Something for the DJ

"Now don't move." Karma instructed the terrified looking seventh year Slytherin. The boy fidgeted - once more wondering why he had come toward her at the sound of her voice, no doubt. The girl had been there when he had gone to get some sleeping draught, half way to the door before she had stopped suddenly, as if caught. He had been fighting the urge to stare at her. Even with the scars that graced her features, she was still a vision, and what she was wearing- there appeared to be a tank top underneath that loose fitting tshirt, and perhaps there were shorts as well, beneath the thigh length fabric - had been no help to that end.

Somehow, he had ended up here, standing against the stone wall between the windows, facing her and trying to remember how to breathe. How did his tie get so tight? The emerald and silver thing seemed to be choking him, though it had been fine before he got into the room. Perhaps she had magicked it tighter. He'd believe she was capable of anything right then.

"I said don't move." Her voice seemed to float through his ears and settle as a haze on his brain. He wanted to look her in the eyes - he knew what such a look could do, how it felt like the best thing in the world - but she never let their eyes catch.

No, she had her eyes on the prize.

Or, rather, the apple.

"Leo." She purred, causing his breath to hitch. His hazel eyes returned to her, even as he tried and failed not to fidget. "Leonidas, darling. You have got to stay still. We don't want any accidents, do we?" He shook his head. Why was he doing this? He was older than her. He should be able to- to just- leave. Walk out.

He didn't want to. He wanted to wait this out.

Everyone knew that should she finish her games, Karma Black could very well make you the happiest man alive, and as long as she bit you, and you kept your hands to yourself, her boyfriend wouldn't even hunt you down the next day.

He still flinched as another dagger came flying his way, his movement causing it to fall just short of the apple placed dead center on his head. Her sigh of displeasure caused quite the opposite in the seventeen year old.

Suddenly tired of this game, the girl stepped closer, causing his already speeding heartbeat to skip. Then he was looking into her eyes, sinking into the most comfortable ocean of milk chocolate and darkness that he had ever seen. He was tugged forward by his tie, and his entire being was suddenly a torrent of the utmost need. She had busied herself with smoothing his tie, teasing him, adjusting the way it hung around his neck, tightening it, then loosening it. He is a mask of want as the tie slides slowly off, a bodysuit of shivers as she took her time unbuttoning the top three buttons.

His breathing hitched as her lips pressed against the skin of his throat, his fingers twitching with the dangerous urge to touch her. Even he knew that he'd never get the chance.

"I see you're here, this time," Aria spoke softly. "Really, Karma. At this rate, all the seventh years will be so utterly hapless that they will all fail their NEWTs. I suppose Gryffindor house is safe, at least. Really, though, I'd prefer not to see most of those morons, next year."

The blonde moved across the floor with a leonine grace, mismatched eyes moving impassively from the knives in the wall, to the boy, before coming to rest on Karma.

Aria arched a pale brow. "If you want to finish, I suppose I could always try back later."

Cocking her head to the side, Karma pulled away from the boy slightly, her honey brown gaze brightening slightly as she caught sight of her sister. "I'm here, yes." She said, as casually as if she wasn't still holding the boy close, her fingers tracing down his jawline. She didn't glanced back at him until he shivered violently, and even that wasn't as focused as it could have been.

"It'd be much easier to play when Hothead, Pluto, and these ones share dorms though, wouldn't it?" She purred, a hungry grin spreading slowly across her mouth. Still, she let the boy go, reaching up and tugging his tie by one end so it slipped around his neck and into her hands. "I'll return this later, Leo, dear."

Turning back to her sister, as she tied the tie around her head at the hairline, she smiled again, eyes slowly taking in her existence once more. "Stay." She said as her fingers finished their tying, leaving the tie hanging on the right side of her face. "Or, come with me. I feel like a walk outside." She shrugged. "Whichever."

The older Slytherin had already gone when she turned back around and raised an arm, catching each dagger as it returned to her and putting them away as quickly as possible.

Aria's brow puckered in a small frown. "I visited before, but you weren't here," she said, tone mildly reproving. She watched the seventh year leave, impassively, then turned back to the girl she called sister.

"You're supposed to be resting, not wandering about on your every whim," she pointed out as she moved closer. "Werewolf venom is toxic to vampires, fatally so. You're lucky you aren't dead. If it had been its blood in your system, you would be." The information was a bit bluntly stated, but Aria had always spoken what was on her mind. Furthermore, tact was not something a demon like Djinn deemed important enough with which to imbue her.

Stopping in front of Karma, Aria reached out a hand, fingers and eyes lightly tracing the scar trailing across her face.

"I'm usually restless during the night. You should have come when the healer was awake." Karma said, though distress started to flutter in her stomach at the thought of her missing visiters. Maybe they hadn't all abandoned her after all. Maybe it was just a- a- misunderstanding. Wiping the vulnerability off her face as soon as she realized it was there, she grinned at the blond Slytherin once more.

"Oh, don't worry so much, Ree. I'm nearly invincible." She teased, shrugging. "There was blood all over the place. I suppose I'm just lucky." She grinned. Her luck had never seemed to kill her, not yet, anyway, and honestly, what was death but another adventure?

The girl tensed, freezing other than to turn her head away from her sister's hand, the silk of their house's tie covering her imperfection. "Don't-" She murmured, her voice dropping measurably. "Ree-"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Clearly, someone must worry about you. It's not as though you worry for yourself, at all." She shook her head reprovingly.

Her other hand rose to rest against Karma's opposite cheek, turning her face back towards her own.

"You're still beautiful. Always," she said softly. "Besides, your true beauty lies in your strength - it always has."

"I don't seem to be worth the worry." She said, the bitterness in her tone surprising her more than was allowed to show on her face. When had all these feelings of being unwanted start appearing? It felt as if they'd always been there, but that had to be pure insanity, did it not? She was Karma Black. She, like Arsen, shouldn't need anyone. Hothead clearly didn't, shouldn't she strive to be as strong as him?

The girl kept her gaze downward, even at the blond's gentle touch, even as she allowed her head to be turned. "Beautiful." She mocked ruefully. "With half my face torn. Its like a bloody neon sign, isn't it, broadcasting-" Her voice cut off sharply, and she closed her eyes, suddenly realizing the need to fight back tears.

This being is not as it should be.

I was born only half of what I was supposed to be.

"Clearly." She said, her voice almost completely unaffected by her emotions, though the torrent was there, for those who knew her well enough. "I am not strong enough, anymore."

"Not weak? Then explain to me how I was able to hurt you through a human, Karma!"

A single tear escaped her right eye, trailing down her scars like a refugee for the border. Escape.

The girl made to pull away, wanting no part in this conversation any longer, but something stopped her. Perhaps it was her weakness.

Perhaps she was tired of being strong.

Mismatched gaze remained attentive, a faint downturn of her lips the only thing marring the girl's expression. Slender fingers brushed away the stray tear, touch light and caressing. She gave a small shake of her head.

"But you are," Aria contradicted softly. Rising up her toes, she brushed a light kiss over the scar, then wrapped her arms around Karma, holding her close. "Even if you can't see it, I do," she murmured.

Karma closed her eyes against the other girl's touch, her lower lip trembling dangerously as her eyes watered. What was wrong with her? She was acting as if she were- were-

Human.

Gritting her teeth, the girl tugged herself out of Aria's hold, turning on her heel and moving back toward the window, where she stopped and gazed out at the night. Her face was upturned to the darkened sky, the moonlight washing over the perfect half of her face as she shied into the shadows unconsciously.

"It hurts." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "It hurts to have them look at me like- like I'm a-"

Monster.

Aria was not surprised as Karma pulled away from her. It was to be expected, really. Karma had always been proud. And why should she let her, of all people, comfort her? The half-vampire was yet another person who had no need for her - none until she was gone.

"It doesn't matter what any of the others think," she said with a long-suffering sigh. "They're all a bunch of ignoramuses. In any case, it's not nearly so bad as you seem to imagine. It truly doesn't lessen your beauty in the least.

"Not to me," Aria murmured, tone nearly inaudible.

Ignoring whatever was trying to tell her something in the back of her mind, Karma looked over her shoulder, eyeing the other girl curiously before wandering back over to her, staring down into her mixed matched eyes. The volume of the thing talking increased, but Karma brushed it away with a sigh, a grin tugging the corners of her lips upward. "Jeez, Ree. Why are you so perfect?" Running her knuckles gently along the girl's cheek - a trace of the scar that was on her own face, little did she know - the girl wrapped her arms around the blond's shoulders and tugged her close, holding her in a soft embrace, though the girl showed no signs of letting her go.

Slowly pulling back, Karma cupped the girl's face in her hand and grinned again. "Suppose you're the opinion that matters then, you and Hothead, and maybe Pluto, if he gives the right answer." Brushing a lock of blond hair behind Aria's ear, Karma shook her head, stepping away from the other Slytherin and walking past her. "Come on, Ree. Suppose I should go rest or something..."

"I was created perfect," Aria stated simply. It wasn't arrogance, but simple fact. Djinn had made her exactly how he intended. If that was not perfection, Aria did not know the definition of the word.

She returned the embrace, allowing her cheek to rest against Karma's should until she pulled back. "Of course we are," she replied with a smirk, then added with a drawl, "Though, I wouldn't value the opinion of the overconfident fleabag.

"Because, Merlin knows you never get a wink in the boys' dorm," Aria quipped dryly as she turned to follow.

"Another thing to thank Djinn for, then." Karma noted, the casual way she said it belying something she wouldn't admit to yet. Not yet.

"A tasty overconfident fleabag." Karma teased lightly. "Who knew demon-dealt blood tasted so good?" Her fangs began to lengthen at the thought, but she pushed the urge back as she made her way back over to the decently sized curtained off corner that was her 'quarters'. She had been here a week, and so the candy was piled high, some notes spread in a rough design almost remnant of an transmutation circle.

She disguised the bright color that raced to her face in shadow as she kept her back to her sister, though the giddy smile that always came with that thought that she'd been spending time with Arsen - in Arsen's bed - was almost a dead give away itself. Crawling into the small loft bed, the girl looked over her shoulder, the chagrin in her sideways glance almost palpable in the air. "Merlin knows." She repeated, lounging backward. "Arsen doesn't sleep."

Yawning suddenly, the young half vampire rested her head on the pillow, her gaze returning to her sister. "Come here." She ordered, her voice dropping in strength now that she was in bed - and feeling all the fatigue she could deny while standing. "I need someone to cuddle."

Aria smiled softly. She rolled her eyes at the other girl's antics. It came as no surprise that the blood of one who dealt with a demon would taste pleasant to a vampire. Demon's blood itself was addictive, even to humans. Not that Aria knew personally; just one of the extraneous detail Djinn thought she should know.

Following the brunette to the corner of the ward which had been claimed as her own, Aria glanced about, taking in the quartered-off space. Her gaze went to Karma. "I know he doesn't," she replied. Arsen couldn't sleep at all. Aria didn't really sleep much herself, truth be told.

Obediently, Aria made herself over to the bed, climbing in beside Karma. She wrapped her arms around the other girl, holding her close. The close contact didn't bother her. In fact, it was nice, a bit reminiscent of times when they would lay side by side in the dorm and just talk. Those memories of more than a year past seemed so distant, sometimes. Things had changed, yet in many ways, they hadn't.

They needed to.

"I love you," Aria said softly, snuggling closer, "sis."

Wrapping her arms around the other girl's middle, and resting her head on her shoulder, Karma snuggled into her sister, allowing the comfort of the blond's presence to sink into her body. Sighing, her eyes fluttered shut, and she relaxed. "Love you too, sis." Karma murmured, yawning. "Don't go anywhere, eh? I need-" the word "you." was distorted by another yawn, and her hold on the other girl tightened.

"Stay." She mumbled, softly, before slipping into slumber.

"I'm not going anywhere," Aria responded. She rested her cheek against the top of Karma's head, gently stroking her hair. Quietly, not wholly conscious that she was doing so, she started to hum.

The blonde had always been rather adaptable, becoming what was needed of her. It was a vital part of what she was. And so, that was what she was determined to do: Aria was going to be what Karma needed of her.