"But darling," Raz gaped, brushing the lobster tails from his tuxedo. "I thought you were my one and only. My dear sweet Sophia."

The normally elegant and refined Sophia pulled her eyelid down in an immature fashion and stuck her tongue out. "Get real, old man. You're just some pompous windbag who smells like a thousand cheap colognes."

"H-How dare you!" Raz stammered. "My Raz-L Daz-L cologne is the most expensive fragrance in the land."

"And it smells like moldy cheese," Sophia wretched. "But that's beside the point, my true prize is that blond haired Everblood over there! He's been my target since the very start."

"Who are you?!" Raz screamed, and without further provocation, Sophia exploded in a cloud of purple smoke. People choked and coughed until the smoke, which smelled a lot like garlicky seafood settled.

"What the--" Raz screamed.

In Sophia's place was a person in a full black jumpsuit. The shape of the body indicated it was a woman, but their face was completely covered by a painted masked with a long topknot protruding out the back. Elegant engraving on the mask formed the visage of a painted women with a bright red 7 etched onto her forehead. The person assumed an attack position and fighting stance Elise had never seen before. They continued to clutch Tony who whimpered unhappily. Both her and Tito, not being too worldly, babbled in amazement.

"She looks awesome!" Tito said.

"She looks scary!" Elise added.

"What in Sand Hill are you!" Raz roared.

"My name is Sev," the woman said in a much less elegant tone. In fact, it was kind of obnoxious. "My name is my agent number and..."

She began to skip happily in circles. "...the merry fact that I'll sev-er your fingers if you get too close to me."

She gave a cackle that sounded like, "eeh hee hee!" and it made Elise shiver to the core.

"I hail from the biggest village on Bamboo Island and my master has sent me to obtain the Everblood's secret of immortality as well as the cure for their blights they're causing on the great seas. Legend has it, they're one and the same!"

"Like Ghost Blight?!" Elise cried, thinking of her ailing dad.

She was met with a hard nod from Sev.

"You see," Sev said, casually tossing her velvet gloved hand. "Everblood vampires are cunning creatures with their secret weakness buried deep within the sands of time. They once traumatized the old kingdom of Aristillus, but nowadays, nobody knows how they exist for so long. And I've come to find out the mystery of the impossible."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oi?!" Bunting said equally shocked. "So zat eez why you are here?! But vy did you come between moi and my one true love?!"

"The only key weakness believed by the Great Leaders is the lingering emotions of Everblood's that tie them to this world. Like your lust for your 'leetle' boy toy."

Sev pulled and pushed at her mask, like she was attempting to change the very fabric of it. "So with the help of my Bamboo Village illusionary technique: quality plastic surgery, I transformed myself into a voluptuous woman who stole away your man!"

"'Ow dare you!" Bunting roared, before gazing wistfully at Raz. "I've been deceived!"

'I've come to take your secret!" Sev said, flipping backwards before landing on her toes. "So bring it on!"

"Oh Bunting Cake!" Bunting Dupree called from behind him.

Both him and Sincirce moved out of the way as the mutant cake oozed itself around along the dance floor, slurping people up as it slid towards the Lyre's crew, Raz and Sev. Much to the relief of Elise, the cake moved towards Sev. But as Sev continued to clutch Tony in her arms, Elise drew an unfortunate conclusion. "Oh coconuts!" Elise cried. "Maybe that isn't such a good thing! She's got Tony!"

"Now!" Bunting giggled. "You will have my cake and it'll eat you too!"

Sev took her battle stance and chuckled with her "eeh hee hees!"

"Fortunately," the masked woman said, prancing merrily in place. "I am well equip for handling creme-de-la-crazy. After all, that's what I am!"

With another chuckle, she took her left hand and removed a small, spherical device with a molded red skull on it. A short fuse extended from the bottom and indicated to everyone that this was a very dangerous bomb.

She struck a match and lit the fuse, promoting to Tony to bark. "Hey, take it easy, lady. I know I'mma delicacy but dat doesn't meant I want to be golden brown before dessert."

Sev paid no mind and casually chucked the bomb in the beastly morsel's mouth. While she did, she whistled a jolly tune. "They say it's tough being a master assassin," she gloated, "but I'm truly making a bomb!"

The room was silent as the cake swallowed the bomb. Everyone waited for the goopy delirium that would ensue. Instead, a sound like a wet fart followed.

"Err uhh…." Sev muttered, and Tony growled, "Lady, you really bombed. And not in a good way."

"Yeah, I really defused the situation," the masked woman muttered.

She waved her hands helplessly as she, Tony and the ring were all swallowed whole by the behemoth cake.

"Tony!" Elise, Tito and Archibell all screamed.

"Like I said," Bunting chortled, "They got their just desserts. Now cake, I want you to eet zat loverboy 'oo broke my heart!"

"No no noooo!" Raz shouted as the cake moved to overtake him. "Can't we settle this over cake and tea, old bean?!"

"Of course!" Bunting chortled. "Zee cake will be all over your spleen!"

As the shadow of the enormous Bunting Cake loomed over the bachelor, Elise, Tito and Archibell were the only thing standing between him and a velvety demise. But the Lyre's crew all looked unsurly. "I dunno how we're gonna get outta this one!" Archibell shouted. "None of us can handle a massive morsel this big."

"If only we had some magic powers," Elise said, "That could stop a magic cake." The young girl went quiet when she saw who was standing beside the mad chef.

Sincirce was next to Bunting, surveying the battle that had ensued.

"Sincirce!" her crew mates all pleaded. "Save us!"

The witch was silent, but a catlike smirk curled on her lips.