HONOR BOUND

 

by Vladi Wizard and Scarlet

 

WARNING: This story contains sexual situations and violence (nc, MF).  It is to be read by adults only.  If this sort of material is not to your liking, then read no further.

 

Part I.

 

Chapter One.  Kidnapped

 

The night had began as had many other nights before it–with a few drinks and some light-hearted talk with her fellow patrons at a very unique establishment, a bar called simply ‘Ship.’  This was a place that was frequented by villains and heroines alike, and by some who were neither or both.  The laws of Earth did not apply in this place; it was a large, building-shaped, interdimensional bubble with a single door leading to countless parallel universes.  It was thus considered sanctuary by law-enforcers and law-breakers alike, though some might wonder why the heroines flocked to a place where those that sometimes tried to kill them chose to relax with impunity.

 

The Scarlet Witch had been caught by surprise when one of her fellow heroines, Ghost, had, as a prank, suddenly tripped her to the ground and abruptly rolled her up in the small, light brown throw rug she had landed on.  The somewhat cantankerous, gun-toting heroine had then quickly tied the writhing bundle with two short lengths of rope.

 

Vladi the War Wizard, who had been playing an active part in the frivolous banter, laughed loudly at the auburn-tressed mutant/witch’s unlikely predicament.  Then, true to his chaotic-neutral adventurer nature, Vladi came to a decision that seemed rather obvious to him; he decided to take advantage of the moment.  In a burst of motion, he grabbed the bound heroine, lifted her off of the floor, and effortlessly tossed the yelping package over his shoulder as he cried out triumphantly, “Gotcha!  Bwahahahhahahahhah!” 

 

In a flash of light, the pair vanished from the bar as the War Wizard carried his prize into the 'safety' of his castle through a magically constructed teleportal.  His castle was located far from the bar, though the distance could not really be measured; it was on a nexus point between dimensions.  He smiled broadly as the Scarlet Witch gradually wriggled her right hand out of the top of the tightly rolled floor covering and waggled her index finger at him as she protested ineffectively, her voice muffled by the surrounding rug.

 

Vladi Wizard watched with gleeful interest as a forearm slid out of the rug after the hand.  He chortled loudly, “Hmmmm.…well... I guess Ghost can't tie a knot worth beans, it seems.”  As the crimson-clad Avenger moaned softly with frustration, Vladi put her gently down on the thinly carpeted stone floor, deftly undid the ropes, and yanked on one end of the rug to roll the buxom heroine into the light so that she could see that he had brought her into one of his many 'playrooms.'   The walls and ceiling of the very large chamber, roughly the half the size of a high school gymnasium, were made of a strange stone material that was both light-colored and appealingly decorative.  The room was sparsely filled with various pieces of furniture and equipment.

 

As the War Wizard watched Scarlet look around wide-eyed, propped into a sitting position with her hands on the floor behind her, placed on either side of the long crimson cloak that streamed backwards covering the cold surface, he quipped sarcastically, “Tsk…if you want a heroine bound…you have to do it yourself, I say.” 

 

The Scarlet Witch retorted irritably, “You there, Vladi Wizard...why have you brought me to this place?”  Her gold-flecked blue eyes gleamed upward at the tall, muscular man standing above her.  He had pale ice-blue eyes, long curly black hair, a neatly trimmed goatee and mustache, and somewhat elvish ears.  Although the man, who was dressed in a black silk shirt with puffy sleeves, a short, jaunty black cape with a gold eye clasp, tight black leather pants, and a strange purple sash, looked to be about her own mid-twenties in age, she knew that by human standards he was ancient.

 

Vladi Wizard blinked and unconsciously rubbed his chest through the ever-unbuttoned top of his shirt, and then chuckled lightheartedly, “To keep you safe, of course!”  As if to emphasize the proclamation, he casually tossed Ghost’s ropes aside.

 

“Well, thanks for removing the ropes,” Scarlet replied softly, disbelief obvious in her tone, as she continued to stare upward at the man she found to be devilishly handsome.

 

“Hrmmmm, well...I must say that you looked very nice in them,” Vladi chortled, shrugged, and then continued with a broadening grin, “though, I know you would look better in my own.”

 

The buxom Avenger scowled quickly upward, sputtering irritably, “Yeah...right...heroines are just made for ropes...right?”  She then slowly folded her long, shapely legs beneath her and rose to her feet, never once taking her eyes from the man before her.

 

“Well...some are,” the War Wizard agreed as he leered at the five-foot-seven-inch athletic woman now standing before him.  The Avenger was clad in her usual costume consisting of a rose-colored body stocking over which she wore a leotard, calf-high boots, long gloves, tiara, and full cloak, all crimson in color.  She had a circular disk riveted to the center of her headdress, and an oval broach pinned to her cloak's collar below her chin; both pieces of ‘jewelry’ were made of silver-colored adamantium and had rubies in their center.  Still smiling, Vladi muttered almost inaudibly to conjure up some more rope, which appeared suddenly in his right hand.

 

“Watch it, Wizard,” the Scarlet Witch warned with widened eyes, “even you don't want to test the winds of change!”  Her gaze moved rapidly from the man’s eyes to the rope and back again.

 

“Change?  What change??” Vladi asked in an innocent tone as he slowly moved forward to stand right in front of the heroine, leaning in very close to her.

 

“Never know what kind of change...not knowing is the scary part,” Scarlet answered nervously as she shivered visibly and edged slowly backwards away from the War Wizard.

 

“Ahhh... not true... to me it's invigorating... in that there is something new for me to learn,” Vladi Wizard retorted, chuckling softly as he moved relentlessly forward towards the comely heroine as she backed up until finally she bumped unexpectedly into a metal bondage table behind her.

 

The Scarlet Witch let out a short, high-pitched ‘eeep’ as her retreat was suddenly halted, regained her composure, and quickly replied, “You would learn very little should you suddenly become one with the sun, or find yourself in the Mid-Cretaceous!”

 

Vladi nodded slightly, but continued to smile confidently as he admitted, “The sun would be a bit...hot!  Though I am not too concerned about other dimensions or hells or where- and whenevers...as I have been to many places.”  The War Wizard then leaned purposefully forward to force the young Avenger to arch back to keep him from touching her.  He asked pointedly, “Are you saying that you will...send me to those places?  New powers, my dear?”

 

Scarlet’s blue eyes widened even more as she looked into the man’s face, now mere inches from her own.  She was definitely feeling uncomfortable, something her voice reflected as she spat quickly, “I didn't say I would...it might happen.  And they are the same powers as always...the same uncontrollable powers...anything can happen each time I cast my probability-altering hexes...or nothing.  The heroine took a deep breath, struggling for self-control, before asking in exasperation, “Now!  What do you want from me?”

 

Chapter 2.  A Dance Of Sorts

 

Vladi Wizard, laughed loudly and asked sarcastically, “What do you THINK I want??”  He grinned broadly as he casually took hold of the Scarlet Witch’s ample right breast with his left hand.  Then, as the startled heroine yelped loudly, he pronounced matter-of-factly, “Now...you realize that I have to remove your costume, don't you?”  The War Wizard chuckled softly as he gently massaged the Avenger’s rotund breast while keeping her pinned between himself and the table.

 

Scarlet angrily pushed the offending hand away from her breast and quickly touched the ‘Broach of Displacement’ below her chin.  As she energized the jewelry-looking construct with her mutant hex power, she abruptly disappeared with a slight flash of light and a gentle gust of wind.  She reappeared instantly, with the same ‘special effects,’ on the far side of the rather large chamber.

 

Vladi blinked and then quickly looked around to find the crimson-clad heroine now behind him and well out of reach.  “Ahhhh... there you are,” he said calmly, as if nothing unexpected had occurred.

 

“Not that easily trapped, am I, Vladi Wizard?” the suddenly confident heroine quipped.  “Now, behave yourself, or find the right kind of kite!”  With another flash of light, her scepter, left behind at the ‘Ship’ bar, suddenly appeared in mutant/witch’s right hand.  The ‘Scepter of Transference’ was a five-foot-long adamantium fighting staff crowned with a tennis-ball sized ruby.  It, like the broach and disk, was a hi-tech mechanism; the scepter was designed to allow the young mutant to control her power to create probability-altering fields when she cast her ‘hexes.’  The ability to conjure and dispel these devices, and her uniform, were some of the few true magic spells the young woman had learned from her mentor in witchcraft, Agatha Harkness.

 

“Find the right kind of kite???” the War Wizard asked in seeming ignorance, and raised an eyebrow as he turned around to walk towards the beauty once again.  “And, what does that mean?”

 

“One that flies in the winds of change...not easy to find!” the Scarlet Witch quickly answered, sounding somewhat less confident.

 

“Are you saying that I need to change?” Vladi asked, shaking his head slightly.  “Ummm... why don't you try to leave the castle?” he chided, changing the subject as he closed the distance.

 

Scarlet warily put her scepter out in front of her and pointed it at Vladi.  She suspected that he knew that the broach, under normal circumstances, would only teleport her to somewhere of relatively close proximity that she could see, or at least could clearly visualize in her mind.  “That’s close enough!” she warned shrilly.

 

Vladi Wizard abruptly stopped and slowly raised his large hands, holding them palms forward so the Avenger could see he was unarmed.  “Alright Red,” he said softly as he smiled and watched the cloaked heroine nervously finger her scepter.  “Anyway, haven't I always treated you very well?  Well...with a couple of exceptions.  So... maybe this IS the change!” 

 

“Good...I wouldn't want either of us to get...hurt…” the Scarlet Witch started to reply and then went silent as she watched the handsome adventurer abruptly grin more broadly.

 

Vladi quietly muttered and the torches around the room suddenly went out.  As he resumed his slow, relentless advance, he said simply, “Nor I.”

 

The Scarlet Witch began to edge backwards in the darkness, spinning her scepter slowly before her like a long baton, as she pleaded softly, “Give me a break, Vladi!  You don't want to mess with an Avenger!”

 

Vladi Wizard blinked and willed his pale blue eyes to transform to glowing silver orbs so that the room would appear to him as if brightly lit.  He muttered softly once more and several loud clanks rang through the room as the door locked securely.  Then he calmly replied, “A break?  I would not do that to you, Red.  I wouldn't hurt you!”  The War Wizard muttered yet again, and magical energy filled the room, surrounding everything within it–the heroine, himself, the furnishings, the walls, the floor, the ceiling–in fact, foolproofing his lair against teleport spells, in or out.

 

Scarlet’s head jerked rapidly to-and-fro as she heard strange sounds.  “Won't hurt me?  Then why all of the intrigue?” she queried tersely.

 

Vladi moved silently across a rug-covered stone floor to stand near the heroine’s side.  He spoke softly, knowing it would be difficult in the echoing room for her to tell exactly where his voice was coming from, “Cause I like you Red.  Did I ever do anything to hurt you?  Have I ever threatened you?”  He silently reached onto a nearby wall-shelf and removed a silver-colored elven throwing disk.  It was a decorative souvenir, but in this case, would come in handy

 

The Scarlet Witch blushed deeply in embarrassment as she admitted, “Threatened? No...not really...all you really ever did was pleasure me against my will...well sort of against my will.”  Memories of…interesting times…spent in the backrooms of the place called ‘Ship’ filled her mind.  She liked that place because of the freedom it gave her, freedom from…expectations.  It was a place to vacation from being a role model.

 

Vladi Wizard laughed loudly and abruptly at the Avenger’s unsure words, and chortled dryly, “Sort of against your will…heh heh...ehhh??”  Scarlet started a bit at the somewhat eerie laughter, instinctively jumped sideways, and, without thinking of the consequences, cast a hex into the darkness.  A green, sphere-like probability-altering field closed in and enveloped the entire chamber from all sides.  The walls of the room suddenly creaked inward, obviously ready to collapse.  The auburn-tressed Avenger responded with a high-pitched scream!

 

Vladi hurriedly called out, “You know...if the walls collapse, my dear... they fall on you too.” 

 

“I told you I can't control my power...I can't even direct it to a target unless that target I can see!” the excited heroine responded with a hint of fear in her voice.

 

“Then best you not use it, my dear!” the War Wizard replied sardonically as he suddenly winged the throwing disk at mutant/witch’s silver-colored scepter with stunning speed, force, and accuracy.

 

The Scarlet Witch felt something strike her scepter, but managed not to drop it.  The walls creaked loudly again, and, in desperation, she threw her scepter like a spear towards her opponent’s voice as she screamed angrily, “Not use my god given power!?!  NO!! I MUST!  My power is what sets me apart from all other beings!”

 

Vladi Wizard calmly watched the scepter fly towards him, not affected by the darkness, stepped to the side at the last moment, and with amazing reflexes snatched it out of the air.  “Thank you!” he proclaimed victoriously.  Then he frowned as there was a crashing roar accompanied by fearful gasps from the Avenger; the walls of the chamber were cracking and the room was beginning to collapse inward.  The gasps turned into pain-filled moans as something large knocked the buxom beauty to the floor.

 

Vladi quickly moved across the chamber, avoiding falling debris as he examined the weak and collapsing parts of the facility.  He began to mutter mending spells as he waved his hand at the wall and ceiling to stop the falling stones. 

 

The Scarlet Witch stumbled clumsily to her feet, trying to regain her breath, and abruptly cast another hex into the darkness.  As the green sphere, indicating another probability-altering field, closed in and enveloped the large chamber, the ceiling burst aflame!

 

            The War Wizard, no longer finding the situation merely entertaining, commanded loudly, “Dang it, Red!  Just stop already before you bring this whole place down.”

 

Apparently ignorant of the fact that she was presently a greater danger to herself than her ebony-clad companion, and encouraged by the fact that she had created some light in the room via the fire, Scarlet threatened loudly, “I WILL bring your mighty fortress down around our ears, it would seem, Vladi!”

 

Vladi Wizard continued muttering to alter the effects of the first hex field and fix the stone structure, ignoring the flames for the moment, knowing they wouldn’t damage the fireproof stone.  He paused in his wizardry to tersely remind the heroine, “Right!  OUR ears, Red!”  Then he turned and zinged the scepter with a back-handed motion towards troublesome wench, hoping to stun or even temporarily disable her and end the hexes.  “Sorry ... but I can't allow that!

 

The Scarlet Witch, now racing towards the War Wizard and intent on marshalling an attack, watched the throw and ducked under the flying scepter with a forward dive, somersaulted nimbly back to her feet, and kicked out hard at the man’s midsection with her right booted foot.  There was a loud “Ooooooommmmffff!”  from Vladi who was concentrating on repairing the chamber and putting out the flames. 

 

            Vladi Wizard gasped loudly and doubled over, looking quickly up to watch the Avenger back-flipping away towards her scepter on the floor across the chamber.  He quickly finished his mending spells, putting out the fire to plunging the room back into darkness... and smoke.  He coughed out, “Damn it Red ...you didn't have to...start a fire!”

 

As Scarlet landed on her final flip, knowing that somewhere beside her foot in the once-more dark room lay her weapon, she called haughtily back, “I told you...I can't control my power...its only a matter of time until something really bad happens!  Now...just stop...or I cast another hex into the room!”

 

“So... don't use it!!”  Vladi commanded, wondering just how dim-witted the heroine would get as he watched her feeling the floor with her left foot in search of her scepter.

 

“I must use it, Vladi...it is what I do!” the Avenger chirped, not letting the inability to find her power-controlling device get to her.  It had to be there somewhere; she would find it momentarily.

 

            The War Wizard shook his head in amazement and announced his decision, “Then I must stop you...for our own safety!”  He muttered yet another spell and conjured up a small orb similar to the baseballs found on earth.  He sent the sphere zipping towards the heroine’s head, seeing her easily through the smoke and darkness, watching the smoke vortex around the flying ball.

 

 Sensing, more than hearing, the attack, the Scarlet Witch quickly launched another hex into the darkness.  This time, as the green aura faded, the central part of the chamber’s floor ceased to exist.

 

“Accckkkk!!!” Vladi Wizard yelled out as he quickly jumped back from the gaping hole forming below his feet.  He screamed angrily, “Alright, Red... NO MORE Mr. Nice Guy!!”  As he heard a loud gasp, he looked across the room to watch the reckless heroine drop to the floor as the small orb careened off of her skull.  Vladi would have been jubilant save for one fact, the floor beneath the upper part of the heroine’s body no longer existed, and she was beginning to slide into the void below!

 

“NNNnnnnnnnooooooooEEEEeeee!!!!” exploded from the heroine’s lungs!

 

Chapter 3.  Room With A Custom View

 

In a burst of motion, the War Wizard raced forward and leaped across the huge hole in the floor to land nimbly on the other side beside the heroine.  She had somehow managed to latch onto the edge of the void with her left hand, but Vladi could tell her grip was already failing her.  He quickly dropped to his belly, grabbed the top of the screaming heroine’s left wrist to hold it in place, and then somehow managed to snag her wildly waving right hand.  “Got ya!” he proclaimed excitedly.  “Now... hold on, Red!”

 

“Don't let go, Vladi!” the Scarlet Witch pleaded loudly, her voice quivering with terror.  “I don't want to...to...fall!”

 

“I won't let you fall,” Vladi Wizard replied, calm now having returned to his demeanor.  He quickly and effortlessly pulled the cloaked heroine up from the hole and out of the void, his face lit by the glow from his two silvery orbs, until finally she rested on the floor beside him in a face-to-face position.

 

Scarlet suddenly found herself tightly clutching to the admittedly handsome man she had been fighting only moments earlier.  Red-faced with embarrassment, knowing she had just lost another battle through bumbling, she sighed deeply and said softly, “Thank God!  I thought I would fall into that place below!  I think it might be Limbo...or even...Nowhere!”

 

Vladi abruptly rolled atop the Avenger and clamped his left hand over the comely heroine’s ruby-lipped mouth to stifle her panic, and chided softly, “Or...the floor below.  Now...no more...hexes!”

 

The irked Avenger quickly pushed the offending hand off of her mouth, and retorted in her best schoolmarm tone, “Then be a gentleman and stop trying to tie me up!”

 

Vladi Wizard muttered softly and gestured with his right hand to cause the torches flare to life and light up the room.  He then blinked so that his eyes returned to their normal ice blue color.  Remaining atop the curvaceous woman, he chortled jovially, “Well...can't help it, Red.”

 

The Scarlet Witch let out a loud sigh of relief as the lights came on, and then glared upward at the slim, but well muscled, War Wizard who was smiling down at her with one of those ‘its-all-your-fault’ looks.  “Well...let me up...you big ox...and see if you can find a proper drink!” she commanded haughtily.

 

“Maybe I like it here,” Vladi quipped and then playfully wiggled his body a bit, keeping most of his weight off of the heroine.

 

“Right...I'm just a comfortable rug!” Scarlet bristled.

 

“Not a rug, by a long shot,” the adventurer chuckled.  Then he narrowed his eyes at the beauty below him, before gazing around the widely damaged room to finally focus on the huge hole in the floor that the careless mutant/witch had wrought with her unpredictable power.

 

As the handsome hunk above her looked away, the Scarlet Witch deftly slid her right hand up to her neck to touch her broach; with a slight flash of light and small gust of wind...she teleported to the far side of the room.  “Okay...now I'm not a rug,” the heroine pronounced matter-of-factly, found a chair, and sat down.

 

“Shit!” Vladi Wizard proclaimed as his form dropped the several inches down to the floor.  Then he slowly rolled over and sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees as he looked innocently across the hole at the ravishing heroine. He shrugged and smiled boyishly, before asking coyly, “And what would you like to drink, my dear?”  He figured he might as well be a ... gentleman…about the situation.

 

“White wine would do...a Moselle perhaps,” Scarlet answered sweetly, smiling politely, the way one who is used to getting their way so often does.  Then she asked with faux earnestness, “Now, tell me, what does the mighty Wizard want with the daughter of Magneto?”

 

Ignoring the inquiry for the moment, Vladi nodded slightly and muttered softly.  There was a quick puff of light beside the regal heroine’s chair, the light fading quickly to be replaced with a floating silver platter with a bottle of ‘Schwartze Katze’ and a crystal wine glass upon it.  Then the War Wizard shifted onto his hands and knees and crawled carefully the edge of the floor hole where he peered into the void, before answering softly, “What many want, my dear... just to have some fun with you, is all.”

 

“Fun??...Well that can be a relative term...and it can be a sensation that serves only one player,” the Scarlet Witch answered softly as she picked up the bottle and glass and poured with precision.  Then she waved the glass below her gypsy nose and took a gentle smell of the fruity fragrance.

 

“Hmmmm... I don't think it goes to the next floor,” Vladi Wizard announced suddenly, looked around quickly, and muttered softly and waved his hand to clear the air of the smoke so he could better see into the void.  Then he shifted purposely to sit in a chair across the void from the young Avenger, tilting his head to one side, obviously thinking.

 

Scarlet smiled in self-satisfaction, asking excitedly, “You mean there is another floor below us...or that my break in reality goes on even farther?”  She took a sip of the wine. “Very good vintage, dear sir.”

 

“Very true... and, such would be rather... selfish of me, no?” the War Wizard responded regarding fun.  “Oh... it goes deeper than that!” he answered his guest’s question about the void.  Then he smiled and gave a slight bow.  “Of course...nothing but the best.”

 

“Yes...it would...but selfishness is a weakness suffered by many,” the heroine answered, not sure how long she could maintain a multi-pronged conversation that somehow seemed to be a subtle two-sided camouflage.  The adventurer cleared his throat, so she decided to revert to the other subject, saying speculatively, “Maybe it goes forever...and one can fall into it and never hit a bottom...for as long as they live.”

 

Vladi smiled slightly, stood purposefully up, and dusted off his knees, pondering if he should cover up the hole…or leave it for future explorations.  “A black hole of sorts?” he asked absently.

 

“Perhaps,” the Scarlet Witch answered and then took another sip of wine.

 

Vladi Wizard shook his head gently from side to side, saying, “No...I am sure that it goes somewhere...after all, this castle rests on a dimensional nexus.”

 

Scarlet shrugged, “I never know what will happen when I cast the winds.”

 

“You need to learn control,” Vladi gently lectured as he slowly walked around the edge of the hole, glancing down into the void as he moved towards the side where the crimson-clad lovely lounged.

 

“I have...well someone has...but I am not she,” the mutant/witch replied staring with vacant blue eyes into the nearly empty glass.

 

Vladi stopped abruptly and looked curiously at his auburn-tressed companion.  Then he nodded slightly, remembering things he’d heard at ‘Ship.’  “Ohhhh...your... ummm... other half, no?”

 

The Scarlet Witch suddenly looked up, as if surprised about the subject of their conversation.  “My alter ego, Wicked Wanda, was freed; her persona sometimes controls this vessel,” she said gesturing at her body.  “She has complete control of probability...and of magic.”  The Avenger shivered and then pronounced, the remorse obvious in her voice, “She is evil...she cares not for the world!”

 

“Interesting...that one half of you can do so...but the other can't,” the War Wizard noted, getting a beet-red blush from the heroine in response, before continuing with, “Two sides of the same coin...with different degrees of control.”

 

“I lack...conviction,” Scarlet admitted as she refilled her glass. “I should be able to match her in every way.”

 

“See...that can't happen to me, my dear.  That's the blessing of being a neutral...I accept both my light and dark sides of myself as a whole,” Vladi said, almost beginning to feel sorry for the girl, but hoping she wouldn’t drink too much as there would be little fun in that.

 

“I see...you accept your best days as well as your worst days?” the Scarlet Witch replied quickly, happy to see the conversation changed from…HER.

 

Vladi Wizard nodded in agreement as he muttered softly yet again to conjure up a low chain fencing around the hole to keep the clumsy from falling in to...it???  “Yes... I do good things to help others...then ... selfish things for myself.”  With that admission he tried his boyish smile on the young Avenger once again.

 

“Hmmm...well...heroines are not ice cream to be selfish with,” Scarlet quipped, in truth enjoying all of the attention the handsome man was giving her.  She took another sip of her wine, careful that it was a small one as she already felt warm euphoria.

 

Vladi shrugged and his smile broadened.  “Still... that's my weakness... I admit it.”  As the Scarlet Witch smiled back, a nervous twitch formed at the corner of her cheeks, so he decided to press the issue.  “Don't tell me that it doesn't...thrill you…when you are faced with…selfishness…at times, no?”  Then he chuckled and muttered to conjure up another glass.  He pointed at the bottle of Moselle and levitated it to himself, deftly filling his glass before controlling the bottle back to the floating platter beside the heroine.

 

“Hawkeye says that the thrill of losing is why my power fails me at critical moments.  Who knows...perhaps he is right,” Scarlet parried and then turned pale.

 

“You okay??” the War Wizard quickly asked, worry evident in his voice.

 

            “Yes,” the heroine answered, noting her companion’s concern, “its just that the thought disturbs me...my losing could cost the lives of others...of innocents.”

 

Vladi chuckled a bit as he sat down, cross-legged, floating on a cushion of air a couple of yards away from the introspective heroine, not wanting to make her nervous.  He pushed further into the matter, asking, “What of those fights where others are not involved.... where it is just you and your foe?”

 

The Scarlet Witch grimaced, and answered tersely, “Mostly I win...sometimes I lose...occasionally bad things happen...mostly to me...sometimes to them.”  She stared deeply into her crystal for a long moment before taking another drink of the wine.

 

“And, when you lose...and it is something that isn't...too bad??” Vladi Wizard smiled as he took his first sip of wine.

 

Scarlet fidgeted nervously before replying, hoping she wasn’t smiling as if in fond remembrance, “Sometimes it is more fun than bad...other times... Well...there are Regents and Thornes in the world!”

 

“And, those things that you think are bad...that as time passes…you discover aren't too bad at all, no?” Vladi continued with his cross-examination.  The young Avenger shook her head and glared in sudden anger at her interrogator.  He laughed, before continuing with, “Ohhhh...stop glaring!  You just said it yourself…sometimes more fun than bad...no?”

 

“I'm not sure being whipped until you bleed or treated like a common farm animal could ever be ‘fun’,” the heroine spat as she blushed yet again.

 

Vladi Wizard slowly floated closer to the heroine, and answered with obvious sincerity, “I would never whip you, Red...nor treat you like a farm animal.”

 

“And tie me up?” the Scarlet Witch asked softly, already knowing the answer.

 

Vladi nodded and grinned from ear-to-ear.  “Sure... I enjoy that...and, I bet that you would enjoy it too.”  He watched as Scarlet, rather than answer, simply stood and walked towards the far wall on their side of the void.  “Among other things...of course,” he continued as he floated upward a little bit to stay at eye level with the mutant/witch since she was now standing; he rotated to face her as she moved and sipped his wine.

 

“Why would I enjoy having my freedom to choose taken away from me...amongst other things?” the Scarlet Witch asked with obvious acerbity.

 

“Think about it, Scarlet.  Have you ever wondered why, if I am such a terrible person, that your sister heroines tend to treat me quite... favorably?” the War Wizard asked softly, and then answered quickly with, “Perhaps it is because the pressure and guilt are removed...so that you can let yourself truly go and enjoy yourself.”

 

“You're a personable rogue...I give you that, Vladi...and I myself have twice now...treated you favorably...but a heroine does not ask for what she should not have, nor give what she should not give.  We have an image to uphold for the common man to look up to,” the heroine retorted, the schoolmarm tone back again.  She assumed an air of arrogance; her father would have been proud of that.

 

Vladi nodded and smiled, “I understand that, and, if the truth be known, I find you a very attractive, intelligent, and vivacious woman, besides a heroine.  One that I would enjoy knowing on a more...intimate…level.  But, most heroines don't normally say 'yes' to my advances, because of my....chaotic nature.  So...sometimes my 'darker' nature takes over so that I can have those...things…that I otherwise would not have.”

 

The Scarlet Witch dispelled her scepter, which had been laying on the other side of the void, and recreated it in her hand.  She twirled it absentmindedly as she continued her lecture,  “You say I should learn control of my power...I say you should learn control of your nature.  With such a air about you...you need not take your loves by conquest!”

 

Vladi_Wizard laughed loudly, and quipped, “Touche' my dear!”  As the Avenger stopped twirling and bowed slightly, he slowly floated backwards over the void.  He looked down into the bleak blackness, sniffing occasionally, before saying, “Didn't say anything of love, my dear, that is an emotion that I would like to avoid...though, I must say, that I haven't been able to avoid it as much as I would like.”

 

Scarlet smiled slightly and warned softly, “They say that it is love that makes the world go around...to avoid it is to cheat oneself.  Even a near immortal must take time for love...time to smell the sea breeze...time to smell the garden flowers...time to taste the great chef's meal….”

 

Vladi looked in surprise at the young Avenger in the process of espousing–wisdom–and floated from above the hole to her side, dropping his feet down so he was standing before her. He interrupted her, saying, almost as a whisper, “Perhaps...but, it is less painful that way.  Perhaps I was wrong in saying I 'avoid' it.  Perhaps I should of said…I don't seek it out.”  That said, he walked back to stand at the chain at the edge of the hole... sniffing again...then changed his eyes back to glowing silver orbs to look down into the inky depths of the void.

 

Scarlet now looked confused.  She thought for a moment and then touched her broach.  With the traditional slight flash of light and small gust of wind, she teleported to the opposite side of the room to stand on the edge of the void across from the War Wizard.  “Let me help you see.”

 

“NO!!!” Vladi Wizard commanded loudly as he watched the Scarlet Witch point the ruby end of her silver-colored scepter into the void.

 

Chapter 4.  The Lurker Within

 

Vladi quickly stepped back from the edge of the hole, obviously alarmed.  “I can see fine!” he proclaimed quickly, his attention flickering between the Avenger poking her weapon into the unknown and the unknown itself.

 

“What do you see then?” Scarlet asked, confused by the Wizard’s reaction.

 

“Nothing!” Vladi Wizard replied laconically, and blinked to abruptly change his eyes back to their normal ice blue.  “BUT…I don't want your powers to 'hex' the nothing into something...difficult.”  He sniffed again, and forced a smile at the mutant/witch across the void.

 

The Scarlet Witch smiled back, looking obviously relieved, and chirped rapid-fire, “Ohh...not to worry...I was going to use the scepter...I can control my power...limit the changes to focused elemental energy or matter...watch.”  Without waiting for a response, the crimson-clad heroine abruptly used her mutant powers to energize the adamantium construct, generating a beam of green energy which suddenly transformed into a column of flame shooting into the depths of the void.

 

“Oooohhhhh...shoot!” muttered the War Wizard, his muscular shoulders now slouching a bit as he gazed unblinkingly into what had been darkness below.

 

“Ohoh...looks awful bright down there!” Scarlet quipped happily.  Then she read her ebony-clad companion’s body language and realized something might not be quite right. “What were you sniffing?”

 

Vladi suddenly held his hand up to silence the impetuous wench, hissing “Shhhhh.... listen....” He leaned closer to the hole, listened for another second, and then asked calmly, “Ummm...what do you hear?”

 

The now-concerned heroine tilted her head, and concentrated for a moment, before whispering softly, “Crackling...roaring sounds...almost like screams...almost like jet turbines.”

 

Vladi Wizard sighed audibly and nodded his head slightly.  “That's what I thought.  And...a scratching...a scraping?”

 

The Scarlet Witch looked stunned.  “Yes...yes, that as well!” she agreed excitedly.

 

Vladi sighed loudly again and looked grimly across the hole at the auburn-tressed ‘blonde’ he had chosen as his houseguest.  “THAT is why I didn't want you to do that with the scepter!” he admonished in a disappointed tone.  “You made something...aware of us!”

 

Scarlet blushed crimson and looked uncomfortable.  “I can cast a hex...what is below will change,” she suggested hopefully.

 

The War Wizard shook his head as he leaned forward and sniffed again, obviously listening to the scrapes that were becoming more distinct.  “Change isn't always good, my dear Scarlet,” he answered without embellishment.

 

The Scarlet Witch fidgeted for a moment, and then lightly tapped her broach to teleport next to the handsome adventurer.  She frowned and asked in a cracking voice, “What is it do you think?”

 

Ignoring the troublesome Avenger for the moment, Vladi Wizard stepped back and began muttering as he weaved his hands over the large hole. The sounds from below were clearly getting louder.  His brow furrowed as he concentrated on the spell, and soon thin streamers of bright, multi-colored light started flowing from his fingertips, weaving like a spider web over the hole.

 

Scarlet backed up to stand silently behind Vladi, fingering her scepter, quaking nervously, her fine-featured face having grown pale and tense.  She could smell something now!  And the scraping was louder, closer, and carried with it a sense of speed!

 

Vladi was starting to sweat now!  He knew he couldn't rush the spell, but still his fingers flew as more and more streamers of glimmering light weaved in tighter and tighter strands.  The very floor was now vibrating, so loud was the sound.  And the smell was now becoming discernable–it was the terrible aroma of rotting flesh and offal!

 

The Scarlet Witch gasped and choked in the stench, her gold-flecked blue eyes watering uncontrollable.  “Oh no!  Vladi...what have I done!?!” she lamented sorrowfully, before continuing stridently, “Do SOMETHING!  You’re SUPPOSED to be a wizard!”

 

The War Wizard didn't answer, COULDN'T answer!  He was trying to complete the barrier, but fearing that he may be too late to complete it.  The sound was now like a thousand steel claws driving into solid stone, shredding rock to propel something very large upwards very fast!

 

Scarlet felt overwhelmed with dread, but steeled herself and took a poise behind the ebony-clad warrior, her arms raised over her head, palms forward, ring and index fingers pointing upward, the rest of the digits forming two loose fists.  “Ohhh...Lord...Lord help us now!” she shrilled loudly, her voice quivering.

 

Suddenly, Vladi cried out loudly “OOOOHHHHH....CRAAPPPPP!!! UGHHHHHH!!!!!” as the glowing web of magic covering the hole was abruptly blasted apart.  He flew helplessly back from the edge of the hole due to the force of the spell being torn apart by the–THING–that exploded with hurricane force up out of the void!

 

The statuesque Avenger, still striking her silly pose, looked up in astonishment at the monstrosity that had forcefully entered the chamber from the void below.  The creature slowly continued to rise up and up and up from the hole, filling it, and then the now-not-so-large-seeming chamber; filling it with muscle and tendon and scales and slaver and teeth and claws and horns and glowing evil eyes.  Its scaly skin was a smoldering reddish-black, and its car-sized head, in form, appeared to be a cross between dragon and what man thought of as Lucifer, the devil incarnate.  Its four-digited hands were more than twice the size of a man and tipped with three-foot-long razor-sharp claws of gleaming ebony.  Its two eyes glowed blood red with neither pupils nor whites, and its rapidly flickering tongue was long and black and most definitely forked.  The sound of its vicious roar was very much like the sound of a jet engine, and the stench of its breath was nearly incapacitating.  Four words could be used to describe the creature: big, bad, ugly, and mean!

 

The Scarlet Witch, visibly quaking in her crimson boots, turned to the fallen Vladi Wizard, who still lay prone on his back on the hard floor, and shrilled, “Vladi...what is that thing...how do we stop it?”

 

The War Wizard grimaced and shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind.  In answer, he simply stammered, “I.... told ... you.... not ... to ... do ... that!”

 

Scarlet blushed deeply and said weakly, barely audible over the creature’s screeching, “I know, I know...to late to stop what I did...what is it...how do I fix it?”

 

Vladi gasped audibly in pain as he staggered slowly up to his feet to stand beside the trembling heroine and face the huge nightmare.  “I ... guess...we have to...send it...back!”

 

The Scarlet Witch shakily backed slowly away from the creature, energizing every ounce of mutant energy within her body into a single hex.  She called loudly up to the monster above her, “Hellspawn...leave this realm or face the winds of change!” 

 

The demon, for lack of a better word, reacted to the boisterous bristle by simply upping the decibels of its jet-scream growls, and emitting a stench that was almost overpowering.  It slowly looked around the room, its huge nostrils flaring as it finally took the two humanoids into its gaze.  Its massive shoulders flexed as it towered over the wide-eyed bipeds, its claws slowly opened, and its ebony lips curled back to reveal teeth like two long rows of ebony sabers as it snarled!

 

Scarlet, continuing her slow retreat, fear filling her paled face, her body quaking, the emerald glow building around her body, called stridently out to her companion who stood coughing beside her, “Vladi...we have no choice...there is nowhere to run...we must find a way to send this creature away!”

 

Vladi Wizard muttered softly to conjure up his battle staff, which appeared suddenly in his hands accompanied by a flash of light.  Holding the six foot long quarterstaff, made of a smooth deep reddish wood from another dimensional world, thousands of tiny mystic runes running almost invisibly all along the staff, he watched in silence as the huge creature slammed its massive hands upwards, its iron like claws rending into the roof like a hot knife through butter, to rip stones away like paper to make more room for its bulky form.  “I know that, Red!!” he finally replied, and then began muttering spells to levitate up the massive stones that had fallen, and then whip them around through the air to pummel into the looming body of the creature, with no visible effect whatsoever.  He shrugged and spat, “Well.... someone was bound and determined to wreck my place today it seems!!”

 

The Scarlet Witch blushed deeply and frowned as she realized that she was the ‘someone’ who was ‘bound and determined’ in Vladi's mind.  Then she grimaced as the glow around her finally reached dark emerald in color, and containing the energy became more and more difficult.  She roared angrily, “Then late us roll the dice yet again...for the hellspawn ignores my pleas and the obvious threats!”

 

“Not all demons come from what you humans call 'hell',” the War Wizard warned loudly as he stepped to the side to make some room between himself and the heroine.  He began spinning his immensely strong and dense and nearly indestructible staff at his side, resulting in a build up a glowing silver light within the plane of the rod’s arc.  The golden cap at its foot, and the golden orb that adorned its head added a slight golden hue to edges of the silver light.

 

            “Fine...then let us send it to hell!” the cloaked Avenger spat vehemently as she stopped retreating and added a one-foot ‘crane’ stance to her arms uplifted pre-hex pose.

 

“Yes.... let's!” agreed the chaotic neutral adventure, his battle staff now spinning so fast it whistled and the silver light appeared as if a solid gold-trimmed disk.

 

Chapter 5. Side By Side

 

Scarlet bent abruptly towards the creature dwarfing them, her dark-emerald-glowing hex sphere crackling above her, the energy now nearly impossible to contain, and shrilled at the top of her lungs, “Yes, let us...and let us do it now!”

 

Vladi gritted his teeth as he abruptly stopped the spinning of the staff, and the glowing silver blaze of light divided and melded into two long, glowing silver blades sprouting from the foot and head of the battle staff.  The demon, perhaps sensing danger, unleashed a deafening roar, and exhaled a golden spout of liquid fire that blazed forth from its mouth and blasted high into the air.  Then the monstrous creature lowered its fearsome head to spew the ‘napalm’ at the miniscule humanoids.

 

The Scarlet Witch chose that instant to cast the massive hex, and a huge, green, sphere-like probability-altering field closed in and enveloped the demon from all sides.  Not waiting to see the results of her effort, as she was already engulfed in the eerie ‘flames,’ she rolled quickly out from the path of the fire breath.  As the Avenger cleared the golden stream, a purplish glow that had formed around her and all that she held and wore dissipated; once again, the magic Ioun stone, given to her as a consolation prized after losing a contest with Vladi Wizard soon after their first meeting at ‘Ship,’ had done its job of protecting her from heat and flame. 

 

“Aaarrhhhhhhh!!!” Vladi screamed stridently in obvious pain.  He had been so intent on attacking that he hadn’t been quick enough to avoid getting caught in the edge of the demon’s fire blast.

 

“Vladi!?!” Scarlet cried out, her voice filled with concern, but her eyes locked on the demon, now surrounded by an eerie blue light and roaring in a higher pitch, obviously in pain itself.  Then she looked to her companion.  Horror filled he face as she realized that the War Wizard had been burned, perhaps seriously, in the monster’s ‘napalm.’  It was ironic that he himself had badly needed his long-ago gift to the heroine that he had brought with him to his home this day in pursuit of ‘fun.’

 

The War Wizard cringed in pain from his left leg, damaged as the liquid fire had sizzled into his leather pants as he had rolled under it and to the side before slashing with the sword staff; the silver blade had proved effective, slicing thru the thick armor-like skin of the gargantuan demon’s lower chest.  The colossal creature consequently bellowed in rage with such volume that both bipeds thought their eardrums might burst.

 

“Vladi...I think my hex is shrinking the demon!” the Avenger yelled hopefully as she employed another of the few true magic spells she knew to cast ‘heal’ on her battling companion between quick glances at the giant towering above them both.

 

Vladi Wizard rolled athletically to the right, and then dove forward to maneuver around to the back of the beast.  He grimaced in pain, ignoring the flaming liquid still burning on his leg, as he spun the staff around over his head and then slashed it down to slice into the scaly demon’s lower back.  “Good! Still... ughhhhh.... dangerous though!” he blurted loudly as he watched the creature swings its still-massive left arm at the mutant/witch.

 

The Scarlet Witch, heeding the warning, charged forward under the descending claw, and reached as high as she could to swing her scepter at the demon’s skull as it twisted around to snap at the dodging War Wizard with its razor-sharp teeth.  There was a solid thump followed by a strong recoil, and the demon turned its head away from its earlier target to focus on her.  “Dangerous...you are prone to understatement!” she quipped excitedly.

 

Vladi grinned broadly as he noted a greenish ichor seeping from the wound caused by his silver blade slashing through the mammoth creature’s lower back.  Suddenly, huge leathery wings sprung out from the demon’s shoulders, and whipped back to snap hard into the War Wizard and slam his body into the wall behind him.  “UGHHHHH!!!”he cried as the wind was forced out of his lungs.

 

“NOOOO!!!” Scarlet yelled stridently as she raced to her fallen comrade’s side, forgetting about the terror still looming above her.

 

“Aaarrrrgghhhhhhhhh!!” Vladi Wizard screamed in all-to-evident pain as he thrashed on the floor attempting to remove his still-burning pants as the creature turned purposefully around to face the pair.  As the burning black leather pants finally came free of his legs, Vladi noted that the demon did seem smaller, but more pissed now!!

 

Suddenly remembering the colossus behind her as she stood above her handsome and now half-naked companion, the Scarlet Witch quickly wheeled, knelt, planted the base of her scepter on the floor, and energized it with her mutant power. Even as the creature’s golden ‘napalm’ showered down yet again upon the diminutive humanoids, they were suddenly surrounded by a green energy field projecting from the scepter that instantly transformed into a translucent pale-green force wall.  Safe for the moment, the mutant/witch concentrated on casting heal spells on her colleague’s leg.

 

“Ughh... thanks... now... how long will…that wall…hold??” Vladi asked weakly as he carefully used one of the blades on his staff to cut away a few remaining strips of still-flaming flesh.

 

“Maybe a minute...that’s about it...then it will fade rapidly,” the comely Avenger replied softly.  She looked carefully at the War Wizard as he continued with his self-surgery.  She was afraid he might pass out.  “Stay with me Wizard...I don't want to play with ‘Rover’ alone!” she pleaded.

 

“Oh...don't worry...Red...I'm...here,” Vladi Wizard answered weakly, but still managing a slight smile.  He staggered shakily, sans pants, up to his feet, and held his staff in his right hand as he dug desperately into his purple-colored mystic sash with his left hand.  “Well...at least we now know...what is in...the hole,” he said matter-of-factly.

 

“I wish I didn't!” the Scarlet Witch replied despondently as she watched the force wall begin to fade.

 

Vladi, finally done rummaging in the colorful sash, pulled out a small brown-leather bag and quickly handed it to the discouraged beauty beside him.  “Here!  Dump those marbles into my hand!” he instructed succinctly as he held his left hand out palm upward.

 

Scarlet silently complied and dumped five ‘marbles’ into Vladi's open hand.  Then, grim-faced, she turned and energized her silver-colored scepter once again, this time sending an ice bolt flying at the demon.  Though the creature was now visibly less massive, the ice blast seemed to have no adverse effect on it!

 

The War Wizard shrugged, closed his hand, and charged, dancing side-to-side, at the demon.  He jabbed with his bladed staff at the demon’s underbelly, and, as its large right claw swooshed towards where he was, he skipped to the right and attacked the creature’s left rib cage with his sharp weapon.  He abruptly bent at the waist and planted one of the ‘marbles’ into the floor near the edge of the void; the small sphere sank strangely into the stone surface like a rock in quicksand.  Then the adventure danced forward, narrowly escaping a swooshing left claw-hand and struck the creature on the right side of its neck.  He repeated similar maneuvers until all five ‘marbles’ had been planted in a pentagram pattern around the hole in the chamber’s floor.

 

“Go, Vladi!” the crimson-clad mutant/witch turned cheerleader yelled jubilantly as she watched green ‘blood’ ooze from many wounds.

 

“Now... we have... to force... it ... down!!” the whirling dervish called back as he skipped again to the right and sliced the demon’s belly once again.  “So...I can... collapse...the...hole!” he continued, to guard against any possible misunderstanding.

 

The Scarlet Witch nodded and launched another charge from the scepter.  This time a shower of fist-sized stones flew at the demon's right eye, the impact garnering a deafening squeal.  “I'll try to help...but my hex power is becoming drained!” the Avenger warned.

 

Vladi Wizard lifted his head to look up through the largely crumpled ceiling of the chamber they were battling in and into the next floor of his castle complex.  He muttered and pointed at that room’s still-intact ceiling, casting a spell to make a large section collapse; several large stones rained down on the demon’s huge head and shoulders, battering it downward into the void.  “Arrrrgghhh... Now I AM doing it!!!” he ranted as more of his home was damaged.

 

Scarlet, hugging the wall, trying not to get squashed, called out excitedly, “I think its working, but don't get caught yourself!”

 

“More!! Bring down more, Red!!” Vladi implored as he danced recklessly between falling stones while continuing to poke the screeching monster with his flashing weapon as it slowly sank lower and lower into the pit.

 

The Scarlet Witch nodded and grimaced as she collected her resolve.  Then she fired another charge from the scepter; this time the greenish column transformed into a translucent force beam that crashed into the ceiling of the room above them.  Happy with the manifestation of her energies, she continued feeding her hex power into the scepter to maintain the force beam, painting the ceiling a story above and breaking apart the already damaged sections. The were loud groans and cracking sounds from above in response to the Avenger’s efforts, and as her powers sputtered and faded, completely drained, she warned loudly, “Get back, Vladi...I think the whole thing is coming down!”

 

The War Wizard watched warily, dodging falling debris, as the demon roared loudly in rage and frustration from the massive stone blocks smashing down upon its head and shoulders.  Finally, as the hideous head lowered below floor level, he dashed recklessly inwards to the edge of the hole to smash one of the ‘marbles’ and set off the intended chain reaction; there was a silent explosion of light and force, and the void suddenly collapsed inwards, the stone melting to flow and coalesce over the hole. That done, Vladi dove back towards the wall and away from the shower of debris, but he was two late and yelped loudly in pain as one of the medium-sized blocks caught his right ankle and he heard a snapping sound!

 

            When the ruggedly handsome adventurer was finally within reach, Scarlet grabbed him firmly and pulled him quickly toward her as she hugged the wall.  As the debris shower finally came to an end, she looked down at her companion in battle sitting on the floor beside her holding his ankle in both hands, pain filling his face, and asked anxiously, “Vladi...you’re hurt?”

 

“Ughh... it's nothing,” Vladi Wizard replied falsely as he stared at the hole, watching as it collapsed and sealed downward, forcing the demon deeper and deeper.

 

The now dirt-covered and ragged-looking Avenger knelt quickly down to get a loser look at Vladi's ankle, arguing, “Hmm...nothing?  I think not!  It is most definitely broken, but I can feel no displacement of bone,” she said as her hands gently examined the injury.  Then she cast multiple heal spells.

 

Vladi panted in exhaustion from the long battle and muttered to change his battle staff back to normal, the glowing silver blades fading into nothingness.   Then he glanced down to watch the mutant/witch healing his ankle.  He wiggled his toes, and then suddenly realized, “Oh!  My pants!”

 

The Scarlet Witch blushed beet red as she abruptly she realized that ‘Vladi’ was bobbing just above her head.  She quickly undid her cloak’s clasp and tried to hand the crimson-colored clothing article to the War Wizard as she looked sheepishly away pretending to survey the room.  “My, that thing sure made a mess,” she spurted out.

 

“Ummm...thanks…but...I got it,” Vladi Wizard replied as he muttered and conjured up a fresh, clean pair of leather pants, which materialized on him to cover his lower body.  Then he stood and turned in a slow circle to take in the damage.  “Shootdangdarndamnshitgoddamnit,” he blurted loudly as he noted grumpily that at least three floors had been partially destroyed.

 

“Now...that is what I call being heroic without considerations!” Scarlet quipped as she once again looked back at the War Wizard’s torso and realized the risks to ‘himself’ that he had been taking during the battle.

 

            Vladi suddenly turned on the shapely heroine, ignoring her obvious attempt to change the subject, and glared at her with obvious irritation.  “If you hadn't done what I told you NOT to do…I wouldn't have had to!!” he spat.

 

“I told you I couldn't control my powers,” the Avenger protested trying to look innocent.

 

“Well, next time I will have to do something about those powers, since it seems obvious that you yourself cannot,” Vladi Wizard chided derisively.  Then he said softly in a forgiving tone, “But, it’s a good thing that you are alright!”

 

The Scarlet Witch sighed softly and hugged Vladi tightly, and then smiled broadly as he returned the hug.  “And it’s a good thing that your okay as well,” she replied sweetly.  Then with a slight gasp she asked, “Hmmm...you know what is really terrible?”

 

“Hmm...what's that?” the tired adventure asked, wondering what trouble Scarlet was going to bring about now.

 

“I think the demon-thing broke our wine bottle!” the Scarlet Witch grumbled with obvious disappointment.  Then she had a chuckling Vladi take her back to the bar, so that none of the other patrons would think that anything untoward had happened between them.


TO BE CONTINUED

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