Fight Club With lauronica_mars

[countess_karnstein]

After Lara had left the apartment Ella spent the next few hours trying to process everything that had happened in the previous twenty-four. She contemplated the rescue and how she couldn’t leave Lara to the hands of those mind wiping idiots that operated against her rules. Then how Lara couldn’t follow simple instructions and always tested her patience with added frustration. It would have been much easier to wipe out the club and the students effected, blame it on animal attacks or hide the bodies. The security team and clean-up crew were always at the ready to covertly handle the problems she might have but when Ella ordered the students to be saved the silence from her staff was almost deafening.

The vampire Dean known to be uncaring was suddenly sparing lives. The news of this whispered amongst her staff and found its back to the board quicker than intended. Within a couple of days even Mattie had called, wondering if Ella was starting to go soft. Still Ella didn’t back down, she kept her promise to Lara and all lives were saved. Students blissfully unaware of just how much danger lurked around them on the campus.

Within a week Ella made sure that Lara’s friend was safely returned to their dorm. Her vampire subjects posing as students delivered LaF directly to Lara’s room. Meanwhile Ella kept her distance and spent the remainder of her time being extra cold and ruthless to students to compensate for people thinking she had a heart. On one of her particularly bad days she was conversing with a science teacher outside of the department and out the corner of her eye she watched Lara walked across the grass with her friends. In that moment the person talking to her had no idea clue their words were going in and straight out the other side.

She would have contacted Lara sooner but the girl had seen and experienced a lot. Ella thought it was best to give her some space at least to adjust to finding out the supernatural was real and more around her than most people know.

Thankfully towards the end of what felt like the longest of weeks, it was time for their date. Ella had the location and time and no idea what to expect. Instead of her usual smart and expensive looking attire she dressed down to her favourite black leather jacket, grey tight jeans with high rise boots where the heels complimented every step of her walk in the best of ways.

She drove to the location, far away from anyone recognising who she was and after navigating a few streets there was couple of bouncers outside a black matted door between a bar some sort of closed building. It was the only logical place it would be and a simple flirt with the guards got her in without any fee to pay. Inside the metal steps echoed the further down she went, eventually leading to a well lit room where a large overweight man sat picking food out of his teeth.

“Been here before?” He grumbled, barely looking over his computer monitor. Ella was about to answer when he cut her off. “You place a bet, you lose, your problem. You start a fight and its game over. Only fights happen in the ring, outside of that you’re banned sweetcheeks.” There must have been a button the other side of his desk as the metal door to the side opened and noise erupted from the inside. It was as if he opened the door to a metal concert. The music boomed, people were cheering and Ella couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She wouldn’t have expected that under the streets a venue like this could exist but there had to be at least hundreds of people from ground level all up on different tears and platforms huddled together around this one circular caged ring in the centre. The instant smell of blood filled the air, causing her to look directly into where two women were fighting inside the cage. Both covered in blood and bruises.

In order to curb the cravings and distract herself, Ella did the smart thing and headed for the bar. In between ordering a drink she text Lara. ‘Come find me at the bar? X”

Comments

[lauronica_mars]

Lara groaned, staggering out of the ring clutching her ribs and with vivid splashes of red adding vivid colour to her pure white t-shirt and miniskirt. In the third round of three 'Lilith' had thrown the kitchen sink at her in an attempt to either take her out or make her tap out before she ran out the clock. And she'd almost succeeded, leaving Lara with one eye swollen shut, a cut on her forehead trickling blood near the other one, and some separated and cracked ribs.

Not that it had all been one way; Lara had opened by breaking Lilly's nose, which was part of what had made the fight so brutal, and one of her eyes was also swelling closed but she'd taken nothing like the number of body shots Lara had. Still, every time she thought she'd found a way to put Lara down it had turned out Lara was bluffing. But there was no doubt who'd got the best of things even if the crowd had been on Lara's side, willing her to hold out to the end of the third round against the woman who was quite open that she'd been thrown out of the UFC for steroid abuse.

"Ella." Lara groaned, staggering out of the cage and throwing her arms round Ella's neck. "Sorry I didn't come close to winning." Not that anyone except Lara had thought she had a chance at the start. And just by going to time she had a fairly substantial prize.

[countess_karnstein]

Ella watched the fight between the guys. Having seen and been in maybe fights over the centuries it shouldn’t have been anything new to her but the atmosphere, the buzz of the crowd and note to mention the way it was making Lara happy just fuelled Ella’s passion to keep watching. At some stages of the match she even shouted advice and tips to Jack like he could hear her in the sea of background noise. Everything was fun and for a first date she couldn’t think of anything better.

That thought was short lived when Lara stepped into the ring. A twist of fate she didn’t see happening she fully supported Lara’s abilities to make her own choices but didn’t like the fact the dome prevented her from saving Lara should she get in trouble. And that is exactly what happened. As she watched Lara take blow after blow, Ella felt her heart sink in her chest and anger burn through her veins. She launched herself at the dome only to be blown backwards and land on top of the crowd behind her. She didn’t care for the pain regardless of the electricity nearly paralysing her in shock. Ella went to launch again but some of the crowd held her back. They must have been a mixture of supernatural to stop the force in which she was trying to get to Lara.

The next few minutes were the most painful to watch. Ella eventually stopped struggling and watched Lara barely able to watch out the cage. The second that door opened, with speed unmatched she shot to where Lara was and caught her just as the arms flung around her neck. For Ella, Lara was weightless. She held her up and looked past her shoulder to where Lilly was fuelling her victory and wiping the blood from her nose. If it wasn’t for Lara making the vampire promise, Ella would have killed her by now.

A few minutes later Ella felt Lara’s legs give way and she was unconscious. She used this time to get Lara out of the venue and back home to her apartment as soon as possible. A few of the bouncers made the comment of getting Lara to the hospital and want to call an ambulance thinking they were helping but Ella protested against it and instead asked an old friend to meet her back at her apartment.

In record time Lara was placed on the bed, Ella stepping back to give Adrienne enough space look at the girls wounds. Adrienne was older than Ella. The vampire didn’t know her exact age as both of them looked barely twenty-five visually but Mattie once commented on Adrienne’s people and their history. Ella had never asked as the two of them had an unlikely friendship. All she knew was that her species, male and female were always tall, slender and bald. They had a slight blue tone to their skin and Ella often compared them to the human version of monks. They sat somewhere between light and dark, excellent with magic and knowledge and rare to find.

“She is stronger than she looks.” Adrienne’s yellow eyes caught the vampires as her hands were held out just above Lara’s ribs. “I can speed up the healing but it will take time. The bruises are the least of the damage but she will recover.”

“Fix it now.” Ella snapped. “I don’t care what you have to do.”

Adrienne tilted her head, curious to Ella’s reaction. “I can use light magic to speed up the healing.” Her hands started to emit a white light from her under her palms. “But the rest she will have to recover herself. For me to heal her instantly will take dark magic and will be at the cost of someone else. Do you wish for me to do that?” She blinked, leaving the choice up to Ella who knew at any moment Lara would wake up, if she wasn’t listening already.

“If the cost was me could you heal her?”

Adrienne smiled. “A human for a human. I would need to transfer her damage to someone else. You are not human Ella, you know this.” It never failed to amaze Ella how calm Adrienne always was, even when Ella was clearly angry. “Make your choice and I will do what I must.”

Ella was fuming, pacing at the end of the bed knowing Lara would wake up at any moment. “Light.” She eventually barked, annoyed at herself for her choice. “Heal the worst and I’ll keep her here until she recovers.”

“As you wish.” The light from her hands got brighter and the creature worked on easing the pain, she smiled to herself.

Ella caught that smile and crossed her arms. “Is something funny?”

“You never choose light. She is changing you.”

Ella was too furious at that comment to answer. Instead she morphed into her giant black cat form and as if cats could sulk, she sat the other side of the bed, facing away from her friend with her back towards Lara. It was almost as if she was guarding the bed. Eventually she dropped onto her front paws and curled up, occasionally letting out a large sigh or letting a whimper escape as she exhaled. Even curled at the side of the bed Ella was big enough that when Lara woke she wouldn’t be able to miss seeing the large black fur shoulders of the panther beside the bed.

Adrienne did what she needed to do and told Ella that Lara would wake in her own time and just to wait. She knew Ella didn’t like the response when she got a growl in return which was her signal to leave.

[lauronica_mars]

Lara opened her eyes blearily, whole body feeling stiff and as if she'd put it through the wringer, and in front of her was a mound of black fur. Ella. So she threw her arm round Ella's neck and nuzzled into her back as what she'd done yesterday came back to her.

No wonder she felt stiff and full of aches and pains, but not as full as she ought to. In particular her eye was nowhere near as swollen, and her ribs felt better than they had any right to. And she felt mentally for her magic, realising her power level was higher than it had ever been. Not that it should have been as surprising as it was; she'd been the passionate focus of a couple of hundred people's hopes and wishes, and also of quite a lot of destructive intent on both ends, far more than she normally had.

"Are you awake?" Lara's voice was soft as she spoke to the panther lying in front of her. If not she could lie there for a while.

[countess_karnstein]

Ella didn’t think she would ever get used to Lara not finding her intimidating in general let alone when she was a panther. Not that she minded having the arm wrap around her neck coupled with the nuzzle. Her eyes snapped open and as she turned to face her, Ella morphed back into herself. She stood beside the bed looking at Lara and could see all the bruises and marks left over the match, even the patch around her eye still looked sore.

“I’m awake. I haven’t slept since the match. Are you feeling any better?”

[lauronica_mars]

"I am, thank you." Lara smiled and tried to tug Ella closer. "You had me healed? Thank you."

She frowned, her tone turning a little self-recriminating. "And I should have known better than to get into the ring when rusty and not in training. I might not have won that if I'd been at my best." But her tone said she knew it would have been close.

"And I gathered so much power from that! I wasn't expecting that!" Lara smiled still trying to tug Ella closer.

[countess_karnstein]

Ella wasn’t allowing herself to be tugged closer. She stood at the side her bed with her arms across her chest. “My friend couldn’t heal everything. Had I have let her use dark magic you would be as good as new but at the cost of someone else taking your pain. I took a guess you’d be angry if I gave your pain to someone else.

I offered myself but as a vampire it wouldn’t work.”

Ella took a deep breath and sat at the base of the bed. “Do you have any idea what you put me through?

You’re a big girl Lara, you can make your own choices and I know you can take care of yourself but heading into a fight in a place where I can’t save you if you get into trouble?” Ella was furious but it came out of a place she didn’t know she had. She was angry because she cared and that scared her as much as letting Lara in.

“God Lara, you stepped into a ring to defend Jack and got your ass handed to you!”

[lauronica_mars]

Lara looked at her. "Sorry. And I won't even try and promise nothing like that will happen again." Her smile was wry. "You wouldn't be interested in someone meek and submissive other than in short bursts. But I will try to think of you before jumping into things."

She smiled, reaching out to stroke Ella's face. "I'm glad you didn't have me fixed to good as new; I like to think I'm better than a newborn baby as well as not wanting anyone else hurt." She looked at Ella. "But the only bone I've upgraded so far has been my skull. And it's slow and tiring, although my ribs are getting it next." It was a semi-transparent attempt at deflection, because upgrading bones wasn't anything in the books Ella had given her - instead it was an idea she, Perry, and especially LaF had put together. Many witches and wizards had upgraded their physiques, but that was known to burn their magic to maintain and was generally considered almost pure vanity.

[countess_karnstein]

Ella’s felt her stomach churn over. Torn between anger and confusion her froze for a second before answering. “What do you mean you’ve upgrading bones? Lara, what have you done?”

[lauronica_mars]

"Sidestepped every rule in the book." Lara shrugged. "You don't channel energy into living cells because they adapt and rely on the magic. I'm not. I'm basically tattooing them. You don't transmute bone because there are counter spells and low magic situations that could reverse them. Except for chemical changes. You don't make small scale changes to organs because of complex visualisations. This isn't complex. You don't add inorganic elements to your body. But carbon isn't. So none of the reasons apply."

She smiled. "Tattoos are fine as are bone tattoos. I'm basically tattooing my bones with carbon nanotubes. Tougher than diamond, doesn't shatter, and magically neutral because carbon. So if someone were to shoot me between the eyes with a teflon bullet it wouldn't penetrate my skull. Wouldn't protect me from whiplash or concussion but my skull would be unbroken and my brains on the inside."

[countess_karnstein]

The vampire was silent for a moment. Pinching the bridge of her nose she didn’t know where to start with any of this. “Why Lara? Why would you do that to yourself?”

She glanced to where her phone was on the bedside table. Next to it was Lara’s. Ella thought it was best to put it on charge while she was recovering but right now she was debating calling one of Lara’s friends.

[lauronica_mars]

"Do what?" Lara blinked. "Make my bones effectively unbreakable? Breaking an arm, a leg, or a foot hurts. And reinforcing my bones might work magically like tattooing but the method isn't the same at all. It's basically one touch of one needle per bone per session, and the rest at worst feels itchy as it spreads out from that one point."

[countess_karnstein]

“Why would you do that to your bones Lara?” Ella got up and started to pace. “And for that matter were you ever going to tell me?”

[lauronica_mars]

"I just told you? Breaking bones hurts." Lara blinked. "I don't see what the big deal is?"

[countess_karnstein]

Ella glared at her. “What the big deal is? The big deal is you are new to magic and you’re already trying to alter yourself and only because you don’t want to break a bone?”

[lauronica_mars]

Lara matched Ella glare for glare. "I'm new to magic and the weakest in the class, and leave about half of them feeling utterly drained while almost all of them are making cosmetic enhancements. Physically I'm tiny and can't even last more than three rounds against one drugged up bitch my size. I'm going out with an ancient vampire who has a collection of enemies I don't even understand." Her voice rose almost to a shriek. "And now I'm being told off because I'm doing something to prevent part of my body failing if I get into trouble that's subtle enough that no one will notice it?"

She stalked across the room, circling. "What exactly do you think I should do? Stay safe by staying your dungeon on my knees asking what you want as my mistress? And never daring to go out?" She turned to glare at Ella, stalking towards her. "You'd get bored of that almost as fast as I would!"

[countess_karnstein]

When Lara got out of bed Ella wondered if she was in pain at all but the thought was fleeting once she got her words out.

She sat calmly on the edge of the bed watching Lara. One leg crossed over the other she was incredibly composed which was also deadly. Besides Mattie this was the longest debate she had had with someone without hurting them. “Do you think I would be with you if you were weak? I don’t want to lock you away in my dungeon and hide from danger Lara.”

She sighed. “You’ve shown more ability than most of the class. You’ve progressed further than anyone who has chosen light magic since...I don’t even remember a time a student has shown potential.”

Ella got up and headed towards the kitchen to pour herself a drink. As it was open plan she could still keep her attention on Lara. “I wish you had told me you were going to do that kind of spell. You’re altering your bones because being with me puts you in danger.”

[lauronica_mars]

Lara winced as she sat down on the bed, the slight adrenaline rush fading. "No I don't think you'd be with me if I were weak. But that's not at all the same as being strong enough to keep up in Silas. And I may be strong for a light witch, but half the teachers think that light witches are supposed to be healbots. And that I'm just a very weak dark witch." Because there was nothing to learn of light magic from someone with that attitude.

"And stop flattering yourself, Ella." There was a smirk on Lara's lips. "You may be a drop dead sexy vampire but I didn't dress as a lab tech and go exploring in the Alchemy Department for you. Being me and at Silas puts me in danger on its own. And I'm altering my bones because it's one of the few places I can actually improve on nature."

[countess_karnstein]

The second Lara told her not to flatter herself Ella nearly broke the glass of blood in her hand.

She was still angry and kept her distance in the kitchen. Her hands now proper her up on the countertop. “If you are a weak dark witch, so what? If the teacher says anything you tell me. Focus on the light side and use it to your advantage.”

The milk carton soon ran out of blood and she was unable to shake anymore. Ella looked up at Lara sitting on the edge of the bed having semi recovered from a bearing. “You should lay down and rest. I’ll make you something to eat.”

[lauronica_mars]

Lara rolled her eyes. "Focus on the light side she says. And when I do focus on the light side I get this."

Her voice turned soft. "Ella? How many witches have you ever met who have used the light side to fight? Ever? And of those how many told you a thing about their combat strategies other than that they used divination and larger circles than dark witches can ever manage?"

[countess_karnstein]

She chose to ignore the comment and started to bang around the kitchen making food the hell of it. “You get this because you jumped into a fight for some guy.” She said through gritted teeth.

“I’ve never let a white witch live that I’ve met. They are just as dangerous as dark, just as powerful. If you want proof I’ll get Ads back here. She’s the one who healed you. Her kind are considered grey. They practice both but remain as neutral as possible. She can teach you magic and the things you can do with it. Maybe guide you.”

That was one big step for Ella to mention, even suggest but it just came out.

[lauronica_mars]

"If she's a healer of course she's grey." Lara smiled. "Using light magic on cancer or parasites is just bad. And that would be wonderful. I'm having to work it all out as I'm going along." She paused. "But I'd say about half of what's written in those books of yours about light magic is deliberate misinformation by light witches to make sure dark ones try to fight them in the least effective ways possible. With just enough in there that's true to both be misleading and give pointers for light witches."

She laughed. "Especially the advice to break a light witch by destroying them in front of as big an audience as possible. Or to neutralise them by taking them to somewhere chaotic like a waterfall or an active volcano."

[countess_karnstein]

“I don’t know much about that. Mattie was always clued up on the magic side of things. She prefers the dark but she does have knowledge of light. Maybe you two should talk.” Although not calming down Ella noted Lara had already started reading the books left by her mother, that was impressive.

“Soon you’ll be able to heal yourself.”

[lauronica_mars]

"Ella?" Lara's voice was soft and slightly vulnerable. "Can I have a hug please?" She could feel Ella still wanted a fight and normally she wouldn't back down, but right now she was not in the right place.

[countess_karnstein]

Ella was searching through the kitchen draws when she heard Lara. She then froze for a split second before heading over to the bed.

Once sitting beside Ella wrapped her into a hug, holding her closer and letting her hand come up to soothe the back of Lara’s hair. “You can have whatever you want.” And with that she pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

[lauronica_mars]

And Lara hugged her, practically melting in to her and resting her head on Ella's shoulder. "You nice." Her voice was soft. "And I don't want a fight, and sorry for scaring you." She paused. "And I didn't reinforce my skull, hard as it is, without checking with people and getting help."