📔 A Witch Shall Be Born

Valerius, berserk, slashed again and yet again before the crumpling figure could fall.

Appallingly, the apparition spoke, and its voice was like honeyed venom.

It grew and its intensity deepened as it expanded, a widening disk of lurid light hovering against the dark velvet hangings of the opposite wall.

Lust and mystery sparkled in her scintillant eyes, cruelty lurked in the curl of her full red lips.

Twisting his mustache, he let his gaze travel up and down the shrinking queen with an effrontery that made her wince.