Morals of a Villain

Chapter 4: A Fight To Remember

Pandora grinned, a rush of adrenalin hitting her as clearly as though someone had tossed a brick in her face. Damon smiled, touched by how much this duel meant to her. Clearly, she hadn't met someone who could fight properly in a long time. With a little flick of his head, Damon took in his opponent, looking for any weaknesses she might have had. She did the same, examining him for any little detail she could exploit before one of them made a move to begin the duel. "You take good care of yourself." She said after a moment, looking even more thrilled. Damon nodded. "You as well." He said with a sigh, realizing that their duel would have to revolve entirely around skill. 
Pandora took a step backwards, luring Damon towards a place close to the stairs where she could get the advantage of her surroundings quite easily if she wanted to. He hesitated, but followed. He knew this place better than she did. The least he could do was give her the chance to get a momentary advantage that he could whisk away at any moment if he so desired. "So how have you been, darling?" Damon asked, striking up a conversation to fill the empty void of silent concentration. Most people didn't respond to him when he tried to talk to them during a fight. But refreshingly, Pandora was nothing like 'most people'. She shrugged. "Oh, not to bad." She said, feigning a few attacks to see how Damon would react. He deflected her advances, and threw back a few of his own. "I got out of the hero business, got back into it to save a friend, got out of it, got kidnapped and forced back into it, my sister was held hostage, I'm fighting the one person who ever managed to make me feel like I actually had a reason to continue learning new skills. So I'm pretty good." She said, flicking away each of his mock strikes with a flourish. Damon took a step back and bowed with a dramatic motion. "I am honored you see me that way." He grinned. Pandora laughed. "Oh come on. Don't be such a fool." She said, running the tip of her sword over the top of his head with a little giggle. He caught her weapon with his own the second it touched him, grinning even wider. "Aw, now who do we get to blame for our fight?" He said, straightening up. It had been a long time since someone else had officially started a duel. The general rule was that first to make contact with the other started it, no matter if that was through a direct attack that was meant to be forceful or through one of the precipitants touching the other. Whoever was the first one to break the theatrical seal laid over the early stages of a fight would be the one who took responsibility it, and that person had almost always been Damon. 
Pandora let out a little noise of surprise, before laughing again. "Clever. Very Clever." She said. "Now, it's my turn." With a light flick of her wrist, she made a lightning fast attack, leaving Damon only a fraction of a second to block it. He lifted his sword easily, defending himself with an overly dramatic movement and swooping his weapon up towards Pandora's head. She parried, sidestepping him and forcing the fight out further into the foyer and away from the stairs that could have been used to her advantage. Damon tilted his head, a little confused why she would want the actual fight bit to take place outside of the relative safety of the furniture that could be used to put space between her and him, or the steps that could be treated as a hill on a battlefield. But he still followed, knowing that the complete lack of anything other than open space wouldn't particularly hurt him. It could be a bit of trouble for her, but he would be perfectly fine. Pandora threw a few more blows at him, seemingly without any sort of rhyme or reason to them, luring him even further into the open. He willingly parried every one of them, stepping quickly around her and aiming a blow for her dominant arm. If he could get her to fight left handed, he would have a much better chance of winning. However, Pandora not only defended herself against his attack, but also seemed to have expected it. She spun to face him, catching his sword and pushing against it so that he couldn't advance any further. "Now!" She shouted, not taking her eyes off of Damon. 
There was a scuffling sound across the room, which drew Damon's attention despite the duel. To his surprise and anger, he saw Angel sprint away from the wall and across the room to the double doors leading outside. Damon instinctively flicked aside Pandora's weapon and took a step forward to run after his captive, but he didn't even make manage to fully break out into a run before she had slipped between the doors and disappeared from sight. Damon turned to his guards, a shiver of anger washing over him. "What are you doing? Follow her!" He said, gesturing to the doors in exasperation. The guards obeyed, quickly drawing their weapons and rushing after the girl. Damon watched them go, running a hand through his hair in irritation. If she got too far- 
"Ow." He said, breaking out of his thoughts with a startled jump. He looked down at his right hand, and realized that there was a thin line of blood forming on the back of it. He turned to look at Pandora, already understanding what had happened. She smiled back at him, holding her weapon up so that he could see the single red stain on just the tip of it. "And now it's your turn." She grinned. Damon scowled. "Oh, you bitch." He spat, striking at her with enough force that he should have knocked her down. She ducked quickly out of the way, twisting her body so that she easily moved behind him. the force from his attack left Damon struggling to regain control of himself and his weapon for a split second, which was long enough for Pandora to slip her blade across his throat and press the edge close enough to his skin that if she had wanted to, she could have at the very least drawn blood. 
Damon snarled, slamming the hard hilt of his sword into her stomach and twisting out of her grasp. Pandora stumbled back, but didn't drop her weapon. Damon slashed at her with a vengeance, sending her reeling backwards again as she unthinkingly blocked his sword and let the full force of his strike hit her. She winced for a second as there was a slight cracking sound from her dominant arm, but didn't make any move to switch hands. Damon grinned to himself, finally holding the advantage. He attacked a third time, stepping up close and letting another forceful blow land fully on her sword. She anticipated it this time, however, and moved to block it with enough strength that she forced Damon to stop in his tracks. He sidestepped her, but she followed him. The smile had faded from her face, and she clearly wasn't so inclined to think this was a game anymore. But she was still engaging in it. She was still here, facing off against Damon when she knew there was a pretty big chance he was going to kill her. She was still fighting, when she could have run after her sister and protected the both of them. She had accomplished what she had come here to do. So why was she still participating in a duel she was becoming less and less likely to win with each passing second? 
Damon blocked her attack, backing up a step as he did so. She was strong. And fast. And stupid, if she thought any of that would make a difference in a few moments when his guards got back with Angel and were able to help him capture her. Damon took a few steps back, letting her get the advantage of distance. "Why are you even still here?" He asked, exasperated. Any sane person would have run by now. Pandora shrugged, a smile coming back into her eyes as she realized just how irritated Damon was with her. "Perhaps I don't want to leave." She said, pushing him back again and arranging herself in a fencing stance. The two were far enough apart from each other now that they couldn't do any sort of meaningful damage without stepping closer to one another. It was just a game again. "Oh, I'm sure." Damon said sarcastically, quickly reestablishing his dignity and matching her stance. If she wanted this to be a childish dance, then fine. She could have it as such. He would just have to draw her back into a sincere fight the first chance he got. "I imagine it's so appealing to die at the hands of a pissed off monarch." He added. Pandora smiled. "Aw, you'd kill me?" She said, flicking aside his sword as he raised it to strike her again and adding a second, deeper cut right next to the one she had already given him. "Promise?"