The Beginning

Vythica smirked, "I believe I shall take you on. Trust me, I'm stronger than I look and have beaten more powerful opponents." Despite her confident air, she was slightly nervous. She had never seen a creature like him and wasn't quite sure what he was capable of. "Before I kill you, Unseelie, I would like to know just exactly what you are."
She took her fighting stance and gripped her dagger tightly, a look of determination was etched on her face. Even though the sounds of battle echoed around her, she placed all of her attention on the Unseelie she was about to fight.

"But that takes all of the fun out of our battle," Seth whined. "Maybe when you're down I'll tell you." Fang pulled his knife out, ready to deflect or attack, and finally dropping his light guise. He enhanced the buzzing he emitted to further disable her hearing. He took a few steps back and did a faux bow, as if to initiate conflict.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, then I guess I'll never find out what you are. Oh well." She said this with mock-disappointment. Vythica attacked head on, using a mix of downward slashes and jabs at different angles in hopes to confuse him, and she prayed that some would hit their mark.
Vythica usually wasn't that messy in her attacks, but the fact her hearing had been partially taken away was making her nervous. She wanted the battle to end as soon as possible.

So she really didn't have a battle style. And clearly a musician, not a fighter, given away that she had a violin on her back. Perhaps there was a problem with Seelie reinforcements and they needed their musicians to fight also? Oh well, that just meant the fight would be a bit duller. He was nicked a couple of times during her mindless slashing, but no serious damage. He took a couple quick hops back, enough space for him to react is she went at him again, but not too much to discourage a conversation. "So, clearly you would rather play me a jig than fight me," he smirked. "As shown not only by your violin, but your fighting style, or, rather, lack thereof." He sprinted around her, and just sliced one of the strings on her violin. Just to be playful, and maybe irritate her into fighting better. He dodged out as quickly as possible, spinning around to see her reaction.

Vythica's heart nearly stopped dead in her chest as she heard the twang of a string being cut on her violin. "You dirty Unseelie!" she roared. She quickly reached back and unhooked the violin from the strap on her back.
"I really didn't want to use this is battle, but it seems like you want to hear a song." her voice had shifted to a low monotone. Vythica plucked the strings, playing a soft melody. The world around her seemed to slow as she played the haunting tune. She hoped the song would cause the Unseelie to lose consciousness, or at the very least slow him down.

Heh, of course she would. "Apparently you have a little bit of an attachment issue to you violin. And only a little bit off key, but what's to be expected?" Careful, he didn't want to give away that her hearing was almost totally fuzzed out. The music was slightly disorienting, though. "Ah, perhaps I should cut another one?" he suggested, hiding is slight disorientation and attempting to hone his senses.

"Cut it again and I'll do a lot worse than just kill you." Panic was starting to set in, although she didn't show it. She could barely hear and the violin didn't seem to be having much affect.
I can't get frustrated, she thought to herself, it'll only make this more difficult.
"This violin is very important to me." she revealed to her opponent, strumming the chords a bit louder in hopes it would sound over the buzzing. "And it is probably one of my greatest weapons."

"Ahh. So that's why. Care to explain?" Seth almost danced over to her, made a little loopy by the playing. But acting collected all the same. He slid his dagger slowly under another string, caressing it, and then pulled back suddenly, slightly brushing her finger on the way out, just enough to draw a single drop of blood. However, the string remained unharmed. He turned his back and walked away, waiting for her to speak before he would turn around. He refreshed himself before the battle, he wasn't too worried about whatever damage she may cause.

Not far from their artful dance, Calantha was involved in her own. She had rushed through the ashy air of the combat ground, and in avoiding a bloody tangle of Troll and Pixie, had slipped into the wooden confines of a General's headquarters, distinguishable by the scarlet moon and star carved into the battered door.
Upon entering, she had stumbled into a treasure chest: for sacred (or should she say, defiled) scrolls of parchment covered a rickety table, positively covered in ink as black as death. But a feminine Fae was meddling with them, turning them to and fro in the frail light of a candle. She hadn't even noticed Calantha come in.
Now, Calantha snatched a sketch of a black dagger from her pallid hands and slammed her against the wall, pressing the cold blade of her scimitar to the pathetic creature's throat.
"Do you know what this is?" she hissed. The fear in the Fae's violet eyes confirmed as much. "Do you know where?..."

"That's none of your concern, Unseelie," Vythica stated, unfazed by the throbbing pain in her finger. She put the finger to her mouth and licked away the blood before she continued playing.
"The only thing you need to know about this violin is that it is going to lead to your death as well as the death of any Unseelie that dares to show itself to me."
The Nixie stepped forward slowly towards the Unseelie, "Now enough games; let's end this once and for all."

"You mean, away with the rest of the strings? That sounds pleasant. Your playing is giving me quite a headache." He made sure to speak clearly, letting only his voice through the buzz. He took a step closer, dagger outstretched. "I had hoped, just perhaps, I could make an ally out of you yet, but I see you are much to stubborn. My satisfaction towards your answer to the importance of your violin would be the answer to how many string I broke, or even if I broke the entire thing itself, but clearly your lack of an answer means one thing- goodbye, instrument of musical torture. Unless you'd like to revise your answer like a good girl..." he trailed off.

The angelic image of the Fae--golden hair, crushed violet eyes--morphed into one of Hell. Gold locks turned flame and purple burned with ruby.
"You will never find what you seek! I would never help you!" she screamed, and that's when Calantha recognized Lucinda.
"Die traitor!" her old childhood friend hissed with all the malevolence good Seelies could muster.
And with that, the whole wooden shed exploded in fire and blood and cedar.

She glared at him. Vythica did not want to share that kind of information with the enemy, but she had no choice. The destruction of her violin would be worse than death to her. "If you must know," she began, "it was a gift from my betrothed. He was murdered by you Unseelie. Happy now?"
Even though there was more to her story, she hoped the Unseelie would be satisfied with just that. Just to be on the safe side, she momentarily stopped playing and placed her hands on top of the strings.

"So, just to give you the solid data in case we ever meet again, here is my opinion- the story was less than satisfactory, but the fact that you stopped playing made me happy enough. Now, I'll be going. Unless you'd rather fight to your death?" Seth smirked. Perhaps the story should have tugged on his heart. Too bad he didn't have one.

"Dammit," Calantha muttered, along with some other unpleasant profanities. She lay in a pile of rubble, scrapes, bruises and welt-like burns patterning her skin.
Peering through her dirty bangs, she blinked and balked at the brightness of the flames around her, consuming the remains of the structure. Farther in the distance, she saw a familiar blur and splotch of silver hair. But even more important, she saw Lucinda, the precious scrolls in hand, heading straight for them.
Calantha swore again.

"You can't just leave in the middle of a fight!" Vythica fumed, "Besides, you have yet to tell me what you are. I told you my secret, now you tell me yours."
She really hoped he'd reveal at least something about what he was, so that she would be able to defeat him down the road. Despite the fact she wanted to kill him, she didn't have the strength. But she wasn't going to let him go that easily; she was going to follow him soon after he left.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw something coming towards her...but paid it no mind.

"Nice! A more interesting diversion. Well, if you want me, I'll be at the fire!" Seth winked at the Seelie and began running towards his next source of entertainment.

"Wait...don't you leave!" She groaned and took off running after him. Vythica carefully put her violin back in its holder on her back. She was not going to let this guy get away.

Oh no you don't...Calantha leaped to her feet and sprinted towards the retreating figure.
Roaring in fury, she launched herself at Lucinda's back. Calantha had always been the fast one, the brawn, while Lucinda was more at home with carnal knowledge.
As they both fell to the ground, Calantha twisted the position so she had Lucinda pinned face up. Punching Lucinda's ivory cheeks, Calantha closed her fists over her opponents', knowing control of the elements came largely with hand motion.
"You will tell me the location of Akribis, or you will die slowly, just as HE did!"
Lucinda spit in her face.

((Ooh, nice. And I almost expected to see her ghetto-snap at the beginning xD. Anyways, I'm heading in after this post.))
Seth ran through the burning remains of what looked to be a small hut, and smiled ever so slightly at the quickly spreading flames. Amid the wreckage, he spotted the shape shifter with another anonymous figure, presumable a Seelie. Now, how to approach the situation? Clearly there was some form of struggle going on, but not to the death, or at least not yet- the Seelie would already be dead if it was. A quick thought flashed through his head, or maybe more of an instinct. He ran up quickly in front of the two struggling, and placed his knife ever so carefully at the Seelie's throat. "Care if I do the honors?" he smiled knowingly to the shifter, pressing down a little with the knife.
((Just an idea, but I figured maybe I could kill her, and then somehow become bound through some kind of charm or whatever to help Calantha find the knowledge lost with the death of the Seelie. Just a thought though.))

((do you mean ghetto-slap? If so...I was considering it XD. And I love that idea! As if her knowledge became infused with your charrie's being? totally!))
"No!" Calantha gasped, seeing the knife. "Not yet! I have..." but she bit her tongue. It would be a grave mistake to reveal how important this Fae's knowledge was to her. If she knew anything at all. Torture would be required she could tell...but would it matter? For the Blur's knife was still moving, dangerously close to Lucinda's jugular, and Calantha was nowhere near fast enough to match his lethal speed...

Once Vythica had caught up with the Unseelie, she found herself in the aftermath of some explosion. The Sidhe and the male Unseelie had a Seelie pinned. Vythica surpressed a cough as the smoke coming from the flames assaulted her lungs; she did not want them to notice her arrival.
She planned to use the element of surprise to her advantage and take out the two Unseelie before they even knew what hit them. There was no way she was going to let them murder a fellow Seelie.
But...what exactly was the Akribis?

((Okay, so I lied a little bit. I'll probably actually go to bed after this one though.))
"So, I'll take that as a yes?" Seth said as he finished his motion, completely severing the head from the body. Luckily he hit at the point between two vertebrae, so it he was able to make it a fairly continuous strike. "Or was that a no? Oh well, too late now," he smiled casually. He turned to go before the wrath of the Shiftie was upon him. Yeah, Shiftie was a fitting enough nickname. Just as the knife was about to pass out of her neck, it stopped. He tried to pull it out of the side, but that also failed. And when he attempted to recoil his hand in shock of the sudden heat that was transferring onto the blade, he couldn't. He felt his precious consciousness slipping away, and just as he was about to pass out, he realized, I shouldn't be able to feel heat...
((So, maybe Calantha can know what happens when a Seelie with knowledge like that is killed, so she doesn't instantly kill my guy? For simplicity's sake, lets say when he passes out like that he stays semi-solid, mostly like a normal body. Also, it's up to you what to do with him (tie up, transport, put some sort of charm on, etc) until he wakes up. He'll probably wake up about 12 hours to a day later, if that's alright with you))

Calantha could have cried, or sworn again, or spit blood. Or all three.
"Idiot," she murmured under her breath. The knowledge Lucinda knew was sacred, passed down through the generations of Johnstons, her Seelie surname, Mother to Daughter. It was a legend, surrounded with magic. If Calantha's information was correct, all Lucinda's relatives had perished (Lucinda no doubt blamed Calantha for it), and the magic would never allow the legend to pass into dust just because death had taken its holder. The Blur had become the new vessel that would now hold its blessed, or some would say cursed, knowledge.
And now, Calantha needed him more than anything. To set her world right and exact the vengeance for the deed that had mutilated her soul.
Kneeling beside his inert being, she was surprised to find it semi-substantial and solid. Feeling foolish, she poked it curiously. Well, perhaps she had something for this then. Without wasting time, she extracted a rope of inhumanly strong flaxen from one of her many concealed pouches and bound him, hand and foot. The rope was infused with a spell from a famous and powerful Sidhe, designed to immobilize and compel a sense of exhaustion on its captive.
Grinning without pleasure, Calantha reached for the sketch of the weapon--fallen from Lucinda's lifeless hands into the dirt--making sure to keep it out of sight of prying eyes. She also grabbed the few pieces of parchment that had come with the crude drawing and tucked them all out of sight in her roomy dress.

((That's exactly what I was thinking! Oh, and perhaps the reason Calantha didn't kill Lucinda and take on the knowledge itself is because the keeper is somehow barred from the object--it can find it and protect it, but not use it, perhaps? ))

((I like that idea. Do you want to do anything else with my guy before he wakes up?))