?" She asked as though it hurt. Even though she barely felt it. She sighed and leaned against the cabinet, her mind working at an oddly slow pace.

So this woman had a doggie, cool, fine, she didn't really care about that thing. It was the woman she was more worried about, throwing fire balls all around, she was almost sad to see some of the merchandise blow up. It wasn't fair, she loved these things, dangerous objects and the like. And this thing was destroying them. "Psh, can't even grab me.. really." She said skirting behind a shelf full of glass objects, it would be fun to see them explode, but before she did she grabbed the more valuable, sticking them in her bag, which had a spell to make it larger inside then it appeared. Even with her life in danger, she still took time to steal.

Niov chuckled. "You think this is about sides? We sympathize with no one. We do not meddle on stupid, meaningless struggles you humans make up to release the inhuman feelings in you, the parts of you that you stole from us."

Her pointed teeth again formed a frightening grin again. Humans always seemed to be haunted when she mentioned any similarities between their kind and her kind. And she loved to watch them squirm. "So actually, I am in the right place. We aren't trying to make a point, one way or the other. We're jest having fun."

She cackled and rushed forward, pushing the cabinet full of glass onto the girl. She could easily escape but she was hoping to see some of that glass break her. Defres howled a haunting, low howl and Niov's eyes rolled backwards before snapping back towards the woman. "He's excited."