Three Little Scarlets

*Before the fall of Southshore to the Forsaken. An isolated cabin in the Hillsbrad foothills.*

Serephel grinned as she pushed the door open, slipping quietly into the small cabin's interior before shutting the door behind her. She was greeted with the sound of utter silence as the cabin's inhabitants looked at her in stunned shock.

There were four people occupying the small space. Three of them were grizzled looking men, dressed in an assortment of old chainmail armor. Their weapons and equipment were so varied that the only thing they really had in common is that each wore a red bandana around their foreheads; cloth that had obviously just been donned as none of the bandanas showed signs of wear or dirt from the road.

The fourth occupant was a woman in her early twenties. Laying atop a table that sat in the middle of the one room cabin, she was trussed up like a wild animal taken in a hunt, her mouth gagged. Her eyes were wide and wild, and she squirmed against her restraints in her place on the table. She was obviously a prisoner of the three men, and obviously frightened.

Based on their positions, the prayer books that were out in the cabin, and the way they were dressed Serephel realized she had encountered a small group of Scarlet bandits who likely were 'cleansing' people in the region as they had been doing for some time now.

As Serephel closed the door, the three men each reacted different. The one closer to her blushed slightly, as if ashamed of something, his eyes averted from her.

"Too weak willed," Serephel thought.

The second was brash, pulling out two shortswords and glaring at her, his breathing already labored as he prepared himself for grim close quarters fighting against what, to his eye, was likely a second unarmed woman.

"Too brash and not enough thought," Serephel judged.

The last man was slightly shorter than the other two. The moment the door opened he shifted in position, putting the bound woman and table between himself and the intruder. He pulled a small dagger, holding it over the woman's chest to menace her and keep Serephel back. He also glared at Serephel, his voice firm as he spoke, "Stay back or I will kill her right here and now."

"Intelligent. Cunning. Merciless. Just right," Serephel decided.

She shifted, stepping further into the room and causing the tension to rise many times higher. She pointed at the man with the dagger, the black nailpolish on her fingertip glinting in the dim candle light as she spoke softly, "You and you alone will come with me. The others are not my concern and I care not what you are doing here. Come quickly or you will test my patience."

The man's eyes bulged and he pressed the dagger point menacingly into the woman, causing her to squeal in fright, "I said stay back. I'm serious about this."

Serephel rolled her eyes and flicked a hand towards the larger, more brash looking of the two men on her side of the table. Flames spewed from her fingertips, instantly settling on him and immolating him where he stood. He began to scream, dropping his blades and running around until he struck a wall and collapsed, still in flames. Serephel looked at the man behind the table before taking another step towards him, almost purring as she spoke, "Last chance. I am not here to rescue hostages and don't really give a crap about your threats. I have needs."

The leader of the trio snarled, stabbing viciously into his hostage, her blood flowing from the fatal wound. His companion lurched forward, blade coming out and towards Serephel's unprotected side as the other scarlet attempted to circle the table and approach her from the opposite direction.

She moved quickly, her hands coming up and facing palm outwards towards the silent scarlet that was attacking her flank. Flames spewed forth, vicious fel magic burning everything in its path. The man screamed, also immolated as he kept moving. Serephel dodged his clumsy flailing, watching with amusement as he slammed into the leader of the group as the other tried to attack her from behind. As the two fell, she flicked her hands out again, this time more carefully controlling her fires and burning the leader up his legs, crippling him with the searing magic.

And then the battle was over, two crackling corpses and one quietly weeping, severely wounded scarlet all that was left of her foes. Rolling her eyes, Serephel stepped past the burning men, circling the table. She reached out, touching the hostage's corpse before pushing it from the table, leaving a bloody streak across the wood. She turned towards the weeping man, kicking him viciously with a boot to disarm him of his dagger while murmuring a spell.

Demonic energy seeped through Serephel's body, and she reached down, grabbing the man and hauling him up onto the table as if he weighed nothing. The spell quickly expired, leaving her panting and causing her to have a coughing fit, the sound nearly drowning out the moans of agony from the scarlet leader.

When Serephel's fit had passed, she grimaced as she saw her own blood on the sleeve of her shirt. Shaking her head, she picked up the fallen dagger the man had dropped, standing over him. She cut away his shirt with the weapon, her fingers tracing over his bare chest as she grinned at him, "You will do perfectly I think!"

The man was in little condition to respond, his blood pouring from horrific burns on his legs. It was just as well to Serephel; she didn't like to talk to her victims anyway. She chanted an incantation, her finger tracing fel symbols across his chest and leaving green magics shimmering in the air. When she was done, she casually brought the dagger up and then plunged it down into the man's still-beating heart, killing him instantly.

Fel power flowed through the room, the candles and the flaming corpses flickering fitfully as the spell was completed. A moment later a spark of green flame appeared, settling on the edge of the table and taking on the form of an imp. It grinned at Serephel, nodding with familiarity before speaking in its foul little voice, "We meet again! Care for a kiss?"

Serephel's nose crinkled in distaste and she shook her head, "The years for that have long past. You know the deal. A succubus. Now please if you would; I have other things to do."

The imp grinned and nodded, "You're no fun, you know that? Fine, you can have another wench." With that it disappeared, magic flaring in the air again.

The air beside Serephel shimmered, the light bending and slowly taking on the shape of a gorgeous female figure. A moment later the spell was complete, the succubus having been pulled into Azeroth's reality. The demoness blinked a few times in confusion, looking around the cabin and taking in the burned corpses. Her eyes finally fixed on Serephel, one artfully sculpted brow rising in question.

Serephel gave the creature no explanation; she merely stepped towards her, pressing her body against the demon, her head tilting forward until their lips met. The lustful demon shivered, its strangely glowing eyes drifting closed as the warlock kissed her. Serephel let the kiss linger, her body pressing closer to the creature, one hip sliding against the succubus. She almost grinned as the demon responded, its long tongue entering her mouth.

Serephel plunged her dagger into the unsuspecting demon's heart.

Fel fires erupted around the creature, the demon's head tilting back in horror as it was destroyed. It's body shuddered once before erupting fulling into flames, its physical form failing as it was banished. The fires flared up and into Serephel's mouth, the warlock finally letting her own eyes drift closed as she inhaled deeply.

As always, the fires were pure bliss at first, the heat burning away the encroaching illness that she had felt returning. It flowed through her veins like a heady wine, a power that she could feel in every pour, every cell in her body. And then the pain came, the soul-searing agony of flames deep with in her, causing her head to tilt backwards as the last of the fires burned through her, smoke pouring from her mouth.When it was over, Serephel leaned heavily against the table, panting, bloody dagger still in her hand.

That was when the cabin door was kicked in.

To Serephel's everlasting surprise, a group of adventurers piled into the room, staring around in shock. It was a classic team of fighters with a warrior leading them shield first, an elf with a bow covering the group from the rear, a woman with a holy symbol around her neck, and another man bearing two blades and wearing light armor backing up the warrior. The group had obviously come to save the hostage who was now lying dead on the floor in a pool of her own blood, a dagger wound in her chest.

A wound caused by the dagger that was in Serephel's hand.

"Oh fuck..." Serephel murmured as realization of how guilty she looked set in. The four adventurers had taken in the charnel house that the cabin had become quickly, their eyes narrowing with hatred as they focused on Serephel.

"I'm...just going to go..." Serephel murmured as the elf trained her bow on the warlock. She murmured a word and in an instant Serephel burned to ash, leaving nothing behind but a black pile of fel powder as her form was transported back to her summoning circle outside of the cabin.

Quickly she turned, running towards a nearby group of trees, her sturdy boots giving her good purchase as the team of adventurers burst back out of the door. In a panic, Serephel heard the sound of a bowstring snapping, an arrow whirring through the air and striking a tree right beside her. It had accidentally pinned her cloak to the wood, and she tugged futilely at the garment as the two melee fighters closed on her.

"This is really not how it seems..." Serephel began as the leather-clad fighter reached her. She squealed and ducked as one of his blades passed through the space where her neck had been, the weapon neatly lodging in the tree and severing her cape. Serephel fell to the ground, the fighter standing over her and preparing to deliver the death blow while she was prone.

"Fine! Have it your way!" she yelled, reaching up and viciously grabbing the man by his genitals before twisting hard. The fighter howled, his attack completely interrupted and causing him to flail backwards into the warrior that was also pursuing her. Another arrow slammed into the ground between Serephel's prone legs and she quickly dashed to her feet, turning to run as a healing spell soothed the pain of the fighter she'd injured.

"This is ridiculous! I wasn't even with those guys!" she yelled over her shoulder as she dashed into the treeline, trying to avoid being killed by elven archery. Another arrow lodged in a tree right next to her hand, causing her to blanch and keep running. She realized she was running out of time and although she didn't want to kill an adventuring party so close to the town of Southshore, she was running out of options. That was when a stroke of brilliance came to her.

"Fine, you want to chase me? Chase me through an inferno!" she cackled. With a flick of her wrists she began hurling fire right and left as she dodged through the trees, igniting the dry underbrush and quickly setting the woods alight. Behind her, the two fighters had slowed as their weapons and armor got caught in the brush. They now had to backpedal as a wall of flames suddenly erupted around them, the trees quickly turning into an inferno just as Serephel had said.

Through the raging wall of fire Serephel glared at the adventurers, the group staring at her hard. She turned and walked into the blaze, her magics making the fire curl around her as she disappeared from view, leaving the group behind to tend to the forest fire that she had started. Southshore would be warned of course, and enough men would come to extinguish the flames, not that she cared. Unfortunately, her days of working as a barmaid in Southshore's inn had likely come to a close, given that those people had seen her.

Oh well.

It was time to move on again. It was not the first time her needs had caused such a situation, and it would not be the last. She would never stop trying to keep herself alive, consequences and the rest of the world be damned.

She stalked off into the burning forest, her stride determined.