The man was distinctly unattractive. He had long since been convicted of the crime of repulsiveness and sentenced to a life of lonely solitude. No woman, no matter how ugly herself, would have him. His face was pot marked and distorted. His skin was red and oily. His nose was flattened against a pudgy face. His cheekbones were out of alignment. His left eye was weaker than the right, leaving it half closed at all times. He had lost his hair when a young man and his lopsided head was now completely bald.
He stomped through the refurbished halls of Othello Manor like an ogre, his large bulk bent over and his crooked eyes glancing this way and that beneath heavy brows of ratty hair. The conspicuous hump at the top of his back was the result of a grotesquely twisted spine. His clothing fit him poorly, his shirts riding on his body at a peculiar angle and his pant legs being much too short. Though his thighs were a burly match for his barrel chest and powerfully built arms, his calves and ankles were sickly thin, as if some terrible disease had eaten away at the muscles of his lower extremities until nothing remained but skin and bone.
His name was Mr. Zig and he was the butler of the largest house in all of Megapolis. “Mr. Refrain will be pleased with the progress of the construction,” he mumbled aloud while walking down the especially wide and long hallway that led to the atrium. “Soon, there will be hardly a trace of the damage caused by the fire.”
Mr. Zig had lived on Grotto Hill for nearly twenty years. Once, he had been a professional wrestler, but that had been long ago. In his final match, his mask had been torn from his face and the audience had laughed at him. That was the last time he had shown himself in public. Mr. Zig might be ugly, he thought, but he was nobody’s ass-clown.
The hallway was lined with stone statues, three-foot tall Chinese gargoyles that sat on their haunches and peered up at him as he passed by. The gargoyles did not care about his hideous looks, Mr. Zig knew. They were nearly as grotesque as he.
Don Refrain had taken him in and given him a job. Mr. Zig soon proved his worth by busting the skulls of his enemies. It was not long before the crime boss made him the personal caretaker of Othello Manor.
“If only I had been here to stop those two super-heroines on the night of the fire!” the misshapen man snarled. “Curse those witches for what they did to the boss’s home!” Mr. Zig remembered the infamous evening when the M-Girls, Ms. Marvelous and Elle Mental, started a fire in the Atrium and nearly burned down the Manor. He had reason to be upset. He had left Grotto Hill only a handful of times in the last two decades. On that particular night he had been away on business for the boss but it had been a trivial matter and he could have sent one of his assistants in his place. Instead, he had been absent when the M-Girls committed their vile vandalism. He had let the boss down, he knew. His performance as a butler had been as pathetic as his ghastly appearance. “Never again!” he barked loudly at the nearest of the gargoyles.
Mr. Zig often talked to himself. He was usually the only one that would, after all. His assistants, the housekeepers and guards, avoided him as much as they could. He did not mind, really, as giving them their daily duties was much easier if done with a piece of paper tacked to the bulletin board in the kitchen rather than a direct conversation. No, Mr. Zig preferred to walk the cold halls of the Manor alone, at night when nobody else was about.
His days were spent alone in his room, looking out from the topmost window of the tallest tower with a pair of binoculars and watching everything that was going on below. The hunchback was one of those rare people that did not need to sleep. His bed went unused for days, even weeks, at a time. If the lack of sleep added to his cranky disposition, he did not seem to care. If his appearance and odd behavior made people dislike or fear him, he cared even less.
All Mr. Zig cared about was Othello Manor. In particular, he cared about keeping out unwanted visitors. So when he saw the slender figure moving stealthily through the shadows of the hall, he naturally became quite upset.
“You there!” the hunchback bellowed without concern for the people sleeping on the upper floors. “Stop where you are and tell me your business!”
The figure melted into the shadows and did not answer. But Mr. Zig knew the massive wooden door at the far end of the hall to be locked. The intruder had backed himself into a corner and would not be able to escape.
“Come out and show yourself!” Mr. Zig demanded while walking forward. “There is only one key to that door and it is safely stashed away in my pocket!”
“Then I guess I will have to take it from you!” a seductive female voice replied.
Mr. Zig stepped to the edge of the shadow and peered into the dark corner. Othello Manor was a castle built of stone and mortar. The walls were thick and the windows barely more than slits cut in the rock. Everything here was hard and cold, just like Mr. Zig. It was easy to spot things that did not belong. It was easy to spot the beautiful young female that glared back at him from ten feet away. “A girl?” Mr. Zig asked in surprise. “Who are you and why are you here?”
“I am surprised that you were able to see me,” the intruder answered. “I had little trouble in sneaking past the other guards.”
The hunchback’s voice sounded like the grinding cogs of a broken gearbox. “I am not a guard,” he replied. “I am the butler. But the result for you will be the same. All thieves foolish enough to enter the home of Mr. Refrain live out the remainder of their short lives in his dungeon.”
The girl seemed unconcerned. “I have no intention of being imprisoned in Don Refrain’s dungeon, Quasimodo. I simply need to get through this door. You can give me the key and forget that you saw me or I can take it and deal with you in less pleasant ways. It is your choice.”
“My name is Mr. Zig and you are a silly little creature. Come closer so that I can have a better look at you.”
The intruder stepped away from the wall and into a shaft of moonlight that beamed in from the nearest of the narrow windows. In every way, the girl was the opposite of Mr. Zig. Her dark brown hair fell in waves over her strong shoulders. Her eyes were wide and clear. Her nose was perfectly straight and narrow. Her lips were full and red. Her body was long and athletic. She could have been a supermodel. She was gorgeous.
Mr. Zig hissed in displeasure. He quickly noted the tight-fitting violet costume that adorned the intruder’s lithe body. “A super-heroine! And perhaps one of the ones that tried to burn down the Manor!”
“My name is Elle Mental,” the heroine replied. “And yes, I was here the night of the fire, though it was not I that started it. You can thank the mutant know as Heatwave for that fiasco.” The hunchback noisily cleared his throat. “The adopted daughter of Don Refrain would not have set fire to her own house! It was you and the other witch that did it.”
“You refer to Ms. Marvelous, I suppose,” Elle said as if getting bored.
“Is she here?” Mr. Zig asked while glancing around. “Will there be two visitors for our dungeon?” “Just me, I am afraid. Are you disappointed?”
Mr. Zig’s scowling expression answered in the affirmative. But he took solace in the fact that at least one of the witches had returned to the scene of their crime.
“Mr. Zig rarely enjoys anything,” he said while referring to himself in the third person. “But I think he will enjoy extracting retribution from you!”
The hunchback plodded toward the much smaller heroine. His hands extended in front of his massive chest in a clumsy effort to grab her. But she was too quick for him. His knobby fingers grasped nothing but air.
“You cannot escape me!” the ugly man roared in frustration.
“I do not mean to escape, brute!” Elle replied while moving into attack position.
The gorgeous heroine leapt into the air, performed a perfect front flip, extended her legs, and drove the soles of her boots into Mr. Zig’s massive chest. Her stiletto heels tore his shirt and bit deep into his flesh. His chapped lips tightened to form a grotesque frown. His huge hands tried to grasp her ankles but she quickly propelled herself away.
The agile super-heroine rolled in the air and landed several feet away, in a crouch and ready to attack again. “He took that well,” she had to admit while noticing that her foe had not been forced back even one step.
“I am going to pound you into the ground!” the ogre-like monstrosity threatened. Undiscouraged, the brunette beauty launched into action once more. Her body twirled in the air and her left foot slammed off the man’s face. His head snapped to the side but he seemed uninjured. His right hand shot forward and nearly grasped the surprised heroine around the throat. Elle dodged to the side and put some distance between she and her repulsive foe. “Damn!” she cursed in dismay. “He is pretty quick for big man. And tough, too—I need to stop playing around and finish him off!”
The beautiful heroine quickly glanced at the heavy wooden door at the end of the hall. The door led to the atrium, she knew, and the main living quarters beyond. Unfortunately, the door was locked and the only key was in the hunchback’s pocket.
“I need that key, Mr. Zig!” she demanded while again moving into attack position. Her business at Othello Manor was incomplete. She had come to the home of Don Refrain looking for evidence. She was sure that a stash of weapons was hidden somewhere in the old castle but she had been unable to find it. Still, one large section of the Manor—the section behind the door-- remained unexplored. She had purposefully left it until the last, knowing full well that it was the most dangerous area she would have to search. In addition to the atrium and main living quarters, Don Refrain’s personal parlor and studio would also be found there. And though most of the crime lord’s goons would be hanging out there, the young heroine knew that she needed to take the risk and search the area.
“But first I need to get past big and ugly,” Elle thought while stalking her opponent. The high attacks had not seemed to work very well so the gorgeous heroine decided to try striking low, instead. She somersaulted forward with the speed of a jungle cat and rolled onto her left hip. She snapped a kick into the man’s knee. For once, it seemed like she had done some damage. The hunchback howled in pain and staggered backward a few steps.
“Damn you, Witch!” Mr. Zig bellowed in anger. “Going for a man’s knees is as dirty a trick as there is!”
“Whatever gets the job done,” Elle replied unapologetically while rising quickly back to her feet. The furious hunchback came forward slowly, his meaty hands raised in front of him, his fingers outstretched and ready to clamp down on the slender brunette. She jabbed him in the face with a straight left and followed up with a hard right. The blows impacted solidly against the flattened nose of her opponent but he seemed hardly to notice.
Avoiding Mr. Zig’s outstretched hands, Elle quickly landed a series of kicks and punches. Though tough, the man was little more than a punching bag, the young heroine decided. Every blow was landing. Every strike was hitting its mark. This would not take long. She would eventually wear him down and--
The thick fingers of Mr. Zig’s right hand tightened into a fist. His arm shot forward with speed belying his massive form. His knuckles crashed against the dark-haired heroine’s chin. Her lithe body was lifted off the ground and propelled backward through the air. She landed on the tiled floor of the hall eight feet away and slid across the smooth surface for another six.
Pain stabbed through Elle’s head. She rose quickly to her feet but nearly fainted as the numbing effects of the powerful punch swept across her incredible body.
“Oh my god…” the dazed heroine mumbled while stumbling backward against one of the crouching stone gargoyles that lined the hallway. “Never been hit… so hard…”
Elle’s repulsive foe approached her unhurriedly. His left fist slammed into her rigid abdominal muscles with tremendous power. Her slender body doubled over. His hand remained buried deep in her gut, pinning her against the gargoyle.
“You will be made to pay for burning the Manor,” the brutish butler declared unsympathetically. “I will pound you into a pulp.”
The big man’s right forearm slammed down across the back of the heroine’s shoulders. She fell limply to the floor and groaned in pain. Mr. Zig stood over her prone body and slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand.
“Get up!” he demanded.
Elle rose to her knees and looked up at the hunchback. “How can he hit so hard?” she wondered. “What kind of monster is he?”
Seeing the puzzlement in his victim’s eyes, the hulking man clenched his enormous hands into tight fists and extended them toward the dazed heroine.
“You see?” he asked with pride. “You see now what my secret is?”
The dark-haired beauty looked up at her opponent’s hands. Even in the moonlit shadows of the hall, she could see the distinct bulges protruding from his knuckles. Knobby clumps of bone jutted upward from beneath cracked layers of dead skin.
“Your hands!” she declared in disgust. “They are hideous!”
“Just like the rest of me!” Mr. Zig agreed. “But my knuckles, grotesque as they are, make my hands like hammers! All the better to beat you with, yes?”
The lumbering ogre grabbed the heroine’s hair in his left hand. His fingers tightened around the girl’s scalp and he effortlessly lifted her one hundred and twenty pound weight off the floor. He held her before him, suspended above the ground, dangling like a fish on a hook.
“Let go of me!” the writhing brunette demanded.
“As you wish!” the brute replied.
Mr. Zig flung the girl through the air and watched in satisfaction as she crashed back to earth several feet away. Her lithe body bounced off the hard floor like a ball before rolling into the base of another gargoyle.
“You are weak and pathetic,” he said while stomping toward the girl. “I will make quick work of you!”
Elle wearily rolled onto her right hip. She rose into a crouch and narrowly avoided being stamped into the floor by the enormous foot of her massive and grotesque foe. She dodged to the side to escape his grasping fingers. She somersaulted forward in an effort to put some distance between herself and the man.
A reverse mule kick stuck the man in his gut. Using her catlike agility, the heroine leapt into the air and bounded high off the stone wall. She spun in the air and drove a kick to the side of his head. She dropped to the floor behind him and quickly retreated with a spectacular series of back flips and cartwheels.
Mr. Zig rubbed his injured noggin and snarled. Beads of sweat glistened off of his bald head. He peered at the girl through his one good eye and snorted in disgust.
“Nice moves, Witch. But the key is still in my pocket.”
Elle Mental struck a pose. She stood tall in the center of the hallway. A shaft of moonlight illuminated her incredible, five foot six inch, figure. She held her head high. Her wide brown eyes simmered. Her hands rested on her hips. Her legs were straight and long. Her breathing was controlled.
“I will have it soon enough,” she replied in a steady voice. “For though you are strong and fast, you are no match for the mutant power of Elle Mental!”
A violet aura of unnatural energy crackled around the beautiful heroine’s body. Controlled by the telekinetic power of her mind alone, a coiled length of rope rose from her right hip and leapt into the air. It danced like a serpent in front of her, darting this way and that, coiling and uncoiling as if possessing a life force of its own.
Suddenly, the rope cracked like a bullwhip and launched itself with incredible speed toward the hunchback. Mr. Zig raised his left arm barely in time to fend off the cord as it attacked. It wrapped about his extended appendage like a boa constrictor entrapping its prey, squeezing his flesh with amazing strength.
“Now I have you!” the heroine cried out victoriously from several feet away.
“Are you sure?” the hunchback bellowed back.
Mr. Zig straightened his arm and began twirling it back and forth in a circular motion in the air. For several seconds it became impossible to tell if the rope was ensnaring the man or if the man was ensnaring the rope. The furious battle continued to rage, the python-like speed and strength of the rope going against the determination and brute force of the man, until finally a winner was determined.
“What?” Elle stammered as the rope stopped reacting to her commands. “This cannot be!” Mr. Zig raised his arm victoriously. The entire length of the rope was wrapped tightly around his left arm. The two ends of the cord were clamped tightly between his fingers.
“Interesting trick but not a very good attack,” the hunchback said while flexing his arm. “Blast you!” the infuriated heroine shouted while charging her unsightly foe. “Next time I will wrap my rope around your throat!”
Elle’s assault was furious. A crescent kick landed square. A knife-hand strike found the mark. Although her rope attack had failed, it had at the least seemed to restrict the hunchback’s movements and made him vulnerable. A knee lift impacted with tremendous force. For once, he was reacting to her blows. A backfist strike nearly knocked her misshapen opponent to the ground. A spectacular roundhouse kick spun him around.
“Now to finish you off!” the valiant heroine said to her staggering foe.
Elle raised her hands into the air and clasped them together above her head. Her long legs uncoiled and she leapt high off the ground. Her back arched as she prepared to deliver the final, powerful blow.
“A flying double hammer-strike should do the trick!”
The incredible heroine descended on her victim like a hawk diving on its prey. Timing the blow perfectly, she slammed her fists down on the deformed giant with all of her might— “Arrrgggghhhhh!” Elle cried out as her hands impacted with the hump atop Mr. Zig’s back. Her lithe body rebounded backward and crashed to the hard floor several feet away. With pain surging though her body, the confused heroine struggled to her knees. She looked down at her hands in disbelief. “Hands… feel broken… like I hit stone…”
“Not stone,” Mr. Zig corrected her. “Bone!”
“Bone?” the beautiful brunette asked while looking at him.
The grotesque butler almost smiled. “The hump on my back is solid bone, just like my knuckles.” Once again, Elle stared at the man’s hands. His knuckles were discolored and jagged knobs of bone that extended upward through the skin. “My god!” the heroine thought dejectedly. “If the hump on his back really is like the bony masses on his knuckles, then I may very well have broken my hands!” The beautiful girl forced herself to her feet. It was difficult to stand up straight. Her arms dangled in front of her. Pain pulsated through her magnificent body. “Nowhere to run,” she thought while looking past Mr. Zig and toward the end of the hall. “Have to get through the door to the atrium. Have to get the key.”
Mr. Zig could sense that his lovely opponent was nearly finished. He stalked her patiently, trying to trap her against the wall. She occasionally attacked him with a kick from her dangerous feet, but the attacks lacked the conviction and strength she had shown previously. Finally, she made a misstep—Her right foot backed into the base of one of the gargoyle statues and she stumbled. For a brief moment, she was vulnerable. For a brief moment, Mr. Zig had an opportunity to attack.
The massive hunchback leapt forward and wrapped his powerful hands around the slender heroine. He raised her body off the ground and squeezed her against his enormous chest. His vise-like arms seemed to swallow her sexy figure. He shook her back and forth like a rag doll, jerking her this way and that and causing her long brown hair to whip from side to side.
“Let go of me!” the desperate heroine cried while struggling to free her arms.
Mr. Zig locked his hands behind the girl’s back and squeezed with all his considerable might. He could feel her spine bending beneath his bony knuckles. He could feel her ribs giving beneath his iron-like biceps. He could hear the air being forced from her lungs. He could see her eyes rolling into the back of their sockets.
Elle’s struggles ceased. Her legs went limp. Her face was pressed tightly against her brutish opponent’s chest. Her arms were compressed against her abdomen. Her large breasts were mashed against his body. She was being crushed, she knew. The life was being squeezed out of her.
Suddenly, Mr. Zig released the hold. He shifted his grip on the beautiful girl’s body and lifted her above his head. He held her there, parallel to the ground, and stepped toward the stone gargoyle over which she had tripped.
“Now to end this,” his gravel-like voice declared.
Elle could do nothing as her hideously misshapen foe held her aloft above the statue. She cried out in agony as he slammed her down atop the head and shoulders of the grotesque sculpture. Her spine arched over the cold stone painfully. Her legs dangled down toward the floor. Her arms fell limply beneath her. Her head fell backward and hung loosely in the air. Her body was bent like a bow. She was beaten and helpless.
Mr. Zig looked down on his defenseless victim with satisfaction. He unraveled the length of rope that had been wrapped around his left arm. He allowed the rope to drop to the floor at the base of the statue. He eyed the beautiful girl’s tight abdominal muscles. He ran his thick, calloused fingers across her smooth stomach.
“Now you will pay for setting the fire,” he said with a sneer.
The hunchback’s meaty hands clenched into tight fists. He raised one into the air, then the other. He drove the first ham fist down into the girl’ midsection with brutal force. Her body stiffened. She cried out in pain. She lifted her head and rose part way off gargoyle. He slammed his second fist into her gut. The heroine groaned miserably and collapsed backward. She did not move again as he continued to slam his fists off of her stomach.
The brutal torture continued for several seconds. Finally, having beaten the girl nearly into unconsciousness, Mr. Zig grabbed her by the hip and pulled her off of the unforgiving statue. The beautiful brunette fell to the floor at his feet and did not move. He leaned over and grabbed up a fistful of her long dark hair. He unhurriedly resumed his patrol of the Manor, dragging the helpless super-fem’s limp body across the floor behind him.
“Time to visit your new home,” the repulsive hunchback said with a chuckle. “I hope you find the dungeon to be to your liking.”
Ms. Marvelous woke with a start. Her eyes blinked madly in an attempt to focus. As if still caught up in the clutches of a nightmare, she had no idea where she was or how she had arrived. Everything was dark. Everything was cold.
Her wrists were shackled. Her ankles, as well. A metal cable of some kind stretched between the two sets of shackles and fastened them together. With her long legs straightened, as they were now, she could not raise her hands above her waist.
“What the heck is going on?” the blonde beauty asked in confusion.
She was on her back inside some type of container. There was very little room inside. The padded sides of the box were close by on her left and right. The top of the box was just inches above her body. She lay on some kind of soft bedding. Her head rested on a silk pillow.
“A coffin?” the heroine exclaimed in sudden realization.
Her breathing became panicked. She fought against the steel bracelets holding her wrists. “No! I am not dead!”
She tried to remember how she had come here. Her last memory was of a battle with the East Metro Warriors baseball team at the ballpark. The boys had played her incredible body like a violin, touching and stroking her in just the right way to take full advantage of her vulnerability to erotic stimulation. She had been defeated. She had been raped. Her powers had been stolen and she had— “Oni Kamaha!”
The Vampire Queen had appeared out of nowhere. The seductive bloodsucker had chased the Warriors away and claimed their helpless prize as her own. Jody vaguely remembered the Dark Queen standing over her defenseless form and casting a sleep spell on her. She remembered being picked up and carried. She remembered the sensation of speed as the Queen took her away from the ballpark and--
The heroine’s efforts to break loose of her chains paused as a terrible thought entered her mind. “Oh my god!” she thought. “What if Oni changed me into one of her kind? What if she transformed me into a vampire?”
The heroine did her best to calm down. Though she was being held in a coffin, she did not feel any different. She did not feel undead, though in all honesty, she had no idea what being undead might
feel like. She clasped her hands together. “My skin feels warm,” she thought. She felt for a pulse on her wrist. She listened to the sound of her heart beating within her chest.
“I think I am alive,” she finally decided.
The steel bracelets were very strong. Giving up on the idea of freeing herself from the shackles, she instead focused her attention on the lid of the coffin.
“It is totally creepy being in here!” she cried out while pressing upward on the top of the casket. The lid gave a bit and for a brief moment a sliver of light entered the box. The glamorous heroine breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“At least I am not buried in a grave!”
Jody curled up her legs as best she could in order to gain some slack for the steel cable that fastened her wrist and ankle bracelets together. She pushed against the lid again, this time using every bit of her strength.
With a loud creak and a bang, the lid of the coffin popped open, fell from its hinges, and crashed to the floor. Jody sat up and peered over the lip of the box, which was set atop a stone slab and elevated a couple of feet above the ground. She quickly climbed over the edge of the box and allowed her feet to drop to the floor. She breathed deeply the damp cool air of the—
“Crypt?” she asked in surprise.
“You expected the Hilton, perhaps?” a sinister voice asked from behind.
Ms. Marvelous spun on the balls of her feet to face the source of the voice. “Oni Kamaha!” “And friends,” the Vampire Queen added.
Two sets of undead hands clamped down on the beautiful heroine’s upper arms. Jody struggled against them but with her wrists shackled it was next to pointless. Her head spun to the right and she looked into the dark eyes of her first captor. The woman was young and stunning. Her skin was pale like ivory. Her hair was long and dark. Her lips were thin and her cheekbones hollow. There seemed to be an eternal hunger about the girl. Jody knew why as the striking brunette smiled and revealed a terrifying set of inhuman fangs.
“A vampire!”
The beautiful blonde turned to her left and saw another young woman. This one was in every way a match for the first, though her hair was platinum blonde and cropped short to her head. “And another!”
Oni Kamaha, standing eight feet away and smiling in amusement, confirmed the heroine’s observations. “These are my offspring, Tal and Gaea. Do not be concerned—They have been instructed not to hurt you. In fact, it was Tal that mended your costume…”
Jody looked down at her red and black costume and confirmed that the large tears over her chest and lower abdomen had been repaired. And although the costume now looked almost as good as new, it made her cringe to think that the cold, undead fingers of the thing gripping her arm had removed and then replaced her clothing.
“Offspring?” Jody asked skeptically while once again noting the Vampire Queen’s distinctly beautiful and exotic native-Hawaiian features. “They bear little resemblance to you, Oni.” The Dark Mistress chuckled. “Naïve young girl, do you not know that my kind procreates in a way different than that of humans? I tell you, if I wanted to, I could make you my child.” Ms. Marvelous bucked defiantly against the pale sirens holding her. “Why didn’t you?” The Vampire Queen seemed reluctant to answer. She walked slowly to the opposite side of the crypt and stood beneath an extinguished wooden torch that extended outward from the wall. Reacting to a motion of her hand, the torch magically came to life and began burning with a flickering orange glow. “That is better,” the Vampire Queen said while turning back to face her captive. “A beauty like yours should not be hidden in the shadows, Ms. Marvelous.”
“Why have you brought me here? What do you plan to do with me?”
Oni Kamaha ignored these questions, as well. It was rare that anyone, much less an impudent human, made requests of her and she was not at all sure that she liked it.
“I must say that you put up a fine fight against those boys last night,” she said while changing the subject. “Foolish, though—Even I would have hesitated to attack a group of twelve enemies in the tight confines of that peculiar little building.”
“It is called a dugout and there were actually thirteen, if you count the cheerleader.” “Ah, yes-- you refer to the girl that you thought you were saving. Interesting how things sometimes work out, is it not? The very human you tried to protect ultimately caused your downfall. By the time I stepped in, you had been made completely helpless. How did it feel, I wonder, to be betrayed in such a way?”
The Dark Mistress slid around the end of the coffin. Her movements were slow and provocative. She drew her hands across the smooth exterior of the casket as if enjoying the feel of the cool metal. She straightened her legs and leaned over the open box so that her plump ass was thrust out behind her. Her ample cleavage bulged from the slit in the front of her snug-fitting black jumpsuit. Her fingers stroked the soft silk padding of the interior. She cooed softly, as if aroused by the feel of the coffin as it pressed
against her slender waist.
“We attempt to help someone we believe to be in need and they betray us,” the Vampire Queen continued in her most seductive tone of voice. “We risk everything and then they attack us just when we are the most vulnerable. How should we respond to this, I wonder?”
The petite demoness gradually transferred her attention from the coffin to the person that had, only moments before, been its prisoner. She approached the tall blonde like a snake stalking its prey, her magnificent body writhing back and forth enticingly, her simmering eyes locked with those of her captive. Oni’s tongue flicked hungrily as her eyes took in the full length of Jody’s athletic figure. Her hands grasped the girl by her slender waist and gently pulled her close so that their bodies pressed together tightly. The onetime Hawaiian princess rose up on her tiptoes to make herself as tall as the young blonde. For a long moment they stood together in silence, eye to eye and breast to breast.
“Humans cannot be trusted,” Oni finally whispered into the girl’s ear. “It is a fool’s errand to try and help them.”
Jody tried desperately to control the conflicting emotions raging in her heart. On the one hand, she was repulsed by this vampire. On the other, she was incredibly turned on by whatever seductive spell the creature was casting on her. Memories of what Oni had done to her during their match in the MCT Games were still fresh in her mind. She could feel her nipples hardening as they pressed against those of the Hawaiian Princess. She could feel her pussy tingling as she remembered how the dark-haired demoness had raped her. It was part of the Sartak’s curse, the beautiful blonde knew, that she would always be more susceptible to enemies that had used sensual attacks to defeat her in the past.
Oni could sense the heroine’s distress. She could feel her peril. She leaned in slowly and kissed the beautiful blonde ever so softly on the lips. The effect of the vampire’s kiss was immediate and dramatic. The heroine stopped struggling with the girls holding her arms. Her eyes glazed over. Her full red lips parted and formed a childlike pout. Her breathing became ragged. Her nipples became hard as marbles.
“You are helpless before me, Ms. Marvelous,” the Vampire Queen stated while motioning to her servants to release their holds on the super-fem’s arms. “But I do not wish to destroy you. You may yet be of some use to me.”
“No…” the nearly hypnotized super-fem replied in a whisper. “I will not help you again…” “You speak?” the Vampire Queen asked in surprise. “Your will is indeed strong to resist my kiss. But it does not matter. I do not wish to dominate you. I wish you to join me freely.” “Never…”
The Dark Mistress seemed unhappy. “I can pleasure you in ways that you have never imagined. We vampires are inherently sexual creatures—I can show you our dark, sensual, secrets. I can give you orgasms without stealing your powers. I can satisfy your over-sexed body and grant you all the pleasure that you desire.”
The beautiful blonde moaned softly, as if struggling to resist the temptation being thrust in front of her. Her magnificent body tingled with erotic anticipation. The Vampire Queen seemed to be offering everything that her darkest, most secret and inner self desired. Her tits ached. Her pussy was wet. She wanted to be fucked. She wanted to be dominated.
“No…” the virtuous heroine finally blurted out. “I will never… succumb to your charms…” The demoness leaned in on the heroine again, trying again to tempt her. She blew softly in the girl’s ear. She gently pursed Jody’s lobe between her cold, velvety lips.
“Why do you refuse me? Why do you waste your amazing abilities on the debased citizens of this desecrated city? They are not worth your attention, much less your devotion. They will betray you just as the cheerleader did.”
A second, almost inaudible moan escaped from between Jody’s pouting lips as her ear was gently teased by the seductive mouth of the vampire. Her breasts, still pressed tightly against Oni’s, burned with desire. Her pussy was almost dripping. But despite the physical reaction of her incredible body, she retained the mind and will of a heroine. She would not be swayed from the path of righteousness.
“You are wrong, Oni. Most of the people in Megapolis are good and deserving of my protection. I am a champion of justice. For their sake, I will always strive to serve the common good.” The Vampire Queen removed her mouth from the girl’s ear. She looked intently into the heroine’s wide blue eyes. She softly caressed the girl’s nose with the tip of her own. “And what if there is some common good to be shared between us, child? Would you help me, as well?” “I don’t know what you can possibly mean…” Jody said while trying to control the unwanted erotic feelings coursing through the length of her supple body. “You are a monster! You slay innocent people to satisfy your blood lust. You are evil! I could never help you!”
A flash of anger burned through the Vampire Queen’s eyes. She pulled away and removed her hands from the heroine’s waist. “I do only what the Blood Spirits demand, child. Our kind must drink the blood of humans if we are to survive. We are the predators and they are the prey. They are cattle, nothing more!”
The Dark Mistress turned her back to the beautiful heroine and hissed in displeasure. Her plan to recruit the girl as an ally was not working out as well as she had hoped. The tall blonde’s willpower was much greater than that of most humans. Perhaps the Blood Spirits were right, after all. Perhaps they were right when they said that the leggy beauty could not be turned.
She had brought Ms. Marvelous to the crypt as a prisoner. She had chained the helpless girl and placed her in the coffin so that she could rest and regain her incredible powers. The sarcophagus was no ordinary casket—Imbued with Oni’s power, it possessed the ability to reenergize any creature, both living and undead, that slept within its soft embrace.
Oni needed Ms. Marvelous to be at peak condition for the fight that was to come. And indeed, the young woman’s powers seemed to have returned. But with her powers came a steely resolve to resist her charms. It would be difficult to turn her. But perhaps there was still a chance. The Vampire Queen knew that she had to try.
With effort, Oni subdued the fiery anger that consumed her undead heart. She held back the dark hunger that insisted she rip out the girl’s throat and drink her blood. She regained her composure. She turned back to face her captive. The tall blonde stood motionless in the center of the crypt, her arms dangling limply in front of her athletic body. The shackles that bound her wrists and ankles, and the steel tether that fastened them together, were unneeded. For though the heroine’s mind resisted, the girl’s body was paralyzed by the charm of the Vampire’s Kiss.
“But not all humans are cattle,” the Dark Mistress continued. “Some humans are hunters, like us. They are strong. They search out their prey and destroy it. You, Ms. Marvelous, are one of these. You are a hunter.”
The gorgeous super-fem’s firm breasts rose up and down on her chest as she breathed. “I do not know what you mean. I am not a hunter. I do not destroy people.”
“But you have been hunting me! Oh, yes-- I have been aware from the beginning of your efforts to track me down. But tell me, what would you have done had you found me? Would you have handed me over to the police? No, for it is unlikely that they would have the proper facilities to imprison one such as I. The MCT, then? Would you have returned me to the very people that you helped me to escape? What then? Would you have killed me? You claim that you are not a destroyer, but I wonder…”
“I am not sure what I would have done,” Jody admitted. “I do not wish to kill you. But I am sure that I would have found some way to force you to leave Megapolis.”
The Dark Mistress laughed loudly. When she spoke, there was an almost desperate quality in her voice. “Do you think that I want to be here, then? Do you believe that I prefer the dire streets of this foul city to the familiar places of my beautiful home? I would like nothing more than to leave Megapolis and return to my Pacific island!”
Jody could not bring herself to trust the Vampire Queen. She thought of the dozens of people murdered, their throats torn out and their blood drained, since Oni had escaped from the Institute of Genetic Studies.
“Then why don’t you? Why don’t you return to Hawaii?”
The Dark Mistress paused before answering. “I was sent here on an errand for my lord. Until that errand is completed, I cannot return.”
“What is your errand?”
“It is a task of revenge against an enemy common to us both. This enemy betrayed my lord and sought to kill him. He failed, but the Blood Spirits demand retribution.”
“An enemy common to us both?”
The vampire’s eyes burned with an eerie inner fire. “His name is Don Refrain. As you well know, he is a powerful crime lord and dominates the underworld here in Megapolis. I would attack him myself but he surrounds himself with powerful friends. To face him without allies of my own would be foolish and put the successful outcome of my mission at risk. I dare not fail my lord…”
Jody’s eyes opened wide in surprise and disgust. “So that is what this is all about? Dozens of people have died because you and Don Refrain have some personal grudge against one another? And now you want me to help you, right? You want me to help you kill Don Refrain?”
Oni Kamaha nodded. “If you help me in this, child, I will leave Megapolis and never return. I offer you everything that you want—The Vampire Queen will be gone and Don Refrain will be dead. Your city will once more be safe for its citizens. Truthfully, what more can you desire?”
Ms. Marvelous thought long and hard before answering. The idea of ridding Megapolis of Don Refrain was certainly appealing. For too long, the powerful crime lord had corrupted the city with his evil. He and his minions had seemingly tainted all that was good and just. Drugs, extortion, prostitution, murder—The smell of Don Refrain seemed to foul every part of the city that Jody had sworn to protect.
And more than that, more than the drugs and corruption, was the personal grudge that she now held against Refrain. He and his goons had murdered Solar Flare. They had killed one of her friends and no one-- not the police, not the district attorney, not even the mayor-- could do anything about it. Only she could bring him to justice, Jody knew. Only Ms. Marvelous could make sure that Don Refrain got the punishment he so richly deserved.
But Oni Kamaha was also evil. How many innocents had died at the Vampire Queen’s cold dead hands, Jody wondered? How many had lost their lives to satisfy her lust for human blood? How many had been transformed into her undead servants?
A steely resolve glistened in the heroine’s wide blue eyes. “I cannot help you, Oni Kamaha. As much as I detest Don Refrain and all that he stands for, I cannot assist one evil in order to destroy another. You are a vile monster, Vampire Queen, and though I may not have the power to do it, I will always strive to defeat you.”
The Dark Mistress did not immediately reply. For a brief moment her countenance changed and she looked very old.
“You have made your decision, then, and I shall respect it. But it is said among my people that evil cannot abide evil. The Blood spirits demand that I linger no longer—Don Refrain awaits and time moves quickly, even for an immortal. I will go to his castle and complete my quest without you.”
The Dark Mistress moved toward the exit of the crypt. With a motion of her hand she magically caused the heavy iron door to swing outward. “As for you, my sweet captive, you are of no further use to me. My servants shall do with you as they will! Farewell forever, Ms. Marvelous!”