Two shadows passing (Complete)

[Lord Vali]

Almost too quickly for him to react, Vali quickly threw a foot out to rebound off the jagged metal in front of him. This caused him to fall backward, instead of land on his feet. Instead of trying to stop the fall, he moved with it, and landed on the top of his back. He let his momentum carry him on over, causing him to land facing her in a crouch. As he stood, he realized that a piece of metal had caught his costume. It was only a grazing cut, and had barely broken the skin of his leg. It had also tore his a bit of his costume, revealing tanned white skin underneath.

Slowly he walked toward her. A swipe of his saber cleared the path between them. Grasping his saber now with two hands, Vali stepped in and made a light swing, aiming to take her head off. The swing itself wasnt expected to land, but to more or less get the duel rolling again.

[Razielle Shadana]

Blood.. It was barely more than a few drops. It was more than enough for Razielle to catch the scent of, on the night wind. It was far more than enough for her to desire to prevail here. A predator was always provoked and tempted with that scent.

He stalked toward her and she watched him with rapt interest. What would he do now that she had claimed the honor of first blood? Would it anger him and make his movements eradic and sloppy, thus giving her mellow demeanor the advantage? Or would it simply harden his resolve to best her...?

While she pondered the possibilities, her opponent took a swing at her head. It was of course easily avoided as she ducked under it, then swung her own blade up to catch his. Her intent was not to overthrow him with strength, but to take him by surprise. While his saber was locked above their heads, Razielle rammed her armored knee straight into his abdomen, then shoved his weapon away from her with a laugh.

[Lord Vali]

Vali reeled back, but only slightly, from the knee to his gut. He answered her laugh with a series of harder strikes, using his longer reach to get inside of Razielle's defense a bit to back her up. At the end of the series, his strike put him in slightly too close, which negated him from pressing her back further, so he retreated backward. As he did, he struck a girder beside, slicing through it at upward angle to send it falling toward Razielle.

As it fell, he set his stance to strike again, but waited to see if his distraction would pay off.

[Razielle Shadana]

Split second choice, defend against his saber or evade the falling girder that would most likely pin her to the ground, making it that much easier for him to remove her head. Though retreat was not in her nature, a change of scenery was in order. Razielle ignored him for the moment, he was still a few feet away, and made a leap boosted by the force onto the top of the girder as it was falling.

Not able to stay on it for long, she braced her legs and found her balance as the girder continued to tip. She jumped off of it and landed atop the rooftop of whatever holy place this was. The girder crashed below, once again sending the fallen metal into a cacophony of scraping and ringing. Razielle was sure that she would be joined shortly and if his habbit was to be of any indication, he would be hidden from her sight somehow.

While she waited, Razielle looked into the distance and spotted the cemetary. The dotted lights of the torch weilding citizens were heading back this way. If they hadn't heard the first crash of metal they definately heard the second and were coming to inspect.

Apparently they were in for some company.

[Lord Vali]

Atop the rooftop, Razielle found herself alone, at least it seemed as much. She seemed to be waiting for Vali to pop out out of nowhere, as he had before. She picked up on things quickly, flowing with the situation rather than letting it confuse her. Confusion was one of Vali's handiest weapons. He'd applaud her later. For the moment though, he'd simply keep her 'entertained'. As she anticipated his attack, Vali took a different path than she had. Retreating back to the middle of the alley, he recovered his cloak.

As the mob rounded the corner, Vali stood waiting, holding the decapitated body by the back of its shirt collar in one hand, and holding the head by the hair in his other.

"Its him! The phantom! He's the vampire!"

It seemed the Razielle wasnt the only one with a bit of a reputation, and apparently she had just lost hers. The mob seemed to be getting a bit unnerved at this point as Vali slowly started toward them. With a grunt, he tossed the body at them, followed shortly by the head...

"I wont tell you twice...."

"Stay outta my alley."

[Razielle Shadana]

Razielle was genuninely amused. He couldn't possibly be yelling from down there up at her to "Stay outa his alley.." She peeked over the side to watch him fling the head and body of her victim at the mob. They reacted as most mindless fools would. Some scattered like chickens with a wolf in their pen, some simply held aloft their weapons ready to meet Death head on. But even those who would have made a stand, scattered when they realized they no longer had the strength of numbers.

It seemed her little performance worked out after all, her intentions were met at least. They no longer suspected her of the murders. But they hadn't killed who they refered to as the "Phantom", which meant she still had him to deal with. Backing away from the ledge so he couldn't yank her back down to his level a second time, Razielle called down to him.

"A Phantom are you...? I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that phantoms were of a non-corporeal nature. You bleed just fine for a ghost..."

[Lord Vali]

She could talk trash, he'd give her that. Reminded him of someone he knew pretty well. In a way, he wished he'd brought one of his blasters with him, but that tended to ruin the fun even more. After a quick jog down the alley, Vali scaled the fallen girders by leaps and bounds, quickly finding his way on the rooftop with Razielle.

"Shall we continue?"

[Razielle Shadana]

Somewhat suprised that he hadn't just popped out of thin air with intent to behead her, Razielle grinned and offered a little bow. Her left hand was perched on her hip, her right hand still held her saber, although it was silent and dark for the moment.

"By all means.. Since you've been injured, I'll give you a headstart."

He was just going to love that she was sure. It was too bad they had to go on this way, but alas.. With a grin she crooked a finger at him and raised her weapon, aglow with crimson once more.

[Lord Vali]

Her saber technique thus far seemed similiar to his own, block and counter. Getting through her saber defense without taking an attack was difficult due to her speed, so Vali would need to take a seperate approach.

Instead of advancing on her, Vali held his ground, locking eyes with her through his helmet. He tilted his head slightly to the side, as if curious.

Without any further warning, it felt as if an invisible hand had grasped Razielle by the throat. Still glaring at her as he tightened down the force choke, Vali sent a few jibes of his own her way.

"A headstart sounds nice, tell me when you want me to go."

[Razielle Shadana]

He could hold her there all night and watch the sun burn her, perhaps? If he knew what she was, and she suspected he did, smart guy that he was, he might do just that. But Razielle seemed to think that he was actually trying to choke the life from her. His claws would rust in the elements before that would happen. He was causing her no slight amount of pain though, in fact it hurt like hell. Just because her trachea would heal itself in time didn't mean that having it crushed in a vice-like grip was comfortable.

"A headstart sounds nice, tell me when you want me to go."

He was actually going to taunt her? How intriguing, she would have grinned, had she been able to just then. Rather than respond she slowly inched her left hand up her chest towards her throat, allowing him to believe she was weakening due to loss of air. When her hand was close enough to her neck, she quickly reached into her pulled up tresses and dislodged the dagger like pin. Infuriated that she allowed herself into this position and now beginning to suffer a bit from the pain, Razielle let fly the dagger, straight into his already injured thigh.

Shaking her long hair out of her face and out of her way, she glared and struggled forward. The pain had sent enough anger through her, that her connection with the Darkness was bolstered. Feeding off of its icy, yet compelling touch she advanced, even through her pain.

[Lord Vali]

The choke stopped as Vali looked down at the dagger in his thigh. Anger surged inside of him, augmented by the lancing pain felt in his leg. The padding of his costume kept the dagger from doing any real damage, the pain was still there though. Underneath his helmet, Vali grit his teeth while he pulled the dagger out of his leg and tossed it aside.

As Razielle approached, Vali unleashed his anger in a telekinetic blast. The blast wasnt as focused as a push or choke would be, as it was more of a reflex, but it did succeed in causing her to stumble backward. He took this opportunity to attack, gripping his saber with both hands and lashing into her with powerful strikes. He didnt expect to land any hits, but more or less keep her off balance, until a better opportunity arose.

[Razielle Shadana]

Witty comebacks be damned she was tired of toying with this guy, the mob had dissipated and the dawn was coming soon. She had no time to play with him anymore. She was already struggling to walk, due to the amount of pain she was in. The blow caught her offguard. But she did not fall. Had she not already had her saber at the ready, he may have actually got in a hit to her exposed body. The thought infuriated her further, she was being careless.

Illuminating the night sky once again with the clash of their weapons, Razielle focused all her efforts on defense. The lethargy of the dawn was quickly ebbing whatever added strength her anger had granted her. Razielle would be satisfied right now with just getting him away from her. She would have plenty of time during her stay on Onderon to settle the score with him. All she had was time.

Striking while his saber was coming straight down at her, Razielle deflected the blow and sent him back, towards the side of the building, with a hard kick to the gut. Not bothering to let him recover she summoned what was left of her anger and hit him with everything she had. Her one motive now was send the Phantom over the side and get away from the predawn light.

[Lord Vali]

Vali took the kick to his gut with a growl. As he readied himself to spring back at her, she hit him with force blast of her own that sent him reeling over the edge of the building. Instead of hearing a thud a few moments later, the sound of glass shattering echoed down through the alley.

His first thought was too charge back up to the roof, but she was most likely be long gone by the time he got there. Even then, if they kept at it, one of them would end up dead. Very few people knew that Vali was a part of the circle also so killing her would be pointless. He'd accomplished his objectives for the night. For now he was content to find his way to the first aid room and patch up his leg.

[Razielle Shadana]

She didn't waste time checking on the sound of splintering glass. Razielle needed to get inside, now. With enhanced speed she ran to the opposite side of the rooftop and dove over the side. Landing on her feet, agile as a feline, she resumed her frantic run through the streets. The run would have been impossible if she had needed the air to breathe, her throat still being majorly sore from being crushed.

She entered the palace by the same way she had exited. To keep her comings and goings as unnoticed as possible she had explored the servants entrances and corridors. Returning to her room just as the first rays of dawn hit the sky with toxic light, she shut her door and half stumbled for her bed. Razielle blessed that coverings over her windows keeping the light from finding her and didn't bother to undress. She was too damned weary.

As the lethargy came over her, Razielle wondered how the dear Phantom was faring? Between the piping, girders and glass he may want to think about relocating his lodgings. With a grin, she considered going to help the poor guy clean up when night came. On the other hand, she would probably never see him again anyways..

Yawning and rolling onto her stomach, she drifted off to sleep.