Topaz held her breath and pulled her hair back; dunking her face in the cold water for what must have been the tenth time. She took a deep breath as she came back up to the surface and stared at the mirror. Her face was still puffy from the crying she had done the last few minutes.

“Are you all right?” The knock on the door was one of many that had occurred since Topaz had locked herself in the hotel bathroom. She knew that Arthur… an emotionally wounded Arthur stood on the other side.

“I’m fine,” she yelled back, grabbing a towel and wiping off her face. “As good as I’ll ever be,” she mumbled to herself. The bathroom door was pulled open and Topaz tried not to let her knees get too weak as she saw the concern on Arthur’s face and the state of undress he was in.

After driving off a pier, Topaz and Arthur had gone back to the hotel to change. Or in Topaz’s case cry her eyes out. Arthur had made a move. There was heat and passion but it did nothing more than scare Topaz out of her wits. It had happened too fast. She had pushed him away, not giving any explanation to him, just a shove and an angry accusation about other women in his life. As if it mattered? Topaz didn’t care if he had a harem back on Avalon, she was head over heels in love with him, but part of her demanded that she keep him at a distance, especially a physical one. Sex… well sex was a complication. Still a virgin, Topaz did not want that complication, nor was she interested in having the uncomfortable talk with Arthur that she had had with many men before. Putting up boundary lines was the quickest way to kill the romance in any situation. It was better to just keep him at a distance and save a little pride for a rainy day.

Looking at him now, Topaz wanted to throw that pride out the window. His shaggy brown hair was drying nicely but the causal wetness would be the envy of any male model. So would his body, Topaz mused silently. His broad chest and shoulders made it plainly obvious that he was in the prime of his very active life. The thing that nearly sent Topaz into a dead faint was the six-pack she found herself staring at. His abs were a thing of beauty and she tried not to stare at them too openly.

“Sorry,” she said as she stepped out of his way and motioned for him to use the bathroom. “I’m done.”

He didn’t say anything as he shut the door behind him. Topaz stared at the cream paint and silently cursed every single value and moral she had ever possessed. He was a fucking Knight!!! A Knight!!! He rode a horse, he carried a sword, he had left his magical island kingdom to be with her!!! Was it too much for him to ask her to spread her legs a little bit?

Topaz fell onto the bed face first kicking at the soft mattress and punching a pillow. Sometimes she really hated being herself.

For Mature Readers Only

#7
March '04

Strange Tales Presents

Witches

"Back In Action"
Written by Megan Curtis

Lilith stared out at the passing countryside from her seat on the train. Next to her dozed the woman who had recently been Lilith’s lover, Vicki. A few days ago had they been riding this train, people passing would have stared at the two beautiful women. Unfortunately, after their recent trials all anyone saw was one brooding beauty and the bandaged mess sitting next to her.

Vicki was covered in bandages. They were wrapped all over her body making her look more like a not-quite finished mummy rather than a luscious lesbian. Their recent adventure to keep Vicki’s father from killing his own daughter had not ended as well as originally planned.

Vittorio Montesi had been convinced that a demon was trying to kill him. He had used a spell stolen from the Darkhold to kill the demon. The only problem was that it wasn’t a demon after him and using the Darkhold spell was slowly killing his daughter. Vicki and Lilith had found Vittorio and in the process the so-called demon had kidnapped Vicki, torturing and disfiguring her. The story became much more complicated after that, Lilith thought to herself, going over the occurrence for the hundredth time. It had been Sam Buchanan that had kidnapped Vicki… until it wasn’t Sam. Just as Lilith was winning the fight Sam changed shape into that of Liz McConel one of the girls that had been saved and taken to Avalon. What she was doing underneath St. Peters torturing Vicki and pretending to be Sam was causing Lilith’s head to massively pound as she tried to figure out that puzzle.

Another puzzle was also weighing on her mind. Why wasn’t Clea answering any telepathic calls? Lilith had spent hours sitting and thinking about Clea, calling to the other woman as loudly with her mind as could be managed. The only response had been one word. Paris. Did that mean go to Paris? Did that mean Clea and Topaz were in Paris? Did that mean fucking Paris Hilton was telepathic?

Exhausted and freaking out a little bit over the sorry state her companion was in, Lilith had bought two train tickets for the city of lights and was now staring at the greenery as it passed at two hundred miles an hour.

She watched as Vicki breathed in and out and tried to hide her shudder of revulsion as she saw the bandages. Lilith was making no claims on sainthood. On the contrary, she was a vampire with no conscious. Her relationship with Vicki was about to come to a screeching halt for one reason, Lilith no longer found her attractive. How to tell this maimed woman that was going to be really difficult. Their relationship had developed from too much booze and a similar dislike of their fathers. Plus, and Lilith smiled when she remembered this, Vicki was a hot piece of ass. Lilith’s last affair had not been nearly as sexually satisfying as the current one with Vicki, but now with her disfigurement… well… Lilith was just looking forward to having a few other people around so that it didn’t have to be the two of them together anymore.

“Mmmm…. What time is it?” Vicki opened her eyes slowly, thanking god Sam hadn’t cut them out.

“Shhh, it’s early still. We should be there in a few hours.”

Vicki nodded in contentment and fell back asleep. Lilith continued to stare feeling a little trickle of guilt. She had just saved this woman’s life from a madman or madwoman. Could she really be so superficial as to dump her now? Now when she needed a lover and friend the most?

“Yup…”

Then something strange happened and Lilith jumped to her feet, a feeling of helplessness and fright racing through her. A few other passengers stared in surprise at her but then resumed their reading. Lilith tried to take a breath but could feel her pulse pounding in her ears. Wait… vampires don’t have pulses…

She was transported then, her mind leaving her body and crash-landing somewhere else. It was with utter terror that she stared at the face of true evil, her father, Dracula. He was smiling evilly, reaching a hand towards her and then Lilith screamed.

With a breath she was back on the train, panting as the fear subsided and the fake heartbeat went away. “Oh God,” she mumbled putting her face in her hands and holding back the new wave of terror as she realized what was happening an ocean away.

“He found her… Oh God he found her…”

Clea could not explain why she stood on the banks of Avalon again. There was something that needed to be done but she knew not what. Only that she needed to be here in this moment.

Out of the dense fog, a boat appeared with three passengers on board. Clea waited as the two oarsmen jumped from the boat and finished pulling it onto shore. Then they assisted the Priestess Beth out.

The two former friends stared at each other in silent contemplation. “You’ve come back,” Beth finally uttered.

“I… I don’t know why I’m here.”

Beth placed an arm around the other woman, slowly guiding her into the boat. “I do, and believe me I’m going to capitalize on it.”

Clea felt her defenses going down and rather than scaring her, she didn’t care. “What’s happening?”

The boat began to maneuver back through the fog, the only sound being the paddles as they entered the water.

“The balance of magic is shifting in this world. Avalon and Earth are merging magical energies. I’ve eroded the boundaries between the two worlds.”

“But… Earth is not meant to have any kind of magical influx. People who aren’t ready for the power will suddenly find themselves encased in it.” Clea’s voice sounded disembodied, her eyes slowly drifting closed. “It’s not supposed to happen yet. Stephen said it isn’t due to happen for another hundred years.”

“Well Stephen isn’t here anymore now is he?” Beth received no answer. Her spell had worked well bringing Clea back to Avalon completely under her power. There was a power unbalance with Stephen Strange being unaccounted for. He would have stopped her plans in a heartbeat… his lovely wife however, never saw the danger coming.

“Clea?”

Topaz stared around the room in shock, feeling her mentor’s presence but not seeing her.

There is danger! Stay away from Avalon! I need you to stay away-

She held her head in her hands, grimacing at the pain of telepathy. Clea had not been concentrating and the conversation blast hurt.

“Arthur?”

The door to the bathroom opened and he stuck his head out.

“Do you know why Clea is contacting me telling me to stay away from Avalon?” She had told him earlier of the fight she had with Clea and how they had decided to part ways.

“Danger in Avalon?” He looked alert, ready to battle an army if needed; the muscles on his chest rippled as he unconsciously flexed them. “We must go back! I am a Knight; it is my duty to defend Avalon.”

“Umm… ok then.” She shrugged and sat up to start packing. “I’m sure Clea really didn’t mean for us to stay away. It would have been smarter to just tell us to come, or else not contact us at all. She needs us, let’s go.”

He nodded in agreement and ducked back into the bathroom just as the phone rang.

“Hello?”

A gruff voice on the other end answered. “Topaz?”

“This is she.”

“Oh Thank Christ! What? Don’t look at me that way bitch. Am I talking to you? Then don’t judge me!”

“Lilith?”

“Yea, hey kid. You wouldn’t believe how fucking happy I am to finally get a hold of you. I’ve been calling every fucking hotel in the city. This is the twelfth one I’ve tried!”

Topaz tried not to laugh. “I thought you and Vicki were in Rome? I was going to try to find you there in a few days.”

“Yea well… Rome sucks. Anyway were in Paris and we need to have a pow-wow ‘cause some fucked up shit happened. I think we need to go back to Avalon.”

The hairs on the back of Topaz’s neck suddenly stood at attention. “We were just talking about going back there. Clea told me to stay away but I think there’s trouble.”

Lilith glanced around at the train station noting all the pairs of eyes that were silently watching her. “I think there is a shit load of trouble wherever we go. Look Vick and I are going to come to your hotel and meet up with you and Clea then we’ll head to Avalon, ok?”

“Sounds great. Clea’s not actually with me, we had a fight-“

“Great, look we’ll talk about it when I get there, ok? Vicks gonna pass out if I don’t get her off her feet.”

“What? Why?”

“Jesus kid, just take a pill. We’ll be there in a few. Don’t go anywhere.”

Topaz stared around the hotel room and listened to the shower in the bathroom run. “Where the hell would I go?”

To be continued….

Author’s note

So this issue took me a hell of a long time to write. I know it’s been about a year since I wrote Witches, scary indeed! I hope this issue makes up for it. I can’t guarantee that it won’t be another year until you see issue 8, but here’s hoping it isn’t. Read Defenders if you’re confused about some issues, current issues relate a whole bunch to what I’m writing.

Special thanks to Lucio Del Toro who filled in for issue 6 and did a kick ass job with the crazy plot I gave him. I think he saw it as a challenge to make sense of my jiberish. Anyway, thanks “Lucio” I appreciate it!

-Megan
3/13/04