Last week, dear reader, our pair of dashing heroines witnessed a crime of kidnapping! The Queen of Hearts stole one Jerry from his place of business. What business it was, and what business the queen has with such a man our heroines know not, but that is no deterrent to the desire to save him from her clutches! But desire alone can hardly be considered enough, especially against the power of the Queen of Hearts. For with one blow, she shattered the sidewalk and street! Never fear, dear reader, for post haste the two heroines leapt into action, giving chase to the villainess.

“Okay, so she can blow stuff up, has super tough skin, and knows Kung Fu?!?”

Frowning behind her mask, Ginger Snap pauses before replying. “Well I’m not really sure about the Kung Fu bit, but she’s definitely a tough one. And her power lets her turn anything she touches into a bomb after a few seconds. But it has to be her hands, and she can’t do organic matter. So all we have to do is avoid her fists and we’ll be fine.”

Riding on her back, Eldritch says, “Good! Because my spells can only take me so far and they definitely aren’t up to the level of a Kung Fu master.” Then she slaps Ginger’s shoulder and adds animatedly, “Can’t you go any faster?”

Gritting her teeth, Ginger replies, “No! I barely had enough metal to make this form anyway, and if we hadn’t run through that fence a block back I’d be in real trouble here. So instead of criticizing, maybe you should concentrate on doing your part!”

“Fine,” grumbles Eldritch. Then she whispers an incantation, her eyes glowing for a few seconds and then flaring with unearthly light. “She’s ahead of us by two blocks now. Looks like she’s cutting to the south side of the city. If we cross over Fourth Street we can gain some ground.”

Growling, Ginger nods. Then she leaps to the side, displaying her form clearly. Sailing through the air is the figure of a sleek metal jungle cat ridden by none other than Eldritch Maiden herself! Crouched low in her costume and running on all fours, the difficult maneuvers required to leap and soar through the concrete jungle without leaving a trail of devastation take all of Ginger’s attention. So it is that when Eldritch’s next instructions come, she swears before spinning about on her hindquarters and bounding off the same direction she came.

“Tell me sooner if she doubles back again!” shouts Ginger, irritated.

Grimacing, Eldritch answers contritely, “Sorry, this ability is fairly limited. She keeps doubling back every few blocks and its making tracking her extremely difficult.”

“This is why I wanted to just follow the broken streets!” cuts back Ginger.

Snapping at her, Eldritch replies, “You know that wouldn’t work! What did Vicious tell us about tracking?”

Cattily, Ginger remarks, “Never trust a trail unless you found it yourself. Which begs the question of why I’m following your lead.”

“Because,” says Eldritch with a triumphant grin, “the reason I missed her last time was so I had time to prepare a surprise for the next time she tried to circle back around us, and I think it worked!”

Turning around, the two girls spot a dome of blue and white light that shimmers around a section of the block a few streets over. Pointing at the bubble, Eldritch says, “That’s where we’re going. I can’t maintain it from outside for very long, so hurry up and get me into it.”

Up ahead the two girls listen as an inhuman screech echoes down the block. “My hair!” shouts a pouty female voice.

Rounding the corner, the two girls spy their foe standing in the middle of the street with a forlorn expression on her face. Her hair is a tangled mess of curls that makes the queen look as if she just rolled out of bed. Of course, her dress and heels make that impression slightly ludicrous. Staring in amazement at her, the pair of heroines pause. Spying them the queen stomps her high heeled foot on the ground and pouts, “You ruined my hair!”

“Sorry?” says an uncertain Eldritch as Ginger transforms into her giant knight form.

“Do you have any idea how long it takes to style?” grumbles the queen as she drops the bag carrying a trussed up Jerry unceremoniously. Then she turns to the girls and asks, “Well? Do you?”

“Umm,” Ginger and Eldritch trade confused looks, “no?”

“Hours!” snaps the pretty woman, “all wasted because of some nasty little girls playing heroine.” She glances down at her hand and says in irritation, “And I chipped a nail, how rude.”

“They don’t give manicures in prison, so better get used to the sight,” replies Eldritch.

Narrowing her eyes, the red queen snaps back, “I wouldn’t know, and I have no intention of finding out. Now, before we begin this lesson on who the real HBIC of this city is,” the woman’s voice transforms from sharp and catty to cute and flouncy in an instant, “can I take off my shoes? They’re Chanel.”

Eldritch, tired of her attitude, starts to say, “No!” but finds herself cut off by an emphatic Ginger who cries out, “Of course! Put them next to Jerry. He’ll be safe next to them.”

Turning to her partner, Eldritch asks in a low voice, “What are you doing? She’s a lot less mobile in heels.”

Shaking her head, Ginger answers, “They’re Chanel!”

Throwing her hands in the air, Eldritch sighs and shouts across the street to the queen, who is carefully removing her precious heels, “Well apparently fashion is more important than anything else, so if you want to fix your hair before we get started go ahead!” in a sarcastic tone.

“Really?” squeals the queen, “thank you soooo much!” Then she bends over, giving the girls a generous and jealousy-inspiring look at her décolletage, wraps her hair into a ponytail and pops back up whipping her mane back around as she does. The motion leaves Jerry speechless, and a moment later, he passes out. His reaction is no doubt a result of the combination of stress and fear from the Queen’s flight, dear reader.

Cracking her knuckles, the queen says conversationally, “So, who was it that placed the snare? I’m impressed. It was a clever idea, trapping me in here.”

Eldritch raises her hand and replies, “Me. And thanks, this is a rather nice spell.”

“Oh no dear,” answers the queen with a smirk, “I’m just asking so I know who I need to knock out to make the barrier go away. Thanks for telling.”

Eldritch shrugs. “I’m not worried,” she says.

“Why?”

“Because,” cuts in Ginger, slamming her fist into her palm, “to get to her, you have to go through me.”

“Cute,” replies the queen with a bored smirk.

Then she slams both hands down on the pavement. Ginger’s arm transforms into a shield just in time as a hailstorm of debris rains down on the pair. The queen, however, gives them no time to recover as she slams into Ginger like a freight train. Without regard for the size disparity, she hurls her body like a battering ram into the larger, armored form of Ginger Snap.

Despite bracing for impact, Ginger tumbles backward a few feet. Catching her with a glowing net is Eldritch, who drags her out of the queen’s range. Then Eldritch sends a volley of white lines at the queen, who retaliates by throwing her body on the ground and blasting another wave of pavement, this time straight up, to intercept the attack. A second later, Ginger leaps back into the fray, trying to pile drive the queen while she is on the ground. Spotting her, the queen rolls to the side and grabs a piece of broken rebar, exposed when the pavement buckled. She then tosses it like a grenade at Eldritch, the piece already glowing with the dangerous red light that signals her power. Wasting no time, she uses her other hand to slap Ginger.

Her suit turning red, Ginger’s armor cracks along the back and she, bereft of all but the smaller and more form-fitting version of her costume, leaps out. Eldritch, on the other side of the fight, pulls out her dagger and transforms it into the shape of a tower shield that blocks the exploding rebar neatly. Then she spins it out into a whip that she sends cracking toward the queen. Instead of avoiding, the queen smirks and lets the whip hit her skin. Then she wraps her unhurt hand around the weapon and pulls shouting, “Forgot the second part of my power, did you?”

Eldritch, struggling in a game of tug of war with the queen grins and retorts, “No! But you forgot about mine.”

Then she sends a pulse of electricity running down the silvery wire of her whip. Shocked, literally and figuratively, the queen contorts and recoils. Screaming, she shouts, “Auughh! You little brat!”

As she shakes, Ginger reappears. Closing in tight, she sends a punch at the woman’s temple. Furious, the queen jerks the electrified whip in the path of her blow and sends her reeling back from the same electrical discharge she faced moments ago. Cursing, Eldritch drops the attack and tries to pull the whip back to her. Grinning, the red queen digs in her feet and pulls, destabilizing the smaller girl and dragging her toward her outstretched hand.

Eldritch, however, kicks onto the ground and leaps upward with preternatural force. At the apex of her jump, she suddenly starts to slam into the ground, a cone of blinding light forming around her legs. At the same time, Ginger spins to her feet and starts tossing daggers in an imitation of Vicious’ move. Caught between the two, the queen has no time to dodge both. Choosing the lesser of two hits, she leaps back from Eldritch’s descent and allows the daggers to hit her. Recoiling at the impact, she sweeps the blunted weapons away from her bruised skin and shakes her head.

“That hurt!” the queen exclaims.

“This will be worse then,” mutters Eldritch as she spins her whip back into a dagger.

Then she raises it, the handle elongating into the form a giant spear. A second later, it flies out, straight at the queen. Ginger, unfortunately, is out of position due to her ranged attack and cannot stop what happens next. Cannily, the Queen of Hearts drops to the ground with her legs in a split that tears her dress up the side. Then she slams her hands down on the ground, one in front of her body and one behind. Too late, Eldritch realizes her mistake.

The pavement bursts upwards, catching the tip of the spear and dragging Eldritch into the air. The blast behind the queen sends her flying forward, quicker than Ginger can intervene. Catching the shaft of the spear, the queen collides with Eldritch in midair. Eldritch reacts immediately, trying to bring her hand, covered in light, around to hit the queen. She has the advantage, however, and catches her wrist before it can deliver a counterstrike. Leading with her knee, the queen slams into Eldritch’s chest and drives her back into the pavement. A moment later, the barriers begin to flicker and fade.

Leaping to her feet, the queen stares at Ginger. She says with a smile, “You have a choice to make, me or her,” then she points to the ground near Eldritch’s head, which is slowly lighting up with the red shine that precedes all the queen’s explosions.

Unthinking, Ginger leaps to her friend and pulls her out of the danger just before the blast goes off. But when the dust clears, the queen, Jerry, and the Chanel heels are nowhere in sight.

Shaking Eldritch, she wakes her friend before the police can close in on the scene. Smiling, she says to her, “The plan worked! I got the tracer on her, all we have to do is wait and we’ll know where The Deck’s hideout is!”

Glancing around, Eldritch asks, “It worked? Then where is Jerry?”

Guilty, Ginger glances away toward the spot where he was sitting. “Well,” she amends, “it worked like fifty percent I guess.”

Groaning, Eldritch asks, “Did you at least manage to identify him?”

“Yep!” Ginger replies, “He’s an informant for the police, codename White Rabbit. Apparently, he works as a bookie for an undercover gambling den, and last week some lady gambled away a mystic book. Jerry there was in charge of holding on to it until someone from the Association could come and buy it, undercover of course.”

“I take it The Deck found out?”

“Either that or they just want the book,” replies Ginger. “Either way, we’ve got to rescue him soon, because I don’t think they’ll be very happy when he doesn’t give it to them.”

“Tonight,” replies Eldritch, her mouth set in a grim line.

So, dear reader, our heroines prepare for a confrontation with the crime syndicate known only as The Deck! But as they prepare, our attention shifts back to the inexorable progress of the demon. Rising from the underworld on the back of Athow’s magic, his dark dealings continue in… “Blood Relations!”