ZW 10: 6 - AU 1 of 4

"You know, we really should stop meeting like this," he teased, throwing a fireball at the brown-haired, blue-eyed beauty he was fighting with.

She dodged and threw a small glass bottle at him. The potion was a glancing blow, just catching his left shoulder, burning a tiny hole in his simple dark red long sleeve shirt. "Damn woman, those hurt!"

"Well, if you held still Scarface and let them hit you properly, they'd vanquish you; then we'd 'stop meeting like this' and they wouldn't hurt anymore." She ducked away from another fireball, scrabbling to grab another potion from her pouch. "Or if you stopped wrecking havoc on the poor world and turned yourself in, I wouldn't have to vanquish you."

"I do have a name you know, you could use it once in a while," be baited her as they fought hand-to-hand.

"I know you have a name. Scarface is better. Besides, why should I give you the dignity of using it, jerk?"

"Aw honey, you know I can't help it. It's my nature to make trouble. Even if you bound my powers and made me a mortal, I'd still try to stir things up. That's a demon's nature," he bantered with her as they continued to fight.

She lost her temper then. A severe kick sent him sprawling across the alley way. "Don't call me 'honey'!" She followed up the physical attack with a magical one, tossing a freezing potion at him. He tried to roll away but his leather-encased legs were caught in the puff of magic as the glass broke.

"Damn it!" He kept up his momentum, aiming for a nearby trash receptacle.

She had bought herself enough time with the freezing potion to concentrate and bring a gallonful of her element into existence before her.

He dove out form the dumpster a couple of minutes later, throwing a dozen fireballs in her general direction.

She focused, keeping her concentration on the water while crouching down and moving side to side, dodging his attacks. She quartered the water and sent the balls at him as fast as she could.

One waterball connected with a fireball and steam exploded; the two elemental magics canceling each other out. A second waterball broke upon contact with a pipe jutting out two feet above his head and just to the right; he winced as the droplets splattered on his partially bald head. The splatters did distract him from her other two waterballs and with a burst of intense thought she sent them careening for his chest.

He moved at the last minute but the balls still connected with his right arm. He gave a yelp of pain.

She ducked behind a car in anticipation of his retaliation, but not before she'd gotten a good look at the wound she'd managed to inflict upon him. His shirt sleeve was smoking around the new hold. The now-exposed skin was raw and an ugly red-pink color.

She heard him swear.

"Tsk tsk, language."

"You stupid witch!" he bellowed.

She heard the whoosh of a massive wave of flame. She made her decision and dashed away from the car, hoping the flame was concentrated there. Hopefully she could escape becoming barbecue if she moved far enough away fast enough.

She winced in pain as her left leg was caught in the inferno. She fell and knew she was finished; closing her eyes she waited for the end.

It never came.

She looked up to see the demon and wall of flame frozen. She yelped at the closeness of the firewall, mere inches from her face. She scrambled backwards on her butt to get away from it.

"Oh honey, are you ok?" a feminine voice asked.

She flinched at the unexpected voice; who had discovered her? Picking her head up she found the source. A young woman was hurrying towards her. She had short dark blonde hair and wore jeans with a colorful, flowery tank top. Two more young women were in the alleyway, keeping their eyes on the demon. One had long brown hair tied back in a low ponytail; she wore a light brown t-shirt and jeans. She appeared to be the eldest of the three. The third young woman had shoulder-length black hair and had matched a bright pink off-the-shoulder shirt with dark blue pinstripe pants; she seemed the youngest of the three.

The one with the light brown shirt had her hands up, trained on the demon. Almost as if she were ready for him to unfreeze.

The first woman arrived at her side and helped her up. "Oh sweetie, you're burned!" She looked like she was the middle in age of the three women.

She could only stare at the women in shock. 'Why aren't they scared of the fire and running away screaming?'

Looking over the shoulder the woman with the flowery tank top said, "We're gonna need Leo."

"Ok, escape from the firey demon now, heal the innocent later," sarcastically responded the one with her hands out.

They walked over to the other two women. "Ok, let's get out of here."

Her brain kicked into high gear. "Wait, the fire! I can't leave any evidence; I have to get rid of it."

The youngest shrugged. "I suppose she's right. No public seeing something and stuff like that."

"But how do we—" the one supporting her began when she cut her off.

"I can take care of it; just give me a couple of minutes."

"You better hurry," the eldest warned. "I'm not sure we have a couple of minutes."

She closed her eyes and concentrated deeply. Raising her uninjured arm, she pointed two fingers at the wall of fire and moved her arm back and forth five times. She then spread out all five fingers and swiftly brought her hand down. A small wave of water, brought into existence by her back and forth movement, came crashing down onto the fire, effectively putting it out. A large cloud of steam rose into the air and out of the alley.

"Wow," the eldest sounded impressed.

"Yeah," the other two chorused.

"Leaving now," the youngest announced.

The last thing she saw was the demon's attacking arm drop to his side, then blue sparkles filled her vision.

The last thought she had was a few puzzle pieces fitting themselves together: Witches, they had to be. Very powerful, too. Three of them.

Three powerful witches.

Three.