Baron Mordo, Master of the Mystic Arts

A goblet materialized in Sue Storm's hand. The dark-haired, bearded man in green stood. The bar seemed to rearrange itself as he approached, so that he walked straight toward her, the curving path between the tables becoming momentarily straight as a ruler. When he was within arm's reach, he raised his own goblet...and clinked it against hers.

"I am Mordo," he said. His wide, dark eyes seemed to stare straight into her soul.

"Susan," the Invisible Woman said, her cover story momentarily forgotten beneath the power of that gaze. Mordo's eyes seemed to catch and hold her own, so that Sue could not look away.

Reality warped around them. Sue Storm found herself seated across from Mordo. She sipped her drink. It was some kind of spiced, resinous wine, thick and rich and strange. Like retsina mingled with cardamom and cinnamon. It left a blooming warmth in her stomach.

"You intrigue me," Mordo said, after long moments of silent drinking.

Sue offered her most sultry smile.

"Well, I'm glad you're not blind," she said.

"There is more to you than your physical form," he said. "Your mind—your soul—has been curiously tarnished. It is like watching an angel's wings burn."

A large hand settled on hers. There were calluses on the very tips of his fingers, which Sue found odd. There was an air of unreality about this man that disturbed her. In her current mindset, that alone aroused her curiosity. With deliberate care, he turned her hand over. Those dark eyes glanced down at her palm.

"Reading my future?" she said, before taking another sip of the strange wine. The rest of the bar seemed very far away, muted, as if seen through dark glass.

"Past, future, self," he said, as a finger traced lines. "I see a mother. Honest. Strong. I see corruption. Unfaithfulness. A dark shadow that you thought banished...a streak of cruelty...malice."

The word may Sue sputter. She almost tore her hand from his grasp. Mordo did not stop her. His dark eyes caught hers again.

"Your hungers have been awakened. The darkness within you. Yet there are far greater depths than the petty adulteries you had hoped for. Vast possibilities. I could show you what it is like to couple with the unquiet dead. To offer your naked body to the Black Mass. Teach you to send your astral form out to experience the carnal pleasures of men, beasts, and things that are neither. To fornicate with demons and dark gods. The path you are on now leads only to the gutter and tawdry domestic dramas. Selling yourself for pennies. But you are worth so much more."

There was something utterly convincing in his harsh voice. The more her spoke, the louder Sue's heart hammered in her palm. Her body shook as genuine fear and despair warred within her soul...and somewhere, in the back of her mind, there was another voice. One she had thought long banished from her mind.

"What are you offering?" that other voice said, through Sue's mouth.

Mordo stood, a smile on his lips.

"I want you to become my apprentice. Abandon your life and family. Join me, learn the arts of black magic, and experience dark pleasures you cannot yet dream of. Put away the paltry tart, become my Scarlet Sorceress!"