Pandora's Box

Chapter 4: Envy

As she attempted to speak the incantation, her lips were so heavy that she could only murmur. "Vola anima per aeterna."

***

"Your Majesty."

Lilith looked up from her work, peering through the glasses she didn't need but still used for sentimental reasons. "Speak, Minion. I don't have all day."

She flicked a page with her thumb, shifting her attention back to the task at hand.

"I have come to inform you that shortly there will be a witch's soul passing the threshold."

"Witches don't concern us," Lilith replied dryly.

Minion shifted from one foot to the other, gnawing at the insides of his cheek before replying. "I thought this one might..."

The colour drained from Lilith's face as her eyes snapped up and she stared at him. Surely, he didn't mean?

Her throat suddenly felt dry and scratchy. "Minion. Who?" Lilith growled, making the demon quiver as though she'd end him presently.

"Who!" she bellowed, pushing up from her seat at the table and slamming her hand on it.

"Sp-ellman," Minion stuttered, taking a couple of steps back. "Z-Zelda Spellman."

"Impossible."

Needing to see it for herself, she pushed past him and got ready to teleport. If this were a lie, he would pay with more than his life. And then she stopped dead in her tracks to reevaluate everything that had just happened. After how Zelda had treated her, when she had shown her nothing but kindness, why should she care?

Clenching her fists and her jaw, she fought against the urge to come to her rescue but failed despite her best effort to reason with herself.

She ended up following Zelda's magic signature to the mortal plane and arriving in a bedroom of the Spellman Mortuary. Soon, she spotted Zelda's body lying on the floor, surrounded by candles. Lilith froze as her mind tried to process what she was seeing: Zelda's pale skin, her heaving chest, and, at last, the blood-filled tube hanging from a bucket full of red liquid. Her eyes widened, sweat broke out on her forehead, and fear made her stomach turn.

To avoid burning her dress, she extinguished the candles with a sway of her arms and crouched beside Zelda's body, aimlessly touching and shaking her. Pulling the needle out of her arm, Lilith pressed down on the spot as hard as she could, unfazed by the tube falling and spilling blood everywhere. Her focus was on Zelda, whose head was moving slowly, lips were opening and closing as she muttered "Sabrina" over and over again.

A suspicion creeped up on Lilith as to what Zelda had been trying to do. Patting Zelda's cheek, Lilith uttered, "Stupid witch. You... stupid..."

Feeling her pulse, Lilith found it racing and weak from the blood loss, and her skin was laced with cold sweat. Panic took over; she didn't have a clue how to handle this. The only thing she knew was that she seemed to be alone in the house, as her telepathic call for help hadn't reached anyone.

Holding on to Zelda tightly, she tried to think clearly. For one, Zelda was halfway conscious and breathing. Good thing. The bleeding had stopped. Also good. Now, the problems to solve were breathing, pulse, and body temperature.

Unable to come up with a solution for the first two issues, Lilith decided to tend to the one she could handle first. Scooping Zelda up, she carried her limp body to the bed and gently lowered her before picking up all the blankets she could find in this room to cover her.

She had to wipe at her eyes as she tried to think of what to do next. Zelda needed blood, but she was hardly qualified to conduct a transfusion. The only thing she could do was try to get some fluids into her, but again, for that, Zelda needed to be conscious, and that meant bringing her back from the Nether Realm.