Whispers at Witching Hour

Chapter 57

Musical inspiration: Churchyard - AURORA

Zelda was about to continue walking, but Lilith would not let her and held her steady by her wrist. The redhead was a bit astounded being reminded of how strong her demoness actually was but let out a low growl anyway to show her displeasure.

"I know you can fight, Zelda. But now is not the time for you to fight; you need to recover. And frankly, this was about me. About getting my revenge on the so-called man that first stole my lady right off my arms and then broke her."

"I'm not broken!", Zelda blurted in Lilith's face.

Oh, wow, I'm only making it worse, aren't I? Lilith sighed, thinking carefully about what to say next while Zelda just stared at her.

"Zelds, please, don't be mad at me. I don't want to argue anymore... I just really want to kill him... As I was promised."

The ginger's features softened a bit. "So do I, but we can't. We need him to keep Lucifer trapped."

"I know." Guilt rushed over her as she became more aware that she had been about to jeopardise all their lives, including that of her girlfriend.

She had unconsciously lowered her head in shame, something she rarely did, which Zelda noticed. The witch stepped closer, brushed a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead, making Lilith smile gently.

"Let's forget about that, my darling. We've just got each other back."

"As you wish, DirectriX Spellman", Lilith made sure to emphasise the "x" in a joking manner, but her mood turned serious shortly after. "Zelda, there's something I wanted to talk to you about... The prophecy?"

"That'll brighten my day." Zelda could not hold back her sarcasm as today had already been way too stressful.

"It's not that bad... I guess..."

"What part of me killing you could not be 'that bad'?" The last word came out a little louder than she had intended, echoing through the dark stone hallway.

"Well, you weren't the only one burying themselves in books and all... Mar-", she bit her tongue, remembering Zelda did not know about her sister, "I... had the idea to look into what I had found earlier about the prophecy again..."

"And?"

"Um...So... If I understood correctly, the ancient text tells us in a fairly detailed way, how you're going to kill me."

"What?!"

"This isn't something we can discuss on the go in a hallway, but if you're free I'd meet you tonight?" Her pitch increased towards the end, adding a sweet note to her words.

"Tonight, then. Bring some wine."

Lilith took Zelda's hands in hers and searched her eyes for a moment. Then she pecked her cheek, gave her a soft smile and turned to teleport back to the pit. "Hell needs me."

~

The first thing she could not believe today was that she would go down there to visit Faust... him... for another time today. The second thing she could not believe was that her sixteen-year-old half-mortal niece was Queen of Hell now, without her knowledge. And the third thing she could not believe was that her girlfriend, who was supposed to be Queen of Hell, had failed to tell her about it.

"I did it to save the realms. There's a balance", Sabrina tried to explain, but she could feel her aunt's rage sizzling in the air around them.

"You did it because you wanted to! You did it because you like power!", Zelda yelled at her niece, "And that's healthy, up to a point", she added, "but you... you have a savior complex. You always have."

And as the words were spilling from her mouth, she knew she was projecting. Not that it was not fitting for Sabrina, but she knew she was talking about herself. Or rather: She recognised herself in Sabrina and was uncertain if this was a good thing. On the one hand, it filled her with pride and... motherly love... that Sabrina had adopted some of her mannerisms and attitudes because it meant she respected her and all the more accepted her as a mother figure. Maybe she had not failed so much after all...

On the other hand, Zelda was well aware that she was putting herself in danger all the time, cared too little about her well-being and was disastrous at dealing with emotions... She did not want that for her niece. Her lack of emotional balance was also why she was being so mean and unreasonable towards Sabrina, she figured, but could not control her actions either way in this moment.

She loved Sabrina with all her heart, but she could not let the girl go to hell on her own to find some infernal source of power they did not even know for sure existed.

"I'll ask Lilith. She knows all the tea", Sabrina mentioned casually, and Zelda's jaw dropped, but she regained composure quickly, sending her niece a narrow-eyed look.

Another thing Lilith had kept from her. She honestly did not know how to feel about it, so she decided to give her lover the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she had a reasonable explanation for why she did not tell her.

Hilda looked at her sister in concern, afraid the mentioning of her sister's former lover (she was still in the dark about the recent developments) would send Zelda spiraling again. She was pleased as she found nothing of the sort was happening telling from first glance.

"Alright. But Ambrose goes with you."

"Aunt Zee, I'm Queen of Hell."

Zelda snapped into mama bear-mode within a blink. "I don't care if you're the Queen of England. You're still my niece. I won't have you going to one of the Nether Realms without some familial support."

Hilda liked it when Zelda went all protective about Sabrina; it put her soft heart on display in a way she would never allow it otherwise.