She was crying, her whole body shaking with the sorrow in her soul.

Topaz often spent nights like this. Her arms wrapped around herself as she broke into hysterics. The tissue in her hand was mangled and she dropped it helplessly on the bedspread as she balled her hands into fists and wiped the wetness that wasn't ceasing from her eyes.

Ever since she was a child, Topaz tried hard to keep her emotions hidden from others. They were a sign of weakness she refused to show, but on nights like this, the pressure and sadness became overwhelming and she was forced into an emotional release she could not stop.

Betrayal and loneliness were foremost in her mind, made all the more obvious by the empty hotel room she was in as she made her way to Rome.

As Topaz threw another tissue on the bedspread she began to grow frustrated with herself for the length she had been crying. Slowly she threw the covers off and walked to the foot of the bed. It was hard to do with her eyes swelling and shielded with tears. Her bag was on the floor and she rummaged through it, mumbling to herself to calm down while she continued to cry. At last she found the dark blue bag she was looking for and pulled it out.

The bag had been a gift from Dr. Strange for her 21st birthday after he had saved her from Mephisto's machinations. Its dark blue exterior was decorated with silver stars and moons. Inside Topaz kept her magic tools. Candles of every color and size along with several various lighters and incense. She took out a stick of vanilla incense and a hand carved burner that Clea had given her.

Her hands shaking with tears still streaming, she made several attempts to light it before a clear ribbon of smoke emerged. She blew her nose and set the burner on the floor in front of her, crossing her legs and breathing deeply. She took several breaths before she spoke. Her breath came out in a shaky rasp but she continued speaking, her voice slowly growing stronger. The words she spoke were of a foreign sound but roughly translated they were:

I am content in my own universe.
I create and give love and friendship
and I will grow and learn to know my inner self.

Topaz continued to repeat the chant until her tears had subsided. She drew a ragged breath and opened her eyes slowly. Getting up, she placed the incense on the table next to her bed and climbed under the covers.

It was the fear of the unknown that was calling out to her now. With Clea's betrayal there were only Lilith and Vicki she could rely on, but that wasn't guaranteed. Although they had been lucky in their fight and had worked well together, there was no guarantee that the two older women would give her the time of day.

But she had no where else to go. It was times like this that she wished she had a guardian angel, even though she didn't believe in such things. All she had was her magic, and one more day of traveling before she found her last resort. Vicki and Lilith…

For Mature Readers Only

#5
April '03

Strange Tales Presents

Witches

"Kidnapped"
Written by Megan Curtis

Lilith stared at the quivering pile of mass below her boot. She curled her lips in disgust and showed her fangs in the flickering torch light. "This is your father?"

Vicki lost her patience and pushed Lilith aside as she helped her father to his feet. "Yes, he is." Once he was on his feet Vittorio backed away from the two women. "They have sent my own to kill me!"

The two women shifted facial features as Lilith became impatient with the man and Vicki growled in anger. "What are you talking about? Who is trying to kill you?"

He stared in fear, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two women. He looked like he was going to say something but then his gaze flickered to the shadowy hallway and wall. "If you do not know what I am speaking of, then run. There is a demon haunting me and I must destroy it!"

Vittorio turned to run down the dim hallway when Lilith's hand snaked out and grabbed his. She slammed him up against the cold brick hallway wall lifting the smaller man off the ground and holding him pinned. "Yea I get that. Unfortunately you trying to kill this demon or whatever is having a bad affect on your daughter so I don't think I'm going to let you run off and continue trying to cast it."

A wave of giddiness rushed through Vicki as she listened to Lilith defend her. She smiled shyly at Lilith who couldn't see the action. "It's ok Lilith, let him talk first. Look fa- Vittorio," she shrugged off the slip. "The spell you're casting to harm this demon is killing me." She paused a moment hoping that he would lament that occurrence but was greeted only with silence so she continued. "Maybe we can find out what this demon wants and get rid of him or her."

"Either way, you're not using that spell again." Vittorio shuddered in fear and revulsion as Lilith's fangs seemed to glow in the dim light.

"I would be better to kill you Vampire and then kill the demon that is my daughter."

Lilith let loose a growl completely exposing her teeth as she leaned towards the man's exposed neck.

"Stop!" Lilith responded to Vicki's voice, her teeth a mere inch away from Vittorio's flesh.

"Lil, stop. He's my father, no matter what."

Excruciatingly slow, Lilith moved her mouth away from his neck and let his body slide down the wall. She held him pinned but loosened her grip. "If you try to harm me or your daughter she won't be able to stop me from ripping your throat out," she said in a voice low enough for only Vittorio to hear. She pulled him away from the wall and pushed him a few feet down the hallway. "Let's get some chairs and some food and you can explain to us what this demon has been doing to you."

Vittorio straightened his back and stared with disdain at Vicki and unbridled hatred at Lilith. "Devil Spawn," he spat out.

"Walk," she answered back.

He turned on his heel and grabbed a torch from the wall sconce, turning once again to walk down the hallway in the direction the girls had originally been headed down.

Lilith smiled over her shoulder at Vicki who was staring at her in a kind of shock. "What's wrong Vick?"

"I just thought of something. You're a vampire."

"Um… I thought we'd been through this a couple times already."

"Were underneath St. Peters."

Lilith finally caught her train of thought. "I gotcha. The fact that were in a holy place and I'm not disintegrating or in pain or anything like that is freaking you out isn't it?"

Vicki nodded. "How is that possible?"

"Like I said before, I'm not your average vampire." She smiled at Vicki but it was lost from sight as the hallway was suddenly plunged into inky blackness.

"It's the Demon!" Vittorio shouted out from somewhere in the dark.

"How did he extinguish the torches?" Lilith's question was greeted with only more silence. "Vicki?"

Silence.

"VICKI?!" Lilith blinked furiously trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness faster. She didn't see Vicki's figure anywhere.

Just as suddenly as the torches had been extinguished they lit up again. Lilith scanned the hallway but could not see Victoria in it. Vittorio was lying on the floor and when Lilith investigated she saw a dark mass of blood on the back of his head. He had been knocked out.
"Damnit!" Frustration and fear were surging through her as she again looked up and down the hallway. "VICKI!"

Only silence greeted her.

It was the most amazing structure he had ever seen.

Arthur stared up at the engineering masterpiece that was the Eiffel Tower. He wanted to ride the elevator to the top but knew he must not waste any time. She was here and he was going to find her.

It had taken longer than he had expected to reach Paris, France. Once there he tried not to gawk about him at all the wonderful technology he was discovering for the first time. The Eiffel Tower was one such masterpiece he was lucky enough to see.

He had been forced to leave his horse Hern back in London. After a few days travel he realized the beast had no place in this modern world. How he wished it could be different.

Arthur needed a friend.

He had money thanks to the various gold items he had with him when he left Avalon but he still did not understand this money system as well as he would like. He understood about buying items but this "euro" everyone kept asking for was getting to be annoying.

However, after days of looking he had found her. Topaz, the woman he had been dreaming about, the woman who caused him to leave his home just to be with her. He could see her now walking through a crowd at the base of the tower. She had a long coat wrapped around her and a stocking cap pulled onto her head. He still knew it was her.

Knowing only a little magic had been convenient on Avalon but was becoming a blessing in this outside world. He had reached out with his power and followed her as she made her way to Paris. She had stopped here for a few days giving him ample time to catch up to her. Another day had been spent simply watching her, completely breathless with every move she made. Arthur was afraid to approach her for fear that she was not the beauty she had appeared to be on Avalon.

His impatience had gotten the better of him so he had followed her today, waiting until the perfect moment. Until this moment. He moved and walked towards her. She had stopped next to a street painter and was watching his brush move across the canvas.

"Topaz."

She turned, her eyes going right for him, a smile lighting her angelic face.

"Arthur!"

She heard the clink of chains and realized it was her hands. An adrenaline rush cleared her blurry eyes almost immediately. Lifting her head slightly she could see that her wrists had chains on them as did her ankles. She was lying on a wooden table and she wiggled a bit to see if she could get off of it.

Her plan to escape was paused momentarily as she looked around at her surroundings. It looked like something straight from Robin Hood. The large room was a dungeon torture chamber from what she saw. Stone walls that held no windows. Torches cast an eerie light around the room. Huge metal objects leaned against walls while chains and manacles hung from other walls. The table Vicki was chained to was positioned in the center of the room. Next to it was a table full of small needles and pliers. Vicki had no plan to stick around and find out what they were used for.

She was able to sit up and she pulled on the chains that held her feet. While her hands had a few feet of slack her feet only had a few inches. The chains were also solidly built and were not moving no matter how hard she pulled.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A deep male voice sang out from a dark corner of the room.

Vicki looked up in surprise and tried to suppress her fear. "Who are you?"

The voice laughed deeply. "You know who."

A chill ran down her spine but she held her head up stiffly. "Let me go."

"Why?" His answer surprised her for a moment but she laughed in an imitation of his.

"I don't want to be here."

"I think you do. Why else would you have come?"

She pulled on the chains again. "What do you want?"

Another laugh, "Just you Victoria."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

It was then that she was finally able to place the voice. She fought the nausea that was threatening her. "Sam?" She whispered.
He stepped out of the darkness then.

Sam Buchanan had once served as a member of Interpol. He had been assigned to protect Victoria from those wishing to cause her harm. She had known that he was attracted to her but he had understood that she did not, could not feel the same way.

Vicki stared at the man approaching her but could see nothing familiar of her old friend. Rather than the military type of clothing he had often chosen to wear he was dressed all in black. His brown hair had also been dyed black and was slicked back away from his clean shaven face.

"Sam?" She said again, louder this time.

He smiled at her in a calm manner, approaching the table slowly. "Beautiful Victoria. My Angel." He was standing next to the table and ran a hand down her face holding it in his hand. "I have missed you so much."

"Let me go Sam. This isn't like you." He smiled even bigger but did not release her face from his hands.

"Yes Victoria, it is like me. I have loved you from afar for so long and now at last you are my own. We will be happy together and I know that you will love me as well."

"Sam you know I love you, but as a friend, nothing more."

His smile faded and he backed away from her slowly. "Do not lie to me Victoria, it only upsets me." He reached towards the table and lifted a long knife from the assorted tools. "No more lies."

He laughed at her excitement but returned the hug. "I came to be with you." She smiled even wider at him.

"I knew there was a reason I wasn't leaving Paris. There is no reason for me to stay and I was trying to get to Rome but something made me stay here."

He kissed her lightly on the lips. "It was the same thing that caused me to leave Avalon."

Her smile turned shy and she looked down quickly in embarrassment.

All he wanted was to kiss her thoroughly but he restrained himself and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Besides the obvious reason I wanted you to help me develop my powers."

She seemed surprised by his request but nodded her head. "I admit that I'm just learning myself but I'll teach you all that I know. If that's the real reason why you found me you can say so, I'll understand."

He stopped walking and pulled her around to face him. "That's not the only reason. Believe that I feel a strong connection between us. I found you because of those reasons not because I hope that you can help me develop my power. That is something I was thinking about the last few days. My mother always tried to teach me because she wanted to use me in some way. I will not tolerate that. However I have power and I should learn how to use it properly. Will you help me?"

Topaz nodded and linked her hand in his walking towards the hotel she was staying in. He however stopped her and pulled her back towards the Eiffel tower. "Wait, I want to see the top of it!"

She laughed but followed after him. When they reached the top she laughed again as he carefully walked out, fearful of somehow falling. He let her laugh and then scooped her into his arms kissing her on the top of the world.

Lilith kicked Vittorio again this time he stirred and raised his head.

"What happened?"

"You tell me! Everything went dark and your daughter was swiped. Are there any tunnels or anything that lead off of this one?"

He shook his head but winced when that proved to be painful. "No, nothing like that."

Lilith looked at the wall and then back at Vittorio. "When you jumped out at us where were you hiding?"

He pointed down the hallway from the direction they had come. "A few feet down there is a small alcove, I was hiding in there."

Lilith passed it the first time but on the second time she found the small indentation. She also felt a breeze coming from it. "Is there a hidden passageway through here?"

Vittorio had risen to his feet and was standing behind her staring at the alcove. "No."

Lilith punched at the wall and was not surprised when she only met a brick of resistance before her hand hit open air. She quickly pulled some of the bricks aside and peered into a well lit stone hallway.

Vittorio's mouth dropped and he stared from the hole to Lilith.

She shrugged and began pulling away more bricks. "Vampire strength. Let's go."

To Be Continued...

-Megan E. Curtis